GdA2-Introductory Game at the Abyss-Albuera

Six of us got together last Sunday to play the new updated version of GdA2. Eight members of our wargaming club made a group purchase of the new rulebook and this was our first chance for the club to get in a game (myself and Graham had played 2 warm up games to get a sense of the rule changes). 

Graham and myself game-mastered the game, with 4 players, 2 per side. Rob and Michel played the Anglo-Spanish side, while David and Gabriel took the French. I should have the 4 players only one was acquainted with the ruleset and that was version 1. Two of the other players had knowledge of other Napoleonic rulesets and 1 player had really no knowledge of Napoleonic warfare aside from watching the Sharpe series on TV. As an aside, I should mention that that is how I got into wargaming!

We played the Albuera scenario from rulebook, there were 5 brigades per side and if you want to know more about it I would strongly recommend that you buy the rulebook.

Game (many thanks to Graham foe taking the photos and recording the events)

  Scouting: French failed all 3 scouting checks

                    

                  

Turn 1: Spanish brigades moved forward, 2 French brigades moved, 1 Hesitant.

Turn 2: Same as Turn 1 but with 2 French Brigades Hesitant. Allied reinforcement Colbourne arrives in Allied right centre.

Turn 3: Same as Turn 2, Colbourne redeploys towards right sector, artillery deploys in centre. 2 French Brigades advance and 1 Hesitant.

Turn 4: Both sides have full ADC count, French win the initiative. Artillery fire commences. Hoghton and Penne arrive for Allies in centre sector. French reinforcements and Reserves use a re-tasking to  arrive in their right hand sector.

Turn 5: 1 Spanish Brigade Hesitant, Penne move to support Spanish brigades, Hoghton deploys behind Colbourne. French okay and start massing for their attacks against Colbourne and the 2 Spanish Brigades.

Turn 6: Allies use “Chief of Staff” C-in-C command, win initiative, 2 French Infantry Assaults against Colbourne  result in 2 British battalions retreating and Colbourne’s Brigade Falters. The Spanish are holding their own against the French, with a Spanish square beating of a French cavalry attack. 

Turn 7: Colbourne uses “Stand with Me!” C-in-C command to steady faltering brigade and beat back fresh French infantry attacks . 

Not to be outdone, the Spanish Brigades repulse further French attacks.

 More Photos from the players:

I believe everyone had a good time and they all said that they would play again, we are having another introductory game featuring the Eckmühl scenario this Saturday so stay tuned in.

Vietnam-Rubicon USMC

Got these done about a week ago, just eleven more to go from the box.

Still working on my jungle terrain but have several huts done. Just need some more jungle bases and some rice paddies.

 

Norwegians for Chain of Command

As most of you know, I am really quite interested in the central and Eastern European theatres in WWII. I also like winter wargaming. The Lard Magazine put out a Narvik campaign in the 2023 annual and since that I have been tempted to paint up some Norwegians. Actually, I have been tempted to paint up some Norwegians for a much longer time that that as there is also the Road to Dombas campaign in one of the terrain books put out by Pat at the Silver Whistle. My friend Graham had recently put in some orders to EWM and added a pack of Norwegian infantry for me. I have been quite good recently, in respect to my lead pile, and had no unpainted primed figures sitting around. I cleaned up the figures, primed them black and then slap chopped them with white.

There was a bit of a challenge to discover a painting guide for them but I have found when you cannot find something check the Flames of War site and you will find it. I also got some very useful help from a Norwegian CoC player Olve Kroknes who had written the Narvik campaign for Lard Magazine. 

In photos are prints the Norwegian Infantry uniform looks greenish but most written descriptions describe a grey-blueish tinge to the cloth. Olve suggested a blue wash, and I was quite pleased on how this worked out. I initially did the wash after the first uniform colour application and then dry brushed it but I found that the blue wash should be the final step. Once I got this down it ended up being a pretty simple paint scheme as follows:

• Slapchop
• VMC German Field Grey-Uniform
• VMC Flat Earth-Leather
• VMC Khaki-Canvas Bags
• VMC Green Grey-Anklets
• VMC Black-Boots
• Followed by highlights of the same slightly lightened with VMC Stone Grey or Khaki
• Washed with Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade
• If overcoats you can do them VMC Dark Prussian Blue
• If there are anoraks you can do them VMC Green Grey

In respect to the EWM figures, they were Ok. I am not overly fond of their sculpts but they have improved over the Chasseur Ardenais figures I got from them some years ago. The poses were good and varied in the pack and all the necessary weapons were available for a basic platoon, I also have to be cognisant that EWM does do a great job of putting out figures for minor nations in WWII which no one else does.

Some confusion also about Norwegian platoon structure, but I eventually came to the conclusion that I would go with the following structure. Always happy to be corrected, as I do appreciate that this is not the alternate platoon structure described in the Narvik campaign.

Platoon Structure

Platoon HQ: 2 SL (Captain and Lieutenant) with Pistols + JL (Platoon Sergeant) with a rifle

Sections x 4:  9 men (1 Corporal with a rifle, a 6 man rifle team and a 2 man LMG team with a Madsen m/22 LMG)

Alternate Structure

Platoon HQ: 2 SL (Captain and Sergeant) with Pistol and Rifle Respectively

Sections x 4:  8 men (1 Corporal with a rifle, a 4 man rifle team and a 3 man LMG team with a Madsen m/22 LMG)

I have decided to try to do a better job on terraining. The biggest challenge is to decide to go with "Full Winter" as I have done with the Finns or "Snow on the Ground" as I have done above. I have decided to go with the latter for my Soviets as they have all just been rebased but not yet terrained.

Serafimovich- A New Chain of Command Campaign

A week ago, I got together with Dan at the Abyss for the start of a new Eastern Europe campaign. Dan has been a gamer for years, but I only started to game with him a few months ago. After a game of CoC, he put together what I believe is his first 20mm WWII platoon...and he picked a somewhat unusual force from the Armata Italiana in Russia. He decided to have both a standard infantry platoon as well as a motorcycle platoon. He has subsequently added lots of supports and is now adding a German supporting force. After a bit of searching around with the help of my friend Eero in Finland we found a suitable campaign: Battle of the Sunflowers, Serafimovich 1942.  The battle is part of Fall Blau, the German summer offensive in Russia in 1942 and focuses specifically on the attempt to take the Serafimovich bridgehead by the Italian Celeri division with their supporting German regiments. This campaign was put out by the Dunfermline Wargames Club, I have played 2 of their pacific campaigns and they do a very nice job.

Battle of the Sunflowers July 30, 1942

Italian Attackers- 3rd Bersaglieri (FM 8)

Bersaglieri Motociclisti Platone #1 (Superior Regulars FR -1)

1 Senior Leader

4 Squadras of 8 men, lead by a JL with 3 MC and 2 teams (3 man Breda LMG, 4 man Rifle)

Supports 7

Brixia 45mm Mortar Team

Car

Cannone da 47/32 Team with JL

Soviet Defenders-154th Rifle Division (FM 10)

Platoon #1 (Regulars FR 0)

1 Senior Leader

4 sections of 11 men, lead by a JL  (no teams, LMG with 3 crew and 7 rifles)

Supports 3

M1937 45mm ATG

The Game

The game was scenario 2 from the main rulebook, The Probe with victory conditions as written.

Patrol Phase

Russian JOPs

Italian JOPs if you look carefully

This was my second game of the day so maybe a little tired so only one photo taken during the game. Dan came on pretty quickly mostly on his left flank with a car towed IG on his right flank with a Mortar team. I set up in defence my ATG with a section in the top right of above photo in the forest. You cannot see another Soviet section but they were deployed in the my centre on the far right of the photo behind a stone fence looking to the northwest. I initially put the section in the centre of the photo on the other side of the fence but had to jump over as Dan was moving an Italian squad to the south along the wall. I placed my final squad in the farm compound but they were only in soft cover as this fence was wooden. I actually took a lot of attrition and I remember Dan having quite a few double phases. But eventually hard cover favoured the day and I was able to drop the Italian FM down to a point where they withdrew. This was Dan's first campaign game and maybe only his 3-4th CoC game, he was quite a challenging opponent so the campaign should be quite interesting.

Dan however added a few phots which illustrate some of the positions.

The Butcher's Bill

Italian Platoon #1 (FM4-2 dead, 1 missing next game)

4 figures lost

CO -1

MO -2

Outlook Happy

Soviet Platoon #1  (FM6-1 dead, 2 missing next game)

3 figures lost

CO +1

MO +1

Outlook Relaxed

Well that is the last report I will have to post after this round of games. I will not be in Montreal for at least a couple of weeks but we will have a lot of games planned.

Caesar's Camp-Chateau on the Hill

 

Last Wednesday, myself and Graham got together for our 6th turn in our Caesar's Camp campaign. This was the penultimate turn in our 6 table campaign. It was somewhat of an important table as it was going to decide whether the Germans can gain a minor victory. They will still have a chance on table 6 if they can hold it but it will make things difficult. As Graham had no loses in the first game in the campaign he used that platoon for this game. I also brought in a fresh platoon. This scenario was played as the Attack and Defend scenario from the main book.

 German Defenders-217th Infanterie Regiment (FM8)

2nd Wave Infantry Platoon #1

2 Senior Leaders

3 squads of 10 men, lead by a JL's, one squad with a MG08/15

Supports 12

3 barbed wire

1 minefield

Extra squad

Scottish Attackers-The Cameron Highlanders (FM10)

British EW Infantry Platoon (A Company)

2 Senior Leaders

2" Mortar Team

3 sections of 11 men, lead by Junior Leaders

Supports 18

FO

MMG team

2" Mortar

Extra section

sniper

MO

The Game

I felt Graham got the better of me in the Patrol Phase

As you can see the Germans laid out 3 sets of barbwire anchored by a minefield. Graham was cautious in deployment and I had 2 sections, a MMG team and a 2" mortar on the table in the first couple of phases.

And most importantly the FO

The FO calls up the mortar and requests an aiming shot, followed by the mortars in a 12" square. I wanted to block LOS from the house so I could advance the section on my left flank towards the house. The action got quite heated here so as usual I forgot to take photos. The Germans then got an amazing number of double phases as well as quite a few CoC pips. The section on my left flank got chopped up by a German squad that was deployed behind the hedge on the German right flank. Graham ended the turn to remove the smoke up I was able to keep the mortars going. More German double phases and with these Graham deployed 3 squads on his left flank, ended the turn yet again. I only had 5 pips so was stuck....... 

As you can see my 3 section in the middle were getting pounded and my FM was dropping rapidly. It looked like I had lost the game as I would have to withdraw. I decided to throw my CD one more time. I got a 1, so I called up the mortar a second time and was successful. I got pounded yet again by the Germans, but no double phase for them. I rolled the CD again, another 1 (SL can not activate an FO with a telephone connection, he has to do it himself)......

......I carefully decided where I should place the mortar, I new an aiming shot would be prudent but my centre was about to break, I through caution out and decided to call for HE, I rolled a 9! I caught 3 German squads in the barrage.

and this was the result over the next couple of phases, the Germans were shattered, their FM dropped to 4, and they withdrew from the chateau.

Well that was a very close run thing. I thought I was done for, on to the last game in what has been an up and down campaign.

The Butcher's Bill

Germans Platoon #1 (FM4-6 dead, 3 missing next game)

12 figures lost

CO -2

MO -7 (-2FM)

Outlook Thoughtful-" Dangerous"

The Camerons Platoon #1/A Company (FM6-4 dead, 2 missing next game)

8 figures lost

CO +1

MO-3 (-2FM)

Outlook Concerned

Pillage-A New Dark Ages Skirmish Game

Last Monday evening, myself and PY had a game of Pillage. This is a relatively new ruleset from France that PY had told me about some time ago. The game is set in the Middle Ages and is set at the skirmish level. The game is published in French although I thought I saw somewhere that there was a pdf available in English, I could not find it. PY sent me the QRS with which I good get a good sense of the game play with my rudimentary French.

PY had set up a beautiful table, which was defended against some invading Vikings by the indigenous Bretons. I felt it only historically accurate that I was the attacker. We played the Pillage scenario where I had to collect loot worth 10 points in 10 turns.

The Table, I was attacking from the foreground

The Bretons started with some troops in the village 

The Vikings advanced up the centre as well as on the right and left but there main attack was on the right with a planned move to the centre

Moving back to the centre

Massive combats! we totalled up the points and PY and his Bretons had defended their village!

I had a lot of fun with this game, I believe we made a few errors especially with the multiple combats but the game was quite quick and I believe we finished in a couple of hours. It was nice to play a Dark/Middle Age game that was not competitive, I have recently found that SAGA which I had enjoyed playing was becoming less and less fun because of this. I would enjoy playing it again.

For those interested here is the main website for Pillage and it's Facebook page.