28MM BOLT ACTION EASTERN FRONT AND NAPOLEONIC UPDATE

This weeks game at the SESWC was a 1944 28mm Bolt Action Eastern Front game.  Colin Jack provided most of the figures and the terrain.  I contributed a platoon of inexperienced Soviet infantry.  The terrain on the table was relatively open.  A German force of a reinforced battalion supported by a Tiger, Panther, Jagdpanther and Panzer IV  holding a line of isolated buildings was attacked by 2 Soviet platoons supported by 2 SU100s and 4 T34/85s. 

SOLIDO T34/85s cross the open fields - more vehicles on the road

It proved to be a German victory when 2 Soviet platoons were wiped out assaulting 2 of the buildings.  Though we played multiple moves and there was much anti-tank fire only a SU100 and a  Panther had been knocked out by the end of the game.

My Soviet inexperienced infantry reach some cover

Sadly I was so busy playing the game and talking to people that I only managed to take these 2 photographs. 

I also spent time this week adding a page to the blog giving details of my Russian Napoleonic army. I also revised the design of the blog by widening the main blog section and right hand lists. 

http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-napoleonic-russian-army-now-contains.html

 

BOLT ACTION: 20mm GAMES

I have been trying out the Bolt Action rules with my 20mm collection.   I set up a quick game at the SESWC and this is fully reported in Bart Zynda’s blog at

http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/market-garden.html  

I then setup a 6ft by 6ft table at home and played 2 games with different players.   In these games we used the hidden rules in Bolt Action for the first time which worked well. 



VIEW FROM RELIEF COLUMN END



VIEW FROM THE TOWN END

All the 3 games involved at one end of the table a British parachute battalion holding a town under attack awaiting a relief force which had to come on at the other end of the table.  A German force of 2 battalions was deployed in the centre of the table with the task of attempting to take the town and delaying the relief force.  Any German vehicles which arrived came on at either side of the table. The arrival of the British and German AFVs was diced for each turn and they were selected by chance from a variety of models.  

All the games worked well but it was a hard or near impossible task for the Germans to take the town.

The final order of battle for the games is given below

BRITISH PARA PLATOON  - VETERAN

HQ:  2nd LT (SMG), SMG, RIFLE

SECTION: NCO (SMG),  2 SMG, 6 RIFLES, LMG

SECTION: NCO (SMG),  2 SMG, 6 RIFLES, LMG

SECTION: NCO (SMG),  2 SMG, 6 RIFLES, LMG

MMG TEAM
2”  MORTAR TEAM
6 PDR AT GUN
 

BRITISH INFANTRY PLATOON - REGULAR

HQ:  2nd LT (PISTOL), SMG,  RIFLE
SECTION: NCO (SMG),  6 RIFLES, LMG
SECTION: NCO (SMG),  6 RIFLES, LMG
SECTION: NCO (SMG),  6 RIFLES, LMG
MMG TEAM
3” MORTAR TEAM
6 PDR AT GUN

TRANSPORT AS REQUIRED  - 3 M3 HALFTRACKS (UNARMED) AND 2 LT TRUCKS

SCOUT CAR,  HUMBER ARMOURED CAR

AFVs  –  PICKED BY CHANCE.  In the last game a Firefly, 75mm Sherman, Cromwell and Churchill VII arrived.

GERMAN INFANTRY PLATOON A  - REGULAR

HQ:  2ND LT (PISTOL), PISTOL, SMG, RIFLE (PF)
SQUAD: NCO (SMG),  6 RIFLES, LMG
SQUAD: NCO (SMG),   6 RIFLES, LMG
SQUAD: NCO (SMG),   6 RIFLES, LMG

GERMAN INFANTRY PLATOON B  - REGULAR

HQ:  2nd LT (PISTOL), SMG, RIFLE (PF)
SQUAD: NCO (SMG),  SMG, 6 RIFLES, LMG
SQUAD: NCO (SMG),  SMG, 6 RIFLES, LMG
SQUAD: NCO (SMG),  SMG, 6 RIFLES, LMG

TO BE ALLOCATED TO EITHER PLATOON AS DESIRED

75MM PAK 40 HVY AT GUN
MMG TEAM
80MM MORTAR TEAM
VOLKSTURM SQUAD – NCO(SMG), 9 RIFLES (WITH 4 PF)  INEXPERIENCED & SHIRKERS

AFVS  - PICKED BY CHANCE  - up to 4 vehicles.  In the last game a Panzer IV and a softskin 20mm AA arrived.

More Napoleonics

I have continued to work away on my Napoleonic collection.  As I wrote before I ordered the Elite 6Pdr guns to re-equip my Russian foot batteries.   I have now painted up all the new guns.  In the photo below the crew figures are by Foundry which I bought ready painted from South Africa -  I added some more shading and rebased tem.

Russian 6pdr Foot battery

Liking the Elite guns I also ordered French 6pdr guns to re-equip my French horse artillery batteries which had the small Foundry and Hinchliffe 4pdr guns.  The Guard battery has Elite crews and the line battery crews are Foundry.    The crew figures were painted by Reinforcements by Post in Bangladesh as a commission whilst I painted the gun models.   I  have now ordered some 12pdr guns from Elite to replace the Foundry models in my Russian heavy foot batteries.

French Line 6pdr horse battery




French Guard 6pdr horse battery

I have also continued my work on the plastic tents from Renedra.   Having shown the ridge tents here is a photo of the bell tents on a 60mm round edged MDF base from Warbases.   I must say that all deliveries from Renedra have  been very prompt.

Renedra bell tents

ALBANICH 2013

Over the past 2 weeks I have been getting back into wargaming.  Last weekend I took part in a 12 player 2 day Hail Caesar game.  I will write a separate report about that big game at a later date once I have got my Flickr account reorganised.  I am recovering from a  virus attack which wiped out my PC.

This Saturday I helped with the SESWC display game for Albanich the Wargames show in Dumfries.  The display, figures and all the supporting material were from the collection of Colin Jack.  It was a 28mm game of an action in the Russo-Japanese War.  There was enough interest in the display to keep us from playing the game to a conclusion.  Still lots of questions about Colin’s faux fur battle mat which I used for our AWI display at Albanich in 2012.

Russo-Japanese war game.....

The host Dumfries club put on a very good looking FIW Muskets and Tomahawks game.  The West Coast wargamers – from the west coast of Cumbria – put on an impressive 28mm Bolt Action game based the Crossing of the River Bug scenario in the RapidFire Eastern front scenario book.  I have played that scenario myself in 20mm with RapidFire.


FIW - Indian allies land rom the river
 



PZIII explodes on the Soviet mines

 

There seemed to be more traders as Albanich this year.  It is a relatively small show but it definitely seemed busier this year than last year.  It was great to speak to so many people at the show.  Overall it was a good relaxing enjoyable day and I will be back next year.

On the Sunday another team of members from my club, the SESWC, put on a display at the Vikings Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Museum.   Link to their report here.

http://seswc.co.uk/2013/03/13/vikings-at-the-museum-of-scotland/

MY FATHER

Thank you to everyone that has sent myself and my family your best wishes.
 
I'll be taking a short break from the hobby and my blog to remember my beloved dad.  Bill senior passed away early on Monday morning.

Dad on his 80th birthday

My dad was 91. He was a veteran of WWII - called up in 1940 serving first in the 245th RA Light AA Regiment in the UK then in the infantry with the 1st Battalion of the 4th The Kings Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), in Italy. How my dad as an Edinburgh boy ended up in an English infantry regiment was always a mystery. He was wounded 3 times while serving in Italy from June 1944.  Dad met by mom whilst based in Carlisle in 1941 and they married in September 1943.

He remained very active until he was 86 when he finally had to stop doing his program at the local gym. We went to many wargames events together over the last 40 years though my dad did not wargame. He helped me out when I organised the first Claymore Wargames shows in Edinburgh.

NAPOLEON IN EGYPT 1798

My father got out of hospital for a short period this week so in that interval I managed to get to a game at the SESWC.  It was a Napoleon in Egypt game set in 1798 and using Black Powder rules. Chris Henry provided all the figures and Angus Konstam the scenario. I adapted the troop types from those given for the Ottomans in the Last Argument of Kings and umpired the game. It was a welcome break from twice daily hospital visits.



The first French attack about to go in against the village

The game was loosely based on the Battle of Shubra Khit (or Chambreis), fought on Bastille Day (13th July) 1798. it was the first clash between Bonaparte's French army and the Mamluks, fought six days before the Battle of the Pyramids.

There is a full description of the game on Angus’ website at
http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Journal%2078.htm
And also on Bart Zynda’s blog at
http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/battle-of-battle-of-shubra-khit-egypt.html

We used the THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE rule from LAOK. So only the Mameluke CinC could issue normal orders while the subordinate brigade commanders could only issue FOLLOW ME and RALLY orders. Despite this major restriction on their command ability the game turned out to be a Mameluke victory with Bonaparte carried wounded from the field. 


French in the village - minutes later the Turkish guns blasted them out

Since the game I have reviewed the ratings for the Mameluke troops and downgraded them further and these are listed below. However these would not have changed the result. Lessons - avoid deploying squares in effective range of massed artillery and don’t make piecemeal column attacks on built up areas and artillery.


Chasseurs a Cheval take on the Sipahis....

Troop Types                      HH  Sh    Mo   Sta
Janissaries               Musket    6      3     4+      3
Reg Infantry           Musket    6      3     4+      3  Unreliable, Poor Shots
Irreg Infantry         Mixed      5      1     5+     3  Poor Shots, Levy 4+, Wavering
Irreg Fantics           Mixed      5      1     5+     3  Poor Shots, Levy 4+,
                                                                             Bloodthirsty
Irreg Skirmish         Musket    4      2     5+     2  Poor Shots, Skirmish

Mamluke Cav         Sw, Bw   7      1     4+    3
Irreg Cav                Sw, Bw   5      1     5+    2  Marauders, Unreliable, Levy 4+

Artillery                   SB          1  3-2-1  4+    2  Immobile
Camel Zambouk     Lt SB     1  2-1-1   5+    1  Do not need to unlimber to fire


Bloodthirsty    Reroll close combat misses in first charge
Immobile        Only 1 move per turn
Levy X+        Need to roll of disorder at end of turn
Marauders     Ignore distance modifiers for command
Poor Shots    -1 factor when shooting
Skirmish        Can adopt skirmish formation
Unreliable      No move on equal command roll
Wavering      Break test whenever casualties

EVEN MORE NAPOLEONIC REINFORCEMENTS

I have not managed to get to a game this week as I have been busy visiting my father who has been taken into hospital.

Here are some more of my new artillery.  These are French Guard Horse Artillery - the figures are by Elite and were painted by Reinforcements by Post in Bangladesh as a commission. I have ordered some Elite 6pdr guns to replace the Hinchliffe 4pdr guns which I used in the photo.

I sold my Neuchatel canary battalion last month and have replaced it with a second battalion of the Josef Napoleon regiment for my foreign brigade.  I like them as they are colourful, made up of Spanish POWs from Denmark, and their commander in 1812-1813 Baron de Tschudy had an interesting career.  He was born 1774, a French royalist officer, emigrated 1791 and joined Conde's Corps, 1795 joined British service in De Rolls and then the Queens Germans including serving in Egypt, 1802 joined the Portuguese service, 1808 entered French service in the Portuguese Legion after the Portuguese Army surrendered to the French , 1812 became Colonel of the Josef Napoleon Regt, wounded twice in Russia, 1815 went into exile with Louis XVIII and after various commands after the 2nd Restoration died as the Kings Lieutenant of Bayonne in 1834.

Here are some more of my first order of Renedra plastic tents. These are the bell tents based on square 2mm MDF bases from Warbases. I ordered some more of the tents from Renedra 2 days ago and they arrived yesterday.