THE ‘GOOD GAME!’

(first published in WSS magazine, but that's long gone, so I've stuck it on here instead).  

OR

FOUR LEGS ON MY GAMING TABLE (and it’s still rolling along)
This article deals with a simple, but sometimes perplexing question. What makes a good wargame? It’s a subject that concerns me, because ever since I can remember I’ve always wanted my wargames to be better, and by that I really mean more enjoyable for me. Most players end each game with an exchange of handshakes and a polite ‘Good game!’, but what do those two words actually mean? 

Like many, I spent my formative gaming years (the early 80s) reading articles in Military Modelling magazine and looking at the photographs of the games and miniatures I saw their inspired me. They just looked so much better that the games I was playing, on my parents dining room table, with a green cloth, step-hills cut from thick cardboard (unpainted) and a few hedges made from cut-up pan scourers. My Airfix miniatures looked bad (I was 10, so painting hadn’t progressed beyond basic daubing) and the games always ended in arguments (and often tears) over the rules. We were young (and nobody had invented the Play Station or the Internet) but, 35+ years on, the principal remains the same. How do you create an all round better wargaming experience?  

Well, I have divided it into four simple guidelines. These are the four legs upon which my wargaming table is (metaphorically) supported (the non-metaphorical ones are made of solid wood, not imaginative concepts).

LEG 1. THE MINIATURES (your toy soldier collection)


You can’t really play wargames without a toy soldier collection, and that means collecting and then painting them. There are those that try to do without, by just borrowing forces, but I’d argue they are passers-by, guests at the party, spectators. They aren’t actually doing a hobby, just observing and borrowing somebody else’s - just as you can’t really claim to be much of a motorcycle-enthusiast but never actually owned or ridden a motorcycle.
Fundamentally, wargaming is a hobby of collecting and painting. What you collect is a very personal decision. It is, after all, your money and time at stake, but I’d say what it actually is doesn’t really matter that much, it’s all the same. Fantasy, Sci-fi, Steampunk, WW2, Hundred Years War, 3rd Indian Frontier War, the Carlist War(!) the collecting experience remains exactly the same. 

If you are anything like me, then planning the next army or project is when it really all begins (and is an enjoyment in itself). Looking at which miniatures are available from whom, how many men you need for a battalion, how they will be a based, uniform colours, etc. I can spend hours doing this stuff, not buying or painting a thing, but just pondering. But, usually pondering is where it stays. I don’t instantly commit, because long experience tells me that is fatal. Too many periods appeal to be able to do them all. A new project needs some ‘cooling-off’ time. Of course, everything is exciting to start with, but are you still so keen after two weeks or a month? If so, then maybe then the wallet can come out.
This ponder-time is my method of avoiding the infamous wargamer’s ‘butterfly effect’ - we all know it. It’s too easy to jump in the deep end, spend money and simple wish you had the army that inspired the purchases. Odds are that in a few weeks time, if you have already moved on to next ‘big plan’, you would never have finished the first one anyway. Shelve it for the future.  

We live in a society in which buy things and shopping are the number one leisure-pastime. We no longer shop out of pure necessity, we do it for pleasure and the experience and (I would argue) as part of what society tells us we need to do to become more prosperous and thus happier. Buy things, spend money. This social pressure extends to wargamers too. Buy things, and then buy more things. It doesn’t matter whether you need it, or will even use it, buying is an end in itself. We all do it, because buying things is pleasurable. It is called the ‘thrill of the new’. Each new thing, be it a house, car, 40” plasma screen TV or ‘1808 Prussian Jager company in campaign dress, in open skirmish line, reloading!’ actually makes you feel temporarily happier. It does. But, it’s transient and you can over do it. We all have a lead mountain (to greater or lesser decrees), but buying stuff does not make you a wargamer (it makes you a shopper) any more than simply owning a fast car makes you a racing driving.  

In my later, but still formative, youth, I was lucky enough to meet a brilliant, inspiring wargamer by the name of Nigel Stillman (hi, Nigel if you’re reading). It was Nigel’s approach that opened my eyes to what wargaming as a hobby could be. An evening with Nigel’s Romano-British collection for a skirmish game against the invading Saxons showed me his themed terrain collection and brilliant home-made terrain boards, with wattle and daub huts, crop fields in strips, ruined roman villa and temple still under construction, his knowledge of the period, his own theories on the warfare and tactics, his own set of rules to reflect this and (and this startled me) the fact that he had no TV in his house. He had deliberately got rid of it, so it could not distract him from his passion, his wargaming project. That’s extreme, but serves to make a point, wargaming isn’t like chess or even board gaming, which are pastimes, wargaming is a hobby. It is a demanding hobby at that, it requires your effort and time. Nobody gives it to you all wrapped up in one easy box. For it to be good, you have to build it (literally with glue, paint and sticky-back plastic). That is its great strength, your games are your creation, unique and personal to you and all the better for it.  Nigel showed me that just collecting miniatures did not make the hobby, and that a more holistic approach would reward me with far better games.

We (people) are creatures of habit, literally. What we do everyday effects the way our brains work, how the synapses link up. The more you do something, the more the brain comes to expect it and then reward you for it. It is part of how obsessions and addictions start, I think (I’m no expert). Given my job, I write a lot. Getting started seems dull and daunting, but after a while (20 minutes these days) mostly the hours start to fly by without my knowledge, because my brain now expects, recognises and rewards the process of punching the keyboard (like right now). It must be the same with painting miniatures, the more you paint, the more you’ll want to paint. Getting started is the hard bit, it seems dull and daunting. Stick with it, you’ll soon get the habit and gradually you’ll come to love it as the process subtle re-shapes your brain. It is the same with anything, I guess it’s how medieval stone masons build cathedrals, chipping stone all day for years on end. Their brains came to expect it and then to love it, doing it made them feel happier. If you want to finish those lead mountain armies, get a habit. Paint, force yourself to, after a few weeks you’ll start to want to, then you’ll feel happy just doing it and it won’t seem daunting at all, just pleasant. Remould your brain. I’m always happy with a paint brush in hand, I hate having nothing to paint, and I finish my armies because I try to paint something most evenings (it is far better than TV - I do have one despite Nigel’s example). 

Finishing your armies also touches upon another issue, which is the standard of painting. Quantity, required for gaming, and quality are different ends of the scale. I am a wargamer, and whilst I appreciate a nicely painted toy soldier like anybody else, one beautiful general or one nice unit does not make an army. I need hundreds of miniatures to recreate battles and so, painting everyone of them to a very high standard is just impossible. Beautifully painted large armies aren’t something a single individual can have (if he’s doing his own painting that is). Military modelling, competition-style painting and weathering are fantastic to look at, but if you want to get models on the tabletop, then some compromises must be made.

I like to play with nicely painted toy soldiers (who doesn’t), but they don’t have to be world class, they have to be good enough to pass muster from 3’ away. Individual model painting (for competitions, etc.) and army painting are, I think, two different hobbies. Mine is the later. There are a few remarkable souls that manage both, but given we can’t all be that talented (not every footballer is Lionel Messi or Ronaldo, but millions still play the game and enjoy it), just accept the compromises as a necessary requirement of actually getting an army to the tabletop. You can always go back later and touch-up, re-work, re-weather, etc. But, firstly, get it done, get paint on lead (or plastic or resin). Painting an entire army requires so much time anyway, that simple techniques, short cuts and an ability to endure (then come to like) repetition is a must.  Try seeing it like this. You’re not Lionel Messi and are never going to be, but you can still be a good journeyman pro in the Blue Square Beever Homes League 3, that is an achievement. 

Batch painting, how to finish an army, 101...

LEG 2. THE TERRAIN (the table you play on)
What I said above also applies to your model scenery collection. Often neglected in favour of more miniatures (to not paint), I treat my terrain as a separate army project.  I plan it, find it, buy and build it, and then I add to it over the years - and years is the important word here. Because of the efforts required, wargaming is a hobby of long term commitment. Not that commonplace today in our disposable world, toy soldiers are for life and so is the terrain they fight over. I hope to be still playing over mine in 30 years time, so I want it to be good, and so it’s worth the time and effort.

Even more than collecting an army, collecting terrain requires a long term commitment to the hobby. By building a terrain collection, you are basically saying, I’m going to do this a lot. It’s worth the time and effort because I’m going to use these a lot. Now, everybody’s gaming time is different. Some people can play several times a week (oh we wish!), others once a week or fortnight. Some, once a year. I try to play as often as I can, but life, as always, does get in the way. In a perfect world I’d play once a week, a good game, lots of painted toys, etc. In reality it’s more like once every 2 or 3 weeks. But, what I miss in quantity I try to make up for in quality. If I can’t play so often, I want it to be good when I do. 

Not collecting terrain is indicative, I thing, of another common wargaming malaise, which has been growing in the hobby over recent years. If you have miniatures, but nothing really good (or vaguely right) to play over, then I think you are suffering from a lack of ambition (and sometimes a lack of space as well). Way back when Military Modelling was my source of inspiration, I remember those wargames being impressively large. Armies clashes, and even though we know the number of models never matches the actual numbers, they still looked and felt like armies. These days there has been a gradual move into ‘skirmish’ gaming, popular because it demands less of the its players. It is easy. Well, when was easy better? I’m with JFK, “we do not do these things because they are easy, but because they are hard”. This lack of ambition has seen the rise of games involving very few miniatures, to be played over tiny areas with little terrain. Neither is good for the long term health of the hobby. 

Now, I like a 2-3 model aside western shoot-out as much as the next man, but I would not call it the bedrock of my hobby. I like to see games with toy soldiers, armies of them. But conversely, I don’t like games with too many models for the table space (not to mention a popular set of 15mm WW2 rules that seem to positively push this approach). Filling a table with models leaves no room for manoeuvre, and movement is the key to creating drama in a game. Packed in from table-end to table-end, a wargame can be nothing more than a headlong attritional grind (usually somewhere in the centre of the table). Where are the flanking moves, the bold pushes, the retreats and withdrawals, the ebb and flow of battle? Lost in a mass of models so cramped all they can do is blindly be pushed forwards, and where the terrain is now just in the way of the fight, rather than influencing now the battle is fought. In those sorts of games, why bother with any terrain? A flat bare board would be better. 

Worth the time and effort... add to your terrain collection.

LEG 3. THE GAME (the rules you play)
Being a games designer, this one is close to my heart. Rules, rules, rules. Much underrated but for me, these are the ultimate arbiter of how much fun I’m going to get from all the earlier hard work of painting soldiers and building terrain. Because, the best miniatures and terrain collection mean nothing if the actual end-result game isn’t much fun or very challenging.

As an exemplar, my WW2 wargaming reached just this point. I had large collections of painted models with years of terrain collected or scratch-built. I loved that part of it, adding new units, or a new ruined church, etc. But, when it came to getting it all out on a tabletop, the afternoons spent playing just weren’t enough fun for the earlier investment of time. The third leg was at fault, it had gone wobbly. The miniatures were good, the terrain good, the opponent’s good, but the rules (which shall remain nameless) were not. They ruined my hobby. The games didn’t feel right and were repetitive, predictable and, well, dull. So, it was time to change rules. I bought others, tried them once or twice, tried a few rules sets my gaming friends bought and ultimately decided the WW2 game I was looking for did not exists, so I wrote one (it became Battlegroup). The same process has been at work with my Crusaders collection. All the gear, models, desert boards etc, willing players, but no good rules that give me the gaming experience  I want. So, I wrote them (and they became Soldiers of God). 

Maybe I’m getting older and grumpier, but I cannot stand to play games with poor (or even average) rules. Rules which encourage a-historical behaviour, throw up too many oddities, or over emphasise the use of ‘elite’ troop types are my current ‘bet noir’. Also, I dislike rules which are too predictable, over simplified and encourage too many ‘no brainer’ decisions, so that I’m not making tactical decisions, just ‘playing the game’, because to try anything else would be just stupid. I also dislike games which feel like an academic exercise or a maths tests. 

The rules I play with have now become so important to me, that they have come to dictate which periods or theatres I’ll play (and thus what miniatures and terrain I’ll collect). The rules now comes first, the models and terrain then follow (perhaps I should have put this as leg number 1 then). 

I have just spent too much time and money on getting legs 1 and 2 sorted to waste it in unimaginative rules. I want excitement, not arguments. I want drama and tension (sadly lacking in most game rules) and I want to feel like the game rewards me for making good tactical decisions, not doing what it thinks I should do. I also want the game to feel like the period, not a general set of rules that could equally apply to any theatre. Specific rules, detailed with good historical references will always win out over general (usually sold as ‘quick-play’) rules which only ever paint with a broad brush. Such rules are OK once or twice but then become repetitive.

I know the main obstacle to taking up new rules is the learning curve. Most gamers prefer to be told or shown the rules rather than read them and learnt them. I take a professional interest in game rules and mechanics, in all sorts of games, but to learn a game to the degree that you can play it is a bit of work. Accept that the first game or two will be slower than you’d like and that many rules will go by-the-board as you get the basics. But, over the course of 3 or 4 games the rules sink in and then start to become second nature. This learning curve can be fun too, because you can just try things, in the full knowledge that it is all part of testing the rules. Also, expect to lose the game (see below). When starting with new rules, it is not about winning or losing, it is about learning, so that in a game or two’s time you are ready to win. At first, you’re just in training for the main battles to come.
 

LEG 4. THE OPPONENTS (the people you play against)
The fourth vital leg to gaming is the people you play against. You can’t have a good game without a good opponent. By that I mean, somebody who is looking for similar things from the game as you, is a big help, so the rules are providing both players with the game they enjoy, not just one of you. 

I don’t have a problem with opponents that play to win, or even hard-nosed tournament play. I expect it. In my youth I played football, rugby, cricket and hockey for my school (I was a sporty kid, if it involved chasing a ball I signed up). We always played to win, and so did our opponents (but mostly they did). Competition was expected, it’s part of the point, to be pushed to do better by others. But, the most important lessons taken from all that competitive sport were not about winning, that is the easy bit. It was about losing, and life’s difficult lesson about how to lose well. To be competitive is fine, but what isn’t fine is to lose badly. You should lose with the same good humour that you win with (some people can’t even manage to win well – there is such a thing as bad winner too!). Even if, inside, you are dying a little bit (you’re not actually) you have a responsibility to your opponent to lose with good grace and not ruin their enjoyment. Even when the fickle dice gods turn against you... just curse your dumb-luck inwardly, laugh outwardly and say ‘well-played’ to your opponent (you can cry or sulk in private when you get home). 

What the more hard-nosed players forget is that, unlike competition on the sports field, wargaming is also a social activity as well as a game. You meet people, talk to them (generally about what you have in common, which is most obviously going to be the historical period you are about to fight). You get to spend time talking about (and listening to – conversations are two way affairs) something you like. That’s quality time in my book, talking about your hobby, your passion, with like-mind souls. The social environment is important, for most gamers it is the absolute arbiter of how much they enjoyed a game. Played with friends (or at least like-minded acquaintances) the hours fly past, you chat, you discuss the re-organisation of a Swedish cavalry brigade in 1681, even learn something maybe, and go away feeling happy with life in general. That’s why the human race invent games in the first place, way back when they where scratching noughts and crosses on a cave wall, to bring people together and socialise. Games are important to us, in all their forms (mostly obviously these days in sports and computer games, but our toy soldiers still count too). They give us common ground. Poor social behaviour (arguing, being overly picky, loss of good humour all count here) turns that ground into an icky quagmire, not somewhere anybody will what to return to soon.

For me, if all four of these legs is in place, stable and progressing, then your games are going to rewarding and you can truly claim it to be a ‘good game’. Otherwise, identify which of the four isn’t working so well, and fix it. Be it finding a new opponent (or even introduce a prospective player to wargames), change the rules you use (or write some for yourself) for something that better fits your requirements, buy or make those new river sections or hedges, or actually sit down in the evening (turn the TV off) and get down to work with those paints and brushes you bought. I think it might make you happier.

Hard fought fun, but not life and death... 

The Battle of Niedrigburg, Soldiers of Napoleon

Continuing the testing, this game was set-up so the French could use their Imperial Guard, which we haven’t included in any of our games so far. This is mainly as neither of us like to play games that rely on the elite troops, both prefer games with the rank and file, but we needed to see how the Imperial Guard played as a single force (if it’s to be an option). Their troops are obviously good, but of course expensive, so the force would be small, but tough, compared to most other forces. Making that balance is something of a trick. We used the army lists from the 1908 campaign for this game, and the random terrain generator for the tabletop, which got us a large hill, a village and 3 woods.

The Imperial Guard ‘division’ was:

Imperial Guard Infantry Brigade
Guard Infantry battalion
Guard Infantry battalion
Guard Infantry battalion
8 pdr Guard artillery battery

Imperial Guard Infantry Brigade
Guard Infantry battalion
Guard Infantry battalion
Guard Infantry battalion
12 pdr Guard artillery battery with full caissons

Imperial Guard Heavy Cavalry Brigade (in Reserve)
Grenadiers a Cheval
4 pdr Guard horse artillery battery

So, 6 infantry battalions, 1 very good (the best) cavalry regiment and 3 artillery batteries


They would face my Austrians, selected as 6 fusilier battalions, 2 landwehr battalions, 1 jaeger battalion, 1 Uhlan regiment, 2 large cuirassier regiments (in reserve) and 3 artillery batteries (of 6 and 3 pdrs).


After deployment, we both knew that possession of the large ‘Neidrigburg’ hill would be key. To leave the other to secure it (and various in-game battlefield objectives encourage this), then the enemy would quickly tot-up easy Victory Points. Same for the village, securing it could be another battlefield objective, so it would need to be contested if not taken.

I deployed my feldjaeger battalion, good light infantry, to contest the village of Niedrigburg, which a singe guard battalion advanced on in column. The hill, the French rushed early and got a battalion on top. It would soon encounter my main infantry attack climbing up the other side, under horrid skirmish fire from his many Voltigeurs. My Uhlan, supporting that attack, were heavily shot-up by these and had to withdraw with severe losses, it took them most of the rest of the game to recover and they then played almost no part in the game.

We traded artillery fire and, for once, my gunners had the enemy’s range and inflicted some severe pain. The Imperial Guard, initially disrupted by the fire soon rallied, but at least life was uncomfortable for them opposite my guns.

On the hill top my two infantry attack columns closed on the French line, but they could not yet close enough to press an assault into melee. I had numbers, he had quality (as in the whole battle really). The French reserves arrived swiftly, the guard heavy cavalry deploying into the centre and their horse-gunners rolling out the 4 pdrs to target the hill as well. Their fire would further disrupt my attack columns.

The Austrian cavalry were also not far away and galloped on the tabletop, to counter his Grenadiers-a-Cheval. Outnumbering them 2-1, I figured if I could break the cream of the French cavalry, it would go a long way towards winning the battle.

The turns passed, artillery and musket fire was traded, in the village the Jaegers skirmished and held their own, driving the French back down the main street a few times. Sustained artillery fire broke one of my fusilier battalions though, but my own artillery also broke a guard battalion on the left (his right)… it was honours even as the ‘crunch’ battle for the hilltop approached.

Forced into disorder by galling French fire, my attack columns changed plan, and deployed into firing line, before a short advance and a crushing volley of musketry (I made use of the ‘withering volleys’ special event). The accurate fire overwhelmed the Guardmen’s line and it withdrew in disorder, and looked like breaking. The hill was almost mine! Return volleys had taken their toll there and both my attacking battalions were badly cut-up. Then, his artillery fire on the hill broke them both… neither of us had the hill top, which was suddenly empty of troops.

With no conclusion here, that left the cavalry fight to decide the final outcome. My cuirassiers deployed into a fighting formation from their march column and moved up, into more accurate French artillery fire (how do they do it?). His Grenadiers-a-Cheval moved up too, forcing my infantry to seek safety of squares. I ordered both my cavalry regiments to Charge! Spurs in, this would be it, glory or defeat, but then disaster, one regiment refused to charge (and I had no command re-rolls left to try again!), leaving the other to attack alone. The Grenadiers-a-Cheval counter-charged and in the clash of sabres, saw-off my cuirassier regiment. That was it, the Austrians had had enough for this fight and, with the French’s accumulated Victory Points exceeding my army’s Break Point, I had to withdraw. Today, the Imperial Guard, outnumbered, would have the Niedrigburg.

Interesting game, close until the end, when the Grenadiers-a-Cheval proved how good they were. His Guardsmen were tough, but far from unbreakable so and I was right in the game until the end. The French’s excellent skirmishing had been a big factor, and their artillery started slowly but then got back on their usual roll (they hit on a 5+ about two-thirds of the time it seems). I broke one Guard battalion and was so close the breaking another (he used a lot of cards to rally it). In return, he broke 3 fusilier battalions and a cuirassier regiment. I like these levels of casualties, it's not complete slaughter to win a game, and feels about right to me, quarter to a third of the force lost is enough, on top of Victory Points conceded due to other factors, like rallying and claiming battlefield objectives.

One change post-game, we decided that instead of having one Imperial Guard infantry unit (Guard Infantry) to give a bit of flexibility to the list and allow for Young and Old Guard infantry – so good, or very good… it also makes the force a little less bland with only having one infantry option. Today, he had effectively fought with a force of all Old Guard… (which would probably include ‘Middle’ guard as well in later campaigns) but would have liked the chance to take some slightly cheaper infantry.

Some shots of the afternoon's action at the Neidrigburg. 

Austrian deployment, centre ready to move against the high ground

French right, a holding action here.

Austrian right, at the village, Uh;an ready to rush to support the uphill assault. Jaegers just getting into the buildings.

French move up and around the hill in marching columns, a rush forwards. Guns quickly deployed in support.

Jaegers vs Guard in the village main street. They held-off the French attack all game.

Voltiguers skirmish forwards and open a galling fire, Austrian skirmishers out-matched. There fire would drive off the Uhlan (already run in this pic).

Eagle-eye view of the Austrian lines around the hill. At the bottom, the reserve infantry battalions, mostly landwehr, await.

The Grenadier-a-Cheval ride into the centre, bringing their horse battery with them.

Austrian columns crest the hill, still under fire. They would soon deploy into lines and open a heavy fire on the Guard line ahead, driving it back and off the hill top.

At the village, Jaeger skirmishers see-off more Voltiguers with accurate rifle fire. 'Get off our sheep pen!'.

The Austrian Cuirassiers gallop onto the field, in speedy columns of march. They would need a formation change before advancing any further, but would do so under accurate French artillery fire.

The reserve infantry still waiting in the rear. Easy-life back here, out of artillery range!

Onward, the Austrian columns prepare to charge, but fail to get going. All those Voltiguers are taking a toll with their skirmish fire...

The finale... a clash of heavy cavalry from reserve. It was supposed to be 2 against 1 for me, but that plan failed me (damn you dice Gods!). So, my glorious Cuirassiers lost and were routed by the elite heavy cavalry of the French army. Still, a belting game.

NAM ’68 SKIRMISH FIREFIGHT - 'HUEY DOWN'

Work continues on the Nam ’68 rules project. This was small play-test, with a US force of 1 squad with support moving up through the jungle scrub and elephant grass to investigated a downed Huey. The game was set on the middle (Mike) threat-level, which indicates how many and what quality opposition will be met, from Low (Lima) to High (Hotel).

The secret draw for VC forces (using playing cards) result in; a 3-man militia rifle team with bolt action rifles, a 3-man militia AT team with rifles and an RPG-2 launcher, and a 3-man militia LMG team with a DP LMG, which would start hidden in a tunnel and could emerge during the game, outside the VC normal deployment zone. So, in all, 9 VC fighters would be facing 13 GIs.

The helicopter counted as a Search Point, which are points of interested on the tabletop that US forces can search, which might help them win if they find anything.
 

The US deployed their lead fireteam ‘on point’, aided by a 2-man M60 MG team and accompanied by their Platoon Sergeant, up front at the dangerous end. Behind followed another small fireteam and the platoon HQ (the officer, his RTO and the combat medic).

The VC would go first and spring their ambush, opening up with some rifle shots that did zippo… elements of surprise wasted, the US returned fire, M16s blazing and caused some pinning. The M60 and his assistant gunner got down and got set-up with a good field of fire. As yet, the VC LMG team had not revealed themselves, they waited for a second surprise flank attack with their old DP LMG.

The lead fireteam’s Corporal Dzundza set-off running through the long grass for the helo, an hid behind the tail. A VC popped-up from the grass and hurled a grenade his way, it exploded but Corporal Dzundza was OK, ears ringing though. Platoon Sergeant Kennedy’s return fire pinned the VC down, helping his corporal out. M60 fire got some more VC riflemen pinned too. US firepower was hard to match with bolt action rifles. To aid Dzundza at the helo, Private Haen ran after him. They would work together to search the helo and keep that lurking VC guy’s head down.

The VC LMG team now emerged from their hide-out and set-up, opening fire from the US left-rear, and pinned Grenadier Scardino, who so far had missed twice with his blooper shots. The US returned fire as they could, M16 and Private Kaplan’s shotgun roaring back.

No casualties on either side yet, but the VC scored first blood. The RPG-2 fired a rocket in the general direction of the M60 team and by pure luck and shrapnel hit the assistant gunner, Private Jacobs was down and bleeding. Calling for the medic, he came sprinting forwards through the rifle fire to reach Jacobs and check him. He was bleeding heavily, but the medic stablised him. He’d live.

The firefight had so far seen the US have the better of it, but Jacob’s wound levelled the score on morale counters drawn. Lt Keats, the Platoon CO, had a choice, to call in for fire support, or medical evac for Jacobs. Hey, he was OK, at no risk of dying, so Keats radioed for helo fire support, rocket pods please! This was refused, as was his next helo request, no fire support available except for the battalion mortars. That would do, Keats got them targeted in on the VC LMG team to his left, and waited for the incoming stonk to hit.

Meanwhile, grenadier Private Scardino, now unpinned, launched a 40m grenade into the under growth and outright killed a VC rifleman in the blast. Corporal Dzundza had reached the helo cockpit and search it, finding nothing… the crew were dead. Nothing could be done here.

The final act of the game was the sudden impact of the 81mm mortar bombs. They dropped in, very accurate and as the dust cleared, 2 VC were pinned and another was down bleeding. Under mortar fire, the VC ambushers had had enough for today and melted away into the long grass and bushes. Game over.

The US had won, a solid victory. They could report 2 enemy KIA and had 1 lightly wounded man, Jacobs, in return.

We ran through the post-game sequence, for the campaign. Jacobs would miss the next game recovering from his shrapnel wound. 6 FNGs arrived to reinforce the platoon… a new fire team and some - about time, the platoon was down to just 20 men, now its 26 again even if one fire team is all rookies. Everybody was 1 month ‘shorter’ to going home. The bad news was, the platoon was now being sent to a High threat-level area, so next game would be a tough one. But, to aid them, a FOO was attached to the platoon HQ, for better fire support from arty and mortars next time. That FOO, Lt Curran, was added to the platoon roster with the FNGs. 

Huey down... we decided all 'open' grass was actually long elephant grass, and therefore counted as obscured and visual cover...

Platoon Sergeant Kennedy leads the point fire team in. Brave man, at only 2 months short.

VC fighter hurls a grenade as 2 GIs reached the helo. No effect though.

The combat medic sprints up and tends to Jacob's wound, behind, the M60 keeps up a relentless suppressing fire, 'just keep the ammo coming!', oh yeah, that was Jacob's job. 

Incoming! 81mm mortar stonk leave the VC's LMG team in a mess. The VC ran after this, leaving 2 dead guys behind.

SOLDIERS OF NAPOLEON, 1813 CAMPAIGN , GAME 3, THE BATTLE OF HASSALBACH

Von Klopp’s division are again in action, this time in a 4 brigade battle, with 3 initially deployed and 1 in reserve. Having randomly generated the terrain and rolled or the ‘Tactical Advantage’ (a slight one to the Austrians today), I chose to be on the defensive, occupying the village of Hassalbach and digging-in with another brigade.

My force and deployment consisted of the Light ‘Advanced Guard’ brigade (made up of a Feldjaeger battalion, Grenzer and a light gun battery) holding the village on my right. The left was an infantry brigade, behind their earth walls. The centre was a harder choice, another infantry brigade or the light cavalry? The cavalry was weak, after previous battles, and likely to be faster to arrive from reserve, but with no cavalry on the table I would be too vulnerable to his cavalry. So, in the end, I placed the light cavalry brigade in the centre and rolled for the turn in which my strongest infantry brigade would arrive, turn 4 - deploying to the centre.

The French, meanwhile, had also chosen a defensive deployment. An infantry brigade was dug-in opposite Hassalbach. The centre was his strongest infantry brigade, set to attack over the hill, where he had cannons placed. His right, opposite my ‘redoubt’, was a light cavalry brigade of line lancers, hussars and chasseurs-a-cheval, with a horse battery in support. His reserve brigade was his Dragoons, arriving in the centre on turn 2. So, we were set to battle. My plan was to sit back, hold the line, and await the infantry brigade which would counter attack up the centre, towards the hill. The French didn’t wait though…

Having spied the weakness of my centre, he immediately launched into the attack, sending his own cavalry racing forwards and deploying their light guns, round the hill and towards my centre. I had hoped to keep my light cavalry out of trouble, deploying in woods to avoid cannon fire from the hill… but they were now forced to react to his swift early move. Behind, his first infantry columns set-off in the centre as the first cannonades were exchanged. The French had more guns though…

At Hassalbach, we fired off some guns, to small effect, but the French made no move to attack the village It would be a stand-off here for the rest of the game. The action was in the centre and on my left. A quiet day for the advanced guard.

It was going to be hard to stop the French cavalry, but my skirmishers were soon out and sniping away from the cornfields. My guns added damage as they could, but my horse battery (a single gun) had to limber up and pullback to avoid being quickly overrun. One chevau-leger regiment saw a chance to charge his horse battery as it deployed and did so, only for his line lancers to respond in a counter-charge… they won that fight easily but my light cavalry had drawn his lancer’s sting (lances only work in the first charge of the game) and after the melee, even winning it, the lancers were in disorder, so not as effective as in good order (this is represented on the table by how neatly your bases line up). He’d need to rally and regroup. It also allowed my infantry line to volley fire on his lancers and that caused a lot of damage. They pulled back to regroup, and lost 3 stands (from 6) as casualties doing so. My poor chevau-leger were broken and fled the field.

His dangerous lancers checked, next came his Hussars, Chasseurs just behind. His Hussar refused the order to charge as they entered a cornfield, only for my own to also refuse… we both used commander re-rolls here (commanders have a few for the battle), but both wasted them with repeat failures. When, later, his Hussars did respond to the charge! order, they rolled double 1 for the distance covered and didn’t make it across the field! Very half-hearted. My own Hussars, usually stalwarts of my army, again refused to charge and the two units were just not responding as needed! Vagaries of war…

His reserve Dragoon brigade arrived in column of march in the centre as his infantry columns slowly moved up, behind the cavalry action, my skirmishers still harassing them, but not stopping them. He claimed his ‘Hold the Line’ objective (no enemy units in your deployment zone when your reserves arrive), I could not claim mine (reserve infantry not here yet). Finally, his Hussars charged, and mine responded with a counter-charge, aided by my supporting chevau-leger. This turned out to be the crucial melee of the battle. It was very close, an even fight on the dice, but he rolled well and won it - drat!. My Hussars broke and the chevau-leger broke with them… my light cavalry brigade was gone and the centre was wide open.

So, with nothing in their way, the French light cavalry pressed on for my table edge, taking skirmisher fire and some cannon fire, but they were able to move off my table edge. This allowed him to claim a ‘Break through Enemy Lines’ objective (2 units moved off the enemy table edge). The victory points earned for this broke the Austrians. The centre was gone, the French cavalry was through and his infantry were moving in behind. My reserves had been too slow and could not fill the breach, so Hassalbach must be abandoned. My army withdrew.

A decisive French victory… won by his light cavalry’s swift move and aggression and due to my weak centre. My mistake in deployment, I should have placed my infantry there and left the cavalry in reserve instead. 20-20 hindsight. The French are now ahead on campaign VPs, but after resolving the campaign events, losses, unit experience etc. the Austrians did not sued for peace –so the war goes on. Game 4 will be another large battle, 5 brigades aside again. Von Klopp needs to put that setback behind him and do something about countering that French cavalry that is running a-mock. A new plan, fight fire with fire, and paint up my Uhlan regiment (quick)…

A heavy loss, but good fun… damn that little French-man… but this isn’t over yet! 

French deployment, left, opposite the village, and centre, pushed forwards to attack the cornfields from the hill.

French right, his light cavalry in swift columns of march, with limbered light guns.

Opposite, my entrenched infantry line, they would stand firm.

Austrian light a cavalry in the centre, deployed into woods, to hide...

Austrian right holds Hassalbach village, the feldjaeger battalion is led by a 'commander of note'... although little action for them today beyond some French incoming...

Single Austrian horse battery gun, soon to withdraw, given the force coming straight at them.

French light cavalry on the attack through the centre's cornfields, scene of the decisive melee of the game. My Hussars have already taken cannon fire from the hill (dice shows disruption on the unit).

Line lancers are flailed by musket fire from skirmishers and the line, and must withdraw in Disorder (not a neat line anymore). 

Hussar vs Hussar... and his won it... mine fled and turned the battle. Even if they'd won, they still had the Chasseurs behind to stop. The spirit of Lasalle lives on with these Frenchmen...

THE ROAD TO THALA, - BATTLEGROUP: TORCH AAR

 

A 500 point Battlegroup: Torch game, with the British defending in a ‘Defence Line’ scenario, as 10th Panzer push up the road out of the Kasserine Pass towards Thala. My Brits had to stop/delay the Germans as extra forces and artillery (lots of artillery) moved into Thala behind them.

My force was selected as 500 points from the British Infantry Division ’43 lists, with one minor tweak  I could take individual Crusader tanks as the 17/21 Lancers were operating mixed Valentine/Crusader platoons at the time… weird, and not that effective I think, mixing the light, fast cruisers with the slow infantry tanks. Still, ammo was at least standardised as little 2 pdr shells.

Here was my picked force:

‘True Grit’
Infantry Platoon
+Vickers HMG team

Valentine Platoon
+ 1 Crusader

FOO in Bren Carrier
Battery of 2 25 pdr guns with loader teams and quad tows

Humber armoured car
Infantry foot patrol

Supply Truck

Portee’d 2 pdr AT gun on medium truck

1 Timed 25 pdr barrage (for turn 5)

1 Sangar (for the Vickers HMG)
2 Minefields

BR: 33+3=36, 2 Officers, 2 Scouts

The Panzer Force was (roughly):

FHQ in Pz IIIF

Panzer Grenadier Platoon (veteran) in trucks
+ 80 mm mortar team
+ HMG team

Pz IIIL Platoon

Battery of 2 x 80mm mortars (off-table)
Battery of 2 x 120mm mortars (off-table)

SdKfz 222 armoured car
Armoured recce team in SdKfz 250/1

37mm Flak gun with SdKfz 11 tow

BR: 37, 3 Officers, 2 Scouts


Having placed objectives, one on Point 31 and 1 on the road, the Brits deployed their defences and extra units into the central third of the table, ready to hang-on until turn 5 and the reserves arrived in the form of my 25 pdr battery and the tanks. Until then I had 2 AT shots on the table, the Humber’s Besa and the 2” mortar - so both barely count (but can pin)!

I used the 2 minefield to narrow the table and force him up the centre, along the road, to where I hoped to place my tanks to meet him. The 25 pdr battery was to deploy and lurk behind a hill and use IDF, but after generating the terrain, that wasn’t going to work, with no useful hill to hide behind. So they would be used for emergency direct fire instead, covering the road. The timed strike would impact directly between the minefields, hopefully as the tanks moved through.

The infantry screen would fight and fallback as best they could, onto the arriving tank support. The Vickers MG, on Pt 31 in its rock sanger would cover them and pin anything it could moving on the road, the olive grove and/or shepherd’s hut.

The Germans arrived with their recce 222 and 250 and one Pz III, it crept slowly up the road, and my ambush fire from the 2” mortar pinned it! Woo-hoo… first shot of the game.

The 222 moved through the olive grove and got into place to get on the radio to mortar point 31. I was mostly on ambush fire, waiting the storm.

Turn 2, and the the mortaring started, well 80mm anyway, 120’s had radio issues. No problem, my boys weather it with just a pinned 2” mortar team. The Pz III moved up again and the Humber opened fire, Besa-ing away with everything he had and hit! Needing 11s for any AP effect, the rolled - 12! The Humber bagged the lead Pz III - that never happens! First tank kill for the day to the Derbyshire Yeomanry! More German mortaring pinned the Vickers team int their heavily shelled sangar.

Now the German reinforcements rolled in. Well, 1 of them… a truck with infantry and the HMG team. They de-bussed and ran up the slope, left, for the Shepherd’s Hut on high ground. Inaccurate long range rifle fire from me didn’t stop them.

The Germans slow advance continued on turn 4, with 1 more reinforcement, more truck-mounted panzer grenadiers, this time heading through the olive grove to be pinned behind the wall of the goat-paddock by my waiting riflemen. They lost their supporting 2” mortar to another mortar hit… first British losses.

My screening infantry had done well, but under heavy mortar fire it was time to pullback, except one section (No. 2) was pinned by German MG fire and couldn’t. Problem, they were still in the timed 25 pdr strike’s danger zone.

Turn 5 and my first reserves arrived, the 25 pdr battery, to get set-up and start the dish-out the hurt in HE and, if they got the lines of sight, AP shells. No Panzers to target as yet though. My timed barrage landed and, due to the failure to actually arrive, not many Germans were around, bit of pinned was it, and some unhappy British infantry, lightly shelled by their own side!

Things started to heat up… the Panzers now arrived and pushed forwards behind the curtain of mortar fire, my Vickers team still in the thick of it. My 25 pdrs opened up HE suppressing fire down the road, that got his mortar spotters’ (he had 4 of them!) attention. My FOO, useless here, got in his Carrier and raced off back up the road for Thala, wise men, and saving the lost counters for random mortar hits.

The battle was fully engaged now, all my tanks rolled on, with his in the centre on the road, 2 of mine went up the left, over the hill, led by the Crusader (of course, far faster) and with the last infantry section in support. Two Valentines were on the right, trading fire at range with the Pz IIIs.  Both sides hits glanced off… interesting one this, better gun vs better armour, pop-gun vs thinner armour… very even.

We were in the thick of the action now, as his 120mm mortars shifted fire onto my 25 pdr battery, but failed comms tests or a few big deviations meant my guns survived the next few turns, hammering his infantry in the rocks and at the shepherd’s hut for much pinning. I lost the Crusader pinned by a Pz III hit, the crew abandon it… and the Vickers team had now broken, Point 31’s objective was advanced on and taken by his armoured recce team and some grenadiers. On counters taken it was even, I maybe had an edge, but the unpinning from the mortaring had cost me dear. When his HQ Pz III rolled up to the high ground to join the tank fight, a 25 pdr AP shell at long range tore threw it. 2 counters would but me ahead, except the counters were an Air Strike and a Breakdown.. so zippo for that! The breakdown was played on my portee’d gun, but rolled a 1, so it was still clanking along. The Air Strike rolled another 1, so no Luftwaffe, thankfully. The Stuka model remained on the self at the side.

On my far left the Valentine, slowly moving up to get side shots at the 2 Pz IIIs by the road  was the victim of a Mine Strike counter…unlucky. But a Valentine did KO a Pz III when a hit caused the crew to bail, he only had 1 tank left now. My 25 pdrs were repeated pinned, by mortaring and then long range heavy MG fire from the rocks by the shepherd’s hut. My rifle fire, suppressing fire of course, wasn’t doing much back, but the Valentine’s co-axial MG did get some German infantry’s heads down.

So close, at about turn 10, with the portee pinned and both 25 pdrs as well, I had to unpin, but with only 3 B left it was risk. I might get away with it. I drew a 4.., damn, broken. Time to pullback up the road to Thala. 10th Panzer would not be far behind…

Great fun, a close game, although the Germans counter pulls were pretty good… 3 special counters was a big aid to him, but it could have gone either way. Nice to play my first game with (borrowed) Valentines… nice tank (waz gun). Really liking our Tunisia games, lots of variety, different forces, odd tanks, desert with actual terrain… way better than Normandy hedges imho.

Action on the Thala road…

Foot patrol, and 2" mortar team (on ambush) hide behind the wall of the goat paddock..the rumble of Maybach engines approaches....

222, mainly in a mortar spotter role today, arrives through the olive grove. Behind the first grenadier's transport.

Humber's Besa takes aim at the first Pz III and rolls to penetrate...

Bagged one!

222's gets the mortars firing. 2" mortar lost.

Panzer grenadiers take the shepherd's hut, under rifle fire from the rocks down the hill.

German infantry reach the goat paddock and take cover from ambush rifle and Bren fire.

The shepherd's hut provide cover as the infantry prepare to jump off their attack. Delivery trucks now withdrawn to safety.

Thala road from my end as the Germans roll in, slowly.

Crusader from reserve and infantry, moving on on my left.

Along with the 25 pdr battery to cover the road.

Quickly deployed and on ambush fire. Loader teams in place (limbers facing the wrong way you fools!).

Forward HQ rolls up, and gets pinned by 25 pdr fire.

Mortaring and a Pz III hit cause the Crusader crew to bail and run. Infantry in full retreat beyond.

Enemy armour by the road, German infantry have moved up to the rocks, the Brits having broken here.

Last to arrive, the flak support on tow through the goat paddock. It set-up, fired once, then ran out of ammo on a special counter.

Portee'd 2 pdr aids the tank fight, pop-up attacks from the reverse slope. It survived a breakdown counter(too much reversing everywhere!).

Valentine hits a mine and is left smoking...

Pz Grenadiers take Point 31, and are pinned down by my rifle fire. Still, they have an objective.

Another panzer crew bail-out under accurate British 2 and 25 pdr fire.

Valentine dukes it out up the Thala road... low on ammo now though.

Heavy 120mm mortar finds its target... no direct hits though (quad took a hit earlier), but pinned down now. Must unpin...

My counter pulls... all the 4s!

German counter pulls... 3 1s... they showed the true grit today.