More gaming.

 My son arrived early on Saturday and had asked for a Chain of Command game, so I set up an Attack and Defend scenario with a little help from ChatGPT, the game was set during the Winter Offensive of 1941 outside Moscow with the Soviets attacking a small village on the front line. Stewart chose the Germans and brought a Panzer III as support along with a sniper. I didn't want to go all heavy in an introductory game so the T-34 was left in the garage, I doubt there were many available if any during December '41, so took a BT-7, an infantry gun and a sniper, that would be more than enough to cause the Hitlerites a problem thought I.

During the first turn visibility was reduced due to morning fog, so I managed to get almost all my forces on the table ready to move on the whistle, I miscalculated one squad and the German sniper opened up, I quickly spotted him but Stewart moved him before I could open up. Now that I was ready I ended the turn, the fog lifted and the shooting started. I sent my tank forward to get into close range of the German defenders in the village while keeping it out of sight of the Pz III, hoping to then get a second phase in order to also move my infantry up to the frozen stream and into a bit of cover at the edge. It was Stewart who got the double turns and my troops began to suffer, I brought my infantry gun on but the Panzer soon wiped out the crew, that particular version has two machine guns in the turret and one in the hull.

Pz III.

German defences.

BT-7.

Slowly but surely my squads began to lose cohesion and soon two of them were pinned, this would put an end to my thoughts of attacking, I just could not shift the Jerries from the village and there was still one squad in reserve. All this time the tanks had began to duel, with their small calibre weapons neither could manage a kill although the BT-7 was made to reverse twice putting it back over the stream. At this point I conceded as I could go no further, plan A had not materialised.

Infantry gun.

About to withdraw.

Deadly combination of machine guns.

A decent introduction for Stewart and he seems keen to try again, I might put more effort into my game the next time. Sadly for me I continually rolled a five and a six during each phase, this basically meant I was playing with three command dice rather then five, a real bind. My snipers, Ludmilla and Natalya were typically late as women usually are and did nothing. 

 I have finished my BEF now, although I do need one more figure to be completely comfortable and possibly a Matilda II, although there were only 23 in France during the Blitzkrieg. The BEF figures are all from 1st Corps and are very nice.

Talking about being comfortable I have taken a mad turn and ordered up 11 figures from Aventine, eight will be used to enlarge two of my phalanxes to 32 men from 28, the other three will be added to Legio XII to enlarge the First Cohort from 24 to 27 men, not a great deal but they will stick out more on the battlefield. All this of course means new movement trays and transfers (most of which will not be used) along with the figures, am I mad, yes.

Wednesday and a trip to Penrith through all the roadworks at 50mph, we will soon need a guy with a red flag in front. Anyway Matt set up the Battle of Nantwich and I took the Parliamentarians, I slightly outnumbered the Royalists as I had the garrison of Nantwich and some cavalry out on my right flank where the Cavaliers had none. I decided to push with my right and bring the garrison out to help my left, I did have an idea to throw my left flank cavalry forward but as Royalist cavalry were going to turn up on my left at some point I brought them back.

Beautiful table set up.

Parliamentary forces, luckily not led by the PM.

My army advances through the fields.

Matt advanced slightly from his original position and this gave me the opportunity to threaten his flank and rear with my right flank cavalry, too late he saw the danger, by this time I had advanced all my infantry through the fields in front of his position. There were some Dragoon's covering Nantwich but I was sure my regiment of pike and shot inside the town would sweep this annoyance away and march on the enemy line. How wrong I was as the Nantwich numbskulls failed miserably and were eventually routed by one man and his dog, or so it seemed looking across the table. More bad luck was to follow, the Royalist cavalry turned up and my boys went straight at them before they could deploy properly, Matt assured me that "cavalry melees take all day" but within two moves the defenders of my left flank had routed and dispersed and the enemy made for my baggage train, I really needed to finish off the enemy infantry before this cavalry could enter the main battle.

My cavalry preparing to hit the enemy left.

My less than energetic cavalry.

The enemy left folds.

As does the centre.

Despite the setbacks my infantry and right flank horse began to tip the scales as the troopers hit the rear of the enemy and rode down the Royalist cannon, in the centre I also managed to weaken the defenders there and they too fled, the enemy on my far left put up a tough fight but were also ground down. Just in time the Royalists fell apart.

The rules were Kings of War with tweaks and worked fine, they are not difficult to pick up, Matt had sorted some event cards to work with the English Civil War and I think I had the edge with mine as they helped me deal death and destruction. The table as usual was a joy to play on and the armies were impressive for the small scale. The Dungeon really is a wargamers Aladdin's Cave, just as your eyes alight on one interesting piece you see another, a completely different period and scale, the Tirpitz is there, Greeks for WWII, Napoleonic cavalry, aircraft, buildings for the AWI, books, sci-fi stuff and much, much more. We are looking to start another Chain of Command campaign soon, interspersed with more trips to the Dungeon I hope.

More ECW coming up tomorrow as I head to Erik's, nothing penciled in for next week yet. 

Still working away on the Atlas, with what is going on I expect more maps to be added.

Air defences.

 

Hundred Years War.

Pereant proditores.

 I have been fairly quiet or it seems that way, I did have a complete week there with no wargaming which is unusual for me but I had a post operation appointment and my wife's birthday to sort along with a visit from my son and granddaughter. The appointment was pretty much a waste of time as they should have organised a scan before it but didn't, so one was organised immediately and it will be two weeks before the results are known, pardon me while I chuckle, it has never taken two weeks yet.

 A naval game was looking for a fourth player and I jumped in with two feet, it would be a pre-dreadnaught game involving a French force against an Egyptian one with the Suez canal as a back story. I was welcomed back and told how well I looked, I get told this quite often as people expect me to look very ill indeed, but I don't. Anyway I took command of the French 1st Squadron while Paul took the 2nd, a bit less impressive as mine, the Egyptians (with mostly British designed ships) were under the command of Dan and Ian. I simple went forward intending to trade shots with Ian, but as Paul opened up the gap between us I was hit by both Egyptian squadrons, Ian's gunnery was on target while mine was dismal. My flagship was soon left a floating, burning hulk while a second ship took a rudder hit and simply ran around in circles, this left me with one battleship which now took the brunt of the enemy fire and soon headed for Davy Jones' locker. Paul had now taken the second enemy squadron under fire but his gunnery was as bad as mine and despite Dan's assurance that 'the Egyptians are rubbish' they are fine if you cannot hit them. With me out of the picture both enemy squadrons now turned on Paul, despite Dan's ships being savaged they had dealt out punishment and with Ian's almost untouched ships now closing the range it was declared an Egyptian win. Despite my naval background my reputation was in tatters but not my reputation for poor die rolling.

My doomed squadron.

I was supposed to be heading for Penrith this Wednesday but Matt called off due to having a cold, so I asked if anyone at the club was free, Big Ed got back and offered a War and Conquest game, I jumped at the chance and we decided on another Roman v Roman clash, Ed with the Twelfth and me with Thrax's boys. The armies are almost identical so we both went for legionaries and auxiliaries supported with some skirmishers and cavalry, Ed had one less cavalry unit but a unit of massed archers, I had Contarii to give my cavalry a bit of steel.

Thrax on the right, rebels on the left.

We lined up our infantry and I put all my cavalry on my left, Ed had his cavalry opposite, I was quite happy with this as I knew the Contarii should(?) be able to beat the weaker enemy horse. The Thunderbolts advanced their centre and took station on a hill in the centre of the battlefield, I pushed against both flanks with the main effort being my cavalry on the enemy right. I managed at last to get the Initiative but unusually for me I handed it back to Ed forcing him to move before me, this was going to hopefully allow me to get into charge reach with several units as he came forward, Ed helped me out and moved his cavalry closer to the waiting Contarii, I smiled inside. 

Contarii.

 

The rest of my cavalry.

Contarii threaten the rebel flank.

The last men standing for the Twelfth.

It's all over for the rebels.

In quick succession the Rebel cavalry were routed as were the skirmishers on the opposite flank, the Twelfth's flanks had gone. The long suffering cohort of Auxiliaries on my right, V Dalmatarum, who had been acting as pin cushions for Ed's massed archers managed to charge their nemisis and get their revenge as the sagittarii fled. I now decided to test the resolve of the enemy on the hill and ordered the Thirtieth to charge the Auxiliaries above them while Thrax with the First waited for the outcome at the foot of the hill. More of Ed's troops now fled as the Thirtieth planted their standard on the hill, this caused him to try a desperate charge downhill to try and kill Thrax and turn the tide of battle. In a brutal struggle Thrax did indeed take a wound but First Minerva held against the veterans of the Twelfth's First Cohort and eventually they broke and their leader captured. Thrax had pulled off a second crushing victory against another Roman army.

My missus popped her head into the Bunker and asked if anyone wanted anything, "Luck" said Ed. I think luck was pretty much even but mine turned up just when needed while it deserted Ed at the wrong time. Again it was great to get the armies on the table, wargaming at its best for me. We have pencilled in a return match for later when I think I will push my luck and take Barbarians against a Roman army.

I have some fun coming up, my son will be here on Saturday to try out Chain of Command, Matt has rescheduled for next Wednesday and I have Erik's on Friday, both ECW, I will need some R&R after that.

I have noticed a few coincidences over the last week, the Yorkists came through Carnforth on their way to Stoke Field in 1487, the Jacobites came past in 1745 on their way to Preston and the Scots raided Penrith in 1385.

I was greeted with howls of laughter at the club when I intimated that I had finished collecting armies, but I really have. I will admit to now having the time to maybe, maybe turn to a couple of things which have nagged me for ages, adding an extra file to my Seleucid pike phalanxes and adding the same or maybe two, to the Twelfth's first cohort to make it larger than the others as it always was in the early legions.

 I have finished the lovely gift from Matt Smith, I have kept it simple and believe it has turned out OK. The last of my BEF are on the tray and should be finished sometime this weekend and ready for battle.

 I think that is it for now. 

Seleucis and Alexander

It's been a quiet week and same again next week with nothing on the cards and real life getting in the way of wargaming. I did have a weekend trip to Darlington where my son took me on a run ashore and a meal, and quite superb it was too, we found an old fashioned pub which had a varied mix of clientele, no televisions, no drunks, no shouting and where we could sit and sup decent beer and have a conversation, where the barmaid, no spring chicken, could remember our order each time.

I did however have one game sorted today, it was a trial of On Bloody Ground, a ruleset written by a good friend of mine and his son, Dave has been at me for ages to try them out and as he could sell ice to Eskimos it has been hard to resist. My opponent Stuart had played the rules but some time ago, he also had his Macedonian army ready for the table so it was time to come off the fence. My army was Seleucid so slightly later than Stuart's but otherwise both had basically the same troop types, I took pikes, mercenary Hoplites, skirmishers, horse archers and Companion cavalry, I felt obliged to take an elephant so Nellie came along as well. Stuart faced me with Hypaspists, pikes, Hoplites, skirmishers and Peltasts, he had two units of Companions and some light cavalry.

My boys.

Stuart’s lads.

Seleucid on the left, Alexander on the right.

Looking from Seleucid’s line.

Thankfully Stuart put his cavalry opposite my horse on his right, I had been a bit anxious that he might threaten my right which had only a skirmish unit to guard the flank, but I was quite sure I could match his mounted troops on my left. Sure enough my Skythian's and slingers managed to wipe out the light cavalry and eventually do the same to the Peltasts, I took advantage of this and moved my Companions and the elephant towards the enemy household cavalry, the rest of my line went forward to engage the Macedonian infantry in echelon against their left.

The ‘heavies’ move off.

The first clash.

The enemy right suffers.

Slowly does it boys.

As the dust settled from the initial charges my Companions and Hoplites had beaten their opponents and as the enemy fled turned in against their main line, both flanks now looked very shaky. The second group of enemy Companions were now hit in the flank by my own elites and frontally by the elephant, they were pushed back. Time was getting on and with both his flanks gone and now outnumbered Stuart offered his sword.

It’s all over.

If you read this blog you will know I am pretty set in my ways and it takes a lot for me to change from what I like, I like War and Conquest and it does what it says on the tin for me. OBG has a faster play style and certain rule mechanics offer enough complexity for interesting tactics to keep players coming back for more, they are also very well supported by Dave and Dan and they have plans to keep this up during the next year with possible weekend events. I wish them well, me, I'm just an old fossil.

Royal Mail are still struggling to deliver my support weapons for the BEF as 1st Corps posted them almost a week ago, so in the meantime I finished off some NCO's and Soviet tank riders, the latter I got from Mardav Miniatures and am really pleased with them. I also managed to paint up my Nashorn this morning, I still have the crew to paint but the new tank killer will be ready to roll by the weekend, will it ever see the table, who knows, but I'm happy, and you can take that to the bank.

I gave up with the 'Last Yorkists' and did indeed jump to the Battle of Pavia, the book was too much like a novel and read as such, I also think that the author overplayed much of the supposed influence the Yorkist pretenders had with the Holy Roman emperor or the French king. Anyway I am now back on the Eastern Front with Prit Buttar's 'Bagration 1944'. I have watched several pieces by Buttar on WW2TV and he knows his stuff.

I was taken in by the rave reviews of the BBC comedy, and I use the term loosely, 'Small Prophets', I don't get it. I find the main character a drag and when I watch him I know he is acting and trying hard, I long for him to lose his job. Thankfully a German spy thriller called 'Unfamiliar' is streaming on Netflix, and, wait for it, I like it.

 I notice that no less an august establishment as the British Museum is touting the 'fact' that 50% of all Samurai were women in its new exhibition, a blatant lie, but what does Joe Public know eh?

 Can I end on a high, eh, I really did enjoy that weekend.