Even Less Quiet

On the Western Front, following on from the previous game the British have continued their advance. Their objective is to take and nullify the German observation bunker on Church Hill.

 

For this game I used modified WW2 rules from Neil Thomas's 'Introduction to Wargaming' some of my own ideas and bits from Mark Pipers adaptations for Rapid Fire.

The British mass for the assault, they would not know the extent of the damage to the German wire until they got to it. They had support of a Whippet tank, off table artillery and in table mortar and heavy machine guns.

The Germans had taken cover from the British bombardment in their dugouts and the crypt of the church.

The German off table artillery support had been nullified by British counter battery fire do had to rely on their trench mortar and heavy machine guns for support.

Their ammunition must have been of variable quality as they did not cause much of a problem to the British infantry advance, they did however stop the Whippet in its tracks.

Bolstered by their artillery, mortar and heavy machine gun fire the British advance continued undaunted.

Aided by a gap in wire created by the bombardment in the centre and a gap by the Whippet on the left.

The German return fire was sporadic the British fire support keeping them pinned down consistently.

The German spotters were subsequently rendered hors de combat and the mortar had to rely on runners to direct their fire further nullifying their effect in the advancing British.

The granatenwerfer provided some extra support but not enough to stem the British advance. Two German companies were eliminated, despite the casualties the British had three times as many men to mop up the remaining German company. The battalion commander ordered a withdrawal, 

the British advance continues.

The rules worked pretty well we thought, the game unfolded pretty much the same as the previous game using Bolt Action. I will probably stick with Bolt Action for future games until the release of Dave Stone's 'Zero Hour' later this year.

Until next time.......

TTFN & KBO

Terrain and Troops

My Great War project revival continues, firstly I have finished off more figures I had partially started in the form of some Great War Miniatures British trench raiders and I think a Partizan free figure to commerate the 100th anniversary of ending of the war if I recall correctly.

Next up a 90° trench corner I picked up off Ironclad Miniatures at Hammerhead earlier in the month.

Finally some shattered tree stumps purchased a while ago from Coriatani.

The Great War mode will continue on Tuesday when Dave pops over for our fortnightly game here at OHQ.

Until then..........

TTFN & KBO

Fade To Grey

As I had not played Lion Rampant since 2021 and Dave since 2017! I decided to play a refresher game before we embarked on a linked game campaign in our post Roman Brittania setting.

We played the straightforward Bloodbath scenario from the rules and we only did one thing wrong rules wise, mea culpa. Here are some photos of the game a straight forward dark age slog no finesse or grand tactics in sight.

Prior to the month end I completed a battalion of Swiss for the Peninsular project, Front Rank figures.

That makes three battalions completed for the project so far.

Inspired by Dave Stone's description of his forth coming WWI rules, Zero Hour on Saturday I dug out some figures I started probably 18 months ago to complete. First up a sniper for the British, a Warlord WWII figure but who would know 🙂

Next a Renegade figure from a batch I bought at one of the Penkridge tabletop sales, didn't really need more German figures but at 50p a pop how could one refuse? I had converted one to be a musician inspired by a Peter Dennis illustration in the Cambrai Osprey book.

We will remain in the dark Ages for a 1066 game over at GHQ next week.

TTFN & KBO

All Quiet........

On The Western Front? Well yes it has been, when deciding what game to put on for the latest game here in OHQ I thought we haven't played a Great War game for a while. When I checked back that was putting it mildly, it was back in early January 2020! My where does the time go? 

We would be using Gajo Games Great War modifications to Bolt Action for the game, the usual annotated photo montage will hopefully guide you through the course of events. The figures are of course the excellent Great War Miniatures, the trenches are from Ironclad Miniatures.

The calm before the storm at Shrapnel Villa.

Raiders back from intelligence gathering.

The field of Mars.

The British advance behind a creeping barrage.

A German sniper lies in wait perhaps!

The Germans brace themselves for what is to come.

The British advance ever onward behind the barrage.

A German Anti-tank rifle team take aim.....and miss!

They quickly reload before the tank can retaliate courtesy of the Order Dice draw. The tank catches fire and abandoned, phew!

The Germans are caught in the barrage but get off lightly.

German minenwerfer, not actually on table but too nice a piece to be left in the box. Firing on a fixed point it was to have little effect on the British advance but gave it's own side a couple of scares😂

The British mortar fire is more deadly thanks to the brave efforts of Speckled Jim, the advancing infantry occupy the first German trench line.

It is at this point when I got wrapped up in the game play and failed to record the following turns on camera.

It was in these last three turns when the British mortar fire was redirected to the German second line trench and failed to inflict any damage! Anything But a One syndrome struck, or was it Speckled Jim who was struck down mid flight?

The Germans consolidate the second line in the last turn of the game, with the British holding the first line we elected for a winning draw for the British. Perhaps a follow on game to decide the outcome, but not with another gap of four years?

Until next time.....

TTFN & KBO 

Bolt Action House Rules

 I have added a page of the Bolt Action house rules that I have trialled over a few games, some which have been featured in various AARs have been discarded you may notice. Not necessarily because they didn’t work, some I felt slowed down the game others didn’t really improve or add anything.

The link to the page is in the side bar.

Start As I Mean To Go On........

Well I certainly hope not. First game of 2020 and first defeat, a Great War game using Bolt Action rules, one turn of all the German order dice coming out first and nothing to capitalise on, then next turn most of the Allied order dice coming out first.
The writing was really on the wall from this turn on, adding to this it was discovered that the  Allied bombardment had destroyed practically all the wire in front of the village, at least the men had been let off lightly. So all the Germans could really hope for was to delay the Allied advance, it was all up by turn five with the Tommies occupying two buildings with no hope of the Germans evicting them and nothing to halt the advance of the MkIV.
We played out turn six and called it a day without dicing for an extra one.
Didn't take many photos, they would have all been a bit samey anyway, but here they are....

Pre Barrage Recon Photo

The British Advance Behind The Barrage

Some By A More Hazardous Route

Mortar And Spotter

The British Start To Take Control Of The Village

We Are Being Overrun I Think

Now for the review of 2019, don't panic, only kidding.

TTFN and Happy New Year

All Quiet On The Western Front?

Goodbyee