Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Pike & Shotte 15mm

Mike's Poles v. Steve's Ottomans

Mike & Steve swapped armies from last week with the armies were modified slightly so both had 4 divisions.  Defeat conditions were losing 3 divisions, or 2 divisions plus the enemy holding the entire village.  Jim commanded the Polish Ratjars for Mike.

The Ottomans are on the left.  Their deployment from left to right is Gonulu, Jannisaries (+guns), Turkeki & Sipahis.  The Poles from the left have: Ratjars, German Infantry (2P+4S), 2nd Infantry (1P+2S & 1 Polish) plus Cavalry in front of centre (Winged Hussars, 2 Pancerni & 1 dragoon).

The Ratjars are advancing in the foreground, the German infantry have blundered forward, the Polish dragoons have galloped through the village & seized the far side.  The Polish cavalry & 2nd infantry are advancing to support them.
The Ottomans are advancing their left while holding back their left to allow their artillery time to take effect.

In the foreground the Ratjars have swept around the Ottoman flank, but the Gonullu have turned to meet them and the fight has stalemated.  The German infantry is advancing slowly on the guns.  The Polish cavalry has charged the Jannisaries but has failed to break through.  The dragoons held the village long enough for infantry to come up in support.  On the far flank the Ottomans have realised that the Sipahis are wasting their time and have turned them back.

On the near flank, part of the German infantry have gone to assist the Ratjars.  In the centre the Polish foot and horse are just holding on against the Jannisaries and artillery.  In the village the 2nd Polish foot is getting through the village to attack the Turkeki.  On the far flank the Sipahis are galloping across the Ottoman rear.

On the near flank the Ratjars are broken & about to retire.  In the centre the Winged Hussars have retreated.  The 2nd Polish infantry are now hurting the Tukekci in front of the village.  The Sipahis are still coming.

The Ratjars retired broken, but the German musketeers then broke the Gonullu.  The Sipahis tried to charge the musketeers but they got into hedgehog.  The Winged Hussars have shown much discretion & fallen back.  The Polish centre has been blown away by Jannisaries & artillery, but on the far flank, the Tukekci have broken.

The Poles have lost only 1 division, the Ratjars, (though 2 are on half strength).  The Ottomans have lost 2 divisions, the Tukekci & Gonullu plus the village is entirely in Polish hands.  So the Poles have won.

The Jannisaries and artillery in the centre nearly won the battle for the Ottomans, but the Poles had used their dragoons well to seize the village.  This not only gained a victory point but also made a base for counterattack by the foot and left the Sipahis out on a useless limb leaving the rest of the Ottoman army too much to do.
 


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Pike & Shotte

Mike's Turks v. SteveJ's Poles

The Poles had 2 cavalry and 1 large infantry division deploying them with the cavalry in the centre and infantry on their left.  The Turks had 2 infantry & 2 cavalry divisions deployed with infnatry in the centre & cavalry on their right and in reserves behind the centre.

Pic taken from behind Polish right.

The Turks move cavalry I infantry to the right to leave a gap for the reserve to fill.  The Poles make a steady advance.

The Winged Hussars & Pancerni charge destroying the Turkeci front line.  But the second line held and artillery fire disordered one Pancerni leaving the other exposed.  Meanwhile, the Janisaries blundered forward on the Turkish left & the Sipahis moved behind the ridge on the far right to get out of musket range.

The Winged Hussars are pinned down by musket fire while their supports were destroyed by the Gonullu.  The Ratjars on their right have ridden down half the Janisaries but the rest are holding on while their artillery pound away.

On the far left, the mercenary German infantry had got a triple move and moved up to shoot at the Sipahis.  The Sipahis charged.  Two musketeer units on the far left failed to hedgehog & got ridden down.  the flank then turned into a fire fight between the Sipahis' pistols & the surviving musketeers.  
In the centre the Winged Hussars have pulled back, but all surviving units in the division have been shaken by musket & pistol fire and the division is broken.
On the right the Janisaries are still holding out.

The far flank is still stalemated.
The Polish centre has been broken allowing the Gonullu to turn on their right.
But the Turkish artillery & Janisaries have broken the Ratjars so the Polish army is broken.

The Polish error was to allow their biggest division to be pinned down by a smaller cavalry division.   The Turks were able to concentrate 2 divisions on 1 in the centre for a decisive local win.  On their left, the Turkish artillery gave the Janisaries just enough help for them to win too.

The battle took about 1 1/2 hours - a fun fast game.




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Sunday, October 14, 2012

Operation Cromwell III


Operation Cromwell III, a FOW doubles tournament was run over the weekend in the Church hall over the road.  10 teams took part, 5 from the Kingston Bunker Rats, 2 from Launceston, 2 from Camp Cromwell and a "barbarian" team made up from half a dozen players from all 3 groups who could not play all weekend, but could play 1 or 2 matches each.   There were 4 German, 1 German/Hungarian, 2 Soviet, 1 US, 1 Canadian & 1 Western Allied Late War forces, each 2 coys totaling 2,500 points.  Four 3 hour rounds of Swiss roster were played on 8x6 tables.

The five tables had varied terrain - 2 Russian, 1 French, 1 Dutch & 1 Italian.  Three of the tables were provided by the Kingston Bunker Rats.

A little bit of Russia by the KBR.

The winners were John & Rusty from the Kingston Bunker Rats.

In second place:  Griggsey & Gazza also from Kingston Bunker Rats.

The two Launceston teams both did well, narrowly relegated to 3rd & 4th places.

On Saturday night a demonstration Hail Caesar battle was fought. It was Roman civil war battle.  Both armies had 4 divisions totaling 600 points.  The army of the revolting Marcus Metalix was commanded by the two Steves, the army of the Emperor Plastix was commanded by Mike & Jim.

The army of Plastix is on the left advancing on Metalix's force.

The battle turned into a revolving door.  After early disasters on their left, the army of Plastix looked doomed.  But his left steadied & fought a delaying action as his right crushed Metalix's left.  By 11 o'clock both sides were reduced to 2 divisions, all on the brink of breaking.  The players, ready for bed after a hard day's fighting over a 2,000 year span, agreed to a draw.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Maharajah 2012 round 1, battle 2


Mike's Romans v. Steve's Sassanids

The Romans are on the far side of the table.  Cavalry on their left, legionary divisions centre & right.  The Sassanids have cavalry on both flanks, elephants right centre & infantry left centre.
The Sassanids have advanced both cavalry wings and sent their skirmishers forward in the centre.
The real action begins on the Roman left as cavalry fights cavalry.  The central legion is advancing on the elephants.  Their right has wheeled to face off the cavalry trying to flank them.

The far flank has developed into a stalemate.  The first Sassanid charge was beaten off & they settled down to an archery contest.   On the near flank, one of the auxilary medium cavalry pulled off an against the odds win v. cataphracts to swing the advantage there towards Rome.  In centre legion has charge the elephants.
The cavalry fight on the right is spluttering on, both sides on the verge of breaking, but no one getting in the killer blow.  The far flank is still stalemated.  The Romans made short work of the elephants and have turned right to face the Persian infantry.
On the right, the Sassanid cavalry have finally broken, but the victorious cavalry seem reluctant to throw themselves back into the fray.  On the far flank, the Sassanids are melting away under javelin fire, not helped by a blundering light cavalry unit impaling itself on a cohort.  In the centre the legion is making slow progress, but a 9 unit infantry unit takes some wearing down.
The Roman cavalry has finally got back into the action, but the decisive move was a cohort from the right flank getting in a flank attack on Persian infantry.  This was the last straw for them and when the Persian infantry broke it was all over.

So Mike has won through to fight Jim's Pontic army in round 2.

Friday, October 05, 2012

Nick in Launceston: Angels 20

A quiet night at the club.  There was another 2500 point doubles Flames of War game.  No references to poetry this week -- unless I can find something about big guns being turned into plowshares (involuntarialy).  Nick and Rob played Angels 20 -- WW II air combat using 1/100 planes.

The scenario was the initial scenario in the book -- two ME 109's at altitude 3 vs two Hurricanes at altitude 2.  The British win if they can climb both planes to altitude 5 without damage, and either side wins if it shoots down a plane of the other side.  (The scenario assumes there are tempting bomber targets at Altitude 5 that the Hurricanes need to intercept)

We stuffed up a few rules -- like victory conditions (assumed it was just one British plane that needed to get to Altitude 5, and didnt notice the 'undamaged' bit) and the climb rules (we forgot to add the +4 to your next die roll to climb a level if you end a turn trying to climb). 

The Hurricanes tried to get to altitide, but consistently rolled low dice.  In fact, they rolled low dice for shooting, for initiative, for everything!  One of the ME 109's got on the tail of one Hurricane.  The poor plane couldnt shake it off, and took a point of damage.  The Hurricane kept climbing, but the ME 109 has better climb, and kept up with the Hurricane, inflicting more damage (crippling the plane).  The Hurricane made one last attempt to go to altitude 5, but failed, and ended up suddenly going to Altitude 0 in a ball of flame as the ME 109 on its tail finished it off.  

A quick game -- my though is that the game would probably be better with 3-4 planes a side.  And we didnt include any aces, so the battle was a bit 'plane jane'

The best thing about Angels 20 though is that the planes are 1/100 scale -- perfect for Flames of War. 

Angels 20.  Note the ME 109's are Airfix 'mini kit' models, and not the Angels 20 models.  And the stands are my own, not the supplied 2" stands.

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Maharajah Trophy 2012 Round 1


Jim's Pontic army v. Mark's Imperial Romans

700 pts (including house rule command pts so about 500 RAW) on 10x6 table.


The Romans deployed a cavalry division of 2 heavy and 3 light on their right, an auxilary division of 4 heavy inf on the right and 2 legionary divisions of 4 legionary and 2 skirmishers in the centre.
The Ponts deployed 2 phalanx divisions in the centre, each of 3 phalanxes, 2 light inf and 2 skirmishers, and a cavalry division on each flank of 2 heavy cav & 3 light.

The Ponts made a general advance though it was slowed by poor command for the left hand infantry division.

The action started with skirmishing on both flanks with both side's rights getting disrupted by morale under fire - which delayed close action.

The Ponts are still trying to get their cavalry to grips on both flanks.

The infantry finally get to grips in the centre.  On the far flank the Pontic cavalry still haven't caught up with the retreating Roman horse.  On the near flank the Pontic cavalry have now got support from a phalanx, but the heavy auxilia are proving a tough nut.

On the far flank the Pontic kontoses plus some nifty light cavalry moves saw the Roman horse quickly destroyed once they were caught up with.   On the rest of the front both sides are having mixed fortunes with neither side gaining a decisive advantage.

The Pontic cavalry have turned right and the lead unit has smashed into the flank of the right hand legionary division.  The legionaries held on for a while, but finally cracked under the pressure.  On the Pontic right the auxilia also finally cracked and the Roman army broke.

















Tuesday, October 02, 2012

Bolt Action 500 pts


Jim's Brits v. Steve's Germans

500 pts, Top Secret Scenario on 6x4 table.
The troops come on from opposite sides and have to capture (or rescue) the objective chap at the centre of the table & carry him back off your table edge.  The Brits are coming on the left & the Germans on the right.  The Brits rushed a squad forward to secure the objective and then pull him back.  The Germans advanced more slowly taking the option of trying to kill the enemy rescuers before taking the objective.

The British strategy turned out to be more effective.  This is a scenario where casualties are immaterial & while the Germans may have had more fun (mowing down deliberately exposed troops), the Brits won the day with a strategy specific for the scenario.

500 pts made for a quick  battle (about an hour) & was good for learning the rules, but even a 6x4 table seemed very empty.   1,000 pts on a 6x4 looks like a better option.  

The battle was good fun, but we decided that it would have to be much better still in 28mm - picking out the individual weapon types isn't easy with 1/72 (& would be even worse in 15mm).   Any excuse to get more toys ?
 

Nick in Launceston

Another 2500 point Flames of war game on an 8x6 table.

Exact lists are secret, due to the upcoming competition.  But on a side note, William Blake published a famous poem, 'Tyger, Tyger, burning bright' that I think is a classic!.

Nick B and Nick R vs Rob and Shane.  Eventual result was a draw -- but it could have gone either way given another 30 minutes!

Nick in the USA -- Salem, Oregon

As most of you know, my mother in law died suddenly about a month ago, and the family all suddenly ended up in Salem, Oregon, making funeral arrangements etc. It was a hard time for my fantastic wife.

Being in a new city, I of course looked up the local wargame store, and when I had some errands to do, dropped in to explore. Interestingly enough, they had an Early War Flames of War tournament scheduled for the next weekend. I of course couldnt play. But I did manage to drop in for 30 minutes to take some pictures. Apparently turn out was light -- if the tournament had been late war there would have been a lot more there. Also, the tournament had an interesting structure -- there were prizes, but the entry fee was 'puchase $50 or more FOW stuff from the store' - an interesting way to boost sales.

There was an interesting mix of players. From memory, the forces were:
- German Panzer
- German Panzer
- German Panzer (Afrika Korps)
- French Tank
- British LRDG
- British Infantry.

The store was a typical US store -- a good selection of stuff, with a massive play area out back. I made some purchases -- including Angels 20 1/100 scale fighter game, the Desert fort Ruins I had been looking for, and some dice tins. I am planning to play Angels 20 this week -- I'm looking foward to it!