Evesham Wargames Club

First Club of 2012 - Japanese Vs Marines.

2012-01-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

Sunday night saw the first outing of the Evesham Wargames Club of 2012, 4 games on offer, I was lucky enough to play test the forth coming rules from Warlord Games - "Bolt Action" the Game.

It would be wrong of me to share anything of the rule set or unique mechanisms but as with many of Rick Preistly's previous offerings they are quick to pick up but the challange lies in how you position and order your troops.

It's been quite a while since my Jungle terrain got an airing, but it does give a great feel for the pacific, the scenario was simple, US marines and Japanese Infantry were both given the orders of seizing the village.

A really fast set of rules with ome nice mechanism's I look forward to the full launch in the Summer

Gloucester Minicon- 29th January 2012

2011-12-28T02:37:00.000-08:00

Just short of a month to go before the first outing of our Zulu War Adventure and Paul from our club has produced an excellent poster for our participation game...

It really captures the feel for the period and game.

Feel free to drop by and see us on the 29th.

Where are we again.

2011-12-18T06:53:00.000-08:00

Thought it might be appropriate to repost our original how to find us article. Please note we have cancelled the first club of 2012 due to it being New Years Day, we have an all day club in February and we are putting a game on at the Gloucester Minicon in January.

Welcome to Evesham Wargames Club, we meet on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month from 6pm at Bishampton Village Hall.

The address is;

Broad Lane
Bishampton
Worcestershire
WR10 2LY

From Worcester or Pershore - Take the A44 to Evesham, take the Throckmorton Road on the left and carry on following the signs for Bishampton. Once in the village keep going then take the right hand turn into Broad Lane, the Village Hall is the last building on the right hand side.

From Evesham - Take the A44, turning right onto Fladbury Hill just after the gold club. Carry on up Hill Furze Road until you meet Broad Lane and turn left. The Village Hall is the first building on the left.

Campaign Update End of Turn Two

2011-11-27T00:25:00.000-08:00

The Autumn of 1793 is upon us and Turn 2 of the Evesham Wargames - Warfare in the Age of Reason Campaign have been completed. Things are moving to head as the remaining independent states fall to the major powers.

The British in Hanover continue to expand their interests but faced a far stronger enemy in Prussia in the fight for Meckleberg.

France sees the opportunity to grab the parts of the Low Countries.

France's southern advance continues with a push into Northern Italy, whilst the Austrian's follow suite seizing Wuttenberg. Meanwhile the Spainish expansion in the south Italy stutters as they are pushed back from Tuscany.

Russian & Turkey remain quite positioning troops to secure their boarders unsure of who will flinch first.

Sweden enters the Campaign with intentions as yet unknown, but I am sure they have a significant part to play in Northern Europe.

A summary of the territories captured and advanced is set out below.

The most recent map and points are set out below.

Z cars!

2011-11-07T13:33:00.001-08:00

"Right you lot, I want you outside in 10 minutes in full public order gear", "Sarge, can we arrest zombies?". "We are not arresting anyone Constable, the undead are out of our remit, we are to contain a perimeter which we will collapse once the helicopter arrives, its all standard drill."

In an overdue Halloween game, we found ourselves having to rescue some missing scientists, lost in the town. Chris and I were "the thin blue line", Mark played the hazmat rescue team, whilst Steve and Dean played the comedy element as Bikers and Gangsters respectively.

Below can be seen the table, the police station is in the top right hand corner of the table.

The police muster outside, with shields and batons ready.

Moving out to expand the perimeter.

To the bikers and gangsters, finding the scientists could get them a space on the last helicopter out of town.

Watching any of the zombie films or the walking dead should teach us one thing, zombies are attracting to sound and guns are very loud. Steve and Dean please take notes.

Zombie Drill. Knock them down with the shield and take them out with the baton.

Zombie being attracted by the sound of gunfire as bikers and gangsters shoot at each other after the scientists are found. The hazmat team move down the table to secure the scientists before they get shot or eaten.

The few zombies that appeared were dealt with, without a single shot being fired, classic public order policing.

Bikers and Gangsters face off.

Now it gets messy, too many zombies. What's for lunch?

Biker, it seems!

The scientists are slowly moving back to the landing pad as the helicopter is heard approaching, the police collapse their perimeter.

Alas we had no model helicopter this time, I drew one and we loaded up just in time. Lets hope those scientists have some useful information.

Paul

SOK Campaign Turn 1 Update

2011-10-02T00:57:00.000-07:00

The Summer of 1793 is upon us and initial campaign moves have been completed in the Evesham Sport of Kings Campaign.During the Spring turn the governments of Europe were swift to postition themselves against new threats, the British in Hanover being the most aggressive stimultaneously attempting to annex 4 regions in one go.

A summary of the territories captured and advanced is set out below.

Britian (Hanover) captures Westphalia, Hesse & Holstein
But are forced to retreat from Meeklemberg

France captures Lorraine & Savoy
But a proposed attack into Westphalia as the locals side with Britian

Prussia captures Saxony

Austraia captures Bavaria

Spain (Naples) captures the Papal States

The Ottoman Empire captures Bosnia & Montenegro

The most recent map is set out below.

Evesham All Dayer - The Big Zulu Bash

2011-09-24T00:19:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday the Evesham Wargames Club got together for an all day colonial affair, over the last 2 years we have amassed quite a large collection of 28mm Zulu's with everyone completing their fair share of Zulu's to bolster the native ranks.

The plan was for each British player to command their own detachment allowing them to paint and use their own troops and name their leaders.

We used a modifed version of Sharp Practice from the TooFatLArdies with over 50 Bigmen in play.

Each NCO was marked as Status 1 with the detachment officers at status level 2 and the Co for each detachment at Status 3.

We also aded extra seize the moment cards to the desk to try and keep the shock off the Zulu's.

The scenario involved a British Column crossing into Zululand in an attempt to rescue Boer farmers holed up in two farms over 9ft away from the British forces...

The Brits would have to come within 18" of the farm before they were able to attempt to spot the farmers.

The Zulu's had up to 6 entry points representing horns and loines.

View from the British entry point. The homesteads can be seen to NE & NW of the table.

Forces of the Crown cross the river.

Zulu Renegades scout out the Zulu positions.

Zulu Warriors emerge from hiding and head for the British Cavalry who attempt to deploy on the high ground on the edge of the first table.

Natal Native Horse and Natal Mounted Police deploy to hold up the Zulu advance whilst the British Infantry begin to form a stable firing line to their rear.

The Britsih Column.

The Zulu's fall back and the NNH horse advance to remove the Zulu skirmishers from the Kraal.

The Zulu Left Hord emerges and advances towards the British firing lines.

The Native Horse and Natal Police are caught between the British firing lines and advancing Zulu's are forced from the field.

British Artillery fire disrupts the Zulu left horn.

The Naval Brigade and NNC advance around the Zulu left flank.

The Royal Navy pour fire into the Zulu left horn.

The Zulu loines engage the corner of the British firing line over running and driving back a British Section.

The Zulu right horn makes an appear to the rear of the British firing line and engaging with the vehicle park and artillery.

The aftermath of the right horn elements from both sides were forced to withdraw.

A great day out and a chance to play out a colonial encounter on a large scale, a couple of tweaks next time such as allowing players to pool their bonus cards and bring reinforcements on at a give time rather than game turn.

Next all dayer January 2012...

The campaign blog can be found here.
Ferguson returns to Zululand........

http://dusttears.blogspot.com/2011/09/against-assagi-evesham-wargames-club.html

Russian Invaders Defeated.....

2011-08-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

Great game last week over at Evesham thanks Paul for arranging. I thought I would post up my Pic's from the battle.

*****Footage has been obtained from State TV*****

As the valiant defenders of the town take a stand against an incursion of Russian invaders.
Our forces deploy in the centre unsure of where the Russian barbarians would enter.

The Russians in their tin baths rolled in from the eastern end of town.
Our forces had planned for this and let fly with RPG's destroying the first APC and killing all it's occupants.

Defenders of the faith sponsored by Coke.

The Russian Invaders halt after seeing their comrades killed and seek the cover of local buildings.

As our front line forces seek cover from the occasion small arms fire from the Russians.
Reinforcements head into town to turn the invaders back.

Another great victory for our valiant forces.....
Stay tuned for regular updates from your unity government backed TV channel. Propoganda is our tag line.

Stu

Force on Force runthrough

2011-08-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

We have been playing Ambush Alley for a couple of years, despite Force on Force coming out earlier this year we still having managed to play them. The rules have many subtle differences which often only come out after a first play through.

Rather than use the US Marines, we used the Russian Motor Rifles with their BTRs. The scenario saw irregular troops in control of the town and the Russians needing to neutralise them.

The irregular troops start on the table, the Russians played by Dane are given a choice of where to enter the table.

They take to the rooftops but fail to seize the two highest buildings.

They wait for the Russians with their RPGs and machine guns ready.

The Russians choose to come on to the table together, mounted in their APCs with only the lead commander exposed. The commander needs to pass a morale check to stay 'unbuttoned' which he promptly fails and drops down dropping the hatch shut as he goes. All Russian reaction checks are now at a penalty.

There then follows some extremely complicated interrupting which we made far more complex than needed and a RPG was launched at the lead vehicle. Here's where we got the rule really wrong, misrolled the result which showed an exploding vehicle, killing the occupants. Guess that's a lesson - don't drive through a hostile city without infantry support.

Russian infantry do the sensible thing and dismount. Taking up overwatch positions the BTRs probe further into town.

The high ground serves the Russians well forcing their opposition to gather out of sight.

From their high ground on top of the general store the Russians poured effective fire on to their opposition.

The BBC were present to film the skirmish.

As the APC burned the Russians traded fire with the irregulars, driving them from the rooftops.

Alas photography failed at this point, a group of technicals ended the board but came under fire and being softskins lacked any armour, this largely ended their role in the game. A pair of hummers entered the table and immediately came under fire, the vehicle was destroyed and this may well prompt a further game as the US Marines seek to mend their damaged pride.

Evesham wargames Club - Summer Campaign

2011-08-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

The summer months were always seen as prime campaigning seasons so why should wargaming be any different?

For a couple of weeks I have been working on tweaking the Campaign Book Warfare in the Age of Reason to a Napoloeonic era campaign, as discussed my hope is that it can serve as a background to a number of Sharp Practice games, or an encouragement to get stuff painted, although for some players it may be no more than a game of map movements.

In any event it should give club members something to think about over the summer holidays.

Look upon it as a European Napoleonic version of Risk.......

Set out below is a copy of the pre-campaign map, initial dispositions are based around Europe in 1793 with a couple of assumptions around territories and minor alliances.

Britian - Mark L
France - Paul
Turkey - Stuart
Russia - Dane
Austria - Chris
Prussia - Dean
Sweden - Mark G
Spain - Mark A

You will note the majority of what is modern day Germany and Italy are unallocated, these are available for conquest.

Before we kick off proper all players have a number of army points or strength points to spend.

Each SP point represents 1 8-10man unit on table but I will address that once an engagement takes place.

SP's are used to defend territories or to advance into new territories

Each territory must contain one SP point the rest are the players to allocate across your territories. e.g. Britian has 20 additional points to allocate. The maximum move for each SP is one territory.

It's all a FAD!

2011-08-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

This week saw more Zulu Action, a battle report can be found here, some 15mm FoW and a 28mm Sci-Fi game played using the Fast and Dirty (FAD) rules which can be downloaded free from the internet.

A small 4' x 4' table with plenty of terrain from a variety of manufacturers and some scratch built by Mark.

The table

Copplestone Neo-Sovs face troopers from Pig Iron Productions.

The Neo-Soviets start on the back foot after losing the initiative but find targets plentiful, opening up across the board in a long range fire fight they manage to inflict large casualties on a enemy section.

In the centre, another section probe forward but are forced back by opportunity fire, the Neo-Sov command group return fire pinning their enemy down. On the right flank they continue to probe forward through the ruins.

After exchanging fire, a further couple of casualties are caused, worse yet Mark's command team suffer casualties, over half his sections are now suffering with their casualties, probing on the left Mark causes casualties on the Soviets.

Despite the enemy fire, the central tanks are climbed and their superior height enabled further fire down in to Marks troops.

The remnants of the Mark's crippled sections join up but then fail a further morale test causing them to rout off table. At the point we called it a night with a Neo-Soviet victory.

A sunny afternoon in Spain, a rainy weekend in the UK.

2011-07-18T12:47:00.001-07:00

A number of cancellations this weekend had let us without a game for Sunday evening. A lack of Napoleonic miniatures had kept us from the original Sharp Practice although we play plenty of TSS, the ACW variant and our own Zulu variant.

We found we could scrape together about eight groups plus big men so thought we would give it a go, if nothing else it might motivate us to paint so more!

Dodgy photos are courtesy of my phone, hence the poor colour balance. Figures are Victrix, Foundry and Front Rank. Buildings are from Snapdragon, Italeri and Grand Manner. Rules are of course Sharp Practice by Too Fat Lardies.

The table saw the church at one end of the table with a few more buildings on the flank, a sail-less windmill dominated a small ridge. A small wooded hill dominated the other flank.

All the forces started the game on blinds, the French moved a blind down each of the tracks whilst their third blind took a position behind the ridge. The British advanced two groups centrally in to the centre of the village, the third group moved through the wooded hill.

The second turn brought the French off their blinds, revealing the left most blind as empty. They then used their actions to spot the British. The blinds in the village centre revealed three groups of foot whilst the group on the right were revealed as riflemen.

French skirmishers supporting a group of French line.

The feared British riflemen took aim on their prey, their officer called forward the chosen man to thin out the French officers, alas he has used his supply of finely milled powder to provide them with yesterdays rabbit supper.

The British line form themselves in to a formidable three group formation, the French groups form in to a formation behind the ridge.

In order to cover their flank the British commander orders the end group to wheel against the French to protect the flank of the others, after losing a man insensible to drink, they open fire on the French to their front. The longer range of the riflemen is having a telling effect on the flank doing useful work against their opposite numbers.

The French on the ridge decided to advance and wheel against the lone British group getting a partial enfilade, the volley tore through them and forced them backwards. The British commander advanced and fired a volley in to the French formation causing casualties and inflicting shock points.

The riflemen continued their fire on the lone French group causing sufficient shock to force it to withdraw. Timing know was everything, the opposing formations where now both unloaded, the senior British big man card came up first and they had "Now Maitland, now's your time!"

Ordering a charge and using a 'Grasp the Nettle' card to add fervour the British charged with the cold steel. In close rounds of fisticuffs the French groups were pushed back and routed.

A great game with a reasonable believable result which felt right to us. In retrospect we should have either added another group of French or improved their quality to Good. More games to come once the paint is dry on more miniatures.

Crossing the Buffalo

2011-07-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

In preparation for our Big Game in September we played out the first proper game in the Chronicles of Ferguson of the 99th.

The plan is to carry over the big men from each scenario for the British which will allow us to add a little flavour to each encounter. So here goes Chapter One. Crossing the Buffalo.

Feguson had been in Natal for less than a week when orders came from up the line.

He was to take his platoon and with a detachment of NNC and cross the Buffalo River to provide a covering screen for a company of Engineers who were testing the drift for a suitable crossing place for the wagons of Chelmsford's invasion force.
It was not known how long the mission would last the Engineers would fire a yellow flare once they had completed their scouting mission.

Ferguson being a pragmatic man decided to take his full platoon as he had no knowledge of what lay over the river. Sergeant Taylor his no.2 was his usual self, he had been in country for several weeks and was keen to get a closer look at the mighty Zulu.

The British forces advanced on table masked by Blinds, with the NNC securing the left flank and sections 1-3 across the centre of the able.
Sergeant Williams of second squad was unwell, as usual he had put his belly before his head and was under the weather after eating some of the local muck. This caused him to miss a couple of turns as he would nip away for a constitutional on more than one occasion - That was to be the least of his worries.

On the Right Flank Lt Henshaw was his usual snooty self, strutting about the table barking orders.

The morning started well for Ferguson as they march on table Zulu's were spotted to the right and left of the advancing British however the first concentration of Zulu's on the bluff turned out to be merely a scouting party. A small group of rifle armed Zulu's appeared on the left but their occasional rifle fire an no effect on the advancing British.

On the left flank a concentration of Zulu's rushed down the bluff head start for Sergeant Williams Section and Ferguson who had attached himself to the section. A number of Volley's crashed into the Zulu but they were simply to numerous and they drove into the British Section, first to fall was Williams who was otherwise engaged when the Zulu hit home.
The section fought back killing a number of Zulu's. Ferguson threw himself into the melee in attempt to turn the tide but was over come by Zulu's with a blow to the head, his efforts were not in vain as the remaining Zulu's withdrew.

Whilst the 99th were engaged to their front a number of Zulu's burst from the grass land and charged head log into the NNC, they hoped that a full volley would be enough to slow the Zulu their poor fire only served to slow the Zulu advance for a few moments.
Faced with odds of 3:1 they at first waiver'd then broke head back across the Buffalo carrying Sergeant Taylor the platoons' senior NCO with them.

Taylor recovered his wits and broke away from the fleeing NNC with intention of saving the remaining men of 1 section who were now leaderless, reinforced by dutch courage borrowed from the quartermaster he ran back towards the now isolated section only to trip and fall knocking himself out for a round.....
The survivors of 1 Section were over ran by the main Zulu body.

On the right flank Lt Henshaw began to engage the Zulu skirmish line whilst at the same time turned 2 section to fire on the now advancing Zulu's victors of the melee with the NNC, a number of long range volley's were enough to force them backwards with the cumulated shock from a number of turns of melee and long range rifle fire.

As a yellow flare was seen in the early morning sky, the Zulu's began to fall back have leaving the field to the British who began task of seeing to their wounded and checking to see if their were any survivors of 1 section.

The flanking mission had been a success but at what cost?

Medical report to follow shortly.

Sharp Practice - Adventures in Zululand

2011-06-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

The latest club saw the first outing of our Zulu's using the ToofatLardies - Sharp Practice rules (TSS). We have tried a couple of different rule sets over the pas 18 months but nothing quite hits the mark for me, we have an all dayer planned for September with multiple commands for the British. We wanted the Brits to have a bit of character, fighting off the zulu against significant odds but also with a little room for scenario's rather than just standing behind a barricade and blazing away.

The Scenario
Using a scenario generated from the Platoon Forward supplement.
A detachment of NNC and Cavalry have crossed into Zululand and have secured a Zulu cattle herd, however the local Zulu chieftain has sent his warriors to retrieve them, your platoon has been sent forward to support the NNC and Drive back the Zulu.

The Colonial command was split into two groups, the cavalry mustered on the hill top whilst the NNC held the valley with the cattle to their rear.
The colonial troops had to hold on until the British regulars appeared on table to save the day.

At this stage the first learn of the evening (we are going to need a bigger table...) Dane the Zulu commander had massed his warriors in a classic Zulu formation with Blinds on the left, right and centre of the Colonial command.

The Zulu to the front were spotted and rifle fire from the dismounted cavalry was able to slow the approaching Zulu so they could not close from their initial charge.

The NNC however were not so lucky, lacking suitable firepower and marksmanship they were swamped by the Aggressive Zulu's with their big choppers... (I am thinking here about limiting the number of men fighting to say 3:1 in loose formation and 2:1 in line as 60 vs 10 seemed far to unfair...)

In the next bound the Cavalry fared little better, a number of Tiffin cards were drawn which allowed them to inflict some additional casualties on the Zulu but the cavalry number was to few and the Zulu to great. The next Zulu activation saw them wiped out to a man.

The melee had cost the Zulu a significant amount of shock which slowed their effectiveness and with the British Player finally arriving and firing a number of long range volley's. The Zulu's sort cover from behind the hills and rises to recover from the earlier engagement.

Another outing next week but the learns so far.
Moving Zulu at the Cavalry trot pace of +3 pips per dice might be a little to much?
Increasing the Zulu section to 15 allowed them to keep moving forward.
The new colonial cards seemed to work well, but we may need to provide the Zulu player with a handful at the beginning of the game.
Allowing the Zulu player to return to blind and splitting into two blinds seemed to create the right atmosphere of not knowing the Zulu's true strength.
We will need to increase the No. of leaders for the Zulu, the kill ration was rather high meaning a leader tended to be shot every time the Brits fired.
Using the TSS variant we need to load up the Brits with Experience and Belief to give them a fairer chance in hand to hand, at the same time limiting the number of men fighting should allow the Brits a chance to stay in play for more than one bound.

Looking forward to next week and the introduction of character traits to spice up the adventures in Zululand.

Chocks away!

2011-06-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

Another summer club night, this week we had two prospective new members, so welcome Kev and Dean and don't forget to organise yourselves a game for next club.

Later in the year, we are having another all day game, with the Zulus getting another outing. We are planning a 12' x 6' game with lots of models and lots of players. Rules will again be Toofatlardies Sharp Practice amended to suit the period, another game to test the new card deck tonight.

On another table, World War Two continues to be refought with the popular Flames of War rules.

Finally we took the opportunity to bring out the hex mat and the Check Your 6! rules, a great set of rules and some great models from Raiden Miniatures.

Playing 'The Swede' scenario from the rulebook pits a lone pilot ace against three fatigued Zeroes, a great scenario to learn the rules. In the first near miss off the game the US Ace just managed to side step the zero but then fluffed his attack with his rear MGs.

The Dauntless takes out a Zero but takes damage from another, reducing it's speed. Losing altitude the more robust Navy plane manoeuvred it's way out of trouble. Another Zero takes more damage and explodes, finally as the final Zero overtakes and turn round to fire on the Dauntless it flies off the board to bring about the end of the game and a draw.

Bushido, Puppet Master on CoolMini top 10!!!

2011-06-13T01:34:00.000-07:00

After recently purchasing the game at the UK Games Expo, its exciting to already see them them on Cool Mini or Not. Have a look and tell me your not tempted.

Bushido, Puppet Master on CoolMini top 10!!!

Sunday 5th June

2011-06-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

A few firsts this week with some new rulesets getting a first outing. First up is 'Fast and Dirty Skirmish' downloadable here. Lots of homemade terrain and figures from Pig Iron.

Dane and Chris brought their Napoleonic naval to the table, Langston Miniatures 1/1200th scales ships and the Trafalgar rules. The ships are truly works of art with tiny rigged sails.

Dane and Chris enjoyed the complexity and planning needing to gain an advantage over your opponent, as it is a little more involved than just moving up your ships and rolling dice until a ship got sunk.

Here is an in game shot. The game went in favour of the British but alas the French ships were sank rather than seized for their prize money.

On another table, Warriors of Chaos faced the new Tomb Kings in Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The game resulted in a crushing defeat of the Tomb Kings after 4 turns.

Finally a game of Malifaux, an interesting game due to it's diceless mechanics, steam punk based background and great figures. Played on a 3' square playing square, it seems a great one for painters and terrain builders to make some great tables.

Patrolling for Vittles!!

2011-05-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

The second of our ongoing American Civil War narrative campaign games saw both the Union and Confederate forces foraging for supplies. This is one of the scenarios from the Terrible Sharp Sword supplement for Sharp Practice.

Elements of the 5th and 76th New York once again clashed with the 5th Texas as both sides tried to supplement their rations with some confiscated foodstuffs.

The following battle report is bought to you by Dane playing Major Carlise Boyd . Commander, Company H 5th New York.

While detailed to help collect supplies from local farms my company was split into four detachments, two where detailed to protect the left flank and myself with two detachments where to link up with a detachment of cavalry at a local Orchard.

We made good progress and advanced at a steady pace when Sergeant Major Holwill's detachment came upon and engaged in a savage fire fight,a group of Rebels. Only withdrawing when it became impossible to return fire, withdrawing in good order but with the unfortunate loss of Private J.M.Allaire and C. E. Fosdick both killed and Corporal Wm. Alexander who lost an Arm.

As this took place Sergeant Philleps Detachment who where coming through a corn field in support of Sgt. M. Holwills where intercepted by a large group of Texans and skirmishers they held these numerically superior forces off until the order to withdraw was given they accomplished this with out panic and only minor injury to the men.

At the same time as this happened I had arrived at the Orchard but instead of our Cavalry found a number of confederate dismounted Cavalry who I immediately engaged in a prolonged fire fight causing many casualties to the enemy without losing a single man, we stayed at our position until the withdraw order was issued by the commander of the 76th New York in charge of collecting the army supplies.

Zouaves from the 5th come off their blinds as they approach the rebel expecting to meet the cavalry. Alas they had been delayed shining their horse brasses.

A detachment of the 76th begin to scavenge from South Farm

Confederates bear down on the 5th.

The remaining troops on both sides came off their blinds, the 76th and their cavalry escort block the road.

Troops begin to exchange fire.

Over on the left the Texans trade fire with the 5th NY.

The cannon wasn't in the scenario! We just put it on the table as it was newly painted.

Stu had spent the week painting his cavalry, they came straight off blind and dismounted. So here they are in all their glory.

The smallest rebel group on the right forgot to pack their ammo and has just run out of ball.

The 76th take the opportunity to return fire, shooting in to the column.

Out of Ammo the rebels plan to charge, covering the column from further fire.

Both sides accumulate shock.

After taking more fire, the rebels are forced to retreat.

Everyone is feeling the effects of shock, the Union dismounted cavalry flee over the hedgerow.

Shock continues the grow, the zouaves muskets begin to clock with powder.

The evening drew to an end and we declared the game a draw awarding both sides a campaign point. This valuable point brings the Union total to three enabling them to upgrade their musketry training up from poor to trained. This has a significant effect on the effects of their fire and the Confederates will see more casualties in future.

40K Campaign game: Ultramarines (yay!) v Grey Knights (boo!)

2011-04-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

A hard-fought, close and highly-entertaining game played at the club on 17th April. My expanding Ultramarines army took on Kris' Grey Knights, fought using the new GK codex.

The game was annihilation, with a pitched battle deployment. It was give and take for the first few turns, although Kris was marginally ahead until turn 5 of the game. My Terminators had been issued with papier mache armour as usual, and my Librarian managed to immolate himself, albeit whilst finishing off Kris' scary new Dreadknight.

As luck would have it, I managed to eke out another two turns. A lucky Vindicator round and massed bolter fire meant that I was able to secure a marginal victory for the Ultramarines.

Victoris Ultra!

ACW - Opening Shots..

2011-04-09T03:16:00.000-07:00

Following on from our "Terrible Sharp Sword" game at the last club, we kicked off our narrative campaign last week. Paul's & Dane's Union forces launched an unprovoked attack on the peace loving Southern States sending Coy I, 76th New York Regiment on the offensive. All that stood in the way was elements of the 5th Texas Infantry and 4th Texas Cavalry.

Using Scenario Two in the rulebook "Marching" sees one force trying to move across the table whilst the other is patrolling the area and unaware of their opponents position. The Union troops entered the table on the road whilst the Confederates entered from the road on the right hand side as seen from the photo below.

The Table for the "Marching" Scenario

The Union forces enter the table with Cavalry to their front and the Infantry on blinds.

Union Cavalry come off Blinds and into sight, Southern Forces can be seen to their front deploying in the maize field.

The Confederate Infantry loose off a volley.

Close up of the Confederate Lines as they poor fire into the Union Cavalry. Capt J C Rogers orders the line of G Coy The Milan County Greys.

Close up of Buckholts Cavalry Troop as they dismount and fire into the approaching Union Cavalry.

The 4th Texas Cavalry, Company E - Milan County Guards under Lt Charles Buckholts deploy amongst the tree line to slow the Union Advance as Union Infantry deploy to their left flank.

Coy I of the 76th NY Regiment deploy on the slope and advance towards the Southern Lines. Whilst taking a number of casualties from the Southern Cavalry. Their opening Salvo was enough to inflict sufficient shock on the cavalry to force them from the table. Facing such a concentrated force and seeing the cavalry retire. The 5th Texas withdraw from the table to seek better ground to stand and fight.

A great evening opening game and a number of learns for both commanders.

40k Campaign Month One

2011-03-23T04:11:00.000-07:00

This is how the Campaign looks after the last Club. With a mixture of skill and luck, Pete and myself have floated to the top. I'm sure a face off is imminent and with Pete playing like he knows what he is doing it doesn't look good for my Blood Angels. But it's still early days and I plan to give everyone many chances to kick my Butt. So far I have played Steve twice and thanks to him I have rediscovered a true enjoyment of 40k. Although I have always loved the background I have never been "into" the game. But this edition seems to have made corrections for the better. Close combat is no longer so over whelming and the game seems more mobile with outflanking and the like. Here is a few pics taken quickly during our game, but I'll try to take more in my next game and more details.

March 20th

2011-03-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

A full house this week saw a good selection of games. Whilst 40K continues its run of games with 3 games this week, Wood Elves fought an all goblin army in Warhammer Fantasy Battle, on a historical front we had 15mm WW2 with Flames of War, WW1 Naval and 28mm ACW.

Andy and Chris played Flames of War and Chris gives us a quick battle report.

"The German force (Andy) had to hold the line against a determined British offensive (Chris C.) The British player starts with all 8 platoons on table while the Germans only had 3 initially, so a quick forward push while the Germans were weak was all that was needed. However, the British attempt was fool hardy and easily beaten off by the German AT platoon. The British lost their M10 platoon on the first turn and the Wasp Carrier platoon on the second turn. On the third turn the German reserves started to appear and it was all over before it started. Not a good day for the British and revenge for last week when the British were victorious over Andy's German Panzer force."

Over on another table, we put together a run through of the Terrible Sharp Sword rules for ACW. We did make some mistakes with the rules which we have ironed out for the next club.

Initially all the troops were represented on blinds, Union by cards and the Confederates in terrain. In the photo below we see the Union troops spreading out whilst some head up the road towards the bridge.

Confederate dismounted cavalry successfully spot advancing groups of Union troops and open fire from behind the cover of the tree line. They also manage to spot the advancing Zouaves forcing them off their blind.

Again the cavalry opened fire but disaster strikes as they roll more 1s than 6s causing a random event - in this case excess smoke builds up in front of the firer.

Union dismounted cavalry take advantage of their Sharps rifle to pore shots across the river towards their foe.

The union "big men" manage to combine groups and advance.

Confederate troops behind the tree line.

The Zoauves reach the bridge.

At this point we bring the game to a close, realising we all opened fire to soon, holding for the first volley is worth doing and shouldn't be frittered away firing at long range. We also made a really stupid error with the rules which is far too embarrassing to reveal, none the less we are playing again next club.

Full House!

2011-03-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

Another full house last night. Seven games ranging from 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, Flames of War, Ancient Battles and 'Troops, Weapons and Tactics'.

A run through of 'Troops, Weapons and Tactics' saw a platoon of British Infantry saw some rough handling by some German Paras despite getting the early initiative.

Dark Elves take on Night Goblins in Warhammer, whilst the new spider advanced across the table, a super model this I'm sure will look very impressive painted.

Next Sunday is the WMMS show in Wolverhampton, Dane will be there representing the club with another of his 10mm games, if you pop over don't forget to see his game.

Braaaainssss ............

2011-02-21T14:40:00.000-08:00

Last night saw 16 players roll up to game, we had games of three different Warhammers, ( 40K, Fantasy Battle and Ancients), Malifaux and Zombies using Chain Reaction from Two Hour Wargames.

By pooling our 'modern' type terrain we are able to put together a decent looking town centre, the buildings are from a number of sources including Snapdragon, Forgeworld and Plasticville as well as a good selection of scratch builds. Add in some diecast cars and other small bits and pieces for colour.

The zombies are from a number of sources and in all we can probably call on about 200 between us. We have played "All Things Zombies" previously but tonight we wanted a simpler faster game as we had 6 players so we used Chain Reaction with added zombie rules from ATZ. (Chain Reaction 3 is a free download from here.)

Here's a couple of Zed's looking for lunch.

The Hazmat team check vehicles for spares.

The 'family' face off against a zombie, their mix of clubs and bats killed more zombies than anyone else, more importantly they did it quietly!

Geezers check out some "motors", probably looking for expired tax disks.

Some pretty nasty zombies took a fancy to the Biker gang and spend much of the game following them around.

Now the zombies had organised a flash mob recreation of Thriller!

Mrs Grady Old Lady attack the Hazmat team as they attempt to break in to a Renault 5.

From above we see Zombies have got in to the supermarket whilst others have attacked the Bikers.

The Byker gang have taken a casualty, probably PJ or maybe Duncan, another has been knocked to the ground.

With the realisation that supplies were limited (we were collecting petrol, spark plugs, a fanbelt and battery i order to get a car started), conflict became inevitable. The Hazmat team and Gangstas traded shots attracting the zombies, two fell dead from the Gangsta's surprisingly accurate fire.

The Gangstas found themselves being mobbed by Zeds, but soon made a quick getaway.

The Zeds pour in the direction of gunfire.

The grisly end of the Hazmat team .......

Chris managed to collect all the supplies and was declared the winner, the rest of us went off looking for more modern miniatures armed with clubs, bats, swords and axes. It is too easy to use guns to fight the Zeds but that only ends up attracting them, if only Stu would have let me have the flame thrower.

Another report and more photos can be found at Mark's Wargaming Blog

Mark rips a hole in time and space

2011-02-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

A quietish night at the club this week with many having alternate plans, still three interesting looking games.Firstly another match up with Andy's Germans meeting Carl's Romans using the second edition of WAB.

German Cavalry

German Warbands

Allied Cavalry meet the Germans

The second game was a much belated outing for Firestorm Armada, here the Dindrenzi fleet have taken up defensive positions around the planet.

A close of of a Dindrenzi Cruiser.

Steve's Aquan Prime ships are painted in a fantastic two tone blue which look even better in the 'flesh', here is a Poseidon class battleship and a Manta class battlecarrier.

A Dindrenzi cruisers engine explodes leaving a distortion field, basically a tear in time and space.

More Dindrenzi casualties as the Aquans start to bombard the planet.

See Steves blog for his battlereport, the link is here. All the Spartan games have some nice mechanics and are pretty easy to play - just the thing for for a club game night as games can be set up at the last minute and use a minimum of terrain. A variety of races give opportunity for players to build small fleets of their own without having to spend a fortune.

Dane and Chris gave the Napoleonic variant of Warmaster a go, with Russians face off against the French.

January All dayer

2011-01-18T14:52:00.000-08:00

We had our recent winter all-dayer on Saturday. We had a mini Warmachine tournament, a large Flames of War game and a multi player Wild West game using Legends of the Old West.

Over to Chris for a quick game report.

To make full use of the all day game session we decided to have a 'big game'. Both players had 3500 points (twice as much as we have on a club night) and we played on a table twice the size of a normal game. It was 12 ft long.

The game was a standard Late War 'Encounter' scenario with the British taking the first turn. The British were soon running for cover however as the German left flank moved forward with Tigers and Jagdpanthers and the German infantry that were concentrated in the centre, moved forward. By mid day the Germans were contesting an objective with two Tiger tanks and the central push of Infantry had cut off British reinforcements from coming to the rescue.

The German player (me) was very confident at this time. But disaster was just round the corner, Both Tigers were eliminated in quick succession by the British heavy artillery and a flanking move by a Cromwell tank platoon and an infantry platoon destroyed the German defenders leaving an objective wide open for them. The Game was over and it was a British victory, well done Carl. A very enjoyable day.

DEAD MANS GULCH

The past two years have been particularly hot and dry along the border with Arizona and Mexico. What once was a fertile land with rivers, streams and watering holes has been replaced with an arid and desolate wilderness. The once thriving settlements along the border have become nothing more than ghost towns.
One such ghost town that has become an interest to you is that of "DEAD MANS GULCH".

Talk of a shipment of gold destined for Mexico that belonged to the US Government on it's way to support the rebellion have surfaced. It is believed that the US Cavalry escorting it were ambushed and slaughtered near to Dead Mans Gulch. Rumours claim there were some survivors and that they buried the gold somewhere in Dead Mans Gulch itself.

Whoever finds the gold would be richer than their wildest dreams.

Having set the scene enter the posses looking to make it rich.

Paul - Dewitts Scalp Hunters

Stu - Cinderella Cattle Company

Dane - Buffalo Soldiers

Steve - Roho's Renegades (Mexicans- say no more)

Mark G - Apaches

Turn 1.
All posses entered the table from set points having been given a map of where they thought the gold was hidden. Unknown to them each map they each held had different locations on. Searching buildings would also be beneficial as scattered around inside them were the odd gold coins and very discretely positioned was the odd stick of dynamite.

Everyone at first started to search the buildings and stay out of the firing line of everyone else.

All was going well until the Mexicans found a lone cook armed only with a saucepan and some beans who had been sent to search a building for gold coins (Chocolate coins left over from Christmas - don't tell my kids).

After a couple of turns the cook had killed two Mexicans and was doing a fine job of seeing off the rest.(The Steven Seagal of the Wild West).

Eventually all good things must come to an end and Cookie fell dead at the feet of a whole bunch of very angry Mexicans.

At this point having lost his cook, Stu sent his posse into the deserted sheriffs office. There he found locked away the gold that he had come for. With a well placed stick of dynamite he "Blew the bloody doors off" and exited the building.

This is where it became bloody. As Stu's cowboys stepped out into the street they were met by a hail of gun fire from Steve's Mexicans. Thinking it looked fun Paul's scalp hunters also decided to fire with their buffalo gun sending one of the cowboys flying to the floor.

If that wasn't enough for poor old Stu, Mark's Apaches who had remained hidden until this point in an abandoned hotel next to the sheriffs office also saw their chance to shoot at him. Two dead cowboys later and the gold lying in the street, Stu retired to cover to lick his wounds.

The Apaches turned their attention towards the Buffalo soldiers who had until this point quietly entered the bank and removed their gold. As they attempted to leave the table, a battle ensued between the soldiers and the Apaches for the rest of the game.

With Stu licking his wounds, The Scalp hunters turned on the Mexicans. Both began a bloody exchange of fire that quickly went to close combat. The Mexicans took casualties but held on until one of the scalp hunters decided it would be fun to toss a stick of dynamite into their midst killing two outright.The scalp hunters mopped up and killed the remainder Mexicans to the last man. It must be said that we chose not to use the Head to the Hills test for this game.

At the Eleventh hour just when the game was coming to a close, Paul's scalp hunters leapt into the lead and won the game.

A thoroughly enjoyable days gaming and I believe everyone had a good time due to everyone getting into character.

Watch this space, more on the way soon.

MarkL

2010-12-06T00:57:00.000-08:00

After last nights AGM I thought I would I post up a quick link to the painting blog I run over at http://www.paintemall.co.uk/

We use this mostly to encourage each other to get our painting done. Feel free to look, comment or even join if it inspires you.

Im going to try and use the Clubs blog to do mini gaming reports and report back my thoughts on warhammer 8th edition

Its a great gaming group and I feeling lucky to be a part of it, see you all in 2 weeks

kahuna

Sunday 5th December

2010-12-05T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well, luckily for us the weather hasn't been too bad in the Vale of Evesham and a little milder weather brought us together for another nights gaming. As ever we have an eclectic mix of games and a mini AGM this evening. Here are a couple of photos from tonight's games;

As a prelude to the next all dayer, the frontiers of the west are pushed back further in to the wilderness, using the Legends of the Old West rules.

Only to be met by the Apache!

A Flames of War game saw British Infantry face German troops fighting through the bocage of the Normandy countryside.

A Warriors of Chaos army faced Dark Elves in a Warhammer game, these Marauders are particularly nicely painted.

A 15mm Sci-Fi game using the Imperial Commander rules saw burning vehicles all round. Here some NAC infantry sheltered in a copse with the Phalanx transport behind them.

We also had games of Aliens and Memoir 44 to round out a good nights gaming.

Anting Station June 13th 1900 - Boxer Rebellion

2010-11-28T01:17:00.000-08:00

OK whilst not strictly a club game, I wanted to try a run out of my Boxers using the Too Fat Lardies - Sharpe Practice Rules, prior to taking them to the club, it must be 2 years since the 15mm Boxers last saw the light of day.

The collection has grown over the years and the current rules have not been able to keep pace with the growing collection of units and the bigger games - That's where SP has been such a winner.

Skirmish at Anting Station
An advance party of sailors from Admiral Seymours column are sent ahead of the main force to protect the railway line and station at Anting.
Their orders are to protect the railway line and defend the station.

The Boxer orders are simple to destroy the railway line and/or capture the station.
They are hindered by the fact that reinforcements enter the table at random points around the station.

Using The Sharpe Practice rules with a number adaptions from TSS, the Allied payers had 5 Naval units from France, Britain, Russia, US and Italy together with 3 Big Men. The Boxers 10 units and 6 Big Men mostly status 1.

Turn one
The Allies deploy around the station with a large detachment under Lt Gordon Smith sent up the embankment to spot the approaching Boxers and defend the rail line.

Turn Two
The Boxers enter the North whilst the Americans and French rush to meet their attackers.

Turn Three
Boxers begin to mass to the South and West of the Station out of sight of the Allied defenders.

Turn Four

In a bold move the Boxers sweep from behind the wood and along the road leaving the Russian sailors to defend a barricade with no attackers to their front.

Elsewhere Boxers burst from the tree line only to be stopped by accurate Rifle fire by the British contingent the charge falls short and more shock is applied to the units forcing them to retire.

Turn Five
The battle for the Buildings continues, the Russian Big Man Card comes up first and they are able to defend the buildings, but faced with several groups they are wiped out in the first building and take a excessive shock to make them in effective in the second building, it's only the thought of being chopped to bits by the Boxers that stops them from surrendering.

Turn Six
On the Western Flank the boxers mass and charge up the embankment, the French are faced with Boxers to their front and Left Flank, they turn and deliver a Volley which drives one Boxer Unit from the field, only to be forced from their position by the Boxers scampering up the embankment.

Turn Seven
The Italians having spent all game marching from one flank to the next, rush to support the Russians only to be caught in the open Street and whilst inflicting a number of shock points the kills inflicted from the Boxer attack including their CO forced them to retire.

Another disaster for Seymour to contend with, the station in Boxer hands and the rail line likely destroyed.

The British (as usual) acquitted themselves well, but the weight of the Boxer attack and the lack of concentration of fire from the Allies proved to be their undoing.

The rules flowed really well and plans for an all dayer continue to take shape.

Next All Dayer January - Western.....

Bugs!!!!

2010-11-21T23:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday Night saw the first outing for the Mobile Infantry and the Arachnids, for me Starship Troopers falls into the category of Zulu, Private Ryan & Last of the Mohican's, at one stage in the life of your wargaming hobby you just have to try and game it....
Mark had been finishing off his Pig Iron's Armoured Infantry, whilst I spent the last couple of weeks putting together a bunch of Plastic Arachnids....

Would you like to know more?

The Scenario.
During the Battle of Klendathu a platoon of Mobile Infantry are sent forward to hunt for a missing walker and for evidence of Bug activity in the area, the unit consists of two sections of Infantry and a command elements within an APC.

The table.... The Mobile Infantry will be moving on from Right to Left, they decide on a wide frontage to provide them with the best opportunity to spot the powered down walker.

Moving with Caution through the bush, the MI look for signs of bug activity....

First Section feels the ground tremble as a bug hole opens up just off table and a stream of bugs burst forth heading straight for them. The MI are out numbered 2:1

The bugs up close....

The MI duck back and seek a defensive position in the high ground hoping to thin the charging horde before they get to close.

In the centre of the table a second bug hole opens up right in front of the commanders APC just has he and his command debus, caught in the open the HQ section is able to fight off the lead bugs before diving back into the APC. It was going to be one of those nights for the bugs.

1st Section begins to run low on ammo but have reduced the horde of bugs to one or two, the supporting fire from 2nd Section really helped to stop the wave of bugs (together with some really bad dice by the bug player...)
The retreating APC can be seen in the background with a bug still clinging to the armour plating.

2nd Squad take cover behind a cluster of rocks and throw everything they have at the approching horde despite a couple of bugs closing with the MI they are able to defeat the assault by the bugs without a single casaulty. A job well done by 2nd Squad.

A supporting platoon are ambushed by a further wave of bugs bursting from a bug hole to the right of the MI.

A number of the Squad are killed but their sacrifice buys time for the other squad members to form up and pour fire into their attackers...

With supporting fire from the high ground out of shot the last of the bugs are defeated.

A great nights gaming completed in under 2 hours using the THW rules 5150.

With a further 20 Warrior bugs to paint and a unit of fliers I expect a tougher battle next time for the MI....

1st August 2010

2010-08-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

A bumper night 7 games, 2 Flames of War, 2 Warhammer (Eighth Edition!!), Ambush Alley, Lord of the Rings and Great War Naval.

Dane and Mark played LOTR, looks like Mark is winning from this photo, his own fault as Dane should have left the extra Trolls in his box.

Garry moves his insurgents in Ambush Alley, while below Ade moves his US Marines.

Sunshine Vs Wargames

2010-04-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well after last weekends bumper club, this weeks was a little modest with the good weather tempting gamers from their figures and out in to the fresh air and sunshine. We still saw a couple of Flames of War games, a game of Warhammer and I played in a WW2 game with the Operation Overlord rules and our 28mm figure collections.

A few photos;

Here is the table, we are playing across the table - an escalating engagement with reinforcements available during the game.

I had a plan, use the woods for cover and use the MG teams to keep the British heads down.

Almost in to the farmyard in the center.

My MGs were really inaccurate, Dane's dice were as bad as we traded shots to no effect.

Well Dane's luck has changed first, yes these figures are hiding behind the barn.

Trading fire across the woods, I was soon to lose the MG team just visible in the left corner.

Some bold advancing by the Germans, off camera a squad has taken a mauling from very accurate fire from Brens and Lee Enfields.

Over to Flames of War and 15mm. This is a cracking bocage table with British facing Germans here too, I didn't have King Tigers though.

A great King Tiger model about to brew a couple of Shermans, both the King Tigers were lost later in the game due to heavy British artillery which is pretty true to life.

We have also fixed the dates of the next 3 all dayers, these will hopefully see some Flames of War tournaments and some big games for the rest of us.

Saturday 17th July 2010

Saturday 18th Sept 2010

Saturday 15th January 2011

All of these Saturday games replace the normal Sunday games that weekend, the next club is Sunday 2nd May.

A Full House

2010-04-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday saw a packed club with us using every table in the hall. Games played included Warhammer Fantasy Battle, Flames of War, AT-43, Napoleonic Skirmish and 28mm WW2.

A couple of photos;

We have also started to organise our next three all dayers and their games, so watch this space.

(Uncharted Seas Campaign) The Campaign for Karneia: The story so far...

2010-02-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

The Campaign for Karneia

Captain’s Log, 23rd December

Rumours abound of a number of fleets at large in the Forbidden Islands, but still the waters remain quiet. No doubt, the air will soon ring with the roar of cannon and the screams of the dying…

Even so, the shadow mage seers managed to pick off an inexperienced Orc captain and give him a sound thrashing. The bloody altars of the ‘bad dwarves’ were made ready to welcome the Orc survivors as they were dragged from the flotsam.

One more solid victory will put the Shadow Mages in a position to take the strategic initiative in the quest for power.

Captain’s Log, 3rd January

Stung from their bitter defeat at the hands of the Shadow Mages, the Orcs sent a strong patrol in search of vengeance. This time, they stumbled across a reconnaissance force of Thaniras Elves. The battle was brief but bloody. The Orcs seized the initiative from the outset, using their powerful guns and strong hulls to shrug off the Elven salvos. With only the loss of a few frigates, the Orcs sent all of the Elven ships to the murky depths with the loss of all hands.

Captain’s Log, 6th February

The Elves had learnt from the seamanship of the Orcs, and waylaid a patrol of their shadow-brethren in the Helgath Sea. A mighty contest took place between the Dragon Lord and Elven Battleships. The floggings meted out to the Elven crew after their last defeat had the desired effect, leading to an Elven victory.

Captain’s Log, 7th February

With the dawn, it became clear that the tentative clashes of the previous weeks were but the heralds of the coming war. No less than six war-fleets set out from their home ports intent on staking their claim to Karneia.

The mighty Dwarven Ironclads split into two flotillas, each under the command of ambitious Admirals. One met an Elven fleet head-on, destroying all but one frigate, but keeping only its hardy battleship intact. The other received a bloody nose whilst scouting a force of Orc Raiders, and was then handed a drubbing by roving Dragon Lords. Rumours abound of fisticuffs between the rival Dwarven Admirals back at port; surely it’s only a matter of time before they meet in open warfare on the high seas…

Spurred on by their victory over the Iron Dwarves, the Dragon Lords defeated an attempted ambush by the Dwarves dark cousins, the Shadow Mages. In turn, the Mages were set upon by a scouting Orc force, which turned into a rout for the Mages. Revenge was sweet for the Orcs.

Despite their various setbacks, all but the Iron Dwarves were now set fair to bring their strategies into play. A new chapter in the bloody history of Karneia opens…

Current Results:

Dane 63 Recon points

Stu 43 Recon points

Darren 38 Recon points

Steve 37 Recon points

Mark L 18 Recon points

Paul 14 Recon points

Zulu War - Battle of Inyezane Refight

2010-02-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

Well the big day has come and gone.
But how did we stack up against events on the day?

On Saturday the Evesham Wargames Club Re-fought the Battle of Inyezane, not a bad effort for a club that 3 months ago had no figures for the Zulu War. Over 100 Brits and 500 Zulu's in three months.
I am pleased to report a British Victory albeit like many a zulu encounter a close run thing.

The British were ordered to cross the drift and push over the ridge line to capture or destroy the Zulu Kraal in order to limit the Zulu reinforcements in the area and whilst they were unable to push over the ridge by the end of the day, their steady fire was enough to inflict sufficent casualties on the Zulu army to shatter it as an effective fighting force.

The Zulu command was forced to attack the British line piece meal and whilst closed on several occasions the supporting fire from other British Companies was enough to drive them off.
Next stop Gingindlovu.

The View from the British River Crossing with the ridge rising in the centre and the Kraal seen to the top right right of the table.

Initial British Deployments with the 99th Foot and Native Horse crossing the Drift.
Natal Carbineers shield the Left Flank and escort the wagons.

The British on the Move.

The Zulu Right Horn emerges from the Ridge Line.

View from the British Lines.The Zulu Left Horn bursts from cover.
Whilst the Giraffe keeps right on chewing.
The British stand Fast with Naval Brigade and Artillery in Support.

View from the British lines as the attack developes.
The range markers were to prove invaluable in giving the British the extra bonuses to break the attacking Zulu's.

The right horn closes with the British Flank.
Close ranges volley's are able to inflict sufficent casualties to drive them off.

The chest charges for the British Centre only to be stopped by a combination of rifle fire, artillery and Machine Gun fire.

The final push by the Zulu Impi'sFrontier Horse hold up the attacking Zulu's before breaking them with a well timed charge.

The Action At Inyezane 22nd Jan 1879 - This Day in History.

2010-01-06T01:03:00.000-08:00

In preparation for the our Annual All Dayer next Saturday, I thought it would be useful to see Colonel Pearson's offical report.

With a week to go commands have been assigned, figures painted and rules read, let's hope the Zulu's can go one better.......

THE ACTION AT INYEZANE. COLONEL PEARSON'S OFFICIAL REPORT.
From Colonel Pearson, Commanding No. 1 Column to the Military Secretary to His Excellency the High Commissioner.

Etshowe Zululand, January 23, 1879.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to report my arrival here at 10 A.M. this day, with the column under my command, and, I am happy to state, without a casualty of any kind—except, of course, those which occurred in the engagement of yesterday, of which I have already duly informed you by telegram, despatched yesterday evening.

Yesterday morning, the mounted troops which preceded the column under Major Barrow, had crossed the Inyezane River—which is about four miles from our camping ground on the previous night—when I received a note from him to say that he had selected a fairly open space for a halting place, which he had carefully vedetted. I at once rode forward, to reconnoitre, and found the ground covered with more bush than seemed desirable for an outspan ; but as there was no water between the Inyezane and the places where we bivouacked last night—four miles further on, and with several steep hills to climb—I decided upon outspanning for a couple of hours, to feed and rest the oxen, and to enable the men to breakfast.

It was then just eight o'clock, and I was in the act of giving directions about the pickets and scouts required for our protection, and the wagons had already begun to park, when the leading company of the Native Contingent, who were scouting in front—personally directed by Captain Hart, Staff Officer to the Officer commanding that Regiment — discovered the enemy advancing rapidly over the ridges in our front, and making for the clumps of bush around us.

The Zulus at once opened a heavy fire upon the men of the company who had shown themselves in the open, and they lost one officer, four non-commissioned officers, and three men killed, almost immediately after the firing began. Unfortunately, owing to scarcely any of the officers or non-commissioned officers of the Native Contingent being able to speak Kafir, and some not even English (there are several foreigners among them), it has been found most difficult to communicate orders, and it is to be feared that these men who lost their lives by gallantly holding their ground did so under the impression that it was the duty of the contingent to fight in the first line, instead of scouting only, and, after an engagement, to pursue.

I must add, however, that every exertion has been made by Major Graves, Commandant Nettleton, and Captain Hart, to explain to both the officers and men the duties expected of them. These officers, indeed, have been indefatigable in their exertions.
As soon as the firing commenced, I directed the Naval Brigade, under Commander Campbell, Lieutenant Lloyd's division of guns, and Captain Jackson's and Lieutenant Martin's companies of the Buffs, to take up a position on a knoll close by the road (and under which they were halted), and from whence the whole of the Zulu advances could be seen and dealt with.

Meanwhile, the wagons continued to park, and as soon as the length of the column had thereby sufficiently decreased, I directed the two companies of the Buffs, which were guarding the wagons about half way down the column, to clear the enemy out of the bush, which had been already shelled, and fired into with rockets and musketry, by the troops on the knoll above-mentioned. These companies, led by Captains Harrison and Wyld, and guided by Captain Macgregor, D.A.Q.M.G., whom I sent back for this purpose, moved out in excellent order, and quickly getting into skirmishing order, brought their right shoulders gradually forward, and drove the Zulus before them back into the open, which again exposed them to the rockets, shells, and musketry from the knoll.

This movement released the main body of the Mounted Infantry and Volunteers, who, with the Company of Royal Engineers, had remained near the Inyezane, to protect that portion of the convoy of wagons. -The Royal Engineers happened to be working at the drift when the engagement began.
When thus released, both the Engineers and Mounted Troops, under Captain Wynne and Major Barrow, respectively moved forward with the infantry. Skirmishers on the left of the latter, the whole being supported by a half-company of the Buffs and a half-company of the 99th Regiment, sent out by Lieutenant-Colonel Welman, 99th Regiment, who with the rear of the column, was now coming up.

About this time the enemy was observed by Commander Campbell lo be trying to outflank our left, and he offered to go with a portion of the Naval Brigade to drive away a body of Zulus who had got possession of a kraal about 400 yards from the knoll, and which was helping their turning movement. The Naval Brigade was supported by a party of the officers and non-commissioned officers of the Native Contingent, under Captain Hart, who were posted on high ground on the left of the Etshowe Road, and who checked the Zulus from making any further attempt on our left.

Shortly afterwards, when the kraal was evacuated, Commander Campbell suggested that the enemy should be driven off still further, to which I at once assented, and I desired Colonel Parnell to take Captain Forster's company, the Buffs, which up to this time had remained at the foot of the knoll, and assist the Naval Brigade to attack some heights beyond the kraal, upon which a considerable body of Zulus were still posted.

The action was completely successful, and the Zulus now fled in all directions, both from our front and left, and before the skirmishers on the right.
I now ordered the column to be reformed, and at noon we resumed our march

Darkest Africa - Colonial Playtest.

2010-01-04T06:37:00.000-08:00

After finishing early one Sunday in November it was decided that we should go for a swift half at the local, well it just goes to show that Wargaming and Beer do not mix as 6 weeks later we have almost 400 Zulu's to show for our efforts.
The plan is to refight the Battle of Nyezane on our all dayer on the 30th January.
We have been asked to play test a new set of rules due to hit the shelves some time in 2010.

Without wishing to ruin the big day we opted to replace the Brits with Germans.
Last night gave us an opportunity to play out the rules with a quarter of the Zulu Forces to ensure they gave a good feel for the period and and a result could be achieved on the day.

We opted for a German Naval force with supporting Askari with the objective of destroying the Kraal before the Natives (aka Zulu's) could stop them.

The German's and their Native Askari Troops were deployed in the Village and the nearby Mission, they found the village to be empty and they set about destroying the Kraal when a Sole Zulu Warrior was seen on the horizon.

The Germans stood to unsure where the Warriors would attack from.

Small bands of warriors burst from the hinterland their small arms fire proved to be ineffectual but they were able to close with one section of German Sailors inflicting a couple of casualties before being driven off.

The Main Tribesman force shielded by the hills drove straight for the mission, upon seeing this the Askari shoulded arms and headed for the Kraal to seek support from their comrades.

The Tribesmen swept over the crest of the hill charging into the left flank of the village, the Askari were able to halt the first warrior impi but the second impi closed with the Askari defenders.

As dust approched it looked like the Askari would be lelt to hold the line as the German Naval units retired from the field.

A great game to test out the full rule set and some important learn's for both sides.
The Colonial forces need to combine their fire to stop the advancing hordes and the Zulu players need to ensure they can combine their weight of numbers so that they can make their numbers count.

25 Days before the Big game....

Science Vs Pluck or "Too much for the Mahdi"

2009-12-07T05:57:00.000-08:00

The Sudan Campaigns of the late Nineteenth Century have had an appeal since watching Khartoum or the many versions of the Four Feathers in my youth, as with any colonial games you tend to need a lot of miniatures, which I had never managed yet.

Mark let it split that not only did he know the SvP rules but he had a extensive collection of painted 15mm armies for the period, well it didn't take too much arm twisting and before long we had the stuff on the table at the club.

The Imperial CinC, Major General Greaves commanded 3 columns, Captain Surridge had the No 1 column on the right flank, Captain Baldwin of the Camel Corps No 3 column on the left whilst No 2 column in the centre was commanded by the venerable Greaves with assistance from Dane Pasha.

The orders where to advance and take the oasis, where the force would rest and take on water, then on to Khartumn and that meddler Gordon.

Moving on, we see an ominous sight, a small group of mahdists atop a small hill in the distance.
Columns 2 and 3 advance towards the objective.

Columns 2 and 3 advancing towards the objective.

Suddenly mahdists on camels crest hills, these faced No 1 column.

And these faced No 3 Column.

The Camel Corp acting on carefully reheased drills began to dismount and prepare a firing line.

As did the Bengal Lancers and Mounted Rifles of Captain Surridge's No 1 Column.

A large group of Mahdists erupts as if from nowhere to face the centre column, did the General's moustache waver?

The long range fire of the Martini-Henrys begins.

Now both battalions and the mountain gun are ready to fire.

Initial firing proves desultory as the British struggled to find the range

As they ridge closer, surely the British can't miss!

That standard bearer feels a little isolated as the rest of the front rank fall!

The troops of No 1 column are beginning to become disordered.

At the last minute some furious firing drives of the Mahdists, leaving only their dead and wounded.

The Gatling and Gardner Guns do sterling work firing on the Fuzzy Wuzzy. But in the confusion of runners and changing orders, the General gives an order for the Mounted troops of No 1 column to change the dervish foot despite most of them being mounted infantry.

They draw themselves up for the charge but in a stroke of luck the dervish charge too, taking them in to the Bengal Lancers who manage to drive them off.

No one but Dane Pasha notice another body of dervish foot appearing behind them, he calmly orders the Sudanese units to turn and the cannon to unlimber and fire. The fire was withering and the dervish melt back in to the desert.

The columns are now free to move on to the oasis and then on to Khartoum.

Paul

Wild, Wild West

2009-11-06T08:31:00.000-08:00

Just Another Boring Day in Silver Creek
Legends of the Old West

“Silver Creek, a town just like any other town where nothing really happens from day to day”

Well everything was about to change for Sheriff Lee and his lowly paid deputies.

Three days earlier the Sheriff had locked up a drifter by the name of “Roberts” for killing a man over cards in the saloon and whilst he sat guarding him in the towns small jail he waited nervously for the Prison train to arrive so he could give over custody to the US Marshalls that would be on the train.

What had made the Sheriff nervous was that upon “Roberts” arrest he had laid a challenge down for the whole town to hear. “Roberts” would give a reward of $10,000 to anyone who set him free.

The news had spread far and wide and even though for a split second the sheriff had been tempted himself, he knew deep down that trouble was on the way.

All the sheriff wanted was to hand “Roberts” over to the Marshalls.

Turn One saw the arrival of US Marshall – Captain Seeforth and his deputies disembark from the train to pick their prisoner up. (Played by Paul).

Pictures of Silver Creek and Main street where everything was about to erupt.

Enter “Tuco’s” Mexican posse, played by Mark G (too many Mark’s in our club). He was there to rob the bank which he hoped would be unguarded as the Sheriff and his deputies were busy guarding “Roberts”.

At the same time from the far side of town entered yet another Mexican Posse, this time controlled by Dane, who were hell bent on freeing “Roberts” for the reward. No one was going to get in their way.

Tuco and his boys move towards the bank.

Meanwhile the Marshalls begin to walk up Main street towards the jail.

Prospector Pete – wrong place, wrong time.

Dane's Mexicans move towards the jail.

Tuco’s boys spot the Marshalls and open fire.

All hell is unleashed as both posse’s shoot it out. Caught in the middle are the sheriffs deputies.

As Tuco’s posse begins to take casualties, they are watched from above by yet a further group of down and outs in the form of Stuart’s Mountain men who had also come into town for the reward. Again no one was getting in their way either. Things started to hot up in Silver Creek.

As the fight began to get desperate, with casualties high on both sides, Tuco’s boys closed in for the kill. Another US Marshall bites the dust.

Meanwhile, whilst Tuco and the Marshalls fought it out in Main street, both Dane and Stuart took the opportunity to assault the jail. Mayhem and carnage followed with everyone shooting everyone else. Stuart’s mountain men gained entry to the jail and in a hail of bullets half the sheriffs deputies fell dead.

Meanwhile, on Main Street, Tuco realised he could not get to the bank to rob it so decided to take a poor defenceless female as hostage so that Paul’s Marshalls couldn’t shoot at them.

With both Stuart’s and Danes posses now inside the jail it looked grim for the Sheriff and he surrendered. With both posses positioned to shoot it out inside the jail we were all set for a blood bath.

Who would win and free “Roberts?
Would Tuco escape the Marshalls?
Would the Sheriff ever be released from his own cells?
Whoever said nothing ever happens in Silver Creek?

More to follow soon.

Thanks to Stuart, Paul, Dane and Mark G for making it a good evenings entertainment.

Santa’s Onslaught Take 2 – Santa’s Sleighway – January 2010

2009-11-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

Santa’s Sleighway – January 2010

In January 2009 we ran a Late War Flames of War Tournament entitled “Santa’s Onslaught”. The aim was to run a friendly competition to give non-tournament players a taste of national competitions. Consequently I “borrowed” a standard tournament rules pack to give a “real feel” competitive experience. We also invited players from the Cheltenham Wargames Association to come along too.

Armies were Late-War and 1500pts or their relevant equivalent (e.g. British First Army get 1950pts, Soviet Guards get 1165pts, Canadians get 1760pts, etc.) made up from any one of the LW army books.

With a little manipulation an even number of axis and allied armies were provided so we could keep matches historical for the first two rounds. We also tried to make it Evesham v. Cheltenham so we could play people we don’t normally fight against. A “campaign” style approach to deciding attacker/defender for each round was also adopted so balanced armies would be at an advantage in some cases. The day ran something like this:

09:00 – 09:15 Registration

09:15 – 11:45 Round 1:

11:45 – 12:15 Lunch Break

12:15 – 14:45 Round 2:
If the “Allied” side is currently the points leader then they will be the attacker. If the “Axis” side is currently the points leader then they will be the attacker.

15:00 – 17:30 Round 3:
If the side that scored the most points in Round 1 also scored the most points in Round 2 then they press on with their attack. If the side that scored the most points in Round 1 subsequently scores the least points in Round 2 then play then roles will be reversed and they will now defend.

The day was a great success, results as follows:

Brian - Strelkovy with Tanks - 30, 59, 88

Andy - 2nd Panzers - 29, 41, 71

Chris R - Indian Rifles - 27, 59, 62

Rob - Fallschirmjager - 31, 34, 59

Carl - Strelkovy with Artillery - 3, 24, 52

Bob - Grenadierkompanie - 17, 28, 47

Mike - Strelkovy - 1, 33, 46

Larry - PzGren, 21st Panzers - 5, 15, 46

Alan - US Rifles - 18, 38, 45

Chris C - Infantry, 7th Armoured - 15, 37, 39

Richard - Grenadierkompanie - 14, 18, 22

James - 78th Sturmdivision - 2, 2, 3

The interclub tournament score was, Cheltenham 301: Evesham 279

Well done to the Cheltenham boys esp considering they were outnumbered 7 to 5!!!

Must be all that practicing they were rumoured to have done ;o)

Axis:allies result was 248 to 332 so it looked like history repeated itself on the wargames table - I always knew FoW was a good set of rules!

Points were calculated using the UK scoring system that was developed a couple of years ago in Mansfield:

The 32 Point Scoring System.

Each game has 32 points allocated between the two players.

Work out who is the winner of the game, this is the player who has fulfilled their mission objectives, or who has broken the enemy force consult the victory points table for the mission.

· If the winning player scores 7-0 (this is only included for completeness, it’s a very rare situation, you would have to be fighting against a German force picked from the Villers Bocage briefing using Wittman, kill Wittman, and not lose anything yourself) then the winner scores 32 tournament points.
· If the winner claims a 6-1 victory then they score 28 tournament points, plus or minus 1pt per the difference in the number of platoons destroyed to a maximum of 32 points or a minimum of 25 points.
· If the winner claims a 5-2 victory then they score 24 tournament points, plus or minus 1pt per the difference in the number of platoons destroyed to a maximum of 28 points or a minimum of 21 points
· If the winner claims a 4-3 victory then they score 20 tournament points, plus or minus 1pt per the difference in the number of platoons destroyed to a maximum of 24 points or a minimum of 17 points
· If the game ends in a draw, then the winner is the player who has destroyed the most enemy platoons, he scores 16 tournament points plus 1pt per the difference in platoons destroyed to a maximum of 18 tournament points or a minimum of 14 points.

The loser (or in the case of a draw the player who killed the least platoons) gets 32-winners score tournament points.

Both players’ score must add up to 32.

Examples:
Uncle Sam plays Tommy Atkins at the end of the game Tommy has won the mission having lost one platoon of his own and having destroyed three platoons from Sams’ force. Because Tommy has won and only lost one platoon it is a 5-2 victory so Tommy gets a basic 24 tournament points plus an extra two bonus points for having killed two more platoons for a total of 26 tournament points. Uncle Sam gets 6 tournament points (32-26=6).

Ivan plays Heinrich and at the end of a hard fought game Ivan has broken Heinrichs’ force, killing two platoons but has lost four of his own platoons. This is worked out as a 4-3 victory for Ivan has he won the game but lost a lot of platoons, Ivan gets a basic 20 tournament points, but looses two points for the difference in platoon losses for a total of 18 points. Heinrich scores 14 tournament points (32-18=14).

In the event of a player getting a bye, they will get 26 tournament points or their average score so far if this is higher.

In all missions without the “Fair Fight” special rule the defender has a significant advantage if insufficient turns are played. If a game in one of these missions ends because of time out before seven complete turns have been played then the defenders winning margin is worked out on the 4-3 basis (that is they will score between 17 and 24 tournament points only). If seven or more complete turns have been played then work out the victory conditions as normal with the defender counting as the winner.

Santa’s Onslaught Take 2 – Santa’s Sleighway – January 2010

So we are going to do it all again!

There are now even more LW army list books plus loads of pdf files on the FoW website. The main difference will be an increase to 1750 points to squeeze in the plethora of big tanks available to all. The format will remain the same. Interested? Join the Yahoo group and reserve yourself a place.

1st November 2009

2009-11-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

Well it's November all ready! Tonight's club saw Flames of War, LoTR and Force on Force.

Stu and I took control of the forces of Sauron to defeat the forces of Gondor, to be frank it all got a bit messy, sorry Mark and Mark.

The other Mark played Force on Force will Will and Andy, pictures below;

The table and opposing forces.

Hopefully soon we shall have a couple more contributors to the Blog, a Wild West game report from Mark and FoW games from Andy.

Paul

The All Dayer - January 30th 2010

2009-10-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

The date is set for the 30th January 2010 - 8.00am - 6.00pm.

The plan is for a Flames of War Tournament which proved very popular last year, together with a large skirmish game for the Non-Flames of War players.

I proposed to run the skirmish game based around the Very British Civil War 1938, a number of the group have figures for the WW1 and WW2 so it is a good fit, I envisage a game where people can bring and use their own figures, creating their background for local units.

I should have several more units completed, including the Blackshirts !!!!

AGM 2009

2009-10-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Well despite thinking that the AGM would be over on minutes we took about 90 minutes to go through all the stuff needed to ensure that the club remains for another year.

Games played this week included Lord of the Rings Mass battle game 'War of the Ring', Flames of War, Warhammer Fantasy and Necromunda. I played my first game of Uncharted Seas.

The game after a couple of turns, the Iron Dwarves battleship and cruisers take the left flank whilst their frigates take the right. On the Shroud Mage side, from their left we see frigates, cruisers, battleship and frigates. Leaving both battleships on the same side of the table.

The Iron Dwarven battleship uses its impressive broadside to drive off one of the opposing frigate squadrons and beginning to chip away at the hull armour of the Shroud Mage battleship from a distance.

The massive firepower of the Shroud Mage flagship and frigates destroy two out of three of the Iron Dwarfs crusiers, while heated shot sets the flagship ablaze whilst chipping away more hull armour.

On the other flank the Dwarven frigates punch over their weight tying up frigates and cruisers destroying several before being overcome themselves. The Shroud Mages remaing cruisers and battleship turn on the dwarven flagship, temporarily dropping anchor for better shooting the Intruder battleships shot begin to hit home but it's own remaining armour is paper thin.

The Shroud Mage cruisers cross over the front of the Dwarven flagship providing targets for both port and fore guns whilst the starboard broadside hits and sinks the Shroud Mages battleship. At this point we called it a night.

Uncharted Seas is a fun game, not to expensive to get into, fleets start from less than £13 to just under £30 depending on the fleet (and metal parts), scenary needs are low and the models and quick and fun to paint.

Paul

The Battle of Upton - A short VBCW Campaign Battle

2009-09-26T02:36:00.000-07:00

Harry Doyle had been holed up in the lock keepers cottage for more than a week, the BUF grip was tightening on the region. He needed to send a message to the people and workers of Worcester that the Government could be stopped. He sent a message to his local commanders they would strike a blow against the government and their Lapdogs the Auxiliary Police.

The Police station at Upton on Severn was chosen, close to Worcester to raise the spirits of the masses and close enough to his bases in Diglis to bring to bear the most workers. Concerns were raised about the Fascist Garrison at Norton but if the bridge at Upton could be held these troops could be held at bay long enough for the Station to be destroyed.

The Severn Riverside, Wharf, Labours, Federation (SRWLF) was ready to Strike.

The flying Column based at Norton had heard rumours of an attack on a local police station the problem was they did not know where.

The Police were nervous – Always the meat in the Sandwich, rumours had been rife about an attack in the local area they just hoped it would not be them. They had imposed martial law within the city and an extension of this being considered to the villages in the surrounding area.

Turn one saw the SRWLF opting for a mass attack on the village they knew the flying column was approaching but hoped to get in fast destroying the station before the militia column could deploy.

Skirting the river bank the largely untrained SRWLF were stopped in their tracks by heavy fire from the Bridge detail's heavy Machine gun, the gunner despite being wounded in both the arm and leg killed several members of the advancing SRWLF and drove the rest from the field, a major set back for the Marxists.

Elsewhere the Marxists pushed towards to the station under harassing fire from the Police Officers within, the SRWLF limited number of LMGs were able to keep the Police suppressed long enough for them to reach the outer barrack building.

Time was running out for the SRWLF the militia unopposed had crossed the river and were debusing within the village, the first section secured the bridge and pushed through the village.

Whilst the second section drove hard for the Police station whose occupants were on the verge of fleeing their posts.

The SRWLF forced the police to break and flee the table, they pushed across the car park to force entry to the station only to find their path blocked by the advancing militia, a furious firefight erupted leaving several SRWLF men killed.

One member of the Wharf men headed inside the station and was able to start a small fire but with militia men swarming all over the station victory was short lived for the Marxists.

Harry would have to find another way of striking a blow for the workers of Worcester...

My thanks to Paul, Mark, Dane & Son a cracking game with more to follow.

Sunday 20th September

2009-09-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

This weeks club saw 2 games of Flames of War, a game of Memoir 44 and another game in Stu's British Civil War narrative which saw my Wargames Foundry Home Guard finally take the table. Whilst Stu prepares his game report here is a couple of shots from the night.

Over to you Stu.

The Battle for Hong Kong

2009-09-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

After having spent what seems to be years assembling my British Forces for Cold War Commander I was finally ready for a game, my opponent for the evening was Stu and his North Koreans masquerading as Chinese.

Heres a long shot showing the whole table, placing terrain can make a big difference in a modern game, too much terrain closing down the battlefield and all the long ranges of modern tank guns and ATGW systems.

The buildings are mixture from Timecast's South East Asia range and from Irregular Miniatures.

The Paddy Fields would act as water obstacles for the Armour, whilst hedges and walls are linear obstacles requiring elements to end their movement on contact.

This is all you get for 2,500 points.

1 CO
2 HQ
1 FAO in Gazelle
8 Chieftains
8 Regular Infantry platoons
1 81mm mortar
2 GPMG
3 M109 155mm SPGs (off table)
1 Recce Scorpion

The break point for this tiny force was only 9 elements.

The Chinese managed to bring more forces to bare, still only 2,500 points, but the breakpoint was something like 24 elements. The armour was Type 62 (an indigenous design with an 85mm gun). Artillery support was brought on table but failed to find any targets.

Having seized the initiative the Chinese surged forward (and I was regretting playing across the table)closing the gap between faster than I would have liked. This was the first time we had played these rules and completely forgot about opportunity fire!

Luckily for the Chieftains the quality of their gunnery practice played off as the lead Chinese tanks fell the 120mm sabot rounds, destroying five and suppressing two others. The other small formation of Chieftains moves around the left flank in an attempt to neutralise the Chinese Command and Control elements, but in so makes a almost fatal error - they get into the urban areas with no infantry support.

The Gazelle carrying the British Artillery Observer calls down very accurate fire from the M109 155mm guns ( double 1!), with no deviation the Chinese infantry suffer massively. The observer manages 1 more successful fire mission during the game before being driven off table several times by anti aircraft fire.

The second battalion of armour was racing around the other flank where there was no armour to stop them only a weak infantry battalion with no anti tank weapons, hidden in a crop field.

The Chinese prepare to move around the paddy fields,

The British, too far into the town, fail order rolls and fail to get any further.

The Chinese rally their armour elements to face the British, whilst infantry attempt to 'close assault' to the armour. Short range Chinese fire suppresses the majority of the Chieftains.

The Chieftain nearest the house manages the repel the Red Infantry using it's co-ax machine gun to good effect killing the RPG gunners and much of their supporting infantry.

Having driven off one battalion of Chinese armour, the Chieftains switch target to the other Chinese armour destroying three.

Whilst one British armoured detachment was completely suppressed the other, engaging at greater range managed to suppress and destroy enough of their lighter opposition to bring the Chinese to their breakpoint and end the game 25 - 0. The score as ever does not reflect how close I felt it was, as the Chinese got closer their larger numbers came into play but luckily the Chieftains having both more hits and a higher save left them suppressed rather than destroyed on a number of occasions. The Chinese unable to convert the suppressions to fall-backs.

Okay we did a bunch of stuff wrong, both with the rules and tactically, but we both felt the rules worked well and will be having another go at perhaps 4000 points, hopefully getting the rules right.

1938 A Very British Civil War

2009-08-26T03:16:00.001-07:00

Not our usual gaming night but with a lull of 3 weeks before the next club, we thought we would put on a mid-week game.We used Arc of Fire which really gave a good feel for the period, a small number of deaths but plenty of walking wounded.The morale rules really impacted on the ability of the lower quality troops to put in an effective assault or defence.

"Sub Commander Spear was furious they had gone and lost his tank, the war in Dorset had been going well and this was designed to be his trump card finally putting an end to resistance in the Dorchester region.He had hoped his quick actions when the fighting broke out would give him the edge. Taking several members of the B.U.F. Defence Force he had broken in to Bovington Camp and secured a number of antiquated WW1 Tanks held by the training Corps, many needed extensive repair work but the A7V was in good running order.The Tank supported by several BUF Sections broke through Royalist Check Points around the Military Camps and pressed on through Wool, with the intention of linking up with the BUF units within Poole, however the A7V had out paced the infantry and was left isolated, it was unsuited to the Dorset Countryside and had become stuck in one of the lanes after being pushed too hard by the makeshift crew.

With Royalist forces closing in it would have to be destroyed unless it could be rescued Spear could not risk it falling into Royalist hands. The countryside was crawling with Royalist forces and any substantial rescue forces were several miles away and an infantry assault through the narrow country lanes would be costly, the answer came in the shape of the newly formed Airship Assault Corp. "

SET UP.

The A7V and it's crew are in the top right hand corner with 2 sections of Airship ratings and 1 Section of Air Assault Troops advancing on table from the opposite end of the table.The Royalist Forces most deploy within 12" of the cottages, they have 3 sections of Royalist Infantry, 1 heavy machine gun and a local militia unit.

Turn 1Royalist militia rush to block the advancing fascists as word of the landing reaches royalist command. Air assault troops sneak along the perimeter before clashing with the Royalist Infantry. Airbourne Ratings Avance to contact with the Royalist forces. Militia fill the hedge rows and put poor fire into the advancing fascists, inflicting several wounds on the ratings and killing an NCO, this forced them to ground, the supporting fire of the Royalist Heavy Machine Gune kept them suppressed for the entire eveing.

The Royalist Infantry having crossed the open ground facing the farm house burst from the hedge row and Close Assault the A7V. The crew panic and as grenades are forced through the firing slits they flee the vehicle heading for the tree line and the approching Air Assault Troops.

Turn Two.The Airbourne Ratings forcing their way through the fields in the centre of the table whilst the Assault troops move unhindered via the right hand fork. As the Air Assault Troops force their way down the right hand lane only they see the Royalist Infantry moping up the remaining tank crew and torching the tank.
With the tank destroyed and the majority of the crew killed of captured the fascists are forced to withdraw from the table

Total losses.

Royalist 2 killed and 7 wounded.

Fascists 2 Airbourne Ratings Killed 9 wounded.

Four Tank Crew Killed or captured

A failed rescure attempt by the fascists - Good job the Royalists did them a favour by destroying the vehicle.

Uncharted Seas 16th August

2009-08-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

The game tonight was a classic battle of Good verses Evil, 3 starter fleets a side, Shroud Mages, Orc's and Dragon Lords verses 2 Elven Fleets and a Dwarf Fleet.

As commander of the Shroud Mages the plan was simple hold the flanks with the Cruisers and Frigates from the Dragon Lords and Orcs leaving the Shroud Mages, Orc and Dragon Lord Battleships to concentrate on the slower moving Dwarf fleet.

As in war the plan changed from the start the Elves had deployed far to the right leaving Mark's Orcs facing two Elven Fleets....... We knew the Elven Frigates would attempt to push around our right flank so we asked the Orcs to do what they do best head straight for the enemy fleet hoping that this would buy us enough time to pin the Dwarf fleet before swinging right to support the Orc's.

The wind was in the faces of the elves which slowed them down but even so they were still very fast. Long range fire and some lucky dice pegged back the forces of good but the Elven fleet remained largely intact.

Mark's Orcs in previous encounters have been pretty tough but they were not prepared for the swift movement of the Elves, the headlong charge brought him under the guns of several cruisers and whilst the Orc Frigates captured an Elven Cruiser they were under real pressure due to the speed of the Elves and some crafty magic halting their ramming move 2" from the Elven Battleship....

In the centre the Shroud Mage Battleship "Imperator" was taking a heavy toll on the Dwarf fleet destroying a number a Frigates and a Cruiser (six sixes in one firing bound shame it was only a Frigate in it's sights!!!) whilst Darren's Dragon Lords exchanged fire with the Dwarven Frigates on the Right.

As the clock ticked by the Elves forced the right flank getting behind the Orc fleet whilst in the centre the Dwarven Fleet was down to it's Battleship and a couple of crippled Cruisers with the Dragon Lords poised to round the centre island.

The bad guy's probably shaded it on the number of casualties inflicted but the Elves having turned the flank were in a strong position to turn the Screw and win the game in the long run.

A great game and good to see a large fleet action.

The First Post

2009-08-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

Following discussions at our club we discussed how we could raise our profile and give prospective members a flavour of the types of games we play. This blog is the result of that discussion.

Where to Find Us

2009-06-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Evesham Wargames Club, we meet on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month from 6pm at Bishampton Village Hall.

The address is;

Broad Lane
Bishampton
Worcestershire
WR10 2LY

From Worcester or Pershore - Take the A44 to Evesham, take the Throckmorton Road on the left and carry on following the signs for Bishampton. Once in the village keep going then take the right hand turn into Broad Lane, the Village Hall is the last building on the right hand side.

From Evesham - Take the A44, turning right onto Fladbury Hill just after the gold club. Carry on up Hill Furze Road until you meet Broad Lane and turn left. The Village Hall is the first building on the left.