Battle of Spicheren 1870

 At out club Open Day I played in a very nice 6mm game of the Battle of Spicheren in August 1870 as part of the Franco-Prussian War.

The game was played using the Bloody Big Battles rules and some beautifully painted 6mm Baccus figures along with some purpose made terrain.

Here are some photos from the game:

The Battle of Montebello, 20 May 1859

The club meeting last weekend saw me playing a game put on by someone else for a change.  In this case a 6mm game on the Battle of Montebello in the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 using the Bloody Big Battles rules.

Since the scenario has only a relatively small number of units we managed to get two plays of the scenario in, swapping sides between them.

I began with the Austrians but really struggled to untangle my traffic jam of units arriving over the bridges at the table edge caused by an early French cavalry attack.  I then failed to break through the French unit screening my closest objective all through the game and only managed to secure the objective further up the table. I didn't get anywhere near the other two!  So that game ended in a French victory.

In the second game I took command of the French which was a bit of a change as whilst they have less units they were mostly veterans with skirmishers and command stands (something the Austrians lacked!).  I decided to try the same approach as in the first game and charged my cavalry into the front of the Austrian column.  This proved somewhat less successful for me and entirely failed to slow the Austrians down.

Whilst my Austrian reinforcements entered across the same bridges as the core force, in the second game I was facing reinforcements entering from a completely different edge!  Whilst I managed to hold these off my attempt to secure a third objective and thus secure victory failed. So the game ended in a draw.

Not a great performance from me but lots of fun.

6mm War of Spanish Succession

One of the chaps from the club is keen on the War of Spanish Succession, so much so he has developed his own ruleset for it - designed particularly for his impressive 6mm collection.

Here are a couple of photos from the game:

1/300 Napoleonics

I managed to get along to the Maidstone club on Saturday for the first time in quite a while and got another chance to play in a 1/300 Napoleonic game.  I was on the  Franco Bavarian side in command of the Bavarian Division and facing the Prussians.

Having surveyed the terrain, our plan was to deploy in depth in the centre with the French in the lead, the my Bavarians followed by our French Cavalry and to use the cavalry to screen any Prussian advance on our right flank whilst the French attacked on our left.

The Prussians deployed all three of their Divisions on our right and advanced down the table using a stream to cover their right flank.  Our French Division advanced around their flank and crashed into their right hand division whilst their left hand division was focussed on trying to push our Cavalry out of the way.

I had deployed one of my Bavarian brigades and the artillery on some hills to our centre and acted as a hinge for our line whilst holding one brigade in reserve.  With the French assault making headway I added a couple of my unit to the fray but was coming under increasing pressure to my right.  After an artillery bombardment our French cavalry was thrown back by their infantry but my Bavarian cavalry stepped into the breach and continued to hold them up.

With our time running out the Prussian division on our left began to withdraw after a valiant fight but having sustained heavy casualties.  The Prussian central division decided to assault my artillery and infantry support but were thrown back decisively on my left; however, despite the artillery using canister they broke through my right.  But it wasn't enough and the day was ours.

Here are a couple of photos - apologies for the quality but I forgot my proper camera (doh!) and was left with only the rather poor one on my phone:

My Bavarians follow up the French advance

The Prussians advance

The Prussians about to move through the town

Cavalry on our right French then Bavarian

The Battle of Susangerd, 16 January 1981

For the final game of the weekend Lenin rolled out his extensive 1/300th modern collection for an Iran-Iraq engagement.  The scenario was originally for GHQ Micro Armour and can be found here.

I took command of the Iraqis - despite being moustache impaired (something which would have severely limited my progress in the Baath party I suspect!) and Lenin the Iranians.

Lenin has chosen Modern Spearhead as, whilst we know it has some weaknesses (not least as a result of the limitations of a d6), we haven't found another set which works.

We both drew our maps and our command arrows and unleashed our armoured forces onto the table.

We both had the advantage of helicopter support - in my case some Hinds - which I managed to use to good effect on their first turn.

And then the Iranians countered with their helicopters!

The game was mostly one of attrition with my T62s and T55 holding their own against the Iranian M60A1s but their Chieftains were another story entirely - they went through my tanks like a hot knife through butter!  Only my single regiment of AMX30s could stand up to them and they didn't last too long.  In the end I had to fall back with my remaining tanks but then the Iranians called in some air support!

In a last ditch effort I eventually managed to call in my air support but it was all over bar the shouting...