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.