Normandy 1944: Mech War

Brits: Chris
Germans: Mark
15mm figs. House Mech War rules.

Germans on the right.  We used the BA token draw to deploy platoon by platoon & that favoured the Germans who concentrated their armour witht he last deployments.

The Germans lined their armour up on the reverse slope of a ridge getting every tank into action whule the Brits were still concentrating their tanks.   A lucky first round of shooting put the Germans in a winning position & the Brits just couldn't pull it back.
There was also an infantry fight in the central wood that the Germans also got the better of.

The Germans pressed their advantage  advanice beyond the ridge to mop up.
A German victory.

American War of Independance

We thought it would be nice to have battle where terrain mattered for a change, so we decided to attack America. 
Colonials & French: Chris & Mark
Brits: Jim & Mike 

Pics from the Brit's side.
The Brits have Indians on their left, cavlry on their right, regular infantry in the centre.
The Colonial infantry are on the Allie's right (left of pic), the French innfatry & cavalry on their left.

On thenear flank, the Indians have advanced into the woods to skirmish with the Colonial infantry.
The centre is a no mans land doninated by artillery.
Both sides advance infnatry into the wood right od centre,
Both sides advance their cavalry on the far flank.

On the near flank the Indians have given ground & suffered losses, but have alsom inflicted significant casualties on the Colonials. 
In the centre long range fire has been indecisive.
In  the big wood the French British infatry are hotly engaged.
The French are getting the upper hand in the cavalry fight.

On the near flank the Indians have been pulled back & the British infnatry have moved in for the kill against the weakened colonials.
On the far flank, the Brits are getting the best of the infnatry fight, the French are winning the cavalry fight.

On the near flank the Colonial infantry is defeated & is in retreat.
On the far flank, the French cavalry has saved their foot from destruction making that flank a draw.

The Brits have more units left fit to fight & claim a narrow victory.
The decisive move by the Brits was maximising the value of their Indians by getting them to fight in the right terrain for them. 


 

30 Years War: Empire v. Swedes

Swedes: Mike, Chris & SteveJ
Empire: JIm & Mark

The Empire is on the near side. They have rsted their right on a wood, concerated their cavalry on their left & kept a central reserve of Landschneks.
The Swedes have cavalry on bioth flanks of their pike & shot plus musketeers on their extreme left flank.

Both sides are advancing their left flanks.

On the near flank the Empire have charged home.  The Swedes have sent soem cavalry accross the front of their pike blocks to assist theri right flank.

Intense hand to hand fighting on the left, exchanges of fire on the right.

The dice gods have not favoured the Empire & theri left is crumbling. 

Casualties are mounting all along the line, but the Swedes are now gaining the upper hand. In the next turn the Empire fail their army morale test.

Medieval 28mm

York: Jim & Mike
Lancaster: Chris & SteveJ 

York on this side of table, Jim on left, Mike on right.
Lancaster on far side, SteveJ v. Jim & Chris v. Mike.

On the far flank, Mike has attacked Chris left flank.
On this flank, the ingfnatyr are exchanging bow fire, except for one charge by York men at arms on the left end of the line.  

On the near flank the Lanc's bow fire has been far better than York'sY& the infnatry charge also failed.
Left of centre the Lanc's cavalry has advanced. 
Right of centre there is gap in the York line but the Lancs have not advanced into it.
On the far flank the Lanc's line has been hit in front by foot & horse while more foot wrap around their flank.

On the far flank the Lanc's infantry is being rolled up  by the flank attack
On the enar flank, York has had their archers almost all destroyed & have fallen back onto the ridge.

On the far flank both sides are regrouping after the success of the York's attack.
On the near flank the lancs ahve followed up Yorks' retreat, but he Yorks have countercharged.

On the far flank York has renewed their attack & the Lanc' left has broken.
On the near flank, the the combat was desperate & close, but it was York that broke first. 

So both sides have had one of their 2 battles broken.  York has more units left fit to fight than the Lancs, but the superiority was small enough for the Lancs to claim a draw.

English Civil War: English v. Scots

Scots:  Jim & Renfrey
English: Mike & SteveJ

English on the near side.

The Scots had put all their cavalry on their right flank & immediately attacked as the English had only half their cavary & some detached musketeers on that flank.  The English advanced their left a little to gain a ridge to defend while the other half of their cavalry moved from central reserve to support their left.
The English infnatry generally held back hoping their cavalry would win & support them before the Scots infantry could beat them.

On the far flank the Scots are wraping around the English flank.
On the near flank the English musketeers have been ridden down, but their cavalry is getting the upper hand.

On the near flank the Scotts cavalry is being mopped up.
In the centre a shaken Scottish pike & shot block is hanging on keeping the English cavalry at bay.
On the far flank the Enh]glish foot is being beaten.

The English have won the cavalry fight on their left flank, the Scots have won the infantry fight on their left flank.  Niether side would be able to attack the other as the Scots have enough pikes left to stop the remaining English cavalry.   The Scots will claim victory as they lost fewer units than the English.

Medieval Battle

Each of the four players had a battle of 8 infnatry & 3 cavalry units with starting points on the table diced for.

Lancastrians: Mike near RHS allied with Steve fat end.
Yorkists:  Jim near LHS allied with Renfrey mid LHS.

Renfrey formed a defensive line facing SteveJ's rapid advance.
On the near flank both sides tried to advance, but poor command dice by Jim meant that Mike did most of teh advancing.
Both battle lines formed into an L with the cavalry in the centre.

The forces are engaged all along the front.

   

On the far flank SteveJ's foot is gaining the upper hand, on the near flank, Jim's infantry is winning.  Te cavalry fight in the centre is still indecisive.

Both side's left flanks have collapsed.  The cavalry melees ares till in the balance.

Renfrey's battle has broken.  Mike's battle has broken.  But the Lancs have gained the upper hand in the cavalry fight in the centre so the Yorkists concede defeat. 

Shendoah Campaign recap

 Part campaign map

Jackson started at Harrisonburg (Bottom left), Ewell at Luyay (bottom centre).  The 2 CSA corps were similar size, but Jackson had more artillery & Ewell more cavalry.
Fremont started at Mt Jackson, MxDowell at Winchester & Banks at Manassas (off map to the right). McDowel's force was bigger than Fremonts.  The two togetehr were about the same size as th CSA forces.  The Manassas corps was smaller..
The CSA troops were rated stuborn so took 1 more casualty before becoming shaken.  The Union had superior numbers overall, but the Manassas corps had orders to defend east of the Blue Ridge untill all CSA forces were identified to be in the valley & no threat to Manassas.

The campaign plot was that the Union were accumulating supplies at the rail heads at Manassass, Winchester & Mt Jackson for an upcoming offensinsive in the valley.  The CSA objective was to destroy the depots & thus preclude the Union attack.

The CSA immediately advanced both corps.  The first battle was at Mt Jackson where the outnumbered Union force tried to defend the river line in front of the town.  The CSA won,  The Union retreated whle the CSA plundered the depot.

On the south fork, Ewell's advance was resisted at the bridge over theNorth Fok Roiver near Cedarville.  The Union were greatly outnumbered, but the river was uncrossable except at the bridge & reinforcements were coming to theri right flank rom Strassburg.  Ewell gained a foothold over the river before dark & the Union withdrew overnight.

The Union fell back a day's march to a defensive position where they joined reinforements from Winchester. In the 3rd battle the CSA atacked & drove the Union back, but more Union reinforcements arrived from New Town to the west late in day & the Union held on.

Next day, those froces looked at each other & reorganised while 8km to the west at New Town  Jackson's pursuit caught up with Fremont's retreat by forced marching. Jackson attacked late in the day & Fremont held on until dark.

The next day Fremont safely retreated before Jackson coudl strike again while McDowell held off Ewell's attack while he also executed a withdrawal.

The Union forces retreated to Winchester & the CSA followed up.  At dawn a day later the CSA attacked.  The union held a good defensive position.  The forces were equal in number, but in the previous battles the CSA held the battlefield so got better recovery, so carried less caualties & they also had their tough fighter's advantage.  It was tough fight.   In the centre a grand battery balsted a hole for teh CSa to exppoit.  On the Union left, good use of skirmishers by the CSA wore the Union down. The Union made a spirited counterattck on their right, but the CSA fell back to a defensive line & held it off.  By mid afternoon Winchester was filling up with broken units as the Union left & centre collapsed.   The Uniomn decoded there was no point in making a stand defending Winchester as they had lost most of their artillery & though Banks was on the way to help by now he was still days away.  

So the campaign ends with a CSA victory as they have taken 2 of the 3 depots.

Shenandoah Campaign: Battle of Winchester continues

We pick up where we left off last Tuesday.
Mike commands the CSA left, Steve the CSA right.
Mark commands the Union centre, Chris their left, Renfrey their right.

On the union right, the cavlry fight has played out & both sides have regrouped.

In the centre, the CSA battery has cleared the Union front line & is being moved forward.
The firefight continues in the wood.

On the Union right, the CSA skirmish line is peppering the formed Union line.

On the Unuion right, the Union are advancing with theri cavalry wrapping around the CSA left.
In the cemtre the CSA have redeployed theiri battery & are gradually getting the upper hand in the wood.

On the Union left, their line has collapsed.

On the Union right the CSA have fallen back to a good defensive position.
In the centre, the union line is crumbling under relentless pressure. 

The Union left & centre is colapsing back into the town whiel theri attack on their right is petering out against a strong defensive line.  The Union concedes the battle & orders a general retreat.

The union losses include a lot of their artillery.  Holding the town against superior artillery is unlikely, so the Union begin a retreat back to Harpers Ferry conceding the CSA victory in the campaign.