Down with the Yoof!

 Picked up grandson James on our return from Claymore for a week at Casa Papa's. I have been educating him in old sayings like "once in a blue moon" and movie quotes such as "Get away from her, bitch!" and "bajes! We don't need no steenking bajes" etc. while sitting through some purely action movies.

Part of the deal of course was a couple of wargames, I settled on Bolt Action rather than destroy his mind with Chain of Command, so I set up the Budapest canister drop scenario. James took the Germans while I led the Russian attack, we also again set up possible air strikes. As the battle unfolded I managed to take out a King Tiger with a lucky shot from a T-34/85 while my infantry got to their canisters, medals and food were found, no ammunition, James found the same along with medical supplies, to win we now had to take the enemy canisters or control a glider which was about to crash land somewhere on the table. James managed a few runs by a FW-190 while I got one from a Yak-3, they mostly strafed the infantry squads. 

Somewhere in Budapest.

Hurrah!

The Germans had a second option if picking the 'golden die', this was a HJ tank killer team which was using the sewers to move around unobserved by the Soviets. These kids were a one shot wonder and popped up in the rear of the T-34 and let loose, the tank shuddered to a halt imobilised while the lads again went underground. The glider crashed and thankfully did not land on top of anyone but right next to some Volksturm and a Russian squad, so that objective for now was contested.

Yak-3.

Tiger kill!

Luftwaffe turns up.

HJ suprise the Soviets.

As the clock ticked down I failed to move some Kriegsmarine from one objective while James took one of mine protected by some NKVD troops, he had snatched a victory at the last moment. This is quite a good scenario for Bolt Action.

Next up was a large War and Conquest Roman civil war game, James took Emperor Maximinus Thrax's Rhine veterans while I commanded my favourites, the Twelfth. The battle began as both sides advanced their flanks replete with cavalry and skirmishers, the opening moves did not go well for the Thunderbolts and I lost both as my cavalry fled. I now advanced my right flank cohorts quickly before the enemy cavalry reorganised, the rest of the army waited while James moved his veterans towards them.

Legio XII Fulminata.

Rhine veterans.

Thrax on the left, Thunderbolts on the right.

Horror! My cohorts on the right were now destroyed and sent fleeing, my whole right flank had now gone, I had made a libation to the gods but it was obviously not enough, defeat stared me in the eye. What had happened to the Thunderbolts? I was now forced to lead my last legionaries off their hill and into James' veterans while I sent all my skirmishers to annoy the victorious enemy cavalry on my left and keep them occupied. Against all the odds my boys smashed the enemy and cut through Thrax's centre, capturing the Emperor in the process, the pendulum had swung in my favour. As we approached the last turn victory was tantalisingly close, it would depend on whether Auxiliary II could hold off the veterans of XXII Primagenia, up until now they had managed spectacularly.

The armies advance.

Thrax's victorious cavalry.

Struggle in the centre.

Thrax's winning Contari.

My boys about to break the enemy centre.

The last desperate combat.

We decided we could not end the battle at this point and that winning or losing would depend on that one combat, whoever won would claim the laurels. Sadly my Auxiliaries had nothing left having held the veterans for three turns and James turned his luck around at the last gasp. Victory to James.

A great game and I had warned James at the start I was not going to hold the Twelfth back. I was shocked when my right flank went but the boys almost turned it around and although the Auxiliaries had been beaten they had put up a magnificent fight against a superior enemy. I remain disappointed in my cavalry.

Busy again next week, Chain of Command with Matt on Tuesday and ACW on Thursday with Simon. The bunker remains open for business.

 

War and Conquest Weekend II

Grab a drink and settle down.

 Rob arrived on the Friday night in very good time from Bristol considering it was the beginning of a Bank Holiday weekend, four hours, on Britains crumbling infrastructure that is excellent going. First thing Saturday morning we got set up for the first of hopefully four games, it was a return match between Rob's Spartans and my Seleucids. I am not letting any secrets away here and Rob knows how I feel about Hoplites in War and Conquest, they are far too powerful and easily defeat pikes, the very guys who put them out of business, there I have said it.

Rob took five Hoplite blocks backed up by supporting light and skirmish cavalry and infantry, I took three pike phalanx's and two Hoplite units (of course) with light troops and skirmishers along with some Macedonian cavalry. I had intended to stay on top of the hill but my success against the Spartan flanks got the better of me and I sensed a victory, a big mistake despite having elite pikemen and larger units. Somehow my succesful left flank was held up and my horse archers and Thorakitai failed morale and fled as did one of my Hoplite units, my right also lost it's way and that too crumbled as my useless cavalry ran. As this was happening the rest of my army were pounded into the ground getting absolutely nowhere damaging the enemy foot, despite oodles of dice being thrown I simply could not match the Hoplites saving rolls.

Seleucids on the left, Spartans on the right.

 

The hill.

 

I come off the hill, big mistake.

Here they come.

  

The crises.

Useless cavalry.

I had had one victory in close combat and these troops were the only ones left on the table. I should have stayed on the hill although I am not convinced it would have helped in the end. I had hardly won one initiative roll and this was to haunt me over the whole weekend. Rob was flushed with victory.

Round Two was Thrax's boys against Rob's Western Patrician Roman army, which contained only enough Romans to keep the name, the rest being German warbands and cavalry. I had seen this army once on a gaming weekend and was so impressed I built my own, more of that later. I had brought to the field four Legionary vexilations, Lanciarii and an Auxiliary cohort along with some cavalry and skirmishers.

Romans on the right, and Patricians on the left.

 

The Foederati advance.

Germans run.

 

Desperate fighting along the line.

Robs cavalry ride down their enemy.

Once again I probed the flanks while stretching out my heavy infantry to await the assaults from the Germans, on the left I did well apart from my cavalry once again not trying very hard, but they lasted long enough for me to clear the enemy infantry. In the centre both sides clashed, my boys held and then routed most of the warbands in hand to hand combat, I did lose one unit which was rode down by the enemy general and his bodyguard, but it was too little too late, The score was now even.

We had enough time to set up Game Three and then make a few moves, we retired around 2200 hrs having started about 9am, with breaks for lunch and dinner. This  time I used my Patricians against Rob's lovely Masai army (these he uses like a Celtic army). I had four Legions, two Auxilia Palatina (Guards) along with two large German Foederati warbands, supported by the Legates bodyguard cavalry, two units of Alan horse archers and some skirmishers. Rob had seven warbands of various sizes from small to huge.

 I decided to be aggressive on my right with the Palatina and slowly advance the rest while holding back my left, although I would throw my horse archers forward to annoy the enemy right. Things went very well and I killed off most of the tsunami of enemy skirmishers and got my right flank into a nice position. My Alans and the generals Steppe Nobles shot up two of the warbands on my left and left large gaps in the enemy units, I was feeling very chuffed with myself and my boys, then.......... 

Patricians ready.

 

The Masai muster.

Things looking good for me.

 

Then, two Legions run away, aaagh!

Lovely fanatic maidens.

The big chief.

I lost one of the German warbands and although the other smashed their opponents, twice, they managed both times to rally and still pose a threat while the victorious unit came back to sandwich the remaining Germans. I put the enemy right to flight and began to turn into the centre, the enemy Chieftan charged down into two waiting Legions, my boys held, but only just, in the next turn both of them fled having suffered nothing more than a couple of headaches. My centre had disappeared and I thought of reaching for the white flag, but my left was still in action and the horse archers were handing out devastating casualties, so much that Rob pulled back a unit from his centre and began to send it to the right. This meant I could now match him on my right with the two Palatina legions still in fighting trim. The crises now came as the Chieftan charged in with his large bodyguard against my foward legion, my boys held and put them to the sword, only one unit now remained facing my infantry while those on the my left were being whittled away by the horse archers and left open to a charge from my leaders bodyguard. Rob handed over his sword, a real nailbiter, I had gone from winning to losing and back to winning, albeit narrowly. I was two up.

The final game was with Rob's pet project The Trojan War, he brought two armies, Trojan and Egyptian, I of course immediately went for the Trojans, as Rob got both forces together I am sure his inner Hustler came out. I looked across the table and saw that I seemed to be outnumbered and had far less bowmen, Rob assured me this was not the case and the points values were the same, I am sure they were but from where I was sitting knowing absolutely nothing about both armies and the use of chariots I felt more than unsure of my skills, Rob offered and I changed sides, leaving my beloved Trojans behind.

I put chariots on both flanks along with some light troops and put the rest of my infantry in the centre with two large bow armed blocks on a hill. The Trojans put their heavy infantry on the left and extended the line to the right, chariots and light troops were again on the flanks. I decided to push the flanks while holding back the infantry. Rob also pushed his flanks but advanced his spearmen against my right and centre. After a decent fight I lost my left flank, it looked like the same was going to happen on the right as I now realised that my Egyptian chariots had one strike to the Trojan's two, in desperation I threw in a small unit of chariot outrunners these brave lads turned the tide and Hector's carts were routed and pursued, a surprise to both myself and Rob.

The Egyptians.

The Trojans.

The tide is turned.

Forward men, Trojan flank collapses.

Trojan centre collapses.

Meanwhile in the centre my bowmen unleashed hell on the advancing Trojan spearmen, the sky turned dark with arrows and one after another the spearmen units fled due to mounting casualties and bad morale throws. With the core of his army gone Rob called it a day, a very surprising win for me and a very different game to what I am used to.

What about the actual gaming, over four games I had won the initiative on maybe a handfull of turns, in a couple of instances gaining it could have been decisive, but it was not to be. Another thing which was a shame was that that time and again when routing the enemy my boys could not catch them and they got away, rallied and I had to rinse and repeat, the instance with the German warband really was a disaster. My cavalry in every battle were not up to the mark and usually ended up routing, my Bucellerii twice failed to ride down infantry to their front whom they had routed. My horse archers did very well as did the Chariot runners, the only infantry unit to win laurels was Celtae Seniores in the Patrician game, their routing of the Chieftan's guard turned the tide.

 So there we are, a great weekend of battles, real battles with more than a half dozen guys after some farmers cabbages and half a groat. I am grateful to Rob coming all the way from Bristol and being such a great opponent and guest. I have quite a bit coming up in the next month so I am not sure how much wargaming I will be able to fit in.

BEF (Bloody Execreble Firing)

First up this week was a War and Conquest game with Ed, I had decided to throw caution to the winds and field a German army while Ed again took Legio XII. The Germans as you would expect were basically warbands of average quality apart from their Nobles, but you can tool them up so that they can be devastating in the first clash of a melee as long as they charge first, this and their sheer size along with being Resilient means they are difficult to shift, at first. 

Herman the German.

 

Germans left, Thunderbolts right.

 

 I took five warbands along with a unit of Batavian Deserters from the Roman army backed up with some skirmishers, Forest Warriors and some light cavalry, Opposite Ed had three Roman cohorts, with several Auxiliary units, horse archers and cataphracts. My plan was simply to get my warbands in quick and take advantage of their first charge, I was unsure about my flanks as they looked weak. Ed struck against both flanks while placing his centre on a nearby hill. I threw my Forest Warriors against the enemy light troops on the opposite side of the wood and managed to spectacularly rout them, I now did not really need to worry about my left. On the right I lost my archers but the Roman cataphracts got carried away and attacked a warband on the nearest hill across the front of some legionaries causing some confusion, I held my cavalry back as a threat, albeit a weak one. The rest of the army plunged ahead.

My warriors in front of the Roman massed archers began to suffer from accurate fire and I prayed to the gods they would get to grips with their tormentors while there were still some left in the ranks. I got too close to the enemy centre and Ed charged, I had lost my edge, despite this my troops held and several furious melees commenced. At this stage I was just about to look for a white flag as more and more of my lads fell. As the battle progressed I began to win on my left while the right was managing to hold, the Romans were less than aggressive here. Slowly but surely the Romans gave way, apart from their Praetorians who were in a life and death struggle against some Warriors who refused to run, eventually however they did send their foes running but they were now surrounded by the enemy. Although some Roman units managed to rally the others still in combat were being worn down and it was only a matter of time before they routed too. It was all over.

The Roman centre breaks.

German nobles.

Veteran legionaries (Praetorians)

What happened.

Old guy photo bombs.

Another great game with the Germans snatching victory from defeat as Fortuna deserted Ed, he had had some excellent die rolling at the beginning but the pendulum swung against him after the first clashes. I can only conclude that after three recent defeats under different commanders the Thunderbolts need their beloved Legate back to turn the tide.

After clearing the table late that night I got up early the next day to set it up for Matt and I's first game of the Caesar's Camp campaign, it was going to be the first outing for my new British Expedionary Force. Although I had to cross some dangerous open ground to attack Hedgehog Wood with my Cameron Highlanders I was quietly confident I could do it.

I took an extra infantry squad, mortar and a Bren carrier, Matt went heavy with an MMG and an infantry gun. I deployed aggressively and was prepared to take losses as I built up my firebase, not as many as I actually did however with a full squad almost wiped out in a matter of a couple of phases. I tried putting smoke down but an end of turn got rid of it before it gave me any cover then my mortar team was wiped out. Matt's shooting was deadly, mine completely ineffective although I did manage to break a squad Matt had pushed into the open in his rush to get at mine.

Lt. Cameron with the papers.

Wait for it lads, waaait.

British armour turns up.

I got my second mortar on and built up a wall of smoke to silence his MMG and infantry gun, this left me with three squads firing on his two in the woods. At one point I shot 52 dice and got 1 shock on the enemy as a result, it left me in shock, return fire when it came cut down two Junior Leaders and one Senior, my morale fell, I was getting nowhere, I could not even make the Germans suffer as this platoon could be used again later in the campaign. There was a broken down British staff car with secret papers on the road so I beat the Jerries to it with my Bren carrier to get something from the disaster, this allows me a full Chain of Command dice in Scenario 3.

German killing machines.

Something wrong with our bullets today.

British leaders hit the deck.

Taxi for Lt. Cameron?

I cannot lie about it but I was very frustrated by the turn of events, my shooting had no effect whatsoever against the troops on the edge of the wood while the return fire cut me up, there were times Matt missed but on the whole he was cooking with gas. All the scenarios have the British on the back foot and having to cross open ground to get at the Jerries, I am not yet down hearted, it is too early for that and know that newly painted troops never have a decent introduction to the table but I do need them to buck up. Despite all this a good morning's wargaming with a good opponent who never made a mistake, on the other hand I fare better with a spear than a Lee Enfield it would seem.

Another bundle from mate Matt Smith arrived yesterday, completely out of the blue, five Dutch buildings suitable for Arnhem scenarios if TFL ever get around to releasing said book, also of course simply to fill up the table, so no hanging up of the brushes quite yet. Two small packages which I did know about turned up today, some pikemen to upgrade two phalanx's and some Romans to upgrade Legio XII's first cohort.

I had some spare time so popped into Waterstone's in Kendal while the Memsahib was busy and treated myself to a bit of light reading, a history of Rasputin and his affect on Russia and a 2,000 year old best seller, The Aenid, I have read The Illiad and The Odyssey of course, several times but never the follow up. Big fan of the Trojans.

Couple of possible games on for next week, I also have an appointment with my surgeon, other people have lawyers. I still need to get back to the Italian Wars even if only solo.