Bolt Action Tank War

 With Chris still lighthouse keeping & Mark & Mitch with Lurgis, only three players again tonight.  We decided to have a simple Bolt Action tank battle.
Germans (Steve):  2 Panther platoons of 3.
Brits (Jim): 2 Fireflies & 2 Cromwells.
US (Mike): 3 Shermans & 3 M10s

Random starting deployment: Brits in closest corner, US in RH corner, Germans in far RH corner & centre of other side of table.

On the far flank t3 panthers holed up in the wood.  The M10's traded long range shots while the Shermans advanced.  One M10 got knocked out.
On the near flank the Brits advanced down the LH side of the table.  A Panther came round the edge of the wood & picked off the lead Firefly, but a Cromwell got a non lethal hit & bad morale dice made the Panther retreat.  Another panther advanced to point blank in the woods & missed the Cromwell which shot back effectively.  Then the Firefly took out the Panther on the ridge facing the US.

On the far flank both sides lost tanks as the US advanced to close range, but the US could afford the losses, the Germans couldn't.
On the near flank the Brits swamped the last Panther.
With Brits advancing from one direction & the US another, the Panthers in the wood were doomed.
After taking early losses, the allied ended up decisive winners.

Steve brought along his copy of Warlords new tank battle rules Actung Panzer for show & tell.  The rules go into great detail for individual tanks with data cards, chance cards & lots of counters.  It looked very gamey.  By contrast our game tonight showed how vanilla BA with only tanks makes a really easy to set up, easy to play & entertaining game, where you can concentrate on tactics rather than the rules.  

Warlords are bringing out v3 of BA next September.  We can only hope they just fix the bugs & don't stuff it up like Battlefront did with v3 of FOW.

 

ACW 28mm

 With only 3 players tonight we rejigged last week's battlefield a bit & put out a Union army of 10 infantry, 2 cavalry & 3 rifled guns & a Confederate army of the same size, but in two divisions & with only 1 rifled cannon.  The cards made Steve the Union commander & Mike & Jim the Rebs.

The Union are on the far side, Jim's division on the near flank & Mike's on the Reb right.

On the left, the Rebs have split their infantry & are advancing them on both flanks while their artillery covers the gap between. On the right the Rebs are making a general advance., but their cavalry failed command & was hit in flank by Union cavalry counterattack.

On the far flank half the Reb cavalry was saved by their infantry arriving on the Union cavlary's flank.  In the centre the Rebs have used the ridge & woods to cover their advance into close range of the Union artillery. Union infantry have advanced to cover the guns.   

On the far flank the Rebs have wrapped round the Union flank & are rolling it up. The is a deadly musketry duel.   On the near flank the Rebs have shifted to the right to support the centre.

The Rebs have charged & taken out the gun on the road. On the far side the Union flank is crumbling.

A Reb charge at the angel in the union line has taken out another battery & most of the Union cente has broken causing the Union army moral test to fail & it is a decisive Rebel victory. 

The Rebs learned last week that the Union cannon could be deadly if you let it blast away at long range.  This week they used the terrain to get in close, then pinned down the Union centre while their flanking attack won the day.

 

ACW 28mm

Union:  Mike & Steve, each with 8 inf, 2 cav & 2 rifled art.
CSA: Jim with 10 inf 1 Napoleon & 2 art & Mark with 6 inf, 2 cav & 2 art.  (Rebs with 2 guns rifled)

Each player has a division coming on a different road.  Mike's Union far LH, Steve's Union near RH, Mark's Rebs far RH & Jim's Rebs near LH.

While mostly both sades deployed towards their closest enemy division, the Rebs in the foreground deployed their artillery to their left to enfilade Mike's line.   

Mike pulled his right flank back away from the guns on their flank & charged his cavalry at Jim's left.  On the near flank some hot shooting by the Union rifled artillery blunted the Union advance & helped them to occupy the village.  

On the far flank a Union attack along the ridge was beaten off with loss of a battery.  The Union cavalry attack was beaten off, but the Union rifled artillery forced the near Reb division to fall back behind the ridge on their left.  

On the far flank have significant losses & are pulling back.  In the centre Union doismpunted cavalry are attacking the left flank of the near Reb division.  On the near flank the Union advanced, but are gettign the worst of the firefight.

On the far flank the Union, now outnumbered, have pulled back, but the Rebs are dissuaded from following up by the superior Union artillery.  In the centre the Union attack has been beaten off.  On the right the Union have fallen back into a good defensive line in the village & the woods.  The Rebs have gained the upper hand, but are unable to exploit their advantage & agree to a draw.

Bolt Action

Both sides had 2 platoons totalling about 2,230 points & lots of tanks.
Germans: Armour & mortars Regular, infantry Veteran.  Jim, Mark & SteveJ
Brits: All Regular troops, but 1 more tank & 1 more infantry squad than the Germans .  Mike & Mitch.
Each player had a platoon except SteveJ just had his Tiger.
The three ridges along the table centreline were objectives, counting as held by your side if you have troops on any part of it & the enemy doesn't, otherwise counts as contested.

After deployment turn: The Germans are on the left.  Having three objectives forced both sides to deploy spread out across the front, but the Germans concentrated all but one of their panzers in the centre.

There are three separate battles going on, one on each objective hill.  (There are British infantry off shot on the RHS of pic).

The far flank was pretty much a stalemate.
On the near flank the Germans were outnumbered, but held on to dispute the objective.
In the centre, the tank v. tank fight was indecisive for a long time, fought at close range, but the Brits in cover & the Germans mostly hull down.  But on turn 5 the Germans finally got the range & finished off the 3 British tanks in the centre, leaving them in undisputed control of the centre ridge.
The Germans lost 5 units to 8 Brits so won on casualties as well as objectives.   
 

 

American Civil War: 15mm pick-up battle

We Americanised the Lobotsitz battlefield by adding trees & hills. With 5 players we made up a union army of 3 Corps each 6 infantry & 2 guns, one with 2 cavalry, and a Rebel army of 2 Corps each with 8 infantry & 3 guns, one with 2 cavalry.  As the Union had 18 infantry to 16 the Reb infantry were made marksmen so +1 on shooting & HTH. Figures 15mm, rules M2M.

We used a card draw to decide where each Corps started & who commanded it. 

Mitch's Rebs start in camp.  Mike's Reb reinforcements are coming on in the far RH corner.  
Jim's Union are coming on at the RH corner, Chris' LH near corner, Mark's LH far corner.

Mitch has deployed defensively using the woods as Jim & Chris converge on him.
Mark & Mike are still in march columns.

Despite superior numbers the Union attack on teh near flank is getting nowhere against a sound Reb defence backed up with far too many 6's from the Union point of view.
On the far flank both sides are still deploying.

On the extreme right flank the Union have had some success when their cavalry charged the Reb skirmish line then rode down the supporting line.  But the early loss of the Union artillery to counterbattery fire & good Rebel shooting more than making up for the Reb's lack of numbers.

On the extreme left the Union attempt to roll up the Rebs from their left has been thwarted by the timely arrival of Mike's cavalry & a shower of grapeshot.  The centre of the Union line on this flank has also been blown away by musket & cannon.

The Union right & centre Corps have both been reduced below half strength & are unable to continue their attacks.  Mark has no made any headway against Mike either, so the Union concede the battle.

Once again our random cards system produced an interesting scenario.  
 

 

Malo-Jaroslwitz 1812 at Black Hills

PeterC set up the scenario for Jim (French) & Chris (Russians) with his 15mm figs & M2M rules.
As winter approached Napoleon thought about moving south from Moscow but Eugene's advance guard ran into Kutusov's army blocking the way. 

The battle starts with only the advance guards on the table.  French reinforcements are coming on the road from the right,  Russians from the far sides of the table.  Neither player knows how many enemy are coming.

The Russians move their advance guard to their right as Cosacks come on from their left.
The French have a long column of troops filing across the bridge to deploy.

The Russian advance guard has been blown away by French muskets & cannon, but more troops have come up.
French cavalry has deployed to their left & forced the Russian right to form square.
More French cavalry has deployed to the left where it has driven off the Cossacks & charged the Russian foot's left flank.

On the French left, the French are advancing artillery to fire on the squares.
On the French right their cavalry has bounced off the Russian squares 

On the left the French guns are pounding the Russian squares.
On the left of the village the French infantry have advanced into musket range of the enemy.
On the right of the village the French infantry have charged & broken the Russian left flank, weakened by cavalry & artillery.
A huge Russian battery is deploying on the far side of the stream behind the shattered Russian left flank. 

The massed Russian battery has forced the French to pull back their right, but the Russian centre is being rolled up while on the left the French infantry are advancing on the squares pinned down by cavalry.
The Russians are clearly beaten & conceded the battle at this point.  

7YW PICK UP BATTLE

We recycled the Chotusitz battlefield from last week & selected two smaller armies.
Mark, Mitch & SteveJ: Prussians
Jim, Mike & Chris: Austrians
The Prussians have 10 line infantry, grenadiers, 2 -cuirassier, 4 dragoons, 2 hussars & 4 batteries.
The Austrians have 12 line infantry, 2 yegers, 4 cuirassiers, 4 dragoons,& 4 batteries.
The Prussian infantry are all +1 for shooting & HTH, their grenadiers have better morale.

The Prussians make their plans.

The Prussian foot stand their ground while their left flank cavalry move to their right.
The Austrians send yegers into the village & have begun to send their right cavalry to their left.

The yegers have advanced thru the village to harass the Prussian left.  The Austrian cavalry have advanced within charge range of the enemy cavalry.
The Prussian infantry had begun to advance. 

The Austrian cavalry charge was initially disastrous, but the second line is holding the line.
The yegers are really hurting the Prussian left.

The cavalry fight has turned into MAD.
The Prussians have made a mess of the centre of the Austrian front line with musketry & artillery. but the Prussian left is being hit hard by yegers & artillery& now infan

The cavalry of both sides is spent.
The infantry is slugging it out in the centre, both sides losing heavy casualties.

It really was a matter of the dice gods but it was the Prussians who broke first.

Curiously, the Prussians did better in the cavalry fight despite the Austrians having heavier cavalry, while the Austrians won the infantry fight despite their disadvantage in firepower. 
After the failure of the initial Austrian cavalry charge things looked grim for the Austrians - their best asset was losing & the Prussian infantry was advancing with their superior firepower.  But the Austrian cavalry fought back & while eventually losing the surviving enemy cavalry was spent & useless.  Meanwhile, the Austrian yegers on the other flank were probably the decisive difference.  They not only took out troops by breaking them with musket fire, but they forced the Prussians to deplete their front line to face the threat to their flank. 

 

CHOTUSITZ 1742

Austrians: Chris & Mark, 16 infantry, 4 grenz, 10 cavalry, 4 batteries.
Prussians: Mitch & SteveJ, 16 infantry, 10 cavalry, 6 batteries.
The Austrian cavalry are +1. The Prussian infantry are +1 for fire & HTH & also well drilled.

The Austrians make their plans before battle.
Their army is on the left, infantry in the centre with cavalry on both flanks as historical deployment.
The Prussians have 6 infantry 2 batteries around the village, 6 cavalry over by the lake, 3 cavalry on the road on the near right & the main army marching down the road from top right.

The Austrian immediately charged the Prussian cavalry on their left flank.  They opened fire on the division around Chotuzitz with skirmishers & artillery as their infantry advanced obliquely to their left.  The Prussians stood their ground around Chotusitz as their left wing cavalry came up in support.  On the far flank, the Prussian cavalry were getting the worst of the cavalry melee so some of the infnatry deployed to their right to support their cavalry.  

On the far flank the Prussian cavalry ahs been all but destroyed.  The Prussian left wing cavalry has deployed to support the infantry around Chotusitz.   
The Austrian right wing cavalry is moving to support their centre.

On the far flank the Austrian cavalry has fallen back rather than attack a wall of Prussian infantry.
Around Chotusitz the both sides' infantry are taking heavy casualties as their cavalry form up behind them.

Both sides have squared off into parallel lines facing each other.

The Prussian cavalry have charged the Austrian foot in the centre.
An Austrian cavalry unit charged through a gap in the line to take out a battery & an infantry unit before they had completed their deployment. 

The Prussian charge broke the first line of Austrian foot, but the Austrian cavalry had charged & beaten the cavalry on their left & flanking them forcing them to fall back.  In the centre the infanrty of each are blasting away at long range.

On the near flank both sides' infantry & cavalry divisions are spent, being below half strength & the fighting there has ceased.
In the centre both sides have lost units in the firefight, but it it is not yet decisive.  On the far flank the Austrian cavalry has finally made a massed attack on the thin blue line of Prussian infantry.

The Prussian infantry put up a stubborn fight against the Austrian cavalry, beating off half of it, but the other half eventually won & this combined with the attrition in the centre broke the Prussian army's morale giving the Austrians a costly victory.  The Prussians had 14 formed units broken to the Austrian's 12.
  


 

   

Napoleonic Naval

While had a 7YW scenario set up a combination of circs reduced the numbers to just Jim, SteveJ & James, so we postponed the scenario to next week & I cleared off a small table for a Napoleon Naval action.
James took the Brits with Steve as his advisor, Jim took the French.
James had two squadrons of three ships each 1 2nd rate & 2 3rd rates, all with elite crews.
Jim had two squadrons of 3 ships, 1 1st rate, 1 2nd rate & 4 3rd rates..
The Brits had elite crews, the French had regular crew.
To compensate for the crew quality difference, the French were given the weather gauge. 

The Brits are in two columns in the far corner.
The wind is blowing across the table from the French side.

Initially the French sailed straight towards the Brits as the Brits sorted their two columns into a single line.  But when the lead British squadron tacked to starboard, the French turned to starboard to run downwind past the island to wards the head of the other Brit squadron. 

The French bore down on the leading Brits as the other British squadron wore ship to rejoin their comrades.

(Note:  We move the ships & islands towards the camera between the last 2 shots to give us more sea room).
The lead British squadron was outnumbered & pounded hard by the French.  One British 3rd rate was suck, the flagship was so damaged it had to break off & the other 3rd rate in the squadron had no choice but to flee with it.

But the French had to sail to windward to avoid the island & that allowed the 2nd British squadron to catch up to the tail of the French line.  The lead ships of the British squadron took heavy damage, but the squadron had its reversed order in it's earlier manoeuvres & the 2nd rate flagship was undamaged at the tail.  It caught up with the 3rd rate at the end of the French line & sunk it.

At this the two sides were on opposite sides of the island.   Both side had only two ships without heavy damage & neither was keen on rejoining the fight.  The French sailed on jubilant that for once they hadn't been totally destroyed, considering a draw as a win against the Brits.  The Brits limped home to be damned for losing a ship.