Combat Fatigue

 As I mentioned in the last post I had to organise a home game here in the Post Office yesterday, I chose the Oak Grove 1862 scenario from one of my scenario books, as I only had so much time to set the game up I used Oak Grove taking some liberties with the set up and map. Also Rob, Stuart and Paul are not well versed in Johnny Reb II so I kept things simple with no smoothbores, poor rifle muskets and small regiments, apart from the odd Green unit I kept everything average.

 

 

In the scenario each side has to capture the Fisher farm and the School House to win outright, or inflict 40% casualties on the enemy. Stuart and Rob took the Confederates, Stu having the brigades of Mahone and Wright while Rob commanded Armistead's large brigade. Paul and I were the Federals, I had Sickles' brigade while Paul took Robinson's and Grover's, although I have a few of the regiments present I just put troops down to fill the orders of battle.

As the Union we decided to hold the centre while pushing on the flanks, if I was having a hard time up against Rob I would instead move towards the centre and act defensively, but in the beginning I would test Rob's mettle. As my troops advanced to meet Armistead I took a look to my left, Paul was aggressive and had pushed Grover forward to meet Wright and lead was flying between two heavy skirmish screens, on his far left he was pushing Robinson deep into the woods to confront Mahone. As the battle progressed and the Federal skirmishers fell back our centre looked decidedly sparse, to help I sent my one battery of guns across to anchor the line and cover the large open ground to the front which was full of Rebel troops.

Robinson advances.

My brigade moves on Armistead.

 Meanwhile I too was testing the Rebs and looked like winning the skirmish fight while I extended my line to the right to try and outflank Rob's brigade, I did get him to halt and form up and once again things were looking good as I formed a decent battle line. Then from out of the blue Rob charged the 6th North Carolina at my boys and the 2nd Wisconsin folded and ran, the 6th ran out of steam right in front of one of my regiments, sadly the next volley hit more trees than it did Rebs. Nevertheless the 6th plunged on in the next turn for a final desperate charge as my Minnesota boys fixed bayonets and  reciprocated, despite everything my men failed and were thrown back, I now had a big hole in my line and no reserves as they were destined to move to hit Rob's left flank. 

Robinson forces Rebs to halt.

6th NC breaks through.

Rebs probe the Union centre.

 On the rest of the battlefield our centre looked weaker than ever but Paul had pushed through the woods and forced Stu to form a defensive line on his right. A little later it looked like the Rebs would recover and begin to charge forward, but Union marksmen took out Armistead and Mahone causing disarray in the grey ranks while officers looked around for the next suitable leaders. Paul charged forward and the 11th New York Fire Zouaves smashed through the enemy line and didn't stop until they got to the Fisher Farm, here behind the lines they rallied and then captured a nearby Confederate battery, but it was to be a last hurrah for Robinson's brigade which had now lost two regiments and was badly disorganised.

Fire Zouaves take the guns.

Reb centre.

 Despite my attempts to form up properly morale let me down and my own brigade was now in a mess split into two and with the 6th NC deep in my rear, I had not actually lost anyone as I had manged to rally everyone but I now had no cohesion at all, I decided to fall back as Rob's solid line with a new brigadier would soon move on me. Over on our left Paul had also decided to fall back, Rebs on this flank had also made inroads to the rear of the Union line and the effort to dislodge them was too much.

We had been fighting for about five hours almost after I had taken some time to explain the rules etc. with a short break for lunch, Rob had brought some superb Pork Pies and a Lemon Drizzle Cake. We called a halt and looking across the shattered field decided that the Union forces would at this point probably be wise to retire. At an early point in the game it seemed that the Union centre would fail but in the end it was the only part of our army which was still standing in a decent line of battle.

A very enjoyable game with a lot of excitement and several times cheers/wailing almost gave the impression that the Post Office was still open. Big thanks to Stuart, Rob and Paul for the afternoons entertainment.

Still rushed off my feet with mapping, two new projects in the last 48 hrs and putting the finishing touches to two more, putting the game away and getting ready for Sunday's battle, hence the combat fatigue.

Up in Flames

 I set up a small 800 point Bolt Action game for newbie Jimi last night at the club, I have lots of BA scenarios but many are just not suitable for a club night, needing large forces or lots of terrain and the club is limited with the latter. I have plenty of terrain but it is not feasible to hump it all to the club.

Anyway, the table was split into four quarters, we set up in opposite quarters and had to take the neutral ones and if possible get troops into the enemy quarter. Jimi wanted to bring along what he had of his Airborne troops so as these did not amount to 800 points I offered choices from my British Army which can just about cover everything available from 1944 to 1945. In the end he went for veteran paratroops with mortar, sniper and MMG supports, I went for four small regular squads and spent my money on a Stummel with short barreled 75mm howitzer, one halftrack and a 222 armoured car, my plan was to rush ahead and use the howitzer and 20mm cannon to cause a lot of hurt.

So much for plans, the preparatory bombardment hit my Stummel and took it out before the game had even started, so much for Plan A. Nevertheless I advanced everyone bar my HQ who were happy to sit as far away from the action as possible. Jimi moved out as well and although he had big squads of ten men my MG42's began to strike home and one squad in particular soon became heavily pinned and went to ground. I now moved up my armoured car to the hedge and began blasting away with the auto-cannon, suddenly a mortar round hit and caused a fire, knowing the artillery was now on target I tried to move the car in the next turn, it refused and paid the price, Plan B was now scuppered.

 Jimi did send his PIAT team bravely forward and they managed a shot at the armoured car but missed, sadly the mortar in the next few seconds didn't. By now I had two squads in each of the neutral quarters and managed to even the odds by taking out an Airborne squad and the PIAT team. When the clock struck I ended up with 8 victory points to 4, despite my dreadful luck I had managed to pull a win.

 Jimi learned a lot from this game as only one of his squads had brought an LMG and perhaps a British armoured car would have evened things up a bit, also with veterans smaller squads are just as good being harder to kill. I am sure things will be different the next time.

I am a bit rushed at the moment, Stuart asked me last night if I could arrange an ACW game for tomorrow for him, Rob and Paul, so I have spent the morning putting Perbais back in its box and building a new table and setting out troops. I have also managed to pen this and this afternoon I am back at mapping and because I am wargaming tomorrow I have a barbecue to build tonight. Did I mention I also have a visitor coming to take on the Thunderbolts on Sunday.

I noticed the Great Wargaming Survey is out, I got as far as the second question before closing the page. 'What did I think of myself as' was the question, in all my years that thought has never entered my head apart from the idea I am still 21, which is not true of course despite my good looks. Also in over 50 years of wargaming have I ever come across a Non-Binary or an Other, what on earth has that to do with wargaming.

 

 Because I am a bit rusty with Bolt Action I wasn't sure I had done the HE against Vehicles right, so like a fool I once again asked on the BA Facebook page, the first comedian and several others said don't bring the vehicle on first move, that wasn't what I asked, the next hilarious suggestion was that I should up end the table, at this point with the keyboard red hot with my indignation I stopped and simply deleted the post. Aaaaaaaaaand......2.....3.......

Gembloux Gap 1: Perbais

 Since the lifting of restrictions my wargaming has improved vastly, the club is back in business and I have managed several American Civil War games here at headquarters. I still have all that new WWII stuff to get to a table though, and to that end offered mate Matt of The Wargames Table a chance to play a mini campaign over Zoom as he lives near Bath in cider country. Happily he was up for it and as I had just completed a French army which he had kindly sent me it had to be the Gembloux Gap campaign, 3rd Panzer vs 1st DIM in May 1940.

 

The French are defending the village of Perbais and the infantry of the Panzer division is attacking. I had ten points of support and took an Adjutant, infantry gun and anti-tank gun along with a Fifth Columnist who could, if lucky, nullify one of the French senior leaders. I later found out that Matt had chosen a sniper and a Hotchkiss MMG.

The French settled into defending the hedgelines, the forward one on their left but the second hedge on their right, they would eventually move up to the forward hedge but their initial deployment gave me hope that I could push up to the front without taking a lot of flak. My main attack would be on the French right as the open field to my right was a deathtrap. I got a bit carried away and tried to rush a squad over the cornfield to get to the hedge line before the enemy, my men leapt the hedge to their front like girls and only just made it over, but were then taken under fire by the French left flank, oops. Matt had also now sent his right hand squad forward. I had obviously made a bad mistake.

The French advance on their right.

My boys struggle across the hedge.

It was time for my supports, first on was the 75mm infantry gun and shortly after the little AT gun, both hammered at the French right and drove the lead squad back to their original position, relieving the pressure on my sluggish troops in the cornfield. The guns continued their deadly fire by now focusing on the French left, I also played Anton the deceiver on the senior leader directing the squad and this did cause confusion. I haven't mention the French sniper yet but he had been firing away all game and basically needed another course at sniper school. 

I got carried away  now and sent two squads into the cornfield, but kept them just far enough back that the French on overwatch could not see them. My plan was to get a double phase and then move up and fire. I also brought my third squad on and sent them across the field, the French there had been pulverised by the guns and fled to a nearby house, this gave me the chance to pile on the pressure, hence my aggressive moves.

French defense stiffens.

Where are double sixes when you need them.

Architects of German victory.

 Matt now played a blinder and dropped the Hotchkiss machine gun on his left, and my guys in the field began to drop. Not a problem thought I as I turned my artillery on them, but I simply could not kill them and almost with impunity they cut down my boys in the field. They also had an effect on my grand plan, I could not spare the guns to support my left flank while that damn machine gun was still working so my other two squads hunkered down in the cornfield.

At last the shellfire took out the annoying MMG and then turned their attention to the survivors of the original platoon in the house. It was now that I managed to get a complete COC die, my next move was to end the turn and lift all the enemy overwatch, then move my boys on the left up and pour on some hurt. It was not to be however as my artillery caused enough damage to the men cowering in the house that the French morale collapsed. Perbais was in German hands.

A great little game lasting just over 3 hrs, I also felt for the first time I had a better hold on the game mechanics than before, although we both made mistakes, mine forgetting to shoot at times and Matt leaving his rifle grenadiers back at the chateaux. Casualties were fairly heavy on both sides but the French took the most, the Germans should get quite a lot back as they held the field and their morale was still very good. Only the clean up to do now and get ready for the next game at Noirmont.

 

Dawn at Chickamauga

 Last week Fran and I started this 'what if' scenario from the original Johnny Reb II rule book and after four hours of heavy fighting decided to leave the game up and finish it this week as the result was still very much in the wind. The Confederates had to inflict 40% casualties on the Federals or capture a crossroads, the Union had to stop them. At the beginning the Federal forces are widely spread out with one brigade a long way away heading north while another was nearer the Rebs but in disarray, only one was in a fit state to receive an assault. The Rebs on the other hand had to try and sweep away the nearest Union forces in order to make room for their reserves and make some movement towards the objective before the Union line solidified.

 As the Union commander I decided to hold as far forward as possible and began to rearrange my right flank brigade and send orders to the one disappearing to the north to come back as quickly as possible. I got away with this as the Rebs decided to bring up a decent firing line with artillery before assaulting. The opening volleys gave me hope as the 4th Va. ran for the rear and a Confederate gun was lost to counter battery fire, I also moved Sirwell's brigade along to meet with Stanley and form a much stronger line. Before long however I was forced to move back as the pressure built to my front, The Rebs were now concentrating on my right flank and more and more of them were turning up, both sides stood trading volleys in the woods. 

The battlefield.

The Rebs appear from the morning mist.

 

The Rebs advance.

 I was very nervous as my thin line began to suffer, but somehow my two defending regiments, 8th NYSM and 11th Mass. stood like rocks under the pressure and refused to budge. The 8th eventually broke but nothing the Rebs could throw at the Massachusetts men could shift them, the log jam of Confederate troops behind the line did not help as they maneuvered to get to the front. Just in time Beatty's brigade arrived behind my shaky line to close off the Confederate flanking move, as I looked over the field of battle I was feeling more and more confident as a solid line of blue now stretched into the distance.  

Union line forms up.

Log jam in the Confederate rear.

Beatty arrives.

Federal line under pressure.

 Now I got carried away, I ordered my left flank brigade to move forward and engage the enemy around the small farm, the lure of cutting the Rebs off and encircling them beckoned. What I did not notice however was that although many of the Confederate units were taking heavy casualties, and I was knocking out their artillery none of them broke. With Beatty now in position and the Rebs scrambling to build up a decent firing line I decided to start pushing in the centre as well. Hubris.

 Just as my confidence reached meteoric levels the Bucktails took a hit and fled for the rear leaving a hole in my line and the 11th NY out on my right with no support at the same time a sharpshooter took out Stanley. Taking advantage of my bad luck in the next turn Rebel Yells broke out from the smoke enshrouded woods. One after the other I lost the 11th NY, 12th USCT and 13th KY along with a gun battery, my right flank was now shattered and my left didn't look too hot either, the 44th NY held on in an island of Confederates but was being flanked. I was reduced to calling on the stalwart 11th Mass. whom I had pulled out of the line to give them a break, the survivors moved gallantly forward but I doubted whether this time they could stop the grey flood. Two moves before I thought the battle was mine and now the lead Rebs could almost touch the crossroads. 

Advance boys.

Bucktails flee.

Union left collapses.

Confederate festung.

Over the two evenings we had spent eight hours fighting this game, at a leisurely pace mind you and although we could have spun it out for another couple we decided to call a halt, Fran offered a draw but on looking over the ruins of my line this morning it was going to be a Confederate victory. There is no time limit to this game as it starts at dawn so I reckoned my line failed some time just after noon, all my brigades had lost one regiment and at least another couple were teetering on the brink, this would eventually prove fatal to the morale of the remainder even if they stood. The Confederates had not got off lightly and out of fourteen regiments only three still had their full complement of men, I too only had three, but although many of the enemy were down to two or three stands or teetering on losing another none of them routed.

 This has been the third Johnny Reb game we have played and like the last one it was a tough but exciting tussle. The 11th Mass. were the men of the match for me while the 42nd Penn. (Bucktails) will forever live with the shame of precipitating the Union defeat.

Vive la France

 Seven Years War at the club last night, French vs Prussians in 10mm using Black Powder, version 1 as Dan does not have version 2 using the extra rules for the period from "The Last Argument of Kings". I have played large Napoleonic games with BP but this would be a first.

I opted for the French and commanded a brigade of five battalions and two cavalry units along with a battery of guns, Stuart had roughly the same on my right flank but without the big gun. The Prussians had one less battalion but of course being the super troops of the SYW it meant the game was still balanced. I was up against veteran BP player Rob and as the game started we both made a beeline for the village to our our front, I managed to win the race and took two thirds of the buildings while the Prussians managed to grab the church. I had put my cavalry on the left but as the Prussians were not inclined to attack here I sent my second cavalry unit to the centre to perhaps threaten Robs left flank or support Stuart if needed.

French left, my boys.

French right, Stuart's men.

 Stuart's men were very keen and two battalions had raced ahead into the teeth of Dan's Prussian line and suffered for it as both units were cut down and dispersed, Stuart managed to stave off disaster by holding back the Prussian cavalry and forcing a temporary retiral of an enemy battalion on a nearby hill. The Prussians recovered but the threat of my cavalry played on Dan's mind and he settled in to pounding the French line with musketry. I meanwhile had had some success against Robs left flank and dispersed a battalion and forced his battalion guns back, I had earlier saw an opportunity to attack Dan's right but my troops baulked and refused to move and the chance slipped away. However I had more success against my opponent as another battalion fled and his cavalry found themselves too close to my lead infantry and suffered for it, the Prussian centre had a large hole in it.

The village of death.

Stuart's men advance into the gates of hell.

 Sadly as I looked to my right I saw the remnants of Stuart's brigade being overwhelmed by the enemy and as we looked over the battlefield and the clocked ticked we settled for a draw, a generous result I thought as despite my success against Rob I could not now advance to take advantage of his disorder as this would open my flank to Dan's successful and elated troops. I was happy and quickly shook hands on the result.

A good game with some lovely troops and enough excitement to keep us all happy. I was quite happily surprised that my troops had met and despatched the Prussians as they were not as fearful as I had imagined. I must also continue to moan about my dice luck, I picked up a set which I knew are rubbish but do not belong to any particular army (yes I am that superstitious) and found my shooting in the beginning to be dreadful, however this did change during the latter part of the game, but I will not bring those dice again.

I had a long weekend off and went south and stayed with my son for a few days, the weather was glorious and the journey down did not hit any problems and was a leisurely four hours just as it said on the satnav, it took double that the last time I ventured south in the car. No wonder most people live down there, the small towns were all charming, busy and prosperous, rose tinted glasses perhaps but I felt relaxed and enjoyed my outing. On the way back we made a stop at Bosworth Heritage Centre, I had been there before decades ago but since then the battlefield had been proven to be elsewhere and the Centre had been refurbished. You cannot get on to the battlefield as it is farmland but there are a couple of walks a year where visitors are allowed. You can drive down Fenny Lane (I think) which crosses the centre, the main thing about the place is how flat it is, so no sweeping downhill charge by Richard's bodyguard here. As a Richard III fan this battle has always fascinated me and I have my own ideas on how it was fought, OK, I'll tell you, I think the Stanley's were not instrumental in changing the course of the battle but merely stood off until they knew who was winning and simply nailed their colours to Tudor. I do have one big question which will of course never be answered, why did Northumberland sit out the battle, I have read several theories but none has been satisfactory for me, the simplest of course is that he just decided to do nothing, anyway he got his just deserts later on as did Stanley. The Centre itself I found disappointing, yes I am hard to please, that is a given, like many exhibits and museums these days it has a lot of child friendly guff which of course does not interest me, nor the children if what I have seen is anything to go by, one little darling merely wanted to play on the disability lift when I was there, I was two minutes away from giving him a fright as the whine went on and on.

 

Herne Bay.

Whitstable

Henley on Thames

Marlow

Apart from my FW190 terrain piece I have done nothing else for a while but this morning ordered up three of the new Rubicon models, a British truck, a German 2cm flak gun and the SdKfz 10/4 halftrack on which to mount the gun. I had planned to get a BA-20 armoured car and the Soviet tractor but the prices are funny money, these two are resin kits, the armoured car is £25 and the tractor a whopping £30, these are both small models and even with the fabled LMF behind me I cannot countenance spending that.

 Entertainment is pretty scarce at the moment, I watched another new piece of nonsense called 'Jolt' the other night, some woman (size 6) has anger issues and is very dangerous if she gets annoyed, but of course the movie forgets this when it needs to and a knock on the head and some plastic ties seems to incapacitate her for several minutes, rubbish. All is not lost however, I can recommend 'City on a Hill' where Kevin Bacon plays an FBI agent superbly walking a tightrope between what is right and what is wrong in Boston. I have nearly finished the second season and it is even better than the first. I am now reduced to waiting on several good things to start again, probably a desert until the Autumn so am back to binge watching 'The Shield' not the best actors in the world but an exciting and different police drama.

 The second part of my Chickamauga battle is being fought tonight, the Federal line begins to form but can the Confederates breakthrough before it does, we will see.

Black 13

 For a long time now I have wanted to add more interesting scatter terrain to my tables and a downed aircraft has been on the list for a couple of years since diving into WWII. I looked around for quite a time for a cheap 1/72 plastic kit to destroy but eventually settled on a proper, but more expensive 1/48 kit as these reputedly look better on the ground while 1/72 is fine for a quick run across a crowded battlefield. I have always had a soft spot for the BF109 but instead decided to go for something different, so I ended up with a FW190A3, yes, that guy, will be able to point and say that Mark didn't come out until 1400 hrs, August 12th '43 so your whole set up is wrong, well I don't care.

The kit arrived pretty quick and it is the first aircraft kit I have built in easily 50+ years, it was fairly straightforward with a surprisingly small number of pieces compared to say Rubicon tanks etc. At this point I had to make my mind up just how badly the aircraft had hit the deck, not being a proper modeller I decided the pilot had got it down without too much of a problem. There is a BF109 in the IWM Duxford which crashed in 1940 without even a bullet hole in it, this was my inspiration. I made a small raised platform of earth from some tissue soaked in plaster, then some ridges leading to the crash site which no doubt the propellers had gouged out. I soaked the props in hot water and bent two of them. The base was then painted a dark brown and drybrushed with a lighter shade, tufts and flowers were added along with static grass, it was now ready for the plane.

I do not have a problem with portraying things as historically accurate as possible, having a swastika flag on an early war tank as an air recognition symbol or the same design on the tail of any Luftwaffe aircraft does not make the owner a card carrying member of the NSDAP in my book. I was quite surprised therefore to find the swastika on the decal sheet, but this saved me buying a sheet or painting it myself. I do have a couple of things which are beyond the pale for me as a wargamer but that's my business.

 Moving swiftly on I chose a generic mid war colour scheme, the decals were for three different pilots so I attempted a nice set with a large black eagle along the front fuselage, I quickly ruined that so moved on to a less difficult one, if you want to know it is an aircraft from JG2. I added a bit of dirt, grass and smoke stains to the whole thing and then some bullet holes, not a lot, just enough to suggest either the engine gave up or the pilot was wounded. And there you go, a nice addition to my scatter terrain and a warning not to get into building model aircraft and to stick to tanks.

Club again last night and my alter ego once again commanding HMS Achilles with two new small ships, HMS Juno and HMS Jupiter (both the names of Leander frigates I had hoped to get as my first ship back in 1970 but did not). Simon was in command of the second squadron, again one frigate and two brigs, a large Spanish merchantman had run aground on a small island near a Spanish coastal fort, the ship contained important cargo and an unspecified amount of silver. A small Spanish squadron was anchored near the fort and a powerful French force of two frigates and a brig had just arrived in the area as the British bore down on their objective. I made straight for the grounded vessel and had a rude awakening as several very large broadsides erupted from the 'lame duck', Jupiter took the burnt of it losing a gun and most of her command cut down on the quarterdeck, I decided to keep the ship back from the main action and proceeded with Achilles and Juno.

 I took more damage as I closed with the Esmerelda but was now in a position to pass her stern and rake the whole ship with both of mine, just as I was congratulating myself I had inadvertently got too close to the fort and again Juno suffered a couple of hits. No matter, as I tacked to come back around the Spanish merchant suffered more raking fire and burst into flames striking her flag as the crew leapt off for shelter on the small island. Simon meanwhile had engaged the Frenchies and was giving as good as he got, the pendulum shifted as the Spanish squadron now joined the action and one of his brigs went to Davy Jones' locker. The Sea Wolf meanwhile now began to close and added the fire of Achilles and Juno to the battle, signals also brought Jupiter back into the fight and a desperate battle ebbed and flowed. One French frigate struck but was then boarded by one of their brigs to put backbone back into the crew but all it did was put these ships out of action as they argued on the ruined deck. Broadsides from my ships now forced a Spanish brig to strike, just as they were pulling their flag down Simon's flagship blew up as flames reached her magazine, on the nearby island the merchant also erupted and the force of these explosions sent the surrendering brig to the bottom. The upshot was that the French were left with one almost fully functioning frigate and a brig while the Spaniards were left with two badly damaged ships and were intent on running with the wind. 

 If we had had time I think we would have taken or sunk both the remaining Spaniards and then either made our escape or taken on the Frenchie, but I think we would have lost Jupiter and Simon's remaining brig was in no state to stay in the battle. So a win of sorts for the Royal Navy, despite the odds being against us we had destroyed the Esmerelda so that no one was going to benefit from her cargo. It would seem the hope of a dukedom for the Sea Wolf will have to wait for another day.

I have to head south to the big Smoke or nearby for the weekend and although I hate driving south I am not wearing a mask on public transport for anyone so will simply get on with it, I am now looking forward to the three day break and will eat, drink and be merry despite my natural inclination to be dour.

Because I am heading south I had to cancel the game I had lined up for Sunday, but I have managed to salvage this and will fight it tonight as Fran has agreed to come round this evening. The scenario is a 'what if' based on the battle of Chickamauga in 1863. Breckinridge's division at the southern end of the battlefield was ready to attack an unprepared Union line but was subsequently drawn out of the line and sent north. Could Breckinridge have crushed the Union flank and then turned and rolled up the main line, who knows, but we should know tonight. I visited Chickamauga nearly 30 years ago, a well looked after battlefield and hardly touched by modern times.

Typical terrain at Chickamauga