– “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, we can’t help wondering what an empty desk indicates.” – Unkown
One of the first priorities I had at the start of this blog, was the development of my desk. I used to work on an old garden table. But wanted to have a more stable solution. Also including my computer and monitor in the desk, to have just a single workspace was part of the plan.
In my daily job I am working as an engineer, giving me access to some 3D CAD software and the knowledge to work with them. Therefore I started with measuring the available space. Here I did make only a small error, so the table is less wide as possible. But this will be solved in the future.
The above image shows the final design. The blue box is a standin model for my desktop computer. So I know exactly what space I had available. The Black model barely visible is the same, but for my airbrush compressor. Under the airbrush compressor I have space reserved for an air tank, which might be required in the future, but will be used for storage for now.
Because I have all parts in 3D it is quite easy to create a parts layout/list of all the parts needed. The building material would be wood, and multiplex panels.
Especially below drawing was very helpful. I did print this out, and go to the local wood supplier. They did saw all the multiplex panels to the correct size. All the beams I have cut to length myself. It is very easy, it shows already all the length. I did just cut everything according the drawing, and ended up with a pile of parts.
After that, the actual construction could begin. I pre-drilled all the holes for the screws, and started just assembling. I didn’t take any pictures of that. But below you can see the end results. With an already cluttered desk. Still need to organize everything 😉
Next step is to add some wooden edging to make all the edges nice and smooth and also preventing that some models will roll from the table. Also I want to put some extension on the rear side, to gain an extra 10cm space. Add a monitor bracket, so the monitor is lifted from the table, and is not taking up any valuable space. And do all the cabling and wiring underneat, to install the desktop. Hope to have this finished in the next couple of weeks.
Last week we played the Battle of the three roads I posted earlier on. I did not have time to do more preparation. So we just decided to play the scenario, with the rules from the 2-by-2 rule set. I try to describe the changes we made below.
The map we used
We used the map as shown on top. We copied it to the gaming cloth I made. Unfortunatly I did not have enough forest to cover all the forest, so those had to be drawn in. We didn’t include a lot of terrain rules from the scenario. Skipped the weather section. We used the following rules:
The passing trough the water at the top left is fordable, on a 5+ for infantery, and on a 4+ for horses. The French did have a pontoon brigade, which could construct a bridge, allowing easy passage. On a 1-3 it would take 1 turn to construct the bridge, on a 4-6 it would take two turns. Optionally it could be tried to build a bridge on a different spot, but only on a 6+ they would find a suitable spot.
For the high ground in the middle, we decided that people below could see and fire at people up to the road (which runs in the middle of the high ground) If you were on the other side of the road you would be safe.
For deployment, the British would deploy most forces as wished for in the op third of the map. And act as defending forces, only a small portion would act as reinforcements. For the French would start with a small force on the table, and would have to wait for reinforcement every turn. The total French force was larger than the British, but due to the slow reinforcements the British could defeat them small batches.
The goal for the French was to leave the map with an as large as possible force, at the two exits at the top, behind the river. The British should prevent this. The French did have two corps, every corp would rout if 3 or more units were destroyed. (acting independently from each other). The British side would route if 6 or more units were destroyed.
British Forces
The British were divided in three main forces:
1st Netherlands Division: Stedmann
3 regiments of line Infantry
1 battery of foot artillery
4th British Division: Colville
1 regiment of guards
1 regiments of line Infantry
1 piece of foot artillery
Hanoverian Reserve: von der Decken
2 regiment of guards
2 regiments of line Infantry
1 piece of foot artillery
Attachments:
1 squadron of heavy cavalry
1 squadron of light cavalry
French Forces
The French had two Corpses
I Corps: d’Erlon
8 regiments of line Infantry
1 battery of foot artillery
1 squadron of light cavalry
II Corps: Reille
8 regiments of line Infantry
1 battery of foot artillery
1 squadron of light cavalry
Attachments:
1 company of Engineer/pontoniers
As you can see in the forces list, the French are numerical superior, but the British do have slightly better infantry units. Combined with their deployment advantage, we hoped this would match them up evenly.
Battle started
The Battlefield, the highground.
The Battle started with the advance of the two different French corpses towards the top corner (A and B) The British decided to defend near the town and the bridge (C and D)
The French closing in on the Bridge, while the British scouting force was heading back to the other side of the bridge.
This resulted in a firefight and artillery bombardment at both sides of the bridge. (See F on the map)
On the other side the corps did get confused with the heavy cavelry moving close by, and was in the end locked in at the forest at E. After a couple of turn this force started to break, and even some cavalry reinforcements, did prevent the collapse of this front.
On the other side things started to look better, when the first regiment formed a bridgehead at the other side. But reinforcment and relieve couldn’t bring in quick enough. Resulting in a stalled fight. The British which defeated the forces at E now diverted to the bridge, making the situation very risky for the French. A quick break through didn’t happen, and a major retreat had to be called by the French.
The British came out very victorious, by only loosing two regiments of infantry, but slaying 4 French regiments of infantry, a squadron of light cavalry, the HQ of one of the corpses, and capturing the engineering/Pontoon brigade.
Conclusion
This was a real fun game. I had quite a busy week, and did not have a lot of time in preparation. And we had to decide the rules of the scenario at the beginning. But the rules flowed very well, felt quite even matched and did give a nice gaming night. In hindsight I should have focused on one attacking location, and combined the two corpses on the left side (D), hoping to tumble the fronts one, by one. I think we will play more of these games in the future.
After reading the books on the Ethiopian history and air force actions, I hope to create multiple campaigns. Trying to simulate the different wars and operations. I think I will play most of these campaigns in solo mode. Testing out the Missle threat Solo rules and the Missle threat mercenary air campaign. I have divided the history in the following operations:
United Nations Operation in the Congo (1960-1964)
Eritrean war of independence (1961-1991)
Ogaden war, Ethiopia-Somali (1978)
DERG period (1978-1988)
Badme war, Ethiopia-Eritrean (1998-2001)
For most of these periods there were a lot of engagements, but most are not described with a lot of details. Therefore for gaming purposes I will simplify these eras, and create some kind of alternate-history. This enables to use a campaign system and generate some raids and air clashes, from tables.
Some of the equipment of the UN air force stationed in Congo. The Ethiopian are not in this plane, but where present in Congo with their F-86 fighters. (Source: Wikipedia)
At this moment I don’t have any planes yet. Therefore more detailed plans will be made when I acquire them. A big inspiration will come from the Cuba Libre! blog. This was one of the reasons with the air wargaming, and also lead me to Lacquered coffins and Missile threat rules. Please check out his work, especially his Phantoms over Havana series.
