No Plan Survives Contact With The Enemy

 The annual Crisis Point weekend, organised by the incomparable design genius Richard Crawley is taking place this weekend 12-13 April. The theme this year is Andreivia Through The Ages. Mr C himself organised a 20mm game set in the 1990s using Arc of Fire rules.

Plan A was for m'colleage Neil and I to run a 6mm game set in the 1762 War of Andreivian Succession, using the Maurice set of rules. It became apparent however that preparations would not be complete in time. We thus moved on to Plan B, a 6mm 1990s game using Cold War Commander, staged by Neil, Richard Phillips and me. Several players subsequently had to withdraw from the weekend, to the extent that we would struggle to put on the 3 games planned. So we switched to Plan C, cancelling the CWC game and Neil and I joining the 3rd game offered, a 20mm outing using Force on Force, rules that we both bought over 10 years ago but never managed to play, hosted by Mark K. At 10.30pm the Friday night before the weekend, we were informed that Mark had a family crisis and so could not attend. We thus - at literally the 11th hour- hastily cooked up Plan D, a return to 1762 Andreivia, Maurice and a less ambitious set up.

The Country and initial deployment, set up as per the rules in Maurice. Neil and Ron took the side of the English Honourable Black Sea Company, while Ned and I commanded the royal army of Andreivia, reinforced by a brigade of French "advisers", who had been helping train up the native forces.

The fee for the weekend included lunch and refreshments provided by the Crawley family. Most players have contributed to the rations as well, so that we have more cakes than players! I at least have eaten well today.

I don't propose to give a full running commentary on the game, mostly as I did not take that many photos but also because this evening's refreshments have somewhat clouded my memory. Ned and Ron picked up the rules quick enough and we rattled through the opening war of manoeuvre.

On John Company's left, Ron's forces swiftly advanced to contact.

On the Andreivian left, my force kept a tight formation. Not wanting to take on the English regular cavalry with my irregulars, I advanced my regular infantry on the left flank while my irregular infantry and cavalry moved through the woods in my centre.

First blood was claimed by my Andreivian irregulars, who took advantage of their numbers and cover to defeat an English line battalion with musket fire. The time for manoeuvring was over as firefights erupted across the front line.

Ned meanwhile took advantage of the hill to his centre to shake out into a firing line, protected by the river to their front. The river acted as a very effective defence, preventing Ron's infantry from safely assaulting Ned's frontline.

Not wanting to charge the Andreivian pike armed infantry in a frontal attack, Neil's cavalry never really got into the game. They did charge and destroy my artillery, but were then led a merry dance by my irregular cavalry, who continuously evaded his charges. Eventually, musket fire from my irregular infantry (with a considerable helping hand from Ned's irregulars who had captured the town in the centre of the table) did for the English cavalry. I was able to then roll up Neil's regular infantry and defeat them piecemeal.

Ron had some success with his cavalry, steamrolling over Ned's irregular Andreivian horsemen. An amusing incident also occurred when Ned's irregular cavalry charged Ron's guns, only to be thrown back by the Company artillerymen and broken in the process. That river proved to be too much of an obstacle though and, when the dust settled, Ron's British and Company infantry had been smashed, leaving the Andreivian army masters of the battlefield.

Considering that the game was thrown together at the last minute, it performed admirably and filled the day. Ron and Ned grasped the concepts of the Maurice rules quickly and both displayed inventive use of the card system, playing events and disrupt cards to good effect. I've never seen CinC's moved around the table so much in one game. I think that we managed a good combination of manoeuvre warfare without the battlefield becoming too spread out.

Many thanks to Ron and Ned for joining our battle and getting stuck in to the game with an admirable gentlemanly competitive spirit. A big thank you to Neil for doing most of the heavy lifting with getting our game on. Not sure what will happen tomorrow. We may resume the War of Andreivian Succession with another Maurice battle. Mark K has said that he may come for Sunday so we might be trying Force on Force. Or we could try one of several boardgames that have been offered. Let's see what the day brings.

Wargaming Archeology

 In the early 90s Games Workshop released some card terrain pieces for WH40k. The first was the Imperial Firebase:

A sort of portacabin command centre I suppose. At the time I was an avid Epic scale gamer and tried to create an Epic version of the Firebase, using plasticard and a 40mm base. While rummaging around the folks' loft the other week I found it again:

17-year old me had clearly not discovered textured paint yet, as I used flock for the walls (it was actually green but has discoloured over time). I also hadn't found spray paints yet. After trying to undercoat it with black ink wash I seem to have got demoralised and given up.

I decided to see if I could bring this thing back to life:

The card base had warped over time so I have replaced it with plasticard. I have used the same coral sand to texture the base (yes, I still have the same bag) and some flock (again, the same bag) to repair some of the missing wall texture. I've added some more razor wire to the base too.

All ready for a grey undercoat spray this weekend. I'm quite intrigued as to how it will turn out.

Blame It On The Bakewell: Cold War Commanders Big Weekend Day 2

 

Well this is an indication of how we spent the Saturday night. Quite fitting, considering the theatre of operations. The previous blog entry was written at 12am after several jars, including a pint of Cherry Porter Grand Reserve, infused with Amaretto. Like Bakewell tart in a glass. I'm blaming that for neglecting to mention something important on the Saturday:

Last year, Richard had mentioned making some concealed dismounted tank turrets, hidden in wooden houses. Something that I completely forgot about until NATO turn 2, when this innocent looking building turned out to be a reinforced bunker containing a Centurion 105mm turret and 3 sapper units. They promptly sprung an ambush and toasted what was left of my infantry with their flamethrowers. I decided to fight fire with fire and sent on my own sappers mounted in BTR-50s to smoke them out. They then spent the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday blundering the way up the road, as a series of failed command rolls and double 6 blunders hindered their progress.

Santa had arrived early on Sunday as Rich allocated me some reinforcements from my KO'd pile.

A reinforcement battalion of T-55AM2s deployed on my left to back up my other battalion, who had been having some success winkling out Martin's Austrian Kurassiers and M-60s in the woods.

In my centre, some more infantry on BMP-1s arrived to try to push Martin's West German infantry out of the built up area in my centre, just as soon on as the engineers had cleared out that pesky bunker. The slow progress of the engineers meant that these infantry never really got into the game.

My centre tank battalion were planning on tackling Ian's Leopard 2 battalion, that had set up behind the railway embankment and took out my other T55 battalion. However, Gerrard's Russians on my right had managed to turn Ian's left flank. Ian's Leopard 2s thus bugged out and redeployed to counter the developing situation on the left. Martin sent 2 companies of Leopard 1s to the embankment and started taking shots at Gerrard's T-62s. He countered with tank mounted ATGMs and charged his T-62s forward. In doing so he exposed their flank to the turret in that pesky bunker so I sent my T55 battalion to cover his flank and pile HE rounds into the bunker, trying to silence it for good.

On my left, a T-55AM2 battalion had been exchanging fire with Martin's Austrian armour. With the day pressing on, they charged forward to take on the Austrians at point blank range. Ably assisted by a close assault from Stewart's Czech infantry, the Austrians were cleared from the woods. Retaliatory fire and repeated air attacks effectively wiped out that tank battalion though.

We played on until 2.45pm. By that point, Martin's combined battlegroup still held the centre but were beginning to look shaky. Gerrard's Russians were outflanking Ian's West Germans and looked like they were ready to break through. Stewart's Czech brigade had struggled against Mark's Leopard 2s that were safely camped in woods to the NATO rear table edge. Nonetheless Stewart had made progress and were halfway across the table. The Warsaw Pact forces were awarded a minor victory but it didn't really feel like that from the East German point of view.

The Luftwaffe made their presence felt on the Sunday. It was a bit galling to see my own aircraft being used against me though it was nice to see the toys out of their box and in action.

Once again, a most enjoyable weekend of gaming. It's always good when the Cold War Commanders get together to roll the dice at each other. My thanks to my comrades Stewart and Gerrard on team WarPac and to the NATO opposition Mark, Martin and Ian. Huge thanks to Richard for organising and hosting the game and keeping us fed all weekend. The big table really was a belter, particularly the centre piece schloss and castle.

With the year growing old, thoughts turn to plans for 2025. Richard C is looking at hosting another Crisis Point weekend and Neil & I have designs on putting on a game. Richard P has big ideas for Joy of Six as perhaps a few 1 day games at The Unit, in addition to next year's big weekend. Lots to look forward too!

It Means Nothing To Me

 The annual Cold War Commanders weekend had been postponed from September due to Real World intervention so we have met up this weekend at Richard Phillips' fantastic venue The Unit in Stone, Staffordshire. There were 6 players this weekend, playing on one big table set in the Southern Flank of Germany near the Austrian and Czech borders. I took an East German panzer regiment along with Stewart's Czech tank regiment and Gerard's Soviet tank regiment. Opposing us was Mark's West Germans, Martin's combined West German and Austrian force and Ian's West German panzer brigade.

The table, looking north.

In the first 2 turns I sent my first tank battalion up my left flank, second tank battalion and infantry up the centre and third tank battalion to my right. Things were looking good until the NATO 2nd turn...

T-55s and BMP-1s push forward.

Martin's Recce Iltis jeep called in Danger Close and directed 3 x FH70 artillery guns on to my infantry battalion massing in front of them. By the time the smoke cleared, 7 infantry units and 3 BMP-1s had been eliminated.

Meanwhile, over on my right flank one of Ian's Leopard 2 battalions had found their range and opened up on my third T-55 battalion, knocking out 8 out of 9 tank platoons.

With my break point perilously close after just 2 turns and practically all infantry lost, a drastic change of plans was needed.

My Hind-D's arrived and started scoring hits on Leopard 2s at long range.

My centre tank battalion took cover in some woods and started exchanging fire with Ian's Leopard 2s.

On my left flank, my first tank battalion started wittling away Martin's West German Jagdpanzer Kanones and Austrian SK-105 Kurassiers.

My surviving BMP-1s manoeuvred into the woods to their front, ready to launch ATGM attacks at Ian's Leopard 2s.

Meanwhile, on my left flank, Martin called in a brace of FG-91s on Stewart's Czech forces.

Late on, Stewart returned the favour with a strafing run from a pair of Mig-23s.

At the end of day 1, I am experiencing the Karma of 15 years of playing NATO forces. My East Germans have consolidated their positions and have inflicted some casualties on Martin's NATO force. My breakpoint has been reached and beached but we have chosen to play on. I doubt that I will have the strength to press on tomorrow without reinforcements so let us see what Richard P allows me. I am tying down one of Ian's Leopard 2 battalions, which will assist Gerrard. With perhaps another infantry battalion, I may be able to take the fight to Martin in the centre.

Let us see what tomorrow brings!

99 Luftballoons

 Since I returned to the hobby around 15 years ago, I have exclusively played as NATO. I have 1960s British, 3 Commando Brigade and a Turkish armoured brigade. My main army has been West Germans and I could probably field the best part of a division of Bundeswehr troops.

Recently however change has been in the air. Neneh and The Scorpions have been replaced by Das Kapital, schnitzel mit dumplings with wurst goulash and my standing order for NATO Green has been cancelled. Yes, I have turned to the Dark Side and have built an East German panzer brigade, ready for this year's big game. I wanted to give them a runout so a few weeks ago went on a magical mystery tour across the Pennines (as the Snake was shut) for a match up against m'colleague Neil's US Airborne.

The Country: a generic town in Austria.

I sent a T-55AM2 battalion plus BMP-1 mechanised battalion towards the main town on my right and centre.

My other T-55AM2 battalion was sent down the autobahn on my left flank.

With a clatter of rotor blades and blaring of CCW through the loudspeakers, the US Airborne arrived and took possession of the hill on my left.

Their landing deviated too far forward though and they deployed on the front slope of the hill, directly in front of my tank battalion. Under a hail of HE fire, the survivors scrabbled down the hill and took cover in the roadside diner.

In the centre another US battalion arrived in Gamma Goats and took over the used car lot and bierkeller.

In response, my infantry debussed and headed for the woods.

With their dismounts er, dismounted, the BMPs moved off to outflank the Americans.

Over on the left flank Neil's Sheridans came off second best in a one-sided long range duel against my T-55s. The survivors moved to their right, taking cover behind the hill and looking to outflank my tanks.

Meanwhile, back in the town my other tank battalion set about laying down suppressing fire on the infantry in the used car lot and bierkeller, while my infantry moved through the woods in preparation for a close assault.

I managed to call in some air support from a Sukhoi SU-22 but it was driven off by fierce AA fire.

I had better luck with this strike from a Mig-23. Initially intended to attack Neil's infantry, a fortuitous deviation saw it slice through most of the remaining Sheridans.

With the bulk of their armour gone, one battalion pinned in the diner and the other threatened with a flanking attack, the US commander decided to call time on their expedition and quit the battlefield.

A good try out for the East Germans then that resulted in a resounding victory. Things could have been very different though. Neil had clearly neglected to make the appropriate sacrifices to the dice gods as he made some spectacularly bad rolls. I only lost one T-55 despite a hail of Dragon and Sheleighly ATGMs fired at me. He also managed to roll 3 blunders, whereas I escaped without any. Artillery was conspicuously absent during the battle. I don't think either of us managed to successfully call in a barrage.

Next up is the delayed annual Cold War Commanders big game. I've seen a sneak preview of some of the terrain and it promises to be a belter of a weekend.

Terrain Talk

 At Joy of Six two years ago, I picked up a set of 3D printed civilian cars. Included in the set was a pair of New York taxis. As I mostly play Cold War Western Europe I couldn't see much use for these so decided to create an American style roadside diner and put a taxi on its roof. I wasn't sure how to make a diner so started researching on Google Images. It turned out though that the easiest way to make such a building was to mention it to m'colleague Neil and he just made it for me:

Neil made the building so all I had to do was base it up and add a painted taxi. The other NY taxi I painted up as a West German police car, which can be seen parked up in the photo above.

Another idea that I have been bouncing around for a while is a used car sales lot. As I now have a few cars from various sources I finally gave it a go:

The portacabin office is from Timecast, the big shed from Leven (I think), with skip and barrels from Perfect Six. The sign says "Used Car Sales" in German and was printed on paper before gluing in place. I'm pretty pleased with this one.

Another idea I had was for a small municipal park:

The central fountain is from Leven, the paving is embossed plasticard and the fencing is N-guage railway stuff, a top tip from Richard Phillips. Since this photo I've added some shrubbery around the fences using larger, darker flock. The park is 10cm square and the intention is to place this in between other buildings and built up areas to create some urban greenery.

The next big thing on the wargames calendar is Joy of Six on 14 July. The Cold War Commanders will be staging a game set in our 1948 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. There are some big ideas for the game so it should look good.