A Simple War Of Spanish Succession Campaign

This is a campaign designed for two players, although it could be extended to more with very little effort. It's designed for use with the 'Dominion of Marlborough and Peter The Great' rules, but could easily be adapted to other sets.

It requires a standard deck of playing cards with the jokers removed.

Deal each player a hand of six cards which are kept hidden from the opponent. Deal four cards from the deck between the two players. This is the pool.

Before each battle each player randomly selects one of their cards and places them face up in front of them. This is their stake. If a player only has one card left then they put just that in as the stake. If they lose it then they lose the campaign.

Armies can be determined by any means the players see fit, but there is a random army generator HERE

Fight the battle. At the end count up how many points of troops the winning side has left in play. Count untested unreliable units as still being unreliable, but any that passed and are in play at full cost. If the winning side has 8 or more points of troops left in play, then they have won a decisive victory.

The winner can then take one of their opponent’s stake cards OR one of the cards from the pool . If they win a decisive victory then they take their opponent’s stake AND one of the cards from the pool.

If a card was taken from the pool, then draw a card from the deck to replace it.

At the end of the third battle, and each subsequent battle, roll 2D6 and take the lowest score. Add to it the number of battles that have been fought. If the total is 9 or more then both sides are exhausted, and go to the negotiating table.

At the negotiating table each side creates the best five-card poker hand they can from their cards. If a player has fewer than five cards in their hand then they draw cards from the deck to make up the shortfall.

The player with the best poker hand wins the war.

When playing solo do not look at the dummy player’s cards. Deal one at random to be the stake in each battle. If the dummy player wins a battle then they will take the highest card or cards available. If there is a choice then they will dice for it. At the negotiating table draw one card from the deck and add it to their hand before checking to see what the best poker hand is for them. This is to offset their inability to manage their hand during the game.

Note that it’s entirely possible for a side to lose a run of battles but still get a good draw of cards and win the treaty negotiations. That’s politics for you.

And, for anyone like me who struggles with remembering these things, here's a list of poker hand, in order of precedence.

For the purposes of this campaign Aces are always (and only) high.
Suits do not break ties. The campaign can end in a draw if both sides have hands of equal rank.

Ranks - Highest card breaks ties.

Straight Flush - A run, all of the same suit.
Four of a Kind - Four cards, same value
Full House - Three of the same value and a pair of another value
Flush - All cards the same suit, any values
Straight - A run of values, any suits
Three of a Kind - Three cards, same value
Two Pairs - Two lots of two cards of the same value.
Pair - A single pair of cards of the same value.
High Card - The best card in your hand.

Dominion Night

Last night I ran some games of 'Dominion of Marlborough and Peter The Great' at the Wollongong Wargamers. Caesar and Daniel played most of them, whilst I sorted out troops and explained the rules.

Since I knew we'd fit in multiple games, I decided to use the evening as an excuse to try out my simple WSS campaign mechanism. Rather than use random armies, though, I simply picked eight scenarios from the book, mostly covering the battles on  the Low Countries, but with a couple of Italian ones thrown in for fans of Eugene of Savoy.

Caesar bravely took the French and their allies, whilst Daniel commanded the Grand Alliance.

I don't have detailed reports of each battle, but I at least photographed the setup of each. We used my Great Northern War armies, with Swedes playing the French and the Russians playing the Alliance.

The first battle we played was a learning game - Chiari (September 1701). The French were assaulting Eugene, who was in a prepared position.

The French right turned into a cavalry battle

The French lost it, and Eugene rolled up the French line for a win.

With the basic game mechanisms under their belts, Daniel and Caesar were ready for the first campaign battle. We opened with the Storming Of The Schellenberg (July 1704). In all of the French and allies are on the left and the Grand Alliance on the right. Terrain is mostly garnish, but does sometimes indicate troops with defensive bonuses.

The fortress of Donauworth held off the initial Alliance assault.

But it all went horribly wrong for Caesar in the centre, Donauworth fell and the Bavarians were defeated.

The second battle of the campaign was Blenheim (August 1704). The playing cards are the campaign. Basically each player has a hand of cards, one of which is randomly placed in front of them as a stake. There are also four pool cards available. The winner of the battle gets to take one card. If they win decisively then they get to take two. At the end of the campaign - which will be after 3-8 battles, randomly determined - the player who can make the best five-card poker hand from their cards wins campaign. I'll write it all up properly soon, though.

The fighting around Blenheim descended into a slog so the battle really became about cavalry smashing into each other in the centre.

Both sides saw units lost and then rallied, and the fighting continued.

But, once again, Marlborough was victorious, this time decisively.

Two games in and the French had yet to win a battle. How would they do at Elixheim (July 1705)?

This starts with a big cavalry fight along the line, with the French infantry at the rear defending a sunken road. Naturally the French lost the cavalry action and Marlborough's horseman rode down the infantry as well. Another decisive win.

On to Ramillies  (May 1706) and things were not looking good for the French. Daniel had a nice fat hand of cards, and Caesar ... didn't. Would the French dice finally come good?

The battle was hard-fought ...

... and the French cavalry was victorious on their right.

... and then it all went horribly wrong, and Marlborough won again.

On to battle number five and a return to Italy and the exploits of Eugene of Savoy. The battles was Turin (September 1706). The French were defending earthworks against an Allied assault. Their morale was not high.

And what ensued was another French rout!

The dice spoke at that point, ending the campaign and putting Caesar out of his misery. Comparing hands, Caesar could only manage a pair of threes, whilst Daniel had a nice six/ace full house. So the Grand Alliance very much dominated the negotiations of the Treaty of Utrecht.

To be fair Caesar's die-rolling was abysmal all evening; he barely rolled above a 3 in any combat. A couple f times he actually had a decent position and could have turned the battle in his favour, but a run of rubbish rolls threw it all away.

With plenty of evening left I thought we'd switch to the Great Northern War, and try out that old classic, Poltava (August 1709). In this picture the attacking Swedes (Caesar) are on the  left and the Russians (Daniel) on the right).

Initial Swedish successes were stymied by some stubborn resistance from the redoubts and a solid Russian infantry performance beyond them. History repeated itself and the Swedes lost.

Daniel and Caesar swapped sides. 

The Russians won again - Caesar's only victory of the evening.

Caesar decided to rest on his laurels and we decided to fit in just one more wafer-thin game. I'd scribbled some notes for a new scenario, and we tried it out - the Battle of Pruth River (1711). This was really an excuse to get my Nottomans out, as this battle saw Peter the Great's Russians attacked by an Ottoman army in modern-day Romania.

The Russians are in a fortified camp, and the Ottomans had a lot of guns.

Ottoman cavalry in action with the janissaries being rallied in the foreground.

Janissaries assault the camp and are repulsed.

But the Ottoman guns win the day, forcing the Russians to sue for terms.

So we managed nine games in about three hours, including a complete campaign, which I thought was pretty good. I think that the campaign was probably a little biased towards Marlborough, Caesar's die-rolling aside, because I don't think that the scenarios are intended to be entirely balanced; they are slightly weighted in favour of the historical victors. So whilst it was a chance to test out the card-driven mechanisms of the campaign it was kind of a skewed result owing to the complete whitewash of the French. I need to try it out with some random armies.

Great Victories - Part 2

At the start of this month I thought it would be fun to work through Marlborough's Great Victories, using 'Dominion of Marlborough and Peter The Great'. I'd play against Mrs Kobold and we'd swap sides, so we'd each get a go at being Marlborough in each battle.

What with one thing and another it's taken three weeks to get around to playing teh second battle. I'm betting that it will take three weeks to get around to the next one as well.

Still, last night we set up Ramillies.

I had the first go at being Marlborough. The Allies start with unreliable artillery in their front-line, and sabres on their left. They have elite infantry in reserve. The French position is a strong one, with infantry behind difficult terrain in the centre and on their left, and massed horse on their right in the open country beyond Ramillies itself. The French right flank is covered by a river. 

Not wanting to test the unreliability of the artillery I decided that a cavalry attack was the best opening move. It was inconclusive.

Catherine, as the French, made use of the strong defensive position to focus on the centre and her left. Both of my artillery units proved reliable, and the French rolled abysmally when it came to trying to destroy them.

As an aside, I mentioned in a post yesterday that I hadn't featured my Russian and Swedish commander figures in a post. So here's one of them, standing in for Marlborough.

Anyway, not only did the French have rotten rolls trying to hit my artillery (it's 50/50, so pretty good), but my artillery rolled a couple of sixes and drove the French out of their defensive positions. I assume that in cases like this the artillery represents infantry with strong artillery support rather than specific massed batteries. So this is the Allied first wave crossing the stream and taking the heights beyond.

Anyway, that committed the French reserves to the centre and left.

The French had dome better on the right, driving off my Dutch horse. I brought up some of my reserve infantry to parry the French horse.

I don't have photos of the later stages, but the game had lots of inconclusive combats and went to nine turns. Although I lost one of my reserve infantry units, I did rally back the Dutch horse. The French failed to rally their lost foot, and eventually Marlborough's infantry battalions drove back the French right to win teh day. I record scores based on how many units the winner has left (including returned reserves). Marlborough won this one 5-1.

We swapped sides. The French position actually looks pretty good when you're sat behind it.

I opened up with my horse on the right, routing the Dutch,

One of the Allied artillery units proved unreliable - it was the eighth reliability test we'd taken across four games, and the first one to fail. Once again some of the French infantry were driven out of their defensive positions, to be replaced by their reserve horse. At this stage we both had all of our reserves committed, and there was a horrible matchup in the centre, with some original front-line French infantry facing Allied cavalry, against which they get a tasty bonus for being prepared.

On my more open right flank, my cavalry swept all before it and turned the Allied left.

Mrs Kobold pressed my left with her elite infantry, but couldn't shift the horse there and turn my flank. After some fierce fighting I finally took out the Allied centre, for a French victory.

The French won this one 3-1.

So the current scores are:

Alan - 13 points

Catherine - 8 points

Marlborough - 8 points

French - 13 points

Next up is Oudenaarde, which has some interesting unreliable troops on both sides.

Random Armies For The War Of Spanish Succession

In the comments on a previous post I was asked if I was looking at doing a simple campaign for the Great Northern War using 'Dominion of Marlborough and Peter The Great'. I have been considering it and have a couple of ideas I'm working on, but this morning I came up with an idea for doing a very simple mapless campaign for the War of Spanish Succession. This is all the more remarkable because I know next to nothing about the War of Spanish Succession. However I've never let my lack of knowledge of an era stop me pottering about with wargames-related stuff for it. It's how we learn.

Anyway, I am working through the mechanics of the campaign itself, and if it seems workable I will post it here. But what the campaign also needs is a way of generating armies for battles similar to the system I used for my English Civil War campaign.

I have looked at the armies in the various scenarios in 'Dominion of Marlborough and Peter The Great' and come up with the following, which I think reflects those armies plus what little I do know about the conflict.

The two sides are Bourbons (France and Allies) and the Grand Alliance (Austrian, British, Dutch etc). Precisely which nations or combination of nations are fighting is  irrelevant. That's up to the players to decide.

Roll for how many units, upgrades and downgrades the army has. Determine which army is the attacker in the battle.

1 - 6 units
2 - 6 units, 1 upgrade, 1 unreliable
3 - 6 units, 2 upgrades, 2 unreliable
4 - 5 units, 2 upgrades
5 - 5 units, 3 upgrades, 1 unreliable
6 - 4 units, 4 upgrades

Roll for the type of each unit.

1-2 - Line Infantry
3 - Horse (Dice for which type below)
4-5 - Line Infantry or Horse (Balance existing numbers if possible, or dice for it if even)
6 - Dragoons/Artillery (Dice for which below)

Only count the first two rolls of 6. Treat any other rolls of 6 a roll of 5

Roll for each Horse unit:

0-3 - Sabres
4+ - Pistoliers
+2 if Bourbon, -1 if Alliance

Roll for each Dragoons/Artillery result:

0-4 - Artillery
5+ - Dragoons
-1 if Alliance

Roll for each Upgrade the army has:

0-3 - Elite
4-6 - Disciplined/Defences
-1 if Attacker +1 if Defender

Randomly assign the upgrades to units. Artillery cannot be Elite. 

Finally allocate the Unreliable statuses to units. The first Unreliable must be assigned to either an Artillery or Dragoons unit if the army has one. Otherwise it, and any others are assigned to random units.

The defender sets up first, followed by the attacker.

Notes
Bourbon forces seem to generally have Pistoliers as their main cavalry type. Their +2 on the Horse table will ensure this. Drop it to a +1 if you feel it's too much. Alliance armies seem to have fewer troops classed as Dragoons, however, so I've made it less likely they will be present. Artillery and Dragoons are often Unreliable in the scenarios. In terms of upgrades, I have assumed that attacking armies are more likely to have troops with a strong offensive spirit, whereas the defending army is more likely to have field defences or a terrain advantage. Elite and Defended/Discipline can represent a range of things, however, and it's up to the players to decide what. In the same way, Unreliable troops can simply be those on flank marches or late-arriving reinforcements.

In terms of individual theatres of the war - Spain, the Low Countries, Germany or Italy - feel free to tweak modifiers to better reflect armies there if you have a better understanding of the era than I do. I won't know unless you tell me.

Great Victories - Part 1

I've been playing around with Dominion Of Malborough And Peter The Great over the past couple of days. I'd tried a few Great Northern Wars battles, and they were OK. But I decided to have a go at some of the War Of Spanish Succession scenarios as well,  using my GNW figures, naturally.

I really enjoyed how they played out, so I thought that it would be fun to try a series of linked games. Not really a campaign. Just some linked games.

Malborough's victories at battles of Blenheim (1704), of Ramillies (1706), of Oudenarde (1708), and of Malplaquet (1709) ensured his place in history as one of Europe's great generals, and there's a scenario for each in the rules. So I decided that I would play them through in order against Mrs Kobold, swapping sides after each game. I would give the winner points equal to how many units they had left at the end - the loser would get one or zero depending on how badly they did.

Mrs Kobold has only heard me waffling on about the Dominion series up until now, so for last night's session I started with a fifth battle to get her used to the rules. I chose the prelude to Blenheim; the July 1704 Storming of the Schellenberg.

Here's the view from behind the Bavarian defences. I use small stones to mark most traits, or paper earthworks to show units in defences. Malborough and his allies have their infantry to the fore. On their right is a formidable fortress with elite artillery in defences.

The Bavrian right was where the battle opened, and it developed into a sustained brawl (both units destroyed each other which I chose to interpret as them being caught up in a sustained fight that would last until the end of the battle). We both moved up foot from the reserve to support the action there.

(I used the option slow reserves rule, where a sector in which you've deployed reserves can't be chosen on your next turn).

The artillery on the Bavarian left pounded away at successive Allied attackers.

Despite a breakthrough in the centre it was their failure to subdue the Bavarian artillery that defeated the Allies.

So with an understanding of the rules Mrs Kobold was ready for the first battle. And it's the famous one - Blenheim.

This view from behind the Franco-Bavarian positions shows the initial setup. On the right is Blenheim itself, whilst the rest of the French forces are represented by artillery backed up by some foot and formidable numbers of cavalry. The Allies have all of their foot to the fore and a strong cavalry reserve.

The scenario relies on the Allies being able to force the Nebel and take out those Franco-Bavarian artillery units. Mrs Kobold, as the Allies, found that hard to do, but did eventually manage to push through in the centre, only to face massed French horse.

She also neutralised the defenders of Blenheim. Things were looking good.

But the French cavalry in the centre proved unstoppable, and the Allied reserves were not up to stopping it. Malborough and Eugene were defeated and I picked up 4 points for the French. Mrs Kobold got 1 for Malborough.

We swapped sides. I was confident Lady Luck would be with me and that I would be across the Nebel in no time.

She wasn't. My attack on Blenheim stalled. And the Franco-Bavarian centre and left also held back Malborough and Eugene.

Prussian horse (probably) was sent to support the failing attacks on Blenheim. They didn't help.

The French right held against all-comers and whilst the Allies were starting to make inroads in the centre, the Franco-Bavarian reserves were holding them. The Allied left collapsed and the unsupported army was defeated.

Malborough lost even more badly this time, with Mrs Kobold picking up 5 points to my 1.

So after the first of the 'Great Victories' Mrs Kobold is on 6 points to my 5 and Malborough is on a paltry 2 points to the French 9.

We called it a night after that, but Ramillies beckons the next time we sit down at the table.