Juno Beach - Rommel Battle

So this Tuesday I played a game of Rommel using the Juno Beach scenario. Few points on this; I know it is a beginner scenario, but why is it 21st Panzer counterattacking - should it not be 12th SS? Also why are the 716th's artillery deployed so far forward - seems unnecessary.

Assault Brigades Advance

The game played well albeit we forgot plenty of rules. The counterattacking forces in the form of the Panzers were very effective in their assaults although the were all fairly spent through attrition by the time we called it. I also feel that I didn't assault very well once past the frontlines and allowed myself to be caught tipped a few times.

Panzer Reinforcements

The order sheets worked nicely, with the interdiction taking out 2 of Alex's artillery batteries which hindered massively his defence.

Allied Command Board

I think this will require a few more games just to get the hang of it but all in all enjoying it.

I have got a lot more Fallschirmjager painted and will get them all posted together.

Everything That's Happened

I've more models to show including the Prussian Army of Frederick the Great as well as a few more Frostgrave minis. These will be on here soon along with the below village tiles when completed.

In the meanwhile I haven't played many wargames but myself and JT have a got a new boardgame couple in HanDan. Been playing a few goodies which we haven't been able to just between us such as Battlestar Galactica - bit of a brain spin for JT. Game of Thrones as gone down well and the mechanics are good - only issue is that by trying to stay true to the books/series - its made an uneven game.

Finally last night we had a quick run through of Lobositz - removing a few models and shrinking the battlefield. AE played Austrians and DB assisted me running the Prussians. It was like hitting my head against a brick wall - sunken roads are really powerful and Alex just kept subbing units in whenever I caused a minor breakthrough. The historical set up shouldn't be so bad as I'd shrunk the battlefield significantly which allowed the Austrians to gather tight and be a very difficult force to break.

One query I have for anyone who's done V&B for Seven Years War - is most cavalry supposed to be Linear or massed - they seemed really weak last night - other than the Austrian Horse Grenadiers who destroyed everything in front of them.

To come, more pictures, hopefully a game of Rommel next week and some more board game adventures!

Last 2 Weeks

I've been back to Lancaster Wargames Club again these last two weeks and played a couple of new rule sets (Exciting!!).

Overview of board

Last week I joined in a 6 player game of Dracula's America. Set in the post American Civil War USA,the basic rules are basically Wild West (we didn't play any undead etc). I'm not sure but it did not seem massively deadly and almost impossible to actually get an outright kill. However I think this may have been due to a misunderstanding with regards save rolls. (We were saving with fails being per hit rather than the amount below the save value).

Left Flank - Nutter running across the street - survived and ran back.

With a lot of these games (this one included) there is an error in the set up of terrain - no one wants to cross the "valley of death" (or street as in this example). So it almost just becomes dice wars.

Having said that the card mechanic by which you drew 4 cards for a turn then bid with your cards for where you were to go in the turn had a good blend of luck and game theory.

This week myself and AE played our first game of Rommel. (Unfortunately I forgot my camera so no pictures). So we felt we could judge the rules correctly we played a scenario which was half based off the Breakthrough mission and a Spearkrieg game we played a few year ago over the Battle of Prokhorovka. Scaled down we played 1st SS Panzer Grenadiers against 52nd Guards Rifle Division.

The game worked well with the Germans having to peel a way through the defensive lines (reinforced by the "Workers to the Front" event. Maybe I wasn't sufficiently aggressive early doors (new game syndrome) and it took a while to get through. Eventually a whole appeared and I was able to widen it out. By turn 15 the aggressive use of Recce, Armour and Armoured Infantry allowed me to take an objective where we called it.

Things we learned:

• Tactics and defences really help to reduce casualties; in reverse the fact that my entire force was motorised meant I could evade to reduce hits against myself. As ops dice disappear and attacks are going in by brute force, combat becomes more deadly.
• If you can lure an attack onto yourself and pinning attack has already been used and surprise attack isn't in effect then withdraw is a really good way to make your opponent burn and waste ops dice.
• Recce units with their free scout turns are really useful (even with a 50% success rate). I had a full battalion of recce as the Germans formed their Recce units as fighting battalions which really helped.
• Always plan for the worst. I attacked a single infantry company with one remaining hit in the open with 3 stands. Missed and I hadn't left enough space to retreat. Up until this point these were my only units destroyed.
• Attacking across the narrow part of the table is grim.
• All in all the rules are simple whilst giving a seemingly historical result. Could be really interesting to battle the whole campaign although we discussed it and think we'll go for an ops sheet per division. The ebb and flow of resetting etc could be absorbing as the various attacking divisions have to pause at different times.

As a side piece I also based Schy'yrk. I'm going to do the rest of Gronne Flamme like this to complete my raiding party for Frostgrave.

Schy'yrk

Canucks vs Green Devils

Last night I got out and played a Spearkrieg Commander game at House Lancaster to introduce DW to the rules. He'd played Black Powder before so knew roughly the command system and we were playing a basic scenario without recce or artillery support.

View from the German lines

3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade were attacking with a Regiment of Churchill IVs in support. In defence were the 2nd Battalion of 1st Fallschirmjager Regiment (with promise of StuG support).

Canadians begin to advance

DW advanced slowly initially as he got to grasps with the rules. As indirect fire was called in and my PaK 40 screen was deployed, casualties were mounting on both sides.

PaK 40 deploys

With no artillery it was a bit of a tough ask to weedle out the dug in Germans until the Canadians whittled them away and managed to get into combat.

Canucks charge in

The 2 lead Canadian Battalions were approaching breaking whilst the German reinforcements were yet to be seen.

Hole smashed through German lines

With the removal of the forces from the hill and the eventual capture of the village sector in the centre (thank you snake eyes in combat), the Canadians pushed on and I was getting nervous. A pair of StuGs arrived but had little impact.

Canadians reach the last village.

Finally the Canadians hit morale - one routed back whilst the other held but it was enough to stop them for now.

A good game with good ebb and flow - I'm going to try and get some more games going. I also really enjoyed the feel of the club - saw some games of Warhammer 40k (and variants) with actual maneuvering going on which was  a major reason I didn't get into it at school. I have a definite reason to get my Bolt Action force finished for a potential tournament. (Anyone got a 750 point concept army for Fallschirmjagers which is historically appropriate?).

Frostgrave - Standard Deployment

So me and the missus played a throw down game of Frostgrave; half the minis are unpainted, the other half need the bases doing, some scenery is built but part painted and we found didn't have nearly enough - so might just buy a few bits to tie me over (just not enough time to do everything I want to!).

Anyway my Gronn Flamme boys took on JT's lads in a free for all - 6 treasure in the buildings and see what happens.

I can report (as I did after the game I played at the club) that the mindset has to be different to a traditional wargame mind (especially one like mine which tends to play larger scale games). Its a raid - get what you want and get out. This mindset was there for Jade and she managed to quickly get the 3 on her side of the table. Meanwhile my apprentice (with half of my smaller warband) took up position on a small hill with a great field of fire - unfortunately not really covering any tokens and only really good if enemy were coming to attack me. Eventually the removal of thugs to carry off her treasure whittled her strength down and I was able to cause some casualties with my better quality soldiers including my wizard laying the smackdown on her wizard.

I promise next time to have some pictures of the game but here are the results (for housekeeping if nothing else). Can I say although I was lucky in game with some of my combat rolls, JT rolled incredibly for recovery.

Blue Sapphire (Update)

Wizard Romanoff - KO (Recovered)
Apprentice Zito
Elgiva the Archer
Gerard the Crossbowman - KO (Recovered)
Guy the Infantryman - KO (Recovered)
Etheldreda the Thief
Faramond the Thug
Ansger the Thug
Sedemay the Treasure Hunter
Osgyth the War Hound - KO (Recovered)

Cast 4 Spells and Carried off 4 Treasure = 250 XP
210 GC
Magic Weapon/Armour - Mail Armour
Magical Item - Horn of Destruction
3 Scrolls - (Leap, Furious Quill, Illusionary Soldier)
L2 (increase Fight and Health)

Gronn Flamme

Wizard Heimr
Apprentice Baldr
Aylwin the Archer
Walburga the Infantryman
Wulfhild the Infantryman
Goldwin the Infantryman
Bathsheba the Man-At-Arms
Diggory the Thug

Cast 3 Spells, Carried off 2 Treasure, 1 Kill by Wizard, Wizard killed Wizard = 320 XP
180 GC
3 Potions - (Teleportation, Invisibility x2)
Grimoire - (Enchant Armour)
L3 (increase Fight and Health, Learn Enchant Armour from Grimoire)

Needs for next game; Choose Base of Operations, Reinforcements (Paint), Get more scenery, Make Spell Cards, Make Quick Reference Sheets (I've got some somewhere)