Sharp Practice 2 – The Battle of Churros River

Another in our new series of larger games, at Lost Ark, in Stevenage. Thanks to John for providing the 8’x6’ table and being our congenial host & storekeeper.

Scenario: A small force of Spanish Regulars & skirmishers (Dave) were camped at the Convent of Adrados, overlooking the bridge over the river Churros. The Spanish deployment point is in the convent. Three French forces were approaching via 2 parallel roads from the South. Relieving British & Portuguese forces were approaching from the West & North-West respectively.

The Objective for the French was to destroy the bridge (a task roll of 11l, once the Sappers are at the bridge). The Allied task is to stop them & secure the bridge.

An unusually benign sequence of early chit pulling saw the majority of the forces deployed onto the table, with the exception of the French Dragoons, who presumably were still busy scouting somewhere else except the battlefield!

Chris’s Voltigeurs were soon trading fire with Rob’s British Light Infantry skirmishers, around the vineyard, with the French coming off slightly worse, despite having the benefit of cover. Voltigeur Lieutenant Bellevisage was also knocked unconscious by a spent musket ball, at this point, effectively taking Chris’ Voltigeurs out of the fight. To make matters worse, Rob’s two units of British  Line were better able to deploy into a strong firing line, while Chris’ 3 units of line struggled to get themselves untangled from the skirmishers and late arriving cavalry, so Chris’s French Line also started to suffer badly.

Away to the East, Tony’s French column initially made good progress toward the bridge, but was unfortunate to get caught by some gallingly effective long range flanking fire from the Spanish skirmishers on the far side of the river. The engineers also got themselves caught up in this, reducing their progress to a crawl.

Tony was able to deploy his gun and two rounds of Cannister fire was able to drive the Spanish skirmishers away from the river. Sadly for Tony, Dave’s Spanish Line were then in position to laydown long range fire on the deploying Eastern French line. Gaps were being progressively opened up in this French line, while neither the long range French musketry, nor roundshot from the French cannon, was able to make any effective reply.

Phil’s Voltigeurs pushed forward to occupy the central orchard, easily beating Simon’s lead footed Portuguese to the Orchard. A short firefight in the confines of orchard then ensued, with the greater weight of Portuguese musketry convincing the Voltigeurs to retreat to the cover of the Southern orchard wall.

Meanwhile the murderous firefight between Rob’s British and Chris French continued away to the West, but the longer this went on, the more obvious it was that superior British musket drill was going to win-out! (Someone please tell the French players to look at the ‘Pas de Charge’ rule!).

Realising that the chance of victory was slipping away from them, Phil dashed the Dragoon’s forward, to dismount and occupy the Southern end of the bridge. However, Simon’s Portuguese gun had finally managed to plod to within cannister range of the bridge and a well placed blast of cannister, sent the Dragoons fleeing back in disarray (double shock for canister & double shock for flanking fire!!).

The French decided to call it there!?

Seven Days to the River Rhine: Kaboom Power Plant Scamble: Lost Ark: 5th Nov 2022

 

Game two of the Lost Ark mini convention. 15mm Cold War, using the ‘Seven Days to the River Rhine’ rules. The premise of the game was that ‘rogue’ Warsaw Pact elements were threatening to seize the Kaboom Nuclear Plant. Three Warsaw Pact elements deployed in locations Red 1, 2 & 3, while 3 ‘scratch’ NATO Combat Teams deployed in locations Blue 1, 2 & 3. The British being in location 2, the West Germans in location 2 & the US Marines in Location 1. Each force nominally comprised of a tank platoon, supported by a mechanised infantry platoon.

The game opened with Rob’s more superior T72s (compared to the other WP T55s!!) dashing forward to cover the left flank of the advance on the Power Plant, while Phil’s more elderly Polish T55s covered the right flank & Dave’s equally elderly East German T55s advanced on the Plant itself.

Simon’s BAOR Chieftains ventured out to engage Rob’s T72, but quickly had lost 2 of the starting 3 tanks, for only similar number of T72s being knocked-out in reply.

On the WP right flank, Phil’s Polish T55s and OT64s managed to fight their way into Threlsville, but only after suffering massive losses from Chris’s mast equipped LAV/TOW system.

In the centre, Dave’s East Germans managed to breach the Power Plant’s perimeter fence & seize the main control facility & reactor building, before Greg’s West Germans could start to contest the Power Plant’s accommodation blocks.

The rest of the game was attritional, with Infantry fighting it out among the Power Plant accommodation blocks, while tanks & APCs manoeuvred to provide fire support. By the end of the game, the WP elements were down to a single operational T55, while the British retained a single Chieftains and the West German & US Marines still had a couple of tanks left running. Fire from these remaining MBTs, plus the surviving APCs, was thought to be sufficient to drive the remaining WP infantry elements out of the Power Plant, thus re-securing Kaboom for NATO.

As ever, SDttRR is a quick & bloody game, but a fun in-fill for what was left of the afternoon!

Chain of Command: A Bridge Too Far: Lost Ark: 5th Nov 2022

 

Our first experiment with running a Big Chain of Command game, at the Lost Ark shop in Stevenage. This enabled up to set-up an 8’x6’ table, pitting a US paratrooper platoon, a British Tank Platoon & a British Infantry platoon against two German infantry platoons (with support).

The British tank platoon would enter via the road in the South East corner and needed to exit at least one AFV, over the bridge, on the eastern edge of the table, while keeping the Germans at least 12” from the road. The US paratroopers started on the bridge, while the German entry point was on the track at the centre of the Northern table edge. If the Germans could prevent this, while at the same time gaining 2 Chain of Command dice, they would win (time running out!).

The patrol phase went well for the US & German contingents. The US managed to get a Jump Off Point (JOP) behind the house just to the East of the bridge & in the woods overlooking the road, SE of the bridge. The Germans managed to get a JOP right down the bordered field, adjacent to the road, as well as JOPs near the farm and behind the fields overlooking the bridge.

The British infantry only managed to get their JOPs, one up into the field overlooking the farmhouse & the other in the woods just South of the road.

Turn 1 saw the British tanks roar onto the table, while a British infantry section deployed into the fields, just to the North of the road, to cover their advance. The US paras modestly only deploying an LMG and sniper, into the house.

The Germans responded aggressively, by deploying a section behind the low walls to the South of the farmhouse, while simultaneously deploying the FAO, with an LMG team, in the bordered field, right down next to the road.

The US paras then revealed an entrenched section, in the woods, to the SE of the bridge. These opened up with murderous long range fire on the FAO & supporting LMG team, eventually resulting the loss of both the FAO & LMG team.

On the East of the table, the German section was suffering from fire from the Brits in the field, but also the US sniper, in the house near the bridge. However, the German platoon leader deployed here and started to restore some order. So much so, that casualties in the British infantry caused them to deploy a further section here.

But the continued focus of the British infantry on the farm area, was leaving their tanks exposed. Panzershrek teams were sneaking down and ambushing the tanks on the road. One was soon burning, while another had somehow survived two ambushes!

The US paras decided it was time to help out. They threatened an advance toward the German JOP in the South, while deploying a rifle team & bazooka, in the North, to try to flank the German positions. The advance of the rifle team in the North was rapidly checked by the deployment of first a Stug IIIG, which opened fire on the house, while an infantry section deployed across the advance line of the US paras, forcing them to deploy smoke & retire.

Further South, to counter the threat to their Southern-most JOP, the Germans deployed a Section into the bordered field next to the road. However, this rapidly started to lose the long range firefight with the entrenched US paras in the wood. Soon these were broken & running.

Seeing that the British infantry appeared too distracted to cover his tanks, the British Tank platoon leader decided to press on with his two remaining tanks. However, time was running out. The Germans were rolling more 5s and soon had further Chain of Command dice, enabling them to launch further ambushes on the exposed British armour, but also end the game.

A classic case on not maintaining focus on the objective, but all agreed it was a great venue & we would be returning.