Go Meek Into The Desert 260AD

One of the scenarios in the Hail Caesar book
Jim & Mike's Persians v. Steve & Renfrey's Romans

The Roman infantry start in the oasis in the middle of the table with their cavalry coming on in their left hand rear corner on throwing the right dice.

The Persians all come on one edge (LHS in the 1st pic) as they throw command dice to do so.  They deployed their heavy cavalry on their left, then infantry, elephants and light cavalry on their right.  Their plan was to smash through the Roman right with the cataphracts then roll up their line before the Roman cavalry could make an impact.

The Persians advanced in a reasonably ordered fashion, with some disruption by bad command dice and Roman bow & ballista fire.

On the Persian left, their cataphracts charged the Roman foot.  The Romans gained a bit of advantage through better placement of supports and compounded it with better dice.  The cataphracts were thrown back.

The cataphracts reorganised as the Roman cavalry came on on the far end of the table and arrows flew in the centre.

The Persians had intended to use their light cavalry to delay the Romans cavalry & keep it out of the real fight.  But this came unstuck when the Romans got  a good command roll and charged down the Persian cavalry.

On the Persian left the cataphracts charged again.  This time they did defeat the infantry before them, but at such a cost the division had to spend time rallying before it could be used again.


Meanwhile the Persian left was being overlapped by cavalry.

The Persians in the centre went forward in a desperate attempt to break through before the cavalry could get to them.  The Romans were hurt, but they held on as the Persian line was chewed up from their right.

The Persians sold their lives dearly, but the end was inevitable.  First the elephant division, then the infantry division broke.  The cataphracts had at long last rallied enough to take some action, but it was too late to do anything but cover the retreat.

Another great little battle.  The Persians really had to win their initial cataphract charge decisively.  Had they done that it would have been them rolling up the Roman line...but alas it was not to be.

My Hungarian Infantry's Dogs of War Tournament

Round 1: Dust Up v. Denis Kosta’s Strelkovy

Denis charged forward immediately with infantry and T34’s atttacking the Hungarian infantry & HMG Coys holding the closest objective. The Strelk over-ran the HMGs and pushed back the infantry. Then the T34’s hit the infantry and discovered that they had 2 Panzerschreks attached, plus cmd, CIC & 2IC all with panzerfausts. The T34s fell back, decimated, then failed morale. The Strelk fell back into a wood and there was a lull as both sides brought up reserves. The Hungarians advanced infantry and supports on their objective on a hill while the 2 Stug platoons moved to the centre. The Soviets made another attempt to attack the objective, this time destroying the defenders. But one Stug platoon was close enough to move to contest the objective while the other one supported the infantry attack on the Hungarian objective. The infantry was repulsed, but the Stugs took the objective and survived a mortar bombardment to give the Hungarians a 4:3 win.

Round 2: Fighting Withdrawal v. Rob Holloway’s US Armour

Rob hung back in the woods until his artillery disposed of the 88’s in the centre, then he charged the centre objective (which could not be pulled up). The Honeys got to the objective in good time, but the Hungarians had kept a Stug platoon in reserve behind a hill and another in ambush.  They came out to contest the objective and hold on for a 5:2 win.

Round 3: Breakout v. Leigh Watson’s British Rifles

Once deployed Leigh’s army could put down 5 templates – 5.5”, 25pdr, 2 x HMG and air. Constricted by terrain, the Hungarian infantry bunched up to advance on the objective and made a perfect target. The Hungarians were decimated and almost entirely pinned down for several turns. Their salvation was once again the 2 Stug platoons coming on from reserve which rushed to the objectives before the Brits could. Finally unpinned, the Hungarian motars and artillery now returned the favour, pinning down much of the British infantry & HMGs – who were reluctant to rally. Finally it came down to a shirt fight in the cornfields in the centre between the Stugs and Cromwells while both sides rained down heavy artillery and brought infantry support. The Brits also brought 6 pdrs to bear. The Stugs died, but they sold themselves dearly, taking all the Brit armour with them and holding off the Brit infantry just long enough for the Hungarian grunts to reach the objectives for a 4:3 win.

Round 4: Free For All v. John Mumford’s Cossacks

The Hungarians dug in on the objectives on both flanks with 88s and Stugs lurking in the centre. The Soviets advanced on both flanks. Cossacks and KV85’s on their left and ISU122’s on their right. Their scouts covered the objective on their right, while the cossacks left some behind on the other objective. The cossacks and KV85s swarmed over hill and slammed into the Hungarian line, cossacks first. The Hungarian infantry fought magnificantly. They were eventually overwhelmed, but they took plenty of cossacks with them. The cossacks then went on to hit the artillery behind, quickly destroying them. But the Hungarians had not been sitting on their thumbs, the Stugs had advanced in the centre towards their objective and shot up few cossacks as well – enough to get them below half strength. John then threw 1 for morale, 1 for commander re-roll, then 1 for the commissar and the cossacks evaporated. The 2nd Stug platoon had turned right to dispute the Soviet objective and supported by the 88’s managed to get enough kills and bails on the KV85’s to force a morale test on them – which they also failed ! The remaining Soviets on their right went on a desperate rampage after VPs, but they had nothing available to stop the Stugs taking the objective. A 5:2 win for Hungary.

Most Valuable Platoon Award

The Blue infantry platoon rated a citation for defeating a T34 platoon in game 1, the Red Infantry platoon likewise for taking nearly half a maxed out cossack platoon with it in game 4.  But together the 2 Stug platoons arguably won every battle and share my MVP award.

Overall result

Under the standard FOW scoring system, my 4 hard fought wins were trumped by 3 big wins and a loss...so second place.  But I can't complain, I was dead lucky to beat John anyway...the war gods move in mysterious ways.

Dogs of War FOW Tourney in Launceston

The Launceston Gaming Club ran the last V2 FOW Tourney this weekend.  The venue was the Windmill Hill War Memorial Hall with 4 rounds over 2 days.  There were 16 players, 2 from Camp Cromwell, 1 English visitor, 6 Kingston Bunker Rats & 7 Launceston Gaming Club.  It was an excellent event - well done LGC - Nick Ridge in particular.

Results:
1st:  John Mumford (KBR):  3 wins, 1 loss, 20 VPs.
2nd: Jim Gandy (CC):  4 wins, 0 losses, 18 VPs.
3rd: Shane Madden (LGC): 3 wins, 1 loss, 17 VPs.
Best modelling:  Griggsy (KBR)
Mr Nice Guy:  Patrick Oxborough (KBR)
Wooden Spoon:  Patrick Oxborough (KBR)

Camp Cromwells players' detailed results:
Liegh (British Rifles):
Dust Up v. Tristan (KBR - German) 3:2 tie
Fighting Withdrawal v. Richard (KBR - Panzer Gren) 4:3 win
Breakout v. Jim (CC - Hungarian Inf) 3:4 loss
FFA v. Rob Holloway (LGC - US Armour) 5:2 win

Jim (Hungarian Infantry):
Dust Up v. Denis Kosta (LGC - Strelk) 4:3 win
Fighting Withdrawal v. Rob Holloway (LGC - US Armour) 5:2 win
Breakout v. Leigh (CC - Brit Rifles) 4:3 win
FFA v. John Mumford (KBR - Cossacks) 5:2 win

Full Results:

John Mumford 20
Jim Gandy 18
Shane Madden 17
Daniel Kosta 16
Miles Griggs 15
Tristan Goodwin 15
Leigh Watson 15
Paul Austen 12
Chris Denton 12
Denis Costa 12
Richard Taylor 11
Rob Kaye 11
Rob Holloway 11
Declan Ridge 9
Adrian Griffin 8
Patrick Oxbrough 7

Dogs of War Practice

Nick (US 2nd Armoured) vs Daniel (SS Panzergrenadiers) in a Dust-Up mission. Nick prevailed when he managed to mob Daniels JagdPanthers with shermans: enough survived to get flank shots and take out the nasty beasts. At that point Daniel had nothing that could stop the armoured horde, so the game was called.

Hail Caesar: Rome invades Britain

Jim's Romans v. Mike & Steve's Britons

Each side had about 500 points.  The Brits had 2 infantry divisions of 4 warbands +2  skirmishers and 2 cavalry divisions of 1 medium, 1 light cav and 2 chariots.    The Romans had 2 legions of 4 units + 2 skirmishers.  One legion was raw and was stiffened with 3 scorpions.  They also had 2 flank divisions of 1 medium, 1 light cav and 2 light infantry.   The pics all have the Romans on the right.

The Brits advanced cautiously.  The Romans bided their time.  The action started on the British left with Steve's cavalry attack.  His first charge had mixed success.  The Scorpions stopped their opponents with defensive fire & both side won and lost a cavalry fight.

The scorpions didn't survive a second charge, but the raw legion advanced chucking javelins & drove the British cavalry back towards the flank while the light infantry held on.

On the near flank the warbands advanced in fits and starts as the  Romans prepared to receive them.

As their light infantry pinned their front, the Roman cavalry on the left advanced past the flank of the warbands and wheeled right.  The Legion advanced to meet the other infantry division.

On the far flank, the Roman light division was overwhelmed by chariots, but the legionaries kept the British left bottled up in the corner.

The Roman plan now swung into gear.  The left flank cavalry smashed into the flank of the British warbands as their infantry attacked their front.  But suddenly disaster struck.  The 2 cohorts in the centre between them managed only 1 save on the first charge and both broke.  What should have been a pincer on the warbands turned into desperate holding action.

The two raw cohorts coming over to hit the warbands flank were now just desperately plugging the gap.  But it was to no avail.  The flanking division, though weakened, was relieved of frontal pressure and turned on the cavalry and destroyed it.  The remains of the regular legion held on against the odds for a while, but eventually broke to give the Brits victory.

FOW V3 21/02/12

Jim's Hungarian Infantry v. Rich's Guard Tankovy
1750 pts LW Fighting Withdrawal - V3

Rich deployed his Strelk and tank platoon on his left, artillery in rear and JS2's in the centre.  With 10 platoons the Hungarians spread out to cover all 3 objectives.  They also had 2 ambushes - the mission ambush plus the Hungarian Immediate Ambush which they used to deadly effect.  The immediate ambush of Paks together with the heavy artillery quickly destroyed the Soviet tank platoon on that flank.   The normal ambush of 88's in the centre took out 1 IS2 before the Soviet artillery destroyed them, but the heavy artillery finished off the IS2's anyway.

When the last Soviet tank, the CIC, advanced out of the wood with the Strelk, the Paks popped it too.  The position was then hopeless for the Soviets and Rich conceded.  As on Sunday, the battle was over before we really saw much difference between V2 & V3.

FOW V3 at Barries

Byron & Jim's US Armour
v.
Steve's Panzer Lehr

1750 pts on 8x6 table, Pincer Mission.  The Pincer Mission is a new V3 Hold the Line variant where the defender's reserves come on from the sides.  To compensate for the big table we made the objective area 30cm in from the centreline rather than 20cm.

The US, who stole their list from Nick (Shermans, 76 Shermans, Priests & Armoured Inf, all CV) put their objective in the open just over 10cm in front of a wood.  The  Germans had 10 platoons but no armour and chose to defend the objective with firepower - with Pak 40's & 105 observer in the wood next to the objective & 88's in ambush.  The US plan was to charge the objective with everything, guns blazing, and hope a Sherman would survive to hold it .

In their first turn the 88 ambush and the Paks got the observer Sherman and 1 other plus 3 bails.  It just wasn't enough.

The US in return got an 88 with the Priests and all the Paks with Shermans & half track 50 cals.  The Germans just didn't have enough firepower left to clear the Shermans from the objective and no one alive within disputing distance.  It was game over at the start of the 3rd turn.

The battle was over so fast we really didn't get to see much of the differences of V3.

FOW at Nick's

Jim's Hungarian Infantry v. Nick's US Armour

1750 pts LW Breakout Mission.

Pics all taken from behind the Hungarian deployment zone.

The big L shaped hill dominated the battlefield.  The US accumulated their forces on the far side of it.  The Hungarians moved forward to occupy the flat top.

The Hungarians had 1 Stug platoon come on from reserve in the far corner.  It was soon destroyed but served to delay the US deployment and give the infantry more time to get into position.

The US lined up on the crest - infantry, 75mm Shermans, 76mm Shermans & Priest.  After disposing of the Stugs, 2 of the Paks and smoking the 88's, they attacked the LH objective.

The Hungarian infantry destroyed the 75mm Shermans, were pushed back by the infantry, but still contested the objective.

The Hungarian artillery, mortars, hmg's & anti-tank guns struck back whittling away the US armour and infantry as their own infantry just hung on to the objective.

The US were reduced to 2 understrength platoons surviving on morale rolls as they finally drove the Hungarian infantry from the objective.

It finally came down to the US Infantry taking a 50/50 morale roll.  They passed to stay on the table and hold the objective.  A rattling good game.

Hail Caesar 15/02/12

Steve's Seleucids v. Mike & Jim's Persians

The Seleucids (on right in pics) had a cavalry division on each flank, a phalanx division with lots of skirmishers left centre and a mixed division of elephants & heavy chariots right centre.

The Persians had a cavalry division on each flank, mercenary hoplites right centre and Persian infantry left centre.

The Persians generally advanced initially.  On their right they played a delaying game among the woods gradually giving ground to the Seleucid cavalry.  The hoplites halted short of the centreline while the skirmishers fought it out in no mans land.  On the far flank the Persian cavalry held back while the infantry advanced and took on the elephants & chariots.

The Persian infantry broke up the Seleucid attack and after a pretty wild fight destroyed the mixed division.  They also gave the cavalry a bit of help that allowed them to defeat the Seleucid right wing cavalry.  With two Seleucid divisions broken it was looking good for the Persians, but the Seleucid left finally got forward to the point where the Persian cavalry had to stand and fight, then in one turn the whole Persian right wing cavalry evaporated in a  shower of crap dice.

It was now three divisions v two with the Persian right left hanging.  The hoplites were pulled back to cover the camp and their right flank as the victorious Persian left sorted itself out.

It was now getting late & combat fatigue was setting in.  It was still anyone's battle and it would have been good to go on with the fight next week, but Steve will be away then, so the players agreed on a draw.



Steve turned up with a 550 points Seleucid army & we matched it with Persians.  As always the battle was enjoyed by all, but 550 points is probably too many for 2 or 3 players - it is significantly easier to come to a decision in good time with 450 points.

Version 3 army Lists

I have updated the army list spreadsheets to V3.

All of the army lists are in one zip file, available at http://www.box.com/s/fgiu18g793q9gsihjmja .  (There is also a link to this on the right panel).

Existing V2 lists will live on the right panel until the Launceston tournament (last weekend in February), then I will remove them.  In the future, the only way to get the lists will to be download the complete zip file of all lists -- updating individual lists is getting way to complex.

Changes to the V3 lists are as follows:
- Platoon counts changed for units with multiple command teams (such as carrier platoons etc.).  The one exception to this is for the US Paratroops in North Africa
- Multiple minor changes with missing machine gun upgrades, point values, etc.  I had a macro to quality check for data that wasnt on the spreadsheets, points that werent muliples of 5, etc.
- Many pdf lists removed.  The only ones left are the 29th (Indian head), Schwerepanzerjager 653 and some SS in Normandy.  Pdf files were changing constantly, and I couldnt keep up.


The V3 lists file should have most lists using the new org structure used from Cobra onwards.  Exceptions are:
- no Finnish from Grey Wolf.  (I will get around to them some day)
- no Burning Empires (I dont have the book)

Have fun!

Task Force A Strikes Again

Nick in Launceston.  Our first V3 game -- Task Force A vs Stug Battery -- 1750 points.

To sum it up -- Task Force A lacks staying power, and it showed it in this game.  The mission was dust up.  The Stug's attacked the Task Force A objective, and the troops holding the objective just didnt have the staying power.  When the TD's missed their chance to kill a stug platoon, and take the other objective, it was game over for Task Force A.

Nice things about Version 3:
- HMG's were much more survivable -- they may have stopped an Assault Rifle platoon assault if they had had good luck.
- TD's are different.  Very Different.  Not better -- just different!
-  Assault rules seemed to work.
-  Wrecks were easier to understand.

Pantsed!

No details, as practice for the tournament.  But let me say that not only did I lose, I lost without ever inflicting a casualty on the enemy.  Not one team!  Not even a bail!  Worst damage on the opponent was caused by a tree that bogged a tank for 3 turns!