Men o' War blockade run scenario

This is a re-run of a scenario designed by Tim in England where the French & Spanish have to escort a fleet of transports into port past a British blockade.
Brits (JIm): 2 squdrons each 1 1st & 2 3rd rates, 1 squadron 3 4th rates, Elite crews.
French (Chris): 2 squadrons each 1 1st & 2 rd rate, Regular crews.  3 transports.
Spanish (Mark): 1 1st & 4 3rd rate Raw crews.

The French are in the middle of the far side of the table with men o' war each side of the transports.
The Spanish are on their elft.
The Brit 4th rates are scattered on patrol with a squadron approaching from each end of the table.
The port is in the middle sof the near table edge.  The wind is accross the table behind the French.

The 2 Brit squadrons are sailing diagonally downwind at maximum speed to try to cut teh French off from port.

The RH Brit squadron got past the Spanish though their rear ship copped damage from long range raking fire before the Spanish turned to follow them.

The lead French ship of their left flank was smashed by point blank, bow raking double shotted broadside by the Brit 1st rate,of the RH squdron, has been boarded & struck it's colours.

The Brits now have a problem as their converging squadrons & their prize get in the way of each other restricting their fire.  The tail ship of theri RH squadrons being pounded by French & Spanish. 

The British are in some confusion as their two main squadrons pass each other, but a brave 4th rate is tying to board the Spanish flagship.

The rear ship of the RH British squadron has struck its colours while the other Brits are still sorting themselves out.  The 4th rate has now boarded & captured the Spanish flagship.  

On the left of pic, badly damaged Brits & their 1st prize are sailing off to the left as 2 ships of their RH squadron have tacked & are returning towards the fight.
On the right, the remaining Spanish have turned away.
In the centre, the Brits LH squadron has finally got into the action with devastating effect sinking 1 French ship & 2 have struck their colours. 
The British ship that had struck its colours was boarded & recaptured.
The fight has now come within range of the guns of the port defences,.  

At this point nightfall curtailed the action. 
It was judged that the heroic Brit 4th rate, now badly damaged, is trapped between the surviving French shisp & the fortress guns & cannot escape (although part of it's crew has sailed off with their prize).  The other British ships are unable to intercept the transports.

The Brits have 3 ships with crtical damage & 1 captured.
The French have had 1 ship sunk & 3 captured.
The Spanish have had rheir flagship captured.
The French have only 2 ships left, but they have done their job protecting the transports as the Brits are occupied taking prizes & the transports are moving into the cover of the port's batteries.

The Allies claim victory as they have acheived their victory condition of getting the trtransports to port.
But the Brits aklso claim victory pointing to the one-sided butcher's bill with their taking of 4 prizes & the sinking of another for the loss ofjust the heroric 4th rate.  

Men o'War

Spanish: 1 1st rate, 3 3rd rates, all raw crews.  Jim
French: 1 2nd rate,  3 3rd rates, all regular crews. Mark
v.
British: 1 1st rate, 1 2nd rate, 4 3rd rates, in 2 squadrons, all elite crews. Chris

The wind is blowing down the table from the far end.  The Spanish are in the nearest corner, the French in the RH corner.  The Brits at opposite ends of the far siude of the table. 

The Spanish held their course to windward while the Brits turned away to pass them the leeward.  Both sides started loaded with chain shot, then chanegd to standard solid shot.   

The French converged on the other British squadron, but turned to windward of them.  Again both sides atrted with chain shot, then changed to solid shot.

In both actions both side suffered a lot of rigging damage, but both aliied squadrons gained an advantage at the start of trh combat geting 2 shios to 1, then used the weather gauge to lap around the rear of the enemy line & pound the rear ship.

The Brit squadron fighting the French had their lead ship too badly damaged to stay in the fight & the rear ship so badly damaged it struck it's colours. The lead 2 ships decide to free downwind.
The Brit squadron fighting the Spanish had done serious damage to the Spanish, but their rear ship is a total shambles, so they too decided to break off & run downwind while they still had enough rigging to do so..  
.  

Mech War: Germans v. Soviets

Same terrian & forces as last Sunday, but on opposte sides of the table & this time Jim + Chris as Soviets & Mark & JamesF as Germans. 

Pic from Sovier side.
The Soviets advanced all their armour to their left flank, but the Germans immediately reinforced their right so the 10 T34's (half only 76's) met 10 MkIVs.  Some of the Soviets were in cover, but the Germans mostly had the advantage of defence then the dice gods heavily favoured them.  

Meanwhile the Soviet infantry advanced supported by off table artillery. 

The Soviet gods of war were as supported by teh dice god as much as the Panzers & they decimated the German infantry allowing the Soviet infnatry to drive off the remainder. 
But the total loss of the Soviet armour at the cost of just 2 MkIVs left the Soviet infantry unable to do anything but cling on to their gains. The Soviets hold more objectives, so technically can claim a victory, but it's a pretty hollow claim.

In three recent battles with these forces, the Germans have won two & the Soviets one.  In each case the better plan was supported by better dice causing a decisive result in the tank fight. 

Mech War Soviets v. Germans

Chris' Soviets v. Jim's Germans
Same forces as last weekend.  House ruels for WWII Mech War.  

Pic from behind German right flank.
Deployment platoon by platoon as counters drawn from a bag BA style.

The Germans used theri half tracks to move quickly to occupy the 3 woods near the centre.
The Germasn advance their MkIVs on their right.  The Soviets engaged them with T34/85s in the wood but advanced armoutr on theri right & centre.

The Soviet tanks in the wood on their left were wiped out by superior numbers reinforced by good dice.   The Soviets then thought better of their advance right of centre where two Tigers lurked in the field & sent them back to meet the MkIVs.  But the MkIVs continued to shoot well & the Sovieta rmour on their left was destroyed.  
In the woods the Germans infantry held off Soviet infantry attacks.
The T34's sent around the German left were kept occupied  by the Tigers.

The Germans concentrated their forces better, then got good dice to multiply their advantage into a decisive victory, reversing the result of last weekend's battle with the same forces. 

American War of Indepenance

 Jim's: Brits: 9 vet innfatry, 4 small indians, 2 guns , 2 Brit cavalry
Chris' French & Colonials: 4 French vet inf, 8 comial inf, 4 small woodsmen, 2 gunbs, 2 French cavalry.
28mm figs. House Rules M2M.

Pic from behind British lines after map deployment.

The Brits are advancing on their right.  They are also sending some of the troops from their left through the fields to support that adavnce leaving 2 vet inf, 2 indiasn & 2 guns to defend their left.

The Brit inf have engaged the French infantry on the right while their cav sipports their right & Indians in the woods support their left.
On the far flank the Brits are withdrawing behind a screen on Indians.

The British infnatry advance on their right was halted by acurate French musketry & a valaint bunch of colonials in the wood on their left left.
A bit of support form their infantry gave the British cavalry an edge that the dice didn;t muck up & the French cavalry has been driven off.
The Brit inf brought from the left is attacking the colonials in the central wood after they have been softened up by Indians. 
On the far flank the Brits have falklen back to the fields & their artillery is really hurting the colonials.

On the right, the Brit infantry has been pulled back with heavy losses covered by their cavalry. 
In the centre the Brits have cleared the colonials out fo the central wood.
On the left the Colonials are falling back rather than be mangled by British muskets & grape shot.

At this point neither side's commander feels able to make another attack & is contrent to cease fire & write a dispatch to Washington ot London claiming a great victory. 

 

 

Mech War: Soviets v. Germans

Chris: Soviets
Jim: Geramns
Rules: Camp Cromwell house rules for WWII 15mm.
Scenario:  Key positions with 8 objectives with map deployment.

Pic from Soviet side.
The Soviets have T34/76's & infantry on both flanks, T34/85's in the centre with support from a/tank guns & infantry.
The Germans have all their armour in the centre. Their armoured infnantry is on both flanks & in the centre. 

The Panzers advance to engage the T34/85's & medium a/tank guns in the centre.  The Germans have superior numbers, but the Soviets engage from cover.  
The Germans concede their left flank & shift infnatry to their right.
The Soviets move their rigth flank T34/76s towards the centre & their left flank T34's towards the German's right flank.

The Germans turned 2 of their MKIVs to face the threat to their right flank, but they were picked off by hot shooting.  A second pair of MkIVs met the same fate.  That distraction plus more good shhoting allowed the Soviets to odetroy the panzers in the centre.
German infnatry took the two central objecyives (road juctions.
They alkso attacked teh ridge on their right, but the Soviet infnatry their were dug in & supported by T34/76s & the attack was destroyed. 

Chris had a good plan that wasn't stuffed up by the dice gods & the Soviets won a well deserved decisive victory.  

BA v3: Germans v. Soviets

 Chris' Soviets v. Jim's Germans.
1250 points, Key Positions scenario.

Pic from German side.
The objectives are: the 2 houses, the 2 road junctions & thecentral ends of the ridges on the table centreline. 
The Germans advanced quickly to sieze both the ridge objectives & the RH road junction as well as the house on their side.  They also set up a network of MMGs covering the centre to deter the Soviets from advancing into the open ground in the centre. 
When the Soviets counterattacked on the German right the Germans reinforced the flank from the centre & destroyed the attack.was destroyed.
On the other flank the German squad on the objective was destroyed by Soviet fire, but they held out long enough for 2 MMGs to be moved up to hold the objective at the end. 

In the centre the Germans took both road juctions after their MMGs cleared out the enemy MMGs defending the ground.  The Tank Hunters both sides had stayed out of sight of each other & mostly out fo the action so acheived nothing.

A decisive German victory holding 5 of 6 objectives & destroying 6 units for 1. 

English Civil War

Parliament: Jim & Mike
Royalists: Mark, Chris & SteveJ 
M2M house rules

Parliament are on the near side, Mike on the left, Jim on the right.
The Royalists are: Left flank: Mark. Centre: Chris.  Right flank: Steve. 

Both sides advanced though Parliament held back their cavalry on each flank.

On the near flank the Parliament cavalry was outnumbered, but they used the terrain & infantry support to repell the Royalist attack. 
In the centre the infantry are poing at it at close quarters.
On the far flank the cavalry is still pussy footing around.

Right of centre, the Parliament got the dice to turn a small tactical advantage to a big breakthrough.
Left of centre the foot are still slugging it out.

Right of cantre the Parliament's foot are expanding the hole in the royalist line.
In the centre, the Royalist are gaining the upper hand.
The cavalry on the far flanl are still dithering.

On the near flank the Parliament's cavalry have attacked & finished off the Royalist horse.
Right of centre the Kng's innfatry has been destroyed.
Left of centre, Parliament's foot have been beaten.
On the far flank, the Royalist horse have got the better of the long delayed fight.

Both sides have won on their right flank, but the Parliament's win is more decisive so they can claim victory.

 

BA v3cc:

 Jim's Germans, Chris' Soviets
1250 pts, Key Positions.
BA v3 with Camp Cromwell House Rules

Pic from behind Soviet lines.
There are 7 objectives: the 3 bridges, the 2 house by the road, & the centre ends of the two ridgeseither side of the long centreline.

Both sides advanced on the ridge objectives at each flank.  In both cases the Soviets got the jump on the Germans & took the objective. 

On the right, the Marder I engaged the T34 from cover in the woods.  The Marder first immobilised the T34, then destroyed it.  

With the T34 engaged by the Marder & the Soviet MG's suppressed then killed by German mortar & MG fire, German infantry secured the three bridge objectives.

The Germas won with 4 objective to 3.  They also had a lot less casualties.

More BA v3

Mark's Geremans (actuallyy Jim's list) v. Jim & Chris's Brits
Mike's US v. SteveJ's Germans
1250 pts, V3 with a few h0use rules
2 separate games with the raod marking a no-cross zone.
Both battles Seek & Destroy with fog of war deployment. 

SteveJ v. Mike, Germans on far side.  
They fought each other to a draw with low casulties (1 tank each).

Mark v. Jim & Chris, Germans on far side.
We also fought each each other to a draw.  The Germans lost more casualties, but the Brits couldn't finsih off enough damaged veteran units.  

Bolt Action v3

Chris' Soviets v. Jim's Germans
1250 pts, Key Positions scenario.
The Germans had the same army a slast week.  The Soviets force was modied to provide more infnatry with more firepower..

Pic from the Soviet side of the table.
The objectives are the two houses, the two bridges & the centre ends of the ridges on the centreline.
The Germans moved fast to sieze the ridge on the far flank. 
Niether side did much inthe centre apart from lonfg range shooting.
The main action was on the enar flank. Both sides advanced two infantry squads, the Soviets supported by an MMG & the Germanx by their MkIV.
The MkIV closed with Soviet infantry & was imobilised by a capture panzerfaust, but it's mg support helped the German infantry to assult & clear the wood on teh hill to sieze that objective.
The Germans had 4 of 6 objectives in hand & the Soviet's had lost too many men to counterattack.

We used v3 with a few house rules to fix the few issues things we don't like.  Our main change is that we don't use saving throws, but go with -1 to hit for cover, down & pinned & -1 to kill for hard cover.  It's so much quicker & easier & makes little diffference to the odds. 

American Civil War

ACW with our M2M House Rules & 28mm figs.
Both sides have 4 infantry brigades of 4 regs, a cavalry brigade of 4 regs & 4 batteries.
Union: Jim & Chris.  Confeds: Mike, SteveJ & Mark.

The Union are on the left.
The CSA are advancing on the whole front, wider than the Union line.

The Union have sent half their cavalry reserve to each flank to extend their line to match the CSA.

On the near flank the Union have repleled the CSA attack & have followed up their retreat.
In the centre, hot shoting by artillery & musket is driving the Union back.
On the far flank the Union is holding the line against the CSA attack. 

On the near flank the Union counterattack failed miserably due to poor shooting & the flank has collapsed
In the centre the Unionhave been pushed further back.
The Union left has held on, but isn't fit to mount a counterattack.
The Union concede the battle & order a retreat.

Bolr Action v.3 with some house rules

In many ways v3 is an improvement on v2, but in my opinion it has a few anoying flaws.  So we are trying out a few hoiuse rules to make v3 evewn better.

1. No saving throws for cover:  Instead: -1 to hit for cover & for down, & -1 to kill for hard cover.  The saving throw slows the game down with an extra step & the need for both players to make a test.  It is also frustrating to throw good dice & see your kills evaporate with the enemy's saves.  The difference in the odds is negligible in nearly all situations.

2. No need for more than 1 command team.  The proliferation of command teams slows the game for no gain in realism.

3. No Snap To rule.  It's Mickey Mouse with no basis in reality.

4. Stick wiythe v2 AFV damage table for minor damage.  The extra complication in the v3 table wastes time while adding nothing to the game.

5. Making 7 to hit 6 then 4+ & only 8+ to hit being 6 then 6.

Chris' Soviets v. Jim's Germans
1250 pts. Key positions scenario on big table with Fog of War deployment.

The Germans are on the near side.
The objectives are the bridge, the 2 houses & three ridge tops (2 at the far end & 1 on the right).

The Germans rushed forward in the centre & on the right to sieze 4 objectives.  The T34 took out teh MK IV but that was the Soviet's only siccess as the German veterans mowed down all attempts at counterattack.

The Soviets conceded after turn 5 with half their force destroyed & no way of getting the enemy off any of the 4 objectives they held.

The house rules worked well.  The game was so much easier & faster to play than with the straight v3 we tried last tuesday.

Bolt Action v.3

 After Chris returned froma trip to Canberra where he played a bit of BA v.3 we gave it another go.
2 games, both Envelopment scenarios.

SteveJ's Germans attacking Chris' Soviets:

Steve's Neblewerfers decimated the Soviets for a decisive win.

Mark's Germans v. Mike's US:

. They foiught each other to a draw with onlt 1 unit lost on both sides.

I had a full time job looking up the v3 rule book to resolve questions.  The consenus was that while there were some welcome chnages, there are also some serious flaws, including:
- The introduction of saving throws seriously slows down the game & is anoying (you throw good dice then get them negated).
- The new lists requiring more command teams does nothing to improve the game & encourages the use of the cheesy Snap To rule.
- The complication of the superficial damage rule is an unnessary complication.

 

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.