English Civil War

Scots Covenanters: Chris, Mark & SteveJ
English: Mike & Jim
Each side had two all arms divisions with random deployment.

Jim's English start close RH corner.
Mike's English start far LH corner.
Steve's Scots start centre right.
Chris & Mark start far RH corner (Chris has the infantry, Mark the cavalry).

At the far end, both sides infantry advance on each other as their cavalry move towards the centre. 
At the this end all the Scots face the English while the English infantry oppose them while theri cavlry start moving towards the centre.

The Scots have now consolidated all their cavalry in the centre & charged across the bridge.
On both flanks the infantry & artillery are exchanging fire.

In the cntre, the Scots cavalry that charged across the bridge were defeated.  The English cavalry then crossed the river, but were broken by a counterattack by Scots cavalry.
On the far flank the English infantry are gaining the upper hand against the Scots foot, breaking teh Scots right flank.
On the near flank the English have begun an advance. 

On the near flank the English musketeers in the wood have broken their opponents in the open & the division has begun a general advance.
In the centre, the cavalry face off across the creek in a stalemate.

On the far flank, one English pike shot unit has had to pull back, but the Scots foot has been rolled up from the flank & that division has broken.

With one division broken & the other under pressure, the Scots concede the battle & break off.

 
 

Napoleonic might have been scenario

PeterC put on a Napoleonic scenario at Black Hills for Jim & Chris.  The scenario was based on the what-if Grouchy had intercepted Blucher on the way to Waterloo.
Rules: Camp Cromwell''s M2M.
Figures: Peter's 15mm.

The French (Jim) started with 3 Corps on the field. 
The Prussians (Chris) Start with 1 corps on the field with 3 more coming on different roads at different times.
The victory conditions were that the Prussians won if they could get 2 corps past the French off the near edge of the table.  The French won if they failed to do so.

The 1st Prussian corps started right of screen facing the 1st French.  The 2nd French started behind the 1st & is moving to extend their left to meet expected Prussian reinforcements..  The 3rd French is on the left off shot facing the direction more Prussians are expected to come from.
The battle commenced with an artillery duel between the infantry lines & a cavalry fight on the near flank.

On the right the French won the cavalry duel with significant losses while the artillery duel between the two 1st corps  continued.
The 2nd Prussian corps has come on at the top RH corner & is being counterattacked by the French 2nd.
The 3rd Prussian corps has come on top left.  The 3rd French waits for them.  The French reserve cavalry on the right is moving to support 3rd corps.

On the right the French counterattacks have broken the 1st Prussians & shaken the 2nd.
In the centre the French reserve cavalry have broken the Prussian cavalry but rallied back away from the massed Prussian battery deployed on the left flank of their 3rd corps.
On the left, the 3rd Prussian has deployed & advanced on the 3rd French as the 4th Prussian marches on the field behind them.
On the extreme left French dragoons have charged the Prussian foot advancing in line.  One dragoon unit threw a shower of hot dice & smashed thought Prussian lines then went on to take out the 4th corps artillery behind them, still undeployed.

On the right the French 1st corps is moving left to support 3rd corps while the battered 2nd corps neutralises the shaken Prussian 2nd.
In the centre the French reserve cavalry is moving to outflank the Prussian 3rd corps.
On the left, the French dragoons have fallen back after their successful charge while the 3rd French infantry & artillery have overlapped the Prussian 3rd's line & have decimated their foot with fire breaking the corps.

The Prussians have now lost 3 corps broken & clearly couldn't win.  It was a very interesting scenario with both sides in with a chance.   The charge of the French dragoons on the extreme left was the decisive moment that ensured French victory. 

  

 
 

6 player Napoleonic

Each player was allocated a small all arms corps with their deployment area determined at random.  The random deployment as usual produced a interesting challenges for the players.

Mitch's Austrians are in the far LH corner.
Mark's French are in the far RH corner.
Chris's French are centre left.
Steve's French are centre right.
Mike's Austrians are in the near LH corner.
Renfrey's Austrians are in the near RH corner.

On the near right Renfrey is attacking Steve's French.
On the left, both Mitch & Mike are advancing on Chris' isolated French corps.
At the far end, Mark's French are chasing Mitch's Austrians.

Renfrey's attack on the near right is running out of steam against a sound defense.
Left of centre, Chris's corps is in deep dodo, under attack from two sides.
Mark's corps is being delayed in its pursuit of Mitch by the terrain. 

Chris' infantry ahs been destroyed & captured.  Only his cavalry has escaped & that is shaken, unfit for further service.
Renfrey has withdrawn from his attack on Steve's corps with serious casualties, but he has well served d the Austrian cause by preventing Steve supporting Chris.
Mitch & Mike have had time to reorganised their corps to face Mark, but nightfall has put an end to proceedings.

The losses are almost even, 7 French to 8 Austrian units broken.  The French have gained ground, but have also lost a whole infantry division.  So the papers in both Paris & Vienna will be claiming victory,

15mm Mech War

Mike Shevak is in town & eger for a game.  Mark umpired Mike's US v. Jim's Germans,
Figures: 15mm
Rules: House Mech War rules.
US: 2 x5 Shermans, 4 M10's, 2 Honeys, 3 infantry platoons, each with 2 half tracks & 6 squads of inf, 4 gun 105 battery off table.  All Regular Trained.
Germans: 2 Tigers, 5 MkIV, 5 Stug, 3 infantry platoons, each with 2 half tracks & 6 squads of inf, 4 heavy mortars, 2 Pak 40.  All Fearless Veterans.

Both forces were divided in two.  The US started in the two corners on the window side, the Germans in the two corners on the RHS of shot. 

On this end of the table, the US had 9 tanks to 5 & advanced directly towards the Stugs.  The Stugs waited on the plateau out of sight as their infantry support drove down the road on their left.

On the far end of the table the US deplyed an infantry platoon in the field on the cornfield to delay the Germans on that flank while their armour rushed towards the other flank.  The Germans are moving their Mk IVs to wards the other flank while deploying to attack the US flank guard. 

On the near flank the armour is engaged at point blank range as German infantry move onto the US flank.  The panzerfausts of the infatry support have so far helped the Stugs hold their own.

In the tank melee, 2 more US tanks have gone up for no further gain by the US.
On the far flank, the Tigers have casually picked off the half tracks as Hitler's buzz saws wipe out half the GIs in the field for only 1 squad loss of their own.
At this stage to US commander's morale cracked & he ordered a retreat. 

 

 

4 player bolt action

Germans: Renfrey & Mitch.
US: Mark & Mike.
Each player had1000 pts.

The deployment areas for each player were decided by drawing cards.
Renfrey's Germans: Near RH corner.
Mitch's Germans: Far LH corner.
Mike's US: LH centre.
Mark's US: RH centre.
There are 6 objectives: The bridge & the road junction in the centre. Corners of the two plateaus. The farms at each end.

The US immediately grabbed the two central objectives & the Germans the two at the ends of the tables.
Mark took the far plateau objective but Mitch attacked it with 2:1 odds & gained it.
Mike took the near plateau objective, but Renfrey counterattacked & took it.
The Germans won with 4 objectives to 2.
The Germans won by better concentrating their forces on the critical objectives, defending their easily gained objectives with minimal forces.  

Six player Bolt Action

There were three players a side, each with 1000 pts.   
Germans: Jim (right flank), SteveJ centre, Chris (left flank).
US: Renfrey (right flank), Mark(centre). Brits: Mike (left flank). 
The table is 10'x6'.
There were 6 objectives: The corners of the two plateaus, the three houses & the bridge.
Each player had his own coloured command dice in the bag.  We minimised the no. of command dice by not having a dice for transports (they moved with their passenger's command dice) & maximising armour.  Even so there were a lot of command dice in the bag, but we kept the game moving by drawing multiple dice until one was drawn opposite a player who still hadn't completed his move.  

While the three platoons on each side mostly faced off one on one v. their opposite number, there was a lot of crossover as players supported their adjacent comrades.
The Germans plan was for their centre platoon to attack the central house & bridge with the German right sending some infantry support while digging in to defend the objective on the plateau.
The Allied plan was to dispute the centre & take out the German right using their considerable superiority in armour.
The US also attacked on the far flank, but the Germans there had good defensive terrain & the attack ended in a stalemate.
On the near flank, the Germans just managed to delay the enemy attack & hold on to the objective until time was up.
The decisive action was in the centre, where the Allied attack was crippled by Steve's Neblewerfer taking out two infantry units in one strike, allowing him to take the bridge objective as well as hold the house.

The casualties were almost equal, but the Germans won with four objectives to two.