It's All Greek To Me.

 A trip to the Dungeon this week, I asked Matt to surprise me and he managed, Italians vs Greeks, early war. The new Greeks Matt has almost completed look really nice, and if I may say so without annoying any snowflakes typically Greek, I can see them having day jobs serving Gyros, a splendid bunch. I took the Italians.

The object was for the Italians to capture a road junction in some hilly terrain, to do this they had infantry and armour, can you call Italian tanks armour, I digress, I also had a biplane and artillery. Although outnumbering the Greeks they were ensconced in some heavy defences and were Elite, while my boys didn't want to be there and would suffer from a lack of enthusiasm during the game. My plan was to push for the junction and take out the anti-tank guns defending the gorge before bringing up my tanks, I would also probe both flanks just in case.

 

Somewhere in Greece, a lovely table.

My secret weapon.

Greeks dug in.

Things went reasonably well and within a short time I had killed off both anti-tank guns thanks to my artillery and a quick strike from the aircraft but had also lost the plane to some well aimed AA fire, a big disappointment for me. No matter I now felt brave enough to bring on my tanks, especially the little flamethrower, my armoured car was not up to scratch and Matt's anti-tank rifle ensured its crew became extremely cautious for the rest of the game.

So much for the air force.

Go for the centre guys.

A formidable defence.

The Greek infantry had no answer to the flamethrower which I kept out of range of possible assaults and the squads defending the road junction were cut down mercilessly, while this was happening I sensed victory and pushed more infantry towards the objective, well I tried but it was slow going due to their dodgy morale. Matt now did a Christopher Plummer (Waterloo) and told all his troops to make for the centre, both sides were now involved in some desperate fighting.

My real secret weapon.

My other tankette was not so lucky.

So close yet so far.

The gods now deserted me, my vanguard refused to move and support the tanks at the junction, Greek infantry assaulted and took out one tank while another squad late to the fray took out one of the unenthusiastic squads. Despite this the flamer routed the tank killers using its last gallon of fuel, it now held the junction, Matt in desperation threw his command forward to contest the victory, I now made a horrible mistake, instead of shooting them and wiping them out I foolishly assaulted them with my commander, he failed and was cut down, my only other squad anywhere near the junction was now so heavily pinned it was useless, the rest of the Italian infantry was too far away to intervene. It was a draw.

Another excellent set too in the Dungeon and Matt has done a really good job on those Greeks, nice chunky figures from Great Escape Games. I think for our next clash in a couple of weeks we will be back to France in 1940 continuing our Abbeville campaign.

Next up is American Civil War with Erik here in the Bunker, Chickamauga, Georgia 1863, a 'what if' scenario allowing Breckenridge's division to plough into Negley's Union division instead of being pulled off to the north by Braxton Bragg. I have played this before and it is an interesting scenario and a desperate fight for both sides. Eric chose the Union so I was Breckinridge which is fair enough as he was a handsome devil.

I decided not to attempt a full on charge and instead advanced to hopefully win the firefight due to the numbers involved, I did manage to rout the crews of one Federal battery and things looked good. As the turns progressed the return fire from the Federals in the woods was devastating while mine was extremely poor, my assault faltered. I brought on another brigade and attempted to extend my line to the right, a skirmish unit which should have been chased away was not and this delay allowed Erik to retreat into the nearby woods. I now brought on my artillery battalion and spent time finding space for it, I was hoping for great things from these guns, I had Bob Hope instead.

The Rebs arrive out of the dawn.

I had managed to extend my line and as frustration mounted and I suffered from the deadly volleys from the Yankees I threw almost everything I had into a wave of desperate charges. Some were halted but a couple broke through the Union centre, two regiments now had a chance to turn and roll up the blue line on both sides. A Federal sharpshooter put a halt to this as the brigade commander took a hit and had to be carried to the rear, no advance orders could be given so my boys had to disengage rather than strike. This still left a large hole in the Union centre but it looked like I would lose the race to take advantage of it. During one melee the Louisiana Tigers fought to the last man in an effort to beat the 4th Minnesota and just narrowly failed to rout their tormentors it was an epic fight against the odds.

My right attacks with high hopes.

They are halted and I bring up the guns.

Desperate volleys from both sides.

On the left I was still getting nowhere against the Union defenders in the woods and their return fire was still causing me problems, my third brigade had now arrived and although tempted to put fresh troops in harms way I pushed them towards the centre instead. At this moment Erik charged the 44th New York into the gap in his line and it failed to catch my disengaging troops but now found itself the target of every Reb gun and musket within range. Once again Erik pulled a rabbit from the hat and the 44th stood their ground. If Erik had played the game before I doubt he would have charged however he had once again halted a Confederate advance as everyone turned their anger on the 44th, my chance to get into that gap was slipping away.

The action hots up.

More Rebs turn up, but where to go?

I start looking to the fight flank.

We had to call a halt at this point with the Rebs struggling and the Union winning the race to reform their line. I have nothing on next week so will leave the game up and play a few more turns although this might not take long and the Federals have a chance to hit the Confederate right a devastating blow. The game was good but I could not match Erik's die rolling, he threw at least 10 - 12 double sixes along with many eleven's and ten's for shooting and morale, he was averaging for a time seven casualties on my boys. Granted three of his doubles meant the Second brigade lost it's commander and two replacements but sadly his men shrugged these losses off.

Confusion amongst both sides.

The 44th New York in trouble.

The curtain falls for now.

Looking over the battlefield this morning I might not manage a lot of turns and get a few hours enjoyment out of the chaos.

I have completed an anti-tank gun and a .30 cal medium machine gun for the Americans, they only need based now but that will take another day. I have chosen to build one of the tanks next, a 75mm Sherman from Rubicon, I was tempted to get a 3D print but do not have transfers for American armour, hence Rubicon. I must admit though, although you get a really good sheet from Rubicon they do not give you any idea of where they fit on the tank. The stars and registration are no problem but they give you quite a few other markings and personal art, but don't tell you where they fit. They are particularly bad with this on their Russian vehicles, would it hurt them to show details on the building sheet?

I have given up on 'Nasty Little War' as the author (female Reg) seems to have a beef against the West and the British Empire in particular, the Imperial characters resembling actors from a 'Ripping Yarn' episode, I also think she overplays the American intervention to the detriment of the rest. I am a third of the way through almost and have heard basically nothing of the White forces or their leaders. So I have picked up Goldsworthy's book on Athens and Sparta.

Morecambe is having an Armed Forces Weekend today and tomorrow so I am popping down with my Veterans card and badge in the hope I might get a couple of quid off a hot dog or burger. I have never really felt like a veteran as I did not fight anyone or was involved in anything out of the ordinary, I just did my duty and deterred the Red Menace and Yellow Peril from overwhelming the West, oh, and had a whale of a time doing it. I nearly got a medal but fell short by one day for Northern Ireland, it always makes me wonder about modern service personnel with enough medals to make a Russian general jealous, what are they all for? The Royal Navy for some reason was absent from all the tents in Morecambe, maybe they couldn't spare a trailer and half a dozen guys or were simply too embarrassed.

Surely you are not that old?

Royal Navy unveils its new fighter.

Give it some noise darling before the Old Bill come for the flags.

On the subject of armed forces, Gabrielle Anderson is a new corporal!

Father's day tomorrow and my boys have come through, Stewart got me the new book on Alexander the Great and Graham has booked a talk for Andrew Robert's on Napoleon's Marshals along with his book on the subject. Very happy.

Tempus Fugit as the Romans say

 Seems to have been a bit since I last posted or maybe that is just my mind playing tricks, which it seems to do these days with increasing regularity. I feel the need to rant against the world but I won't burden you with it here.

A week or so ago I popped down to Erik's for an ECW bash, as usual the table was lovely and the armies looked the part, Erik had also sent me a map and an introduction to the battle which sadly I missed amongst the usual dross I am sent. The action was Highnam House where the Royalists were ensconced in earthworks south of Gloucester and were being attacked by two Parliamentarian forces, one from the city and the other under William Waller who had marched to the rear of the Royalists.

I don't actually have a dog in this fight as I have no love for either side, albeit the modern versions, I digress. All in all things do not look good for the Royalists as they are hugely outnumbered, if I stayed behind my earthworks then I was just asking to be overwhelmed so I decided to quickly engage and hopefully rout the men from Gloucester and then position myself on their ridge and hope for the best. This action went fairly well and for the loss of one cavalry squadron I sent the good citizens back to where they had come from.

Royalist works.

My boys move out.

Gloucester garrison.

I now deployed my troops along the ridge with the cavalry on my right and infantry on the left, a little late I also ordered my artillery in the works to join me as a dust cloud intimated that the rest of the enemy had turned up. Erik had plenty of time to deploy as I was happy to hold the high ground. He eventually began to move his forces forward and as they closed I decided to surprise him by advancing, I expected my large infantry regiments to beat anything in their path and simply crossed my fingers that my remaining cavalry might beat their opponents albeit they were outnumbered.

Gloucester men put to flight.

Ooops, Waller turns up.

More of Waller's men.

Steady lads, steady.

Imagine my surprise when three dragoons and their pet goat routed my best regiment, my second fell prey to the Parliamentarian right wing cavalry while my horse didn't like the odds and ran. I was undone. 

My guns run from Waller.

A tsunami of Parliament cavalry.

A nice little game of two halves, I suppose I can look on it as a draw with one win each, but I cannot spin the fact my army fell apart very quickly with barely a fight, my troops were Welsh and although tempted to make some comments I don't want the Old Bill at the door. An enjoyable evening's entertainment.

Next up was an introduction to wargaming for my grandson, I had given him free reign and he chose WWII, I had talked to my son about it and I set up a Chain of Command game for both of them, this did not go well for the Jerries and James looked perplexed by it all, as indeed anyone new to CoC would. After lunch I offered to change things to Bolt Action on the same table, this was more enjoyable for the lad and by the end of the game he had captured two of the three objectives and contested the third. So in the end he went away happy.

Big cat.

Humber burning.

Flakpanzer.

The end.

Hartenstein Hotel, thanks Matt.

Dynamic duo.

I was at the club last night, first time in a long while, maybe the second this year, health of course has played its part but also a lot of what is played really doesn't grab me and I have been doing a lot of gaming here in the Bunker or at Matt's or Erik's. Anyway, Ashley was looking for a frigate captain and I offered my sword as I had not played the game and felt the need to get out and about. The rules were written for frigate vs frigate warfare courtesy of Ashley, I was Royal Navy (of course) and Mike took the Frenchie with Ashley umpiring.

Both ships were basically equal and as the engagement started Mike came straight for me, while I planned a slower approach, very soon I wondered if I had come up against a French Nelson or Cochrane, I was like a mouse being played by a cat. The Monsieur's also re-loaded faster than my Tars and I was taking a lot of damage, did Ashley know how superior our boys actually were?

Damn, not close enough for a rake!

And then the penny dropped, I had got the wrong end of the stick as to how the turns worked and was basically only taking one action to Mike's two! Once the confusion was sorted we set up again and my boys were ready this time. As we closed though I began to take a lot of hits to my masts, had a fire and a hole under the waterline along with quite a few guns knocked out along my port battery. It was not all one way this time though and most of my hits were on the French guns. As the battle progressed I managed to turn my relatively untouched starboard battery against Mike, who had lost the wind and was a sitting duck at close range. 

As the French got underway both ships collided and Mike attempted to board, although I had lost a  couple of Marines I had more crew left than Mike thanks to dismounting most of his guns and in the first round of melee he also lost his Captain and Lieutenant, this along with being outnumbered sealed his fate and the lads looked forward to their share of the prize money back in Blighty.

Payback.

An enjoyable evening and something different from two large fleets knocking hell out of each other, although we tried very hard to do that. The rules worked well but I am glad Ashley was umpiring.

My Americans now have a full squad ready and several support teams on the tray, I have now got everything I need to finish a platoon with a good selection of support, box, bases, tanks etc. I do not intend to finish these as swiftly as I have done in the past.

I have been spoiling myself again and picked up another couple of books while in Kendal yesterday along with some treats, I am not supposed to eat these of course but you only live once. I now have around 6 books waiting in the wings to start so I must put aside some time to read them, I normally try to do this once a day but lately I get no further than a page before I am out for the count. Perhaps it is not all my fault as a book which grabs me doesn't send me to sleep but you never know until you start.

I don't have a lot on at the moment wargaming wise, I have Erik here on the 19th for American Civil War but am clear until then, doors open.

Disastro!

 After last weeks Chain of Command game I thought Matt and I could try something different for a change and offered Italian Wars, it would be something different for Matt and I could once again get my troops out for some exercise.

I kept it small and settled on the Battle of La Motta from Rodolfo Verginella's book, where the Spanish defeated the Venetians, I tweaked it a little to give the Venetians more of a chance allowing them some better infantry while I downrated the Spanish a tad, unfair but in the spirit of the game. When Matt turned up I gave him a choice and he settled on the Venetians as he was sat next to them. I explained the rules and we dove right in. Matt slowly advanced his right and held his left on a hill. I sent my men straight at the enemy as I thought that if I didn't my right might be outflanked by the enemy cavalry.

Spanish on the left, Venetians on the right.

Baggage train and looters.

Spanish left.

The cavalry met first and I routed the Stradiots in the centre, my heavy cavalry also looked like doing well, on the right I managed to almost break one of the Venetian light cavalry units but then found my men outflanked as I had thought as more cavalry thundered into their flank. As these fights continued my pikemen had at last managed to come to grips with the enemy foot, the Landsknechts as I thought defeated their opponents but the enemy had put up a fight and did not go easily. On my left it was very different for the Spanish, although outclassed they put up a stout defence and it looked at one point that they could come out on top. It was about this time that Matt suffered a 'Hazard' and quite a few of his men deserted, it did look bad for his infantry although his cavalry were obviously winning.

Venetian left (yes I know there are Spanish flags there).

Landsknechts advance quickly.

Spanish left also advance.

As usual I took too much for granted, Matt's Italians recovered and put my Spanish to flight, as we looked over the battlefield it was obvious the Venetians had had the better part of the fight, although the Landsknecht blocks were still on the battlefield they had been badly decimated (they also suffered from desertion). I had one cavalry unit left but it was facing a Venetian gun which had already caused severe casualties on it and it would not survive another volley. I handed my sword over.

Landsknechts clear the hill.

Venetian right and desperate fighting.

We had a discussion of the rules over a beer (zero) at the end. Matt brought up some points and I confess I am not completely happy with the way the game plays but I do like the main part which has a melee then a melee combat morale phase, I do like this. I do think however that I will look at it later, I won't go into detail as most of you, or maybe all, will not use Furioso. I do have Pike and Shotte and the Italian Wars supplement which a lot of people use and may be tempted to try this at some stage despite not being keen on Warlord rules sets.

Despite having packs of new sojers on my desk I have not been able to get to them as I am busy with maps at the moment, I might though manage to get a squad cleaned up and primed over the weekend in order to look at putting paint to brush next week.

I have an ECW game at Erik's next Wednesday evening but otherwise nothing on the cards for now, I might try and look at P&S again with a solo game to try them out. Who knows.

I spent a few days last weekend down South in Chorleywood at my son's, it really is a nice part of the country, very English and genteel and of course very expensive, in case anyone gets ideas above their station they can visit Watford almost next door. My granddaughter came back with us for a week and as usual is a delight to have around the house.

There we have it.