June 2024 Report

A bit of a thin month, holidays and shift patterns rather curtailing our activities, but hey, there are plenty of people out there who dream of having idle time on their hands to indulge their hobbies 😟

Our first foray was the ever growing and ever popular 10mm Iran Iraq project. For this one we had an Iranian town seized by a heli borne Iraqi commando force and reinforcements on their way – all controlled by the Umpire. The players were commanders in the 37th Armoured brigade scrambling forces together to re-take the town so they were given a list of force & points values from which each could assemble his battlegroup to a capped points total – this was all CWC and each battlegroup was 2000 points.

The Iranians chose a tank battalion each (of course!) and then one added a mechanised infantry battalion and the other an armoured artillery battalion – M109’s. Both deployed on their table edge and we set too.

The game was fast and furious with the Iraqis throwing their reinforcements in as soon as they arrived which meant their mechanised infantry were taking on tanks!

In a game that featured SU22’s missing their target, Hinds brewing up tanks, BMP1’s being on the wrong side of a tank duel and an Iranian command element being eliminated – really, really lucky dice 🤣 we had an exciting see saw game that finally ended with the Iraqi command failing its break point roll and retiring from the table.

This went well and the idea of giving the players a limited roster to choose from gave them more of a sense of ownership, definitely going to try this idea again although of course I now need to paint more stuff to offer more choice 🤣

Our next outing was the equally popular Successors project, this time Royal Ptolemaic v Imperial Seleucid so scythed chariots, elephants, wild Galatians, Thracians, camels and of course pikes.

The armies were pre chosen and the terrain laid out – we actually had terrain! The Ptolemaic commander deployed all his foot on the left extending in an unbroken line up to the centre, his cavalry he split into two commands, one led by the army general in column on a road heading toward the Seleucid left via a ford with the intent of turning the Seleucid flank and the other, comprising the settler cavalry, deployed slightly back and facing forward which would join up with the infantry line as it advanced – none of this worked 😥 The Seleucids deployed more traditionally with the pikes in the centre flanked by the Thracians and Galatians and two cavalry commands on each far flank.

Early moves favoured the Ptolemaics, their advance to the ford went well, the infantry advance proceeded as planned. The Seleucids were caught on the hop a bit by the rush for the ford so had to redeploy their cavalry command to counter it but their other cavalry command sensed opportunity as the Ptolemaic infantry had no cavalry to protect the infantry line.

On the Seleucid right the commander launched his elephants and chariots into the attack dreaming of spoils and booty. However, just like history, the chariots were bloody useless 🤣 but they were certainly pretty and absolutely a pain in the arse when they crashed and created an obstacle. The elephants however fared better seeing off the opposing elephant and pinning one of the pike which effectively broke up the Ptolemaic line.

Back at the ford all kinds of fun was had as both sides threw troops into the fray “and the water ran red with the blood of the slain”. Eventually the Seleucids pushed the Ptolemaics back towards their camp but the victory would be decided elsewhere.

It was the centre infantry clash that decided the day. Despite being outnumbered in pikes the Seleucids gained a crushing victory; in part this was due to one of the Ptolemaic pike battalions getting distracted by elephants and in part due to the settler cavalry getting tangled up with the Thracians and so unable to help, but the real fun was the Galatians being able to charge just at the right moment onto already engaged pikes tumbling them into rout.