The Ottomans Emerge

In the last few weeks I haven't had the opportunity to be humiliated again on the wargames table as I've been too busy with work- clearly my priorities are seriously wrong! It has given me the chance, however, to open up several box files and drag my old 28mm Ottoman army into the sunlight, dust them off and rebase them. These guys haven't seen any action in 10 years...but that's gonna change. They look sharp- the colours are nice and the new basing makes them look great. No more dark box files for these guys...they'll go on a shelf next to the Army of Louis XIV!




The Janissaries

Romans get their backsides kicked - again. By Everybody.

Rather than give a blow by blow description of my continued humiliation at the hands of my so called friends- I'll just provide you with loads of pictures with a caption or two- I find typing out the details of my sordid defeats too distressing to give the full details of the shame and denigration of my Romans at the hands of Gauls, Macedonians, a pack of rabid penguins, and I think the ladies from local Cup Cake making guild.....or was that the Seleucids.?..I don't remember...one defeat is pretty much the same as another- they all become a  blur in my memory. Poor Romans. Crap Generalship.
This post is therefore dedicated to the piles of Roman lead left strewn about the battlefields in recent times, self pity and self deprecation....and for my opponents....supposed friends-  they said it should be call 'The Joy of Six'.

The humiliation begins. I deployed well (in the far corner) but the enemy- Ross and Richard managed to get their elephants across (right of screen) in the nick of time and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat...what a lousy cliche- and it comes nowhere near encapsulating the angst of my despair!

Force on Force- Rhodesian Bush War

Spyros has built himself a tidy little force of ZANLA guerrillas and their Rhodesian opponents and we decided that a Force on Force game in the African bush would make a nice change of the usual struggles in Afghanistan.
The game was simple and to be played in two parts.
OVERVIEW:  A ZANLA force had established a small ammunition and fuel dump to supply operations in the local province and a small force of Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) was sent out to smash it up.


The Table- The Ammo dump is far top right. Fuel dump amongst the buildings on the left.

Persians and Greeks

A nice little game was played in the dark depths of winter recently. Geoff was the Greeks and Roger played the forces of the King of Kings, Xerxes. This historical match up also ended in a historical result; the Persians started well, looked sharped, deployed soundly, moved efficiently....and lost. It must be the '300' effect!

The Deployment: Greeks on the left, Persians on the right,

Aetherworks Tokens.

Over the last few years I've bought quite a few accessorries from Aetherworks here in Sydney. In fact every Marlburian / Warfare in the Age of Louis XIV figure I have is on an Aetherworks base!! Earlier this year I asked the boys (Paul and Andrew) if they could create some markers for my Vive le Roi rules. I needed ones that went from 1 to 12. They did them for me in two colours....so I ordered 10 sets of each colour- the Red for Marlborough's army and Green for the mighty forces of Louis XIV.
They were just what I needed to keep track of the casualty ratings for my figures!
I've also used them in my ACW games, Bolt Action and Force on Force too! They're very handy!
Try the link on the right side of the Blog!

For Use as Pin Markers in my Bolt Action Games

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.

Spanish Civil War- Bolt Action

Having played a couple of games of Bolt Action with the boys, Phil liked these rules so much he suggested we use them for a  Spanish Civil War shoot out.  I thought why not? Figures were laid out, terrain was placed, forces allocated and with a cry of  "No Pasaran!" it was on.

Roger played the Nationalists (AKA Fascist Bastards) and I played the Republicans (AKA Good Guys, Communist Bastards, Anarchists etc etc)- you get the idea.

A simple scenario, with Phil umpiring, saw the Republicans (communists/anarchists/regular army and international brigades) holding a village in late 1936 with a  combined force of armed thugs..er sorry Spanish Foreign Legion and Morrocan Harkas (regiments) attacking them to take the fortified village.

The three Moroccan Units- all classed as veterans and fanatics...scary guys with long knives and no sense of mercy.

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.

Ancients 28mm

Gaming has been very thin on the ground recently due to work commitments and the fact that I moved house and need to  reorganize the hallowed gaming space- there’s been no time to Blog, paint or play!!  That should be remedied soon – there wasn’t even time for my Big Christmas Bash- the first omission in 15 years! Disgraceful! I've managed to squeeze in a few games since December and will get around to adding them all.

 I got a quick ancients game in with Ross with my Republican Romans fighting with his Macedonians- a nice historical match. My Romans proved very adaptable, efficient and aggressive. The same could not be said for my generalship. Ross deployed his pikes in depth- historically correct. I deployed my Romans in checker board- historically correct. I put my cavalry on the flanks....right in front of his elephants. Oh sh*t.
I lost.
Something went wrong!
Besides my haphazard deployment , I committed my legionaries piecemeal and my cavalry got stopped by his bl**dy great elephants. Note to self for next time- don't lose.
Admittedly my Legions put up a good fight but it was my cavalry that took a beating. Ross neutralised my elephants with his light troops but I let my boys down by allowing his cavalry to ride my lights down and then expecting my cavalry to defeat his elephants. Stooopid. A narrow victory for the sage from the eastern suburbs......but I'll kick his ass next time.



My Legions- in the center of the picture my Hastati were pushing the pike block back....but it is at the top of the photo you can see my cavalry being swamped. 

Force on Force: Modern skirmish- Again!

A gathering of the lads saw the table laid out for an epic fight that lasted all day and into the early evening. Spyros, George, Evan, Connor, Nick (Junior), Paul and myself were all present for a game that had more twists and turns than a First World War trench system!.
The premise was simple: 3 US Marine recon teams had been carrying out reconnaissance on a Taliban held town and were discovered by some wandering insurgents. They had to get out, but the nearest suitable extraction point was, you guessed it, on the far side of town. So they had to get their way through the town, call in the Black Hawk and get out. Simple!

Remember the '19! Battle of Glen Shiel June 10th 1719

I received a call from Paul who asked me if I knew anything about the Rebellion of the '19,  probably one if the least known of the Jacobite Rebellions. Do I know anything about it I said?....I had relatives there! And I had gamed it once long ago! 
Well given my collection and the campaign of 1715 that we did last year he asked if it was possible to have a rerun and change history. I told him yes and no. Yes to the rerun, no to changing history...I was certain that the Jacobites didn't stand a chance.....how could I be wrong???
Paul would have me eating my words!

General Wightman commander of the Hanoverians

Beau Geste lends a hand- Vive La Legion

Phil came past the other day with his Colonial skirmish collection in tow. It has various bits and pieces including French Foreign Legion, Italian Bersaglieri, French Marines, Senegalese Tirailleurs, and Marine Fusiliers. Great I thought....this calls for a game! So Phil devised a cunning scenario where the Tirailleurs and the Bersaglieri were pinned down at separate locations by hordes of Arabs/Tuareg/desert rabble/Lost Armies of Middle Earth and other assorted such trouble makers. The Legion was tasked with marching to their rescue with the Marines to extract them.

Now Phil also wrote the rules which are undoubtedly inspired by years of scholarly research, wide reading, learned debate, deep reflection, personal experience........and Hollywood.

In this game the colonial troops are able to outshoot and out fight their opponents unless the attacking rabble outnumber them approximately 500,000 to one......well that may be overstating the case but the irregulars do have a tough time!



The Italians face their first attack

Bolt Action (Triple)

A touch of megalomania led me to think that I could run three...yes three....Bolt Action games simultaneously. Some of the boys came over and had seen the game played but never actually had a go. So I set up three tables- the first was with a small village with forest around it- the objective  for the approaching British and German forces was to capture the village. Both sides had 3 squads, one mortar, one MG and a tank.
The second was a sprawling French town with a small river and at one end with the approaches to the bridges being protected by British paras- the SS had to retake the bridges.(shades of Arnhem). Three para squads, a 6pdr two MGs and two PIATs took on double their number and four armoured vehicles.
The final table had an entrenched Japanese position being stormed by US Marines- similar to a previous game. Three Japanese squads with an MG's were against 5 Marines squads, two MGs, a flamethrower and a mortar.

Game Two- Paul and Chris advance their SS into the town.

Arnhem game in Goulburn

The boys in Goulburn  put on a BIG Arnhem game over a weekend (actually starting on Friday). I took the drive down on the Sunday to have a look! Impressive stuff! The result was an historical result with the Red Devils getting pulverised in Arnhem!

ACW: Battle of Port Republic June 1862

The Brothers gathered for some more ACW and the battle chosen  was Port Republic fought in 1862. One of Stonewall Jackson's battles it provided a nice compact game for 6 of the brothers. Geoff, Ralph and Chris played the Rebs and Phil, Liam and Paul were the boys in blue.

The Table- the Union at the Far end and the Rebs this end advancing.

World War II Action

Spyros came by the other day with a USB full of images from games distant past and although I couldn't remember the narrative ....I liked the pictures and put them in a Blog!

Bolt Action: US Marines vs The Imperial Japanese Army

Another day, another Bolt Action game! My son Nick, myself and John sat down for a short sharp action that saw a group of US Marines attempt to clear a village and some nearby entrenchments of some determined  Japanese defenders. John and I were the Marines and Nick was the Imperial Japanese Army troops.

Nick focused most of his troops on his right behind the entrenchments- so John and I headed for the other  side of the table - our objective!

This was going to be a tough task for the marines but some initial deployment mistakes by the Japanese made it a little easier. Nick had deployed his heavy machine guns and two light tanks in and around the entrenchments but the long grass, hill and trees cut line of sight to the village and so most of the Marines' advance was unimpeded.

The Terrain- the village in the distance...the Japanese entrenchment in the foreground. The Marines entered from the right.

American Civil War 28mm

 

  One afternoon recently, Phil came past with some of his very nicely painted ACW regiments. Back in the heyday of Fire and Fury, ACW was on the cards just about every week- and mighty were the battles that the Brothers fought in. 

I know my collection has sat in its boxes for too many years and Phil's also hasn't seen the light of day for a long while too! So with just the two of us one quiet afternoon we put a small contingent through their paces; 6 Regiments a side and three guns. The object being to secure the hills in the middle of the battle field and drive the Rebs....er...the enemy off. I was the Union and Phil was the rebellious secessionist ratbags that needed to be.....oops sorry.....showing my true (blue) colours again.



One of Phil's Zouave Regiments marches past the cornfield



 

Bolt Action. Red Berets vs the SS

Spyros and I fought our boys, Evan and Nick, one afternoon during the school holidays. It was a simple scenario. Some Diehard SS were defending two bridges and some British Airborne, less their parachutes and on foot were given armoured support. They had 6 turns to capture two bridges. Spyros and I were the Paras, the boys were the SS.

 

 

SS Squad in a ruined house with a Sturmgeschutz in support to the right

Bolt Action- vehicle purchase

I've already got loads of World War II stuff but I bought these on ebay at a very reasonable price! A couple of Marders for my Germans. I like the idea of having stuff other than the usual loads of Panthers and Tigers every one seems to have! At 1/48th scale they make a nice addition to all my other vehicles and figures! It's one of my favorite gripes that I can buy loads of diecast 1/32nd scale armoured vehicles.....but the ready made 1/48th or 1/56th diecast is hard to find!
 (You can tell that gaming is a bit thin on the ground ..I'm resorting to blogging my purchases!)- Hopefully they will be on the table for a game soon!