A Fight for the Fords - A Midgard Saga

Two opposing armies lined up to see who could control the river crossings. With the Fatamid Egyptians in the North and the Crusaders in the South. The Fatamids moved forwards with the cavalry advancing to take control of two of the fords.

Leaving the infantry to contest the third ford. However they were moving at a snails pace.

The Crusader knights charged but were halted by a shower of javelins from the Fatamid cavalry.

The Fatamid light cavalry pushed on past the ford and charged into a Crusader spear unit. Was this foolhardy?

 The Crusader knights charged again.

 and destoyed the leading Fatamid heavy cavalry.

Meanwhile on the other flank another unit of Crusader knights took the ford as the Fatamid infantry were taking their time getting there.

In the centre things were looking a bit sticky for the Fatamid light cavalry.

 
resulting in them being pushed back across the ford.

On the left flank the Crusader knights charged the Fatamid infantry, pushing them back.

With the Crusaders controling all three fords and the Fatamid personal morale shot the game was called, with a resounding Crusader victory.

Swamp Fox - Game 12

Situation

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Horry was once again dispatched to seize Loyalist-owned cattle and destroy boats along the river near Waccamaw Neck. During their raid a slave was captured but then freed by one of Horry’s Captains who knew the man. Almost immediately, the slave reported the Rebels to a party of Queen’s Rangers who immediately set off in pursuit. In a slightly humorous incident, some Rebels were captured when they mistook the Ranger’s hunting horns for an actual hunt and stopped to watch the sport. Little did they know that they, not a stag, were the quarry.

The Rebels win the game by moving a wagon across the table and leaving by the Eastern (right-hand) edge. The Crown forces win the game if they can capture the wagon of beef.

The Crown forces had three deployment points (depending on a die roll); the two orchards and the farmhouse. The Loyalist militia were first out of the bag and deployed in line from the the orchard in the south-western corner. This might slow the rebels down a bit.

The Rebel verteran militia deployed next, heading south, hoping to outflank the loyalists.

The Loyalist rangers deployed into the other orchard and Captain Harper Francmont wheeled the milita. Unfortunately he stepped in something nasty, dropping his command ability by one. This was the start of a run of bad luck for the Loyalists.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Horry opted to get his fire in first

The Loyalist miltia returned fire and caused some casualties. However, in a brief momemt of madness, they decided to advance towards the enemy thus bringing them into close range. This wasn't going to dend well.

Meanwhile, Captain Crampton Clamper slowly advanced the Loyalist rangers towards the fence line.

However, the Rebel militia beat them to it.

The cavalry had arrived by this time and charged towards the militia column on the road, which they wiped out. However, the second group of cavaly lost their fight with the veteratn militia and were forced to retire.

The first cavalry group somehow managed to stop before they exited the table. The sneaky rebels then shot them in the rear forcing them to retire from the field. The Loyalist militia were also being forced back.

At this point the Loyalists decided to retire from the field leaving the way open for the Rebels to bring on their wagon of meat.  

Swamp Fox - Game 11

Situation

After the encounter with Cornet Merrit, the Queen’s Rangers retired on Georgetown where they met a mounted group of Loyalist militia under the command of Major Micajah Gainey. These forces now combined and rode off in pursuit of Horry and his men. On the Black River Ferry Road encountered Horry and his men at their camp. The Crown force attacked immediately.

The British win the game if they can burn down the plantation house where the Rebels are staying. The Rebels win if they break the Crown Force Morale.

The Crown forces deployed first, with the militia heading straight down the road and the cavalry moving across the countryside.

However, the Rebels also managed to deploy all of their forces in the first turn. The Crown forces weren't looking too happy about their ability to burn some buildings.

The rebels advanced north to hopefully prevent the cavalry from outflanking them.

The cavalry cantered through the woods and over the fence.

Unfortunately, the officer's horse pulled up almost throwing the rider. The Crown militia deployed into two groups and poured fire into the rebels, causing casualties. 

With the cavalry rapidly advancing towards the rebels

The rebels advanced their best troops towards the fence line and hoped to hold off the cavalry. Unfortunately, the cavalry failed to close to contact.

A devastating volley by the Rebels forced the cavalry to retire.

With both of their leaders knocked out, things weren't going well for the Crown militia.

A unit of the Crown cavalry were soon brought under control and were heading to outflank the rebels, hoping to charge them in the rear. Unfortunately, the Crown militia were falling back due to the Rebel firepower.

At this point the Crown morale was such that they retired from the field, whats left of them that is. Leaving the Rebels victorious.

Chain of Command 2 – Entering St. Lambert, Take 2

This was our second trial game of Chain of Command 2, so we wanted to up the ante slightly. We also wanted to have a direct comparison with the original Chain of Command. Fortunately, not long ago, we had played Scenario 2, from the “Closing the Gap” PSC. This scenario had a standard Canadian platoon, supported by a Sherman tank, attempted to cross the river and enter the outskirts of St Lambert.

The town of St Lambert was defended by a standard German platoon, supported by a Panzer IVH. The Canadians also had 9 points of support (electing to take a 4^th infantry section and a 6lb A/Tank gun) and the Germans had 5 points (electing to take Pak38 and a 2^nd Senior Leader).

The Canadians were played by Dave & Mal and the Germans played by Rob & Steve.

Under CofC2, the rulebook scenario 4: “A Delaying Action” introduces an Objective around the centre of the table (in the red box). The German patrol markers also start quite well forward, so this was going to be a short Patrol Phase!! The Canadians gained one free move, but ended up a point down on Force Morale (FM), so really gained no benefit. However, they did secure Jump Off Points (JoP) out toward the woods on their left and a threatening JoP in the woods to the South.

The Germans managed to establish a JoP in the orchard to the North-East and one further back in the village, overlooking the river, to the South of the bridge. The Germans then elected to place their Objective JoP in the ruined house, just to the North-East of the bridge.

The Canadians opened strong, pushing the Sherman forward, to laydown suppressive fire on the central German JoP/Objective, while Red & Blue sections pushed through the woods in the North, toward the river. The Germans responded by deploying Red section in the orchard, while the Panzer IV moved up, to try to get a firing position on the Canadian infantry.

After an initial misplaced smoke round, the Canadians laid an effective smoke screen on the far bank of the river and pressed Red section across. However, just as Blue section was about to enter the water, the wind suddenly picked-up blowing away the smoke (The Canadians rolled a triple 6!).

Fortunately, the Canadians soon rolled a couple of double 6s and managed to scrabble Blue section over the river and into the woods. The Canadian Red & Blue sections then started to infiltrate through the North side of the woods. The Germans, realising that the Canadians were attempting to out-flank them, pivoted Red section round to overlook the likely line-of-advance of the Canadians, while deploying Blue section, to guard Red section’s left flank.

Another double 6 allowed the Canadians to change axis and move South to the edge of the woods. Red section, spying the exposed flank of the German Red section, fixed bayonets and rushed forward. Spotting the Canadians coming out of the woods, the German Blue section moved to support (being within 4” of the melee). The Canadians still had a ‘3’ in hand, so moved their Blue section up to support Red section and fortunately got a decent move roll, turning the melee into a one-on-one, section-on-section fight (this is another V2 change). However, the bigger V2 change is the melee result rolls. Now a 5 just causes Shock and a 6 causes a kill. Melees are far less deadly now, to both sides!

The net result of both melees was that both Canadian sections were both thrown back.

Back in the centre, the Germans deployed their Pak38 into the Objective ruined house, missing the Sherman with it’s first round. As the Sherman had been laying down effective fire on the German Blue section in the orchard, driving them back, the Panzer IV edged around the corner of the building, to get a shot at the Sherman. However, the Sherman struck first, severely shaking the Panzer crew, but, in turn the Pak38 then immobilised the Sherman! Realising 2 vs 1 was not good odds, the Canadians deployed their 6 pounder. Boom! One ex Panzer IV!?

In amongst all this excitement, the Germans had used their Chain of Command dice to end the second turn, thereby starting the “Final Countdown” (sneaky Rob!). This put the time pressure firmly on the Canadians!

The Canadian Blue section, led by Sgt Buchannan, saw their chance. Realising that the Germans, who had just defeated them in hand-to-hand combat, were now retreating further back into the orchard, the Canadian Blue section raced toward the objective (another double 6!), surprising the Pak38 crew and driving them out of the objective house. The Germans had felt safe, as they had deployed Yellow section, on the Eastern bridge approach, alongside the objective. These guys would normally have been able to quickly reinforce the Pak38 crew. However, the same double 6, that allowed Sgt Buchannan to storm the Objective, had allowed Lt Bowe to lead the Canadian Yellow section, over the hedge, onto the road and then a full 15” down the road, before finally charging over the bridge, into the startled German Yellow section!

The Germans briefly attempted to recapture the objective, using the depleted Blue section, but Sgt Buchannan’s men were having none of it, kicking them back out of the house, before rolling a double 6, on the first phase of the “Ticking Clock” to end the game!? Close run stuff!!

This was our second outing with CofC2. We wanted to try AFVs and were pleased with the results. AFVs are no longer hopeless white elephants, waiting for a spare 3! We hadn’t planned to exercise Close Combat, but ended up with 6 fights! Under V2, Close Combat is no longer the Section man killer it was. It is still decisive, with plenty ‘back & forth’, so a good improvement. I really liked the introduction of Objectives and the Final Countdown & Ticking Clock introduce some real cinematic jeopardy!? All-in-all, I like CofC2.