For Roma

 Summer was here for three days last week but now back to cold and grey. I was going to give the club a miss this week but then found out the Boss was having some friends round for a meal and a movie, I use that last term very loosely due to the content, so off I went.

Ed has been badgering me about how different Hail Caesar is to the rest of the Warlord stable so as he had a game going I asked to join in, HC has taken the club by storm recently. The game was the third in a series and consisted of a Roman force holding a village against a Gallic horde, I was given some outlying cohorts, most of which were recruits, to hold back the main force of barbarians (I will use this term before, like Anglo-Saxon, they try and cancel it). As you may or may not know my own Romans, the Thunderbolts have a fearsome reputation, or at least a reputation amongst my enemies so I expected to have a tough time with Roman discipline holding out in the end. My plan was to slowly withdraw towards the rest of the Roman force holding the village and put up a united front while two veteran units detached to handle a smaller enemy force on my right.

The village.

The thin red line.

Jimi's horde.

You can guess what is coming. 'Lucky' Jimi was in charge of the large Gallic force which hit me very swiftly and simply overwhelmed my recruits, Jimi was throwing nine dice, rerolling any misses against my six with no rerolls, yes you read correctly. I expected something like this but the power of this first charge in shocked me, my line disappeared, I might have to watch that dire movie after all. On my right I had held and eventually defeated Hannah although I had lost a cavalry unit to some chariots, no Julius you got it wrong in your 'Gallic Wars' chariots are tanks not skirmishers.

Gallic warbands.

Hannah flanks me on the right.

As I took in the remnants of my once proud line, only one cohort had held and through some stalwart fighting knocked back their opponents, the rest lay in ruin, Ed took pity on me and gave me two more cohorts of veterans but they had to march from the village to the scene of the crime which they did in a lazy kind of way, you do not get a bonus for the lovely Roman road. Elsewhere because I had beat Hannah the assault on the village was left to Andy but he was pretty much on the back foot and outnumbered so James held the objective. We were now running out of time and as Jimi had now run out of steam with my victorius cohorts now ready to move on his flank, Hannah dispersed and Andy knocked back Ed declared a Roman win.

Ouch.

We win here.

You know I am not a fan of Warlord's systems even though I play them, more down to the character of my opponents than the rules, but what did I think. I was surprised when the Gauls hit me the first time, it just seemed impossible for the Romans to hold, however this barbarian tactic is also possible in War and Conquest and was used against me in one of the best games I ever played, again narrowly holding on by the skin of my Roman teeth. It did seem however that the momentum bonus' lasted far too long. I did not like the use of chariots as tanks there being no historical reason for this at all, they were Gauls not Assyrians. I have to say however that the end result of the game was pretty fair, the Romans took a bashing, well mine did, but overall they won through as the barbarians lost their momentum. Ed did a good job on umpiring and the scenario. Did I mention I captured one chief and killed the king?

I have managed at last to finish the Stradiot unit which has been on my desk for quite some time. I have also decided at last to add those early war tanks to my British WWII forces, I am not buying specific BEF figures. I mentioned it to my friend Stuart who has a 3D business and very kindly helps out club members, I knew he was doing British vehicles for a desert campaign and maybe I could use some, the upshot is that he is going to get some .stl files which I will contribute to and I will simply pay him for printing what I would like. The list consists of an A10, Matilda I, Vickers VI and possibly a Morris CS9 so we will see what happens, he has already printed off the Matilda. I will need a 2pdr anti-tank gun and a Boys anti-tank rifle, I despair that the only one I can find is the Warlord gun, these kits are usually very bad in my experience, 1st Corps do a nice one but it is 1/48.

This will probably be my last post for a while, I will be in hospital for an operation next week and the recovery time is quite long. I am no torch bearer for the NHS but have fallen for the old 'Angels' schtick, and have nothing but good to say of the people and my treatment at Blackburn Teaching Hospital, despite this I hope to be there no longer than I have to be and then released to the tender care of my long suffering wife, now where did I put that bell......

Fornovo 1494

 My wargame journey continues unabated, the Club this week was Bolt Action, it was supposed to be Dux Britanniarum but I have not played in years and could not find the time to re-read the rules, so Bolt Action was on standby.

Jimi wanted to play Germans so I brought my Soviets for a nice change, somewhere on the Ostfront a Tiger I had been abandoned by its crew and both sides wanted it, the Russian to either capture or destroy it and the Jerries to rescue it. I took three squads, a sniper, HMG, Dog mine team and a T-34/76. Jimi had three squads a 250/11 with 37mm anti-tank gun, MMG, sniper and mortar, I do have a couple of 250's but not the one he wanted, I do however have a 251/7 with the 37mm so gave that to Jimi, I came to regret being so kind. The Soviets get a free squad in Bolt Action and it can be tooled up to the nines, all for free, I have never liked this but I did take the squad with rifles only, just this once as it goes against the grain.

Tiger, tiger.

The Red tide.

NKVD.

We both moved fairly quickly on the Tiger's position, I started off well and had soon wiped out the MMG team, put some hurt on one of the squads and eventually caused the sniper to move off. Then it all went wrong, the little 37mm opened up with deadly accuracy and my casualties began to climb, to add to the carnage the mortar also managed to bring in some accurate fire and I began to really suffer. My own troops and the T-34 couldn't hit a barn door. As time went on I got Fido or maybe Fidor to run at the immobile Tiger, it was all in vain as I found out the best the mine dog could do was to make the tank immobile, duh. I wanted to bring the T-34 over to knock out the annoying halftrack but I was too late. Jimi got a convincing and well deserved win. He has obviously done a deal with the devil as his luck was pretty good for 'Lucky' Jimi.

Fido or Fidor.

The menace.

Tin can.

Next up was a trial of Pike and Shotte for the Italian Wars, I have information from the internet and the rule book and tried to make sense of it and get some army lists done but once again I found I was out of time, not helped by a flying visit from my sister and brother, much as it was appreciated. So I went for the Fornovo scenario and army lists from the recent book by Rodolfo Verginella, I did drop the Imperial light cavalry who at the end of the day simply went for the baggage train, a wargamer would not do this and use them as a flank attack, so I solved the problem by simply leaving them off.

Stewart's car.

On a walk in Morecambe today.

 Stewart came up from Preston having took the day off work and arrived in a beautiful blue Morgan sports car, excellent craftsmanship. I digress, Stewart took the Venetians and I commanded the French, historically the French won but it is a hard one for a wargamer to win I think without penalising the Venetians. I was especially fearful of my right flank which had no cavalry and my centre which was heavily outnumbered with basically no infantry to talk about, my left had the indomitable Swiss and cavalry so I was expecting good things from this division if I could get them into action quickly enough.

French Army.

Let them come lads.

Move damn you, move!

The battle opened and my right advanced cautiously, thankfully the enemy cavalry here blundered and moved away to the flank, I held the centre back and again lady luck smiled as the leading Italian cavalry were also confused and ended up retreating to the rear (another blunder). I saw it was now time to get the Swiss into action supported by their Gendarmes, they inched forward then gave up, even as the enemy cavalry here also retreated, nothing I could do could get this division to move and take advantage of the enemy's disorder.

Venetian centre in disarray.

My right flank about to go.

Meanwhile my right had attacked the enemy pike as they forded the Taro river, they performed wonderfully and I thought Plan A was going to work, but very quickly as the melee continued my French infantry were badly beaten and dispersed, my right as I had feared had gone. My Gendarmes threw themselves at the French pike in the centre and were naturally beaten back, ouch, still the Swiss refused to move, only the confusion and lack of aggressivenes by the Italian commander in the centre was saving me.

At last the Swiss got into the action and predictably destroyed their opponents, although by then I had lost my Gendarmes on this flank but Stewart had also lost a unit of Lanze Spezzate which evened things a bit. Things now get a bit hazy but the upshot was that I lost my centre and right, Stewart lost his right and also his left, however my Swiss had to run the gauntlet of the Venetians guns to take on his centre and I doubt they would have survived the cannonade. We called it a draw, but I think Stewart had the edge if we had continued.

 

Italian centre still reluctant to close.

 

Swiss giving up under cannonade.

So, what did I think of Pike and Shotte, looking back the battle was actually quite good and fairly exciting, I however detest the rule whereby if you are shot at and receive a six on the die you are 'disordered' and cannot move in your next turn. Perhaps it is the use of the word disordered that offends me the most, I fail to see why a Swiss pike block would take a crossbow quarrel and suddenly stop and disregard the wishes of its commander. Now I can just about live with the fact that some divisions simply refuse to move and I can understand this mechanic but to simply call a halt to an advance by being shot at, which lets face it would be expected, I just see red. I also know that originally these rules were for a close group who fought huge battles on big tables, but on anything less, even a table tennis table units getting to move three times is just simply wrong. In the end I would probably have been just as happy to play this game with Furioso and get a better feel for the period. Yes I might play them again here with guys more familiar with rules from the same stable but no disorder from sixes and no third move.

Venetian camp.

Italian batteries.

I haven't manged any more painting and my Stradiots still sit silently on the paint table no doubt giving me the evil eye. I have one more game to go on Sunday as my son and grandson are visiting, no idea what we are doing yet, after that a bit of a rest due to real life before playing Julian again later in the month.

Hell in the Woods

 Been back at the painting desk this last wee while. I got my Nuns for possible inclusion with an upcoming campaign, they will double as refugees or useful if I ever get a chance to put my church on a battlefield, had it for years, a couple of new vehicles for the Road to Bremen campaign are also complete. The Kangaroo APC was a resin piece from Warlord and very nice if pricy, there was also two sprues for make up some soldiers being carried and sticking out of where the turret used to be, I only put three together and never again. I hate all that sticking of arms, weapons, helmets, rucksacks et al, all with parts that are particularly prone to breaking if you are not careful, I have dropped metal figures on the floor and they simply shrug it off and off we go. I also repainted a small Dingo recce car, I had forgotten what green I had used for my British and it stuck out like a sore thumb, it has now been rectified.

Next up was some earthworks from Ironclad Miniatures, just what I wanted for the Italian Wars, I kept it simple and bought a can of brown paint, sprayed them then drybrushed the woodwork and earth, very pleased with the result. I also really need to get back to my Stradiots who were pushed to the back of the queue while all that was going on.

I almost forgot to mention my other new addition, streams with bridges from Andy at The Last Valley, I have rubber and cloth stream sections but decided my new room needed something better. 

While on about painting Jimi surprised me at the club with a small vignette of a little cart, a very tired looking horse and a well wrapped up infantryman trudging through some cold terrain. Jimi wants to paint up a German force for Late War and has bought some cavalry, beautiful figures and the company also had the little cart, I intimated if he bought the cavalry I would like to add the cart. So a nice gesture and a beautiful addition to my scatter terrain. 

I also for no particular reason treated myself to a Winter mat for the Eastern Front, I don't have any snow based figures or vehicles but I thought it would still be OK for Russia as the cold sets in. I received the mat but immediately did not like it, the non snow parts were blue and there was a lot of them, maybe it is supposed to be melting snow I really do not know, I did know that it would bug me forever. In the end after rolling it out several times I decided to send it back, I had to pay the postage but for the sake of my sanity it was the better option. I now wait to get my refund.

Bolt Action at the club again last Tuesday, I offered Joel a game using the same secret papers scenario I had played with Jimi the week before. Joel was Soviets and plays in a lot of tournaments so has a very different play style from my usual opponents at the club, I was of course Germans, I took four squads slightly smaller than what I normally take, a couple of trucks as transports and a PzIII N to support my infantry, I left my anti-tank capability with the squads and their panzerfausts.

 

Truck with machine gun, yeah right.

The fight for the centre.

Using transports again, but no machine gun.

PzIIIN for support.

Late to the party.

Just like the last time we played Joel went full aggressive mode from the beginning, he surprised me with three two man tank hunter teams which became a pain in the bum and then ran a truck up to near one of the objectives and seized it with his officer! The Hero of the Soviet Union died very quickly of course but gave me a fright nonetheless on turn one. Joel managed to get a look at the left hand objective but it proved empty, we now both moved on the two which were left, a huge, bloody fight began around the central objective with both sides striving to clear the enemy to get a look for the papers. As the game counted down the Reds managed with the help of a T34 to also seize the right hand objective and I could not budge them from it, we got to the end of turn five and we decided the middle objective was held by no one but the Soviets could claim the right hand target, and yes, the papers were under the right hand objective. A win for Joel and a hard fight for both sides, he had kept me on the back foot for most of the game and I only wish after all the blood spilt over it the papers had been in the centre.

I spent most of Saturday building the table for a Johnny Reb game based on the battle of Champion's Hill, while also sorting out the troops and typing the OOB's. The Rebs are basically defending the hill and surrounding area against a Union assault, at the beginning it is a pretty even fight despite the Rebs being outnumbered slightly, as the battle progresses more troops for both sides arrive.

Champion's Hill

Union left.

Confederate left.

Triage.

I took the Union right flank while Ed took the left, as we surveyed the battlefield it looked good for the Federals to take their right flank objectives of a bridge and ford while Ed could put two brigades against one protecting the crossroads, it was obvious then that if we got those three then the Rebs would have been pushed back and we could possibly claim a victory on the hill as well. I did not forsee any problems taking my objectives despite the fact the Rebs were dug in on the hill.

My boys get stuck in, but not hard enough.

I sent all my brigades forward against Fran while hoping to crush his left with artillery and infantry then swing in to mop up. As the Rebs opened up one of their batteries ran out of ammo, somebody stop me! Well, the 17th Georgia stopped me, nothing I could throw at this regiment could budge it and while attempting to do so my brigade failed miserably and my window of opportunity began to slip away. As the whole line now blasted away at each other my boys had a really hard time causing casualties on the Confederates behind their hasty works but I could do not afford to waste time and had to try and use my superior numbers.

I move on the Reb centre.

Over on the left Ed slowly advanced while James prepared his men to defend the crossroads, this was interupted by a marksman who shot down one of Ed's officers bringing a halt and confusion while he was replaced, a more likeable officer eventually took over. I was still trading shots with Fran's line and noticed I seemed to be losing the numbers battle, especially on the right. I moved up fresh regiments and even managed a charge but in the end got nothing from it, that damn 17th Ga. still held its position, on the other hand with my lines thinning out and my right hand brigade losing two regiments I had one unit much like the 17th which stood its ground round the flag, I was for quite some time fearing a Confederate advance but it never transpired, I doubt I could have stopped it.

Desperate close range firing.

Ed was now up and putting pressure on James, however the outnumbered Reb defence of the crossroads area was also putting up a stiff fight, Ed would eventually almost sweep away the Rebs in this part of the field but it had taken too long. In my sector I had eventually managed to move into the expanding gap between Fran and James, but I was fought out and did not have anyone in reserve to push my limited success.

The crossroads so near yet so far.

We got to move 10 which is when two new Confederate brigades would turn up just south of the crossroads, three Union brigades would turn up on turn 12, but we had been at it for nearly five hours and although there was a slim chance that Ed would take the crossroads against the arriving Reb reserves it was wishful thinking and would involve a lot more fighting, it would have been interesting nonetheless. On my side I had been fought to a standstill, my efforts had resulted in heavy losses and there was simply no fight left in my division. I had managed to cause some hurt on the Rebs but their losses were not as concentrated as mine so my morale suffered correspondingly. The first part of the scenario is actually a good fight on its own, you would need to leave the table up and return for day two to finish it properly and I didn't have the time for that needing the table for Italian Wars this Wednesday. Maybe in the future, I would like another shot at it.

Another busy week here in the War Room, a game on Wednesday and another game next Sunday with my son and grandson, not sure yet what we are playing, and I draw swords again with 'Lucky' Jimi at Bolt Action at the club tomorrow.