Cry havoc and let slip the toys of war

Crossing the Moselle

2012-01-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

Pattons 3rd Army had been having a blast chasing Germans across France now, due to the well documented fuel shortage, it was lurching to a standstill on the banks of the Moselle. Patton was very keen to establish a few bridgeheads, for when the supply situation eased he would not be faced with a river assault.

Having tried their luck Dornot to the north, a new attempt was made at Arnaville on the 10th of September. Arnaville had a ford and a highly defensible ridge line but incredibly bad access. Storming across, the Americans soon captured the ridge and began to dig in for the inevitable counter attack while the ford was being prepared to accept armour.

Our game represents the initial German counter attacks on the 11th of September. The River Moselle is just off to the right of the photo. The Americans are holding the ridge with 2 reinforced companies. A reduced infantry company of 17th SS Panzergrenadiers with an attached mechanized recon platoon occupy the village of Corny at the bottom of the photo. The 3rd Panzergrenadiers are in the woods just off table on the left of the photo with a reduced company and a couple of StuG III. The smoke just in front of the village runs all the way back to the river, the Americans had set up smoke projectors to cover the crossing from direct observation.

Team Nazi had decided to coordinate their attacks against the end of the ridge and utilised their artillery in a peliminary bombardment. The rounds however fell on empty woods and the inital scouting produced no results. The Germans began to advance quite cautiousally, it soon became clear that team Yank had left this undefended and then it became a race to the top for the Heer and the SS.

17th SS recon unit moved out of the village to the smoke screen to do some spotting. This attracted the attention of the American FOO who bracketed the command with a stonk, 2 vehicles went up in smoke and the rest of the command fled back the village.

The Americans it would seem had neglected to garrison the half of the ridge and the rather surprised Germans captured it without a casualty.

The next few moves saw the Germans pushing slowly along the ridge while the Americans began rushing troops over.

Eventually the push along ran into some resistance the ensuing firefight produced fairly even results. The 3rd Panzer Grenadiers began to concentrate their troops to continue the push along the ridge.

The 17th SS meanwhile had been advancing on a broad front. Not much had been seen but they had attracted more artillery fire.

3rd Panzergrenadiers had pushed up their StuGs to assist in the firefight this however revealed a 57mm a/t gun which sent one of the StuGs scuttling back.

The ford was now deemed usable and the americans began rushing tanks over to assist in the defence.

At this point time had caught up with us. The position was not looking good for the Americans. With half the ridge captured the Germans would be able to establish observation and bring observed fire down on the crossing point. It would have been interesting to have played a few more turns the Americans would have had to made some attempt to retake the hill.

A good game using our favourate ww2 rules battlegroup panzergrenadier.

Dompierre

2012-01-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

This is an engagement that took place in September 1944 at Dompaire south of Nancy. The Germans had launched an counter attack with on of their new Panzer Brigades the 112th in an attempt to halt the 2nd French Armoured Division. The panzer Brigade advanced to the village of Dompaire and halted.

The French proceeded to encircle the village and subjected it to a relentless air and artillery bombardment. In desperate straights the remaining Germans are attempting to break out and link up with the relief force.

The main command crept out of the village into the low ground at the edge of the village. In a string of ambushes their panthers were whittled down by French M10s and Shermans.

Cleaver use of the woods and the hill enabled the french to shuffle forces to keep the pressure on the geermans.

No Sign of the relief force.

In the end all of the panthers were knocked out the infantry were fleeing through the fields. The Relief force engaged in its own wee war against a French group in the small farm to the east. It was a resounding allied victory and quite close to what actually happened.

Engagement at Villa Daxa

2011-10-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

This was a fictitious engagement set during the Peninsular war in the summer of 1813. We used blackpowder rules with a couple of amendments. The premise was that the two sides had been sparing in the local but things had settled down and the troops had been spread out a among the local villages. The French had learned that a Brigade of British troops were quartered in the small hamlet of villa Daxa in a slightly exposed position. A French division under the command of General Villatte was ordered to take the village.

Myself and Bart commanded the French while Dax gave his British and outing. The British started with a Brigade in the village and promise of support. The French arrived down the two roads approaching the town I had Pacthod's brigade-27th legere and the 64th linge. Beaumont's light cavalry Brigade - 2nd Hussars and the 5th Chasseurs. Barts had Puthoc's Brigade - 94th and 95th linge, arriving on the road behind the river. Delebele's Brigade - 5th and 16th Dragoons, was in reserve.

The plan was simple, I would launch a few pinning attacks on the village while Bart flanked the village for the main assault. The first turn saw the some rapid advances but a lot of nothing as troops refused to move. Bart's first problem was a small farm defended by a Militia battalion. Some poor command dice reduce the attack to a crawl as he tried to get into position. The lead Battalions mangaed to get themselves disordered by some lively musketry from the farm.

Meanwhile I had raced up two guns to firing positions by the village. Myself and Dax have had previous with village fights, I had given him a bit of a bloody nose at a Vittoria re-fight last year. Now the positions were reversed and he was looking to do the same to me.

Assaulting a village under Blackpowder is a real challenge, you need to combine artillery with massed infantry assaults and keep a reserve. Having played Blackpowder a few times it would seem to me to be a game of reserves. The influence of fresh troops can be decisive as it is very easy for troops to become quite worn with out doing very much.

Back to the action, the French light cavalry brigade pushed forward to engage some light Dragoons lurking behind a wood. In the ensuing melee the 2nd Hussars were driven back and nearly off the board by the light dragoons. This side of the table then settled down with a string of failed command rolls for both sides.

My guns battering of the village was taking its toll even though Dax had cycled his battalions they had both taken a pasting. I prepared for an assault.

Things were not going so well for Bart on the other flank, his lead infantry kept getting pinned down by the militia battalion. In response he swept two battalions round in a wide move round the rear. As he prepared to swing in on the rear of the farm, a thin red crescent of Hairy Highlanders formed around them. The British reserves had arrived and on some amazing command dice. In the ensuing two rounds of fire both battalions were wiped out. This threat to the flank change our priorities some what and a new plan of a delaying action by Bart while I launched a full blooded directed assault on the front of the village. I love it when plans fall apart.

Things went from bad to worse, a quick assault on the village was what was required but could I get those command rolls, no is the short answer. 2 turns of milling about in front of the village was about all my command was capable of. The Gunners were performing heroics on the flank as they kept up the fire while under an intense fusillade from the village and a supporting battalion.

Bart had managed to stabilise his flank, in quick succession he captured the farm and then dished out some pain to the Hairy Highlanders. The capture of the farm gave new impetus to the French attacks or lack of and finally the dice said we could advance. In a couple of rounds of fighting the 27th Legere drove the British out of the front of the village. The game was poised on a knifes edge and unfortunately we had to call it a day.

The game was declared a draw. The British would probably need more infantry to retake what they had lost but with a bit of re-jigging of the line they should be able to put in place enough reserves to hold the remainder of the village, assuming the French did not get lucky with a quick assault. For the French only a rapid assault would have a chance in the short term otherwise they too would need more infantry and guns to launch a deliberate assault. So ADCs were despatched to the rear and the weary commanders retired to the local taverna to discuss the days events.

Sept Vents, Operation Bluecoat 1944

2011-10-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Operation Bluecoat was another Britishattempt to break the deadlock along the Normandy front. The Americashad launch operation Cobra to the south east and the British werepushing up to put more pressure on the German line. Our game is basedon the assault on the village of Sept Vents at the start of Bluecoat.

Von Dax and myself were doing our bestwith the 'orrible hun, while the doughty British were commanded byMajor 'Jimbo' Loutitt and Corporal 'Old Soak' Hodge. The Germansdeployed hidden with a large lump of nazi fiendishness, carefully placingtheir mines and machine guns.

So to the tale, after a long round oftea drinking, discussing the weather and the finer points of middleand leg, our British commanders got the troops rolling. MajorLoutitt, obsessed with maintaining the proper formation of anecheloned attack, could be heard over the radio waves telling anyone who would listen.Corporal Hodge did not looked too interested busy as he was checking the beer in his knapsack.

The lead scouts, on the left of theBritish advance spotted some fresh faced Nazis in the next field.After arranging his troops into some kind of thin brown line, a massof fire pored forth pinning half of the Nazis. The remainder opened up and then legged it back to the next field, desertingtheir pinned comrades. Major Loutitt leapt over the hedge followed bythe rest of the company, 'Take that sausage eater!' drifted back overthe hedge rows. The 8 or so Hitler youth were massacred in the bottomof their scrapes as the major leapt about shouting obscenities, empting his Webley.

Back to his old theme, the Major haltedhis company in the ex-Nazi positions to get his echelon back intoshape. He had however fallen into a feindish Nazi trap, theblighters had pre registered their artillery on their hastely vacatedpositions. Resting his boot on the blond locks of the master race,Major Loutitt looked rather shocked with the whine of the approaching shells.Von Dax could be observed rubbing his hands with glee as the wholeBritish company was bracketed, the Majors use of obscenities reachnew levels.

As the Major's company was grovellingin the dirt trying to escape the fiendish Nazi trap, Corporal Hodgeslot pushed forward. The more professional approach was paying off as a bit of spotting followed by fire and movement gained ground. True to form, more fiendishness was in store and a hidden MG put a staccatoed end to proceddings. The Corporal watched in horror as the devilishHun pinned his mates in an open field. Fortunately a British tank boy was on hand and soon put paid to theMG's fun and the advance pushed up to the hedge by the sunken road.

After a brief pause behind the hedgeCorporal Hodge and his men vaulted over the hedge and straight into a minefield. Itwould seem however that the German mines were faulty, probably manufacturedin some French factory, and the British troops raced through with nocasualties. A burst of Spandau fire and the sound of breaking glassbrought disaster to Corporal Hodge, his precious beer was gone.Fighting mad, he stormed the Nazis position, which turned out tocontain a full platoon, in a bloody encounter the corporal bayonetedevery Nazi he could get his hands on. The remainder broke and ranleaving the British holding the position. VC all round was the cry, atwhich point the battle drew to a close.

While the Germans were not beaten themomentum was most definitely with the British. It was a good fun gamewith Corporal Hodges charge at the end being the highlight.

Bridge at Villa Fatta

2011-10-03T05:25:00.000-07:00

The premiss for this scenario was that a small force of British had secured a bridgehead over a secondary river crossing. The French were racing to contain the bridgehead and then to eliminate it while british reinforcements rushed to secure and expand the crossing. The French were commanded by myself and Bart, while Angus had the British. We were using General de Brigade 3 which was a bit of a change.

The British force consisted of 5x32 man battalions of infantry 1 regiment of cavalry and a battery of guns. The French had 6x24 man battalions of Infantry 1 regiment of cavalry and a battery of guns. The British placed 2 battalions of Infantry over the river with some skirmishers with the rest arriving as reinforcements. The French arrived with 3 battalions and the guns directly ahead of the bridgehead and 3 battalions and the cavalry on the flank.

The game got under way with the French making a general advance towards the British positions. Due to an inordinate amount of whining from the British side about it being an unfair that the French got all their troops on the table, the British were allowed to receive their reinforcements immediately. This was followed by the artillery being fortuitously at the front of the column. Only bad dice on Angus's part stop this game turning into a farce.

The fortuitous artillery wheeled off the road and went straight up the hill behind the town there was a bit of whining that they would not reach the position in time and this was all a monstrous plot until it was pointed out they could move twice as fast at that distance from the enemy. The British cavalry trotting behind the artillery had poured over the bridge and were now moving round onto the flank.

The French began their assault on the bridgehead from the front after shaking out into line. The flanking attack was now flanked in turn by the British artillery on the hill, some bad rolls from the guns saved the French from too much pain but the attack was already beginning to fragment.

With British reinforcements pouring over the bridge
the French were going to have to do something very quickly. As they began to develop the attack on the orchard at the side of the bridge to try and flank the British line. The initial fighting in the orchard was quick as my skirmishers chased off the opposite numbers. The back of the orchard however was filling up with British infantry.
The British cavalry debouched form the orchard and as they formed up the french flank battalion formed square. They executed a sharp charge but were driven off. The French Cavalry swept round the square and charge home but were soundly thrashed and driven backwards.

At this point a veil was drawn over proceedings as time had run out.

I did not like some of the changes made to General de Brigade 3, while keeping the bean counting element with calculating each 10% casualties, the firing has been toned down. This makes units incredibly difficult to break down, with the rules being generally quite slow we are never going to get to a resolution on a club night. Artillery has also has become rather ineffective batteries seem to hand out one casualty a turn on average. The melee still has some strange casualty resolution with it calculated by number of figures, infantry squares will always take casualties from cavalry.

On a separate note - I like to play games that are not straight up points fights and this requires some form of scenario and some umpiring decisions. My personal feeling is that a scenario should flow like a story, with judgements being made to speed up or slow down the arrival of reinforcements. While some players will put up with their lot and try to make a fist of the situation, others will whine and moan that it is all so unfair.

Whine over.

Battle of Mga

2011-09-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

Mga is an urban locality in Kirovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia. the Germans had captured it the day before but had been driven out by a strong counter attack. As day broke on the 30th August 1941, Mga was the last rail line out of Leningrad and so our game begins.

The Germans were commanded by myself and Hugh with the Russians commanded by Colin and Bart. The Russians had some barbed wire on the outskirts of Mga but little else in the way of defences. The Germans were offered the choice of the two roads leading to Mga from the west and the south. The Motorcycle battalion with an attached armoured car, commanded by Hugh, approached from the southern road while the main force of 2 infantry battalions with 2 armoured companies approached from the west.

Hugh's troops encountered the first signs of resistance as they moved up to the small farm complex. Getting into the Blitzkrieg swing of things, Hugh swept past the farm and on to the rail line ignoring all resistance on route As the motorcyclists bumped over the train line, Russians began popping like mushrooms on a damp morning. It was beginning to look like von Hugh's death ride. The Regimental commander, peering agog through his field glasses, could be heard muttering "dummkopf" under his breath.

The main force pushed on towards Mga trough some harassing mortar fire. Conscious of the wood on the northern flank a small screening force was detached. Von Hugh's death ride had revealed a Russian infantry battalion in the fields directly to the front. As the uints moved up to engage the northern screening force located another infantry battalion in the wood and the fields behind. In the next few turns artillery strikes backed up by tank and infantry fire eliminated the defenders in the fields with no losses.

The defenders in the woods meanwhile were busy chucking Molotov cocktails at the pz38t parked outside. Possibly having drunk all the "Molotov" they were quite unsuccessful.

Our umpire had been busy rolling dice whenever he remembered and eventually the result rolled on in the form of a rather impressive armoured train.

The German forces began to focus their fire onto the town and the train. The front of the train engaged the German tanks it failed to hit anything but the return fire was much more accurate and knocked out the front turret. Realising that the train was covering an a/t gun on the road, it rolled forward out of the town.

As the German tanks charged the train to get into close range for maximum effect the Russians sprang another surprise as 2 companies of light tanks raced on from the south in the ensuing fire fight the train and 4 Russian tanks were knocked out for the loss of one tank and a few damaged.

Time had caught up with us and the game drew to a close. The writing was on the wall for the Russians and it would only be a matter of time before the Germans cut the last rail line to Moscow.

Napoleonic French

2011-09-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

For Sale

The are on ebay here

Battalion of French Infantry

Vyazma 1812, Blackpowder

2011-08-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

Having failed in his attempt to secure an escape route to the south after the debacle of Moscow, Napoleon was faced with heading back down the route from which he came. As the French forces headed west along the route from Moscow to Smolensk, the rearguard, consisting of Davout's 1st corps took up successive covering positions.

The Russian commander Miloradovich realised that an opportunity existed to cut off Davout's corps. As the cossacks demonstrated in front of the main position 2 cavalry crops slipped round the southern flank and cut across the French line of retreat.

Our game starts at this point, however the Russians in our scenario had managed to throw up a redoubt, install a couple of heavy guns and get 1 infantry brigade into position across the line of retreat and 2 cavalry brigades.

The Army list can be found here:
http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.com/2011/08/this-week-vyazma-1812.html

The French plan was to pin the left flank while assaulting the redoubt with the bulk of the force on the right. Speed was key before the Russian flanking forces could put the squeeze on. The initial moves saw a rather lacklustre French advance, Dave Marks and Ian Gale got some bad ice. The French poured on from turn 2, the Infantry made a rapid advance on the left, while the heavy cavalry swept round the right flank to face the Russian heavy cavalry brigade.

A sharp charge by the Russian Cuirassier smashed the dragoon regiment and left the Cuirassier shaken before retiring. The French were in a bad way with heavy cavalry to the front and a table edge filling up with cossacks. In the ensuing 5 turns the French Cuirassier were subject to repeated charges first from cossacks and then Cuirassiers, with some lucky dice throwing and a fortuitous misreading of the rules they fought them all off. Finally they retired back behind the supporting cavalry on the last turn of the game.

The main French assault was not quite taking shape as expected. The right hand column had stalled in front of the redoubt while the left was forging ahead and preparing to assault the Russian line. In a desperate attempt to get the assault on the redoubt moving, the support brigade was leapfrogged through.

Dave's battalions on the left began assaulting the Russian lines. In two rather disastrous turns, 3 battalions were wiped out and the forth was just about surrounded. The supporting brigade was hurried forward but with Russian infantry appearing on the flank things were not looking good.

The assault on the redoubt began to take shape as the lead brigade formed up and pushed on into charge range. Some rather unlucky command dice left the brigade just short and a round of fire left it broken. Any hope of escape was now gone and victory was conceded to the Russians.

It was a fast and enjoyable game with blackpowder. While the rules do not provide all the nuances for the grizzled Napoleonic commander they do give you a result in the tight time constraints of a game night.

Pics Of some old figures

2011-07-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

An officer of Napoleons Guard Chasseurs a cheval

This serious looking chap is the only figure I painted up for my Pisa army for the condottieri period of Italian History. It is something I have always meant to do but there always seems to be something else pushing to the front of the painting queue.

A couple of planes from Dom's Decals.

Painting

2011-07-13T06:02:00.001-07:00

I am presently painting up a load of French command for my napoleonics and I thought I would post a few pics.

Battle of Botchas Jobas

2011-07-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

This fictitious engagement was inspired by a Charles Grant scenario concerning a flank attack. The defenders, in this case the Allied armies of Britain and Spain have left their left flank hanging in the air and the dastardly French have sniffed an opportunity and are looking to exploit.

Two brigades of John Glass's Spanish infantry set up along the ridge line running down the centre of the table. One brigade of infantry and brigade of cavalry held in reserve behind the ridge. The British under John Perkins are deployed off table to the north and consist of three brigades of infantry and a cavalry brigade, these will drip feed on as the game progresses.

The French forces consist of two infantry divisions, each of two brigades and a brigade of cavalry supplied by myself and Dax. One infantry division and the cavalry are facing off against the Spanish while the other infantry division, commanded by Brian Phillips, is approaching from the flank.

The battle started with Brian's Division rolling on, or not as poor dice led to a rather lacklustre start with only one brigade appearing and creeping on at that. The forces facing the Spanish started a rather ineffectual bombardment of the Spanish line. On turn two Brian's troops were still flapping about on the flank so I launched one brigade to attack the opposite end of the Spanish line. This did not quite go to plan, a blunder on the command dice led to their speedy disappearance from the board. With the arrival of John's British on this flank things were not looking so hot for the French.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, John Glass's Cavalry had moved round to the flank and were threatening to stop the flank attack before it had even begun. French light cavalry generals are not adverse to madcap charges and in the spirit of Brigadier Gerard, 'en avant!' The Dice throw hurled the 2nd Hussars and the 5th Chasseurs a Chevel across the width of the table, unfortunately however they were about 6 inches short of their target and John's eyes lit up as he unlimbered his guns. The 5th Chasseurs a Cheval were smashed and broken by the guns and the 2nd Hussars were disordered. The Spanish cavalry seeing the opportunity charged home against the Hussars. The 2nd seem to preform best in adversity and destroyed the lead unit and caused the second on to retire. Seeing as this was the second game in a row that they had done this, John did not seem best pleased.

Amazingly Brian's troops had made a stunning appearance and swept across the board to engage the Spanish flank and my disappearing brigade of infantry reappeared back in their old position. The main French attack now gathered pace as Brian broke battalion after battalion on his push across the ridge the Spanish tried to reform the line but with little success. All eyes turn towards the British what would they do to save the day.

Not a lot, the British had spent their time securing the other end of the Spanish line. One unit of heavy dragoons had positioned themselves behind the Spanish lines but the fleeing Spaniards got in their way. Two of the British brigades had not managed to make it on by the end.

All agreed that it was an convincing French victory, the Spanish line was shattered and the British would pull back to form up alongside their intact brigades off table. It was a good game using Blackpowder which as always lets you get to a conclusion in a club night.

Seven Years War: Raiding the Frontier, Landsberg, Poland 1758

2011-02-04T06:43:00.000-08:00

This game was one that I thought up on wet Wednesday lunch time. The premise is that the Prussians are defending a river line and have a scattering of outposts holding the key bridges. The Russians had got a small detachment over the river by a ford to the north of the bridge and had circled round behind one of the said outposts. The Russian plan was to attack the outpost from the rear while launching a direct assault on the bridge. The local Prussian forces had however gotten wind of this and a relief column had been dispatched.

The Russian forces consisted of 2 battalions of Infantry, 1 unit of Cossacks and 1 gun on the Prussian side of the river.

4 battalions of Infantry, 2 Cavalry Regiment and 2 Guns trying to force the bridge.

The Prussians had 2 Frikorps battalions, 1 unit of Jager and 1 gun in the village and a relief column consisted of 4 battalions of infantry, 1 unit of cavalry and 1 gun.

The battle start with the Russians ranged around the north west corner of the village. The defenders had one battalion facing this and one battalion facing the bridge backed by a gun. The unit of the jager was ranged around the rest of the village.

The initial moves saw the Russian forces move forward to the edge of the village in preparation to assault. Russian forces on the other side of the river launched a mad rush at the bridge, speed was essential.

The Prussian relief force pushed on up the table led by the von Sezkely Hussars. The cossaks covering the flank of the infantry assault on the village turned to face the Hussars. In the ensuing melee the Cossacks were trounced and sent scurrying back behind their lines.

The Infantry had moved into assault positions around the edge of the village and launched a charge due to some great dice a double 6 to be precise the Frikorps rabble beat off 2 Russian Infantry battalions.

The assault over the bridge was always going to be brutal the lead Russian battalion took some casualties crossing and then failed in its bid to charge the defending Frikorps battalion. Flushed with success the Frikorps sallied to hit the fleeing Russians but failed its charge roll and fled back down the bank of the river.

The battalion behind it stormed the gun on the road and then pushed on into the village capturing the building behind the Frikorps. The Prussian relief column had by this time had reached the middle of the village.

We had run out of time by this point which was unfortunate as the game was getting interesting with some heavy fighting in prospect for possession of the village. The Russian Cavalry had crossed the river to the north of the bridge and were now in a position to intervene in the fighting. The initial Russian attacks on the village had not been successful but with a small foothold in the village at the bridge they would be difficult for the Prussians to dislodge.

Painting table

2011-01-31T04:02:00.001-08:00

I am in a real napoleonic kick at the moment. I have just finished an imperial adjoint with guard polish lancer escort.

French flank attack, peninsular.

2011-01-31T03:27:00.001-08:00

This game was taken from one of Charles Grants scenario books.

British forces consisted of 2 heavy cavalry, 1 light cavalry, 7 units of line infantry and 4 guns.

French forces consisted of 2 units of heavy cavalry, 1 unit of light cavalry, 5 units of line infantry, 1 unit of light infantry and 3 guns.

The premise was that the British had taken up a strong position along a ridge line expecting the main French threat to come from the south east. The French however had placed a screening force opposite while sending the bulk of their force on a flanking march to the south east of the British position screened by a low hill and some woods on the eastern flank of the British line.

The initial positions had the French emerging form the wood on the flank of the British positions. The French infantry were in echelon to the left with the cavalry covering the right flank. The cavalry brigade consisted of 5th and 16th Dragoons, the 16th Dragoons tried to catch the 16th British light dragoons in the flank. The British managed to change formation and face the charge but were swept away in the ensuing melee. The Dragoons pulled up with exemplary discipline

2010-07-16T13:53:00.001-07:00

Damascus or Bust

Colin Jack does not do world war 2 in anything but style. Vichy France vs the Dominions plus a few commandos. I had plumbed for the Vichy side as the allies already had the dastardly Mr Jack and his sinister accomplice 'Ray.' The rules we were using were triumph and tragedy an interesting set with some quirks.

The sinister 'Ray' was seen conversing with the dastardly Jack before the game and I could tell an evil plot was in its infancy. Planning in a wargame, have they no sense of honour.

The game was a simple grab the buildings scenario. The more you had

the greater your chance of good cards, did |I say simple. Colin's games are never as straight forward as capture this or that and this game was no different. At the end of the game each building was worth one playing card of points plus each building had a hidden special feature only revealed upon capturing, I hope you are keeping up because I wasn't.

Comrade Bill Gilchrist was the senior commander of the Vichy forces. I was to advance on the right with my Moroccans (Goums) in their splendid striped coats while Bill took the legion up the left. I also had command of the rather splendid looking French armoured halftrack truck tank thing.

Bill had craftily picked the side with 4 buildings rather than 3 to give us a better start. We quickly occupied these while the dominion forces captured the 3 in front of them. My armoured half track car thing pushed to the middle buildings, it did looked incredibly mean.

Well appearances can be deceptive, on the first turn of firing I discovered that it was crewed by Mr Leclerc and the rest of the 'Allo Allo' crowd. My driver had lined up a beautiful enfilading shot down a line of 'crack' commandos, unfortunately it would seem that gunner better at polishing his gun rather than using it. Things only got worse next turn as my not so fabulous armoured thingy pulled up in front of their armoured thingy. The gunner discovered that it contained some kind of hero, one of the hidden treats in the buildings. Being a hero is no good if someone shoots at you so I had to take a morale check. As you are maybe guessing Leclerc was not for shooting. Fortunatly British were also not the best shots.

Things were going rather better for the Goums, they had reached the middle buildings and were in the process of occupying one of them. Unfortunately those, should have been so dead, commandos were doing much of the same. Some talked of sharpening knives on cobbles, others buggering the blond haired commandos, unfortunately it was all talk. The rather sinister 'Ray' had somehow magicked up some Aussies to occupy the last of the building in the middle and it was my Goums who started to look like they were buggered. The Aussies fixed bayonets and charged in, things were not looking good.

I had hatched a cunning plan, a quick look across the field revealed that my armoured thingy could swing round and take the Aussies from behind while the Goums disengaged from the front. The plan was based on Leclerc doing some shooting I should have known better, I was getting suspicious Leclerc sympathies. Safe from the attentions of Leclerc those Aussies set about the Goums, a few thrusts later and it was all over the Goums reputation in tatters.

Bill had formed up his legionaries in a firing line and was doing some damage to the commandos

in the buildings. These legionnaires had located Rick in one of the buildings and decided to use him as a hostage based on the good behaviour of the British. We had also managed to rustle up some reinforcments in the form of some legionaries and more Goums. The legionaries took up position in the middle while I pushed the Goums up towards the middle buildings.

The second batch of Goums charged the Aussies in the building keen for quick bit of bayonet work themselves. The Aussies excretions had left them knackered and it did not take long for the Goums to finish them off. Flushed by their success, instead of occupying the building their none to cleaver commander decided to launch an immediate bayonet charge on those pesky commandos. The sinister 'Ray' picked up his dice and ended any future involvement of the Goums, I could have cried but it's only a wargame.

I was left with the 'I couldn't hit a barn door' armoured thing, great. Fortunately Comrade Gilchrist had 2 full units left and they were 'le Legion.' Being of mainly German extraction probably helped their shooting and the last of the commandos perished under a fail of fire. The game however was drawing to a close and those legionaries were not occupying any of the central buildings. The cards came out, it was decision time. A few good cards would have helped. To cut a long story short, we lost and so did Rick.

Reconnaissance in force

2010-07-06T15:16:00.001-07:00

Our scenario was a reconnaissance in force mission with British units probing German positions. He context for this scenario was operation Bluecoat after the first day as the British try to open up the German defences. Jim and Derek would run as the Brits and Bob the Germans. Yours truly was umpiring again.

The main axis of the British attack was taking place to the north just off the edge of the table . The objective of the British was to investigate the strength of the German position and attempt to open up the road if possible. The British had a recon platoon and a Blitz platoon hidden on table and an infantry company plus a troop of Churchills marching down the road off table, arriving on turn 3 1 platoon at a time.

The Germans objective was to hold the allied advance and deny the use of the road. For this purpose they had a reduced company of infantry 3 hmg, 1 75mm infantry gun and a 50mm a/t gun. They also had a few entrenchments scattered on table.

The British started with some spotting on the woods in front of their hidden position having spotted nothing they moved forward occupying the wood. All this movement was hidden but Bob could smell a rat, well it was Jim.

Derek commanding the blitz platoon hidden in the village decide to advance forward. In typical British dynamism they jumped into their half-tracks and drove down the open road, you would think they would have learned by now. BANG the first half-track took a hit from the hidden 50mm a/t gun. BANG, you guessed it the second half-track got much of the same. Well the British infantry bailed out and amazingly neither half-track was brewed. Jim's recon platoon was well placed to flank the gun but Bob had this covered with an hmg and some infantry a firefight developed effectivly tying down the the recon.

The Blitz platoons woes were only just beginning, German infantry had appeared in the hedge line opposite and a hidden FOO had managed to range in the onboard 75mm IG. A few turns later and most of the platoon was legging it into the nearest wood. The British reserves had started to arrive and Derek wheeled to face the Germans behind the hedge line. This presented his flank to the 50mm waiting down the road this brought about a damage and a retreat. The British probe was failing miserably and time was drawing to a close it was time to wrap the game up.

Although the British had not taken many casualties any momentum was gone. The main German position was untouched and the British would have to pause and prepare a proper attack to achieve any success.

Yet again we used Battlegroup panzer Grenadier it is a great rule set and always produces a good game. The figures were all supplied by Jim and Derek, Derek had discovered a battalion of Germans he had forgotten some people have too much lead.

The Battle of Emsdorf

2010-01-29T03:34:00.000-08:00

Played Black Powder for the second time last night down at my local club in Edinburgh. The battle chosen for the occasion was Emsdorf 14th July 1760. The protagonist consisted of an Allied command of Hanoverian, Hessian and British forces ranged against German troops in French service.

Marburg which was the French main supply depot for the army operating towards Kessel approximately 80 miles to the northwest. The French Army had pushed the allied force up to Kassel and had halted to sort out their supply arrangements before continuing their advance. On the night of the 14th Allied intelligence had received information that the french field bakery was located at Ziegenhain some 25 miles NEE of Marburg covered by a large French Brigade commanded by Baron Glaubitz.

Looking to slow the French down the commander of the Alllied force, Ferdinand of Brunswick ordered a small combined arms force based at Fritzlar, under the command of the Hereditary Prince to intercept this force and destroy it.

The hard marching troops of this flying column raced south on the morning of the 15th. Arriving at Trysa in the evening, 2o miles from their start point and only 2 miles from Ziegenhain, his scouts reported that the enemy was actually camped at Emsdorf 10 miles to the west. The hereditary Prince made camp that night before setting out in the morning for Emsdorf. Arriving at the outskirts of the village at midday on teh 16th he found the french were settling down to have lunch. There were no outpost sited so the hereditary prince decided to split his force to surround the enemy and cut off any retreat.

The positon of Emsdorf covers the main approaches to Marburg sitting on a slight rise looking south east over the main valley running 30 miles north to Kessel.

The French had encamped beside the village of Emsdorf oblivious of the approaching allies and sat down to drink their beer.

Pushing through the woods to the south of Emsdorf the Prince struggled to get his attack off to a quick start. The lead Hanoverian Battalion had great difficulty in shaking out upon leaving the cover of the trees. An alert sentry duly spotted the conflagration and raised the alarm. The French now alerted began to from line of battle as they began to shake out into L formation to cover the converging forces. Von Luckner who had been moving his forces in from the west spotted an opportunity to strike the exposed flank of the southern side of the french L.
Von Luckners Hussars launched a sharp charge, the terrified German mercenaries broke as the hussars bore down on them fleeing up the hill in confusion. This retreat only uncovered the flank of their sister battalion in a whirl of pelisses and sabers it was all over the German battalion ceased to exist.This charge threw the French into confusion their formation was a shambles and nearly half of the available infantry was out of commission.Glaubitz hurriedly moved his reserve down to plug the gap. He was fortunate the Allied attack was poorly coordinated as he formed a semblence of a line before the allied infantry could attack.
(Looking north from the Hereditary Princes position. The village of Emsdorf can be made out in the back ground. Von Luckners Hussars are charging into the still forming French.)

The main allied infantry force of 4 battalions now began its attack on the french positions at the base of the hill. A firefight developed along the line with the French getting the worst of it. Some of the mercenary German battalions were begin to edge back. Glaubitz decided to reform his line further up the hill and pulled his units back desperately trying to rally them. At this point the Hereditary Prince launched the Hanoverian battalion Von Marschall into a spirited charge up the hill.
The German mercenaries fired a ragged volley before disintegrating back through the battalions behind. The Hereditary prince checked the Hanoverian's before they could get out of control. The allied brigede paused reformed and continued its advance after the retreating German mercenaries.
On the other flank the 15th Light Dragoons tasked with covering the allied left flank, had formed on the ridge line looking down towards the village of Emsdorf . French light troops were seen to be occupying Emsdorf while the Bercheny hussars were maneuvering in the fields behind the village. The colonel of the 15th had placed the unit in an exposed position and the fire from the french light infantry soon caused disorder amongst the ranks. The English colonel decided to retire behind the ridge line, this simple maneuver was turned into a disaster as the colonel toppled from his horse the regiment broke and fled from the scene.
The French Hussars raced across the field to take the ground vacated by the dragoons. Von Luckner witnesed the collapse of the allied left as he tried to form a response the french hussars crested the rise of the hill. The French hussars looked set to sweep all before but they seemed content to sit on the hill and wait. This pause allowed Von Luckner time to reorganise his line. He then ordered his units to close up with the french at this point the french charged down the hill. The first half of this was shot off by the Hanoverian battalion. Von Luckner's hussars counter charged the approaching french horse. A swirling melee of pelisse's, saber's, mirliton's, and busby's developed both sides taking heavy loss.

The German mercenaries retreat halted at the base of the hill to the west of Emsdorf. A massive firefight developed along the line as the allied battalions pushed forward to make their numbers tell. The fragile morale of mercenaries began to crack and the efforts of Glaubitz to rally them were in vain as the line began to disintegrate before his eyes.

As the French infantry teetered on the edge of oblivion their Hussars finally broke Von Luckners hussars. Could they snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a timely charge? Inertia again seemed to grip the French Cavalry commander, finally he pushed his units forward but it was all too late the last of the mercenary battalions had collapsed and the Hereditary Prince had closed the door.

With his T crossed the French Hussar commander retreated and was last seen muttering about a poor ground. Glaubitz looked slightly bemused on his trip to the prison camp muttering about his colleagues lack of aggressive spirit.

In the real engagement the Allies were amongst the French before they could react In a quick series of actions the french began to retreat. The persuing cavalry especially the 15th light dragoons put in a couple of telling charges capturing one battalion. The frennch managed to beat these attacks off but were finally cornered and forced to surrender. As a by note the French Hussars ran very early in the battle leaving their infantry.

Intro

2010-01-25T08:22:00.000-08:00

Hi, well i am setting this up to keep a log of my wargaming experiences. I am just back from my first big game with the new group "anything but a one" a great refight of Marston Moor, I will write this up in my next post.