August 2023 Report

Well the summer’s nearly over (did it start?) and August’s gaming is done.

First up was a LRDG landing somewhere in North Africa to reek havoc on an Italian airstrip.

The LRDG landed at two points, one north near the actual airfield and one south near the barracks and stores so the one game effectively became two.

‘Oop north’ the squad sneaked through the wire as dawn broke (visibility down to weapons close range) and took out the comms building first with a couple of grenades and then quickly moved on to the MMG pit next door to take that out too. Guess what? The alarm was sounded 😂

The rest of the game for this section was spent going from aircraft to aircraft setting charges while exchanging shots with the dazed and confused airfield sentries – the Italians didn’t have a chance here and although a lot of fun was had it really wasn’t much of a game for the Italian player.

To the south it was more of a challenge for the LRDG, most of the Italians were asleep in commandeered buildings and patrols roamed the streets so that when the alarm was sounded Italians started to spill out of the buildings before the LRDG could set all their charges.

The Italians were hampered by having to try and exit from doors whilst being fired on by the British but the odds turned when a randomly diced for patrol of colonial troops (two squads) roared into town on trucks to add their weight to the firefight.

Although not the greatest of shots the Eritrean squads were throwing plenty of lead around and some of it even found its mark! The explosion of the charges that had been set were a bit of a disaster, two of the LRDG section had fallen back to where the charges were set (the player just plain forgot) were caught in the blast and died from their wounds and a further two were captured in the confusion; only the lmg team got out alive and moved north along the beach to join their comrades and exit.

Totalling up at the end the northern section had destroyed, 3 aircraft, 3 tanks, 3 trucks and 2 workshops with stores without loss to themselves; the southern section had destroyed, 2 tanks and several ammunition dumps but 6 men were MIA. Italian losses were significant, 2 full squads killed or wounded plus a squads worth of Eritreans dead or wounded.

As a game it was quite exciting, the early moves were done in limited visibility which was a severe handicap for the reacting Italians which contributed to their poor showing at the airfield. The up close and personal action in the town gave the Italians more of a chance but the force multiplier was the Eritreans. Fun was had though 😁

Our next action was a more traditional ‘big game’ featuring the Carlist Wars collection. The Carlists were defending a large hill and adjacent village against an attack by government troops. Numbers were about equal (4 foot brigades & 1 horse) but the government had the edge in class.

The opening moves saw a general advance by the government troops on the hill and village while their cavalry tried to work round the hill from their left.

The cavalry action favoured the government but that was it because although they saw off their opponents they could make no headway against the reserve infantry.

In the battle for the village the government troops were mainly 2nd Class Line and so although they had the numbers they didn’t have the staying power, they did however manage to shoot a Carlist general off his horse 😏 By the end of the game the village was still in Carlist hands (just) and the government troops were all played out.

The hill was were the government threw it’s best troops, a brigade of Guards supported by a brigade of 1st Class Line and it was a most bloody affair (one general on each side was killed rallying troops) but despite gaining a toehold on the summit both brigades were too battered to continue.

The game ended as a tactical loss for the government, the village and the hill were still held, albeit in reduced strength, and they had suffered significant losses. Reflecting on the game, we certainly enjoyed ourselves but the government side perhaps had too much to do in an even numbers game.

Back to skirmishing for our next game, this time, Western Gunfight, with two Mexican clans (the Jarvos hombres & the hombres from Mochila) with a grudge shooting it out in our loosely connected campaign.

Each clan was split into two, so four players each had two figures and a fifth player controlled the game and the law. The law would only activate from the sheriffs office once any shooting started and the start points for the four players were randomly generated.

The boys from Mochila clan emerged from two separate cantinas and spotted the Reyes, father & son, at the livery, there then ensued a long running gun battle which featured backshooting, falling over when sneaking through the blacksmiths cluttered building and throat cutting to finish off the unlucky Reyes pair 😱

At the other end of the street the other Jarvos pair (da Salvo & Julia) were sneaking down the street when the firing started at the blacksmiths, the law Sheriff Morgan & Deputy Matthews) duly came out onto the porch and demanded guns be thrown down. In a gunfight? No way! Lots of shots were fired and I mean lots, Julia, with the Winchester, had emptied his weapon by game end and both lawmen had reloaded before they finally went down.

At game end the Reyes pair were dead (very dead), Sheriff Morgan was dead and two Mexicans were bleeding in the street, there’s got to be a follow up game of bounty hunters after the killer of Sheriff Morgan 😏 As always in these games there was lots of banter and fun was most definitely had.

Our next effort was French Wars of Religion, with Huguenots defending the high ground with levied foot, massed reiters on the right and cuirassiers on the left. The catholic royal army deployed it’s Spanish & Swiss in the centre, it’s lancers on the right and it’s own reiters on the left.

As is almost always the way the initial fighting was between the cavalry wings; on the catholic right the fight between lance and sword & pistol came out in favour of the cuirassier with Nemours being killed with the wreck of his gendarmes.

The initial success of the Huguenot cavalry gave them all the impetus they needed and they crashed into the second line of catholic cavalry and sent them on their way despite a desperate attempt at rallying by Montpensier who was killed in the rout. The catholic right wing now no longer existed.

On the other wing both sides reiters got into action after some cautious manoeuvring and then proceeded to shoot the shit out of each other! Several colonels were killed on both sides but ultimately the catholic reiters ceded the field, not due to any particular differences it just wasn’t their day.

From an infantry point of view it was all a bit of a damp squib, the Swiss & Spanish were at the foot of the hill and despite some casualties from fire were pretty much odds on to beat the levies, however their cavalry wings were gone so time to ground pikes. Game over.

Our next effort was an away game of ‘What A Tanker’. I really don’t get what the deal is about this set of rules and the whole Lardy cult thing but hey other peoples house other peoples rules.

Anyway, a KV1 and a T34 went hunting a Tiger. The Tiger lost. Game end.

Our final game of the month was classic SYW, Prussian v Austrian. The Austrians had fallen back over a pontoon bridge leaving a light brigade disputing the far end with an advance guard of numerically superior Prussian lights. The Austrians were deployed in four small brigades beyond the river awaiting cavalry support and were tasked with retaining control of the pontoon and the road leading back into their positions.

The Prussians were tasked with seizing the pontoon and clearing the road from it into Austrian territory, a tough task but their full force ( two strong brigades of infantry and two strong brigades of cavalry) was available for immediate deployment at the players discretion.

The Prussians made really hard work of the ‘petite guerre’, their jaegers were better shots and the infantry were backed by two regiments of cavalry but ultimately they did get onto the pontoon.

On the Prussian right the dragoon brigade was ordered to keep pace with the infantry brigade that was heading toward the Austrians behind the river and on top of the hill. This was a classic case of being transfixed by something that is nothing to do with the objective and the Prussians paid dearly for it, ultimately (at the end of a very long game) the Austrian cavalry that deployed to face them were driven off but the hill and the village on top of it remained in Austrian hands and the attacking Prussian brigade was knackered.

On the Prussian left the three regiment strong cuirassier brigade held its position opposite an undefended ford for most of the game until the Austrian cavalry brigade opposite marched on, negotiated its way through the villages on the Austrian side, reorganised and attacked across the ford against the stationary Prussians. Inevitably the Prussians broke but by sheer good fortune were not pursued and so were able to rally and come back to dispute the crossing with the Austrians as night drew in but it was way too late.

The second Prussian brigade made good progress in the face of heavy fire from Austrian guns on the hill and then musketry fire from Austrian infantry coming off the hill to dispute the crossing but ultimately fell back with heavy casualties.

At the end of a very long days gaming we called it and reviewed where we were. The pontoon had briefly been in Prussian hands but the rump of their light brigade had been driven off by a dispatched Austrian brigade and so the road and pontoon were securely held by the Austrians.

In our usual review of the game the Prussian commander claimed he couldn’t win and this is always worth looking at. The Prussian team definitely had it all to do but they had all their troops on table at the beginning of the game and had two powerful brigades of cavalry which in a straight up fight would make mincemeat of their opposite numbers but having one keep pace with an infantry brigade and the other hold when there was nothing in front of them was a terrible mistake particularly from an experienced player. At the end of the game I totalled up the number of order change chits issued by the Prussian commander, ten! Oh well 🤨