Flames of War - No Retreat!

One last game in my garage before cold temps and COVID-19 force a suspension.  We had four players, each with 100 points, Germans vs. attacking Soviets.  No coordination between the lists of the Germans so when one showed up with an all armor, all 88mm list it was a bit of a surprise.  The mission called for all the Soviets to be in play, while the Germans had to hold 40% off AND could only have one unit with a frontal armor of 3+ on table.  Considering that on a whim both German players took Tigers it made it complicated.

So one German formation was a Tiger company with six tigers and three Horniese.  The other was a Panzergrenadier company with nebelwerfers, three Pak40 (in ambush), two Pak43, four halftracks with the short-barreled 75mm, quad 20mm SPAA and two Tigers.  The Soviets were T-34s, IS-2s and 122mm artillery in one, lots of T-34s, 6 mortars, maxims, ATGs, Sturmoviks and Hero Infantry in the other.  

Two objectives were placed on the German side of the table, one by each side.  We're running lengthwise on the 7+' x 6' table.  Open fields require a crossing check, fields with crops offer cover, fences are bulletproof cover and the woods are light.

Looking at the approaching Soviets.  Tanks, guns and infantry.

Sturmoviks attack high value targets ineffectively.

T-34s at the top of the image, IS-2s next, engaged by Tigers
and Pak43s.

Panzergrenadiers do a rapid advance to the rear.

German reserves are slow coming, Soviet masses 
are imposing.  Best German ATGs eliminated or run off.

The Dance of Death on our left.  IS-2s eliminated in the center.
The Sturmoviks were both shot down in one turn by an amazing
run of dice by both sides.

Soviets rush one objective, Pak40 ambush is sprung.

Tigers from reserve arrive like the cavalry of old because
we have to shoot the Soviets off the objective.

Soviet infantry tries to flank us but run into a wall
of MG fire.

All our reserves are on and victory is won.

The Soviet formation on our left is broken, only the support elements remain.  On the right the Soviet armor is eliminated and although some infantry fragments and artillery remain there is nothing that can take on the panzergrenadiers.  The Soviet remnants began to pull off and the game was called.  

Very much a hard go where both German players thought they were lost at some point.  In the end luck favored the defenders and the inevitable German defeat was put off for another day.

Batailles de l'Ancien Regimes

 With COVID-19 surging in WI this may be my last game for a while, so I was pleased to gather five others in my garage (all doors opened) on a cool Saturday night for a fun BAR game.  BAR, if you're not familiar with it, is a card-driven "old school" wargame with big battalions.  For us, 48-60 figures each.  In our game a turn of the card allowed the CO to pick a player to move.  It's not uncommon for one side to entirely move first,  Then you start the flipping again for shooting purposes.  Melee is the last thing.  Casualties are dished out in staggering numbers at times, but each casualty gets a saving throw depending on type and formation.  You don't test morale typically till you get to 50% casualties.

Our imagi-nation countries were well represented.  The hybrid Ottoman-Russian vassal state of Vaneria  fielded Russian musketeers and grenadiers, Ottoman Janissaries and Azab regulars, along with dragoons and Sipahis.  Rondovia had three musketeer and one grenadier regiments, along with two squadrons of cuirassiers.

Opposing them were two regiments from Prochistan and a squadron of Polish winged hussars.  Austria provided two musketeer and one grenadier regiments and three squadrons.  France offered the Irish regiment Lally, Auvergne, and the Grenadiers de France, with two heavy cavalry squadrons.  Each side had four medium guns.  Sorry for the poor picture quality, the garage was not well lighted and telling whether it was in focus was difficult.

My French, the stragglers are off table in the column.

The other end of the table.  Charging across the stream
necessitates a morale check to not fall into disorder.

Early in the game we drew a joker.

The joker allows you to later "trump" an unfavorable turn of a card.  Almost always used in shooting situations, it is a big advantage to know that when you really need it, you will fire first.

My orders as the French were to drive on the center.  Cavalry
starts to drift that way in the hopes of an eventual opening.

Our side pushes forward all along the table.  Opening vollies
are particularly devastating.

We greatly reduce their line on our left, but my saves
for the Irish are particularly poor.

My history of saving throws is both storied and sad.  I went through a stretch of nine fails out of thirteen (50-50 chance) and so on and on.

The advantage seems to be with us everywhere.

As the Grenadiers de France push forward, the Russians
risk a charge, while struggling to find fields of fire.

The Russian musketeers rout away, as do the poor Irish, but this
opens the gap the cavalry has awaited.

Progress in the center and another joker is used for our side.

The cavalry charges, but the Rondovian grenadiers are
able to refuse a flank so are not disordered.

Up until this point the turn of cards had evened out and they had been getting a lot of opportunities to shoot first taking a toll on our men.  Both jokers had been played so the run of red cards early on for mostly movement, was balancing itself.

Unable to control themselves any longer, the Sipahis,
Polish lancers and hussars rush to engage.

After routing the grenadiers, the cavalry retires disordered 
to reorganize, having failed to pursue as Auvergne looks to move up.

Amazingly, the hussars beat the armored lancer Sipahis,
while the Polish squadron also routs.

One Russian and two Rondovian regiments have routed and the Janissaries are near gone against one "French" and one Austrian regiment lost.  The fresh Austrians and French are advancing and so the Vanerian and Rondovian side declared a fighting withdrawal and we ended play.  We use BAR for the campaign books written by Charles S. Grant, but there was no need to bitter-end tonight's game.

If indeed COVID-19 forces a suspension of games for a time we ended on a fun note.  Both sides had fun and took the luck factor all in stride.  We're fortunate to have such a mature group to game with.  Till next time, stay happy my friends.

Our redrawn map of Europe to incorporate our Imagi-Nations.

Mars Attacks - the 2nd Wave

 Squinting through the viewport Captain Lambert commanded his eyes to penetrate the haze in the distance.  "I'm sure I saw movement out there."  Instinct won out over uncertainty.  "Runners!  And crank up the phones!"

For those familiar with the classic "War of the Worlds," All Quiet on the Martian Front represents the 2nd wave of Martian invasion.  In the intervening time both sides have made improvements and preparations.  The humans, in this case Americans, have steam powered tanks, armored infantry (think old style diving suits), long range artillery and gimmick attacks intended to immobilize the Martian walkers.  Think ATATs in The Empire Strikes Back.

The Martians have the heavily armored tripod walkers, armed with medium or heavy "heat rays" and black gas generators.  In our game they also chose a "Slaver" which was armed but also controlled three unmanned drones and two units of lobotomized humans.  The range for controlling them was limited and it would turn out to be critical.  

Each turn the sides dice for initiative and declaring who moves first.  After a movement phase for both sides, there is shooting, followed by another movement or assault phase.  

The Martians move into the clear.  Earthers are mostly
hidden.

A trio of guns with twice the range of anything else
and some infantry are all that is visible.

Cranking up the steam, three tanks, each with three
cannons, move, fire and retire behind the hill.

From the official post-action report: "We were immediately blessed when one tripod turned, just in time to receive a shell squarely in it's hood, detonating with a tremendous roar, sending metal and bits of Martian flying in all directions."

Infantry aggressively assaulted the drones with rifles
and grenades.  Taking out one drone.

The human slave infantry, drones and heat rays
decimated the two infantry units in return.  The red
blob in the upper right represents the destroyed tripod.

Amazingly, as the infantry routs away, the long range
artillery hits, penetrates and another tripod goes down.
A "forlorn hope" fails to hook a tripod on the right.

All day the human tanks were able to pop up, shoot 
and retire to cover.

Finding infantry hiding in the woods the tripods
gang up to eliminate them.

The earthers got lucky again here.  A serious mobility hit was registered on the Slaver tripod.  Each time the Martians wanted to move there was a dice-off.  If they won they got to move, if the humans won we moved it.  For two out of three tries the humans won and moved it away from their drones and lobotomized slaves.  Being out of control they reverted to the standing order, shoot at anything within 6".  Destroying another Martian unit.

The Rough Riders race out to entangle a tripod with
wires, along with some gun hits.  It became very easy
to hit and chunks of armor were flying off.

The Slaver tripod is walked to the back of the table
and the immobilized tripod is doomed.  Drones and
lobotomized humans have been eliminated.

And so, much diminished in numbers, the Martians retired, leaving the military to gather the bits and ashes, and prepare for the next round.  Each side had a break point assigned, based on the number of units they had at the start.  While the humans shot well, the Martian players did themselves in when resolving the few penetrating hits.  But, we all know the bad guys keep coming back for more, so I'm sure a rematch is coming.

Johnny Reb III refresher

Hoping to see an end, or at least easing of the pandemic, our group has begun to plan a large-scale recreation of the Battle of Shiloh.  To that end we need to review and replay the rules so on game day (next month) we can play fast and efficiently.  Our rules of choice for the American Civil War is Johnny Reb, now in it's third edition.  15mm figures, 30:1 figure ratio, our units today ranged from 12-16 figures each.  We only play 2-3 games of Johnny Reb a year at best, so we needed this refresher.

Seven players gathered to play a smallish game.  Each side had 24 infantry regiments in six brigades and six batteries.  Deployment was allowed up to 12" in on the 9x5' table.  The hill tops were treated like orchards and the dark green patches were true woods.  The stream was disorganizing for infantry and could only be crossed at one of several fords by artillery.

The quiet time before the troops arrive.

View from the Union left.

View from the Union center.

And the windy end.  Rocks were needed to hold fabric
and foam in place.

The Union army deployed evenly across the table.  The Rebels deployed 2/3rds of their force on their right, against the Union left.  The remaining two brigades had to face four Union brigades across most of the table.

In the center I seized the high ground and lumbered
through the woods.

Progress in the center but the Rebs are piling up on
the Union left.

A series of charges by both sides on the left ended 
in the Confederate favor.

The Union right is making steady progress.

As are the Confederates on their right.

Numbers begin to tell though the Rebels can't bring
their entire force to action.

On the Union right the Rebels are advancing steadily
to the rear.

The center takes a methodical approach, not wanting
to get over-extended with their left in trouble.

One of my favorite aspects of the Johnny Reb system is the simul movement using order chits.  Because of this you not only have to figure out your plan but also get into the mind of your opponent to anticipate what he will, or may do.  It adds a sense of dramatic tension often missing from an IGO-UGO game.

The battle on the Union left has swept on past the 
center force, which presses onward.

The Union left has no choice but to retreat and pull
off table. 

At this point, with honors mostly even and a solid game experience gained, we called it a day.  Each side's left flank declared the battle lost, while the rest of the army was ready to continue.  We will have at least one more practice game before the scheduled date, though with the coronavirus seemingly on the rise everywhere we will have to wait and see whether putting 14 people together for two days is a prudent idea.  In the meantime, we had fun.

Empire Refresher

The COVID-19 crisis has put a major damper on gaming but things were improving enough to try a game in my open garage.  A little warmer outside than we prefer but acceptable to get to roll dice and push lead.  As I had a number of newly painted Napoleonic miniatures needing exposure to battle, I selected our favorite Empire as the game.

Quite frankly I told people to bring what they wanted to play with and we wouldn't be too concerned about balance or historic sides.  As it turned out we had a Polish corp under Poniatowski and French corps under Oudinot, commanded by Marechal St. Cyr going against an Anglo/Hanoverian/Sicilian/Portuguese army under Wellington.  "Daddy" Hill was also present for the Anglo allies.  Rules are Empire (V), 15mm figures, seven players, of which three were fairly new to the rules and all of us were out of practice.

Each side got a 12" deployment from the table edge and had the option to hold troops off table.  Roughly 50 battalions and 10 cavalry regiments per side.  The French/Allied force had a significant advantage in cannons.

The Anglo-Allied left.  British/Hanoverian with 
Portuguese on their right.

Pro-rating grand tactical movement.  Poles advance
on redcoats.

The Anglo-Allies "attacked" forward a bit to get a
better defensive position as the French swarmed.

Polish uhlans are sent packing by the KGL hussars.

The center has the elite British facing a mostly elite
French division with much more artillery.

The Loyal Lusitanian Legion sallies forth against
the flank of the "Terrible 57th."

Center looking right.  The French are engaged all
along the line, but not closely.

The Loyal Lusitanian Legion and Cacadores have
been thrown back and a major fight is pending on
the British held hill.

The center is looking good for the Anglo-Allies with
most French attacks thrown back.

We needed to knock off but the battle was clearly going into the record books as another Wellington win.  The Poles had valiantly attacked but mostly veteran troops against crack+ British in two ranks is a serious challenge.  The first hourly round the French with two corps commanders and a good commander got the initiative.  In the next Wellington won the roll and the Portuguese were able to take a lot of pressure off the allied center by routing two battalions of the 57th (grenadier rating) who were charged in the flank.  A real donnybrook was developing on the Anglo-Allied left but with the Poles in retreat it was just going to add to the body count.

Great to play Empire again and better to get together for a sociable game.  With folding tables available and a double car garage there will hopefully be many more in the future.