82nd Aiborne try to hold off the Germans

The Germans looked on at the causeway and wondered whether it was a good idea to flood the fields as it now made it difficult for them to push the invaders back into the sea. The Germans deployed two sections and as they got a double phase started to run towards the cover of the woods.

Unfortunately the second section didn’t get into cover and the Americans deployed a section of airborne behind a hedge.

With the Americans getting a double phase it wasn’t looking good for the Germans left out in the open and soon there was a field full of casualties. “Well there goes the plan” muttered the German commander. With only two sections left things were going to be very difficult for the Germans, so they deployed the Somua to hose down the hedge line. Unfortunately this caused few casualties.

The Americans responded by sneaking a bazooka team into the ditch beside the causeway...

and managed to hit the Somua with their first shot. However it did little damage but did force the Germans to deploy their last section into the ditch.

The Germans opened fire and managed to hit everything in the ditch but the bazooka team. The Americans now had a target to shoot at and so they did, causing significant casualties and soon the German section was down to half strength. Meanwhile the German section that had been hiding in the woods pushed forward to the edge...

but immediately drew the attention of the American second section.

This was not a firefight that they were going to win and with the Germans running out of troops and force morale plummeting, the game was called.

Romans Take a Walk in the Forest...

This is another Infamy tale where the Romans decided that the corn in the fields looked ready for collecting. Unfortunately the local Germanic tribes weren’t too happy about the Romans stealing their winter supplies.

The task for the Romans was to collect corn from two of the three fields. This was simple for the first one as this was near where they could deploy, but the other two fields were deep in German territory.

The Roman main force deployed into the field and how they sang as they harvested the corn.

They would soon be singing a different tune as a Germanic warband looked on menacingly.

The Romans advanced to try and hold off the Germans, but another even larger warband turned up on their flank.

“Steady lads”, shouted Centurio Tonius Starkus, “we can hold them here whilst the Numidians flank them”. Unfortunately Adalhard had spotted this and sent a warrior group to head off the Numidians.

The two warbands crunched into the Romans, who hastily formed line but forgot to close up. Buckets of dice were rolled and the Roman line buckled and then broke.

Soon the Romans were running, with only the Legion recruits and the Numidian cavalry able to avert a complete disaster by holding off the flanking warrior group.

The Syrian Coast...a long long time ago

After a break of nearly four weeks our award-winning reporter packed his camera and moved west from Mesopotamia to the Syrian coast in the 12th century BC. The city of Ugarit...or as renamed “Bu**er-it” by Chris, was under attack by the marauding Sea Peoples lead by Goliath of Gath aka Tony. Rob acted as Tony’s deputy having bemoaned his bad luck fighting on the same side as Chris. The Hittite Governor of Carchemish aka Simon has rushed to help local King Ammurapi aka Chris. The battle was fought under the walls of Ugarit.

Chris and Tony had masterminded the deployments. Tony had seemingly “refused” his right wing, leaving quite a gap between his battle line and the walls of Ugarit. However it meant the rest of his line was a sold wall of deep warrior units with a few chariots on his left. Chris had deployed the Syrian/Hittite force across the length of the board. The lightly-armed Syrians were on the left facing Rob and the “refused” flank, while the chariots were allocated and deployed in the centre in “penny packets” between two commands. No chariot Schwerpunkt here! It was a deployment that was either inspired or catastrophically insane...

Tony immediately played his stratagem and three units and a general surged forward two boxes. How Tony!

The whole Hittite line moved forward somewhat daunted by the solid mass of bronze clad warriors charging towards them. Chris tried to move his Syrians around the refused flank but found that light troops die quite easily and even impressive-looking light chariot units only take one hit. Add to that the fact that the Hittite camp was fortified and garrisoned meant turning the flank and taking the camps was going to be a long-shot.

The Hittite stratagem to bring on a flank march unit of spearmen behind the Sea People’s left flank failed miserably when a chariot unit turned, charged it in the flank and destroyed it. Why Chris chose a slow-moving spear unit for this mission was in hindsight very strange. 

In the centre the Sea Peoples got to work with their deep units. Hittites troops died and once again the ability of deep warriors to withstand immense punishment paid dividends. The “free” hero now allocated to warriors was also a useful asset. With no manoeuvre room the elite lance-armed Hittite chariots had no choice but to charge frontally...and die. Chris’ flank attack was going nowhere...

With the Hittites down to five out of fifteen victory medals, and the Sea Peoples having lost a measly two it looked like curtains for Ugarit. However hope was restored when centre command Sea Peoples deep unit was flank charged and destroyed, quickly followed by another on their right. However the hope of a miracle was finally extinguished as yet more Sea People warriors wiped out the raw Syrian arches plus another light chariot unit. With the Syrian army destroyed the Hittite commander wisely withdrew his remaining troops from the field leaving the city of Ugarit to its grisly fate.

Believe it or not it was an enjoyable battle, if only to see Rob happy! The chit pulling certainly favoured the Sea Peoples but that was no excuse.

The battle itself proved historically accurate. Excavations of Ugarit show the destruction layer dating to circa 1190BC, and Egyptian records show that it had certainly been destroyed by 1178BC.

My challenge now is to persuade Tony to buy a New Kingdom Egyptian army which I conservatively estimate at £300...

Simon

Can Capitaine Opless save the signal tower

Another outing for our unlucky Frenchman as Capitaine Opless has been informed that a Royal Navy cutter has been sighted and is heading towards one of his signal towers. Mustering what forces he had to hand he headed off to stop the British doing some dastardly deed.

The French quickly deployed in the North with the French Dragoons deploying next to their infantry, much to the bemusement of the British as they were expecting them to head west to try and outflank the landing party.

Whilst the Royal Navy arrived in boats on the South Western shore.

It wasn’t long before the whole French force was heading towards the signal tower. Where were the British Marines, cried Rob.

The Sea Dogs continued their advance into the vines,

whilst their mates made for the signal tower.

At last the Marines arrived, but were they too late to stop the French getting to the tower?

The Naval skirmishers formed up in the vines behind the wall, halting the Voltigeurs in their tracks.

The French formed a nice line and started to pour lead into the column of Marines as they desperately attempted to form line.

Unfortunately the Dragoon fire was too intense and managed to set fire to the signal tower. Oh how we laughed. Well that’s game over then.

However, cries of let’s get Capitaine Opless were heard coming from the British. Looks like the game was still on even though the British had completed their objective in burning the tower. Capitaine Opless aligned his troops next to the Voltigeurs and this was too much for the British skirmishers who were losing men rapidly...

resutling in them withdrawing in an orderly fashion.

The Voltigeurs stepped forward to chase the British off...

But they had walked in front of their own troops. Could Opless stop the conscripts from firing. Alas no.

The mob of sailors with no tower to burn charged into the French that were firing at the Marines. The fight was brief with both sides taking casualties but this did distract the French as the British decided at this point to start to withdraw.

Another unfortunate outing for Capitaine Opless who’s luck only appears to be bad, as the game was effectively over after a few turns but the British decided to play on to make a game of it.