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.