Saturday 17 April 2010

Wargames Weekend: Ashford Ambush

Our first game on Monday was another excursion into the alternative history world which is A Very British Civil War.  This time I decided to try the Too Fat Lardies' WW1 rules Through the Mud & the Blood with the additional rules from the Triumphant Standards supplement.  It was also a chance for me to get my new militia figures to the table along with my Musketeer BEF.

With the Government and Mosleyite forces cracking down on any democratic protest various groups in Kent have decided to take matters into their own hands.

The working class Cinque Ports T&GWU Militia has formed an uneasy alliance with the, mainly upper and middle class, Kent Militia to strike back against the oppressive forces of fascism.  Their first objective is to secure more ammunition for their motley collection of weapons.  To this end they intend to ambush a convoy transporting weapons and ammunition to the Territorial Army barracks in Ashford.

With Lenin, appropriately I think, commanding the Kent and Union militias, I took command of the Territorials and their convoy.  The militia had set up a roadblock and put themselves in some excellent ambush positions.  Unfortunately, someone in the first militia unit was a little over eager and some poor fire discipline led to shots just as the convoy came onto the table!


Fortunately for the militia Captain Darling, in the lead armoured truck, decided that this was likely to be a chance incident rather than a major ambush and decided to drive on whilst returning fire.  He soon discovered his mistake as not only did the Union Lewis gun open up but also the first Kent militia unit under the command of "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps.


The armoured truck carried on until it came under more fire from the second Kent militia unit directed by Mr Chomondley-Warner accompanied by the energetic Oliver Mellors.  Casualties in the truck were high and when the roadblock was spotted the remaining men decided discretion was the better part of valour and ran for it.


Meanwhile Sergeant Jones had deployed his unit behind the hedgerow facing the first Union militia but without a light machine gun was not faring well.  Fortunately the Union militia were having an ideological debate with the Commissar who was accompanying them and so fire from them lessened.


Despite coming under fire itself the convoy had carried on after the armoured truck believing, quite incorrectly, it was the right thing to do.

With the truck having moved past them Barmy's chaps turned their attention to Sergeant Jones and his unit also decided to retire.  Fortunately for the Territorials, Lt. George then arrived with their third contingent and deployed his men and their Lewis gun behind a stone wall on the other side of the road.


Having disposed of the armoured truck, and possibly to keep Mellors busy lest he get up to any mischief, Mr Chomondley-Warner ordered him to advance and capture the ammunition trucks.  Having taken the first truck easily he then came under fire from Lt. George's men, who had by this time been joined by Capt. Darling, and so he returned fire.


The fire now coming in from three separate directions was taking its toll on the remaining Territorials and despite the best efforts of the officers this last group was forced to withdraw.  Although it did give the last truck sufficient time to back away out of trouble.

Overall, the rules gave a fun game and coped with the larger than normal number of figures on the table; however, the smaller Territorial units did suffer badly due to the impact of shock on their lower numbers.  In future I think I would ensure most units were around 10 men if possible.

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