Abbeville: The Somme 1940 - Blitzkrieg at Zoteux

I ran a small scenario for Chain of Command from the Abbeville: The Somme 1940 Pint Sized Campaign book using 28mm figures.

The scenario was set on 5th June 1940 and saw a platoon from the 51st Highland Division defending against a platoon from the 5th Motorised Infantry Regiment of the 2nd German Infantry Division attacking.  The British took a roadblock and a 2 pounder anti-tank gun as their support whilst the Germans chose two additional squads (one of Pioneers and one regular infantry) and a Panzer IV.

This particular scenario was based on the Blitzkrieg scenario from the Blitzkrieg 1940 Handbook for Chain of Command with some adjustments.

Here are some photos from the game:

The game ended with the Germans victorious and the blitzkrieg continuing!

I was going to provide some links to the Lardies' website but it is being reconstructed at the moment as a result of a catastrophic server outage.

Afghantsy

Last weekend was our club Open Day and I put on a 28mm game from the Soviet Afghan War using the Force on Force rules.

The scenario was a sweep and clear operation by Soviet forces designed to flush out an eliminate Mujahideen fighters who had been attacking the Soviet's supply convoys.  The Soviets had a motorised infantry platoon in three BTR-70s and the Afghans had three small teams on board with variable reinforcements arriving during the game.

We played the game twice with the players swapping sides and then determining the overall winner based on the total points from both games.

Here are some photos:

Combat Patrol in the Pacific

On a recent visit to my friend Lenin’s I got a chance to play Combat Patrol for the first time using his Pacific figures collection.

I took the part of the Japanese forces defending an island against a US Marine amphibious landing.

The rules have a little learning curve getting used to the multi-purpose cards but the game was fun and I would like to give it another go.

Here are a couple of photos of the game:

Friekorps und Spartacist

Last weekend I paid a visit to my friend Lenin and we played a number of games. Unfortunately, I stupidly forgot to take photos of some of them but I did remember for this one.

This was the first outing for the Freikorps und Spartacist rules by Stephen Danes using my Empress figures.  The game covers skirmishes during and following the German Revolution which saw the right and left political movements taking up arms across parts of Germany.

One of the key elements of the game is the asymmetric deployment which helps to represent the different nature of the two sides (hence the markers you will see in some of the pictures.  There are also groups of civilians who can become hostile to the Freikorps if roused.

The two factions consisted of Freikorps and armed police facing off against Spartacists and red sailors.  I took command of the Freikorps but was seriously hampered by an unlucky roll during the deployment phase with only my machine gun unit starting on the table whilst the Spartacists managed to deploy their entire force.  Fortunately I did get some reinforcements during the game but I never quite recovered (I am contemplating some house ruling here if I play this with more than two players).

Here are some photos from the game:

The game was a lot of fun and seemed to capture the essence of the period.  So I will be investing in more terrain and fielding a few more figures (and possibly an armoured car or A7V next time!)

Normandy 1944 - Big Chain of Command

At our last club meeting I played in a 28mm game of Chain of Command (using the Big Chain of Command supplement) which saw elements of the 1st Polish Armoured Division engaging elements of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend.

I provided one of the Polish infantry platoons and some of the game accessories; and it was nice to be just playing in a game rather than having to organise it.

We fought hard but struggled to dislodge the SS forces and the game ended ina draw.  We could have done with some artillery support but the forces were set by the organiser (but then a bad workman always blames their tools don't they!).

Here are some photos from the game:

General d'Armee 2

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to play a game of the new Second Edition of General d'Armee umpired by no less than the author himself! 

The game was at the Herts Volunteers and was a 28mm outing in the Peninsular War.

As usual I was a commander on the French side of the engagement facing one of the two villages in the centre of the table (in my case made up of two sections one of which was fortified).  I did manage to successfully assault and take the unfortified section but couldn't hold on to it and took heavy casualties.

Here are some photos from the game:

Second edition GdA isn't a radical departure from the original, it's more of evolution rather than revolution with some streamlining of mechanisms.  Having played the first edition a couple of times I found the transition pretty straightforward and will be playing these again (using other people's figures as I don't have enough suitable ones of my own!)