Trench Clearance!

Our Centenary of Remembrance WW1 gaming continued this week with the Germans clearing out a French Trench system after a successful dawn assault, while a French rearguard desperately holds them off to buy time for the Regiment to withdraw.  I adopted a scenario from Too Fat Lardies' Stout Hearts and Iron Troopers supplement and kept with To The Last Man rules from last week.  I had the French start hidden and gave each team written orders to keep a few things hidden from eachother. It added a bit of tension which was fun.

The Germans moved up with their two squads and HMG team, while the French held their fire.  The Germans, unsure of what awaited them in the now seemingly empty French trenches, advanced cautiously, throwing grenades around corners (and taunting the French players to open up on them if they dare!).

 And when the opportune time came, the first French HMG team opened up!

 On the other flank, the veteran German squad found the trench ahead of them blocked by barbed wire and took the only option open to them- over the top!

Angriff!

The second French HMG team reveals itself with a burst of fire

The Bavarian infantry takes casualties but keeps pushing up

On the left flank the scene is mirrored, preventing the French HMGs teams from concentrating their fire. To their horror, the French discovered why the Colonial Tommies prayed that their gatlings wouldnt jam...

The HMG was overrun with minimal casualties.

While the other HMG starts to fall back under unyielding pressure

The veteran Bavarians, below half strength kept coming up. Some bayonet work saw men on both sides fall and in the end, against all odds with snipers taking pot shots at him as well, Private Stinky Pierre of the HMG squad escaped - the only survivor of the Rear Guard to report back to the Colonel. Had they bought enough time for the Regiment to prepare a secondary defensive line? Only time would tell...

Trench Raid!

Some players get right into character to make the most of the experience

After a number of us scored some painted WW1 troops from the MOAB bring and buy, we were keen to throw down and get them onto the table.

French Infantry advance along the trenches

France, 1916. Sometime after dinner.

German Jager HMG team

Für das deutche Vaterland! 

The new stahlhelm proved most popular amongst the troops

 3 Central Powers players - all playing Germans, faced off against a tripartite Allied force comprising British, Belgians and French.

German Jaegers and French infantry go bump in the night. What followed was...messy

The objective - a German artillery piece in the centre of the Battlefield.
For the German players - deliver the change to the fire plan and defend the gun.
For the British - capture the maps (showing the locations of the other guns in the battery) and spike the gun.

We used "To the Last Man" rules which I may review later but suffice it to say that they provided a good set of tactical mechanics and were easy to pick up, but lack any army builder system or scenarios.  Which is fine in my book, and more importantly, we were playing fairly fluidly after a quick 20min skim of the rules.

What followed was mayhem, mills bombs and mirth. The terrain was awesome (trenches courtesy of Alan, who was sadly absent) and the effect were both very impressive and great to play on.

Noting that I will be deployed next month, this was unilaterally declared our Centenary of Remembrance wargaming activity.

More to follow!

Fall-In: The Games

From the outset, the Lad and I planned to try a raft of different games and over the 3 days we certainly did that!  We started Day 1 by participating in a great 8 player Ancients game with over 1200 figures on a 20 foot table.  Four barbarian players tried to smash their way into a Roman stockade and Centurion Reillius was defending the fort's right flank against my horde...

Romans under the command of Centurion Reillius

Part of my Barbarian Horde!

20+foot table layout for 8 player

Part of the rather nasty Roman defences takes aim

Steady Lads!

Enemy at the Gates!

The hordes wash up against the wall

After much bloodshed I force a break-in!

But am thrown out by the Roman reserve as both sides fight to exhaustion

That afternoon, we both took to the air over the Western Front in April 1917.  Our two Fokker DrI Triplanes were escorting a Rumpler to bomb an airfield behind Allied lines. Against us was a Camel, an SE5 and a Bristol, though others got thrown in later as we cleared the skies.

Dad and Lad out on patrol (Wings of War models)

The modified Wings of War system added some nice complexities but that did slow down game play

The German planes set out for the Allied lines

Take this Tommy!  Moments later the Allied plane went down in flames under my twin Spandaus!

In the end the Bomber was caught in a death spiral with the Camel and ran into some nasty Archie which took it out.  The Lad, it ruined out, was the only player not shot down that day!  Take an Iron Cross my son!

One of the Kaiser's best!

The next day we started out with a bit of fun playing a very silly and very fun game of Gnome pirates. Yes, Gnome Pirates.  6 different pirate teams had to clamber onto a island, find the two different maps to the fabled lost treasure of Captain Flowerpots, find the treasure, defeat its undead guardians and get off the island.  Oh yes, and there could only be one winner...

Swarthy Gnome Pirates approach the island

Reilly's favourite figure "Hooky"

The island beckons

Gnomish Captain!

Searching the island for the treasure map

Mass Skirmish breaks out over the treasure

After much fun I managed to kill off my last opponent, dispatch the undead Captain Flowerpots (taking four wounds in the process), and get down to the Lad's beckoning ship.  With one wound left and clutching the treasure chest we setoff for a shared Victory

The zombie Captain Flowerpots!

...or would have if the boy had betrayed me and stabbed me in the back, literally.  My Gnomish Captain was surrounded by his crew and stabbed to death while Captain Reilly sailed off to Victory.  I was both horrified and proud at the same time :-)

Betrayed by me own flesh and blood...

From there we played a Beta test game of Flint and Feather, a Native American Skirmish game by Crucible Crush. I REALLY liked this game (Shiny Alert) so I'll post about this in more depth at a later time.  Here are some pics of our two small war bands going at it.  My favourite bit was where my Great Warrior mortally wounded one of Reilly's Companion Warriors and then spent a subsequent turn to scalp him - my Gnomish Captain was avenged! :-)

One of the lovely Huron figures

War parties skirmish in the woods

A Scalping!

Our next game was to be a tank heavy Kursk Scenario using Battlegroup's rules, but unfortunately that got cancelled so we played X-Wingall afternoon and evening instead! (see here).  The next day we partook in a great Napoleonic Naval action - British vs French Fleets off the Cape de Gata in 1741.  What was fantastic was to have more than a dozen ships per each, each with their own Captain, with designated Admirals for each Fleet's Van, main and Rear.  Signalling was allowed at 5 words per turn, delivered 1 turn after they were written.  So cool.

The large playing area being setup

1/1200 Navwar ship models

The British bore down upon the French, isolated the centre and rear and started to inflict damage.  The Lad proved very adept at manoeuvring his ship and his plotted movement was spot on - better than me for sure (maybe I am too reliant on gas turbines...)

My HMS Warwick and the lad's HMS Pembroke close the enemy line of battle!

Make to Flagship: "Enemy in Sight!"

The young Nelson in action!

...as he deftly manoeuvres his ship of the line for a stern rake on the Eole

And with that we had to duck out for the drive home.  Overall, an awesome set of games over the 3 days and it was very hard to narrow it down with so many great options of offer.  Thanks again to all!