Camp Cromwell 31/03/09

English Civil War - Camp Cromwell Rules

King (SteveJ):
Pike & shot; Protected Confident Trained 1/2 musket, CR 6 - 24 stands
Pike (raw recruits): Protected Reluctant Conscripts, CR 4 - 8 stands
Cavalier: Armoured Fearless Veteran Warrior, Pistol, CR 8 - 6 stands
Cavalier: Protected Confident Veteran Warrior, CR 6 - 16 stands
Artillery: 2 guns
Command: 1 general, 3 dice

Parliament (Barrie):
Pike & shot; Armoured Confident Trained 2/3 musket, CR 7 - 18 stands
Musketeer: Protected Light Infantry Confident Trained, CR 3 - 3 stands
Dragoon: Protected Mounted Light Infantry, Confident Trained, CR 3 - 3 stands
Cavaly: Armoured Confident Trained, Pistol, CR 6 - 24 stands
Artillery: 4 guns
Command: 1 general, 3 dice

Barrie advanced most of his cavalry on his left, holding back the rest of the line - artillery in front of a wood left of centre with musketeers in support with artillery in front of the wood, P&S right of them, 1 cavalry unit then dragoons on a hill on the right. Steve advanced with his Medium cavalry on his right to meet Barrie's advance, then followed up with a general advance. Steve got the best of the cavalry fight on his right with a bit of help from some infantry. He lost 1 unit while routing 4. On the other flank the Royalists also won - the Heavy cavaliers riding down the dragoons & cavalry.

At this stage it looked pretty hopeless for Parliament, their cavalry was all but destroyed & a distressing amount of rallying was going on amongst the victorious cavaliers. But the Parliament foot finally stirred into action, counterattacked the foot to their front & quickly routed them while a cavalier charge on the musketeers in the wood was repulsed. The Royalist recruits drove the Parliament gunners away, but with close to high casualties they then dove into the wood to hide from serious opposition. Suddenly both sides were close to army morale failure - next loss would loss the battle.

Returning cavaliers aiming to charge rallying foot in rear were intercepted by Barrie's reserve foot. These slugged it out indecisively while both sides tried to reinforce. Barrie failed to activate orders for rallied infantry to join in while more rallied cavaliers came up. They made a decisive difference to win the combat and with it the battle.

The pic is taken from behind the Parliament's right. The parliament infantry's counterattack is underway.

At Nick's Friday 27/03/09

Jim's 7th Armour v. Tony's Panzer Grenadiers in 1500 pts HTL (Brits attacking).

Tony deployed infantry & artillery with Pak 38's in ambush with more infantry, Stugs & Marders in reserve. The terrain favoured the defence with lots of hedged fields, but Tony erred in putting his infantry in the centre in front of the rear objective rather than right on the forward objective & relying on the ambush & HQ to defend the forward objective.
The Brits advanced with a wall of armour followed up with infantry. The ambush of Pak 38's did little to stop the swarm & they were quickly over-run. The Brits took the forward objective on turn 3.
The Germans were fortunate with their reserves and got both their armour platoons on turn 2, but they had to rush them forward to dispute the objective - halving their fire as they had to keep moving. The Brit's main problem was finding lines of sight past their own tanks in the crowded area between the hedges & while the Stugs made a brave fight of it, they were so outnumbered they couldn't last. The German infantry was mown down as it advanced & the Germans failed morale at the same time as the Brits gained undisputed control of the objective.

Camp Cromwell 24/03/09

FOW:

Jim & Barrie's Grenadiers v. SteveJ & Rich's 7th Armoured in 2,500 pts Encounter Mission.

The battle started quietly as both sides dug in their initial forces on the objectives. The Germans pushed some infantry forward through the cornfields on the right while the Brits sent their large command platoon forward behind some hills on their right. The 3 tigers sat in open ground left of centre carefull to stay back from the 17pdr anti-tank guns.
But the reserves dice were not kind to the Germans. By turn 3 the Brits had all their reserves on the table while the Germans had none. Covered by a wall of smoke a swarm of Cromwells & Fireflies rushed forward. 2 Tigers were popped by Fireflies & the other failed morale. Ther German reserves came on piecemeal - first Stugs, then Marders, but they were no match for the massed Cromwells without the Tigers to help. The Paks 40s got a few but there was no way the Germans could stop the rush on their left.
But the Germans were not devoid of a plan - infantry had been moved up into a position to attack on their right & was waiting for reserves to arrive. Now with the situation on the left getting out of hand they couldn't wait for the support infantry & mortars - so the infantry charged out of the the cornfield in a desperate bid to pull the battle out of the fire. But their artillery support failed to pin their opponants & they were mown down.
Next turn the Cromwells took their objective to win the battle.

The Encounter Mission can be a chancy thing - in this case the difference between arrival times of reserves made things very hard for the Germans against opponants who seized the opportunity given to them & exploited it to the max.

Camp Cromwell Championship Final 2008

Maharajah Trophy 2008 Grand Final

The 2008 Final was somewhat delayed by hols, etc, but was finally fought on 10/03/09.
Jim's 7th Armour v. James' Grenadiers.
Encounter battle 2000 pts on 8x6 table.
Mission, terrain set up & umpiring by Nick.

James list from Fortress Europe

Hq + pf + pf 60
inf + pf 165
inf + pf 165
inf + pf 165
4 tiger 860
3 Marder IIIH 205
105's 2103
Pak 40's 170
2000 pts

Jim's 7th Armoured list from VB
HQ: 2 Cromwells + 2 AA + 1 ARVE 260
3 Cromwell + 1 Firefly 325
3 Cromwell + 1 Firefly 325
3 Cromwell + 1 Firefly 325
3 Stuart 135
SP Field Battery 8 Sextons, etc 355
Rifles 135
Engineers/Rifles 135
1995 pts

The Poms won the roll to determine the Attacker & chose to attack from the north side. The Poms put their 2 Rifles on the objectives & the Sextons on the right flank. The Germans put Grenadiers on the centre objective, artillery on their right & their Tigers in the killing ground in the centre.

The Brits tried a dash down their right flank with the Sextons & a Tank platoon, but the Pak 40s, Marders & a Grenadier platoon arrived at the right place and time to meet them. The Germans also supported the flank with artillery & the Tigers taking long shots from the centre while the Brits sent their Honeys over to help out. The Germans lost the Paks & the Infantry, but the Marders (shuffled to perfection) lead a charmed life & in the end were the only survivors of the bloodbath.

The main British force lurked behind the woods in their centre waiting for an opportunity to pounce on any German mistakes. But the Germans just didn't make any. The Tigers occupied their killing ground in the empty centre turning this way & that to counter every British move. They helped out against the flank attack on their left, they turned right to prevent a British thrust down the other flank, then returned to help the left again and all the while they steadly crept forward towards the objective. The Brits could find no better strategy than to have their Fireflies taking long range potshots from cover with semi indirect fire, but the Tiger's tough hides saved them & the with the odd 6 they picked off the Fireflys.

When the British rifles on the objective were dropped below 1/2 by Tiger potshots & the Marders popped the Honeys, the Brits failed Coy morale.

The Brits regretted not taking either Air or M10's - they just lacked firepower against the Tigers. Their flank attack was skillfully countered and they just could not find a way to win. The critical issue was that James used his Tigers with skill & patience to exploit his main weapon & the terrain to the maximum. It was some small consolation for the Brit commander to know that he had taught his enemy every dirty sneaky lowdown trick that was leading inexorbly to his own doom.

James' path to the Maharajah Trophy for 2008:

1. Rich's Canadians (Cauldron, James attacking).
2. Nick's US Armour (FFA).
3. Mark's US Infantry (FFA).
4. Jim's 7th Armour (Encounter).
Just turned 15, James fought his way to be the youngest ever Maharajah Champion (by a good margin) with 4 consecutive victories over some pretty mean opposition.

Pics:

1. The Tigers move off.
2. The British flank attack is in the foreground. Tigers prowl in the centre & Cromwells cower behnd the woods.
3. The umpire presents the trophy to a very happy winner.
4. The loser congratulates his victorious apprentice in front of Cromwell himself.

Camp Cromwell 03/03/09

Jim & Rich's Strelkovy v. Steve & Barrie's Grenadiers
Late War Free For All on 8x6 table 2000 pts

The Germans had 2 Inf with HMG, 1 Eng's, Pak 40's, 2x2 88's, SP Art, SPAA + Stugs. They deployed defensively & dug in with Infantry on each objective.
The Russians had 3 x 2 coy Strelk, HMGs, A/Tank, Hvy Mortars, Art & 3 JS2. They deployed the HMGs, A/tank & mortars to defend the objective in the centre, Strelk + JS's on the right, Art & 2 Strelk on the left. They immediately advanced on both flanks.

The Russian attack on the right came to a sticky end when the Art support got pinned & their target unpinned at the wrong time.
On their right the Strelk dug in in a cornfield short of their objective while their supporting JS's got destroyed by the Luftwaffe.
The Russians called off their attack on their left, withdrawing their surviving Strelk to defend their own objective near their guns.
The Germans patiently picked away at the Russian artillery with artillery & Luftwaffe while they slowly concentrated their strength on the right.
But when the Stugs moved over to their right, the Strelk in the cornfield suddenly rushed forward to the attack. They drove the German Infantry back, but were then pinned by artillery. Bad unpinning dice followed by lousy combat dice saw them lose their chance & the Germans just managed to hang on to the objective.

It was 11 by then & time to knock off. The Russian attacks had failed, but the Germans were still not threatening any objectives themselves. Given the Russian's greater losses the Germans would probably eventually prevail, but it would take a long time to prove it.

The pic is taken soon after the start - Ivans on the right.

Nick's Garage 27/02/09

Warhammer Ancients: Nick's Franks v. Cameron's Byzantines

Cameron refused his centre & attacked both flanks of the Frank line with cavalry as it advanced. His flank attacks defeated Nick's flank guards, but did not stop the charge in the centre which smashed the Byzantine line to gain victory.

FOW: Rich & Tom's Canadians v. Tony's 21st Panzer in 1500 pt FFA

Tony guarded his LH objective among the hedges with SS Panzergrenadiers & deployed his armour (8 mkIVs & 1 Tiger) in a long line centre & right. Neblewerfers & SPAA were in support behind.
The Canadians put infantry on both objectives, 6pdrs in the centre, armour, bugs, wasps & Priests on the right & M10s in reserve in the centre.

The Canadians advanced with their armour on the right & defended the rest of their line.
The Germans dug in on the LH objective and advanced their armour.

The MkIVs in the centre took out the wasps but then got destroyed by the Shermans & 6pdrs. The Shermans & bugs continued on through the hedges to attack the objective covered by the SS. On the other flank the MKIVs & Tiger destroyed most of the 6pdrs then engaged the M10s. The MkIVs gradually melted away, but they took all but one of the M10s with them while an air attack got past the AA to get the Tiger.

On the other flank the Shermans attacked the SS. The SS fell back from the first attack, but the hedges took their toll in bogged tanks. A counter attack through smmoke destroyed the Shermans & the bugs.

Both sides now had beaten off attacks & had no objectives under threat, but had heavy casualties. The Germans had also lost their commander & all their tanks. The surviving Canadian armour, 1M10 advanced on the undefended objective in the centre. The SS moved over to contest, but the M10 got there first & when the SS failed tank terror held it to win the battle.

Camp Cromwell 24/02/09

Late War Big Push 2000 pts on 8x6 table
Jim & Steve's Grenadiers defending v. Nick, Byron, Rich & Elizabeth's Russian Armour

The Russians had 3 platoons: 5 JS + 5 Shermans + 10 Shermans + 1 cmd Sherman & Sturmoviks.
The Germans had 1 Grenadier, 105's & a King Tiger on the table, 3 Pak 40s & 4 Marders in ambush with 2 more Grenadiers, HMG, Neblewerfers & 2 SPAA in reserve.

The Germans suffered badly in the preliminary bombardment losing half their artillery & anti-tank guns. It got worse on turn 2 when the Sturmoviks got the King Tiger - a cause for much cellebration on one side of the table (see pic 2)& equal despair on the other. On the other hand, the Russians lost a few tanks on the minefields & to the surviving 2 105's as they advanced.

The JS's went to the left, the small Sherman platoon to the right & the large Sherman platoon up the centre. (Pic 1 shows the initial deployment).

The German reserves were slow to arrive so the line looked awfully thin. The Marder ambush was put in the centre wood to face the large Sherman platoon, but shot badly, getting just one with 6 shots. Then when the artillery was finished off by the JS's & the lead one took an objective it looked all over. But the Germans had a card or two left. The 1 surviving Pak 40 was dropped out of ambush to contest the objective & 2 Marders survived return fire to hit back & force a morale test on the Sherman platoon (weakened in the minefields & by boggings in the woods). The Shermans failed morale & when the Commander tried to rally them he failed too. The only German reinforcements to show up, a Grenadier platoon, had shrugged off the Sturmoviks & was now able to support the Pak 40 on the objective near the JS's. Suddenly the Germans had a sniff.

The 5 Shermans on the right now attacked the 1st Grenadiers on the other objective while the JS's backed off from the 2nd Grenadiers & finished off the last Pak 40. The 1st Grenadiers had a Panzerfaust & support by HQ with 2 Panzerknackers, so it was a fair fight, but the German luck reverted to form & the Shermans took the objective.

The Germans had one last chance for victory, the 2 surviving Marders moved to the edge of the wood for side shots on the last 2 JS's. They needed a bail to force a morale test on the platoon, or 2 kills to destroy it - as the Russians had already lost their commander this would have meant Coy Morale failure & a German victory. They got the two hits, but the JS's threw 2 5's to save & the German miracle comeback finally petered out.

With the Germans decimated by the preliminary bombardment & the air strike on their KT on turn 2, it had then looked like it was only matter of the Russians going through the motions. But the ambushes, weakened as they were, plus a bit of luck swung the game back into the balance. It goes to show that if you have a sound plan & hold your nerve, there's always a chance of getting out of jail in FOW.

Eylau 1807

Eylau was set up & played solo as an exercise to refine the rules for the 6mm Napoleonic figs (for which enough figs have been repaired & rebased). This scenario was fought without special weather rules as a what-if.

Davout's attack on the Russian left was properly supported by Murat while Augerau pinned down the Russians frontally. While Augerau's attack was beaten off by the Russian batteries as in the real thing, by the time they had done so Davout & part of Murat's cavalry was in their rear, while the rest of Murat's cavalry was on the flank of the line with massed batteries in support.

The exercise demontrated that if the weather had not made it impossible for Napoleon to coordinate his forces he had the Russians on toast.

The pic (taken from Davout's flank) shows the situation after we had played another French turn as a rules training exercise though the Russians clearly should have pulled out before this.