A Big Cat and St. Nazaire III

 Back to the normal world now, holidays a thing of the past, no wait, I'm retired, every day is a holiday. I popped on to the club What's App and advertised for a game, Jimi came back and was happy to play Bolt Action. Just for a change and as we both know the game I went for 1,000 points rather than the usual 800. I also looked up the web for some interesting scenarios and found one where there are five objectives in each quarter of the table and one in the centre, the person holding most at the end wins. Not really a big fan of this type of game and prefer more 'historical' set ups, when playing in Penrith Matt always has an interesting game set up, I really should spend more time on this aspect of game play.

Anyway I decided to spend some points on something different, I looked at several of the Bolt Action theatre lists but as I wanted to use some of the armour which I have built but have never used I went for a generic platoon and took a JagdPanther. Along with the tank destroyer I also managed four squads, a mortar and a panzerschreck. Jimi had a good mix of regular troops and veterans along with an anti-tank gun, Universal Carrier and a 76mm Sherman.

British advance.

Germans advance.

First objective sorted.

We both took the closest objectives to each other which left a battle for the centre, I wasn't so sure I would get the centre so decided to make an effort on one of the flank targets if I could. Things went well and my tank caused a bit of a buzz at the club when it turned up, Jimi's Sherman took fright and stayed away for the next three moves. I lost my forward observer but in the end it was no big deal as the mortar hit nothing all game, I did however start to take down several British units as the game progressed, I stupidly lost most of one squad as my attention had been diverted but the survivors got their revenge in the end. 

Jimi's suicide carrier.

The right flank.

The big surprise.

Jimi made a last ditch effort to take the centre objective as the end turn approached, however these brave men were shot down in the open, I too made an effort to take the left flank objective in Jimi's quarter and one more run would probably have secured it, despite the late arrival on that flank of the Sherman. The carrier was also on this side and had a dent due to a badly aimed panzerschreck round, but it was too far away to save the objective. I had actually launched my squads forward on this flank sensing victory but had forgotten I had to have infantry within three inches of an objective to claim it, so quickly brought a squad back. We called a halt on turn five, the British had lost several units and probably could not stop me getting a third objective, the Jerries took the victory.

The game was good and due to the 1,000 points we both had a good range of troops, although my big spend all went on the JagdPanther, which turned out to be an anti-climax as the Sherman eventually deployed as far away as possible and it only got to use it's machine gun, a very expensive machine gun.

 Saturday now and I had organised another bash at the St. Nazaire raid, my third game of this scenario from Little Wars TV, I had taken the Germans on the first two occasions so changed sides to lead the British. I had a cunning plan to lead the Commandos to victory, more of that in a mo.

British forces.

Harbour Garrison.

German reinforcements.

St. Nazaire.

Fran and Matt took the Germans and Jimi and I were the British, I decided to lead the British left and Jimi took the right, we agreed that the right had to push forward as far as they could as quickly as they could, although they had to knock out an AA position on the way the main objectives could be handled by the following troops. I meanwhile would also push forward and hope to interrupt the inevitable German reinforcements, I would also take the Harbour Commandants offices and destroy them. Things did not start well for the British with a rather weak first wave on both flanks, I quickly managed to bring two of my large squads ashore and made straight for the Commandant building, Jimi had to wait a bit for his main forces. The German Harbour Garrison were well placed to make things difficult for the British and we started to take casualties, more on my side than Jimi's, these inexperienced old men and young boys were beginning to prove a real pain to our efforts.

Jimi gets ashore.

I get ashore but hesitate.

More commandos turn up.

I actually managed to get into a good position to assault the office building but chickened out expecting the defenders to deal out a lot of pain in close combat, I was wrong and went in close to shoot them up, this proved a disaster for my men and the body count rose. I now got blinkered and threw everything I could at getting this objective, my main squad was shot to bits so it was up to a couple of Protection Squads to carry the building, but they only got the ground floor while the Harbour Commandant and his men held out upstairs.

Harbour defenders.

Objective .

On the other side of the basin Jimi had vanquished the 20mm flak gun and set charges in the Winding Hut but he was having difficulties gaining momentum to drive forward towards the ammunition train as the annoying Harbour Garrison troops rained fire on his men. In a concerted effort we did manage to silence the second AA gun at the head of the basin and he then turned his sniper on an annoying machine gun on my side of the harbour. 

The 88 is a problem.

The Kriegsmarine turn up.

Back at the Commandant's house a bloody battle continued, I had managed to get a demolition squad inside at last along with two Protection Squads, but German reinforcements now assaulted the building, bitter hand to hand fighting and desperate counter charges by the British fought off the first assault as the fighting rocked to and fro, but the Commandos were losing men at an alarming rate. Nontheless the Demo guys began to set up their explosives, a loud bang from across the basin registered as the Winding Hut went up in smoke. As my men got ready to make an exit the Harbour Commandant got out from under the bed and opened up on the British below, as the smoke cleared only two commandos were left standing, still enough to set the explosives and skeddadle. But it was not to be as yet another German squad turned up and made it to the building and cut down the remaining engineers leaving the unattached wires dangling.

An objective too far, ammnunition train.

The Winding Hut and Pump Station go up in smoke.

On the right Matt had handled the German defence with skill and his garrison troops had fought unexpectedly well and in the end ensured the British would not be able to get their final objectives. As the game neared the end the Pump House was also taken and destroyed by Jimi but it was too little too late

A great game and enjoyed by all, I do not think anyone would disagree that at times the British suffered from bad luck but then again the Harbour troops had fought much better than they ought to have done against veteran commandos, so a few Iron Crosses required there. My comments above do not do the fight for the Commandants Offices justice, it was a nail biting effort which held the attention of us all and I think needed at least one VC, albeit posthumous.

I have several map projects to work on as I lost two weeks with the holidays, this also means I have not done a lot of painting, I did however manage to complete the Steel Fist Landsknecht arquebusiers to add as screens to my Steel Fist pike blocks. These are lovely figures with a lot of detail, detail which my eyes have difficulty picking out, so my boys are wargame standard. I have some mounted arquebusiers next in the queue but have done nothing with them yet which is unusual for me, but I will get them sorted and on the tray in the next day or so. This still leaves crossbowmen and a pike block in the drawer, so the LMF is recovering slowly before the next order in a month or so.

Club organiser and all round nice guy Rob has had some bad luck with his health recently but hopefully is now on the mend, he made his first visit in a while last Tuesday and said it did him the world of good, a great view of our hobby and the people in it. Rob attends shows and has a particularly exciting participation Punk game with a nod to bygone Hollywood. Ed took what was a good laugh and turned it into reality with a gift for Rob of an up till now mythical character riding a dinosaur, Dick Turpitz. Not my cup of rosy but a skilled conversion, beautiful paint job and a lovely thought.

I got Al Murray's book on Allied Command during WWII way back at Christmas, someone at the time mentioned they would be interested in my thoughts, well I cannot do that as I did not get past the first chapter which was on Montgomery. The style is very much like his podcast which to me does not come across well in a book, also just over half of the Montgomery piece relates to VD (venereal disease, now called an STD), interesting though it was, what has it to do with learning the trade of a general? I have to say that none of the books I bought at Christmas has yet hit the spot, I have two more to go, Max Hastings’ 'Abyss' and a biography of one of my heroes, Harold Godwinson.

 

What I did on my summer holidays.....

 There were several real life matters which meant we were not going abroad this year and as we made our mind up to get away late we did not have much choice in where we went, we ended up with a cottage in North Norfolk for a week followed by a weekend with No.1 son in Rickmansworth and then a trip to Portsmouth to visit Evelyn's sister and have a look at the Naval Museum and ships before stopping in on Richard III in Leicester on our way back.

Norfolk was very nice but pretty much empty, the weather was very kind to us. We visited several seaside towns which would not have been out of place fifty or more years ago, the larger towns had not handled the lockdowns well with empty shops and a tired, defeated look about them. We did some walks along the cliffs and the coastal path, a local village called Burnham Market had a hotel in which Nelson recruited men for the Royal Navy, he had been born in nearby Burnham Thorpe. A trip to Sandringham wrapped up our stay, not recommended, the tour of the house took 25 minutes and the gardens were simply woodland, the service in the cafe/restuarant was abysmal.

Searching for fossils.

Sandringham.

Holste Hotel, Nelson's recruiting station.

On the way to Graham's we stopped off at Sutton Hoo, I was not expecting much as wokery has overtaken history in many of our institutions. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the visit, the craftsmanship of many of the objects is just astounding.

Beautiful, there are 13 creatures on this buckle.

One of the main points of our trip as far as Evelyn was concerned was a visit to Windsor Castle we did this while staying at my son's. Windsor was extremely busy both the town and the castle, we had a bit of a wait to get in as despite having our ticket barcodes on the phone you also need a paper ticket, so we had to queue to get one while those who had a paper copy walked right in. Windsor is a very modern castle and I did not really get a sense of the place as a fortress, however if you are a fan of the Royals the State Apartments will be right up your alley, Evelyn loved it and you get more bang for your buck than Sandringham. My highlight was the small amount of tournament armour on show (Henry VIII) and two equestrian mock ups of armoured men-at-arms. A day later and we were off to Pompey and a trip down memory lane.

Windsor.

Ditto.

As we approached Portsmouth the old familiar names started to appear, Petersfield, Liss, Horndean, Havant etc. We stayed at the Royal Maritime Club which had been something different back in the early '70's where Jack on a run ashore got a cheap room with a simple bed and a wardrobe for the weekend before returning to the ship. The place had been refurbished but you did not need much imagination to remember the old days, the rooms thankfully were different. It was also five minutes from the main gate into the dockyard. I had visions of running into some old shipmates also on a nostalgic trip but I suppose now we are all old men and probably would walk past each other oblivious.

We started our tour of the dockyard the next day and kicked off with the Mary Rose, this exhibit alone is worth the entrance fee, a beautiful museum built with care and thought for the visitors, we spent a long time in there. We had seen the ship not long after it was raised and being sprayed to keep it from rotting, but now, although only a part of her was salvaged she is magnificent. You also get an idea of the size of the ship and how they managed to cram 500 men on to her is hard to imagine, 35 survived the sinking. My last ship HMS Sheraton was a bit longer (though not nearly as tall) and she had a crew of 33.

HMS Warrior.

The Queen Elizabeth.

Fired first shell in WWI.

Still got it.

Next up was HMS Warrior, I was particularly interested in this ship as we had tied up alongside her once when we refueled as she was being used as an oil jetty. That hulk is now long gone and the mighty warship she once was has been lovingly restored, she is beautiful and impressive, a crew of around 700 and although she is much larger than the Mary Rose it must still have been a squeeze. Tartar and Nubian which were a tad smaller had 253 men.

We finished the day in the Museum building and the Nelson room was especially impressive, they had a section which was very modern and it was simply a mish mash of 'stuff' with no coherent story, but maybe that's just me. We had planned the next day to visit the Submarine Museum and the Explosives Museum on the opposite side of the harbour but they close on a Monday and Tuesday, so maybe next time, I hope so. We also took a harbour tour which was very interesting, the whole area having been dug out by French prisoners-of-war, a monumental task by hand. Sadly however the ships of the modern navy were all in for repairs/refits, taking two or three years, a sad state of affairs, made even worse by sailing past the hulk of the once lovely HMS Bristol, I had really wanted a draft to that ship.

Lovely ship.

A sad end.

And to top things off Leicester Cathedral is closed until the Autumn so we couldn't pop in to pay my respects to one of my heroes.

And there you have it, we had planned to pop over to Europe later but have decided against it and to get the Post Office done first and save for our big holiday next year.