28mm AWI CAMPAIGN 2 GAME4 – ACTION AT FORT MORGAN

On Tuesday Dave Paterson and I played the fourth game in our second Maurice AWI campaign – the Action at Fort Morgan.  We decided to use Black Powder with the amended move sequence as we both have some doubts about game play with the Maurice rules.  We used the Eve of Battle pre-battle system by Michael Schneider of the SESWC to generate some special events before the game.  Most of the Patriot Army in this game came from the collection of Angus Konstam.

Attack on the farm

 Here are the forces for the game which I amended to fit in with Black Powder. 

BRITISH ARMY
8 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
4 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED LIGHT CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
2 SKIRMISHER UNITS

PATRIOT ARMY
5 TRAINED REGULAR INFANTRY
7 CONSCRIPT REGULAR INFANTRY
2 TRAINED LIGHT CAVALRY
3 ARTILLERY
2 RIFLE SKIRMISHER UNITS

We decided that each army would have 3 brigades and would count as defeated when 2 of the brigades were broken.

Dave was the attacker with the British.  He decided to mass his troops on his right and centre and attack on that side of the table with his Hessian brigade sweeping thru the large wooded hill on his far right.  My force was evenly spread along the table.  I moved forward to engage the British while trying to envelope their left flank.  On my left I held the line of a fence line around a farm with a skirmisher unit holding the wooded hill.

Near the end of the action at the farm - things look bad

We fought an inconclusive series of cavalry melees on my left flank but my infantry enveloping movement was to slow and did not get into effective contact.  Dave’s attack on my left flank was initially held at the fence line but the Hessians broke thru the skirmishers on the wooded hill and flanked the fence line.  My left flank brigade then quickly collapsed.  I tried to reform my centre brigade to the flank to hold my line but they were outnumbered and steadily broke up.

When my army’s morale broke I had lost 7 units and Dave only one unit of skirmishers.   Black Powder certainly gave a more mobile game than Maurice and in this game all our troops managed to get into the fight.  Here are the Black Powder troop ratings that we used.

UNIT	ARMAMENT	H TO H	SHOOTING	MORALE	STAMINA	SPECIAL
Elite Line	Musket	7	3	4+	4	First fire
Trained Line	Musket	6	3	4+	3	--
Conscript Line	Musket	6	3	5+	3	Unreliable, Levy 4+
Irregulars	Musket	4	2	4+	2	Skirmish, marauders
Irregular Rifles	Rifle	4	2	4+	2	Skirmish, marauders
Elite cavalry	--	7	--	4+	3	Marauder
Trained Cavalry	--	6	--	4+	3	Marauder
Conscript cavalry	--	5	--	5+	3	Marauder
Artillery	smoothbore	1	3-2-1	4+	2	--
First Fire	Add 1 dice to first shooting
Skirmish	Skirmishers +1 when shooting
Marauders	Ignore distance penalty when given orders
Unreliable	No move on equal command roll
Levy	Need to score 4+ to remove disorder at  end of turn

28mm BOLT ACTION: NORMANDY OPERATION OVERLORD - THE BREAKOUT

On Thursday I went to Hugh Wilson’s to finish of our big 8 player WWII Normandy 1944 Bolt Action game.  Last week’s game ended with the beach defences and the farm both cleared of German defenders and the heroic Polish paras still holding most of the village despite attacks by the German reinforcements – squads of inexperienced infantry supported by 2 Somua S35 tanks from a training unit.  Here is a link to the first report:
http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/28mm-bolt-action-normandy-operation.html

Allied airpower over Normandy

For this week’s game Colin Jack gave the Allies a further wave of landing craft carrying 2 Cromwells, a M10 Wolverine and 3 transports with infantry squads.  The Germans received a steady trickle of reinforcements including 2 H35 tanks, an AA Halftrack, a PAK40 ATG and various infantry units.  Luckily for the allies it was assumed that the beach obstacles and minefields had been cleared and carpet roadway laid down which allowed the 4^th wave to get rapidly of the beaches and join in the struggle for the village and the main highway. 

The 4th wave gets ashore.....

Milly the only surviving M4 Sherman from the 1^st wave supported the paras in the village by engaging in an evening long fire-fight with a S35 along the village high street.  The German infantry captured part of the village but could not evict the Poles.  This struggle was eventually settled when Milly supported by more arriving armoured knocked out 3 of the German French trophy tanks around the village.  

Milly engaging the S35 - some truly bad shooting!

A long armoured battle also took place along the highway between the StugIV and the Cromwells supported by the M10.  The STUG knocked out the M10 but was then immobilised and flank shot by the Cromwells.   An RAF typhoon made a dramatic and photogenic but entirely ineffective sortie over the table.

Cromwell in action along the highway against the STUG IV

At the end of the evening the game was declared an Allied victory as the Germans had little left to stop the allies exiting the table.  It has been a very enjoyable 3 evening game.  Once again thanks to Suzanne Wilson for the catering on the evening…..and allowing Hugh to keep a beach in the sitting room for 4 weeks…..

All my more photos with descriptions at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157640344590565/

Bart has also put a report on his blog at

http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/d-day-2.html

Another shot of the very dramatic Typhoon - great for the newsreels

 

15mm LONGSTREET GAME

On Monday I went to my other club – Falkirk District Wargames Club – which meets at Grangemouth.  There has been a Longstreet campaign running at the club since November but this week I played Dave Paterson in a friendly 1861 Longstreet game.  We both used the basic starting army from the campaign.  I played the Confederates though I have been a Union player in the campaign.   Dave supplied all the15mm troops.

Confederate centre moves to the attack - the left had confusedly moved out of the line

The game proved a complete disaster for me.  My troops suffered heavy casualties moving to the attack.  My cavalry fought numerous melees with their Union rivals and lost all of them.  When I finally launched 2 units in a Rebel Yell charge  they only pushed back one of Dave’s units slightly.  His subsequent counter-attack smashed 2 of my units – one suffering a net 10 hits in close combat.  It was fun quick game.

Cavalry action on the right flank - my raider cavaliers never won a single combat