ACW - Battle of Stones River

Last weekend saw another get together of the loose association that is the Old Guard gaming group. We were playing another ACW battle , this time with further increased forces as some of the guys had been busy with the brush.  I am really enjoying the visual effect of the 10mm where we can get a decent amount on the table

The heat of battle!

Angus, John, Stewart, Stig and Pete - Martin and James were playing a ww2 game too.

The initial reb assault on my position took the fence line !

further down along the fence line was dig leg lined with union troops 

extended line on the flank with my freshest unit against Angus's troops 

Union reserve arrives to bolster my failing units

More union troops advance

Union forces mass to assault the hill .

Certainly getting a good visual effect "en masse"

the ammo wagon is urgently needed

a tough fight for the hill - it ended pretty much a draw!

Overall a great days gaming.

I am looking forward to attending the Crisis show in Antwerp next week and meeting up with a number of people - oh and of course getting some new shiny things!

ACW - Battle of Brawners Farm 1862

Yesterday saw the guys from the "The Old Guard" club get together to play our first 10mm ACW game which has been the group project for the year. We were using Regimental Fire & Fury for the rules. I was doing the umpire role - feeding on the various reinforcements etc.  The battle is a small part of Second Manassas.

I do think 10mm works particularly well for this period - great mass effects

The set up 

James's Confederates at the farm

Stewarts Black hat brigade in the centre and the cornfield

Johns Georgians enter in the middle - I sense a rebel yell coming oN

The firing starts 

James's Crack Virginians units gives fire 

Its find a fence time! 19th Indian took severe punishment - but still stanidng 

Petes Brigade , North Carolina , Atlanta and Georgian appear on the hill opposite Martin

Martin deploys his Wisconsin boys into extended line to face the threat

The blows are being traded - the Union units are however coming off worse as Stewart keeps  rolling 1's 

Johns Georgians are well into the cornfield charging the union defenders in the wood

the union left begins to fall back - losses are mounting - and the union army reaches Heavy Casualty levels  

The union right is under real pressure.... and it finally gives ... 

Happy Gamers - James, John, Pete, Martin and Stewart

Overall a Confederate victory as they had held the cornfield by the end and inflicted heavy losses on the Union. Stewarts dice found 1 a hell of lot - and the rebels seemed to find 10 a lot! At one point it looked like it would be a run away Confederate victory , but the Union guys stuck at it , and the units did not run way and managed to chip away at their attackers , doing a decent bit of damage in the end.

Most of the guys have not played the rules before - but by the end of the game all were well on the way with them. We had used most of the troops the guys have painted (plus Angus and Stig who were not there have some too) . The consensus was we need more troops!! and we are planning a bigger battle for the Battleground show in November.

a good day out

Gaming - The Battle of Noyers - Normandy 1944

The last weekend saw another of the regular large all day games put on by the loose association that is the Old Guard Wargame "Club" at Scruton just outside Northallerton.  We have been taking in turns to run various games for people and this time James  (The Mad Tin Hatter blog) was up.

James was bringing his wonderful 15mm WW2 Normandy collections - he has been really dedicated to it and has produced some fine models and figures.  He also provided a write up of the battle plan and various OOB.  The rules were to be Flames of War version 4 - with a few minor tweaks and mods by James.

Classic Normandy - advancing through the cornfields

The battle was one that James's grandfather fought in and was part of an overall campaign that will be visited by the sound of it.

We had a table 11 foot by 6 to play on - 6 of us would be British (4 infantry/tank sections - 1 Funnies , and one Command and Support elements ) and we would be playing down the length of it . A main change was that James was running the Germans on his own with hidden deployment - we would have to spot things . As we captured various points represented by green tiddly winks a roll on a random event table would take place - sometimes good - sometimes bad!  - but it made for a great game ... 

The attack started with two platoon and tanks - with Martin on the east and Steve on the West attempting to capture the village and the railway line. Myself and new boy Angus would bring on the the other two infantry /tank sections to push through . Stuart had the various Funnies - Crabs, Crocodiles and Petards. for dealing with stubborn resistance and difficult jobs. John sat at the back polishing his mortar ammunition and pleading for more artillery support... 

looking toward the first British objective

The railway station was objective 2

Objective 3 at the far end the town of Noyers itself

Jump off east side - Martins

Jump off west side  - Steves

German in the village make themselves known

A sharp eyed Sherman gunner spots a hidden Stug and brews it up... and start to flank the village

On the east side the Brits chase out Germans from the woods. 

A Panther lurks behind the railway station - it would do bloody murder...

More Germans behind the railway line - the AT gun was manned until the very end - they guy deserved a medal...

Brit "Funnies" enter the fray... 

The Panther knocks out its first victim 

Brits continue the advance through the woods into the cornfield  - a heavy MG emplacement is spotted on the hill 

The first objective is captured at bayonet point

Another Stug appear , but quickly falls to allied fire. The Panther knocks out more tanks , and starts to retreat as it gets flanked. 

Having cleared the first two objectives my guys powered through into the cornfield and towards the woods in front of the main town. Johns duff dice would soon arrange a Nebelwerfer barrage on them.

A classic Normandy view i think

The Germans had bugged out back toward the town - the allied armour pushed on - we were running short of infantry. The Panther lurks down the road - occasional kill another tank! Everything we threw at it  bounced off.... until a sherman gor brave and lucky - ! - but that was the high water mark. 

Busy table shot 

Minefields are discovered just beyond the cornfield - more delays... 

They are breached by the flail tank and we advance again into HMG fire - 

While i did not not shoot much and what i shot at I missed  - I covered a lot of ground , and managed not get anything killed - well  only bailed out!  and we could recover that!

  At this point we had played over 10 turns - and 6 hours gaming - it was the British high water mark - just in front of the main town . British Anti tank assets were deploying for the counterattack . the British infant was tired - and most of the Fireflies has been knocked out  by the bloody Panther!

We called it there - and all look forward to the "assault" on Noyers itself in the future.

L-R Angus, Steve,Stuart, John , James  - Martin - Happy Gamers all. 

We had to use bits of terrain from a number of us - and overall it it worked - I would like to see about getting a lighter green mat - so i will have a look at one from Deepcut or Tinywargames i think as it will help things blend in better 

Only two of us had played Flames of War - James and Steve - but we all were picking up fairly quickly - James only had to refer to the rules once all day.  I have played a fair few WW2 games in my time - and while it was new rules - it did give a good feel and seemed to work well - and it was FUN!  

You can read James write up , and Martins write up too 

A number of us are at Partizan where I am putting on another Sudan game - we also have anothe rfull days game planned mid June - Martin is going to run a VBCW game - The Battle for Scruton - Country toffs v workers by the look of it! - looking forward to the games..