Greg Schroeder Writes - Diatribes

Southern France August 1944

7/11/2026

Southern France, August 1944
The Americans are racing north from their landing in Operation Dragoon. But the Germans are masters of the local counterattack!
A single US platoon under Lieutenant Mulligan was resting at a tiny village that had had the misfortune of being caught in an American B-26 strike. Corporal Higgins and his single, lost 57mm anti-tank gun, was taking coffee with them when Private Donegal ran in, “Krauts!”
Mulligan threw his three sections forward but was soon hard-pressed. Abteilung Harkonnen had a reinforced Wehrmacht platoon supported by an Ostwind armored anti-aircraft gun and a platoon of obsolescent Panzer IIIs and was eager to smash the isolated American platoon.
Leutnant Schroeder’s sections moved more slowly than he desired but the Ostwind pummeled Mulligan’s left section. Mulligan called for help, any help, on his PRC. Tango Bravo, Lieutenant Haris and 3 Shermans rolled to Mulligan’s aid.
Leutnant Silva and his tanks were soon engaged. The lightly armored Ostwind was forced to retire. A Sherman and Silva’s Panzer engaged in a duel. Silva took hit after hit, but none penetrated.
Schroeder pushed forward only suffer 6 killed from Sherman machine guns on his left and 6 killed from Mulligan’s only unpinned section on his right. Things which had looked so bright for the Germans were now dark.
Then Koporal Liszt single-handedly restored the situation. He fired his Panzerschreck to hit one Sherman in the town, igniting its fuel in a catastrophic explosion. Then, carefully sighting, he knocked out a second.
Stunned, the American pulled back. Badly blooded, the Germans also pulled back to regroup.
[rules were Big Chain of Command. Figures are 20mm]

Russia in the Rain, August 1943

4/4/2026

A German platoon had made itself comfortable in a cluster of buildings that had been a Russian dacha. Their Russian opponents thought the Germans would be more comfortable in the fields. So when a wayward infantry gun stopped by Lieutenant Bobov’s camp for some borscht and vodka, it found itself commandeered and deployed to a hillock overlooking the dacha.
The Germans took it personally when 76mm shells began falling around the dacha.
Leutnant Gregor took two sections and tried to run from the south end of the buildings to the southern finger of woods that led to the hillock. Sergeant Von Brendan led his section to the stone wall on the north end of the dacha. Unfortunately for the Germans the maneuver did not go as planned.
One section did not make the cover of the woods and Brendan was met by withering fire from a Russian Maxim and the infantry gun. Brendan was pinned. Then the Maxim turned on Gregor’s floundering section and decimated it. (it helped the Russians got several “go again” phases).
With Bobov’s heavies minimizing the threat, Senior Sergeant Grasonovich led two Russian sections into the south finger of woods. They soon contacted Gregor’s three teams. The ensuing firefight did not go well for Gregor and his second LMG section broke for the rear.
Desperate times call for desperate measure and Obergegefreiter Hans ordered his riflemen to throw “Handgranaten”. The hail of grenades pinned one of Grasonovich’s sections.
All the while Von Brendan had been directing the fire of the platoon’s 5cm mortar on the infantry gun, even as it continued to batter his pinned section. The mortar had deadly effect. Three crewman fell dead to the tiny bombs. When Gregor managed to rally an MG42 team and add its fire, the gun was abandoned by the sole survivor, the corporal.
Then came the rain. Threatening all morning it now came down in torrents, cutting visibility and adding to the general misery.
Under this cover, Bobov maneuverd his lone infantry section to take Gregor’s lead remnants in the flank and allow Grasonovich to continue pressing. However, with the infantry gun out of action and the Maxim too far away to see in the rain, Von Brendan could now add his support to Gregor.
The result was a draw; both sides caught in a crossfire in the downpour. Even Bobov’s section was brought under fire by both Von Brendan and Gregor’s reconstituted MG team.
The Germans took 18 casualties, killed and wounded, out of 33 engaged. The Russians lost 16 casualties out of 41 engaged. However, the Russians lost 1 leader killed and 2 more wounded (out of 5) while the German loss was only 1 leader wounded (out of 4).
Chain of Command rules, 20mm figures.

Ulf's Mound

12/1/2025

On a cold November day, Ulf led his band of Jom’s Vikings – the mercenary second and third sons of Danish and Norwegian landholders – on a raid against another band of Northmen – led by Hagar Bloodaxe. Ulf had heard that a burial mound on a plain by Bloodaxe’s village concealed gold and other plunder. Ulf felt it would look better, and be more useful, above ground instead of under it.
Needless to say, Bloodaxe took objection to Ulf’s plan and the two warbands met at the mound.
Ulf’s wild berserkers stormed the mound first. Bloodaxe led a handful of hird. Bjorn, a crazy Jom’s who fought with two hand axes, locked him up in a duel. In a furious and bloody fighting Ulf cleared the mound and Bloodaxe was struck down by Bjorn.
On the Jom’s right their bondi marched slowly up, in a shield wall, against a looser group of hird. They were soon engaged in a stalemated battle where the shield wall held despite the heavy battering.
Dag, Bloodaxe’s brother, led a surge back up the mound and avenged himself on Bjorn. Meanwhile a youth named Cnut, also of Bloodaxe’s village, found himself surrounded by Jom’s. Slashing and dashing with his short sword he killed two of his more heavily armed and armored foes, then a third before being finally struck down.
The Jom’s archers meanwhile were having a good day, thwarting an attempted flanking maneuver, causing twice as many casualties as they took.
Dag was struck down, and as light faded, Bluetooth, the last hirdman, faced more than a dozen Jom’s buying time for the few, scattered, living defenders to make their way to their stockade, conceding the gold and other valuable to the raiders.

Figures are 25mm. Rules are home grown.

Tyrol 1809

9/17/2024

1809. Tyrol.
The French are on the move and near the Danube there will be a collision of Napoleon and Archduke Charles at Aspern-Essling. But there is a secondary front in much more in hospitable terrain. The woods and hills of the Tyrol bring smaller armies but just as fierce fighting.
General Auguste Marmont has a corps on the move when his route is blocked by the corps of Generalleutnant von Klenau. Marmont has a veteran division under Major General Friant, a division of garrison troops under brigadier Lanusse and a cavalry division under brigadier Mermet, about 16,000 men. Von Klenau has blocked the road with two mixed divisions – grenadiers and chevaulegere under Brigadier Ulm and dragoons, hussars and grenzers under Generalmajor Vincent – and a small infantry division under Generalmajor Schwartzenburg. In all about 14,000 men.
Klenau has Schwartzenburg ensconced in a knot of woods where the main road splits. Vincent sits on a hill overlooking some open ground behind Schwartzenburg while Ulm is deployed to the left of Vincent on the main road toward Vienna.
Marmont brings Lanusse up on his right flank and pushes half forward into an apple orchard while holding the other half, and Friant’s division, on a ridge of hills east of the main road. The cavalry is initially deployed at the split of the road, facing Schwartzenburg’s infantry.
Klenau threw his dragoon brigade forward on the Austrian right and the Hahn grenadier battalion against the apple orchard on the Austrian left. Neither attack went well. The dragoons were beaten in a swirling melee by the 3rd Lancers and forced to retreat, badly disordered, their colonel dead on the field. The grenadiers were shattered by the Neuchatel Regiment. They reformed outside of the orchard but had been severely handled.
The French then went over to the attack. The 17th Ligne had some initial success against the knot of woods, driving back Infantry Regiment 24 and establishing a brief foothold in the trees. However, the supporting attack by the 10th Legere was beaten back by squadrons of the 3rd Hussars dashing through the 3rd Cavalry Battery and then Infantry Regiment 4 counterattacked, throwing the French out of the woods.
Things now rapidly deteriorated for Marmont. The 2nd Banal Grenzers and Grenadier Battalion Kirchenhalter charged forward against the ridge. The Grenzers captured a battery of 6-pounders and then pushed into the 10th Legere. The light infantrymen, already shaken by their encounter with the hussars, retreated. The Grenzers then engaged and drove back the 108th Ligne.
Meanwhile Kirchenhalter destroyed the 15th Legere and then captured a battery of 12-pounders, driving a large hole in Lanusse’s division.
Desperate, Marmont ordered the 4th/6th Chasseurs a Cheval to charge north on the main road. The Austrian artillery – 2 reserve batteries – smashed the brave troopers before they could even engage the chevauleger. The only success was the Lancers and 21st Chasseurs who forced the 12th Grenzers and Infantry Regiment 24 to form square as the dragoons again failed to protect the Austrian right.
With the failure of the cavalry charge and with gas in both his infantry divisions, Marmont ordered a withdrawal. Klenau, whose orders were to delay or stop Marmont’s advance, did not pursue.
Klenau had suffered some 1200 casualties but Marmont left over 1600 men and 14 guns on the field.
Fought using 15mm figures and Fire and Fury Napoleonic Rules.

Rhodes v Corinth

4/27/2024

This week we played a new game - 1/1200 Greek row galleys. We played a small game with two Corinthian squadrons against a Veteran Rhodian squadron with an advanced group of threee pentekonters.
Each squadron had 5 quadriremes and a single 16-bank ship.
The Rhodians attmepted to double envelope with their superior quality but the Corinthians countered with their superior numbers. In the end the little pentekonters, in the lead, were either captured or destroyed and three Rhodian quads also sunk and afourth captured.
The Corinthian Gorgon flagship and one quad were also sunk.
A resounding victory for the Corinthians and a lot of fun!

Battle of Malsch 1796

4/4/2024

We played a pleasant Napoleonic game with early period order of battle and organization. The historical battle of Malsch (or Ettlingen) was faught between elements of the French and Austrian armies near the Rhine. Historically it was a draw.
Our game also ended in a draw with, as expected, the stronger right flanks of each army managing to best the weaker left flanks, but only after an intense struggle. The game, like the historical battle, divulged into two separate battles within cannon range of each other. The little Alb River (in some of the photos) being the de facto dividing line.
The French attacked through the Black Forest on the east side of the board. The broken terrain made maneuver difficult and artillery largely ineffective. Eventually it was the more numerous French who prevailed by weight of bayonets.
On the western side, on the banks of the Rhine, it was a very different battle with the open plain providing plenty of room for cavalry to maneuver. It also provided a perfect laboratory to show the unwieldy command structure that prevailed early in the period. Neither Desaix or Charles could keep their units in hand. Here it was the preponderance of Austrian horsemen who swung the battle in favor of the "White Menace".

Battle of Florida Plantation 1863

2/17/2024

Out on the Florida panhandle in the broiling hot summer of 1863 B. G. Palmer thought he would teach the uppity Yanks a lesson. General Abner Doubleday had gone foraging with two small divisions from the Federal enclave at Pensacola. Palmer, with three brigades, advanced.
The game was designed as a demonstration with open terrain and a variety of troop classes and leaders. The Yankees had two more regiments but had poorer leaders. The Yankees had superior weaponry, their entire command carrying Springfield rifled muskets while the Confederates had a mix of Enfields, Austrian conversions, and smoothbore model 1842s. The artillery was even, with both commands having six sections. While the Yanks had 3 rifled sections to only one for the Confederates and the rebs had one section of old 6-pounders, due to the close nature of the fight the differences were negligible.
We started with both sides deployed in a double line, advancing. Battle was joined on turn two at a range under 12 inches (300 yards).
Marmaduke, on the Confederate left pressed forward, as his brigade contained two regiments armed with smoothbores. An ill-advised charge on the left resulted in the destruction of the 9th Kentucky. The Federals then moved to the attack and, despite significant casualties, caused both Confederate batteries to decamp and pushed the entire flank back.
The story was quite different on the Confederate right. There the 6th Kentucky charged with devastating effect. First scattering the 7th Indiana, then slamming into the 24th Michigan forcing them to retire and finally discomfiting the 80th New York. The supporting G, 4th US Artillery was also destroyed by a combination of factors – skirmishers from the 13th Tennessee caused the loss of one gun, a second exploded on its own, and the third section was captured by the charging 8th Georgia.
The game was a draw with both left flanks collapsed. Both sides lost 13 stands of infantry. The Yanks lost 3 sections of artillery to two for the Rebs.
In the photos one can see: (Photo 1) the technique of smothering a battery with skirmishers. (Photo 2) Closing with smoothbores. (Photo 5) the ill-advised charge by the 9th Kentucky – note only two stands survived to make contact! (Photo 6) a well-coordinated attack. (Photo 7) the result of a lucky, devastating attack – notice the Federal stands of all three regiments are facing some forward and some to the rear demonstrating they are in distress.
Game was played using Mr. Lincoln’s War rules and 15mm miniatures.

Am Beste Zeite; Am Zeite Todt

2/3/2024

Somewhere in Germany, summer 1813
Feldmarschall Yorck, with Generalleutnant von Bulow’s corps attached, attacked the French corps of Souham and Bertrand.
The two small armies deployed as mirror-images of each other. Yorck set his heavy cavalry division, under Generalmajor Starkenfels, on his far left, his own corps, von Bulow’s infantry and, on his far right, von Bulow’s landwehr cavalry brigade. Souham deployed opposite Yorck, with his attached cuirassier division opposite Starkenfels, and Bertrand opposed von Bulow, his own Lancier brigade opposite the landwehr cavalry.
Both sides advanced with the practiced eye of experienced command, cavalry in line with the foot, guns a few paces behind. Urged onward by their corps commanders, “Vorwarts!”, the Prussians surged to the attack.
Initially things went well. The Prussian hussars pushed back their French counterparts; the Prussian dragoons engaged in a swirling melee with the 1st Cuirassier brigade. All was going well on the Prussian far left. Just up slope the 11th Reserve pounced on the III Corps artillery, capturing 12 guns and driving a wedge into the 13th Division. On the far right, the 1st East Prussian regiment drove the edge French infantry back and the Landwehr cavalry initially pressed back the Lanciers.
Neither Souham nor Bertrand were too alarmed. In serried ranks, bayonets glinting in the late morning sun, the French counterattacked. Results were decidedly mixed.
Souham’s 12th and 13th divisions were ripped by Prussian musketry and grape. 13th Division recoiled in front of the 11th Reserve and 2nd West Prussian. 12th Division had more success against Leib and 14th Silesian Landwehr but only just. The Cuirassier were more successful, driving back the Prussian dragoons.
Bertrand’s legions did better. The Lancier panicked the Landwehr cavalry, sweeping them from the field and pivoting to threaten von Bulow’s flank. The 1st East Prussians, so promising at the start, were driven back. Generalmajor Hunerbein’s division was in peril on the right! Desperately he formed square to protect against the lancers and braced for 8th Division’s attacks.
Von Bulow rode up and pressed the attack on the heights, leading Generalmajor Horn’s division forward. Hunerbein hung on with great sacrifice, but Bertrand was forced to withdraw the cavalry and 8th Division as the 9th and 10th Divisions on the plateau faltered.
Yorck was doing even greater damage. Hammer blows by the 11th Reserve, 14th Silesian Landwehr, Leib, and 2nd West Prussian forced 3 French brigades to retreat. Major General Pecheux formed a last line with his own 1st and 2nd brigades of the 14th Division, allowing Souham’s shattered regiments to recover and withdraw from the heights.
However, Doumerc’s cuirassier and hussars had also provided space for the French withdrawal. Having routed the dragoons, the French now routed the Prussian hussars and forced back the last Prussian cavalry on the left – the cuirassier brigade. The superiority of the sabre arm forced Yorck to be cautious in his pursuit.
Souham had been badly battered, losing 2800 men out of slightly more than 15,000 brought to the battle, and 12 of his 20 cannon. Bertrand had fared better, with casualties of 1400 and 5 guns lost. Yorck had suffered only 800 casualties, but over half were horsemen; while von Bulow had 1400 losses with 12 guns captured by the rampaging French on the far right. Hunerbein’s division had been shaken and would need many days to recover its elan.
Game was played using 15mm figures and Napoleonic Fury rules. The Long Island Irregulars meet every 2 or 3 weeks and play a variety of historical games. See older blog posts for other examples.

Hopton Heath

11/18/2023

Last night we tried two versions of Hopton Heath, an early battle between small units - a mixed force of Parliamentarians under Sir William Brereton and a Royalist force of horse and light guns under the Earl of Northampton.
First we played with historical forces. Northampton attempted a simultaneous assault up the hill with half his horse and against the Roundhead horse on the south flank with the other half. He concentrated his dragoons on his right flank where the heath ended in a forest.
Brereton's horse employed Dutch (caracole) tactics and were soundly beaten. However, the foot stood firm on the hilltop, defeating the horse (as was fairly historically accurate). The artillery played an insignifanct role.
Next we traded out four stands of Northampton's horse for four stands of foot and tried again. This brought a more near-run game. The horse repeated the first game with the more poorly trained caracole troops being eventually overrun by their more aggressive cavalier counterparts. However, shotte combat proved decisive in disordering the attacking foor formation and actually causing one battalion to fall back. For a second time the Parliamentarian foot held the hill, though this time, much worn by their exertions.
6mm figures using King Charles' Lament rules.

1744 off Java

7/17/2023

The War of the Austrian Succession rages in Europe. The Dutch have been sucked into the side of the English, bringing them into direct conflict with the French. The latter see an opportunity – the vast spice island holdings of the Dutch are relatively weakly defended.
Two pairs of battleships are dispatched – Amiral Marquis du Roed with the new 74-gun Neptune and the old 50-gun Alcyon from Toulon and Amiral le Duc de Vale with the 78-gun Terrible and the anachronistic 46-gun two-decker Gloire from Rochefort. They are given orders to cooperate but also promised large compensation if they are the first to occupy the port of Jakarta.
The two pairs rendezvoused at Matatana, Madagascar and took on water and fresh provisions. While they lay to, however, the small brig Timor observed their arrival and races toward the Dutch colonies. Having no small vessels, the French had no way to intercept Timor and continued provisioning.
The Dutch assembled what ships they could at Surabaya and sailed to meet the French. The resulting fleet was a motley assortment of older ships and captains who had grown fat and complacent on the Indies station. Senior Captain van Ochs was elected to lead a three-ship group of his own 62-gun Rotterdam, the 56-gun Damiaten and the 58-gun Utrecht. Senior Captain van Kuper had his own 72-gun Haarlem as well as the Wageningen, a 36-gun frigate cum Indiaman, and the little 14-gun Timor.
Neither van Ochs nor van Kuper would accede to the other being in overall command, much like the differences between Amirals du Roed and de Vale. As a result, neither force had a unified command and none of the individual captains knew any of the seniors very well. The stage was set for one of the most disorganized battle between two flotillas of battleships in the entire war.
Under a fair sky and a stiff southerly breeze, the two fleets approached each other off the coast of Java. The French held the weather gauge, Amiral du Roed in the lead. Captain van Ochs led the Dutch line.
Both sides commenced cannonading at a range just under 300 yards. The fire being ineffwctual the French wore together. Alcyon raked little Timor, causing her main t’gallant to foul her port side. Unfortunately, as the wear continued, the maneuver put Gloire, Terrible, and Alcyon in a row where the broadsides of the latter two were masked. Neptune slowed and turned tightly to pass behind the other three ships.
Meanwhile, having been passed by the French, Captain van Ochs ordered a tack together. Captain van Kuper ordered his ships to maintain course, mostly in an attempt to clear Timor whose battle with the wearing French was the epitome of uneven.
Haarlem slammed into Utrecht and the two ships became tightly fouled by their respective bowsprits. Damiatan, having completed her tack with sternboard, was just slow enough for Wageningen to slide past. The Indiaman then engaged Terrible at 100 yards as the latter surged ahead of Gloire.
Amiral du Vale, now on a course to clear the western tip of Java and with only Wageningen in position to offer resistance, made signal to disengage. Alcyon, on the other hand, now turned close-hauled to come up on the north side of the Dutch while Neptune engaged from the south.
Neptune came up on the still fouled Haarlem and Utrecht, exchanging fire with Damiatan as night came on.
Damiatan and Haarlem suffered significant damage, with several hits between wind and water. The former also lost her mizzen topmast. Little Timor was also badly torn about but was saved from complete destruction by her low profile, many shots having simply whooshed over her hull instead of splintering her.
Gloire, being engaged by the heaviest Dutch ships and being the smallest of the French, suffered the most damage on the aggressor’s side with minor damage to the other three ships.
Poor adherence to the Fighting Instructions ensured an uncoordinated and often ineffectual engagement. Gunnery was poor until the ships closed, with the French wearing maneuver, to under musket shot.
In the end du Vale had insufficient strength to take the forts as Jakarta and was forced to abandon his attack when the Dutch fleet limped around the horn. Du Roed, forced to leave the battered Dutch as his own two ships were simply not strong enough on their own, retreated to Pondichery and filed a formal protest of du Vale’s actions. This came to naught as yellow fever took the disgruntled admiral.
Both Captain van Ochs and Captain van Kuper took new commissions as silk traders and gave up fighting, except against Chinese and Annamite pirates. None of them mounted 36-pounders!