Game against Rob, the author of War and Conquest.

I put the Eastern Front aside last week and sorted out a game with War and Conquest author Rob Broom, Rob was keen after reading the last report when Matt Smith took control of the Romans, this time I would put all my efforts into commanding the Twelfth and send maps and photographs so that Rob could take as much control as possible.

I formed up with the bulk of my cavalry on my right, then two bolt shooters on a hill, this being the only height in my deployment area and these machines were hopefully going to bring down the elephants when they turned up. Next came the main line of the Legion in the center and on my left were the auxiliary troops, archers, infantry and cavalry. Opposite Rob had placed the elephants and Phalanxes on the left along with the Companions, his right consisted of lighter troops, Theurophoroi, Thracians, scythed chariots, skirmishers, horse archers and some medium cavalry. When I saw this I checked my points as I seemed to have a lot more than Rob, they turned out fine I also checked his as I was sure he had some left, but again the numbers were correct. On reflection Rob had paid a lot for his pikemen, Companions and command, the lighter troops don't come cheap either. I on the other hand only paid for two normal cohorts and two with recruits, I am cheap OK.

My plan was to kill the elephants as quickly as possible and luckily my bolt shooters were in a perfect position to shoot at them, I also moved the horse archers and the slingers in to take shots as well, the Auxiliary troops would advance with the possible aid of Cohors II and destroy the Seleucid right then the Legion would advance and finish the job.

 The first Roman volleys yielded no casualties at all which surprised me, the Seleucids did not have a lot to retaliate with and both armies got on with manouvering. Rob wanted his elephants and chariots to move to contact as fast as they could, despite this the elephants could only lumber on at a snails pace and this time they began to take hits, one looked like it would not make it to the Roman line so I turned it towards the Roman cavalry to force morale checks (I had to take some decisions for the enemy). One chariot fell to massed archery but the other hit Auxiliary Cohors II and caused a fistful of damage before succumbing. Nevertheless the Lanciari (Aux. Light Infantry) routed the Skythian horse archers so honours were even. Now Rob turned his cavalry back to his right and moved his light troops forward with the intention of taking on the Roman left. Cohors II peeled off to threaten this move.

I had moved the Contari back from fear of the Elephant but then decided as it turned back into the centre towards the Cataphracts to move them forward again and chance their morale. The second Elephant had got into charge reach of one of the Bolt Shooters and decided to go for it, the artillerymen held their nerves and the elephant took several hits as it came in, in a surprise outcome the artillerymen held and actually won the combat, the second round would result in a draw and the elephant near death. The White phalanx cautiously edged forward. On the Roman left the crises had arrived and the Seleucids threw all their troops at the Roman Auxiliaries and Cohors II, despite being lighter than the Auxiliaries the Greeks at first did quite well, but as the combats continued the heavier Roman troops routed the Theurophoroi and Thracians, the Macedonian light cavalry also lost their edge in the second round. The Companions now found themselves the sole targets of the massed archers on the hill and men and horses began to fall. I called a halt here and as I looked over the battlefield I felt the Legate of the Twelfth was on his way to a Triumph.

Being a bank holiday I got up early and returned to the fray, I had it in my mind that I would be packing things up after I had destroyed the remaining troops on the Seleucid right, how wrong that turned out to be. It started well and my Auxiliary Cohort hit the Macedonian light cavalry after they had routed my medium cavalry, the Companions now turned on Cohors II an easy victory thought I. Within so many blinks of an eye the Companions had ridden down Cohors II and nearby Cohors III and my Auxiliary archers had decided they would join the rout. The archers refused to rally for the rest of the game and the Seleucid cavalry now caught and dispersed Cohors III, almost all of my left flank was running or dispersed, and the Phalanxes were now advancing against my remaining two cohorts, I started to get a trifle nervous. On my right my artillerymen now managed to kill the elephant, I am glad it was not mine as it had been basically useless throughout the battle, I now sent my Contari on a wide flanking movement against the Greek left, would I have time to throw them into the battle before my legionaries fell to the phalanx.

 

I managed to hit the phalanxes before they charged me, but my elation did not last long as they pushed my boys back and I furtively glanced for a white flag. The long suffering left flank elephant had lined up to take the Praetorians in the flank but a host of missile fire at last put it out of its misery, but my guys were still on the back foot, however their morale held as the bodies piled up, the Legate could see his Triumph disappearing. The Contari now rode in to rescue the Thunderbolts reputation and the legionaries found renewed strength, the White phalanx crumbled as the horsemen hit them in the rear and the Praetorians, under threat of decimation, made a superhuman effort and did their part to rout the Whites. Cohors I also rose to the occasion and caused enough casualties to reverse their fortunes and cause the Purple phalanx to fail its morale and rout. The day had been saved, "Remember you are mortal" as the Romans say.

 

  A lot more maps this time from the normal three as once I needed input from Rob I sent a map and photographs. A very enjoyable game for me and although there is always a problem of judging distance through maps and photographs I felt Rob was as good as standing across from me, almost. As the Seleucids closed to hand to hand combat their die rolls were unbelievably bad, don't tell me I need yet another set of dice, the amount of 1s and 2s turning up was depressing especially as some of the units only needed 3 and above to save or kill. I asked Rob why the phalanxes were not moving and he said he was looking out for their flanks. I think if he had advanced them with or close behind the elephants a bit earlier it might have been a different game, I also thought the use of the elephants a good tactic as they nullified my shock cavalry and I was at first a bit wary of them. As Cohors II had been pulled to my left flank the two large phalanxes I suspect could have given my Legion a very hard time.

So there you have it, an excellent game. Back to the Eastern Front next to finish the Konigsberg Campaign.

And now a few words from our Sponsor.

Hammer and Anvil

When George invited me to play against him remotely using War & Conquest and his Successor army I must say I was looking forward to the challenge. His Successor army has plenty of choices so I selected elephants and scythed chariots to disrupt his forces, pike blocks to act as an anvil and then Companions and experienced light cavalry to act as the hammer.

It became obviously early in the game that being a remote general really gives you more a feel for how helpless some of the ancient generals must have felt once the action started - you know what you want the troops to do - and you issue the orders - but at times they come up short :)

My plan had been to hold the cavalry back, show a bit of feint and then race the cavalry to strike at a suitable flank or weak spot. In this case it ended up being the Roman Auxiliary flank. As Georges excellent report, maps and photos will show, the best plans don’t always work out and apparently, ‘my’ dice rolling was very poor!

But come the end, the game ran close - the stewards enquiry on the dice is still out, and a rematch will be most welcome. My thanks to George for a superb bit of entertainment and I really would recommend you trying out this kind of game - it really gives a new twist and overview of ancient battles.

Blitzkreig at Seerappen

Having liberated Metgethen the Germans found most of the civilian population had been victims of Soviet revenge and the bodies of old people, women and children were found inside most of the houses, this has aroused feelings of revenge now in the Germans and they have become 'aggressive' for the rest of the campaign. I cannot see this making a huge difference in CoC as it only involves close combat and unless you get the enemy down to two men and a dog with penknives, as the attacker you are on a hiding to nothing.

I was expecting Matt to choose at least one tank for his attack and so took a 45mm anti-tank gun along with a bucket of hope that if he did it would not be anything larger than a PzIII, I had my core squad for its last fight before it is honourably retired backed up by an MMG and a second infantry squad. Matt had an all infantry force with three squads, one original also on its last legs, and an infantry gun and a pre-game barrage in support, so much for bringing an AT gun to an infantry fight.

There was a lot of open ground to cross for the Germans and Matt decided to advance on his right near the railway tracks as on this side there were hedges to hide behind, the infantry gun with entrenchments was to support from the open cornfield on the left. Right off the Russians got a double turn and I put the 45mm on my right to cover the road and open fields, after this everything else refused to arrive for both turns. The Jerries now also got a double turn, in fact two of them almost one after the other, so while the Russians were loathe to turn up the Germans took advantage of this and hurried their men forward, two squads ran for the buildings around the signal box. Now the infantry gun also turned up and began to snipe at the anti-tank gun disabling its Junior Leader and more or less putting it out of action. During the German race to the nearest hedges to the buildings the Russians only managed to get one infantry squad in defence, this was now hit by overwhelming machine gun fire and very quickly was reduced to a wounded leader and two or three men and ran.

The Soviet MMG now showed up and set up in the large signal box building, but again due to the lack of further defenders took the brunt of the enemy fire and shortly it too routed, Soviet morale plummeted. With a cornucopia of double and triple phases the Germans now brought on their third squad in the cornfield and it rapidly advanced to close range of the anti-tank gun and the crew began to fall. In the closing minutes of the game the Russians got their remaining squad into position but it was now the only effective force the Soviets had left to fight the entire German platoon, with morale at rock bottom the Russian leader ordered a withdrawal.
 

This game was totally one sided due to the effectiveness of the barrage and the almost continual double phases and two triple phases by the Germans. I drop a die for every subsequent phase but even doing this the German command and control was superb, I also do not let troops who have already shot shoot again, but this was no barrier to the Germans taking ground and setting up a firebase of two squads, one panzergrenadiers and one infantry which swept all before them. Although all this was a problem the fact that the Russians only managed to get their people on piecemeal was a bigger problem. This one sided type of game can be a problem with Chain of Command and as a player you really cannot do much about it if the dice Gods come down heavily on the other side, yes I know we all fall foul of this at times but the effect as above is simply devastating. The Russians could if they had a command dice have halted the barrage but by the time they got one I thought it best to use it to deflect a morale test if needed. Anyway the upshot is that the Germans now have two tables to go to win.

I have had a couple of slack days so finished those new Russian troops, the guys with the semi-automatic rifles are really nice, these are from The Assault Group the others simply had SMG's. I also dug out a Russian tank commander from the free Rubicon sprue and put him on the T34/85 as a reward for its stalwart defence of Metgethen.

I am going to take a small break from the Eastern Front for a week or so and get another Ancients game in, this time Rob Broom author of War and Conquest will choose the Seleucid army and I shall choose the Romans, back in charge of the Thunderbolts, yes. I aim to clear the table today, set it up for the game and email Rob a map so he can sort his deployment.

As I said before I am back on with my SYW project and received my new figures yesterday, so plenty to do. I cocked up once again and am a figure short for both units so I jumped on to order them up and thought no point just getting two men so I got a limber and a horse (for which I already have a rider) and more French finnials with ribbons for their flags.

Getting a trifle fed up now, I didn't get out much before but I had decided to organise some weekend wargaming here and I could at least go for a meal, a lunch or a walk amongst other people enjoying the nice weather and of course talk shop at the club on a Tuesday with like minded folks or meet up for one of Rob, Julian or Stuarts large games in Grange. Fingers crossed.

Metgethen Falls!

Having been stymied twice in Metgethen the 13th Panzergrenadier Regiment having suffered horrendous losses asked and got extra supports for a third try at their objective as it was vital this town was taken.

As it had become obvious that one of the problems of taking the town was the perfectly placed Mayors house and the others which lent excellent cover to the defenders I offered Matt some mobile artillery which was not on the list for the campaign. However given that time was of the essence and the town had held out twice now I decided that every effort would be made to ensure its fall this time, and that included self propelled guns. This time Matt had the remnants of his original platoon, two infantry squads, a pre-game barrage, a Stummel and a PzIIIN, although there was the panzerschreck I thought this was a bit light on anti-tank considering the hard fighting T34/85 was still in the town. The Russians stuck with their two squads from the original platoon backed up by an MMG, a sniper and a Zis2 anti-tank gun and of course the T34.

This time I took more care of the German attack as far as I could with the command dice, I decided to make an assault down the right flank with the armour and infantry in support, another squad and again the panzerschreck would take the left. The Russians had a problem deploying due to the barrage and this allowed the Jerries to get a long way down the right flank with the Stummel and two squads, the PzIII got on but held back due to the presence of the Zis, also the command dice were needed to push forward the spearhead. The Russians eventually managed to end the turn and get the T34 on but it was not soon enough to help the MMG team in the large barn, this was overwhelmed and routed. The Stummel tried a shot at the T34 and although hitting it only incapacitated it for a short time, the halftrack then hid behind the barn, the infantry now bravely moved up and took panzerfaust shots at the tank, these either missed or again only temporarily held up the tank, it was time for the infantry to seek shelter.

What had looked for a second like an overwhelming German victory had been turned around by the late arrival of the T34 and with no anti-tank weapons left or arriving it looked like the T34 only had to mop up the opposition. On the German left however the remaining infantry had now got to close range of the Blue House and the firepower began to take it's toll on the men inside, their Junior Leader was killed and the survivors fled the building. The Stummel, having tried to hide from the T34 was now in the sights of the Zis and although not destroyed it was hit and effectively put out of action as most of its crew were dead, the PzIII could now receive command dice and started to bombard the Mayors house and the men in there began to take casualties. With their morale at rock bottom the Reds abandoned the town.

So, the fourth game has ended, three tables and five games to go, can the Germans breakout, who knows. I got a bit deeper into the game this time and used tactical movement and understood a few more rules. I now think that a morale of 15 is a bit too much so have settled on an increase of only one for now to give 12 as the starting number for Force Morale, this works well. I am also increasingly thinking of adding a sixth command dice when the support points are more than a dozen, there are rules I believe which allow the use of a sixth die and will look these up when I get a chance.

I have finished my industrial units, I had decided to be superfast with these and went for spray paint, the pit head I did in green, then splashes of black with some rust rubbed in overall, with the buildings I sprayed all windows black, then used masking tape to protect them while using Necron Bone or some such. A bit of weathering and a few bits and pieces chucked on the roofs, there is always a wheel/tyre on these roofs, god knows why, I must find a small football, and voila. Being chuffed with myself didn't last long as I realised I had glued down all but one of the roofs, duh. The buildings were all from Sarissa and where very easy to build, easier if I had not tore ahead and actually read the instructions, but hey, the buildings for the most part are one level and troops if need be can be placed on the roofs. The doors and windows are very flimsy and the doors especially seem to want to break off, I wanted them to remain closed, maybe I will put them ajar at some point but for now they are closed. I have been asked where the pit head came from and you can get it here.

I decided against adding to my ancients for now and took the plunge to add another couple of brigades to my SYW forces, four battalions each. I wanted to go with Highlanders for the British only to find that the Perry's have closed down for at least another week and having no patience I went for Front Rank and got two French battalions. I also went to GMB Flags and got the flags for the Highland 87th and 88th Foot for when I do get them and Rooth and De Clare's Irish regiments in French service.

This means that when I finish my last eight Russians tonight, I will have something to continue, at the moment I dug out a single tank commander to paint but now I have reached the bottom of the barrel. If there is a delay from Front Rank which is not usually the case then I will turn back to some of my buildings and renovate them.

I have set up game five, table four for the weekend, the Germans have to capture the Signal Box at Seerappen, a big ask in Chain of Command getting over all that empty terrain, still all to play for for both sides.

Tough Nut

Generalmajor Rolf Lippert is under pressure to take Gardenstadt Metgethen as quickly as possible, his troops of Panzergrenadier Regiment 13 have been rebuffed once and time is of the essence.

Matt has chosen more armour this time for his attack along with buffing up his infantry contingent, his remaining grenadiers have been supplemented by two infantry squads supported by a StuG III, a Jagdpanzer IV and another pre-game barrage. The Russians still have their T34/85, three infantry squads and an MMG.

This time around the barrage is ineffective and before long the Russians have their defence line settled and the T34 sitting waiting, the German commander has decided to get his armour into the town first then back his tanks up with infantry. The wily Soviets have spent the night laying mines at the opposite end of town thus denying the road to the panzers. Both German tanks arrive fairly quickly and both take shots at the T34 which replies in kind, none of the vehicles suffer from these exchanges, the StuG eventually moves into the woods while the Jagdpanzer doggedly tries to wound the T34. The German commander is becoming frustrated and starts to deploy his infantry and move slowly along both flanks.

The tank duel ends with the Jagdpanzer blowing up, this dismays the Germans but they push forward nonetheless taking advantage of as much cover as they can. The panzerschreck team are also slowly working themselves forward hoping to get a shot off as the Russians concentrate on the approaching infantry. On the German left a squad manages to get close to the Blue House, a flurry of grenades hit the house as the infantry close for hand to hand combat. A desperate fight ensues with the Germans gaining the upper hand but the obstinate Russians fight back and turn the tide, sending the Nazi's running, the reserve platoon turns up and turns the withdrawal into a rout.

On the right flank the Germans now begin to turn the tide, the StuG and a nearby squad cause the Russians to abandon the large barn and they quickly break them, the T34 moves to fire at the StuG but is hit by a panzerfaust and is forced to withdraw. The StuG commander see's an opportunity and moves cautiously forward but the assault gun is hit and the commander wounded, nonetheless it gets off a shot and again causes the T34 to back off. It looks like the Russian left is about to fold and the Soviets begin to send their reserve over from the right flank. The T34 recovers and again looses a shot at the StuG, this time the assault gun explodes. In desperation the Panzerschreck team bolts across the road to get into a firing position but the waiting Russians in the Mayors house open up and wipe out the unlucky lads. With only two panzerfausts left just behind the front line the German commander reluctantly orders a withdrawal. Lippert's superiors are not pleased while the Russians rally more troops to blunt the offensive.

If anyone has this campaign and is wondering about the support points, I am using the points given in the second version and adding a couple, I made a conscious effort to get all the support options for this campaign and using the points values from the original campaign you would never get to use them. Also if troops are held up I am giving them more for the second or third try, the Germans however may have to scrape the barrel the more they are held up, Volksturm, Hitler Youth etc.

I managed to finish my Seven Year War generals and commanders, the two larger command stands have horse drummers kindly sent to me free gratis by David at Tales from GHQ which were just perfect to differentiate them from brigade commanders. I now need more troops so that they can earn their pay. Friend Rob gave me a nice Perry highlander as a little gift for my birthday some time ago and he fits in well with Front Rank, so I am toying with getting enough for a couple of battalions. You really need the kilty cauld bums for a British army.

I see Blogger has managed to cock up quite a few posts and a lot of photographs have disappeared which has a detrimental effect on the posts, I do hope this has now been sorted.

Having kept away from sport all my life, apart from the old England vs Scotland football games, I am now addicted to Netflix's Drive to Survive about Formula 1 racing of all things, so much so I have ordered a biography of Bernie Ecclestone! Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooow.

Garden Leave

Game four and Table 3 of the breakout. The Russians are still a tad shocked that the Germans have launched an attack and are still trying to marshal their forces, they are still somewhat outnumbered locally while German strength is continuing to build.

In this game Matt had two squads from his original platoon and supplemented them with a pre-game barrage, two infantry squads and a Panther, I had an idea a big cat was about to turn up. The Russians are also down to two squads but with nothing like the support points of the attackers so they ended up with two MMG's, panzerfausts for each squad and a 'free' T34/85. Once past this table the Russians can play a wild card and counter-attack, so they can look forward to upsetting the blitzkrieg.

Matt's plan was very specific this time, the Panther with the two infantry squads each side would advance up the road and through the town, the other two squads would make their way up the flanks through the woods, the panzerschreck team would be used to hopefully ambush the T34. My plan was to hold the flanks with the MMG's and support them with the two squads and the T34. The Germans got off to a good start and had no trouble getting their infantry out, the Panther however had a very cautious crew and even on the road it made slow progress. The Russians however struggled to get their plan in to action as the barrage played hell with their deployment, only one MMG arrived early and it headed for the large building on the right flank to take up a defensive position. This was where I had to step in, the Germans had an advanced Jump Off Point near the house and I thought as the MMG team were in the open and only the T34 was in the area it was time to be aggressive with the Jerries, I brought a squad on and sure enough it opened up on the MMG and wiped out the crew, with this success I thought I could also bring on the panzerschreck sheltered by the squad in front and the house, wrong.

The Russians at last got a squad on and they took up a position in the large mayor's house and targeted the panzerschreck team, this team was also wiped out, the T34 moved up to try and stop the Germans taking the house on the right while keeping out of sight of the slow Panther. Shock began to build on the Germans as they sat in the open, this did not prevent them from taking two shots with their panzerfausts at the T34, both missed.

The Russian defence was just holding and the barrage was making it difficult to get more men into town as time after time they failed to turn up. Although they had lost a team and a squad had routed the Germans continued to push forward, the infantry were getting close to their objectives and the Panther at last moved far enough to get a quick shot off at the T34, it was a difficult shot as the gunner could not see very much of the T34 as most of it was behind a house but there was a slim chance, bang, the Russian tank was unharmed. The crises approached.

The Soviets now had two Chain of Command dice, they decided to end the turn and get rid of the debilitating barrage, in a double phase the Russian reserves all turned up and on the left flank the advancing Germans were caught in the open, the end of the turn had also removed their tactical stance, so no cover. The T34 backed off enough to get a shot and the Panther received a deadly shot and ground to a halt flames licking from the hatches. The Russian infantry were now getting the upper hand just as it seemed they would have to withdraw, perhaps a lucky panzerfaust shot would take out the T34 but it had no need to close the range and its machine guns swept the town square. The Panzergrenadiers called off their attack, but they will be back.

Even though the Germans had lost their Panzerschreck team and a squad had routed they still had plenty of men to rush the town centre as the Soviets were having a hard time to get any reserves into the battle, even with the loss of the Panther the infantry might just have pulled a victory out of the bag. But the arrival of the Russian reserves put a halt to any hope, I think one more advance might have done it, the game was that close. You know I have been toying with rules tweaks, and one which doesn't allow a unit to shoot again in a double or triple phase I like, it stops some poor sods being mown down, I have also been dropping a die each time a double or triple phase comes up, and of course I am allowing people to run without a penalty if pinned, these all work well. So, the Garden town will see more death and destruction next week, Jerry still has some leeway to win the campaign but the Russian resistance is strengthening.


After my big adventure at the beginning of the week I mentioned that Duncan had loaned me a book when we got talking about panzergrenadier tactics, I was surprised when it turned out to be a photographic album about an attack on a Polish town in 1944 by an armoured Kampgruppe from the SS-Wiking division, concentrating on one of the armoured companies. In my wargames I have always wanted to make an attack by panzergrenadiers in halftracks, the problem is that whatever the points system you can't afford to put your squads in halftracks because they are expensive and tend to be useless on a wargames table, so you do not generally see them. This is despite official manuals from mid war onwards which recommend fighting from the halftrack, not out of it, reiterated again late war. I did mention this on one forum and got a fairly daft reply in that how do you rule this in the game, halted shoot normally, moving shoot as moving, with hard cover, no? Anyway, here we have a record of an attack in which no one leaves their vehicles except to confer with commanders of other squads/tanks. What also comes across is that the unit is an all arms machine, the grenadiers are backed up by mortar carriers and Stummel's (half track with a howitzer) and tanks of course, but also in the area was a nice little PzIII forward observers tank to call in the big guns, it has a false gun and many more radio masts. I also thought one of the halftracks had been hit or broken down as the engine covers were open, but this was to let air into the engine compartment during the heat of the summer, one for the modellers if you can find a 1/56 engine to put in. I was looking to buy the book but it starts at around £600, even the Legendary Map Fortune could not take that hit. Oh and the lack of uniformity is striking, blouses, shirts, smocks, and a range of camouflage patterns, this is going to bug me as I look at my panzergrenadiers.

I also received my belated Christmas present from my son, "Bloody Streets: The Battle for Berlin", the publication had been delayed but it was worth the wait, it also proved to be a weighty tome with a separate map book. I really enjoyed drawing these maps which were in colour and annotating actual aerial maps of the city showing troop movements during the last days, the author was also easy to work with.

I have finished my generals and they will be based over the weekend, I have now started on my Soviet SMG gunners and semi-automatic riflemen, I am also starting to get my industrial buildings ready to be worked on, I am cheating here and using spray paint, I don't have infinite patience. I suspect this work will all be done by the end of next week so what next, well I fancy giving Legio XII another cohort or the Seleucids a Galatian warband, however until Warbases opens up again I might have to wait for the latter, I might jump for a couple of SYW battalions instead, decisions, decisions.