Disastro!

 After last weeks Chain of Command game I thought Matt and I could try something different for a change and offered Italian Wars, it would be something different for Matt and I could once again get my troops out for some exercise.

I kept it small and settled on the Battle of La Motta from Rodolfo Verginella's book, where the Spanish defeated the Venetians, I tweaked it a little to give the Venetians more of a chance allowing them some better infantry while I downrated the Spanish a tad, unfair but in the spirit of the game. When Matt turned up I gave him a choice and he settled on the Venetians as he was sat next to them. I explained the rules and we dove right in. Matt slowly advanced his right and held his left on a hill. I sent my men straight at the enemy as I thought that if I didn't my right might be outflanked by the enemy cavalry.

Spanish on the left, Venetians on the right.

Baggage train and looters.

Spanish left.

The cavalry met first and I routed the Stradiots in the centre, my heavy cavalry also looked like doing well, on the right I managed to almost break one of the Venetian light cavalry units but then found my men outflanked as I had thought as more cavalry thundered into their flank. As these fights continued my pikemen had at last managed to come to grips with the enemy foot, the Landsknechts as I thought defeated their opponents but the enemy had put up a fight and did not go easily. On my left it was very different for the Spanish, although outclassed they put up a stout defence and it looked at one point that they could come out on top. It was about this time that Matt suffered a 'Hazard' and quite a few of his men deserted, it did look bad for his infantry although his cavalry were obviously winning.

Venetian left (yes I know there are Spanish flags there).

Landsknechts advance quickly.

Spanish left also advance.

As usual I took too much for granted, Matt's Italians recovered and put my Spanish to flight, as we looked over the battlefield it was obvious the Venetians had had the better part of the fight, although the Landsknecht blocks were still on the battlefield they had been badly decimated (they also suffered from desertion). I had one cavalry unit left but it was facing a Venetian gun which had already caused severe casualties on it and it would not survive another volley. I handed my sword over.

Landsknechts clear the hill.

Venetian right and desperate fighting.

We had a discussion of the rules over a beer (zero) at the end. Matt brought up some points and I confess I am not completely happy with the way the game plays but I do like the main part which has a melee then a melee combat morale phase, I do like this. I do think however that I will look at it later, I won't go into detail as most of you, or maybe all, will not use Furioso. I do have Pike and Shotte and the Italian Wars supplement which a lot of people use and may be tempted to try this at some stage despite not being keen on Warlord rules sets.

Despite having packs of new sojers on my desk I have not been able to get to them as I am busy with maps at the moment, I might though manage to get a squad cleaned up and primed over the weekend in order to look at putting paint to brush next week.

I have an ECW game at Erik's next Wednesday evening but otherwise nothing on the cards for now, I might try and look at P&S again with a solo game to try them out. Who knows.

I spent a few days last weekend down South in Chorleywood at my son's, it really is a nice part of the country, very English and genteel and of course very expensive, in case anyone gets ideas above their station they can visit Watford almost next door. My granddaughter came back with us for a week and as usual is a delight to have around the house.

There we have it. 

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.

If only .........

I have now finished my War and Conquest weekend courtesy of my son Stewart. My new 3rdC Roman army is basically finished and ready for the tabletop and as much as I would have liked to lead Thrax's boys in battle my son Stewart regards Roman troops as walking tanks, so I let him take the new army. I have to admit I have a superstition about the 'Thunderbolts' and felt I could not abandon them so the first battle would be a 'Civil War', quite appropriate for the 'Crises'. I also wanted to show him that the Romans are not invincible so decided to take a Barbarian Warband army for the second battle, tongue firmly in cheek, again an appropriate clash for Maximinus Thrax.

The Twelfth mustered with four cohorts two of which were recruits, the supports were one Auxiliary cohort, some Auxiliary light infantry along with some skirmishers, the cavalry were horse archers and kontos armed Contari. Across the field were four legionary vexillations and some Lanciarii, these were supported by skirmishers, Contari, German cavalry and Roman horse archers, a bolt shooter completed the line up. I realised too late that my right flank was going to be in trouble, so I held the III Cohort back just in case, I then made things worse by losing my Light Infantry but to be fair they had refused to charge into the enemy javelins in the wood which then set them up as a target for the enemy Contari.

Legio XII Fulminata.

Thrax.

Thunderbolts on the left, Thrax on the right.

On the left I did manage to chase off the enemy horse archers but lost my own to the Germans, I now felt pressured to attack the enemy infantry before both my flanks failed. My assault proved a triumph and two of the enemy fled, despite being commanded by Thrax himself XXII Primagenia also fled in sympathy. Stewart looked despondent but my men could not catch the routers and most of them managed to rally and come back, my Contari tried to catch I Minerva in the flank but had to withdraw. So far my massed archers had failed miserably to inflict casualties on anyone they fired at, much like Stewart's bolt shooter, but unlike the Scorpio my archers broke for the rear having suffered horrendous casualties. 

Both sides advance.

My unfortunate horse archers.

German cavalry.

Still early days.

On my right Auxiliary I had fought magnificently but their enemy once again returned and just as things were again looking good they were hit in the rear by Contari, nonetheless they fought to the last man and tied up both these units for some time. Things are a bit hazy now, but the upshot was that I stabilised the right flank and routed the Contari and Javelins that were there, II Treverorum managed to hold out after being routed twice. Despite fighting a depleted II Cohort Thrax and his bodyguard were being beaten back. Stewart handed over his sword.

My Auxiliaries surrounded.

Roman v Roman.

Thrax leads XXII Primagenia.

My light infantry refuse to charge.

I made a mistake leaving my right at a disadvantage, however if I had put the Contari on the right my left would have been easily overwhelmed by two cavalry units against my skirmishers, so it was a hard decision and I was lucky that I got away with it. The Twelfth had proved themselves once again against a difficult opposition and remain No.1.

On Sunday it was a very different battle Barbarians against a well trained, professional Roman army. I fought one of the most memorable battles years ago against mate Matt Smith who took a Warband army against the Thunderbolts, the Twelfth gained their fearsome reputation in this battle which was a tremendous but ultimately victorious struggle, I wanted to try such a fight again. This time I was the Barbarians, and I kept it simple with five large warbands, some Noble cavalry and some skirmishers, I was going to keep it simple and just charge the enemy relying on my numbers and skill in the first clashes. Stewart brought three vexilations and three Lanciarii with two cavalry units and also some skirmishers. We deployed one unit at a time and by the end we were on the opposite sides of the battlefield.

Germans on the left Romans on the right.

Romans.

Germans.

 I thought the Romans were going to have difficulty getting past the terrain so set my warbands off immediately at speed to close them in even further. The Romans managed to grab a hill on their left so I decided to leave this alone, they were happy to stick to their hill so I took on the javelins with Warriors 2 and sent them packing. I also managed to rout some archers and a Lanciarii unit, on the debit side I lost a warband to Thrax and his bodyguard, however overall things looked good. On the other hand my pursuers continually failed to exert any enthusiasm and the enemy kept rallying, this would happen time and time again.

Roman archers run away.

My leader about to hit the Roman centre.

Things are looking good.

Intense combat.

My Leader fought magnificently in the centre but once again actually managing to maintain the success was sadly lacking, I had been doing very well on my left but again the Romans would flee only to come back as my men had left their trainers with the wagons. The Contari, who had routed three times now came to the party and caught a warband in the flank, this unfortunate unit now routed, my remaining warband on the left was now surrounded by Romans and although fighting like Trojans eventually succumbed to the pressure. I was now left with only two warbands and my Noble cavalry, the latter had been threatening Thrax and his men and would have found it difficult to ride past him to help on the left, maybe I should have at least tried but they kept Thrax out of the fight for most of the game. Soon I was left with only my leader and the remnants of his hard fighting warband, it was time for me to hand Stewart his sword back.

I am ready to charge the centre.

 

Get after them!

  

The above does not do justice to this intense conflict, at least twice it looked like the Romans were on the ropes but my lack of decent pursuit moves and Stewarts incredible morale throws allowed them to came back time and time again. I will admit some of his early routs were also the result of some bad morale throws on his part. This will go down in the annals as the Battle of the Whingers as we both implored the dice gods not to desert us, if only this or if only that, and yes, I actually changed my dice half way through.

We chose 3,000 point armies and took our time so each game lasted around five hours, with eats and some beers, a satisfying and best way to play a wargame. For me War and Conquest brings highs and lows, frustration and elation while allowing me to put large armies onto the table and throw buckets of dice, nothing else I have seen or played can beat it. Yes it is Old School, but tell me anywhere that 'New School' is better, in wargaming or elsewhere.

I made a supreme effort before the battle to finish off my last unit of Lanciarii so that Stewart would have the complete army to choose from, I also painted up my Slave Trader set from Foundry as the Rally Point. I was on a roll and managed to weather the Pz I and Bunkerflak, I also found another Panzer I in my 1939-1942 box, duh. I got a Luftwaffe 88 crew from Empress as they have jackboots for early war, I will only be able to put two figures on the vehicle as there is just not enough room, the others can act as extra gun crew for Chain of Command.

I have a busy week ahead, mate Robert will be here on Tuesday and Wednesday for some games in the evening although we have not decided what we are doing yet. I also have an important appointment with the NHS on Wednesday, or at least I am hoping it is. 

I continue with my work on the Arab-Israeli atlas, about a third of the way through now.