Solo Chain Of Command Part II

Action resumed last night, the Germans continued to pour fire into the British lining the opposite hedge row, the platoon sergeant deployed to bolster the worst hit section, no sooner than he arrived the section corporal was wounded. Traffic was not all one way and the German opposite number was also hit again reducing his command ability for the remainder of the game.

The sergeant moved the section out of line of site while the Cromwell moved up to engage the Germans opposite with the support of the 2" mortar. On the left the German squad and British section continued their private battle for control of that flank.

The section to support the Cromwell was not up yet but undeterred it engaged the German squad, the Germans seized the opportunity and the panzerschrek team moved up to try a shot. Luckily for the Cromwell it missed.

This attracted the attention of the 2" mortar team who dropped two bombs killing one of the team, machine gun fire from the co-axial also applied two shock which meant the team broke.

The fleeing German came running into the now deployed Zugfuhrer who rallied him and sent him to support the beleaguered squad at the hedgerow.

The British number three section which had now come up to support the Cromwell seized the opportunity to stream towards the apparently vacant building to find it was not empty at all, the Germans must have been surprised by this as although in the open the advancing British received some shock but no casualties!

Alas losses in the hedgerows had reduced the German force morale significantly, the rallied panzerschrek man took a shot, hit but it did not penetrate, merely stunning the gunner, the hull machine gunner and 2" mortar saw this further threat off. This reduced the German force morale to zero. Another win for the forces of good, it appears that evil will not prevail when I am in command.

I had not intended to play this game until later in the week, I had set up and duly played a game using Battlegroup Fall of the Reich with similar forces, this however ended in turn three!

Memo to self, when playing a game with low Battle Ratings tell the chit monitor to give me back any 4 and 5's that are drawn and I will draw again.

German Battle Rating - 11 

Three chits drawn - 4,4,5!

Hopefully unless we do a Leicester it will be a socially distanced face to face game over at GHQ  next.

Until next time, keep safe and KBO

Solo Chain Of Command

Just a few photos from the game so far, the British are starting to take casualties and need to step up the attack. The Germans have only taken one casualty so far and a wounded Gefreiter who has since been patched up and is back in the fray.

Bits And Bobs

The return of some decent weather has seen me working in the garden rather than at the painting table in recent days, none the less I have made a little progress.
First up a base of 5 Goths to make my warbands look a little more "warbandy", one figure is from Footsore Miniatures while the rest are Foundry Casting Room Miniatures.

Next I ordered up some more late WWII British from Empress Miniatures to make my platoon sections up to strength and also add a number two to the 2" mortar. The Bren gun number two is moulded with spectacles, fair enough but I did not want two myopic ones so I did a head swap with one of the riflemen, I don't think you can "see the join". The figure I used for the mortar number two has a grenade I simply added a smoke round to the hand, I think it will pass muster at three feet.

Finally following on from a suggestion by Matt Crump I have done a German emerging from a foxhole, Dave then suggested that I did one shot and falling backwards. I did not have any arms that looked convincing without major surgery so I did one falling forward, he could also be just pushing his helmet back on for the less bloodthirsty. I have also done a NCO as it looks like I will be doing a full squad.

 Now that lockdown has been eased I have a game planned over at GHQ, however I will still try and get a solo game in before then to blood my new WWII British.

TTFN

Tabletop Tatting

Although I enjoy painting and gaming Dave will attest that I am no happier than when I am tatting, here are the current bits at the tatting table.
Dug in, a term common to 20th century games so I thought that I would do something to mark troops as such, I had the Warlord Games German grenadier sprue that came free with a recent issue of Wargames Illustrated. Together with a MDF base, some Ironclad Miniatures sandbags, Milliput and a razor saw I set to. The July issue of WI has a free sprue of Warlord winter Germans, I will add one of these to accompany him in due course.

It would also make a rather nice Jump Off Point for Chain of Command, speaking of which below is a JOP I made awhile ago.

If you follow Dave's blog or saw his article in a recent Wargames Illustrated you will have seen the palazzo he made for the Italian Wars project. Dave order some parts from Sally 4th and had a tower section that he did not utilise which he kindly donated to me as I was planning to convert my Chinese town walls for a mountain top castle section. This was way to big to store with all my other pieces so fell by the wayside, I was looking at the tower on the to do shelf and thought that would make a fine looking blockhouse for the First Carlist War. Using the brick work as a guide I halved one of the sections and fished out a spare door from a Charlie Foxtrot building and my stock of coffee stirrers and made a start.

Apart from commissions I have not painted much on the figure front this month, I have splashed a bit on five Goth infantry, the half figure above and the Paul Hicks NHS charity figure below which is available through Empress Miniatures.

TTFN and KBO

Bolt Action - Solo en España

First up a couple of rule modifications for the game -

Morale - When testing for fifty percent casualties form shooting and the unit fails its test instead of the unit breaking it will immediately move 12" towards friendly cover or the friendly table edge if no cover is within reach, it will then be given a down order dice or the order dice changed to down if it already has one.
Mark it as shaken with a suitable marker, its next order must be a rally order, the units morale value will be reduced by one for the test, if it successfully rallies remove the shaken marker but not any pins it may have.

Close Quarters - If you lose a close combat by twice as many or more than your opponent then remove the complete unit as per the rules, if you lose by less than that then retire as above.

Other useful adaptations for Spanish Civil War Bolt Action are available here https://www.wargaming3d.com/2019/02/08/wargaming-the-spanish-civil-war-in-bolt-action/

I also used my random event card deck, before each turn a D6 is rolled on a 4 - 6 a black order dice is added to the dice bag and when pulled a card is drawn.

The Scenario

Nationalist forces are converging on the town of San Hernandez, an Anarchist militia platoon is enroute to attempt to delay their entry into the town, the game will be the usual six turns with a die roll of 4 - 6 deciding if the game will continue in the following turns.

A D6 will be rolled to determine how many Anarchist squads will appear on turn one and 2D6 to see how many Nationalists will arrive, this will continue in subsequent turns, with no order tests required to do so.

The Forces

Anarchist Militia

Three ten man squads supported by a squad of four Dinamiteros and six Carabineros transported in an armoured truck.

Nationalists

A platoon of Spanish Foreign Legion, two sections comprising of three squads each of six men supported by a squad of Moor scouts and a Bilbao armoured car

The Game

The scene of the action on a 4 x 5 table

The Republican force will enter here

The Nationalist force will enter this way

Three Republican units enter on turn one

Four Nationalist units enter on turn one

A Nationalist squad dashes across the field

Meanwhile the Moor scout squad probes the flank

The Republicans advance to take up a defensive position in the stables

The Nationalists attack on a broad front

The Republican Carabineros enter the stable with an |Anarchist squad in support, the armoured truck takes up position on the left of the stables

The Nationalists put pressure on the Republican right

Thanks to a random card draw the Republicans make it to cemetery first

Break for an in the zone dinner, Paella and a Spanish rose

Another squad moves up in support

Although depleted the Dinamiteros hold their position

Foreign Legion mortar squads add fire support to the Nationalist advance

Meanwhile over on the Republican left an Anarchist squad supported by the Carabineros and armoured truck hold off the Nationalist thrust on the other flank

La Legion prepare to launch a close assault on the cemetery

The Moors attempt to out flank the position is countered by another squad, whose fierce fire compels them to fall back.

La Legion assault the cemetery and repel the Anarchists, only to be ousted themselves the following turn.

That saw an end to the Nationalist assault really, a turn seven was rolled for and played but it was not enough to oust the Republican defenders. A roll for a turn eight was not successful, this signified that Republican reinforcements had arrived and the Nationalists pulled back.

TTFN and lets be careful out there.