Dice, dice my kingdom for some decent dice

" For the love of god please stop making Medieval skirmish games." I saw this on a friends FB page last week and I quickly hit the Like button.

 This week at the club it was, drum roll, a medieval skirmish game! Ecorcheurs, skirmish gaming in the Hundred Years War. Stuart very kindly took me under his wing knowing my reluctance to play anything which is not at least a decade or two old and very firmly 'old school'. There were two forces for want of a better name, English and French, I took the French which consisted of six crossbowmen, a couple of leaders and eight soldiers, four of which were carrying pavises. The English had less soldiers but their shooting contingent had fourteen longbowmen.

Not having a clue I split my retinue up into three groups, big mistake, this meant when they fired they threw two dice as I had parceled out my meagre shooters, against veteran Stuart who had learned to keep them all together throwing eight dice, why not fourteen, don't know, the number 8 figures large in the game. Very soon as I tried and failed to get my boys into the village to scrounge up the odd penny farthing or cabbage I found myself shot to bits and having to call a halt.

It was still early so we started again, this time I kept my crossbows together and actually had a plan, I would shoot the enemy to death this time while my soldiers flanked the opposition, to hell with the money and vegetables. This kind of worked as I did begin to give the longbowmen some of their own medicine while Stuart's men-at-arms were trying to turn my flank, I had forgotten all about mine in the excitement. The English crashed into my crossbows and quickly seemed to commit suicide as the Frenchmen won the day against all odds, historically at least. Left with only his longbowmen in disarray Stuart called it a day.

Before I continue I would just like to say that Stuart's 3D printed figures were lovely, I was impressed. The game works with coins as opposed to mighty deeds, reputation points, cards or ravens etc. You spend the coins to do stuff and when you do you hand it over to your opponent which he will then use to bolster his own stash in his turn. You can also use them to interupt play and take the initiative. A soldier can be killed if he takes two Strikes, but as they are distributed at random the chance of that is rare, however if the same man takes two Stun's which is more likely, then he is dead, more men died of this than anything else in both games.There is all sorts of other stuff simply to be different. I did wonder about the pavises, they required one soldier to carry and then the crossbowman would hide behind it, why didn't he carry his own, I have never read or heard, outwith a siege, of a pavise being used in the field at this time, certainly not a large one. No doubt I stand to be corrected. Is it a game, yes like all the rest of its kin in a nice picture book, is it a wargame, no.

 It's Chain of Command time again, a chance to set out my new buildings and scatter terrain, the outskirts of the town of Waartenbeek (Matt Smith's take on Warton) late in '44 as the 352nd Volksgrenadier Division surprises the British with an attack. Erik has taken the British while I decided to be the bad guys.

I could have went all heavy and brought Panzergrendadiers or Fallschirmjager and a Brummbar but where is the fun in that, I instead commanded the Volksgrenadiers and a Pz II Luchs, along with an extra Heer squad, and a panzerschreck. Erik went for some barbed wire, MMG and an extra PIAT team, I think this is only Erik's second game. My intention was to get the grenadiers into effective range to take advantage of their assault rifles while the tank took care of any dug in troops from long range.

Waartenbeek.

Things started well and I set up a firebase in a barn while I managed to push the Heer squad across some open ground on to the British right flank while some grenadiers moved forward in the centre, Erik took up position in two houses commanding the approach to the village, the red house and the blue house. Things quickly fell apart after that, I had to withdraw my grenadiers due to mounting casualties and my LMG teams in the barn took buckets of shock and ended up pinned, my tank was less than impressive. Once again I found myself throwing some 44 dice to get nothing while Erik maintained a decent kill and shock rate, especially with his MMG. To make matters worse out of the five command dice I usually had two duff ones so I was trying to command everything with three dice, got the violin out yet?

Pz II Luchs.

German firebase in barn.

I managed to end the turn and got my LMG squad back, for a time anyway as they were hit again and only managed to escape being wiped out due to Erik turning his fire on my grenadiers who had now all moved to the front of the wood in support of the flanking squad. In desperation I had deployed my rifle-grenadiers into the barn to back up the surviving members of the LMG squad and now turned everything I had on the Red house including the Luchs. As I had ended the turn one objective was removed, so now I just had to take the Red house to win.

A good start.

Back lads.

The less than deadly barn, but it did the job.

Things now began to go badly for the British, Erik had to withdraw one squad from the Blue house and replace it with his last squad, quite a few of his NCO's took hits and his morale began to drop, I got a couple of double turns and the defenders of the Red house were wiped out, a dramatic change in the game.

Flankers.

Forward lads.

The defenders hunkered down.

Yes my luck hit me again, I got a one for Force Morale and Erik got a six, my firebase turned out to be pretty useless and I had trouble getting decent command dice. I really thought I was on a hiding to nothing again, then I changed my dice after another couple of dismal turns, superstitous moi? Whatever was going on my luck changed, although yes, it wasn't all luck, I changed tactics at last and this along with concentrating on the Red house brought victory. I should have done this before, but I am not the best WWII player on the scene and I think I tend to get drawn into firefights when I should be patient and think a turn ahead.

So another game under my belt, Bolt Action against 'Lucky' Jimmy on Tuesday night. My next game against Matt is a week away and I have decided to dump the horrible Abbeville game and have a look at the other Abbeville campaign I found, one with at least a couple of trees the British can hide behind rather then four blades of grass.

Now which box is that Brummbar in? 

Whites and Reds

 My last game before Easter would be at Matt's Dungeon in Penrith, I couldn't face the next CoC campaign game as it looks like the British will be on another hiding to nothing. I have since found a second Abbeville campaign quite a bit different which doesn't look like a featureless French countryside, should we bite the bullet and change, I will dwell on it.

Anyway I asked Matt for something fun and interesting, he came up with a Russian Civil War bash and it looked beautiful, the terrain, the unique scatter pieces and the gorgeous figures, a treat to fight over. I took the Whites simply because that side of the table always seems to be mine while Matt takes the other, the same thing usually applies at mine. I had some pressganged peasants, officer cadets, regular forces, an armoured car, a howitzer and some Cossacks, oh, and a MMG. The bad guys, they were both bad in their own way, had two armoured cars, a gun, a MMG and again a mixture of troops with several elite units. We both had a vehicle containing a VIP which the opposite side had to capture while defending their own personality, I had a a very impressive officer (Georgy) while Matt had Babushka, this was a little unkind as the lady did not look like a grandmother. I almost forgot we both had an airplane to add to the mix, I didn't mention my Tachanka either did I?

The battlefield before the action starts.

My army, gorgeous.

Georgy.

Red air force.

Georgy was placed on my left while Babs was on Matt's left, I put most of my troops on the right to rush the objective and hoped that my cavalry would win the day, the howitzer I placed in the centre of the battlfield as it became apparent that the Reds would send some armour against my left, this was the only thing which could kill an armoured car, it was the same for Matt but he had two vehicles to my one. My first wave advanced quickly with the Peasants and Cadets along with the machine gun cart heading for a good defensive position to support Georgy, more troops ran forward on my right towards Babs, this was where I would make my main effort.

The Peasants and Cadets move up while the Tachanka fires.

The main attack on the right.

Babs and her supporters.

Matt almost mirrored my deployment and at first concentrated on getting Georgy, he managed to kill the Tachanka but my Peasants were a cut above and held their positions while dealing out death to the Commies, the Cadets took a nearby house and settled in. My defenders stalled Matt's advance supported by the White air force, but I was forced to send my armoured car down the centre to help as the howitzer couldn't hit the proverbial barn door. Things were much better on my right as the Whites surged forward over the bridge towards Babushka, a good run of the dice allowed me to get all my men to the front and weaken the defenders while the cavalry clattered forward into melee. I was helped here by some Commies deserting their duties to ransack a nearby house for vodka. My success here made the Reds pull their second double-turreted armoured car away from the battle in the centre and race to help their left and Babs. I continued to have some luck with the plane and it took out the Red artillery and then turned about to annoy Matt's right flank attack while my own armoured car made it into the enemy rear and caused mayhem to the Red attack.

A wonderful piece of armour.

Another one, mine this time.

Cossacks attack.

The Reds are overwhelmed.

A desperate struggle now began on both flanks with both sides close to gaining their objectives, my Peasants gave way at last but had held the enemy up and ensured their defeat, the Cadets charged out at the last minute and ensured Georgy would not be heading for the Gulag or worse. On the other side the shattered remains of my assault troops managed to hold on and beat off some death or glory charges from Matt's remaining troops. The Whites had won and were heading off to save the Tsar and his family.

Babs screams for help.

Georgy's stalwart defenders.

A great battle and an exciting one, my Peasants and cavalry being the men of the match for me, I did lose my airplane due to some ground fog and the pilot flying too low, but it had done splendidly. I was also quite lucky in that I managed to kill off quite a few of the Red NCO's and their LMG's while dealing out a good deal of pins which often had an affect on Red morale. We  had decided early on that armour could help but not capture an objective. A splendid day out.

Not a lot happening due to Easter but I hope to get a Chain of Command game in next Friday with Erik while I ponder on whether to give up and start the second Abbeville campaign when Matt is ready. 

Not an April Fool

I didn't get to the club again last week as mate Robert was in the area and instead I met up for a couple of beers and to put the wargaming world to rights, we managed this in only a  couple of hours. I only had one game organised and that was a Seven Years War bash with Ian here in the Bunker. I have quite a nice collection of SYW figures in 28mm, but know almost nothing about the period, so why do I have eight brigades covering the British and French, it seemed like a good idea at the time, so the defence rests.

Anyway I asked ChatGPT for some ideas and tweaked 'The Supply Train' scenario it came up with both sides need supplies and there is a cache between the lead elements of both armies, represented by a wagon train, best not to think too much about it. Ian arrived and chose the French and got one Ditherer, one Dependable and two Rash commanders, I got two Ditherers a Rash and a Dependable. Ian took an aggressive stance and threw his infantry forward very quickly to grab the supply train and occupy two 'villages' while waiting for his cavalry and artillery to turn up. My right and centre were true to form and failed to move and meet the French advance, my cavalry turned up very early and I put them on my left to hopefully get into the French rear and cause mayhem, my artillery were right behind them and I placed it to fire on the village between my right and centre.

Table set for battle.

British forces.

French forces.

I was happy enough to hold on my right once in musket range and did the same in the centre, I was having no luck at all moving the Royal Scots from the nearest village so instead concentrated on the Germans and Irish who had captured, for now, the supplies. The French cavalry and artillery had now turned up and we were set for a clash of horse, the terrain was more open on my left than the French right so if they won I could be in trouble. The British cavalry proved to be more than a match for their opponents and won a spectacular victory and sent the enemy packing. 

The French approach the prize.

British horse turn up.

French Guard.

French cavalry advance.

On the infantry front I managed to put in some effective fire on the French and as some of their battalions withdrew I managed to keep up a concentrated fire on the ones still in line, I had some of my own units pull back as well but I managed to keep the pressure on. Slowly but surely more French units fled and the remainder were now under a hail of fire. I pulled my left back slightly as I was having no effect on the Guard in the village and instead shot at their supports. Another turn brought the French to within one point of their army breaking, we called it a day and shook hands.

Cavalry melee.

French mercenaries under pressure.

British left open up.

French centre falters.

Die rolling on both sides was pretty steady and casualties mounted quickly, I think I just had the edge hence the enemy routs and my own troops managed to withdraw and return to the fray. I did extremely well with the cavalry melees, the artillery on both sides was fairly useless as they tried to get open fields of fire and generally failed. So in the end a good days wargaming and a nice turn out for the SYW collection. 

I see no French cavalry.

French hold on the supplies withers.

Victory, we will eat tonight.

With some spare time I turned to painting up the houses and terrain that Matt Smith had sent me, I used spray paint for most of it and then a bit of weathering to finish off, I was very happy with the result although I may return to the weathering. I would think this lot has now completed my terrain requirements and my tables will get the benefit, maybe some small hedges and that's it.

 We had a new lad join the club FB page and asked if there were any Bolt Action players, so I offered a game last night as I was free, Steve had not played in a while and we settled on a Germans vs British game of 750 points, I would bring the British. I settled on three small squads, a MMG, a Cromwell and a Humber armoured car. I met Steve outside the club waiting for the club to open and after looking in my box he declared he had not brought a tank or anti-tank weapons, knife to a gunfight popped into my mind. He was relying on close assaulting any British vehicles which turned up but I doubt he expected an actual tank, he had four squads of infantry, two in halftracks and a mortar. We found a Pz IV and a Puma in the games cupboard but he decided not to take them, I did ask three times if he was sure.

Germans left, British on the right.

Cromwell.

I set up a simple game with three objective markers and off we went, Steve kept his halftracks in reserve while I kept the tank and MMG back. The infantry soon came into range and bullets flew, I took heavy casualties in the centre with a squad cut down to two men and I lost the MMG. I did push on the flanks and the armoured car was on my left and helped secure that objective, I brought the Cromwell on in the centre and Steve's plan to rush the tank collapsed as I took out the first halftrack and shot up the passengers who then made a brave attempt to get into contact with the armour but were wiped out to a man. The second halftrack turned up and although it managed to survive it's passengers suffered as they tried to grab the centre objective.

Humber.

Ooops.

In the end Steve had put up a good fight despite having no armour, he also had some bad luck with the dice just when he didn't need it, he almost took the crown from 'Lucky' Jimi. My bad luck of course is waiting for my next Chain of Command game.

I have some time on my hands now that I am not painting anything and have finished most of the little bits and pieces which were gnawing at me. The Atlas author is also very quiet. So I have decided to look at writing my own mini campaign of five or six games, it will be based on 6th Panzer Division's actions during Operation Winter Storm and their Panzer Recce Battalion will be the main force used, I have lots of German Recce options and it's about time they were on the table. I have tracked down information for December 1942 for the Jerries and next week will look at the Soviets. I have also identified the actions which will make up the campaign, I now need to put some meat on the bones.

I should be off to Penrith and the Dungeon tomorrw, next week I am joining Stuart in the medieval skirmish game Ecorcheurs set during the Hundred Years War, not sure if I can fit anything else in at the moment.

I have just finished the excellent Rasputin by Antony Beevor, if you ever needed confirmation that those in charge are idiots, this confirms it, sadly it led to utter chaos for Russia and subsequently for the rest of us.

I have now started a bit of light reading, Virgil's Aenied, at least some Trojans got away. Ignore the bloody horse! 

BEF (getting better, just)

 Apart from a game with Matt I had nothing planned this week so when Stuart offered a game at the club based on the Little Wars episode on the relief of Stalingrad I thought I would try it out. The game is 6mm and based on a scaled down version of the Fistful of TOW's rules, a Fistful of T-34's, the Germans fight several engagments on the road to 6th Army and based on how well they do they get die rolls to see how close they get to the city. An interesting game.

Marder'/s and PAK's.

My Soviets in the woods.

German armour.

For the first engagment Ashley and I were the Soviets and Stuart and Simon the Hitlerites, Stuart had 3D printed almost everything required and his little Panzers and T-34's looked very nice along with anti-tank guns, machineguns and troops etc. The Germans were to envelop the Soviet defenders and wipe them out. I held a large wood to the south of a village and was probably looking good to be cut off, the German two pronged attack was just beginning to strike when the Russian armour turned up. A furious couple of turns turned the tide of the battle despite heavy lossed on both sides and a Russian victory was declared.

Considering how dense the Fistful of Tow's rule book is there must be an awful lot not in the T-34 set of four A4 pages, it relies heavily on the dice and you can lose whole units in an exchange. Having said that our game was an introduction and you could quite happily, once familiar, play the whole campaign at a club. I really do like the idea and it could provide the basis for a decent Chain of Command mini campaign.

Talking about Chain of Command Matt turned up for the second game in our Capturing Caesar's Camp campaign, after the dreadful drubbing I got in the first game I was wary but confident I could get something from this one, I needed to as if I lost I could not rely on anymore armour being available for the attacks. The terrain again was terrible, one side of the battlefield being completely open, the other open but with hedges which ruined line of sight, the game was a flank attack on a small village but it was apparent that even so I was going to be deploying on the table edge.

What idiot would attack over this ground?

I took one tank which was basically a Bad Things Happen morale blow as the Germans were allowed a 'Bunker Buster' 88mm firing from off table with an incredible amount of AP dice (12), my little tank having an armour of five! I was hoping that this would survive the first shot of the monster gun and then my mortars would cover it in smoke to make it useless, watch this space. I also took two MMG's which I hoped would rain down a hail of lead on any Germans foolish enough to deploy on the edges of the town. Matt took an extra infantry squad which surprised me as he likes having heavy weapons of one kind or another.

I got most of my 'army' on the table quickly and they targetted an enemy squad upstairs in the nearest building, 42 shots, nothing, I had a feeling of deja vu, this more or less continued until Matt pulled his men back needing nothing more than a couple of asprin. My tank turned up and yes, boom, gone, but the 88 was now visible, sadly these guys died in vain, my mortars used up nearly all their smoke and none of it landed where it was supposed to, the monster now targetted my infantry eventually helping rout my first squad.

The British arrive.

Supporting machine guns.

I still managed to fight back and after some time although I was reduced to a morale of four, on the German side all their officers except one was either wounded or stunned, despite this Matt managed to continually role a four to keep his Senior Leader capable of directing the defence. Normally this amount of leadership casualties would result in zero morale but Matt held on reduced to two.

Jerries hold the town.

My forlorn hope.

Bunker Buster.

By now I was reduced to one squad and one MMG along with two mortars, however with the Germans pulling back the terrain prevented me from targetting anything unless I advanced, and this would have been suicide so we shook hands and called it a day. I had come so close but I failed, so I will be unable to get any tanks for future games but to be honest I can't see that being a big loss. The next attack is even worse terrain for the British than the two we have fought, I suspect my Jump Off Points will again be on the edge of the table and wonder if I will be able to make it to a sunken road half way across the table to get some cover. Worse for the British is that they now have to husband this platoon and cannot ignore heavy casualties as in the previous games.

 I have now completed all my extra figures for Legio XII and the Seleucid phalanxes, so there are no troops on the painting tray and no intention of getting any for now. I have also started on the new buildings and scatter which Matt Smith sent me, this well keep me busy for a bit, so not only can I put down city ruins I will easily be able to put a full town on a 6x4. Matt has also posted out a box of 'scatter' items which he has printed off, determined not to let me rest.

Toilets, complete with loo rolls and bins.

Cohort I, Legio XII.

'White' phalanx.

'Blue' Phalanx.

Seleucids on parade.

I received more stuff in the mail this week, my Veteran's card and a novel from the US for which I produced some maps, very kindly sent by the author despite the eye watering postage.

Not a lot on for next week, so I contacted Ian and offered a game, he is coming for some Seven Years War action next Friday, I will have to work on a scenario. I have said before I don't understand how I managed to build two armies for this period as I know virtually nothing about it, so my rules are simple and it looks good.

The Atlas author is having a break on another project so nothing on the map front either just now for a week or so, I do wonder though with all that is going on how many maps will be added before the book is published, some have already had to be amended. 

My surgeon was quite positive today, my scan shows only one 'anomaly' which he suspects is fluid surrounding the area cut out last December, fingers crossed the next scan is set for four months

And in other news, Dublin Zoo chose to entice mothers to visit free by showing, well, you can see what they think of mothers. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.