Sunday at Barrys - Early WWII Western Desert Game in 15mm

 Today there were only four players (plus Barry as GM and Chris as observer) for an early (?) war game pitting the Brits (2 NZEF) against the Italians in the N African desert - no Germans were harmed in the playing of this game! Paul and I took the defending Italians while Andrew and John were the Kiwis. We did not really expect to win, but hoped to give the NZ Div a bit of pain before their additional numbers overwhelmed us. In the end, we actually did better than we expected, although if we had played on another 2 or 3 turns, we would doubtless have been wiped out!

The rules used were basically Andrew's home brew ones but with some tweaking by Barry, which added some complexity and removed some of the original concepts eg order changed from Rally, Fire, Move, Melee to Rally, Move, Fire, Melee - and the "return fire" that I quite liked from Andrews original idea was gone, but they seemed to work ok.

The view of the table from the south (Italians on the left)

And from the North - Italians on the right

Above and below - the built-up areas that the Italians had to defend to prevent a British victory

Above and below, the defending Italian force. Up to 4 airstrikes could be called up during the game.

Above and below, the attacking New Zealand forces - they also had 4 air strikes as well as off table artillery support (the Italian artillery was on the battlefield)

I am not very au fait with early war armour (or the Italians at all!) I think these are Vickers Mk VI - they are light tanks with small guns, anyway!

I believe these may be Valentines - medium tanks with a crappy 2lb gun!

Some kind of cruiser tank - again light armour and 2lb gun

The NZ-ers also had 6 Matilda II tanks - heavy armour but the same shit gun!

Hills placed under the cloth could be ascended by all troop types, hills on top (as above) could only be navigated by dismounted infantry, not wheeled or tracked vehicles

The Kiwis started 12" on from the table edge 

First blood to Italia as one of the Valentines was brewed up - molto bene!

The Regia Aeronautica puts in an appearance but to no effect this time - molto male!

The Kiwis had to test for bogging in soft sand every time they moved at full speed (3 x D6) If they rolled a 1, they were stuck. To represent the fact the Italians had been in situ for some time, they could move freely - as they knew where the bad going was - thanks, Barry! The black markers above indicate a couple of NZ tanks have run into soft sand!

Half the recon force of light tanks had the same issue!

On the next turn, the Italians sprung their surprise - an aggressive, forward defence! The two light tanks not bogged in soft sand were dispatched by AT fire - the Italians now lead 3 - 0.

The Kiwis came on in the same old way - and the Italians managed to continue to inflict losses on them, above and below.

The air force returned and this time, managed to knock out another NZ vehicle - by this stage, Paul and I were about 7 - 0 ahead.

But despite our early successes, there were still LOTS more where they came from 

Paul used the artillery to lay smoke to screen his light tanks from Johns Matilda's.

Over on the extreme left of the NZ advance, there was no Italian opposition

Once the smoke cleared, combined Kiwi fire took a heavy toll on Paul's armour

Andrew's artillery and a tank mounted howitzer had driven out most of the Italian garrison of my BUA by the time his infantry closed in - taking this position would give the Kiwis 3 VP

A couple of aerial views of the two BUA's we were defending

The Kiwi infantry made it into my BUA but the command element supported by a mortar, plus the one remaining infantry company, managed to push 2 of 3 NZ infantry companies back out again!

The last air attack by the Italians put some damage on the NZ infantry preparing to attack Paul's BUA

The central position from the NZ viewpoint

Despite the fact the Kiwis had made a good advance with their infantry, the Italians continued to whittle away their armour, gaining a VP for each vehicle destroyed. at this stage, it was 14 - 10 to the Italians......

Paul's command had been badly mauled by John - who had at least twice the fire power, so he should have been in the dominant position - my command was still reasonably intact but poor rolling meant I was firing 8 or 10 times but only knocking out one vehicle per turn.

In the final Kiwi turn, Andrews infantry managed to take my BUA at the second attempt, and then the RAF knocked out two of my vehicles

And the final score below - a narrow Kiwi victory - unlike the AB's against Argentina the night before LOL!

Now, in no particular order (that I am aware of!) are a whole bunch of eye candy close ups of the game from our gallant Kiwi opponent John

Thanks for dropping by and hope you found the AAR of interest - despite playing on the losing side, I felt Paul, and I, held our own and was not too upset to lose by 1 point, given the imbalance of forces involved. Shame we had no managed to hold onto my BUA, that would have won us the game, but it was close enough to feel like a moral victory!

A Quick "One Liner"!

 I saw this on the BBC News web site t'other day and thought it might be of interest!

Sunderland wargaming group receives £5,000 to grow 'safe space' (bbc.com)

Back soon with something that takes a bit more effort :)

More Perry Plastic AWI - Col Sherburnes Additional Continental Regiment

Sherburne's Additional Continental Regiment (a.k.a. Sherburne's Battalion) was a unit of the Continental Army which served from January 1, 1777, until it was disbanded on January 1, 1781. It was commanded by Colonel Henry Sherburne.

History

Sherburne's Regiment was one of sixteen additional regiments authorized by the Continental Congress in late 1776. It was organized on January 12, 1777, with soldiers mostly recruited from Rhode Island and Connecticut. It was at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania during the winter of 1777 to 1778 and was engaged at the Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778. In 1779 the regiment was stationed at West Point, New York, where they built Sherburne's Redoubt - a small fortification covering the land approaches to Fort Clinton.

It was also engaged at the Battle of Staten Island on January 15, 1780. It was disbanded in January 1781 when it was consolidated with the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island regiments to form the Rhode Island Regiment. 

Sherburne's Additional Continental Regiment

Authorized 12 January 1777 in the Continental Army as Sherburne's Additional Continental Regiment. Organized in spring 1777 at Fishkill, New York, to consist of three companies from Rhode Island and three companies from eastern Connecticut. Assigned 12 June 1777 to the 1st Connecticut Brigade, an element of the Highland's Department.

Relieved 21 June 1777 from the 1st Connecticut Brigade and assigned to the Rhode Island Brigade, an element of the Highland's Department.

Relieved 14 September 1777 from the Rhode Island Brigade and assigned to the 1st Connecticut Brigade, an element of the Highland's Department.

Relieved 21 July 1778 from the 1st Connecticut Brigade and assigned to the Rhode Island Brigade, an element of the Eastern Department.

Relieved 17 November 1779 from the Rhode Island Brigade and assigned to Stark's Brigade, an element of the Main Army.

Disbanded 1 May 1780 at Morristown, New Jersey when it was consolidated with the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island regiments to form the Rhode Island Regiment.

Significant Campaigns and Battles

The regiment would see action during the New York and New Jersey Campaign (1776-77) and the Philadelphia Campaign 1777-78. It took part in the following major battles:

Battle of Rhode Island (1778)

Battle of Staten Island (1777)

And now, without further ado, some eye candy!

I could find no info on the regiments colours, so have "conjectured"(ie made up!) a dark green field with a small version of the "Betsy Ross" (no relation - that I know of!) flag in the upper canton

I decided to give this unit a more "uniform" appearance by giving every man a matching regulation pack.

My sources varied on the colour of the coat turnback - the Perrys guide showed yellow whereas other references showed turnback's as being white - I decided to go with the Perry version.

Very happy with how these have turned out - and it's on to the next Patriot unit! I have assembled all the remaining Warlord figures, a total of 38, but minus heads, so far - I just need to decide what units I am going to paint them up as, which will determine the appropriate headgear. I am also deficient command elements for these and won't have enough for the remaining Perry figures either, so when mate Mark sends off another Perry order in the next few weeks, I will grab a few extra command elements, plus some other bits n pieces!

Thanks for stopping by and supporting my blog.

Friday night Russo - Polish War 1920

 With our genial host Julian FINALLY back from his extended European tour, Chris, Paul, John, Rick and I turned up on Friday evening for a game of Red Actions, pitting Russian Bolsheviks against the Poles.

As it had been my idea and I had brought along my RCW Bolsheviks, some of my figures made it onto the table - primarily cavalry, augmented from Julians own collection, as the scenario called for an all-cavalry Bolshevik force to assault a strategically important Polish village - as soon as I saw the table and Julian gave us the pre-game briefing, I thought we were in for a hard slog, and so it proved!

Initial layout - ten Bolshevik cavalry units, two groups of three and one of four, each with a Tchanka cart-mounted MG for "support" and a horse gun in the centre. The Poles had local peasant militia infantry in both woods plus regulars supported by a mortar, a field gun and a couple of HMG's in the centre. Three more Polish regular battalions were arriving as reinforcements in the top right of this image

I had a command of three cavalry units, a Tchanka and our sole artillery piece. With a congested front and insufficient room on either flank, I advanced straight towards the Poles!

To my left, John also advanced and was soon in contact with the first batch of Polish militia

The Polish militia are by Siberia Miniatures and are self-described as "caricatures" by the manufacturer. Some very interesting sculpts and poses, including a "pet" bear!

Paul's regular Polish infantry man the fence line.

There was another unit of Poles, supported by an HMG and field gun, in my line of advance.

Johns' cavalry goes in ......

..... and win the day!

I had dismounted 2/3 of my cavalry and had them advancing "evasively" (the "E"!) but they still accumulated hits (or "terror" markers) each turn.... the leading unit has already lost one base 😕

To my right, Rick also charged into the woods, pushing back the local militia unit there, too!

Meanwhile, Chris maneuvered his three battalions of regulars up to confront Ricks Cossacks. 

As seen from the Polish perspective - all my cavalry and most of Johns had dismounted - the Tchanka's were knocked out pretty easily and early on, so we had no MG support and the gun was initially hit and forced to retire, then, struggled to find a suitable position from which to target the Poles.

The Red right flank (Rick) with my dismounted troopers in the centre

Ricks Cossacks have another go at the peasant militia .....

.....  and drive them back, with loss!

The woods full of Bolshevik troops (mine and Ricks!)

The centre and left were pretty much a stale mate, the Poles were too strong for John to advance against them in the open

Rick put in a couple more charges on our right flank, but Chris easily repulsed them.

And that was the game, basically. Julian had included the possibility of Polish cavalry arriving as reinforcements, but they obviously were not required, as we Bolsheviks did not even come close to breaking the Polish infantry - apart from the field gun (which was eventually destroyed by Paul in Polish counter battery fire), I don't think any of my command ever actually fired their weapons - my Tchanka came on, did a U turn to get into position to fire, and was then hit twice and removed from play! Ricks lasted a bit longer but was about as effective, and John kept his out of the way, so it survived - but as a result, I don't think it ever fired - they are not particularly useful weapons for an attacker!

So, on this occasion, the Red Horde of the Konarmiya (конная армия) was driven off with heavy loss by the stout-hearted Poles!

Here is a short piece (courtesy of Wikipedia, of course), about the background to this scenario:

South-Western Front: the war against Poland (1920)

In 1920 Budyonny's 1st Cavalry Army took part in the Bolshevik defence against Poland's invasion of the Ukraine during the Polish-Bolshevik War, at first with remarkable success. The 1st Cavalry Army pushed Polish forces out of Ukraine and broke through the Polish southern frontlines, but later was bogged down at Lvov. This in turn led to a heavy defeat of the rest of the Bolshevik forces in the Battle of Warsaw. When Budyonny's Cavalry finally joined the battle, it was also soundly defeated in the Battle of Komarów, known as the last great cavalry battle in history. At this point, the 1st Cavalry Army's morale and discipline were at a low point, and robbery and violence against the civilian population became commonplace.  The 1st Cavalry Army also became known for periodic outbreaks of murderous anti-semitism.