Battle of Binh Ba- Vietnam - Modern Bolt Action.

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The table from the Australian end- the APCs and Centurions advance.

This battle was one of the major actions undertaken by the Australian Task force during the Vietnam War. On the 6th June 1969, D Company 5 RAR commanded by Major Murray Blake, was called out with a troop of Centurions and APCs as part of 1ATF Ready Reaction Force in response to enemy activity in the village of Binh Ba to the north of the Australian base at Nui Dat. Binh Ba had been occupied by Vietnamese forces ( 33NVA Regiment and D440 Battalion) and had to be removed.
For more pictures see 'No Duff Gamer' Blog down the right hand side.

The Town

WORLD WAR 1- The Battle of Villers- Bretonneux April 24th 1918

Nowadays the fighting at Villers-Bretonneux is becoming as famous as the Gallipoli campaign for Australians. This small town in France saw heavy fighting during the opening weeks of the German's Spring Offensive in 1918 as part of the Kaiserschlacht. The village was held by Allied forces and the Australian 9th Brigade held the Germans off during the first battle. The second battle saw the Australian 13th and 15th Brigades AIF (Australian Imperial Force) taking the village back on the evening of the 24th and into the 25th of April in 1918. It was also the first time in History that just to the south of Villers-Bretonneux near the small village of Cachy that the first Tank vs tank battle ever took place.

I kind of liked the idea of refighting the action by the 13th and 15th brigades 1st AIF - and by condensing the time frame being also able to fit in the tank fight. So our game represented the German tank attack with the British tanks fighting to stop them as the Australian brigades began their fast attack to secure the town from the Germans.

The view from the south east- the German tanks - one A7V and a captured MkIV.

Pacific Island Assault- Bolt Action

The table was ready, the troops were prepared and it was 'go!' The objective was simple, the combined Australian/US Marine force was to take the two islands. The Japanese just had to survive.
The allies decided to assault only Red Beach ( Red 1, 2 and 3) rather than hit the main island from both sides. This had its pros and cons as it meant that the Japanese who had Green beach covered- several machine guns, mortars and rifle squads- were now facing empty beaches and had to be redeployed. For the allies, they spread themselves across the three beaches, with no critical concentration of force so they found that they did need more troops by mid-game.

Marines come ashore on Red 1

Bolt Action - Modern Action in Afghanistan

Spyros has built up a nice force of modern Diggers (Australian soldiers!) with Bush Masters and LAVs for our country's recent combat in Afghanistan. He originally touted the idea of using them for Force on Force......but as he had well over 60 figures it may not have been feasible....well not for my feeble mind! I would lose track of all the actions and reactions! So he suggested Bolt Action. Initially I was sceptical..but he found some amendments on the net (check some of the links on his blog - No Duff gamer). So we set about organising 'equal' forces ( a far cry from Force on Force !!). The Diggers were all classed as regular and we made majority of the Taliban forces as 'inexperienced' but the heavy weapons, commanders and technicals were all regular.  We tried not to fiddle too much with the rules, and although the game worked well and we had a great time, the casualty rate amongst the Spyros' forces would have been considered a major political disaster.
Aside from that, the lens of my camera had fingerprints on it....so the pictures didn't come out too clearly! No more eating greasy chips and taking photos!!

Double Bolt Action Game

 

The boys came over for the end of the month game in March- and i had nearly a full house; Phil, Roger, Ralph, Richard, Spyros, Paul, Nick, Ross and Chris were all gathered in my new gaming room (read garage). So I put on two Bolt Action games. The first a 1941 Crete scenario with German Fallschirmjager attempting to secure an airstrip, and the second a Pacific war confrontation with the Japanese and Australians squaring off. 

The Crete scenario. The airfield in the middle with obstacled scattered across it t stop the Luftwaffe from landing.

The Pacific table....loads of long grass, schrubs, hill and a small village.

Bolt Action- At Tarakan with the 2/23rd Battalion against the Japanese.

A nice little historically based scenario for the Bolt Action rules was the opportunity for me to pit my Japanese against Spyros' Aussies- check his blog - No Duff Gamer (link is on the right column of posts) .  His men represented the 2/23rd Battalion that fought near Tarakan in May 1945 as they met stiff resistance from the Japanese 455th Independent Infantry Battalion.

We like the Bolt Action Rules and this gave us another chance to use them!

This was an encounter battle with forces of equal strength.....but very different compositions. Besides two MMG and some light mortars I had two type 97 Te-ke tankettes which proved to be a bit of a nuisance to the Aussie infantry- until they got thumped by Spyros' Mathilda and PIAT team. Spyros also took that most effective of weapons against the fanatical Japanese; flame throwers. He also had MMGs, a heavy mortar and a sniper team.

The village center- a good old 'Banzai' charge....but the Aussies were waiting with MGs and bayonets ready.