Black Seas; "Somewhere off Minorca"

So, our first foray into the “Black Seas”.  A simple scenario featuring Spanish vs British, with only a frigate and two brigs per side.

With the wind to their backs the Spanish sailed with uncharacteristic aggression.  Phil’s British frigate soon found itself in trouble taking heavy fire from its Spanish counterpart and a pesky Brig.  An unfortunate “critical” made it break off the action and limp away as best it could.

The British Brigs fought on gamely, helped immensely by Tony’s decision to sail off the edge of the known world. Apparently he thought the table was 6’ x 4’……it wasn’t.

Phil took another salvo and struck his colours. First blood to the Spanish!

Chris and Rob fought on again aided by Tony re-appearing only to sail across the table and disappear off the other edge on fire.

Two ships left, but not for long….

Chris’ Brig took punishment from the frigate and blew up. Ouch!

Malcolm eventually did the normal Spanish thing and struck his colours leaving Rob’s Brig facing Dave’s badly damaged Frigate.

With discretion the better part of valour the British departed Spanish waters but it was a Pyrrhic victory  for the Armada Espanola.

A fun game to run.  More complex than “Cruel seas” and in my opinion with more possibilities. Next time we will introduce some of the additional rules.

Next week see’s a return to WAT in France 1940.

Simon

Carnage in the Chersonese...Not!

And so, the leafy suburb of Stevenage Old Town resonated with the cries of wild Thracian tribesmen....and Tony!

Set in the mid 4th century BC, the game was set during the expansion of the Thracian kingdom and an attack on Athenian colonies in the Chersonese.

Chris and Malcolm’s hoplite-heavy army faced an army of Thracians, all armed with throwing sticks!

The opening rounds saw Tony’s Thracian cavalry wing sweep round Malcolm’s flank and then stop.

Rob’s centre of tribal warriors trudged forward as Chris’s Hoplite phalanxes moved ominously forward. Dave’s combined-arms Thracian left deftly manoeuvred as Malcolm found Chris disposition of the Athenian cavalry a problem.

Tony’s battle soon degenerated into avoiding Malcolm’s more ponderous units, and then evading off the table!

Chris crashed into the tribal centre and started disordering Rob’s warriors. Things weren’t looking good for Thrace, especially as Tony’s off-table units meant at one point 6 coins surrendered to Athens.

Then a miracle, now attributed to the intervention of the horse god. Rob’s light javelinmen started disordering the hoplites, even scoring “double disorders”.

Tony’s errant cavalry returned to the table on the other flank and stormed an Athenian camp.

We called it a night after three hours of hard fighting. The Athenians retired off the table battered and bruised leaving the Thracians in possession of the battlefield.

Simon

Hard Work in Hungary; A WAT Scenario

Early November ’44. The Soviet Autumn offensive to take Budapest has failed and the Germans are counter-attacking the battered and exhausted Soviet forces.

Chris, Phil and Rob encouraged the Soviets to stand and fight whilst Dave, Greg, Malcolm and Tony barked orders to their German crews.

The Soviets rolled onto the board first, with the T34/85s advancing carefully along the top edge of the board. Phil’s SU85 and mighty T70 were left to hold the rest of the table. Interesting tactics.

The Germans reacted with Tony’s Stug parking itself in brush for the entire game, leaving the MkIVs and Panther to do the real work.  Dave’s MkIV seemed fixated on the T70 and was to spend much of the game hiding in a wood as a result. The game degenerated into a long-range gunnery duel, with no casualties. Hits were hard to make as crews wisely “buttoned up” and the dice rolling “to hit was abysmal.

Eventually Tony’s Stug scored a mobility hit on the SU85 which turned round and moved away. The T70 was still in control of a full one third of the table area, and was also joining in the firing against Malcolm’s MkIV.   Order of Lenin for him!

Greg was becoming frustrated, and dreaming of cheese and whisky.  A potent combination. Well, more potent than his Panther was proving!  Eventually the Russian discipline gave way, and Chris and Rob’s T34 /85s moved out of their positions to attack at close range.  Rob’s tank became a fireball as it took a long-range flank shot in the open from the Stug. 

Chris managed to use the T34’s “fast” attribute to flank the German position and try a side-shot into the Panther. Clang! A roll or three saw the shot bounce. Greg’s  revenge. The Panther turned on its tracks and fired a lethal 9 dice into the hapless Chris.

Boom!

With the Soviets  left with only a mechanically crippled SU85 and the plucky T70 they conceded the table to the Germans.

An interesting but frustrating game. Unlike Normandy where the Allies normally have numbers vs German quality, this game was much more even tank vs tank, and kills proved much harder.

Simon

A trip to the beach...

“And lo, the army of the High King did smite the invader and drive his host into the sea”. This is the battle summary recorded in the state archives of Hatti.

However, recent discoveries have shown that….

The year is circa 1200BC. The maritime phenomenon known as the Sea Peoples continues to wreak havoc on the coastlines of the Eastern Mediterranean. Last night the invaders landed on the coast of North Lebanon with a view to pillage and worse. The Governor of Ugarit has urgently  petitioned the king for help, and a Hittite army has marched to join the local levies.  Battle is joined.

Phil, Chris and Rob commanded the Hittites. Dave, Malcolm and Tony the forces of barbarism.

The early phases saw Phil’s left wing of heavy chariots start to push back Dave’s Sea People’s right.

The battle on the other flank was bitterly contested with Rob stoutly defending the hills.

The centre appeared the vital field of battle where Malcolm’s massed Sea People’s warriors seemed to at least have a  numerical advantage over Chris.

Outside the city walls Phil’s chariot force proved victorious but cannily avoided the lure of the camps, preferring instead to target Dave’s exposed flank. A true tactician. That’s why he is King!

Far from the City walls Rob pushed Tony’s lone chariot back whilst himself being pushed back in turn towards his own camp. In the centre Chris and Malcolm slugged it out. Deep warriors proved hard to kill, but once disorganised they too proved that it was hard to land a killing blow.  

For a time weight of numbers still seemed favoured the invaders, but in several moves the allied archers and javelinmen from the Levant proved their worth, and Rob finally pushed Tony’s chariot literally “over the edge”.

With their flanks shattered and their camps captured or at the mercy of the Hittites the Sea Peoples yielded.

The High King mercifully allowed two of the Sea Peoples leaders to sail away having vowed never to return. But justice demanded one leader be left behind to meet the vengeance of the people.  After debate, the bearded one with the accent that even the Sea Peoples found unintelligible was left behind to see out his days in the mines.

Simon

Watery Matters off the Crimea....

Summer 1942. Things are looking grim for Stalin as the Nazi hordes threaten Eastern Ukraine and the Crimea. The naval port of Sevastopol is holding out but desperately needs supplies of men, ammunition and food. With Luftwaffe dominance in the air the Red Navy has the task of slipping ships along the coast to the port.

Last night saw a Fugas-class minesweeper with two G5 MTBs as close escort try to reach the protection of the coastal defence Bronekaters.

The Germans surged onto the table from the south-east, with Phil and Malcolm acting in tandem and Tony...well.... being Tony.

German torpedos hit the water as the Fugas turned its powerful guns on the EBoats.

The Bronekaters moved to intercept but were painfully slow, and Rob’s inexperienced crew proved virtually useless.

The G5s sped around at high speed hoping to distract the E-Boats, but to no avail. Dave manoeuvred the Fugas to avoid two torpedos but eventually one hit below the bridge. Carnage resulted, and a critical hit resulted in a sinking Fugas.

All was not going well on the German side.  Phil list temporary control and his E-Boat careered towards the blazing minesweeper.

A second torpedo hit the Fugas just as Chris’ Bronekater arrived on the scene. However, raked by Tony’s gunfire Chris’ vessel was itself soon ablaze and abandoned.

A German victory.

Dave was awarded a posthumous order of Lenin. Chris was swiftly despatched. Some think he went to the salt mines. Others say it was cheaper just to expend one 9mm round from a Makarov pistol into the nape of his neck.

Next week sees us go back 3000 years to the chaos of the Sea Peoples in the Eastern Mediterranean. Can the Hittites save their city?

Simon

Battle of Vesontio 68 AD

The game is set in 68AD. Gaius Julius Vindex, the Governor of Gallia Lugdunensis rebels against Nero. He raises a local army and comes up against the Legions of the loyal Roman army of Germania Superior. Battle hardened killers.

Historically it didn’t end well for Vindex….

The Romans started their deployment first as the Gauls out scouted them. The Romans deployed legions in the centre and right with a small cavalry wing on the left. Unusually the Gauls deployed their cavalry in the centre with warbands on both flanks.

The plan for the Gauls was to use the cavalry to skirmish with the Roman centre and hope that the warbands on the flanks would be able to roll up the Roman line whilst avoiding a head on clash with the Legion.

Both forces marched towards each other with the Gallic cavalry managing to disorder one of the legion units.The Fanatic Gauls crashed into the legion holding the hill on the Roman right and managed to kill the disordered unit along with the General. First blood to the Gauls.

The legion in the centre managed to push the Gallic cavalry back whilst killing a veteran unit.

Phil comanding the Roman cavalry managed to spend a significant part of the game grazing in the corner.

The Roman left flank managed to kill a warrior unit but the Gauls retaliated and manged to kill a legion unit. Things were in disarray on this flank. However, Chris on the Roman right was being either killed or pushed back as Mal's warbands started their steamroller going.

The Romans were now down to one coin left so not looking good as the Gauls were threatening the camps. At this point Vindex with the cavalry charged forward and killed a light infantry unit. Victory.

A good game that could have gone either way and it is unusual for the Gauls to win against the "hard" legion.

The Bulge Revisited

No, I’m not talking about the much reported “Lockdown Weight again” but the tabletop/Zoom events in North Hertfordshire, which now has outstations in Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire and even far-flung Wiltshire!

The battle was set on December 21st 1944 as the Germans tried to take the small Belgian town of Hotton. Quite a challenging table with many buildings.

The Germans quickly rolled onto the table with Stugs acting in concert, the PzIV on the main road and the Panther prowling, looking for prey to the North.

The Yanks entered with M36s advancing towards the Stugs, a Sherman down the road and Rob’s Sherman nervously facing the Panther.

The MKIV fired at the Sherman at long range. Four hits, no saves. First blood to the Germans.

Dave’s M36 rushed forward leaving Tony’s rookie driver trying to get out of first gear. With fragile armour but a mighty gun the M36 traded blows with two Stugs miraculously surviving for several turns.

To the north Malcolm’s dice just didn’t want to “shoot” at Rob hidden in a copse. As the referee noted that a Sherman vs Panther in a long range gunnery duel was unequal Rob got lucky. Four hits and no saves. One brewed Panther.

Dave’s thinly armoured M36 then took a side-shot and died.

Now 3 Germans vs 2 Yanks. Soon to be two-all as Tony’s M36 finally entered the fray and fired a mighty 11 dice at Malcolm’s MK IV. Carnage.

The action hinged on the “battle of the crossroads”. The Stugs manoeuvred manically to prevent the Yanks getting side shots. Chris failed and his Stug exploded in a ball of flame.

Phil lurked beside a house cursing his dice. Tony’s dice proved miraculous and he eventually charged within three inches of Phil’s side armour before emptying 11 dice into the unfortunate Stug. Boom!

I was pleased to finally get my Yank armour onto a table, and also use my new “Frostgrave Autumn” mat. No coffee stains here!

Next Friday sees a return to Cruel Seas with a foray to the Black Sea a distinct possibility!

Simon