Waterloo 2013

I was asked earlier in the year by author Iain Gale

to take part in a Waterloo refight on the weekend of the 198th anniversary of the battle but myself, Angus Konstam, Bill Gilchrist and Colin Jack had already agreed to attend the latest weekend extravaganza from the League of Gentlemen Wargamers and as three of us were the organisers of the event we could hardly pull out.  Iain re-arranged the game for the following weekend but unfortunately I was working and couldn't get up until late on the Sunday afternoon but got there just as my favourite 100 days troops, the Prussians made their arrival.

Although I took loads of photos there is no point in me posting loads here as Bill Gilchrist has posted 129 on his Flickr folder

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157634008989879/

and a two part report on his blog

http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/28mm-waterloo-refight-part-2.html

After two days of gaming the French had managed to capture Hougemont but had failed to break through the Allied line and the Prussians had now arrived on their flank.

Bill Miller on the right as D'erlon tries to explain to me why it wasn't his fault

French commanders Jim Conquor and Ian Carter realise the game is up.

Apart from supplying the fantastic terrain, all the Allied troops and a portion of the French Iain also brought along a selection of artifacts from the battle.

The game was fought with 28mm figures in a 1:40 figure scale and the guys used Black Powder rules to fight all the action.

 

Vietnam - The Big Push

The photo above shows the layout for the large 30'x8' Sunday game devised by Peter Nicolson.

The basic scenario was that the Americans were to demolish the firebase at the base of the photo and set up in a new location which had been started on high ground at the top end of the table. 

They also had a military hospital set up in the middle left hand side which they had to defend as well as recover some Special Forces troops that had been captured by the VC and discover and destroy a VC arms dump.  The VC victory conditions were basically to stop the Americans obtaining their objectives and to cause as many casualties as possible.

Needless to say the good guys, VC won the game by stopping the Americans setting up the new firebase plus we captured the old one, held onto four of the six prisoners we had and retained our arms dump which is just as well as we would need resupplied after destroying so many American boats and armour as well as wiping out loads of their troops.

 

There's no point in me posting any of my pics as Bill Gilchrist and Angus Konstam have already published loads plus reports on their blogs and Bill also has loads of pics on his Flickr account, the link to which can be found on his blog.

http://blenheimtoberlin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/vietnam-28mm-bolt-action-big-game.html

 

http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Journal%2083.htm

Vietnam - Leave No One Behind

This was the 6th scenario I had devised for our LOGW weekend and was really just produced as an extra because we were unsure if one of our members was actually going to able to make it or not.

As things turned out he couldn't get to the weekend so this game wasn't fought on the Saturday but Peter Nicolson who was arranging the big Sunday game liked the scenario so much that he included it in his huge game.  I have really only added it here for completeness.

US Marines – Veteran Troops
Command section in command chopper
1 Lieutenant armed with pistol
3 men armed with M16 assault rifles

Two platoons of 10 men transported in choppers
8 men armed with M16 assault rifles
1 armed with M79 grenade launcher and pistol
1 armed with M60 Lmg

Armed Support
1 Huey Cobra

2 spare transport choppers are available for rescued prisoners or replacement transport.

Local VC Militia - InexperiencedHQ squad
1 leader armed with pistol
3 men armed with rifles

2 infantry squads each with
8 men armed with rifles

1 Lmg in each tower each with 2 men

Vietnam - Bridge at Tou Fahr

 

This scenario was one of six that I arranged for our League of Gentlemen Wargamers weekends and what a scenario it turned out to be with 5 games played and 4 different results varying from complete failure to overwhelming success.  All the details such as map, scenario, special rules and a few photos will be appearing in Charles Grants latest Wargames Annual which will be out later in the year.

Vietnam - Take the High Ground

The 4th game in the list of scenarios was the VC storming an American firebase.

This game was a bit of work in progress as I wasn't sure how it would work until it had been tried a few times but all the guys were happy to play along.

US Army – Regular Troops
Platoon command
1 Lieutenant with M16 assault rifle
3 runners armed with M16 assault rifles
1 medic

2 Platoons of 10 men
9 men armed with M16 assault rifles
1 armed with M60 Lmg

Company support
1 Mmg team
1 Medium mortar team

Artillery Support
2 Light Howitzers

Local VC Militia – Inexperienced
HQ squad
1 leader armed with pistol
3 men armed with rifles

As many infantry squads as we can put out
each with
10 men armed with rifles

 

In the first game the Americans had 3 platoons and the VC started with just 3 squads on table with reinforcements coming on as usual but they struggled to even get up to the wire so in the next game I reduced the Americans to only 2 platoons and the VC started with 5 squads.  This improved the game dramatically and the VC even got over the wire.

 

 

For the next three games I boosted them up to 7 squads and they even managed to assault a few positions and in the final game they finally captured the firebase.

 

 

Vietnam - Foot Patrol

This was the third scenario from the six I organised for the Saturday games.

My original plan had been for Angus Konstam with his Aussies to start off this battle but as he couldn't make it until after lunch I took his place using Americans instead.

The Americans advanced onto the table from the right hand side and had to clear the village of VC forces.  This was one action where depending what happened both sides could claim a victory if the US forces cleared out the village and the VC caused 25% casualties on the enemy.

 

US Army – Regular Troops
Platoon command
1 Lieutenant with M16 assault rifle
3 runners armed with M16 assault rifles
1 medic

3 Platoons of 10 men
8 men armed with M16 assault rifles
1 armed with M79 grenade launcher and pistol
1 armed with M60 Lmg

Company Support
1 Mmg team
1 Medium mortar team

 Local VC Militia – Inexperienced
HQ squad
1 leader armed with pistol
3 men armed with rifles

2 infantry squads each with
9 men armed with rifles
1 armed with Lmg

Support squad
1 Mmg team

 

Before we started this game Bill Gilchrist our Bolt Action expert said that with the VC being classed as inexperienced it was going to be a turkey shoot, and that's how it ended up

but unfortunately it was my Americans getting shot to bits with Charles Grant inflicting 50% casualties on my troops. To be fair I was facing an ex-army Brigadier General so he should know what he was doing and it also didn't help that I forgot that my troops were armed with assault rifles and shouldn't have had a minus for moving and shooting and my support company failed to live up to their name and cause a single casualty. Apart from that it was a great game and although I managed to wipe out a VC squad and their support Mmg I never got close to the village in the timescale.

Following American players managed much better and scored four victories against the VC, in one game the American player only suffered 4 casualties.

Vietnam - Charlie don't Surf

This was the second scenario that I came up with for the NAM weekend with the League of Gentlemen Wargamers.  The basic idea was that all these scenarios were to be very quick lasting no more than an hour to force the attackers to push for victory otherwise the defenders got the victory, there would be no draws except in one scenario where it was possible for both sides to gain their objectives.

 

 

 

US Air Cavalry – Regular TroopsCommand section in command chopper
1 Lieutenant armed with pistol
3 men armed with M16 assault rifles
1 unarmed surfer

Two platoons of 10 men transported in choppers
each chopper is armed with Hmg
8 men armed with M16 assault rifles
1 armed with M79 grenade launcher
1 armed with M60 Lmg

Armed Support
1 Huey Cobra

 

Local VC Militia - InexperiencedHQ squad
1 leader armed with pistol
3 men armed with rifles

3 infantry squads each with
10 men armed with rifles

Heavy Support
1 Hmg on AA mount set up in hard cover

Like the other scenarios this game changed enormously from the first game where the Americans lost but the VC player learnt lessons and when it was his turn to be American he had an easy victory and this continued for the next four games. It would appear that all the American players moved their choppers into 6" range which under the rules meant that they could spot the enemy, they then pulled back and blasted the enemy, especially the VC Hmg which was the only weapon that could threaten them in the air. If I was going to run this scenario again I wouldn't allow the Americans to spot the enemy unless they opened fire.

The League of Augsburg

 

I have been asked to contribute a number of articles to this new blog set up by Clarence Harrison which covers the period 1660 to 1720 which actually takes in more wars than just the League of Augsburg also known as the Nine Years War.

http://leagueofaugsburg.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Apart from writing on the blog I have also been involved in playtesting a set of skirmish rules written by Clarence called Donnybrook.

This is the finished illustration for the rules, title and graphics still to be added.

Myself, Barry Hilton, Bob Talbot, Adrian Howe and Gerry Donohoe put on a display game at Carronnade, the wargames show by the Falkirk Wargames Club to promote Donnybrook and it seemed to generate a huge amount of interest.

The first article I've written for the blog is about the fighting around Tangiers in the 1680's and how I went about producing a force for gaming the numerous actions.

The next article is about the opposition, the Moors.

Vietnam Highway 19

The League of Gentlemen Wargamers had one of their regular get togethers at Kirriemuir at the weekend and I had offered to produce the small scenarios for the Saturday gaming so I made up a variety of 6 differing scenarios but due to shortage of numbers we only managed to fight 5 of them but I will post all of them here incase anyone wishes to try them out. The way I set up the scenarios was that each player would fight each scenario from both sides so that any imbalance of forces would be evened out.  All the figures and terrain was from the collections of Colin Jack, Peter Nicolson, Angus Konstam and myself with a few more guys adding jungle terrain.

The 8x4 table, the Americans enter from the right hand side

 

US Army – Regular TroopsPlatoon command transported in M113 APC
1 Lieutenant with M16 assault rifle
3 runners armed with M16 assault rifles
1 medic

2 Platoons of 10 men transported in M113 APC
8 men armed with M16 assault rifles
1 armed with M16 + M79 grenade launcher
1 armed with M60 Lmg

Armoured support
2 half tracks
2 M48 tanks
2 Gun trucks

VC Forces - regularHQ squad
1 leader armed with pistol
3 men armed with rifles

3 infantry squads each with
8 men armed with AK47 assault rifles
1 armed with AK47 + RPG
1 armed with Lmg

Company support
1 Hmg team
1 Medium mortar team

Anti-Tank support
2 75mm RCL teams

This battle was fought 5 times with different results each time.

In the first battle the Americans never even got past the village and were destroyed by the ambushers but each following player seemed to learn and improved each time but it was only on the fifth game that the Americans finally managed to get off the table.

If you fight any of these actions I would be interested to hear how they go.

 

We used a variation of Bolt Action rules written by Bill Gilchrist for these games which everyone seemed to pick up very quickly and really enjoyed.

Korea

I managed to have a few games last month but unfortunately I had no camera so the latest post is our display game Korea 1950's which we put on at the Partizan show on the 2nd on behalf of the

South East Scotland Wargames Club.

The above photos show the table from the Korean and UN ends.

This is the MASH unit at the far end of the UN table which is where all the UN forces are heading across the bridge at the top of the photo.

This is the far end of the bridge with defenders under fire.

North Korean infantry advance from the village as armour support advances in the rear.

American recce units advance to check out the enemy.

Sadly for the Americans they allow the NK troops to get too close and are close assaulted by swarming infantry.

American troops counter attack but its too late for the unsupported armour which is destroyed.

The North Korean counter attack gets under way but unfortunately we were too busy chatting to people at the show that we never got a chance to finish the game, but such an unusual subject generated a huge amount of interest.

All the troops and terrain are from the collection of my friend Colin Jack and Bill Gilchrist also took part in the game.  We used Bolt Action rules for the game which worked really well and were quick and easy to pick up, so much so that we decided to adapt them for a weekend of Vietnam gaming at the weekend, a report of which I'll post later.