GI's do well

Another run at WWII this week in the Bunker, we had decided on Chain of Command and Matt mentioned he wanted panzergrenadiers with lots of machine guns, instead I gave him my Fallschirmjager which just happened to have the same number of MG42's, I would take my new US Infantry. These guys fight rather different from all the other platoons and I hadn't a clue how to get the best out of them, the rules however, all rules in my opinion, tend to give the Yanks an easy time of it. They get to move and shoot without an accuracy penalty, they also get the Storm of Steel mechanic which in this instance is over egging their abilities and they get to use Scouts as Jump Off Points.

Why did you bother with them I hear from the back. I never intended to build an American platoon but I needed to take my mind off other things for a while and what better than to build up another platoon before I stopped, yes I hear more grumbling in the back. This all pertains to playing with wee sojers, I have the utmost respect for those men who fought through Europe unlike some of the ungratefully liberated.

I introduced a few little changes, both sides got a 'Red Dice' to help with orders, I also changed the Force Morale so that 10, 11 or 12 replaced 8, 9, 10 or 11, the table was also set up with what I hoped would be less open ground. I put down a village straddling a river with two bridges, the northern part of the village had been hit by artillery and was mainly ruins but a few buildings had survived including the station, hotel and a boozer. The Yanks had to capture the bridges to win, two bridges would be a major victory and one a minor victory. Matt supported his Para's with a Pz IVG, I on the other hand took a 75mm Sherman, a 60mm mortar and an extra squad.

I wanted to pressure the Germans in the centre and on their left flank while planning to use a Scout team to get further up the table if the opportunity presented itself, Matt just wanted to hold me up. I managed to get three squads into decent positions but somehow began to take mounting casualties on my troops in the wood which were targetted by the Panzer and quite a few machine guns, so much so that I had to withdraw them. Matt had a run of double phases to help with this, although I must admit my boys weathered it well, It was time to bring on the Sherman.

I deploy.

The remaining civvies beat a hasty retreat.

My tank and and a nearby squad turned on the ruins just north of the hotel while I pushed another squad up to sneak into the large building, it was Matt's time to withdraw. I now did the same to another set of ruins near the rail bridge and the Jerries again retreated, the tank however was still being a real pain. I had now sent a Scout team out to flank the German right as the Panzer was now busy firing on my right. I better mention this but I too now managed a good run of double turns and used them to reorganise. then I saw my chance, my men in the hotel broke the enemy opposite them, I deployed from the scouts into the station where the last of the Jerry squads had deployed but were beginning to suffer, one good phase and I would be on them.

These poor guys got caught out later.

The annoying panzer.

Matt now got a double turn, my boys in the open field were routed and fled, the survivors that is, around this time I also had two of my Junior Leaders hit which meant I had to put my Senior Leaders into harms way to keep up the pressure. Once I got t he initiative back and despite losing a squad I broke the Para's in the ruins and stunned both a SL and their JL. This sealed the deal for the Americans as two enemy leaders and an enemy Jump Off Point now lay within touching distance of my boys in the Station and Matt's morale plummeted. Game over.

Help is at hand.

Forward boys.

I think the higher morale worked, you could at least throw a bit of caution to the wind to try something different and recover if it went south, the extra dice for orders also worked well although I think the double turn mechanic should lose a dice after the first one, both Matt and I suffered a bit from our opponent having several in a row, and it is quite frustrating to sit for a couple of phases doing nothing but dying. Cutting down the lines of sight, it helps, we had a bit of a conversation about this and might have to up linear obstacles to medium, you cannot really see through a decent hedge.

I have not done a lot of painting in the last couple of weeks, one set of four halberdiers and 50% of a sword and buckler base, I am home alone next week so expect to get a move on with these. My wargamers ADHD is kicking in as I realised setting up the game I do not have American Jump Off Points so I am going to 'need' those at some point and of course some US Patrol Marker's. I also noticed that my 2nd Panzer markers had been painted white on black, so naturally I had to change them to yellow on black, phew. Who will notice, I will.

Matt is back next week and wants to do an ACW cavalry battle, so it looks like Brandy Station, I have eight cavalry brigades most of whom have never seen action in my 30+ years of Johnny Reb. Yeehaa. 

The worst night of the year coming up, although most of the little darlings gave up knocking on my door years ago, it also helps there are no young families in my part of the village. I think it must be a nightmare in America, I could not take that. 

Greeks get the gifts.

 Back to the sunny climes of Penrith, it does tend to be better than Warton mind you, I left nice sunshine after the game and as I proceeded south it looked like the shadows of Mordor were in front of me. Anyway, back to the Dungeon for a game we had to postpone a few weeks ago, it was to be early WWII, Greeks vs Italians and this time I was given the Greeks. I had to capture a fuel dump in the centre of the table reputedly containing not fuel but Extra Virgin Olive Oil, though I expect this was a ruse. I had some Regulars and some Elite mountain sections along with the usual heavy weapon supports, the Italians had no elites and a couple of dodgy Albanian squads and a little tankette.

The objective.

Another view.

I was allowed to initially bring my first wave on from any of three sides but decided to stick to the opposite side from the Eyeties and brought on my howitzer and heavy weapons apart from an anti-tank rifle. I intended to soften up the Albanians who already held the fuel dump. That went fairly well and by turn three I had captured the olive oil and a massive amount of dried spaghetti, however the tankette was now roaming around causing me a bit of strife and my second wave seemed well short of the dump as Italian regulars moved closer to my survivors of the melee. Matt also managed some very good mortar drops along with one of my elite squads proving a lot less elite than I had thought and hitting the deck.

My own heavy weapons teams proved quite useless for most of the game, my anti-tank rifle at first refusing to turn up but negating this with a lovely flank shot which destroyed the little tank, my sniper managed to find two bullets which worked and hit an NCO and LMG gunner, the rest were duds.

The Albanians hold the tins.

The Greeks lost it then the Italians took it back.

It's all or nothing, go boys.

Matt got the supply dump back, this changed sides several times and the bodies were stacked inside like Rorke's Drift. Time was running out and critical decisions had to be made, I had one untouched elite squad which I wanted to leave to the last minute and kick out any Italians which were left on the objective, but I had no choice but to take it and hope the game ended. It did not, there were three Italian squads close enough to assault, one could do nothing due to a large amount of pins unless it was lucky, it was not, the second I charged with a forlorn hope of elites which took them out. 

Once more the Greeks can relax.

The tankette ist kaput.

This left one opportunity for Matt to make one last charge, I threw everything over the turn at these men and whittled them down until the odds were almost even. They nonetheless managed to reach the ramparts and a furious melee began which was quite simply down to Lady Luck, the Greeks pulled it out of the bag, phew!

My right flank move in at last.

The Greeks really can relax, a narrow victory.

A superb game with both side alternating between sighs and shouts of joy. Matt got some really nice mortar drops against some desperate failed morale tests which did for him in the end. I matched him in despair at some die results but also managed a few successes just at the right time. A tense and exciting game. 

Yet another skirmish game hits the stores. "Tear Down the Empire", "The Fall of Rome" the advert shouts, now that's going to be spectacular and all you need is a dozen figures. How can five men form a Shieldwall or why does a hornblower allow you to move further, fantasy vs reality. If a bunch of Germanic brutes wanted to raid a village they would not chose one with a garrison, even if it looks like there is one cataphract among them, lost Marcus? What you would have is a bunch of peasants with sticks, not much of a game there then. The average small Viking raid for instance would have around 3-6 ships with crews of 30-60 so at least 90 men, not a dozen, there goes the pocket money. And yes I have played several skirmish games, cowboys, spaceships and even Dark Ages, back in the, eh, Dark Ages, but there were no hornblowers or Merlins stumbling about. For some reason I do not see platoon level WWII games as Skirmish. Each to their own, and I know that playing with rules generally at least two decades old, but really, another turnip raid?

Shieldwall.

?

 I am painting again as you know and have finished my first two halberd bases, I have several more but don't want to rush them, I also received two boxes of sword and buckler men from The Assault Group. I am also working on maps again as I have some loose time, "The 1684 Campaign of the War of the Holy League and the Failed Siege of Buda".

My granddaughter phoned the other night and while we were talking movies said I should watch 'Jojo Rabbit', this is a fairly old movie and I dismissed it from a clip I had seen of Adolf Hitler being an idiot with a young boy. How wrong I was, it was an excellent and clever movie. The reason we were discussing movies is that she said they watch movies in history classes, not documentaries but movies, and we all know how accurate 'based on a real event' or similar is. What a dreadful way to teach history.

And I could not end without this lunacy from Ireland, You should get consent before you hug your grandchildren, you won't be able to see it now of course because commonsense prevailed and the lunatics who thought it right were forced to take it down. Each new day never fails to surprise me.

Group hug? 

Aaaargh!

 Back on the treadmill, its been almost a month since I had a game against a live opponent, I usually rely on Matt Crump and the odd visitor but both he and myself could not align the stars due to real life and holidays. That has now ended and I went for another Italian Wars battle, Agnadallo 1509, between France and Venice, I have fought this a couple of times at least but I now have three books on the battle, two of which offer scenarios and as is normal all do not quite agree. 

I use Furioso rules so I have to make allowances for this in respect of the size of each contingent, this needs work but I did what I could, also the terrain is quite wet but as it was the same for both sides I did not spend a lot of time fretting about small streams, granted I could have slowed movement but I didn't. I also introduced some changes to the units more in line with reality, the Venetian troops for instance put up an excellent resistance better than they are listed in the rule book. The battle is a bit complicated as each side had one 'battle' either arriving late or not at all, I had these on the army sheet but decided in the end not to bring them on, there was enough fighting to do. 

Venetian left.

French right.

Venetian army.

I set both armies up and offered Matt his choice, however we instead diced, I got the Venetians when I had half been expecting to get the French, the better army. I decided to quickly advance my left which seemed to be my strongest force, I would hold with the right and hope my guns would damage the enemy before they hit my line. My Initiative scores were dire and nothing got more than 3, my left started fairly well and managed to breast the ditch to their front in good order. Matt held back his right but came on very aggressively on his left. Very soon his cavalry had taken out my shot and a gun, on my left my infantry crawled towards the Swiss to their front, on men, on!

Venetian left not at all keen.

French left advance.

Venetian right in trouble.

Eventually the infantry of both sides got into action and I was being overwhelmed, I thought that one more push could cause me to retire. I now managed to beat one Swiss block on my left and engage the other while capturing the commander on that flank, only to have him rescued and again captured and again rescued, this time to stay free. It looked like there was a slim chance of a Venetian fight back but it was not to be, I received a hazard and several men deserted, a cruel twist of fate, the pendulum swung away. My army was broken.

Venetian left looking good.

Centre looking dodgy.

The end approaches.

Granted the Venetians, like the real thing, needed a bit of Lady Luck to win this but a slew of low initiative rolls meant I was on the back foot for most of the battle, at the same time I made some mistakes and Matt fought better. Oh, in my defence Matt once again borrowed dice and yes, mine were so bad I changed them, not that it made much difference, my average throughout the battle was one hit on the enemy.

I am adding halberdiers and sword and buckler men to some of the pike blocks and while doing so went through my lead pimple, I am loathe to have more figures than I need, but to my surprise I managed to fish out quite a few to add to my new purchases to build the stands I want along with another couple of generals. So something to while away the long winter evenings.

I have just about finished 'Plunder' by Max Hastings, very good, sad in places and especially so in the last weeks of the war with many pointless deaths and dubious operations being carried out by the Allies. TV looked up with 'Last Seen' an excellent thriller on Apple (I think), I am now reduced to looking at the BBC for something, that is how low I have fallen.

I have offered my son a Chain of Command campaign in order to try out a couple of minor changes to the rules, one which I have fought before and proved to be decent, The Road to Bremen. Strangely enough the attack on Bremen as reported in 'Plunder' was one of those operations which were pointless. All being well I should be heading North to the Dungeon next week.  

Not another Road Trip!

 A fair bit happening but not on the wargame front. I had hoped to get a game with Erik but he has a bad back and bending over a large table will not work, I was supposed to be at Matt's but came down with a nasty cold 24 hrs before we were to cross swords, so that was cancelled, hence the solo game, We haven't managed anything for this week either due to real life butting in. Fingers crossed for next week and Italian Wars.

 I have received my first bunch of halberdiers to add to my pike blocks, you can use them in an attack but I have never used this rule mechanic but I will remember it in future, the same applies to Spanish sword and buckler men. I am in no hurry so will just plod away.

Mate Robert popped in again and having been warned not to turn up with a new platoon or chocolate for the Memsahib I thought the visit had went well. A phone call after he left asked "Have you found it yet?" perplexed me until I found the Warlord bunker and flak position hidden under my table. So I have built and painted the item and hopefully might get to use it as an objective for a game, I have a cunning plan.

Last Friday I found myself on the way to Smoke for a weekend with my son, Saturday was reserved for a walk around Westminster Abbey and a visit with some old friends and enemies, enemies mostly. First up was Longshanks (Edward I) followed by Henry V, Elizabeth I, Edward III, Mary Queen of Scots, Aymer de Valence and that villain Henry VII. A worthwhile visit.

Mary.

Mary again.

Margaret Douglas, mother of Lord Darnley.

Henry VII tomb.

Again.

Edward III.

Elizabeth I.

Henry V.

Longshanks.

Unkown soldier.

Where Charles I was executed.

We had time to kill on Sunday before our lecture with Andrew Roberts, Graham took me to the De Haviland museum where they have a prototype Mosquito and from where the first one flew from a nearby field, they have two more and they are beautiful. They have quite a few other aircraft there along with other interesting bits and pieces.

Practice 'bouncing bomb'.

Mosquito prototype.

Again.

Lovely.

What's missing, for readers of a certain age.

A few pints in the afternoon and we headed to the National Army Museum via the Chelsea Pensioners hospital we managed a quick look round before the lecture. Andrew Roberts was there to talk about his new book on Napoleon's Marshals and it was one of the most enjoyable hours I have spent in a long time. Graham had organised it some time ago and took the opportunity to get me the book and I got it signed by the author before leaving.

It has been several years since I visited the NAM and I found it as disappointing this time as last. Granted we did explore only one level as we did not have time to see anymore. Hundreds of years of the British army squeezed into a mish mash of portraits chronologically challenged. Examples of upcoming events contain; Indian Drumming Workshop for the rhythms of India, Make a Sketchbook, Diya (?) Painting Workshop etc. Interesting enough there was a piece in the Spectator about the IWM (that's the Imperial War Museum to you dear reader) and its decline. Someone decided they need more yoof, exhibits people actually want to see are then removed and the emphasis switched to modern attitudes, they the yoof are still not interested and the people who were interested now no longer visit, result, more decline. My son tells me the other once great museums in London are following the same route.

 So there we are, sorry no battling for now but I may manage to try out another Italian Wars scenario before I see Matt next week.

This seems to belie the fact you never see me and Batman in the same room, heard of photoshop?