Little Wars VA

Beda Fomm!

2011-09-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is time for another battle report for this now-quarterly gaming blog. With the release of "Hellfire and Back!", the Early War North Africa book, the Consul and I got together for a big game using our British and Italian armies. Joining us was my friend Pete for a first ever meeting between my two gaming buds. We played the Flames of War Beda Fomm scenario from Wargames Illustrated issue 287, with larger forces (about 2700 points each) and a few other modifications. In this scenario, the Italian 10th Army is trying to break through the Combe Force roadblock preventing a retreat from Libya.

Actual battle info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Compass#Battle_of_Beda_Fomm

Actual battle map here: http://www.btinternet.com/~ian.a.paterson/Maps/bedafomm_battle_map.jpg

For FOW purposes, the Italians must seize an objective to achieve a breakout. The game continues for at least 8 turns in our setup (we used an 8' by 5' table so we increased the length from 6 to 8 turns), and if the Italians have no teams within 16" of an objective after turn 8 the British win. Both sides can win by breaking enemy morale, as well. In this scenario, the Italians do not break as a force if a single company breaks. This is to simulate their desperation to break the roadblock and save 10th Army from destruction. With two full companies on the table we decided not to use "8 Million Bayonets" and instead gave Italian infantry and artilley Confident Trained and all Italian armor "Fearless Trained" ratings. We used these rating to represent the 8th Bersaglieri and the Bambini brigade, which comprised the best of what 10th Army had to offer and fought hard to escape the trap at Beda Fomm. The Italian armor had in fact historically fought to the very last tank. The Brits retained all of their default ratings, ranging from Fearless Veteran Horse Artillery to Confident Veteran infantry to Confident Trained armor. The Consul took the Brits, Pete took the 8th Bersaglieri and I got the Bambini armored brigade.

Here are our lists. Note that we had to proxy some models, and for sticklers there were no actual M11/39s at the real battle, but the Consul indulged me as I wanted to try out a platoon.

"Combe Force" The blocking detachment at the roadblock in the south.

HQ - 35
2x Motor Platoons - 380
2x Scout Platoons - 230
4x Bofors RHA Portees (2pdr portees proxy) - 175
Royal Horse Artillery 8 Guns - 865
Breda Trucks AA - 65

Total - 1715

British Armoured Regiment (Ad Hoc) - These are the first on from the race to help encircle the Italians and support Combe Force. They come in as flanking Delayed Reserves from the northeast, just across form the Italian entry point..

HQ - 70 (2 A13s - Crusaders as proxies)
1x A13 Platoon (3 Crusaders as proxies)
1x A10 Platoon
1x A9 Platoon
1x Armoured Car Platoon - 1CS9 & 2 Rolls Royces (1 AEC & 2 Damlier Dingos proxying)

Total - 986

Grand Total: 2701

"10th Army"

8th Bersaglieri-The first wave to assault the roadblock-Bers. Company. they deploy in the north near the road.

Hq w/ Solothurn
2x Bers. Platoons (Full Strength)
Machine Gun Platoon
Mortar Platoon
Anti-Tank Platoon
5xM11/39 Platoon
Demolisher Platoon (Full Strength)
5x M13 Carri Platoon

Total: 1375

Bambini Brigade-The armored reserves of 10th Army-Compagnia Carri-They come in as Reserves from the road in the north.

Carri Command Tank M13
5x M13
5x M13
5x M13
4x L3 tankette
Cannon Battery Full Observer
Howitzer Battery Full Observer

Total 1480

Grand Total: 2855

We set up the starting forces:

The Italian infantry horde has a long way to go. Note the destroyed wrecks of the Italian convoy.

The British have dug in and are waiting. Sadly, the Italian road crews have failed to run the road all the way to Tunisia.

Here is a Brits' eye view of the approaching horde...

...and nice shot of the advancing Italian infantry.

For the first few turns, the Italians surged forward as the British subjected the Italian armor to a heavy barrage. Both M13 and M11 platoons took a few casualties but the Italians could be heard thanking Jupiter that the squishy infantry was spared the tender mercies of British artillery. The Bersaglieri and Guastatori (Demolisher Platoon) made good progress. Italian return fire could not effect the dug-in Brits but the RHA Portees failed to "Tip and Run" and were annihilated by return fire from the M13 and M11 platoons.

Light Italian casualties accrue on the approach.

Portees burn and smoke swirls as the Italian infantry approach British lines. A duel develops between Bren carriers and Italian HMGs in the foreground.

Early losses: British Portee platoon. Scattered Italian casualties.

In the middle rounds, Italian armor started arriving, but was positioned so far to the rear that they deployed to cover the flank instead of trying to advance on the distant objectives. In the center, the 8th Bersaglieri commander (Pete) executed a cleverly planned advance where he fired mortar smoke on the pinned Brit infantry platoon in order to shield his assaulting Bersaglieri. The assault was a great success (Pete rolled 6 hits out of 7 dice, needing 4 or better, as I recall) and the Brit infantry was broken! The first obstacle to Italian escape was no more.

Pete assaults under a smoke barrage, moved for convenience but in fact located directly on top of the entrenched Brit infantry.

(Look naysayers, real-life tactics in FOW!)

Smoke remains after the assault to provide concealment for the victorious Bersaglieri. What a concept!

Meanwhile, a huge fur-ball erupted in the rear as waves of British and Italian tanks arrived. Neither side had any fancy ideas and sought merely to destroy the enemy with heavy fire. The Italians took an early lead, destroying two platoons of British Cruisers but losing one of their own. Even the tiny L6 tankettes attempted to get in on the action! Two batteries of Italian guns arrive and deploy on the road.

The mid-game tank melee ensues.

Here's a panoramic view of the battlefield in the mid-game.

Mid game losses: British Portee platoon, British Infantry platoon, British A9 platoon and A10 platoon. Italian M13 platooon, assorted team losses.

In the later turns, the Italian infantry continued to surge forward, protected by cautious M11 and M13 support. The RHA 25-pounders were a huge threat to the tanks, and Pete was not interested in risking a direct engagement. Instead, the Bersaglieri and Guastatori headed for the hillside roadblock objective. In a desperate battle the Bersalgieri assaulted under smoke again, drove off half of the RHA battery and seized the hill, only to lose it to a Bren carrier counterattack in the following turn! Italian artillery was entirely ineffective.

The few survivors of 1st Bersaglieri Platoon bask in momentary glory.

The courageous Bren carriers were in turn knocked out by M13 and M11 fire, leaving the objective open and also dropping Combe Force to below 50% of their starting platoons! They would need to make a platoon morale check at the start of Turn 9. Note the Bren carriers have lost their duel with the Italian HMGs!

To the north, the tank battle escalated and even more runners brewed up. The Italians lost another platoon of M13s and also the L3 tankettes, bringing the Bambini Brigade to exactly 50% of its initial strength. However, the weight of fire from the sole remaining M14 platoon and the two batteries of Italian artillery destroyed a third platoon of British tanks, causing another morale check for the British!

The clash of tanks results in a maelstrom of fire and steel .

The Bambini Brigade commander surveys the wreckage of his platoons.

At the top of turn 9, the British had two platoon morale checks to make. Both commands were "Confident" and needed a 4 or better to keep fighting. First up was the crucial blocking force, and the roll was a 3! In Flames of War, the basic rules for multi-company morale are that the entire force will retreat if one company fails a morale check. The British had broken! For posterity, we rolled for the British Armoured Company as well, and the roll was a 1! Clearly, the stiff upper lip had failed in this instance.

Final losses: British: 7 platoons. Italian: 4 platoons.

Victorious Italians swarm toward the south as British resistance crumbles.

A massive graveyard of tanks remains after the clash of armor.

The Italians open the road through Beda Fomm after taking heavy losses.

After the battle, we debriefed regarding the scenario. Overall, the players all felt it was fairly well-balanced and could have swung the other way given a few different choices and/or die rolls! The Italian players were a bit concerned that it would be fairly easy to swing a blocking force over to cover the entrance area for British reinforcements. However, we considered that the British could in response quite easily send their armor off to the south to break the Italian infantry, leaving the slow-moving M13s to play catch-up. Also, the Italians were a bit lucky in that the British artillery had chosen Italian armor as their target. Only the Italian infantry could really clear the roadblock while the eight 25-pounder guns were available to maul the Italian tanks. Finally, the Italian assaults had gone very well, even considering Pete's sound tactical employment of smoke to cover his assaulting troops.

Therefore, we concluded the scenario was solid and the force lists reasonably fair. This could be a convention game for 4 players and we might just do that at a future venue. In addition, although Flames of War is not a "simulation" this scenario provided an enjoyable game which preserved fairly well the historical flavor of the actual battle, albeit obtaining the opposite result! As always, I enjoyed the opportunity to put a lot of my Italian toys down on the table all at once.

Thanks for reading this report! Hopefully I can post another before next quarter...

Back from the Dead-Hail Caesar First Game!

2011-05-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

Well folks I am back from the dead after welcoming a second son into the world back in January. I got together with my buddy Consul Scipio for the first game together since Fall-In 2010. We had fresh copies of hail Caesar in hand and decided to replay our old Carthage vs. Rome rivalry with the new rules. We had rough parity of numbers with the Romans having a qualitative advantage having all heavy infantry legions with Drilled while the Carthaginians had cavalry superiority and of course elephants. Romans had 9 Legions, 3 Skirmish Units, and 2 units of cavalry. Carthage had 4 Libyan Veterans/Spanish Caetrati with Valiant (re-roll morale once per game) 4 units of medium infantry, 1 Gallic warband, 2 units of medium cavalry, 1 Numidian light cavalry unit, and 2 elephants. Each side had three divisions of 4 or 5 units.

Roman Deployment Right Wing

Roman Center and Left Wing

Legions look impressive

Battlefield overview

Punic Lines

Punic Left

In the early turns, the Punes went first and could not mobilize either wing. The Romans had similar luck. The Punic center consisting of saucy veterans advanced and charged the Roman center legions.

Three combats resulted in two legions forced back and one exterminating the Punes. As would happen often in this game, we both forgot our special rules, Consul forgetting his free move with drilled troops even when they fail command and me forgetting my re-roll of morale for the disappearing Scutarii!

The Punic left advances as the Romans (strategically) refuse to move.

In the center, one legion is destroyed as another barely holds on. The previously victorious legion on the left of the picture has failed to activate when ordered.

Using a sweeping advance, the Punes eliminate another legion which could not fall back far enough to avoid destruction. The risky charge up the middle appears to be paying off for Carthage.

Getting a triple move result on the order to charge, the Punic left slams into the Roman right with everything at once.

The Elephants cause a legion to rout...

...and follow up their success by hitting the flanks of the two adjacent combats. The elephants are each a separate unit so we could see noe reason they could not do this.

Despite the pachyderm panic, the other legions hold on and fight back.

Gallic cavalry (in stealth gray) are repulsed by the leftmost legion.

The Punes continue to ravage the Roman center/left, hitting the flank of one legion after breaking yet another. The Punic right wing advances to support.

Despite some strong advantages, the flanking Punes are repulsed by the rearmost legion fighting on its flank.

The Romans dress their lines in an attempt to stabilize the situation.

On the Punic left, chaos ensues as the elephants are swarmed by Roman skirmishers and legions.

In the center, the Punic troops have forced back another legion almost to the table edge, while the Punic cavalry prepare to unleash a charge on the far right legion. The legion in the center has done nothing of note, evidently drunk on their earlier success.

The Punic heavy cavalry slams home and yet another legion is broken in the venter. The Roman cavalry start to consider a tactical withdrawal.

The Roman right remains strong, seeing off the Gallic gray cavalry and pushing the elephants around, killing one. The Gallic infantry and support unit have seen off another legion and redeploy to support the elephant and Punic skirmishers.

In the rear of this photo you can see the Punic cavalry broke through the Roman legion and slammed into the flank of another. This broke a Roman division and all but settled the result. The Roman center would fall and the limited Roman successes on the Roman right flank would not be enough to offset their losses elsewhere.

Final losses: Romans: 5 legions, 2 skirmish units. Carthage: 1 heavy infantry, 1 medium infantry, 1 elephant.

We greatly enjoyed this game. Hail Caesar is, as a friend put it: "a mix of Warmaster and Warhammer Ancient Battles." Whereas that comment was meant as a critique, it should in fact be an endorsement. Both Warhammer and Warmaster were popular and fun systems Rick Priestly was involved in designing, if he was not in fact the lead designer. What Rick and associates have done, in my opinion, is take the best of both systems, cut out the fat, and leave us with a great gaming experience.

The command system of Warmaster is here with slight modification. If you like the uncertainty of not knowing for sure your troops will do as told, then you still have that. The combat system is more like Warhammer, but not exactly so. Units throw dice, not figures, and there are no combat result bonuses or penalties aside from the difference in casualties caused. This is simple, effective, and elegant. It has the added bonus of keeping entire untis on the table until they are destroyed, which looks nice and gives your hard work modeling and painting its due. The game also has status effects such as disorder and shaken, which impair a unit's ability to function in several ways. The break test calls for a roll on a chart. Units may heroically stand against the odds, or may evaporate after a minor setback.

The role of skirmishers is better defined. They can harry the enemy but also support formed units in close combat, which feels right to me. In other systems, skirmishers harry and then cease to have a role. Not so in Hail Caesar. With the addition of two separate fighting values, Clash and Sustained, the system elegantly handles such unique effects as the famed Celtic charge, giving barbarians a strong first punch but a weakened ability to continue a drawn out combat. Also, most units have a short ranges attack value, representing limited skirmishing and missile weapon use even among formed units. I like this effect, although some don't.

Overall, we are quite pleased with this rule set and will certainly be playing it and Black Powder again.

We venture into Vietnam...

2010-07-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

So back in the X-mas season of '09, the Consul and I took the plunge into Battlefront's Vietnam range. They came out with some interesting rules via Wargames Illustrated and we were excited. Real life got in the way and we pushed back the project into July of 2010. I managed to get the PAVN "Army Deal" all painted up, and the Consul made a good effort toward finishing up the 7th Cav army deal. Alas, the Consul was struck low with illness for the week prior to our gaming engagement, so he was not quite finished. But the minis were close enough to done to justify a battle report, and we were chomping at the bit to play.

For our first game, we decided to play the LZ X-ray scenario, "Hot LZ" from the WI article. By the way, all the Vietnam-specific rules from WI are available for FREE at the following location:

http://www.wargamesillustrated.net/Default.aspx?tabid=274&art_id=1795

The basic rules are identical to Regular Flames of War, so the fundamentals should be familiar to those of you who have played it.

The Consul's force consisted of HQ including Moore and Plumley, including a medic and 3 mortar teams, 3 full platoons of airmobile infantry, 4 Huey slicks, 1 Huey Hog, and a full6-tube battery of 105mm artillery.

My force consisted of PAVN HQ with 3 HMGs, 2 companies of 2 PAVN infantry platoons each, 2 AA platoons, 1 recoilless rifle platoon, and 1 mortar platoon.

Both forces weighed in around 1250 points.

In this mission, each side has an objective to defend. The US objective is the main LZ, and the Vietnamese have an objective off in the bush. We put the PAVN objective on the spur of a corner hill to represent the edge of the Chu Pong Massif. The board counts as "open woods" throughout excepting the landing zones.

The US gets the first turn, and the Vietnamese all start in "guerrilla reserve" arriving on a random roll and capable of deploying 12" or more from a US infantry team.

The Consul deployed his copters in the main LZ, landing a full platoon and his HQ elements:

On turn 1, no PAVN arrive so the US hastily reinforces with another air mobile platoon.

On the turn 2, PAVN infantry arrive to challenge the perimeter:

US troops prepare for the onslaught:

The PAVN advance on turn 3, as the US digs in and the Huey hog engages the enemy:

Turns 4-8 follow. Hueys deliver more reinforcements as the lone PAVN company advances under fire:

The PAVN company's fire is ineffectual, while the US hammers them with artillery and Hog MG fire:

The US establishes a strong perimeter as PAVN reinforcements are slow to arrive. Continuous artillery strikes, Hog MG fire,and small arms fire break the PAVN company and the score becomes 1-0.

PAVN reinforcements finally arrive in the form of 12.7mm AA guns. These promptly engage the US choppers, felling the Huey hog but doing no damage to the Huey slicks:

The score is now 1-1. PAVN "Heroes of the Revolution" survey their handiwork:

But, one downed chopper can't disguise the fact that the PAVN have little to contest the field:

Finally another PAVN company arrives to give battle to the foreign invader. The PAVN infantry platoons can return to play after being destroyed, and PAVN battalions only take morale checks when they have lost more platoons than they have on the table.

This time PAVN fire causes heavy casualties on the Americans, who have failed to dig in. Note the red wound markers. In the Vietnam Flames of War "Medevac" rules, US teams are not destroyed automatically when they would ordinarily be once they fail a save. Instead, a dice roll determines if the team is truly destroyed or wounded. A wounded team can only fight in self-defense, but can be healed by a medic team or unload the wounded onto Hueys and thereby return to normal status.

Another view of the PAVN attack. The US troops are bloodied but unbroken.

Another PAVN platoon arrives to assault the opposite flank. The US are now feeling the pressure.

One US platoon has failed to dig in. The PAVN aim to make them pay.

Emboldened by the proliferation of wound markers, the PAVN advance to contact. US fire has eliminated the AA platoon. The score is now 2-1 for the US.

Huey Slicks arrive to take off the wounded and hose down the advancing PAVN with their M-60s. PAVN recoiless rifles arrive but fail to damage the landed Slicks.

A fine job of Huey shooting and defensive fire from the revitalized US platoon eliminate the PAVN infantry company as they launch an assault. The score is now 3-1 for the US.

But on the other flank heavy PAVN fire causes serious and a number of permanent US casualties.

Another wave of PAVN infantry arrive to replace the one just lost. They were "Born in the North to Die in the South", after all. That is the special rule that allows the PAVN infantry to recycle onto the battlefield, representing PAVN willingness to throw additional troops into the fray.

The PAVN infantry advance on the LZ objective. The US has still not lost a single infantry platoon. The PAVN mortar company arrives to add some much-needed fire support.

Hal Moore looks on as his platoon turns to face the threat.

PAVN infantry seize the objective and destroy another US platoon. The score is now 3-2 but the US is in danger of losing the objective.

The "Ride of the Valkyries" plays in the background as the Hueys fly in to the rescue.

A hail of fire rains down on the PAVN infantry holding the objective. All 4 helicopters, the US artillery, and Hal Moore's platoon fire everything they have, and the PAVN are annihilated. Moore's platoon consolidates on to the objective. The score is now 4-2 for the US.

The loss of a third PAVN infantry platoon makes the PAVN battalion subject to morale checks. The PAVN now have more platoons destroyed than on the table, and must pass a test or abandon the field. I roll a "2" and the PAVN break. The US is victorious.

The following views show how precarious the US position was at the end of the game. The US sustained serious casualties but held on just long enough to force a PAVN retreat. The final score is 4-2, a 2 point difference and therefore a "marginal victory" under the scenario victory chart.

Two armchair generals enjoy a rare day of good gaming:

In summary, Flames of War Vietnam is an exciting variation on the system and an interesting foray into another historical conflict. The "Hot LZ" mission did a good job of turning the LZ X-ray battle into a playable wargame scenario. We took a long time to play this game, about 4 hours, due to unfamiliarity with the rules and a few distractions. But in my view it was very interesting and riveting in the final moments as both sides teetered on the edge of oblivion. The PAVN units are powerful and have great morale, but their lower training rating (Trained as opposed to Veteran) make them susceptible to casualties. This is offset somewhat by the "Quality of Quantity" rule which means they are not pinned unless they take 10 hits as long as the have more than 10 teams. Also, "Guerrilla Reserve" allows them to appear all over the battlefield, although usually in a random fashion, stretching the US defense. PAVN weaponry is deadly at short range, and effective on the move, but are generally inferior to US weapons.

The US, on the other hand, play a bit like WWII Flames of War Germans: individually superior in training and weaponry, but easily outnumbered and highly sensitive to heavy casualties. They are more resilient than any other troop type in Flames of War, however. The medic rules mean that 75% of US casualties will remain on the table, able to be "fixed up" by the medic or the Hueys. In addition, the "Surrounded" rule means that US platoons who fail a morale check or would lose multiple teams to being surrounded after losing an assault, lose only a single team instead. They are therefore "hard as nails" and can take enormous punishment. The helicopters are very effective, but are worth 1 VP each if shot down. My PAVN were unlucky with their AA fire, but it could have been different.

We really enjoyed the game and look forward to bringing you more Flames of War Vietnam reports. In fact, since both the Consul and I bought both US and PAVN army deals, we plan on consolidating our collections for a large (2500 points a side) participation game at Fall-In! this October.

12th SS vs. 7th Armored

2010-02-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, the Consul and I played "The Cauldron" mission, which has the defender stuck in the middle of the table and nearly surrounded by randomly deployed attacking units. The attacker gets regular reinforcements and the defender delayed reinforcements. Also the defender gets prepared positions and "immediate ambush" which means a unit is set up after the enemy and then the defender gets the first turn.

The battle was over a town surrounded by hedgerows, which we played as very difficult terrain (skill check to cross) and as linear obstacles so they did not block LOS. There were two objectives near the center of the town. One was slightly southwest counting my table edge as north, the other slightly northeast. The Brits had to seize an objective and hold it uncontested on the beginning of their turns to win, otherwise they would lose the scenario when time was called or if they had no units within 16" of an objective after turn 6.

My army consisted of 2 full 12th SS Panzergrenadier platoons with 2 Pzrfausts each, an HW with 2IC Pzrfaust and Pzrschreck team, 3 Panthers, 1 Jagdpanther, and 1 battery of 2 88s. They are rated as Fearless Veterans, except the Jagdpanther which is a Heer unit and Confident Veteran.

Consul's army consisted of HQ w/ 2 Cromwells and 2 Cromwell CS tanks, 3 Cromwell platoons of 3 Cromwells and 1 Firefly, 1 platoon of infantry, 1 platoon of Universal carriers, and 1 platoon of M10 Achilles w 17 pdrs. They are rated Reluctant Veteran.

I created a kampfgruppe with my 2IC and shreck team and took 2 inf. teams from each PZgr platoon, giving my a 6th platoon at the cost of making my inf. platoons smaller. I deployed this kampfgruppe and 1 PzGren platoon, and I deployed the 88s in immediate ambush. All other platoons were in delayed reserve. As a result of random deployment, Bll deployed a Cromwell company on my left, a carrier platoon in the southern center, and his command group of 4 tanks slightly to the right, with the CS tanks on a southern hill able to see all my positions. His infantry ended up behind my troops, to the northwest of the southern objective, in a treeline. All other platoons were in reserve.

Setup Pics:

In the early turns, I did very little, as my 88s were positioned to one flank. The took some shots at Cromwells CS tanks but missed, got hit with smoke and then shot up by Cromwells. My 88 command team ran for their lives past the smoking hulks of their intimidating but ultimately ineffective cannons. Consul's 2IC advanced toward my southern platoon and ended up eating a pzrfaust shot, getting bailed and then assaulted into oblivion.

Smoke!

Dead 88!

Banzai! SS nail a bailed tank in assult.

Sad 88 section.

On turns 3-4 Consul got massive reinforcements including all his tanks but the Achilles. I did not get any reinforcement on turn 3 or 4. Despite this, he was either unwilling or unable to stage a full-on assault on my southern platoon covering the southern objective. He lined up a lot of tank and carrier shots on them but as hesitant to cross the hedges, eventually killing off 3 of the 5 platoon stands, but they held. He tried to launch an infantry assault but my remaining 2(!) teams on the following turn, but they were not pinned and inflicted 5 hits, halting the assault cold. One tank crossed the hedges, only to get bogged down. At this point his tanks on my left were slowly picking off the infantry dug in on the northeast objective and my positions in the town were being squeezed from almost every angle.

Tanks!

On my left...

Monkeys in the Middle.

Ve shall hold out for the Fatherland!

Quite literally in the nick of time I rolled 2 reserves on turn 5. I brought in the Panthers in the center and the Jagdpanther on my extreme left in the very corner of the table. I redeployed some teams from the northeast objective toward the southeast one, including the 'shreck team. The center platoon assaulted the bogged down Cromwell, making their second tank kill of the game. The Jagdpanther bailed a Cromwell on the left and the Panthers destroyed 2 Cromwells encroaching on the southwest objective.

CATS!

Kitty-cornering cheese!

Cannon-cam:

Brewed Brits.

In the Consul's turn 5 the Achilles arrived and Consul sped his Cromwells on my left flank toward the Panthers in an attempt to get flank shots. He brought a firefly around my right side to shoot the panthers as well. Despite a fusillade of 11 shots from his tanks, he only managed to bail out two panthers. Only one shot came from the flank, which bailed one Panther, and another long range shot from an Achilles bailed another when I rolled a "2" for my armor, needing a 3 or more to shrug off the shot completely. His infantry failed to unpin and thus could not assault the Southern objective, leaving them exposed.

Bailed Panthers.

Stunned Brit infantry

On my turn 6 I attempted to dramatically turn the tide, realizing quite late than Consul's 7th Armored were rated "Reluctant" in morale and thus easily rid of if they were forced to make morale checks. One panther re-mounted. I designated attacks on three platoons designed to bring Consul close to his company morale break point of 4. My Jagdpanter destroyed two tanks on the left flank, including one firefly. One Panther targeted the lone Firefly on my right, bailing it and triggering a morale check for that platoon (1 functional, 1 bailed, 2 destroyed means more destroyed than functional and hence a morale check.) The other fired at the platoon on my left, destroying another Crowmell and leaving one tank functional and subject to a morale roll. This lone Cromwell survived the check but the Firefly and Cromwell in the center failed and the platoon survivors fled the table. My few infantry teams on the southern objective opened up on the British infantry but failed to score any kills. So, I had broken only one of the 3 platoons I targeted, but overall my position was vastly improved. The two functional Panthers used their stormtrooper move to get behind terrain out of sight of the distant Achilles.

Cannon cam-2 Kills!

The lone Cromwell:.

Right flank cleared!

On his turn 6, Consul finally launched the big assault I had been dreading all game. He advanced carriers and Cromwells down the main road to threaten the northern objective, crossed his tanks over the hedges guarding the southern objective, and prepared to pepper my bailed out panther with shots. His infantry failed to unpin and fired ineffectively at my teams behind the hedges defending the southern objective. In the shooting phase, he killed one of the two infantry teams guarding the objective, then assaulted. One of his tanks was hit and bailed out by a panzerfaust, but they destroyed the last Panzergrendiers and seized the objective! His remaining Cromwell on my left fired and failed to hit the bailed out Panther, but the Achilles picked it off with an improbable long-ranged shot, setting it ablaze.

On my turn 7, I needed to seize the objective, and try to break the Consul's force. I moved the CO and most of the remaining panzergrenadiers from the northern objective over to contest the southern objective. The Panthers advanced toward the objective, intent on firing at short range on the Cromwell platoon holding it. The last panzergrenadier platoon finally arrived, marching onto the board right near the Cromwell on my left flank, and supported by the Jagdpanther. In my shooting phase, I destroyed one Cromwell in the center near the objective with the Panthers, which resulted in another morale check which the British promptly failed, and netted me another platoon, this one crucial as it was holding the objective. I then bailed out the Cromwell on my left with a panzerfaust shot from the newly-arrived Pzgren platoon. The Jagdpanther missed the close range shot on the Cromwell's rear, however. In the assault phase, the newly-arrived panzergrenadiers overran the bailed out Cromwell, destroying a 2nd British platoon. The CO and a Panzergrenadier team assaulted the pinned British infantry, destroying a team and throwing them back to the woodline. My Panthers used a stormtrooper move to advance toward and contest the southern objective

Contested objective.

Left flank clear!

Center Cromwells evaporate

Final dispositions:

Cat's eye view:

A weak chewy center:

German left:

Achilles View:

At this point, we ran out of time. Consul had lost 3 platoons and the infantry were not long for the battle. Conversely, I had only 2 infantry teams and two Panthers left to hold the southern objective against the massed fire of 4 Achilles and 3 Cromwells coming up the road. The Universal Carriers were threatening the northern objective, but my newly arrive Panzergrendiers and Jagdpanther were in the neighborhood. I had lost a Panzergrenadier platoon and most of the 88 platoon (in fact they probably should have counted as destroyed since I forgot to take "man alone" checks for the cowering command team all game!) so I was basically down 2 platoons myself. Although by the technical rules of the scenario the Germans had won, as the British had not seized the objective by the end of the game, I think this battle was really a draw.

This was my first late war game and my first western front game as well. I have not often played Germans and never before played "big cats", nor have I previously face British late war armor. So this was a game of firsts for me, indeed. I got what I expected, however, in that I knew the Germans would be few in number but hard, and the British numerous and dangerous. The tank kill ratio was 14-1 counting the 4 Brit tanks that fled the field, probably better than the Germans can usually expect. Due to the terrain and some canny (cheesy?" positioning on my part, I kept my tank flanks reasonably well protected. Perhaps the real starts of the game for me were the SS PzGren infantry, which held on to the objectives despite tiny numbers, using their anti-tank weapons quite well and launching assaults when the opportnity arose to throw back the encroaching attackers.

That said, I think the British gave me a gift by taking a few turns to try to soften up my positions with fire before assaulting. If the big push came one or two turns earlier I would probably not have been able to hold both objectives. They have great mobility and good firepower and when concentrated will likely grind down the German infantry despite taking casualties.

The Cauldron scenario can be pretty exciting. Depending on the dice rolls for reinforcements, it can probably be pretty one-sided, as well. But this time we had just the right rolls for a tense and close-run battle, the likes of which every gamer really enjoys but rarely experiences. Thanks to the Consul for a first-class battle!

Tournament Report: Centauro in Tunisia

2009-11-22T17:44:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I participated in a Flames of War Mid-War tournament. This was an unusual tournament, in that it limited the forces to 1750 point lists from the new North Africa book, and specifically from those force lists from the Tunisian campaign. Fortunately for me, the new Italian Bersaglieri list is the same in both North Africa and Tunisia, so with a few modifications, I took my 1000 point list from the Fall-In doubles tourney and added 750 points.

Battaglione Bersaglieri (North Africa and Tunisia)

Command: 30

Bers. Company (6 Rifle/Mg Teams, 3 HMG teams, 3 47mm AT gun teams, Command team): 320
Bers. Company (6 Rifle/Mg Teams, 3 HMG teams, 3 47mm AT gun teams, Command team): 320

Howitzer battery(4 100/17guns, w/spotter) : 225

Semovente 75 (4 guns, 1 carro commando, 3 AA MG): 335

Lancia da 90/53 (2): 220

5 M14/41 tanks: 300

Total: 1750

Due to the new "Immobile Legions" rule in the North Africa book, I was almost certain to be the defender in any "Defensive Battle" mission. The "Immobile Legions" rule states that, due to their lack of transport, the Italian forces attacked with tanks, and the infantry usually defended. While that statement is probably not strictly true historically, I understand where they are coming from with this rule. Fortunately for me, this makes the Bersaglieri list easier to compose as I know I will most likely be defending.

With that rule in mind, I created my list to provide a good balance of objective defenders, artillery support, heavy anti-tank assets, and mobile reserves. The Bers. companies are large and very versatile. On the defense, they are quite hard to push off an objective. The Italians have randomized training and morale due to the "8 Million Bayonets" rule, but in general the odds are Bersaglieri will be Confident Veterans or better. As such, when dug-in they are very hard defenders. In addition, people tend to forget that the 47mm AT guns are very effective against light armor, and are very nice in an assault. With AT 7 and FP 4+, they can wreck the side armor on many tanks. In fact, they can threaten even a Sherman tank's frontal armor at short range. With the "Avanti!" rule allowing 4" of additional movement if they do not shoot, the Bers. can also move to the attack. For heavy AT, I took the Lancia da 90s and the Semovente 75s. The Semos are good against almost anything in Tunisia excepting Churchills (a very hard target) and Tigers (almost impossible to hurt). The Lancias, however, can kill anything in-theater. They are fragile, however, so I plan on ambushing with them and I expect them to be one-shot wonders for the most part. The 100/17 howitzers are excellent artillery, and in a pinch can perform direct anti-tank fire, as well.

On an historical note everything in this force, with the possible exception of the Lancia da 90s, was actually fielded by the Centauro armored division in Tunisia.

The tournament lasted for three rounds. In round one, I faced a British Indian Motor Company (coincidentally several Indian Motor Brigades fought against the Italians quite often in the desert battles) with mostly infantry supported by Indian pattern carriers, some Churchills, and artillery. I fought as the defender in the "Fighting Withdrawal" scenario. In sum, the Indians had a very hard time advancing on foot against my entrenched troops. My Lancia ambush was fairly successful, killing two out of three Churchills. The Indian infantry was essentially massacred by the HMG and MG fire of the Bersaglieri platoons. I lost the Lancias, but otherwise my army was basically unscathed. I eliminated 3 platoons of Indian infantry and one Indian Pattern Carrier platoon. Result: 5-2 victory.

Here, the Indians advance on a strong line of entrenched Bersaglieri. In the foreground, the Lancias burn, shortly after unleashing an ambush on the Churchills.

On the left, in front of the foremost objective marker, Indian Pattern Carriers fell victim to the unexpected punch of 47mm "Elefantino" guns.

A lone Churchill harasses the entrenched infantry, but can't quite break through. The M14s are hiding behind a ridge to avoid attracting artillery fire, after seeing off last of the Indian infantry as they advanced on the Italian objective on the right.

The left flank battle descends into long range sniping: the Italians have eliminated several spotter teams on the crest of these hills.

My next game was against long-time opponent and good friend Consul Scipio. The Consul fielded an army I had "dared" him to take. After he amassed a large collection of Churchill tanks I challenged him to use them in this tournament. He took the bait and fielded a Churchill company of 8 tanks in total, supported by Commandos and artillery. I was quite afraid of this army going into the battle. We played the "No Retreat" mission: No Retreat Mission Because these tables were 5x5, he started practically on top of me...one foot closer than the usually 6x4 setup using the long edges for deployment. I was nervous about this, as well...

The Consul poses with his trademark Churchill:

Opening setup: The table was thick with difficult area terrain. This made things more complicated for an assaulting tank force, but also severely restricted my lines of sight. I deployed an entrenched Bersaglieri company to cover the objective and the 100/17 howitzers on the ridge to provide support.

The Churchills advanced rapidly in the early stages of the game. I sprang my ambush of Lanica da 90s from concealing terrain, only to choke on my firepower rolls, and kill just a single Churchill. I quickly lost a Lancia in return. Massed MG fire from the Churchills and barrages started to take a toll on "A" Company of the Bersaglieri. On my left, the commandos encroached on my lines, using the ruins for cover.

The Churchills continued their implacable advance on the objective. At one point, I dropped a perfect 100/17 barrage on the rightmost Churchill platoon, and the Consul failed two armor saves. I then proceeeded to blow the firepower rolls, only bailing them out! With their protected ammo, they remounted without a problem. AARGH! It looked grim for the Italians as the big tanks rolled in. On my left, the Commandos assaulted and destroyed the remaining Lancia. The tanks assaulted the Bersaglieri and the commandos also attacked from the ruins to the left. The Bersaglieri survived, and a lone Churchill burned after bogging down in the assault. The Semoventes have moved up to defend the objective but could not yet participate.

The final push by the Churchills was repulsed by the timely arrival of the Semovente 75s. When the Churchills assaulted the infantry holding the objective once again, the Semoventes were able to contribute defensive fire, destroying another Churchill. On the left, only one platoon of commandos remained, after the other platoon was repulsed by the Bersaglieri and mopped up by off-camera M14s. The Consul could not take an objective in time, and was down two platoons, losing a platoon of Churchills and Commandos. Once again the Lancias were my sacrificial victim. Result: 5-2 victory.

In the final game, I faced another Blue player. Evidently, the Axis had fared well at this tournament and it was time to see which Axis player would take top honors. My opponent had a Panzer Kompanie consisting of two mixed platoons of Pz-IV and Pz-III, a PZ-II recon platoon, a Panzergrenadier platoon, and also a Nebelwerfer battery. The CO and 2IC were in PZ-IV short-barreled tanks. My opponent did not make a Kampfgruppe, so he had just 5 platoons. He also had Priority Air support from Me-109s.

The scenario was a "Free For All" where we both had two objectives to protect and could win by seizing one of the opponent's side objectives, or breaking the enemy force. This was the first time I was not automatically a defender in the tournament.

German setup on my left. Note the armor is concentrated on this flank.

German setup on my right (up to the table edge):

My setup on the left. I responded to the armor concentration with all my heavy AT, although there wa sthe option to redeploy...

My setup on the right. The Bersaglieri prepare to dig in, backed by light armor.

Not unexpectedly, the Germans rapidly shifted to my right, apparently massing for an attack on the right side objective. I rushed the Semoventes forward for some long-range shots on Panzers moving "at the double", but I failed to score any hits. On his turn, he massed his armor in the center and fired everything at the Semoventes! Despite the odds, he only managed to bail out the Carro Commando (MG) tank, so a slugfest began between our armor, with my Lancias tipping the balance in my favor after a hasty redeployment to the center. Here we see some brewed up tanks, with Germans and Semoventes trading fire:

After losing the Carro Commando, the Semoventes produced an "Unknown Hero", giving the unit a 2+ motivation rating for the remainder of the game. This marked the first time I had seen that rule actually do something! As the tank slugging match continued, I repulsed an assault on my right, wiping out the Panzergrenadiers and driving off a platoon of PZIIs with massed 47mm AT fire from the Bersaglieri and the M14s. In the following photo, the M14s have brazenly advanced to fire into the flanks of the Panzers to some good effect. The Semoventes have also crested the central hill in a bid to finish off the Panzers, but they could not quite pull it off. Repeated pounding by the Axis air failed to make much of an impression on the entrenched Bersaglieri.

On the the extreme right, the German CO's tank was set ablaze, overcome by 47mm Elefantino fire! The same 47mm crew had earlier bagged the personal halftrack of the Panzergrenadier command team. Having destroyed the German CO, a platoon of Panzer Grenadiers, and one tank platoon, the Italians attacked with gusto, knowing that the loss of one more platoon will break the Germans. The M14s, the last Unknown Hero Semovente, and the artillery all took aim at the last PzIII of the remaining German Panzer platoon. On the left, I belatedly unleashed the other Bersaglieri platoon to march on the opponent's objective, but they would not reach it in time to have an impact on the game.

Unfortunately for the Italians, all of their fire failed to down the tank and force a platoon morale check. The last Semovente was bailed out and unable to shoot, and the 100/17 barrrage failed to damage the PZII. Here the M14s have flanked the Panzer but their 47mm guns could not finish the job!

Time ran out, with neither side winning the game by seizing an objective, or breaking the enemy force, although my Italians came close. The Germans lost two platoons and their CO. The Italians lost no platoons. We both score on the loser's column. Result: 2-1 "draw".

In the end, three players had 12 VPs total, so we rolled off using 3 dice each. I won the roll with my often unlucky Italian dice rolling a lucky 13!

I won some free swag (picked up some Sherman tanks) and a spot at the FOW Nationals. Wow! Not a bad showing for the Italians. This was a very interesting tournament because of the limitations on the army lists you could take. In addition, the people who came concentrated mostly on "historical" armies. For example I expected, but did not see, a multi-Tiger tank force. Yes, there were some in Tunisia but do we need to see them every battle? Thankfully the players at this tournament thought to bring interesting and historically credible armies.

Overall, the Italian list was pretty successful. I exposed my Lancias a little too much in my first two games, as losing them preventing a 6-1 win in either. But it could be argued that they served their purpose in those games, killing some heavy armor and drawing lots of fire from the rest of my army. I learned a rather basic rule that I did not previously understand, that I could fire over my infantry if they are gone to ground as a result of not shooting in the same phase i fire over them. Knowledge of that rule would have helped me employ the Lancias more effectively.

Probably the most valuable part of my army, however, were the versatile and large Bersaglieri platoons, which are a real nightmare to dislodge when entrenched. Thanks to the new "Immobile Legions" rule, they will usually be defending in a tournament setting, which allows the player to predict the army's role more easily, and offers the ability to ambush the opponent's best units with a powerful unit like the Lancias. I doubt, however, that the North Africa Bersaglieri list would be as effective against a Soviet tank horde or other Mid-war lists outside of the Africa setting. I am planning on attending another "North Africa" only tournament in February, however, and I think that I the Bersaglieri may have earned one more outing before I try my new Americans!

Waffen SS Assault the Soviet Line!

2009-11-16T19:30:00.000-08:00

Having procured some early/mid-war Panzergrenadiers at Fall-In, I converted my late war grenadiers to Waffen SS and painted up some Panthers to support. My flash was a little strong, but I hope that you enjoy the pics. PS-Half-tracks are pre-painted plastic by Point of Contact and a steal at $25 for 5 through www.thewarstore.com!

Ariete Rides again!

2009-07-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been ages since I've posted any battle reports. I now have an 8 month old miniature who takes up a lot of my time.

But, here are some photos anda brief description of a 2000 point Flames of War battle between the Ariete Division vs. the Desert Rats. In our campaign, the Italians have pushed the Allies back and are on the offensive. The brave British are trying to stop the advance on Tobruk at Aslagh ridge. Will they succeed?

We played the new No Retreat mission which replaced the tradition Hold the Line FOW mission from the rulebook.

The Italian steel phalanx ready for action:

The British are dug in and ready for a scrap!After several turns of advancing, a smoke barrage covers the British Grants as the Italians seize the objective!

The legions of Mussolini advance behind their vanguard, but British ambushes and tanks await. British anti-tank guns concealed on the hill begin to inflict significant losses on the lightly armored Italian tanks.

More Grants!? The fearless veterans of the Ariete vanguard are getting a bad feeling about this! The British reinforcements arrived on schedule every turn, unlike the Regia Aeronautica.
But many more Italians are on the way...certainly they can break through the think line of British resistance?
The Grants destroy the advance elements of the Ariete, but lose a unit in return. Shermans and Universal Carriers converge on the objective to prevent an Italian victory.

A graveyard of AFVs grows around the objective as desperate Bersaglieri advance...but the British have made a wall of heavy armor the Italians cannot penetrate! In the next turn, many of the Italian AFVs are destroyed or pinned, leaving little hope of victory.
Despite the high cost, the British seize the objective and hold it against all comers with heavy armor elements and armored infantry carriers. Realizing that their losses are too great to sustain the offensive, the Italians retreat in good order.

Result: 5-2 win for the British. This was the first game of our campaign where the Consul used a British motor company instead of his customary armored car company. I switched from Bersaglieri to Carri for more tanks. Unfortunately, my tanks were not quite up to the job, and dismal performances by the Italian air force and artillery did not help matters! Next game the British will try to kick the Ariete out of the Aslagh ridge region. If they fail, Tobruk may still fall to the Axis!

Elephants Attack

2008-11-12T17:40:00.001-08:00

Yesterday the Consul and I got together for our first WMA game in two months. The delay was a result of my basement flooding and taking over a month to fix, and our schedules not meshing for a while. Anyway, it was time for the Consul to deploy his new Indians. As you can see they were not finished yet, so they are mostly a bright primer white! The Consul had 3 units of infantry, 3 of archers, 3 of skirmishers, 2 cavalry units, one heavy chariot unit, and one elephant unit. He also took Porus on elephant and 2 chieftains. Break point: 5.

For me, it was the second outing of my Persians. This time Xerxes decided to nab some elephants for himself and who better to take them from than the Indians! I took 4 Persian Infantry, 4 Subject Infantry, 2 Greek Mercenaries, 3 Persian cavalry, 1 heavy cavalry, and 2 Scythian archer units. Break point:7.

Porus in the center with archers aplenty:

Xerxes with his infantry hordes:

On turn 1, the Persians advanced, with the exception of the cavalry in the back right of the Persian line.

The Indians also advanced, with the elephant unit lagging behind.

On turn 2, the Persian cavlry, Scythians and some infantry massed to shoot a chariot and drove the unit back.

The world on its head after Persian turn 2:

On turn 2 the Indians advance again, with the elephants making 2 moves to rejoin the line.

Indian shooting drove back and confused the Scythians.

On turn 3,the Persians crossed the river en masse and prepared to charge the Indian line.

Persian shooting drove back and confused several Indian units, disordering the battle line.

The Indians regrouped and reformed a line on turn 3, but one confused infantry unit stood atop the hill awaiting certain destruction.

Indians reformed and ready! Their punishing missile fire drove one Persian unit back far enough to destroy it. Note that the Indian cavalry has stood immobile on the hill for quite some time...

On Persian turn 4, the massed infantry charged and the cavalry moved to encircle the chariots and elephants and pepper them with missiles.

Persian infantry destroyed the lone unit on the hill but lost a unit in return, and advanced into combat with the archers at the base of the hill and destroyed two stands. To the right, a subject infantry unit unwisely charged a supported archer unit and was destroyed.

The aftermath sees the Persians atop the hill and flanking the Indian line. Greek Mercenaries advanced to the center of the Persian line.

The Indian view of the same. Note that massed Persian archery has destroyed another chariot and driven the surviving stand back.

On Indian turn 4, the Indian troops formed a line and attempted to damage the Persians with missile fire. The Elephants charged the Persian cavalry, but as skirmishers they evaded. Indian archery drove back Scythians and Persian infantry.

On Persian turn 5 the line charged again, this time led by Xerxes himself, into the Indian archers and infantry, with some cavalry support on the right flank.

The first round results in the destruction of one Indian unit and one Persian unit.

In the second round, the sheer number of Persian attacks felled two more Indian units and causes the Indian army to break. Here is the combat in the last moments. Xerxes, who knows what's good for him, has joined the Greek mercenaries to assure victory.

The VP count was very close: Indians 155 VP, Persians 257 VP. The game ended as it did mostly because the Persian tactic of tying up the Indian heavy hitters with skirimish cavalry paid off hansdsomely. Neither the chariots nor the elephants were able to affect the battle and the massed Persian archery even destroyed two stands of the chariot unit in the process. The Persians have better infantry than the Indians and were able to bring more of it to bear on the left side of the battlefield. No doubt Porus will have other ideas next time. Xerxes still needs those elephants!

Persian Army in 10mm Pictures

2008-09-16T17:26:00.001-07:00

I was tempted to write something lascivious-sounding as the title to get more hits, but I get no money for hits and probably would get wrapped on the knuckles or something, so here it is, family-friendly Persian 10mm eye candy.

I'm not a great photographer, so forgive me if these aren't the best shots. Also my game table is still down so there are no nice mini hills and textured ground this time around. Most figs are Old glory, but I had to us Magister Militum commanders for most units as OG doesn't make Persian command except for the ones in the subject infantry unit.

Persian cavalry:

Persian Archers:
Mercenary Greek Hoplites:

Satrapal or Subject Persian Infantry:
Persian Infantry:
Persian Infantry by Magister Militum:

Persian Heavy Cavalry:
Persian leaders:

As I've said before, the color choices were based on Osprey and Montvert publications. I've opted to give ethnically Persian troops the yellow hood, or tiara. My satrapal infantry have white hoods. The light cavalry are a mix. The heavy cavalry were easy as they are mostly armor! The Greek mercs required the most effort. between drilling their tiny hands for tiny spears and painting so many different shields, they took quite a while. I think the army is painted to a pretty good gaming standard and looks good on the tabletop. I paint to play, so that's great for me. I do intend to paint the base edges a uniform brown at some point soon.

Also, I noticed that teh camer close-up revelas a lot of flaws not obvious to the human eye, hmm...

Western Civilization in Peril!!!

2008-09-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different! You were tired of Gauls and Romans, right? Well our latest Warmaster Ancients report has thrills, chills, and unwarranted ethnocentric slurs aplenty! Today I had a game with my good pal The Moor. That's not his real name and he's quite pale, but there you have it. The Moor ironically brought those poster boys of alabaster-skinned democratic values, etc., the ancient Greeks! (Applause) Yours truly showed up with those perennial villains, the Thousand Nations of the Persian Empire ! (Boo hiss). (Early Achaemenid for you nerds like me.) We played a 1000 point game.

The Moor's army, as I recall, consisted of 9 Hoplite units, one was Sacred Band. He also had a unit of Noble cavalry, two skirmish cavalry and two skirmishers. The champions of all that is pure and good in the world were led by that paragon of personal freedom, Leonidas. He left his Helot slaves home today so as not to spoil the narrative. Leonidas gives +3 attacks to a unit and increases the armor save of a unit he attaches to by 1. He also brought his pal, Brasidas, to assist. The Greek break point was 5.

My army consisted of 4 Persian infantry, 4 subject infantry, 2 Greek Mercenary Hoplites, 3 Light cavalry, 2 Heavy cavalry, and a unit of Persian archers. The dark droves of despotism were led by Xerxes in a chariot and his lieutenant of lechery, Megabyzus. I did not take the actual Xerxes upgrade (can cause enemy units to be unreliable!) for lack of points, so Xerxes had a simple +3 attacks to contribute. The Persian break point was 8.

We rolled game length and got six turns. Deployment was by mutual ignorance, i.e. we did not look at each other's setup and just put the troops down. When the dust cleared, the Greeks were arrayed as follows:

The Persian horde (and I guess they look the part) deployed from one end of the field to another:

Greeks contemplate individual liberty and the doctrine of the separation of powers:

Xerxes: "I come on my four-horse chariot to extinguish human freedom forever! Failing that, I will accept instead a 20% tax levied on your trade income. "

Turn 1: The Persians advance en masse led by Xerxes, excepting the cavalry on the right:

The Greeks send skirmishers and one brigade forward on the left. Leonidas gives a great speech about the benefits of abdominal workouts, so no one else moves:

Turn 2: The Persians fail to move the cavalry and the rightmost brigade, the rest advance. Megabyzus, commander on the Persian right, updates his resume.
The Greeks move their flank units but the center brigade still won't move as they wax their pectoral muscles.
Greek skirmishers double move to take the hill. Some individuals will work, some others will not!

Turn 3: We fast forward as not much happens, really. More advancing an maneuvering all around. Pictures confiscated by the Persian Ministry of Boredom. Sorry!

Turn 4: Persian cavalry finally move forward! No one else moves. Shooting from the Persian infantry kills a Greek skirmisher stand and drives the unit back.

Greek Hoplites get angry about the fancy arrow-work and charge off the hill. Brasidas gives them two orders in a row and they hit the Medizing Greek mercenaries head on! Take that, Xenos-lovers!

After the scrum, the Greek Hoplites have lost 2 stands but the Medizing Greeks have lost an entire unit. No doubt the citizen-soldier advantage was at work, there!
Turn 5: The hordes of the East move to extinguish liberty! Xerxes leads a charge of his Greek lackeys and the Persian foot to crush the Hoplites who had attacked last turn.
Meanwhile, the Persian horse annihilate a unit of Greek light horse on the right flank and harass the Greek skirmishers.
In the center combat, Xerxes and his troops eliminate 6 stands of Hoplites for the loss of two stands of Medizing Greeks. Xerxes has a little "Darius III" moment and retreats to the rear, fearing a serious counterattack. On the right, the Hoplites behind Xerxes have been driven back and confused by Persian shooting.

And here it comes! The Greek Hoplites charge everything that can reach into the center of the Persian line. Leonidas puts away the Muscle Milk and joins his troops in battle.
After a monstrous 2 rounds of fighting, almost no Persians are left in the center. The Persians lose 3 units in one blow, but Xerxes has escaped the fury of the Hellenes! Although I have no pictures of the moment, Leonidas confidently advanced on Xerxes with only a 2-stand unit to protect him. He sent his other 2 victorious units to guard his flanks.

Turn 6: Xerxes and Megabyzus throw all they have at Leonidas in a desperate attempt to finish the battle before the Hoplites can cause more damage. Most of the Persian cavalry launch a spoiling attack on the Hoplites and skirmishers near and on the hill. The rest of the infantry in range move to surround and destroy Leonidas. Two orders were necessary to move the infantry in to support, but Xerxes manages to cajole them with promises of hot chicks and war rhinos back at camp. Xerxes and Megabyzus join the fray to finish the Greek hero once and for all. After two lopsided rounds of combat, Leonidas and his bodyguard fall to the Persian blades, ending the battle.

A gaping hole in the heart of freedom: Xerxes stands triumphant before the space where Leonidas has fallen.

As the Greek general was dead, the Greek army was forced to withdraw at the end of the Turn 6 combat phase.

We then calculated victory points, aware that the massive losses of the Persians might have been enough to give the Greeks a draw. In Warmaster Ancients, the withdrawing side cannot win, but if they have scored victory points equal or greater to those scored by the winner, the battle is a draw.

Persian losses are 2 units of Persian infantry, 2 of Subject infantry, a Greek Hoplite unit, and half points for the other Greek Hoplite unit reduced to 1 stand. Total VPs for the Greeks: 225.

Persian casualties:

Greek losses look light, but their quality has a quantity all its own: victory points. The Greeks lost 3 Hoplite Units and a mounted skirmish unit, as well as losing 2/3 of another Hoplite unit for half points. Oh, and Leonidas fell, worth a whopping 145 vps by himself! Total Persian VPs: 395. (Thanks to MA of the Yahoo Warmaster Ancients group for checking my math!)

Greek casualties:
Conclusion: This was an excellent game and I have to thank my friend The Moor for good sportsmanship and generalship. It was a very close game. This was the first time either of us had played the Greek vs. Persian matchup in Warmaster Ancients, and it was very interesting. The Greeks have superior power but are not as mobile nor as numerous. The Persians have superior shooting and mobility through their abundant and effective cavalry, but their infantry do not fare well unless they have overwhelming numbers. The battle between the two armies will likely turn on the question of who can get the game to go to their strengths. The Greeks cannot outmaneuver nor outshoot the Persians. They must steamroll forward with the infantry and get stuck in as soon as possible. The Persians must play more of an ancient-style "fire and maneuver" game, using archery to create localized advantage, and maneuvering superior numbers of infantry or putting strong cavalry into combat at the right place in order to win. It's a classic match-up or pure power versus finesse and I look forward to our next game.

Flooding dampens my gaming

2008-09-12T13:08:00.001-07:00

Thanks for reading this blog. I have not posted in a while, mainly because my gaming/hobby area in the basement flooded last Saturday. It will be at least a month before the big game table is back in action.

Fear not, however, because I have completed painting 1000 points of Persians and they are due to take the field tomorrow at a local hobby store. I hope to face our perennial enemies, the Greeks!

Watch this space for Persian pics and a new battle report with new participants in the next few days.

The Tides of War

2008-08-28T17:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a real barn-burner of a game. The Consul and I got together for the third in our series of "learning games" for Warmaster Ancients. Once again, I fielded the same 1000 point Gallic army of 9 Warrior units, 2 Heavy cavalry, 2 light cavalry, 3 skirmishers, and 2 armored warrior units, along with 2 Warlords and Vercingetorix as General. The Gauls had a break point of 7. The Consul fielded 4 trained legions, 4 raw legions, 2 units of Gallic cavalry, and 1 unit of skirmishers. He dropped one unit of skirmishers and one of mounted skirmishers for an extra leader. The Romans had a break point of 5. We rolled for duration and got 8 turns.

Here's the Consul's setup:

The cat attacked and ate my setup picture:

On turn one, the Gauls advanced. The whole army moved, and the center Gallic brigade moved 3 times to take the hill!

The Romans advanced but their Raw Legions shuffled their feet just like the last battle! Maybe Rome would be better off without them?

Final Turn 1 dispositions:

Turn 2: the Gauls launched a reckless charge down the hill into bad odds. They hoped their friends would follow to help, but in fact only the rearmost Gallic brigade moved, all other units failing their command rolls!

A close up of the Gallic charge:

The battle raged, with the Gauls predictably getting manhandled by the Romans in the first round of combat. In the second round it was a tie and the two groups retired. Each side lost a full unit, with the Gauls losing two other stands and the Romans one.

Post-scrum positions:

Inspired by Gallic foolhardiness, the Romans charged up the hill. They expect to be supported by the Raw Legions. Surprise! The Raw legions move once but not twice and therefore cannot assist.

The Legions destroy a single unit of Gauls, as the other Gallic units were not contacted nor supporting.

Turn 3: The remaining Gauls on the hill charged the legions nearby. The skirmishers on the Gallic right and left advanced, but the rear brigade of Gauls failed to move, leaving the charges on the hill unsupported! The Gallic skirmishers on the right drive back and confuse a unit of Roman-allied Gallic horse with missile fire.

Before the charge:

And the Legions all but annihilated them, killing one Gallic warlord along with two units! The Romans fell back to prepare for their next turn.

The result:

The Romans on the hill charged the remaining hapless Gallic unit there, while the Raw Legions advanced to the hill to for a line. A lone Roman legion brought up the rear with two moves, and the Roman-allied cavalry charged the Gallic light horse on the right, who shoot and evade to no effect.

The Roman line of doom:

A one-sided combat ensues with a predictable result: another Gallic unit destroyed. The Gauls have lost 4 units now, and the Romans 2.

Little lost Gauls:

Turn 4: The Gauls on the lower part of the hill charged the Roman line with initiative. It looked like a desperation move andprobably was! Vercingetorix, with a Gallic sense of drama, joins an armored warrior unit to try to tip the balance with his +2 attacks. The Gauls further behind and to the left, who could have also engaged with a couple of good rolls, failed to move at all! Gallic skirmishers on the left advanced to flank the Roman line.

The charge and other Gallic moves:

The charge through Roman eyes:

In a shocking twist that the Gallic commander never dared to expect, the Gauls blasted a hole in the Roman lines, annihilating the last of the trained legions and securing a firm position atop the hill! The Romans were now down to 4 units, just 1 shy of their break point. In other events, the Gallic skirmishers came up big by shooting and driving back a raw legion on the far left and forcing the legion behind to make way, resulting in both becoming confused and unable to move next turn! The Consul was heard to weep and curse in Latin at this point!

Give me back my legions!:

But lo, just when the tides of war were at their height for the long-haired Gauls, and visions of golden torques danced in their heads, the Romans showed why their military prowess was feared. Only two of the Raw Legions were available to fight, but they charged headlong up the hill and into the Gallic armored warriors with Vercingetorix. Simultaneously, the Roman legate successfully gave both Roman-allied Gallic cavalry units two orders each to hit the lone Gauls on the top right of the hill, and the main Gallic rear, respectively. On both of his second rolls, the legate needed to roll a 6 or less on two dice. Nicely done, Bigus Horseshoeus!

The Romans squeeze the Gallic troops in a vice grip:

The Roman-allied Gallic cavalry on the right destroyed the hapless Gallic unit it had charged. That brought Gallic losses to 6, one shy of their break point! In the center, the Raw Legions and the Roman-allied Gallic cavalry delivered 7 hits to the surrounded Gauls. The Gauls, led by their chief, fought back ferociously, and score 6 hits. The Romans won by 1 hit! As a result, 4 Gallic stands had nowhere to retreat (they are blocked by other friendly stands engaged in the opposite direction) and were wiped out, along with the Gallic general himself. The Romans polished off two more units, breaking the Gauls by killing their General and bringing them over their break point simultaneously! Victory points were tallied and the Romans won 505-400.

No nasty Gauls here, Consul, sir!

The rest of the Gallic army flees as their best and brightest are destroyed on Mons Alba:

A large pile of Gallic casualties:

A not inconsiderable number of Roman casualties. No doubt the consul will report the loss of "46 centurions and just less than 800 missing."

Well, this was a very exciting game. The Gallic strategy of seizing the high ground was going well, until the rest of the army failed to show up in a timely fashion! Conversely, the Romans were on the move this time and the Raw Legions stepped up to win the battle after all their trained compatriots had been destroyed. The Gallic counterattack that destroyed two trained legions at one blow seriously shook the Roman commander's morale. The Gauls were a hair away from victory, but the Romans managed to completely envelop the troops on the hill with cavalry and won a close battle that put them over the top. 2 hits going differently in the last combat would have given the opposite result!

Surely the Gauls will return, perhaps with a larger army next time?

Two games you should buy and play

2008-08-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

If you love miniatures, wargaming, and the ancient period, you need to play Tin Soldiers: Alexander and Tin Soldiers: Caesar. These are turn-based games which allow you to re-fight the campaigns of these great generals with beautifully rendered images of painted miniatures as the gaming pieces. When casualties happen, a little hand even appears to remove figures from the units! The games are very well done, challenging, and a lot of fun. I'm not sure if Koios Works, the original designers, are still in business, but the games are available over at Matrix Games and I highly recommend you get one or both of these great games. They really hit the spot when you just can't get a friend over to play a game on the table! It's a shame they weren't greater commercial successes when they were orignally released, because I would love to see more of them.

Matrix Games

Dilemmas of Historical Miniatures Painting

2008-08-25T10:04:00.000-07:00

Historical miniatures painters know that it is often very difficult to be sure of historical authenticity in our paint jobs. this is especially true in the ancient period, and doubly so when the subjects of painting are not your run of the mill Greeks and Romans. The fact of the matter is that good source material on the ancient Persians, Indians, and other non-European armies is scarce and conflicting.

My current project is 10mm Persians. I am attempting to "double-dip" and make them playable as either early or late Achaemenids. This is possible primarily due to the fact that I cannot obtain 10mm Persian infantry with spara, or large wicker shields. The crescent shield and round shields were used by some Persian infantry from the time just after Xerxes through the fall of the empire due to Alexander. Maybe I can scratch build some spara walls to stick in front of my troops? That would be a lot of work, though.

However, my main concern is how to paint the outfits on these guys. The Sekunda Osprey on the Achaemenid Persians is not bad, but something like 9/10ths of the plates are of the Immortal (amyrtaka) regiments of the Persian Empire. This means they all wear purple and saffron in varying degrees in the Osprey. It's true, manly fighting men wore purple and saffron. It was the bling of the day, you see.

The Purple People Eaters of Osprey:

However, I also managed to nab the famous Montvert on the Achaeminds off of ebay for a song a while back. Don't hate me. In that volume they show a few more versions of Persian dress. Supposedly (according to Sekunda) the ubiquitous yellow or saffron hood was a sign of Persian ethnicity or Persian citizen status, and the white hoods might have been indicative of non-Persian troops outfitted in the Persian style. The true coloration and significance of Persian outfits at this time, however, remains unknown and probably will for the foreseeable future.

All mine:

So I ran with that and made my 4 base units of "Persian" infantry as satrapals (warriors serving a Persian administrator who were probably not ethnic Persians) with white hoods, sleeves, and trousers, and a light green tunic/linothorax armor. I gave them red shields, and although they look gaudy, they do so in a reasonably Persian fashion. I'll post some pics soon. In my mind, these come from Anatolia or thereabouts in modern Turkey and would serve an Anatolian satrap like the ones who tried to slay Alexander at the Granicus. I will, however, reserve the saffron and purple for more elite units such as Immortals (early) or apple-bearers (later) and other ethnically Persian troops in the army.

My buddy the Consul is facing a simliar dilemma: what color were Ancient Indian turbans? The sources simply do not say. We know that most line infantry wore plain white garments, but there were multiple dyes available, so turbans could have been different colors. It is not hard to imagine different tribes or other groups wearing the same color for easy identifcation on the battlefield. For the purposes of a wargamer painting units of 10mm figures, such differentiation between units greatly adds to the ease of play by helping us to avoid mixing up stands from different units. However, historically accurate dress might be compromised by such a practice.

In conclusion, I think you've got to be flexible when painting ancients who aren't Roman or Greek, as the source materials just aren't comprehensive. Make the best of your sources but don't be afraid to improvise a bit on the more obscure ancient peoples. Make compromises for ease of identification where possible. We are playing games, after all.

Finally, the truth was probably less narrow than we often imagine. One only needs to study the myriad shades of "German Grey" used in WWII uniforms to see that the exception is the rule in uniform colors throughout much of history.

A small Arausio

2008-08-21T06:53:00.001-07:00

So the Consul and I got together for another game last night. We used the same army lists, as we are just getting used to the rules for Warmaster Ancients (WMA). I took a lot more pictures than last time, so here's an honest-to goodness batrep. For simplicity's sake, I refer to positions from the Gallic perspective. We rolled a 6 turn game length and rolled for setup. The Consul deployed first and got the first turn as compensation.

Roman Deployment:

Gallic Deployment:

Turn 1 was was uneventful, with both sides advancing for the most part, but the rear Gallic warbands and skirmishers on the Gallic left did not move.

Turn 1 Final Dispositions:

Turn 2 saw more maneuvering. The legions on the Gallic right do not move, nor do the Roman cavalry (treacherous sell-out Gauls!). The central legions take up a strong position on the hill. The Gauls advance en masse, except for the heavy cavalry (all cavalry is called cav) on the far left and the skirmishers near them.

Turn 2 Final Dispositions:

Turn 3 the Roman cav advance, the legion on the Gallic right again fails to advance, and the General fails his roll to move the Roman lines at all! The Gallic skirmishers blunder, but roll a 5, resulting in a full advance anyway! All other units fail to move as the Gauls fail every command roll! Gallic skirmish fire removes a stand from the Roman skirmish cavalry, but fails to confuse them and they evade, avoiding a problematic drive back.

Turn 3 Final Dispositions:

Romans look down from the hill on the barbarian horde:

Turn 4-Fighting! The Roman cavalry engage the Gallic skirmishers on the Gallic right. The Roman general again fails his roll to move the rearward Roman Legions! The Roman-allied heavy cavalry destroy Gallic skirmish cav. The Gauls launch a large cavalry charge on the Roman legions in the center, making 2 movies to hit them. The Gallic foot move up to support, but fail their second move roll to join the huge scrum. A small Gallic detachment attacks the Roman cav on the right flank. They overwhelm the heavy cav, which was probably another case of us forgetting that infantry cannot pursue cav for a second round of combat! In the center, the Gallic Heavy cav smash into the side of the legions on the hill, flanking one stand. The Gallic general joins his stranded men to help resist the inevitable Roman onslaught next turn. They destroy one raw legion unit and push back the regular Legion after a tie in the second combat. MVP-My dice which gave me 2 hits on 16 dice...thanks, dice!

Turn 4 pics:

Dice (note the general lack of 4+, the numbers needed to hit!):

Turn 5: The Roman Legion on the Hill charge down at the Gauls. Their general joins them in the hopes of blasting a hole in the Gallic line. The raw legion on the hill attacks the Gallic cavalry in the center which just bounced off in the previous turn. Once again, the Roman general cannot move his reluctant rear legions, probably sealing the Roman fate for this game. The Roman legions in the center kill two stands of Gallic veterans, but lose two of their own in return. In a simulated personal challenge, the Roman general and Gallic general roll their 2 bonus attack dice separately: each scores one hit, so the duel is a tie! (Note this was just a flourish recommended by the Consul, there are no rules for leader duels) The combat is drawn and both sides retreat. The Roman raw legion fails to remove a Gallic cavalry stand and the cavalry hoofs it away.
In the Gallic turn, two units of Gallic cav smash the raw legion, and the Gallic lines advance against the remaining legions on the hill in the center. Then Gauls overwhelm the Roman general's unit, killing the Roman general in the process. At the end of the phase, the Roman army withdraws due to the general's death. In WMA the game ends at the end of the current phase if an army reaches its break point or the general is killed.

Turn 5 Pics:

Romans assault:

Retreat:

Gallic attack:

The end:

Casualties:

This game was a lot of fun and could easily gone the other way if the Romans had been able to win a combat in the center. The Gauls' attack bonus is hard to beat when they are winning, but if they lose it gets ugly. The Consul has decided never again to mix his raw legions and his regular legions, as the result is a -1 command modifier throughout his infantry. This hurt him when the general failed to move his rear legions 3 turns in a row! This reminded me of a description of Arausio I read recently: one half of the Roman army refused to meet up with the other half, resulting in the destruction of the Roman force. Next time I expect the Romans to field all regular legions, as the raw legions are not making the Consul happy. I am pretty happy with my current army composition, so I think I will leave it as is for the time being.

Gauls vs. Rome

2008-08-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

So my pal Consul Scipio and I do alot of co-dependent gaming. This means we pick a system and each get an army for it, hopefully painting the figures and playing a few games before the next project takes our attention.

Recently we got back into Warmaster Ancients (WMA). At Historicon, we both fleshed out our armies and proceeded to rush home to paint them. Here are some shots of the first 1000 point battle.

Here's the Roman center, complete with general on a white horse:

Next up the Gallic battle line. Aren't they colorful?

The Roman line using terrain to anchor a flank against the Barbarian hordes:

The two pristine armies maneuvering into position:

After much slaughter, the Roman center is in jeopardy and the Gallic army has been mauled on the right flank:

The Roman center collapses beneath the weight of hairy barbarians:

Gallic casualties:

Roman casualties:

In our fist match, my Gauls in the center unexpectedly stood up to a charge of the Raw Roman Legions (who are not as good as normal Legions) and there was much slaughter. Gauls are warbands, which get better in victory and worse in defeat. So in the center the warbands continued to win after the initial clash of lines, while elsewhere Bill's regular legions ate my warbands for breakfast after winning the initial clash.

Between the casualties in the center and a few other losses, the Romans took 50% casualties and broke. In WMA you determine an army's break point by the number of non-skirmishing units/2 rounding up. Bill's break point was 5 (10 core units) and mine was 7 (14 core units). This means Bill had fewer units than me, but they were generally of better quality. This represents the fact that the Roman legions were better trained and equipped, although historically it's debatable how often the Romans were outnumbered to the extent they claimed!

Next time out, I have a feeling that the Roman general will put his best troops in the center and see just what the Gauls are made of!

A New Outlet

2008-08-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am way behind on his blogging thing. This blog is about miniatures and other wargames I play, mostly here in Northern VA. I will post battle reports, pics painted figures, and anything else that comes to mind. Welcome to my wasted time space!