It’s been while since I last posted here. No apologies—the Patreon venture, together with other work commitments, book writing and life stuff, has demanded all my attention and, as we all know, one only has so much energy to go around.
However, a recent visit by old chum Iain Burt (known affectionately as Essex Boy in some circles) not only enabled me to play one of the few games I get to play each year, but also gave me plenty of food for thought.
The Scenario
The setting was one of the classic C S Grant Table Top Teasers that featured in Battlegames—in fact, “Pontoon” from issue 1. Here, one side (Red) is initially massively outnumbered by an enemy force (Blue), part of which has managed to cross the river overnight, but the remainder is stranded on the far bank and reliant upon a couple of small craft to ferry more men over the river, whilst a team of engineers and pioneers labour frantically to build a pontoon bridge so that the main force can join the advance guard on the eastern bank. Meanwhile, the Red army has a steady—albeit unpredictable—stream of reinforcements arriving, so that if the game runs to its full extent, it is likely that numbers will be at least equal.

The map for the Pontoon teaser that featured in Battlegames issue 1 and then again in the Table Top Teasers Special.
I added a little spice to the scenario in terms of some imagi-nations background. I decided, pretty much on a whim, that the history of my continent of Europia needed some new bellicosity in addition to what was already making it perhaps the most war-torn piece of geography imaginable.
Thus it was that portions of the forces of Borgenmark and Grenouisse were arrayed against each other. Tensions had been rising for some time following the incident during our 1750 campaign, because an enthusiastic and utterly callous general in the pay of King Raoul of Grenouisse (are you reading this, Paul?) casually lobbed a fizzing howitzer shell into the fortress of Ofteborg—and annihilated the town when it ignited the magazine. You can read the completely impartial report at https://battlegames.co.uk/ofteborg-in-ruins-innocent-citizens-slaughtered-in-titanic-blast/
The Elector of Borgenmark, a gentleman known as Locutus, had not been doing a terribly good job of keeping the anger of his citizens in check ever since what came to be known as The Barbaric Incident. But now, in the summer of 1752, he became aware that the moment to strike back was at hand, because the cream of the Grenouissian forces had been sent far to the east, where they were engaged in a struggle with Prunkland and its allies in the colonial heat of Dahlia and Chindrastan.
Meanwhile, in Europia, the resentful King Raoul was still smarting from the drubbing meted out to his army two years previously. He was also more preoccupied with his borders with the Schwitzers to the northeast and Granprix to the south, both of which had been breached with relative impunity in previous campaigns. The river Carillon and the region around Passillon was far from his mind.
Thus, in August 1752, the Elector and his generals planned a sudden crossing of the Carillon, aiming to grab the town of Dondrelin at the southern end of the Forêt de Sangliers and to establish defensive lines in the passes around the crossing. If all went according to plan, the incursion could be expanded to besiege Passillon and assimilate the region around it for the glory of the Borg.

Map of the junction of Borgenmark, Grenouisse, Schwitz and Gelderstaad, with the River Carillon. Map © Henry Hyde 2017-18
The Forces Involved
This was a perfect opportunity to trot out the Spencer Smiths. There was no need for Iain to risk his own, beautiful collection of Gateway Alliance figures (formed from the more recent SS metal castings for the Wars of the Austrian Succession and made with a curiously heavy pewter alloy that Iain describes as “pig iron”) as I have, over the years, amassed a substantial number of the original, plastic (technically AWI) figures to accommodate pretty much any scenario.
However, as the majority of my collection has been donated by various kind souls over the course of a decade or more, their appearance is somewhat, shall we say, “colourful and varied”. A substantial number, such as those donated by the kindly Colin Stone of Tunbridge Wells, form a pleasingly coherent and well-painted force of Seven Years War French look-alikes; likewise, Stuart Asquith kindly bequeathed me a number of splendid units. But others, from nameless donors, have seen better days and an alarming number suffer from the dreaded ‘ankle rot’ that can affect random batches of the curious plastic that emerged from the shed of Ronald W Spencer-Smith in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
So, when you see the pictures, it won’t be immediately apparent which troops belong to which army, other than that I managed to cobble together enough bluecoats to equip the forces of Borgenmark, and the Grenouissians were well-served by a batch of pearl grey coated units of infantry. Beyond that, the Grenouissians were allocated green-coated chasseurs à pied, whilst those of their opponents were blue. Hussars are a riot of colour at the best of times, so the models at my disposal were just divvied up between the armies, and likewise the heavy cavalry. Grenouisse was given red artillery pieces, and again the Borg benefited from blue.
In the course of preparing the game, it became apparent that I both want and need to lavish some more care and thought on the command figures, so that brigadiers will stand out and the commanders-in-chief even more so, though I can at least boast a magnificent model of Baron Munchausen on his half-horse gifted to me by Kerry Thomas some years ago. Though some other, fabulous models have passed through my hands over the years, my heart is always drawn back to the idea of doing some special conversions of Spencer Smiths to match the rank and file.
As far as the scenario is concerned, the forces from the original Teaser are listed as follows:
Blue Force (played by Borgenmark)
Advance Guard:
- 2 units of infantry
- 1 unit of light infantry
- 2 units of light cavalry
- 1 battery of artillery
- Pontoon train and engineers
- (2 barges optional)
Main Body:
- 6 units of infantry
- 1 unit of light infantry
- 1 unit of light cavalry
- 3 units of heavy cavalry
- 2 batteries of artillery
Red Force (played by Grenouisse)
- 6 units of infantry
- 2 units of light infantry
- 2 units of light cavalry
- 2 units of heavy cavalry
- 2 batteries of artillery
Scenario Notes
Based on the original scenario, Blue arrives at the river with his advance guard as dusk falls. The pontoon train will arrive just before first light, but Blue commander has also found two small craft (I used spare pontoon barges). These will enable him to cross some troops to the far bank during the night. Roll an average die and note the result. A light infantry unit counts as ½ a point, a line infantry unit as 1 point, a cavalry unit or an artillery battery as 1½ points. Blue must first nominate the units he wishes to cross and in what order. For example, a roll of 4 could allow four units of line infantry across, or two artillery batteries and two light infantry units, and so on.
As dawn breaks, these units are within 6″ (or, for my own rules, three Base Widths) of the far bank. The pontoon train is on the western, home bank and ready to start building. There is an option either for no more troops to cross by boat during the day, or for the crossing of the advance guard to continue.
Blue will now start to build his pontoon while using his advance guard to fend off the unwelcome advances of Red. As the day draws on, Blue’s main body will start to arrive on the western bank. This should start two thirds of the way through the battle, and not before the minimum time by which the bridge could be complete, so, for example, if the day consists of 24 moves, then the head of the column will appear on move 16. (In our game, we deemed the day to be 12 complete moves, so the bridge would be finished on turn 8 and the main body would arrive on the table at that point.
As for Red, a half unit of Red light cavalry have bivouacked overnight at the eastern farmhouse shown on the map. They awake to see elements of the enemy advance guard on the eastern bank and the paraphernalia of a pontoon train on the west side. Mounting in haste, they divide into two and gallop off north and south to raise the alarm, leaving a small patrol to continue observation. Red now writes each of his units’ names on a separate piece of paper and places them in individual, unmarked envelopes, including two envelopes for the light cavalry sub-units that have gone off to get help. Shuffle the envelopes, then throw three D6 (in our game, 2D6) for each envelope and mark the total on each. This provides each (unknown) unit with an arrival move of between move 3 and 18 (2 and 12 for our game). As each move arrives, Red throws again with a single die for each unit entering on that move. On 1 or 2 will come in from the north at A; 3 or 4 from B; and 5 or 6 from the south at C.
For building the bridge, the original scenario specified the following sequence:
- Move 1: pontoon floated
- Move 2: roadway started to first pontoon
- Move 3: roadway complete to first pontoon
- Move 4; second pontoon floated
- Move 5: roadway started to second pontoon
- Move 6: roadway complete to second pontoon
- …and so on (one move to float and two to bridge).
We modified this to:
- Move 1: pontoon floated
- Move 2: roadway built to first pontoon
- Move 3: second pontoon floated
- Move 4: roadway built to second pontoon
- Move 5: third pontoon floated
- Move 6: roadway built to third pontoon
- Move 7: fourth pontoon floated
- Move 8: roadway built to fourth pontoon
- Move 9: roadway built to far bank, bridge complete.
Charles also specified that for every hit from artillery, another move is required to replace damaged material. In fact, in our game we ignored this, or Iain would have never finished the bridge before he had to go home! However, it would have made perfect sense if I had deliberately targeted the structure of the bridge, rather than the troops crossing it. Moreover, other suggested ‘house’ rules included:
- A tree floating downriver damages a pontoon—add one move to repair before continuing building.
- The pontoon builders work extra hard—reduce the road-building time for one section to one move.
- Red advances the next two (units’) envelopes to appear by one move.
- An additional unit (throw for type) appears unexpectedly to reinforce Blue’s advance guard.
Again, we didn’t use these as Iain was under time constraints to get back home and, to be honest, by the time we completed a dozen complete moves at around 5pm, we were both exhausted! As it was, we felt pretty satisfied that we had pushed things as far as we could for the time being. We mused about how the scenario’s original timescale reflected those heady days of yore when we had entire weekends to play a game at leisure, perhaps leaving things overnight to be continued the next day. It’s a sad reflection of the times that nowadays, unless one lives in extremely fortunate circumstances, that’s what a wargames holiday centre is for…
Note that in my own Shot, Steel and Stone rules, the sequence is ‘interrupted’ IGO-UGO, so a full move consists of two halves, in effect, where one player moves and shoots, but the opponent is allowed to interrupt the sequence, such as for countercharges or firing at a charge. Certain compulsory morale reactions also take precedence over the normal sequence.
Organisational Matters
It so happens that, whilst my Shot, Steel & Stone rules have been used successfully many times in their original, ‘old school’ format, with players fielding large, dare I say it ‘Grant-esque’ units of 48 infantry figures per battalion or more, a number of the players involved in the large Ayton games have experimented with cutting the unit sizes in order to have more units to manoeuvre on a standard tabletop.
Indeed, Iain is one of those very people, and he has reorganised his Gateway Alliance troops into battalions of 30 rank and file plus a command base of 5, making six bases in all. The result of such culling is that the resulting games look perhaps a tad more Gilder-esque (vide In the Grand Manner rules) rather than Grantian, and certainly not the giant formations of Peter young’s Charge!.

Regiment von Eintopf in its original, full “Charge!” configuration, including multiple NCOs and officers, as created for the recreation of Sittangbad back in 2006.
Therefore, since Iain seemed keen on this format, and because it also conveniently tied in with the size of some of the units in my collection, I acceded to the idea, and we duly played with line infantry units of half a dozen bases of 6 figures each, and cavalry squadrons of two bases of 3, with three or four squadrons to a full regiment. Light infantry units were mostly four bases of 3 in skirmish order, and to keep things in proportion, a standard artillery battery was represented by a single gun with 4 crew (representing heavy artillery—medium artillery and howitzers have 3 per gun, light artillery just 2; the number of crew figures also denotes the number of dice to be rolled to hit).
BUT in hindsight, I realised that everything else should, perhaps, have been scaled down in proportion—ranges, movement rates and so forth. When I was researching my rules, I realised that there was, historically, an almost perfect correlation between the standard frontage of an infantry battalion (roughly 133 yards for a 600-man battalion: three ranks of 200 men, with 2 feet of frontage per man = 400 feet = 133.333 yards; or 166 yards for a 750-man battalion) and the effective range of musketry. Thus, to reduce the frontage without reducing the range means that you are effectively now portraying much smaller battalions of a size perhaps more common to the American War of Independence than the Seven Years War.

For my own Shot, Steel & Stone rules, I mounted the infantry on a frontage of 15mm x 20mm per man and created a Gilder-esque command base, though the rules cater for plumper figures by specifying 20 x 20mm for infantry.
It’s not the end of the world, but I shall certainly be doing the calculations to take this into account next time and produce a shorter set of range and movement sticks! (I’m nothing if not a worrier and a fiddler.) In fact, for fans of the rules, the simplest way of doing this is to reduce the ‘standard’ base width from 60mm to 45mm, to match the reduction of unit frontages by a quarter. Actually, this would suit me perfectly anyway because, Spencer Smiths being slender fellows, I already cram my chaps onto 45mm wide bases in order to achieve a proper tightly packed appearance. If your armies consist of stouter fellows, such as Foundry or Front Rank, then the problem may be somewhat trickier to tackle, and you may feel inclined to just assume your units have lost a quarter of their effectives to illness, desertion, wounds or whatever.
Or, of course, you could just not worry about any of this and simply play the game as you see fit!
The Game
As ever, click on the pictures for enlarged views. The photos are in chronological order, so start at the top left and work down.
The outcome of the game was a stand-off. The Borg had managed to achieve a bridgehead on the east bank of the river, but not exploit further or cut the road. On the other hand, the Grenouissians had been caught napping and the Borg had managed to construct a robust pontoon bridge across the river, with more and more troops pouring across. It seems to me that a mini-campaign has been born, if only to discover what happens next! That sounds like a splendid excuse for a rematch…
- Before the game starts, Iain considers his options before deploying part of his force onto the eastern bank, representing the troops that moved overnight.
- The game opens. Two battalions of Borg infantry managed to cross overnight, whilst hussars are using the barges to be ferried across. The pioneers and engineers are starting to build the pontoon bridge and the first battery of heavy guns opens fire on the distant enemy.
- The Borg heavy battery opens fire, and immediately scores a hit on the distant squadron of Grenouissian chasseurs à cheval! Sacre bleu!
- As the bridge-building continues, the bargees have successfully ferried two squadrons of Borg hussars to the eastern bank of the Carillon to support their infantry.
- The poor Grenouissian chasseurs à cheval have taken 50% casualties and so are forced to withdraw past the dismayed brigadier. A local peasant looks on with disgust.
- Iain begins a steady advance in the centre whilst his Borg hussars sweep around the southern flank.
- Another move, another section of pontoon is laid… The pioneers were converted (not by me) from Spencer Smith AWI grenadiers by adding axes and muskets slung across their backs made from balsa! The barges and bridge sections were made by me from balsa, then stained with acrylic paint—simplicity itself.
- More hussars embark on the barges. It was adjudicated that each barge could carry a squadron (two bases). the barges could move 12″ downstream, 6″ upstream and 9″ cross-current, taking one move to either load or unload.
- For a moment, the Grenouissian side of the table was wide open! Fortunately, the scenario specifies a system of reinforcements for the Grenouissians that arrive randomly. See the scenario text for the details.
- Grenouissian chasseurs à cheval arrive in the nick of time, with support from a battalion of fusiliers on the road from the north.
- That damn gun! The Borg gunners must have had an extra Weetabix this morning because they just can’t miss! The distant Grenouissian infantry suffer at long range.
- A perilous moment, as two batteries of Grenouissian artillery are deemed to arrive from the south, just as Borg hussars have climbed the hill beside the road. A gentlemen’s agreement settled the outcome without resort to fisticuffs on the table.
- Meanwhile, on the far, northern flank, some heavy help arrives in the form of Grenouissian dragoons, following the fusiliers along the road.
- An overview from the southwest, showing the bridging of the Carillon proceeding apace on the left, the Borg infantry well ensconced in the farm in the northern centre and the Borg hussars on the hill threatening to cut the road in the centre.
- Another move, and another section laid on the bridge, with the Borg artillery banging away with deadly effect. The farm in the centre is fully in Borg possession now.
- You can hear sighs of relief from this writer as more Grenouissian reinforcements arrive from all directions. Two baatalions of fusiliers in the south are accompanied by chasseurs à pied as the guns climb the small, steep hill to the right of the road. Chasseurs à cheval are heading west in the centre, as infantry and dragoons turn to face the farm further north, with more light infantry arriving behind. The Borg hussars have retired behind the crestline of the ridge, but are now threatened in their flank.
- The bridge is finished! But the pioneers have no time to relax as they must now make way for the main Borg force arriving behind them.
- On the southern flank, those Borg hussars have decided to retire and link up with their remaining colleagues who have come across in the barges.
- An overview from behind the Borg lines in the West. Jäger precede columns of musketeers and dragoons across the bridge and a second battery of heavy guns climbs the hill to join their fellows.
- Back near the road, more chasseurs à cheval have arrived, whilst the infantry swing up and over the hill on the northern side of the wood, in which chasseurs à pied have deployed. More squadrons of light cavalry are cresting the hill in the centre, whilst the dragoons that arrived from the north earlier are now in line and making a dash to the centre. More fusiliers have arrived in the north.
- Borg musketeers crossing the completed pontoon bridge.
- The unfortunate Grenouissian dragoons come under merciless enfilading fire from the Borg artillery and infantry behind the farm walls and are cut to shreds. No dignified retirement here—rout! their brigadier is lucky to survive, but is unhorsed and falls to the ground, stunned.
- Now the Borg advance is in full flow and their main troops are pouring over the bridge, led by their pale blue coated Jäger. In the distance, the Grenouissian chasseurs à cheval are threatening the Borg line, so it turns obliquely to face.
- The view from the southwest now shows Grenouissian light cavalry sneaking along the southern flank, so the Borg hussars divide to face two threats. More Borg hussars are moving to support their infantry in the centre. At last, the Grenouissian guns have opened fire and are beginning to cause long range casualties amongst the units crossing the bridge.
- The Grenouissian chasseurs à cheval moving past their à pied colleagues in the woods. Here you can see how the light infantry have managed to send part of their unit forward into the eastern copse.
- The Grenouissian guns in action (played on this occasion, it is true, by my beloved Prunklanders—never mind, I take it as a prompt to get more painted…) the limbers are Minifigs.
- Now things are really hotting up, with substantial numbers of Borg across the river. The Grenouissian infantry are now exchanging volleys with their opponents in the farm, and chasseurs à pied in the southern woods are sniping at Borg hussars. Grenouissian fusiliers are marching briskly to plug the centre.
- Those pesky Chasseurs à Pied Chevalier de Loren sniping at the Borg hussars.
- More Grenouissian reinforcements: dragoons and fusiliers arriving on the eastern road and pouring past the farm.
- An overview from the southeast, showing Grenouissian units heading for the centre of the table and a concerted effort to confront the Borg in the farm. The chasseurs à pied lining that wood north of the farm opened a brisk, sniping fire.
- Confrontation was imminent between opposing light cavalry. Who would blink first?
- Borg infantry crossing the bridge getting a taste of Grenouissian iron as they are hit by rounds from the distant guns to the east. Unfortunately for Grenouisse, the casualties were insufficient to require a morale check.
- The face-off around the farm. The Borg infantry in the farmyard were impervious to Grenouissian fire, other than the occasional skirmisher hit, whilst steadily whittling away the fusiliers arrayed outside.
- Borg heavy cavalry following the musketeers across the bridge who again shrugged off incoming artillery fire.
- The Borg in the farmyard. None shall pass!
- Crash! The first melee of the day as a squadron of chasseurs à cheval try their luck with the Borg hussars. It sways this way and that…
- An overview from the south as the light cavalry melee is in full swing. The Grenouissians have done well to stabilise the situation and form a coherent line, but the northern flank looks weak, so a regiment of dragoons is hurrying that way near the road. In the centre, Borg guns have forced another unit of chasseurs à cheval to retire, their place taken by deployed fusiliers. But Borg are still pouring over that bridge.
- Disaster strikes for the Grenouissians as the Borg hussars carve up their opponents, who turn and flee. However, a cheeky charge by another squadron against the chasseurs à pied is bounced!
- An overhead shot of this key moment, with every breath expectant. Borg light cavalry is massing on the southern side, whilst Grenouisse attempts to hold the line in the centre. More fusilier reinforcements are arriving from the east.
- A shot of the situation around that wood in the south. Line infantry have their flank resting on the wood, infested with defiant light infantry. But will they hold?
- It’s clear that the bridge builders have done a great job and despite accurate fire from the Grenouissian guns, a constant stream of units is crossing the Carillon. In the north, Jäger are threatening to outflank the Grenouissians, who shuffle round in the trees to pepper them in the flank. The Grenouissian fusiliers facing the farm must soon make a desperate choice.
- Hussars, now fully organised after crossing the river in barges, head off to support their fellows in the south.
- The Borg artillery on the west bank of the Carillon have been a plague on the Grenouissians, and surely claim “gunners of the day”! These, incidentally, were painted for me by John Preece.
- A closer view of the centre as the Grenouissian infantry manages to restore order whilst the retreating light cavalry avoid the local cattle.
- Iain takes a moment to take a breath and consider his plans for the endgame.
- The flashpoint in the centre, as Borg and Grenouissian infantry nearest the camera exchange long-range volleys, honours initially going to the Borg. In the exchange over the farm wall, the Grenouissians are close to breaking. Beyond them, Borg musketeers have deployed into line to support their Jäger.
- A view of the precarious position in the north, as the line unit of chasseurs à pied in the wood hurries round the perimeter of the trees to keep pace with the Borg outflanking manoeuvre and the dragoons hurry to deploy.
- In an inspired move, the Grenouissian fusiliers are extricated from the firefight at the wall and replaced by their supports, flanked in their advance by the closest unit of fusiliers. In the distance, the dragoons deploy into column of squadrons and put a stop to the Borg outflanking, threatening to ride down the Jäger.
- Now it’s the Borg turn to try something clever, and their hussars sweep around the southern wood to take the Grenouissian infantry in the rear. However, with steady morale, these stout fellows turn their rear rank about and deliver a first volley at close range into the cheeky hussars, aided by more sniping from the woods, and stop the cavalry dead in their tracks! (This manoeuvre is rare, but perfectly feasible for well-drilled 18th century foot.)
- This pivotal moment seen as an overview from the south. This flank has just been saved by the discipline of Grenouissian infantry; the Grenouissian lines in the centre are standing firm; and in the north, again the flank has been stabilised in the nick of time. If the Borg are going to threaten the road, they’re going to have to really work for it, and dusk is approaching.
- The situation towards dusk from the Borg side. There are a lot of troops still to arrive, but it’s now clear that any further advance beyond the farm is going to take careful thought now that the Grenouissians have plugged the gaps and more of their reinforcements have yet to arrive too.
- The end of the game from the southeast, with the cattle untroubled by Borg. We speculated on what another half dozen moves might do, but for now, a stand-off was declared with the Borg across the river, but unable to make any further gains this day.
Conclusion
The Pontoon teaser remains a classic. It’s challenging for both sides, and can be given some interesting variations. The semi-random nature of the setup provides additional challenges—I was certainly in a sweat for the first half of the game as I prayed I would be able to plug the yawning gap in the centre of my line.
I was also pleased that my own Shot, Steel & Stone rules were flexible enough to accommodate some major deviations from how they were originally conceived, in terms of unit sizes, without so much as a murmur. Cutting the battery size to a single gun and crew worked fine. In hindsight, if we wanted to cut the casualties further, I could have specified the artillery as being all Medium, or a combination of Medium and Howitzers, but both Iain and I gritted our teeth (well, mostly me, to be honest!) and took the hot blasts from hell in our stride.
And most of all, it was great fun. thanks to Iain for helping to make it so, and I’m itching to take the story further!
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