XMAS GREETINGS

Happy Xmas and a prosperous New Year to all the LOTL bloggers out there. Olaf says: May the dice Gods look favorably upon you this festive season and bless your dice with glory in the year to come!

MORE 28MM ROMAN TESTUDOS

I have finally finished the two sets of 28mm Roman Testudo which I bought from Black Tree Designs about a year ago. It was a long winded labor as I had to pin every shield then arrange each mini so that its shield was in the right place. It took a long time to do this and I resigned myself to just plugging away until it was done. Pinning everything and gluing it with epoxy paid off as when I was varnishing one of the sets the ladder which leans on the wall of the garage decided that it was going to fall onto the figures and knock them across the concrete floor of the garage. When that happened I thought that the set would have been smashed up but it was intact and the only damage was a couple of minor paint chips off the rims of three shields. I fixed those up easily. Well here are the two sets side by side. Woe betide any foe that thinks they can hide behind their walls from this lot.

 

28mm TESTUDO IN ACTION!

Here is my latest 28mm Testudo in a suitable setting. 

The Minis are Black Tree design.

OPERATION SCAMPER 28mm MODERN AFRICAN WARGAME

Here are some photos from Operation Scamper which we played today. The Team had to extract three ambassadors - Sir Leslie Ponsonby (UK), Madame LeBrusque (France) and Sir Les Paterson (Australia) from a situation in which fanatical Militia were running amok. The team managed to do this without any harm coming to ambassadors although the diplomats got plenty wet and dirty in the process. It was not looking too flash for the Team at one stage but late in the game the Team managed to call in an airstrike (to do this they needed a 10 on a d10) which took out the bridge and killed a large number of Militia - one Team member then swam the river, recovered a boat on the far bank and used it to get everyone across and to the LZ. They did this one turn late but successfully called the Helo to delay its arrival for one turn. Two Team members were lightly wounded and one was killed. The killed guy was wounded and sheltering behind a jeep when he was swarmed by Militia. There was nothing anyone could do to help him at the time. The players all played members of the Team. The Militia appearances and actions were all determined by umpire dice rolls. Sometimes the Militia did nothing but sometimes they went crazy and attacked in a frenzy - this is what happened when they swarmed the wounded guys. Four local force soldiers were killed (three crew of the armored car and one grunt) and two heavily wounded. Late in the game three of the local force guys bugged out and stole a jeep then drove off the table - the jeep was ambushed by Militia and one of the fleeing soldiers was killed but it was not the driver and the jeep made its escape. 

All the minis used in the game were 28mm. The table was about eight feet long and four feet wide. We used a set of house rules based on the Force on Force rules with a touch of Disposable Heroes. The game lasted for about five hours. Everyone who participated had a good time and enjoyed the game. 

 

  Some views of the table

  

 What all the fuss was about!

 

 The column enters the table

 Militia rush out of the bush attempting to attack the column - 

the Team made short work of them

The column led by the armored car cautiously approaches a shanty town - there was no knowing where the enemy would be. You can see a Militia Technical hiding behind one of the hovels.

 Alerted by the sound of firing Militia emerge from the bush

 More Militia move towards the action

 The Team thinking about the best thing to do.

 Still thinking about the best thing to do.

A wounded Team member and a wounded local force soldier shelter behind their jeep, Militia fire at them. The armored car pulls up behind a sandbag position in an attempt to cover the wounded men.

 Crummp! The armored car is hit by an RPG and brews up. Damn!

 The Militia swarm out and kill the two wounded men at the jeep.

More Militia rush across the bridge - little did they know that the Team had managed to call in an airstrike and that the bridge was its target.

 Militia come out of the bush and discover a nice big truck sitting all alone on the road

The ambassadors are shepherded by two team members through the long grass - Sir Leslie's white Tux was getting quite soiled and Madame LeBrusque's hair was a mess. Sir Les on the other hand did not give a toss.

The Team and two local force soldiers engage a group of Militia who rushed at them. The Team was confronted several times by Militia doing this but each time managed to destroy their attackers.

 

The Team had succeeded in extracting the Ambassadors and the game was over but the real prize was the cool big truck now in the possession of the Militia - just the thing to impress the locals

28mm Napoleonics: 2nd game with 1 page rules.

Westphalians v Bavarians – part zwei

I decided to do a rematch using more or less the same troops as last time but with an extended table. Some crossroads and a village are the main features, plus a few hills and wooded areas. Main idea was to take and control the crossroad. Each side had 2 infantry and 2 cavalry brigades. The Bavarians (with completed basing this time) had a heavy battery as their main advantage. The Westphalians had a brigade of heavy cavalry as their main advantage. The heavies ended up being the difference. Very powerful against poor old light cavalry.

Brett came along and he controlled half the Bavarians. Richard placed his heavy cavalry brigade directly in front of the Bavarian light cavalry as soon as he saw the opportunity. The combat ended up being mostly one-sided and Richard opened up a flank by turn 5 so another clear win to the Westphalians. Horse artillery (1 per cavalry brigade) was effective and used aggressively on both sides.

We discovered a few more clarifications were needed regarding the countercharge sequence and evade distances but overall it was a smooth game. Once the fighting starts, a lot can happen in a turn when morale starts taking effect. The importance of having rear support and secure flanks kicks in. The Reserve move phase is also important as it allows each side to move any units that haven’t moved that turn to push into gaps or even exploit them. Brett and Richard started to appreciate the skirmish rules a bit more and used them quite well.

A couple of times we thought of adding a few interesting rules but then decided it defeats the point of having a simple set of rules to play a complex period. They may, one day, even get to 2 pages long. But I think, at least for now, keeping it easy and fudging the tricky stuff is good enough.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 Westphalians lined up

 Bavarians lined up

 Table view

 First turn movement

 Advancing on the village

2^nd turn movements

 Westphalian Light Cavalry

 Cheeky bugger Horse Artillery

Westphalians forming a battle line

 

Fighting starts for the village

Westphalian Heavy Cavalry push back the Bavarian Light Horse

 The gap created by the heavies 

Firefight starting 

Heavies pushing around the Lights again



 

 
 

 Mirror image on this side of the village

Westphalian guns send a Bavarian line unit packing

Heavies dispatch one cavalry unit with ease – one to go

Refusing the line, just as the Bavarian village defenders run away

  No more Bavarian cavalry on this flank as the Westphalians smell victory

Close up of imminent defeat

One Westphalian unit routs – albeit temporarily

 

Reserves push into the stalemate fight for the village as the game is called in favour of the Westphalians

 Notes on rules

The rules in their current form