Smolensk: Careful what you wish for

 Ever since deciding to get back into Chain of Command I have wanted to play a campaign, I did manage a couple of solo efforts during Lockdown and although Matt Smith kindly gave me orders and chose supports it doesn't beat playing against another person face to face.

I mentioned this to Matt Crump and sent him a couple of Eastern Front campaigns that I really wanted to do and he jumped at Smolensk 1941: Timoshenko's Counterattack, which is a very intriguing little campaign with some out of the box thinking involved. He chose to be the Russians and his first move was against the central position of Yartsevo on the River Vop, I half expected Matt to attack from the South but he came from the East. I had a measly 3 points of support while the Russians got 12, I took a pre-game barrage and a minefield which I used to block my left flank, Matt took a 50mm mortar, an MMG, Adjutant, SMG's for his NCO's, a Sniper and a pre-game barrage.

My barrage was quite effective and Matt took a long time to bring all his forces to the table, but he had the benefit of cover and hid behind and in the station building, I did not at first have a clear field of fire. Anastasia the sniper opened up first and wounded one of my squad leaders, she then quickly became a real pain so a lot of my efforts went to find her and kill her, I did break her small team and she fled, I gave a sigh of relief. Matt now opened up from the station and mortared my right hand squad on the bridge and soon shock began to build on them, I brought another team on in the centre of my position but he still concentrated on the right flank.

I did manage to send his MMG team packing and things looked good for a while as I still had a squad in reserve. The Russians now made their play and two squads left the safe area behind the station, one on each side, I smiled inwardly as they were in the open and I could throw a bucket'o'dice at them, but despite this my shooting had little effect, quite a bit of shock was being handed out but no casualties. My own troops were suffering from both shock and casualties and before long the concentrated firepower of the Russians forced me to retreat, I had to try and minimize the damage as I only have two infantry platoons while the Russians get a new platoon every game.

It was Matt's first game and I was a bit stunned, but he played the terrain well and my lack of kills was frustrating.  Despite losing, the morale of 1st Platoon is fine and the toll at the end was three men dead, two in hospital and two back with their comrades. The initiative remains with the Reds and they are off to a good start, will I have to spend valuable resource points to bolster my defenders, who knows. I did make some mistakes with the rules as it has been a long time, but I think we will catch up on those by the next game.

You can find Matt's take on the game and the view from the Russian side here, I recommend it.

 Just when I thought my trips to Italy were over for the campaigning season I was offered a game by Rob Martin, so a couple of days before the above clash Rob and I met across the table in yet another game of Furioso. Once again I had halved my French army, Rob set up with two pike blocks on his right and one on his left with cavalry and artillery in between and a couple of mounted units on each flank, I put all my infantry in the centre, cavalry on my right and artillery and shot on my left with some cavalry even further out.

My troops were keen to advance but not overly so that they went hell for leather with no control, a welcome surprise for me. Rob on the other hand quickly lost control and his men rushed forward, all apart from his Italians who sat out the whole game without moving, maybe they knew something was about to go wrong. As the cavalry clashed on both wings my boys were very successful and Rob's mounted troops were crushed, meanwhile his Landsknechts had raced across the battlefield to meet mine, with hatred in their eyes these mercenaries clashed and once again my enemy were cut down and my troops victorious, surely Rob had to get a break at some point.

 

Rob on the left, me on the right

My infantry bathe in the sunlight

My artillery

Landsknechts led by the Duke of Suffolk

As my Swiss advanced against the enemy centre their cavalry swept down crashing into the pike block, having lost a pike block previously to cavalry I was a bit worried as these were elite Gendarmes, but I should have trusted my men and soon the French nobility were a bloody mess underfoot. With his own Swiss slowed by the hill to their front and facing cavalry to front and flank Rob handed over his sword. A really good morning's wargaming over too soon but Rob expressed an interest in the rules and hopefully we can get to grips again at some point. Rob left a gift of excellent pork pies from his local butcher so it was a win, win for me.

 Over a week ago I got a message asking me to phone a number, thinking it was a scam, I am very suspicious, I did not bother, I checked again later had second thoughts and phoned. The call was from a longstanding wargamer who wanted to give away his collection due to downsizing and wanted it to go to people who would appreciate it, all free. I passed on the information to the club and also put him in touch with some of the lads and the club have benefited from his kindness. He is not a million miles away and perhaps once he has settled he might visit. How nice is that.

 I finished some scatter terrain gifted to me ages ago by friend Matt Smith, it was a nice, if quick, change from painting Italian Wars, for my birthday I received a nice surprise of two pieces of painted and finished scatter from Matt. Many thanks mate.

Previous goodies from Matt

An unexpected birthday gift

Talking about painting Italian Wars I have finished yet another Gendarme unit led by another Scot, Robert Stewart, captain of the Kings guard and eventual Marshal of France. I have another Archer cavalry unit ready to paint but I have put them to the side for the moment as I have a lot to concentrate on with maps and the upcoming festive season and maybe just a tad jaded.

I eventually gave in and watched the latest Batman movie, I am a big fan as you know, but had had a bad feeling about this one. I actually liked it, a different take on the Dark Knight from what I am used to, in film if not in comics. But yes, one piece of woke rubbish got my hackles up when Catwoman declared "Let's take down all the white privileged rich folks" or words to that effect. I don't know about you but I am still waiting for this privilege to kick in.

 I bought a bar of Tony's Chocolonely because it is the same size as chocolate used to be before Cadbury's etc. went to 5 mm. It is made in unequal chunks because, you guessed it, life is unequal, all I wanted was a decent chunk of chocolate, not a lecture.

I have an apology to make to Olivia over my grumpiness last post, my parcel was delivered on time by the said Olivia, a charming young lady with a lovely smile.