Journal 1    Journal 2      Journal 3        Journal 4      Journal 5      Journal 6     Journal 7    Journal 8     Journal 9    Journal 10   Journal 11   Journal 12 

   Journal 13   Journal 14   Journal 15   Journal 16   Journal 17  Journal 18   Journal 19   Journal 20   Journal 21  Journal 22   Journal 23  Home

Edinburgh Wargames Journal

Issue 2  - April to May 2006

Periods featured in this Issue: English Civil War (28mm), French & Indian Wars (28mm), Coastal Forces Naval (1/600),

 Second World War  & French Indochina (both 20mm)

Well, with Easter coming up that means that SALUTE is almost upon us. Several of us are heading down to the show, and a weekend of drunken frivolity in the big smoke. The secret is to stash your lead purchases before you go to the pub - otherwise you'll have to try and retrace your steps the following morning, asking bemused bar staff if anyone left a bag of toy soldiers in the place! Don't even ask me what I'm going to buy - apart from more ECW figures I'll play it by ear.

______________________________________

English Civil War    28mm

The first game of the month took place on Sunday 2nd April, an English Civil War game designed to try out the Very Civil Actions rules from The Perfect Captain. It was a small affair, with both sides commanding a regiment of foot and a few squadrons of horse and/or dragoons. After all, with one four-figure base counting as just 50 men, its not really designed to refight Marston Moor! The system was very quick, and great fun was had with the officer characteristics. The lessons learned were - don't use our truly inspirational officers to beef up your charge bonuses unless you really need to - the Royalist cavalry routed immediately their leader was killed! Also, scout out the terrain before you commit your troops - one Parliamentarian squadron spent most of the game circling the village, only to find it couldn't do anything as their path was blocked by walls and hedges! Fortunately the Royalist musketeers elected to come out from cover, allowing themselves to be charged and captured by the sheepish Parliamentarian horse. The fighting in the village itself was pretty straightforward, with victory eventually going to the forces of Parliament. We'll certainly try the system again. Sorry for the picture quality - poor lighting over the table didn't help - but at least you get the general idea of the game.

_______________________________________________________

WW2 Naval - Coastal Forces                1/600

Next up was another naval game, a Coastal Forces scrap using Attack with Torpedoes. A heavily defended German coastal convoy was attacked by a three groups of Allied boats - a mixed bag of American PT Boats and British MTBs and supporting MGBs. All the torpedoes missed, and the attackers were eventually forced to retreat amid a hail of German fire. The Flaklighter was something of a "death star" in the game, and the Allies were lucky to escape with the loss of only two boats. One of the problems with the rules is the way ships can turn away from oncoming torpedo attacks far too easily. We've now adopted fairly simple house rules which stop this nonsense - now ships can't begin their move with a turn, but alter course either in the middle or the end of their move. Next time our "fish" might be able to hit something!

_________________________________________________________

French Indochina  (Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier variant) 20mm

The following Thursday we played a 20mm game set in French Indochina. the idea was that a French parachute company had been dropped as a blocking force, and was now high-tailing it down the road to safety, pursued by hordes of Viet Minh regulars. The game presupposed that part of the VM force had managed to work their way ahead of the French, and a platoon blocked their path at a small village. Unfortunately for the home team the paratroopers made short work of the blocking force, and were therefore able to continue their retreat. The pursuing force was a little more fortunate than their comrades, and caused the French fairly serious casualties when they caught the French in the open paddies beside the village. The tables then turned. Just when the Viet Minh thought they had the enemy cornered a B-26 turned up and dropped its payload of napalm smack in the middle of the village - which by that time was crammed with Viet Minh troops. Needless to say the casualties were horrific, although miraculously the villagers caught in the blast managed to pull off a lucky roll and survive the experience! The game was all but over, but suddenly the French counter-attacked. A surprised Viet Minh player (OK, me.. ) was hard pressed to hold on, and was surprised to find he had virtually no infantry stands left. Of course it turned out that every time I went to the bar or the boy's room the swine of a French player hid another couple of my stands! Revenge will come...

and the reason for having to visit the wee boy's room so often!:

_______________________________________________________

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

Then came another Second World War game. We've been playing an awful lot of WW2 lately, and I apologise to those of you who want to see piccies of other periods! The scenario was based on an attack launched by the 51st Highland Division against the German bridgehead over the Somme near Abbeville on 4th May 1940. The historical attack was an utter and costly failure, but this time the Scots did slightly better. German stukas saw off the supporting French heavy tanks, but the smaller French AFVs supported by a carrier platoon managed to gain a toehold on the German-held ridge by the end of the game - thereby securing a dodgy victory. If we play the same scenario again we'll tweak it slightly to favour the Germans - making their defence more flexible, with more guaranteed support from air and artillery. Still, it was a really enjoyable game - and the victory was all the sweeter because the French player from the previous week (the swine who hid my figures) played and lost with the Germans!

and the bemused German players, wondering where it all went wrong... the beer bottles may help explain it...

Well, its been a slow gaming month for various reasons, although SALUTE was fun, even though I gave in and spent more money than I needed on figures I'll probably never get round to painting. my liver has almost recovered, although my wallet is still in intensive care.

_____________________________________________________

French & Indian Wars     28mm

The next game was one laid on by some gaming chums at the club, involving what appeared to be a jungle dotted with aquarium rock outcrops. Dinosaurs roamed over the table, where they were hunted down by teams of 28mm figures who drove around in Cadillacs. Don't ask me what the hell it was all about, and fortunately our usual cameraman wasn't there. I don't unusually go in for such abstract nonsense, which to me made about as much sense as modern art installations. However, I have to admit it was all quite fun, and therefore I shouldn't be quite so grumpy about it!

Then came something a little more sensible - but only a little. This was another French & Indian Wars skirmish, which involved a patrol of Rangers making its way back to the safety of "the fort". A party of American militia were sent forward to guide them in, which was just as well as the woods seemed to be filled with Abenaki war parties. We used Chris Peers' War in the Forest supplement to his A Good Day to Die rules, and the game was reasonably fast-paced, enjoyable and just a little chaotic. the good thing about this is once you've covered the table with fir trees then you don't need too many figures, as you'll probably lose half of 'em in the greenery

Journal 1    Journal 2      Journal 3        Journal 4      Journal 5      Journal 6     Journal 7    Journal 8     Journal 9    Journal 10   Journal 11   Journal 12 

   Journal 13   Journal 14   Journal 15   Journal 16   Journal 17  Journal 18   Journal 19   Journal 20   Journal 21  Journal 22   Journal 23  Home