The Best ISmm ••••••••••••••••••••••

1000+ ARMIES

•••••••••••••• DesignedBy Champions $99.95 -2Smm Late Roman, Samurai (Dixon), Samurai/Monks, Wars of Roses, 100 Years War, Byzantine, Viking, Aztec (Tinsoldier), Palmyran, Burgundian, Teutonic, Knilan Liac, Anglo Danish. Late Crusader, Prussian, Anglo-Irish, Medieval Scandanavian, late Imperialist. Early Swiss (Corvus). Late Swiss (Corvus), Free Company.

$124.95 -2Smm Seleucid, Alex Macedonian, Alex. Imperial, Lysimachid, Hopli te Greek, Asiatic Successor, Middle Roman, Arab Conquest, Sicilian (Book III). Tibetan, Norse Irish, Byzantine, Early Crusader, Tang Chinese, Norman, Indian, Bactrian Greek, Maccabean Jews, Knights of 51. John.

1Smm DIXON ARMIES Islamic Persian-$41.95, Samurai-$29.95, Middle Period Samurai~$32.95, Late Samurai~$24.50

15mm TIN SOLDIER ARMIES Anglo Danish~$27.95. Viking-$31.95, Burgundian - $29.95, War of the Roses­$33.95, English 100 Years War-$33.95, Tibetan-, Norse trish-$38.95, Late Crusader-$29.95, Aztec-$31.95, Indian -$44.95, Teutonic Knights-$28.95, Swiss -$33.95, Alexandrian Imperial-$42.95, Lysimachid - $39.95, Ptolomeic-$39.95, tc.·~ Hoplite-$37.95, Normans-$37.95, Pah"l1vran -$27.95. Alexandrian Macedonian -$42:95, Macedonian Early Successor­$42.95, Pyrric-$45.95, Medieval Scandanavian-$28.95, Early Crusader­$36.95, Asiatic Early Successor-$43.95, Seleucid-S45.95. Hellenistic Greek­$43.95, Angto-lrish-$29.95, Prussian­$31.95

Essex 15mm l a1e Romans

15mm DONNINGTON ARMIES Spanish-$43.95, Carthaginian-S41 .95, Early German (Book 1)-$47.95, Republican/Camillan i=loman-$31.95, Gallic -$39.95, Marian Roman-$38.95, Parthian -$39.95, Ancienl British-$49.95, Numidian -$48.95, Late Hoplite -$37.95, Normans -$37.95, Palmyran-$27.95, Anglo Danish -$27.95, Viking-$31.95, Norse Irish -$38.95

••• NEW 15mm Army Packs Manufactured By Essex

NEW Authentic Painting Guide With Each Army

ANCIENTS $34.95 Vikings, Palmyran, Late Roman, Normans

RENAISSANCE $39.99 English 16th C. , Scots 16th C., Irish 16th C., Swedish 30 Years War, French (Catholic), Huguenot, Spanish. Hungarian, Muscovite, Cossack, Persian, MoghuJ, French 17th C .. Polish, Imperialist, French/Italian Wars, Teutonic Knights, Landsknecnts

ECW $39.99 Royalist, Early Parliament, New Model, Covenanters, Montrose

SEVEN YEARS WAR $39.99 Austrian, Prussian, French, British

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR $39.99 Confederate, Union

Essex 15mm l ate Romans

Essex 15mm Vikings

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& 25mm Figures •••••••••••••••••••••• Essex Seleucids Price Code & Description

A MP70 A MP70A A MP71 A MP71A A MP72

D MP73 A MP74 A MP74A A MP75 A MP75A A MP76 A MP77 A MP78

C MP79 A MP80 A MP81 0 MP82

0 MP83

A MP84 A MP85 A ? New Horses F H39

E2

Phalangite medium infantry pike Phalangite heavy infantry pike Argyraspids medium infantry pike Argyraspids heavy infantry pike 'Roman' Argyraspids heavy infantry, heavy throwing weapon, shield Mounted general Heavy calvary Extra heavy cavalry-H39 Heavy cavalry Extra heavy cavalry- H39 Super heavy cavalry-H16 Civic militia cavalry Tarantine light cavalry, javalin & shield Arab camel archer Archers-assorted poses Slingers-assorted poses Howdah with pikeman, javalinman, archer and driver for mounting on Elephant-E2 Howdah with three archers and driver for mounting on Elephant-E2 Thorakites spear & shield Peltast Skytkian Archer

'Seleucid half armoured Seleucid elephant-$6.99

Essex 25mm Seleucids (Shown Without Shields)

---­Essex French Napoleonics

WE MAKE ORDERING EASY. 1. Determine price.

Price-breaks for clubs. Club discounts are as follows:

Over $25-free postage, $50-10%, $100-15% and $200-20% Discount. DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED

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Please mail check & your order to: Rte. 40 East, Triadelphia, W. VA 26059

ltWARGAMES . •••••••••••••• WARGAMES SUPPORTS WARGAMERS

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NORMANDY 1944: THE BREAKOUT BEGINS

WEST END

GAMES Ambush! and Sixrh Fleer ale trademarks of Vic10ry Games. Inc.

By John Butterfield, cO-designer of Ambush!'"

France has fallen , and Hitler's forces are poised on the English Channel, wailing to begin the invasion of Britain. Wave after wave of Messerschmitts , Heinkets and Junkers pour across the heavens, dropping explosive death on the battered island nation , destroying England 's ability to resist the invasion .

You command the Royal Air Force . Outnumbered and outmatched. your valiant pilots tight unto death to defeat the German war machine. If they fail, so too will fail the cause of freedom .

A Solitaire Game RAF is a medium-complexity solitaire game in which you defend Great Bri­

tain against the overwhelming forces of the l uftwaffe , With limited intelligence, you must commit your squadrons of fighlers to defend the homeland - and to destroy Ihe luftwaffe.

Faced wi th dwindling resources, collapsing equipment, and exhausted men, each decision you make is critical. Should we intercept this raid in strength? If we intercept now, wililhe next raid catch our planes refueling? If we throw everything we have atlhem, can we win a decisive battle and smash the power of the luftwaffe once and for all?

The fate of the free world is in your hands.

By Joseph Balkoskl , designer of Sixth Fleef.'''' More than a month after D-Day , Allied armies were hemmed in amidsl the infamous bocage country of Normandy. A breakout was essential. The vital objective on the American front: the town of Sf. Lo (population 12,000) , an important comm unications center ... The orders 10 the US XIXth Corps: Take 51. Lo ... al all costs! Sf. Lo forces you to think like a corps commander.

" My bartalion is cut up pretty bad, sir." " Send them back to HQ for some rest. "

The unique system of headquarters activation , intimately lied to morale 01 in­dividual units, reflects command-control problems - and Ihe chaos of division­level battlf'.

" My men have taken all they can stand, general. We 've got to be relieved!" The system of asset assignment portrays organizational problems laced by in­fantry formations.

"1 15th Infantry is facing tough opposition around Les Romains; send them some engineers and armor! "

In short , Sf. Lo is a highly original study of Second World War combat, em­phasizing command , morale, and organization.

~==_IUIUllllnIlIlIIlIUlnllTtllnlllllnlllllnlnIIIllIlIIITlIIIIIUlITIITIIll llllllml11111111111111 1111111 111111111111 1111111111 1111111111111,11

New Yorl<. City and State residents add applicable sales tax. Send SUS check or money order to:

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I West End Games, Inc. 251 West 30th Street, Sul1e 11 New York, NY 10001

0 $19.95 RAF o $16.95 st. Lo o Please send me your free catalog

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NORTH AMERICA'S FOREMOST MINIATURE GAMING MAGAZINE

FEATURE ARTICLES

CAVALRY IN THE AGEOF NAPOLEON THE U TILE Pill CondrJy introduces U~ to the new theme year . ..

MODELLI NG THE FRENCH AND PRUSSIAN ARMIES 1860-1 8]0, PARTI Par Condray with uniform information . . .

CHA NDLER'S CONCEPT OF COMBINED ARMS Ch;u/es L Steenrod challenges the great historian's view ..

UNDERSTANDING THE RANKS Ralph R. Reinemen reviews the firing formations of the Napoleonic period ..

ALONG THE NIAGARA FRONTIER Jim Arnoldwith America 's Napoleonic War in 1812 . . ....... .

DOUBlEOUTV )im Arnold lells us how to get the most from your Napoleonic painting . .

THE SA TILE Of MONTE fiGARO T.L Gore playing WRC 7th for the first time .. .•. . • . . .

BRICE'S CROSS ROADS Dean We5t presents a wargame scenario for JOHNNY REB'!>

THE BATTLE OF PRATTVILLE VALLEY Paul Koch with a scenario for ON TO R!CHMOND~

MARINE UNIFORMS IN THE AGE OF SAIL SCO/l Bizar describes their cut and color

SKIRMISH SECTION

SKIRMISHING WITH THE SWORD AND THE FLAME Roberl Frazier adds a couple of wrinkles to the popular rules

fiElDCRAFT AND FIRE Greg Novak with a system for skirmish action 5aves

DEPARTMENTS

SAPPER'S REPORT: Paddle Wheel Armor conversion wi th William Greenwald THE REVIEWING STANO with Jay Hadley .. . . . . . .. •.. . THE COURIER DISPATCH News of the hobby with Hal Thinglum BOAROGAMES FOR M INIATURE PLAYERSS with BruceMilligan DISPATCHES fROM THE FIELD Lener§ to (or at) the Editor VOLLEY fiR E What you like (or hate) about THE COURIER

3

5

,

21

27

29

17

39

.. . . . 48

.. .. 50

55

58

. .. . . ............ . . ...... . ... . 25 31 43 53

" "

25

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MANAGING EDITOR: Richard L Bryant BUSINESS MANAGER : l eo Cronin

ART DIRECTOR : Joseph Miceli ADVERTISING MANAGER: Bruce Milligan THEME EDITOR: NAPOLEON THE UTILE

Pat Condray

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS William Abrams; Jim Arnold; Ken Bunger; Robert Beattie; Lynn Bodin; Rodman Burr; Steve Carpenter; Pat Condray; Bill Greenwald : Jay Hadley; Steve Haller; Ian Knight ; Paul Koch; Doug Johnson; Robert Mosca; Nick Nascati: George Schneider ; Kruse Smith; WaherSimon.

Jon Rettich Jose Niera

STAFF CARTOONISTS:

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Jim Birdseye Brian lum

Pat Condray Tom Desmond

THE COURIER DISPATCH: HalThinglum

STAFF ILLUSTRATORS Alan Archambault. Al Karasa

John Thull, Joe Matthews, Larry Schuman John T. Olive, Terry M anton

THE CO URIER PUBLISH ING COMPANY,INC. Richard L Bryant, President

DIRECTORS Richard Bryant. LeoCronin, Joseph Miceli

TH E COURI ER is pu blished approximately bi-monthly at Brockton, MA 02401 USA.

SUBSCRIPTIONS USA -S16.00; CANADA & S. AMER ICA, surface rate -S19.00. UNITED KINGDOM & EUROPE write to: Athena Books, 2OSt. Mary's Rd., Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN1 2NP England.

BACK ISSUES Recent back issues are available 10r$4.oo, USA; S4.50 Canada & Foreign surface; SS.SO Foreign airmai l. See last page of issue for listing. Monies in US funds drawn on US banks or International Postal Money Order. Subsc:riplionsstart with NEXT published issue OIlier receipt of payment

No responsibili ty is assumed for statements of fact or opinion made by the authors. No responsibility is assumed for unsolicited manuscripts, bUI all sub­missions are welcome, no query necessary. All sub­missions should contain a self-addressed STAMPED envelope large enough to relurn the submission.

This magazine a nd ot her publ ications of The Cou rier Publishing Company are sold with the underfotandi ng that every reasonable attempt is made to deliver them safely through the mails. The Courier Publ ishing Company is nol responsible for items lost in the m~ ils. Repla.:ements will be provided 011 thei r usual ,~,

ALL DOMESTIC DEALER INQUIRIES,ADVERTISING COPY AND INQUIRIES, DOMESTIC SUBSCRIP­TIONS AND ARTICLES to THE COURIER. Box 1878, Brockton, MA 02403.

Enlire Contents Copyright c> 1986 by The Courier Publishing Company, Inc.

VOl. VII, NO. 1

THE VANGUARD

EDITOR'S NOTES

ENJOY THE HOBBY BUT WHER E DOES IT SAY I HAVE TO GIVE ANYTHING BACKr

When I p.micip.lIeu in the inJuguration of HMGS lHislOrical Miniature Gaming Society) I did so because I lelt that The Historical Miniature gamer needed a voice that would be heard by the manufacturers and convention organizers. We were being lost amid Fantasy gamers and role players to the poinl that hi~torical lines were being dropped and convention organizers were heard to question the need for makinlS any room for Historical Miniatures in Iheir convention.

The bask premise of HMGS was to further the hobby by making the Historical Miniature presence fel! ~t conventions: to form ~ block of people (voting with their S) who would make manufacturers l isten to lheir gripes: toexpand the hobby through ~dverti sing. demos and by generally making the hobby more visible and understood by John Q . Public; to divorce ourselvefo from the bad press that some areas of the hobby had received.

··This will be very expensive'·. I was told. ··Nonsense". said I . ··in this hobby there are people from aU walk!. of life. with expertise in Jny area you care to mention that will come forth ,md render this ('.pertise Iree of charge 10 help further Ihe hobby!" Boy was I wrong!! Most seem 10 want to eXlract Ihe enjoyment they can from Ihis hobby without worrying whether or not it will be here to be enjoyed by future generations ... It would take so lillie effort in an area in whi.:h you are ~Iready knowledge.lble 10 help immensely. Three of the major areas thaI need the expertise and the dedication I am talking about are:

1. tNSURANCE : Someone knowledgeable in insurance has 10 develop a way that small conventions can acquire liability insurance for theit affairs wi thout too burdensome an e~pense. The hobby also needs instruction or a special insurance policy for insuring figures ag.linfot fire, theft and loss while traveling (I fear that protection against breakage would be prohibitive).

2. PUBLICITY : HMGS has a script for a video t.lpe explaining the hobby. Such a tape would be sold to hobby stores lor rental to their customers. or be given to libraries and schools to spread the word. We need someone EXPERT in producing PROHSStONAL level videofo with access to the necessary equipment and to J club with ligures and terrain of sufficient quality to produ.:e this <,pic. This is an ideal way to promulgJte Ihe hobby!

3. PUBLIC RELATIONS: Wi th all the local cable stations now available we have an ideal opportunity 10 presenl our hobby 10 John Q . Public. We need someone expert in the field to develop a program to be presented through facilities and in other media including Prime Time.

All this h.ls been done with greal success by theModel Railroad people. tet me hear trom you. Give back something toyour hobby - Help out!

CHANGES •.• CHANGES ••• CHANGES

With this issue you will see major changefo. First. Ihe color covers. We have wanted to do this for somr rime .mcl have linally lound a way to do it without tOO much added cost. Hope you like it as we plan 10 exp.lnd color in ro orher parts of the magazine as we call.

Moliling cmts are continuing to increase. however. and we have had to raise the single issue cost and the subsn,ption rale. See the mastheJd on page 4 and the subscriber return form on the mail wrapper lor detai ls.

4

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CAVALRY IN THE AGE OF NAPOLEON THE LITTLE

BY PAT CONDRAY

As everyone knows, the cavalry charges with saber and lance was somewhat obwl~<:em in the age of the rifled musket - let alone the breech loading rille. Epic charg~ of Ihe period afE' usually referred to in such cheerful terms as " lodes Rin" (De,l1h Ride - usually referring 10 B,edow at Vionvillel or "Chevauchee 1.1 Mone" (Death Ride -Gallifel or simi lar). The British equivalent, of course, is summed upwilh referel'lCe 10 "The Valley of Dealh", while the n'II»l often quoted and somewhat disrespeaful American expression for the ume phenomenon was " here come them damn fools with the sabers."

Professional cavalrymen in Europe were notably persistent in their desire to make close order charges with the arme blanche arlIne way up to 1914, in spite of accumulating evidence that such things can be hazardous to youl health. The Imperial German approach to making cavalry more effeClive wn to issue lances to all ranks below sel geant around 1887. Shortl y before WWI the French hastened to close the gap by issuing lances to all cava lry formed in divisions except the cuirassiers, who were above such things. A German manual translated in 1906 observed " neither the saber nor the lance can make anything 01 the cui rass," a discouraging thought if you were a German cuirassier deprived of cuirns and issued a lance. Not until around the turn of the century were French cuirnsiers issued a carbine (robs cavalry of dash) but they were, for most of the years between 1871 and 1900, armed with one or more heavy caliber revoh .. ers.

The role of cavalry in the .... ge of Napoleon the little and immediately thereafter is intriguing to the military hisrorian, and perhaps even more so to the wargamer 01 the period. Cavalry was as beautiful as ever, and numerous, although reduced in proportion to the other arms. But it wasn't always much use. What wu it forl What use could be made of it1 Or, for thewargamer, what use ca n be made of il l

The temptation is to either lei cavalry function as they did in Uncle Napoleon's day, which is how they looked and would like 10 have been able toaCl, or to have them wiped out instantly when fired upon -which is how wme people think it should have happened given the ballistic propel\i~ and rate o f !ire of contemporary weapons. Neither approach is quite right. Then, as now, most bullets missed most people. However, aside from the natural tendency nOito advance to the last dlopof blood, il was increasi ngly difficult to press home charges against the minie rifle , let alone against the needle gun or chassepot. .... nd while the rifled cannon was in many ways inlerior to the old smoothbore as a charge stopper, its

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much increased accurate range made it even more difficult to hang about wait ing for a chance to charge. In fact, the increase fire fight zone of infantry and artillery crealed a great deal of space between engaged armies where the fire of both sides made loitering in fo-rmed bodies impossible.

.... nd formed bodies were definitely called for! If you should happen to have an old copy of the 1913 version of H.G. wells' lill ie Wars, check the ru les dealing with the effectiveness of close order cavalry against open order infantry - a 5 to 1 kill rate I believe, reversed when the infantry are fo rmed. And the cavalry have no option. Ah, here it is (p. 113, Liule Wars] " No body of less than eight cava lry may charge, and they mUSI charge in proper formation. " (italics my own] . .... nd this was not the "playable version", but Captain Sykes' " Kdegspiel" meant for military training.

Proper order, of course, was knee to knee. The 1911 Bri tannica art icle on cavalry is very instruCliveon this poin t. Once a charge was launched, il was preferred that the second rank keep close up, and that the troopers keep knee to knee. The risk was accepted tha t the front rank casualty would throw several secood rank troopers intodiwrder, and pos$lbly bring them down. If the second rank was kept back it was found that it became confused bydust raised by the first. Bad enough lor support ing squadrons to be lost in the dust . .... s a reiuh. a charge could be preuy badly discouraged without having an overwhelming proportion of the hor~s and men killed or wounded - not thai the enemy would gooul of their way to avoid th~t result.

I should hasten to e~cuse my reference to manuals. w~rgame rules, and scholarly works of the fin ·du-siecle to illustrate views of colvalry tact ics of Napoleon Ill 's era. Basically Ihey had changed but little. Al though infantry tacl ies, and to a degree viewson the u~of dismounted cavalry evolved to conform with magazine ri fles and smokeleis powder ,a great deal of effort was spent on preparing to fight the Franco-Prussian War right up to 1914. There is a diSlinCl gap belween the manuals as wrillen in 1916 and those wrillen in 1914. Up to that time, late century e~amples were viewed with insufficient reflection. Perholp5 " preparing to fight" the Franco-Prussian War" isn't quite right . The 1872 German cavalry manual quoted e~tensively from that of 1757.

Most of us are fami liar wi th the charge of the Light Brigade as an horrible e~ample of technology against sword and lance, but in reality that affair

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