Sharp Practice 2: War of 1812 – The Re-Supply of Fort Neots

The British have established a new small fort outpost on the shores of Lake Erie. However, US forces have spotted the build and sent a flying column to disrupt the final re-supply of the fort. The US commander, Major Donny T Rump (Mal), knows that he lacked the forces to assault the fort directly, but instead aimed to cut off the re-supply, having spotted a RN ship making landfall near the fort.

In the meantime, the Royal Navy had actually landed the ammunition supplies on the shore, a short distance from the fort and loaded them onto a cart, but spotting the US flying column marching to intercept, Captain Wolfe (Rob) also landed a force of Marines and seamen, to escort the supplies across to the fort.

British forces deployed from a Deployment Point in the North-West corner (A2), with one Canadian militia unit already deployed in the fort. The US forces deployed from the Deployment Point on the South table edge (G8).

The British opened with a strong deployment, landing all 3 groups of Marines, a group of 6 Seamen skirmishers and a group of 12 seamen with melee weapons. The US main column (3 units of Regular infantry) was a bit slower deploying, but Major Rump did manage to push his 2 groups of skirmishers into the field to the left of the road and the militia group to the right of the road, to face-off with the Canadian militia in the fort.

As the Marine column advanced Eastward, toward the fort, screening the re-supply wagon, the US Light Infantry advanced across the field, opening up long range fire onto the right flank of the Marine column. The British responded by advancing the seamen skirmishers, to distract the US light infantry, but the midshipman leading this group was quickly wounded.

In the meantime, the US Regular infantry column mounted a lightening march up to the ‘T’ junction, followed by a fairly nifty deployment into line, facing the Royal Marines. Sadly for the marines, the rather galling fire from the US light infantry delayed their forming into an opposing line.

To try to drive off the US light infantry, Captain Wolfe dashed his Seamen melee group into the field, causing the US lights to recoil back behind the house. However, these US lights quickly about-turned and poured a devastating volley into the advancing seamen. A couple of disciplined discharges from the US lights saw the seamen streaming back to the shore!

The main US line opened fire on the marine line, as it tried to form-up, inflicting large amounts of shock, but the discipline of the marines meant that the line held and slowly started to return fire. The marine’s Sharp Practice now really started to pay off, with both side’s trading Presented volleys, but the faster volleys of the marines soon started to open more gaps in the US ranks, than were occurring in the marine ranks.

On the East side of the table, the Canadian militia had sallied out of the fort, to engage the US militia. Honours were fairly even here, until the Americans suffered from the effects of dirty powder and were forced to retire.

Back at the dual between the main lines, the US were really beginning to suffer from the marine’s higher rate of fire (& Rob’s luck!) and the US line looked to be crumbling, until the marines found that some of their powder had also got damp during the landing. During the delay, while they resupplied from the ammo cart, the US line reformed and more importantly, the US Light Infantry pushed forward up to the field edge and started to pour close range fire into the right flank of the marine line.

At this point, both lines had been severely mauled and Captain Wolf realised that he would not be able to reach the fort. So, with a flourish of his sword, he saluted Major Rump and called his marines back to the boats. Major Rump surveyed his battered line and momentarily thought about pursuing the marines, but instead simply returned the salute and started the work of treating his casualties. A bloody but glorious draw!

Chain of Command 28mm PSC Sized Buildings

A quick shout-out to Warbases, for bringing out some lovely, very reasonably priced small 28mm buildings. These little buildings seem ideally suited to achieving many of the type of map lay-downs that appear within many of the Pint Sized Campaigns (PSC). My traditional 28mm buildings look great, but when compared to the indicative buildings in many of the PSCs, they are a fair bit too large. These Warbases buildings are simple, cheap and most importantly, have a nice small footprint. One other bonus is the small number of apertures in these buildings, also discourages infantry Sections from disappearing inside, to claim ‘hard cover’ from all & sundry!

From right to left, we have Dunne Steadings (Universal), Pike’s Garage (Industrial), Lyttle Cottage (Universal), Water Tower (Industrial) & Turnbull Cottage (Universal). The two sheds back left are Charlie Foxtrot, who also have a couple of small footprint buildings. I shall be picking-up a couple more of these little buildings at the next show.

Also great for ‘V for Victory’ and the smaller 4’x4’ table.

Chain of Command – Closing the Gap, Scenario 1

This game was lifted from Matthew Bona’s excellent Pint Sized Campaign, “Crossroads, Closing the Gap”. This is set in August 1944, with the Canadians pushing down, to close the Northern side of the Falaise Gap. Scenario 1 sees the Canadians probing (CofC Scenario 2) into the outskirts of St Lambert. The objective being for the Canadians to get a single team off the Eastern map edge.

The Canadians (Dave & Mal) elected to take an Adjutant, a Universal Carrier & an FAO with 3” mortar battery, as support. The Germans (Rob & Steve) elected to take an extra infantry action as support.

This was a cagey game, both sides seeking to minimise casualties (for a change!). The Canadians appeared to win the Patrol phase, managing to gain Jump-Off Points (JoP) in the field to the South East of the crossroads and in a house just to the West of the crossroads. The German JoPs were pushed back behind the hedgerows, well to the East of the crossroads.

The Canadians pushed forward with single infantry section, from behind the house on the West side of the crossroads. This section carefully edged up, across the road, North of the crossroads, then around the shed on the Northern table edge. As they crossed into the field, the platoon mortar deployed smoke, to cover their advance, while Blue section infiltrated into a covering position, behind a wall on the East side of the road, leading Northward from the crossroads. 

Expecting an advance from the field to the South-West of the crossroads, the Germans had deployed Red section behind the hedge, South-East of the crossroads, covering the field opposite. But, hearing the movement of the Canadians up to the North, the Red Section NCO deployed his MG42 to try to get a view up the road, from the crossroads. Finding his view blocked, he was forced to call-up Yellow section, to deploy into the fields on the North-East of the table, to block the Canadian Red section advance, along the Northern table edge.

A few bursts of fire from the German Yellow section, soon forced the crawling Canadian Red Section, to fall-back behind the shed on the road. However, this exposed the German Yellow section to withering fire from Canadian Blue section and Shock started to mount among the Germans. The Canadian Red section then crawled forward again, to add their fire, to that of Blue section, pinning down the German Yellow section.

This forced the Germans to deploy Blue section, to support Yellow section. However, the Canadian Lieutenant had spotted this build-up and called for his FAO to drop a 3” mortar barrage onto the German Yellow & Blue sections. Once the initial rounds started to land, the German Yellow section managed to scramble back, out of the barrage area, but Blue section was caught under the barrage and the effects of this and the sustained Canadian small arms fire, soon broke the German Blue section.

Sensing an opportunity, the Canadians deployed Yellow section into the field South-West of the crossroads. However, as they pushed forwards, the Canadian Yellow section came under fire from then German Green section, who had deployed into the field South-East of the crossroads, to support their Red section and the Canadian Yellow section were forced to fall-back there too.

The Canadian advance, initially so promising, now looked to be falling apart! Things then went from bad to worse, as the Germans rolled a couple of triple 6s, during which the Canadians lost their Mortar barrage and having it re-tasked elsewhere!

However, the little Bren Carrier had initially moved up to support Yellow section, but seeing them falling back and hearing the plaintive (and unanswered) calls for more mortar support, the carrier crew made a dash for it! The little carrier roared through the crossroads, narrowly missing a Panzerfaust, fired by the German Red section, then on down the road and off the Eastern table edge, right past a startled German Blue section leader (thanks to a timely Chain of Command Dice!). A narrow win to the Canadians.

Butchers Bill: Canadians – 6 KIA or Missing. Germans – 7 KIA or Missing, closing Force Morales were 10 & 9 respectively, so hopefully the platoons could face Mission 2 with some confidence! Very interesting to see players aiming to minimise losses. Quite a different & tactical game. 

V for Victory

Chris & I decided to try out Scenario 1, “First Encounter”. Chris brought his Yanks along, who I confronted with my Germans. The Germans opted for 3 Reinforcements and an MMG, as support. The Yanks also took the 3 man Reinforcement option, plus a sniper team. Then their Special ability yielded another support point, adding an MMG. This was to prove pivitol!

The Scenario objectives are to seize the 3 objectives (circled in red). The Yanks deployed from the bottom left corner and the Germans from the top right.

The Yanks sent Blue squad to their right, to overwatch the culvert objective. They sent White squad to their left, one team to cease the left flank gate objective, while the other team set-up overwatch just to their right. In the centre the HQ team attempted to move toward the central objective, supported by the MMG and the sniper team.

The Germans pushed Red Squad toward the culvert on their left, while Blue Squad and the HQ team pushed toward the central objective, supported on their right by the MMG.

The German push toward the culvert soon came under fire from the US overwatch squad in the woods overlooking the culvert. Despite suffering a lot of Stress, the German Red Squad rifle team managed to reach the cover of the culvert, supported by covering fire from their LMG team.

In the centre the US White Squad BAR team quickly lost a showdown with the German MMG team and was forced to fallback. This allowed the Germans to push forward Blue Squad’s rifle team toward the central objective. However, combined fire from the US HQ team, MMG & sniper team, quickly pinned down, then routed the German Blue squad rifle team.

However, concentration of US MMG & sniper fire on the German Blue Squad rifle team, allowed the German Blue squad LMG team to locate the US MMG and Sniper team and then start to suppress them. The Germans then threw forward their HQ team, who managed to reach the hedge, just to the left of the central objective, driving back the US HQ team.

But, the US platoon leader managed to rally his HQ team and redirect the MMG & sniper team fire on the new German threat. The German HQ team was quickly pinned down. Worse was to come, as over on the German left, at the culvert, the German Red Rifle team was first pinned down, Panicked, then routed. This enabled the US Blue Squad to redeploy onto the left flank of the German HQ team, causing them to Panic & break.

Overall, a smooth first game. The rules seem to play nicely, with fairly intuitive, consistent mechanics. The Stress morale system is quite effective, forcing players to divert limited management resources, to rallying pinned down teams. Overall looks like a good one from Tomahawk Studios.  

Infamy Infamy: In Goth we Trust

Inspired by Colin Murray’s article in the 2023 Too Fat Lardies special we played a game of Late Romans defending a farmstead against a Gothic warband. The Goths were tasked to capture some Roman civilians, although the likelihood of it descending into a punch-up to see who was the last-man standing was highly probable.

The Romans deployed early and started to head towards the farmhouse much to the dismay of the Gothic player.

The Gothic warbands now deployed from the woods

 

 

with the Romans turning to face them.

 

The Goths started to raise their fervour in anticipation of a mass charge into the Roman lines.

The warbands charged, but the Romans held and managed to push the Goths back.

However, the Limitanei on the Roman left were struggling to hold the Goth Nobles

 

and the Gothic archers were sneaking their way through the farmstead, on the lookout for any civilians.

 

 

It was looking bad for both sides as their force morale was failing. It was down to who was activated first on the next turn. The Gods were smiling on the Romans as their Warlord came out of the bag first. Activating the last unit of Comitatenses to charge the Goths in the flank, breaking the warband and wounding their leader.

 

The Goths at this point were obliged to withdraw empty handed, dragging their many wounded away.

Sharp Practice 2: Peninsular Scenario: Rescue Teresa

The famous Spanish partisan, Teresa Moreno, had been injured in an ambush gone wrong.  The Spanish guerillas have managed to get her back to a riverside hideaway, but she was too injured move further without big risk. Dick Blunt heard about Teresa’s injury and rushed to bring Dr d’Eath to her side.

The Spanish had a cart to move Teresa in, but if they move her without the Doctor’s assistance, Teresa will perish on any double rolled for movement. With the Doctor’s assistance, Teresa will only perish on an odd double roll for movement. Teresa starts in the house mid upper table.

Dick Blunt’s British/Spanish force enters at B1. Col Ducos’ French enter at F1. The Spanish deploy from S2.

Dick Blunt’s British/Spanish Force (Rob) comprises; Capt Dick Blunt {L2}, with two groups of 6 95th Rifles, Lt Jesus Thatwosclose {L1} with one group of 8 Spanish Regulars & Sgt John E Comlately {L1} with one group of 8 Dragoons.

Count Capt Monte Cristo’s {L2} Spanish force (Rob) comprises of two groups of 10 Spanish Provincial Militia & El Meaneo {L1} with one group of 6 Spanish Guerilla Skirmishers, plus a Holy Man and a Water Cart.

Col Ducos’s French force (Steve) comprises, Lt 0dinery {L1} and four groups of 8 Voltigeurs (in line),  Capt Hopless {L2} with two groups of 6 Voltigeur Skirmishers and Sgt Guy d’Loup {L1} with one group of 8 Dragoons.

The game opened with Ducos moving his French line onto the table, while pushing his skirmishers rapidly toward the orchard, while the Dragoons wended their way through the tricky rocky hill on the French left flank.

Hearing that both the French and Dick Blunt’s British relief force had arrived, the Spanish militia spilled out of the house, the militia forming a line facing the French line and the Spanish skirmishers taking up position in the vineyard, to their left.

Col Ducos however had a trick up his sleeve and flourished 4 flags, for an extra activation, to move Capt Hopless’s skirmishers rapidly toward the orchard.

Dick Blunt’s rifles opened up on the French skirmishers, as the French appeared amongst the orchard trees and so opened a vicious & drawn-out, but largely fruitless tussle for the orchard, absorbing large amounts of British effort, without furthering the objective.

In the centre, Col Ducos was getting frustrated with a lack of progress. He was losing men and cohesion, seemingly being held up by some lowly Spanish provincial militia! In the end, his bacon was saved by the French Dragoons charging down from the hills, into the flank of the Spanish militia, routing their right flank, but having to recoil themselves.

Over at the orchard, the British had thrown-in the Dragoons and Col Ducos was forced to throw-in the right hand unit from his line, but despite mounting casualties on both sides, the French were holding up the British Rifles.

At this point, the Spanish Regulars, from the relief column arrived at the house, with Dr d’Eath. Teresa was rapidly bundled into the hand cart and they started to head for the bridge. Ducos managed to get one volley off from the French line, before Tersa was whisked out of line’s firing arc.

Ducos managed to get his line to cease firing, wheel his line and fire another volley. But, just one casualty and some Shock. Dr d’Eath, Teresa and the group of Spanish Regulars continued to flee and Ducos had only time for one more volley, before his prey would get out of range. Disaster, 21 dice, no 6s! Even a slightly fortunate roll would have caused enough Shock, to mean that the Spanish would have broken, leaving Teresa stranded on the handcart. In the end, it had all come down to one final dice role! However, luck was not to be with Col Ducos today (“unlike Capt Blunt” Steve was heard to mutter)!!