Battle of Issus

 After the victory at Granicus, Alexander swanned off to Egypt, was crowned Pharoah, founded Alexandria etc. As you do. This of course gave Darius time to raise another army, and eventually Alexander and his new Egyptian allies met Darius at Issus, on the shores of the Mediterranean where modern Syria borders Turkey. Darius was leading the Persians in person this time as after the previous defeat, he couldn't delegate the task to anyone else.

The battle was fought between rugged hills and the sea, which reduced the advantage in numbers the Persians had. This scenario has hills on the left (east) and the coast hexes on the right (west) on the Gulf of Issus. I actually just took some hexes off the table as they are rated impassable and marked the rest with large river hexes. A small river (the Pindarus?) bisects the battlefield, it is fordable at all points but still acts as a brake on movement. Units do not suffer the usual combat penalties when crossing it though.

The scenario starts with the Persians drawn up along the river in depth, all their good stuff at the front and the mass of not so great stuff (modelled here as lots of Light Infantry and Light Cavalry) behind.

Macedonian right. The Pelasts are here, plus some light troops with the Pike Phalanx under Parmenio in the centre. Alexander and the Companions are right on the baseline (centre top left in the photo). It will take some fancy manouvering to get Alexanders panzer division into action with all that friendly infantry in front of it.

The Macedonian left has more cavalry, the rest of the Phalanx and the Hypaspists - two units this time, so I fleshed out my three bases of Hypaspists with an extra stand of pikes. I couldn't be bothered to get down the box of spare Hoplites to make up the numbers.

The Persians are a genuine horde, I've deliberately put a lot more figures in the Persian units (shades of Lost Battles) than the Macedonian ones. Most sensible estimates of the battle reckon Darius fielded 100,000 men vs Alexanders 40,000.

The Persian right has (lots) of cavalry, bows out front and some Auxilia. As I hadn't painted all my Persian Heavy cavalry at this point I had to flesh out the units with second ranks of Horse Archers etc.

While I was setting up, a Jay came to visit. It has been flying around the area for a few days but it is unusual to see them in the city at this time of year. Perhaps it is hunting newly hatched chicks.

The Persian left is anchored on the rugged hills, and has masses of Auxilia, supported by bows and more cavalry.

The centre has all the good stuff. Four units of 'medium infantry' - in reality mainly mercenary Hoplites and the mysterious Kardakes, the elite noble infantry trainees who may or may not have fought as hoplites, depending who you believe. I've done them all as Persian Immortals/Apple Bearers etc. 

Darius' bodyguard are actual Immortals, and are rated as bow armed Medium Infantry, so I added a base of archers to the unit. There are also more archers, Heavy Cavalry (I used my Clibinari figures for these) and Darius is with the Immortals in his chariot. Eagle eyed readers will spot that this is actually an Egyptian Chariot, and indeed it is, one of the horrible old Atlantic chariots, with a Zvezda General stuck in the back. It looks quite regal I think.

After suffering from being overly timid at the Granicus game, the Persians attack. A large cavalry action develops on the right. Meanwhile the Macedonians are trying to figure out how best to turn their rather odd deployment into something game winning - all those Light Troops are actually in the way of the Phalanx. So Alexander plans a series of card plays to get the Light Troops out of the way, and get the Phalanx formed up properly. Alex is holding an 'Order Heavy Troops' and 'Order Four Centre Units' cards, I just need to get the guys lined up to make best use of them.

Meanwhile, it is very hard for both sides to ignore the cavalry battle. It is a bit odd that the Persian leader is deployed here with the Light Cavalry and not the Mediums. This unit formation is designed to allow a missile attack from the Lights, and then a Close Combat with Leader Bonus by the Mediums, and ideally a Momentum follow up. At the Issus the Persian leaders were penalised and could only give bonuses to same hex units, not adjacent ones. No such limits here, which is useful

Typically it goes catastrophically wrong, and the Persian Mediums are routed! They have however inflicted two hits on the Macedonian Mediums, who now look like low hanging fruit. Particularly with those javelin armed Lights sitting in missile range...

The Macedonian Cavalry countercharge.

And somehow in the melee (which I didn't photograph), everybody dies. Both sides Leaders survive however, but the scope for cavalry action on this flank has gone now. I've been playing Command and Colours for years, and I can't help making the same stupid mistakes when it comes to mobile troops. You need to keep them in reserve for later in the battle, but the temptation to chuck them in is so great.... Exactly the same thing happens in Memoir 44 with tanks, players lose them all within a few turns. I think it is just because they have long movement distances and their potential for momentum attacks, but everyone forgets how weak they are against counterattacks, and if you don't destroy the first target, you won't get a momentum attack and will die on the counterattack. Save cavalry/tanks for weakened unit only!

Alexander showed how it should be done in the previous Granicus game. 

After that pointless interlude, back to the main action. Both sides have been shuffling units around to clear fields of fire, avoid units getting trapped and to optimise the matchups. I'm actually quite good at this now, but there are so many units in the way. Both sides have archers and it is always so tempting to blaze away at 3 hex range, particularly against units which can't retreat.

The Macedonians have signposted their intentions by moving all their light stuff out of the way of the Phalanx. The Persians can't do much more to shore up their defence, and their Archer units on the far side of the stream continue to pepper the Phalangites with arrows. Now Alex has put his Lights next to them, they won't be able to do that due to the target proximity rules.

The Persians pull their master stroke. Their Auxilia on the left flank dash forwards through the hills and fall on the Macedonian left flank. Alexander is puzzled as they have advanced two hexes, they can't fight. What are the Persians up to? Auxilia aren't overly bothered by hills as they can attack with 3 combat dice downhill, but only 2 uphill.

Anyway, enough of that, Alex plays 'Order Heavy Troops'. All four Pike units roll forwards, putting them adjacent to some Persian Lights who all evade, apart from one unfortunate Bow unit who is blocked by all the guys behind them.

All is revealed on the Persian left. 'Clash of Shields'! +2 Combat Dice to all units adjacent to the enemy...

Quite a lot of the Persian Army is next to the enemy at the moment. Maybe they should have waited until the Pikes were adjacent too, but that is really tempting fate.

Darius views the battle with equanimity from his position with the Immortals. Here they come in the same old way....

Sadly the great 'Clash of Shields' isn't quite as devastating as hoped. The Macedonian Auxilia can't evade as they aren't cavalry or Light troops, but only one is routed while the other is pushed back damaged. The Macedonian archers choose to evade and take a hit as they run away.

The Persian Auxilia are completely unscathed however, and now Alexander is within range of three javelin armed units. Who might possibly have a 'Darken the Skies' card in their hand.... 

Well, as Foch said, if you left is routed and your right is collapsing, the best thing to do is attack. Alex plays 'Four Units Centre' and Parmenions Phalanx gets stuck in. Four Heavy Infantry rolling 5 Combat Dice each, supported by two Leaders and no terrain penalties for the river this time....

It is all deeply unpleasant, although like the Persian Auxilia attack, not as devastating as it might be. One of the Immortals are routed and Parmenion advances into the river. Otherwise the Persians and Macedonians just trade hits along the river. The two isolated Persian archer units in front are unable to evade as they are blocked and are wiped out by the heavy Phalangites though.

With most of their best troops left intact, Darius personally leads the counterattack. The Immortals surge forwards, and the Clibinari advance over the river to cut off Parmenions retreat.

Permenion's Phalanx is routed, but he survives and joins another unit. The momentum attack by the Clibinari goes down in a sea of Pikes, but Parmenions (new) unit is down to just one hit left. The Macedonians are back on the wrong side of the river now, which is running red and choked with dead horses.

The Macedonians can stop and regroup, or keep attacking. They have six banners now though, just two more.... the Phalanx rolls forwards again, focussing on the Immortals in front of Darius who have their retreat blocked, and Darius himself, whose unit has two hits on it.

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The first unit of Immortals goes down. There isn't much you can do about a dice roll like that. The statisticians among us can work out the odds of rolling four Leader Bonus hits on five dice.

Parmenion gets stuck into Darius, and rolls three hits against the two left. The Immortals rout, and to add insult to injury, Darius fails his Leader Risk roll and goes down as well. Probably just a flesh wound.  Victory to the Macedonians, although that was a much closer fight than Issus, that last attack could easily have gone horribly wrong. The banner count was 8:3 this time.

There is still an awful lot of Persian Army left, which makes Parmenions last three Phalangite units look very vulnerable. That was a very risky move by the Macedonians, but they got away with it.

And Alexander is under serious threat on the left. The Persians could easily have picked up three more banners here as the Macedonians haven't got much room left to retreat or evade.

What a great scenario, I'd really like to play that one again. I should have made better use of the Persian numerical superiority. Although it appears that the Macedonians are on the defensive, in fact they need to attack to win, or the Persians can just park them into corner and wear them down.

As at Granicus, the Macedonian card advantage gives them more flexibility, and in all the CnC games, it is very hard to translate numerical superiority into combat power as units activate in groups. Numbers do give you depth though, and the opportunity for favourable match ups of unit types as the side with superior numbers has more of all types. I'm glad I'm getting better at remembering to evade with Light units, it can be a real life saver at times, and incredibly frustrating for the enemy. 

That was a really interesting battle, which the Macedonians only won by the skin of their teeth. Well worth a replay, particularly as unlike so many CnC scenarios, it actually has some interesting terrain. 

Kaliningrad 2024

 Another game brought to us courtesy of Ian R and the British Army Fight Club. This one is an extension of the Peoples Army of Voronoi system, using a Voronoi map of the Baltic States to examine various scenarios around a Soviet Russian incursion and NATO responses.

It is an area movement map, much like the previous game, although it now includes sea areas, capital cities and ports (cities facing sea areas). Units, movement and combat are still heavily abstracted to let players focus on the strategic situation, but there is plenty of operational decision making to be made.

A rather scary inclusion in this one is tactical nuclear weapons, whose use is fairly devastating, but carry an ever increasing risk of starting an all out nuclear exchange.

There are four scenarios, covering various levels of NATO readiness and involvement (or not) of Belarus. We started with scenario 1, which has a supine NATO, riven by internal divisions, but a neutral Belarus. The big victory points are if the Russians can make an uncontested land bridge to Kaliningrad by game end, but there are also points for destroying units, occupying capital cities etc. Only the Russians have tac nukes in this one, but if WW3 breaks out, both sides lose. More on that later.

Jim and I were the plucky Baltic States, Tim and Pete the wicked Russians. John ran the game and Ian observed and chipped in to answer questions. The active NATO countries (Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) each start with a couple of units, and we have to take reinforcements from Sweden and Poland before the rest of NATO rocks up.

The Russians have a fair amount more stuff, particularly four units rammed into Kaliningrad. Fortunately all the Belarus units are neutral, although the Russians can pass through them. Our reinforcement rolls are penalised for the first two turns in this scenario. 

The Russian opening attack is devastating. The Polish border forces are wiped out, as are half the Baltic States forces. Russian reinforcements appear on the Russian border. Our guys mainly retire to their respective capital cities (you get a defensive bonus defending your capital). The Russians have been fighting, not moving this turn.

By game turn 6, things aren't looking too great. We have at least held off the Russian attack against Helsinki, and the Swedes arrived to help out. Talinn has fallen, but Vilnius and Riga are holding out. The Russians have pushed across the map and have their land bridge however.

The Baltic Fleet is floating off Kaliningrad, while the Swedes are afloat in the Gulf of Finland, threating St Petersburg with amphibious attack. The Polish reinforcements have now arrived in eastern Poland.

The game ends when the sum of 4D6 equal the current turn (a ceasefire is declared), so we have a way to go yet. So far we've lost 8 NATO SP and killed 5 Russian.

Sadly Vilnius finally falls to a mass Russian assault on Turn 8, and Poles disappear in a can of Instant Sunshine as the Russians fire a barrage of nukes. This wipes out the Poles, and produces a single nuke marker. On a roll of 1, WW3 breaks out.... it doesn't.

Two NATO naval units arrive and lay siege to Kaliningrad.

Sadly this produces another nuclear response, and the fleet goes to the bottom. WW3 on a 2 or less.... phew, we survive another turn.

NATO doesn't give up, more ships and troops pile into Eastern Poland and lay siege to Kaliningrad. The Swedes are just outside the port of Riga, where the Latvians are still holding out. We broke for the night at that point. 

On turn 10, the Latvian defenders finally give up, just as the Swedes debark into Riga and continue to hold the city.

The force ratios are just too much in the Russians favour now. The Swedes are kicked out of Riga again, and our ground troops in Kaliningrad are wiped out. The Russians set about widening their land bridge and occupy Eastern Poland.

NATO (finally) gets some good reinforcement rolls and massed troops pile into Eastern Poland and Southern Lithuania to contest the land bridge. By this time we are deliberately stacking troops up and encouraging the Russians to nuke them, as if WW3 starts both sides lose ie it is a draw. I think that needs thinking about in terms of victory conditions.

The Russians wisely don't rise to the bait and instead our attack into Lithuania is beaten back. All the Baltic States have been overrun now with no possibility of liberating them, and as the game clock runs out, it is a massive Russian win. The geographic locations are largely irrelevant in terms of VPs as the Russians get 22 points just for destroyed NATO units, whereas the land bridge is worth a measly 5 VP.

Well, that was a total wipeout, but a very compelling game with lots of serious decisions to be made. It certainly doesn't bode well for the Baltic States in future - which idiot thought NATO expansion was a good idea? Although the game was thought provoking and fun to play, I do think some of the victory conditions need looking at. The relative VPs for geographic locations vs losses for one - the Russians really don't care (much) about losses. Secondly, the nuclear aspects. The optimum strategy for the player losing is to start WW3, as then they salvage a draw. This really doesn't seem right, as the end of civilisation probably isn't a price to casually pay over whether the Russians have a land route to Kaliningrad or not. My suggestions was that if all out nuclear war breaks out, the player who fired the most tactical nukes to start it automatically loses.  

Anyway, thanks to Ian for the game design and John for putting it on. 

15mm SP 90mm AA gun

 Every Italian Army has to have at least one daft truck mounted heavy gun (my 6mm guys have a few).

In my case I went for a BPM 3D printed model of the autocannoni da 90/53. The 90L53 gun was originally a naval AA piece, but saw extensive land use as well as a dual purpose gun. In this version it was mounted on a Breda lorry.

This is a huge model, it is tall, wide and on a vast base. It was also a complete pig to get off its 3D print support, and I managed to break off one of the support legs, although they are quite thick so easy enough to stick back together. It came out as a decent, clean print though, although there is lots of flash on the undersides it is out of sight.

The model has three pieces, the truck body, gun mount and the gun barrel. I toyed with keeping the gun mount rotating, but it is so unwieldy in the end I glued it down.

I added a couple of PP Italian gunners as crew, as it looked a bit silly without them. I should probably work the figure bases in a bit better. You can see how nicely the gun is printed.

What a great hulking beast it is from the side. I just did it plain desert ochre, with layers of washes and drybrushing over a dark grey base. The detail on the gun and truck cab has come our quite well. It certainly has lot of attachment points to the base, and the dark grey undercoat hides all the moulding mess under the gun platform. Very pleased with that one!

A Farewell to Arms

 Long term readers may recall that along with playing with toy soldiers, I also like to dress up and play at soldiers. Mainly milsim type things using Airsoft guns, although I have dabbled a bit in re enactment too, with real weapons firing blanks. 

I've been doing this stuff for 18 years now, made lots of good friends along the way and been to some amazing places around the country, including both the tunnels at Drakelowe (now closed) and the tunnels under Fort Southwick near Southampton as well as military training sites such as Piddington. 

I've lost track of how many events I've been to, I stopped counting once it got to 70, but a combination of illness and injury meant I've only attended two events in the last 18 months. The reality is that I'm just not physically up to it any more, and I've finally decided to hang up my spurs. The writing was on the wall last year when I had a big kit clear out, but reflecting in the New Year, I realised that for the last few years I've mainly been going along to these things to enjoy the weekend camping! 

So, the last of the stuff is being sold as I type, I've got buyers for all my ACW, Star Wars, Viet Cong and WW2 British, German and Russian gear. The last bit left is my 1980s BAOR stuff, which funnily enough is what I started with, but that will go later this year. 

Here's to some happy memories, and at least a taste of trying to cook a meal on a hexi stove in horizontal rain, understanding why woollen uniforms are so much better than cotton, and experiencing more than once the astonishment of being out flanked. Wtf did they come from!? 

I am going to keep my extensive collection of soft hats though. 

A fairly random selection of photos from various events.

Siege of Sevastopol - the ruined Crimean buildings in the background are actually near Dartford in Kent! The 50mm mortar fires smoke rounds. 

Russians at one of the '900 Days' Siege of Leningrad events. This is why I paint my Russians mainly brown, not green. 

GIs in the sunshine.

And Germans in the smoke.

Elite Volksgrenadiers! Ahem. The Panzerschreck is actually quite light, but not especially handy in woodland. 

Thomas Atkins.

One of the first Eastern Front events I went to. This must be 14 years ago at least.

A weekend when I discovered the Plash Palatka is the most waterproof poncho invented, goodness knows what it is treated with. I'm on the far left. 

On the field phone. They work surprisingly well, as long as they are wired up correctly.

US camp in the morning mist.

Luftwaffe Field Division.

Polish Paras.

Volksgrenadiers again. A rather cold day in December for a Bulge event. 

My lovely Bren MK I.. Sold some time ago alas. 

This is why I paint my 8th Army helmets a luminous sand colour. As one of the guys said, they should be visible from space. 

Assault Pioneer. I lugged the full pioneer pack and assault shovel around all day. I was younger and fitter then.

Pak 36 built by some of the Military Vehicle Club members. It fires blanks. 

HQ and medical equipment.

British Commandos on the beach at a D-Day event in South Wales.

And Germans in the dunes at the same event.

British Para, at one of the numerous Arnhem events. 

More plucky Tommies.

75mm LeIG with spoked rather than solid wheels. This one comes apart so it can be man packed (we were doing Gebirgsjager impressions at the time). It also fires blanks like the Pak 36. My good friend Tim is supervising operations. He sadly died suddenly a few years ago.

Coming down off Devils Hill in torrential rain. This event was up near Otley. 

Loads of GIs.

And loads of Fallschirmjager.

Russians. A colourised B/W 35mm photo.

Germans in the woods.

A 1944 Panzer Division! 

Well, that was a ton of fun while it lasted, but now I've made the decision to stop, I'm glad I've let it go. Thanks for the many happy memories and experiences.