The Great Jeffers CheapAss Wargaming MDF Base Post

 To quote Jeffers in comments related to the previous post:

 "It would be really useful if you did a ‘wargaming on the cheap’ post showing your unit sizes and what you found worked/failed from a practical and aesthetic perspective."

Now this question referred to the troops in the previous Aughrim 1691 game. These pretty much form the backbone of my 25mm troops (not 28mm, most were purchased in the 90s and early 2000s) for the period 1670-1715 - the single most maligned, misunderstood (and that's just by the rules-writers) and badly mis-interpreted period that exists in wargaming...possibly. So controversial it still gets people angry; so badly understood it still confounds researchers; and so maligned by history that many secrets still remain hidden in forgotten annals of folklore, more than stuffy academic history.

Danes kicking ass, with four figures to a base in the traditional manner

 I won't mention fraising battalions with pikes, platoon firing and firing by ranks, cavalry charge methodologies (see Brent Nosworthy for all associated refs); instead I will focus on the important thing - 3mm MDF bases for the model troops, and 'how i got away with having more bases than I should have', otherwise known as the 'very capitalist MDF base economy' !

Cavalry used to be based on 2" x 2" - then the V&B Marlburian supplement came out...

 I use two main sets of rules for these so far: 'Field of Battle' and 'Volley & Bayonet'. Much lyrical waxing has taken place on these, in terms of why they work for the period - and are eminently more suited than some other rules, and there is an option to also look at a Blucher variant soon. 

INFANTRY : based on 1.5" x 1.5" bases - this allows massive amounts of flexibility. ALSO - the little secret of using 3 figures (staggered) instead of 4 figures, saves an absolute multitude of cost and fannying about. In essence a four stand battalion with 16 figures, becomes 12 figures. Pics above show that this can be effective, with less figure bang for your buck.

Standard Marlburian types - Minifigs and Old Glory - 3 on a base, but with enough units they look fine

Now these guys offer lots of options (old Dixon Grand Alliance - still the best figures for this period in my view)

 

3 to a base and 3 bases - offering lots of battalion, with the en masse effect clearing up any issues with the fact that is 12 blokes taking a flag for a walk

 

Add another base, and they seem a little more dense - though remember, these boys did not operate shoulder to shoulder anyway - there was too much loose powder in the '12 apostles' even at this stage , and nutty matchlocks just make things even more dangerous

  

This also allows for the pike 'block' the late 17th century remnant of it with 11 foot pikes...

...which can also be placed frontally to indicate 'fraising', or hedgehog, depending on year and rules

 

These Dutch guards, are densely packed on bases - and despite flop hat could be used right through the period

 

...again add pikes to taste

 

...or drop them to three stand unit, and use battalions en masse

a dense battalion and thinner battalion operating together. Honestly, with enough of these, it looks great

 

 

 

CAVALRY & ARTILLERY: I used to have them based x2 on a 2" x 2" base (see first couple of pics), though the recent release of the V&B Marlburian book convinced me to shift to 3" x 3". In similar fashion to infantry, this allows 3 or 4 cavalry per base, which can be really useful again to save in figures per base, without looking daft. 

For guns, I just go with the flow, and keep figures loose - so that they can vary from economical to comedic! 

 

A standard 3 cav on a 3x3 base - recently changed due to release of Marlburian V&B book

 

 

Using older Irregular miniatures on 4 to a base, looking a little more Marlburian, though still staggered for effect, and due to space.

 

 

Some of the Jacobite lads wout with the Oxford Blues, looking for trouble...large figures look well in 'attack poses' on the 3" x 3" s

 

 

A few random generals - always useful in FoB and V&B

Random artillery, with crew varying from professional amateur, through dragoon, to interested ladies

'He can't even hold the bloody map straight!'

I have tried so many variations with these bases, even at one stage putting everything on 2" x 2", which frankly was a disaster. I can get a lot of figures / bases on the table with the current variant, and it all seems to work.
 

Aughrim 1691 - with Field of Battle 3

 Field of Battle, as with Volley & Bayonet, delivers a very efficient, enjoyable and exciting game. Both are very different however; where V&B offers elegance, FoB offers just the right degree of chaos; where V&B makes book-keeping seem like part of the command experience, FoB rewards taking chances. ...Depending on what I want from a game, both sets are very relevant to the periods I indulge in.

 I have not played enough Field of Battle 3, nor enough 1670-1720 recently, so dusted off, and out it came. We have tried Aughrim twice before, and for some reason, we keep playing the Jacobites historically, which is not the way to win the battle... 

A view of the Jacobite position on Kilcommadan Hill, from Urraghry hill today, across the bog, which in 1691, was even more wet than it is now...and not in a good way.

 

"This flank seems totally secure...what can possibly go wrong??? What's that? ...an ammunition wagon paid for though nefarious means and we let it get through...certainly, certainly, go on ahead there..."

 

 More advisable is moving the centre forward to the enclosure line with reinforced shot elements, and blasting the allies as they come out of the bog, before the flanks are overwhelmed...I am sure we will try that next time...

The view from the 'virtual' Urraghry Hill

Red vs Blue ...or something

Jacobite skirmishers in their historic positions in the enclosures...in game, reinforcing these positions just as the allied/ Willliamite troops come out of the bog, would change the game...

One the move

Historically, Burke took delivery of the wrong calibre of ammunition at a critical juncture in the battle, and found that he could not shoot...critically, in our game, this happened very early. I'm sure there were no shenanigans (historically I mean...)

The cavalry action on the Jacobite right, all seemed very one-sided at first, the Jacobites getting the better of the match. This would not last...

Slow moving through the Irish bog...and no wellies

Despite the ammunition problem at the ruined castle, matters would not go easy for the Williamites.

...and the opposite flank becomes a battle in itself

The Jacobite ridgeline..."move down there lads, give them a volley or two..no?"

The attack proceeds at half speed (I place troops in the bog 'out of command' in terms of the rules - it really works).

Danish mercs attack the Bloody Hollow

Englsih and Northern Irish put sever pressure on the centre as they start, slowly, to clear the bog...

The guns fall quickly at the bloody hollow, very un-historically

...so much so that Jacobite infantry has to engage to hold the flank

...yet in the centre, they stay, very, very , still

A view of the village, and the Jacobite left and centre - the pressure of allied cavalry is starting to tell...

The centre could have been so very different, but the flanks become bloodbaths - two separate battles as the centre gains momentum

Assaults of the Jacobite guns on both flanks

Clearing the bog, at last

Allied troops start to clear the enclosures of skirmishers - will they dare to assault the hill...or simply await the flank collapse...

Taking the guns

The Williamite right

The attack on the Jacobite right and centre - Danes and English

Firefight on the Jacobite right - the Danes are not likely to lose this...

Inniskilling cavalry takes the causeway and the flank starts to fall on the Jacobite left

Firefights in the centre, as the allies take the enclosures

In the end, a cavalry breakthrough on the Jacobite right...and horse starts to flow behind the Jacobite lines on the hill..

On the left, a similar story- once the Jacobite cavalry is defeated at the causeway, the horse pour across, and the flank will not hold.

 Great rules once more - and always very evocative of the period. A very large game with around 35 units per side, and an entire historical battle. There aren't many rules that can handle that...