I have been to... South Africa

After visiting Reunion and Madagascar, our cruise wended its way west until we made landfall in South Africa. We called in at a number of ports with the longest stay being in Cape Town. As before, I'll mainly do historical stuff.  I'll also just say up front, that it is a real tragedy that towns and cities in South Africa is essentially a no go area for tourists on foot due to the high level of street crime, and as we generally like to walk around places instead getting a taxi from one 'safe' area to another, that rather coloured our experience. Anyway... 

Mossel Bay (mussel bay), a few hundred miles east of Capetown on the southern coast, and site of the first Portuguese settlement. There is a fabulous museum with a number of different buildings scattered around the site. There are also a lot of very good vineyards nearby. Ahem.

Centrepiece of the museum is a reproduction Caravel, based on the one which landed here in 1485. I find it astonishing that people could travel such vast distances in such tiny ships, and with no decent maps.

The ship museum was stuffed with things including these nice reproduction outfits, navigation instruments etc

And lots of old maps, showing the evolution of western knowledge of the globe. This one is from the sixteenth century and apart from missing out Australia, it is pretty accurate.

Part of the complex were the 'Munroe Cottages', built in the early nineteenth century by British/Scottish settlers. They have thatched roofs and wouldn't look out of place in the northwest corner of Scotland.

I really enjoyed visiting Mossel Bay, and unusually, it was one of the few places you could walk around and not have to get a taxi from one 'safe' place to another. 

I'm not going to bother with anything about Durban, Port Elisabeth or Richards Bay. We mainly went for the safaris. so didn't see much historical stuff although we did do a city tour of Durban and went to the Botanical Gardens which were very pleasant.

Last stop was Cape Town, which also has a huge crime problem, but some parts of the city centre and waterfront are relatively safe.

This made me laugh, a 'pirate ship' for harbour cruises. It is just like the one in Bridlington. I suspect there is one in every port.

There was a French frigate moored in the harbour. The crew were rolling up the awning over the helicopter deck.

A very interesting ship was moored behind our ship. This is a nautical diamond mining ship. They mainly operate off the coast of Namibia and essentially strip mine the ocean floor looking for diamonds. I never even knew such a thing existed.

We did manage to get out and about to see some sights, being ferried from one safe place to another.

First up was Signal Hill, just above the harbour and with great views of Table Mountain. Originally this had a ships mast and cross trees to hang signal flags off it. There is also (still) a 12pm signal gun which goes off every day.

Right in the centre of Capetown near the main railway station is the Castle of Good Hope. A fabulous star fort, originally built by the Dutch but later taken over by the British. It has a moat, separate bastions and is set up as a large museum.

Originally it fronted onto the sea, but since then land along the coastline has been reclaimed.

It is huge, this is just one of the courtyards. The buildings are a very pleasing honey/ochre colour.

Unlike my Irregular fort, the embrasures are properly sighted to fire along the bastion walls.

The other courtyard, the Dutch style is fairly obvious. Most of the buildings had three levels, horses on the ground floor, stores on the 1st floor and accommodation on the top floor with gantries to haul supplies up to the first floor. All very Amsterdam. The large archways are rooms for storing carriages. 

As it was so close to sea level, the fort had a flooding problem and the powder magazine had to be moved from its original location. It has two fresh water wells though, fed from Table Mountain.

There is a very nice representation of the original view from the front of the fort. Now there is a large road and multiple railway lines!

A model of the original layout of the fort.

And later when it was rebuilt and extended. You an see the original shoreline in the top left.

There are various uniforms in the military museum.

Seventeenth Century Dutch infantryman.

A Pandour.

And some very smart British! I love the coat colour on this mannequin.

Mortar man with a smart leopard print hat.

And some sort of Dragoon I believe.

There were quite a few models of Dutch warships.

And various types of musket.

And some more.

The old Governors rooms are very well preserved. Despite the stifling heat, they were actually (relatively) cool and airy.

A box bed. I first saw one of these in Amsterdam. How on earth you are supposed to sleep in it, I don't know. I guess you get used to anything. 

There is a nice memorial to significant nineteenth century African figures.

King Cetshwayo.

There is an interesting reproduction of the an etching of the original Dutch colony, and you can see the limited extent of the land compared to the modern city. Unfortunately I think the image has been reversed at some point as the Signal Hill and the Lions Head are on the right side of the bay, not the left, and Table Mountain is also the wrong way round.

And as we were in South Africa, yes we did see some animals....

A lone male. He was pretty big.

White Rhino! Fabulous, we saw quite a few of these. They have been saved from being hunted to extinction by being corralled in game reserves.

Zebra

Giraffe

And everyones favourite, Pumba or Warthog. These were very unafraid in the more dense bush, but in more open savannah parks were very nervous as they are easy meat for Cheetahs in the open. We did see some Cheetah, Water Buffalo, Hippos etc too but no Lions I'm afraid. 

That was a nice way to round things off, but I don't think we'll be back. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice webpages has more stuff on crime in South Africa than a whole bunch of deeply dodgy other places put together. You do wonder how much of it is self reinforcing - no-one walks as it is dangerous, but it is dangerous as no-one walks etc. Judging by a despairing thread from Cape Town which popped up on Reddit about how to stop your garden taps being stolen, I think it probably is an actual concern. A real shame as the scenery, climate and wildlife were fabulous.

Steinkirk 1692 and Neerwinden 1693

 Continuing our exciting journey of discovery in the Nine Years War, today we visit Steinkirk in 1692 and Neerwinden/Landen in 1693 with Dominion of Marlborough and Peter the Great. For those of you who know as little about these battles as I do, wikipedia has decent summaries here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Steenkerque and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Landen 

As ever I'll be using my 2mm WSS stuff supplemented with some figures from other periods.

First up. Steinkirk, which was fought on 3rd August 1692. Following the Battle of Fleurus is 1690, there were two years of manouvre and siege warfare. In June 1692 Marshal Luxembourg captured Namur and took up defensive positions near Steinkirk, convinced the Allies would not attack. King William III however led the Grand Alliance in a surprise attack through dense woods. Both armies had around 80,000 men, which is pretty big really for Lace Wars armies.

Battlefield from the south, Steinkirk is in the bottom right along with the French camp. The main French position is along the stream which covers the left and centre and is fronted by dense woods. The right is more open.

The French have three line infantry in the front line, and in reserve are the Maison du Roi etc. A unit of elite infantry and disciplined pistoleer cavalry.

The Allies have two elite infantry in the front, with elite artillery on the more open flank who represent Wurttemburgs advance guard. All the infantry are unreliable(!) due to the dense terrain. In reserve they have another elite infantry, dragoons and sabre cavalry. These are all unreliable as well! I've used various additional stands to indicate the elite/disciplined/unreliable status of the various units.

The obvious Allied attack is on the right, but the action is indecisive. In the centre the French attack hoping the Allies will run away before contact (irl nearly all the Allied infantry was delayed and disrupted by the woods). However the Allies stand and duly defeat the French, the French Guard move up to fill the gap.

The French decided to use their rally and reorganise the the routed line infantry (I'm using the wagon to track rallies). I'm using the optional rule where units which move up from reserve cant fight on the same turn too. 

Next turn the Allied guns roar out once more, and miss! The French response is equally indecisive. The French attack on the left however.

That particular column had obviously got lost and is removed. Unreliable units which fail their reliability test cant be rallied either. Their place is taken by the Dragoons.

More action on the flanks. The Allied guns finally score a hit and the French right routs, only to be replaced from the reserve. On the left the Allied Dragoons run and are replaced by the Heavy Cavalry.

William manages to rally the Dragoons. Good, at least the Allies have a reserve again.

Just in time too. Wurttemburgs artillery has had enough and runs away, so the Dragoons take their place. Over on the left the Sabres stand and charge the French infantry!

Only to be shot down by musketry as they cross the stream.

The Allied centre attacks to try and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but is shot down in turn and runs. It is all over for William. A fairly historical result, irl the Allied left did well, but the reinforcing columns got hopelessly entangled and either didn't arrive at all or were ineffective when they arrived. As Wurttemburg raged to William, "if only the second and third columns had come up, we would have won!". Well, they didn't and William lost.

As usual I gave it another go.

The action opened with the Allied artillery in the right, which routed the French opposite. The French centre attacked and the Allied centre failed its reliability test and was removed.

The French Guard filled the hole on the right, while Luxembourg rallied his routed troops (indicated by the wagons). 

La Garde recule! The French centre and right are defeated. The rallied infantry occupy the right while the Guard cavalry take the centre.

The Allied artillery blows away the French right (again) and the French try the left hoping the Allies will fail their reliability test. Sadly they don't and the French are defeated here too. With his army down to one unit, Luxembourg concedes. On this occasion, the Allied columns did come up, most of them anyway, and that was enough to break the French.

That was a great scenario, I guess the large number of unreliable units makes it even more luck dependant than usual, but that is actually a good representation of the real battle. It was also a good learning experience for the ins and outs of 'unreliable' units.

Next up and last major battle of the war is Neerwinden (or Landen) in 1693. Following Steinkirk, war weariness was setting in for both sides, principally the costs involved. Louis XIV launched attacks into Flanders, the Rhineland and Catalonia, recognising that peace talks were inevitable.

On 29th July 1693, Luxembourg with 80,00 men managed to catch William III with just 50,00. Rather than retreating, William dug in to a strong position around Neerwinden. 

Battlefield from the south. There are rivers on both flanks and Neerwinden is in the centre just below the stream branch. irl the defences extended across the entire Allied front, but the scenario only has them on the centre and right.

The Allies have almost everything 'in the shop window' - elite infantry on both flanks and elite artillery in the centre. The units in the centre and right are also disciplined, which I've shown with entrenchments. In reserve is an unreliable Sabre Cavalry.

The French have a larger army. L-R, line infantry, discipled pistol cavalry, unreliable artillery. In reserve are two more line infantry and a pistol cavalry unit. I strung the allies out in lines and had the French in columns as they are attacking.

None of the matchups are great for the French, but they have more troops so need to attack and get lucky. They attack on the left which is indecisive, but the Allies attack on the right (obviously) and the unreliable artillery run away. They are replaced by more French infantry.

The French attack on the left again and are routed. The Allied centre attacks and routs the disciplined cavalry! That isn't looking too good for Luxembourg.

To add insult to injury the French fail to rally anyone.

The French attack the left again to no effect but at least survive. The Allied centre however sees off the French reserve cavalry.

There is a brief ray of hope when the French (finally) rout the Allied left, but the reserve cavalry just move up to fill the gap and with just one French unit left, it is an easy Allied win.

Historically this was  hard fought battle but eventually Luxembourg broke through the Allied centre to claim a win, but both sides were too exhausted to follow up. This scenario certainly looks an uphill struggle for the French, but lets try it again and see how we get on.

Off we go again. The French attack on the Allied left is indecisive, but once again on the right the unreliable gunners run off without firing a shot. The gunners are replaced with infantry.

Next round the French attack on the left is routed, and the fleeing troops are replaced with another infantry unit. In a shock development though, the Allied centre opens up and is routed by the French cavalry! (on a 6!). Well, that changes things, as the Allies hardly have any reserves...

The unreliable cavalry reserve gallops forwards to plug the gap.

As Luxembourg rallies his men for one more try.

Unsurprisingly the Allied cavalry runs away in the face of the Maison du Roi, leaving the centre wide open.

The Allied right tries to save the day...

As William fails to rally his routed centre.

But the French cavalry ride down the Allied left.

And it is game over, Luxembourg has his victory!

The odds are really stacked against the French in that one, I'm not surprised Luxemborgs army was exhausted by its real-life victory.

Well, that is the end of the Nine Years War scenarios, and now I know fractionally more about European history than I did before. I really enjoyed those battles, I found these rules to be the most enjoyable of the Dominion games I've played so far, possibly because they are so period specific? They are structured far more like DBA/DBM with specific modifiers for specific trroop types and less like the more generic categories of the Ancients and Pike and Shot sets, and far better for it I think.

There seem to be an astonishing 12 battles listed for the WSS, including  the more neglected theatres like Italy and Spain, as well as the Great Northern War scenarios. I'm really looking forward to playing through some/all of these, but they will have to wait a bit while I try out some of the other Dominion sets.