Battle of Ankara 1402

 A scenario developed by PeterC.

Peter with the Timurids on the left.  Chris with the Ottomans on the right.
The ottomans deployed first to balance them having the better of the terrain.

The Timurids have weighted their left flank & are attacking there.
In the centre the Timurids have advanced cavalry to engage the enmy with archery.
On the left, the Ottoamns are advaning theircavalry while the Timurids deploy a skirmish line of horse archers to delay them.Timurids have deployed horse archers as skirmishers to delay them. 

On the far flank the Timurids hare smashing the Ottoman line.
In the centre the Ottomans have swiveleld their line to face the flank threat.

On the far flank the Timurids have reorganised their victorious troops ready to attack the Ottoamn's  new defence line. On the near flank the Timurids are now making a stand.

On the left the Ottomans are advancing while the Timutid cavalry fall back.  On the right , the Ottoman line is about to break from the renewed Tumurid attack.

The Timurid left has smashed the Ottoman's second line & is regrouping to their right again.
On the other flank the Timurids are making another stand. 

The Timurid right is still holding the line as their left starts poring troops towards the Ottoman rear.

Some mutual losses on the far flank has pushed the Ottomans over 50% units lost & they fail theri army morale.  The Timurids have had no units broken so have a decisive victory

Byzantium v. Arabs again

 Low turnout tonight due to ilnesses.
Jim's Arabs deployed first with a ridge to defend. 
Renrey & Mike deployed the Buzantines secons with orders to attack.
Same armies as lost week except the Arabs lost the elephants.

Pic from behind the Arab lines.

The Byzantines ar advaning on the whole line.  The Arabs are sending their reserve cavalry to the flanks.

After some long range archery the Arabs countercharged downhill at the enemy charges. 

On most of the front the Byzantines had superior troops only partly balanced by the hill.  But the dice gods did not favour the Arabs, who couldn't seem to get a win even in the actions where they had an advantage.  

The cataphracts & Varangians punched stright thru the Aran front line & charged on to take out teh second. On their lelf flank where the Arabs had the advantage in cavalry, they still lost.  Itw as crushing defeat for the Arabs.

It was clear that the hill advantage did not justify deleting the elephants from the Arab list.  Just making them deploy first was probably sufficient counterbalance.

Byzantium v. Arabs

 Battle fought lengthwise on the table between mountains & sea.

Chris & Mark are Byzantine at hte far end of the table.
Mike & Renfrey are Arabs at the near end of the table.
Both sides opted to put theri cavalry on the plain & infantry on the hill.

The Arabs lead with their elepjants on their right falnk.
The Byzantines lead with their cavalry on their right.The front turns into a diagonal as both side's right push forward.

The elephant attack ends in MAD, as the Byzantines counterattack the Arab right up hill.

Casualties are high on both sides, but the Arabs ha dmore untis to absorb the losses & the Byzantines failed army morale first.

Two Bolt Action 1250 pts

 A river divided the table into two for two separate BA battles.

Battle 1: Mike's US on the left v. SteveJ's Germans.

The Gemans held back & let the US do the attacking.  The Hetzer was the star of the show, taking on the Super Sherman atcose range.  The Hetzer survived though immobilized after taking multiple shots from the Sherman, 2 bazookas & the 105, taking out the Sherman.
The US had 2 objectives on the their side of the table & attacked the 2 on the German side.  The Germans counterattacked, but the US held on disputing the 2 objectives.
The buscher's bill was indecisive, but the US won on objectives.

Battle 2: Chris' Soviets on the right v. Renfrey's Germans

This was a much bloodier battle.  The butcher's bill was very much in the German's favour & they also won the objective count, with 2 held v. 1 & 1 in dispute.

ACW 28mm

 6 players, each with a division of 6 inf, 1 gun & 4 cav distributed between them,

The CSA are on the near side.  Mark in cntre, Chris on left & Jim on right.
Union have SteveJ in centre with Mike on his right & Renfrey on his left.

On the left & centre, CSA advance stopped on the ridge line.  On the right the CSA advance was a feint againsy superior numbers & was followed by a redeployment to the rear.

View now from behind Union left.
On the left the CSA are making a fighting retreat through the farm & over the river.
The ubuin are now attacking all along the line.

On the left the CSA have retreated across the river with enough fit units to form a good defence on the river line.  On the centre & left the Union attack petered out & they fell back, but the CSA were too badly damaged to counterattack.  

The CSA plan was to hold off superior numbers on their right to allow victory on their left & centre.  It only half worked - the battle ended as bloody draw.  

BA Sunday School

1250 pts attack/defend scenario on 10x6 table. Defender deployed first, then attack came on their edge.  4 objectives (2 hill crests, bidge & railway station). Defender allowed to be dug in (counts a -1 to kill if hit). Italians v. Soviets. Italians defending.

Game 1: Jim defending.  
The Ities got lucky at the atart landing their mortar & their artiilery on the enmy mortar & artillery straight up.  Without artillery supprt & the enmey raining frie frpom theire, the Sobviets had no chance  & soon conceded.

Game 2: Chris defending.
This time the Soviets made a concentrated attack on the Italian right.  they also got the run of the artillery dice.  They over-ran the ridge on their left.

From that position their fire decimated the Italian force, but ran out of time before taking any more objectives.  The Italians had nuch bbigher casuaties, but still had 3 of 4 objectives.
The Soviet plan to concentrate theri attack was sound enough, but given the time factors & tabrel size, probbaly should have put some pressure on the Itie left to stop them reinforcing their centre.

American Civil War 28mm

We had 6 players, each had a division of 6 infantry & 1 gun plus each side had 4 cavalry toallocate as they wished.

View from behind the CSA.
CSA divisions: Mike mid-table left, Jim this end RHS, Renfrey  this end LHS.
USA divisions: Chris centre right, Mark far end LHS, SteveJ far end RHS.

Chris deployed foorward of the river to assist seizing the village.  Jim advanced on him asap. Steve moved up to support him.
Mike deployed behind the river to face Mark.
Renfrey advanced towards the centre.

Parts of both Mike & renfrey's forces attacked the village while Jim attacked Chris.  

Jim's attack had a small tactical advanatge that good dice turned into a decisive win.  But his pursuit came to ahalt in the face of Steve's fresh troops & he withdrew to a safer line.
Meanwhile Renfrey & Mike had taken the village.

The CSA had lost more units broken 8 to 5, but the CSA have a lot more units shaken, so both sides were happy to call off the fight at this point.  The Union sent dispatches to Washington with the news they had beaten off a ferocious Rebel attack while the Rebs sent dispatches to Richmond describing how they had driven the Union out of the village & they are cowering behind the creek.  

Sunday School: Mech War 15mm

 Chris' Soviets v. Renfrey's Germans

Deployment on maps.  Germans on far side.

Both sides divied their infantry between the bvillage & farm.  The Germans concentrated ther armour on their left & centre, the Russians spread theirs out over the whole front.  The T34/76's hwere initailly isolated & the Germans imitially had armour superiority on the far flank & centre as the T34/76's rushed forward onto the German's right flank. 

The Germans wiped out most of the T34/85's before the T34/76's could engage, but then redeployed to meet them.  But they lost 2 Mk IVs & the JS2's popped a Tiger.

The T34/76s closed the range on the MkIVs & though losing 2 to 1 they ahd twice as  many to lose.  The Germasn have moved their MK IVs on the their left towards the centre (just off shot) & popped a JS2.  Both detachments of German infantry attacked.  In the farm their assault was stopped by a voley of 6's.  In the village, they made some progress but pulled back as the Soviets soaked up the losses. 

The Germans pulled back onto the plateau to concentrate their remaining armour as the Soviets converged on them from two directions.

The Germasn tried to escape being flanked by charging down the hill at the T34/76's.  But they couldn't kill the Soviets fast enough & they were shot up from behind.

So a hard won Soviet victory.

15mm Napoleonic 6 players

With Chris & renfrey back from UK trip & Mike back on deck after his postate op, we ahd 6 players. Each was allotted a diviision of 6 innfatyr, 3 cavalry & 1 gun with random deploymenr zones.

French:  Jim centre left, Mike centre right, Chris near RH corner.
Prussians: Refrey in far RH corner.
Austrians: Mark near LH corner, SteveJ far LH corner.

At the far end Renfrey & Mike squared off against each other while SteveJ advanced on Jim.
At this end, Jim deployed par tof his force facing Steve & attacked Mark with the rest. as Chris marched off the hill to support him.
Jim's French lost every close combat & his detachment facing Mark was wiped out before Chris could intervene.

Chris eventually got to grips with Mark's force & defeated it, but SteveJ's first charge broke the LH end of Jim'a line & his artillery blew the next battalion outofo the house.  The VFrench had to withdraw to prevent being rolled up from the flank.

On the far flank Renrey & Mike were slyugging it out with neither getting a decisive advanatge. afra flanl   

On the far flank, Rrenrey gained a small advnatage, thought Mike was holled up in the woods & hard to finaih off. 
On the neara flank Jim's division was chewed up by Steve before Chris could rescue him & Chris' looked doomed as well.  The French conceded the battle..

15mm Napoleonic

 Prussians & Austrians (Renfrey) v. French (Jim).

The Allies were the defenders.  Their  mission was to deny the French access accross the table along the road.  They deployed first anywhere on the table.  The French came on in columns from the enar table edge.

The French deployed 2 of their 3 infnatry divisions in the centre, 1 on the right with half their cavalry on each flank.   Bothsides deployed at a safe disyance in the centre while all the action was on the far flank.  The French cavalry galloped down the far tabe eedge with infantry following behind. 
 

A forlorn hope of Austrians in the farm put up strong resistance & though eventually overcome, they significantly weakened the French attack & with some reinforcements from the centre the Austrians stoped the French attack.

A charge of the last of the Austrian Cuirassiers could have routed the French right, but the French infantry line managed to stop them. 
The Auistrians had lost 5 units shaken to the French 2, but the French flanking force had only 2 units left unshaken on the flank, so it was unable to advance further. 
The Fench saw no likely prospect of successfully forcing the river line frontally & nightfall was approaching, so they called off the attack, conceding victory to the Allies.

 

Napoleonic 15mm

French (Jim) on near side of table.
Austrians (Mark) on the left far side. 
Prussians (SteveJ) on the right far side.

The French stormed over the bridge & thru the village to occupy it.

The Austrians advanced to put pressure on the French left. 
The Prussians held back their left, but attacked the village with converging musket fire & artillery.
The French defence of the village was hampered by the hedgrows & house preventing their own artillrey to directly assist the defence.  

On the near flank the Austrian attack was looking dangerous until the French moved their right flank artillery to support their left.  The added firepower helped stop the Austrian attack. 
Meanwhile the allies gradully pushed the French back through the village.

The removal of the French artillery from their right flank has encouraged the Prussians to advance their whole as the French fell back through the village generally pulling their shaken troops out before they broke. 

On the left, the Austrians have pulled back to escape the fire of all 4 French guns.
In the centre, the Allies have taken all the village up to the river.
On the right, the French have been reinforced by the return of the artillery sent to the left.  This persuaded the Prussians to halt thei advance.  

As night fell the two armies faced each other across the creek, both happy to declare victory & cease fighting. 

The casualtes were about equal.  The Allies probbably missed thweir best chance by not attacking the French righ immediately they transferred their guns to the other flank.  The delay allowed the French to use them to help stop the Austrians & return in time to help stop the Prussians.