For something a little different, a 15mm Volley and Bayonet game with Jon and Adrian, set in the Tonkin Wars in the 1860s, using Jon's beautiful 15mm armies. The row boats with oars come form Adrian's collection (and yes they are sporting British napoleonic figures).
The game was fictional, but based upon several French operations of the time, in which a shore landing was made in an effort to capture and destroy an ammunition depot.
Last week I played in the second naval game in a campaign series that Keith has organised, as I understand it as a part of a test of the campaign system for the writers. The game was played using Keith's 1/3000th ships (Navwar IIRC) using the 'Naval Thunder' rules. Just a few random shots of Keith's beautifully painted miniatures.
Another ACW game, played with the Volley and Bayonet rules, and my 15mm armies. I have started introducing friend Murray to the rules, and this week we played a small more traditional game (Murray's second) set as a meeting engagement, but with armies deployed. I commanded the Confederate forces, and Murray the Union.
The Union force was mostly M4 (which meant lower 'exhaustion' levels) with several M5 units, and two stands of M6 sharpshooters, but outnumbered the Confederates by a complete division. The Confederate army included one M6 shock unit, and one sharpshooter stand.
I deployed the division with the shock troops on the left, planning to attack there and hold in the centre and right. The game played out with the delightful perversity so common in games that include dice. My shock unit went in against an M4 unit. Both passed their morale throws. I managed one hit in melee. Murray rolled three 6's/three hits, won the melee and eliminated the shock unit (which had only three strength points).
In the centre Murray ejected me from the town sector, routing my occupying brigade which was disordered having just entered the town. I then managed to enter a firefight against Murray's centre which resulted in a second of his divisions becoming exhausted, and then suffering a moral collapse (having taken three casualties in the turn on which it became exhausted).
On the right I attacked with a division of standard M5 units, and managed to exhaust Murray's opposing division.
We called the game having got to the point where neither of us had sufficient strength left to attack the other's remaining forces.
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| My initial occupation of the town sector in the centre |
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| Confederate advance on the right |
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| Confederate left, with the shock unit nearest the camera |
An excellent wee game, offering lots of learning opportunities, for me included.
I've always loved renaissance wargaming, and have two armies suitably configured/based for the DBR rules: Royalist (ECW), and Ottoman. The problem is that I play the game so rarely that every time I do it's like starting from scratch, learning a totally new set of rules. As a consequence I'm simply not very good at the game, and probably don't offer much in the way of a challenge to any opponent. However that's no reason not to try, as long as opponents have patience with me.
Keith and I had a small (130 point) game as a refresher, fielding our respective 15mm armies. I used the Ottomans, and Keith brought a small New Model army to the table... perhaps replicating some Cromwellian overseas adventures.
It was a fabulous learning game.
Last of the Crossfire Japanese for the Pacific for now is the completion of the solitary Type 97 Japanese medium tank. This entire project has been a bit of an impulsive one. It began with inspiration from Brett Simpson's work exhibited on the Crossfire Fb page, was fuelled by the impulsive purchase of a box of Airfix Japanese infantry, and then supported with some Eureka support weapons, and an Airfix Japanese Type 97 tank, all in 20mm. Finally I took the time to create the terrain scatter pieces to give a better table to aesthetic.
There would be a lot more to do if I wanted 'go the whole hog', but this will do for now. There are five Crossfire platoons (if I used them for Spearhead -which I am tempted to do - that would be not quite two battalions), three HMGs, three 50mm Grenade Launchers, and the tank. Who knows when they might actually see action on the table.
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| The completed selection |
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| The Type 97 Chi Ha tank |
This week's 'gaming brought to the fore the flexibility of my fave war games rules set: Volley and Bayonet, with two games over two nights.
The first game was an historical scenario from the Nine Years War (League of Augsberg), using Adrian's beautifully painted 15mm figures.
The point here is that despite these two conflicts being 170 years apart, and despite the Nine Years War taking place in the decade preceding what was intended to be the start of the period covered by Volley and Bayonet (1700-1900), the rules cope astoundingly well using those small 'sub period' tweaks we often talk about, giving great games that seem to have the feel, and produce the historical outcomes, that are all plausible and reasonable.
Just 'love 'em'....
Another small step forward in the 20mm Crossfire 'Pacific Theatre' project: some Japanese support weapons. I'd originally intended to buy some of the SHQ infantry sourced from 'Grubby Tanks', as these were recommended as the best fit with the Airfix Japanese infantry I have painted with respect to size. However the comms lines went dead after a couple of emails (I hope everything is alright for him) so I looked around and finally settled on the Eureka 20mm figures, which are not too bad as an overall fit. I'd just put in a plug for Eureka here .. when the figures arrived they must have ranked amongst the best packaging for despatch for figures I have ever received. I write and told him so!!!
So, three HMGs, and three small (50mm) mortars ( called 'knee mortars' but actually more of a grenade launcher from what I have read so far.. always open to correction!!). The mortars theoretically don't need to be on table in Crossfire, but.. hey.. who can resist.
Next up, I bought a Japanese tank for Crossfire... as they are an infantry rules set pitched as the squad/platoon/company level of command, there's not much need for tanks, but they can be incorporated so.. what the heck.
With the three 20mm British paratroop battalions based it seemed appropriate to try a 1944 Spearhead game using at least some of these troop...
