Wednesday, 29 January 2025

The Battle of Downham Station; Norfolk; England February 5th 1871. [ Fictional ].

 This article is a work of historical fiction and is my personal interpretation of this era. Any mistakes are my own.


In the early hours of February 5th 1871,  a thick fog had formed covering the coastal waters of the east coast of middle England.  Steaming slowly through this gloom, on patrol, was the Armoured Corvette " PALLAS".

As the  Corvette steamed slowly through the calm waters, a Duty Lookout on the bridge spotted lights in the gloom. The Captain ordered a course change to intercept  those lights that were not expected. As the Pallas drew near, French Tricolours were spotted.

On being hailed a French voice replied in broken English that "echapper ....impoundment"!! .. The Captain and his Officers decided that the ships must have escaped impoundment by the Prussians. The Fleet sailed on. A signal was sent to the Coastguard station at Great Yarmouth.

The Harbourmaster at Kings Lynn watched the ships drop anchor as the sun rose and the fog lifted. Dockworkers and civilians watched in puzzlement as boats were launched into the water and troops were seen scaling down the sides of the ships.

As the boats came to the docks people thought they were French. The troops formed up on the dockside and gutteral voices issued commands. As people turned away, shots rang out  and these same soldiers held civilians. This broke the spell, people started shouting, screaming and running from the docks



.

the Harbourmaster immediately ran for the Telegraph Office, hundreds of civilians were streaming away from Kings Lynn.

Meanwhile, senior Prussian officers were sending engineers and men to the railway yards to commandeer a train. Companies were sent forward to find horses. At the same time, troops of the Seebattalione were being sent toward the royal estate of Sandringham.

Within the hour,  Units of the Prussian 10th Armeekorp were on the train steaming toward Cambridge. Meanwhile there was shock and consternation at London and Windsor. At first, there was disbelief.! An Invasion! By Prussians!. As realization set in orders were swiftly transmitted. All available Militia and Military personnel were to head toward Kings Lynn by any means possible and engage the enemy.!!



Soon, the troops of the Windsor Garrison were packed into trains and Goods Waggons heading North. Meanwhile, The County Militia of Norfolk were scrambling in the same direction.

Eventually word spread along the Telegraph that the enemy were heading south toward Cambridge. It was decided that the enemy should be met at Downham Station…

BRITISH HOME DIVISION [ A scratch force ].

Acting C-in-C ; General Henry Abadie  @ 1 point.

General Evelyn Barker  @ 1 point.

General Edmond Wavery  @ 1 point.

1 stand of Grenadier Guards @ 4 points.

3 stands of Regular Line Infantry @ 3 points = 9 points.

1 stand of Regular Horse Artillery @ 1 point.

1 stand of Cavalry [ 6th Dragoons ] @ 2 points.

2 stands of Militia Horse Artillery @ 1 point = 2 points.

8 stands of Militia Infantry  @ 2 points  = 16 points.

[ personal weapons include the Beaumont-Adams revolver and the Snyder-Enfield Rifle.]



PRUSSIAN 10TH ARMEEKORPS.

Commanding: General Der Infantrie, Konstantin Bernhardt Von Voights-Rhetz @ 2 points.

19th INFANTRY  DIVISION;

Generaleutnant Emil Von Schwatzkoppen. @ 1 point.

4 stands of Line Infantry  @ 3 points = 12 points.

1 stand of Dragoon Cavalry @ 2 points.

1 stand of Light Foot Artillery  @1 point.

20th INFANTRY DIVISION:

Generalmajor Alexander Von Kraatz-Koschau @ 1 point.

4 stands of Line Infantry  @ 3 points  = 12 points.

1 stand of Hanovarian Jaegers  @ 2 points.

1 stand of Dragoon Cavalry  @  2 points.

1 stand of Light Foot Artillery.  @  1 point.

CORPS ARTILLERY; Oberst Moritz Van Der Goltz.@ 1 point.

1 stand of infantry Artillery Guard  @ 1 point.

1 stand of Heavy Foot Artillery  @ 2 points.

1 stand of Horse Artillery  @ 1 point.

[ Catchment area for the 9th and 10th Armeekorps;  Province of Hanover, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, and Dutchy of Brunswick.]


SCENARIO RULES:

* The Prussians move first on the first Game-Turn and have the Initiative Point.

* From Game-Turns 2 to 8, each side throws a 12 sided die to see who Moves first and has the Initiative Point.

* Both sides are using Rifled Muskets and Artillery.

* The game is played for 8 Game-Turns, the Winner being the player who looses the lower number of stands.

THE BACKGROUND OF THE GAME:

In 2023 The Wargames Association of Reading ran their annual “ Warfare”event at Farnborough. Their theme was the 110th Anniversary of H.G. Wells. They requested games with a Victorian theme ( like “ The battle of Dorking”)

I worked out a Participation game with the Prussians and British, along with a  basic back story. I did some historical checking, to bind into the scenario.

However, at the last minute, my buddy got a call from the hospital for some long overdue surgery. Forward to 2024 and I received an invitation from The Newbury and Reading Wargames Association to put on Participation game at “ Colours”, their event at Newbury Racecourse.

This we did and it was a brilliant day, with lots of interest and people playing. We also managed to stage the same game at Warfare 2024, thanks to the club finding us a space.

I must admit, I really enjoyed setting up this scenario. In Medieval times The Hanseatic League had traded goods at Kings Lynn therefore I assumed the Prussian High Command would have information on the harbour area. Similarly the 10th Armeekorp had their Cantonment around Bremerhaven. That’s how I chose Kings Lynn for The Prussian raid-in-force.


THE TRAIN;

This was for the most part scratchbuilt, the “ Dajeeling ” engine body came from MPRO on Etsy, a Narrow Guage engine. I filled in the gaps in the body with plastic straws and cardboard.



I then filled in the bottom with picture framing cardboard. I then glued on a set of wheels from Peter Pig. The company does sets of wheels either Half round ( for armoured trains ) or full round for railway carriages.


 

I put some American Civil War railway figures in the Engine before I put the roof on. 



The carriages were scratch built. I used the Peter Pig Flatcar and built the body using plasticard.



The railway line was purchased from Ironclad Miniatures. The station was a 15mm model kit from Kestrel and purchased online from Amazon.



Most of the buildings that make up Downham were from Total Battles Miniatures 15mm Black Powder range. Most were purchased as painted but two were painted by myself. Three of the larger houses were purchased from a Bring and Buy and repainted. The barn next to the station is from Peter Pig.



The scenery sections including the roads were made from picture-framing cardboard and Bluetack.  The hedgerow came from Pendraken Miniatures. The fences were scratchbuilt from matchsticks. The tents are scratchbuilt from cardboard.

All the figures came from Irregular Miniatures. The flags are from Pendraken Miniatures.

THE HISTORY;

During the 19th century, authors wrote novels by way of a warning to the Government of the day. Their concern centred around the paucity of Regular Troops within Great Britain. There were only 7,000 Regulars available. The vast majority of the troops were serving in British Dominions overseas. The Government relied on the Home Fleet to protect Britain.

Because of this situation every County was issued a License to raise Militia Battalions. There appears to be some standardization of uniform, the majority being either gray with red turnbacks, cuffs and trouser seams, or, Rifle green with red or black turnbacks cuffs and seams. They carried the standard rifle.



The Yoeman cavalry came from more well off Landowners and they paid for their own horses and equipment. Obviously there were very few of this group.

The Militia Artillery were well trained. Their uniform was based on the Royal Artillery uniform with County variations.

The Regular troops which were available wore the standard British Infantry uniform with shako. However the Home Service uniform was gradually being introduced. This was still red with grey trousers, however the Prussian helmet came in, dark blue with a brass spike and trousers tucked into boots.

The Grenadier Guards still wore the bearskin.

At that time, just after the Franco-Prussian War, the Kaiser was asked by a British journalist if he would invade Britain. The Kaiser replied he would not. However British Diplomacy depended on maintaining the Balance of Power in Europe. Supporting side A against B, then supporting side B when A got too strong.



 Prior to the Franco- Prussian War, Germany had been a patchwork quilt of small states which had been manipulated by either France or Britain according to political necessity. 

Under the Kaiser and, after a brief Civil War, Germany had become a unified  country in the heart of Europe. The Prussians had previously defeated Austria in seven weeks settling the issue as to who would be the dominant force within the old Holy Roman Empire. Germany had arrived on the world stage.

This situation turned the previous Political order, which had lasted some two hundred years, upside down. With the shock defeat of France, Britain now had a new powerful adversary to deal with…..

( note: the picture above shows the 9th and 10th Armeekorp. The 9th has quite a few Essex Miniatures figures in it. I originally did the 10th then decided to add another” corps”….as you do!..).



Wednesday, 1 January 2025

Table Top Battles 2nd Edition; The Addendum. 2025.

When I wrote Table Top Battles, I was quite happy with the result. As I,ve been writing the blogs, I,ve been adding extra rules either for general use or specific to a particular battle.

 I also made a couple of mistakes in that the TURN RECORD SHEET and the ROSTER SHEET could not be downloaded. The Map of ITALY had a number of inaccuracies that happened during my first attempt.

 This ADDENDUM is a round up of all the extra instructions that have appeared in the blogs, plus a rectification of those glitches. This is a free download and print out.

I,d like to stress that this IS NOT THE COMPLETE RULEBOOK.

To get the print-out, go to the HOME PAGE. On the right hand side of the screen go to the box entitled" ABOUT ME". At the bottom of that column is the prompt for the print out.

Just click on that to get the file. Obviously, the quality of the print-out depends on the printer being used ( mine is not brilliant). However all the information will be in one place.