Friday Night Game - La Reconquesta with TtS

 With four of us at Julians for a Friday night game, I paired up with our host to take on Chris and John in a battle pitting medieval Spaniards against their Muslim enemy.

The rules used were TtS.

The figures used all belong to Julian - Normans standing in for El Cid and Co

The toothpicks represent "lances" which are used in a charge to add an extra damage card - once all used up, cavalry is "blown" and can only move one box not two.

The cardboard "arrows" are ammunition - once all are fired, the archers are simply light cavalry, or skirmishers if on foot.

Two images of initial set up - Julian and I (Christians) on the right, Chris and John (Muslims) to the left

Julian on our left with John opposite him

Both sides advanced in the centre

Blow and counter blow between Julian and Johns mounted troops.

On our right, I sent forward our massed heavy cavalry

And Chris countered with his own mounted warriors

Heavy foot in the centre of the field

John seemed to gain the upper hand in his cavalry clashes with Julian, who kept withdrawing his lighter cavalry off the table edge, then reentering a couple of turns later, which is permitted in TtS

Spanish heavy foot move against the Muslim centre

Clash of heavy cavalry on our right wing - the stand turned sideways indicates 1 hit and the unit being disordered

Spanish heavy cavalry thunders forwards

It was all getting a bit disorganised for both sides!

Units eddied around, looking to hit their enemy in the flanks....

... neither Chris nor I could land a winning punch - for those who know the rules, we were both turning over 8 or 9 for our first activation, then a 4 or 5 for any hits! Flank or rear charges invariably led to the target succeeding in an evade move, and when we did eventually score a hit or two, the other side turned over a save card!

The battle was won (and lost) in the combat between Julian and John

We started the game with 15 coins apiece in our army morale, by the halfway point, our side was down to six, whereas Chris and John still had around thirteen! I think I lost two units (4 coins as they were both heavy) and killed one unit (2 coins) of Chris's force. All the other damage took place in the clashes between John and Julian and by the time we gave up just before 11pm, we were down to one single remaining coin, with our opponents still on around eight - we had played two or three turns at that scoreline, but John and Chris had been unable to get rid of that one stubborn last point - they definitely won the game, however!

A lot of banter and laughs, along with considerable frustration caused by the fall of the cards (I might have been heard to utter the words "Bloody stupid game!" at one point!) - at least the bad fortune was evenly distributed between Chris and I - neither of us really managed to gain much advantage over the other - John was the hero for the Caliphs army, having accounted for the vast majority of our lost coins!

LATE EDITION UPDATE!

John sent through some of his trademark close up images of the figures, so here are the nicest ones!

I Have Had Yet Another Birthday

 And at my age, not much to celebrate, apart from continued survival, I guess! 

I managed to gain the following from my lovely daughter, who also baked a nice chocolate cake to mark the occasion, and my wife cooked up some very nice pork belly that my son came around and shared with us!

These will be added to the GNW collection in due course (I have several boxes of hard plastic cavalry patiently waiting in the queue).

The boy muttered something about a present "soon" but I will take that with a pinch of salt :)

Another Repost From August 2016.

As I have nothing much completed in terms of new figures, nor have I had a game since the 15mm WWII at Barrys, I went with an easy option and picked another game report from the first month of my blogging career, first posted eight years ago:

Wednesday 24 August 2016

Last night I had a game of "Heroes of Normandie", a French WW2 board game. I am not usually a big fan of boardgames but we substituted 15mm figures for the standard tiles that come with the game, and this made it feel more like a REAL wargame!

The mechanics of the game took quite a long time to explain so we only had about a couple of hours of actual play - we did not get the game finished but my Germans were holding their own at the time we finished about 2145.

The scenario  was St Mere Eglise - the Germans had foiled the first attack by the US paras and it was night time. Five of the German units were actually bedded down in the streets of the town at the commencement of the game!

The US player had to sneak on through the surrounding bocage and assault the town. There were about twenty buildings in total, of which one was the primary target and three others were secondary targets - the US player had to capture the primary target and two of the three secondary targets to win the game.

The box that the game arrived in

The scenario book for the game that we played

This is "most" of the game board showing the town of St Mere Eglise that my German forces were called upon to defend against the US paras. The target buildings are marked with crosses - yellow at three corners for the secondary buildings including the church in the bottom left, and red for the primary target in the "centre de ville"

Two of the German units "asleep" in the shelter of the church at the start of the game. They had to remain abed until the first shots were fired, at which time they would, not surprisingly, arise from their slumber and join the fray!

An SdKfz 250 representing a PzKfw II that we did not have a model for. This may not seem a very impressive AFV for mid 1944 but when pitted against an all-infantry force, its 37mm gun and twin MG's were pretty effective!

On the first move, this para bazooka team sprinted forward, took aim at the Panzer, and needing a Three to hit it, rolled a Two!

When it came around to the AFV's turn to return fire, it did so with the MG, needing a 2 to hit and kill the bazooka team - and rolled a Five - first blood to the Wehrmacht!

Two German scout units advanced out of the town to bring the fight to the enemy in the surrounding countryside. The US paras got first go but fluffed the dice rolling.

The Germans responded with grenades and wiped out the US unit with a perfect Six!

The Germans and US paras traded blows for a couple more turns but the US player had some unfortunate dice rolling and failed to inflict any casualties on the defenders. The Germans, on the other hand, continued to whittle down the attacking force. In the final move of the game, a German squad sprinted from cover and engaged the US commander figure - who had been injured in the jump and was being carried in a chair by members of his unit - a historical fact apparently! The Germans won the fight, and the US group was pushed back - if we had carried on for another turn, perhaps the officer would have been eliminated?

A general view of the position as we finished the game - US paras can be seen in the countryside to the bottom and right of the picture. The German unit that engaged the US commander started at the position marked by the black Four to the bottom left of the picture and ended up adjacent to the green One, near the road.

The view from the German lines near the church, at the top right in the previous picture. These units had successfully engaged and eliminated two or three US squads in this area.

Now, I have been accused of always enjoying a game where I do well, so maybe that has coloured my judgement, but this game was good fun and I will be happy to give the system another try soon, which is good news for my opponent, as he has invested a small fortune in obtaining a plethora of map boards and scenarios using this system - watch this space!

An "Almost" Anniversary Post - Eight Years and Counting!

Inspired by "someone" (you will know who you are!) who recorded a 7th or 8th blogaversary recently, I checked back on my first post - and found I had missed the date by about a week - damn it! Never mind, I have copied and pasted my first ever Blogger effort below, regardless. (I am sure it will receive a fair few more responses than the original, which elicited one comment from my game opponent Andrew!)

Sunday 7 August 2016

This is my first blog - have been thinking about it for a while but decided to give it a go today. I am only going to tell a few friends of its existence - if you have happened upon it through some other means, welcome!

The purpose is to get another dimension out of my wargaming hobby by publishing occasional reports on games I have played. I have enjoyed reading similar reports on other people's blogs and think it will be fun to do my own, so here goes!

This is a game we played using a scenario I found online at the Berwick Wargames Club, I think. It uses a modern adaptation of Chain of Command rules. Anyway, it seemed to work well for Afghanistan.

VIP Rescue

Sides

Western forces are the attacker, rescuing the VIP, Taliban are the defenders

Force Levels

As mutually agreed by both players, or selected at random as necessary.

Table Terrain

The terrain is as provided by the organiser.

OBJECTIVE

To win the Attacker must capture the building holding the VIP and extract the VIP off the table or hold the VIP until the Defender withdraws from the table either voluntarily or due to Force Morale. Any other result is a victory for the Defender.

THE PATROL PHASE

In the following order:

• The defender rolls 1D6:
• 1-2      Defender places VIP in a building of his choice.
• 3-4      Attacker places VIP in a building of his choice.
• 5-6      Randomly place VIP in a building.
• The Defender deploys four Patrol Markers within 6” of the table centre.
• The Attacker enters on a broad front anywhere on either or both short table edges, with four Patrol Markers. Before the Patrol Phase the attacker rolls 1D6, the number rolled is the number of moves the Attacker immediately takes with his Patrol Markers.
• At the end of the Patrol Phase both players place three Jump-Off Points.

The side with the higher Force Morale is the Active Player in first phase of the game.

Special Rules

The VIP:

·         May not be moved until captured by the Attacker.

·         Moves with units who have captured the VIP.

We rolled a 4 for the placement of the VIP, so the British player was able to put her in the most advantageous building......the British also rolled well for force morale so had the advantage of the first move too.......

This lady journalist (let's call her VIP Kate) has inadvertently wondered off in search of a scoop and got herself isolated in a village surrounded by Taliban. She has managed to hide in a house in the village and contact ISAF on her cell phone. Now she just has to hope "the cavalry" (a British infantry platoon) get to her before the Taliban discover her!

The first section led by a corporal, plus the platoon sergeant and a section of Royal Engineers approach the building VIP Kate is holed up in

A second section advances into the village to the right of the first sections approach, to give covering fire

The Taliban have heard where VIP Kate is hiding and head towards the building to prevent her rescue

As a Taliban squad breaks cover to enter the building where VIP Kate is ensconced, the left flank covering party spots them and opens fire with two Minimi light machine guns, killing three.

Meanwhile, the Royal Engineers work to breach the rear wall of the building where VIP Kate is sheltering

But Taliban reinforcements including a "technical" mounting a belt fed MG, continue to arrive.

The third British section, accompanied by the Platoon commander, arrive mounted in a Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

At long range, the turret mounted cannon engages two Taliban on a roof top and wipes them out.

After a brief exchange of fire in which three British soldiers were killed, the first section storms the building, killing three Taliban who had succeeded in entering it. Thanks to their excellent fire discipline, VIP Kate survives the assault! The Royal Engineers have succeeded in breaching the rear wall, and Kate is evacuated from the building

A Joint Tactical Air Controller (JTAC) observes potential targets from a central position - in the end, air support was not required, but it's nice to know it's on call if needed.

VIP Kate has BECOME the story, and she is interviewed by colleagues after her daring escapade

I think for the remainder of the month, I might randomly re post some of my earliest entries in my blog as, like many others I am sure, my first 18-24 months of blogging was very sparse on any readers comments!

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoyed this AAR!