28mm BOLT ACTION: NORMANDY OPERATION OVERLORD

On Thursday I went to Hugh Wilson’s for a big 8 player WWII Bolt Action game.  It was a Normandy 1944 invasion scenario which Colin Jack had designed.  Colin supplied all the troops and Hugh Wilson had done a fine job producing the terrain including a great looking sandy beach.

Opening scene on the beach on evening 2 - Village with church and ridge beyond in far distance

This was our second evening playing thru this game.  I forgot my camera for the first evening 2 weeks ago so did not do a report on that part of the game.  However the play is well covered in 2 reports

Firstly on Angus Konstam’s Edinburgh Wargames

http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Journal%2090.htm

and on Bart Zynda’s blog

http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/d-day.html

The first days play ended with the first 2 British waves still engaged with the German beach defences.  Nice looking Warlord Atlantic Wall defences.   Inland a flanking force of Commandos had been beaten back from a defended farm and in the far distance the Polish Paras had taken the village and had beaten back the  first of the German counter-attack.

Cromwell negotiating the beach defences

For this evenings play Colin gave the British a third wave of landing craft carrying 3 Cromwells and a further flanking section of Commandos.  The Germans received an infiltrating squad of Ostruppen who occupied the trenches on the west of the German beach line and infantry & armoured reserves which came on at the far end of the 14ft long table. 

Cromwell finally free of the sandy beach

The German AT bunker immobilised one of the Cromwells before it could get of the landing craft but eventually the bunkers fell – 2 to the Commands who stormed the doors of the bunkers and the other to a flanking section of regulars.   The shooting by the AT bunker and the opposing Cromwells on the beach was generally appalling.  One of the Cromwells made it well of the beach and joined Milly the only surviving Sherman from the 1^st wave in taking out the German defenders of the farm despite the heriocs of a Panzerschrek crew. 

Action at the village - S35's support the infantry attack

A German STUGIV made a brief appearance on the main road engaged the allied armour and then retired at speed after a non-pentrating hit.  The main mass of the German reinforcements – squads of inexperienced infantry supported by 2 Somua S35 tanks from a training unit became bogged down in a battle for the village with the Polish paras.  When play ended the heroic Poles still held most of the village and the German beach commander was still wondering what the counterattacking forces were doing….

Milly and Cromwell at the farm - were is that Panzerschrek.?

The game continues next Thursday evening…..more photos with descriptions at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157640344590565/

Bart has posted his account od D Day +1

http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/d-day-1.html

Thanks to Suzanne Wilson for the catering on the evening…..and allowing Hugh to keep a beach in the sitting room for more than 3 weeks….

28mm FIW: ACTION IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY

This week our game at the SESWC was a French Indian War game using Muskets and Tomahawks arranged by Angus Konstam.  Angus provided the scenario, all the figures and most of the terrain.   The rest of the terrain came from Colin Jack and the SESWC.

Peaceful morning in the Mowhawk valley......

It was a raid by a French force of  Colonial Marines, Coureur du Bois  and Indian allies on a settlement in New York colony.  It was opposed by small groups of scattered civilian settlers  and the local militia with reinforcements of British regulars, Rangers and Indians marching to the rescue.

One group of settlers decides to stand and fight at their cabin

Other settlers make for the perceived safety of the Lutheran church

I played the part of the French contingent commander with Bart Zynda commanding my Indian allies.  Colin Jack commanded all the initial defenders and Campbell Hardie commanded the relief column.  Angus umpired and controlled the arrival of the units.  It took us at least one round of cards to remember how the rules work as it is more than a year since our last game.  Once we got going it proved an easy system to play.

Marines give covering fire to the attack on the church

Coureur du Bois skirmish with the defenders of the inn

At the end of the game it was declared a  minor French victory mainly due to the havoc wrought by my Indian allies.  They stormed a cabin, the well defended Lutheran church and had set fire to the inn by the end.  My marines ably supported the attack on the church but later the first 2 volleys by the British regulars shattered them.

Bart has put a full AAR with the OB on his blog at
http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/mohawk-valley.html

Indians set fire to the inn - what will the militia do!

28mm BP NAPOLEONIC - BATTLE OF HANAU - GAME 2

This weekend I decided to give my Battle of Hanau scenario another try as the terrain was still all setup.  I made minor changes to the OB and troop ratings from the first game.   I altered the Coalition OB to have 2 large 6 battalion Bavarian divisions each with 2 guns and I decided that the Bavarian line infantry would not be rated as Unreliable.

The Coalition commanders John Perkin and Scott Duncan decided to posted Austrian line division and the Cossack partisan brigade south of the River Kinzig.  North of the river they posted 2 Bavarian divisions to cover their centre with the Austrian mixed brigade on the their left wing around Althof.   A unit of Hungarian grenadiers defended Althof whilst the Carinthian Landwher held their far left wing beyond the stream.  The Bavarian light cavalry were deployed in support of the left wing and the other 2 cavalry brigades were posted in reserve behind the centre.

Neuhof falls uncontested to the French - Bavarians failed to move twice....

The French commanders Ian Carter, Mark Taylor and myself decided to use a line Corps supported by a line cavalry division to pin each of the enemy wings whilst the 4 guard divisions would attack and break through the Coalition centre and left.  

The Coalition plan was to hold their line but advance their right wing to occupy the village of Neuhof.  Appalling command rolls by John meant that Neuhof  actually fell to the advancing troops of Macdonald (Mark).   A large part of the Bavarian 1^st Division spent the rest of the game trying to eject the French from Neuhof.    Their short range shooting was very poor and at the end of the game the French unit in Neuhof had still not suffered a single casualty! 

On the other flank Victor’s Corps attacked up the Frankfurt Highway towards Althof. They attempted to close in attack columns on the Austrians but appalling break test rolls by Ian saw all 3 of its battalions break and flee.

I moved the Old Guard Chasseurs forward to break thru the centre but my first attacks ended in failure as all 3 charging battalion were driven back by the Bavarian infantry and artillery.  I reorganised and tried again but again I was driven back now losing a battalion.  At this point the French had lost 4 units and the Coalition none!  The Bavarians then advanced and began to press the Chasseurs back breaking another battalion.



First Old Guard attack goes in and failed everywhere.......

 

Emboldened Bavarians begin advance against the guard.....incredible!

The French light cavalry division on the right flank succeeded in getting the Grenzers to form square near Althof but at a heavy cost from the good shooting Landwehr across the stream. 

The rest of the Guard had now arrived and were committed.  The Old Guard Grenadiers moved to support Victor’s failing attack and they broke the Grenzers and a unit of Hungarian grenadiers.   With gaps now appearing in the allied line the Guard Lancers charged and caught the disordered Bavarian light cavalry standing and broke both units.



Guard Lancers charge to glory......

The French light cavalry division on the far left facing the Lamboi Bridge supported the garrison of Neuhof and caused losses to the Bavarian infantry and also the Cossacks when they finally managed to cross the Lamboi Bridge.  Mendorff commander of the Cossacks was carried from the field by a routing sotna.

Mark committed the Guard heavily cavalry to the north of Neuhof and they broke through the Bavarian infantry.  The 2 reserve Coalition cavalry brigades were then committed to retrieving the situation and a mighty cavalry melee ensued.  The Guard Dragoons broke one hussar regiment and drove the second back into the River Kinzig.  The Guard Horse Grenadiers drove both regiments of the heavy cavalry brigade back to the apparent safety of the ridge.

The great cavalry melee......Vive L'Empereur......first Allied Hussar regiment has already fled.

The game ended at this point.  Now the final butcher’s bill favoured the French who had lost 7 units whilst the Coalition lost 11 units including a gun.   If it had not been for the glorious last minute charges of the Guard cavalry destroying 8 units the balance would have been heavily in favour of the Coalition.  However the French were far from achieving a total breakthrough in the centre and the other Austrian Infantry Division were almost at the Lamboi Bridge.  We all agreed that it was a good game and a marginal victory for the French.

More photos of the game at flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157639944937533/

28MM BP NAPOLEONIC - BATTLE OF HANAU 1813 PART 3

Here are the troop stats which I used in the Hanau game.  I decided to class the Bavarian line infantry as recruits/landwehr as the vast majority of the army was lost in Russia in 1812.

Unit	Weapon	Type	H_H	Firing	Morale	Stamina	Special
French Old Gd Infantry	Musket	Infantry	7	3	3+	4	Elite 4+, Reliable in attack column
French Line Infantry	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4+	3	Reliable in attack column
Austrian Grenadiers	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4+	4
Austrian Line Infantry	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4+	3
Bavarian Light Infantry	Musket	Infantry	6	3	4+	3
Bavarian Line infantry	Musket	Infantry	6	3	5+	3	Unreliable, Levy 4+
Austrian Landwehr	Musket	Infantry	6	3	5+	3	Unreliable, Levy 4+
Gd Heavy Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	9	--	3+	3	Reliable; Heavy Cavalry +D3
Cuirassiers	Sabre	Cavalry	9	--	4+	3	Heavy Cavalry +D3
Gd Lancers	Lance	Cavalry	8	--	4+	3	Reliable, Marauders; Lancers
Dragoons	Sabre	Cavalry	8	--	4+	3	Heavy Cavalry +1
Gd Light Cavalry	Lance	Cavalry	7	--	4+	3	Reliable, Marauders
Lancers	Lance	Cavalry	7	--	4+	3	Marauders; Lancers
Light Cavalry	Sabre	Cavalry	6	--	4+	3	Marauders
Cossacks	Lance	Cavalry	5	--	5+	3	Marauders, Lancers, Unreliable
Horse Artillery	Artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	4+	1	Marauders, Guards are Reliable
Foot Artillery	Artillery	32”	1	3-2-1	4+	2
Hvy Foot Artillery	Heavy Artillery	40”	1	3-2-1	4+	2	Guards are Reliable

All Infantry have “must form square” rule.

Elite X+, roll X or more to recover disorder at start of turn.
Heavy Cavalry +X:  Add X to combat result score.
Lancers: -1 to Morale saves of infantry opponents when charging.
Levy X+: must roll X or more to recover disorder.
Marauders: Ignore command radius for orders.
Reliable: +1 to command rating.
Unreliable: No move on equal command rolls.
To simplify this big game no mixed formations are allowed i.e. units with skirmishers thrown out.

Left flank -Victor's corps facing Neuhof

Right flank - action on the highway and around Althof