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Edinburgh Wargames Journal
Issue 8 - December 2006 and January 2007
Periods featured in this Issue: Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Second World War (15mm),
WW2 Coastal Forces(1/600), Colonial (28mm) & Vietnam (10mm)
This is a strange time of year - a month filled with parties, hangovers, distractions and fast-emptying wallets! However, we might managed to get a little gaming in, and who knows what Santa will put in the stocking. We've got a few fun tings planned, so drop by and see what we're getting up to... I'd also like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, I hope that Santa buys you some cool lead, and of course all the best for the New Year when it comes around.
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Austro-Prussian War of 1866 - The Battle of Koniggratz (On to Richmond) 15mm
It isn't often that you get the chance to play a game with about 2,500 figures (even if they are 15mm), so when I was asked to take part in a refight of K–niggr”tz then I jumped at the chance. Wargame buddies Colin Jack and Bill Gilchrist planned to sell their old 1866 figures, but before the lead went onto E-Bay they planned one last hurrah.
I played the role of the Crown Prince of Prussia, commanding the First Army, whose goal was to pin the Austrians in place while two smaller flanking armies - Second Army on the left and the Army of the Elbe on the right - smashed into the Austrian flanks and rear. Well, thats how it worked historically anyway. Like any refight, things didn't exactly go according to plan! Poor Dave O'Brian commanding my III Corps on my left spent the first six turns trying to move out - and failing his activation rolls every time. This meant the attack on the Sweipwald wood went in way behind schedule, exposing the flank of my IV Corps which headed straight for the Austrian centre. Even worse, the Army of the Elbe got into serious difficulty around Nachitz, so the only attack of any note was taking place against the centre of a rather powerful Austrian line.
Fortunately the Austrian commanders (most of which were charmingly rated "Poltroon" in the game) weren't too good at activating their Corps either, and then rather obligingly they committed their reserves piecemeal against my centre. Thank goodness for the Dreyse rifle, which blew 'em away with Teutonic efficiency. Another highlight was the IV Corps cavalry, which rode through a large gap in the Austrian line and captured the Austrian commander Benetek and his entire staff.
Finally the Prussian Second Army arrived, and although they made slow progress at first, the Guards managed to clear the heights above Chlum, and the game ended with the Austrians calling a general withdrawal. Although the Austrian team performed better than their historical counterparts, the Prussian victory was still pretty convincing. A good time was had by all. As for the rules, we used a slightly modified ACW set called Road to Richmond, which seemed to work fairly well.
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World War 2 - The Ardennes 1944 (Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier) 15mm
This summer I finally sold off the last of my 15mm WW2 collection - a large American army. All I kept was a small force which I'd based in snow and mud - ideal for the Battle of the Bulge. Well, my wargame buddy Kevan Gunn has Germans done the same way, and terrain to match. Given the proximity to the anniversary of the campaign we decided to do a Bulge game, set around the fighting at "Parker's Crossroads" a few miles north of Bastogne.
I'm sorry for the picture quality, but nobody had a camera that night, so these were taken by a mobile phone. Still, you get the idea. A hastily-formed American blocking force set up in the crossroads hamlet, where it was assaulted on all sides by the beastly Huns. Within the first few turns most of the American armour had turned into smoking wrecks, but it proved harder to winkle out the infantry, who were still grimly holding on when the time came to pack things up.
Although there's little doubt the Germans would have won in a few more turns, merely surviving until the end of the night gave the Americans something of a moral victory! As usual the rules were Dave Brown's excellent Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier system.
If you want to try out the scenario for yourself, you can download it here as a Word file: Parker's Crossroads .
Please, let me know how you get on.
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WW2 Naval - Coastal Forces - Mediterranean (Attack with Torpedoes) 1/600th
We hadn't brought out the MTBs and E-Boats for a while, so I decided to run a Coastal Forces game, set in the Mediterranean. Both sides ha convoys - a two ship resupply convoy for the Germans, and a battered tanker limping home for the British. Both sides also had attack groups - MTB's and rather un-historic PT Boats for the Allies, and E-Boats and Italian MAS Boats for the Axis. The battle was fought at night - obviously we wanted to see the lead, so we didn't kill the lights - it would only upset the fantasy and role-players in the corner. Normally that wouldn't worry me, but I was convinced it was the season of goodwill! Anyway, the night convoy picture below is how it really should have looked - courtesy of Adobe Photoshop.
The Allied Attack Flotilla - and the German convoy (with the lights dimmed and no flash) - after all, it was a night action!
While the E-Boats hugged the coast before coming roaring in towards the stricken tanker, the Allied commander peeled off his PT Boats to cover the convoy, then swept in from seaward to pick off the Axis convoy, which was heading for the cover of some coastal sandbanks. A lucky few shots from the Flaklighter (aka "The Death Star") sank two MTBs with direct hits from its 105mm guns, while another boat was ripped apart by 20mm shells - taking an Italian VAs boat down with it. However, just before they were hit the MTB's fired off a salvo of torpedoes which hit and destroyed the larger of the two Axis freighters. it was an expensive way to sink her, but at least the British boats did their job.
On the other side of the table the E-Boats and MAS boats made their run, losing one boat in the attack. Another was crippled by a direct hit from the trawler HMS Burray, but the British lost a "Dog boat" in the scrap, which probably was a fair exchange. Unfortunately for the Germans their torpedo spreads all missed, so as the game ended their commander ordered his boats to disengage and head out to sea - the plan being to reload and make another run. Unfortunately the game ended before we fought that leg of the action through.
We're still not sure who won, but we all had fun, and the game looked good! As
for rules we used Dillon Brown's Attack with Torpedoes, a set which I
believe is about to be reprinted by Partizan Press / Caliver Books. They're not
perfect, and we introduced our own house rules to cover turning and torpedo
firing (which still need to be tweaked). However, the firing system, the pace of
the game and the ease with which the system can be picked up are all big plusses
in favour of Dillon's set.
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Vietnam - Helicopter Game (Low Level Hell) 10mm
OK, we messed up again. Once more there was no duty camera flunkey, so these were snapped using my mobile phone - which I don't know how to work. Still, you'll get the idea of the thing. Edinburgh wargaming grognard Jack Glanville laid on a Vietnam game using 10mm figures. Most players commanded a single helicopter, while one lucky guy played the NVA.
Each group of players had a mission, which was largely forgotten once the shooting started as panic and self-preservation kicked in. It seemed as if we were choppering into an area crawling with NVA, and we began losing ships all over the place. In the end it became so bad that we had to call in reinforcements. As for me, I was shot down without hitting a thing, although in the last turn my replacement ride - a Cobra - destroyed a couple of trucks, an NVA group, and helped destroy a machine gun bunker.
Outstanding, Red Team. Get ya' a case of beer for that one...
The only problem with the game is that Jack might have had cool-looking helicopters, but he lacks all but the most basic idea of wargaming aesthetics - so he's more than happy flying choppers designed for 10mm figures past trees suitable for 25mm figures! We'll have to have a word with the old duffer before he lays on the game again! Still, the game was fun, and everyone had a good time. The rules were called Low Level Hell, a set dreamed up by the South London Warlords as a 1/76 scale demo game for Salute. they were published in Miniature Wargames (I forget when exactly), but if you want more info. you can click on their link.
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World War 2 - Normandy 1944 (Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier) 15mm
I've been talked into playing quite a few 15mm games lately. While I usually try to avoid the scale, its still very popular in the Edinburgh Club, and sometimes you just have to go with the flow. This one was based on Operation Bluecoat - the British punch south of Caumont in late July and early August 1944. For once I was playing the Nazis - a task I also try to avoid whenever I can.
Well, the British 11th Armoured led the attack, and had more tanks and artillery missions than common sense demanded. I think the aim was to hang on until the end of the evening, which we did (more or less), more thanks to Allied caution than anything else. Still, the game looked pretty, and it was good to see the Germans get a bit of a kicking... even though I was one.
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The Indian Mutiny (In the Heart of India) 28mm
Well, after weeks of painting my Indian Mutineers were finally able to take the field. We set up a large 8' x 6' table, with a beleaguered British compound at one end, and a town in the middle. A British relief column had to fight their way through t the compound - which sounded pretty straightforward.
The British managed to get into the town itself, only to meet a mob of Badmash bazaar scum coming the other way. Although the Badmash were shot to pieces, then driven off, they distracted the British long enough for the Ghazi Muslim fanatics to storm in, locking the Guides in combat. The fight continued for the rest of the game, stalling the British advance, and allowing both sides to filter more units into the town.
Over at the compound the siege lines were held by more rabble, which left the Mutineers themselves to concentrate on the relief column. Nikolas, our Polish gamer decided to attack the compound, mainly because he didn't have much else to do in the game. The defenders caused huge amounts of casualties, but numbers were on the side of the Indians, who drove the British from one of the two strongpoints, and were on the verge of completely overrunning the defence when the game ended.
British firepower was phenomenal - and halfway through the game we dropped the handicap on Indian units having to spend a turn reloading. it just made them useless - and they were already penalised by both morale and shooting ability (the British firing further, and with more effect due to their rifled muskets). Still, in the end the game was declared a tactical victory for the Mutineers, who not only managed to stall the relief column, but also all but wiped out the defenders of the compound.
As you can see, the game was very pretty, and it might have spurred us on to do more games like this sometime soon.
As for rules, we used In the Heart of India, a home-grown variant of Chris Peers' In the Heart of Africa rules.
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