Derby Worlds Demo 2017

We’ll another October and another Derby wargames show, at Castle Donnington. Battlegroup was there, demo-ing the future BG:Tobruk book, due in spring next year, with a smallish desert tank-encounter at Bir Ez Zelb, during Operation Crusader.

The game ran through various players and many watchers-on throughout Saturday and Sunday, (with some breaks for me, but not many). The board was a 6x8, with my now much appreciated (by passers-by) combination of hessian cloth and copious amounts of sand and grits, added to by liberal scattering of clump foliage as camel thorn (this is starting to sound like a recipe). With the cloth falling to make natural looking contours, it does look very convincing as desert scrub (from a distance). Up close, you can see the Hessian-mess too well, so maybe its not the right solution after-all (but the right colours, which helps a lot).

The game itself saw a British armoured unit advancing on Bir Ez Zelb against a screening force of Germans on slightly higher ground (the boards sloped up a bit), with reinforcing panzers on the way. Here are the force lists for the game.

DAK Forces
Initial Defenders
2 x PaK38s with tows        72             4-v
20mm AA with tow           28             1-r
2 x Schutzen squads           56             6-r   
FAO team                           23             1-v    arty spotter
SdKfz 263 radio AC           24            1-r    comms
2 80mm mortars (off-table)    54        0
Captured Matilda II             35           3-r
Sniper                                  10           1-v    sniper scout

Reinforcements
5 x Panzer III Hs                 170        15-r    officer
Kradschutzen squad             34          3-r   
Total                                    506 pts    35 BR    1 officer, 1 scouts       


British Forces
First Wave
3 x Crusader IIs                                     91    9-r    officer
Motor Rifle Platoon in 4 light trucks    80    9-r    officer
2 25pdr and tows                                   80    4-r
3 x Cruiser A9s                                     97    9-r    officer, unreliable

Reinforcements
3 x Crusader IIs                                    91    9-r    officer
FAO in Dingo scout car                       16    1-i    arty spotter
2 3” mortars (off table)                        54    0
Total                                                     509    41 BR    4 Off, 0 Scouts       


It was a close fought encounter, with the Germans starting well and getting the upper hand on Saturday, but the British had fought back in the afternoon session and having established a fair lead on BR by close of play. Those playing off course were learning the game rules, so it was slow(ish) going as I explained all and got them to roll the dice and push the models about. Still, the British had knocked-out a German 50mm AT gun and the 20mm AA, seen off one infantry squad and scored copious pinning with their 25 pdrs firing over open sites. The Germans had managed to knock out one A9 cruiser in return, but again, their off table mortars had scored various pinning, especially amongst the motor rifle platoon in their transports.

Aerial view as the first Crusaders move up on the British right, and the Pak38 tries to redeploy in front of them, mostly being pinned by 25 pdr fire.

 Sunday morning saw the game resume, and the Germans had something of a comeback, destroying 2 Crusaders and another A9 and pinning the British infantry with MG fire. Their Panzer IIIs arrived and started what would become a prolonged gunnery duel with the Crusaders, both finding their guns well under-powered at maximum ranges to deal with the enemy’s frontal armour (one pinned Crusader crew did abandon though, but only after resisting about 10 50mm shell hits!, mostly they were just deaf and suffering from concussion). The capture Matilda final won its duel with an A9, at PB range… but then its slow movement meant it struggled to get back into the fight with the Crusaders and incoming 2pdr fire soon had it repeatedly pinned too.

The British motor infantry tried to take the hill, but failed under MG fire, mostly being pinned, (one section was wiped out though) and their mortar fire wasn’t too effective in return either. When a Panzer III and supporting Kradschutzen squad turned up as German reinforcements, the hill seemed secure enough for the Germans.

It was the gunnery duel that cost the DAK in the end. The Crusaders started to get the upper hand, aided by suppressing fire from the 25pdr battery, hammering the Panzers IIIs each turn with Area Fire. A few good penetration rolls saw one, then a second, then the officer’s Panzer III knocked out… and the chits mounted. The Crusaders moved up to close the range on the last survivors, still bouncing shells of the Matilda (its side by now though). Then an aircraft threatened to arrive, some RAF support, but instead it just flew on to another target… a small respite for the Germans who could have done with some Stuka support themselves. In the end, another British mortar barrage blew up a soft-skinned tow (for the 20mm AA, knocked out by overwhelming A9 MG fire on Saturday - they are good for something!). That counter broke the Germans and they pulled back. The British where still 9 points away, so a solid win on the road towards Tobruk…

Thanks all that played, watched, cheered the good (and bad) dice rolls and just came up to say hello and talk BG… I remain chuffed that so many have found the game so much fun. Thanks to the guy that said it was the best set of WW2 rule she’d played since the 1970s… I’d have to agree of course!

Next year will be something else, maybe eastern front, with no clearing up sand and grit required. Worth the bit of extra effort for the look though.

Here are few pics of the weekend’s action, not many, was a bit too busy (and the lighting in the hall is weird for cameras).

 A9s, many, many MGs blazing move on the left, up onto the high ground.

The captured Matilda moves to engage the lead A9 as 25 pdr shells land just ahead. The 20mm Flak38s tow is also a captured Bofor's tow. 

 The RAF fly-by but, luckily for the Germans, the P40 buzzed on for another target. 

A9 engages the infantry in the single abode house, with no AT grenades, they weren't much threat even to an A9. 

Reinforcements arrive, and the gunnery duel starts at maximum range.

The horse artillery, unlimbered and pounding out Area Fire at top speed. Their harassing fire would do a lot towards winning the tank vs tank battle ahead of them. If I'd been the Germans, they would have been priority mortar targets...

The tank's line up to engage, to find guns are so good in 1941, glance, glance, glance, it was exciting though, which side would get a kill first?

BATTLESHIP GALAXIES

The 6 week school summer holiday is now complete, and life can get get back to some form of normality. Over the summer-hols I decided we’d need a new boardgame to play on those wet afternoons and after long deliberation we cut the many choices down to 3 potentials. After a family vote, the clear winner was Battleship Galaxies, a space combat wargame on hex mats, with its own pre-painted miniature ships, a human fleet and an invading alien fleet.

I’d never seen it played and after reading some reviews decided to give it a try. After three or four games I really like it. The rules are basic, but simple enough for an 8 and 10 year old to get (mostly). The ship models are good, maybe not design classics, but perfectly serviceable for our purposes. Both sides fight differently. The humans are tough, a bit slower, but pack the firepower, especially at longer ranges. The aliens are a bit faster generally and like to get up close, especially their fighters.

The gaming matt is nice, and it includes a bit of space ‘terrain’, like asteroids and orbital bases etc, which have small extra effects on the game play. I like that these are counters that you have to investigate to flip and see if there is anything useful under it, an nice extra element to the main course of blasting each other to bits.

Overall, the game plays well, but so far the aliens, that’s me, have won all the battles. Now, maybe that’s because I’m not 10 years old, but the aliens do seem to have a slight edge in the stats. The best part of the game is hiding your forces behind a screen (it comes with the game) and revealing them as you spend energy points to ‘launch’ them onto the board, either from inside other ships (for the fighters etc) or onto the table edge. Not knowing your enemy’s force or how it will deploy adds a little extra guess-work, which I like.

Although called 'Battleships' this game has nothing to do with the classic (super-dull) boardgame of the same name. That was my first fear, but it plays out as a straight tabletop wargame, not a tedious guessing game. It’s a full game in box, just set-up and play. I think after 10-12 games the lack of diversity in the forces will start to feel restrictive… the planned expansions never materialized, but we won’t play it that often so it’ll take a while to grow repetitive on us. We might have to tweak the rules or ship stats a bit, otherwise Earth is going to fall to these mean aliens pretty rapidly…

One thought is to buy some different ship models and design our own ship datacards for them, that way, we can play with the models we like best.  I'll keep my eye open for cool spaceship models. One for the future that idea.

Here are a few shots of our first trial games.

The game laid out for play, both fleets closing, this time facing off across an asteroid belt.

 The rulebook

 The alien battleship and escorting cruiser. Blue markers are shields, replaced by red ones as damage as you lose shields from incoming fire.

 The human fleet with its mighty battleship, fighters out front

Not so mighty now, 12 damage markers and that's the end of the battleship, and victory for the aliens. Soon to be visiting Earth - and not in a good way!

SOMEWHERE NEAR THE EUPHRATES RIVER… 78AD

After a summer holiday wargaming haitus, it's time to get back on with the modelling, painting and, importantly, gaming.

It's not that I've being doing nothing, just I haven't raised brush to model in about 6 weeks. Other writing and development work has continued, if at a snails pace... here's one of the summer's few games.


Over the past 6 months one of my main ‘jobs’ has been developing and play-testing 'Soldiers of Rome', a version of my Soldiers of God rules for Imperial Rome vs its main enemies. I’ve already posted some of the battles of Rome vs the Barbarians, and they’ve been brilliant fun, the system works really well and bring the two side’s different methods of warfare to the fore.

I’m happy with the balance of Romans and Barbarians, both feel right, the Barbarians are scary, but the Romans stoic. The reckless Barbarians have the initial impetus, but the Roman’s more attritional style can wear them down and turn the tide, if you play your cards right.

I also want to include another style of warfare, the eastern one of horse archers and harassment, for the Parthian Empire (been here before with SoG). So, over the last month we’ve played a few games testing a Parthian list against the same Roman Legionary list, and new cards for the Parthians and their Sassanid and Kushani allies (war elephants, gotta love war elephants!).

Here are a few shots of my SoG Saracens army standing in for the Parthians. Horse tribesmen don’t change much, and they are the backbone of the Parthian army. Ghulams are standing in for Sassanid Cataphracts, not radically different really.  

In this ‘small field battle’ I picked a Parthian army entirely mounted. 2 flanks of horse archers with my Cataphracts in the centre (and their elephant), and a simple battle plan to charge up the middle and smash my way through the Roman centre whilst skirmishing to hold the flanks and avoiding battle as best I could (and horse archers are good at avoiding a fight).

Of course, that plan did not survive contact with the enemy. The Romans had gone for an all out attack, advancing on both flanks but with the weight of his attack coming in the centre. We were on a direct collision course, but his centre was now the strongest point of his line, against which I would have to throw my heavy cavalry, which isn’t ideal. Such are the vagaries of the Battle Plan system.  There would be a titanic clash in the centre, just when?

 The reluctant war elephant... can't we give it an iced bun or something? 

The centre, marked by irrigation ditches, Romans on the march towards my cataphracts.

Here are a few snaps of the game in progress. It was a very, very close and a brilliant game. Both players know the game mechanics very well and stretched the system to the limit. Canny play and a few pieces of outrageous luck made for a see-saw battle that saw first the Romans in the ascendancy, then a strong Parthian comeback, then a spectacular Roman comeback to look like that might win it, to a very close finale where both sides almost broke.

The Romans started well, throwing a massive spanner in the works when my hired Kushani war elephant refused to fight due to a grievance over pay (or just being a stubborn brute). My shock troop, which was to lead the cavalry assault, was out of the game, and so I decided that to attack without it was to invite quick defeat and so held my lines. Meanwhile, the aggressive Romans pressed forwards down the length of the tabletop, coming on fastest in the centre with blocks of legionaries and their auxiliaries, support by a few archers and slingers. On the flanks my horse archers galloped forwards to engage with bows, and then fell back, as they should. It worked well on the left, but the Roman cavalry on my right (his left) made it impossible to do this ‘shoot and scoot’ for very long, they were closing in too fast, and so my right flank looked vulnerable. My horse archers are brilliant for nuisance value and their archery packs a punch, but if caught in melee, well, they aren’t up to much. It didn’t help when one small unit deserted and fled the field on a special ‘deserters’ event… eek. Cowards, come back!

Horse archers face up against Rome's mercenary light cavalry at javelin throwing range, neither too keen to get to sword point. 

On my left, more horse archers pepper the auxiliaries, who broke under a sustained attack by a foe they could not get to grips with. 

Horse archers from the left threaten to flank the Roman's centre line, barring a few archers (in a loosing missile duel).  My light cavalry broke through here and charged off into the rear, a game winner in the end.

As I awaited to get the card I needed which would see my elephant return to active duty, I kept up the flank skirmishing, and my archery began to tell, building up a lot of Disorder on auxiliary spearmen and archers. The Roman centre closed right in, almost to charge range (not far for heavy infantry in close order), so to buy me extra time my heavy cavalry centre fell back, and realigned their ranks for the charge that would come, but only when I wanted it, not before. The Romans long march across the table most continue. My enforced wait was worth it, suddenly the elephant resolved its greivance (here, have some more bushes to eat!), and immediately charged th surprised Romans! It piled headlong in a legionary block, trampling them and satisfyingly caused a lot of Disorder, before expiring in a pilum-stuck grey heap. Damage done though, elephants are quite expendable and rather unpredictable. With a legionary cohort in chaos from the paciderm, my first cataphract unit immediately followed up with a second charge. Kontos levelled, they slammed home and overwhelmed the legionaries, who broke and routed (not common that - routing cohorts). Suddenly, the Roman line looked weak, his auxiliary archers, surrounedd by horse archers also broke as did another unit of Auxilaries, worn down by horse archers. He lost 10 army morale (almost half) and was now on the back foot. The Parthians had started slowly but unleashed the power of heavy (and very heavy) cavalry. The other cataphracts also charged, and inflicted more Disorder. The big fight was on… and it was heated, many cards were being played on the melees as both sides could see this was the heart of the game. My initial charge’s impact was countered by the Ramans Rally card (grr, so much hard work for little) and being well-drilled. It would become a protracted fight, and the legionaries excel at them. Oh-dear, the battle was turning. The cavalry charged had not broken them.

War elephant gets his extra pay and then charges home, causing disorder and havoc before dying...

 The crucible of this battle, legionaries vs cataphracts in the centre. 

More cataphracts (and command stand), getting stuck into slingers but flanked by auxiliaries to the rescue (they're job really)

On my right the Romans mopped up, killed the commander of my right battle and surrounding my last unit of horse archers with their own cavalry. They hung on for a while, with me spending cards to keep them in the fight, but it was a losing battle and it the end the horse archers were routed in a bloody masacre. Disaster, my entire right battle had been wiped out, I had lost a card form my hand for the lost commander, and the Roman cavalry were free to swing around the finish me. My army morale total plunged from a healthy 16 to 7… and suddenly the Romans were winning.

It was my left flank horse archers that came to the rescue, they galloped across the table to try and mop up the isolated Romans rear, including a Scorpios crew (who put up a tremendous fight and refused to die easily). Th light cavalry pepper the Roman’s centre battle’s commander with arrows, and he too survived and responded by charging into the horse archers and fighting a heroic melee, also saving his legionaries from being charged from the rear. But he could not save his vulnerable baggage train, and my last unit of fast cavalry closed in on that valuable prize, with nothing to stop them.

So came the finale, the last turns, with the Romans on 6 army morale and me on 8. Combat in the centre was vicious again, and my cataphracts came of worst. Two of the three units broke and routed, costing me 6 army morale. But the Romans lost their Scorpios, finally, and my horse archers pin-cushioned the baggage train mule handlers and its few civilians, destroying it too and grabbing the loot. With other Disorder this reduced the Romans to exactly 0, with the Parthians still on 2 army morale. The Romans conceded the battle and the field, but it had been so very, very close… a brilliant afternoon of very hard fighting, but victory for the Arscanid Emperor!

Well, the Parthians work… so far the games have all been even fights, and only a few tweaks to the elephant rules required along with a new ‘Elephant Ramage’ special event. So the game now has three army lists and the action card deck is split between all three factions: Roman Legions, Barbarians and Parthians. The game is almost done for development. Now to write up the rules in the full… Soldiers of Rome may well see the light of day in 2017.

BOVINGTON 2016, BATTLEGROUP OVERLORD CAMPAIGN WEEKEND

Well, I have just returned from Battle Group South 2016, at Bovington Tank Museum. This year we ran a Battlegroup Campaign Weekend, with three 400 points games over the Saturday and Sunday (so plenty of time for sight-seeing and shopping too). We had 7 Allied players (5 Brits, 2 US) and 7 Germans (various Panzer, Ersatz Panzer and one Fallschirmjager battlegroup) facing off, to earn campaign points for their side.

Without describing all 21 games fought over the weekend, in the end the Allies had scored a solid win over the Germans, compiling 31 VPs to the German's 16. But, before the German-ophiles cry foulplay over another hefty campaign weekend defeat, at the end of Saturday, both sides had won 7 games a piece, and only a few 'better' Allied victories gave them a slim lead. Sunday, well, the wheels came off for the Germans, losing 6 from 7 games and getting a pasting... I'd say that was the relative experience of the players, the Allies had a few more 'old heads' who knew the game well than the Germans.

My first game was a narrow win for me, only due to some hefty artillery calls to Corps' 155mm gun batteries which caused havoc with some accurate shooting. Until then the game was very close, and my US infantry was badly pinned down by incoming MG fire (as ever), with their M10s losing their gun-duel with the StuGs (as ever). Artillery saved the day. M10s are useless!!

For my second game, I switch forces to a cavalry recce group made up of M8s, Jeep teams and M5 light tanks, to face an all infantry German force (elite, dismounted panzer grenadiers with a lot of MG42s and Panzerfausts, no vehicles). A very different battle, which my light armour (having lost a few M8s to suicidal 'faust attacks) was getting the better of, until the Luftwaffe suddenly showed up. A FW-190 bombing run scored 4 direct hits with its bombs, destroying my FHQ in his M3 halftrack, and 3 Jeeps and with the air attack counter, inflicted 7 chits... that disaster broke my force... with their commander dead, they had to pull back. The Germans had just 2 BR left... defeat snatched from victory.

On Sunday morning I faced a German panzer force in an Attack/Counter-Attack scenario. Eek, my infantry, artillery and M10s were hard put to it against 3 StuGs, a Pz IV and a Tiger II! I lost all 3 M10s again (like they stood much hope verse a Tiger II with Panzer Ace), for scoring 1 StuG kill (at least they got something this time). My artillery caused its usual harassment, but no actual losses... and with the tanks closing in, MGs strafing my all-but defenceless (and bazooka-less) infantry, I was taking my last counter (32 BR gone from 33), when it was a Mine Strike (a last revenge before throwing in the towel I thought). The mine blew his advancing Panzer IV sky high, only for that tank to be his senior officer, and those 2 drawn counters broke the Germans. Pure fluke... but a memorable battle, I had won by 1 BR and a miracle of good luck. My opponent took it very well... cheated by the fickle Gods of War.

Here are some (lots) of photos of the weekend's action. It was great fun, all played in the right spirit. Playing as part of a larger team really kills off the worst competitive instincts of true 'tournaments'. And in BG the match-up are always historical too. We shall do it again, next time, in the desert.

My first game, getting everything onto the table in a Defence Line scenario. The German had a strong position in the houses, which I flattened with repeated artillery bombardments (the US way).  

The StuG reinforcements, too much for my M10s to deal with.  

 See!! This always happens. 

 My frontline, pinned in the orchard by MG fire... the Normandy experience for my GIs. 

Victim of a 155mm arty strike direct hit.  The last straw and the Germans withdrew... phew!
A close one. 

 The other US player (Mick) racing forwards and getting onto deep trouble fast. He only took over, using my models, at the last minute. Green commander... 

 Ouch! Trouble (and Sherman) brewing. 

 Pier's 21st Panzer battlegroup... or the wacky races? We laughed, but then those that fought it found out the hard way that the Arkansas Chuggabug is not to be taken lightly. His Hotchkiss H-39 knocked out a Sherman!! Multiple rocket launcher and multiple mortar halftrack do spread a lot of pinning. 

Sean's Brits and their Cromwell about to 'go-in'...  

 Not forgetting to bring the Firefly with them... of course. 

Gaining ground for their first win. Sean's very well rounded British force (regular infantry, Cromwells (later Shermans) and some mortar support won 3 from 3. 

Churchill were the Brit's tank of choice, and they did well (mostly).  

My cavalry squadron's Jeep teams, dismounting to fight on foot. The Willy's park would be a costly mistake when the bombs rained down (should have got them off the table sooner).

 My M5s on an 'end-run', around the elite Germans holding the farm. Speed and MGs doing the trick to avoid the 'faust.

 Elite Panzergrenadiers holding in the hedges. Get to close, and eat Panzerfaust. A very small but tough force.

As my M8s found out. 2 from 3 knocked-out trying to take the hill (mound) top objective.  

 Last 2 M5s close on the other objective (marked by small tree). 

 But the Luftwaffe's arrival was critical, and devastating... 7 chits in one attack... ouch. OUCH!

Not all Churchills fare so well. Pz IVs and Churchills match up in a eve(ish) fight (makes a change).  

Crossing hedges, it's a slow grind with Churchills.  

US armoured infantry in support of their Shermans... like it is supposed to be done, except don't roll dice like Mick... unlucky sir....

One 'necky' British M5 goes for glory, misses, and so got a Panzerfaust in return... goodbye!  Piers' 1 Pz IV scored 4 tank kills and was never knocked out in any game. Well played sir...

Pier's 21st Panzergrenadiers close in to assault the houses, they switched hands several times in close-range carnage.  

Sean's Achilles scores a Panther kill on his way to win number 2.  

Firefly gets a Mine Strike counter and brews up... gutting... 

And still the Churchills grind on...  

With their infantry helping out... 4 British players had Churchill-based battlegroups.  

Panzer grenadiers take cover in a farm, winkling them out would be a theme of the weekend.  

 Andy T's Humber AC... scored a tank kill... get in! A heroic moment. 

StuGs roll up to face down my M10s.  

With serious fire support from this beast, unstoppable, but I pinned it twice with arty fire... 

that's something! 

 My M10s, with their usual poor performance, three more lost for one kill scored... 

The Battlegroup commander in his Pz IV, nice idea, until he hits a mine and it costs you the battle... an undeserved fate for a well-conducted German panzer assault that had my US force on the ropes all game.