Alea iacta est

Big night at the club last week, Simon and I tried Bolt Action V3. Now as you know I was not going to bother getting this as I thought the price tag a rip off, was it a rip off, yes it was, there is far too much bumf in the thing and far too much unecessary eye candy. The actual rules take up less than half of the pages. The army lists are a huge part of the book but they are very generic and you cannot simply choose a German Eastern Front force for late 1943 without knowing what they had available, this will have to wait until the new army books are released although you can instead stick with a campaign book. I am lazy and use Easy Army which up until now I have found perfect, the author has put generic lists up for V3 but I am unsure whether he will attempt to change the Theatre lists, I really do not want to sit down with a calculator. I can say I have supported the author in the past and am not just taking him for granted.

I digress, we set up an easy meeting engagement and with books at the ready, no one has so far put together a QRS, we got stuck in. I took infantry, heavy weapons, artillery and armoured platoons, Simon had pretty much the same. The Soviets were defending and were on the table when I attacked, I was fairly aggressive and threw my armoured car forward to spot the hidden Russians, this had to back off when a KV1 turned up, but I used the Recce rule for the first time ever and it dodged back behind a small wood. 

My Recce hiding.

More bang for the buck Hetzer.

I managed to start picking off some of Simon's small teams and he began to lose initiative dice, he was then forced to bring on a small anti-tank gun which annoyingly managed to get some decent dice rolls and first set my Hetzer on fire then immobilised it. The Germans were doing well when we called a halt as the clock struck 10, we only managed three turns but spent a lot of the time with our heads in the book.

Did they work, yes, some of the things I think will make the game better from an historical players view although there are still some bits which have me shaking my head. Chain of Command 2 will be appearing in January however I suspect I shall still continue to play both sets for different reasons.

Now for the main event, Rob organised a large Napoleonic game in the Gin Pit in nearby Grange-over-Sands yesterday, there were six French commanders and five Allied while Ed took the place of umpire and rules adjudicator. The gist of the game was that an Allied army was in position trying to stop the French from advancing, the French commander had seen an opportunity to strike while his boss was busy elsewhere, possibly garnering some browny points.

In a less than democratic manner the leadership of the French command was hung on my shoulders. The battlefield consisted of three farms, one each on the extreme flanks and one in the centre, an important road ran through the middle, if the French could take the road they would win, otherwise it would rely on both armies holding the farms and inflicting losses on the enemy. As we munched on some excellent pastries provided by the commander of the Guard I came up with a cunning plan. Julian and the Guard would smash through the centre and take the road, I would protect his left and Michael would protect his right, Stewart and Paul would be on my left and told not to get drawn into a battle around 'Hougemont' to their front but to watch what was happening in the centre and intervene if possible. Ian was given the job of protecting the extreme right and possibly taking the farm to his front. Well, that's what was in my head.

Discussion time.

The new Napoleon.

The battle kicked off and the Guard plunged ahead while the troops on his flanks were reluctant to move, the enemy came forward quite aggressively opposite me and I threw my lancers in to stop them, this action was less than glorious and I lost a squadron but had halted the enemy advance. This was a foretaste of the less than enthusiastic actions of the French cavalry all through the battle. For some reason I was being asked questions on the best way to proceed as though I knew what I was doing, I nodded sagely and kept schtum. As I advanced towards a hedgeline and the middle farm I noticed the Guard marching away to my right, Julian had decided to ignore the enemy centre and make for the road, his beautiful troops waving goodbye as they went, he had made a bold move, would it pay out?

The beautiful Guard.

French commander in true Napoleonic style, but with only a tad more hair.

Ed pronounces wisdon.

Elsewhere, yes, 'Hougemont' had proved irresistable to Paul and Stewart and a large gap opened between them and me, which for the moment was thankfully empty. Ian on the other flank had managed to take the farm but Russian strength was building up while his cavalry proved reluctant to fight. A crises now approached, something had gone wrong with the troops under Matt holding the road and Julian managed to throw the Guard at them, this was the beginning of some of the most brutal fighting of the day, if Matt was defeated Julian could claim the road and the French would have victory.

Desperate fighting for the road as time runs out.

 

The centre.

My boys wondering where the Guard have gone.

As time ticked away the Russians took back their farm and Ian was on the back foot, he was simply outnumbered, Michael had attempted to help the Guard but his infantry simply would not move forward until it was too late. I cleared the enemy from my front and took the farm in the centre and then simply held my ground as more and more Allied troops began to turn up. 'Hougemont' at last fell to Paul and Stewart. The Guard were under immense pressure in the centre as British reserves turned up, Julian was screaming for cavalry as the Russians were now heading for his flank, sadly the cavalry simply ignored his pleas and sat miles away despite being ordered to gallop to his aid. As the last turn ended Matt had secured the road while the Guard could take no more and the survivors retreated. Ed totalled up the scores and it was a draw! It now came down to a dice off between the commanders, Matt for the Allies and me for the French, I confess I do not know what Matt threw but his comment of 'Shit' said it all, I got a four and the French players whooped with elation.

Another great day with an impressive battle full of peaks and troughs, laughter and the odd expletive. Lots of lovely troops on the table and pastries to boot, what's not to like. Ed did a great job keeping the game flowing, Rob for organising and Stuart no doubt for helping. I believe there is one more in the series, so I am looking forward to it.

I have now finished my mercenary hoplites for the Seleucids, these are very tough under WAC rules so the Twelfth are in for some problems at some point. Mate Dan helped me out as the Little Big Man transfers I got for the Foundry figures were far too small for the hoplons and just did not look right, he had some from Victrix. I have made a change to my painting, I am not going to varnish these troops, nor the Romans already being worked on, my main reason is the paints are already matt and they will only be on the table once in a blue moon these days. I also find that the matt varnish over time really dulls the metals on figures.

The gaming continues this week, Italian Wars here on Wednesday and somewhere in Sicily at Matt's on Thursday.