Travel Battle - Giving it a try

 Bob Black popped over for a few hours and we had agreed to give Perry's Travel Battle an airing.  I have had the game, in fact two sets, for a couple of years, and although I had painted some of the figures I had not actually tried the game.

We had more troops than needed for the game, but we decided to play it as it comes out of the box.  Bob took the French army and I the Austrians. The game starts with a random selection of the playing area, decided by a dice, with the two boards set up side by side.  Each army has three Brigades formed as desired by the players.  Then in turn each player places a brigade on his edge of the board.  This is what the initial set up looked like:

My Austrians are nearest to the camera, and I had organised my army with two infantry brigades with artillery support and a cavalry brigade. Bob, on the other hand, went for three mixed brigades with infantry and cavalry.  

My side of the board had some key defensive positions, with a walled farm on my right and high ground behind, a small farm in the centre in a flat area of land.  On my left was a large wood and more high ground.  Bob, however, had high ground in the centre, a village on his right and a wood on his left.  I decided from the outset that I would defend the the walled farm and the wood, keeping my artillery on the high ground. The cavalry would work best on the flat ground in the centre.

The village, with a French Brigade deployed behind:

The Austrians move forward to take the high ground and advance towards the walled farm beyond, the French can just be seen beyond the wood:

Early on, Bob pushes his heavy cavalry forward, but has overlooked the need to keep them in contact with the Brigade commander.  They will not be able to move further until he catches them up, but they can fight if attacked. However, he has left them very exposed with the Austrian cavalry to their front.

On the next move the Austrian cavalry brigade charged forward, with their brigadier and slammed into the French:

Fighting is done on the basis of the highest score on the dice, with elite troops and heavy cavalry getting a second roll option.  The Austrians did not do as well as expected. They lose a heavy regiment and one light cavalry regiment routs.  The French lose a regiment too.

A second round of combat sees the destruction of the French cavalry attack and the Austrian cavalry pull back and reform.

The French attack towards the walled farm also comes unstuck as they lose a cavalry regiment and two foot units, although they force one Austrian unit back to the edge of the boars upsetting the cohesion of the Austrian brigade.

In the centre French infantry push forward and are attacked by the Austrian cavalry:

The French troops are grenadiers who have some lucky rolls on the dice.  They destroy one regiment of Austrian Hussars and force the remainder of the brigade back:

However, with the destruction of the French cavalry and the mauling of the French assault on the walled farm, further casualties on the French right sees that Brigade abandon their advance. They withdraw out of range:

Having had all three brigades blunted and with the threat of beer, sausages and baked potatoes for lunch Bob concedes the battle.  He could have gone on fighting as to win, two complete brigades need to be destroyed.

This was an interesting experiment that provided a couple of hours of fun.  The game probably moved a bit slowly as we had to consult the rules frequently.  We made a few mistakes too, for example, forgetting to attempt to rally broken troops as they fled the field.

We will give the game another go in the future.  We are already wondering if some micro tanks could play on the same boards!

Capture the farm and Orchard

 Another Rapid Fire game, again set in Normandy using Rapid Fire rules.

On this occasion, using a scenario borrowed from Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy Magazine, the Allies, advancing from the right,  have orders to take the farm buildings and secure the orchard.  Forces consist of a full US platoon, with a mortar and supported by a single Sherman tank.  The Germans have two sections of infantry, a sniper team, a machine gun team, and an assault gun to arrive later. The Germans had also laid some mines.  These were laid at the Y junction by the triangular field, although on the table indicated by a marker.  The German forces were all hidden and represented by markers, several of which were hoaxes.

Map courtesy of WSS magazine

Below, a  view of the table.  Some of the markers can be scene as round discs. 

The Sherman arrives and fires some speculative shots at the farm, which in fact contains the German sniper team.  The observer is killed.  Will, playing the allies, is worried about the marker at the Y junction and fires a few shots into the hedge, with no effect.

A view from the German end of the table.  In fact, the Germans have no forces in the farm buildings, other than the sniper team in the centre farm.  Both sections and the machine gun team are in the area of the orchard.  The idea being that the German commander wants to outgun the enemy that are likely to try to move around that flank.

Soon contact is made.  Two section of US troops, supported by the Sherman run up against the first German section and the machine gun in the orchard. The US suffer some casualties, but the Germans also take losses from tank fire and the machine gun is hit by small arms fire.  It looks bad for the Germans.

However, the Stug III arrives and quickly destroys the Sherman, but the US mortar is now raining bombs onto the Germans. In the background more US troops can be seen moving around that flank.

Now the second German section appears and causes a number of US casualties.  With the Sherman destroyed, the infantry sections cut to pieces with failing morale and the sniper picking off the bazooka team and mortar observers, the US assault on the orchard falters.

Attention shifts to the other flank, as the third US section moves to secure the farm.  But, with the Sherman destroyed, and despite attempts to mask them with smoke, the Stug III deploys and fires HE into the the US infantry.  Their morale collapses after taking casualties and they withdraw.  

The battle is over.  having suffered heavy casualties and lost their tank support the allied attempt to take the farm buildings and orchard fail.

A German victory. The figures are by Valiant and the tanks are from Armourfast.

A Clash of Iron - War of the Roses

 Continuing the theme of heavy metal forces pounding each other, Will and I put away the tanks and dug out the medieval figures (after a long search for the cavalry, which were hiding in plain sight in a shoe box!). We used Command and Colors rules for this battle. The cards were to play a devastating hand.

The game was based upon a non-historical theme, having divided the armies into two, consisting of two feuding barons; Baron William and Baron Robert.  The field was largely open with the odd copse and some hedges:

Both sides exchanged fire from their archers, with William pushing his light troops forward.  Initially there was little effect, but eventually Robert's forces gained the upper hand ( I had a card that said 'darken the skies' that gave my archers extra firepower), this with a couple of cavalry charges pushed the enemy light troops back.

William ordered a major attack on Robert's right flank and for a moment things looked difficult, however lady luck played her hand again, seeing Williams heavy cavalry destroyed.  This left the flank open and Robert's cavalry smashed into his infantry, supported by those pesky archers in the woods.

With William's left flank in tatters, Robert pushed his infantry forward in the centre, supported by cavalry.  In the clash that followed Williams remaining cavalry unit is destroyed along with more infantry.

William's forces are checked in the centre as enemy heavy infantry steadily advance.

Robert's cavalry are now free to roam the field and sweep into William's left flank, which crumbles under pressure.

In a last ditch attempt to reverse the situation William himself leads a charge but after some heavy fighting he is surrounded and his best troops are cut down. He drops his sword and kneels in surrender.

It is all over, a short but bloody encounter.  William's forces are smashed with a score of 8 - 3 to Robert. The figures are all 28mm plastics and were originally from the collection of the late Alan Cook.

Advance to contact!

 Will popped over today and it proved to be a great opportunity to get some figures on the table for a game or two.

The first game was set in 1944 and saw US and German troops probing forwards in Normandy.  Both sides had 100 point forces and both elected to to have a tank company represented by three tank models.  The US had a couple of infantry platoons, heavy machine guns and mortars, while the Germans simply had the three tanks and four companies of infantry. Rapid Fire rules were used.

The troops would arrive and advance to contact based upon a roll of the dice. 

This was the area of operations, the Bellona river, with its humped backed bridge, dotted woods and fields and several ruined buildings.  The US forces appear from the right and the Germans on the left:

Closer up on the US side, with the river in the background:

Looking down the length of the table from the German end:

The US forces begin to arrive; an infantry company cautiously moves towards a small wood:

Both sides bring their tanks onto the field, with a Panzer IV now sitting astride Bellona bridge.  Then follows an exchange of fire between it and a Sherman along the road.  A second Sherman moves up behind, while another Panzer IV creeps around the wood by the river.

More US troops move cautiously around the hedgerows.

A third Sherman advances to support the US left flank.

The third Sherman attempts to outflank the Panzer IVs by the bridge.

The two Panzer IVs strike it lucky and one of the Shermans on the road is destroyed. US mortars deploy near one of the buildings and a Bazooka team attempts to sneak towards the Bridge.  Unfortunatel the Bazooka team is knocked out shortly after.

A wider view of the field, showing large numbers of German infantry closing in on the Bellona river, while the US infantry occupy a building supported by the third US tank.  In the background a Stug III has crept around behind the bridge to engage the second Sherman on the road.  The Panzer IV on the bridge withdraws after being damaged.

German panzer grenadiers line the hedge and fire at the US troops in the building.

With the Stug III covering the approach to the bridge, the two Panzer IVs swing around to engage Sherman 3. Meanwhile two more companies of Germans rapidly advance towards the bridge.

The Stug III destroys the second Sherman on the road by the bridge.  The US attempt tp mask the two Panzer IVs with smoke, but they move to a new position and engage Sherman 3, causing some damage and forcing it to withdraw. The german tanks and infantry pour fire onto the building and the US infantry follow Sherman 3 reawards.

The Germans now dominate the river preventing any further forward movement by the US forces.

Supported by the Stug III masses of German infantry pour over the bridge outflanking the US troops, who now concede defeat.

It was a major victory for the Germans.  The Rapid Fire rules worked well and Will and I are now getting the hang of them without constantly referring to the rule book.  Most enjoyable.

Another mystery figure

 I recently purchased a group of Roman soldiers that were being sold as possible Ros Figures.  They are 25mm. The shields appear to be separate castings.

I am not so sure that they are by Ros, but they are delightful, but I think that they are quite old - 1970s probably.

Does anyone know who manufactured these figures?

More adventures with Speed Paints

 Over the past few weeks I have been dabbling with painting 25mm figures using Army painter Speed Paints.  Overall I have enjoyed using them, however, I had run into difficulties with the paint bleeding into lighter colours (especially red) and later in applying white.

My solution has been to paint most of the colours in the normal way with Speed Paints, which is very quick.  Once dry, I then give the figures two coats of Army Painter matt varnish.  It is then possible to paint on the detail, such as cross belts and shako cords.

Overall, not brilliant, but acceptable and an easy way of churning out multiple battalions.  Here we see three units, one Portuguese and two British line.  They are a mix of figures.  The Portuguese are mostly Ros British and the British are in the main Minifigs S range.  

British WW2 Heavy Artillery

 I recently took charge of a portion of the Eric Knowles WW2 collection.  I now own the 1940 British and early war Germans, or some of them at least.  As always, there is some rebasing and organising to be done.  Unfortunately, I did not get all of the British artillery and thought it would be nice to have some heavy guns, although I am not too sure how I would fit them onto my 8 x 4 table!

So, with reinforcements in mind, I purchased a couple of Resin 7.2" howitzers and a Strelets 6" gun, to provide the crew, which are dressed largely in 1940s, early war uniforms.  A couple of Oxford Diecast gun tractors were also purchased.

I had a lot of fun putting this lot together and here is the result:

I have some Vickers light tanks and Matildas to paint, along with a load of German horse drawn transport. I should soon be ready for a game or two.

Mystery Figure

 I was wondering if anyone knows what this figure might be.  I have checked all the usual places that have information on early Minifigs to no avail. It is possible that someone has one of these in their collection.

He is most likely from the 25mm Minifigs S Range and may well be from the Colonial range; CC2s Moroccan Cavalryman.

Also in the Minifigs catalogue, under the French Revolutionary War, there is a figure listed as FRC 7s, Syrian Horse Lancer. Again, does anyone know of this figure and maybe what it looks like. Could the figure above be this one?  Or could the figure be something completely different.

Any information would be gratefully received.

Rolica 17 August 1808

 This is a battle in the Command & Colors scenario book that I have been wanting to try for several years.  However, a visit by Phil and the fact that Will had deposited his 20mm Anglo/Portuguese army, along with his French for safe keeping presented an opportunity not to be missed.

So, the table was set out as per the scenario we chose sides; I was the Anglo Portuguese while Phil played the French.

Having set out the scenery, this is the table ready for play:

A view across the battlefield, with the French firmly installed upon the long ridge.

As the Allied commander, I thought that this would be quite an easy action.  How wrong I was! My plan was to demonstrate on the French left, with the hop of drawing off reserves from the centre, attack in the centre to pin the French on the ridge and then sweep around the French right flank.  First of all I needed to clear the river and bring my artillery into range.  The British battalions under the command of Wellesley wade across the river and secure the far bank.

Over on the Allied left flank the Fergusson's British move more cautiously, as Phil deploys some light cavalry round the rear of Rolica village.

Meanwhile, Trant's Portuguese, supported by some Cacadores and cavalry advance on to the French left.  the French counter move with some light troops and hussars.

British light infantry hold a wood to secure the crossing, but cannot advance due to the cavalry threat

Over on the Allied right, the French counter attack causing casualties amongst the Cacadores, who are forced into a close combat brawl.

The French Hussars attack and drive off the Portuguese cavalry, while the Portuguese line are pushed back having also suffered casualties.

With the Portuguese attack being largely blunted a second Portuguese line battalion moves up to stabilise the situation.

Although the Allied right flank attack was repelled quite quickly, in the centre the british battalions, having crossed the river, move towards the ridge.  It looks a daunting task.

An over view of the situation at this point.  Allied artillery now has the range of the French on the ridge, as the British attack goes in.

Predictably, the British battalions suffer heavily and pull back, but another battalion moves up in support.

A further British battalion crosses the river on the left, mindful of those pesky French Hussars.

On the Allied left things are more successful.  Led by General Fergusson, a battalion moves around rolica village and begins to climb the ridge, having driven off the French Hussars.

While this is going on Wellesley rallies the British battalions in the centre and moves once more towards the ridge.

battle is joined, with most of the French infantry pushed back.  The sweep around the outnumbered French right forces a general French withdrawal.  

This is a costly win for the Allies with the score being 6 - 5.  The French pull back to a second ridge line as the Allies reorganise for a second attack.

Although the Allies were victorious, this turned out to be a more challenging battle, not helped by some rotten dice rolls by the Allies!