Liar, liar pants on fire.

 Before I go on I will get to the title. I have started a new project, there I said it. I have had quite a runaround from our 'World Beating' NHS over the past month or so and this married to the fact I am missing painting and collecting wee sojers decided me to throw caution to the wind and order up new toys. I broke the news to the Memsahib and she just shrugged and said go ahead.

I still did not want to do an army of several hundred figures and have them languishing in boxes waiting for someone to take pity on me and play a game, so I decided to build an American platoon with supports for NW Europe, about 60 figures including support teams and for now, two tanks and an armoured car. I tend to find, or think, that the Yanks are overplayed in wargames rules, I just don't get the shooting from the hip advance for instance, what's that going to hit? Anyway, the new paints have arrived as have the bases, three Rubicon kits and enough troops to keep me busy for some time.

OK, I got a call from 'Lucky' Jimi last week offering to journey to the Bunker for a game, I decided to set up a Bolt Action scenario from the Budapest campaign book, with a couple of added tweaks. The German defenders were short of ammunition and what remained of the Luftwaffe (it is January 1945) had managed to drop containers into one of the city parks, both the Germans and the approaching Soviets wanted to capture them. I set up the forces, the Jerries had two regular and one veteran squad along with a green Volksturm type volunteer squad, an MMG, a StuG III, Hetzer and a Panzerjager Wanze, the latter being an ex remote-controlled demolition carrier with six panzerschrek's stuck on it, these were actually used in Berlin but I had the model. The Soviets (me) had one regular squad, one assault engineer squad, one veteran Scout squad and a squad from a Penal battalion backed up with an MMG, a T-34/85, Su-76 and a T-70 light tank. I also added a golden die to the dice bag and if whoever picked it out threw a 5 or 6 then an aircraft would turn up and add to the mayhem.

Olympia Park Budapest 1945

Jimi moved very quickly and secured three of the five canisters on his side of the table, these all contained ammunition and this meant he could re-roll any 1's during firing as long as he stayed close to them. I also put all my forces on in the first turn and captured two canisters, again they had ammunition in them, they could have had food, medals, panzerfausts or medical supplies. I decided to go for the German cannisters on their flanks and and put the T-34 and T-70 on my left along along with the Penal squad and the regulars while on the other side the SU-76, Assault engineers and Scouts would be my main effort. The armour duels went my way and I quickly knocked out the Hetzer and the Panzerjager, the StuG tried to break through a barricade and got stuck for the rest of the game. Jimi countered this with a low level strafe by a FW-190 which caused quite a bit of suppression on all my troops along the flight path, which was most of them and also gave my T-34 crew a nasty surprise.

Panzerjager.

My left flank.

My right flank.

The Jerries push forward.

The next surprise arrived in the shape of a downed plane, luckily this had no effect on any of my lads but I think it did deal out pins to the Germans in the centre, it is supposed to be a glider but I don't have one. I had to hold back my attack on the left but sent all my armour towards the German centre cannister, the Su-76 having to stay out of the firing arc of the stuck StuG, I took the right hand cannister so this left Jimi needing to capture the downed aircraft to even the score. Sadly for him I managed to assault his command group with the engineers and take the prize.

The crashed 'glider'.

Volksturm and Hetzer.

Jabo.

It's almost over.

Soviet armour moves on the centre.

The Russians take the plane.

A stuck StuG.

This turned out to be a really close game with the potential for lots of twists and turns, I will play this again at some point. No Russian aircraft were harmed during this scenario!

The very next day Matt and I resumed our Chain of Command Abbeville campaign, Matt had arrived back in the North and I was more than happy to get another game in while the missus was in a good mood. This game was similar to the last one in that the German position would be a small wood on one side of the table while the British were basically called on to cross more open ground, this constant use of open ground in Chain of Command I think has a detrimental effect on the game. Matt had a new platoon supported by an Infantry Gun and a Medic, I had the same but my supports were two Vickers MkVI tankettes with HMG's, I also took a mortar barrage and a replenishment point, the second time I have ever used this in a game as the old one simply ruined the game.

I fully intended to advance under cover of my heavy machine guns and smoke while my barrage kept the Jerries heads down, and hopefully caused them some pain. I quickly got all my troops on as did Matt, although he kept most of his men hidden in the wood, he also brought his 7.5 cm gun on and it began to target my squad on the right, it was time to drop smoke on it. I really wanted to hit the enemy in the wood but Matt had quickly picked up a CoC dice and could easily end the turn and stop the barrage, so I had to suffer for now. I decided to pick on his artillery and after a couple of phases I managed to rout the crew. I forgot to mention Matt had brought along the Fifth Column sniper again, he got in a couple of  good shots but I decided to ignore him

In the end he did use his dice and I immediately brought in the barrage, this hit almost all the German squads and over the three turns the Jerries took quite a bit of shock and several casualties, not as many as I would have liked but enough for us both to think the British were on top. But this was not the case, my squads were taking a lot of shock and I had to use most of my command points trying to rally them, the only troops I could get to advance were my little tanks, but it was slow going, especially as one of them had obviously forgotten to bring ammo for its HMG! I took my last squad out of a nearby barn in order to put more shots into the wood but before long it too began to take hits, so much so that now all three of my squads were in dire straits.

What can you command with that!

7.5 cm Infantry Gun.

Ready guys.

Although my morale fell I slowly managed to reduce the defenders in the wood while Matt time and again just failed to finish off my depleted squads, I was holding on by the skin of my teeth, the tension mounted as whoever got in a decent volley could break the enemy morale. I think I managed a double turn and as the second German squad broke their morale hit zero. This was a frustrating game for both sides and a couple of times it looked like anyone could win, the last few phases were certainly nail biting as we both just held on. The next game is the last of the British attacks, after that we have four or five German attacks. Just for a change though this week I will set up an Italian Wars game, I need a rest.

Barrage.

British armour advances.

British just clinging on.

The Jerries are done.

I treated my self to another book, a companion to Bloody Streets: The Soviet Assault on Berlin, this one concentrates on armour, artillery and assault groups in the battle, it is full of information on the organisation and tactics used in the attack along the city streets, it is also full of excellent photographs. If you are interested in the battle for Berlin I cannot recommend these books highly enough. Oh, and I drew the maps for the second volume as well but don't let that stop you.

I got the new troops above to fight off insanity and boredom, now however the Atlas maps are picking up and I have some other projects to work on, so busy bee once again. 

Road Trip

Mrs A decided we needed a break, and as ever she was right, we decided to take a few days in Northumberland staying at a hotel which was an excellent base for exploring the coast. We decided not to use the A66 and continued up to the border and then along the Wall.

Our first stop was in Hexham, the town has a long history and suffered quite a few times from Scottish raids, Wallace burned the place and Bruce demanded £2,000 not to do so. There are several old medieval buildings in the town centre with an imposing Old Gaol and a gatehouse. We met a very friendly old lady who helped us with directions and gave us a parking pass, I don't generally like people but now and again I am proved wrong. The hotel was English country house style and nice enough, sadly the food was not great and after the first evening meal and terrible breakfast we ate elsewhere, I would have been very displeased if I had paid full price for the place. Luckily for us we were spoiled by the many fish restaurants in the immediate area a couple of which we booked.

Hexham.

The first day was a tour of Bamburgh and its castle, not a lot in the town apart from a famous butcher, accolades well deserved. The castle looked very imposing during the drive along the coast but when you get nearer it, to me, it looked a mess, nothing seemed to fit. I found out that during the Wars of the Roses  it had been destroyed and left in ruins, the first castle to be taken due to artillery fire. It ended up in the hands of William Armstrong the engineer who spent oodles of his cash rebuilding the castle, most of it being a Victorian idea of a medieval castle and other parts being put to use as a school and other buildings to help the locals. The best part for me was a small lecture on the Wars of the Roses by one of the guides, he was very animated and did a good job of explaining the politics behind the wars, being a smart arse I forgave him the two mistakes he made and kept quiet, although I did point them out to the Memsahib who didn't care, well done that man. We then took a three mile walk along the sandy beach which was a favourite for Viking raiders, to Craster for fish and chips, I was close to getting a taxi or heaven forbid a bus back, but I manned up and continued the march. 

Scotch pies, mmmmmm.

Food Heroes.

Bamburgh Castle.

Ditto.

And again.

Gateway, at least it is medeival.

The next day was for me, another trip to Flodden, my third I think. I had thought that the placing of the Scots army was wrong, that the line was too long, but this time I realised that they did not come down the two fields which face the monument, but were further along to the left, at least this made more sense to me than opposite the monument where the hill was very steep. As I moved along I noticed that the English ridge was still pretty high right along this route and the dip where the boggy ground lay would have been an exhausting barrier to fight up from. The fly in the ointment is that if my thoughts were correct the Scottish left was almost completely severed from the rest of the army and a long way away on lower ground which did not have a bog, why? Was this because of the two steep fields and the ridge opposite them, who knows. Would this explain why Hume and Huntley did not come to the aid of their comrades further along the hill with nearby English cavalry being a threat and they may not have been able to see the central melee? A sad day for Scotland.

Branxton Hill from the monument. 

 

Scottish left flank, past the tree.

Looking at the English left.

English line on the ridge, from James' position.

Information board.

The day was finished off with a visit to Coldstream and the Guards Museum. This is a very small building with not a lot in it for a Guards regiment, but remember I am very hard to please. In a second room was a Flodden exhibit which consisted of a 10mm diorama of the battle, then a wall and a half of Coldstream local history. I didn't find the caretaker overly friendly or ready to share any knowledge he had.

Flodden diorama.

Glass reflection was bad.

The next day was taken up by a trip to Alnwick, now this is a castle and a very grand one, it also contained a museum to the Northumberland Fusiliers, far better than the Guards museum. There were also state rooms in the keep so Mrs A. was happy as well. While we walked through the town I bumped into a plaque informing the public that the First Class Lounge of the S.S. Olympic, sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic was inside the hotel. This I had to see, and very grand it is too, although back in the day I would have been in steerage and not allowed on such hallowed ground. We finished our visit with a stop at Barter Books the kind of place you could easily spend the whole day browsing in, they also have a nice cafe. And yes I could not leave without picking up a couple of books.

Alnwick Castle.

More castle.

Beautiful.

So there we are, the weather stayed sunny up until the last day, we popped into my son's in Darlington on the way back to drop off a couple of those award winning pies from the Bamburgh butcher, one of Rick Stein's food heroes. 

War and Conquest Weekend II

Grab a drink and settle down.

 Rob arrived on the Friday night in very good time from Bristol considering it was the beginning of a Bank Holiday weekend, four hours, on Britains crumbling infrastructure that is excellent going. First thing Saturday morning we got set up for the first of hopefully four games, it was a return match between Rob's Spartans and my Seleucids. I am not letting any secrets away here and Rob knows how I feel about Hoplites in War and Conquest, they are far too powerful and easily defeat pikes, the very guys who put them out of business, there I have said it.

Rob took five Hoplite blocks backed up by supporting light and skirmish cavalry and infantry, I took three pike phalanx's and two Hoplite units (of course) with light troops and skirmishers along with some Macedonian cavalry. I had intended to stay on top of the hill but my success against the Spartan flanks got the better of me and I sensed a victory, a big mistake despite having elite pikemen and larger units. Somehow my succesful left flank was held up and my horse archers and Thorakitai failed morale and fled as did one of my Hoplite units, my right also lost it's way and that too crumbled as my useless cavalry ran. As this was happening the rest of my army were pounded into the ground getting absolutely nowhere damaging the enemy foot, despite oodles of dice being thrown I simply could not match the Hoplites saving rolls.

Seleucids on the left, Spartans on the right.

 

The hill.

 

I come off the hill, big mistake.

Here they come.

  

The crises.

Useless cavalry.

I had had one victory in close combat and these troops were the only ones left on the table. I should have stayed on the hill although I am not convinced it would have helped in the end. I had hardly won one initiative roll and this was to haunt me over the whole weekend. Rob was flushed with victory.

Round Two was Thrax's boys against Rob's Western Patrician Roman army, which contained only enough Romans to keep the name, the rest being German warbands and cavalry. I had seen this army once on a gaming weekend and was so impressed I built my own, more of that later. I had brought to the field four Legionary vexilations, Lanciarii and an Auxiliary cohort along with some cavalry and skirmishers.

Romans on the right, and Patricians on the left.

 

The Foederati advance.

Germans run.

 

Desperate fighting along the line.

Robs cavalry ride down their enemy.

Once again I probed the flanks while stretching out my heavy infantry to await the assaults from the Germans, on the left I did well apart from my cavalry once again not trying very hard, but they lasted long enough for me to clear the enemy infantry. In the centre both sides clashed, my boys held and then routed most of the warbands in hand to hand combat, I did lose one unit which was rode down by the enemy general and his bodyguard, but it was too little too late, The score was now even.

We had enough time to set up Game Three and then make a few moves, we retired around 2200 hrs having started about 9am, with breaks for lunch and dinner. This  time I used my Patricians against Rob's lovely Masai army (these he uses like a Celtic army). I had four Legions, two Auxilia Palatina (Guards) along with two large German Foederati warbands, supported by the Legates bodyguard cavalry, two units of Alan horse archers and some skirmishers. Rob had seven warbands of various sizes from small to huge.

 I decided to be aggressive on my right with the Palatina and slowly advance the rest while holding back my left, although I would throw my horse archers forward to annoy the enemy right. Things went very well and I killed off most of the tsunami of enemy skirmishers and got my right flank into a nice position. My Alans and the generals Steppe Nobles shot up two of the warbands on my left and left large gaps in the enemy units, I was feeling very chuffed with myself and my boys, then.......... 

Patricians ready.

 

The Masai muster.

Things looking good for me.

 

Then, two Legions run away, aaagh!

Lovely fanatic maidens.

The big chief.

I lost one of the German warbands and although the other smashed their opponents, twice, they managed both times to rally and still pose a threat while the victorious unit came back to sandwich the remaining Germans. I put the enemy right to flight and began to turn into the centre, the enemy Chieftan charged down into two waiting Legions, my boys held, but only just, in the next turn both of them fled having suffered nothing more than a couple of headaches. My centre had disappeared and I thought of reaching for the white flag, but my left was still in action and the horse archers were handing out devastating casualties, so much that Rob pulled back a unit from his centre and began to send it to the right. This meant I could now match him on my right with the two Palatina legions still in fighting trim. The crises now came as the Chieftan charged in with his large bodyguard against my foward legion, my boys held and put them to the sword, only one unit now remained facing my infantry while those on the my left were being whittled away by the horse archers and left open to a charge from my leaders bodyguard. Rob handed over his sword, a real nailbiter, I had gone from winning to losing and back to winning, albeit narrowly. I was two up.

The final game was with Rob's pet project The Trojan War, he brought two armies, Trojan and Egyptian, I of course immediately went for the Trojans, as Rob got both forces together I am sure his inner Hustler came out. I looked across the table and saw that I seemed to be outnumbered and had far less bowmen, Rob assured me this was not the case and the points values were the same, I am sure they were but from where I was sitting knowing absolutely nothing about both armies and the use of chariots I felt more than unsure of my skills, Rob offered and I changed sides, leaving my beloved Trojans behind.

I put chariots on both flanks along with some light troops and put the rest of my infantry in the centre with two large bow armed blocks on a hill. The Trojans put their heavy infantry on the left and extended the line to the right, chariots and light troops were again on the flanks. I decided to push the flanks while holding back the infantry. Rob also pushed his flanks but advanced his spearmen against my right and centre. After a decent fight I lost my left flank, it looked like the same was going to happen on the right as I now realised that my Egyptian chariots had one strike to the Trojan's two, in desperation I threw in a small unit of chariot outrunners these brave lads turned the tide and Hector's carts were routed and pursued, a surprise to both myself and Rob.

The Egyptians.

The Trojans.

The tide is turned.

Forward men, Trojan flank collapses.

Trojan centre collapses.

Meanwhile in the centre my bowmen unleashed hell on the advancing Trojan spearmen, the sky turned dark with arrows and one after another the spearmen units fled due to mounting casualties and bad morale throws. With the core of his army gone Rob called it a day, a very surprising win for me and a very different game to what I am used to.

What about the actual gaming, over four games I had won the initiative on maybe a handfull of turns, in a couple of instances gaining it could have been decisive, but it was not to be. Another thing which was a shame was that that time and again when routing the enemy my boys could not catch them and they got away, rallied and I had to rinse and repeat, the instance with the German warband really was a disaster. My cavalry in every battle were not up to the mark and usually ended up routing, my Bucellerii twice failed to ride down infantry to their front whom they had routed. My horse archers did very well as did the Chariot runners, the only infantry unit to win laurels was Celtae Seniores in the Patrician game, their routing of the Chieftan's guard turned the tide.

 So there we are, a great weekend of battles, real battles with more than a half dozen guys after some farmers cabbages and half a groat. I am grateful to Rob coming all the way from Bristol and being such a great opponent and guest. I have quite a bit coming up in the next month so I am not sure how much wargaming I will be able to fit in.