Six Players in attendance this week Jim couldn't make it. However the guys fought on without him.
FFA 3000pts -- Doug Aussies & Rob Brat Light Armour vs. Grenadiers Starn & Dak Aggro
The British tanks swarmed on the allied left flank while the Aussies kept the Grenadiers at bay on the right. A convincing win to the allied forces.
We have enough armies in launceston now to do a Comprehensive African Campaign. I may have to get it organised if i can tear myself away from the Warhammer fantasy! Armies for North Africa:
Darren Brat light Armour
Gary French Brat infantry
Matt French & Mike Cole italians
Chris as much DAK as you need
Starn & Aggro more Germs
Doug Aussies & others
Nick USA & Aggro USA
Sam Brat infantry (Commandos)
Warhammer Battles Chris High Elves vs. James Bretonnian Knights
The High Elves won both games by using their larger number of units and out manuevering the heavily armoured Bretonnians. I changed my army composition dropping alll the useless archers. The High Elves seem to go much better with more Heavy Cavalry units!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Area 52 Sunday 25/02/07
600 Point FOW Midwar Tournament
8 players turned up, 5 from Camp Cromwell. All battles were FFA on 4x3 tables. There were 7 tables set up & the players generally used a different table for each of their battles.
Round 1: Nick d. Andrew
SteveP d. SteveJ
Grigsy d. James
Jim d. Mark
Round 2: Nick d. SteveP
SteveJ d. Mark
Jim d. Grigsy
Andrew d. James
Round 3: Nick d. Jim
James d. Mark
SteveJ d. Grigsy
SteveP d. Andrew
Results:
3 wins: Nick (Panzer)
2 wins: SteveP (Strelkovy)
2 wins: SteveJ (Grenadier)
2 wins: Jim (Carri)
1 win: James (British Light Armour)
1 win: Grigsy (Grenadier)
1 win: Andrew (US Infantry)
0 wins: Mark (Tankovy)
It's a pity we didn't quite have enough time to squeeze another round in but everyone had a good time. Some of the battles were very close - perhaps the worst case being Nick v. SteveP where both sides were reduced to their HQ & were taking turns checking who's Coy morale would fail first until Nick's HQ gunned down the Russian HQ.
SteveP d. SteveJ
Grigsy d. James
Jim d. Mark
Round 2: Nick d. SteveP
SteveJ d. Mark
Jim d. Grigsy
Andrew d. James
Round 3: Nick d. Jim
James d. Mark
SteveJ d. Grigsy
SteveP d. Andrew
Results:
3 wins: Nick (Panzer)
2 wins: SteveP (Strelkovy)
2 wins: SteveJ (Grenadier)
2 wins: Jim (Carri)
1 win: James (British Light Armour)
1 win: Grigsy (Grenadier)
1 win: Andrew (US Infantry)
0 wins: Mark (Tankovy)
It's a pity we didn't quite have enough time to squeeze another round in but everyone had a good time. Some of the battles were very close - perhaps the worst case being Nick v. SteveP where both sides were reduced to their HQ & were taking turns checking who's Coy morale would fail first until Nick's HQ gunned down the Russian HQ.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Camp Cromwell 22/02/07
Game 1: Jim's Bersaliglieri attacking Nick's US Paras in 600 pts Fighting Withdrawal (4x3 table).
The Itie 75s had trouble ranging in on dug in GTG verterans & did little to help.
The L6s were whittled away by Bazookas, lost their commander and were beaten back.
Nick's ambush ensured that the Bersaliglieri ran onto a wall of fire from 2 intermixed infantry platoons & died before charging home.
It was all over in 2 turns.
Game 2: Nick's Panzers attacking Jim's Brit Rifles in 600 pts Breakthrough (4x3 table).
The Brit Heavy Mortars were all but destroyed on turn 1 when Jim failed to find a place to put them out of charge range of the Panzers (5 MkIII).
On turn 2 the Brit Rifles were broken into 2 parts by the Panzers which then stood back & took pot shots while waiting for the right time to strike.
The MkIIs came on on turn 4 & the 2 pdrs managed to kill 1.
On turn 5 the Panzers rushed the objective. The 2 pdrs had no hope of killing enough Panzers in 1 turn (even if they had unpinned) so the Germans won holding an objective at the start of their turn 6.
The Itie 75s had trouble ranging in on dug in GTG verterans & did little to help.
The L6s were whittled away by Bazookas, lost their commander and were beaten back.
Nick's ambush ensured that the Bersaliglieri ran onto a wall of fire from 2 intermixed infantry platoons & died before charging home.
It was all over in 2 turns.
Game 2: Nick's Panzers attacking Jim's Brit Rifles in 600 pts Breakthrough (4x3 table).
The Brit Heavy Mortars were all but destroyed on turn 1 when Jim failed to find a place to put them out of charge range of the Panzers (5 MkIII).
On turn 2 the Brit Rifles were broken into 2 parts by the Panzers which then stood back & took pot shots while waiting for the right time to strike.
The MkIIs came on on turn 4 & the 2 pdrs managed to kill 1.
On turn 5 the Panzers rushed the objective. The 2 pdrs had no hope of killing enough Panzers in 1 turn (even if they had unpinned) so the Germans won holding an objective at the start of their turn 6.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Fort Floriet 20/02/07
A 2 x 1500 pts coys a side battle using the multi-player rules on p188 on a 9x5 desert table.
Jim's Brit Rifles + Agros US Inf
v.
Starn's Grenadiers & Doug's Grenadiers
On the Allied left Jim's Poms faced Starn in an Encounter Mission.
On the Allied right Agro's US faced Doug in a Breakthrough.
Chris umpired.
The Breakthrough deployment zones divided half the table into quarters so Agro's deployment zone was on the Brit right flank & his objectives were in the far right corner of the table. The battlefield was diced up desert & pretty open. The Brits stepped back to good old WWI tactics - 2 Infantry platoons advanced while their double 25pdr battery & heavy mortars softened up the Krauts. Starn tried to dig In & weather the storm praying his reinforcements would come soon. Agros deployment was cramped by the small space available & Doug's priority Stukas had a field day. This goaded Agro into making hasty attacks to make more space with very unfortunate results.
On the Brit front the 25pdrs reduced the Neblewerfers to a single piece in one Stonk, then turned on the Grenadiers on the central objective. The heavy mortars wiped the 88s in 2 turns then joined in on the Grenadiers. The Brits only problem was their so-called allies - bloody Yanks - can't even be relied upon to be decent targets - the Stukas suddenly came across the table after more worthwhile targets. The Infantry on the left got a hammering while those on the right got off with a lot of good saves & the CICs help in unpinning.
But the Yanks weren't quite finished yet - their Shermans came on in flank attack and took the far objective. But they were too early & couldn't hold it against a pioneer counterattack. With the loss of the Shermans, the yanks failed morale leaving the Brits on the their own (so what's new). Despite the attentions of the Stukas, the Brit Infantry got to both objectives before reinforcements either from reserve or from Doug could arrive. In the centre, the Grenadiers had been pounded to a shell by artillery & there was little for the Brit Inf to do but bayonet the wounded & take the position. On the right, the objective was defended by just German HQ & it was quickly over-run. But the German reserves had finally arrived in time to counterattack. Grenadiers retook the left objective finishing off the job the Stukas started (annihilating the Brit Infantry there) while the Tiger disputed the central objective. The Brit Infantry surrounded the Tiger, it failed morale & had to surrender leaving the Brits in control of the objective.
So both sides had a win & a loss, so the battle was a tie. Everyone enjoyed the multi-players, multi-mission format.
Jim's Brit Rifles + Agros US Inf
v.
Starn's Grenadiers & Doug's Grenadiers
On the Allied left Jim's Poms faced Starn in an Encounter Mission.
On the Allied right Agro's US faced Doug in a Breakthrough.
Chris umpired.
The Breakthrough deployment zones divided half the table into quarters so Agro's deployment zone was on the Brit right flank & his objectives were in the far right corner of the table. The battlefield was diced up desert & pretty open. The Brits stepped back to good old WWI tactics - 2 Infantry platoons advanced while their double 25pdr battery & heavy mortars softened up the Krauts. Starn tried to dig In & weather the storm praying his reinforcements would come soon. Agros deployment was cramped by the small space available & Doug's priority Stukas had a field day. This goaded Agro into making hasty attacks to make more space with very unfortunate results.
On the Brit front the 25pdrs reduced the Neblewerfers to a single piece in one Stonk, then turned on the Grenadiers on the central objective. The heavy mortars wiped the 88s in 2 turns then joined in on the Grenadiers. The Brits only problem was their so-called allies - bloody Yanks - can't even be relied upon to be decent targets - the Stukas suddenly came across the table after more worthwhile targets. The Infantry on the left got a hammering while those on the right got off with a lot of good saves & the CICs help in unpinning.
But the Yanks weren't quite finished yet - their Shermans came on in flank attack and took the far objective. But they were too early & couldn't hold it against a pioneer counterattack. With the loss of the Shermans, the yanks failed morale leaving the Brits on the their own (so what's new). Despite the attentions of the Stukas, the Brit Infantry got to both objectives before reinforcements either from reserve or from Doug could arrive. In the centre, the Grenadiers had been pounded to a shell by artillery & there was little for the Brit Inf to do but bayonet the wounded & take the position. On the right, the objective was defended by just German HQ & it was quickly over-run. But the German reserves had finally arrived in time to counterattack. Grenadiers retook the left objective finishing off the job the Stukas started (annihilating the Brit Infantry there) while the Tiger disputed the central objective. The Brit Infantry surrounded the Tiger, it failed morale & had to surrender leaving the Brits in control of the objective.
So both sides had a win & a loss, so the battle was a tie. Everyone enjoyed the multi-players, multi-mission format.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Camp Cromwell 13/02/07
Marengo 1945
A FOW scenario using the terrain of Marengo 1800.
A FOW scenario using the terrain of Marengo 1800.
Jim's Grenadiers v. MarkO's British Italian Vets - 2000 pts FE.
Scenario = modified HTL: Half Brits on table at start & holding Marengo. Germans deployed up to 15cm from creek in front of Marengo. Marengo is the objective, but if the Brits lose it they have until 10.30 to take it back.
Grenadiers: 3 Inf, HMGs, Mortars, 3 Pak 40s, 2 88s, 2 37mm AA, 105s + 2 Tigers.
Brit Vets: 3 Inf, HMGs, Heavy Mortars, 3 Churchill VI, 4 M10 3", double 25 pdrs, Limited Hurricanes.
The Brits deployed with Infantry in Marengo & Castel Ceriolo, HMGs between & slightly behind & Artillery in rear.
The Germans advanced with the 3 Inf abreast. Mortars & HMGs followed up thru the swamp on the left. The Tigers supported the advance on Marengo (right flank). The Artillery & AA were in rear. All spread out as much as possible in a confined space in fear of Murders.
The German attack had mixed results: The centre Grenadiers got Murdered & pinned down. The LHS Grenadiers stormed Castel Ceriolo with bearable losses. The RHS Grenadiers were pinned in their assault on Marengo and were then gunned down.
The Germans dug in in Castel Ceriolo. The centre platoon was unpinned and shifted right while the Tigers kept the Brit HMGs busy. A second (more careful) attack on Marengo with Tigers & Infantry then succeded.
The Germans cobbled up a defence around the Grenadiers in Marengo as the Churchills & M10s came up. The 25 pdrs continued to eat away at the Germans without delivering a knockout blow. The RAF came occasionally, the AA sent them off sometimes, but when they got thru the AA, they kept missing the Tigers anyway. The 105s delayed the Brit infantry reserves. Then the M10s got a bit too close to the Germans for their own good. The Tigers popped one with a Marder shuffle. 2 M10s tried to gang up on a Tiger but missed & promptly evaporated. The other one tried to get an SP AA, missed and got splattered with 37mm fire.
Now with no M10s & their infantry either dead or delayed, the Brits weren't going to get to Marengo on time with the Churchills alone, so they conceded.
Scenario = modified HTL: Half Brits on table at start & holding Marengo. Germans deployed up to 15cm from creek in front of Marengo. Marengo is the objective, but if the Brits lose it they have until 10.30 to take it back.
Grenadiers: 3 Inf, HMGs, Mortars, 3 Pak 40s, 2 88s, 2 37mm AA, 105s + 2 Tigers.
Brit Vets: 3 Inf, HMGs, Heavy Mortars, 3 Churchill VI, 4 M10 3", double 25 pdrs, Limited Hurricanes.
The Brits deployed with Infantry in Marengo & Castel Ceriolo, HMGs between & slightly behind & Artillery in rear.
The Germans advanced with the 3 Inf abreast. Mortars & HMGs followed up thru the swamp on the left. The Tigers supported the advance on Marengo (right flank). The Artillery & AA were in rear. All spread out as much as possible in a confined space in fear of Murders.
The German attack had mixed results: The centre Grenadiers got Murdered & pinned down. The LHS Grenadiers stormed Castel Ceriolo with bearable losses. The RHS Grenadiers were pinned in their assault on Marengo and were then gunned down.
The Germans dug in in Castel Ceriolo. The centre platoon was unpinned and shifted right while the Tigers kept the Brit HMGs busy. A second (more careful) attack on Marengo with Tigers & Infantry then succeded.
The Germans cobbled up a defence around the Grenadiers in Marengo as the Churchills & M10s came up. The 25 pdrs continued to eat away at the Germans without delivering a knockout blow. The RAF came occasionally, the AA sent them off sometimes, but when they got thru the AA, they kept missing the Tigers anyway. The 105s delayed the Brit infantry reserves. Then the M10s got a bit too close to the Germans for their own good. The Tigers popped one with a Marder shuffle. 2 M10s tried to gang up on a Tiger but missed & promptly evaporated. The other one tried to get an SP AA, missed and got splattered with 37mm fire.
Now with no M10s & their infantry either dead or delayed, the Brits weren't going to get to Marengo on time with the Churchills alone, so they conceded.
This week the reserves didn't come on throwing 6's & the "Austrians" took Marengo & held it. The critical thing was the survival of both pussies. The Piat in Marengo, the Hurricanes & the M10s all kept missing them. One did get bogged attacking the HMGs over a creek but the HMGs couldn't counterattack & it survived. It was interesting to fight on a battlefield with so much terrain - for instance getting observers where they could see was a big deal.The pic shows Marengo and its defences at the end - scary eh! I think my investment in a second Tiger is repaid already.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Camp Cromwell 08/02/07
Marengo 1800
Frogs: MarkO & SteveP
Ostriches: Renfrey & SteveJ
The historic scenario had the Frogs outnumbered and hanging on until Desaix arrived late in the day. The points values of the 2 armies were close, but not until the Frog reinforcements arrived. The terrain was very crowded with lots of vinyards, villages, swamps & ditches.
The Austrian plan was to pin the French in front while outflanking the French right.
The French moved all their cavalry and their reserve infantry to their right rear to meet the flank attack.
The Austrian attack was realistically delayed at times by the activation rules, plus the frogs had the advantage of lots of defensive terrain.
The Frogs eventually lost all their initial army, but they did hold on until Desaix came on the table on turn 18 and they inflicted significant casualties.
Desaix came up and attacked immediately, arriving just in time to hit some of the victorious Austrian cavalry & infantry before they could regroup.
The French heavy cavalry rode down the Austrian Hussars, the other surviving Hussars were caught in a vinyard by infantry & routed. The other infantry division routed 2 depleted Austrian infantry divisions in quick succession to complete the French victory. In the pic Desaix has come on from the right & the Austrians are about to break. Marengo is the walled village left of centre.
When Desaix arrived the French army was a mess & it looked like he was too late. We all thought that without a specific rule to force the Austrians into road column to pursue, the French couldn't win. But no such rule was required. The last of the original Frogs held on just long enough so the Austrians didn't have enough time to organise a sound defence. Poor Austrian activation cost them too - for instance some Hussars got stuck in a vinyard & failed to get out of the way of the approaching foot. Even the dice changed sides when Desaix arrived (a sneaky move by SteveP to slip around the other side of the table & swipe Renfrey's dice). In the end, the battle followed the original script with uncanny accuracy.
The revamped rules worked pretty well - we got through more than 24 turns of a 30,000 a side battle in about 3 hours. Maybe I need to do a bit more work on some of the close combat nuances.
Frogs: MarkO & SteveP
Ostriches: Renfrey & SteveJ
The historic scenario had the Frogs outnumbered and hanging on until Desaix arrived late in the day. The points values of the 2 armies were close, but not until the Frog reinforcements arrived. The terrain was very crowded with lots of vinyards, villages, swamps & ditches.
The Austrian plan was to pin the French in front while outflanking the French right.The French moved all their cavalry and their reserve infantry to their right rear to meet the flank attack.
The Austrian attack was realistically delayed at times by the activation rules, plus the frogs had the advantage of lots of defensive terrain.
The Frogs eventually lost all their initial army, but they did hold on until Desaix came on the table on turn 18 and they inflicted significant casualties.
Desaix came up and attacked immediately, arriving just in time to hit some of the victorious Austrian cavalry & infantry before they could regroup.
The French heavy cavalry rode down the Austrian Hussars, the other surviving Hussars were caught in a vinyard by infantry & routed. The other infantry division routed 2 depleted Austrian infantry divisions in quick succession to complete the French victory. In the pic Desaix has come on from the right & the Austrians are about to break. Marengo is the walled village left of centre.
When Desaix arrived the French army was a mess & it looked like he was too late. We all thought that without a specific rule to force the Austrians into road column to pursue, the French couldn't win. But no such rule was required. The last of the original Frogs held on just long enough so the Austrians didn't have enough time to organise a sound defence. Poor Austrian activation cost them too - for instance some Hussars got stuck in a vinyard & failed to get out of the way of the approaching foot. Even the dice changed sides when Desaix arrived (a sneaky move by SteveP to slip around the other side of the table & swipe Renfrey's dice). In the end, the battle followed the original script with uncanny accuracy.
The revamped rules worked pretty well - we got through more than 24 turns of a 30,000 a side battle in about 3 hours. Maybe I need to do a bit more work on some of the close combat nuances.
Fort Floriet 06/02/07
6 takers this week.Game 1. 3000pts Replay of last weeks FFAUSA & Brats Aggro & Belinda vs. DAk Tunisian Doug & Dion .The Dak took out their 2 Tigers replacing them with a platoon of Stug G's and some extra Panzers. Both sides had air power.The battle went the same way as the previous week, with the more experienced player Doug leading the DAK to victory.Doug had however forgotton the British re rolling hits rule for the Grants which would have made a difference.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Camp Cromwell 01/02/07
Jim & MarkO's Strelkovy v. Renfrey & James' Grenadiers in a 1500 pt FFA.
The table featured a large plain on the German left, a line of ridges on the German right and a line of ridges in the Russian centre.
The Russians put one objective on their far right & the other in the centre - in both cases a wood gave some cover to the approach.
The Russians deployed their 2 Stelkovy side by side on the centre ridge with their 5 T34s & 3 KVs behind.
The Germans put Grenadiers & Pak 40s on the ridge on their right, HMGs & Tiger in the centre, Grenadiers on the left objective and artillery behind the ridge on their right.
The Russians began by moving their right flank infantry & the T34s sideways to the right, holding back the left Infantry & the KVs in the centre. The Germans responded by pulling the Paks out to move them to the right. The Ivans then advanced in the centre-left. The HMGs moved right to replace the Paks in support of the Grenadiers on the right. The Tiger dominated the open ground left of centre, but the T34s double moved just outside the Zone Of Death into the wood on the table edge & the KVs lurked on a flat hill top out of sight. Then things got really interesting. The KVs came over the crest to shoot at the Pak 40s moving across the German rear, braving the Tiger fire. The T34s came out of the wood and engaged the Grenadiers in support of the Strelkovy. Mark's Infantry on the left kept up pressure on that flank.
The Tiger shot badly while the KVs popped 2 Pak 40s & their tows in 2 turns & the survivors failed morale. The German HMGs suffered badly from rifle fire as they tried to redeploy & fell back onto the centre objective. The KVs got another HMG & they too failed morale. Renfrey's Grenadiers tried to counterattack Mark's Ivans but bad saves stopped him (Mark got only 4 hits in defensive fire which failed to pin & stop the attack, but when Renfrey threw 4 1s & 2s for saves it didn't matter). While the Tiger was busy failing dismally to deal with the KVs, the T34s attacked the far objective. The T34s drove the Grenadiers off the objective, but were then destroyed by a counterattack. But Jim's Strelkovy still held that objective and Mark's had taken the centre one. The Germans made last ditch counterattacks on both objectives, but the Ivans held firm to win the battle.
This was a most enjoyable battle - in the balance until the end. The Ivans believe they won though skill, determination & Guiness while the Germans could point to some signally bad luck - while they were not alone with spells of bad saves, they lost the Paks & HMGs to hot shooting & bad morale throws while the Tiger could manage no more than a couple of bails on the KVs.
Camp Cromwell 25/01/07
Late War 600 pts Oakes Minor's Grenadiers v. Oakes Major's Fucilieri in FFA.
After the Itie artillery destroyed the Pak 40s as they moved up & the Itie's allied Shermans took out the German HMGs things looked grim for the Feurer. The Fucilieri & Shermans rushed forward at the lone Tiger but then ran out of luck. The smoke barrage failed to arrive giving the Tiger easy shots at the Shermans. Then the Fucilieri failed tank terror (even with rerolls for the CIC) 3 turns in row as the Tiger back pedalled out of trouble & the Grenadiers came up & finished off the Fucilieri. The few surviving Grenadiers skulked in a wood out of sight of the Itie artillery while the Tiger mopped up on its own.
After the Itie artillery destroyed the Pak 40s as they moved up & the Itie's allied Shermans took out the German HMGs things looked grim for the Feurer. The Fucilieri & Shermans rushed forward at the lone Tiger but then ran out of luck. The smoke barrage failed to arrive giving the Tiger easy shots at the Shermans. Then the Fucilieri failed tank terror (even with rerolls for the CIC) 3 turns in row as the Tiger back pedalled out of trouble & the Grenadiers came up & finished off the Fucilieri. The few surviving Grenadiers skulked in a wood out of sight of the Itie artillery while the Tiger mopped up on its own.
Fort Floriet 30/01/07
A big turn up this week with Aggro, James, Doug, Chris & Dion, Belinda, Darren & Sam from the Thursday group.
3000pts Free for All: USA Inf & Brat Armour VS. DAK Armour and InfantryDarren (new player) British Armour and Aggro USA vs. Doug & Dion DAKBoth sides advanced and a big slug fest between the Panzers with support from the 88's & Tigers resulted in lots of dead allied tanks. The inexperience of the allied commanders combined with no terrain to hide behind contributed to the slaughter.Once the allied tanks had been cleared it was a morale failure which gave the DAK a hard fought victory!
3000pts Free for All: USA Inf & Brat Armour VS. DAK Armour and InfantryDarren (new player) British Armour and Aggro USA vs. Doug & Dion DAKBoth sides advanced and a big slug fest between the Panzers with support from the 88's & Tigers resulted in lots of dead allied tanks. The inexperience of the allied commanders combined with no terrain to hide behind contributed to the slaughter.Once the allied tanks had been cleared it was a morale failure which gave the DAK a hard fought victory!
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