Many Rivers Turn 4a-Farm and Road

Getting a bit behind in my blog postings. This is a game from about 10 days ago at my place featuring a Blitzkrieg from Table 3 to Table 4 in our Many Rivers campaign. I had won our last game and decided to Blitzkrieg the next table with the surviving forces from the previous battle.

Forces

Guards Platoon #2 (missing 4 men)

FR 0, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (12)

AAMG 1

2 Minefields

2 Barbed Wire

2" Mortar

Extra Section

Demo Team

Demo Team (free)

Schützen Platoon #3 (missing 3 men)

FR +1, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (19)

Shabby Nazi Trick 1

Red Dice 2

Smoke Barrage 2

le.18 IG 4

Stuka Attack 4

Pioneer Squad 6 (10 men)

Game

The table, the 3 area of bushes represents clumps of trees, not forests. They block LOS and provide Light Cover. They do not slow movement.

Patrol Markers and JOPs from the German attack area.

View from the Britisg=h defensive line with the Stuka attack, not a whole lot of success destroying buildings, just one which was inconsequential.

Side view of the table, this was the Going with a Bang scenario from the 1940 handbook. Graham had to take out 2 culverts to win the game. I added in the railroad track for the fun of it but we treated it as a road for game purposes as laid out in the scenario.

Lots of smoke in this game

Summing Up

Well this was a fairly quick game with the British withdrawing before they could destroy either culvert so the road is now open to the German advance and in Turn 5 they are now able to bring in AFVs. Graham was a bit unlucky with the placement of his JOPs as neither was close to a culvert so he had great difficulty deploying his demolition teams. He decided to withdraw to preserve his platoon.

German Platoon #3

Platoon Leader Outlook: Secure

Men’s opinion: 2

CO’s opinion: 0

German Platoon #3: 3 dead next game

German 1st Platoon has lost 5 dead , 5 missing for next game

German 2nd Platoon has lost 8 dead, 4 missing for the next game

British Platoon #2 

Platoon Leader Outlook: Happy 

Men’s opinion: 0

CO’s opinion:  -2

British Platoon #2: 2 dead, 1 missing next game

British Platoon #1: 5 dead, 2 missing next game

It was a busy week and I have 2 more CoC reports to post!

Saga-Age of Crusades- Sort Of!

As a part of the Montreal Historical Wargaming Club's AGM yesterday we finished off with some games of Saga. I was interested in getting one of my Age of Crusade's armies on the table and after a lot of discussion about balance and historical relevancy, I took on Luis's Free Companies with my Moors.

Free Companies

Warlord

Cannon

3 Foot Warriors

1 1/2 Mounted Hearthguard

Levy Crossbowmen

Moors

Warlord

Mounted Javelin Hearthguard

Blackguard

Mounted Javelin Warriors

Foot Warriors

Levy Bowmen

Of course I forgot to take photos, but it turned out to be a terrific game which was quite close until the last turn when a series of mistakes by myself ended in a very lopsided victory for Luis. 

In the photo above probably around the end of turn 5 it looked Ok, but in an ill planned attack by my Blackguard, I ended up losing them all in Melee and because of their Paragon's trait, I ended up putting 2 fatigue on my Warlord thus making him unable to take on the Free Company Warlord. I learned 2 things from this game; learn to close ranks and appreciate that the Blackguard are a very strong defensive unit. 

Unfortunately, although I keep on saying I am not adding any more Saga figures, it looks like I might have to buy a unit of Moorish Levy Crossbowmen.

Many Rivers-Turn 4-Farm and Forest

Myself and Graham got together at his place last Sunday week for the next game in the Many Rivers campaign. We finally had moved on to another table, this time playing the Swift to Support scenario from the 1940 Handbook. As you can see I was extremely lucky with my support roll get 19 support points. Graham ended up with 9. Both platoons were in good shape but I should note that my other 2 platoons are pretty shot up.

Forces

Guards Platoon #2 (missing 1 man)

FR 0, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (9)

AAMG 1

Infantry Section 4

4 Emplacements 4

Schützen Platoon #3 (missing 4 men)

FR +1, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (19)

Shabby Nazi Trick 1

Red Dice 2

Smoke Barrage 2

le.18 IG 4

Stuka Attack 4

Pioneer Squad 6

The Game

I got boxed into a corner with my JOP's. Graham stayed well back. The Stuka Attack resulted in the large barn being in ruins which was a significant advantage for me as this is solid cover for the British with a good LOS over the hedges.

This photo is from pretty late in the game, as I had forgotten to take photos as usual. I held off with the smoke barrage which landed right on target until I had my troops ready to advance rapidly forward. I also waited to see where Graham was to set up his defence. He eventually placed all 4 sections behind the hedge on his right flank. I used my large Pioneer Squad as the main advance. As you can see above they got quite shot up. I had a strong firing base on the hill on my left flank.

Base of fire with SL, IG, squad and 5cm mortar.

As you can see the British suffered quite a few casualties and shock from my firing base with at least 2 teams routing. Graham decided he had enough and withdrew. Game over!

Summing Up

German Platoon #3

Platoon Leader Outlook: Happy

Men’s opinion: 0

CO’s opinion: -1

German Platoon #3: 3 dead next game

German 1st Platoon has lost 5 dead , 5 missing for next game

German 2nd Platoon has lost 8 dead, 4 missing for the next game

British Platoon #2 

Platoon Leader Outlook: Happy 

Men’s opinion: +1

CO’s opinion:  -1

British Platoon #2: 2 dead, 2 missing next game

British Platoon #1: 5 dead, 2 missing next game

Next Game

I have decided that I will use a Blitzkrieg to attack the next table using my same force. The 5cm Mortar will be out of ammo and we decided that it would be unreasonable for the Pioneer Squad to be intact as they lost 6 figures, so using the casualty table they will be down 5 men for the next game.

CoC in 15mm-Delaying Action

 

A week ago Saturday, I got together with William at the abyss. He had expressed interest in learning the Chain of Command ruleset, he had one previous game an this was to be his second. He had been putting together a 15mm force for WWII and wanted to put them on the table. I had not played CoC with 15mm troops for more than 10 years so I was looking forward to it.

William had a French and German force put together and decided to go with the Delaying Action scenario from the v2 rulebook. He also put together all of the terrain. the OB is as follows, we diced for supports before the game on Discord. The Germans were the Attackers.

French 1940 Infantry Platoon (FR+1)

2 SL

VB Team w/JL

3 Groupes de Combat w/JL

Supports

AAMG

Franc Tireurs

Escouade de Fusiliers Motocyclistes

Canon de 25mm ATG /JL

Great Army Group A, First Wave Division (FR+4)

2 SL

5cm Mortar Team

4 Squads w/JL

Supports

Shabby Nazi Trick

Red Dice

Sniper

Stuka Bombardment

le.18 IG

Photos

As usual I forgot to take many as it was quite an exciting game.

The Objective was the red roofed building in the centre. William almost flanked me in the Patrol Phase as you can see he got a JOP in the forest on my right flank.

The Stuka Bombardment was quite effective, catching the actual Objective on fore. It collapsed at the end of turn one.

William was agressive in his defence advancing on both flanks.

The Germans made short work of this GdC.

Well this was quite an exciting game, The hedges blocked LOS up to 2". My attack was a little slow to get going but the Germans did advance up the table. I have never seen anyone like William for throwing triple sixes on his Command Dice, thus unlike most games of CoC there were actually many turns. I had brought down the French FM but William started the Final Countdown while I was still some distance away. I was able to get close but alas time ran out for me before I could get to the Objective. This was quite a fun game and we used many of the new mechanisms that have appeared in v2 of CoC.

It was the first time in a while that someone else supplied the troops and the terrain for a CoC game and I really appreciated it. Many thanks William for doing that and for an exciting game!