28mm AWI MAURICE CAMPAIGN GAME 8 – ACTION AT BILL'S CROSSROADS

On Friday Dave Paterson and I played out the 8th game in our Maurice AWI campaign – the  Action at Bill's Crossroads.   Here are the forces for this game.

Patriot army deployed

PATRIOT
1 ELITE REGULAR INFANTRY       
4 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
7 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
2 ARTILLERY
2 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages
OBLIQUE ORDER
Army Morale 16

BRITISH

4 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
4 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
1 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
1 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages
OBLIQUE ORDER, RALLY TO THE COLOURS, A LA BAYONETTE
Notable Reverend Whitehead
TOTAL Army Morale 12
Advanced Rules in use – Oblique Order, Light artillery, All Guns bombard, Honours of War

Patriots close up on the British centre and right

This time I won the scouting role and decided to be the attacker.  I took an additional unit of regular infantry for my mercenary supplement.
I deployed the bulk of my army to attack Dave’s centre and right with a small force of 3 infantry units deployed on my right flank.   My 2 irregular units were deployed on the left flank.  Dave deployed his army relatively equally across his front with the cavalry in reserve behind the centre and the irregulars holding the town centre. 

At the start of the game I moved my irregulars thru the woods on my left flank to engage the end of Dave’s line.   When they got into action I then moved my main body to engage Dave’s right and centre.  Dave moved his left to flank my advance but I had enough units to turn to cover the advance.  We started to engage in a fire fight and part of my advance was held up by an unknown swamp that suddenly appeared.  My infantry pressed on over the swamp to bring their superior numbers into action.  I had an advantage in the fire fight as Dave’s main group  had split into 2 distinct forces due to a unit making a confused move .  Eventually in a single volley phase I broke 3 of the British units which gave me a clear advantage.  Dave threw his cavalry into the flank of my elite infantry who broke at once.  My other units drove of the cavalry with their musket fire.  The next turn I broke the only surviving unit in the British centre right and that ended the game.  I was down to 2 morale points.

British centre under severe pressure

When Dave’s army broke it had lost 8 units leaving only 5 units and I had lost 7 units.  It was a decisive Patriot victory with 3 epic points won.  It was a hard fought enjoyable game.    

We have decided to start a new campaign so that we can recast our armies based on our experience in this campaign.  In addition we are thinking of using a pre-battle setup  system developed by Michael Schneider of the SESWC to give a greater variety to the games with special events.  All the photos from the campaign with descriptions are on flickr at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157635546751824/

28mm BOLT ACTION LOGW WEEKEND GAMES

I was away at the weekend at Kirriemuir in Angus for a 28mm WWII Bolt Action event.  Over the 2 days 9 gamers attended from the LOGW.  All the scenarios were developed by Colin Jack who also supplied the troops for the more obscure campaigns.

Vichy airpower over Syria

On the first day we had a choice of 5 scenarios:

Winter War Finland 1939
Ardennes 1940
Syria 1941
Berlin 1945
Manchuria 1945

Our intention was that everyone tried to play 3 games.  I umpired and helped out with the rules in the first round of games.  That restricted me to 2 games - Berlin 1945 and Manchuria 1945.  My Soviet army defeated the fascists holding out in the ruins of Berlin and my Japanese force more than saw of the Soviet attack in Manchuria – there were only 3 Red Army troops left at the end.  Bolt Action Japanese are very effective – fanatics with very large squads.

Soviet troops in the white wastes of Finland

On the Sunday we played 3 possibly linked games.

A central game with a British force struggling with e Germans over a French village. 
An allied attack across a river to capture a secret lab from which the Germans were Evacuating equipment and scientists.

A German attack on an allied rear echelon supply, repair and hospital area.

Berlin 1945 layout - before the fighting started

I played the British in the combined attack on the German secret lab.  It proved heavy going as the allies lost 7 infantry squads and 4 tanks to German losses of approximately 15 figures.  Almost all the German scientists and trucks escaped.

It was an enjoyable weekend and the rules worked well again and were easily picked up by the new players.   All my photos and those of Colin Jack are on Flickr at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157637853325135/

Herr Flick of the gestapo and Helga at the secret lab. Note the security squad - those lucky scientists.

28mm AWI MAURICE CAMPAIGN GAME 7 – BATTLE OF EVA’S LIVERY

On Tuesday Dave Paterson and I played out the 7th game in our Maurice AWI campaign – the  Battle for Eva’s Livery.   Here are the forces for this game.

PATRIOT

2 ELITE REGULAR INFANTRY       
4 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
6 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED REGULAR CAVALRY
2 ARTILLERY
2 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages
OBLIQUE ORDER
Army Morale 16

Patriot army deployed

BRITISH

2 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
6 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
1 CONSCRIPT REGULAR CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
1 IRREG INFANTRY
National advantages
OBLIQUE ORDER, RALLY TO THE COLOURS, A LA BAYONETTE
Notable Reverend Whitehead
Army Morale 12

Advanced Rules in use – Oblique Order, Light artillery, All Guns bombard, Honours of War

This time I won the scouting role and decided to be the defender – I think now that was a mistake.   Dave as the attacker took an additional unit of regular infantry for his mercenary supplement to boost his very weak infantry.

 I deployed my infantry in 2 lines across the table, my 2 guns in the centre left, the cavalry were in reserve behind the centre and the irregulars were positioned in woods on the left flank.  I also placed a conscript unit in the town objective – another mistake.

Patriot attack on British centre right underway

Dave deployed his 3 trained infantry plus a conscript unit in columns on his left, with the remainder of the army in the centre and right.   His cavalry were deployed behind his centre with his irregular infantry garrisoning Eva’s Livery.

Hessians and Legion cavalry await action

At the start of the game Dave moved some of his left flank  infantry thru the wooded hill which dominated his left flank of the table and formed them facing towards my flank if I advanced on his centre.  However this move split his command so I decided to attack the troops all along his line with an advance by my 11 regular infantry units and my 2 guns.  However the woods in the middle of the table also split my attackers into 2 forces.   Dave’s left wing of 4 units decisively beat my right wing of 5 units breaking 4 of them including one of my elites.  The decisive factor here was the intervention of the Reverend Whitehead who repeatedly inspired the British to march and rally.  My attack on his centre left proved a hard struggle and my units firing was not up to standard.  However I did weaken his troops enough that a gallant charge broke 3 of his units but I was also taking losses.  Dave threw his conscript cavalry into the fight and they broke one of my victorious militia infantry units – that loss broke my army.

Patriot right wing in trouble - 2 units already broken

When my army broke I had lost 7 units and Dave 6 units including all 3 of his guns.  It was a decisive British victory with 3 epic points won.  Once again my irregulars and cavalry played no part in the action.    My prediction last time that that the Patriot’s could well win this year’s campaign this week proved illusory.

All the photos from the campaign with descriptions are on flickr at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157635546751824/

TARGE 2013 - KIRRIEMUIR 9 NOVEMBER

This Saturday I went to Kirriemuir to attend TARGE the Kirrienuir Wargames Club’s annual show.  It has all you expect from a show - demonstration and public participation games, trade stands, a painting competition (with extensive trophies and prizes), a bring and buy sale, raffle, and catering. 

I ran the SESWC display game which was a 28mm Bolt Action game set in the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia.  This was the same game that we took to SKELP at Forfar.  All the troops are from the collection of Colin Jack.  The Chaco war figures are by Scheltrum Miniatures.  There were some nice looking games at the show.  The most unusual display was by the Border Reivers who put on a 28mm Battle of Trafalgar Square - a fictional battle from the 1984 Miners War.  It was the first display I have seen with figures of Arthur Scargill and Mrs Thatcher on the table.

Soviet food aid convoy (!) reaches Trafalgar square

Arthur Scargill addresses the proletarian masses

Mrs Thatcher at the barricades - prime ministerial escape Jaguar in background

 The League of Augsburg put on a Donnybrook skirmish PP game with really exceptional figures including a gang of stone throwing ragged urchins.  The Iron Brigade put on a late WWI bolt action game with some superb looking German transport vehicles.

LOA - Donnybrook skirmish - stone throwing urchins to the front

LOA - Donnybrook skirmish - Satanists try to raise a corpse in  the ruined church

Iron Brigades - great looking German transport

 Once again RAF Leuchars Wargames Club put on their superb carrier attack PP game.  It was a good enjoyable day meeting fellow enthusiasts.  The time went very quickly speaking to people about the Chaco War and the figures.  My purchases were even more limited than they were at Skelp as I only bought a single set of counters from Warbases.

All my photos of the show are on flickr at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157637512897336/

ACW NAVAL - 1/600 TEST GAME 2

This week’s game at the SESWC was another test to try out my draft 1860-1870 period naval rules.  The scenario involved a Union force attacking the fictional Mobil Bay to suppress the coast defences.   The Union had 5 monitors and 4 gunboats versus 3 Confederate ironclads, 4 cotton clad rams/gunboats supporting  2 coastal forts.  The entrance to the bay contained a torpedo minefield marked with bouys.

The Passaic monitors and the gunboat squadron

The Union steamed into the bay with their gunboat squadron skirting past the stone/brick fort while their 2 ironclad squadrons skirted the other entrance to the bay protected by the weaker earth rampart fort.

The Union gunboats were engaged in the narrows by the stone fort and then by the cotton clad rams.  The USS Ceres and Miami both struck after suffering damage mainly from the fort.  The 2 squadrons of monitors heavily damaged the earthwork fort and suppressed its fire for a time but the gallant garrison recovered their elan and at the end of the game the stars and bars still flew.

Monitors passing thru the ironclads that they shattered

The 3 Passaic class monitors were attacked by the CSS gunboats which attempted multiple rams all of which proved to be glancing blows.  The short range fire of the monitors wrecked 3 of the gunboats.  The CSS ironclads engaged the Onondaga and the Tecumseh which shattered the Nashville and the Tuscaloosa with their 15” smooth bores and forced the Tennessee to break of the action.

In total the Union lost a monitor and 2 gunboats struck, whilst the Confederates lost 2 ironclads and 2 gunboats struck.  Despite the best efforts of the umpire (myself) none of the ships that entered or got close to the minefield struck any of the devilish underwater devices.

This was our second test game and the rules generally worked well and were quickly picked up by the 3 of the 5 players who were not at the first test game.  Some more lessons have been taken on board and will be incorporated in the next update of the rules.  Further test games to follow……

Stone fort, gunboats, cottonclads and monitors in action.  Glancing blow on the Passaic.

Here is the briefing for the 2 sides.
Union

As part of the continuing Anaconda Plan the Gulf Blockading squadron is launching another attack on the port of Mobil.  The objective is to reduce the coast defences and disable some of the rebel ships in Mobil Bay before landing troops to capture the forts.  The rebel’s naval force is based on the 2 effective ironclads CSS Tennessee and newly completed CSS Nashville.  A number of the devilish underwater torpedoes have been laid in the entrance to the bay but spies report that their positions are shown by coloured bouys.

Monitor Sqdn – Passiac, Nahunt, Mondauk
Gunboat Sqdn - Sassicus, Mattasesett, Miami, Ceres
Command Sqdn – Onondaga, Tecumseh

Tennessee leads the Nashville to the combat

Confederate

Spies report that the blockading Union forces have been reinforced and are about to launch a major attack on the defences at the entrance to Mobil Bay preparatory to a troop landing to capture Mobil.

As well as the local coast defences a strong defence flotilla has been put together from along the coast to protect this strategic location.  The core of the naval defence is the 2 powerful ironclads Tennessee and newly commissioned Nashville.   The Tuscaloosa has until now always been considered too slow for an open water action.  The entrance to the bay on one side is protected by a field of underwater torpedoes.

Ironclad Sqdn – Tennessee, Nashville, Tuscaloosa
Cottonclad Ram Sqdn - Gen Beauregard, Gov Moore
Gunboats – Selma, Gen Earl Van Dorn
Coast defences - Brick/stone fort, Earth rampart fort