Friday 16 December - Wars of the Roses Game

On Friday four of us got together to play a Wars of the Roses game using the "To the Strongest" rules set on a table marked off into squares. The figures are a mixture of our hosts collection by various manufacturers including Old Glory and Front Rank, and one of the visitors, who has built up a sizeable force of Perry plastic figures for this era.

As we appeared to have figures and heraldry representing both Yorkist and Lancastrian factions on both sides of the table, its a bit hard to differentiate, so my report is written from the perspective of my side, and the "others" will be referred to as the enemy!

The sides were reasonably balanced, the enemy comprising the Perry WotR collection of Mark, blogger of "1866 and all that" and our side being the hosts collection. The bulk of both forces were infantry, quite a lot of archers and some dismounted men at arms and spearmen/halbadiers. Both sides had small cavalry forces on each wing as well.

The game commenced with both sides advancing towards the enemy and then engaging in long range archery, all of which seemed to be pretty ineffectual. The "enemy" had the better of things on our left wing initially, despite my partner expending vast numbers of arrows on their advancing forces. On the right wing, I threw forward my cavalry in a charge to catch out an exposed unit of archers, but they passed a test for closing fire then caused a casualty I failed to rebut, and the cavalry went into the melee disrupted, meaning they had the same chance of causing a casualty as the archers did. After a round of combat, each side had suffered a casualty and saved it, but I had to test for the attached leader and he received a light wound! I pulled the cavalry back to reform whilst a second unit entered the fray.

On our left, Marks infantry advanced and seemed to be gaining the upper hand, pushing our forces back beyond their starting positions. He held his cavalry back, perhaps intending to use it in a coup de grace when our left wing was teetering.

On my flank, John and I continued to trade blows, but as sometimes happens, a sudden run of good luck with activation and effect cards saw two or three of Johns units swept from the field and my cavalry was beginning to flank him and in a position to roll up the entire enemy line.

Meanwhile in the centre, my Burgundian crossbowmen were assaulted by dismounted knights with double handed weapons. Fortunately they were behind pavise and slightly harder to hit - they survived the assault and miraculously inflicted a casualty on their attackers - next turn, the fight continued and my crossbowmen defeated the knights and advance to flank the unit of archers who had been forced to change their facing by the flanking manouvre of the cavalry.

On the other wing, Julian had stabilized his forces and when Marks mounted knights finally charged the shire levy bowmen, they were unable to overcome the resistance of these staunch yeomen of England.

The rate of attrition was high on both sides, but the enemy had by this point suffered so many loses that their army morale (represented by a pile of coins from which two were removed for each lost unit) was all gone, whilst we still had 2 or 4 coins remaining on our side.

A good fun evening with a simple set of rules that may not be the most "realistic" (whatever that is) but moves along quickly and prevents any predictability, as you never know how many activations or moves your force will have in any given turn.

Some of the images are rather indifferent in quality - I think it has something to do with the subdued lighting in the room where we were gaming.....but I have included them all anyway.

A map showing roughly the starting positions of the two forces and layout of the battle field - I was on the blue side

General view of the table at the start of the game - our side is the left looking at this image

Close up of the Burgundian crossbowmen - the heroes of the night!

Enemy archers arrayed - Perry plastic figures

My heavy cavalry and general

Enemy archers and heavy foot/men at arms advancing against our centre

The centre of our line, comprising archers, billmen and foot knights/men at arms

Enemy heavy cavalry on our left wing, opposed by a unit of shire levy

The enemy centre advances under a storm of arrows from our archers, none of which had any significant effect!

My cavalry charges home against the enemy archers but is disordered by closing fire

The Burgundian crossbowmen and pikemen before they became engaged in ferocious hand to hand combat

My archers have another go at engaging the enemy units

The developing melee on our right wing - another enemy unit has joined the fray

An exchange of arrows in the centre of the field

The melee on our left wing continues

Enemy heavy knights charge the Burgundian crossbowmen

On our right wing, our cavalry moves forward to plug a gap in the line

A move later, and on my flank, two or three enemy units have disappeared, and my cavalry reserve is on the flank of the enemies line, whilst the Burgundian crossbowmen take a unit of enemy archers in the flank(apologies for the poor quality of this image!)

The combat in the centre of the field - in the foreground, the Burgundian Crossbowmen have defeated the men at arms and are advancing to hit a unit of archers in the flank, whilst their pike armed countrymen engage another enemy unit

Another move later and this is the position on our right wing - no enemy are in sight as the unit that had been facing off against the cavalry unit in the bottom right has just been flanked and defeated by the Burgundian crossbowmen

A general view of the combat in the centre of the field - a bit of a mess really!

The enemy heavy cavalry on our left wing advances

My cavalry moves from our right wing to start rolling up the enemy line with a flank attack

Two units of knights, both disordered, melee with each other - my Burgundian pikemen are to the right and about to add their weight to the melee

The shire levy archers not only stood against the cavalry charge, they managed to disorder them as they charged in with closing fire

A final view of the field at the conclusion of the game - approximately four hours but including a break of about an hour for dinner - a great way to end the working week!

Wednesday 7 Dec - ACW Game

Tonight four of us "did" an ACW scenario using the Kalistra rules and a hex based table. The figures used are mainly Old Glory but also a few that were designed and produced by one of the members of our wargaming group.

I THINK the scenario was based on Chancellorsville - but could be wrong! In any case, the Union forces were strung out in an advance from one long table side to the other, whilst the Confederates were in the two corners - a defensive positon in the top left of the table as viewed from the Union perspective, and a flanking force in the bottom right. There were quite a few woods on the table as well as a couple of hills

The map below gives a very rough idea of the position of the forces at the start of the game

The Union commanders decided to basically ignore the Reb force in the bottom right and concentrate on destroying the defensive position on the two hills in the top left of the map. This comprised two batteries of guns and four battalions of infantry , two being "elites" of Hoods Texas Brigade.

This plan worked well and the Union won the day with very few setbacks. The Reb flank reinforcements were very tardy in advancing and when they got within range, the Zouaves dealt to them big time, causing multiple casualties and halting the entire advance. The Union centre meanwhile drove in the Reb defensive position on the hills and gradually overwhelmed the defending battalions by sheer weight of numbers. The Reb cavalry eventually managed to extricate itself from the woods and charged the rear of a Union unit, but failed to break it - and in the next turn of melee, the Union infantry won the fight and drove off Jeb Stuart.

This was the end of turn four and we decided to end the game - there was no doubt that the Union had won the engagement.

Starting position showing Union forces in the centre with Reb defensive position in bottom left of picture

Union infantry advance on the left flank

Reb infantry on the right flank

General view of the Union attack viewed from the right flank, and showing the Reb defensive position in the top right of the photo

Union infantry advanciung

Another view of the Union advance on the left side of the table

The Union Zouaves who held the right flank of the advance and held off five battalions of Rebs

Close up view of some Reb infantry advancing through woods 

Massed Union assault on the Reb defensive position.

Reb Zoauves are rear ended by two Union battalions

Reb infantry deploying on the Union flank 

A solitary Reb unit launches an attack on the Union advance on the defensive position

Jeb Stuarts cavalry attack Union infantry in the rear

Union Zoauves face off against the Reb assault

General view showing Union advance on the main Reb defensive position

Note the absence of Reb cavalry in top left of this picture!

Reb cavalry six hexes back from where they had engaged in combat with the Union infantry

The Union infantry who defeated a rear attack by Reb cavalry - the last action of the game

15mm Guadalcanal Battle

On Wednesday night I went over to a friends place to play a game of "Conflict of Heroes" - basically a board game - which we have played a couple of times previously - but this time converted to a table top game with 15mm figures

The scenario was based on the following real life action - details copied form Wikipedia:

"Meanwhile, native island scouts—directed by British government official and officer in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force, Martin Clemens—told the Marines of Japanese troops at Taivu, near the village of Tasimboko, about 17 mi (27 km) east of Lunga. Edson launched a raid against the Japanese troops at Taivu. Destroyer transports USS McKean and Manley and two patrol boats took 813 of Edson's men to Taivu in two trips. Edson and his first wave of 501 troops landed at Taivu at 05:20 (local time) on 8 September. Supported by aircraft from Henderson Field and gunfire from the destroyer transports, Edson's men advanced towards Tasimboko village but were slowed by Japanese resistance. At 11:00, the rest of Edson's men landed. With this reinforcement and more support from the Henderson Field aircraft, Edson's force pushed into the village. The Japanese defenders, believing a major landing was underway after observing the concurrent approach of an Allied supply ship convoy heading towards Lunga Point, retreated into the jungle, leaving behind 27 dead. Two Marines were killed.

 

In Tasimboko, Edson's troops discovered the supply base for Kawaguchi's forces, including large stockpiles of food, ammunition and medical supplies, and a shortwave radio. The Marines seized documents, equipment and food supplies, destroyed the rest, and returned to the Lunga perimeter at 17:30. The quantities of supplies and intelligence from the captured documents revealed that at least 3,000 Japanese troops were on the island and apparently planning an attack."

This is a map of the action from the web

Above is the scenario page from the game - the Japanese started off with four units - an infantry unit, an MMG, a mountain gun and a sniper. As the game progressed, on move 2, 3, 4 and 5, they would receive an additional two infantry units per move as reinforcements.

The USMC started with more units and received 3 or 4 extra Para Marine units at the start of move 3. The US also had air support available but it could only be used on Japanese units NOT in any jungle area

The game was played on a 6' by 4' table marked with hexes, to replicate the board game. Figures are Flames of War (US) and Command Decision (Japs)

View down the length of the table from the end where the US deployed - the village of Tasimboko can be seen in the distance

Above and below two views of Tasimboko before the game commenced

Early in move 2 and the first of the Japanese reinforcements arrive

USMC advancing through Kuni grass, which did not block line of site OR give any cover, but DID impede movement somewhat. Only one unit of the original two remain as they were engaged in the flank by a concealed Japanese sniper and wiped out

USMC Para Marine reinforcements advancing towards Tasimboko village on move 3

The deadly Japanese sniper takes aim again

USMC advancing on their right flank after the left flank advance stalled under the sniper fire that eliminated two of three units.

Move 3 and two more Japanese reinforcements arrive

USMC advance to very close range of the MMG concealed in one of the buildings

The USMC advance continues despite suffering heavy casualties on their left flank

US air support engages the MMG in the house but to no effect - earlier, the USAAF had successfully destroyed one Japanese unit caught in the open.

Move 4 - multiple Japanese reinforcements have arrived and made their way through the jungle to the edge of the village

The final situation at the end of move 5 - which was the allotted time for the game. The Japanese managed to rewrite history - they only lost one unit to the early air strike and killed 4 or 5 US units, preventing the US forces from even reaching the village, let alone capturing it and destroying the supplies, as happened in real life

Final view of the heroic Japanese sniper who managed to remain concealed throughout the game and accounted for two or possibly three of the US casualties