Action on the Yser Front

On Tuesday Ian and I played a WWI game using The Great War rules from Warhammer Historical. Ian has quite a collection of 1914 Belgians that he has been working on and although my Germans are quite a bit later being equipped for the 1916 Verdun campaign that was not going to stop us having some fun.

Ian picked a force of three companies with a machine-gun while I had two reinforced companies supported by a machine-gun, a minewerfer and a 77mm gun. Both were about 650pts and more based upon the troops we had at hand rather than any specific formations.

Ian had not played the rules for many years, while I had never played (or even read) them, so we decided on a simple pitched battle scenario. Ian won the strategy roll, picked a table edge and started to set up.

After Ian had finished I completed my deployment and we were rolling for who went first, me!

The rules are very reminiscent of when I had a brief interest in Warhammer 40,000. Move 6", fire 12" if moved, 24" if not, etc. with a few bits of WWI themed glitter bolted on.

Once our units had bagged cover in the shell-holes that littered the table Ian and I were soon engaged in a massive fire-fight which my Germans seemed to get the better of as I was fielding them in companies of 13 models to his puny tens. My 77mm gun missed five times out of 7 but when it did hit was quite devastating.

We played out seven turns over about two and a half hours, not too bad considering our inexperience with the rules.

After seven turns we rolled the dice and there would not be an eighth turn. I had certainly come up trumps on the who can cause the most casualties chart, however, reading and re-reading the rules we could not determine how to figure out who had Pitched Battle scenario.

Ian was a gent to play against and it was nice to see his lovely Belgians on the table, however, I don't think I would be encouraged to play Warhammer Historical: Great War again, there are much better alternatives that don't feel like you are playing Warhammer 40,000 with no index and a collection of early 20th Century models. I'll see if Ian fancies giving Chain of Command a try next time, he certainly has enough Belgians to field a platoon.

Here are more images from the game.

Atttack on the Amba

Thursday evening at the Rose and Crown was our first opportunity to try out Chain of Command: The Abyssinia Crisis

James bought along his rather splendid Abyssinia collection of troops, vehicles and terrain and we set up a 5ft square table with a village on an amba off at one end, surrounded by an area of cleared ground then a band of rough terrain.

The amba would be garrisoned by a baluch of Mehal Sefari while a baluch of Italian Askaris from the Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali would try to evict and destroy them.

We played a version of the Delaying action scenario, but like our CoC:WWI games made a few changes. As the Mehal Sefari had the advantage of the amba they would only get D6 support, while the Askaris would have 2D6+6 support. The game would also be won if either the Meto aleqa died or the defenders were broken.

Rolling for Force Morale the Askaris were starting on a very creditable 11 while the Mehal Sefari only on an 8, good job they had all that cover!

We played out the Patrol Phase and the jump-off points were placed as per the image below.

Rolling for Force Support, the Askaris boosted their force with a Breda M30 LMG for each section and support from a M.07/12 MMG, a 65/17 Infantry Gun and a sniper. The Askaris were used as regulars rather than Green.

The Mehal Sefari were bolstered with a crate of modern rifles and a LMG. One of their number waved the Ethiopian flag. James chose to use them in the 'Modern' organisation.

The Askaris took the first phase and soon had a squad taking cover in the rocky scrub, while the infantry gun deployed and scanned for targets. The Mehal Sefari immediately manned the thornwood abbatis atop the amba and opened fire, the first few rounds of the game first wounding and then killing the Italian gunnery sergenti!

The Askaris were soon to returning fire and the Ethiopian selfegna soon started to fall, the infantry gun was especially deadly, no doubt stirrred into anger at the loss of the sargenti.

The sniper soon joined in, but his fire was ineffective against the Ethiopians.

More Ethiopians rush to defend the other half of the village, however the Askaris replied by deploying their medium machine-gun and soon the shock was piled up and the Amsa aleqa leading on that side was wounded.

The firefight continued and the crew of the infantry gun were the priority target for the Ethiopians, however, despite the sergenti being dead and two gunners becoming casualties it kept up a steady fire on the amba.

With the heavy fire falling on their right flank the Ethiopians were starting to suffer and it was not before the Amsa aleqa leading on that side was also wounded. The Meto aleqa reaslised that the position was becoming difficult and leapt into action rallying the troops on that flank.

Seizing the opportunity of a double phase the Italians deployed both remaining section of Askaris and moved them into cover closing on the Amba.

The tenente saw his opportunity, mounted on his snow-white charger he ordered the two newly deployed sections to attack. The Askaris were sluggish at first, reluctant to break cover but soon the tenente was driving them on.

The Ethopians tried to reinforce the thorn abbatis, but deadly fire from the other section, machine-gun and infantry gun caused swathes of destruction.

The tenente was hit, and although the Askaris wavered he was soon driving them on to the foot of the amba.

At the foot of the cliff the tenente tried to encourage the troops to scramble up and assault the abbatis, however his initial exhortations were not enough and both sections failed to make any progress (both rolled a move distance of 1"!) so he then ordered the grenades to be prepared and they were thrown among the defenders causing more panic.

It seemed like the game was up for the Ethiopians, with their morale collapsing and with Askaris fighting at the abatis they retired from the field leaving the amba in Italian hands.

The image below gives some idea of the main movements of the game along with the direction of the main fire-fights.

The game played out really well and the Ethiopians suffered from their inflexible organisational structure with no Junior Leaders, so a lot of command rolls of '3' were wasted.

The Askaris were probably a bit over powered with one LMG per section, however, we only had enough models to field them like that, maybe if there had only been a single LMG the Ethiopians may not have been shot up so badly.

Here are more images from the game for your enjoyment. All the models and terrain are from James's collection.

First figures of 2016 - WWI Germans for James

These are my first figures for 2016, a half-dozen Great War Miniatures German WWI infantry painted for chum James. He'll be doing the bases himself, hence them on temporary squares.

The photos are not very good, shot on the windows sill at lunchtime as I'll be handing them over tonight.

First game of 2016 - WWI on the Western Front

Yesterday Lee and I had our first game of the year at the club, this time it was time to play Chain of Command WWI. Lee elected to use his 1917 British Infantry and I used Stosstruppen, I thought it would give him a better game given the poor performances I have put up against him of late (here, here and here).

We randomised the scenario and like last time would be playing the Delaying Action that I had done so badly with last time. As I have loads more support options it's best that I am the attacker and rolling for Force Morale things looked good when I would be starting on a 9 to Lee's 8.

Playing out the patrol phase was also quite successful for the Stosstruppen, deploying 12" from that Jump-Off on the left I would almost be in his trenches and with six command dice I hoped to see plenty of double phases so that I could be on the British before they had time to form a defensive line.

The British defenders had 1917 11 points of Force Support and Lee spent it on a Whippet, two Stokes Mortars and a Sniper. My own 12pts was spent on an Adjutant, a Maxim MG/08 a 7.7cm Gun and a off-table 7.85cm Minewerfer

Things started well and as you can see from the image below one section, with the Feldwebel, was soon occupying that left hand section of defenses and ready to flank the section of Tommies to my right.

I pushed another section, led by the Leutnant up the centre, the further distance though did mean that they were taking quite some time to cover No-mans Land, so I played a dirty Hun trick, I used a Chain of Command dice to re-position a jump-off point behind them then immediately deployed another section of Stosstruppen directly in the trenches.  

There were now more Germans than British in the front-line trenches and the Tommies were looking surrounded.

The usually very effective Stokes mortars were having little effect against the elite Stosstruppen and soon the German machine-gun and artillery piece were being targeted. Crew casualties mounted but the supporting weapons stayed effective in keeping the heads of the Tommies down.

By now most of the British were pinned and most of the trenchline was held by the Germans, a succession of officer and NCO casualties on the British had also severely impacted on their Force Morale. Seeing no way that he could hold the position against the probes of the Storm Troopers the British withdrew leaving the field to the Germans.

This is the first time that my Germans have won against Lees British and given my poor results in any game of Chain of Command against him it does make a refreshing change. However if I had been using the 'regular' Germans I think they would have taken the usual pounding from the Stokes Mortars and my Leutanant would have usual been felled by the first shot of the game....

More pictures from the game.

Age of Arthur Day - Saturday 13th February

Age of Arthur Campaign Day

I am pleased to invite you to a one day WAB 2.0 Campaign day at the Polly Bowls Club in Sutton in Ashfield on Saturday 13th February 2016. The cost of the day is £10.00 and includes a buffet lunch and teas and coffees throughout the day. If you are there on time there will probably also be pastries and croissants for breakfast.

I currently have space for 16 players.

Arriving in the morning you will be split into (hopefully) equal sized factions and over the course of the day you will play three games of Warhammer Ancient Battles. Dependent on the results of the game you will either gain or lose territories and gold. The winners of the campaign will be the team of players who control the most territories, and the team that has amassed the most lucre.

If you are planning on staying over on the Saturday night, please let me know and we can arrange to go out for a curry.

Your Army

Players will pick a 1600 point list from the earlier lists (pre-600 CE) in the Age of Arthur supplement. Chosen troops from one of the following lists:

• The Twilight of Britannia
• The Age of Vortigern
• Brittany
• The British Kingdoms
• The Welsh Kingdoms in the West
• The Welsh Kingdoms in the North
• Dumnonia and the Southwest
• The Sea Raiders
• Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms
• Early Merovingian Franks
• Early Southern Pictish Kingdoms
• The Picts of the North
• The Attecotti
• Scots-Irish Raiders and Settlers (no chariots!)
• Dalriada
• The Kingdoms of Ireland (no chariots!)

Your army must be made of representative models and be fully painted and based to a least a gaming standard. There may be a prize for the best painted army at the event.

Army List Submission

Please submit your lists by Sunday 8th February to smith.paul18@sky.com

Games

Starting at 09:30, during the day you will play in a mixture of singles and doubles games with different scenarios. If you would like to forge an alliance with any specific player or group of players for the event, please let me know and I’ll accommodate you. Else, you will be associated with an ally commensurate with your army and situation on the campaign map.

Depending on your game result you will lose or gain up to two of your territories and gain or lose gold.

Special Rules for the Campaign Day

• With the release of WAB 2.0, units that are fleeing may not use the leadership of any character in the unit. Having spoken with James Morris, the author of the El Cid and Age of Arthur supplements, this is not intended and the leadership of any character in the unit may be used.
• Light infantry who start the game deployed in skirmish formation may elect not to field a standard bearer, replace the model with a normal trooper.
• As the campaign is set in mainland Britannia and the Irish only used chariots on 'home turf' you are not allowed the Chieftains Chariot upgrade.

Payment Details

Please may a PayPal payment to smith.paul18@sky.com your place will not be confirmed until Payment is received.

Cancellations after Saturday 31st January will not be refunded.

If you have any special needs please contact me before the event and I will try to make any reasonable adjustments.

Venue

The event will be held at the Polly Bowls Club, Sports Ground, 10 Unwin Road, Sutton in Ashfield, Notts, NG17 4HN.
From the South exit junction 28 of the M1 and follow the A38 Mansfield signs. Stay with this dual carriageway through all sets of traffic lights (this is a long stretch, easily five of six miles) until you come to a set of lights with a pub called the King and Miller and a Macdonald’s on your left. Filter left and go past McDonalds, turn left at the next set of lights and you are on Unwin Road, the entrance to the sports grounds are on your left, if you get as far as the Unwin Social Club you have gone too far.
The venue can be quite difficult to find as it is behind some buildings off of Unwin Road, however if you look out for the Rugby Club banner, go down the right hand side of the green-panelled building and drive around the rugby pitch the car park and bowls club building are at the bottom.

Please try to arrive at 09:00 for an 09:30 start.

This is the entrance you are looking for, drive down the right hand side of that green-panelled building and around the sports pitches

'Satellite' image showing the location of the venue

Local Accommodation

TRAVELODGE MANSFIELD

Travelodge have an excellent hotel with plenty of rooms within two minutes’ drive or 5 minutes walk of the venue. They've a lot of space and ample parking!
Telephone: 0871 984 6140
Website: http://www.travelodge.co.uk
Address: Lakeside Point, Mansfield Road, Sutton in Ashfield,
Nottinghamshire. NG17 4NP

PINE LODGE HOTEL

A lovely hotel is the Pine Lodge, situated on the A60 Nottingham Road. It has twenty bedrooms and various prices. Telephone: (01623) 622 308
Address: 281-283 Nottingham Road, Mansfield. NG18 4SE
Website: http://www.pinelodge-hotel.co.uk

PORTLAND HALL HOTEL

A lovely Georgian mansion of a hotel set in fifteen acres of parkland, the Portland Hall is relatively difficult to find but worth it if you're not bothered how much you spend. It's about fifteen minutes from the venue by car.
Telephone: (0871) 716 1883
Address: Carr Bank Park, Windmill Lane, Mansfield. NG18 2AL

PARKHURST GUEST HOUSE

The Parkhurst Guest House, situated fifteen minutes from the venue by car, is really a bed-and-breakfast so it should suit those on a tight budget.
Telephone: 01623 627 324
Address: 28 Woodhouse Road, Mansfield. NG18 2AF

MANSFIELD GUEST HOUSE

Next door to the Parkhurst is the Mansfield Guest House, and again if you prefer bed and breakfasts to hotels you can find none better in Mansfield.
Telephone: 01623 629 352
Address: 27 Woodhouse Road, Mansfield. NG18 2AF

Entrants:

1. Paul Scrivens-Smith - PAID
2. Carl Fisher - PAID
3. Andy Hawes - PAID
4. Keith Tait - PAID
5. Philip Morgan - PAID
6. Philip Morgan - PAID
7. Ady McWalter