Edgecote 1469

 We were a bit stuck for things to do this week so Tim kindly put on a Table Battles game. This was another Wars of the Roses outing, this time covering Warwicks rebellion and the Battle of Edgecote Moor in 1469. 

The scenario card. Warwick was off doing something dastardly and instead delegated fighting the battle of the mysterious 'Robin of Redesdale' whoever he may be. The Yorkists have a somewhat Welsh feel to them in this.

Both sides force cards. Warwicks lot are in red, while the Yorkists have a somewhat Welsh feel. Their first line is Herbert and Pembroke, with a rather reluctant Devon bringing up the rear. Redesdale also has Clapham in reserve.

This engagement has few force cards but has some horrible command choices. Both sides only have one morale point(!), but can gain another one by being first to get their reserves up. This is done by populating a special command card with three command blocks, which can only be done with a straight 3.

One morale point means either sides will lose if a single unit is routed, so getting those reinforcements up is vital. OTOH while Redesdale only has a single 6SP unit in the line, Pembroke and Herbert are only 4SP each, so much more vulnerable to breaking early. While Redsdale has fewer men at arms units, he does have his archers, while the Yorkist archers are lagging behind with Devons lot.

Both sides therefore have to juggle getting their reserves into action against preventing being routed before they arrive.

The usual crowd of suspicious characters. Russell and I took the Yorkists, while John and Simon took the rebels.

I'm afraid these games aren't very photogenic. Both sides are focussing on getting chits (the big red squares) onto their reserve command cards. The rebels are also keeping their archers in action - this unit is vital as it can 'screen' (ie block) Yorkist attacks, which prevents Pembroke and Herbert getting to grips.  Devon can ignore them however, so getting Devon up is important for the Yorkists.

Both sides eventually get their reserves up. Devon for the Yorkists, Clapham for the Rebels. Herbert has the useful ability that he can absorb hits directed at Pembroke.

Both front lines are knocking seven bells out of each other now. Pembroke is down to 2SP, Redesdale is on 4SP. Both Clapham and Herbert are at 3SP while Devon is massing for a huge 4 dice attack and the Rebel archers are nowhere to be seen.

The Rebels weathered Devons attack (using Redesdales 'counterattack' ability), but then Redesdale and Pembroke mutually annihilated each other, so no morale chips changed hands. It left Herbert facing Clapham, both down to 2SP.

As Devon built up for another attack, Clapham managed to nip in and rout Herbert, reducing the Yorkist morale to 0 and winning the game.

On Wednesday we swapped sides and did it again, although this time Pete substituted for Russell. So Pete and I played the Rebels, and John and Simon the Yorkists.

This time around the Yorkists got their reinforcements first, and a bonus morale chip, so we had twice the work to do to rout them. We had learned the value of the Rebel archers yesterday though and kept them topped up. 

This time around Pembroke was routed with Redesdale still on 2SP.

And also managed to get rid of Herbet by carefully alternating attacks between Clapham and Redsdale.

Another Rebel victory, more decisive that yesterday. This scenario is definitely winnable for the Yorkists (we came very, very close the previous day) but I'd say the Rebels have  a slightly easier time of it.

Once again, and enjoyable pair of games using a very clever and well thought out gaming system. 

Posca Paint Pens

 I was recently admiring the serial numbers on Tims 54mm Lonestar Bren carriers and he mentioned that he'd done them with Posca paint pens. I'm always on the hunt for a decent paint pen, and I easily found a set on Amazon, although for those less impatient I gather cheaper sources are available (I think they even sell them in Rymans).

The standard set are 0.7mm nibs in a range of colours from black through to white, although some of them are a bit pastel for wargaming use. I'll mainly end up using the white, and maybe the red, yellow and blue for British tank squadron markings as well as sorting out unit labels.

I had some lorries which needed the windscreens highlighting, so I tried the white pen. It tooks lots of shaking and nib depression to get going, but once it was primed it worked fine with a nice even flow, certainly more even than my efforts with a brush.

tbh on 15mm stuff, 0.7mm is a bit on the thick side, but OK. I can paint smaller with a brush, but this is so much easier.

I had a go at an Afrika Korps symbol on the side of the truck. Again, it is OK but a bit on the thick side for finely detailed formation signs. It worked fine for doing the background of number plates though, and for turret and aircraft markings it will also be fine.

Where it really shines is unit labels. For reference the squares of magnabase are 8mm x 8mm, and the text of unit type is generally how large I do them with a brush (so 3-4mm lettering).

I also tried it for German two colour style turret numbers. The width is v ery consistent, so the red paint pen obliterated then white background. However, a 07mm paint pen white background with my black 0.3mm lining pen was perfect.

So, on balance a reasonable addition to my modelling supplies. I expect I'll mainly be using the white pen, so I'll see how feasible it is to get single replacements in due course. The silver and gold pens have much thicker nibs, so more useful for headlamps, MG ammo belts etc. 

3x4 WW2 Advancing Companies - Onslaught

 I've been following Shaun Travers wargaming blog for some years, and a series of small WW2 games he ran intrigued me. They use a 3x4 grid and feature squad sized elements and forces up to company size. 

I'd downloaded the rules ages ago, but didn't play them at the time. For some reason, I have a bit of a tactical WW2 itch to scratch at the moment, so I thought I'd give them a go. 

Battlefield from the south. The Germans are holding the tree line to the right, and in front of them is a large field of low crops with a gully running through it. This is using one of my Cigar Box mats, 18“x24", the 3x4 grid is marked by corner dots, so the terrain items fill the whole square, but I've arranged them to be more visually pleasing. 

This scenario is 'Onslaught' from the Red Guards at Kursk skirmish campaigns book, which covers the Soviet counteroffensive on the northern flank of the Kursk Bulge. There are three mini campaigns in the book, and as I've already played the 'Red Surge' campaign, I'll use the three scenarios of 'Panzer Relief' as a test bed. This covers the actions of 11th Guards Army and 5th Tank Corps against 2nd German Army on the northern flank of the Kursk Bulge.

The first scenario is 'Onslaught' the attack by 11th Guards Army on 293rd ID.

The game scenario has a German rifle section from 293rd ID defending, so I scaled that up to a platoon of three sections (each with two bases). The scenario variable attachment was a German company HQ, so they got another section and a leader. These are just regular German landser, so I rated them as average. 

The base scenario gives the Russians a rifle platoon from 6th Guards Rifle Corps, so I scaled it up to a full company. Three platoons of three sections each. They also rolled up a leader as their variable attachment. Neither side had any attachment credits to modify their attachment rolls.

These are Guards infantry, so also average, like the Germans. Line Russians I would have classed as raw. This scenario is a pure infantry action, so a good way to get started.

The victory conditions require the Russians to completely destroy or drive off the Germans. Both sides also get VP for enemy units destroyed. The Germans have some trenches which they deployed to cover the centre, occupied with two sections and the leader. 

The other two sections occupied the woods on the right. The plan was to move forward and occupy the gully (which functions as a trench) both to cover the flank of the centre and deny it to the Russians. 

The game uses activations, generally each side gets one activation a turn, sometimes two. An activation can activate ONE square only, but that includes all off table elements (as offtable counts as one square). The Russians brought on all three platoons, and as the stacking limit is 3, they just packed the first column of squares. 

Each square is 150m, so small arms ranges are short. Just one square (including one diagonal) for rifles, two for MGs. 

The penalties for being in the open are also severe, so the Russians pushed their lead platoon down the gully, while the Germans also took a section of gully. 

All units start the game unspotted, and if they are in cover, are really hard to see, unless they start firing. The Germans failed to spot the Russians, but if a target moved or fired, you can conduct speculative fire anyway. The Germans opened up and suppressed a Russian squad. 

The Russians responded in kind and suppressed both German squads in the gully. 

And followed it up with a close assault! The German leader had moved into the square already and managed to rally one of his squads. 

In the melee, one Russian squad was suppressed, but both German squads were suppressed too, and without any good order infantry in the square, they retreated back to the treeline. The Russians had captured the gully. 

There are some subtleties to the way close combat works and the sequence of activation which I'd slightly missed this time around. CC is resolved at the end of the entire turn, so charging in before the enemy activates can be a really bad idea. I'd find that out the hard way later. 

In this case the Russians had moved second and caught the Germans trying to rally. Moving second also stops the enemy running away.

The Russians activated their centre platoon and moved up through the field. One of the squads was left behind to rally, but of course now needs a seperate activation to do anything. Interesting. 

The Russians in the gully followed up the retreating Germans with another assault (the Russians had two activations this turn), again they had to leave a suppressed squad behind, which rallied. When you activate a square, the units in it can do different things. 

Oh dear! The Germans proceeded to gun down both Russian squads, while only suffering a suppression in return. 

Dead Russians litter the battlefield. Clearly assaults need a bit more planning than I'd thought. The modifiers in assault mean suppressing the enemy helps a lot, but doesn't make it a sure fire thing. The Germans also rolled really hot dice, which always helps.

Time was now running short, the 14 turns had sped by as to add insult to injury, a random event produced a reinforcement squad for the Germans. I probably shouldn't have counted the 'events' as game turns. 

The Russians made one last push on their left, but the German reinforcements tipped the balance and the assault failed. 

Decisive German victory. The Russians hadn't destroyed a single German unit, but I have given them a couple of VP for end game suppression. 

OK, having got an idea how it works, time to try it again. 

Following the success of the 'forward defence', the Germans set up two squads in the centre and two on their left with the leader, ready to advance. 

The Germans advanced, and the Russians did much the same as before, using the cover of the gully to push their centre forward and supporting on their left via the fields. 

The Germans moved another section into the gully, leaving the centre weak. The Russians used a fortunate double activation to rush across the open fields on the right. The remaining Germans gunned one of the squads down. Moving in the open is dangerous. Who knew? Fire against targets in the open get a +1, whereas those in light cover like fields are unmodified and heavy cover like trenches gives a - 1. With a modified 6 needed for a kill, those +1 and -1 make a huge difference. All very Squad Leader. 

The Germans took the initiative and gunned another squad down. Dear me! In fairness, the Germans rolled quite hot dice. 5 needed for a kill, 3 to suppress vs targets in the open. 

That was such a catastrophically stupid move I ran it again. 

This time with their double activation the Russians rushed the German trenches with their centre platoon, using the fields as (light) cover.

In the ensuing melee the (unsuppressed) defenders killed one of the Russians squads, but were suppressed in turn and forced to retreat. I think they are allowed to retreat north (there are some retreat priority rules, and I think I got this right). If forced to retreat off table, they can't come back.

Hooray, we've captured the trenches! Shame that wasn't the Russian objective. The Russians managed to kill the isolated squad in the trees with fire, but couldn't do anything much to the German platoon stack in the gully. 

At best a platoons worth of rifle fire might get one or two suppression, which the German leader rallied off. The lack of any supporting heavy weapons to suppress the Germans, was a real problem for the Russians, and they couldn't really assault before time ran out. I should probably have done a death or glory charge, but didn't. 

A slightly better result for the Russians this time, but still a German victory. Historically 2nd German Army blunted the intial attacks by 11th Guards, so that is historical.

German VPs 7, Russian just 2! The Germans also get two attachment credits, these are used to modify the random reinforcements dice roll.

At this stage of the proceedings, I'm not entirely convinced by the 'one square only' activation sequence. It plays very similarly to Memoir 44 as force superiority in multiple squares doesn't count for anything, and rewards bunching, which doesn't seem very WW2. I shall reserve judgement for a while, but there are plenty of other activation mechanisms which produce a similar effect. 

I need to have think about how I convert the scenario units from 1:1 representation too. Having one stand for every three or four figures might be too many, when I did this before I converted each skirmish section into two teams, which worked OK. A full Russian rifle company should probably have had an MG section as well. 

The next scenario includes tanks and obstacles, so that should be a good tryout of combined arms.

15mm WW2 Desert Project

 Regular readers may recall that I have finally sold the bulk of my 20mm WW2 collection, after one last outing to the Sicily Megablitz game a few months ago. There are a still a few bits left which I'll punt on eBay as the fancy takes me.

This has freed up twelve boxfiles worth of storage space for a new project! I actually feel like a weight has lifted seeing all that empty shelving, so I don't intend to fill it all up right away. I have had a hankering to do the desert war in a larger scale for a while though. 

I've actually got a moderate 6mm WW2 desert collection of long standing which has featured in various games including Megablitz, Panzergruppe, Rommel, KISS Rommel, Memoir 44, and most recently, WW2 NBC as we waded through all the scenarios in 'Benghazi Stampede' remotely during lockdown. 

There is enough stuff here to do the whole of both Operation Crusader and the battle of Gazala at 1 base = 1 battalion, and I've done both those battles using Panzergruppe.

Anyway, I've often said that if starting WW2 from scratch, I do it in 15mm. I just prefer the character of the larger figures and vehicles, and they satisfy my desire to recreate the look of Charles Grants 'Battle', with the much smaller original Airfix figures and Roco vehicles. 15mm also avoids the "they all look the same" problem of 6mm armies which are all painted sand colour. 

I seem to actually have a core of of an Italian force already, having steadily accumulated various Italian vehicles over the years, and more recently some lorry donations from Tim. They have apparently been supplemented with some BPM resin 3D prints in this box, as well as a BF 109 in need of a repaint. 

Ooer missus. This lot look a bit Germanic.

I've not done a multi-army 15mm project for a while, the last being the British and Germans in 15mm for early WW1 some years ago. Even though I was younger, I thought my eyes would fall out of my head if I had to paint one more pair of boots.  I had much the same feeling when I did the 15mm Russians and US. How many more T34s do I have to paint? Why do US infantry insist on wearing leggings a different colour to their trousers? 

Anyway, this time I decided to just do 'pocket armies' for the British, Germans and Italians to get started, then add more bits over the years to come. Each army would have enough infantry, vehicles and guns for a basic Neil Thomas One Hour type army, and ideally to do many of the scenarios in Benghazi Handicap or at least a Corps for Megablitz. Essentially, a couple of artillery pieces, a couple of anti tank guns, a handful of MGs and mortars, a dozen bases of infantry, some engineers, HQs plus some transport and some tanks. 

Each army was a bit different, as in the case of the Italians and Germans I had some stuff  I could use already - the Germans in particular had a ton of late war stuff in dunkelgelb which could be used for DAK.

Mmm. It transpired that I'd over ordered a  bit even for my initial pocket armies. A big box of unopened Peter Pig stuff. I'm sure it will all come in handy. 

And some things from QRF I haven't apparently had time to stick together either. 

Never mind all these blurry boxes of Zvezda kits. Whatever happened to Zvezda prices? Six quid each?? I remember when they were all 3.99.

I was genuinely shocked how expensive stuff has got, particularly plastics. I'd planned on buying a load of PSC stuff as well as Zvezda, but it has just become crazily expensive compared to other options. The great delight was QRF however, who remain dirt cheap, even cheaper than BPM in some cases. Who can argue with a troop pack of 3 x Crusaders for 11.50? With the 15% summer discount, the whole bag works out about the same as a single vehicle from Skytrex.

I did get a few Zvezda items as they are such lovely models, but only to supplement some stuff I had in stock. Basically some more Pz III to go with my existing unbuilt Pz IIs and IVs. 

Most of the new stuff was BPM or QRF with figures from Peter Pig. 

Ah, something looks a bit more finished. 

I'll be posting updates as things progress.

Krasnic 1914

 We recently assembled for one of our monthly Friday games, this time put on by Tim. It featured another outing to WW1 with OP14, a game system which works much better f2f than remotely.

The battlefield from the southwest. This time we are in Galicia, the small town of Krasnic is over in the northeast corner. Two large Austrian and Russian armies are blundering around, so far having utterly failed to find each other. Part of the confusion is due to the Austrians having de-trained 100 miles short of their railhead. The Russians won't expect that...

The Austrian Airforce buzzes around aimlessly. The small figures below are Austrian cavalry, so we are doing this one in 6mm. I was cast as the Austrian Army Commander as well as commanding a Corps, Russell and Tom took the other two Austrian Corps. Between us we had the rather imposing force of nine (!) infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions.

The Russian airforce also buzzing around. The game started on the 23rd August 1914, when both sides respective cavalry divisions had finally found each other.

My Corps, six brigades of four stands each representing about one and a half battalions per stand, plus field and heavy artillery brigades. We decided on a rough plan by email before the game. As my Corps came on last, Russell and Tom would pin the Russians frontally, and I'd try and get around the right flank while the Russians were busy. Our overall objective was to capture the towns and push the Russians back. If only we knew where they were.

Both sides had two cavalry divisions on the table, they were assumed to have been in action and were all exhausted, so couldn't advance any more. I just hunkered mine down on the baseline and hoped they could recover overnight.

Various Russian formations appeared in march column south of Krasnic, flanked by their cavalry. This looks to be about a Corps worth. Lloyd, Pete and John played the Russians, with John as Army Commander.

Russells Corps was first on. This was one of our weaker ones with only two divisions, the third was lagging some way in the rear and in the event, never arrived. That village is one of the objectives though, and his marching infantry columns made good progress towards it.

Each Corps is activated in playing card order, and as this is 1914, all sorts of amusing stuff happens on draws of various suits. A spade, for example, forces a Corps to make an assault, however for armies with poor staff, it also prevents them moving or changing formation. Both the Russians and Austrians have 'poor staff;.

Rather more Russians in view now. As each hex is 2km across, they are far too far away to engage. Lloyds Corps is at the top and Pete is in the centre.

Russell is fortunate and activates on a red card, this allows his troops the option to deploy into battle formation from march column prior to enemy contact. The Austrian infantry shake out into skirmish lines and slowly march eastwards. You really don't want to be in artillery range in march column.

Lloyd continues to push on, but Pete draws a spade and his Corps dithers on the plain.

Toms Corps now comes on into the handy gap between Russell and my Cavalry. This Corps is strong, with six brigades. Plenty to fill the front and keep some reserves.

Battle is joined! Toms Corps plunges straight ahead and adjacent to Petes troops. Everyone is still in march column, but the adjacent brigades have spotted each other an can deploy next turn when they have enough movement points. Further north Lloyd deploys his Russians while Russells Corps takes up defensive positions along and just behind the ridge line. They have occupied the village too, and as far as possible, deployed their MGs in a defensive formation. 

As night falls, my Corps comes on in the southwest, and at dawn springs forward towards Johns Corps which has been hideously unfortunate in drawing spades and dithering in march column, while my guys manage to get deployed and steal a march on them. 

Overnight, some losses were recovered and units shuffled around in their formation areas. Most important, all our cavalry divisions reorganised and sorted themselves out, so we now had viable cavalry forces again. This is a bit of a two edged sword as the Army breakpoint is when half the Army's formations are exhausted, and as cavalry divisions are so weak, they are far easier to exhaust than the Infantry Corps which are several times stronger. 

Russell and Tom were now fully engaged with the Russians to their front.

There was heavy fighting along the line of the ridge. it was a good job we had some terrain advantage as our poor quality infantry weren't a match for the Russians in a straight fight, the Russians had more guns too. We had lots more men though.

The north end of our line was a bit more tenuous., held by a dismounted cavalry division and an isolated brigade, facing two entire divisions of angry Russians who already had a toehold on the ridge. 

Meanwhile in the south my Corps was now fully deployed in combat formation, while John was stuck in march columns. Near the woods my troops are already in contact, but having driven back the Russian columns, my two lead brigades have headed off into the middle of the Russian Army and lost their rear communications! Very WW1.

At least my attack has taken a bit of pressure off the Austrian centre.

The units in line in the centre of the screen are my errant Division, now only 2 hexes (4km) from the Russian baseline! They are wedged between the lead elements of Johns Corps and the rear left of Petes Corps. The latter has its first exhaustion card, and the former has taken a real battering from my attack.

The rest of the Russians here are pushed back towards the river, but one brigade does manage to counterattack one of my isolated brigades, with no effect.

In the centre the Russians are suddenly deploying lots of machineguns. The front is about to go static here.

The Austrian high water mark. Only two hexes from the Russian base line. On to Moscow! 

The Russians finally get their act together on the right and my overextended Corps gets a hammering. We are both past our levels to start testing for exhaustion now. There isn't a single formation in play which isn't testing for exhaustion every turn now. 

Sadly the Austrians are the ones to break first. Tom's Corps becomes exhausted, then both Russells infantry Corps and Cavalry Division break too and the Austrians have had enough. Overnight the Russians largely recover, while we don't and the Austrians break contact and withdraw.

That was sooo close, but Russian quality (yes, I know!) triumphed over the Austrian numbers. The Austrian gunners were OK but their infantry are just awful and suffered crippling casualties. In the real battle it was the Russians who fell back, but it was balanced on a knife edge. I thought the Austrian attack on the right was about to finish them off at one point, but it was not to be.

It was great to play a really big game of OP14 for a change, that would have been impossible remotely, and a good outing for Tims freshly painted Austrians.