First Carlist War - Solo

I was planning another game of the Ponyri scenario using Battlegroup rules today but by the time I got back in from garden and had lunch it was a little late in the day so I set up a First Carlist War game. I had no scenario planned for it so I just set up the Carlists defending a ridge and gave the Isabelinos the job of ousting them from it. I used our current rules of choice for the period Black Powder on a 5 x 4 table.

The Carlist right on the ridge, two freshly raised units and the Ontario hussars being held in reserve.

The Carlist left.

The Isabelino right.

The Isabelino left comprising of the British Auxiliary Legion with the dubious support of the Royal Marine rocket battery. 

The Isabelino Attack gains momentum.

The BAL advance towards the ridge.

The Carlists await with a warm welcome.

Meanwhile over on the right the advance is halted by withering fire from the Carlists.

The Royal Marines blunder and advance upon the Carlist foot artillery.

The Isabelino skirmishers advance although unsupported.

The marines pay for their blunder and are disordered and shaken by artillery fire.

Shaken but not stirred.

The attack on the right resumes but is again halted by the weight of fire from the Carlist battalions.

The Carlist Navarre battalion are routed!

All is not lost the attackers on the right are both shaken.

Things are looking grim the Brigade commander brings up the cavalry.

The Alava Guides are now shaken.

The Royal Marine rocket battery after several duds and misses misfires and the rocket explodes in situ, kaboom!

The Ontario Hussars charge the British Legion lancers and come second retiring behind the ridge

The Alava Guides are routed!

The BAL Scottish battalion is also routed.

For some reason Blogger insists I centre the rest of the text, I despair, it just gets worse.

Anyway back to the game, at this point Carlist turn eight the brigade holding the hill was broken meaning that both brigades would now have to leave the field. The Isabelinos run of victories continue.

TTFN 

On The Hunt

S-Models 1/72nd Jagdpanther.

Meow!

It’s amazing how the light makes the colours different depending on where you take the photo from.

TTFN

T48 Tank Destroyer Or.....

SU57 if you are a Soviet. Never used in anger by Britain and America, the ones not supplied to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease agreement were converted back to standard M3A1 halftracks.
The Soviets designated it the SU57, it first saw action during the 1943 Dnepr River Offensive in the Ukraine with the 16th Separate Tank Destroyer Brigade, some units of this brigade went on to fight in the Berlin and Prague campaigns.

The model is a cut and shut from S and S Models using the Plastic Soldier Company M3, the crew in the front seats are the PSC crew with head swops from SandS, being a sad git I added shoulder boards with Miliput, the crew in the rear are AB Figures.

The conversion kit from S and S includes the M3 sprue, you do not need to buy the PSC box although I believe it is out of stock at the moment.

TTFN

Ponyri 1943

So today I managed to fit a game, I mentioned in the previous post that I would be using Rapid Fire rules with a modified version of the scenario in the third supplement of Eastern Front scenarios.
I played the game on a 5 x 4 table lengthways.
I will run through the game using captioned pictures that will hopefully give you an idea of how it went.

The set up.

A company armed with SMGs is tasked with holding the station

While the hills are occupied by the rest of the battalions

The German attack on the left gets under way and almost immediately come under artillery fire, but luckily only one company is supressed by it.

Meanwhile the attack gets underway on the right supported by a Ferdinand.

As soon as it leaves the cover of the wood it is destroyed by a Zis3, an early set back for the Germans.

German off table artillery is called in taking out the second battalion HQ

While 120mm mortar fire hits the trenches on the opposite hill

Over on the right the first company reach the anti-tank obstacles.

Under overwhelming fire the attack on the left has stalled.

Covered by smoke put down by the 120mm mortar the other two German companies on the right leave the cover of the wood.

Back on the German left the morale is shaken and they head for the shelter of the nearby wood.

Smoke and artillery fire keep the Soviets heads down on the right helping the attack there to develop.

The other two companies reach the anti-tank obstacles.

Back on the left the German morale rallies and they resume the attack.

The attack however is short lived, further casualties see the battalion rout.

The advance on the right continues with the Germans heading towards the station, the Soviets on the hill are taking a pounding from artillery and small arms fire.

With the threat on the Soviet right gone they move companies across towards Ponyri.

Turn twelve, end of the game with the Germans just short of their objective, a Soviet victory.

Another enjoyable game, a tough ask for the Germans but they nearly got their despite the failure of the left flank attack and early loss of the Ferdinand.

I have kept the scenery out as I may play the scenario again using Battlegroup rules.

Till next time keep safe, stay alert and KBO

More Additions

Just a couple of vehicles this week, two Pegasus Models 1/72nd IS-II’s with AB tank commander.

Hope to get a game in over the weekend, having played three World War Two games with Bolt Action, Chain of Command and Battlegroup rules it would be remiss of me not to play a game with the rules that got me into wargaming World War Two, Rapid Fire!
It will be based on the Ponyri scenario in the Third Supplement scaled down down to suit my smaller table.

Until next time keep safe and KBO