Title

Title
Tally Ho!

Monday 31 August 2020

Zoomspiel Napoleonic - game 2

On Sunday afternoon we played our second game of Napoleonic's using simple rules and Zoom for the remote commanders. A slight tweak to the rules was a bonus for the assaulter in any melee. 

The scenario was a simple one - both sides had to try and capture the crossroads and at least one of the hills that overlooked it. To hold the crossroads both B5 and C5 must be captured.   

The French massed all their forces in D5,6 and 7 with the hope the reinforcements would take the hill on their side. The Allies spread out looking to hold the hill, crossroads and town, whilst come cavalry tried to secure the hill on the French side. 

The hill at B7 was the focus of a major French attack which was successful initially in pushing the Allies off, Centrally they badly damaged French units trying to secure the crossroads, leaving them free to assault and contest hill B7.   

Hill B7 under attack
Hill B7 under attack


French pushed back from the crossroads

The French reinforcements  were sent into action to retake the hill at C3 which was held by allied cavalry. while the reserve infantry tried to first attack the town and then the crossroads. The Allied reserves were almost all committed to the retaking of hill B7 in a very intensive action.  

B7 falls to the French

The end of the game saw a 0-0 draw as all three objectives were contested. The French were unlucky though as in the final turn 3 fresh cavalry regiments were unable to eject a single French regiment from hill C3 and claim a 1-0 win.  

The Russian cuirassiers hang on at C3



The second game seemed to go pretty well and was a more open affair that Game 1. The main glitch being the loss of one of the French commanders due to IT issues. We also learnt a bit more about  how artillery and initiative needs to work, so more tweaks for Game 3.  

Sunday 30 August 2020

Some weekend gaming

 I've managed to get a couple of games in this week / weekend thanks to some stay-cation time. 

The first was a continuation of a Kings of War campaign featuring Good Undead (some complex magic / morals involved) vs the Demonic Forces forces of the Abyss. It was one of my favourite scenarios  - Smoke and Mirrors - where each player places 5 objectives ( 2 * 0 VP, 2 * 1VP, and 1 * 2VP) and then both flip one per turn. So lots of bluffing can be done. 

In this game it tuned-out we'd both gone for the centre / eastern-end for our scoring tokens. I made good headway initially and was able to dominate the eastern side of the table whilst the Undead were strong in the centre.     





In the end it was a 5-2 loss though. The greater numbers of the Undead hordes allowing them to get greater Unit Strength to a few of the high-scoring objective. I was not helped by my Arch Fiend spending most of the game pursued by several skeleton units and getting rear charged - which he survived but got bogged down.    



The second game was over in Fishponds where I played my first couple of games of Deadzone - a scifi skirmish typically involving about about a dozen models a sidec on an 8 x 8 gridded table. I was the Space Orks (aka Marauders) facing off against the Rebels.  

The games key feature is it uses "true line-of-sight" so you spend lots of time at hunched over trying to get a figures I view.   



Game 1 was pretty close as I lost 16-13 but the second was 16-9 as a I got a bit boxed in.  Given the right terrain the system could work well for any FIBUA-type games in a shattered city.   



      

Friday 28 August 2020

What a tanker week 4

Always keen to recreate the classics, this week we broke-out the Tiger I. We matched it with 2 * M4 Sherman's and 2 * M18 Hellcat's. The battle was over a river crossing with a couple of burnt-out tanks as additional objectives.




The Tiger adopted a fairly defensive posture, scuttling back-and-forth as the US tanks tried to out flank them.   



The US tanks struggled with the heavy armour of the Tiger but we found that due to its slowness they were able to constantly manoeuvre to a position where the beast struggled to get into a firing position. The game ended with 3 dead US tanks and a Tiger reduced to 4 command dice. With the US capturing an objective it was 3-1 to the Germans.    



   

Tuesday 25 August 2020

Heavy Artillery - 28mm Ottomans

 My last batch of painting included some iconic Ottoman units - some heavy artillery. I currently have enough to complete two very heavy cannons / bombards  and three large field pieces.

The bombards are from Whizz Kids and good value at £5 each. The crew are converted Gripping Beast plastic Arabs. 




The field artillery are from NorthStar, again with GB crews.    





Sunday 23 August 2020

Something in the Oven



Tosday's blog features Aga's - no not that type , we're talking about Ottoman leaders so that Agha with an H. 

AGA R5 Series 3 Oven Electric Range Cooker - Topstak

I've completed a bit more of the Ottoman army I'm working on - this time I've managed to complete the basing on my officers plus a few more Janissaries. The officers are Trent Miniatures.  The Janissaries are some 1990's Dixons plus a few converted Wargames Atlantic Afghans to make up the numbers.







 This last guy looks oddly familiar - if only I could place him

Ming The Merciless Flash Gordon High Resolution Stock Photography ...

Saturday 22 August 2020

28mm Ottomans

I've managed to complete a couple more units of Ottomans recently but I'm a bit behind on my posts. 

The first unit are some Janissary cadets in their fetching pointy hats. The models are Trent Miniatures Djiveleks but they also are called Ajemi by some authors. They are splendid fellows though and I've gone for a nice bright blue.  



Rather dull by comparisons is another units of Azabs, the second of three I'm planning.




 

Its starting to look like I'll be fielding 4 brigades - Janissaries, Cadets / "new" troops, Azabs, and Marksmen. The guns are currently being based so will be posted soon  

Tuesday 18 August 2020

What a tanker week 3

We had a modest amount of tension for this week's game - one of Roy's tankers was on 4 kills, just one from Ace status. Could he get that last kill and survive to reap the rewards? We played 4 Shermans vs 2 StuGs in a 64 point game with Roy piloting the StuGs. 

The terrain featured a small village on one side, fields on the other and some crops in the centre. Two objectives were placed along the centre. The brewed-up Sherman and an HQ tent in the woods.   




I advanced my Shermans through the village with one being popped in turn 1 by and advancing StuG. so my other hunkered down whilst both StuG's then moved against the Shermans on the other side.    



With one Sherman distracting my killer I was able to rapidly flank and destroy the brute.  This pushed the advantage back to the Allies as it was now 3-1.  



The remaining StuG pounded away at the Sherman to its front but failed to either hit or cause serious damage. This allowed the remaining Shermans to flank its position. It proved a tough nut though and eventually was forced to bail for being reduced to 0 command dice, rather than being destroyed.     


So an Allied win but the crew on kills survived and so can try again next time to earn their Ace status. In the end it was a solid win for the allies but could easily have been different. The Germans had the chance to knock-out two Shemans in turn 1 and and 2-a-side the Allies would have stood little chance.