Big night at Camp Cromwell

Having 2 games planned & a big turn-out expected tonight, I spent most of the day reversing the second law of thermodynamics to restore some order in the wargames room so both tables were available for play.   We had the biggest turnout for  a long time with the regulars, Jim, Steve, Mark, Mike & Chris supplemented with Dave, Renfry & Nick.

Maharajah 2014 2nd Round Game 2:
Steve's Germans v. Mike's US Bolt Action 1000 pts.
Envelopment Scenario - Germans attacking.

The US are defending the near long edge.

The Germans are making a concentrated attack on the left of the US position.

 

 The ended on turn 6 with the Germans well in front with 7 VPs to nil with no German units lost.

The battle for the Maharajah Trophy 2014 will be fought between Steve's Germans & Nick's US as soon as we can arrange a date.


Wars Of the Roses
Meanwhile on the big table we had a three players a side Wars of the Roses battle using our Hail Richard III variant of Hail Caesar.  Each player commanded a "battle" of 6 units.

The Yorkist are on the left:  Renfrey commands their left, Mark their centre & Jim their right.
For the Lancastrians: Nick commands their right, Dave their centre & Chris their left.
The number of units was equal, but York had more cavalry & Lancaster more heavy infantry.
Mark & Renfry devised the Yorkist plan while Jim was busy with umpiring duties setting up the battle on the other table.  They made a deployment map in another room while the Lancastrians deployed.  The Yorkist plan put most of the cavalry on their right under Jim's command with orders to attack!

The Yorkist right has surged forward breaking two of Chris' units on the first charge.  In the centre, Mark & Dave have just joined battle.  On the far flank, Renfrey has held back while Nick has advanced only slowly.

The Yorkist right finished off the Lanc's left then wheeled into their centre.  Attacked in front and flank, the Lancastrian centre is in big trouble.

The Lancastrian centre is attacked front, flank and rear & breaks.  With 2 of 3 battles broken the Lancastrian army now breaks.

The Yorkist attack dog has followed his troops around to the other side of the table to attack Dave in flank.

Bolt Action Cancon Practice

Jim's Panzergrenadiers v. Chris' Soviets

1000 pts Hold Until Relieved scenario, Soviets defending.

In this scenario there is one objective in the centre, initiatively defended by 2 defender's units.  The attackers can deploy anywhere more than 18" from the objective or enemy already deployed or leave units in reserve.  The defenders can put up to half in the their 1st wave & the rest in reserve.rest of the defenders come on in turn 1.  The Soviets have veteran infantry & an mmg on the objective.  The Germans put all but their Stummel on the table.

The Germans rushed towards the objective with their stormtroopers while 2 small units occupied the house on this flank & their other supports coverd their left.  The Stummel was in reserve & forgotten 

The Germans have taken the objective and consolidated around it in the orchard.  The Soviets have taken the nearest house & prepare to counterattack.

The soviet infatry have got out of the first house ready to storm the next one.

The Sherman has wandered off looking for prey not loaded up with panzerfausts.  The Soviets in the house that survived the two successful assaults have been destroyed by the Stummel & assault rifle fire from the orchard.

The Soviet infantry launched a desperate counterattack on the objective but were mown down by the panzergrenadiers.  With no infantry left, the Soviets conceded the battle.

Maharajah Trophy 2014: Game 3

Jim's Panzer Grenadiers v. Nick's US

1,000 pts Bolt Action Point Defence scenario, Germans defending.
Fought at Nick's with Chris & Mark umpiring.

The Germans are defending 3 objectives on the far side of the table with 4 units on the table and 5 in reserve.  The US have 13 units, 12 of them coming on in the first wave on turn 1 and 1 on flank march.

The Germans basically hunkered down putting their heads up to shoot only to slow the enemy down  Their Luchs came on to engage the US AA half track with quad HMG  - a fearsome 12 dice.  It failed to penetrate, then was evaporated by an air strike.  The Germans pushed 1 large infantry forward in the wood beyond the village in an attempt to provide cross fire n any attacks in the centre.  This came unstuck when they were charged by GI's out of the nearest house and destroyed.

The US flank force came on in the left hand corner and quickly finished off the defenders in the field after they had been weakened by US firepower.   The last German infantry unit was brought on to help defend the centre.

At the end of turn 6 the Germans still held 2 objectives and the game would have been a draw if it had ended then.  But the dice decreed another turn.  The last defenders in the centre almost held on but there just too many GI's left and the bazooka team finally took out the last defender.

It was an enjoyable hard fought game.  The Germans only obvious mistake was getting the unit in the wood within counter-attack range of the village, and while they never looked like winning, with a bit more luck could have pulled off a draw.  But Nick picked an evil list and backed it up with sound tactics.  

Maharajah Trophy 2014: Match 2

Mike's US Vets v. Mark's Germans: Bolt Action

1,000 pts Demolition scenario.

 

The US are coming on from the left, the US from the right.  The objectives are: For the Germans beside the house near the RH corner.  For the US next to the stream near the wood in the far corner.  The US have infantry in the house next to the German objective,  The Germans have infantry in the house in the hamlet next to the wood.  2 German units still haven't arrived from reserve.

Both side's lost their MMG to howitzer fire.  The Sherman was knocked out by a panzerfaust fired from the house.  Subsequently the US Rangers stormed the house - but too late to save the tank.

On the left the US have moved a bazooka team into the LH house making the Hetzer very nervous.  The GI's have pulled back behind the crest of the central hill.  On the far flank the Germans have moved up thought the wood.

The Hetzer has rushed up the hill.  The bazzoka team has followed but missed their shot.  The germans in the fleid are pinned down by fire from the Germans in the house.  On the far flank the US are making their move forward.

For once the US got the first movement dice out of the bag & this time the bazooka didn't miss.  The Germans tried to storm the house by their objective but failed.   Their howitzer is pinned down by the US howitzer.  The US are running out of men while the Germans still have men in the 2 houses as well those you can see.   Soon after this the Germans conceded the battle.

Like the first battle on Sunday, this battle went over the 7 turn limit, but for the Mahrajah competition we are playing games to a finish if no one satisfies victory conditions when time runs out as per the book.


Steve's Germans v. Chris's Soviets

Meanwhile Steve & Chris fought a friendly on the other end of the table.

Your correspondent was too occupied umpiring the main game to take a lot of notice, but it was a decisive German victory.

Maharajah Trophy 2014 match 1

Chris' Societs v. Nick's Germans

Bolt Action 1000 pts, Demolition Scenario at Nick's garage.

Nick is on the right with his objective in the corner of the field in the near LH corner.  Chris is on the left with his objective in the wood centre right.  Both sides start with half their force ont eh table and half in reserve.

Both sides made a rush for the village, but the Soviets got there first & the Germans fell back to shoot it up rather then assault tough Soviet vets.

The Soviets sent their tank on the flank march to come on behind the German rear.  The Sherman was immobilised by panzerfaust fire, but continued to fire.

The near flank was characterised by ineffective fire by both sides while things got very bloody near the village.

The village fight has ended with it in German hands.  The Sherman fights on, but the German infantry hang on in the LH field.  The game has gone past the usual 7 turn limit, but as a Maharajah battle it is being fought to a finish.

Finally the panzerschreck has finished off the Sherman leaving the Soviets with only an inexperienced infantry unit, a Ziz 3 & an anti-tank rifle left.  The Soviets conceded the battle & Nick goes on to round 2.

Hail Caesar Expedition to the Black Hills

Camp Cromwell's retired gentlemen's league made an expedition to Peter Collidge's shed in the boondocks to initiate him into Hail Caesar.  We fought two small games either side of lunch with Peter's 70's vintage 25mm figures.

Game 1:  Chris & Peter's Gauls v. Jim's Romans

The Gauls are on the far side of the table.  Both side have their cavalry on the near flank.  Both side infantry were keen to advance, but not so their cavalry.

On the left the Romans got the advantage of charging home & are doing well.  In the centre the Gauls got their furious charge in but even so it was win one lose one. 

In the centre the Romans used their superior manoeuvrability to exploit the ragged line caused by the mix of wins & losses to make 2 devastating flank attacks to break the Gallic centre.  The gallis right is still holding on.  The Gallic cavalry despite superior size is being held.

One Roman infantry units is supporting their cavalry while the rest finish off the Gallic infantry on the left to complete a decisive victory for Rome.


Game 2: Jim & Peter's Byzantines v. Chris' Bulgars

The Byzantines are on the near side.  The deployment lead to infantry v. cavalry all along the front.

The Bulgars quickly leaned the hard way the difference between cavalry v. infantry with long spears & cavalry with kontos v. infantry with only short spears.  The Bulgar cavalry attack on the near flank was failure while the Byzantine cavalry attack in the centre quickly made a hole in the Bulgar line.

On the near flank the mixed long spear & bow armed Byzantine infantry are advancing slowly letting the bows do the work.  In the centre the Byzantine cavalry is pressing home their advantage.

The Bulgar centre was broken & their left driven off the table in a decisive Byzantine victory.

Bolt Action friendlies

We played two games of BA tonight.  Both were 1,000 pt infantry platoons using the new scenario from the armoured book.

Jim's Germans v. Mark's US

In this battle there are 5 objectives, 1 on top of the central hill, 1 by each house, 1 by the bridge & 1 in the far corner.  The Germans are coming on from the right.

The German plan was to hold the bridge & the hill and take the house on the left.

At the end of turn 6 the Germans had taken the house on the left, held the bridge and the other 2 objectives were in dispute.  So despite the casualties being much in the US favour, if the battle had ended then, it would have been a German victory.  But a BA game goes for an extra turn on a 4+ & the dice came up 4.  In the 7th turn the US destroyed the German units disputing the 2 objectives to turn the game into a US victory.


Chris's Soviets v. Steve's Germans

Your war correspondent was rather too involved with his own war to take a lot of notice of this battle.  This one had just one objective which was disputed at the end while both sides lost only 1 unit each.  So it as a draw.

Sunday School 2: BA at Camp Cromwell

Richard's British v. Nick's Germans

The FOGN battle at Nick's didn't last that long so we moved downhill to Camp Cromwell for a dose of Bolt Action, this time with Jim umpiring.

 

Both sides had about 1500 points armoured platoons.   They fought the new scenario from the BA Armoured book where there are D6 objectives.  In this case there were 5 = the green hexes.  The Germans are coming on the right side, the Brits on the left.

 

Richard made his move down the far flank.  Nick deployed his armour hull down on the ridge while his infantry secured  the objectives at this end of the table.  With all their tanks hull down, the Germans soon got the upper hand in the tank duel.

The Brits got onto the objective on the German ridge and their infantry destroyed the Stug when it tried to take it back, but the Germans had moved their infantry from left to right and took the objective on the British ridge as well as maintaining dispute of the one on their side.  At the end of turn 7, the Germans had 3 objectives to the Brit's 1, with 1 in dispute so it was a German victory.  The Germans also suffers much fewer losses - just 1 Stug  compared to 4 Brit tanks. 

Sunday School 1: FOG Napoleonics at Nick's

FOGN at Nick's

Nick umpired a small introductory game of Field of Glory Napoleonics for Richard (Austrians) & Jim (French).

Richard's Austrians are on the far side.  These armies represent mixed divisions with the units being brigades.  The game is unit based so the figures being in line or column doesn't signify much other than most common formation.   The figures are Nick's 15mm's.

The French deployed their artillery in range of the enemy then waited for them to advance, which being lead by Richard, they did.

 

On the far flank, the French cavalry drove the Austrian infantry back then attacked their cavalry starting a fight that swilled back & forth some time.  On the near flank the French redeployed their light infantry on the left to bring all muskets to bear.

 

The cavalry fight on the right has become a stalemate.  The French artillery has routed the Austrian infantry attack in the centre.  Weight of numbers is telling on the Austrian right. 

On the right, the French cavalry rallied faster & then broke the Austrian horse.  On the left, the French have gone on the attack & broken the enemy infantry.  The battle is clearly over as a decisive French victory.

I found playing FOGN a lot better than playing FOG Ancients.  But we were fortunate to have Nick running the game so did not have to actually understand the rules in detail.  It seems that FOGR has many of the faults of FOGA - like badly laid out & poorly explained rules with no index.   But it did feel like a Napoleonic battle & I felt that good tactics were rewarded.