Counterattack At Rawnslie Les Bains

Setting the scene for the game

Following the successful attack of the first battalion North Staffordshire Regiment near Rawnslie Les Bains, the German High Command have ordered an immediate counter attack to regain this strategic position.

The initial assault will be carried out by the 48^th Infantry Battalion, support in the form of Stosstruppe and armoured units will follow.

To prevent the reinforcement of the North Staffs an intense artillery bombardment of the British rear positions will take place, to further support the counter attack a gas attack on the North staffs position will also take place.

The North Staffs will have to make use of any available cover and hold off the inevitable counter attack until reinforcements from the Royal Fusiliers can be bought forward, luckily a Vickers machine gun section and an 18Pdr gun have already been got forward and a runner has been sent to request an artillery strike on the position of the suspected German advance at dawn

Look Out Tommy We Just Need Basing And We Are On Our Way



Check back tomorrow for more details.

TTFN

Great War Terrain Pieces Update

Just a short entry to post up pics of the completed pieces started last week, these will feature in our game next week using Bolt Action with Gajo Games house rules and the addition of an event card dice, I have revised the air attack rules as I thought the rules as written were too deadly for World War One, I have also added rules for gas attacks based upon the ones in the Warhammer Great War supplement "Over The Top".
Be sure to pop back next week to read about the Counter Attack at Rawnslie Les Bains.

TTFN

  

Revamp And Great War Terrain Etc.

In between figure painting this week I have modified a terrain board that had a fixed hill on it, this made storage awkward and limited its use in games. I decided to remove the hill and add a drainage ditch so that the board could still have some sort of obstacle if required.

The dark green piece used to be a small hill, well a lump really that looked a little silly, to right of the ditch is where the hill stood with an escarpment running down to the road, I am hoping to salvage this by gluing to a piece of MDF at some point.

I have also started work on two terrain pieces for our Great War games, a destroyed gun and a shattered tree line for the road side, the gun needs to be weathered yet. The trees are Woodland Scenics dead fall, the fence piece is by Irregular, love this piece and fit it in anywhere I can, the pile of helmets etc. are from Grand Manner, both these need to be painted and I will add a little bit of greenery.

This week besides commission figures I have also finished my Great War British 18pdr and crew, the other figure that comes with the pack from Great War Miniatures will be put on the ammunition wagon base.

Lastly I have redone the site background to make it look a bit more military and changed the header photo, I hope you like the changes.

TTFN

  

Battlegroup - Fall of the Reich Game

Dave bravely ventured over to OHQ for a World War II Eastern Front game, I say bravely because Dave is not terribly keen on the additional complexity of the Battlegroup rules over Rapid Fire, but he kindly obliges me by giving them a go occasionally, it would help if I remembered the rules of course and didn't stop the game flow by having to look so many things up, the penalty for playing too many periods and rule sets I'm afraid or is it just getting old. Anyway on to the game, the scenario was out of the supplement, the Soviet force coming up against a road block with some die hard defenders in the closing stages of the war. I chose small forces of approximately 500 points each to speed play along.

Initial Set Up

Off Table In Reality, but has I spent time assembling & painting it so its on!

Ditto - As Above.

Soviet Forces Begin Their Advance

German Volksgrenadiers Lie In Wait

Soviet T34's Give The German Panzer IVs Short Shrift

German Volksturm Defend The Factory

Soviet Infantry Supported By T34s Move In For The Kill

The Remaining German Armour Is Knocked Out

I will not bore you all with a blow by blow account, doubt I would remember anyway :-)

High or low points depending on who you were are -

1. The inability of the Germans to get many units on at the start

2. The Soviet inability to get radio contact with their rocket battery

3. The inability to strike anywhere near the target when they did make contact 

4. The German inability to get radio contact with their 105mm gun battery

5. The inability to do much damage when when they did make contact, how many 1's and 2's can one 

    man throw I wonder?

6. The myopic German tank crew

7. The Soviet answer to Michael Wittman, make that man a Hero Of The Soviet Union General Byklisski

Neither side had reached their Battle Rating but with the Soviets in possession of one of the objectives and the possibility of stopping them gaining the other nonexistent the Germans had to concede defeat. Despite the lack of radio contact and poor accuracy of the rockets a splendid victory for Dave's Soviet forces. Are you sure you prefer Rapid Fire Dave? you seem to win more games of Battlegroup :-)

TTFN 

The Defeat Of Don Byklos, A First Carlist War AAR

Don Byklos popped over to OHQ today for a First Carlist War game using Black Powder rules, his force was tasked with securing the bridge over the Rio Rawnsla. There to attempt to thwart his efforts was a Carlist force of two battalions and an artillery battery, with the promise of a further three battalions and a few cavalry squadrons to arrive around turn six.

It was obvious to the Don that he needed to advance rapidly and sweep aside the defending Carlists whilst he had superior numbers.



The Field Of Battle, Rio Rawnsla is cross able where the rocks and reeds appear due to a low rainfall of late. 



Carlist Forces Await The Christino Attack

The Carlist Battery Readies To Fire

Carlist Skirmishers Line The Bank

British Auxiliary Legion Storm Across The Bridge



Where They Prepare To Overwhelm The Carlist Defenders



Hand-to-Hand Fighting  Ensues 

Hey! Where Are You Lot Going?  The Don Rolls A Blunder

Royal Marine Rocket Battery Lays Down Some Unusually Accurate Fire

First Hit Of Many On Target!!!!!!

The Success Was Not Going To Apply To The Dons Reaction Throws, The BAL In Headlong Retreat

Closely Followed By Their Comrades On The Right 

Carlists Fire On The Remaining Christino Battalion

A sound plan from the Don which despite the none arrival of his cavalry and horse artillery looked in the earlier stages as if it would succeed, unfortunately the dice gods deserted him just when he needed them, the Carlists did not even have need of their tardy reinforcements. Tal es la guerra.

Adiós por ahora