Preparing for VCOW

I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past two days getting the stuff ready for the VCOW session Gary Sheffield and I will be running. The scenario is almost ready to send out, and the PowerPoint presentation needs just a few small tweaks. Gary and I will be having a technical rehearsal/check on Thursday, by which time the participants will have had the opportunity to read their briefing notes and ask any questions that they have.

Bookings for VCOW2021 are now closed, and over sixty people booked places, which is more than we had for VCOW2020. Regardless as to whether or not COW2021 will take place in July, it looks as if VCOW will become a regular event organised by Wargame Developments.

One hundred and thirty six years ago today ...

... Major General Charles (‘Chinese’) Gordon died in Khartoum.

He was the son of Major General Henry William Gordon, and was born in Woolwich on 28th January 1833.

General Gordon's birthplace. It has since been demolished and replaced by a block of local authority flats.

He was educated at Fullards School and Taunton School (both in Taunton), before he returned to Woolwich to attend the Royal Military Academy, where he trained to become a officer in the Royal Engineers.

The old Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, as seen from my house. The Academy has now been converted into a housing complex.

The front of the old Royal Military Academy.

His subsequent career is well known, particularly the role he played leading the 'Ever Victorious Army' in China and Egyptian forces in the Sudan.

Besides this, my interest in Gordon stems from the fact that he was born about half a mile from where I live on Shooters Hill, London, overlooking the old Royal Military Academy.

Colonel de Peyster and the Royal Dumfries Volunteers

The Royal Dumfries Volunteers was raised on 31sy January 1795 at the Dumfries Court House. Colonel de Peyster was elected Major Commandant of the Corps by its members, and his wife provided the unit with its flag. The colonel also ordered one hundred Birmingham-made muskets to arm the unit.

By 21st March, the Volunteers had mustered enough members for a second company to be formed (this was the company that Rabbie Burns served in), and it was commanded by Lieutenant Wellwood Maxwell. All the Volunteers provided their own uniforms and agreed to serve without pay during the war with France ... although they did limit the area in which they would serve to a radius of five miles from Dumfries.

The Volunteers stood down in 1802, once the invasion crisis was over.

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Arent Schuyler de Peyster was born in New York on 27th June 1736, and joined the British Army in 1755. He served as an Ensign in the 50th Regiment of Foot (which had been raised in 1748 by William Shirley, the Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay) before transferring to the 51st Regiment of Foot. The latter regiment had been raised Lieutenant General Robert Napier specifically for service in America, and at one point three members of de Peyster’s extended family were serving in its ranks.

During the Seven Years' War, he served in upper colonial New York, where he gained extensive experience at frontier warfare. During the fighting he was captured and sent to France as a prisoner, where he was eventually exchanged. He joined the 8th Regiment of Foot in 1757 on his return to England, and soon afterwards his regiment was sent to Germany. Three years later it moved to Scotland, and it was there that he met and married Rebecca Blair, daughter of Robert Blair, later provost of Dumfries.

In 1768 the 8th Regiment of Foot was sent to Quebec, and by 1774 de Peyster had been promoted several times, and was serving as commandant of Fort Michilimackinac, which is in present-day Mackinaw, Michigan. He stayed there until 1779.

When the American War of Independence broke out in 1775, he recruited a number of Native Americans from the Great Lakes area, and many of them served under General John Burgoyne in New York. For his efforts, de Peyster was promotion to the rank of Major. On leaving Fort Michilimackinac, Major de Peyster was placed in command of Detroit, where he was able to recruit the previously hostile local Native Americans to the British cause. As a result, the American militia from Pennsylvania and Kentucky that were sent to capture Detroit were unable to do so as they lacked local support.

In November 1783, de Peyster was promoted to become a Lieutenant Colonel, and sent to assume command of Fort Niagara, which was situated where the Niagara River joined Lake Ontario. After the war had ended in 1785, de Peyster and his regiment returned to England, where he eventually became the regiment's Colonel in October 1793.

He retired in 1794 due to ill health, and moved to Dumfries, where he and his wife settled down at Mavis Grove, a nearby country estate. He died there on 26th November 1822 as a consequence of an accident, and he was buried in St Michael's Churchyard ... the same churchyard where Rabbie Burns was interred.

Rabbie Burns ... the soldier

Whilst doing my research for my forthcoming talk about Rabbie Burns, I discovered that he had joined the Royal Dumfries Volunteers when it was created in 1795.

He even wrote the words for a song (THE DUMFRIES VOLUNTEERS, sung to the tune PUSH ABOUT THE JORUM) about the regiment:

Does haughty Gaul invasion threat,

Then let the loons beware, Sir,

There's wooden walls upon our seas,

And volunteers on shore, Sir.

The Nith shall run to Corsincon,

And Criffel sink in Solway,

Ere we permit a foreign foe

On British ground to rally!

O let us not, like snarling tykes,

In wrangling be divided;

Till slap come in an unco loon

And wi' a rung decide it.

Be Britan still to Britain true,

Amang oursels united;

For never but by British hands

Maun British wrangs be righted!

The kettle o' the kirk and state,

Perhaps a clout may fail in't;

But deil a foreign tinkler loon

Shall ever ca' a nail in't.

Our fathers' bluid the kettle bought,

And wha wad dare to spoil it;

By heaven! the sacrilegious dog

Shall fuel be to boil it.

The wretch that wad a tyrant own,

And the wretch his true-born brother,

Who would set the mob aboon the throne,

May they be damned together!

Who will not sing, "God save the King,"

Shall hang as high's the steeple;

But while we sing, "God save the King,"

We'll ne'er forget the people.

The regiment is thought to have worn a red jacket with yellow facings or a blue jacket with red facings, and a crested helmet. (The sources are unclear as to the colour of the jacket and facings.)

Because he was a serving volunteer at the time of his death, Burns was given a military funeral. Besides members of the Royal Dumfries Volunteers, the band of the Cinque Ports Cavalry were present, and played the DEAD MARCH by Handel. In addition, members of the Angusshire Fencibles formed a guard-of-honour, and fired three volleys over his grave.

'The history of a wargame design ...'

'... is not unlike the history of a ball. Some designers may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the rules that are written, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance.'

I do hope that the Duke of Wellington will excuse me mangling his quote* about the Battle of Waterloo, but it is rather appropriate at the moment.

This quote came to mind when I began work on the PowerPoint presentation that I am preparing for the forthcoming VCOW2021. I wanted to start with a short explanation about how the whole PORTABLE WARGAME concept came about ... and then realised that it was not as straightforward as I had thought that its was.

Looking back through my past blog posts, I began to realise that the rules evolved as a result of the coming together of several separate strands. The first of these was my desire to emulate the gridded wargames illustrated in both Donald Featherstone's and Joseph Morschauser's books.

In the latter's case, he was strongly influenced by Professor Gerard de Gre, who ran the wargame club at the college that Joseph attended as a student.

The second was Ian Drury's RETURN TO NEW STANHALL game at COW1998(!). This led directly to the development of SCWaRes (Simple Colonial Wargame Rules), which in turn was developed into WHEN EMPIRES CLASH!

At about the same time, I 'rediscovered' Joseph Morschauser's book and bought a copy of Richard Borg's MEMOIR '44 ...

... which eventually led me to buy both the first ...

... and second edition version of his American Civil War game, BATTLE CRY.

I did develop my own take on MEMOIR '44, which I entitled MEMOIR OF BATTLE, which in turn led to MEMOIR OF BATTLE AT SEA and MEMOIR OF MODERN BATTLE.

All the strands were now in place, and all it needed was a catalyst to start the process that led to the final development of the PORTABLE WARGAME.

The catalyst was an old, boxed chess set that was then stored in our conservatory. The heat and sun in the conservatory had not treated it kindly, and the wooden chessmen were warped and cracked. The edge of the board had become detached as the glue had dried out, and my wife gave me an ultimatum to either find a use for the chessboard or to throw it away.

I was loath to throw it away, and decided that it might make the basis of a simple, portable wargame. I began experimenting with ideas that I had garnered from my previous wargame designs ... and this eventually led to the creation of the PORTABLE WARGAME.

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* The original quote is:

'The history of a battle, is not unlike the history of a ball. Some individuals may recollect all the little events of which the great result is the battle won or lost, but no individual can recollect the order in which, or the exact moment at which, they occurred, which makes all the difference as to their value or importance.'

It was written by the Duke of Wellington in a letter to John Croker, dated 8th August 1815. Croker was an Irish Member of Parliament and a longtime friend of the Duke.

One hundred and forty-two years ago today ...

... Zulu forces attacked and destroyed most of the troops forming Nos. 2 and 3 Columns of the British army that was invading King Cetswayo’s Zulu domain. The fighting took place in the shadow of Isandlwana, an isolated 1.284m /4,213ft-high hill. 

Of the approximately 1,800 British-led troops who took part in the battle, 1,300 were killed, the majority being drawn from the 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, the Natal Native Contingent, and other native auxilliary troops. There were a total of fifty-seven British officers in command of the troops at Isandlwana, of whom only five survived.

Later that day, Zulu troops who had not taken part in the battle attacked the British outpost at Rorke’s Drift ... where just over 150 soldiers of the regular army (mainly drawn from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot) held them off until the next day. During the fighting, at least 500 Zulus were killed at a cost of seventeen dea and fifteen wounded British casualties. Eleven Victoria Crosses and four Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded to the defenders.

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The films ZULU DAWN and ZULU tell the story of the fighting at Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift, and with a bit of luck I hope to be able to watch them later today or at some point over the weekend. The former is a worthy and fairly accurate depiction of what happened at Isandlwana, and the latter tells a somewhat fictionalised version of the fighting at Rorke's Drift. That said, it is an outstanding film in its own right, and never ceases to entertain me whenever I watch it.

Going back to hospital ... for my COVID-19 vaccination!

Yesterday I had a phone call from the University Hospital, Lewisham.

When they announced who was calling, I had a momentary sharp intake of breath as I thought that it might relate to my recent surgical operation ... and then they asked if I’d had my COVID-19 vaccination yet. When I said that I hadn’t, they asked me if I could be available this morning to visit the hospital to be vaccinated. I immediately agreed ... and at 10.10am I will be waiting for my vaccination.

I’m not sure which of the vaccines they will be administering, but whichever it is, I will be very pleased to have it.

Some new books to read

A courier has just delivered two books to add to my 'to be read' pile. They are HITLER'S EASTERN LEGIONS 1942-45 and VELIKIYE LUKI 1942-43: THE DOOMED FORTRESS.

The former covers the organisation, history, uniforms, and insignia of the six 'Legions' raised by the Germans from the numerous Turkestani, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Armenian, North Caucasian, and Volga-Tartar prisoners-of-war that were captured during the invasion of Soviet Russia. These units not only served alongside the Germans on the Eastern Front, but were also deployed to garrison parts of the Atlantic Wall and other parts of occupied Europe.

Velikiye Luki was captured by the Germans during the initial stages of Operation Barbarossa, and later formed part of the boundary between Army Groups North and Middle. As such, it was a prime target for the Russians, and during the winter of 1942/43 it was surrounded and the German garrison was cut off. In an action somewhat reminiscent of Stalingrad, the Luftwaffe attempted to keep the garrison supplied by air, but after a seven-week siege, the survivors had to surrender. Very few of them survived to returne to German in the 1950s.

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HITLER'S EASTERN LEGIONS 1942-45 was written by Nigel Thomas and illustrated by Johnny Shumate. It was published by Osprey Publishing in 2020 as N0.233 in its 'Elite' series (ISBN 978 1 4728 3954 1).

VELIKIYE LUKI 1942-43: THE DOOMED FORTRESS was written by Robert Forczyk and illustrated by Peter Dennis. It was published by Osprey Publishing in 2020 as No.351 in its 'Campaign' series (ISBN 978 1 4728 3069 2).

Getting things done!

Since Friday I have managed to get quite a few things done ... or at least, started.

The talk about Rabbie Burns (which includes a number of PowerPoint slides*) is finished, and all I have to do before I deliver the talk is to print off the script. I like to script my talks (even if do not always rigidly stick to it) I so that I know when to move from one slide to another.

Regarding the VCOW session I am doing with Gary Sheffield, I have written the scenario for the demonstration of THE PORTABLE WARGAME we are putting on, and drawn the gridded map that we will use. I now need to produce a QRS for the participants, and to prepare a short introduction to the development and basic structure of the rules as well as how they can be used for distance wargaming during the current pandemic. This will involve creating yet another PowerPoint slideshow*, but I hope to keep the number of slides to a minimum.

If I do not get diverted by the need to do other things during the course of the day, I hope to complete the preparations by the end of the day. If not, then I cannot see a reason why it will not be finished by tomorrow evening.

It's really great to feel that after a period of doing very little, I am getting things done again!

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* I am very aware of the 'death by PowerPoint' phenomena, and like to keep my slideshows brief, pertinent, and easy to read. I never, ever just read what is on the slide to my audience, as the slides are intended to be 'hooks' for their interest. I regard the text and illustrations that appear on each slide as being paragraph headings for what I am saying, and nothing more.

VCOW2021 update

The organisers of VCOW2021 had a Zoom meeting this morning, and the programme and timetable for  the conference are almost finalised, and should be published in the near future.

It looks as if is going to be a balanced mixture of talks, online games, and discussions ... and I can already foresee there being at least two sessions that I would like to attend, but which will clash on the timetable. Some people might see this as a problem, but I see it as an indicator that the range of sessions on offer will attract sufficient numbers to ensure that they are successful.