Angus  Konstam's Edinburgh Wargames

Edinburgh Wargames Journal

Issue 1  -  March 2006

Periods featured in this Issue: "Back of Beyond" (28mm), American Civil War Naval (1/600),

 Second World War (20mm) & WW2 Pacific Naval (1/2400)

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Second World War -  France 1940  (Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier) 20mm

We played five games this month. The first was a Second World War affair where my BEF took the field against the Nazi hordes. The scenario called for a unit of Divisional Cavalry (all Universal Scout Carriers and Vickers Mk. VIb light tanks to hold off the spearhead of Rommel's 7th Panzer Division - or at least his reconnaissance units.

It was based on an action fought by the Lothians & Border horse in May 1940, when the Scots' got thumped.

I didn't hold out much hope, but like true cavalrymen the boys forced their way into the town, shot the Germans up a bit, then pulled back to where their infantry supports were deployed.

                The inevitable German counter-attack was pushed back,

                      so I claimed at least a moral victory!

The rules were the superb but dreadfully named Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier by Dave Brown, which produce realistic and fast-moving games - which is a pretty incredible feat for a WW2 set!

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Back of Beyond Campaign - Central Asia, 1918-22 (Contemptible Little Armies / Back of Beyond) 28mm                                 

The next game was part of the Club's "Back of Beyond" campaign, which saw my Turks landing on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea - part of their master plan to resurrect a Turkish Muslim empire in Central Asia! The plan was to land and secure the port of Krasnovodsk, after launching an expedition from Baka, on the far side of the Caspian.

They struggled ashore, only to be met by a storm of bullets. I learned not to mix it with the Cheka in close combat, but in the end the Turks won through with the help of their machine gun barges and supporting gunboats.

It pays to keep your guns mobile! I have to admit it was touch and go near the end, but I won through by avoiding close combats and relying on firepower (and my irregular Turcoman allies) to do the job. "The Back of Beyond" uses the Contemptible Little Armies rules by Chris Peers, which always produce enjoyable games, even though (or partly because) they're incredibly bloody!

The gunboats were made from card

   -  kits I bought from Riveresco in Canada.

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American Civil War Naval - Mississippi River (Smoke on the Water)  1/600

Next up I played an American Civil War naval game, using Smoke on the Water rules. It was set on the Mississippi, and pitted the CSS Arkansas and a small cottonclad ram against two Cairo Classs river ironclads, backed up by the USS Queen of the West. Oh, and the Confederates had a shore battery, which landed up doing most of the damage.

USS Cincinnati                                                                                  CSS Arkansas

y the end of the night honours were fairly even, with both sides battered and limping. The rules worked pretty well, although we missed out many of the ones we thought might slow the game down, like taking account of the river current, or the chances of suppressing the shore battery through gunfire.

The next game will no doubt be bigger and more complicated, but you have to  learn to play in mud puddles before you can play in the big blue ocean! The "M" at the stern is a speed marker, but we plan to replace those with wake counters - one for slow, two for medium and so on, which will look much cleaner.

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Second World War - Normandy 1944 (Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier)  15mm

Next was another Second World War fight, this time in 15mm. This scale remains popular in the Club, particularly for late war games. This involved a  British attack during the final phase of the Normandy campaign, with the British expanding south from Caen towards Falaise.

The advance came up against a German-held village, which had to be cleared if the advance was to continue. The German player made the best possible use of the terrain, and really caused us problems- hit machine gunners pinning down one British company and his mortars and small-arms beating up another.

However, by the end of the game the British were pushing armour on down the road past the German strongpoints, while the infantry reserves were being brought forward to clear out the last pockets of German resistance.

Battered but ultimately victorious was probably the best way to sum up the British pyrrhic victory! 

My British colleagues Jim and Derek felt as bruised by the grinding encounter as I did, while little Kevan the German was chuckling away to himself every time he revealed another hidden machine gun nest.

As usual we used Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier.

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Second World War Naval - Pacific (General Quarters)  1/2400

My last game of the month was a another naval affair. You don't play one for ages and then, like buses, they all come along together! This was a refight of the First Battle of Guadalcanal (November 1942), a night action fought with my GHQ 1/2400 ships, and General Quarters Rules played on a 8' x 6' table.

We set visibility at 24", but the Japanese had a 4" sighting bonus, which meant they could see the Americans, but they couldn't see them back. They knew they were out there though - the US cruisers and lead destroyers all carried radar  -which could help shooting at ranges of 30" or less.

Hiei

Worse, the Japanese also had two battleships - the Hiei and the Kirishima, which spent the game keeping their distance and demolishing a US destroyer each turn!

The Japanese also had the best of the torpedo duel, as the light cruiser USS Helena went down amid a storm of Long Lances. She spent the rest of the game as a puff of cotton wool on the table, as did every other American destroyer to succumb to  enemy 14-inch shells.

The only American success came late in the game when the destroyer Samidare was torpedoes - although several Japanese ships were the worst of wear, especially the light cruiser Nagara. My Americans eventually called it a night and limped off, leaving the Japanese player crowing all the way to the bar!

I'm not especially a fan of General Quarters, but in this game - and with a few "house rule" modifications - they worked reasonably well. More importantly the game moved right along, despite the number of ships involved, which is a testimony to the simplicity of the rules system.

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