Devon Wargames Group

The Battle of Lavington 1688

2012-01-15T11:44:00.000Z

The Club new year "kicked off" with a what if scenario based around the dramatic events of October to December 1688 which saw the landing of Prince William of Orange at Torbay and the departure of King James II to France and the beginning of the Jacobite struggle that finally culminated on the bloody moor of Culloden in 1746.

Our scenario assumed James taking a more resolute position and galvanising his supporters, including a contingent of French troops to help put an army in the field to contest Williams march on London. The two armies have finally met on the open terrain in Wiltshire near the small village of Lavington outside Devises and the battle lines drawn up to decide who will where the Crown of England and decide the fate of a nation.

King James II

William of Orange

Battlefield set up
The troop plan is diagramatic giving a general layout of the forces

The Royalist forces found themselves out-scouted and set their forces up first under the gaze of the rebels. The Royalist right looked fairly secure with the garrison around Lavington. The centre was anchored on the small hill-Lavington knoll, and the few artillery pieces were evenly spaced across the centre left. The bulk of King James' cavalry formed up in the more open ground on the Royalist left-left centre, with the King and his Guard cavalry and French troops just left of Lavington knoll

View of the Royalist lines looking towards Lavington in the top left corner

The Royalist garrison in Lavington with the camp behind

Lavington strongly held by Royalist troops, or was it?

King James' French contingent

The battle began with the Rebel cavalry and infantry advancing in the centre to meet Royalist cavalry. Both forces engaging in desultory artillery fire, with the Royalist getting the better of it and causing casualties on the Dutch infantry.

The French look on as the two opposing cavalry forces "lock horns"

The first cavalry clash in the centre went to William,
with the Dutch elite infantry on the right background
seeing off the Royalist cavalry with devastating volley fire.

The first clash went in favour of the Rebels as crashing volley fire from the steady Dutch infantry emptied Royalist saddles.

Meanwhile on the Rebel left, the forces were happy to probe what seemed the formidable defences around Lavington and the Royalist camp.

The rebel cavalry started to probe the outskirts of Lavington

The rebel English foot looked on at Lavington. Did they know something was afoot?

With the repulse of the initial Royalist cavalry both sides prepared to raise the stakes in the centre as James threw in his heavy Guard cavalry, and William his elite Dutch Guard infantry.

Meanwhile the second round of action was building in the
centre as William threw in his guard and more cavalry

Rebel cavalry to the right, William on the left oversees the Guard Infantry to his front.

King James ups the stakes in the centre by putting in the elite heavy
cavalry on the right to take on William's Guard Infantry-"game on"

A rebel Colonel looks on as the battle unfolds

King James' heavy cavalry are the victors in the centre and chase the Dutch
Guard from the field,but at a terrible cost, their ranks severely depleted.

The battle in the centre was held in the balance for several turns as the two sides fought desperately for dominance. The Royalist cavalry eventually gained the victory but at a terrible cost and they were now a spent force. Both sides looked to their reserves, to "seal the deal". William brought up his last reserves of cavalry, whilst James committed the French infantry.

The centre is open and ready for exploitation, who would grab the initiative?

King James calls forward the French to push the rebel centre from the field and claim victory

The rebels play their next card and exploit dissension in the Royalist ranks.
The garrison commander in Lavington throws in his lot with
Williams forces taking half his brigade over to the rebel cause.

The centre of the field which had seen the heaviest fighting gradually moved in favour of the French infantry forcing the Rebels to consider other options. It was then that the Royalist lines were thrown into confusion as rebel sympathisers within their ranks threw in their lot with William's cause. The colonel commanding the Lavington garrison went over to the enemy taking half of his brigade with him and secured Lavington for the rebels.

However the loyal Royal forces were able to prevent any link up with the Rebel left flank and this cancelled out any advantage to William's army.

The final throw of the dice for the rebels, with their right wing attempting to get across the Lavington brook.

The final assault by the Rebels came with an attempt to force the Lavington brook on the Rebel right flank an roll the Royalist line up from their left. King James had kept a cavalry brigade back to cover any such attempt, and as the rebels came across the stream disordered, they were met by a furious cavalry charge that routed and chased the majority of them back.

Thus ended the Battle of Lavington. Prince William withdrew to Bristol unmolested, the Royalist army being too exhausted to follow up, and sailed for Holland in the January 1689. King James II secured the throne for the Stuarts and the course of British history was changed forever.

The rules used were Barry Hilton's "Under the Lilly Banners" which were new to many of us, but gave a fast moving game and were greatly enjoyed.

Thanks to Chas, Nick and Vince for supplying the figures and setting up the game . Great fun

Jon

Sidi Rezegh - Witches Cauldron

2011-11-19T10:11:00.001Z

Steve and I played the "Witches Cauldron" mission on Thursday night with the game based on a 7th Armoured Division Jock Column commanded by Brigadier Jock Campbell VC, occupying ground on the Sidi Rezegh airfield and bracing itself for the inevitable counter attack by the Panzers of 21st Panzer Division.

The Sidi Rezegh Battlefield

The Witches Cauldron has the defenders placed in the centre of their half of the table with two objective markers placed by the attackers. Once the defender has deployed the attacker dices to randomly deploy his initial forces to come on the table from the opposite edge or from either flank, with a 5 or 6 allowing a choice. The attacker can deploy up to half their forces with the rest coming on as reserves from turn 1. The defenders reserves cannot start testing before turn 3 and will arrive from the opposite table edge.

The Panzers are on the flank

The German placement die rolls produced fives and sixes allowing for the whole German force to arrive on the British left flank, the nearest to the two objectives and completely unhinging the defence set up. The two objectives were the building and sandbag emplacement either side of the soft sand area in the picture below.

The British set up with 25lbrs behind the infantry

The British position from the German perspective

Turn one saw the British ambush force (a troop of three A13s) immediately revealed (they have to be declared in turn one) and after a brief exchange of fire with the Panzers just as immediately dispatched.

The A13s in ambush are eliminated by the German tanks

The Panzers move in on the British Gun Line

The destruction of the British cruiser tanks left the 25lbr gun line as the main anti-tank defence to the infantry dug in on the airfield. These were supported by the infantry Boyes AT rifles. However the combined assault by the Panzers and Panzergrenadiers supported by the Stukas took its inevitable toll. Two of the guns were quickly neutralised for the loss of a Panzer II.

The Luftwaffe add to the destruction

As the battle waged furiously around the first objective, with the Panzergrenadiers seeking to drive off the British infantry and secure the ground, the British reinforcements appeared on turn 5. However the whole of the German force was on table at that stage and the German battery of four 105mm howitzers placed a smoke screen down to seal off the objective area from the onrushing Honeys.

The British reserves get smoked

With the objective taken in turn 6 and the Panzer IIIs in support of the two Panzergrenadier platoons, we called it a night.

The Panzers and Panzergrenadiers consolidate on the objective (the small round sandbag emplacement centre left)

Thanks to Steve for a fun game and "bearing up" whilst the God of Dice kept serving up the Afrika Korps fives and sixes. It just happens like that sometimes.

Jon

Fire and Fury in the American Civil War

2011-11-13T13:43:00.001Z

Hi all,

In addition to our Malayan Emergency Game this month, Jack laid on a 28mm Fire and Fury ACW game in preparation for the "Big One" in December as our annual Xmas game where all club members can come together on one table.

This year Nathan is organising an ACW big game using Fire and Fury rules so to get things warmed up for December, I grabbed a few photo's of Jack's game.

Malayan Emergency

2011-11-13T12:57:00.001Z

This months game was put on by Chas and featured a sharp little skirmish somewhere in Malaya during the Emergency 1948-1960 and gave us a chance to try out the "Force on Force" skirmish rules prior to our large Summer game where we plan to play a "Black Hawk Down" scenario.

The village, with the Mosque in the centre and the Police Station on the right

The scenario had a village police station threatened by a large gang of Chinese guerrillas who had infiltrated into neighbouring buildings and brought the police force under fire. This was all a ruse to cause the local military force consisting of Royal Marines and Gurkhas to come to the rescue and walk into ambushes planned on likely access routes.

The Police Station with the District Commissioner's Land rover outside

The Police station was well guarded and their fire power had to be respected. In fact the initial exchanges of gunfire definitely went in favour of the Police.

The centre of town saw heavy fighting

The neighbouring jungle provided plenty of cover for the guerrillas to move their forces and the first success for them came when one of the Marine patrols were surprised by a large force of the enemy. After initially debussing from their transport they quickly remounted but the fire from the Guerrillas on the exposed crew caused the vehicle to quickly reverse back up the road.

The Royal Marines were tasked with coming to the rescue

However the other patrol proved more robust and quickly debussed avoiding several booby traps along their route, including mines. They cleared the first main building and went on to clear the mosque.

The battle started to move towards the cross roads where the guerrillas mounted one last attempt at causing casualties to the police and managed to kill a couple of officers and shoot up a Gurkha patrol coming in over the river.

The British firepower soon got control of the situation and the guerrillas were forced to break off

Caution was the watch word with ambushes a constant threat

Chinese guerrillas in ambush

The learning from the game shows that irregular insurgent teams need to tackle regular troops in the open with as much firepower as they can bring to bear. The best guerrilla option were their snipers whose firepower was on a par with the regular troops.

The rules proved quick to master and should work well for our game next summer. Thank you to Chas for a fun game.

Jon

Battle of Camden 16th August 1780

2011-10-09T12:55:00.000+01:00

Battle of Camden 1780

Following our two games of the Battle of Harlem Heights, we concluded the afternoon with the Battle of Camden scenario.

The map from British Battles.com clearly shows the historical outcome with the collapse of the American militia in the face of Tarleton's regulars leading to the rout of the American main force under Gates.

Map of the battle - British Battles.com

The forces set up as per Hold the Line with the only notable terrain being the swampy ground on each flank.

Hold the Line Scenario Map

The table set up based on the map above.

The British advance on the militia

This scenario is a straight forward clash of force with both sides looking to destroy enemy units and achieve 6 victory points for the win.

General de Kalb and the first Continental line

I think it is very satisfying when a game gives a very similar result to the historical events. As per the actual battle, the British forces took the initiative, and pressed the American militia on the American left flank. General "Granny" Gates struggled to control more than three of his units each move, reflecting his poor command attributes and found his militia soon in a state of collapse.

General Cornwallis with the British left flank

The American left flank collapse surrendered the 6VP required for a British victory and the game was concluded with a move to spare.

Tarleton commands the British right

This is a very difficult scenario for the American player, when following the historical set up, but then so it should be!

Jon

Battle of Harlem Heights, 16th Septerber 1776

2011-10-09T12:20:00.001+01:00

Continental Infantry at Harlem Heights

This months club games featured an AWI clash using the "Hold the Line" rules from Worthington Games. The board game has a number of scenarios and with the availability of the new Holtz Mats Command Mat which follows the hex map in the game, the rules give a fast playable 15mm figure game.

Contemporary Map of the Battle

The scenario we chose this month was a follow up to game we played in January, the Battle of Long Island. The Battle of Harlem Heights has the British advance guard under General Leslie ambushed by General Washington's main force. The Americans have the opportunity to seriously damage this force before General Howe can come to their support with the British main force. The map below shows the initial positions of the two sides. The three objective hexes behind the British advance guard give victory points to the Americans only and are shown on the game table as wagons and limbers of the baggage train. These together with destroyed units give the victory points for the scenario and both sides were looking to achieve 6 victory points in 20 moves.

We have adopted a few house rules to the basic game.

To make the end of the game slightly variable, we multiply the number of turns by three to give a score that is reduced each turn by the roll of a d6. On average the game will last 20 moves but this may vary slightly either way.
Casualties in the game would usually result in a base being removed (the number of bases in a unit indicate its morale). In our game the first casualty is indicated with a body marker and subsequent casualties by the little red dice next to the unit.
The road in the game is purely for aesthetics and has no function in the game.

The figures are 15mm Poly Oliver, and baggage vehicles by Hallmark.

Hold the Line Scenario Map showing set-up

The forces are moved and fought using action points a base number for the scenario plus a d3. The Americans start with a base of 3 whilst the British only have 2. This reflected General Howe's rather "laid back" performance in the battle and made things difficult when attempting to bring forward the British main force.

The Americans ambush is sprung

The Americans realised that time was of the essence and that they had to press their advantage early. We played the scenario twice and with different results. The second game was probably more of an illustrative game as both sides took stock of the situation In our second game the British Light infantry counterattacked the Continental line as it emerged from the woods and forced them back causing and taking heavy casualties.

The British advance guard under General Leslie

However General Washington in the center pressed General Leslie's flank, destroying the Guards battalion and forcing the British back onto their main force. In the first game Washington was killed in this attack on the Guards.

The British are forced back

General Howe and the British main force

The American's advance in line

As the opposing lines faced off in the open fields, the firefight started to decide the eventual outcome. In the first game the Americans managed to just miss out on a clear win ending up with 5VP vs 1VP (General Washington killed).

The second game was a more close run affair with the Americans coming out on top 3VP vs 2VP

Generals Howe and Leslie form the line to protect the baggage

General Howe attempts to bring forward the reserve

General Howe in the thick of the action

The final positions

Hold the Line is a great game with an excellent set of rules that always give an enjoyable wargame.

Thanks to Nathan, Ian and Steve H for a fun game

Jon

Hellfire and Back, "Dust Up" in North Africa

2011-09-17T11:15:00.001+01:00

Last weekend Steve got his desert forces out to try out one of the new missions in FOW's "Hellfire and Back" early war in the Desert book.

The forces pitched British and German forces in a tank on tank shoot out.The force list as below with Steve taking the Panzers and me the Brits.

The map shows the terrain, set up of forces, the reinforcement deployment areas and the objective positions. The objectives are "hot" from turn one so are open to a rapid dash, provided they can be held uncontested. At least half the platoons are held as reinforcements entering the table after turn 3.

I Chose to lead with my artillery, 2lbr portees, Honey Company HQ and a troop of Honeys. Steve led off with his artillery, Panzer Kompanie HQ, Panzer II platoon and his PaK platoon. However I soon realised the error in my deployment choice when the Germans got their first reinforcements and the British drew a blank. Steve immediately placed his infantry platoon on my flank threatening my gun line as my Honey troop "swanned off " into the desert seeking death or glory, see below.

I had however taken the precaution of dismounting my AT guns and digging them in around my artillery position, so this provided them a modicum of cover from the German small arms fire that came their way. My company HQ with their two tanks also enabled some return fire with their machine guns.

In the centre a temporary standoff occurred as Panzer IIs and Honeys eyed each other looking for an opening with the Brits all to aware of the PaK front formed up behind the German armour. I took the unhistorical option of choosing discretion and not wading in. Perhaps Battlefront should have early/mid war British armour having to take a control test when in close proximity to the enemy, to see if they fail to resist charging in, rather akin to British cavalry in the Napoleonic period.

However on turn 5 events took another twist with the reinforcing British armour turning up on the German flank. Now it was Steve's turn to have his gun line threatened. So putting the pedal to the metal, my Honey platoon charged in on the 105's knocking out a gun and forcing another to leave the table in retreat. In addition I was in behind the PaKs and Panzers causing a temporary halt to their advance on the objectives.

The appearance of the British armour led to a classic tank on tank pell-mell battle with flaming wrecks appearing on both sides. I chose to reinforce this fight with the third Honey troop, ignoring the German armour that was building on my own flank, consisting of the Panzer IIIs and IVs who were jousting with my Company HQ and 2lbr/25lbr gun line.

With the game moving into turn seven, events took another twist. The Brits had a remarkable stroke of luck with the 2lbr AT guns knocking out two Panzer IIIs causing the platoon to fail its morale check. This changed the balance in the middle of the table as the other German armour was primarily engaged in dealing with the two Honey troops in their lines. I made a dash in the centre to grab the middle objective with the remaining Honey troop, looking to smoke them off with my artillery to enable them to stay on uncontested.

However it was not to be, the fickle dice gods enabled me to fail to call the guns in on three rolls and with my AT guns failing a morale check and bugging out in turn eight we called it a day.

In FOW the mission uses the Fair Fight rule comparing lost platoon counts on the losers column of the Victory Points table, which gave Steve a 2:1 win. The VP points system in FOW is very simple and probably fails to give a good indication of how clear a win was, so I have included an alternative approach which I saw on another blog and have adopted (apologies, I cannot recall where). This looks at the value of units damaged and destroyed to calculate an advantage, which called the game a draw. Either way both Steve and I agreed that this was a very enjoyable mission, and gave us plenty to talk about re set ups and initial troop placement.

Thanks to Steve for a great game.

Direct from Detroit, 11th July 1944

2011-07-25T18:32:00.023+01:00

Hi all,

Steve and I fought the third game in this six game linked campaign, adapted from the Skirmish Campaign book, "Heroes of Omaha and Panzer Lehr". The first three games are fought over the same table simulating the fighting that went up and down the road from Les Hauts Vents (see the google map, bottom right, on the campaign summary sheet)on 10th & 11th of July.

This third game simulates the counter attack by US 3rd Armoured Division to take Hill 91 and Les Hauts Vents and roll back the advance of Panzer Lehr's right thrust. The map below shows the US and German front lines prior to this action, with the hill top shown on the southern edge.

The picture of the table shows the set up after the troops were deployed, the variable set up being that because Steve's Panzers won the last encounter, his defences could include the house in the centre of his front line. As can be seen the Panzergrenadiers occupied the front line backed up by the Panzer platoon and Company HQ with the HMG section.

The terrain in this action was not conducive to armoured attacks, with plenty of bocage, limited roads and rain sodden fields which would cause wheeled vehicles to check for bogging. This together with occasional minefields left blocking gateways from the previous two battles severely limited my US troop deployment. Thus the tanks went into the fields, with the armoured infantry moving on my right where unimpeded gateways allowed access to the half tracks, with some tanks, the HMGs and recon advancing down the road.

I was also hoping the US artillery would lend a hand so had my Sherman OP and Company commander on the hill to my rear able to spot for my guns. The only hazard with this plan was that historically the artillery was inaccurate on the day, and to reflect this problem Steve got to place two alternate positions for the strike, which would fall on my positions should I roll a 1 or 2 on a d6!!!!

The US force looked well balanced with all arms capability and plenty of recon.

The German force although small in comparison to the Americans was formidable with Veteran morale, dug in, plenty of Panzerschecks and Panzer IVs sitting still on the defence able to blaze away at my advancing armour. Also they could rely on a PaK40 taking pot shots at any US vehicle in fields on the US left flank with an open edge. This simulated 352nd Infantry Division on Panzer Lehr's right flank.

The picture below shows the slow advance in the hedgerows as my road column advanced on the German position with my flank support

The recon boys did an excellent job revealing two Panzergrenadier sections and allowing me to quickly bring HE and HMG fire to bear, causing a few casualties and pinning their positions.

This initial combat was successful beyond the American expectations as the mission checks this caused the Lehr grenadier platoon to take saw Steve throw two ones and a two on a d10 in the first couple of moves (low being not good). The grenadiers panicked and left the position. The road looked open for the taking. That's when the wheels started to come off the US attack!

The picture below helps illustrate the point. My Shermans looking to take advantage of the Lehr collapse advance on the hedgerows. At this stage in the campaign US Sherman's didn't have Cullin forks and therefore they have to crash over the boccage, forcing them to bog check.

Steve's response to was to rely on the Panzer IVs overlooking the valley to start to thin the US armour.

The result was that across my front the Shermans started to burn.

Not only that but my armoured infantry started to take hits as they tried to stalk the panzers with bazookas.

Eventually the US artillery started to get involved, not without bombarding my own positions twice, but it was not enough to stop the Panzer attack which caused my armoured infantry to flee and a Sherman platoon to quit with them.

However at turn seven the game was still in the balance and with a roll of a 6 on a d6 the game continued for another two turns, with US shells falling on the German ridge. With both sides teetering on Company morale checks, the shelling managed to kill the German company commander and his 2IC failed to take over when he fled the field.

It was too little too late for the Americans and the panzers managed to hold firm to the game end, with the remaining US armour not daring to engage in any further long range tank duels.

The result was one Sherman and one M8 armoured car totally destroyed and four foot groups killed or wounded giving the Germans 6VP for casualties inflicted (The damaged Shermans and routed groups do not give casualty VPs). In addition the US failure to take the hill gave them a further 5VP plus 4 attachment credits to be used in future games (gulp). The US gained 3VP for the German casualties (two foot groups and the company CO).

The position at the halfway stage has Panzer Lehr sitting on a commanding lead of 10 victory points with all to play for for the US forces against the second Lehr attack which was aimed at Le Dezert (see map). The next three games are scenarios looking at the battles along this route.

Thanks to Steve for a very fun game that had lots of swings of fortune throughout the day.

Jon

Epsom Linked Campaign Game 2

2011-06-12T11:04:00.012+01:00

This month we played the second game in Gary Martin's linked campaign on the Epsom offensive. This campaign is available on the Battlefront website.

http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=572

The first game in this campaign was played in March and resulted in the Scots gaining a narrow win and penetrating the 12 SS defences. This result affected the set up for our next game, the attack by 11th Armoured Division on Hill 112. Due to the rapid advance of the initial attack by the 15th Scottish troops the SS units defending atop the hill were caught deployed but not dug in.

The forces involved were

On Table 12 SS Division

1 Platoon Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers - full strength

1 Platoon SS Anti-tank guns - 3 x PaK 40

Reserves

1 SS Panzer Company HQ - 2 x PzIVH

2 SS Panzer Platoons - 8 x PzIVH

On Table 11th Armoured Division

1 Squadron HQ - 2 x Sherman V

2 Tank Troops - 6 x Sherman V & 2 x Sherman VC Firefly

Reserves

2 Tank Troops - 6 x Sherman V & 2 x Sherman VC Firefly

1 SP Anti-tank Troop - 4 x M10 Achilles

1 Motor Platoon - Full strength.

The map shows the terrain and initial set ups. Given the openness of the terrain, we set the SS troops as "stealthy" to reflect their excellent abilities at camouflage. This required them to be spotted even when in open terrain. Two objective were placed by each player, with the German objective placed just behind the wood on the left flank of the German set up zone and the British objective just to the left of the wood.

Once the Germans were set up on blinds the British armour deployed. Given the position of both objectives the British units would look to assault the German left flank. The cover of the hedge line on the British left flank was used to set up the Squadron HQ and both Firefly's to over watch the attack by the six remaining Sherman's. The Pak40s were a considerable threat as the British armour prepared to roll out across the fields and they got the first shot in, lightly damaging two Sherman's of the assault group and badly damaging the 21c Sherman in the command group.

The picture below shows the initial attack going in. The two blinds next to the objective hex proved to be dummies. The real threat came from the wood on the right containing Panzergrenadiers and a PaK40.

The only chance for the British armour was to get onto the objective quickly before the German armour showed up. The Germans guns had fired first, so now the British tanks concentrated their fire towards one gun in particular that protected the German left. It was a difficult shot which even after a successful hit gave the gun team a save throw of anything but a ONE on a d6. The German commander then managed to conjure up a ONE. However the gun team counted as a foot group and was intermingled with other Panzergrenadier foot groups, so a "My Choice" dice was required to see who, German or British commander, would determine that choice. The result went to the Brits. The picture below shows the knocked out gun with the German objective marker tucked in bend the wood.

Below is the other side of the wood with other units that were unable to immediately stop the British attack.

The only gun that could possibly stop the British tanks getting onto the objective in turn 2 was the third PaK on the corner of the orchard which could get a flank shot in on the next turn. The British Command tank took care of this threat by placing a well aimed smoke round adjacent to the gun thus masking off the British attack.

At the start of turn 2 the British armour were set up in the fields opposite the German left flank.

Would they be able to get onto the objective, and once there hold until the start of turn 3 to seal the win?

Both sides were busy rolling for reserves and taking mission resolve checks between turns, with both sides forced to wait another turn for reserve arrivals.

The British tanks moved onto the objective, forcing the German commander to consider counterattacking with his infantry in the open to clear the British tanks. However the Sherman's got the drop this time and badly damaged the Platoon Commanders halftrack that had tried a couple of potshots with its 3.7cm gun.

The start of turn 3 found the British tanks still firmly ensconced on the objective and able to claim a win, all be it a narrow one following the German fire placed on other British units on the table. This caused considerable damage and further failed mission resolve checks.

We decided to play the next three turns to see how things might have turned out, and look what turned up on turn 3, "gulp"

The German reserve die rolls proved more successful than the British with two Panzer IV platoons appearing for only one Sherman troop. The result being a lot of burning Sherman's at the end of turn 6, with a small conciliation of the PaK40 platoon failing its third and final mission resolve check and leaving the field.

So the game ended in a British win, but only just. Wellington would have summed it up as a "close run thing". The score for the campaign is 8 vs 6 to the British after two games, so all to play for in the final game, the German counterattack by 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions.

Apologies for the quality of the pictures, I left the camera at home so we used Nathan's phone to capture the key events.

Thanks to Nathan for fun game

Jon

Next Months Games at Club

2011-05-18T08:26:00.002+01:00

Hi All

Just a reminder for next month

WWII Epsom mini campaign game two, Hill 112

and

ACW warm up game for the summer

Jon

Morning of the 902nd, 11th July 1944

2011-05-16T08:31:00.029+01:00

The second game in the mini-campaign from the Skirmish Scenarios book "Heroes of Omaha and Panzer Lehr" was fought this weekend which picks up from the first game where Battlegroup Heintz had held off the US 3rd Armoured Division whilst waiting to be relieved by the 902nd Panzergrenadier Regiment, Panzer Lehr.

The campaign position is even with both sides gaining five victory points in the first battle. The hill position at Hauts Vents in visible in the lower right corner of the map.

Panzer Lehr arrived at Point 91 in the early hours of the 11th July 1944 and prepared immediate plans to assault the US lines in the hours of darkness to enable their forces to close with the Americans, hoping to take full advantage of the confusion and intermingling of the opposing troops and thus avoiding US air attacks when the daylight came.

Steve, taking the role of Oberstleutnant Welsh, commander of the 902nd Panzergrenadiers, having the option to delay the attack until dawn, followed the historical plan and opted to attack at 0400 hours in the dark.

This decision meant that the action took place at very close range, no more than 240 yards (four hexes) and very often more likely to be at 60 - 120 yards (same to next hex).

The table and set up map show the starting positions and the objectives buildings at the top of the picture that Panzer Lehr had to capture. If they also took the manor house seen right at the extreme top of the picture on the North edge, they would gain four attachment credits, which would come in very handy for the next game. In addition because the US forces in the Hauts Vents game failed to capture their objectives, the Panzer Lehr have an optional flank set up area on their right flank.

The German battle group was very powerful with two armourd panzergrenadier platoons backed by mortars, tanks, SP guns and flamethrowers. In addition Steve managed to get the Recce platoon as his additional attachment enabling him to scout ahead of his main force.

The US forces represented the infantry of the US 120th Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, who had been battling in the hedgerows for several weeks since D Day. They were thus subject to an attrition die roll at the start of the game to represent this state, forcing me to remove a stand on a die roll of 1-2. This removed six groups including an HMG before a shot was fired. In addition, because Steve opted for the night attack option, my M10 TDs and additional recce platoon would now arrive in d4 turns as immediate reinforcements. It was obvious that with this reduced force I would not be able to defend the whole position and so I looked for obvious choke points such as gateways and enclosed fields where I could set up all round defence and turn neighbouring fields in to kill zones.

As expected, the Lehr recon platoon lead the intial probing of my defences. We had all un-spotted units recorded on the maps, or as blinds on the table until they were confirmed as troops. This gave the uncertainty that the actual commanders had to deal with when fighting in the bocage at night. In the picture above can be seen the Company commander and 2IC vehicles parked up on hill 91, with the two Grille SP 105 sIGs supporting the following Panzergrenadiers

The Grilles probed a bit too far down the road and one vehicle was disabled and the crew abandoning it after a shot from one of my defending M4 Sherman's.

The picture below shows one of the Panzergrenadier platoons that came on on the US flank deploying and carefully approaching the field my US platoon were holding.

I had placed the Sherman's in the corners of the field so they could contribute to any fire from my infantry. The US Company CO can be seen in the centre and off to the left are some Panzergrenadiers finding the only hex of mines placed to cover the gateway on that flank

The picture below shows the German positions at the bottom of the field. The terrain and darkness made it difficult to maintain command, and the US infantry were able to hit this platoon the hardest causing them to fail two mission resolve checks, without quite being able to break them with a third failure

With the Panzergrenadier section stuck on the mines and losing a casualty, I opted to close assault them taking them out but losing a casualty myself on my own mines. The casualty markers are testament to this battle. The Lehr platoon leader has moved up to clear his casualties in an attempt to stop his unit breaking.

Meanwhile on the other flank the main Lehr force was labouring across mud and bocage to turn the right of the US positions. I could only use my Tank Destroyer platoon to delay the inevitable and try and exact a toll on the advance. The burning Panzer IV was one success and caused the German armour to stop and wait for the infantry to catch up with them and lead the assault into the objective buildings.

With the arrival of the Panzergrenadiers the full armoured force was ready to assault the manor complex.

By turn eight and only one turn to go before checking for game end or an extension, the US forces were being forced back into the buildings. The Sherman's added their combined firepower to keep open the road back to US lines.

As the Lehr closed in for the kill, and a final lunge to capture the manor turn nine ended and a d4 was rolled, with 1-3 indicating an extension of that number of moves, and a 4 ending the game. The die gods took a hand and a four was duly rolled. The game ended with 8 victory points to the US and 10 for the Germans, but the manor was not taken. One Sherman and one PzIV were knocked out and one M10 and Grille were disabled and abandoned. The US infantry executed a textbook withdrawal in the face of the enemy losing eight stands of infantry, and surviving two mission resolves at below 50% strength, also losing their platoon commander in hand to hand fighting. Likewise the Lehr platoon that suffered on that flank were in on the objective, taking out one of the annoying M10s with a well directed barrage of Panzerschreck shots.

And the next game will be on the same table but with the full weight of US 3rd Armoured Division looking to counterattack and roll back this prong of the Panzer Lehr assault.

Thanks to Steve for a great days wargaming, good times.

Jon

Hauts Vents 10th July 1944

2011-04-30T09:34:00.019+01:00

Not being avid Royal watchers, Steve and I got together on Royal Wedding Day to kick off a mini campaign based on the Skirmish Scenarios Book "Heroes of Omaha and Panzer Lehr". As a display of loyalty to the Crown we did take a moment to toast the happy couple, several times as I recall!!

The particular campaign chosen is the Lehr Counterattack campaign of six linked games that recreate the attempt by Panzer Lehr to counterattack American forces threatening to engulf St Lo in early July 1944.

Having suffered 30% casualties facing off the British in front of Villers Bocage, Panzer Lehr were rushed in to bolster the front in the US sector. The first game "Hauts Vents" features the German Kampfgruppe Heintz (see orbats below) in front of Hill 91 which overlooks St Lo attempting to hold back a thrust from US 3rd Armoured Division, prior to the arrival of Panzer Lehr. The next two scenarios are also fought on this map, so Steve and I plan to carry on to the next game taking the consequences of the result of this one. As this was a linked game it was important to both sides not to take a heavy loss, as this might impact heavily on the prospects for the entire campaign.The map shows the terrain with north at the top. The table represents a valley in between two ridges, the highest being the Hauts Vents village on top of point 91 at the south map edge. The Germans were able to occupy all the ground except the six hexes in the top right corner, the US entry area. In addition the US armoured infantry had the option to enter from the top left four hexes. The two buildings in the valley floor were the American objectives.

The table threw up several challenges for both sides but principally the US having to attack. The buildings and bocage were considered "closed terrain", requiring massed firepower to kill enemy groups in those hexes. The long table enabled the Germans to position OPs and AT guns on hill 91 and be able to see US units maneuvering and cover large areas of open terrain. These problems together with muddy ground due to recent rainfall, causing wheeled vehicles to bog, and a pesky German PaK 40 on the eastern board edge able to fire at US vehicles ending their movement in open fields on that flank, forced the US troops into prepared killing zones and required a level of circumspect before moving.

The Germans were set up with full hidden placement, and fortunately the US were able to field two mobile recon platoons that enabled them to spot these ambush sites more effectively.

The table below shows the German held hill 91 in the foreground with the US entry and objective points marked.

The picture below shows the Manor and neighbouring houses. The Manor was particularly important for the US as it was a three story building on the north ridge which gave a panoramic view of the German positions allowing the US mortars to play their part.

Picture below shows the outskirts of Hauts Vents on hill 91. The hill and three story building in the foreground were the highest points on the table and in German control.

US recce soon established that the US objectives were strongly held with a platoon of infantry, the Company HQ, HMGs, wire and mines

The US recce and armour were forced to deploy together and so commenced to shoot up the German platoon holding the Manor complex. They had to proceed carefully because the Armoured Doughs deployed on the other road, so the armour was very wary of panzerfausts.

The massed fire of tanks, armoured cars and recce halftracks soon had the barn on fire and started to cause casualties.

Meanwhile, below, the Armoured Doughs edged in from the other flank "brassing up" the house in the foreground with the Halftrack MGs. The infantry dismounted and prepared to assault, only to shoot up the house with a bazooka group and knock out the two remaining rifle groups.

The German platoon commander was forced to pull in the perimeter and with two morale failures already, loosed off a barrage of rifle and MG42 fire at the Doughs on the road, wiping out the assault section. The commander then set to clearing casualties and removing pin markers in preparation for pulling back down the road to the Company MLR.

The Germans looked like pulling off a masterful withdrawal after bloodying the US advance only to fail their final moral check on the turn end and rout back behind the lines.

With the Germans ejected from the Manor, the US prepared to assault down the road into the valley (see picture below). However it was important to get the Company CO up in the Manor in contact with the mortars to either shell or smoke off German guns and strong points before closing in. This proved a frustrating exercise as it took the CO two moves to get into the building, only to discover the mortars were out of range and required a move to get on the table.

Despite getting a two move extension to the game on the random die roll at the end. The US forces had to be content with the ridge in their control.

So the game ended in a German win as the US failed to secure the objectives in time, but as the casualties were even and no US armour was lost, the Germans do not get attachment credits (credits can be used to effect the chances of getting a particular unit in the next scenario orbat) but will get set up benefits in the next game.

Victory Points were awarded one for each group or vehicle destroyed (not routed, unless captured) German casualties were 3 Rifles, 1 LMG and a sniper. US losses were 3 Rifles, 1 Bazooka and 1 HMG group (Sorry Steve I missed the sniper off the list yesterday). Which gave 5 VPs to each side.

So the Campaign Score stands at US 5, Germans 5

Thanks to Steve for a great game and lots of laughs.

Happy Bank Holiday and best wishes to the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge.

Jon

Bay of Pigs April 2011

2011-04-12T14:45:00.006+01:00

Here they come.

Jeepers Tanks !

Look Bulldogs

CRA High Tide

Whilst the rest of the club lazed about in the Sudan, Chas and I took a trip to the island of Cuba.

Luckily the Adder had knocked up a few hundred troops in his lunch hour, so we decided to re-enact the Bay of Pigs using FOW rules and the Vietnam supplement.

Leading my intrepid counter revolutionaries were CLA paratroopers who had established themselves in a village near the beach.

It wasn't long before some CRA militia came into view and a fierce firefight started, with the paras withdrawing to the other side of the village. A platoon of T 34's consolidated the gains for the CRA, as a lone T 41 Bulldog shot it out with them. Three versus one is not good odds and it was soon burning.

With both sides receiving reinforcements things stabilised in the village, but the T 34's broke out on their right and a vicious hand to hand battle saw bazookas and a/t grenades send them packing.

Chas was not done, as a platoon of T 54's brought the other flank under pressure. Luckily my artillery took out one and an last ditch assault into CLA infantry in a wood proved to be a step too far for Castro's men.

A good bash and the Vietnam rules played well.

Next time the Yanks can keep their Bulldog's and aircraft !

Vince

Easy Army for FOW lists

2011-04-10T10:06:00.002+01:00

Hi guys,

EasyArmy.com

An interesting new site was "flagged up" by the guys on the WWPD Podcast this week, Easy Army a web based list making service which has easy to use pages based on the original artwork in the FOW books.

The lists can be created and saved for printing when required and at present cover the Blitzkreig and DDay books with a bit of Midwar. I understand other lists will be added.

The German and Allied lists can be accessed for a small contribution ($1 each, that's 0.65p in real money) so they are a really useful option to creating points costed army lists, check it out.

Jon

They don't like it up em in the Sudan

2011-04-10T08:04:00.012+01:00

Hi all,

This months club meeting featured a game hosted by Nathan and took us to the Sudan in the 1880s using his lovely collection of 28mm figures. The rules were Too Fat Lardies, "They Don't Like It Up Em!" which are a card driven set and really help capture the flavour of the period.

The photo above shows the opening positions, Brits in red and the Sudanese in blue. The British punitive expedition, four units of Imperial infantry and one artillery unit (2) top left are returning to the Nile pick up point via the small village (4) in the centre. I have marked the village as Sudanese held because although to the British players it appeared to be held by Egyptian troops, it was in fact in Sudanese hands, one unit of Ansars and two artillery pieces,ready to ambush any unlucky British advance guard.

The Main British force (1) consisted of two units of Indian infantry, two units of Naval infantry, Bengal Lancers, two units of the Camel Corps, one Gardner one Gatling gun and a heavy artillery piece. These were in the process of landing before setting off to meet the raiding force.

The Sudanese hidden units were at (1) three units of light cavalry, (2) three units of Ansars, (3) four units of fanatical Fuzzies

As the British main force formed up, the Bengal Lancers set off to inspect the defences in the village, whilst the gunboat attempted to spot out trouble close to the shore.

Meanwhile our brave lads marched via hilly terrain, keen to make the safety of the village but ready for any trouble on the way.

The Egyptians in the village transformed into Ansars and opened fire with canister and rifles from the defences, stunning the Indian lancers, who were then hit by a charge from the hills to their left by Sudanese cavalry who pushed them further back.

Meanwhile the Imperial infantry became an island in a sea of screaming fanatical Mahdists, with the Highland and Coldstream Guards defending the hill at the centre of their positions.

Following the ambush at the village and the sound of mass musketry beyond, the British main force formed up and prepared to march forward to the relief of their beleaguered colleagues. Would they get there in time?

As the final shot shows there would be no force to rescue, with only a few Imperial troops left making a desperate bid to reach the main force. The Sudanese turned to face the new enemy in support of their village garrison. That was where our game ended.

Thank you to Nathan for a great scenario and fun game.

Winter War Finland and 12th SS Normandy next month

Jon

Firestorm Normandy Turn 2

2011-04-07T20:32:00.002+01:00

Hi Guys,

The German General Staff (Steve) and SHAEF (Jon) met up this evening at my place to sort out turn 2 in the campaign.

The map shows what is planned for turn 2 (2oth June - 3rd July).

The tempo of events certainly favoured the Germans with only three attacks generated (must have been stormy weather).

The Allies got the drop for the first attack and went for an assault by the US Paras on the FJ in Carentan. I backed up the assault with US artillery and naval gunfire support to secure this vital link between the US beaches and the 40 points that go with it.

The Germans got the next attack and went for an assault by the 17th SS Panzergrenadiers into the flooded area of St Jours supported by the Luftwaffe (if they can get through my fighter cover), aiming to grab back 20 points and forestall any push to seal off the Cherbourg Peninsula.

The final attack went to the Allies and I opted for the "big one", 3rd Division are going for CAEN and 80 points of glory. I'm going to make it easy for them and have given them air support and and Corps Artillery in the form of the big 5.5" guns.

Interestingly Steve mentioned that if the Germans had got the final attack he would have gone for the 12th SS attacking into Arromanches, but that just a forlorn hope.

So there we are, three key battles planned for the next phase to see who will control the Normandy bridgehead.

More anon

Jon

Firestorm Normandy Campaign End Turn 1

2011-03-30T21:13:00.002+01:00

The four beach landings have been completed and Steve and I have brought the map up to date with the exploitation, march and strategic moves. Despite the loss on Gold beach, the armour from Juno exploited into the area to secure the British landings. The US paras on Utah enabled the US armour to exploit to St Jours and strengthen the US forces around Carentan and support a US move to cut off the Cherbourg peninsula. Allied air helped keep the Cherbourg garrison bottled up and minimise the German moves against Arromanches, however SS Panthers (2nd SS) are in the Foret de Cerisey and the SS PzIV (12th SS)is opposite Arromanches in the Bretteville area. The StugIV representing 17thSS has moved to La Haye to threaten US attempts to close on Barneville. The 21st PzIV moved into Mezidon opposite the British paras in Merville. A solid Allied landing should give a good platform for expanding the bridgehead in turn 2. As a side note, I like the way Firestorm allows a campaign structure to bring together games played as time allows. The campaign started last August and the battles have been fought as stand alone games but have contributed to the map positions recorded. Jon

Firestorm Normandy, Gold Jig Green

2011-03-28T17:54:00.017+01:00

Hi all,

The fourth and final game in the first turn of our Firestorm Normandy campaign was fought this Sunday, and featured the landing at Gold Jig Green Beach by the Hampshires. The beach is an interesting scenario because where the 1st Hants. landed marked the boundary between the 716th and 352nd Divisions, and thus meant that the British veterans came up against German veterans on one side of the defences, and reluctant Ost troops on the other (see map and orbats for details)

The British objective on this beach was to penetrate the defences and wheel to their right, taking the objectives (green and yellow flags) at Asnelles and Le Hamel. This reflected the original objective of 231 Brigade with their mission of securing the right flank of the Gold Beach landing to allow the 47th RM Commandos to pass through to Port en Bessin and link up with the Americans on Omaha. Below is the tabletop interpretation of our map

With a current running from right to left (facing the beach, seaward side), the Brits landed their first three infantry platoons, DDs and an AVRE troop, headed for the ramp off the beach and the sea wall next to WN36, ably garrisoned by the 441 Ost, who sadly for the Germans lost a section to the naval bombardment and remained pinned for practically the whole game.

The AVRE's closed on WN36 and started to create breaches and batter the seafront buildings, preparing the way for the infantry assault.

Meanwhile the DDs were tasked with keeping the veterans of the 352nd in the Chateau Asnelles and sanatorium complex quiet whilst the attack developed on the other end of the beach. The smoke was deployed to prevent fire from the 7.5cm bunker of WN37 raking the beach. However a continual peppering of small arms and mortar fire came in from this strongpoint.

The assault on WN36 when it came was short and bloody, with the Ost troops fighting back stubbornly, taking three groups out for the three groups they lost. The remnants were forced to withdraw shaken but unbowed.

By turn 4 the attack on WN36 was gathering momentum, but would it be able to get clear of the strongpoint and swing in on the objectives?

The German commander decided to not wait for all the reinforcements to assemble and decided to just take a section of the infantry platoon and two Marders, seen here entering Asnelles. The truck and dug in infantry mark the objective hex.

Turn 5 saw the Brits starting to assemble their units in preparation to head out across country

Infantry supported by armour, make the dash across the open fields towards the cover of the hedgerows and immediately draw fire from the Marders and 352nd infantry sections.

The attack stalls in front of Asnelles as the British attempt to bring up M10s to support the infantry and the Commandos to make a last desperate assault on Le Hamel from the beach, which ended in failure.

At game end the German veterans were securely in control of Le Hamel and Asnelles and having inflicted over 21% more casualty points than they received were declared the winners, so ending turn 1 of our campaign with the only German win.

Many thanks to Gus, Jason and Nathan for a great days wargaming, and a slightly longer game than planned due to the fact that I hadn't advanced the clock an hour in the room and thus we thought we were finishing at 6pm when it was in fact 7pm!!

Jon

Games planned for April

2011-03-13T09:09:00.002Z

Just a note to let everyone know that Nathan will be doing 28mm Sudan game and Chas will be recreating the Bay of Pigs disaster of 1961, the 50th aniversary.

Epsom Linked Campaign Game 1

2011-03-13T07:39:00.017Z

This was a game I had been looking forward to playing when painting my collection of British Infantry and Waffen SS Panzer Grenadiers. The campaign was written by Gary Martin and is available on the Battlefront Website, from which you can find the orders of battle. Mission 1 represents the "Break In" attacks launched on the 26th June 1944 by the 15th Scottish Division and the particular attack by the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers as they fought to take the village of St Manvieu. The village was held by 2 Kompanie, 26 SS Panzergrenadier Regiment and the command post of the first battalion.

The SS troops had been in almost continual action since June 7th, when they had counterattacked the beachhead established by the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division. By the time the Scott's attack took place the 12th SS Division was firmly on the defensive and had started to harden their defences with prepared positions.

This was the Scots initiation to battle after years of training in the UK. Although they were untried, they were confident and well trained in their assault tactics of "leaning in" to their supporting artillery barrage, backed up by Infantry tanks to shoot them on to the objective.

The day would prove how well that confidence was founded.

The map for the game as per Gary Martin's briefing

The table top interpretation. I decided to make some slight changes replacing some of the light woods with cornfields which were a major feature of the terrain and captured in so many photos of the battle of "Tommies" advancing with rifles at the port in waist high corn.

I also decided to change the original game design by allowing the Scots to be preceded by their rolling barrage provided by the Divisional and Corps artillery batteries. This caused the loss of three SS foot groups and a dug in PaK40.

Both sides placed an objective in the German set up area, and not unsurprisingly they were well separated to confuse the Germans as to where the attack would concentrate.

The Scots advanced rapidly into the orchards on their right flank and approached the edges of the village, while the SS were busy trying to unpin from the artillery barrage.

The Scots came up against the German wire and stopped to work on breaching it whilst exchanging desultory shooting into the village. The marker on the right indicates potential SS ambushers.

It started to become clear that this was the main assault as the lead platoon supported by Pioneers was quickly followed by two more rifle platoons, backed up by the crocodiles.

The Pioneers joined in by starting to flame the outlying houses and infiltrated into the outskirts.

Whilst the attack was going in on the British right, the HMG carriers in the centre were supporting with indirect fire into the village. This prompted retaliatory fire from the SS mortars which caused damage to several carriers.

Then the SS nebelwerfers joined in dropping a barrage into the orchards knocking out five rifle groups from two platoons and pinning the Scots attack. This also finished off the Pioneer platoon who had led the assault. The damage had been done to the German flank though, and the remains of the SS platoon there were forced out and retired. The other SS platoon started to feed reinforcements across their front to secure the objective, whilst leaving a security section to guard the German right flank.

In an effort to stop the German re-alignment, the Scots launched their reserve platoon at the German right, braving MG42s and mortars in the fields beyond.

This was where our game finished, with 8 turns completed and the fighting still very much in full swing. However with slightly under half of the SS company destroyed and only about 25% casualties of the Scots hors de combat, the battle looked to be heading to a historical win for the Brits. However as in the actual action the Scotts had been fought to a evening battle amid the flaming ruins of St Manvieu, where the follow up units of 11th Armoured Division would become embroiled in the mopping up next day. But that's another game!

Thanks to Malc, Jason Nathan and Steve M for fun game with lots of swings of fortune from one side to the other. The best bit was telling Nathan that he only had to avoid getting a 1 on a D12 when taking a morale check for his SS boys. Although I couldn't see the die, his face said it all. Don't take up poker Nathan!!!

Hill 112 next

Jon

South African Rifle Co. vs 90th Light Panzergrenadiers

2011-02-25T08:31:00.005Z

Hi all,

Steve and I played a FOW game last night, pitching South Africans against DAK in a throw together mission. We both came up with our own force lists up to 1500 points.

90th Light - Confident Veteran

Co HQ

2 x Panzergrenadier Platoons

1 x Heavy Weapons Platoon

2 x Pak 38

3 x Pz IIIG

1 x Pz IIIJ Long

3 x Sdkfz 222

4 x 10.5cm howitzer

Limited Air (Stukas)

South African Rifle Company - Reluctant Veteran

Co HQ

3 x Rifle Platoon

1 x HMG Platoon

2 x Valentine Troops (6 tanks)

Recce Troop (3 x Humber AC)

SP AT Platoon 3 x 2lbr portee

SP AA Platoon 3 x 40mm AA Bofors

RA Battery 4 x 25lbr

Limited Air (Hurribombers)

We randomly chose our mission which was Withdrawal and diced off for attacker/defender, with the Germans getting the defender role.

Steve opted for a night attack and advanced across the table towards the German position.

The Germans occupied a ridge in the centre with a patch of scrub on their left and a depression on their right. The three objectives were evenly spaced along the back edge slightly towards the German right.

We played 6 turns, with the Germans withdrawing their Panzers, which were held in ambush, and their artillery, whilst having one of the Panzergrenadier platoons destroyed in an assault.

The South Africans lost a Rifle Platoon, the Recce platoon and one rifle platoon being one base of 50% strength.

My Panzergrenadiers were almost permanently pinned throughout the game and would surely have inflicted even higher losses if they had managed some decent dice.

The final act before we totted up the score was the Stukas came in to the attack braving some bofors fire, only to break off because I stupidly left a group within 16 inches, doh!!!

Good game, German losses in points 14%, South Africans 21%

February 2011 Spanish Civil War 28mm

2011-02-17T10:05:00.007Z

The Republicans try and early attack on the square

Things that can ruin your day

Reinforcements: Legion no less !

You Cross the Road. No, after you !

This month Chas put on a SCW battle in 28mm. Steve M & me played the brave revolutionaries and Andy & Malcolm were the oppressive communist government.

The scenario revolved around government attempts to take the town of Sesena. A unit of Moroccans were caught resting in the town square and victory was deemed to go to whoever occupied the square a close of play.

The Republicans attacked with regulars supported by 3 x T 26's. This caused some alarm to my Moroccans, as they lacked any distance effect weapons that could damage tanks. The Moroccans duly spread out, manning the barricades and occupying the houses around the square.

A field gun and tow turned up in support and the gun deployed covering the square. The tow truck was used to block one of the roads into town.

A desperate fight for the church ensued and Andy launched several attacks on the barricades, only to be beaten back by the Moroccans.

With both sides receiving reinforcements the battle swung to and fro. The government lost the T 26 on the edge of the square, to a round from the field gun, but the gun crew then withdrew under mg fire.

Given the short ranges, crossing open ground was very costly and a stand off on the approach roads developed.

On our right Steve and Malcolm shot at each other from cover. Even the "Chip Van" could not be persuaded to turn the corner under fire from Steve's Legionnaire's, Civil Guard and Moroccans.

On our left, mg fire from the hill meant the Legion and Carlists could not leave the wood. Equally the POUM militia facing them dare not leave cover.

In a desperate assault Andy took the factory on the left of the square, only to be wiped out by counterattacking Legionaries (who died to a man in the process !).

As darkness fell 3 Moroccans still manned the barricades and a mass of Phalangists moved down the road to reinforce them.

A good game, played in a good spirit to "Rate of Fire" rules.

A little more aggressive use of the tanks and Chip Van might have swung the game. If we had lost the square, then the deadly cross fire from the buildings and barricades would have made retaking it very difficult.

Vince

P.S thanks to JJ for the photos.

German Heavy Metal

2011-02-13T13:09:00.008Z

Hi all,

Just a few pics of my Normandy Germans. From Top to bottom, (1)Tigers, Stugs and Jagdpanzers, (2)SS Panzergrenadiers, (3)Panthers and Jagdpanthers, (4) Lehr Panzergrenadiers, (5) King Tigers and PanzerIVs. (6) 21st PD Panzergrenadiers.

Jon

Battle of Le Mesnil Patry June 1944

2011-02-13T12:43:00.004Z

Just a few photos from Gus's game "Battle of Le Mesnil Patry, 11th June 1944". I know Gus is going to do a game report. Just to say, great terrain, great figures, great fun. Thanks to Gus, Jason and Nathan.

Plastic Soldier Co. Ltd 15mm T 34's

2011-01-28T16:18:00.003Z

Battlefront Pz38t, Plastic Soldier Co. T 34 & spare turret, Battlefront Stug D

Long Island August 27th 1776

2011-01-08T17:48:00.008Z

The first club game of 2011 featured an AWI clash using the "Hold the Line" board game rules and fighting the Long Island scenario.

On August 22nd 1776 General Howe landed a British army of 15,000 men at Gravesend Bay on Long Island. On the 26th he marched with 10,0000 men of his force towards the key geographical feature on Long Island, the long narrow ridge known as the Heights of Guan. It was pierced by four passes. Howe feinted against three of the passes and General Putnam the US commander accordingly positioned most of his available troops to cover them. Then on the night of the 26th Howe's main body marched through the one unguarded pass to turn the American flank. Our game started at that point and the first picture shows the British line on the left facing the Americans on the ridge, with the British Light troops ready to enter the nearest pass (Jamaica Pass).

The British force had to destroy seven American units before the games end (22 turns) whilst the Americans were trying to evacuate seven units after the half way point, or eliminate six British units.

Initially the British quickly moved their light infantry and dragoons around the American flank, taking out a unit of militia on the way. This forced the American to fall back off the ridge on that flank and attempt to refuse it. Meanwhile the remaining British units attempted to close as quickly as possible, some using force march to pin the remaining US troop on the ridge. The Guards on the British left flank assaulted the militia and destroyed them.

The early success achieved by the British was cancelled out by their inability to keep their army together. Their eagerness to close with the enemy and shoot and assault left them with to few command points to bring up their remaining troops thus causing the half the British infantry to be left on the base line.

At the halfway point in the game it was 2 victory points to nil in favour of the British, and following a quick half time beer much talk about getting stuck in and finishing the Yanks off. Things didn't quite go to plan. Suddenly the Americans started to get the better command die rolls enabling them to move more troops in as reinforcements, and just as importantly cause weaker units to be evacuated. In addition the variable time control dictated by rolling a d6 and reducing the time left by the score started to move in favour of the Americans. Before the British knew what was happening the Americans had a 4 to 2 victory point lead and the games end loomed.

In a last desperate attempt to close the gap the British launched an all out attack on the defences of the Brooklyn camp, with a Grenadier unit breaking into the fort and destroying a continental battalion and capturing General Washington. The American army had however escaped to fight another day, winning the game 8 to 5.

The rules played very well and everyone had them mastered very quickly which enabled us to get through the moves and finish the game in good time. Thanks to all involved for another fun time.

Jon

Northfield, Minnesota, Bank Robbery

2011-01-02T13:06:00.006Z

Hi all,

The annual Xmas game in North Devon was something a bit different, something you come to expect when Chas invites you over to his place. The game was based on the raid carried out by the James-Younger Gang on September 7th 1876, see the link for more details.

www.angelfire.com/mi2/jamesyoungergang/northfield/html

The gang led by the infamous Jesse James and Bob Younger decided to do a job in the North, so it was rather amusing to find after randomly assigning characters to players, that the gang were run by the South Devon contingent of me(JJ), Steve M, and Vince vs the North Devon citizens run by Chas, Clive and Nick.

As in the original raid the start positions had Jesse, Bob and Clell Miller in the bank holding up the staff, the other gang members were in two groups guarding the route out of town should things "kick off". As the gang we needed a quick resolution of the hold up (decided with a die roll each turn) before to many townsfolk became aware of the raid and decided to take up arms against us. The gang managed to grab the cash by turn two and Bob and Jesse were on their horses ready to leave. Clell, however chose to adjust his saddle just as the alarm was given and was immediately shot in the back by a citizen wielding a six gun as he came out of a neighbouring building.

What followed was a painful battle up the centre of town as the two leaders gradually worked their way towards the bridge out of town, fending of shotgun/rifle wielding enraged townsfolk taking potshots. The other gang members gave support fire from the bridge and the stagecoach(conveniently parked up in the town), and using innocent unarmed townsfolk as cover enabled the gang to move without actually killing anyone.

The game reached its climax as the final dash was made for the bridge and safety. Both sides upped the anti with a local "pistolero" fanning his six gun at the robbers, killing Cole younger, and one of the gangs horses. In return the gang now started to shoot to kill in an attempt to relieve the pressure on their rearguard, felling four townsfolk in two turns, with citizens being ridden down on the bridge by Bob Younger as he left his gang to get out.

In the end the gang were able to make good their escape leaving two of their number dead and six murdered townsfolk.

Really enjoyable game, thanks to Chas, Clive and Nick for setting things up.

Happy new Year

Jon

Queen Red, Sword Beach

2010-12-20T20:18:00.008Z

The third Firestorm Normandy game was fought this Sunday, and the British had their go at getting a foothold on the Normandy coast, following the successful landings by the Canadians at Juno and last months bloody encounter by US forces on Omaha.

The first picture shows the Queen Red Sector from behind the German positions with WN12 (Sole) in the right foreground, with the Luftwaffe radar post acting as battalion HQ for the third battalion 736 Grenadier Regiment. The hex immediately to the left of this position on the hedge lined road was the key objective for the British force. In the right background immediately on the sea front is the eastern end of WN20 (Cod) which was the strong point for the 10th Company, including a 8.8cm AT gun in the large bunker, 2 x 7.5cm AT guns covering the road off the beach, plus HMGs, Mortars and an artillery OP. In the right background are the houses of Breche de Hermanville which provided cover for a 5cm AT bunker and a tank turret bunker giving support fire to WN20. The position was supported by 15,5cm artillery and reinforcements of infantry and possibly panzers from 21st Panzer Division stationed close by.

The next two pictures show the beach front gun positions interspersed with wire and mines to hold back any troops on the beach to allow them to be dealt with by the machine guns and mortars in WN20

Following the initial bombardment by the navy that managed to knock out an HMG position and a rifle group in the support trenches, the pinning effect of the bombardment allowed the 2nd Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment to take full advantage, by managing to land three platoons in the first wave and rush the sea wall and wire defences.

Because of the possibility of German tanks turning up, the British decided to break in to the defence primarily using their infantry assets bringing on the armour once the anti-tank defences had been neutralised, to help deal with the German infantry. This would help to make sure there were plenty of British tanks around to deal with any German armour.

By turn 3 the British infantry had "bangalored" the sea wall creating multiple breaches allowing them to assault and take out the 8.8cm bunker in the teeth of heavy fire from the German Infantry. The DD tanks and AVRE easily took care of the 5cm and tank turret bunkers, with the infantry and DDs smoking them off, allowing the AVREs to close the range and take them out with their Petard mortars.

By turn 6 the British infantry was able to make their final assault into COD having taken out most of the German machine gun positions, which with the reduced return fire allowed them to charge into the position and clear it with the grenade and bayonet.

This opened the "flood gates" and the Commandos of 4 Commando stormed across the salt marsh and brought SOLE under fire whilst the Yorks moved into the neighbouring field ready to take the objective.

The Germans were forced to commit their reserves of only half a platoon to try and keep the objective clear of enemy troops, even managing to take out a section of British infantry. By turn 9 the numbers of British troops were overwhelming and the victory was complete.

This time Steve Mathews took the Brits and I the Germans. We both picked up a lot of lessons from the previous games, ie the German infantry firepower is formidable in defence and a combination of mass return firepower and judicious use of smoke when available needs to be used to get in amongst the German troops. This is best done by the infantry who can deal with the AT guns that threaten the armour. The armour is then able to rapidly move inland to get round and behind any remaining resistance.

A really good game, great fun, thanks Steve.

Next game is Gold Beach in 2011

Warning Order Magazine/What Would Patton Do

2010-12-12T21:51:00.002Z

http://www.wfhgs.com/wrngorder.html

http://www.whatwouldpattondo.net/

Following a discussion about magazines and pod casts, here are two links of interest that I have checked out.

Warning Order is a free download PDF magazines with good after battle reports, rules reviews and general discussion.

I have also listened to the What would Patton Do podcast which is quite amusing and has some interesting analysis of FOW rules and an interview with Wayne from Battlefront.

Enjoy

War in the Desert

2010-12-12T18:53:00.002Z

Hi all,

Thought I let everyone know about the game this weekend at the club, put on by Steve Mathews who brought out his ever growing collection of FOW desert troops.

Sadly I didn't have my camera with me so no pics of Steve's collection. This month also saw a reduced turn out due to various members being away, so the Brits were played by me (JJ) and Steve Hallett vs Chas and Steve M running the Afrika Korps.

The mission was the Withdrawal mission, which had a mixed bag of 2 x German Infantry platoons supported by 3 x Panzer IIIs, 3 x Sermovente 75s, 3 x Sdkfz 222 A/Cs, a couple of PaK38s and 7.5IGs, an 8.8cm Flak gun in ambush and support fire from a battery of 105mm guns, who were tasked with holding at bay the Australians whilst gradually taking platoons off the table to simulate the rearguard. The Australian force consisted of 8 x Crusader IIs, 3 x Honeys, 2 x platoons of Australian Infantry, 4 x 2lbr portees, and a battery of 4 x 25lbrs on call. The force was also supported by Hurribombers.

Steve and I decided to focus our assault on the right flank objective whilst refusing the left flank and centre. The Crusaders led the way followed by a platoon of infantry, supported by fire from the 25lbrs. The holding force of the 2lbr portees and Stuarts formed line against probing Pz IIIs and Sdkfz 222's.

The assault rolled forward with the Crusaders racing through a platoon of Sermoventes with niether side able to inflict casualties on each other. The 8.8cm in ambush declared itself to fire at the onrushing Crusaders and promptly missed. The 25lbrs caused the 7.5IGs to pin, and with anticipation I announced to Chas that my Crusaders would assault his pinned guns, literaly inches away from the objective that could win the game for the Aussies.

Meanwhile on the other flank, Steve H had dispatched a 222 with the Honey's and caused a Pz III to bail with the Portees. It only left our Hurribombers to come roaring in and tip the balance in our favour by dispatching the German artillery support.

THEN THE WHEELS CAME OFF. The Crusader is not the best tank to assualt with, with its paltry side armour of 2. Chas took full advantage and his infantry gunners promptly unpinned and shot the Aussie cavalry out of its saddles. The follow up Infantry took on the Sermoventes and with their lack of machine guns were eventually overcome by the Infanteers only for the German Artillery to whack the Aussies with a barrage while they were still clustered round the smoking wrecked Italians. The RAF continued to put in a reluctant appearence with only one aircraft showing up on 75% of the calls.

Steve H dispatched the 222 platoon, but with the assaulting Aussie armour shot together with half the infantry and the nearest objective removed, the game was a clear cut Axis win.

Thanks to Steve M for a very enjoyable and instructive game.

Omaha Easy Green Beach

2010-11-28T13:05:00.012Z

The second game in the Firestorm Campaign was fought last weekend and Omaha proved a tough beach to take.

US Forces had eleven turns to capture their objectives via the defences at WN66 and the E3 draw. The Americans had an early success with the naval bombardment knocking out the beach front gun bunker and causing fires on the bluffs overlooking the draw providing an effective smokescreen. The effect of the pinning fire also enabled the first platoon ashore to get to the sea wall and start demolition work against the wire.

Then in turn 2 the Germans woke up and let rip, with the 352nd on the bluff chucking out twenty two D6 per section of ten men needing 6's to hit. Needless to say the US troops on the beach started to take heavy casualties and only got off the beach on turn 6. The DD tanks stayed on the surf line risking drowning in the incoming tide to trade shots with the 5cm gun in WN68. The German gun eventually came out the winner with crew taking to their rifles when they discovered they didn't have any HE to lob at the US infantry.

Things were looking bad for the Yanks when the US Navy got into the battle with their AOP plane calling in a bomardment on WN66 and taking out a section. The fire from the defences slackened and the Rangers got into "Bingham's" house at the entrance to the draw. They eventually led the assault on WN68 and its troublesome gun, forcing the German commander to consider falling back on his reserve platoon and defend the last objective in the last moves of the game.

Unfortunately for the Germans the US Navey again grabbed the initiative and broke the final stand, allowing the Yanks to grab a win on the last turn of the game.

Thanks to Mike, Steve and Will for a very enjoyable game

Plastic Soldier Company Ltd 15mm Rigid Plastic

2010-11-08T13:23:00.005Z

Painted Plastic Soldier Company Ltd 15mm rigid plastic WW2 Soviets

Size comparisons: Painted PSC, Unpainted PSC, More Painted PSC, Painted Battlefront and the fat boy on the end with the tuck box is from Peter Pig !

Vince

October 2010 Meeting - Winter War

2010-10-09T20:28:00.010+01:00

Chas and Steve M attempted to storm famous "Polar Bear" bunker on the Mannerheim line, in this 2500 point FOW Winter War game. Andy tried to survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

This was a Winter War game to the "Hold the Line" scenario in the FOW rule book.

HERE THEY COME -

Andy, keen to get in shot, poses for the camera, as the Soviet horde gets uncomfortably close to the line. Frustrated he returns to the field telephone in his bunker to check if my men have left Helsinki yet.

A LITTLE HELP HERE -

A couple of hideous turns for the Soviets see Chas and Steve remember they have left the gas on in Leningrad.

HOME TIME -

A good bash, with the Soviets getting close, but being check by accurate fire from the A/T guns in the bunkers and fire from the infantry in the trenches. That said, the Fins looked in trouble when they lost the A/T gun platoon and the HMG platoon in the trenches.

Despite it all we weren't so cocky until the landships were burning though !

I decided Andy was doing so well I would leave my troops in the box until turn 4. Glad I bothered to paint them.............

Vince

Steve M and Chas attempted to storm part of the Mannerheim line, which Andy defended whilst awaiting the arrival of reinforcements.

This was a 2500 points a side FOW game based on the Winter War fighting in Finland.

HERE THEY COME

Jon's Book Reviews

2010-10-09T19:05:00.006+01:00

The Odin Mission by James Holland, the first of the Jack Tanner series. This is the WWII Sharp, which features Sgt Jack Tanner in a mission set during the ill fated Norway campaign in 1940. Really good read, with plenty of historical detail to capture the feel of that campaign. A must for holiday reading.

The second book in the series is now out in paperback which sees Jack Tanner and his company plunged into the Dunkirk campaign where he comes up against two villains, one German and a member of the SS and the other a senior NCO from a previous encounter during his service in India. Great read, that again follows the events of history.

18 Platoon by Sydney Jary was first published in the late 1980s following a platoon re-union, and describes the young Sydney Jarry taking command of 18 platoon of the Somerset Light Infantry part of 43rd Infantry Division in Normandy just after the division had suffered terrible casualties at Hill 112. Jarry after being told he would only survive a few days in combat went on to command the platoon to the end of the war in Germany. This is a really good description of a British infantry platoon in action 1944-45 in Europe and is reccomended reading for todays young subalterns.

Books focussing on the German Infantry forces in late war Europe at the platoon and company level are very rare, so this book looking in particular at the fusilier battalion of the 272nd Volksgrenadier Division was a great find. The book was able to draw on a unique discovery made after the Berlin wall came down of an old suitcase containing the battalion records of this particular unit that would have been kept by the company clerk. In most cases these records were destroyed at the end of the war, but remarkably these survived to enable a phorensic reconstruction of the personel that were recruited into one of the first Volksgrenadier divisions that was hastily thrown into the fighting in the Hurtgen forest.

The book follows and charts in detail the small scale actions the various companies in the fusiliers fought against the Americans allong side the other units in the division, ending with their final surrender in the Ruhr pocket.

Facinating read and reccomended for those interested in the period.

October Game, "Kiss Me Hardy" Play Test

2010-10-09T18:33:00.007+01:00

This month gave us a chance to get the sailing ships out and playtest the rules from the Two Fat Lardies, "Kiss me Hardy". The scenario was the free one available on the Yahoo discussion group which pits four British 74s against four French 74s and two 80s. The victory conditions being who could inflict the most damage to the other side. The two forces sailed on to the table in line ahead, with movement, firing, strike tests, boarding attempts and damage checks being carried out in the move as governed by the turn of an appropriate card. I really like the card system as it removes the need to write orders, and events occur in a totally random sequence in each move. The rules are simple to follow without being simplistic, and we picked them up really quickly. We all thought they would make it easy to play with large numbers of ships on the table.

Our game ended with two British 74s badly damaged and forced to strike, and two French ships badly shot up. The photos illustrate the close broadsides being swapped and a fair amount of rigging ending up overboard.

We thought about adding some command and control rules in to govern formations that the sides could use, which should be an easy addition to make. We will run another game next month to get better acquainted with these very nice rules.

New Donnigton 100 years war in 15mm at Colours 2010

2010-09-17T08:34:00.006+01:00

Following our regular club meeting on Saturday several of us travelled to Newbury on Sunday to visit "Colours".

I have attended this show for many years and it continues to be a good day out, at an easy to get to venue, with good games and traders.

Whilst browsing the show stands at the end of the day I was attracted to the Donnington stand as I still toy with the idea of putting together a 15mm Wars of the Roses collection. It was then I spotted these beautifully painted minis and I thought you might like a look.

These models were also featured in Wargames Illustrated.

Very Nice!!

September Game, Tel el Eisa

2010-09-17T07:47:00.010+01:00

Battle of Tel el Eisa First Alamein 1942

Steve M held a FOW desert clash between the Ausies of 9^th Australian Infantry Division and the Italian Sabratha Division supported by elements of Afrika Korps.

This battle represented the crumbling attacks carried out by General Auckinleck to hold Rommel's forces in a battle of attrition, forcing him to commit his mobile armoured reserves to bolster his Italian allies.

Auchinleck attacked again on July 10 at Tel el Eisa in the north with the fresh 9th Australian Division. 89 Germans of the 621st Radio Intercept Company and 835 Italian troops that were largely part of an infantry battalion and artillery group of the "Sabratha" Division were taken prisoner by the Australian 2/48th Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel H. H. Hammer. A battalion of the Italian Bersaglieri was committed to plug the gap and initially recovered some of the lost ground at Tel el Eisa and even took 13 prisoners. According to the 2/48th Battalion diary: "[a]t approx 2000 hrs enemy tks-number unknown-and inf attacked D Coy front. They overrun posn and enemy inf forced D Coy to withdraw and occupied their psn."^[18] While the Bersaglieri suffered heavy losses, it bought time to allow the Italian XXI Corps to rush in a battalion of the "Trieste" Division and L3 and M13/40 tanks of the 3rd "Novara" Armoured Group and Major Gabriele Verri's 11th Armoured Battalion to affected sector and seal off the Australian breakthrough.^[19]

The picture below shows the initial Italian position upon their ridge with wire out front. As in the original action the Aussies attacked at night struggling to get their vehicles up to the ridge without bogging in the broken terrain.

The position was penetrated on the Italian left, but the leading Aussie platoon was destroyed carrying the position.The ridge was consolidated by the Crusader and a follow up infantry platoon, both having doubled to get to the ridge.

On turn 6 the German armour with Bersaglieri infantry turned up and we ended up with a historical result, with Aussies on the ridge but unlikely to penetrate the position further. However the German commander had been forced to bring up the Panzers, losing a Panzer IIIJ for his pains.

Good game Steve, a very enjoyable encounter.

Operation Bluecoat July Game

2010-08-17T14:10:00.005+01:00

Hi all,

I was aware there wasn't a game report for July so have included some photos and brief report on the game and outcome.

Hill 192, Maisoncelles is a scenario from Olivier Perronny and pitches Guards Armoured Division against 9th SS Panzer Division during Operation Bluecoat, August 1944. The ptwo pictures below show the three objectives of the Guards, the most important being the 88mm gun on the hill, the other two being the road junctions. The other picture shows the initial set up with Guards position in red and the SS in blue.

The Guards attempted to push into the village of Maisoncelles with their tanks supporting the leading platoons, only to come under withering fire from the panzergrenadiers in the hedgerows. The casualties on the Guards started to mount and seeing that the objectives could not be achieved after the losses sustained, the Guards attempted to make an orderly withdrawal, only to fail their morale checks and leave the field in a disordered state. (that's Guards speak for rout).

Juno Beach Nan Red

2010-08-15T10:40:00.007+01:00

Hi all,
A report on yesterdays game at the club which launches our Firestorm Normandy campaign

Juno Beach was the initial assault and the St Aubin sur Mer stronghold WN27 defended by a platoon from II/736th Grenadier Regiment, with a 5omm bunker gun, one 37mm tank turret bunker, an HMG tobruk, Pak, HMG and mortar support. In addition two pre-planned artillery strikes were available from the 7/1716th Artillery Regiment inland at Beny sur Mer with 4 x 100mm howitzers.

The Canadians consisted of a company from the North Shore Regiment supported by "funnies" and Royal Marines from 48 Commando, with a preliminary naval bombardment and artillery and air support.

As in the actual battle, the fight was a costly affair with the Canadians struggling under AT and mortar fire to scale the 13 foot high sea wall and penetrate the only exit of the beach which was mined and wired

The initial assault by the leading platoons and funnies succeded in creating two breaches in the wall and knocking out the 50mm AT gun but at a cost of the two platoons and supporting armour. The follow up armour a nd two further platoons succeeded in exploiting the breaches using CRABs and infantry to break into the position. This was not helped when they were mistakenly attacked by their own air strike.

The Tank Turret bunker was particularly successful at disabling several AVRE's and breaking up several infantry assaults on the forward wall.

The final blows inflicted on the Canadians was a pre planned artillery strike on the beach which knocked out half a platoon, and a mortar strike which wiped out the HMG platoon from the Cameron Highlanders of Canada just as they disembarked from the landing craft.

However by turn 6 the pressure told and the final morale check by the German defenders was failed prompting the surrender of WN27 as the Sherman Crabs and infantry started to break in.

If the losses sustained are broken down in thirds Killed/Ser.Wounded/Lt.Wounded, the Canadins suffered over two platoons worth of killed and seriously wounded taking the position.

August Meeting

2010-08-14T22:16:00.002+01:00

This month saw a big turnout of 11 club members and 3 "casuals".

Two games ran, with JJ putting on a D-Day beach landing scenario in 15mm, whilst I ran the "Magnificent Seven" in 28mm.

Jack gave a painting master class. Given the quality of his painting I certainly took note !

In Normandy the Allies were having trouble getting parked in town. Things weren't helped by "Jabos" that wouldn't tolerate any loitering on the sand (when the RAF appears we duck, when we see the USAF everyone ducks, when the Luftwaffe is in the sky no one ducks). Last I saw the assault force was still making sand castles.

Meanwhile in Mexico Yul Brunner had decided that "no one throws me my guns and says run. No one." He led the other six to rescue the oppressed peasants the Evil ChasCalvera was holding hostage in the church (I guess the Yanks thought if someone was oppressing Mexicans it should be them).

Britt and Chris passed the blind Mexican sentry and Britt's throwing knife made sure one bandit would never see the dawn. Unfortunately Banditos never sleep alone and his bed fellow emptied his gun at the Hollywood stars. Yul Brunner and James Coburn would never take bit parts and remained unscathed, slaughtering their opponent in the ensuing hand to hand combat (two on one ? Hardly the American way).

On the other side of the village Chico (Horst Buchholz - who ?), Harry Luck (Brad Dexter) and Bernardo O'Reilly (Charles Bronson), were shooting it out with the 20 or so bandits rushing their way.

It was all too much for Chico, who went down in a moment of youthful inpetuosity and would never get to marry the local girl (never mind, she wasn't all that anyway).

Lee (Robert Vaughn), was struggling with his own demons, as he hid shaking at the sight of the first Bandit he saw. Luckily for him his "fearsome reputation" meant few bad guys would willingly face his six gun.

In a touching display Chris and Britt stuck close together as they moved on, gunning down everyone who tried to block their progress to the church. At least one bandit's dying breath was "but I was behind a wall". That won't help you in the sixties version of the wild west mate, you don't even get a mention in the credits !

Charles Bronson obviously had a death wish as he duked it out with 3 mexicans, killing them all with his star quality. Eventually Chas Calvera killed him with his "dirty fighting" as Mr Bronson tried to protect the children. Boo, Hiss.

The final scene saw Brad Dexter beat Calvera to death (all the messy stuff occured off camera), whilst Robert Vaughn found his nerve and came good in the end, abley assisted by Steve McQueen, whilst Yul Brunner and James Coburn released the grateful peasants from captivity.

I'm sure there is message in the sub-text here.

Many thanks to Chas, Guy, Steve M, Steve H and Eoghan who bore it all with good humour and bad acting.

Vince

July Game

2010-07-18T08:41:00.001+01:00

What no post ?

June Meeting

2010-06-12T22:03:00.002+01:00

June saw a large Spanish Civil War skirmish run by Chas. It was an early war scenario, so both sides were seeking to grab territory and had fixed on taking a village.

Two Nationalist columns approached the centrally located village from opposite corners, whilst two Republican forces came from the other corners.

The Government army rushed into the village led by the brave POUM militia's armoured car and occupied as many buildings as they could.

The Foreign Legion led by Brett took the edge of the village and exchanged machine gun fire with the Assaultos armoured car and Malcolm's workers militia, that were lining the edge of a wood.

Elsewhere JJ's militia contested a wood on the opposite edge of town with the mad Moroccans led by Steve M, whilst Rob's Carlists rushed into the village and straight into hand to hand combat.

Following a vicious melee the remaining Carlists and miltia settled to firing at each other from the buildings.

All around the village a fire fight ensued, with both sides die rolls leaving a lot to be desired, although some Civil Guard who tried to double down the road wished they hadn't and the odd unit of militia was wiped out.

The POUM armoured car (the mobile chip shop) sat in the middle of the square, where it failed to see any of the combats around it !

Eventually Steve's Moroccans and Falange tried to throw JJ's militia out of the church, whilst the Carlists assaulted the POUM armoured car.

It was touch and go, but massed fire cut down the Carlists and Ian's Stalinist 5th Column supported by the Chip Shop gunned down the Moroccans at the church door. The respite allowed JJ's militia to halt the Falange and the the Nationalists, bolt well and truly shot, conceded.

I thought it was odd that, having waited for half the game, in the queue at the Chip Shop the Nationalists went home as soon as it opened for business.

A good game to "Rate of Fire" rules, run with a light touch by Chas.

It was nice to see 250 figures in a fast flowing 28mm skirmish game and it could easily have gone either way.

I think Malcolm and I were competing for the title of "Worst Shots in the Game". I think I won, as my guys were supposed to be professionals, although I will let him have the "Blind G*t" award, for failing to spot a small war happening within a 100 yards of his Chip Shop.

Vince

May is done, bring on June!

2010-05-12T08:10:00.003+01:00

Last Saturday was probably the busiest day the club has had, in terms of numbers of games, for a long time. Four games were played by 14 people!

First up was an ancients game between one bunch with lots of chariots and another bunch with not so many chariots, using the Impetus rule set. Andy and Brett faced off against Vince and Chas. Then Vince left to watch Exeter City scrape a win and Chas, according to Vince, threw it all away. I'm guessing that means they lost.

In the far corner we have Guy and Eoghan playing the all new Warhammer Ancient Battles 2. Guy had a massed horde of barbarian types, who threw themselves onto the pikes of Eoghans successors and died! Oops.

In the centre was Jack and his son Charlie. AWI was the flavour of the month there, with Charlie commanding the British as they drove the damned rebellious colonials off the table.

The remaining 6 players were involved in a Napoleonic battle depicting a "what if" scenario from Waterloo, using Rank & File rules. A few gallant Allied units (8 units of 5 infantry, 2 units of 6 light cavalry and 4 batteries of artillery) faced off against a veritable horde of French (16 units of 6 infantry, 2 units 6 light cavalry, 2 units of 6 lancers, 2 units of 6 dragoons, 2 units of 6 cuirassiers and 8 batteries). The Prussians were "on the way", with 14 units of 4 infantry, 2 units of 6 light cavalry, 4 units of 6 heavy dragoons and 8 batteries. The allies held for long enough that, by the time the French had broken their line, the Prussians were rolling up the French right flank.

All in all it was a good day. Next month there will be a Spanish Civil War game from Vince and Chas, plus another ancients game from Nathan, Gus and myself, using Greeks this time though.

Sadly I didn't take my camera, so there are no pictures.

Cassano 1705

2010-03-14T18:05:00.002Z

Ignoring the nasty "buzzy" things on the "Bag the Hun" table, the gentlemen of the club prepared for a re-enactment of the battle of Cassano.

In 1705 Prince Eugene crossed the Italian border to relieve the siege of the cities and castles of Piedmont. Success would keep the duke of Piedmont in the war, failure would surely lead to his defeat. Key to this plan was the bridge at Cassano.

At Cassano the French deployed in and around the Cassano redoubt which protected their supply routes. They were confident the series of irrigation ditches to their front would protect their forces long enough for them to move to meet any threat.

Eugene, of course, had other plans and was across the first ditches before the French knew what was happening.

It was at this point our scenario started.

I led the Allies, taking the cavalry, abley supported by Clive on our left and centre and Steve M on our right. Facing us was Malcolm holding the redoubt and left flank, with Chas taking the centre and right flank.

The Allies rushed to cross the remaining ditch, with Malcolm doing his best to frustrate this. Chas deployed a holding force and rushed the bulk of his army from right flank towards the left where it could cover the redoubt.

As the Allies scrambled over the ditch they were "pinged" by skirmishing dragoons and infantry. A couple of units were caught disordered by charging cavalry and Clive's men suffered at the hands of an infantry firing line.

Weight of numbers drove the French back, but the ditch was slowing our advance, as units halted to redress ranks (JJ would have been proud !). Elsewhere Chas's men made a steady pace towards the fortification.

Allied dragoons forced their way through Malcolm's line and blocked Chas's progress, as Steve pushed the French left back.

Despite Chas's best efforts, the arrival of large numbers of Austrian cuirassiers caused several French units to fire high, waiver and run, but a new line held strong and both sides released their cavalry reserves.

Meanwhile Steve's first assault on the redoubt was turned back by a face full of cannister.

By this time so many cavalry were crammed into the centre that no one could move and Steve renewed his assault on the redoubt.

Seeing the writing on the wall, the Adder waved to the defenders of the redoubt as he crossed the bridge in his coach.

Malcolm's men were last seen being cut down by the bayonets of Steve's fresh grenadier units.

A hard fought battle and the French could complain that had their muskets been on target when the cuirassiers charged things might have been very different.

When told of the casualties amongst his forces Chas was heard to say "More men will be conceived in Paris tonight than were lost on the field today." His report of the battle is said to be very critical of his subordinates and the Chardonnay served with dinner.

I thought it was a good game with around a thousand 28mm figures on the table. The rules (Rank & File) gave a simple, quick game, with a believable result and we played at least 20 turns. Not a competition set, but fun for club bash involving lots of figures.

On the other table JJ & Jason couldn't agree on the difference between the front and the rear of an aircraft (remind me never to fly with them !) and JJ's pencil case got broken.

Vince

The day is rapidly approaching.

2010-03-10T20:46:00.001Z

Soon masses of 25mm figures will trade volleys of ill-aimed musket fire as Chas watches from his palatial carriage and sips his Chardonnay. Still none the wiser as to what is going on, just that its a bunch of lace-clad types picking a fight with a bunch of even more lace-clad types.

At the same time tiny little planes will be dogfighting over some corner of this green and pleasant land, as the valiant RAF attempt to hold off the nasty, caddish and downright mean Luftwaffe. Gus is setting this one up, using his planes on my mat.

March 13th Games

2010-03-02T07:52:00.000Z

It's another month and another game or two. First up is a 25mm War of Spanish Succession game, by Chas, Vince et al. Not sure which rules it is, but I'll bet there are going to be loads of figures on the table and Chas will be in a carriage on a hill sipping fine wine.

The other game will be a first play of Bag the Hun 2. Chocks away, Tally Ho and all that. Dakka dakka dakka willl echo around the room as Gus fails to hit anything again.

And onto the Ancients game

2010-02-16T12:53:00.000Z

A Warhammer Ancients battle, fought between Sassanids and Khazars. A report was received from the Sassanid commander, so please take into account the slight bias in his view. Over to you Vince.

The Sassanid king surveyed his army deployed on the plain. A horde of Parthian vassal horse archers, Iranian horse archers, Lakhamid horse, elephants, Arab and Iranian infantry all subordinate to the Sassanian Noble clibinari.

The nations of the empire were all here, the army was vast and it was a good day to slaughter the barbarian invaders.

Then the Khazar horde rode out of the heat haze onto the field. Innumerable horse archers were screening solid blocks of noble cavalry and a group of infantry with yurts. "Tents, why have they brought tents to a battle ?" the Shah of Shah's mused. No matter he thought and waved the Sassanid army forward to attack.

Battle was joined by the opposing horse archers and a swirling melee in the centre led to a large number of Sassanian cavalry fleeing the field. Clibinari charged horse archers along the line firing as they went and saw the retreating skirmishers feign flight as they fired over their shoulders.

On the left Steve M and the Khazar allies under Steve H danced around each other firing as they went. Many saddles were emptied but not one would come to close quarters.

On the right Andy meleed the Khazar light cavalry under their war leader Chas and both sides saw warriors flee the battle.

Frustrated at chasing shadows, a unit of clibinari rode down the yurt guard only to lose half their number to a cloud of arrows from skirmishing horse archers. The elite of Andy and Chas's army came to push of kontos, Andy's elephant stampeded (surprise, surprise !) and Steve M started to get the better of Steve H's cavalry in the shooting contest.

End game came with Steve H's forces boxed in and losing the resulting melees. My clibinari joined in and were glad of the rest from the continual pinging by nomad cavalry commanded by Malcolm. Chas had routed Andy's clibinari but, seeing no answer to the large blocks of untouched infantry, quit the field roundly cursing his allies.

The Sassanids held the field and remarkably their infantry was intact, but neither side had got off lighly.

I thought it was an enjoyable game, played in a good humoured fashion and it reminded me why I hate being pinged by nomad horse archers !

Vince

February is over, many dice were rolled

2010-02-16T12:40:00.000Z

And hopefully much fun was had. Two games were put on, 15mm WW2 by Jon and a 25mm Ancients by Chas and Vince. WW2 first, so here is a brief report.

Here is a picture of the WW2 game set up. A small German force had to hold off hordes of veteran British paratroopers. Outnumbered over 10 to 1(or not), the gallant defenders of the Reich were in for a hard time.(can you tell which side I was on?). The British had to secure the town and hold out until the armour arrived. The Germans had to wake up, defeat the British, capture London and win the World Cup.

After the first couple of turns some of the Germans had been rudely awakened by a British hand grenade. They promptly rallied themselves and lay down some withering fire, pinning down the Imperialist lackeys and stopping their advance.

As the rest of the Germans awoke, a British section rushed forward to free the local Mayors daughter from her skirts. The gallant defenders saw this and poured a deadly rain of fire on them, wounding or killing them all. They then advanced and gave first aid to the wounded, despite the evil nature of the British Paratroopers. ;)

As the game came to an end the Germans held the town, but had not driven the British off. The British did not hold their objectives but had survived until the armour arrived. Losses were very heavy for both platoons of the British, while the German 1st platoon had taken 40% losses.

I enjoyed the game, despite only getting to move 4 times in more than 11 turns. The rules used were an adaptation of IABSM, PBI2 and FoW.

13th of February is fast approaching.

2010-01-30T20:49:00.001Z

And much mayhem shall ensue. Jon is putting on a 15mm WW2 game, no doubt involving far too many well painted figures and vehicles. Vince and Chas are playing some sort of olde-worlde game involving bits of sharpened wood and pit ponies. I think the official description is Vince's Sassanid's fighting Chas' Kazar horde, but I may be wrong.

Yes, I am very occasionally wrong.

In other news several of the club members managed the pleasant trip to Cardiff today and spent copious amounts of money on 15mm buildings at the Penarth clubs Crusade show. Rather a nice day out, spoilt only by the absence of many traders. I think the recession is hitting smaller shows quite badly.

Looking forward to the club meet, especially as I won't be able to go to the Plymouth show next Saturday.

Mexico vs America! Hmm, history rewritten

2010-01-30T20:47:00.000Z

After Chas stood me up, Brett stepped into the breach with his Mexican American War game in 28mm.

Brett & Steve M took the forces of truth and justice and I played the land grabbing Imperialists.

The Mexicans occupied a couple of redoubts and a village with infantry and guns. The boys from the good old US of A formed advanced in line as their guns played along the Mexican positions and a couple of cavalary units covered the flanks. At this point a horde of Mexican cavalry made an appearance on my right and a single unit of horse on my left.

The brave US cavalry met their opposite numbers on each flank and promptly decided to go home.

With first blood to the Mexicans, the US artillery evened the score with some accurate fire sending some of the Mexican horse packing.

On my left my main attack went into a redoubt and promptly came back again. The supports decided standing off and shooting was the best option.

In the centre and my right a vicious fire fight developed and the Mexicans managed to send some cavalry in column around the flank.

With the main battle lines looking very worn and multiple units routing, the Mexican guard came into sight, received an ineffectual volley and regrouped to the rear.

Eventually I carried the redoubt held by Steve's troops on my left, but ground to a halt in the centre and faced advancing Mexicans on my right.

Both sides had received a beasting and retired to their lines to lick their wounds.

The Mexicans had done better than in any of the historical battles. Plans by the "Land of the Free" to rename half of Mexico as California, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona, not to mention a doubling of the size of Texas, would have to wait.

Man of the match went to Steve, who sold his soul for a supernatural set of die rolls. His unit in the redoubt single handedly threw back a third of my army.

A good game was had by all and it was nice to play an unusual period to a free flowing set of rules.

As an aside, if Brett offers you a transparent red D10 to roll, hand it back. I rolled 4 ones on the trot with it. It is the devil's dice.

Vince

January game revisited

2010-01-07T08:50:00.000Z

Two large 25mm games will be put on for January 9th, assuming the snow doesn't come back before then. The afore mentioned 25mm Napoleonics game by Gus and Nathan, using Black Powder rules is still on. Vince and Chas are doing a HUGE 25mm War of Spanish Succesion game, using Rank & File rules from Crusader publishing. So muskets all around then.

Plenty of room for other people to come along and join in, unless it snows again.

January 9th

2010-01-03T23:06:00.000Z

Following the cancellation of December's Napoleonic's game, January will feature the 25mm figures of Gus and Nathan as they fight a battle using the new(ish) "Black Powder" rules from Warlord Games.

There may be something else on, so I will start a poll. Place your bets please
1 - Chas and Vince will do 15mm WW2 Flames of War
2 - Chas and Vince will do 20mm Ancients using Impetus
3 - Chas and Vince will do a 25mm game with hordes of figures

I'll be there, but I said that last time.

I am also still waiting for the photos taken by Guy from last month. Still waiting..........

2009-12-20T07:01:00.000Z

December turned out to be a bit of a disaster. I was down with a stomach bug (the less said about that the better) and Nathan was laid up with gout. The problem there was that Nathan was providing the French for the planned Napoleonic game, so that didn't happen. Luckily Chas was allowed to pass through the border from North Devon into civilisation, so the Marlburian game went ahead. Vince's unbiased and fair report is below. Hopefully some pictures will appear at some point.

===================================================
On a crisp bright morning Chas, myself and Steve Mathews met for the big December game.

The UK representative for "Wargames Soldiers & Strategy", Guy Bowers, turned up to cover the game, write a review of Rank & File rules and take huge numbers of photographs. Just as well we had a large number of 28mm figures on the table!

Chas confidently deployed his French & Bavarians anchored on a line of 3 villages, with his cavalry in column behind. The man himself sat in his coach well to the rear.

After a brief conflab Steve volunteered to "do the decent thing" and fling himself on the right flank and centre to draw in Chas's reserves, whilst I took the left hand village and broke the weakened line. With his reserves gone, I only had to issue the "brigade will exploit to their front" order to the Austrian cuirassiers and Chas would be taking wine in our camp.

Well, that was the plan.

Steve sent his division across the marshy ground and positioned a brigade of Dutch guard to assault the village. Fire could not touch the defenders and the brave Dutch were checked as they tried to force the issue. Elsewhere guns played along the line to little effect.

Girding their loins, the Dutch launched another battalion at the village and back they came again. Meanwhile in the centre Prussian infantry and Austrian dragoons threw themselves on the French infantry.

Wurtemberg horse tried their luck on the other end of the line and were sent packing for their pains.

Again and again the allies threw themselves at the French and went back in the same old fashion.

Eventually Steve took the righthand village and I took the lefthand one. Now was the moment and the remains of a brigade of horse charged the French cavalry. Back they came and the triumphant French cavalry got a face full of cannister and musket balls from the supporting Prussian line for their pains.

Cuirassiers cut down horse and infantry shot up cuirassiers and still Steve ground slowly forward.

With night falling a truce was agreed. Chas sat safe in his coach, the Allies held the villages, but only the crows had a good day. Despatches were dictated to scribes on both sides, telling very different stories of how the day had gone.

All in all a good game to a very fast set of rules. The horse and musket set from Crusader are not as well structured as the ancients version, but they give a fast flowing game and a decent result.

You can't legislate for luck and Chas should be ashamed of the pact he made with the Devil.

December 12th - Napoleonics & Marlburian

2009-12-07T08:22:00.000Z

December's games will include both a Napoleonic battle, to be played using the Black Powder set of rules, and a Marlburian game using Rank & File. Gus is setting the Napoleonic game up, as Nathan is pretending to be sick. I have no idea what the forces involved will be, except that one side is very likely to be French! And here is our very own Napoleon!

Vince and Chas (if he is allowed out) will be putting on the Marlburian game. Again, I have no idea which forces they are using, because nobody tells me nothing.

New Blog Invite

2009-12-01T12:15:00.000Z

I'm in. Now about the Chuckling Chas fan club.....

The Rogues Gallery

2009-11-27T15:37:00.001Z

Jon, club "Presidente" and owner of way too many figures!

Vince, owner of many an army and master of none!

Gus, Napoleonic fan and idle git (he's a union rep!)

Will, son of Jon and demon dice roller. Way too many 6's to be natural!

Andy, who comes down from way up north, beyond Bristol even.

Steve, who isn't as old as his hair looks.

Chucklin' Chas, who precribes to the theory that quantity is better than quality.

Nathan, who thinks he's Napoleon but isn't that tall.

Jason, yours truly, who can lose with any army.

Some pictures from previous games we have played

2009-11-27T15:22:00.000Z

25mm Napoleonic's using Principles of War

1/300th WW2 Battle of Britain using Bag the Hun

25mm WW2 Battle of the Bulge game using Rules of Engagement.

25mm American Civil War, using Civil War Battles rules

15mm WW2 using PBI2

New's from the front.

2009-11-27T14:56:00.000Z

In October a few hardy souls gathered to fight an Ancient's battle using the Impetus rules. One bunch of loin-clothed chariot riders fought another bunch of loin-clothed chariot riders. Here is a report from Vince, commander of one of the bunches of loin-clothed chariot riders. In the first picture you can see the "Hand of Vince"!

The Hittite king surveyed his forces with concern. He had just received word that the vassal Chasadder and his army would not be turning up today. Surely some treachery. A quick message to Rameses Andy Lama Lama Ding Dong resulted in a compromise being reached regarding a redistribution of forces. This left the Hittites fielding a unit of sycophants and half naked girls , but needs must. The long awaited battle was back on.

The Hittites deployed with a division of heavy chariots, light infantry and skirmishers on the left and lights chariots, light infantry, skirmishers and girls in the centre and right. The Egyptians put their chariots on their right, deployed the Sherden warband in the first line and the regular infantry and archers in the second.

Immediately the Hittite chariots on the left surged forward to engage
their opposite numbers. Well, all bar one squadron that went disordered and stayed that way until the last moments of the battle. In the swirling melee the forces became intermixed.

Meanwhile one unit of Sherden were engaged by the girls et al and
soundly beaten. The sight of their comrades being pursued by dancing
girls, fan bearers, serving boys etc must have inspired the other unit of Sherden as they went through every Hittite unit they met like the proverbial hot knife.

On the other flank the Hittite infantry saw off the skirmishers in the broken ground, but were routed by the regular archers.

Despite a valiant and protracted battle, Ramese's chariots squadron was routed and the Pharaoh proceeded to direct his forces from a secure hiding place well in the rear.

Having exhausted and finished off every unit they had met, the girls finally succumbed to an assault by the Royal guard led by Steve. Well
there is only so much even a professional "entertainer" can take. The
Hittite leader wisely found a safe bolt hole in a wadi and stayed there.

With the Hittite chariots victorious but scattered and most of the rest of his army having remembered they had "left the gas on", Muwattalish decided the nearest fortified town looked a good option and retired from the field.

All in all a good bash which we all enjoyed. The rules played well and gave a free flowing and realistic fight.

Anyone who thinks chariots are easy to handle should give them a try !

What we do.

2009-11-27T14:44:00.000Z

We play with toy soldiers! At least, that's what my wife says.

We wargame, once a month, every month. There are a core of about 10 players who turn up 90% of the time, plus several others who grace us with their presence when work/family/rugby will allow.

There are no main periods that we do, between us most things are covered. In November we played 15mm American Rebellion (or Revolution) and 15mm WW2. Next month has a large 15mm Napoleonic game planned. We also game in scales from 1/3000th to 25mm, periods from Ancients to 1980's, on land, sea, in the air and in space!

The picture above is from a large 25mm Ancients game we played in September, involving 6 players and lots of figures.

New Blog as the website has problems!

2009-11-27T14:37:00.001Z

Hi and welcome to the Devon Wargames Group's blog, which is replacing the previous website due to technical issues.

More will appear soon, this is just a tester.