Copyright © 2024, Philip Robinson. All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced, in whole or in part without prior permission of the creator

Friday 28 December 2012

The Last Defeat.

As I mentioned in my previous post my last game of 2012 took place today here at OHQ, Dave arrived at 10.30 for the planned Great War set to. A little departure from the plan was that instead of using Bolt Action, with the additions and amendments from here GaJo Games (scroll down for download link) we only used the order dice and the troop quality ratings to determine if pinned units would carry out their orders, (a pin in this instance was two Mud & Blood shock points) for the rest we used M&B apart from using the NCO effect on the unit from BA and also units which had excess shock points would only retire if failing a rally order, which they were compelled to take when next activated.



All Quiet On The Western Front?

The scenario was taken from "Stout Hearts & Iron Troopers" well worth getting even if you don't use TM&B. The German's objective is to capture the bunker (top right on the above picture), the pre-game bombardment initially neutralised the two sections of Brits in the dugouts but only caused one point of shock on the men in the concrete bunker. The Germans made good progress across no mans land in the opening stages

Vorwart!

However, they soon came under fire from the Lewis section in the bunker, the German section on the right flank took casualties from British sustained MG fire on the flank. The following turns saw the British rifle and rifle grenade sections rally from the effects of the bombardment, whilst the German advanced slowed, enabling the Brits to lay down more fire against them, adding continuing amounts of shock, and causing them to take shelter in the various shell holes.



Take Cover!

 Meanwhile the German assault section had made its way through the wood (top left in the above picture), seeing that the rest of the troops were making little progress their commander ordered an assault on the British trenches, the only British able to engage them being the rifle grenade section.


"SturmAbteilung Vor!

This turned out to be a poor decision and the turning point in the game for the British put down some accurate and devastating rifle and rifle grenade fire.



Discharge Your Grenades!

The German sections in the middle continued to pour ineffective fire (how do I manage to throw so many 1's and 2's?) into the bunker, the  fire against the rifle section on the right, being their one success. Whittling the British rifle section down to one man, the stalwart Cpl. Percy Pendeforde



One Man And His Woodbine

With the destruction of the assault section and the retirement of one of the rifle sections and the amount of shock on the others coupled with the arrival of British reinforcements.


The game was up for the Hun



Why did we forsake the M&B cards and Big Man mechanism you may well ask, well I'm a bit of a rules junkie to start with, also I have to umpire and play, with M&B there is such a lot goes on that I often forget to do a lot of things with the side I am playing. I think that M&B is the best set there is for this level of Great War game, but I still think it runs better and more smoothly with a dedicated umpire, a few will no doubt disagree. The next game at OHQ will definitely be a try out of BA, although I doubt I will forsake M&B entirely.

6 comments:

  1. An excellent and unbiased account of a thrilling victory for Percy et al! All over by Christmas? It is now..

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  2. A great batrep. Some very nice figs and terrain shown in those photos. Wishing you great gaming in the new year.
    Cheers,
    Mike

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  3. Great report, and good blog.

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  4. Great report, Phil - I really enjoyed it. (And Happy New Year, by the way!)

    I agree with you regarding M&B and an umpire - I always feel that an umpire makes the game run very fast, and keeps the action tense and focused. Of course, that's a very personal view, and I know a lot of people disagree, but the umpire can add so much to the game, especially at the lowest level of trench raiding. That makes M&B perfectly suited for a club game. We've had good games of Mud & Blood with just two players, but we always try at get at least a couple more.

    I'll be really interested what you make of Bolt Action.

    I should also mention that your figures look fantastic. I love the sword bayonet knots and red piping on the Jaegers. I confess I may just have to copy that as it looks phenomenal!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the kind comments. Glad you agree on the umpire thing, but having said that Dave and I have really enjoyed our outings with M&B, but me doing both roles does tend to stifle the flow which is one of the splendid things about the rules, they certainly give you headaches trying to keep all the balls in the air. I hope to try out a BA game towards the end of the month and will report back, only thing I'm not convinced about is tanks having the same armour strength as there WWII bretheren, I only have a Whippet painted at the mo, may incorporate it in the game to see how it goes.

      Happy New Year.

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  5. Thanks for the kind comments chaps, I will endeavour to post more often this year.

    Happy New Year.

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