Cotswold Wargames Day - 2022

This Sunday 30+ local gamers all gathered in Nothleach for the 3rd Cotswold Wargames Day organised by local gamer Keith Flint. His blog can be found here KEITH'S WARGAMING BLOG (keefsblog.blogspot.com)

There were 8 games this year and I think we peaked at 33 players. There was a strong Horse and Musket flavour to this year's games.

First up was a lovely looking AWI games all in 28mm Perry. It rightly won best terrain for its 12 foot table and would have been my pick for best game. It even featured some animated shooting effects.

There was also a SYW game all in vintage 25mm figures with the Prussians taking on French (I think) 

For those with less space there was a very pretty 10mm game with levels of painting that looked amazing. It was a 19th century game, but I forgot to ask the sides. Definitely Italians on one side from the flags.  

JP produced his usual monster game ably assisted by Charlie, with massed Prussian Lancers the most eye-catching feature. His YouTube channel will have more details I'm sure. (602) J P - YouTube 

Dr Dave and friends staged a Sharp Practice game set in Spain with some really nice terrain and I think they resisted including the eponymous hero.

The side room, or desert room, had two ancients' games both set in the middle east. In the first Babylonians battled it out with a huge number of chariots and the second was the Battle of Kadesh.

Back in the main hall we had a WWII 1/72 game set in Russia with lots of lease-lend Churchills employed by the Soviets.

Finally, our own game - the Battle of Walcourt from 1689 using Richard and Nigel's extensive 17th Century collectons. 

Much to our surprise we scooped the award for Best Game and along with it the Stuart Asquith trophy for a year.   

 As always big thanks for Keith for staging the event and providing the rations. Now we need to think about 2023. Maybe we'll look at some Colonials for that.

 

WWII Armour - the final game

 For the final game of our WAT mini campaign, I rolled out a classic - Allied tanks hunting a Tiger. One game each set in Russia and Italy. In both games the Tiger and escorting Panzer III must try to capture and hold a crossroads.

The Russian Front

The Russians field 2 * T34-76, 1 * SU-85 and 1* KV1s. The Germans began by advancing cautiously into the table with the Panzer III going hull down on a small ridge. The Russians pushed up the flanks with the KV hanging back in cover to protect the village.  

The destruction of the Panzer III forced the German's hand and so the Tiger ploughed forward in an attempt to capture the crossroads and dominate the position. It made it but found itself surrounded on all sides.

The Russians were unable to penetrate the Tigers thick armour but did wear away the Germans command dice, rendering them combat non-effective and forcing the crew to bailout. Russian win 2-0

Italian Front

As we wanted to use the British for this game history had to be slightly bent to allow them Firefly's to have a chance against the Tiger. So they fielded 2 * Sherman M4 and 2 * Sherman Firefly. 

The Germans advanced up the centre of the table and into some woods overlooking the village, taking out a Sherman in the process. 

The British them manoeuvred for position seeking to isolate the Panzer IIi and get a rear shot on the Tiger. 

Eventually the Panzer III fell British fire but the Tiger still lurked around the edge of the wood looking for a clean shot and the Tommy's.

With literally the last shout the game a Firefly was able to blow-up the Tiger following some poor saving from the German player. So British Win - 2-1

So the final kill totals for surviving tankers were:

• Paul = 11 kills
• Stu = 7 kills
• Roy, Richard, Adam, Steve, Mike = 2 kills
• Nigel. John = 1 kill

Penultimate WWII armour in 15mm

Next week will be the final WWII armour game. This week we had a larger and a smaller game.

Game 1 - attack vs defence in Italy

In this game 4 * Sherman 76's were looking to capture a village held by Panther, a Hetzer and 2 * Pak40's. We counted the Pak40's as strike 7, armour 3, Small, low Profile and Rapid Fire. 

The Americans deployed the bulk of their tanks in the centre, looking to avoid the Pak40's hidden in woods on each flank. The Panther was in reserve in the village while the Hetzer lurked in some woods on the western side. 

There was a lot of shoot-and-scoot from the Americans at first as they sought to exploit the plentiful cover to ensure the Germans need lots of Acquires (2's on the command dice) to spot them. Whilst this kept them safe, they made very little forward progress as they hugged their base edge.

About an hour-in the US posted a Sherman on a small hill and it traded shots with the Panther. Despite being hull-down it came of worst, and the first loss was to the US. 

As darkness beckoned the US changed plans and made a head-long charge into the village. They managed to get a rear shot on the Panther but missed! That spelt doom for the GI's as the Panther and Hetzer then hunted them down.   

It was a German win 4-0

Game 2 - Neutral ground

In game two 2 * Panzer IV took on 2 * T34-76 as both sides tried to capture a river crossing. 

The first run through was incredibly quick with the T34's taking out the Panzer IV's with their first shots in turn 2.   Russian win 2- 0 

The second run through was a little longer with the tables reversed and both Russian tanks destroyed. German win 2-0.

   

15mm WWII armour - a brace of games

A brace of games this week, both in 15mm.

The Italian Front

In this game both sides started at opposite ends of a valley, each trying to recapture a destroyed tank in the enemies deployment zone. 4 * Sherman 76's took on 2 * Panzer IV, 1 * Hetzer and 1 * Panther.  

Both sides advanced into the valley with the Panzer IV's occupying the centre while the Panther pushed forward to the objective. The Sherman's stayed together on the western / centre. 

Sherman 76's advance

Some early fire favoured the GIs  as they took out the Hetzer and one Panzer IV, forcing the other to flee into the temple for cover. The Sherman's then focused most of their forces against the  remaining Panzer IV, eventually taking it out and capturing the objective. 

Meanwhile the Panther was able to capture the Germans objective. 4-1 win to the US 

The Russian Front

On the eastern front we fought an encounter game where both sides sought to capture some river crossings. 2 * Panzer IVs, 1 * Hetzer and 1 * Stug took on a KV-1, T34-85 and 2 * T34-76.

 

This was a very cautious affair with both sides reluctant to commit fully to rushing the bridge and end-up in the open. I think the only losses were a single Russian tank. 

Stug aassult gun

I missed the final score but I think the Germans held the bridge at the end so 2-0 German win.

Hetzer tank destroyer