FOW Kindergarten

Sam's Afrika Korps v. Toby's 8th Army

My neighbour's grandsons have ways of infiltrating my wargames room.

Sam (10) on the left is attacking with the Afrika Korps v. Toby (8) defending a Hold the Line with 8th Army.  About 1,000 pts each.  Toby's 2 pdrs did a good job of holding up the MkIII's taking 2 of them out & keeping them from supporting the infantry attack.   But the German infantry attacked the ruined mosque objective on the side away from the HMGs & with mortars pinning the defenders they were able to over-run it before the British reserves could come up. 

Warhammer Ancients at Nick's

Jim's Romans v. Nick's Barbarians

The Romans on the left got first move and have advanced.

On the near flank the Roman skirmishers have been destroyed and the barbarian skirmishers have moved up to enagage the archers.  The Roman horse has turned to cover the flank of their main body of foot which is deploying to meet the barbarian foot.

 The Roman archers ahve been destroyed by skirmishers throwing hot dice.  The barbarian horse is advancing.  The heavy infantry is engaged.

The barbarian foot unit on the far flank  has broken, leaving the barbarian right flank exposed.

Hit in flank the next barbarian foot unit has also broken with the pursuit hitting the second line.  The Roman horse has broken and been pursued from the field.

The 3rd barbarian infantry unit has been broken by a flank attack.  The 3rd cohort has turned to face the cavalry.  The Romans in the scrub have given ground, but not broken.  Next turn the barbarians in the scrub break and the barbarians fail army morale.

This was my 2nd game of Warhammer Ancients - the other one was several years ago.  It was Nick's 1st - part of his quest for the ultimate rules set.  My view of WHA is that it was one of Rick P's steps on the way to Hail Caesar & Hail Caesar is so much better.

FOW on Anzac Day: India v. Afrika Korps

Cpt Gandhi's Indian Rifles v. Rich's Schutzen

No retreat mission, Indians making a night attack.

The Afrika Korps is dug in in the foreground, the Indians have begun their advance before dawn.

Indian infantry took the village as the bugs & portees went around it.   A combined infnatry & tank attack took the objective at the first attack.  The Germans counterattacked with their Panzers out of ambush.  The panzers drove the infantry off objective, but the Valentines hit enough of them to force a morale test.  The failed test pretty well handed victory to the Indians.  The German reserves tried to retake the objective, but without armour support they had little hope.

Hail Cromwell: Covernanters v. Parliament

Chris & Mike's Covernanters v. Mark & Steve's Parliamentarians

The newly retired Chris Arthur has returned from the wilderness & was introduced to Hal Cromwell - ECW using tweaked Hail Caesar.  The terrain's a bit boring, but we kept it simple for Chris' first go.

The Covernaters deploy their 2 cavalry divisions on their right, 2 infnatry dvisions on their left and artillery in the centre.

The English also put both cavalry divisions on the same flank - opposite the Scots cavalry.  The English have more musketeers, some better cavalry (2 cuirassiers cf 2 lancers), but no artillery).

The Scots infantry advanced to take the hill.  The English foot stand & a fire fight starts.  On the far flank the English horse first moved left to get away from the guns then advanced to attack.

The English horse initially pushed the Scots back on the far flank, but a flank attack stopped the rot and the English fell back, both having lost 1 unit.

.The cavalry fight ebbed and flowed in attack & counterattack.

The superior numbers of English musketeers broke a Scots infnatry division & the other fell back.  The English Cuirasiers eventually got on top of the game Scots lancers and both the Scots cavalry divisions broke to give the English victory.

The Scots made a mistake advancing their foot into a fire fight against geater numbers of musketeers.   They should have held back to give their artillery a chance to do some damage.  Better command gave the Scots cavalry a chance, but in the end better equipment won the day.

FOW at Barries

Jim's Indian Rifles v.Barries Italian Motocyclisti

 1555 pts Dust Up Mission

The Indians are deployed in & around the wadi in the near corner, the Italians in & around the oasis in the far corner.   The Italian reserves came on in the near RH corner.  The Indians came on in far LH corner.  The Indian infantry from reserve attacked the oasis.  The Italian reserves did not imediately but moved to reinforce the oasis and the centre.

The Indian attack in the oasis petered out but their Valentines moved to the centre & enagaged the Italian armour which retired rather than fight.   An Italian attack over the plateau was beaten off.  Two and  half ours was well gone, neither side had any confidence that they could make a succesful attack, so a draw was agreed.

Nick in Launceston

The last two weeks have seen some Kingston Kup practice games. Shane with Italians. Rob with British. Starn (who is not playing in the Kup) with French. And Nick with both British and Germans.

Hail Caesar - Punic War

John's Carthaginians v. Jim's Romans

Carthage had 4 divisions - one of spearmen + elephants, one of Punic cavalry, one of Gallic warbands and one of Spanish foot and horse.
Roman had 2 legionary divisions & 2 allied divisions for foot and horse.

The Carthos are on the right.  The Romans are advancing their legions in the centre, the Carthos advancing their flanks, both being compromised by bad command dice.

The Punic cavalry on the far flank got carried away and charged way ahead of the next division.  It was engaged frontally by the Allies and hit in flank by Triari.  The Roman cavalry was beaten, but the victorious Punic cavalry was finished off by the Allied foot throwing javelins.
On the near flank the Spanish have advanced too slowly and the Allies oppoiste have slipped left to help out the legion.
In the centre the legions have engaged the Carthaginians & Gauls.  In both cases the Romans got their timing right and got charges in before their enemies could do so.

The Spanish still haven't got into  the action.  The Gauls have broken and the Carthaginans are about to follow suit. It has been an easy victory for Rome.

Wars of the Roses using Hail Caesar

Jim of York v. Mike of Lancaster

Both sides had 3 battles of 5 units.

The Yorkists on the left are advancing in a remarkably orderly fashion.  The Lancastrians who have more bowmen are standing and waiting except there is a forward movement of the their horse on the far flank.

York's centre has charged forward but his right hasn't kept up.  On the left, the Yorkists have formed up a defensive position  as the Lancastrian horse advances.

Despite his own presence, York's centre has halted in front of the enemy bowmen.  But his right has charged forward and pushed back the enemy left.  On the far flank, the Lancastrian cavalry charge was beaten off and the flank has stalemated.

The Lancastrian left has been driven from the field and now York's centre is in the action & doing well.

Lancaster looks on pensively as his army crumbles.   His centre is now attacked front and flank & is doomed.  The battle is all over next turn.

This was a quick little battle, all over by 8.40, but great fun.    In this case, Lancaster's reliance on the bow was trumped by York's shock tactics.