This Sunday we played Chain of Command 2 for the first time at the club. The scenario was Operation Market Garden, the Renkum Heath probe. Daniel S and Andy S had a platoon of British airborne with two 6 pound anti tank guns, a Vickers MMG and a Piat team in support. Howard and Paul B had four sections of Germans in two small platoons, a pair of Panzer IVs and an MMG in support. The British held a tree line with a road running through it while the 

Germans had a tree line at their table edge with a farm house and hedge line towards the centre of the table. The objective being for the Germans was to get one tank off the British table edge.

The game kicked off and a 6 pounder geo shooting at a single tank, shocking it but not delivering a knock out blow. A line of Brits presented themselves as a bunched target which carries a lot of risk but shares the effect of any shooting on them. The second 6 pounder appeared and took out the tank in one shot blocking the road. A Chain of Command die was used to negate the morale check. Gradually, British casualties mounted up but no killer blow was delivered. The game was then called a British victory declared.

A great game where questions were bought up, but didn’t stifle the game. The rules have been tidied up and with some great new nuances - a big one is spending pips and not a whole Chain of Command die as one example.

My thanks to Dave K, John L and especially Charles Stevens for helping me test out my home brew modifications to Commands & Colors Ancients, to cover the English Civil War. Extremely useful and necessary  in reminding me of the rules basics, ironing out the kinks in my modifications and determining whether I need to paint any further figures. We played through two test games for my "Adwalton Moor" scenario, and as often happens with Commands & Colors, the game played out broadly similar in outline to the historical battle.  Well, Parliament won both times but the manouvres and strategies of the armies were quite similar.

The first game went down to the wire.  Activation is dependent on cards in this game, and for a crucial period Charles' royalists were unable to get their pike blocks moving in the centre allowing me to blast away at them with my muskets. When he did make contact he did considerable damage, but not quite enough to deprive me of that final winning victory point.

The second game devolved into a messy, jumbled cavalry and infantry melee in the centre, with John L as the Royalists getting some very bad, statistically unlikely dice rolls, giving Charles (now playing as the roundheads) a fairly easy victory.

Now looking forward to taking the game to Joy of Six, this time using flocked terrain hexes rather than a paper board, with assistance from Dave K.

This was a game in 10mm scale in which a British/Hanoverian army, commanded by Jim, attacked a French force under the control of Neil W. It was a generic scenario, not following any particular historic event, in which the objective for the attacking side was to seize control of a strategically significant river crossing and hold it until the end of the game. This was Jim's first exposure to the Maurice rules and so the game was very much treated as a training exercise for both players.

The Allied army launched the bulk of its mounted troops against the French left wing but they were unable to make much progress and ultimately were repelled by the French horse. The Allied infantry in support did, however, achieve much better results, inflicting heavy losses on the French foot soldiers and driving the French artillery from the field. By the use of many rallying rolls, the French general managed to stabilise the line but great pressure continued to be exerted by the determined Allied units as their Commander-in-Chief brought forward his reserves,

At the end of the day, the French force had been reduced to an Army Morale score of seven and the Allies were reduced to ten. However, the bridge remained in French hands and so the result was a draw.

India 1757.

Rules: ‘Sepoys & Soldiers’, by Brian Cameron. Players: Clive & John F.

John had a  ‘British’ force comprising, one King’s Regiment, plus 2 European and 2 Native Regiments of Hon. East India Company troops, 2 light guns, and some Naval crew. They took on a considerably larger Bengali  army under control of Clive. The Bengalis also had the help of a French East India Company Regiment of Foot. (Surprisingly the French EIC often wore red).

The Indian/French forces consisted of some 6 regiments of cavalry on each wing, huge artillery pieces on the hills, and a centre of matchlock men, camel gunners and rocketeers. The elephants, although looking fearsome, were mainly deemed to be command platforms.

Repeated Indian cavalry charges were, in the main repulsed by steady volleys of musketry. One cavalry unit that did charge home was brought to a halt in the melee, with both parties left disorganised and dishevelled. The artillery all around was ineffectual as were the haphazard flights of the rockets. The Naval crews took shelter in some ancient ruins and are still there we believe. It is said that British Officials are trying to form an alliance with one of the local Indian Princes, the lack of cavalry being all too obvious.

At this meeting we did another playtest of the Twilight ACW rules but we upscaled from last time. We still had 2 players per side but with about twice the amount of troops, we again used the units at Gettysburg. Andrew W and Stuart M commanded the Union troops. The Union had 5 Corps, 1st, 3rd, 6th, 11th and 12th, plus 3 army artillery reserve (AAR) battalions and a Cavalry Corps of 5 brigades under the command of Meade. Of these 4 Corps and 2 AAR battalions started on table with the 12th Corps, the remaining AAR battalion and the cavalry arriving during the battle. The Confederates were commanded by Mike and Ross. They had 2 large Corps, Ewell's and Hill's, and a Cavalry Division of 3 brigades all under the command of Lee. As with the US the cavalry would arrive during the game.

The US were defending and we were using a big table. From left to right the US had 6th, 1st, 3rd and then 11th Corps. The CS placed Hill's Corps against the 6th and 1st Corps. The bulk of Hill's Corps were facing the US 6th Corps, the worst in the army, with the US 1st Corps just being screened. Ewell's Corps did similar but in a more even way - i.e. the weight of the Corps faced the 11th US Corps. In effect the CS plan was to pin the US forces and do a large attack on the US left flank and a smaller attack on the right flank. This attack on the US right was soon transformed into a major attack as the CS cavalry arrived in a perfect place to reinforce the attack on the right.

Reacting to the above the US 6th Corps immediately retreated to avoid being outflanked & pulled back behind the 1st Corps and guarding it's open flank. The opposing CS troops followed these and eventually had to angle into mainly attack 1st Corps. On the other flank the US 11th Corps also started to pull back as it became clear they were also going to be outflanked, particularly when the CS cavalry arrived. Because of the cavalry and the smaller infantry threat this withdraw was less drastic than on the other flank.

The above meant that both sides spent a considerable period manoeuvring. It also meant that the main fighting took some time to develop. As mentioned the attack on the US left developed into an attack mainly on the US 1st Corps which they were losing when we ended the game but the US 12th Corps had just arrived in that area and so things were still in the balance. On the other flank the presence of the CS cavalry helped pin the retreating US 11th Corps more and so the CS foot and cavalry here soon had the advantage. But the remaining CS foot in this area foolishly, as it turned out, attacked the US 3rd Corps and was getting the worst of things. With the US 11th Corps in danger of collapsing the US cavalry arrived 'in the nick of time' as is traditional, in Hollywood at least. The US cavalry in effect covered the 11th Corps and stabilised this front. 

At this point we ran out of time with no clear winner in sight.

Congo, Darkest Africa 1880.

Rules: ‘Death on the Dark Continent’, by C. Peers. Players: Clive, Billy & John F.

As the paddle boat approached, the locals fled their village for the surrounding jungle. They needed to know what they were up against. Some 50 plus Zanzibaris were looking for food, ivory and captives. Neighbouring villagers were sent for as it was thought there was a good chance of defeating these invaders.

Billy took control of the Zanzibaris who quickly spread out around the village in an attempt to block the entrance pathways. Clive took charge of the natives approaching from the east and John those from the west.

Native reinforcements arrived from both the north and along the river. Whilst the gun aboard the boat held up the native dugout canoes, they were unable to stem the steady influx on warriors along the various paths. After some initial casualties and obvious hesitation, the warriors finally overcame the Zanzibaris, inflicting more than 50% casualties. Last heard of, some Zanzibaris were trying to make good their escape. The boat? The captain had long since up-anchored and headed downstream.

At this meeting we play tested the new rules in the Twilight series, Twilight of the Confederacy, for the American Civil War. The battle was a 'what if' encounter between Ewell's Confederate Corps under the command of John Hand two Union Corps, the 1st and 11th, under Andrew W. The Union also had 2 artillery brigades from the reserve artillery marching to the battle who would arrive as reinforcements.

The Union forces were on the defensive with the experienced 1st Corps on the left and the largely green 11th Corps on the right. The Confederate forces entered the table in two groups. Early's division was detached and moved towards the 11th Corp while the other two Confederate divisions advanced against the US 1st Corps. 

The Confederates advanced quickly and engaged their opponents. On the Confederate left the isolate Early's division just moved into range and started a firefight across the stream the US 11th Corps was defending. On the other flank the main Confederate force was more aggressive and pressed forward into contact with a Rebel Yell. Unfortunately the initial Confederate attack on both flanks achieved little at first. As both sides adjusted their lines the advantage slowly shifted to the Confederates as numerous units in the Union line started to crumble. With no sign of the Union reserve artillery the Union commander decided it was time to be more aggressive.

The 11th Corps was in a better shape and had the advantage of numbers. Therefore, it attempted to cross over the stream it was previously defending and attack Early's units. This proved difficult to do for the mainly green 11th Corps but eventually they managed it. This soon proved an effective move as they started causing the Confederates casualties. The destruction of CS artillery covering their left flank meant the Confederates here were struggling to stay in the fight. The battle here was still close as the Confederates had the better of the opening exchanges, while the US counter attack more than restored the balance. Soon the Early's Confederates were desperately hanging on.

Meanwhile the 1st Corps was in a worse state and only launched a limited attack to try to take advantage of disruption in the Confederate lines. This had some success but also exposed the attacking units. These soon fell to the Confederate response and also a gap opened up further down the line. With other Union units on their last legs the end seemed near but the Confederates were to be frustrated for quite some time by last ditch defensive effort of their opponents. Yet the gallant efforts of the remaining units of the 1st Corps were only delaying the inevitable and eventually they had enough to take 'army morale' tests which they failed and so started to withdraw. Ironically the Union reserve artillery had finally arrived, just in time to cover the retreat of the rest of the army.

With the 1st Corps retreating from the battle the Union had technically lost. Yet their extended resistance had bought enough time for the 11th Corps to nearly defeat Early's division. So with a little time in hand we did the next turn after the defeat of the 1st Corps and the Union army to see if  the 11th Corps could win their fight. In the following turn the did enough to force Early to take an 'army morale' test which they failed and so the 11th Corps could at least claim victory on their sector.

It was a good game and a good play test of a set of rules still in development. The rules work well generally but the game did throw up somethings that need to be addressed. 

From Pete: - Andy and I played Iron Cross on Sunday last. Written to provide an alternative to FoW it has a sister set "7 Days To The Rhine" which covers a 1980-90 WW3. The Mongolian War in '39 is quite fun with loads of tanks and cavalry (more of both on the Soviet side). Videos on YouTube. We both started with an infantry advance and held our tanks in reserve. Terrain in Mongolia is virtually non-existent so all we had was a small village in the centre surrounded by low scrub areas - representing dips and folds. As expected, there was lots of  long range fire and lost two units as I advanced over open ground. Our reserves mostly arrived on Turn 3 - 4 x T-26 and a BT-5 for me, and 3 tanks for the Japanese. In a brief exchange I lost 2 x T-26 but knocked out all 3 Japanese tanks. The Jap ATG then took out my BT-5.

My advance gained me 3 out of 4 objectives and briefly contested the 4th, but I was bleeding troops all over the place. Japanese infantry are hard to shift, especially in cover, but their fondness for that cover made it difficult to advance. The coup-de-grace was the arrival of my armoured car squadron. Despite only having tinplate armour and a machine gun they advanced around the hill on the opposite side of the table and killed one Japanese unit which prevented them from claiming the 4th objective.

We wrapped up at 6.00 with the Soviets holding 3 objectives but having taken significantly more casualties. The outcome was not unlike the real 39 war. Josef S would probably have been pleased.

From Andy: - Pete and I played another game of “Iron Cross” this time in Mongolia in 1938  - Russians (Pete) vs Japanese (me).Terrain was a bit sparse but we had 4 objectives on a diagonal.

The Russians had more vehicles and were quite aggressive, but the fanatical Japanese infantry proved hard to shift. Pete lost more troops but had 3 of the objectives at the end of turn 7 (1800 ish). We called it a narrow Russian victory!

Harry and Gordon got together to fight another game of Midguard, this time matching Saxons against Picts. More than that I cannot say as, regrettably, all information on this engagement has been lost to history. If the original documents turn up, I will rectify this omission.

Set at some point during the Seven Years War this scenario involved Austrian and Prussian armies in 10mm scale. Bryan, Keith and Wyn commanded the Prussians while Karl and Neil were in control of the Austrian force. The objective for the Austrian generals was to enter four corps on two roads located on their friendly table edge and drive a path through the Prussian centre to exit on the enemy's table edge. A river running across the field and a centrally placed urban area provided useful defensive terrain for Frederick's army.

The Austrian commanders faced major problems in deploying their troops due to lack of space and the slowness of the advance allowed the Prussians to launch their own attack on the enemy's right wing and centre. The urban area was fiercely contested until the Austrian infantry finally evicted the stout Prussian defenders. Meanwhile, on the Austrian left, the cavalry eventually got into position to charge enemy foot soldiers but were bloodily repulsed. 

Sadly, we ran out of time to get a decisive result but it looked as though the Austrians would fail to achieve their objective  - their progress was too slow and the defenders too resolute.

Gordon and Nick got together to fight a small action in the First World War involving Austrian and Russian troops. They were using 28mm figures from Gordon's collection. I also assume that they were using the 'CoCking Up the Mud and the Blood' variant of the Chain of Command rules. In the scenario, Gordon's task was to clear a trench full of Austrian defenders. This he was able to achieve by his squads using all the available cover and throwing grenades as soon as they got close enough.

Location: Middle East 1917.

Rules: ‘Contemptible Little Armies’. 

Players: Charles & John F.

The morning game was based loosely on 2nd Battle of Gaza, when ‘British’ troops led by Charles used tanks in an attempt to knockout Turkish/German positions. Seven tanks, backed-up by large infantry formations rumbled forward across fairly open desert. The unreliable tanks, together with Turkish artillery fire accounted for 5 of the 7 lumbering giants. The two remaining tanks decided to return to their own lines. The infantry without mechanised support also returned to their own lines.  Pretty much as happened in real life.

The afternoon game was the assault on Beersheba. This was an attempt to outflank/by-pass Gaza and seize the wells in the town. Charles led the Australian Light Horse in a head-long (sometimes!) dash up the slopes of the recently harvested fields, towards the entrenched Turks. Despite taking heavy casualties during the approach, once ‘under the guns’ the ALH managed to reach the trenches and head for the three wells. Two were captured intact, and one well was destroyed before the Aussies could capture it. Again similarities to ‘real life’,  although casualties on this occasion were considerably more.

Force on Force Operation Gothic Serpent.

On Sunday I organised our biggest game to date of Force on Force, our take on Black Hawk Down. This was only our fourth game with the rules so with a nod to Oriskany Jim of the Sitrep podcast, the QRS sheets he sent me and his two part video on You Tube he posted up we were ready. Also. many thanks to Stuart S and Howard for the extra figures and scenery they bought along as we had a 12x4' table to fill with buildings, less the last 18 inches showing the city limits.

Paul was appointed Somali National Alliance Commander and Howard and Daniel S were his lieutenants. Stu and Mark were Task Force Ranger commanders and the scenario kicked off just as the high value targets were loaded onto to the road convoy ready for the three mile drive back to the US airbase. A slow start and then the shooting started everywhere while in other parts Somalis were amassing and standing by. The Somalis were wiped out in droves, but every turn more we were answering the call to the fight in reserve. Mostly the Somali shooting was no match for the Americans but wrong turns were modelled in for the US player, making progress really slow. Then Howard took out the lead Hummer in the road convoy and Paul staged some ambushes which slowed the American advance up the table. At that point I explained a Blackhawk had been bought down in their sector to increase the jeopardy for both sides 

There were survivors and the Americans deployed their only combat search and rescue bird. A crew of 14 Deltas, Rangers and pars jumper paramedics were set down away from the crash site on some sort of bizarre park and ride. The aircrew were jumped and wiped out, less one pilot who was taken alive (a national shame for the Americans). Then, a vicious fire fight took off where the search and rescue team were situated. More American casualties were taken and another American was captured alive. Howard took out another Hummer out, not helped by the fact that the task force ranger took another wrong turn. Paul then coordinated all three Somali players to mass against an American unit which was overwhelmed when it ran out of dice and Daniel at the right time rolled some signature excellent dice.

By now we took stock of the game and called it - a bloodbath on both sides. If we had carried on I think the road convoy would have had to try and laager up and defend itself from a static place and call for external help to extricate themselves. A great game on a great looking table with virtually all of it done from fresh since Christmas and came to fruition with a week to go when I made 52 feet of wall with foamboard. Lessons were learned as it was only the fourth game. More rules questions rolled in which was inevitable. Perhaps we should have had civilian mobs on the table to create more uncertainty.

By games end we had: - 

106 Somalis KIA 

Two destroyed technicals 

Task Force Ranger had 

5 KIA 

2 aircrew KIA 

2 Prisoners of war 1 aircrew 1 Ranger 

3 Task Force Ranger seriously wounded

2 Hummers destroyed 

Thanks again to all for taking part.

Kings of War - Halflings Hard At It.

My Halflings had a busy time with two battles in one day at Holt this Sunday. The first was against Darren's Forces of Nature and the second against Maurice and James with their Empire of Rhordia.

First off, my lads decided to go and chop down some trees. Darren has been painting recently at his army is getting even more dangerous. His hordes of Naiads, Air, Fire and Water Elementals are backed by Greater Fire and Water Elementals, Druids, Scorchwings and that blasted Owl Bear and Unicorn. On my right his fliers ground mine down before turning on my tough centre where his equally tough hordes had been trading blow for blow. On my left his Naiads, supported by the Owl Bear had happily neutralised my Harvesters and Lancer. 

We were playing the Dominate scenario that gives victory to the general with the most unit strength in the centre and the game was pretty much summed up when his Owl Bear shrugged off a rear charge by my Lancers to slam into the rear of my Stalwarts who were battling against his Air Elementals & Great Fire. With my Trolls & Stalwarts gone and my Harvesters bouncing off his Naiad horde it was all over in pretty short order. We won't be going down to those woods again today.

Then the Rhordians appeared on the Shire border. They deployed with their infantry and artillery on my left opposite my Poachers, heavy infantry and Harvesters while on my right my troll horde, flying grenadiers and light cavalry lancers faced down three regiments of Rhordian Knights and the Steam Tank. The canons threw a blinder on the first turn, nearly routing my Poachers who usually neutralise them with their skirmishing. I had to commit the flying Captain to take out the Volley Gun, but it meant he wasn't on the other flank where I ended up having to trade my Trolls for a unit of Knights and then watch his Steam Tank and remaining Knights smash my Iron Beast, lancers and grenadiers.

In the centre my Harvesters and the Greedyguts took out his Halberdiers and Guard hordes while my Stalwarts weathered charges from two regiments of Guards and then ground them down before just holding off a charge by James' Knights. Their survival was crucial, as was James throwing a double one against a shattered Harvester, as these two managed to break their weary attackers on the last turn to leave the Shire free once more.

This was a large scale 6mm battle using the 'Fire and Fury' rules variant developed by Nick and others at the club several years ago. The scenario was a recreation of a historical battle but I am unable to be specific about which one. The action commenced in the morning with Andy W and Ross playing the roles of the opposing generals but later in the afternoon they were joined by Stuart M. The result remains shrouded in mystery.

This game was a recreation (in 6mm scale) of the famous precursor to the Battle of Waterloo, fought on 16th June 1815. All the equipment was supplied by John L, including a superb battle mat depicting the terrain of the actual location and he also devised the scenario for the game. John, in partnership with Andy J, was commanding the Allied forces, Daniel M and Neil W were in charge of the French. The French order of battle included the Guard but, under the rules, if they were deployed on table the best result the generals could hope for was a draw. The French high command, therefore, determined to keep the Guard in reserve.

Units on both sides entered the table edge according to a pre-arranged timetable. The French cavalry got into action quickly and had some early success but the Allied horse was able to rally and drive them off. Ney's infantry pressed on with the attack but stout defending by their Allied counterparts blunted their advance. At the end of the day, Wellington's forces held the field.

Many thanks to John for an intriguing and enjoyable game.

Nick organised and provided the resources for a game set during the Thirty Years War in which a Protestant army commanded by Billy gave battle to a Catholic force led by Jon. It was a close contest but the soldiers fighting for the Papacy eventually came out on top.

We played "Going after the Money" from Day of the Rangers Supplement for Ambush Alley/Osprey Games Force on Force rules. Thanks to Howard, John F, Stuart S, Kevin T and Daniel S for taking part.

The scenario was a raid centred on abducting Atto, the accountant of the Habr Gidr Clan leader Lieutenant Mohammed Farrah Aidid. The mission started with Atto`s car being disabled and he and his bodyguard hiding in a nearby garage. The Somali National Army came from random locations with  an angry mobs of Somalis also coming to his aid. Two Delta teams go in and breach the garage to capture him with two Chalks of Task Force Rangers operating as blocking forces to enable the Deltas to complete their task.

As the game kicked off the Rangers are dropped on roof tops to cover the ground below and the Deltas take fire from opposing Somalis. Atto then bolts from the garage and they are all cut down in a hail of fire. Many Somalis are cut down by the Rangers with some US casualties being dished out. Even with a constant wave of Somali reinforcements they cannot level the playing field. The Deltas go to Atto`s location and all his bodyguards are killed in action.

All in all a very good game. The Somalis are hard to control, balanced by being "hopped up" on Khat a locally grown drug, and high morale make them very quirky to use. The Task Force Rangers and Deltas can issue a huge amount of firepower and interrupt/challenge most Somali fire. The rules are very enjoyable and playable with a great dice mechanic where the "it`s the man not the gun" principle applies. The actions and reaction system is also a  very good rule as well.

Shame the rules were dropped by Osprey Games as they are an excellent set.

Today we played POW based on the infamous Hicks Pasha expedition of 1883. Long story short, Hicks lost - again. The Egyptians started OK, with a reasonably quick advance. The 2nd brigade (centre column) was ambushed and lost one unit immediately. The 1st and 3rd pressed on as more Mahdists emerged from cover. The artillery unlimbered and gave effective support, dispersing at least two units while the 1st Brigade deployed into line. Meanwhile the 2nd Brigade was being chewed up and the 3rd was pushing down the right flank.

At this point things went badly wrong. While trying to avoid the collapsing 2nd Brigade, the limbered Artillery was caught by Mahdist cavalry and routed, and at about the same time three (!) 1s for the Mahdists and a couple of Egyptian 20s produced a cascade of fails that routed several units and the Egyptian army collapsed.

At least the outcome was historically correct .....Many thanks to John H for putting on the game. 

Here is an alternative, poetic account from Bob: -

What he means is that the Egyptian Keffers, led by their infidel officers, marched their worthless carcasses into the lands of the blessed Mahdi. While they blundered blindly, Allah and the Prophet (peace be upon Him) guided the feet of the faithful through the scrub and wild places, where only goats and the Righteous may pass. In no time the keffer were marching into the trap prepared for them by the Holy One.  

Soon from the left of the column lamentations rose into the heavens. Like a thunderbolt the true warriors of the Prophet (Peace etc) fell upon the unbelievers. They were driven before the spears like sheep before wolves.  A column of the craven attempted to escape the trap but they were fallen upon and devoured, as the sands of the desert devours water spilt upon it. Finally the trap closed, the final bands of the faithful falling upon the frail line of the last of the Egyptians. As the sandstorm obliterates the path, so the Egyptians withered before the storm of holy spears. 

Allah gave victory to his people, the Prophet (peace be upon Him) guided the hands of his warriors, the Mahdi directed the thoughts of the commanders and the unrighteous were cleansed from the land. Or something like that.

Harry, using his 28mm figures, laid on a game of Saga medieval for Jim who had not played the game before and wanted to try it out. As this was an introductory 'training' exercise it would be inappropriate to reveal the result of the encounter but I hope Jim enjoyed it regardless of the result.

This is a set of fantasy rules that hasn't appeared at the club for a very long time and it was good to see them in play once more. I know little about the rules themselves except that they were written by Rick Priestly about twenty-five years ago and that Games Workshop stopped supporting them in 2012. This game was played using Paul B's collection of figures and his opponent was Andrew T who was also making his first appearance at the club. I have no idea what went on in the game but Andrew posted on the club Facebook page that he had enjoyed the session and let's hope there will be many more.

Pete (Soviet), Gordon and I (German) played a 1941 game of “Iron Cross”.  The terrain layout was quite symmetrical with 4 objectives along the centreline. It was the first time we’d used the rules and we chose different approaches. Pete aimed to degrade our command & control by inflicting damage on lots of different units. Gordon and I tried to inflict lots of damage on specific units to make them rout.

Result ? A very close game, with a marginal German win - after a recount - but neither side was near to outright collapse.

Did we like the rules? Yes, a bit lightweight but quick to play and simple mechanisms. We’ll be using them again - you get to use a lot more stuff than Chain of Command or Bolt Action if you use early war stuff.

Comments from Pete: -

For a first game with a new ruleset it was definitely a good game. We got a few things wrong but as Andy said, it is a good game. If you have models for Flames of War the transfer is seamless, but you don't end up with edge to edge tanks and 150mm guns lining your start line.

Myself and John L had another enjoyable session of Command and Colours using John's excellent hex terrain.

Our first battle was early Imperials Romans (me) versus Britons (John). A  fairly decisive Celtic victory thanks to their clever use of light chariots to get around my two cavalry units and cut off their line of retreat (disastrous under these rules, especially for cavalry). 

Our second battle was a Roman civil war engagement and the scene of a rare, if not unique, victory of myself over John, though it did go right down to the line. Our legionaries  and auxiliaries took it in turns to knock chunks out of each other with their high number of attack dice.  I had to wait several turns before I got the cards I needed to launch an offensive against John's left flank, but eventually made good use of the "Mounted Charge" card to neutralise his elite heavy cavalry. Other than that it was largely a case of our heavy infantry bashing each other until one side obtained the required number of VPs.

This was a large scale 28mm game with superb figures and terrain provided by John F. Joining him were Clive and Paul E. The game was based on the 'Loose Files and American Scramble' set of  American War of Independence rules by Andy Callan which first appeared in Wargames Illustrated magazine in September 1987 and are now available on this website here. I am assuming that the variations were devised by John. Unfortunately, I have no further information on the conduct and outcome of the battle. It did look nice, though.

This game was loosely based on the Battle of Fontenoy with a few liberties taken with the orders of battle for both sides. Charles was in command of the French forces who were defending and Neil W was leading the British/Hanoverian troops were attempting to cut the enemy's main line of communication. The figure scale was 10mm.

The Allied plan was to hold the left wing near the river and occupy the attention of as many French units as possible while the right flank (spearheaded by massed cavalry and supporting infantry) advanced to roll up the French left wing and centre. The canny French general positioned his units well back which meant it took a long time for the British to get into contact on their right while on the left an intense musketry duel took place with many units on both sides breaking and fleeing the field. At last the Allied cavalry charged in but were unable to force the issue with the French giving as good as they got.

By the time night fell the result was technically a draw but the French had more army morale points than their opponents and their line of communication had not been threatened, so the moral victory was theirs.

At this meeting we played 3 games of the To The Strongest! Ancients rules. The games were from across the period covered by these rules. 

The first of these chronologically saw Ross commanding a Hittite Empire army fighting against Stuart M's Neo Assyrians - basically a clash of lots of chariots. Ross's numerically superior force eventually overcame the tougher, but outnumbered, Assyrians. 

This was a large scale (in every respect) recreation of desert warfare in North Africa circa 1943. The figures and vehicles all came from Billy's extensive collection and were a mixture of 1/35 and 1/32 scale. The rules were also of Billy's invention and it was, I think, the first time they have appeared on a club day. Billy's opponent was Clive and although I am sure that both players had a very enjoyable time, I am unable to report on the progress and outcome of the battle.

Daniel, Howard and I are novices at Barons' War but gave it an outing for the first time in nearly a year. We had a 500 point band each, all on foot and our objectives were the church and hall in a sleepy village 

The game started with my archers who got behind a wall and started shooting Howard off the table with Legolas accuracy. In fact I thought they were Elves! Then we clashed and after much fighting Howard folded. Daniel had a few nibbles out of Howard. Howard’s mad monks slaughtered a unit of Daniel's crossbowmen who were caught crossing a stream before he conceded. Then, with my force, me and Daniel fought and he came out on top and took the day.

It was great fun but we missed out quite a few rules which would have made it more challenging. There are a lot of weapon traits and unit traits which need to be understood to use your troops to best effect.

This was the first time this year that Harry and John L met to contest another engagement in the New World using the Tricorne supplement to the Commands and Colours rules. They were also joined by Jon P who may have been playing the game for the first time. Who was victorious remains a mystery.

Bryan, Charles, Neil W and Wyn continued their exploration of 18th Century warfare using the Fire and Fury rules first tried out earlier in the year. This time the 10mm figures were supplied by Bryan (Prussian and Austrian armies) and the terrain was provided by Neil. 

In the game we made much more progress than we managed in our previous dabble with rules and got more comfortable about the firing and morale mechanisms but once again we were unable to reach a decisive conclusion to the action. I think we will have to wait until the next 'all-dayer' to get a full experience of the Fire and Fury rules.

Gordon, Harry and I played a first game of Midgard yesterday in 28mm. Fairly straightforward, an open field set up as my Vikings, led by the Thrud Brothers, faced a slightly larger number of Anglo-Saxons under Alfred. (350 pts each).

To our pleasant surprise the game flowed very easily almost from the start. Heroes charged into action, and some died. Solid, dependable spearmen faced down raiders with mixed weapons, skirmishers twanged away with limited effect and hard-bitten Huscarls cut down their lesser foes. In the end the Vikings won handily but everyone enjoyed it.

It's definitely a fun game that was very easy to pick up, and having the downloadable playsheet to hand certainly helped. After the first couple of moves, the rulebook was only needed to check details, not the main flow of the game. I'd definitely recommend it

Kill Team is a 'stand-alone' skirmish game from the makers of Warhammer 40K which allows players to recruit specialised teams with the aim of exterminating their opponents in a designated 'kill zone'. Dave and his son Mitch were the two commanders and I think I am right in saying that this was their first appearance at the club. Dave is well known to many members of the club because of his close association with the Alumwell Wargames club and his many appearances at the West Midlands Military Show where he has participated in many demonstration games. We hope to see much more of both of them at future club events.

In this game, set in the 19th Century with 25mm figures, the Turkish Army met the Russians in battle, using the long established Principles of War rules by Tom Penn. The participants were Bob, Graham, John D, John H and Ray. I have little to impart on how the engagement was fought, except to advise that the Turks, despite killing many enemy commanders, were unable to overcome the Russian forces and consequently the Tsar was very pleased. 

However, I must report a baffling incident which took place midway through the game when the Russian commanders suddenly put on fake beards and each of the Turkish generals donned a fez, or other equally ludicrous headgear. If anyone can provide a motive for this strange behaviour without casting doubt on the sanity of the participants, I would be very interested to hear from you.

On this Club Sunday Stuart S umpired Howard and me playing out our Alumwell game, which is an Operation Barbarossa pre-Stalingrad battle. In the scenario, Howard was holding a ridge line, forested and with defensive positions, with a mish mash of inexperienced Russian troops and regular supports. He also had armour in the back field on the reverse of the ridge. Meanwhile, I had two platoons of infantry with a company HQ, six tanks (Panzer IIIL’s and Panzer IVD’s), air and artillery support and two sections of mechanised veteran pioneers with a flame thrower each. There was also a very small recon force to approach the rear of the table. There were four positions for the Germans to take, three positions on the ridge line and a ford in the back field 

A steady advance rolled up on the Russians, taking casualties in the assault. Then an airstrike took out an anti tank gun which saved some of the casualties it could have doled out. As the Germans got closer to the ridge a vicious fire fight broke out and then the pioneers de-bussed and advanced up the ridge entering into melee. The recon squad came on from the back and a SdKfz 222 armoured car took out s T26 tank which in the next turn was itself destroyed. All in all a great game well umpired by Stuart and well played by Howard with mixed troop qualities.

Bolt Action v3 definitely allows for big games. There are some odd rules here and there but they definitely feel streamlined.

Pete's thoughts: -

Andy and I tried out a two game micro campaign today - July 41, somewhere in the Soviet Union.

Game 2, book scenario 1. Despite a reasonable start, my ability to get my officers shot was my downfall. Along with my opponent's ability to drop hand grenades into my open topped BA-20 a/c. BOOM ! Once I had withdrawn, we had lunch outside in the sunshine.

We did a "End of Day" routine in which both sides were reinforced, and for game 2 I was defending in scenario 3. This was a much more cautious game. I was seriously down in sytength but I thought my T-26 would be an important factor. In fact it spent most of the game hiding from a Stug III and an ATR. I finally conceded when my T-26, with its 45mm main gun already disabled, was immobilised with 3 pins in the open in front of the Stug

A good day of gaming as always and thanks to Andy for a couple of excellent games.

Andy J's thoughts: -

We did indeed play 2 games :-

Game 1 was fairly evenly matched lists with both sides starting their scouting markers (?) on the same side of the table. Not promising but we managed to spread the JOP's across most of the table. I wasn't really sure why but this was an easy game for the Germans (me), with the highlight being grenade attacks on a Russian open topped armoured car. Zero from 5 at the first attempt, but the Russians (Pete) failed to throw a 3 so the AC didn't move and the Germans got 2 grenades into it at the second attempt. It promptly blew up, sadly killing a German infantryman as well as the crew.  End result German Morale score 9, Russian Morale score 0!

Game 2  The Germans now had a Stug III and another mortar (which ran out of ammo before it did any damage!).  Once again the Germans triumphed - I think this time it was clear that the German command structure with lots of teams gave them a huge edge over the rather clunky Russians. The gunner in the Stug couldn't hit a barn door let alone the Russian's light tank but a gallant anti-tank rifle crew eventually got rid of the very persistent T26.  The Germans ability to fire teams as well as squads eventually meant the Russians run out of troops and Pete threw in the towel with his Morale on 3 and the Germans on 7. The Russians simply run out of infantry but still had 4 or 5 officers and NCO's! The Germans had lost about a third of the infantry by the end.

This game was a variation of the 'patrol' scenario in the Chain of Command rule book. A British and a German platoon, both at full strength, had each received orders to seize and control a church, positioned centrally on the table, while denying access to the enemy. Mike, the British officer, chose as his supports an M4 Sherman and a Bren Carrier with a four man team. Charles, the German commander, selected a heavy machine gun team, a sniper and an Adjutant as his supports. Neil W was the umpire.

In the patrol phase the Brits managed to get their jump-off points closer to the church than did the Germans and this gave them a significant advantage in deployment as they were able to enter the grounds almost immediately, helped by their superior force morale. Exchanges of fire took place at the German troops moved cautiously forward and Mike's almost miraculous dice throwing took a severe toll on Charles' squads. The Sherman then made an appearance and started to inflict more damage. At this point, Charles decided to use a Chain of Command die to set an ambush with a Panzerschreck team but, unluckily for him, the shot missed. 

With the British now firmly established in the church and Mike continuing to roll excellent dice, the German force morale started to ebb away. However, the forces of the Third Reich pressed on and Charles, having obtained a second Chain of Command die, repeated the Panzerschreck ambush. This time the team successfully hit the front of the tank but Mike's remarkable run of fine dice continued and instead of the Sherman being knocked out (as should have been the case), Mike's saving rolls meant that the vehicle merely took some shock and was only temporarily immobilised. After this, the fortunes of the Germans rapidly declined and the British were left in possession of the objective.

After the game, Charles expressed regret that he had not chosen armour as one of his support choices but I think it would have made little difference. The way Mike was rolling his dice he would have probably seen off a platoon of Panthers.

The third Chain of Command game of the day, this was a single 28mm scenario played during the afternoon, in which Gordon supplied all the equipment and also acted as umpire. Daniel M and Luke were the commanders of the two forces in opposition but I must admit I do not know who was the Republican leader and who was Nationalist general. Neither can I provide an account of the game or its eventual outcome. I am hoping that this information embargo will soon be lifted.

The 10-7 Games Day at Hallow gave my New Model Halflings the chance to squeeze in two battles, the first against Darren's newly-painted Forces of Nature and the second against Maurice's League of Rhordia gun line. We were meant to use Command Dice with our games, but forgot about them after the very first turn roll. Hey ho!

I had my centre made up of Stalwarts supported by Poacher bows, the Greedyguts, Spearspikes, Braves and a Sauceror. These are flanked by two Harvesters, the Iron Beast and a horde of Forest Trolls. Then the further flanks are covered by Wild Lancer troops, another Sauceror, the Winged Captain and Ej Grenadiers. Darren's army comprised Water & Fire Elementals, Naiad Heartpiercers, Ensnarers and Wyrm Riders, Scorchwings, a Druid, two Unicorns (I hate them already) and an Owl bear. It was a new experience for us and we were fairly cagey to start with. However, by turn two there was a massive brawl going on all along the line which could have swung either way, but the piece-trading went in my favour by turn three (and Darren's snazzy new green dice weren't doing him any favours either).

Maurice went strong on missile fire - two cannon, a volley gun, two units of arquebusiers and one of crossbowmen. To back them up he had his usual three regiments of Knights, a horde and a regiment of Guardsmen and a horde of Halberdiers. Again, we started slowly with me hiding from his cannon while he was happy to sit back & bombard me. It was my sneaky Poachers who helped snipe away at his artillery and my Lancers, flying Captain and Ej Grenadiers who worked around their fire arcs while dodging knights until my heavier troops could show their faces. We had some big fights including my Trolls barely surviving being charged frontally & in the flank by two Knights, but they held them in place long enough for the Iron Beast and the Poachers to flank the knights in turn. The centre saw my Stalwarts battle off the more lightly-armed Halberdiers while the Ej Grenadiers failed to kill off the last Cannon and were annihilated by a rear charge from the last unit of knights. 

Andrew W, Keith, Nick, Paul E, Ross and Stuart M refought the Battle of Malplaquet 1709. The battle has the outnumbered French in a strong position in two large woods and the gap between them. Their infantry were in front and in strong defences. The defences and woods meant it was difficult for mounted troops to move across the battlefield and so the French cavalry, and most of the Allied cavalry, were in the rear waiting. The Allied army set up with 2 large groups facing the French infantry on the left in one of the woods. Another large group was facing the other wood. The last frontline group was smaller and connect the two wings. As with the French the mounted troops, with some exceptions, waited in the rear. The final Allied group was a delayed group of mainly infantry which the Allied commanders decided to send on a flank march, off table, to appear on the extreme left of the French line. The Allied forces were commanded by Andrew A, Keith and Stuart M. While Ross and Paul E commanded the French.

The first surprise of the battle was the Allies decided to abandon the historical plan of attack to launch a full out assault on the gap between the woods by the 4 Allied infantry groups in the frontline. The initial response to this from the French was to move up their cavalry to support the infantry in the frontline in the gap between the woods. Also to threaten to move out of the defensive line to attack the massed Allied troops moving to assault the centre. This prompted a similar move by the massed Allied cavalry. Next the French started to move their unengaged infantry in two woods to threaten the flanks of the massed Allied forces in the centre. On the French right this movement was enough to divert the nearest Allied group from the main attack. This Allied group, the Dutch part of the army, then spent the rest of the battle in a bloody, but inconclusive, fight with the French right. On the other flank the French left moved out of their position to attack the exposed Allied flank. The French had some success initially but were soon in trouble as Allied units detached from the nearest assault column turned to tackle them. Even worse was to happen as the Allied flank marching group arrived in the rear of the French left. Meanwhile the Allied assault had hit the centre and was slowly grinding down the defenders. Parts of the French cavalry attempted local counter attacks which slowed the Allied attack but did not stop it. 

The attack in the centre managed to force the left of the central group in the gap and the Allies moved to exploit this. The next French units in the line were the 'Wild Geese', Irish fighting in the French army and the Garde Francaises (French Guard) which both proved to be tough opponents to move. Despite this the Allies continued to make progress and the gap in the French line widened. Meanwhile the French left was falling as the combined efforts of the Allied flank attack and the units took effect. The French left was soon reduced to passing Command morale tests each turn to continue the fight. The French army was undefeated but by now it was only a matter of time before this would change. At this point it was decided to call the game as the French army would now retire from the field and we ended the game.  

This was the second appearance this year of these rules, created by Grey for Now Games. Their website describes the rules thus "02 Hundred Hours is a skirmish wargame focusing on night-time raids in World War II. Inspired by classic war movies as well as historical events, battles are fast paced with roughly 10-20 models on either side". John F brought his amazing looking WWII terrain pieces and his opponent was once again Paul J. Unfortunately, I am unable to let you know how well the daring night-time raid fared as it's probably still covered by the Official Secrets Act.

John L and me played a stand alone eastern front mid war game of Bolt Action v3. We had forces of 1250 points each producing 37 order dice. I had an regular infantry platoon with heavy weapon support from an MG42 and a medium mortar, a pair of guns and a pair of of Panzer 38t's. John had a force of veteran assault engineers with flame throwers, scouts and a variety of tracked vehicles.

We diced for a scenario straight out the book and the game commenced. John's scouts started on the table and sat on the objective. A steady German advance managed to get hits but struggled turning them into casualties. The Germans took casualties but failed to keep up with the Russians. Flame throwers proved successful and the game ended with me failing a morale check and my last tank bailing out.

A good game and a good learning experience. Bolt Action v3 is definitely going to sell more models as the army list builder allows for bigger forces.

Gordon, Daniel, Luke and myself played a WW1 CoC game on Sunday. It was a bad day for the British (Luke and I) and I think this was because everything that could go wrong probably did!

1st problem - Luke and I were happy to be the Brits leaving Gordon and Daniel as the Germans - They had both played the scenario before so the Germans and had a pretty good idea of what they were doing whilst the Brits (mainly me - Luke is new to this) had no idea.

2nd problem - The Brits chose an unwise deployment and immediately came under heavy fire. Our officers dashed to support the struggling troops and became casualties themselves (brave but futile!)

3rd problem - with our officers out of action we kept rolling "4"s on our command dice, so we were unable to control our squads effectively.  Gordon forgot to mention the British "rapid fire " trait which would have made our shooting more effective as well.

Before long we had lots of men breaking, along with the attached officers. When  the Germans declared an "end of turn" We had to take three morale tests and failed miserably, reaching a new record of -3 on the morale tracker!!

A difficult outing for the BEF but perhaps we'll do better next time. We all enjoyed it and newby Luke is keen to play more so a good day at the office! 

This was a first try out of the well known Fire and Fury rules with adaptations by Wyn to reflect the rigid manoeuvring typical of the eighteenth century. Wyn and Bryan were jointly in command of a British/Hanoverian force and Charles and Neil W were the generals in charge of the French army. The scenario was an encounter battle so both sides entered the field in march column from their own table edge. 

Because of unfamiliarity with the rules, plus Wyn's modifications, progress in the game was pretty slow and we didn't even get close to a result. However, the basic mechanics of the game worked OK and showed promise for future engagements.

Myself and Dave K did a practice game for our upcoming ECW refight at Hammerhead (Battle of Langport, 1645). 

Dave's Parliamentarians came forward and fairly easily cleared out the raggedy Welsh skirmishers lining the hedgerows on the approach to my main position. Following some typically ineffectual artillery fire from both sides the NMA's elite cavalry charged my own, rather less well mounted and equipped version. Nevertheless, Goring and his horsemen still managed to demonstrate some of the old dash and elan from their glory days, haring off across the hedgerows and chasing off a unit each of cavalry and commanded shot. Nevertheless, the weight of numbers eventually told for the Parliamentarians, and there was no way my two remaining cavalry could prevail against them, no matter how gallant.

More importantly, it was very useful for us as a review of the rules and to give us more ideas to fine tune the scenario.

This was a cracking game which saw the Earl of Warwick  smash the Yorkist defenders. It was played using the new Midgard rules… they gave a good feel for mass combat with commanders having to juggle when to commit leaders and heroes. A good mechanic with lots of use for a number of periods. 

This was a first outing for NmtB at the club I believe. Andrew W took the Yorkist side and I was the Lancastrians. Luckily I don't mind who I game with as many seem to favour York over Lancaster.

We manged to get two games in during the afternoon. The first battle was looking even in morale token exchanges with both sides suffering from some excellent archery on both sides. It was coming down to the billmen and men at arms when Lord Faunconberg, the Yorkist C-in-C, charged the Duke of Somerset, the Lancastrian C-in-C. As both leaders faced off single combat ensued, and Lord Faunconberg was able to slay the Duke of Somerset.

After the first game The Yorkist player changed his wards around slightly but the Lancastrians remained the same. On the Lancastrian left flank Henry Percy, with Irish gallowglass mercenaries supporting his retinue, was able to push the levy militia back, routing some companies but in the process taking heavy casualties. On the opposite flank some more excellent archery from the Lancastrians took out the Yorkist archers but the pike and billmen were able to make contact with the levy bill and start to push them back.

It was in the middle were the fight was decided with both sides battering each other. Eventually it was Lord Faunconberg's men at arms who finally got out fought but it was two mixed blocks that had to do it - a block of bill and bow and a block of men and arms and bow to send them running. And with night closing in the Lancastrians claimed victory with 21 morale tokens to 7.

An excellent set of rules which should be making more appearances at the club.

I'm currently thinking of expanded the number of commands to allow much bigger games. This was already at over 200 points each, and the game moved along freely and bigger games could definitely fit into an afternoon.

At this meeting Graham, Keith, Kevin, Jon P, Ray and Nick played Twilight of the Sun King. The game was set in the War of the League of Augsburg in the 1690's.  The Allied army was on the defensive and defending a stream. They were commanded by Graham and Kevin. Opposing them were the French under Keith, Jon P and Ray. The Allies deployed with a strong force of infantry in the centre and up against the stream. The Allied cavalry was hanging back from the front line and guarding the infantry's flanks.

The French surged forward to attack with the two cavalry forces on the flank racing ahead while the advance of the infantry in the centre was more ponderous. Reacting to the French advance, the Allied cavalry moved to counter them as they crossed the ungarrisoned parts of the stream on the flanks. These proved to be the decisive moves of the battle. On the Allied Left the initial clashes went the French army's way but Graham managed to get some infantry support into the flank of the action. This caused the French on this flank to suffer and the action became more even. It could have gone either way on this flank but it was undecided by the end of the day. 

Meanwhile on the Allied right the French under Jon were having more success and after a 'to and fro' action the defending Allied cavalry here were defeated and fled the field. At the same time the French infantry attack in the centre hit home and also had some success. In particular they managed to make gains on the Allied right. This combined with the defeat of the Allied cavalry on the right meant the game was called. The Allied right and centre was in deep trouble and it would be time for the army to withdraw in real life. 

The British and French Mediterranean fleets met in 1879, close to a set of islands, with neither the players or the umpire having played the rules before and a distinct lack of experience of tactics from the players (a point of historical accuracy). Both fleets of 15/16 ships set up with their most powerful squadron on the right, a medium squadron in the centre and the weakest squadron on the right. Each fleet had a oddment of designs (8 different French types and only 4 British ships were in the same class!) with guns pointing in all sorts of directions and odd blind arcs.

The British took advantage of initiative to send 2 squadrons against the French 3rd squadron which was soon suffering the affect of 9”, 10” and even 12” shells on 6” armour and all 5 were quickly crippled. 2 weaker ships in the 2nd French squadron were also dispatched with heavy fire. As a sign of what was to come however, the closely packed British ships got in each other’s way and Devastation accidentally had a glancing blow on Temeraire.

In their attack, the British had got their forces horribly confused with the 2nd squadron (including a badly damaged Minotaur) and part of the 1st squadron stuck behind the islands and the old and small ships of the 3rd squadron and 3 ships from the 1st squadron (Dreadnought, Devastation and Temeraire) having to face the most powerful units in the French fleet. 9.4” and 10.8” French shells had similar affect on the British 3rd squadron and 4 ships were wrecked.

The British wrecked the turret ram Tonnerre before it could close but Achilles, acting as a “repeater” between the 2 halves of the 1st squadron, came under heavy fire and was wrecked. This left the 3 powerful British ships out of command just as Dreadnought was put on fire and having to face 7 French ships for several turns before they could be reinforced. The British would have been in significant trouble, but in doing so the French would have lost more ships.

This Sunday Howard arranged a game of Bolt Action V3 as a "taster" for our Alumwell outing. This was 1500 points a side. The Russians (Daniel S) had a KV2 holding a "Y" junction, dug in and surrounded by inexperienced troops. In reserve were three tanks and a NKVD detachment  (commanded by Howard),a  blocking force sat behind the conscripts. The Germans (Stuart S and Andy S) had three Panzer III`s, a platoon of infantry with supports and a pair of guns, an 88mm and a 7.5cm infantry gun.

The Germans advanced, taking shots at the KV2 to no effect. A mortar ranged in, keeping the KV2 pinned down most of the game. The 88. whilst hitting. had a killing shot slam into the dugout, saving the tank. The other shots, whilst hitting. weren`t penetrating the thick armour. The German infantry rolled up the table but needed the armoured support which was being whittled down by the Russians. At that the Russians called it victory to them. 

A great game showing how in Bolt Action an expensive asset with single shots can be very annoying if it doesn`t live up to your expectations. The rules definitely allow for bigger games which play quicker as well. 

This afternoon Andy and I played another game of Chain of Command set on the Manchurian front in 1939. Based on a scenario from the Xenos Rampant book, a Soviet Infantry platoon, supported by a single T26 was tasked to capture a small hamlet from the Japanese. 

The Soviets got off to a slow start, hampered by their cumbersome command structure. The Japanese deployed promptly and began using their Grenade Launcher section to some effect. A firefight developed in the hamlet which was ended by a Japanese bayonet charge that wiped out both squads. Both sides fed more troops into the village while the Grenade Launchers tried to slow down the tank with smoke. A Soviet bayonet charge recaptured the village and the T26 moved forward but two of the objectives remained in Japanese hands.

Both sides morale were starting to collapse, in part due to high leader casualties. The Japanese side finally collapsed when the T26 drove the Japanese scout squad from the field - just in time, because the Soviet morale had also dropped to just two.

A great little game, tense right to the end. 

At this meeting Keith, Luke, Ross and Nick played Great War Spearhead. The scenario was set at the end of the failed last Russian offensive of the war in 1917. Having failed the Russians were now on the defensive and the Central Powers were now counter attacking. Ross and Nick commanded 2 Russian divisions with a 3rd off table in reserve. Attacking them were a German division under Luke and an Austo Hungarian division under Keith. With growing discontent in Russia and revolution in the area the bulk of the Russian forces were of low quality and low on heavier support. In contrast, the Central Power forces had more support and were of better quality.

On the Russian left the Germans plunged forward and soon had created gaps in the Russian line. On the Russian right the Austrian advance was steadier as they sought to overwhelm the extreme Russian right while standing off elsewhere. This was to be successful but took longer than on the other flank. The Austrians at first had trouble obtaining their heavier support but once these zeroed in the opposing Russians began to crumble.

Meanwhile on the left the Germans sought to follow up their early success with a rapid advance but over-extended themselves. Russian resistance hardened and the German advance started to falter. There followed a period of mutual exchanges in this front as the two sides fought it out. Both sides were taking serious losses but the higher morale of the Germans was proving decisive. While this was happening the Russians on the right were suffering and collapsing. The Austrians broke the Russian regiment on the extreme right and started working round the now open flank. Reacting to this the Russian tried to plug the gap in their line but successive attempts failed to halt the Austrian advance. Even worse the remainder of the Austrians now attacked the weakened Russians in other areas.

When the game was called the Russian right had lost 3 of the 6 regiments it had and a further 2 were relying on good formation morale checks to continue. The other flank was more even but also the Germans had the upper hand here and it was clearly a Central Powers victory. 

Some details of John’s amazing terrain from today’s game. The slowest SAS raid in history was good fun once we started to figure out the rules! We will have another try next month and see if we can do better! 

My thanks to Clive for providing the photograph from the game. I think the figures in use came from Billy's extensive collection of 54mm miniatures but I am not 100% certain. Nor do I have any information on the rules in use, the scenario or the outcome of the battle but it certainly looked impressive.

The Germans, played by Charles and John were tasked to attack and take the retreating British position. Gordon and Daniel played the British. The rules we used were the Chain of Command version of Through the Mud and the Blood.

Despite an advantage of support, the Germans failed miserably to get close to the British position, even the armoured car charging up the road got stopped and eventually destroyed. The attacking German infantry even though they had the benefit of cover from the forest still took high  casualties and eventually retreated. The other squads cowered in cover and by the end of the game did little. The field gun, which could have inflicted severe damage to the British, due to bad dice and indecision never made it onto the table along with a complete squad of infantry, no wonder no one wants to talk about it from the German side.

The Kaiser has threatened to execute any similar behaviour in his officers.

For the new year I have looked at old set of rules which are long out of print - Force on Force published by Osprey games and written by Ambush Alley games. Using existing figures we picked from the Classified book a scenario taken from Tom Clancy Techno thriller Clear and Present Danger. Stuart S had US Army Rangers operating in the Columbian highlands destroying the drug operations and drug manufacturing plants. The Columbians had hired a company of mercenaries to neutralise the Americans. At this point our game kicked off.

Stu, with no more than a dozen Americans, was rolling back to the exfiltration point whilst aggressively defending at the same time. The mercenaries rolled up taking a lot of casualties from the very effective American fire power. The mercenaries clawed the initiative back and started hitting back inflicting costly casualties. At that time was called. The mercenaries must have took 30 dead and seriously wounded out of their 40 man force. The Americans took a few casualties but worse than that they left two KIA behind for the mercenaries to take back to their Columbian masters.

Force on Force in its first outing is a very good set of rules with “Hot spots” which reminds me of Chain of Command. The use of polyhedral dice is a great mechanic where the only rule you need to know is it’s 4 plus for a success.

Today Daniel S and myself did battle in Middle Earth...The Legion of Minas Morgul led by the Witch King of Angmar met the forces of Gondor led by Boromir and did battle...

Daniel of Gondor unfortunately was beaten by sheer luck....

Thanks Daniel.... Next time I won't be so jammy

The Crimean War, and the British decide to give us a chance by rolling simply appalling dice. The Russian strong drive up the centre broke 'the thin red line' into several pieces. 

Many prayers of thanks offered to the Ikons.  A fine day for Mother Russia

We played a Napoleonic fight between Austria and France using a map adapted from the Battle of Oudenaarde (two towns separated by two streams). The scenario has been loaded onto the club FB page. Rules used were Lasalle 2nd Edition, 275 points each. This gives four brigades per side, on average giving 4 units per brigade.  The key strength of Lasalle is the unique command and control system that avoids the ubiquitous IGOYGO pattern of play. 

In a nutshell the infantry brigades met just past the centre line on the Austrian side of the table. The French pushed the Austrian centre back thus securing the ford in the middle of the table. The Austrians did not roll well with their dice. Both sides tried an outflanking manoeuvre with their light cavalry brigades but in both cases the cavalry couldn't really threaten the enemy as the battle was reaching a conclusion in the centre. 

For future games we will look into a house rule limiting infantry movement whilst in the engagement zone of cavalry. At present they can simply retreat away from the cavalry with little risk of being caught. We also need to start introducing "advanced rules" from the rulebook to open up play further. 

Kings of War - The Halflings Strike Back

Stuart and I had a 2300 point game using the Control scenario. My Halflings were alarmed to see a Dragon-mounted knight leading even more  regiments of Knights than last time when they had ridden us down like dogs. A smaller, more elite force of The Order of the Brothermark. Would our superior numbers make up for our diminished stature? Stuart deployed two Knight regiments,Sir Roderick Demonbane on his Dragon & the two Phoenixes opposite my Poachers, Stalwarts and the Greedyguts in the centre. His Oathsworn Guardians, the Villein Penitents and a regiment of Knights were opposite the Troll Gunners, the Iron Beast and regiments of Ej Grenadiers and Aeronauts on my right. On the opposite flank he set only one regiment of Knights with a Chaplain against my other Aeronaut and Ej Grenadier regiments and my Captain on Winged Aralez, but the Dragon and Phoenixes were never far away.

I started peppering the squishier Penitents with arrows & nervously watched the Knights looming up towards my centre and edging onto my right flank. In reply the Dragon & Phoenixes were flaming my units, but it was early days. I got lucky to waver the Knights on my right and on the following turn broke them with a hail of rifle fire. In the centre the charging Knights obliterated one regiment of Poachers, but the other held thanks to his assailants being hindered by the rough terrain they had just backed out of. My Stalwarts and the Greedyguts joined the fight and broke the Knights so it was going well on the right & centre but on the left the Dragon charged in. He didn't break my Aeronauts, but in turn I failed to break him with all three of my units and when the Knights joined in they routed my lads. 

The battle turned into a swirling slogging match. My Aeronauts and Iron Beast broke the Oathsworn while the Trolls shot off the Penitents. The Phoenixes hunted down my Ej Grenadiers and the Hunter hacked the Greedyguts to bits. The Dragon and surviving Knights went for my Stalwarts and the Gastrospears, but couldn't break them and that extra unit strength made the difference between a draw and my winning the scenario with the Halflings holding the centre and right while the Crusaders were victorious on the left.

Myself and Peter played two VBCW themed games, myself as the Anglican League, Peter as the Royalists/BUF/Black Shorts.

Our first game was using Osprey's "A World Aflame" Rules, with a scenario adapted from Bolt Action where both sides have to try and retrieve a cache of top-secret documents from the centre of the board. I sent in my Allied French regulars to retrieve the cache, supported by two armoured cars and an MMG Team. The French got to the documents first but were then charged by the incoming fascists. The French military training paid off and they held their nerve and their ground, easily repelling the charge at the point of the bayonet. They then successfully made their escape with the documents over to Anglican HQ (hopefully not passing on any of the contents to their masters in Paris!. My victory came at a heavy cost, losing both my armoured cars to Molotov cocktails, which seem to be very effective anti-tank weapons under these rules.

Our second game was using the Xenos Rampant rules, with another scenario from Bolt Action whereby I tried to trap Pete's forces in the centre of the village, but my infantry was easily mowed down by their machine gun teams.  My armoured car scored a couple of good hits, but nowhere near enough to change the result. We were somewhat hampered in this game by not really being able to work out the rules for shooting into and out of buildings with the various different types of weapon.  Somewhat counter to my expectations, I therefore enjoyed the first game more (not just because I won, honest!)

Overall this was my first experience with VBCW, and I really enjoyed the period setting, collecting and painting the figures, vehicles and buildings.

A modern Africa affair set in the fictitious Republic of Zikanga, but based on Operation Barras, an SAS raid on the West Boys Compound in Sierra Leone 2000 to rescue members of the Irish Rangers. The game was played using Xenos Rampant rules.

It was a close run affair. Zikangian regulars assaulted the village stirring up a hornets nest of militia men and despite early successes they were forced backwards but buying enough time to draw militia men from the compound with the hostages for the SAS to launch their assault. It was then a race to the lorries to transport the hostages away, the SF carving through various groups of gun men. The hostages were released from captivity, but with five special forces killed it might not make pleasant reading in the press. Cracking game for the first of the year.