Downfall , part I & part II

Prry 28mm Confederate cavalry

box  of unpainted bought for a song at the recent Carboot Sale..

28MM ROMAN ARCHERS

Here are some 28mm Black Tree Designs Roman archers that I have just finished. Nice figures that paint up well.

REGIMENTAL FIRE AND FURY - LEWIS FARM 1865

We played a Regimental Fire and Fury game on Wednesday night of the battle of Lewis Farm 1865. The scenario involved the Rebs attempting to capture a saw mill and a cross road in the last days of the war. Troops on both sides were Veteran with large Yankee regiments facing a mixed bag of Reb regiments many of which were quite small - understandably given the stage of the war. The game ended in a Yankee victory although there were moments when the Rebs managed to put some real pressure on their foes including a glorious moment right at the end of the game when a spirited Reb charge broke a Yankee regiment. In this scenario the Rebs could not replace their ammunition of they ran low and as Warrick, one of the Reb Generals, rolled an extraordinary number of 10s when he was shooting this meant that quite a few Reb regiments were scrounging for cartridges as the battle progressed. Warrick and I played the Rebs, Steve played the Yanks and Peter played God, a role he enjoys greatly. 

The Battlefield with Warrick's boys in the foreground and my boys coming through the trees in the distance. Steve's lads wait to receive the assault.

 My boys going through the trees with the Yanks waiting for them.

Warrick's assault forces the Yank line back, but it does not break and begins to thicken as reinforcements arrive.

 The fight for the saw mill gets close and personal.

 Steve's lads muster at the Saw Mill prepared for anything the Rebs will throw at them.

Undaunted Warrick's brigades surge ahead - despite many of them having by now shot off most of their ammunition.
 

With only two turns to go my boys, with me amongst them, raced ahead breaking a Yankee regiment and grabbing a foothold in the sand pit alongside the saw mill.

The game ends with the Yanks undaunted and holding the saw mill and cross roads, but my boys are in the sand pit all fired up and ready to take on all comers. At least this last act of bravado gave me bragging rights, if nothing else, and I teased Warrick that I would use it to get elected to Congress after the war while he would go down in history as the man who squandered the ANV's precious remaining last ammunition reserves.

RAPID FIRE WW2 GAME - D-DAY +3

We played a big WW2 game using Rapid Fire rules yesterday. The scenario was set D-Day +3 with a US armored column pushing through to relieve US Paratroopers who were holding out in a town against a German counter attack. The German force consisted of  Kampfgruppe consisting of two infantry battalions (one elite) several tank destroyers, quite a bit of AAA and a few light armored cars and half-tracks. The US had one Para Bn already in the town as well as moving onto the table one armored Bn, one armored infantry Bn, recon, artillery and tactical air. The Germans were also inside the town as well as dug in on the approaches to the town. German forces were mostly hidden. The US players knew what part of the town the Germans were already in and concentrated their artillery on that part of town to begin with. As this was happening the US recon was sent forward to scout and over a few turns they located most of the German hidden positions which were then plastered with artillery. Eventually, as planned and hoped for, German losses from the guns reached critical stage and one of their battalions failed its morale and routed from the table while the other elite battalion just hung on. The US tanks then moved up, halted outside panzerfaust range and added to the artillery fire on the German elite battalion with HE rounds from the Shermans - all of this pretty well wiped out the Germans hiding in buildings and fox holes along the US axis of advance. Each time the Germans attempted to deploy their anti-tank assets these were spotted and eliminated by artillery or mortar fire. It was in this way that a German Pzjager tried to spring an ambush but got itself destroyed by artillery fire. With the Germans removed from the pathway of the US tanks they surged forward and into the town to relieve the Paras. The Germans did manage to drive off most of the US aircraft with concentrated AAA fire but this did not have any real affect on how things developed overall. In the end the US lost -apart from some Paras in the town- only one M8 armored car and one Stuart from the relief column. The Germans were pretty well pulverized mostly by US artillery which was the real battle winner on the day. It was a good game that made us all think and try to do the best we could with what we had within the limits of what we had to achieve. 

 US Tac Air always overhead

 US recon did a great job spotting the hidden Germans

 US armor waiting in the safety of the rear area waiting for the chance top break out

 The game in full swing

 The town half held by US Paras

 Elite German troops - dug in and blocking the way

 Shermans line up to pound the Germans

 The US Paras hand on

 US armor arrives in town to relieve the Paras

 Some of the battle winning US artillery

 German armor rolls onto the table

 German AAA kept the USAAF at bay!

Wargames Factory 28mm Bavarian foot..

for my Maurice project