A third of the year gone but still we keep playing 😊
We opened the month with my personal favourite, Successors. For this one we had, Imperial Seleucid under Seleucus III facing down Ptolemaics under Ptolemy II Philadelphus around the time of the Syrian Wars.
The Seleucids were light on pikes having just the Silver Shields and one other but had the full range of exotics – scythed chariots & elephants, some decent cavalry and those wild Galatians (foot and horse), plus of course sundry skirmish types. The pike deployed in the centre screened by skirmishers, the good horse deployed on the right and the elephants, chariots and Galatians out on the left.
The Ptolemaics were heavy on pikes, four settler units and the Agema, far more cavalry but more variable in quality and a lot of skirmishers. When deployed all the cavalry were on the right, the settler pike took the centre with their sole elephant squadron out front along with some skirmishers while the left was curiously held by the Agema pike and a unit of Thureophoroi screened by more skirmishers.
We opted to use the terrain and scouting sections from the rules rather than just bang the armies down on the plain and this should have favoured the Ptolemaics with their superior scouting strength but they fumbled and ended up with a terrain board that helped rather than hindered the Seleucids.
Being inferior in numbers the Seleucids opted to hold back their pikes and rely on the exotics to make a mess of the massed Ptolemaic cavalry wing while their own cavalry swung round a convenient ravine to menace the centre. Some of this worked 🤨
The Seleucid elephants managed to get themselves between two woods which had the effect of drawing the Ptolemaic cavalry into a funnel of disorder while out on the extreme edge of the wing the chariots did exactly what they were supposed to do, charge in, crash, cause casualties and become inconvenient wreckage.
Sticking with the Ptolemaic right, the chariots soon shot their bolt (as expected) but the Greek and Thessalian cavalry took losses and more importantly were slowed down.
The Seleucid elephants had a good game, they frightened the children (oh no, sorry, the horses), had their mahouts killed and went into panic, rampaging about randomly – exactly what you want to see 😂
Ultimately the elephants died but their nuisance value had allowed the Galatian warbands to get up and get stuck in. The Galatians in fact had their best game so far, they duffed up a settler pike battalion and routed it, they saw off charges by both the Agema and the veteran Thessalian cavalry and killed the leader of the cavalry wing which paralysed it for the rest of the game. Result!
In the centre the Ptolemaic pike mass moved confidently forward but slowly (fairly obviously) and given the decision by the Seleucid general to hang back their only bright spot was the success of their Rhodian and Cretan mercenaries in driving off the opposition skirmishers.
Out on the Seleucid right the cavalry didn’t have the battle they hoped for, the rather odd deployment of Thureophoroi, pike and elephant initially worked and both Seleucid Xystophoroi regiments were seen off, one by the Thureophoroi and one by a combination of pikes and elephant. Unfortunately the Seleucid Hetairoi regiment sneaked through and opportunistically charged a shaken and disordered settler pike battalion and routed it – the stars really did align for that combat.
As we approached the end the Silver Shields were unleashed and……..failed to charge! What an embarrassment 🤣
The embarrassment of the Silver Shields not withstanding it was clearly a Seleucid victory, the Ptolemaic cavalry were paralysed and the settler pike were not having a good day.
Could it have gone differently? I think yes. The terrain decisions by the Ptolemaic general were definitely a factor effectively limiting the ability of the big cavalry wing to do anything and having all the cavalry eggs in one basket as it were definitely was a tactical limitation for the Ptolemaics. But so what, we had a fun game and that is what matters.
Next up was another Victory at Sea game but not the war in the Pacific this time instead we fought the Battle of the Denmark Straits. Yes two ships per side and that’s it 😲
Gerard came up with an intriguing little scenario for us and it really worked. First off we didn’t know what action we were doing until we were allocated sides and then we had restrictions on what we could see, what we knew and what we could do, all reflecting the original action.
Fairly obviously this wasn’t going to last us all day so we had one game in the morning, broke for lunch and then swopped sides for the afternoon session, sometimes it pays to go small.
In the first session the Hood was sunk quite early on in a repeat of history and Prince of Wales had its rudder jammed so was reduced to steaming in circles as the Bismarck sailed away with minimal damage leaving behind Prince Eugen at the bottom of the straits.
In our second game the British co-ordinated their efforts a lot better and zeroed in on the Bismarck ultimately crippling it to such an extent that all it could do was sail back up the straits into the arms of patrolling destroyers. The Prince Eugen was ultimately sunk.
This second game was a far more hard fought fight and at the end both Hood and Prince of Wales had serious damage but were still in the fight. A really good game and different.
Our third game of the month was a welcome return to the skirmish genre, this time we dusted off the Soviet Afghan collection and put together a mujahedeen attack on police and army units on the edge of a town.
The police started the game on duty outside the station, across the road was a government official and his bodyguards, inside the police station an army unit was resting prior to going out on patrol. The mujahedeen started at randomly generated points around the table edges.
One squad of Mujahedeen advance through an orchard.
A second squad nears the edge of the police station, local boy offers water fresh from the well. Have they been spotted?
Shots fired!
No need for cover now.
The army opens up from the police station – this is getting serious now!
This guy tried to three times to blow open the doors to the government building. Literally couldn’t hit a barn door 😂🤣
OK this isn’t looking too good. Time to change sides?
Government official makes a quick exit.
“He got away!” Mujahedeen withdraw with no casualties. Afghan police 3 x KIA, 1 captured. Afghan army 1 x KIA. It was nice to get one of the many skirmish collections out but truth is some of them need to be sold on now, just taking up too much space.
Next was another in our relatively new 6mm Cold War project this time giving the newly painted BAOR their first outing.
Like our March game this was another riff on the narrative in Jim Storr’s, ‘Battlegroup’. This time the 7th Armoured Brigade has been rushed forward from the divisional reserve to stop the Soviet 7th Guards Tank Division crossing the river Innerste.
The game was essentially an encounter game with battalions deploying to the table based on successful command rolls. The BAOR deployed one Chieftain brigade and one Challenger brigade along with a mechanised infantry brigade and some SP artillery. The Soviets deployed three tank battalions, one T80 and two T62, one of which was under strength, plus a trio of HINDs. Both sides had off table artillery.
The HINDs deployed early and, as usual, caused some heart stopping moments for the Brits – these damm things really are difficult to deal with.
As the Brits obligingly sat back the Soviets made a dash for the main suspension bridge.
Some decent shooting from infantry LAWs stops the Soviets on the bridge.
British infantry occupy villages on their side of the river.
Soviet advance continues.
The second bridge, ripe and ready for the taking.
Ultimately the Soviets seized both bridges and the British failed their breakpoint morale role so it was on to the Wesser for the Soviets.
On reflection this wasn’t one of our better games. The British overall commander was getting to know his army and so played an overly cautious game which manifested itself in some curious deployment decisions.
What turned out to be our final game of the month was a War of the Austrian Succession game set in northern Italy with a French army on one side and and an Austro Piedmontese army on the other approaching a town where there is thought to be a supply of shoes – sound familiar?
It wasn’t planned this way but this turned into a two day affair and it’s probably worth talking about that.
This was a lot of troops; the French fielded 6 brigades, the Austrians 5 and the Piedmontese 4, all marching to the table and in some cases getting each others way (that was the intention). What this meant was that by the end of the original day the battle had only really just got going and we were stuck with falling back on that old staple of “well I think this brigade would probably do this and that brigade would fall back…..” Then in a kind of epiphany moment, which we really shouldn’t have had to have, we realised that we could just leave the game up (because that’s what a permanent wargames room is all about 🤔) and because we’re retired we can game whenever we damm well please! And there was me thinking we were all pretty bright blokes 😂🤣
Anyway. The two brigade strong Austrian cavalry brigade marched up the right hand road aiming to pass through some walled gardens and smash some French cavalry seen deploying near some woods. On the opposite flank the Piedmontese single cavalry brigade was repeating the same scenario. In the centre all roads led to the town; the French foot had a only a single road to march down so were more strung out but there was less of them, the Austrians and Piedmontese had a road each but it met at a fork outside of the town and a road block was inevitable – the columns had to come down the road to enter the gaming area.
The first action of the game was the clash of the French and Austrian cavalry at the walled gardens. The French caught the lead Austrian dragoons as they shook out of column but failed to bounce them back and fell back themselves, a potential disaster which was rescued by the second French unit that charged in to stabilise the line and send the Austrians themselves packing. This set the tone for the whole game, the Austrians were stymied by the walls and gardens and just could not make enough headway against smaller and weaker opposition.
Out on the other wing the Piedmontese and French cavalry had a more even contest which ultimately saw the Piedmontese bounced back behind their gradually developing infantry lines which later in the game would save them.
In the centre the fight for the town was developing. The town consisted of two built up areas at the sides and one central walled garden area into which the French were establishing themselves just ahead of the Austro-Piedmontese who had been held up by the now infamous fork in the road.
The Austrians just keep on coming! Numbers are beginning to tell at this stage and the French have already recognised they don’t have enough to occupy all the built up areas.
It’s about what would be seen as the mid point of the game. The French hold the central gardens and the whole of the right built up area, the left is contested with the Austrians. The cavalry on both flanks are holding their own. This is the high water mark of the French effort.
Emboldened by their success the French cavalry right spurs its horses forward scenting victory. An infantry brigade is supporting to the rear. What could possibly go wrong?
In a bizarre turn of events the French left cavalry received orders to pull back to their original starting point allowing the Austrians the opportunity to sort themselves out and exit the gardens. The reasoning of the French CinC was that he thought the cavalry would be overwhelmed in due course but what this order did was to allow the Austrians to fight with the advantage of their numbers and it also exposed the left flank of the infantry brigade trying to stop the Austrian juggernaut coming round that side of the town.
The right hand side of the town (as seen from the French side)has fallen to the Piedmontese assault. Frankly they made hard work of this, this part of the town was only held by two skirmish regiments as the French didn’t have the numbers, none the less the French in the central gardens were now under serious threat.
The situation worsens in the town. The left hand side built up area has been given up to the Austrians and the weight of Austrian fire on the centre (look at all those battalions!) has driven the French out allowing the Piedmontese to begin occupying the ground.
Out on the Austrian right, their cavalry prepare to seize their moment, now it is their time!
“Onward to victory!”
Oh dear 🤣😂 In a stunning turn about the Austrians lost their bottle and retired without even crossing swords!
And it got worse. It just wasn’t the Austrians day. The French breathed a sigh of relief.
However out on the French right the cavalry brigade has all but been destroyed by Piedmontese musket fire and the supporting infantry brigade has also collapsed. Yes the Piedmontese have suffered losses but the French are in no position to do anything about it.
With night falling the French are finished. Despite the unlooked for success on the right the rest of the army is spent and retreat is the only option covered by the very lucky right flank cavalry.
I for one was really glad we carried this on to a second day. There was plenty of fight left in the game, in fact the bulk of the fight was in the second day. We had some knife edge moments, some lucky moments and some disastrous moments, in fact everything you could want in a good game. Well done all!
In theory that should have been it for the month but not for me because I went down to Basingstoke for a refight of the battle of Malplaquet hosted by Mark Freeth at the Wargames Holiday Centre. I say ‘at the Wargames Holiday Centre’ when in fact the WHC comes to you, because these days Mark sets up the 27 foot long playing area in an extended conference room at the local Holiday Inn, so you stay, eat and drink in the hotel and game in the conference room all very convenient.
I’d love to give a detailed account of the ebb and flow of the grand battle but I can’t. The one disadvantage (oh the trauma of it all!) of playing on such a large table is that you only really know what’s going on in your six foot square of action.
I can say that on the Friday night and all day Saturday we played a series of games that were a loose simulation of contacts leading up to the battle but were in reality a means to get people used to the rules – Kampfe In Reihen by Steve Thompson. Personally I think this this was a bit too long and it kind of took you out of the moment, maybe Friday night and Saturday morning would have been enough.
Sunday was the main event and as best as I could tell it went something like this. The French left cavalry (me) fought a long and bloody battle against superior numbers of allied cavalry but finally gave up the struggle. Way down on the French right a mixed force of horse and foot made little headway against inferior opposition. In the centre sheer weight of numbers drove in the French centre.
I’m, glad I went, it was an itch that I had wanted to scratch for years. I had been to the WHC in the very early years under Pete Gilder when I was a callow youth and then continued with it when Mike Ingham took over from Pete and amongst other things instigated the Marlburian period as a staple on the menu but despite meeting Mark at the centre under Mike and forming a friendship I had never been able to attend under his stewardship so that’s done now.
This kind of mass gaming can be seen as a bit of a relic of a different time in wargaming and I get that, certainly it’s not for everyone and it does have a cost attached to it. I’m glad I have finally got to play in it’s third iteration, whether I will again remains to be seen, but it was a nice note to end the month on.
Westbury Wargamers 