SYW Edition

 I was supposed to be playing Cruel Seas but Rob was unwell so Mike and I managed to get shoehorned into Dan's large 10mm Seven Years War game which was planned to last two club nights before we needed to pack everything away as the school would once again be open to educate Generation Z, or try.

So, Prussians vs Austrians, four infantry brigades a side well supported by cavalry and artillery, there were four players a side, I was a Prussian and had a large infantry and cavalry force on the left flank. The rules were Black Powder with amendments and tweaks for the period, as you know not my favourite set. Anyway the game kicked off and I, being schooled in the Prussian manner went forward with elan to tackle my opponent, this was spectacularly successful and the enemy lost several cavalry units while their infantry were brought to a halt. There were shouts of foul play as the prevailing impression is that I am a very unlucky die roller, this is wrong and it is usually me just being unhappy that I didn't roll better than rolling badly. No matter as the sun set on the first half of the game I had forced the enemy right to withdraw and it tottered on the edge of being broken. Next to me Ed's men had been forced back but not broken while Paul and Mike on the far right seemed to be close to destroying the Austrian left.

The Prussian centre.

My troops advance confidently.

The enemy fall back and I turn on Dan.

 Round 2 and sure enough Ian did not manage to save his forces and as I kept the pressure up he had to withdraw, I was now beginning to bring fire against Dan's brigade which had had a lot of success in causing poor Ed a lot of damage. As I slowly reorganised my cavalry for a sweeping advance on the Austrian centre things went awry on the right, the Austrians recovered and Mike's advance had been stopped, Paul on the other hand was dealt a number of hard blows by Austrain cavalry and his men were in disarray. Just as I was feeling good about my movements the Prussian centre collapsed and fled, with the army broken I could do nothing but retreat with my banners flying and my honour intact, I had won my bit!

Just before our centre went south.

 A good game and everyone had a good time, even me apart from what I considered a bad rule that although their brigade was leaving the battlefield being broken some skirmishers in a wood could ignore this and continue to be a pain to my brigade and my men were unable to enter the wood to despatch these stalwarts.

I was at a loose end and decided to set up a solo Italian Wars game based on the battle of Marignano, I thought it would be simple but it is not a simple battle, no matter I had started to deploy troops when I got an email from Matt offering a game, he was coming to me and was happy to play, yes, Seven Years War.

I found a scenario on the Honours of War website where Red (British/Matt) force were retreating and Blue (French/me) on a parallel road were attempting to intercept, it was basically a meeting engagement. Although the French had the edge on troop numbers they had two cavalry units which I knew were not going to be of much use in this affray.

The British on the march.

The French opposite.

The French move on the British left.

The French right crests the heights.

 

All the French troops were on the table and one small mixed Legion were already on the flank of the British column, the rest of the British would turn up later. I set my forward brigade to move and take a position to block the British retreat route, this was not an objective but it might allow me to turn their flank. My second brigade of Scots, Germans and Irish simply turned off the road and advanced towards the enemy on the other side of a ridge which spanned the centre of the battlefield. Matt's forward brigade was led by a 'Ditherer' and several times he failed to move his men, I had the same problem with my lead force and had to send my Commander along to ensure they did their duty.

Scots and Germans on my left.

The Irish about to advance on the thin red line.

The British in confusion.

The British got into a line on my right and a firefight ensued, much to my surprise I lost a regiment very quickly as the superior British shooting got the drop on me and I suffered, so much so that it took me quite a while to begin to get the upperhand helped enormously by my attached artillery. Meanwhile the British main force had arrived and confusion reigned, Matt kept two regiments and a gun back to protect his right while the rest of the brigade moved to help the hard pressed left, this caused many to become uncommanded and played havoc with his reorganisation. At the same time my boys eventually started to hit the British hard and several units fled for the rear adding to the confusion.

The French centre.

The Scots try to escape.

The end.

It was now that Matt attempted a charge against the Irish holding my left, it turned out to be a bad move and the charging regiment melted in the face of Irish lead. British losses were climbing and the French were closing in, with only one loss to go before breaking Matt handed over his sword.

A good game and one I at first thought was going to go badly for me, I was the first to lose a battalion, the British held a village in the centre of their line and their reinforcements were an even match for my left, it was only the disastrous charge which opened this up for me. On my right I had a frustrating time getting a good firing line deployed and it was stopped a couple of times as battalions were forced back, but it managed in the end. I could not get the cavalry into action and hoped at one point to be able to ride down some unformed troops but it was not to be. The French artillery played a large part in reducing British strength and supporting my right. A good days wargaming.

It was time for another Italian Wars order, it has been a while and I have kept up till now on my drive not to spend as much as last year. I got figures for two Imperial generals and followers, one unit of Ginettes and one of Italian Elmeti along with two artillery pieces and crews, this will leave maybe another couple of heavy cavalry units and one pike block to finish the army, I am on track for around Christmas. Hot off the tray is a Neapolitian pike block, they do look good.

Talking of Christmas I am now on the second last book I received, and while I was in Morecambe at the weekend popping into a pathetic 'Comic Con' I popped into the second hand bookshop on the front. I treated myself to three large tomes for a measly £17, I had a nice chat with the owner and might drop these back when I am done and give him some I have lying about. The mortar book was a little dig at Matt and his mortars in the Smolensk campaign, albeit they are not Russian.

 

Although Farcebook has been a pain for me lately with tons of rubbish I do not want to see I did manage to track down another War and Conquest player 45 minutes away, a quick chat and we have a game organised for next week, Normans vs Saxon Heptarchy. Rob and I are on Chain of Command on Tuesday, Early War French vs Italians, he does like his Ice Cream makers, oops, is that the Old Bill at the door.

I am stuck in TV limbo again, I just finished the excellent Queenmaker on Netflix, OK it kind of slowed in the middle a tad but overall I love revenge series/movies when the baddies get sorted.

 

 

Smolensk: Cat and Mouse in Zaborye

 

 I wasn't at the club this week, combat fatigue more than anything, however I rose to the occasion yesterday as Matt turned up to play Game Seven in our continuing Smolensk Campaign. Having failed the previous game to take the Russian supply depot and headquarters in Suetovo I was on the back foot as the intitiative passed to the Reds. I had managed to cut the Russian supply lines to their pocket in Yartsevo and Yartsevo South so that those troops could not use Reserve points being out of supply, Matt therefore decided to try and reopen this line by attacking my defenders in Zaborye.

The Russians assaulted with their infantry backed up by three 50mm mortars and two T-26 tanks, the two machine gun turret variety (the tanks on the table were standing in, you can't have everything). I thought there would be Soviet armour and as I needed to keep the supply line closed to the pocket I took a Panzerjager I and as back up an anti-tank rifle team, sadly this used up a large number of my newly replenished Reserve points but it couldn't be helped, I needed to get the Intiative back.

Russian attack coming from the right. (Map from the book).

Russian mortars.

The terrain on the table was well suited to the defense and I held back at first to see what the Russians would do, Matt took a bit of time to get the command dice needed and soon had all his infantry ensconced in the buildings east of my position, then he brought the first tank on. This was my signal to unleash the Panzerjager after a rule discussion on how small mortars affected open topped vehicles, as a miracle was required I felt safe and the clank of tracks heralded the panzerwaffe, my first shot went wild, my second brewed up the T-26, I now brought on an infantry squad on the right, which edged up the side of the woods hoping to get an opportunity to blaze away at nearest large building.

T-26 brews up.

Elated Panzerjager I

A second T-26 had turned up on my extreme left, I sent my tank to intercept, to counter this Matt redeployed two of his mortars as they had to see the target to have any chance of hitting it. This made me take a risk and move a full squad onto the road, thinking that all that firepower could kill the mortars, I think in the end I got one and set a second up for my own mortar to kill, but it cost me dear, I had to run my depleted squad into the trees in order to survive having lost over 50% of its strength. I did eventually get my tank into a position to shoot at the enemy but nothing happened, Matt ended the turn and I lost a Jump Off Point, I had also lost the anti-tank rifle which had been waiting for the T-26 but also failed miserably and was wiped out. I was on the back foot as the T-26 scuttled away.

First squad edging forward.

Zaborye occupied.

Panzerjager moves to the left.

Matt now got several double phases and even when I got my own phase I could not get a dice to move my damn panzer, so it sat still for around seven phases or more as the Soviet armour raced to take on my right flank squad hiding in the woods, still waiting for an opportunity to get into the battle. I managed another couple of shots as my armour eventually started to move, something had happened to the crew after their earlier success and they simply could not damage the enemy. The Red infantry now began to advance and I could see me losing the survivors hiding in the woods on the left, they might take a few with them but it did not look good. The T-26 had now almost run over my men on the right but some of the incoming shots from the Panzerjager had knocked out one turret and my men frantically riddled the tin can hoping the crew would back off. I also brought on my last squad in the centre and started a firefight with first one and then two Russian squads. Matt had not gone for the thin grey line in the woods and turned all his firepower on my centre squad.

Rogue Red tank.

Russians advance.

As the morale of both sides swiftly headed for the bottom I managed at last to cause the T-26 crew to abandon their tank, a big relief for me and it freed the infantry to join in the firefight in the centre. The Russians were getting the worst of this as I somehow survived the storm of lead, eventually one Russian squad was swept away and this with the loss of the tank ensured the Germans had only just held on to Zaborye by the skin of their teeth.

German pressure mounts.

So close.

The end.

A nail biting end to a very frustrating game for both of us, we had both done well at the beginning, I getting a tank and Matt cutting down a squad and capturing a JOP, but then fate took a hold. I could not get my tank to kill the T-26 and free it up to take on the Russian infantry while Matt's men could not convert hits into kills quickly enough to matter, I had the same problem and the Reds in the open lasted far longer than they ought to have. No matter how good you are one bad roll of the command dice, or even worse two, can simply stop you in your tracks and there is nothing you can do about it.

Anyway, I have gained the intiative again and need to turn my attention to the Russian pocket behind me and clear it to get a campaign win, there is no doubt however that we are going to meet General Winter head on later in '41 due to the tenacious Russian efforts around Smolensk, just like the real thing.

A mix up

 I said some time ago I was going to cut back on blogging and to be honest I have had a struggle sitting down to this. On one blog I follow people were asked if they liked reading After Action Reports and if my memory serves the outcome was not uplifting if you do write AAR's which I do, a lot. So where does that leave me, I think if I do wax lyrical about a battle it will now be one of the larger affairs I play at home, which for now will be WWII Eastern Front and Italian Wars or a visit to the Gin Pit or Matt Crump's.

I am still gaming of course at the club and a couple of weeks ago got a narrow victory against Jimi with my Late War Germans using Bolt Action. Two more recent games deserve a bit more attention as they were unusual in their own way, the first was Wars of the Roses with an introduction to flavour of the month 'Never Mind the Billhooks' which Charlie very kindly brought along for me to 'have a go'.

I had a lot of lovely WotR figures at one time but sold them about six or seven years ago, a big mistake not to be dwelt on. I watched several videos on how to play the game and the first thing that struck me is that they were very quick and very bloody, a bit like Furioso on a small table if you don't tone them down. I won the toss as both Charlie and I are supporters of the House of York so took the good guys. You have a core force and then choose some cards, I got pikemen and extra men-at-arms, an audible sigh from across the table meant I had obviously done well. Having the edge I decided to attack all along the line. As my men trundled forward I opened up with my archers as did Charlie, this as I said above can be brutal, you have two actions so with a twelve man unit you fire twenty-four dice, men began to fall. Charlie had sent some light cavalry against my left flank but I chased them away so it was now down to combat as the main lines clashed. My pikes won and the Lancastrians lost their left flank in the chaos, my men-at-arms hit the enemy centre and more Lancastrians fell or fled, the game was over, it had taken a very short time to come to a result.

I am an Old School wargamer and unashamed of it, I like big battles, NMtB is a largish skirmish game and seems a bit rock, paper, scissors to me, the author says it is not historical but a game, and he is right. I used to play Poleaxed, it was historical, for the period and boring, NMtB is not boring and I would play it again as it is probably more exciting than the real battles and great for a club night with constrictions on time. (Sorry but I lost my photos).

My second game was last night and a Bolt Action scenario I took from a wargame magazine, it looked interesting and better than the vanilla scenarios in the rules. The Germans were retreating on the Eastern Front, a small force held a wooden bridge over the Berezina, a column of stragglers and a convoy of trucks filled with wounded were trying to escape the pursuing Russians and cross the river, so far so good. The flaws started to show as I deployed the Germans, the blocking force, stragglers and trucks all came on (as far as I know) on the road, this meant they had two moves before the main bulk of the Russians turned up on turn 3, this was not enough to get the infantry into cover of the nearby woods and out of range of the enemy it also meant the trucks were well within range of the machine guns and main guns of two T-34's. To make matters worse the bridge had been rigged with a flamethrower tank to burn it down should the Russians ever get there, this could be hit on a roll of two sixes. On turn two Simon got two sixes and chose to light up the bridge, I was stuck with 8 turns to go. The Reds turned up and my men began to be wiped out as they tried desperately to get some distance between them and their pursuers, I gave up and marched sullenly East until 1955 on turn 4.

Bridge Defenders

The first stragglers.

No more bridge.

Hopeless situation now.

The game was rubbish and ended up pretty pointless, I had a blocking force and maybe it was supposed to set up in the village, but this was right up against the eastern table edge, the tanks could have come on and simply shelled the houses, in Bolt Action hiding in a house (yes I know) is pointless with HE around. The woods were far too far to reach before the enemy turned up, the squads were then caught in the open, do I run or halt and go down to be shot up later, no matter I could not afford to stop and shoot. I do wonder if the game had actually been played before being published or was there parts missing. A waste of an evening. I do however think there is a decent scenario hiding in there and will give it some thought.

I have not done a lot of maps or painting in July but did get some Neapolitan crossbowmen done, I have my mojo back and a Neapolitan pike block is up next.

I finished of my holidays at the weekend with a trip to Edinburgh and the Tattoo, we had a hotel on the edge of the Grassmarket with the castle looming over us and everything on our doorstep. The city was extremely busy and crowded, on the Saturday afternoon we visited the Museum of Scotland, personally I wasn't interested in dinosaurs, the natural or science worlds, the fashion and design parts, yes Rennie Mackintosh again, hideous stuff. I quickly made my way to the History of Scotland, Bruce and Wallace shared a glass cabinet, Mary Queen of Scots had one portrait, the Jacobites were nowhere to be seen, maybe in a small cabinet I passed, who knows, the exhibits were all over the place and it was like a maze when I tried to get out. I was underwhelmed, whether you agree or not the Scots have had a huge influence on this planet considering the size of the country, both on their own and joined with England but I did not get a sense of that at all.

A night cap of Monkey 47 after a hard days driving.

Almost first through the door.

Smile!

Then it was time for the Tattoo, there was a slight drizzle but we had come prepared and it stopped after a time, or maybe it didn't as I was lost in the spectacle, it was my fourth time and we have just booked for next year when the Royal Navy are the hosts. My disappointment of the museum was blown away as the massed pipes and drums formed up in the esplanade and bagpipes and drums stirred my heart, I wanted to invade somewhere, anywhere. There were Swiss, Norwegians, Trinidad and Tobagans and Americans as well as the RAF, I really liked the Norwegians, I believe there should have been Aussies but not that night. A fitting end to our holiday period.

You really had to be there.

And if you were not try this.

I almost forgot, I got a nice visit from David Bickley of Tales from GHQ which I follow, we were both in Edinburgh at the same time, he at Claymore and me at the Tattoo, he is now staying just down the road from me. We had a good chat about wargaming despite our wives being in residence.