If You Go Down To The Woods....

 To wargame the American Civil War you need trees and lots of them. I organised a game for yesterday with club mates Fran, Simon, Matt and my son Stewart, I chose one of the original scenarios from the Johnny Reb scenario book called Dawn at Chickamauga, this involves a large Confederate assault on the unprepared Union left flank as the sun comes up.

The Rebs crash through the woods.

Shifty looking Reb commanders.

I had not read the scenario well and got the arrival times of the Union reinforcements wrong, very wrong, thankfully my son and Matt got to grips with this and we sorted it out before it could affect the game, it also came at the right time for the Federals. Stewart and I took the forces of good and found our initial two brigades out on a limb facing four Reb brigades bearing down on us, fight or flight was our only options, we decided to slowly retire facing the enemy. Our first reserves arrived and due to the fog of war (my mistake, see above) we sent them off down the road to hold a position near the Bretherton farm, leaving a very thin blue line facing the gray hordes.

Stewart's brigade disengages.

Reb reinforcements arrive.

Union reserves turn up.

As the first shots were fired we were taking more casualties than dishing them out, a quick meeting and we decided to disengage our whole line to put some distance between us and the Johnnies. This was unexpected by the enemy and we got away with it and managed a bit of breathing space, but quickly we were back slinging lead and my brigade in particular was taking heavy punishment. This was made worse by the 11th New York in their splendid red shirts skedaddling from the battle line, Stewart and I again disengaged to shorten our line, we were running out of men, especially mine. It was now as the pressure built up that we realised our mistake and rectified it, relief for the thin blue line was now arriving, but we had been pushed back almost to the Lafayette road which was the Rebel objective.

Desperate fighting on the Union right and centre.

Rebs, Rebs and more Rebs.

My shattered brigade.

Help arrives.

Both sides now stood very close to each other trading volleys, our initial brigades had suffered badly but the remnants still managed to hold a precarious line as our reserves started to filter forward. Most Rebel commanders were up front including Nathan Bedford Forrest urging their men forward, only one was to be a casualty, unlucky enough to get a minor scratch followed by a fatal wound. Running out of time we called a halt, the Confederates still had a slim chance to possibly defeat the Union right but it would have involved several hours more of bitter fighting which as we approached 1630 hrs was out of the question, besides Fran was anxious to see some kind of sports fixture.

The firemen run.

With hindsight it was a hard ask of the Confederates to capture three feet of the Lafayette road with their six brigades up against six Union brigades, maybe impossible. If Stewart and I had elected to stay rooted to our initial position we probably would have been overwhelmed leaving a clear path to the road for four Reb brigades, so retiring at speed was eventually the right decision. Having said that it was a close run thing as my brigade was chewed up and dealt very little pain to Fran's men, who just could not miss throughout. My thanks to everyone for coming along for a games day.

Previously on Tuesday night I had a game of Bolt Action against Michael, US Paratroopers vs Germans, I chose my list from the 116th Panzer Division so I got two tank slots, I took a 251/9 'Stummel' and a heavy armoured car 234/1 along with three small squads and a panzerschreck. Micheal wanted to use his own troops so brought two very large veteran squads and a Sherman tank, he is still building his forces and is newish to the game.

Up goes the Sherman.

Heavy armoured car.

Game winner.

PBI.

The Yanks entered the table and ran for cover in one of the buildings near to the centre of the table, I lined up my own squads and was happy to wait for my armour while keeping the panzerschreck hidden, Michael was unlucky and failed twice, maybe three times to bring on the Sherman. My armoured car wasn't much use but the Stummel began to lob HE into the building occupied by the paras, casualties mounted and soon this squad was routed. Micheal then moved his remaining squad towards the German lines and although it dealt our a few casualties on the infantry holding my left the Stummel moved and took them under fire, again the howitzer destroyed the enemy infantry. The Sherman did turn up eventually and moved against my right, I fired a panzerfaust which bounced off as did the first shot from the Panzerschreck, but the second was right on target and up went the last American unit. The game was over.

Houses if HE is around seem to be death traps in Bolt Action now, also the 116th Panzer list having two tank slots doesn't really make sense to me, I am not sure other panzer division lists have them or even if there is such a thing, but getting two fairly cheap pieces of armour for your money is a real boon, especially if you can keep them away from the enemy tank. I am sure Michael will take advantage of his Paras as they multiply and he plays more.

I have now completed my French army with the last unit of Gendarmes (TAG), I will need more cavalry at some point but can live with what I have for now. I have started and nearly finished my first Imperial Landsknechts, I went for Steel Fist figures for these, now I hate having to stick on anything other than weapons and was a bit disgruntled at the separate heads for these men. Now it may be no problem to you but I don't like it, also I found several of the heads quite hard to position, having moaned and huffed and puffed for an hour or so I have to say these guys are gorgeous and I am so happy I got them.

I also got some new RUB inserts from mate Colin at Charlie Foxtrot and reorganised several boxes, which left  me with spaces for maybe some more squads, just in case.

Chain of Command with Simon tomorrow at the club, this will finish my wargaming for February, coming up in March I hope to get the fourth campaign game against Matt Crump and Julian is coming for an Italian Wars bash on the 8th. Mate Billy from Scotland is wargaming near me and is popping in on the 24th enroute, looking forward to a chinwag with an old opponent.

And at last something to enjoy on the telly, Formula 1: Drive to Survive is back, I just love this programme despite knowing nothing nor caring about sport or motor racing, but it has me on the edge of my seat throughout.

I have just started the maps for the German Peasants Revolt, a big change from the Eastern Front and right up my alley at the moment. 

Smolensk: On to Richmond and Moscow

Valentines day and club night, this was going to sort the men from the boys, sure enough the membership on the night was mainly old married men and the turnout was low by normal standards. Anyway, ACW was on the cards, Fran had a scenario he wanted to try with his Warlord Epic troops and his Black Powder revisions, you know how I feel about BP, but Fran happily plays Johnny Reb so in return I joined his game.

I was one of two Union players and held the Federal left flank with one brigade, the other was arriving on the turnpike, what looked like a mass of Confederates confronted us, Epic gives that impression. Although the game was being played as a meeting engagement, after Alex's right hand brigade failed to advance and actually retired while my reserves were stuck on the turnpike we did not feel we could go forward. Happily we were not the only ones to suffer command problems, Dan, opposite me got one brigade up to oppose my far left but his centre brigade, like Alex's, refused to stay in line and half of it retired almost off the table.

The Rebs move forward.

Rebs left, Union right.

The excellent Federal artillery, eventually.

In the centre a hard pressed Reb regiment held the church and could not be moved despite the hail of lead sent towards it, this Confederate brigade always seemed to be on the point of retiring but just didn't. Next along Fran threw his last brigade, or tried to, in two desperate charges to break the blue line, both failed to even come to contact. Dan meanwhile had managed to throw a charge at me but was beaten back. I had by now managed to build up a double battle line and it seemed safe as houses as the Confederate army was by now in disarray.

Here they come boys.

Before the shooting started.

A nice little battle and a good size for a club night, also the rules with revisions were superior to the bog standard set. Dan and I had both had luck at various points in the game but I think I just edged to the front in that respect. I next meet Fran on the 26th when he is commanding a Confederate wing at Chickamauga as dawn breaks.

Now the main event, Matt Crump turned up this morning for our third Smolensk campaign game (game 1, game 2), only one table stood between the victorious Ivans and the German base, I had to win. Matt could choose between two scenarios this time, Attack and Defend or Probe, he chose Probe. I had a measly two points of support and as I needed to win this game I dipped into my reserve points, I took a Sdkfz 10/5 AA halftrack, it had decent AP against any Russian light armour and its HE could shred infantry and why not, I had one so that was it, I supported this with a large Pioneer Squad and a heavy anti-tank rifle, just to be sure. Matt went for two extra infantry squads, an HMG, a BT-7A and an Adjutant. Bruno and Anastasia the snipers were on R&R.

Unlike the last game I got some really good dice and right off got a double phase which helped me build a good defense while I waited for the Reds, everything but the AT rifle and the Pioneers were on the table on overwatch. Matt brought his tank on first, possibly with the idea of running it right along the road and off the table edge thereby winning the game, next he sneakily started deploying squads along a rivulet with heavy cover which was very close to my table edge.

This move as more squads turned up caused me to bring in my huge Pioneer squad (16 guys) to support the squad defending that sector. Meanwhile my AT gun turned up and started firing at the BT-7A, I never managed to knock the thing out but I did put a point of shock on it and stopped it moving faster than normal, this along with Matt having to use his commands elsewhere as the pressure built up meant it was never going to make it to the table edge.

Matt now brought on the HMG and the mortar for support as his forward troops withered under the German fire, although the cover was a boon against bullets it also played its part in slowing down their movement. I wasn't going to let the HMG deal out the amount of damage I had taken in the last game and I turned a full squad on it, within a couple of phases it ran for the hills.

As the Ivans struggled out of the morass I was tempted to bring one of my left flank squads over, just in case, but then I realised it was Chain of Command and I could reach them from where I was, a little adjustment and then the LMG's barked out, more Russians fell while large amounts of shock were built up. The Reds morale also began to fail as Junior Leaders were wounded or killed and squads began to break, it was all too much, with Force Morale reduced to two and his reserves never making the battlefield Matt conceded.

I sighed with relief, I had won a game and stalled the Russian steamroller, I was attacking now and could pick up much needed support points in order to do it, hopefully anyway. Matt had at last run up against the firepower which Panzer Grenadiers could throw out if allowed to and it had hurt. Steiger and First Platoon had got their revenge and suffered only three casualties while dealing out seventeen, every game the Russians always start with a new squad but although my losses were light I might have to bring in Second Platoon for the next game, especially as I will be attacking, I also still have the choice of an armoured platoon, now that would be fun, Matt is fighting the urge to bring a KV1.

The horses and flags are done for my next Italian Wars French unit, maybe another weeks work on these before they join the army and get ready for the big photo shoot.

 I got a knock at the door last week and there was a bloke standing with some books and what were obviously charts of some kind, it transpired he was the guy who had given me some British Army field studies of Normandy operations some years ago. His father who carried out the research was now in a home and he was trying to move a lot of his work. This time the books were about Malta and Libya along with Cassino, the maps were for areas in the Western Desert, Anzio and Salerno. I could only find one of the previous Normandy books so I offered them all online to anyone interested for the postage, I had an idea to do scenarios from the Normandy books but I just cannot find the time.

A neighbour lost her husband several months ago and has been busy selling up his large stock of photography equipment, I went over to help with her broadband and saw a Wacom Cintiq drawing board and was surprised that Ray would use such a thing, I got a Cintiq a few years ago and found it was the wrong thing for me and sent it back. Fran offered me the machine but on taking it home I found it did not work. Last week she offered me a tablet which worked but she could not get rid of, it turned out to be a Wacom Intuos Pro which is what I use for my cartography etc. this was an older type than mine but had never been out of the box, so I now have a spare machine. What a stroke of luck, I shall pop over a nice bottle of wine and box of chocs.

I watched the movie Devotion the other night being surprised it was out already on Prime and free. Here is a surprise, I enjoyed it. I also thought the racism aspect was handled very well, and all the more thought provoking for it. The stars of the show however for me were the planes and the aerial action scenes. I, like many more have binge watched Clarkson's Farm and thoroughly enjoyed it, a man who punched Piers Morgan cannot be all bad. I also feel his pain when dealing with the joyless planners on the Council, much like my own struggle, I now have to take some professional advice which will cost me some dosh, not the almost £500,000 Jeremy turned down but money I feel I should not have to pay to make an eyesore into a decent handsome building.

 

Wonderful news today after I finished the game, Nicola Sturgeon head of Scotland's one party state has resigned, along with St. Jacinda Ardern that's two gone, yet Trudeau hangs on. And of course she says she wants to spend more time with family etc. yawn. But we all know it was her transgender policy and the rapist with a penis in her pants that sunk her. 

Waiting

 It is cold and miserable, this has been a cold winter and I continue to wear thermals almost every day, I could really do with some heat and sunshine.

Right, it should have been warm on Tuesday as we were off to the Pacific Theater for a Battleground game set on Okinawa. Simon and I were the Americans and Andy and Jimi were the Japanese. Andy brought all the stuff and he has a lot, the game however proved far too big for three hours at the club. I had command of a Marine platoon in LVT's along with a small recce unit of two Stuart tanks, Simon took the Shermans and waited for the second platoon to turn up. The Japs were dug in all over the place, a main line then a second with A/T guns while 'spider' holes held ambushers on our approach, there were also some dug in tanks, the Marines were in for a hard time.

Recce unit.

Japanese line.

Full speed ahead.

The first suicide bamboo pole guy was shredded by the machine guns of the tank he charged, I moved up cautiously while Japanese artillery started to ruin my day, I eventually got close enough to dismount my infantry and return fire on the main enemy line, I had the good luck to knock out a tank, I think Simon got a second. Just as our main force arrived our own artillery landed and made a mess of the Jap position, another tankette went up. All of this resulted in a large hole appearing on the Japanese right flank opposite my platoon, just as I was ready to surge forward we ran out of time. The Americans at that point were slightly ahead as the Japanese had taken more casualties but there had been a plan for more of them to turn up so we were not going to reach a conclusion.

Suicide nutter.

Go marines.

I have played Battleground before and it is OK, mate Phil Robinson even uses it for platoon level games, something which almost tempted me until I saw the price of the books and supplements, beautiful though they are I have two WWII sets and don't need another. It always amazes me how much material Andy has in 20mm covering most of the war. Next week it is ACW Black Powder, yes I know, but Fran has amended the rules to better suit the period and as he plays Johnny Reb it is only fair I play with his Warlord troops.

Wednesday also brings the third game in our Smolensk Campaign which has Matt Crump stalling Barbarossa and causing palpatation’s at 7th Panzer HQ. I am almost on the ropes and need a win, my casualties have mercifully been fairly light so far but this has not stopped me having to withdraw. Despite my dire performance in the last game this is a great way to fight WWII platoon level games. I have one more game on the cards here at HQ for February, a five player Johnny Reb game as the Confederates attempt to turn the Union left flank at Chickamauga, once again I am the defender.

Kurtsevo before the storm.

I also feel the need to get the Italian Wars back in action, I know Julian has recruited a lot of new troops from his visit to Vapnartak, I gave it a miss as there was nothing I needed. Well that is not quite true I have shopped online for Colour Forge primers, Charlie Foxtrot box liners, a couple of paints and a pile of small magnets. As I said earlier I have reined in my spending for the moment due to having a smallish lead pile and vouchers for Wargame Foundry.

My painting slowed down due to being busy with maps and looking after the missus and doing woman's work around the house until she is fit again. However I got back into it last week and managed to finish my mounted arquebusiers from TAG, very nice and easy to paint figures. I do wonder however how these troops were actually used, there seems to be two schools of thought, one they shoot and scoot and two they are mounted infantry, I fall into the shoot and scoot school. Friend Charles Singleton is writing up a supplement for Pike and Shotte for the Italian Wars and has voiced some interesting thoughts on arquebusiers on the Italian Wars Facebook page. I think this supplement will be well worth getting even if you are not a P&S player but simply interested in wargaming the period for the information contained within.

I almost forgot that a week or so ago I had also finished up another unit of Archers (heavy cavalry) using the excellent Steel Fist figures for this troop type. I also took the opportunity to draw up a more complex banner than I have done so far, it has a Phoenix surrounded by what I think are flames, this is normally shown in red but I went for blue, why not, I will use a red one at a later date. I have my last (for now) unit of my French army primed and ready to go, six Gendarmes, so it will be back to researching and drawing another couple of banners and then a group photo before starting on the Imperials, just love that black eagle.

Nothing on entertainment for now, I am at a complete loss despite having four or five streaming channels. I am sick of strong, diverse female characters running the show and doing things that are patently impossible for most females I know to do, grrrrrrrr.

Still mapping, I finished the Napoleonic maps for the Russian history series for the years 1806-07 and am now on another marathon involving the 15th SS Latvian Division as it withdraws from Pomerania in 1945. In the wings are the German Peasant's War which fits neatly into the Italian Wars period and more American War of Independence, you might remember the AWI Atlas I worked on which is now several years late and might possibly be out this year.

WIP.

 I notice that my most popular posts which keep appearing are Man Flu II and Aetius' Army, I can understand the interest in the latter but the former has me baffled.

Why did I use the heading Waiting. Well I had to wait a couple of weeks for an infection to disappear, now I am waiting for a bad ear infection to leave me alone, I always seem to be waiting for the next game (never get enough) and now I am waiting to push ahead with my refused planning permission along with waiting for the missus to recover. I can only take comfort that I no longer have to meet the great British public any more along with the waiting.