A Cornucopia of Away Games and Mistakes

The cabin and painting desk have been deserted lately as I went to my friend Martin's place for a couple of day's gaming.  Well, perhaps 'mainly gaming' is a better description, as on the Tuesday evening we just went down the pub for a few pints of Harvey's Sussex Best.  Much like most of the later games I was too absorbed to take photos so this stock photo from the Interweb will have to suffice.

The following morning, when we got our act together, we had a game of 'Mortem et Gloriam', aka MeG, not something I had played before but I was keen to try it and Martin had played it several times as it's a popular rule-set at his local club and he wanted to get some more practise.

The game pitched my Normans as Sicilian Normans, with additional 'Sicilian' types being provided by Martin ... 

... against his Nikephorian Byzantines.

With a newbie (me), guided by an inexperienced player, unfamiliarity with rules saw this game run through to the early afternoon when, as the inevitability of a Norman win became apparent, we called the game.  The rules worked well in terms of outcomes and command structure, with commanders forced to prioritise their actions, but I didn't feel they offered anything new compared to existing rule-sets.  In particular I felt the focus on the files within units felt like a half-way house that was neither unit nor element focused and the separate charge and mêlée phases seemed to slow the game down.  However, these are just first impressions and I need to try them again sometime as I've often disliked rule-sets on first encountering them only to appreciate their virtues with more games.

The next game was a Thirty Years War clash using the 'Liber Militum Tercios' Rules, our favourite for this particular conflict.

These rules use order cards that are placed face down next to each unit with players alternately activating units to perform the order given them.

Looking to play something a little different we opted for an entirely mounted French force seeking to destroy a Spanish infantry force (plus one unit of horse); all troops being provided by Martin.

This proved a really interesting tactical conundrum with the more agile French horse looking for an opening that wouldn't involve frontally charging pike and the Spanish trying to deny them that opportunity.  In the end the French managed to charge a couple of the Spanish tercios in the flank (sorry, this is the only photo I have) ...

... but in both cases the Spanish, while taking many hits just survived being broken and with some French units refusing to charge managed to rally.  The French losses from these combats and Spanish musketry and cannon fire eventually saw several units break and the French conceded the field.  While a fun game with rules we've often played, we still made a number of mistakes that probably drove the outcome.  We also discovered we had always interpreted one rule incorrectly, luckily that error had no real impact on the game.  

So, onto a third game in the evening using Maurice; no picture of the rules so another image grabbed from the ubiquitous web-thingy.

This game used my 1745 armies (15mm Essex Miniatures) and some modifications to the rules to try and bring out a bit more conflict specific flavour.

No rule cock-ups this time, but I still haven't quite got the balance right between the two armies, and the Highlanders rolled over the Hanoverians without loss!

The following morning, we set up a DBM fight between the Rus (me) and the Bulgars (Martin), albeit the armies had to take some liberties with the Army Lists as we didn't have everything needed.

This game, like the earlier Tercios game, saw the Rus desperately trying to stop the Bulgar cavalry getting round their flanks, as they were fairly impervious to cavalry charging them frontally.  The Rus axemen ('Blades' in DBM-speak) were the least effective against cavalry so were held back as a reserve to plug any gaps that appeared as in the photo below - and contributed to the Rus' success in defeating the Bulgars.

The figures in this game were all Martin's beautifully painted 15mm Minifigs, so nice in fact that for once I took some decent photos, this time of his Byzantine Varangians being used to represent Rus Axemen.

Again we made a mistake!  This time over the PIP cost of moving irregulars but luckily corrected in Turn 2, so it had minimal impact on the game.  When this game ended it was lunchtime, after which I wended my way back home.  

So, four games in a day and half, lots of fun but lots of mistakes.  I'm not sure what the lesson here is, but I suspect I need to play more games with fewer rule-sets as it seems that, like so much in life, practise makes perfect, or at least less imperfect.

Battle of Langport, 1645 - AAR

After my recent attempt to refight Adwalton, I picked another lop-sided encounter for my next ECW game, this time with Iain, the Battle of Langport, 1645.

I had little about this action in any of my books, but luckily was loaned a copy of David Frampton's booklet[1].  As well as details on the forces engaged on both sides, it included an inspiring diagram of the forces as deployed, which I used as the basis for the game set up (I have not included the image here as I am unsure of the copyright implications of doing so).  And as a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words, here's a picture of the deployment with some words, surely worth even more?

The units not labelled (Royalist labels are blue and Parliament are yellow) are all either regiments of pike and shot, or horse.  In case anyone thinks they're seeing things, I'll point out that I don't have figures for Fairfax and Goring so Essex and Rupert are standing in for them.  The odds are such, that despite the good defensive position, the Royalists will inevitably be beaten, so for this game their 'win' would be to get all their siege trayne off-table, en-route to Bridgewater.  Historically, Fairfax sent a large force on a wide outflanking move around the Royalist left flank and cut off the siege trayne, although the speed with which the Royalist defence collapsed meant it was also caught from behind.

So, with both sides ready for the off, Fairfax (Iain) determined to force his way through ...

 ... and Goring (me) equally determined to hold the line while the siege trayne gets away - will he do better this time?

The Royalist cannon started the ball rolling opening fire at the veteran ironsides lined up to storm across the ford[2] ...

... which was returned with interest by the Parliamentarian batteries.

Surprisingly, with all this powder being expended, neither side inflicted any damage, and nor did they for some time.

Then, out of the blue, a random event generated a group of clubmen sympathetic to the King's cause who appeared alongside the Bridgewater Road.

While not a significant accretion of force for the Royalists, it used up all my clubmen (I must get more!) who were scheduled to turn up in support of Parliament once they had successfully got some units across the Rhyne - so quite a useful event for me.  Even more so as it gave me a unit near the retreating siege trayne that was looking like it might get intercepted by the Iain's dragoons who had moved off at speed towards my open right flank.

Knowing that the clubmen were unlikely to make more than a speed-bump for the dragoons Wilmot turned one of his regiments of horse to counter the outflanking threat posed by the dragoons. 

Meanwhile, around the ford, the artillery continued to thunder away without effect as Parliamentarian commanded shot advanced into the marshy ground and started a firefight with the Welsh foot on the far bank.

Parliament's dragoons continued their outflanking manoeuvre, and more horse followed in their wake to keep my right flank under pressure.

At the same time the persistence of their gunnery finally paid off ...

... and finally eliminated the cannon guarding the ford.

With ford unguarded, veteran Parliamentarian horse moved up ready for a coup de main against the Royalist position.

Then as the dragoons reached the Rhyne ...

The Royalist commanded shot across the Rhyne were surprised by the ironsides executing a sharp right turn to charge them in the flank!   

I really hadn't seen this coming, albeit the random turn sequence hadn't provided me with any opportunity to do anything about if I had.  Luckily, while taking a beating, the commanded shot held firm, and the horse withdrew to reform and try again.

I seem to have a dearth of photos around this point in the battle which saw the dragoons continue their flank march while the Royalist cavalry redeployed to stop them were could olny watch thanks to the fickle card-driven move sequence.  Also, with Parliamentarian horse advancing against my right flank this cavalry unit couldn't now be spared to chase after the dragoons, so Maurice took personal command of one of his cavalry units and set off to try and get to the siege trayne before the dragoons could do too much damage.

The threat to my siege trayne was compounded by their very slow progress.  This sluggishness had become so questionable that a quick review of the play-deck was called for and revealed only one card allowing them to move[3], when there should have been two - another was quickly shuffled in.  OOPS!

Back at the ford, and against the odds, the raw Welsh foot, despite its losses[4], had finally won the firefight, destroying the opposing commanded shot; the remnants of which can be seen fleeing in the photo below.

This good news was offset by Parliament's dragoons routing the clubmen, who were trying to shield the siege trayne, and then destroying them in the ensuing pursuit.

Maurice was getting closer but looked unlikely to prevent the dragoons getting in amongst the waggons.

And so it proved, as the dragoons promptly got stuck in, eliminating one element and then stopping to loot a second.

Things were looking little better to my front as another regiment of horse drove my commanded shot by the ford back across the Rhyne.

It was at this point in the battle that Goring roused himself from a drunken stupor.  In reality it was our realisation that neither of us recalled having seen his card drawn from the play-deck, and another quick check showed that his card had also been omitted by mistake.  His card, actually Rupert's as I lack a card for Goring, was quickly shuffled into the deck.  DOUBLE OOPS!!

As Fairfax's horse pressed forward, they reopened a field of fire for his artillery, or at least those that hadn't run short of powder owing to a random event, to engage the Royalist horse ready counter-attack any break-in.

And this time they seemed to get their eye in from the very beginning.

While one of Maurice's regiments of horse was having to sit and suffer an artillery bombardment, he, with his other regiment finally caught the dragoons as they were looting an element of the siege trayne.

Needless to say, the dragoons were soundly thrashed and ridden down in a ferocious pursuit.  Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, Maurice and his men continued pursuing off into the wide blue yonder (off-table) and despite several attempts (dice throws) during the game never returned to the field of battle.

Although my siege trayne was now safe for a bit, elsewhere things were coming unstuck as more horse charged across the ford and broke a regiment of foot.

While yet more, over on my right flank, crossed the hedge and charged my cavalry waiting for them on the other side.  Although my men managed to counter-charge they were badly routed, with three consecutive retreat moves (circa. 40-45") meaning they left the table in disgrace.

A little light now appeared through the gloom as my siege trayne got moving again, my prized giant mortar managing to exit the table, ...

... my broken foot regiment by the ford managed to rally and hold off another charge by Parliamentarian horse ...

... and my commanded shot, safely ensconced behind a hedge on my right, held off yet another. 

However, what was left of the siege trayne on the table was now threatened from behind by Fairfax's horse that had broken through on my right and in front by another group of clubmen, this time with Parliamentarian sympathies.

So, with dinner beckoning, the Royalist siege trayne doomed, and more Parliamentarian units lining up to break what was left of Goring's forces the game was called.  A win for Fairfax.

In retrospect I think more of the Royalist forces should have been rated as raw to represent their demoralised state as the war was clearly unwinnable at this time.  While this might make Fairfax's task easier, getting the correct cards in the play-deck would have seen the siege trayne move a bit faster and Goring better able to move troops to counter any outflanking move.

Anyway, the key thing was we both thoroughly enjoyed the game, and in the end that's what counts.

Notes:

[1.]  'The Battle of Langport - the 350th Anniversary' by David Frampton, An Academic Artizan Publication.

[2.]  The Wagg Rhyne was ruled to be fordable everywhere so the actual ford had no significance other than it was unobstructed by marsh and/or hedge.

[3.]  When turned up, each element of the siege trayne threw one average die (2dAv), the score indicating the number of inches it would move.  With no overtaking allowed, if the front wagon rolled a '2' then no-one was going to go any faster than that, and gaps would open up as those towards the rear threw less than those in front.

[4.]  Losses are indicated by red makers (tiddlywinks), units being destroyed when they have taken as many losses as they have bases.  These can be rallied off by commanders if they expend their orders to do so, and roll a 'Flag' on the dice, a 1-in-6 chance so rarely worth trying.  Green markers indicate disorder, which affect a unit's combat ability but can be recovered more easily.  Yellow markers indicate a unit has been activated so cannot be activated again in the current turn.

Old-School Ancients Top-Up Complete

I managed a bit of a push last week and today I finished off the last of the figures needed to bring some very old, old-school, units up to strength i.e., enough to occupy a 6" grid square.  In this case it was a couple of units of Successor pike.  I only had 16 in each unit plus 11 spare painted figures (5 of one unit and 6 of the other) so I needed another 21 to bring the two units up to 32 figures each.

And here they are, with the newly painted-to-match figures based up with the painted spares.

I am rather pleased with how difficult it is to tell the new from the old.  The best way to tell is to look at the hands grasping the pikes, if both hands completely enclose the pike, then it's a newly painted figure (I like to make the figures' weapons really secure).

Posed together with the old based-up figures, they make much better-looking units - bigger is always better with pike blocks. 

If anyone is interested the older bases are on the outer flank of each block.  I had trouble sorting them when taking the photos but finally realised I just needed to look underneath; the older bases have white steel paper underneath whereas those just based have black ferro-sheet.

CoC Anti-Tank Trainer - Game 2

This game was repeat of that in the last post, but John and I swapped sides.  The battlefield was left as it was in the last game including the JOPs and deployed defences: a minefield and an entrenchment.  

John, as the British, had the same three tanks as I used in the last game.  I as the defending Germans opted for something a little different for my 5 support points.  Unfortunately, as I write this up, I now realise I spent far more than 5 support points!  As well as an additional Panzerschreck team, I had a 7.5cm IG.18 infantry gun with five crew and junior leader plus an entrenchment to deploy it in.  All this totals 7 support points and this cheat goes a very long way to explain why I managed to 'win' the game, and why the result is very much a moral victory for John.

Oh, the shame of it!

Anyway, for what it's worth here's an abbreviated account of how this played out.

John got off to a great start, rolling enough of 6's to give him three consecutive phases!  First, he occupied both floors of the Derelict Farmhouse with a section, ...

... then deployed his 2" mortar team in the farmyard and put another section in the wood next to the Derelict Farm; all this being overseen by his platoon sergeant (senior leader).

Then, with smoke for cover, he brought on both Shermans, one down each road as I had done in the previous game, although this time not led by the Stuart.  One towards Station Row Cottages ... 

... and the other on the road running past the Derelict Farm.

After all this, I got my first phase of the game and a good command roll allowed me to deploy both Panzerschreck teams to take on the Shermans.  One missed and the other only succeeded in rendering a bow machinegun inoperable.  They immediately suffered from some return, overwatch, fire; the team in the entrenchment losing a man and taking a point of shock.

Also deployed in this phase were two sections in the churchyard ...  

... who promptly flayed the British section that had advanced to the edge of the wood; almost all the losses and shock fell on the unfortunate Bren team who were wiped out[1].

The British then withdrew their depleted section further back into the wood to escape the hail of fire coming from the churchyard.  In return, the British tanks managed to wipe out the weakened Panzerschreck team and inflict some shock on the remaining team.

The next phase for the Germans was a double phase, and in the first of these the remaining Panzerschreck team again fired at the Sherman by the Derelict farm, and this time they made no mistake and the tank was hit and blew up.

In the following consecutive phase, the Panzerschreck team fired their last round at the remaining Sherman but missed.  Also, around this time, the Panzergrenadier sections in the churchyard, their job down against the infantry in the wood, retired back round either side of the church so as not to provide a target for the remaining Sherman.

With the Germans having all fallen back to escape H.E. fire from the Sherman there were no targets available to the British.  This included the surviving Panzerschreck team, still both alive but carrying two shock, who withdrew to the JOP behind the church to replenish their ammunition only to find there was none available.  

So, over the next few phases the British started to advance their infantry to provide close support for their remaining Sherman, and brought on the Stuart in support.  

All this time, the Germans stayed in cover behind the buildings while the British approached closer and closer as shown below (not seen is the PIAT team also moving up in the road alongside the Derelict Farmhouse).

Then, fate delivered the Germans another double phase and end of turn.  In the first phase some of the Panzergrenadiers behind the church started to move back into their firing positions and the last, off-table, Panzergrenadier section deployed by the Station Row Cottages.  The British spent their only CoC dice (these were as rare as hen's teeth in both games) to interrupt and open fire with the section behind the hedge but to little effect.  In return the Panzergrenadiers annihilated what was left of the section accompanying the Sherman (this was the much-weakened section that had been in the wood earlier)

Then in the following phase, after the British smoke was removed, two Panzergrenadier sections were able to fire, one wiping out the PIAT advancing down the road (this was an attempt to bring down the British Force Morale which was already getting shaky), and the other firing at close range on the British section advancing along the hedge who had lost their Tactical Movement marker at the end of the turn.

To make the most of the close-range target I used my only CoC die of the game at the earliest opportunity to interrupt John's phase and again fire at section behind the hedge.  This fire reduced them half-strength and pinned. 

This left the British with not much that could shoot back apart from their tanks who inflicted some losses and shock on both German sections.

The next German phase delivered the much awaited '1' on a command die allowing them to bring on their final support asset, a 7.5cm IG.18 in an entrenchment.

This gun, which should never have appeared (I didn't have enough support points to pay for it!!!), was able to deploy in a position where it could engage the British tanks in flank. 

Having only a limited armour penetration capability it selected the Stuart as its target and, needing a score of 4+, managed to score 3 hits from 4 dice.  As if that wasn't bad enough the Stuart then failed to get a single save from its 4 dice and promptly blew up.

At this point, as we were both keen to get down the pub, and the British Force Morale in response to the loss of the Stuart had sunk to 3, John conceded. 

Needless to say, there was a bit of a post-mortem down the pub, but as the game was spoilt by my use of excess support, the validity of the following 'lessons'(?) could be called into question.  

1). In both games the effectiveness of the German Panzerschreck was a serious threat to any armour.  Having infantry in close support can make them vulnerable so better options would be to either lay on a mortar barrage to suppress a large area or make sure you have a CoC die in hand so you can interrupt the Panzerschreck and either shoot it first or move the tank to safety.

2). If deploying infantry anti-tank weapons to attack the armour or other troops to attack any accompanying infantry it is best done with as much firepower as you can bring to bear i.e., if one team / section is good, two is better.  Also, once this has achieved the desired effect move them to safety, and in this respect behind buildings is better than in them when there are H.E. firing tanks around.

Notes:

[1.]  We pretty much always forget to divide the hits between the teams before rolling to find the effect - what we do in this circumstance is dice to see which teams suffer the effects (shock and kills).   This can, as in this case, lead to some extremely unbalanced distributions.  Clearly, we must do better in future - hopefully the imminent second edition will be the catalyst to get us to apply the rules more accurately.