Some New Stuff.

I was going to have a quiet week this week but it didn't turn out like that. I went along to the club to take part in a game of "Beneath the Lily Banners", not sure what you would actually call the period but it is around the late 1600's? This is a new project for several club members and new figures are being added every week as the forces grow. I am unsure of the scale, it looked about 10 mm to me, maybe 12, the troops did look very nice and Stuart Simon's contingent were exceptional in this scale as is his 25mm ECW armies.

The battle was between an army of Jacobean Scots and English against Dutch forces loyal to the Crown. At first although the loyalists were better troops it did look like they were outnumbered, especially on my flank facing a much larger force opposite. I decided to take a little wood to my front with dragoons as a speed bump while my infantry camped on a nearby hill, I had an idea that as my cavalry should outclass their opponents I would sweep forward and put the enemy horse to flight. Needless to say Plan A did not work, the order system went against me and only one of my two squadrons charged forward, nonetheless this unit was quite successful routing some enemy and throwing their flank into disorder before being chased from the field. The dragoons did their job and held up the enemy foot for a time which was also played on by my artillery, they therefore reached my own infantry line having been badly shot up.

The enemy advance on my boys.

My one squadron attacks.

Defend the high ground.

Jacobites. Was expecting official to remove St. George's flag.

Over on my left Simon had advanced to the line of a small stream while being attacked by Stuart's lovely cavalry, this did not prevent them from being shot up and routed however. The Jacobean infantry on that flank seemed happy enough to remain in position for most of the game, or that is how it looked to me. Night fell and the victory went to the loyal forces of King George.

I was preparing to settle down and map for the rest of the week when Paul asked for a game the next day on What'sApp and I decided in a high pitched camp voice, if that's possible on a PC, that I was free. We decided on a 1940's clash somewhere in France with Paul as the Jerries and me as the French, I was the defender and would not have my support forces until the first turn ended, this in Chain of Command can take a very long time, so I would be outnumbered from the beginning.

You will have to be a certain age.

The Germans turned up with a couple of squads and an armoured car, at this point I had no anti-tank weapons but managed a couple of times to frighten the crew of the 'little tank' into retreating, but of course it came back. I very slowly built up towards a CoC dice to end the turn while Paul was overwhelmed with CoC points. One German squad tried to advance but was caught in the open and became the target of most of the French lead, it eventually broke and ran, this meant the enemy now deployed an infantry gun to put pressure on the French line and it had an immediate effect. My squads now began to suffer very high casualties, dead rather than shocked, two of my NCO's also got hit and one killed, my morale plummeted to 5 from 9, things had looked so good a moment before. 

Battlefield.

My line.

The Jerries close in.

The game changer.

The 'little tank'.

I had managed at last to end the turn and on trundled my game winning armour, but it was no game changer, it turned out to be useless and as the pressure mounted I pulled back all my squads out of harms way. I did manage this quite successfully but the writing was on the wall and my morale now fell to 3. The crew of the infantry gun were now desperately manhandling it into a better position so in desperation I deployed the last of my reserves in the hope I might pick off the crew or even better wound the leader, when the smoke cleared there was no visible effect on the gun crew. A further turn of deadly fire from Paul put my morale at 1 and I gave in.

 I did look like winning at one point as the Germans came up against my defenders but my morale simply crumbled under the withering fire as my NCO's hit the deck and my return fire merely gave the Jerries a few headaches. I have used that little R35 tank before and it has never been successful. I think in the future for single games I will just use morale ratings of 10 or 11, I never use the lower 8 anyway, the wounding of a couple of Leaders accompanied with lousy morale throws can end a game before it gets off the ground. The wounding or stunning of Leaders cause enough realistic command problems without artificially causing your platoon to leave the area.

Staying with Chain of Command in the next day or two I will have completed the bulk of the Fallschirmjager platoon and they will be in action against American paratroopers in a few weeks. I have enough left over figures for a fourth squad but am waiting for their LMG teams and a sniper to arrive from Black Tree Designs, I have used these guys once before and they are notoriously slow. I have painted this new platoon almost entirely with Contrast Paints, quiet in the back. I never thought the GW paints had a range suitable for WW2, I suspect Vallejo or Army Painter do. Mate Stuart Dobson put me on to a video showing how it could be done and I thought his efforts on his Voksgrenadiers looked fine for my paras. I started and was very happy with the speed and the results, halfway through the troops I changed a few of the colours to represent my own thoughts on the webbing and camo smock, my choices are not as stark as the original suggestions, well I think so. These types of paints are looked down on by many but I think they are wonderful, and I have hundreds of Roman and Italian Wars figures to attest to this. If you ever only buy one, buy the magical Guilliman Flesh.

When it comes to books I am loathe to read women writers, I did however get carried away by the author of 'Eagle Days' who did a presentation on WW2TV. I have now returned it to my shelf, it is supposed to tell the story of the Battle of Britain from the German side, I did not really get this impression, there was a serious lack of information on actual combat experience from the bomber crews and fighter pilots, maybe I picked up the wrong vibes from the programme.

 So just as I was thinking about what was next I found that the second book in Rick Atkinson's trilogy on the War of The American Revolution is out, it has only taken six years so I am wondering if I will still be around when Volume Three appears and will I actually have time to read it, these are vast tomes. I have tried many times to read about this period in history and all have left me unsatisfied, Atkinson however is brilliant and really brings the whole thing to life, already I have only managed the prologue and know it is a winner.

I know I am a miserable old sod but my excitement on hearing about a TV series on Harold Godwinson and that usurper William of Normandy was sent crashing when I realised the BBC were in charge. First off I have never watched it and never will, however I have seen clips and photographs, I will leave out the colour blind casting but the clothes and armour are straight out of someones imagination, if they got 'experts' in they must simply have listened then ignored them. Look at the Bayeux Tapestry for heavens sake. I also noticed that the battle was the usual two mobs running at each other and finishing in multiple single combats, I could be wrong as I only saw a few seconds of this but I doubt it. On the other hand I have started 'Penguin' and it is high quality drama with a good story and excellent script and acting along with beautiful filmography. Colin Farrel is uncanny as Penguin. I am addicted to 'Drive to Survive' and as such I know a thing or two about F1 now, the other night I watched F1 with Brad pitt and immediately saw problems, the major one being a size six model changing tyres in the pit, I could not stop laughing, the movie, it was fine. Box, Box!

 On that happy note, I'm off.