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.