Camp Cromwell 26/06/07

FOW Challenge match - FE 2000 pts

Jim's Brit Italian Vets (1550 pts = 2000 equiv)
v.
SteveJ's Panzer Lehr

Barrie assisting Jim, Byron assisting Steve, Peter assisting with lawyering.

We picked our armies beforehand & diced for Mission. The dice decreed HTL, Brits defending a Inf v. Armour. The table had lots of terrain, but also a large plain in the centre, to be fair to both sides.

The Germans began with a cautious advance behind the Luchs recon. When the recon got into position to prevent nasty ambushes, the big pussies - 3 Panthers, 2 Tigers (1 a King) - advanced on the objective with the MkIVs riding shotgun to protect their flank. They then stopped and began methodically destroying the Brit 6pdrs protecting the objective.

Both sides had air and at the start they just neutralised each other, the Germans using their Limited to intercept Priority. The Brit reserves came on well and they set up SP Artillery & Heavy Mortar batteries in rear while 2 Infantry Platoons advanced to the front.

The Brits pulled off a coup by attacking & destroying the Luchs with Infantry Platoon C. This cleared a patch of cover for the M10s & Shermans to drop out of ambush with some side shots at Panthers. The ambush didn't do much - just a few bails. But the Brits backed it up with an Infantry assault on the Panthers and took them out. The M10s died instantly, but the Shermans slugged it out with the MkIVs while the Infantry kept up the pressure on the Tigers.

After the air dice ran out, the Luftwaffe came into its own. While the sole contribution of the RAF in the whole battle was 1 intercept, the Henschels pinned down and decimated the heavy mortars and then took out the last Sherman. That hit was crucial as by then the Germans were down to 3 tanks - the HQ MkIV, the Kingtiger, and 1 other MkIV. The Mk IVs were both bailed or bogged and the Panther under pressure from infantry as it hung in just over the centreline. Then the Sherman was lost to the Luftwaffe, the Artillery missed, the Germans unbailed, then lousy saves by the Brits lost them a vital Infantry platoon & the balance shifted again with everyone very close to Coy Morale failure.

But the Henschells kept on coming, the RAF was indeed as rare a fairies & the Brit artillery still wouldn't hit anything. Finally the Brits unpinned the mortars to give some smoke cover and made a last charge. Another handfull of 1's & 2's did for the last infantry platoon and the Brits failed Coy Morale.

The Germans won with just 3 tanks surviving. A ripper of a game with sound plans on both sides. Both sides had their chances to clinch victory, but the Germans outlasted the Brits.

Camp Cromwell 19/06/07

Tactica:

PeterM d. Mark with Nick officiating.

Greeks (Mark) vs Macedoneans (Peter) using Tactica.

Each side weighted their right flank and attempted a turning maneuver. The Greeks had nothing on their left to prevent the Macedoneans getting around that flank, but Mark masterfully maneuvered his hoplites to prevent the turning maneuver. Unfortunatly, in all the maneuvering the center forces stretched. The end result was two phalanx's of pikemen hit one phalanx of hoplites -- and next door two hoplite phalanx's hit one pike block. While there was much dancing on the flanks the brutal combat ground on in the middle. It all came down to who got initiative and decided which battle was resolved first in the center of the battleline. The Macedoneans won the initiative, did their battle first, and forced a morale check which the Greeks failed. So victory to Peter. But if Peter had lost the initiative dice the game would probably have gone the other way!

FOW:

Jim's Indians v. Byron & SteveJ's Grenadiers.
1500 pts HTL Late War, Indians defending.

On turn 1, the Indian HMGs dropped out of ambush catching 2 Grenadier platoons double moving & virtually destroying them - so we started again.

This time the Germans advanced more cautiously while the 105s & mortars tried to soften the Indian position. The Indian reserves came on quickly & there was a game of ring-a-rosy around the woods between the 4 Stugs, 3 Churchills & 4 M10s. The 105's bailed a Churhill, then the Stugs pounced killed one & bailed the other. The Churchills failed morale. The M10s missed their shots at the Stugs & the Stugs and 105s then destroyed them. Things looked bad for the Indians now - their only armour being the Sextons.
Meanwhile, the Indian rifles & HMGs gave a good account of themselves v. the 2 Grenadier platoons in the centre. The Grenadiers holed up in a wood waiting for the left flanking Platoon to get the action.
The Stugs had lost 1 of their number in a fight with Infantry, but the 3 left still looked battlewinners until suddenly Cptn Ghandhi got lucky. One Stug got bailed by a Piat, then the Sextons hit them killing 1 & bailing the other. Like the Brit armour they failed morale & it was Game On again.
Both sides now had 1 sound infantry platoon, a few remnants and artillery. Nearly everyone then died leaving us quite confused about who won so we agreed to a draw.

Does a platoon still exist if all that survives is the attached observer ? If not the Germans had lost 4 of 6 + HQ so fail Coy Morale at the start of their next turn (which is next). If so, the Indians have lost 4 of 7 with 1 Sole Survivor retired but Coy HQ intact & have to test Coy Morale at start of their next turn. If they pass, they win because the Germans cannot get anyone past the table centreline (or do they win anyway because the mission victory condition counts first). If you know the answers, please let me know.

Camp Cromwell 12/06/07

We finished off the D-day from last week.
Steve's GIs drove the mortars back and almost got to the objective before turn 12, but not quite.
Barrie's DDs broke through the front line and got to contest the other objective, but also couldn't control it before 12.
The Stugs never did arrive, but the Germans didn't quite need them
It was a major (5:2) win for the Germans.

Fort Floriet 12/06/07

Seven people this week 4 from the thursday group.Game 1. Aggro DAK Panzers vs, French Doug Encounter 1500ptThe germans had lost by turn 3 when the 5 Shermans and 2 M 10 tank destroyers caused the germans to fail company morale.Game 2. Using the same forces as the first game a Hold the line was played with the DAK being beaten off before taking any objectves.The DAK need a more balanced force in order to overcome the superior Allied tanks.Game 3. James Bretonnian Knights vs. Ian EmpireThe better balanced Empire Army combined with a more experienced general enabled the Empire forces to sweep away the Knights who surendered on about turn 4. A massacre to ian's Empire.Game 4. Chris Hennessy High Elves vs. Damien Chaos (Tzench).The closest game of the night. The Elvish heavy cavalry defeated a unit of demons but were then hit in the flank by some chaos Knights.In the centre the elvish spears did ok supported by the Bolt throwers firing in support. However the Chaos infantry got the better of the fighting in the centre winning. The Chaos warriors then pursued into the warmachines destroying most of them. A solid victory! to Damiens Chaos troops.Game 5. Chris Raines Bretonnians vs. Ian's Empire (fought earlier in the day)This was a close battle which started well for Chris when his elite Grail Knights routed an unit of Empire Knights, however the Grail knights then got hit in the flank by Ogres which destroyed the grail Knights (sob sob 600pts) before the Ogres were killed themselves.The Bretonnian right flank eventually won defeating a unit of knights, Light Cavalry and some handgunners.A very close finish and Draw on points with the Bretonnians marginally ahead on points.

At Grigsy's 07/06/07

Your correspondant got an embedment assignment at Grigsey's to check out how the Kingston mob do it. They are a bit more organised than Camp Cromwell. The guys commit to turning up a few days beforehand and pairings are decided. They send their army lists to a 3rd party & are informed of what they are fighting. The terrain & mission are decided on the night, usually a standard mission by dice roll, but maybe a web mission by agreement.

Grigsey's war room is a huge space under the house & holds a full sized bilyard table (12'x6') with a good 5' all round - mostly filled up with an unholy mess of piles of terrain & troops. There was an awfull lot of late war stuff - an unhealthy obsession with big pussies was evident. This night the table was set up with three 6'x4' battlefields side by side. MarkW fought the Strolling Astronomer at one end - FJs defending in an Envelopment v. Mark's US Inf. Griggsey was in the middle attacking in a Late War Hold the Line with Grenadiers v. US Mech. Cptn Ghandhi's Indians fought Andrew's Grenadiers on the other end. There were 7 players present. Your correspondant was rather involved in his own war, so can only describe that action in any detail.

Cptn Ghandhi's Indian Rifles v. Andrew's Grenadiers
1500 pts Midwar Cauldron, Germans defending.
The table featured a large ruined town in the centre with scattered hills & woods all round.

The Bad Guys had 2 Infantry (+2HMG), and an Engineer deployed in the ruins & 3 superStugs in Immediate ambush. In reserve they had Neblewerfers, Infantry, Lt Inf Guns, HMGs & a Kampfgroup. The ruined town provided them with an ideal defensive position for their Cauldron.

Cptn Ghandhi was fortunate with his deployment rolls. 1 Inf rolled 2 & had a wood to deploy in close to an objective. The other 2 Inf rolled 4 where they had a wood close to the other objective to deploy in. The RA also threw 4 so could deploy on the side of the table away from enemy reinforcements. In reserve were Matildas, HMGs (in bugs), Bugs & Bofors.

The Stugs deployed in range of the RA & popped a gun. The Matildas came on 1st turn & the Indians immediately assaulted both objectives. On the left the Indian war cry put the Grenadiers right off their game & the tanks & Infantry took the objective. On the right the Germans were made of sterner stuff and stopped the attack with fire power.

The Stugs broke off from the RA & moved around the back of the town in a mission to retake the lost objective. The Indians consolidated in the ruins around the taken objective and renewed their assault on the other one. With Fearless Trained v. Conf Vets both with HQs attached it got very bloody. The 1st Indians died to a man, but the 2nd finished the job killing all the defenders (incl HQ).

At the end of turn 2 the Indians held both objectives, but they had to hold onto at least one of them until turn 6. The Engineers counterattacked the 2nd objective, finished off the 2nd Rifles but couldn't quite get to the Indian HQ behind them. The Stugs bailed a Matilda.

The Matildas decided they might as well die attacking the Engineers as be picked off by Stugs. They charged thru the town, attacked the Engineers & promptly died. The Indians got a better deal with reo than the Krauts, the HMGs & Bugs moving up to support the HQ on the objective. The Engineers were pinned down and stayed that way, but the Indians didn't have any Infantry available to finish them off either. The Stugs held off trying to soften up the Infantry as everyone got ready for turn 6. There was a bit of a side show as a Stug tried to take out the RA observer that was calling (so far ineffective, but scary) murders down on them. But the Stug got bogged in the wood & was destroyed by the observer's counterattack. The observer had 1 turn to contemplate his VC before the Grenadiers from reserve got him.

On their turn 5 the Indians had 2 chances to win the game next turn - either by taking out the Engineers or driving off the Stugs to gain undisputed posession of one or other of the objectives. The Engineers were attacked first. Supported by artillery & bugs, the HQ charged. They killed 2 of the 3 Engineers, the Indian 2IC died in the counterattack, but Cptn Ghandhi himself finished off the last Engineer to win the battle. The Germans had no troops able to dispute that objective (now held by the HMGs). The other Rifle Platoon didn't have to try charging out of cover at the Stugs. A very enjoyable hard fought 4:3 win to the Indians.

The centre table was technically a win for the defending US on the defender wins timed out games rule.
At the other end the Germans held off the Yanks comfortably.

Camp Cromwell 05/06/07

Hit The Beach on 6'x6' table

US: Barrie's 1330 pts Rifles + SteveJ's 1330 pts Armoured Rifles
v.
Mark & Dylan's 750 pts Grenadiers + Jim & James' 750 pt Grenadiers

The Preliminary Bombardment knocked the crap out of James' Infantry & the survivors were soon taken below half strength & failed morale. This left the German right with just a mortar platoon & an 88 bunker to hold off Steve's Coy. But once they unpinned, the mortars got the range on the crowds on the beach & kept them pinned down.
On the German right Dylan lost half his artillery but his front line stiffened by 2 tank bunkers & an Pak50 bunker made things hot for Barrie. Barrie's carfully timed landings (holding back the DDs until the engineers had cleared the wall) came a bit unstuck with multiple skill failures.

By the end of turn 8 Steve had finally made a gap in the wire and has 1 platoon over the sea wall. Barrie has a gap in the wall for the DDs, but all his troops that got over it has failed morale and fallen back.

The battle was adjurned until next week. The Germans position looked hopeless after the first couple of turns, but their bad luck on the bombardment saves was balanced by a lot US failures to unpin or demolish. The Germans still had enough firepower left to delay the GIs on the beach. The Germans have 1 small HMG platoon & a 3 Stug platoon to come on - a lot depends on how soon they arrive.