Bremen 5.1: Cat and Mouse

 I was all set up this week to head for the Sudan and teach Johnny Foreigner how to respect the Empire when we found out there was parents night on at the school which holds the club, which would mean parking would be a nightmare, so it was cancelled and I put away my tea bags, Ambre Solaire and gave Watson the night off. 

I painted instead and completed my Roman horse archers, and very nice they look too, I am very pleased with them. Next up is one of my Auxilliary cohorts, I got them cleaned and sorted out spears as they were not getting pilum, I then realised I had used the spears with points and not with a flat spearhead. Why did this bother me, although there is evidence that the pilum or a similar spear/heavy javelin was still in use during the 3rd Century, it was may have been called a spiculum but to confuse things this may simply have implied a pilum with a long metal shaft, no lead weight. In order to give some of the troops a spiculum as opposed to a pilum I wanted the pointy spears without a broad head, these would be given to the remaining regular legionaries, get to the point I hear you say, well I got up in the morning and changed all the spears!

Despite losing out on the club, mate Robert popped in to complete our game on Table 5 of our Road to Bremen (scroll down) Chain of Command campaign. I was holding out in one corner of the field while the British tried their best to strike without taking heavy casualties, we had both already lost a squad each. I had managed to get some reinforcements in the shape of a Pz IIIN and it was causing problems for Robert as I could cover both approaches to my defences with it.

The British of course threw mortar smoke at me everytime I looked threatening, but this is a two way weapon and allowed me to move around under cover of the barrage without taking losses. Robert eventually did move towards my line but I manged to get the tank and an MG42 team into a good position to shoot his assault squad, it dived for cover but now found itself in the sights of my men in a nearby barn, this was too much and they routed.

Sadly for the British their attempts to kill off the lone MG42 came to naught and it managed to retreat into cover, my line had held and the British were now another squad down. Robert decided to withdraw and fight another day. The dice Gods had been kind to me and unkind to Robert, perhaps his luck will change with his next attempt to force his way through on the road to Bremen. I can feel a mortar barrage coming, we don't usually use these as they upset the game but the British may have no choice but to use one in order to force their way through.

Friday and another game in the Bunker, ACW this time and a learning experience for Ian, I therefore set up a small battle so I would have time to explain the rules. I set up the Battle of New Market famous for the charge of the Virginia Military Institute students, which inspired the attack of the schoolboys in John Wayne's The Horse Soldiers, one of my favourite movies. Ian chose to take the Union which has a green brigade set up just north of the town on Manor's Hill while the Rebs deploy on Shirley's Hill opposite them, the Confederates really need to push hard before the rest of the Union troops arrive from the north.

I had taken this onboard and set my boys forward only to be hit by a lucky artillery shot which sent one of my large infantry regiments skeddadling for the rear and off the table as I failed to rally them, not a good start. I sent my cavalry out on my right to flank the town and come in on the Federal left, my infantry trotted forward as fast as they could. At some point, the Union morale broke and several regiments ran for the rear leaving a very large hole in their defenses, I scrambled to take advantage of this but it was taking time, Ian tried again to set up a defensive line but again this was forced back. My artillery kept letting me down and doing no damage except to plough up the fields to its front.

The set up.

Forward boys!

Reb cavalry flank march.

Union cavalry turned up and made for my right flank, my own cavalry now took up a position in the woods and built hasty works, I decided not to push them into the sea of blue which was now to their front as Federal reinforcements began to arrive in large numbers. Despite the disparity in troops I continued to push against the Union right as Ian got into a bit of a traffice jam as his last reserves turned up. Although the Yankees put up a decent fight my up until now useless guns found their range and began to pummel the Union line, the VMI battery being extremely succesful. For a minute it looked like I would be forced to stop my attack but my troops came through and Union morale collapsed, the high ground was mine.

Union line is forced back.

A brave but fruitless attack by US Colored Troops.

Union cavalry advance.

This is a nail biter of a game, the only thing in the Confederate favour is that many of the Union regiments are green, it did not help that poor old Franz Sigel was shot down, nor me when one of my brigadiers hit the dust and held up my advance. I cannot complain about my dice luck on morale and my shooting was usually very good unless it came from the mouth of a cannon. 

We have the heights.

So, another week of combat over, next week at the club I believe we have the Jacobite Rebellion at the club, or something along the lines of 1746. No big plans but the week after I should have a couple of days of War and Conquest as author Rob Broom is booked to come up, looking forward to that, especially as the Thunderbolts should get a run out.

A Turn Around

 Another month gone, soon be time for the supermarkets to stock up on all that tinsel for Christmas. 

Poor Rob was ill again last week so I missed out on the warmth of the Sudan so at the last moment I played Xeno Rampant based on the Star Wars universe. For a change I was one of the good guys, my loyalties lying with the Empire, any Empire usually, so I donned the drab robes of Obi-Wan-Kenobi and led my troopers to war.

I found it very frustrating only being allowed one action, this meant that if I moved I became a target, if I didn't things were less than exciting, also if you fail with one of your units everything comes to a halt, well it does for you, I failed about four times during the game, allied to being afraid to move and die things did not start well. My Wookies did alright when I did manage to get them into position and Obi managed to knock Darth Vader back for a bit but everything went south when the armoured walker turned up and stomped all the good guys, oh for an RPG.

I had organised a game with Erik and played in the Bunker as the Memsahib needed the car, we have normally played Seven Years War but this time I offered the Italian Wars. I needed a small battle to introduce the rules and period so I settled on Scannagallo, the last battle of the wars. I was going to use the scenario from the new Helion book which looks interesting but as I only have the map I went with Rodolfo Verginella's from his scenario book, I still had to tweak a little bit.

Spanish on the left, French on the right.

Erik commanded the Spanish/Florentines while I took the French/Sienese, the armies are typical of the period but with large contingents of arquebusiers due to the time (1554), the French are outnumbered in infantry. There is a large dry watercourse or ditch along one flank of both armies, I decided this was no big deal and although it slowed movement it would only disorder troops in melee if pushed back while in it.

French pikes.

Spanish pikes.

I wanted to push my French and Landsknecht pikes to the left to even the disparity on that flank while holding the remainder of my infantry on the right behind the ditch, my cavalry gallantly rode forward as French cavalry do. The Spaniards marched straight forward. my left flank bravely threw themselves at the enemy but my French pikes were quickly routed, my Italians put up a good fight but they too in the end succumbed. As there was no room now on the left I turned my Landskechts and crashed into the arquebusiers to my front thinking they would be no more than a speed bump, I was so wrong as these enemy Landsknechts fought incredibly well and the melee went back and forth. Erik was desperate to throw his own Landsknecht pike at mine but the melee and the ditch prevented this, I thought I now had a chance to catch them in the flank with the Grigioni. On the right despite losing my Gendarmes turned things around and routed their opposite numbers, they were then attackd by the enemy light cavalry and routed them also. My own light cavalry moved to get in a position to threaten the Spanish pikes.

French left in action.

Spanish left.

 The crises was now approaching, I was about to lose my left flank completely, in the centre my Landsknechts, almost down to 50% were attacked by the enemy Landsknechts and looked like being beat. On the plus side my Gendarmes were free to attack the enemy artillery while my Landsknecht arquebusiers shot down the unwieldy Spanish pikes at the ditch, my light cavalry had charged the Spanish arquebusiers and looked like winning, I had turned the Grigioni to attack the Spanish pikes giving up on the idea of flanking the Landsknechts across the ditch. We called a halt there as we had run out of time, at that moment we had both lost two units and considering I had been two units down I was inclined to call a draw although being in a very precarious position.

My Landsknechts advance.

I couldn't leave it, so returned to the game on Saturday night, I did indeed lose my left flank as all my units there were wiped out. On the right however it was a very different story, against all the odds my Landsknechts forced back and destroyed their opponents, my shooters forced the Spanish pikes to run, the Gendarmes rode down the enemy gunners and the light cavalry saw off the Spanish Arquebusiers. No one was there in the room to see the grin across my face, the game really was a draw now.

What a great game, initially my luck was bad, my initiative throws were so bad I nearly always went last, this caused problems for my less than enthusiastic allies, especially the Italian shot, who several times simply stood and watched things go to hell in a handbasket. The Italian pikes put up a decent fight but lost out in the end as the Sienese pikes hit them in the flank. The men of the match were my own Landsknechts who against all the odds beat back and routed their opposite numbers, an incredible effort.

I continue with the Romans of course, I have a unit of Roman horse archers almost done, probably by the end of the week, the horses are ready so I am now painting the riders. Again I am impressed with these sculpts they are so easy to paint the officer is particularly nice. Little Big Man Studios transfers are now available again through Victrix, so I ordered and received most of the ones required for my infantry units. I also have another set of figures coming from A&A to complete two Auxilliary units and one more legionary Vexillation, along with some skirmishers.

 Not sure I will be at the club on Tuesday, I do have a Chain of Command game on Wednesday night, a continuation of Robert and I's Road to Bremen campaign, we were half way through when we had to stop the last time he visited. On Friday I have a Johnny Reb game introducing Ian to the rules, there is also the chance of another ACW campaign battle coming up.

Right, that's it for now.

Parthian shot; The Royal Navy has 25 warships, many of which are being refitted or cannot be crewed but it has 40 admirals, one for every 800 men, it also has 260 captains for the 25 ships. So taking a leaf out of Elon Musk's book, what do they actually do all day? Also our latest Task Force has to borrow a supply ship from Norway, yes we do have one but it has no crew.

Tiger, tiger

 Last Tuesday was a busy day, the Penrith Dungeon in the morning and the Club at night but like all plans this one did not work out. Rob caught a cold so we would not be going to the Sudan to fight the Fuzzie Wuzzies but I did drag myself out of bed and head off north to Matt Crump's.

In the Dungeon this time it was somewhere in Sicily, the game was based on the fight for Biazza Ridge and I was James Gavin of the 82nd fighting against the Hermann Goering division while Matt took the bad guys. I had a platoon of elite paratroopers along with a second platoon of regulars, two Shermans, an anti-tank gun and an MMG, I was up against the elite Jerries of 'call me Meyer' who had five squads, some halftracks, an armoured car, mortar, anti-tank gun, MMG and.....a Tiger!

Another lovely battlefield.

There were three objectives on the table, one of which was miles away and a shoe in for the Luftwaffe boys, the central one was closer to me on the ridge and the third, on my right, although closer to me was a hike through some rough ground to get to it. I therefore decided to go for the centre and right, the Paras would be in the centre with Gavin. On turn 2 when my second wave turned up I sent them to the right but for some reason I thought if my tanks went left and killed any Germans around the objective I might slip one squad up the road and steal it, not a great idea as it turned out. Oh, I forgot to mention I had naval gunfire support (one of my old jobs) and if it hit it would simply make a mess of everything in the area as 15" shells would. I started off well with HMS Ramilles wiping out the Jerry anti-tank gun before failing to hit anything at all. 

The Paras arrive.

As does the armour, in the wrong place?

Gavin led his men up on to the ridge and then came under heavy fire and I began losing men and a bit of my nerve, the tanks clanked up the road and began shooting anything they could see, badly. Matt had sent two squads in half tracks up a country track on my right and was closer to that objective than my men, it was going to be a struggle as the Germans also sent their armoured car into that area. More Yanks fell and although I was managing hits I was not converting them into kills, I gave up all thought of stealing the left objective and for a moment swithered about pulling one of my Para squads back behind the ridge. Matt's advances were looking good and my casualties mounted. In came a swarm of panzergrenadiers against my regulars and they wiped out one of the three squads but they did take casualties, I did try and take advantage of this but my boys refused to move.

The Jerries attack my right.

A hit from the navy.

The big cat.

I manage to hold the right.

The centre holds, just.

Then the Tiger turned up, where was it going, if it supported the attack on my right I think I would have lost out but instead it went after the two Shermans, one of which promptly hit the beast and caused it to reverse. Return fire imobilised one of the Shermans but it could still fire. I felt slightly better as I mopped up the right flank holding it securely, but knew Matt would attempt a rush now against the centre if not to take it then to contest the objective. The Tiger moved forward again only to be hit this time by the anti-tank gun which again caused it to retreat. It looked like things had swung my way but there was still possibly one German squad which might make it on to the ridge. Then what sounded like an express train whooshed overhead and the squad disappeared in a puff of high explosive, Ramillies had got the range and put the icing on the cake. Matt surrendered.

 

The Tiger so close.

My armour moves to the centre.

Whooosh! The last gasp.

Another good game and interesting scenario played out on a lovely table. I didn't manage much of a chat as I was going away with the Memsahib for a couple of days and had what seemed like a ton of things to orgainse before heading into the Lakes.

I have a couple of map projects which seem to be hard to pin down and complete and a couple more in the queue. I got a heads up from Helion about the possibility of doing another atlas of between 80-100 maps on the Arab-Israeli conflicts, it has not yet been confirmed but is looking good and the author has already been in touch.

Now, readers will know that I am not shy of using the LMF to enhance my wargaming and I do not shirk from shelling out the spondolicks, however I was running out of PVA/Wood Glue for basing and as I traversed an indoor market in Morecambe I asked a vendor if he sold said product. I should have known better, I'm 72 after all, I purchased a small bottle for £2, this should have screamed at me but I ignored the little guy on my shoulder telling me "You'll be sorry". I glued my latest troops to their MDF bases the other night and the glue was sticky and runny, sure enough in the morning when I picked them up to add the sand the figures came off in my hand. I headed off to town and spent nearly £15 this time on the good stuff along with some superglue, kicking myself all the way home. 

The good stuff.

Some new paints to try as well.

Talking about spending money, we were away at a Spa Resort in the Lakes for a couple of days for the Memsahib's birthday, lovely place but we spent two days being drenched in rain whenever we ventured outside, I sit at home now looking out the window at a glorious day. The Lakes were busy nevertheless and damn expensive, parking was normally £5 for a couple of hours and a piece of apple pie a tenner!

Should have went to Ibiza.

I splashed even more money this morning as I ordered up more troops for the Romans, enough for three auxiliary foot units and a bunch of skirmishers. I have finished my second regular vexillation, this time from IIII Flavia Felix and have begun work on some Roman horse archers. I also sent for several sets of transfers from LBMS (now run by Victrix), so I should be all set for the next couple of months.

I am halfway through 'Late Roman Combat Tactics' and I am more than impressed, the Romans basically, or at least during the mid to late periods, fought by numbers. They had drills for all occasions and all enemies and if these were followed by commanders it usually resulted in a Roman win. It is not an easy read and relies a lot on early Byzantine treatises which were heavily influenced by what we would call Late Roman manuals. 

Parthian Shot: I know the world is mad, or at least anything to the left of the old Iron Curtain, but the French city of Lyon has taken the biscuit by paying Psychics thousands of euros to ask nearby animals and plants about local planning issues. At one meeting Poppy was given a seat, no, not a person, a real Poppy, the plant! Yes, Lyon city council is dominated by......the Green Party. The defence rests M'lud.

Another week another battle.

 I had a game in the diary with Julian, we returned at last to the Italian Wars, as usual I was running about like a blue ****** fly juggling maps, real life and games. Handily I was working on Helion's book on wargaming the period and settled on the Battle of Novarra, for no other reason than it looked an easy set up. I don't have all the information on the scenarios, only the maps but Colin Ashton, co-author, kindly sent me his information on the battle and this helped me set something up for a game, this is my interpretation until the book is published.

Basically the French are surprised by the Swiss attack, to replicate this I (the French) could not move for two turns as my men were running around donning armour and finishing off a cordon bleu meal. Julian simply came on in typical Swiss style, although I was outnumberd in infantry I was hoping my cavalry could hold my left flank and maybe secure it, my right I held back waiting.

The Swiss.

The French right.

The French left.

Swiss left, French right.

The Milanese came on at a pace way before I could move my heavy cavalry over to intercept them, the French heavies start in a very awkward position. My mounted crossbows were hit and dispersed while the Stradiots managed to evade and keep clear of the armoured horse while throwing useless javelins at the pike block. On the right my crossbows were equally useless as the Swiss pike blocks got ever nearer my lines. The largest pike block now hit two units of Landsknechts and a murderous combat ensued, my smaller block was pushed back but the other held, at one point I came so close to pushing the Swiss back only to be ruined by some fiendishly lucky dice thrown by Julian, again! Another enemy block now hit my remaining Landsknechts, these boys fought like Trojans and came so close to winning I shook my head in despair as the clockmakers rallied and turned the tide on me.

Trecate village.

Both sides advance on my left.

Ditto on the right.

Shoot guys, shoot.

Meanwhile on the left I had managed to ride down the annoying Swiss crossbowmen and was now about to go for their artillery. The Milanese had given up trying to catch the lighter horsemen and turned towards my approaching Gendarmes, I was looking for a win here as my fresh horse thundered in, it was not to be and the melee rocked back and forth until both sides broke while their leaders who had been in the front rank fled the scene. This left me one Gendarme unit to throw at the Swiss in the field, in they went and duly bounced off, I was gutted, surrounded by light cavalry and flanked by heavies the Swiss laughed in my face and stood like statues. To make matters worse my Landsknechts now gave up the fight and also fled, just as in the real battle the French had been routed so I handed over my sword.

Push of pike.

 

Clash of heavy cavalry.

 

It's all over.

 

A sad end.

If you peruse the photgraphs you will see most of the Swiss pike blocks received heavy casualties but Julian pulled it out of the hat time and again while I didn't, in wargame speak he rolled 5's and 6's while I managed 1's and 2's. Nevertheless it is an interesting battle and the gods teased me twice in the infantry melee only to snatch my good fortune away again. I had a couple of thoughts on the rules, it is difficult to get your head around the fact that a pike block is almost impervious to cavalry, probably right but annoying nevertheless. They were subject to several morale checks due to shooting but Julian sailed through them. Fatigued troops, having just charged for instance, have no penalties to their fighting ability, I am going to amend this. Another good game though and always a pleasure to fight Julian.

I did go to the club this week, twice. Because being an old sod I forgot the dials required to play X-Wing and had to go back home to get them, speeding along the M6 like I was at Brand's Hatch (remember that). Jimi and I need to read the rules before arranging a game, I was at my usual and winging it hoping nothing untoward turned up, but of course it did. We still managed to get a draw with two kills each although there was no way what I had left could take down the Milenium Falcon. It doesn't help that the owners of the game basically turned it loose last year and now only the fan base are left to play.

Not much on the painting table this week, but I did manage to finish two bolt shooters, so that is four units of the new army ready. I also got another package from A&A, these will be an auxilliary infantry cohort, Roman horse archers and Clibinarii, probably mentioned this before. I have managed to clean and prime the vexillation from IIII Flavia Felix despite the cold, I now use the wife's old hairdryer to help the process, this works a treat as it was Harry Freezers today.

I put on the second season of SAS Rogue Heroes during the week, I set a record as I made it through at least 10 minutes. OK, I get it it is not historical but basing your whole knowledge of WWII on Captain Hurricane and Maggot Malone from the Valiant is a bit over the top for me, they'll be grabbing Stuka's out of the air next. I shudder to think how they will ruin the upcoming 1066 saga, after all it is the BBC.

 Parthian Shot: I cannot remember when I joined the Navy in 1968, 8th October 1000 hrs, there being a Gender and Sexuality Network branch like there is today, head honcho a marine corporal no less. The service now imitates the old Swoppets figurines, remember changing the bodies? In the Navy now officers must wear proper jackets with markings but from the waist down they can wear any national dress they can lay claim to e.g. sari's, kilts, kaftans, kimono's etc. Why should Britain tremble.