Somewhere in NW Europe

 Having recovered from my visit the Partizan next up was a Bolt Action game at the club, Jimi has built up a British force and was eager to get it on the table. We picked a scenario at random and it was Double Envelopment which meant we both had to get troops into the others deployment zone and if possible exit troops off the table. 

I decided to play dangerously and looked at a Luftwaffe field force, they can have the French Char B as a flamethrower tank and as I have one why not, they get a couple of decent squads but the rest are Ostruppen  who are just rubbish, even I am not that desperate. Instead I went for a recce force (yes, that is me laughing) from the 10th SS Panzer Division, so I had two small squads, two bigger squads, an armoured car, a truck and a PzIII N. Jimi had three large squads, one small one in a carrier, an MMG and his bloody big tank, the AVRE with the spigot mortar. 

We set up with half our forces in our deployment areas and then reserves could turn up from turn two, I brought on all my reserves except the tank, which decided not to bother, Jimi also failed with some units and his HQ. The AVRE was heading for my left flank as was the carrier and its veteran kill team. I pushed one of my small recce squads into a house in the center only to find the Churchill had a clear shot and unlike the last time it appeared it was on target, the house and my team were blown to bits, I should have known better.

Safe as houses Hans.

Killer tank.

Ooops.

 A squad down but determined to put up a fight my armoured car started hitting the British in the center while hiding from the AVRE, Jimi, now desperate to push his advantage charged with his carrier, the little machine with a new paint job was hit by a panzerfaust and the passengers jumped from there into the teeth of a full squad of SS troops with two LMG's, it took a couple of turns but they were cut down to the last man. Soon after I also took out the MMG as it laboured forward on my right, the pendulum had swung. My tank now turned up after missing several turns, Jimi's HQ was still nowhere to be seen, the panzer got off one good shot and seemed to think it had done its bit.

Some of Jimi's nicely painted British.

The carrier before it charged.

The lucky shot.

 As the fight in the centre and right drew my attention I grasped the first dice out of the bag in order to kill off another British unit, I had forgotten about the AVRE, it slowly ground its way forward and took out another squad which I should have moved first. The clock was ticking down and Jimi managed to get his tank and an infantry squad into my deployment area, I only had the armoured car inside his but I got enough points from wipe outs to get a draw. 

Always nice to have an auto-cannon around.

Recce squad.

 A good game and Jimi must be close to a win now as his dice luck had vastly improved, well, improved, his HQ turned up just in time for the last turn. I can play Bolt Action but there are times when it just grates, the Spigot mortar on the AVRE has a range at best with the wind behind it of 100 yards, to load it the turret has to turn a certain way, the loader opens his hatch and cracks open the barrel like a large shotgun, his head and hands outside the tank, the charge is then loaded and the barrel slammed back into position, I doubt this was quicker than ramming a round into a normal gun. However in Bolt Action it is not a mortar but a heavy howitzer with the range to match, go figure.

I have been trying to rest my arm this week and so it has taken a bit longer than normal to finish the first ranks of my new French pike block. I have the next 24 ready to go once I decide whether to do the rear or middle ranks, probably the rear ranks as I still have some research to do on flags for these guys.

 I have finished several map projects over the last week or so which again did not help the strain in my arm but these are more important than painting sojers, in order to help I have taken to wearing a wrist support which I should have done long before now. Just as I was getting a hold on everything I received more projects, some examples below.

Shogun's Soldiers

Seven Years War

Belgian Congo

Falklands

Gembloux Gap 2: Noirmont

 The culvert game, the whole point I built my two culverts a few weeks ago in the hope I would get here, so last night Matt and I settled down to our second game after 3rd Panzer took the village of Perbais. Here at Noirmont the French defenders had to blow two culverts to slow down the panzers as they cut a swathe through Belgium, in game terms if the Poilu's were successful they would cut the German turns for victory down from ten to eight, so quite a bit at stake for both sides.

Due to losses two of my squads were down to eight men and one to nine, so this time I took an extra squad for support along with an MG34 on a tripod and my very successful last time 75mm infantry gun. Matt had a new platoon but not many support points so took an extra demolition squad and a Panhard armoured car. My plan was to make the southern culvert untenable by dropping as much lead as possible on anyone near it thus preventing the French from taking two turns from me. Matt of course wanted to blow both and retire.

The Germans moved first and got a double phase, I was very happy and sent two squads racing towards the southern culvert, for some daft reason I did not put my infantry gun on my left but put it on my right where it could not target the culvert, I did however put the MMG on my left. The French duly turned up and set to blowing up the westerly culvert, the easy one, a full squad then took up a position on the road out of LOS of my advancing schutzen. Despite putting the artillery in the wrong place they took a shot at the rifle grenade team and wiped it out leaving the Junior Leader to wander aimlessly in the rear for the rest of the game, my morale climbed. We now had a bit of a Mexican stand off, can you say that now, anyway I got my two squads into a position on overwatch waiting for a chance to rush the defenders, one I would put in the house while the other took the punishment on the way in, the result I hoped would favour my boys when they retaliated. I then could not get the command dice I needed so brought on a Senior Leader to help but Matt then got a double phase and punished me, eventually wiping out my squad in the open and leaving my Junior Leader to wander on his own, my morale fell.

 I now woke up and sent a flanking squad along on my right and let my MMG loose on the Frenchies who had now managed to get a second squad up to cover the second team of engineers as they ran for the southern culvert, in the background a large explosion put paid to the westerly crossing, with the Panhard only just making it off the culvert as it went up. Sacre Bleu!

 Just as things were looking very good for Matt, I managed to end the turn and get another phase, I rushed the house, threw grenades and opened up on the French cowering behind it, this was a great success and with oodles of shock the Group de Combat routed, French morale was now looking dodgy, but could they win enough time to get the second lot of explosives to blow. Sadly for France it was a no, the German fire now swept the French lines and again morale plummeted as men ran for the rear, Matt was forced to retire sans culvert as they say.

  A very tight game this time, despite my good luck during the opening phases the tide turned against me and things looked extremely worrying, then the pendulum swung back and the French suffered a catastrophic round which prompted Matt to withdraw. I have another CoC game on Tuesday at the club against Rob's US Paras in the Ardennes with my Volksgrenadiers, this will be a hard fight for me I think.

At the club this week I took Wings of War for a quick throw down game, there were four of us and the idea was that a British two seater had to photograph a target behind German lines and return with some decent photographs which would lead to a second mission with an artillery spotter over the target to ensure its destruction. The two seater in both cases would have three Scouts for an escort, the Germans would have four Scouts in an effort to take down the Recce and Spotter planes. The forces were chosen at random, I got two Albatross DVa and Simon a Fokker DVII and a Pfalz DIII, Dan got the two seater RE8 along with a Sopwith Camel and Rob got two Camels.

 The priority for Simon and I was obviously the Recce aircraft in the first game and in this we failed miserably, in the maelstrom of the dogfight we had to spend more time trying not to collide with each other than firing at the enemy, we lost three Scouts and when the RE8 got back to base with barely a scratch his photographic efforts proved successful so the next one up was the artillery spotter.

 As the RFC closed with us things again took a wrong turn for me, one unlucky Albatross very quickly spun earthward while the other put up a bit of a better fight, Simon also managed to last longer than I did. Once again the dogfight proved very confusing and several times gun jams saved the life of the RE8 as our Scouts closed in. It was all in vain however as once again we fell prey to the RFC. A couple of exciting games but very one sided as Lady Luck favoured the British, I was particularly unlucky and rubbish, I don't think the RFC lost one plane in both games, an unusual occurrence for this great littlegame.

What else, well I have at last finished my latest kit, a British truck from Rubicon, nothing fancy just a plain troop carrier and a very nice model it is too. On the cards are a bunch of Refugees from 1st Corps as I do not have Jump Off Points for my French and thought some little groups of refugees would work, they can also double up in other games when not being used as JOP's. I think I shall also add a few more leaders to my WWII forces, for some reason I seemed to keep losing them in the midst of yesterdays battle despite having them all sorted before we began.

 So, some thought now on what supports I can bring to Tuesday night's game.

To the skies and beyond

With the current madness prevailing I wasn't sure the club would be open last night but yes, nine brave souls weathered the storm and turned up, we meet in a local school so perhaps our days are numbered but in the meanwhile it is mayhem as normal. I have been playing Coronovirus Bingo this morning, between 0730 and 0900 I heard or read UK death tolls of 500,000, 300,000, 20,000 or 12,000, actual deaths as of typing 71. God help us if we are ever hit with a real killer, although we will have the cleanest bums if panic buying is anything to go by.

Right, on a happier note Simon and I played Wings of War, the first scenario had the French, two Spad XIII's and a Breguet 14, on a mission to pick up a spy while two Fokker DVIII's and a DVII tried to stop them. As the first bullets flew one of the DVIII's caught fire, a fine start, however he and his wingman ignored the Spads as best they could and concentrated on the two seater, the DVII found himself on the outskirts of the dogfight. The Breguet managed to land close to the spy and as he jumped in quickly turned and began to take off again, the Fokkers were still on him though and the Spad's were missing the mark on his hunters. As the two seater climbed to gain height it was all over and he crashed in a ball of flame in no-man's land. One for the Hun.

Fokker DVIII's and Breguet 14.

DVII from Jasta 18

French two-seater

Spad XIII

Our second scenario involved the RFC and a damaged bomber trying to make it to British lines, this plane was attacked by two DVIII's who were then bounced by a British Ace in the superb Sopwith Snipe, in the first run of the game the poor bomber took two very high damage cards which ensured his early demise before the Ace could properly interfere to save him. We set this game aside and changed some of the rules for the second try. This time the Fokker's got on the bombers tail but in turn were jumped by the Ace, it turned into a race between the Germans downing the bomber or the Ace downing the two Fokkers. In the end we had misjudged again and found that the DH4 was just as fast as the German Scouts, which meant that with some manouvering to put off the Snipe the Germans fell behind and only managed to loose off long range shots. The bomber only just crossed the line damaged and on fire but he made it while both Germans planes hit the deck, the Germans had taken very severe damage from the beginning and of course one had been on fire as well which didn't help. One for the Allies. We called a halt then and headed home, as for next week, we will see.

The spy gets picked up.

 

In flames again as the DH4 tries to escape.

I have rescued some more scatter terrain from my Dark Age collection this time, two carts to be precise, which in order to turn into possible Eastern Front peasant wagons will only need the addition of an old mattress and a table and chairs which I have lying about. They are pulled by oxen I think but if you get that close to point it out then you are already involved a game so might be more worried about that T34 or Tiger coming your way. I am also hoping to get some of those extra artillery figures I ordered up today and maybe a civilian or two.

(Spoiler alert) I managed to watch the latest Terminator film the other night, and although I fought off the feeling of Deja Vu I enjoyed its senseless violence and set piece mayhem. Yes the three main characters were all strong women, who like me you will never meet in your lifetime, while the only man was a robot, but what really got to me was when the super soldieress, is that right, spat out the words "you don't give birth to a man, you are the leader." All Skynet or Legion as it is now has to do is drop a few spiders.......

The village has a COBRA meeting tonight in the village hall with the idea of assisting old people who have been ordered to self quarantine for their own good. I have already done my bit by assisting one old dear this morning by collecting her card and delivering her money to her. This not only goes against my reputation but shows how unfit I am as the small walk took its toll, despite me feeling 25, OK 30 in my brain I am only three years from being confined to my Casa.

Up, up and away!

Club night again and Wings of War. A long time ago I mucked about with the bases and added magnets and glued everything together, this was a mistake as I now need a large, deep box to hold the stands and it is a hassle finding what I want in the box, I have around 50 models. The last time I had them out I dropped the box so had to spend an evening sorting and gluing everything before packing up last night. I digress, for a change I decided to let the Armee de l'Air take to the skies against the Luftstreitkräfte, I also wanted the Germans to use their legendary triplanes and Albatross scouts.

My flight.

Simon's flight.

Rob's flight.

There were three of us and Simon and I were the Germans, we had one triplane and two Albatross each, a mixture of DIII's and DVa's our job was to prevent the French bombing a target behind our lines. Rob, the Frenchie, had a Spad and two Breguet 14's, if a plane was shot down it was resurrected in the next turn and started on the table edge, the French would not know how successful their bombing mission was until they returned to base.

I thought Rob had a difficult mission but as it turned out he had more than enough firepower to tackle six enemy aircraft. As the French approached on course for the target the Hun's fell on them, guns chattered and a wild dogfight ensued, the result of which was that the two bombers fell from the sky taking one of my Scouts with them, I am unsure when Simon lost a plane as I was trying to control my own planes. 

Goering and Richthofen get in a tizz.

Flamers!

 The second wave of bombers came on and somehow another Spad arrived, perhaps I felt sorry for Rob, another mistake, the Spads turned out to be a thorn in our sides as we concentrated on the bombers. This time however they got through and unloaded over the target, soon after one of them spiraled earthwards as did  two of my scouts. This may have been fortunate for the new fighters came on in an excellent position to intercept the returning bomber. Simon's planes had been concentrating on the rear bomber and when it went down found himself well behind the one heading for home with no real chance to catch it. It was down to me, I flew my damaged Fokker triplane out of the way and sent my two Albatross' after him, I flew very badly and my pilots had to spend their time trying not to collide rather than shooting at the bomber. I eventually managed to get one shot off as the Frenchie flew to safety, an exciting chase.

The Frenchie makes a break for home.

Too little, too late.

Rob had made it by the skin of his teeth and my rashness sending two aircraft into the same airspace, it turned out one point of damage would have seen his badly damaged crate fall to earth, it was now time to see if his mission had been successful, Sacred Blue, yes! A great night and a nail biting finish, perhaps I should book another Tiger Moth flight.

I have started work on my two new Charlie Foxtrot buildings, this time I have skimmed the first with plaster, I have painted the walls now and will work on the windows, doors and roof hopefully tonight. I am unsure whether I shall plaster the second building.

I also received my two grenadier battalions from Front Rank yesterday, so these are up after the buildings. I also ordered up three more books, my ready use locker of books will then number seven, so I better get a move on. The news books are Rod Liddle's "The Great Betrayal" and two from Mark Bowden "Hue 1968" and "The Last Stone", Mark wrote the excellent "Black Hawk Down".

I almost forgot, do you sit and ruin movies for your better half by insisting that that armour is too late, too early, the uniform is wrong, the tank is a fake, they just didn't fight like that etc. Then have a shufty at this interesting little piece, it doesn't let the movies/TV off completely to my way of thinking but the guy does have a point.