Angus Konstam

Periods featured in this issue: Second World War (12mm), Indian Mutiny, Seven Years War,

Second World War, English Civil War, and 1938: A Very British Civil War (all 28mm)

Second World War: Assault on Tobruk, April 1941 (Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier) 12mm

While we've played a lot of Second World War battles before, this was the inaugural game of a new theatre and a new scale. The scenario (available as a free download at the end of the article) is based on an uncharacteristically hasty German dawn attack on the Tobruk perimeter on 14th April 1941. We started the game with the pioneers of the 5th Light Division (soon to be 21st Panzer) having established a "bridgehead" over the anti-tank ditch that formed the outer defence line. The panzers of the 8th Panzer regiment were ready to exploit this, by launching a drive north to seize Kings Cross - a junction of the Via Balbia road a mile or so to the east of Tobruk. Similar tank-heavy tactics had served the Germans well in France, when the defenders did the sensible thing and surrendered. Unfortunately for Rommel, nobody had explained this to the waiting Australians, or the gunners of the Royal Horse Artillery...

The German tanks drove forward, and almost immediately they ran into a belt of mines. One tank was damaged, and another destroyed. First blow to the defenders. On the right of the German advance lay a defensive emplacement, surrounded by mines and wire. The Germans pummelled it with artillery, trying to silence the anti-tank guns and machine guns harassing the German columns. One by one the defenders there were forced from their guns, and the German advance continued. The advance of course, was a slow one, as first the men with the mine detectors had to clear paths through the minefield. Once that was done, the panzers began filtering through the lanes, and spreading out in the open desert beyond.

That was when they encountered "The Blue Line" - the inner ring of defences. Over on their left was another defensive box of infantry, but it lacked the weaponry to harm the German tanks. More of a threat was the battery of 25-pdrs., dug in beyond the Via Balbia. These guns began firing over open sights, and the leading wave of panzers were hit hard, with tanks destroyed or damaged and forced to retire. Over on the German right a brace of portee-mounted 2-pdrs. appeared, and began a duel with the German armour. They weren't as lucky as the 25-prs. - only one German tank was damaged before they were both knocked out.

Still, the German momentum had been lost, largely because the regimental command tank had just been destroyed by the gun battery. It was at that point that the Commonwealth reinforcements arrived - a squadron of A-10 cruiser tanks - not a particularly serious threat - and a solitary Matilda II, which entered behind the small POW compound on the Tobruk road. To add to the German woes the long-awaited Stuka support finally arrived - and the plane failed to acquire a target. It was now clear that the Germans wouldn't be able to reach their objective, so the order was given for the panzers to withdraw, leaving the infantry and anti-tank gunners of the division to hold the breach. In fact, our refight of the battle panned out almost exactly as it did in the real battle - the Germans failed to break through, and they retreated, leaving the infantry to be mopped up by Australian counter-attacks later in the day.

I had some reservations using Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier for such a tank-heavy game, but the rules worked perfectly, and gave us a fast-paced and tense encounter. I'll be up in Orkney for a few weeks, and while I'm there I'll paint up more of this 12mm kit - some British this time. All of the nicely-modelled 12mm figures and vehicles on the table were from Minifigs. As I said after the game, this scale and period "has legs"...

Well, we couldn't really call this The Siege of Krishnapur after the J.G. Farrell novel, as the author was very specific about the layout of the place. Instead we opted for a truly fictitious Indian Mutiny siege rather than one based on historical fiction, with an all-out Mutineer attack on the British-held compound. The British Residency (using the Dilkusha building we built for a show a while back) was defended by two British units - a detachment of the 93rd (Sutherland) Highlanders, an ad-hoc unit of the 61st (South Gloucester) Foot, a unit of Sikh Lancers and a couple of guns. On the "rebel" side there were "fausands of the bleeders" - well, at least a couple of hundred. We weren't counting... The Mutineer force included five regiments of mutinous Sepoys (including one of cavalry), local tribesmen, the bodyguard of a local ruler, Ghazi religious nutcases, the sweepings of the bazaar, and a trio of Sepoy guns.

This was a game of assaults. The guns had blown a breach in the defences, and this became the focal point of three attacks. The Mutineer commander (Angus) had a problem motivating his right-hand brigade, which spent the first five turns watching the battle, rather than joining in. As a result the left-hand brigade went in unsupported. Still, spearheaded by the yellow-turbanned Khazi's Bodyguard, they stormed the breach, and waded into the defenders, only to be repulsed by some nifty defensive work by the British player (Dougie). The bodyguard and the 53rd Bengal Native Infantry were broken, leaving only a unit of tribal irregulars in front of the walls, where they fired on the defenders until they finally broke and fled to join their fellow rebels.

With the second brigade still dithering the Mutineers threw in their reserves - the 1st Bengal Native Infantry, the fanatical Ghazis of Burpha, and the Sepoy Cavalry. This was the make or break assault. In the end it was a pretty conclusive break - after some heavy fighting in the breach. At one point Dougie even resorted to combing the rules for a loophole (see below). He found it. The stalwart defenders passed every "Break Test" thrown at them, and soon all three Mutineer units broke and ran. While I now had little hope that the timorous third brigade could make any difference, they finally broke clear of the cover of Haripur town and launched themselves at the residency walls. In fact, after several turns of failing to move, the whole brigade rolled a "double 1", which meant a hell-for-leather charge.

Inevitably, it ended in tears - at least for the mutineers. The plan was for the badmash rabble to screen the advance - sacrificing themselves so the better-quality troops behind could reach the walls, while my irregular Pindari horsemen rode down the gun that anchored the defence. Instead the whole line halted again - more bad initiative rolls - and were shot up at long range by the 93rd Highlanders. By that time it was after 10pm, and it was clear that the whole assault had failed. Nothing seemed to touch the defences, so the surviving Mutineers were packed away, ready to try it all again another day.

We made the attackers as bad as we could (most were Wavering), while the defenders were considered Crack, and had First Fire. With hindsight while this grading worked pretty well, we should have bumped up the quality of a couple more of the Mutineer units. Also, we gave the defenders the benefit of defending buildings and fortifications. It would be more of a game if we'd downgraded the breach to just "Cover", to give the attackers some chance of fighting their way into it. Still, it was a crackingly-enjoyable game, and a very pretty one. Incidentally, during the game figure painter Brian Phillips showed me a stunning base of Sepoy Cavalry he'd painted up - all beautiful new figures from Mutineer Miniatures. I just wish I'd taken a picture of them. All of my Mutiny figures are Foundry or Old Glory, but these - while slightly bigger - were truly great. I think that inspired me to "re-discover" this period even more than our pretty Mutiny game!" When I'm up in Orkney I can see myself ordering some, and painting them up - even though they won't be as nice as Brian's horsemen.

Rather than using our regular rules Die Kriegskunst, this little game was played out on a 6x4 foot table using a home-grown set Dougie is developing. They haven't really got much further than the "rules on a postcard" stage, but Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Toys of War (working title) have potential. The game involved the Prussians and their Allies defending a line anchored on a village, in the face of a joint Franco-Austrian assault. As Dougie hasn't written rules for skirmishers yet these light troops were included merely for show, but the line infantry and cavalry all managed to wade into the opposition, and the game reached a conclusion in 2 1/2 hours, which means the rules were fairly fast-flowing. Actually, we might have completed it sooner, but there was a lot of drinking going on.

As the game was fought on 17th March - St. Patrick's Day - the attack was led by Dillon's Regiment of the Wild Geese. Being Irish this is a unit I don't mind losing, so I treat them as sacrificial lambs. Their target was Dougie's unit of Highlanders he'd spent the last two weeks painting. Inevitably, they were routed off the field by the Irishmen, creating a hole in the Prussian line. The Wild Geese were duly ridden down by the Prussian green (von Szekeley) hussars, but by then they'd already done their bit. On the Franco-Austrian left flank the Austrian cuirassiers rolled forward, and were counter-charged by their Prussian counterparts. Once again it was the attackers who won the day, and within a few turns the Prussian horse had broken and fled, leaving the whole wing of Dougie's Prussian army hanging in the air.

So far so good. The main infantry assault was less spectacular, as when both sides got within musket range they began a firefight, which ground each side down over time. However, the Prussians and their Allies were outnumbered, and despite the presence of a battery of 12-pounder "brummers" they were slowly getting the worse of the exchange. That was when both commanders launched their hussars, which so far had sat on one side of the table, separated from the main action by a small wood. The French Bercheny hussars charged as soon as the Prussian von Szekley hussars peeled off to deal with Dillon's regiment behind them. The result was a melee where the Prussian red (von Zeiten) hussars were outnumbered and outfought. By then it was clear that the Prussians were about to collapse, and so their commander ordered a general retreat. covered by the two unengaged battalions of Prussian fusiliers and Hanovarian line shown above. That's the fusiliers at the back, behind the depleted Prussian line battalion.

All in all it was a fast and enjoyable game, and Dougie's rules seemed to work, despite many of the mechanics being nothing more than bare bones at the moment. After a month up in Orkney, it was also good to get my troops onto the table again, and next time I might treat my Irishmen with a little more respect!

This was another game I missed, as I was stuck up in Orkney rather than Kirriemuir, but this weekend my fellow members of the League of Gentlemen Wargamers staged a two day Second World War game, loosely based on the drive towards Arnhem. As I wasn't there I'll have to let the pictures do the talking, but this small snippet of a report was supplied by Colin Jack;

This ridiculously large game was fought out by a dozen players over three big tables, and the action was divided into five smaller games, to make things manageable. These smaller games were meant to represent the Allies progress (or lack thereof) as they advanced through Holland towards the Rhine at Arnhem. The first table was a German defensive action in the country, and the second was an Allied river crossing. Apparently, its all a matter of bridges...

The third game centred around a German armoured counterattack as the Allies re-grouped. Finally, the fourth and fifth games were urban engagements, played out as the Allies approached the Rhine. The Germans achieved a marginal victory as both Arnhem and Osterbeek fell before the Allies could reach them. On the day it was all a bridge too far...

That said, it was an Allied player who scored the best individual performance of the weekend, even though he (Adrian) usually favours the square-heads. The highlights of the weekend - and these weekends always produce highlights - included "Panzer Bob's" Tiger surrounded by Shermans, looking a little like Custer surrounded by the Indians, but he still fought on despite receiving countless hits, and a column of British reinforcements appearing, only to have the leading Wasp blow up in a spectacular fireball, thereby halting the whole advance. A good time was had by all - apart from Angus of course, who was stuck in Orkney.

English Civil War: The Siege of Hartlepool, 1644 (Very Civile Actions) 28mm

An ankle injury meant that I missed this game, so my report is very brief, as the details were relayed second-hand. This was a large English Civil War affair, which centred around the fictitious Siege of Hartlepool, set some time in the spring or early summer of 1644. The premise was that a Royalist garrison were besieged there by the Parliamentarians. A Covenanting army was on its way south to reinforce them, in time for the storming of the defences. Meanwhile two Royalist field armies were out to stop them - a main Royalist army led by Prince Rupert, which was approaching County Durham from the south, and a hastily-assembled army of Scots Highlanders, Irish and other ner-do-wells, led by the Marquis of Montrose. Yes, we know Montrose never made it south, but he was always threatening to - and besides, we had the lead!

This was a two day game, fought out in the Lundin Links Hotel in Fife. Day 1 - the Saturday - saw two battles - one near Bishops Aukland between Montrose and the Covenanters, and the other between the forces of King and Parliament. The outcomes would determine what happened in front of the walls of Hartlepool on Day 2 - the Sunday. to cut a long story short Montrose's savages chopped the Covenanters to pieces, which meant that no Scots would appear on the field the next day. It was presumed that after his victory, Montrose would slink back to Scotland, to cause more trouble.

In the second battle, fought somewhere near Newton Aycliffe, the Royalists found themselves outnumbered, but they had a slight edge in troop quality. Unfortunately it wasn't matched by the ability of the Royalist commanders, and after a long hard-fought battle Rupert's malignants were repulsed, and sent running back down the Great North Road towards York. Both parties retired to the bar, for an evening of carousing. Apparently, one of the highlights was the screening of Witchfinder General. As the sound didn't work too well the guys made up their own voiceovers as they went along - a bit like that American show Mystery Science Theater 3000!

On the Sunday the Parliamentarians launched an all-out assault, and all seemed to be going well until their leading commander rolled a series of "1s" at a crucial moment. In the space of two turns the battle turned around, and the game ended with the Royalists managing to hold off the attackers. While no doubt the siege would continue, for the moment the town know for hanging monkeys would remain a bastion of malignancy.

The pictures, by the way, come courtesy of Dave Imrie, whose own figure painting and wargaming blog "Saxon Dog" is well worth a visit.

Acklington, County Durham, 1938 (A Very British Civil War / Triumph & Tragedy) 28mm - Report by Colin Jack

With Angus still up in Orkney, this game report is brought to you by Colin Jack, who's enthusiasm for his ficticious "Very British Civil War" - an alternative history take on the aftermath of Edward VIII's abdication - has led to its development into a fully-fledged "period", with its own particular - and peculiar - style. Here's what he says;

This was the game that our SESWC Club put on at Albanich, the small wargame show held in Dumfries in January. As is usual with display games very little of it got played at the show, as the guys were too busy talking to visitors, and expplaining exactly what !1938" was all about. The scenario revolved around a British Union of Facist and Royalist attack on Acklington airfield, just south of Alnwick. Bill's job as the Socialist commander was to use his miners militias to blunt the attack, which would then leave less for Hugh's better-armed Anglican League defenders to do. As the attackers led with their armour the initial clash was one-sided, and over very quickly. The surviving miners - classed as "raw" militiamen - were soon in retreat. The Anglican League then threw their two Vickers Mark II tanks into the fray, and were soon engaged in a full-scale armoured battle with a Royalist Vickers Mark III tank and a Lanchester armoured car.

Meanwhile, the 2pdr anti-tank gun defending the airfield airfield knocked out the truck transporting one of the Royal Naval Brigade's units, killing several of the passengers. That blunted the advance towards the airfiled - at least for the moment. Dissatisfied with the speed of the attack, Dave the BUF commander (that's him with the glasses) sent his infantry buses up the road at full speed, heading towards the gates of the airfield. The buses even managed to run over several enemy infantry on the way. He also detached his own armour - the massive French tank "Black Prince" - to bolster the Royalist tankers.

Once again the players ran out of time - the danger of putting on a large and complex game on a normal club night. As the game ended, the first bus had reached the gates of the airfield, where it had ground to a halt, while it's passengers were pinned inside and unable to de-bus. Things had been looking bad for the Miners and the Anglican League, until the last-minute arrival of reinforcements. Two "Armadillos" arrived to support the fleeing Socialists - the Armadillo being essentially a pillbox mounted on the back of a truck! The troops in the Armadillos managed to pour fire onto the Fascist column, and so thwart the madcap charge by the buses. They were the heroes of the left - apart from the AT gun and the armour, most of the Anglican defenders never fired a shot! A few more turns might have been interesting, but the time had come to pack our shiny toys away, ready for another outing some other day.

Note from Angus: While I don't have a page dedicated to the Very British Civil War (aka "1938", or "The Third British Civil War"), I've asked Colin to pull something together for you, and with luck we'll be able to post it here in the next few weeks. After all, despite my "bah humbug" protestations that this isn't a "proper" wargames period, Colin really has put a lot of work into it, and turned it into something rather special. The rules he uses are Triumph and Tragedy, and the basics of the alternative history, and the factions involved can be found in the "period" guidebook "A Very British Civil War". I'm sure you can get both publications from Caliver Books.