The Road to Stalingrad – Turn 7

This battle was fought sometime last month, before we took a break to prepare for WorLard. As a consequence I'm a bit hazy on the details - other than it was over very quick. Anyway the gist of it goes something like this.........

TURN 7 (Map 4, Morning 20th August,1942)

When we last saw them our heroic platoon of the Red Army were still defending the same wood on the road to Stalingrad. Having already beaten off two German attacks on the same ground were fully expecting to be driven off this time; however, we were determined to fight to the last.

For the patrol phase we had several criteria in mind for our potential jump off points.
1) Retain control of the hedge line
2) Establish a potential anti tank gun position behind the hedge
3) Maintain a 'flank' position. Not only would this guard our left flank but more importantly would spread out our jump off points enough to prevent them all being blanketed  by any potential mortar barrage.

Russian Jump Off Points

Once again the Germans established Jump Off Points in the area of the farm but significantly also on their right flank table edge.
As the German attack developed it was clear that they had spent an awful lot of support points for this attack with armour and half tracks much in evidence.

German armour advances

They also brought on a Panzergrenadier squad on their right flank table edge; I suspect this was to counter our anti-tank gun position.Unfortunately, as planned we had moved the anti-tank gun to a position behind the hedgeline. From here it could cover both flanks but crucially was in cover from the flanking panzergrenadier squad. Indeed it was the latter who were most at risk as we positioned a rifle squad in our former anti-tank gun position. From here they could target the panzergrenadiers in the open.

Russians open fire

Inevitably a lucky shot hit the panzergrenadiers Junior Leader, leading to a minus two force morale result. At about the same time our anti-tank gun took out the German tank.
In response the Germans finally contacted their off-table mortars and a ranging shot landed in the woods.They were also testing our other flank by bringing on another half track in the area of the ploughed field. Worryingly, the Germans seemed to have all the right elements to oust us from our position but luckily, for us, they had as yet failed to coordinate them.
A Turn end saw the German Junior Leader recover from his wound and stand up (the unit having lost Tactical status at the Turn end).However, the very next phase saw them come under fire from the Russian rifle squad - another lucky hit on the Junior Leader, another wound and another minus two on the Force Morale!
If that wasn't enough, the anti-tank gun then took out another half track to signal game end.

Give that anti-tank gunner a medal!

So against all expectations we had survived another attack and the Germans must make a fourth attack actoss the same ground- or the 5th Panzer Tank park as we're now calling it!

Oppressing the natives

Game two in my 'Six Nations' campaign pitted a force of French pirates against a Native American force from the Darien Peninsula.
Once again it was to be a sea based encounter; this time the 'Control the Field' scenario. The sea based version of this essentially consists of the defender starting downwind and fighting to gain the weather gauge.
Hence, the setting for this game was that a French watering party has landed on the Darien Peninsula and is seeking to return to its ship. The Natives have other ideas.

The French consisted of two groups of Boucaniers and group of Miliciens led by 'Happy Dan' Le Pew. [The Le Pew character started out as Pierre Le Pew (sort of  a Pepi Le Pew feel) until I remembered that Happy Dan Pew is a character from George McDonald Fraser's 'The Pyrates'. In the novel he is an Englishman that thinks he is French after being hit on the head. So Happy Dan it is then - I see my version as a cockney with Del Boy's grasp of the French language.]

The Darien natives consisted of two groups of Warriors and a group of bow armed Young Warriors led by Chief Man Friday. This would be something of a challenge for the natives as the Warriors are solely armed with melee weapons. Normally a bow would be a compulsory upgrade but the campaign rules forbid upgrades unless the 'Armaments' resource is purchased.

The French force were equipped with two longboats. Happy Dan joined a group of Boucaniers along with a group of Miliciens in the first boat. The second boat carried the remaining group of Boucaniers. With two groups in his boat, Happy Dan was able to assign the Miliciens to the sweeps; pretty much a necessity as they would be working up wind. The second boat could either move under sail, leaving the Boucaniers free to shoot, or assign the Boucaniers to the sweeps, in which case they couldn't shoot. I chose to use the sails.

The native force were carried in three canoes; a group for each vessel. The canoes do not have a sail option, moving under sweeps (or technically paddles). In this case they had the option of assigning crew to the paddles, which allows a full move each go, or moving with a reduced move if no crew are so assigned. I assigned Chief Friday's group to the paddles and left the others unassigned.

Happy Dan's watering party. The wind is from the top of the picture.

Native canoes upwind

Unfortunately, I discovered that all my Caribs are either bow or musket armed - the latter would have to stand in for melee weapons in this game. Similarly, I'm still short of suitable militia or regular soldier types; in this instance Miliciens would be played by Napoleonic Spanish guerrillas.

There were no 'tactics' played at the start of the game as I forgot! Probably to the detriment of the natives as they held a club - whoops.

The first move saw the natives move into a blocking position in front of Happy Dan, whilst the second longboat crawled along close hauled. Hmmm - maybe sails were a bad choice here. Long range shooting was even; both sides taking a casualty.

Move 1 - the Natives block the way

Move 2 and Chief Friday hung back to keep the weather gauge whilst the Young Warriors circled around to harass the rear of the French with bow fire. Unfortunately, although bows can rain down huge amounts of arrows they are relatively ineffectual. By contrast, Boucaniers are deadly shots and get the benefit of Ball and Shot at close range to boot. Another 5 natives down and their first Strike Point.

Move two - notice the almost empty canoe!

Move three saw Happy Dan attempt to manoeuvre his longboat past Chief Friday's canoe. Meanwhile, the Young Warriors tangle with the rear longboat.

Move Three - Happy Dan surges ahead. Mangtout Rodders!
(In Happy Dan's addled brain ALL his crew are named Rodney!)

Move four saw Chief Friday grapple Le Pew's boat - eventually. After several failed attempts he wasn't left with enough actions to board. In his own turn Happy Dan cut the grapples and was in a position to move ahead and gain the weather gauge. However, the critical move came from the second longboat as some deadly shooting from the Boucaniers saw them kill enough Young Warriors to inflict a second Strike Point. Two nil down on Strike points and its game over for the Natives .

Move four - Young Warriors fall to accurate musket fire.

The winner. Creme de Menthe Rodney, Creme de Menthe!

So a convincing win for Happy Dan who leaps ahead in the campaign with 4 Experience points and four doubloons for his treasure chest.

A Boer War Interlude

For the past few weeks we have taken a break from our Stalingrad campaign, in order to prepare for the club's annual celebration of all things TFL, WorLard. Having put on a game for the first four Lard Days, I chose to take a back seat this year and instead help out with Neil McG's Boer War game.
Hence, we put on a game of 'A Mere Question of Pluck' (available in the Christmas 2016 edition of the TFL 'Special') using some very nicely turned out 10mm figures (Pendraken, I believe).

After 2 practice games and a further 2 games on the day, I can definitely say that I'm hooked. The games were all very enjoyable even allowing for the steep learning curve.

We put on the Talana Hill scenario which, as well as being one of the first actions of the Second Boer War, serves as a good introductory scenario. We chose to let the umpire run the Boers and all the players were on the British side. The photos below are snaps from all four games.

The Empty Battlefield. Boer deployment points on Talana (centre) and Lennox (far distant) Hills.

British will enter from the right.

Boer Vedettes at the foot of Lennox Hill.
(My favourites, although the poor photo doesn't do them justice) 

British Battalion column crosses the stream and begins to extend out.
The leading two companies are in open order

The British two battalion  attack grinds to a halt at Talana Hill

A secondary attack also runs into trouble at Lennox Hill

A good variety of other TFL games were on offer on the day; 'Big' Chain of Command, I Ain't Been Shot Mum!, Sharp Practice, Dux Britanniarum, Kiss Me Hardy and Coastal Patrol were all on offer. However, the star of the show was undoubtedly Rich's own Chain of Command game set in Malay. The terrain for this game was simply a joy to behold.

Big Rich in Malay - 28mm Chain of Command

A lone Japanese tank - lost in the jungle?

The Wreck of the Dutchman

As a motivational aid to painting I like to set a wargaming theme for the year. This year was to be Pirates. The preparations for our Longships (or Dark Age pirates) campaign are currently well under way but I also had an urge to play the more traditional pirates of the 17th century. My original plan was to use my 15mm Sharp Practice Caribbean collection with the new Peter Pig 'Pieces of Eight' rules. These were originally due out in February but were delayed until this month - in the meantime I was given a Firelock Games 28mm pirate set for my birthday. These are lovely figures and I was lucky enough to source a second hand set of both the 'Blood and Plunder' rules and the 'No Peace Beyond the Line' expansion. These are quality products and I was hooked from the onset. The expansion contains a campaign system which I reckon would also work as a nice solo project.
So  to get started, my plan is to play in 15mm whilst I paint up the 28mm Blood and Plunder figures. Any games I can't manage in 28mm, due to figure requirements, will also be played using my 15mm collection.
I'm calling this my Six Nations campaign, as the rules allow for up to six nationalities. The idea behind the campaign is to follow the fortunes of the rival commanders. I chose faction types for each nation using a random die roll and came up with the following:

English Buccaneers, 'militia' under 'Lucky' Jack Quilp, based at Port Royal, Jamaica
French Chasseurs, 'pirates' under 'Happy' Dan Le Pew, based at Tortuga
Spanish  Caribbean Militia, 'privateers' under Diego Don Lardo, sailing from Santo Domingo, Hispaniola and commissioned to harry the natives.
Dutch Navy, 'militia' under Captain Rip Van Dam, sailing from Caracoa
Native Americans, Darien tribesmen 'militia' under Chief Man Friday, based on the Darien Peninsula
Unaligned, Scottish Militia of the Scottish Carolina Company under Ebeneezer Balfour, based at Stuart's Town, Port Royal, South Carolina

Game one was to be the 'Plunder' scenario and was sea based (all Blood and Plunder scenarios have a sea, land and amphibious version).
The setting:
The merchant sloop 'The Dutchman' has run aground in shoal waters off Hispaniola. The crew have abandoned ship but the priceless cargo of English Breakfast Tea remains on board. Hearing of this, the Governor of Jamaica, Sir Augustus Fyffes-Farthingdale, has commissioned Lucky Jack Quilp to rescue his favourite tipple. The Spanish under Don Lardo are determined to prevent this.

As a sea game I was going to need some ships. In the campaign the rival captains start with boats and must work their way up to commanding larger vessels. In any case a boat of some sort would be wise for this scenario to avoid running aground in the shoals.
Hence, I cobbled together some longboats out of cardboard. Definitely a learning curve here as the first one was a dog's dinner and resulted in several fingers superglued together. By the fourth boat I was beginning to get the hang of it though. For the Dutchman I converted a nice 28mm long boat (courtesy of Uriah the boat builder) into a Sloop. Never fear this merely consisted of adding a removable deck as I will need this for my 28mm figures.

The flotilla - Minifigs longboat for scale

The first problem I faced was one of scale. The game is designed to use actual figures in the ships / boats and surprisingly this is easier for the larger figures. The problem is that there is a minimum working base size that mitigates against using the smaller figures. In the end I compromised and came up with a boat size that wasn't too far off in length but rather wide in the beam to accommodate the figure basing.
Figure wise I had everything I needed in my current collection except suitable figures for Miliciano (militia); in the end I substituted Napoleonic era sailors for these. I may purchase some League of Augsburg era soldiers to fulfill this role. For land based games I will use penny basing with 2 figures per base (as I do for my Sharp Practice games) counting bases rather than figures. In this case, due to space constraints in the  boats, I would count a doubly based penny as two figures.
As the campaign concentrates on the commanders each game can use a different force composition. For this game I opted for the following 100 point forces:
English
One longboat carrying Lucky Jack Quilp and 5 Freebooters plus 4 Sea Dogs
One swivel armed long boat carrying 5 Freebooters plus 4 Sea Dogs
Spanish
One longboat carrying Don Lardo and 8 Lanceros plus 6 Milicianos
One swivel armed long boat carrying 4 Marineros plus 6 Milicianos

Both sides assigned their sailors (Sea Dogs or Marineros) to the swivel gun; the English also assigned a unit of Sea Dogs to man the sweeps.
Both sides also adopted the same plan; the swivel armed boat would harass the enemy whilst the other boat would head for the sloop.
Before the game, each side may choose from a selection of tactics, the number depending upon the card played this campaign turn. As the English had a spade they could not choose any tactics but the Spanish club allowed them three. As it happens only one was feasible in this scenario, so they chose 'Undisciplined Louts', which meant that the English may begin the game drunk (typecasting!). Each unit had to test at the start of the game and sure enough one unit of Sea Dogs and one of Freebooters had overindulged on the Daiquiris and Pina Coladas. This would enhance their morale but impede their shooting ability.
So on to the first turn and the English draw an event! A change of weather meant the action would take place in the rain (hindering reloading) and there was a drop in the wind for the first turn.
The change in the wind was crucial as one of the English boats was moving under sweeps and hence unaffected. As a consequence Quilp's boat streaked ahead leaving the Spanish struggling under light airs.

Quilp surges ahead in the boat race

The gunboats headed towards each other taking pot shots whilst Don Lardo's Lanceros could only look on. Inevitably Quilp made it to the sloop first; grappling the Dutchman he pulled the boat alongside and led the Freebooters over the side. Taking possession of the first plunder piece, this was passed over the side to the waiting Sea Dogs. In subsequent turn Quilp played a club (3 actions plus his own command point) to move to the second deck section, pick up the second plunder piece, return to the longboat and release grapples. (Note this is technically illegal as a unit has a maximum of three actions per activation - whoops. Not that it would have made a difference in the long run).

Quilp boards the prize

Whilst Quilp made off with the tea chests, Don Lardo was fast approaching with a boat load of angry Lanceros armed to the teeth. However, move four saw the Spanish pull an event. Apparently these were tidal waters and a strong current was moving across the table. Lucky Jack Quilp was certainly living up to his name as he rounded the sloop and made his escape with the current whilst the Spanish were struggling against it.
On to move six (the scenario limit) and the Spanish had 2 Strike Points (one for casualties and one for losing the plunder); if the difference in strike points, at the end of the turn, is ever two or greater then the losing side must take a strike test (morale). Luckily, for the Spanish, a chance shot from the Milicianos saw a unit of Sea Dogs fail their resolve test giving the English their first Strike point. So at turn end the Spanish had two and the English one; a difference of one and not enough to force a Strike Test.

Quilp makes off with the loot

As neither side had struck, the game is decided on the number of Strike Points. So a win for the English, which is only fitting as they had captured the loot. For the losing side there is a chance that the commander is captured, although this seems a bit harsh in this scenario. Naturally, Don Lardo failed the test but as he had three unused Fortune points left I allowed a re-roll (not sure this is intended but it seems reasonable). Just to add a touch of excitement he failed two re-rolls, only passing on his last Fortune Point!
So all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this game and will definitely try and get some more campaign games in.

Lucky Jack Quilp - to the victor the spoils