Stones River 1862 - ACW rules revisited

 I was having a vague hankering to do something with my ACW stuff as I've spent an awful lot of time on Ancients, WW2 and Napeolonics in the last couple of years. I had toyed with doing a complete rewrite of my Neil Thomas based ACW rules based on my latest Napoleonic set, but after a few abortive attempts I thought I'd just tweak the original set, primarily with switching to units pointing at hex vertices and simplifying the movement system to be more in line with the Napoleonic set.

 I also fiddled around with unit activation to make dithering more likely in some circumstances after playing Chancellorsville and finding the Union Army 'telepathic' command a bit much. I also introduced fixed Portable Wargame style army breakpoints as the old system based on unit destruction just wasn't working - it is almost impossible to completely destroy infantry units in the NT rules due to the generosity of the rallying system and the likelihood of retreats. 

I set up my old Stones River scenario, which we'd played online a couple of years ago. It is based on the Volley and Bayonet one. Briefly, following the Battle of Shiloh, Rosencrans Union Army of the Cumberland had driven Braggs CSA forces out of Kentucky (Nash vile is to the to the northwest) but became very strung out in the pursuit due to poor weather. Bragg stood and fought west of Murfreesboro in Tennessee, hoping to beat the Union in detail.

So, the Union are lined up to the northwest and the CSA to the southeast.

Braggs experienced cavalry outscouted the Union and he weighted his left for a surprise flank attack. Braggs left is here massed across the river. Pointing units at the hex vertices instead of the sides actually works well for the oblique deployment in the battle, but of course it opens up much wider flanks (four hexes instead of three) and restricts forward arcs of fire.

The CSA right is very lightly held by two large CSA divisions including Breckenridges veterans (who I've done as Zouaves so I can identify them) .  Braggs army is pretty much just lined up for a frontal attack.

Straggling up from the rear are few more units of Rosencrans army, two infantry divisions and a (green) cavalry division. The cavalry arrive at 12 pm but the infantry don't turn up until 4pm.

Braggs army has breakpoint of 11 and Rosencrans 14, both 50% of their starting infantry strength. The Union are outnumbered at first but their reinforcements boost their overall resilience.

These BP are reduced for each infantry base lost, even if they subsequently rally (I figure each base lost involves some actual casualties). To win, each side needs to exhaust the other before nightfall, so the CSA need to make the most of their local superiority. Each side also has a rout point at 66% losses.

At dawn the CSA move into close contact on the left while the units on the right engage in long range shelling and skirmishing. The first issue with the new more liberal movement system is that the CSA left cavalry just ride around the Union flank and dismount in their left rear (in that little wood  at the end of the river n the baseline). Mmmm.

Union fire scatters some hits around, but no bases lost yet.

At 7am the Union right is forced back having lost two bases to massed CSA fire. That also leaves the next unit along rather hanging in the air. Rosencrans rides over to help it rally next turn and moves his reserve division up to counter the threat to the Union right - it only gets as far as the track crossing the river. Over in the far right the CSA cavalry push along the table edge, threatening the Nashville turnpike. 

Rosencrans drives back the CSA cavalry in the south with a brief charge, but reorients this entire half of his army to face the threat from the south. He is forced to strip away one of his centre divisions to deal with the cavalry in the north. This isn't going well for the Union. I'm not massively convinced by all these units running around, but the more open flanks due to the facing changes make it tactically necessary. 

Up in the north the desultory firefight continues but the bigger CSA units are definitely gaining the upper hand. The CSA cavalry is over the river, so the Union infantry reinforcement has arrived in the nick of time.

I've skipped ahead a bit. Both sides are standing and firing now, and attrition is catching up with whole bases lost (the little white crosses). These force morale checks which even for seasoned troops as most of these are, need a 5+ to pass, so various units fall back and need to decide whether to attempt to rally or re-engage. I prefer to leave the bases on the units and mark them rather than  take them off. It makes it easier to sort the troops out at the end and looks neater. NT asserts that most of these 'losses' are stragglers anyway, which is why it is so easy to rally.

Eagle eyed readers will notice that in the north the CSA are attacking!

Everyone is looking a bit ragged now. It is a bit  hard to make out but the 'pinning' CSA force has just conducted a charge and driven right into the middle of the northern Union troops. Each base lost takes one off the army breakpoint and thus chips are going down fast now.

Back in the south the Rebs come in for another go as they are inflicting disproportionate losses. They move to close range as it is so much more decisive.

In the north the Union have been forced back beyond the Nashville Turnpike and the road is blocked by the CSA cavalry. Attrition is mounting on the CSA forces here though and they are both forced back by losses. All the forces in the north have been hampered by the absence of their Generals, and various units have dithered instead of moving.

The CSA are suddenly running out of men. Only three chips left!

The fighting in the south continues unabated. The Union are down to four morale chips now, but are in a worse tactical position. Both sides are now concentrating on inflicting as much damage as possible through careful target selection. You can see a CSA unit with no less than  three bases lost, Bragg is trying to rally it. 

I've loosened up the target priority rules, and coupled with more liberal rallying (I'm letting units rally as long as they aren't adjacent to the enemy, they dont need to be out of range any more), the game is rather more ferocious. 

The Union infantry desperately try and clear the road north so the reinforcements can enter. The CSA cavalry are very tenacious though. It doesn't matter now that they keep failing to activate for movement as they are in a good position.

The CSA make one more big push and finally put the Union over their breakpoint (the red marker). I had originally thought about splitting breaks into an exhaustion level and a break level, but it doesn't really add anything except more maths.

The CSA are by now also one point off their exhaustion level, so I decide to adjudicate exhaustion at the end of the turn. The Union however fail to kill another base so Bragg has exhausted Rosencrans and the CSA win the day before the Union reinforcements can arrive.

That was a very useful process as although some of the changes worked well, many others didn't. I'll keep the changes to activation, fire priority and rallying, but the new facing mechanism didn't work well and coupled with the more liberal movement led to some silly situations. I'll revert to the old facing and movement system which worked OK. 

The main thing I didn't get right was the army breakpoint, the Union broke far too quickly, with the CSA not far behind. NT said in his designers notes for the game that it was deliberately very bloody to represent straggling, but it just meant the morale chips evaporated too fast. I'll set the breakpoint at 66%, which will prolong the game to a more sensible duration, but avoid some of the previous tedious slugfests as units endlessly lose bases but then rally them back again. I'm very glad I tested those changes before inflicting them on my long suffering players. Of course now I'll have to test the changes to the changes.... 

La Septieme Wilaya - Paris 1961

 Paris, September 1961 and the war in Algeria shows no end in sight. John B put on a cheery game covering the authorities response to a planned Algerian Nationalist (FLN) offensive in Paris, complicated by the disgruntled OAS colonialists - Day of the Jackal and all that. 

Rather like our Berlin Noir and Siege of Leningrad games, it was greatly enhanced by Johns provision of period maps. This one was a high resolution map of 1960s Paris, and somewhat useful for figuring out where things were as much of the action took place in les banlieus.

The session was run as a committee game, with us all taking on various roles in the French security forces, headed by Interior Minister Frey (Micheal).

I was cast as this lovely chap, Jacques Furet, head of the Special Services Detachment of the CRS and veteran of the Battle of Algiers in the late 1950s. While the CRS is mainly known for riot control, it is a paramilitary force outside of the Police line of command with a major anti-terrorist role too. Unlike the Gendarmerie, it is a civilian force and not liable for overseas deployment.

I had 10 companies of CRS available, around 1400 men, heavily armed and not averse to banging heads together.

Vive la France! An excuse to wear a lot of silly hats, but mainly berets and kepis (I do have a kepi, but Furet isn't in the police).

I wont run through the entire cast, but Jim was the Police Prefect and John A his trusty deputy with around 7000 police in the Paris area. There were various obscure police intelligence units represented - some 500 detectives under Tim, Russell and Ian both ran undercover infilitration and intelligence units with bizarre acronyms as names. Pete ran a military intelligence detachment. All the units were real, and by and large the characters were all real people too.

This was a more detailed early 1960s Metro map, which came in handy as the incidents unfolded.

Briefly, following the murder of a policeman and a bomb outrage at a school it became apparent that the FLN were active in the city. Intelligence led us to believe that they were operating in areas heavily populated by Algerian immigrants, specifically Clichy in the northwest and Bagneux in the south.

As might be expected, various intelligence gathering and public order measures took place. My main job was deploying units of the CRS to areas of potential or actual unrest, while maintaining a reserve for contingencies. The situation wasn't helped by the OAS who kept stirring things up with a number of provocative shootings across the city.

This was also a very useful map, showing the central Arrondisements. Clichy is north west of the 17e arrondisement and Bagneux southwest of the 14e.

The situation continued to spiral out of control with large demonstrations, 150 detentions of 'people of interest', unrest at the Sorbonne and a curfew imposed on Clichy and Bagneux and the Metro closed. Gunmen made an appearance in Clichy and a CRS officer was shot. The rules of engagement were loosened. In a dire development, a Sorbonne student died under enhanced interrogation.

Intelligence assessed that there were no less than 75 armed FLN operatives in the city, organised as three platoons and a huge demonstration was planned for the centre of Paris, to coincide with armed uprisings in Clichy and Bagneux. As Tuesday evening drew to a close, the Interior Minister passed our assessment of the situation on to President De Gaulle and requested that the Army be placed on stand-by to aid the civilian power.  There had already been one coup attempt, there couldn't be another.

And on that happy note, we broke for the evening.

Things duly went from bad to worse, there was considerable unrest on the streets, not helped when we imposed a citywide curfew. There were more murders of policemen, but so far we'd not managed to capture a single actual FLN terrorist, just local hard men along with incarcerating most of the Muslim clergy in the city. The police complained the CRS were going over the top in their crowd dispersal approach, the CRS complained the Police were being too heavy handed.

Matters came to a head around a large demonstration in the city centre planned for 17th October. The Interior Minister gave us permission to ban any gatherings of more than five people, so our plan was to prevent the demo from even forming up by dispersing and then arresting any large groups making their way into the city centre. We designated a football stadium as a holding area for detainees and soldiers were drafted in to provide perimeter security.

Intelligence indicated the FLN intended to stage an armed uprising to coincide with the demo. It also indicated the OAS planned an assassination campaign against the FLN leadership and leading left wing intellectuals. We were fairly sure there was at least one OAS mole in the command team and the displeasure of most of us was passed on, although it was indicated that a short term blind eye would be turned to attacks on the FLN, given the failure of our own intelligence efforts.

The day of the big demo arrived, and despite our best efforts and thousands of arrests, a large group assembled in the city centre. Rioting broke out in the football ground and even worse, police and CRS came under fire in Clichy and a fierce gun battle raged. The two CRS companies in Clichy were tied up engaging the terrorists, but the police reported they had captured dozens of terrorists, so many that they couldn't hold them and they were 'escaping into the Seine'. Another unit of CRS were despatched to escort the prisoners back to Police HQ, but when they arrived, there were only three left. Bodies washed up in the Seine for days afterwards, the police had murdered the prisoners.

On that rather sombre note, we ended having finally regained a measure of control of the streets and saved De Gaulles regime (again). The game was based on  the real life October 1961 Massacre, which was covered up by the French State for decades. It only came to light in the late 1990s following the conviction of the Police Prefect for his role in the deportation of Jews to concentration camps in WW2. In real life the FLN won Algerian independence in 1962, and De Gaulle managed to hang on to power until 1969 after changing the way Presidential elections were conducted. He finally resigned following the uprisings of 1968.

The only bright spot was that however repressive the measures we'd put in place in the game, they were relatively mild compared to what the French Police and CRS actually did. One of our group had first hand experience facing the CRS in 1968, and said they weren't any better then. Civil Wars really are nastiest, and I cant help being reminded that the perpetrators of the holocaust were just ordinary people, but part of an organisation and culture which promoted racist violence from the top down. It is more shocking as France is supposed to be a western democracy, not rounding up and murdering its own citizens. I'm sure nothing like that would happen today.

An interesting, thought provoking and somewhat depressing session. Wikipedia notes on the massacre here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Paris_massacre 

May Day Parade

 A few years ago, Chris K of NQM suggested half seriously having a May Day Parade. Several years later I finally summoned the energy to get some stuff out of boxes just in time for International Workers Day earlier this week. So, the bulk of my 15mm Red Army of Workers and Peasants gets to strut its stuff.

The first lot of stuff marches bravely down the dining table. I rapidly realised that if I put everything out, I'd need a table 2-3 times as long, so this lot is mainly mechanised.

Comrade Stalin oversees proceedings. Originally there were other people on the podium with him, but they seem to have ben mysteriously airbrushed out.

We start with Soviet armoured car forces. Three Battlefront BA64s, a QRF BA-10 (9?) and a Zvezda BA-9/10. The BA64s are from the estate of a late member of the Sheffield Wargames Society. RIP Frank.

Next up we early war light tanks. Four Zvezda T26, four Peter Pig T26 and three Zvezda BT5. The Peter Pig T26 are amongst the oldest of my 15mm Soviet vehicles, originally bought for SCW gaming at the turn of the century. 

More light tanks, three PSC T70 and three Skytrex T70. The Skytrex ones are notably smaller than the PSC ones.

Medium tanks. A fleet of ten T34s, these are all PSC mid war T34s with hexagonal turrets and they all have spare 85mm turrets which is rather handy.

Multi turreted monsters! A pair of Zvezda T28s and a  T35. I can't recall the manufacturer, some east european company, but it is 1/87th, which makes it huge. I did manage to set up a scenario to use it once. I've got alternate turrets for the T28s without the bedrails. 

Soviet heavies. Four Zevzda KV-1, a Roscopf KV--85 and four PSC IS-IIs. These have all seen action at least once, the KVs get used more than the others.

The anti-tank artillery and field artillery. Three Skytrex 45mm guns, one PSC 57mm gun, four PSC 76.2mm guns and a pair of Syborg 76,2mm guns - the latter without muzzle brakes. The tows are a mixture of Peter Pig and Zvezda Gaz AA trucks, and generic horse limbers from 3D Printing Valley.

Medium and heavy artillery. A pair of Zvezda Katyushas, a pair of 122mm howitzers from 3D Printing Valley, a couple of quad maxims (Peter Pig) on the back of trucks, a pair of QRF 152mm guns (absolutely horrible models to assemble) and a Syborg 203mm howitzer. The tows are Battlefront and Syborg tractors of various types.

The Assault Artillery. Four PSC SU-76 (with two different configurations of fighting compartment), a pair of Battlefront SU85, a pair of Zevzda SU122 and then a pair of Zevzda SU152 and a couple of ISU122s. One of the ISUs is Roscopf and the other is converted from a PSC IS-II chassis. I did much the same thing to the Airfix IS-III when I was a kid.

The next table load is (some) of the infantry and cavalry!

We start with the Red Cavalry. These are all Peter Pig, various types of Cossack or RCW Bolshevik cavalry with their budvinovkas filed down. Largely second hand off eBay, and  I use these with both my first and second world war Russians. They have appeared in numerous games, especially the guy with the big red flag.

The first two battalions. The first lot are SMG troops, the second lot are rifle troops in helmets. These are all from the PSC Russian Infantry set, apart from some of the leaders who are Skytrex or Peter Pig (as well as PSC). 

The next two battalions are also PSC, the first are in a mix of helmets and side caps, while the second is in side caps. It is one way to tell the units apart without marking the bases.

Next up are the infantry support weapons. I didn't put then all out, but here we have Maxim machineguns, 82mm mortars, towed 120mm mortars and a 76.2mm Regimental Gun. The latter from 3D Printing Valley.

Finally we have the anti-aircraft artillery. A pair of quad maxim guns in trucks (the guns are Peter Pig and removeable) plus a pair of 85mm AA guns. The 85s are scratch built using spare gun barrels and appeared in my recent battle of Tula games. As the crews are all in side caps, they will also do if I need any British 3.7" AA guns.

The Russians also have some Lend Lease vehicles, tanks and SPAA guns, but we don't talk about those in front of Comrade Stalin. Shhhh......

The whole parade finished with a fly past by the Red Airforce.

Fighters in the lead. An I-15, MiG 3 and a pair of La 5s. All Zvezda 1/144th and lovely little models.

Next up light bombers and assault aircraft. A pair of IL-II Sturmoviks and a Pe-2, again all 1/144th Zvezda.

Finally medium bombers, a pair of SB-2s and a pair of IL-4s. The SB-2s are 1/200th Zvezda (why the annoying scale??) and the IL-4s are 1/144th diecasts.

So, there we have my 15mm WW2 Russians. I'm sure regular readers recognise various elements from different games, but not the whole lot together. Apart from the planes, T28s and T35, it all fits into three A4 box files, and I have no particular plans to expand any more. It was a lot of fun getting everything out, but it took up an alarming amount of space! I might do that for some other armies in future....

Having mentioned this to Mr Kemp, he pointed me to photos of his own 'parade' a few years ago where everything was lined up in serried ranks! If only I'd thought of that, I could fitted it all into one table. Well, maybe I will do some other armies in future.

Narvik and Sedan - Dominion of the Blitzkrieg

 Another day, another set of Dominion rules. I felt that I'd given the RCW and Marlburian rules a fair crack, and I was keen to try some other ones. I like to play several games with one set as there are very nuanced differences between each, and it is easy to end up getting confused if you swap around too much.

The Blitzkrieg set focuses on the late 1930s and early 1940s when (some) armies were developing new tactical and operational techniques around the use of airpower and massed armour formations. I picked  a couple of early WW2 scenarios as I have the toys for those, and I've been doing some of these campaigns with 'Unconditional Surrender'. 

First up is Narvik in April 1940. The Germans attacked Narvik as part of their overall invasion of Norway, the town was at the terminus of the route from Sweden carrying iron ore that was vital to the German war effort. The Germans got ashore OK but then the Royal Navy destroyed most of the German naval escorts, leaving a mixed garrison of Mountain Troops and sailors fighting as infantry. 

More of a worms eye view. I set this up using a winter cloth and my profile mountains. The real terrain is quite complex, with mountain ridges, various valleys and passes, fjiords etc so this is more of an impression. There is an area of (passable) high ground NE of Narvik which I've managed to represent by folding the base cloth. It has a few pine trees on it. The land area is about 18" x 18", which I think looks a lot better than the 3' x 3' table I used for some of the RCW games.

The local Norwegian 6th Division counterattacked, supported by an Allied contingent shipped in further north. Left to right we have French, Poles and then Norwegian infantry. In reserve are British infantry, and the French are rated as elite. The Norwegian figures look suspiciously like Afrika Korps figures painted grey... 

The Royal Navy is providing NGFS, this unit is rated as an elite artillery unit, which makes it rather scary. Artillery has some similarities to the way it is treated in the RCW set, but only has a limited set of fire missions.. Elite units get three missions, which are quite destructive. 

This ship looks suspiciously like a1/3000 scale model of HMS Inflexible... I don't have any WW2 1/3000th scale ships.

The Germans have three infantry units dug in across the front (with a fortification bonus). The unit in the mountains on the right is elite, the other two are regular as they are a mix of sailors and mountain troops. Historically the elements on the right flank held out longest. 

The Germans were completely  isolated, and the only reinforcements available were paratroops, so in reserve the Germans have two units of Paras waiting to be flown in by Ju 52.Both are 'unreliable' due to the vagaries of air drops. 

I enjoy setting up the terrain and forces, even though you could just play these games with counters. 

This battle is a straight infantry/artillery fight, without the nuances of armoured formations and air attacks, so a good way to get your head around the basic mechanisms. 

The action opens with a French assault on Narvik supported by NGFS. On the the first turn, both sides can pick where to attack (or launch an air raid), after that it is semi randomised. I had to re-read the bits on how artillery works a few times and I still think I got it wrong at first. It is subtly different to the RCW set.

The German sailors run away, but the Luftwaffe drop a stick of Paras to save the town. An interesting wrinkle in this set is that reserves don't arrive automatically, if the enemy is attacking with tanks they need 2+, and if they have tanks and a bombers, a 4+. This makes more likely that armoured units will set up devastating flank attacks. 

No tanks or bombers here though, the Paras land automatically but are still 'unreliable' , so need to be diced for if they fight. 

The Germans choose their most advantageous sector, the Gebirgsjager attack the Norwegians but the battle is indecisive. Similar to other sets, some classes of units attack earlier than others, but infantry fight simultaneously. The GJ have a big edge being both elite (hit on 4+) and dug in (Norwegians hit on 6).

The following turn, action occurs in the same sectors. The French attack Narvik, but the Fallschirmjager stand and they are repulsed, while the Gebirgsjager and Norwegians continue fighting on the right. From turn 2 onwards, each side dices, on a 4+ they choose a sector, otherwise it is 1 to3 for left, centre, right. 

On the third try, Narvik falls.

But once again the Luftwaffe spring to the rescue with more FJ.

Over in the mountains the GJ finally push the Norwegians back.

Their place is taken by the British, again the reinforcement is automatic as the Germans have no tanks or bombers. On the left I've kept the FJ as a column to show they are untried yet.

The British on the right don't last very long! The Germans kept roll 4+ on their activation dice so kept choosing their best unit to fight. 

Now things get  a little odd. The Battleships have fired all their fire missions but still count as a reserve unit, so plug the gap with an artillery salvo - think of it as a desultory box barrage. The artillery fights as a normal (not very good) unit - think of the Germans trying to get through the barrage or something. It was that or park the battleships in the snow!

The French attack Narvik again and the the paras run away.

And in a final twist of fate, the Battleships roll a 6 and blow away the GJ on the right. Reduced to one unit, the Germans lose, as there aren't any rallies in these rules. The centre wasn't engaged for the entire game!

As I wasn't sure I was doing some of that right, I ran it again a few more times. I'll try and keep this a bit briefer.

On the next run the Norwegians attacked on the right with NGFS support and easily routed the GJ.

More FJ swooped in.

But were immediately engaged and ran away! They failed their reliability roll.

Send more paras.....

Now the Poles attacked and cleared the centre, again with NGFS support. The Germans were out of reserves now, so a hole opened up.

But the Narvik garrison saw off the French and the British hurried up to take their place in the line.

They need not have worried too much as the Poles outflanked the FJ in the north and routed them. Outflanking tanks and infantry get a combat bonus, and the targets cant fight back, as in the other sets.

Another easy Allied win.

Time for another go.

Once again the Narvik garrison routed early on but FJ parachuted in to save the day. In this case the German centre held out OK. 

Further heavy fighting however saw the Poles, Norwegians and British all routed! The remaining French managed to clear Narvik and once more it was an Allied victory. I don't think it is an unbalanced scenario, just down to the luck of the dice. 

I stopped and set up the Sedan scenario at that point, but it is also quite photo heavy so I'll do that as a sperate report. It took me a while to get the hang of that, but that is possibly because it was so similar yet different to the RCW set. It was a lot of fun to play though, and I really enjoyed setting the terrain up. The tanks and aircraft in the next scenario should add even more depth.