Back from holiday and another Big SP playtest battle

OK, so the holidays are over now and it is back to reality. 

This game was planned before I went on holiday at the beginning of July. It is another playtest of my modifications for Sharp Practice so I can play big battles using my Lurkio 15mm late 17th century armies. This time, I was playing against another club member, Dick, who has an interest in finding some good Pike & Shot rules. We played out a simple encounter battle with Dick commanding the French and me in charge of the Anglo-Dutch and Danish army.

The battle was, as often seem the case a relatively inconclusive one, but the French definitely came out with the upper hand, with Anglo-Dutch morale plummeting due to losing a pretty monumental cavalry encounter near the centre of the table. I  am not going to give a blow by blow account, but there were some interesting points that emerged.

Anyway, the French arrived first, but the Anglo-Dutch managed to get most of their army on the table before any more French arrived.

The Anglo-Dutch centre-right seemed perfect for Horse.

Elsewhere the two Danish regiments of Foot slowly advanced. These troops do not have pikes, so need to rely on their plug bayonets to defend in melee.

The Anglo-Dutch cavalry began to advance strongly.

An English Dragoon regiment used their moveable deployment point to ambush a French Horse regiment. Rules for moveable deployment points are one of the things I want to change in the next iteration of these rule mods. I am thinking that only the unit that has the characteristic should be able to use them.

This Dutch Horse regiment braced itself for a volley that never came.

Elsewhere, the inevitable bottlenecks caused by moving past buildings hit the Anglo-Dutch.

The scene was set for the big cavalry battle that would decide the outcome of the game. Fisticuffs is the main area where I have issues with my modifications, particularly involving cavalry (including the use of pistols when charging or receiving a charge and the inability of Horse to counter charge).

The cavalry action initially favoured the Anglo-Dutch.

However, before long, the elite Régiment du Roi imposed itself upon proceedings.

The Anglo-Dutch left became a stalemate.

This was the crunch! The elite French Horse charged at the gallop, giving them a big advantage and defeated Woods' Horse (green facings) in a flank charge, causing them to withdraw with heavy losses and then took on Lumley's Horse (yellow facings) who were forced to withdraw, which put them within close range of concentrated French musketry. 

So, what did Dick think? Overall, he had positive words but also raised some valid questions about cavalry close combat. I have much thinking to do in this area, mainly to reflect on how mounted units can respond to being the subject of of a charge which doesn't totally disadvantage them but which still gives the attacker the bonus one would expect from the impetus of the charge.

Another CoC AAR

A few weeks ago, the club had an all day session. In the morning I played Saga: AoM, as reported here. In the afternoon, I played a game of CoC, using my Peter Pig troops and PSC vehicles against Nigel. I wrote a scenario in advance and here are the briefings for the two sides;

British briefing

The British are pushing forwards from the town of Lambeek along the road toward the important rail junction at the town of Grolschbeek, some 5km distant. The countryside is flat and wooded with no buildings, except for a bombed sugar beet factory complex. The factory is in the centre of the table. Until now, resistance has been slight but aerial photographs have revealed a build-up of German forces in this area. The make-up of the German troop concentration is not known, so patrols are being sent forwards to test the defences.

As the British wish to push an armoured force along this road to capture the Grolschbeek junction, it is essential that better intelligence about the enemy defences is gathered. To this end, a platoon of Rifles has been sent to probe the ruined factory. Supporting the infantry is a recce section of three carriers and one M5 light tank, accompanied by an Intelligence Corps officer in a carrier

The force is;

Rifle platoon (dismounted from trucks which are off table) as described in the rulebook, i.e. HQ plus 3 sections

Recce section: 3 Universal carriers, 2 Bren teams, 1 2” mortar team, 1 junior leader

1 M5 Stuart light tank, 1 junior leader

Intelligence Corps observer (in a carrier). This officer activates as a junior leader on a 3 on a command dice. He must enter the factory area and remain there.

The British will have four patrol markers and may place three JOPs.

Objective:

Advance as far as the factory and neutralise any opposition. You are escorting an Intelligence Corps officer in a fourth carrier. He should be protected and allowed investigate the region. To simulate this, his carrier must enter the factory complex and remain there until the end of the game.

German briefing

Since being pushed out of Lambeek by British forces, Intelligence reports suspect that the next move will be to assault and capture the Grolschbeek railway junction. As reinforcements have been delayed by Allied air attacks, it is essential that British patrols do not discover that the town is currently only lightly-defended. Therefore, a number of forward defensive locations have been identified. One of these is the ruined sugarbeet processing factory on the Grolschbeek to Lambeek road. An augmented Zug of Grenadiers, supported by a machine gun section has been sent to occupy and hold the factory. The troops are carried in trucks but have dismounted short of the objective.

The force is;

Grenadier Zug as listed in the rulebook, except that each section leader has two Panzerfausts

One extra Grenadier section, led by a junior leader without any Panzerfausts

MMG section: two tripod-mounted MG42 MMGs (each carried in one unarmed SDKfz 251 halftrack) with a junior leader. This must deploy from the German table edge.

The Germans will have three patrol markers and may place three JOPs.

Objective:

Occupy and hold the sugar beet factory and prevent British patrols from advancing towards Grolschbeek.  

We rolled dice to see who would play which side. Nigel chose the British and I played as the Germans. Here is the table before the Patrol Phase. The Germans would enter from the far edge and the British from the nearer one.

A good Patrol Phase saw the Germans establishing a JOP just behind the bombed factory, from where troops were soon advancing to seize control if the buildings. 

More Germans deployed in the fields behind the factory. For me, getting boots on the ground quickly was essential to achieving my objective. 

However, the British were soon advancing tactically behind a 2" mortar smoke screen. 

I was worried about the speedy Carrier Recce Section and soon got my Panzerschreck team peppering it to good effect. The last thing I wanted were trigger-happy Bren teams driving around.

I got more troops into the factory complex, including my most important assets, the two tripod-mounted MG42s. They were my one big hope for keeping the British at bay.

However, the Brittish squaddies were getting close. I  used a CoC dice to end the turn and lift the smoke. Would this be enough to stop them getting any closer?

My section across the road continued to fire at the British in the big field surrounded by hedges, causing both shock and casualties, including the section leader. 

The British infantry in the smaller building were getting too close. Time to unleash the firepower.

First, I brewed up another carrier with my Panzerschreck.

Then I got the MG section targeting the infantry. I was gaining the upper hand. The British advanced into hand-to-hand combat, with predictable results. 

The remnants of the British section fled, leaving a dead section leader behind. British Force Morale was falling dangerously low. The Stuart light tank wasn't contributing anything. I decided to ignore it until it came closer.

Further exchanges of fire saw more British casualties, as I tightened my grip on the factory buildings. When British FM fell to 1, we called it a day. It was a win for the Germans.

I think that this could have gone either way, but a good patrol phase, plus a few double phases gave the Germans an early advantage from which they never really faltered. 

I think that I'd like to do a follow-up scenario, with the factory at one end of the table, with a similar German forces dug-in (without the extra rifle section (to account for casualties in this game) and defending, possibly with an anti-tank gun of some kind, and with the British attacking with some useful supports, probably a couple of decent tanks and maybe a Vickers MMG attached to the platoon HQ. I will have to work on this a bit. Victory conditions might be driving German FM down to zero, getting them out of the buildings or getting a tank off the table at the defending end.

Frostgrave - the long scenario reaches its penultimate stage

People who follow my blog must be aware that we have been playing out a series of linked games around the theme of finding the whereabouts of the treasure of a dreaded but long-presumed vanquished Necromancer. This started in December last year, and will finish in August, once various holidays are out of the way.

This game, together with the preceding two represent three concurrent parts of a single quest to find three Vorpal blades, which can only be handled by spellcasters, and which will play a role in the forthcoming denouement.

This time around, Owen provided the Wizard, I brought along an Apprentice and Richard a Captain, plus assorted warband members for support. Andy, once again ran the game and Nick took charge of the evil creatures.

Here is the initial table. The eagle-eyed might recognise the provenance of the central obelisk.

Everyone had to enter and leave this underground chamber via the portal on the right-hand side.

Bad things began to happen immediately. My hapless Thug was soon killed off by a snake-like guardian.

Vengeance was swift, however, as my Traesure Hunter, Warhound and conjured Zombie triumphed.

Elsewhere, more serpentine evil appeared. People may recognise many of these figures as well.

Daunting though these enemies appeared, we soon managed to see most of them off.

Obviously, the Serpent Wizard was protecting something, so we advanced across the chamber.

My Apprentice cast Wall, to prevent this Hydra, summoned from somewhere by the portal obelisk from easily attacking.

Elsewhere, Richard's Captain took on the Serpent Wizard's Bodyguard.

More nastiness appeared to attach a hapless crossbowman.

The brave Captain fought through to attack the Serpent Wizard, killing it but being killed himself by a Wraith Knight who was holding the Vorpal Blade (no photos, sorry). 

The fearsome Mouth On Legs creature was killed.

The Hydra was much more of a problem.

A Gorgon appeared. By this point, Owen's Wizard was out of the game. To win, I had to keep my Apprentice alive.

But to stay alive, we had to vanquish the Hydra. My Treasure Hunter managed to slay the Beast.

Ans she went on to kill the Gorgon, too. What a star!

Again without pictures, we combined to kill the Wraith Knight and my Apprentice took control of the Vorpal Blade. Time to get out of this chamber.

We fought out way back to the exit, seeing off more Serpent Guardians en route.

So, now, the Wizards, equipped with Vorpal Blades must confront the Evil Necromancer to triumph.