WW2 in North Africa: Into the Gap Part 4

Turn 7 - Conclusion:

With the build up of Italian infantry to their front, the units on the 2nd British hilltop position, now reinforced by the 11th Hussars, fire with all they have got. The 40mm AA gun was particularly successful, passing several command rolls the final one of which was a double '1' meaning it could take 2 actions. In this case two further rounds of fire repeatedly hitting the Italians.

Continued -

WW2 in North Africa: Into the Gap Part 3

Turns 4 - 6

The Italian medium armour attack on the British A9's placed them directly in front of the 25pdrs and close enough to allow them to act on their own initiative. Both 25pdrs fired on the nearest M13/40 with bonuses for close range and firing into the flank of the tank. 6 hits were scored on none saved by the Italian tank so it was well and truly destroyed. It was also the command tank for the company.

Continued -

On the Workbench: 6mm Armour and Vehicles

I took regular time out from my Western Desert game to continue painting a variety of stuff. A brief update on what has been happening this week:

While in the mood for painting WW2 I dug out my remaining unpainted tanks and vehicles for the Western Desert. All tanks are GHQ and other vehicles are Heroics & Ros. Bare metal at the top of the photo are 5 each of Italian M11/39 and M13/40 medium tanks. There are 2 Lloyd carriers which I will probably use for late war.

Primed are 10 x Matilda II's, 2 x Retriever GS trucks and a Morris 15cwt truck with tilt.

Continued -

WW2 in North Africa: Into the Gap Part 2

Turns 1 - 3

The first British turn began with the 11th Hussars frantically calling up the C/O but failed to get through. They subsequently took a command test and immediately rolled a 'command blunder'. They took half a move out of the dunes towards their own base line. Here the 40mm AA gun and infantry section look down on the retreating armoured cars and carriers of the 11th Hussars. 

The crew of the 40mm look down their sights at the Italian force cresting the top of the hill opposite their position. An AB40 armoured car makes a prime target silhouetted against the sky. They open up at long range and one of their rounds finds it's target. The armoured car survives but not for long.

Continued

WW2 in North Africa: Into the Gap Part 1

I found this scenario on the Serpentine Wargame Club blog and is the first of the Op Compass actions as part of my N.Africa project:  http://serpentinewargameclub.blogspot.co.uk/

When I wargame solo I tend to play a game over several days. I therefore intend to break the AAR down into several parts reporting on the action soon after it happens on the tabletop. In this way I hope to provide easier to read postings in bitesize chunks but also more detailed. Any feedback on this method of providing AAR's is appreciated as it will give me a guide for the future.

The scenario courtesy of the Serpentine Wargames Club:

A Jock Column encounters an Italian Column in the Ebna Gap

The British forces would pass through the Ebna Gap with 4th Indian Division moving northwards to take the camps from behind, 7th Armoured Division screening to the west and south, while 'Selby' Force from the Mersa Matruh garrison would move along the coast road. Logistical problems would be solved by the creation of Forward Supply Depots (FSDs), with Nos. 3 and 4 holding enough fuel, food, water and ammunition for five days of activity, in No-Man's Land.

The setting up of these depots was screened by 'Jock' Columns and a sharp clash occurred on 19 November with an Italian force in the Ebna Gap ended with 5 Italians tanks destroyed and 100 casualties. This stunned the Italians for the next 3 weeks while intensive training by the British culminated in 'Training Exercise No. 1' which had British forces practising to attack exact replicas of the Italian camps. After this, Wavell gathered his senior staff together on 26 November and briefed them on 'Training Exercise No. 2' – Operation Compass.

On the 19th November 1940 a Jock Column patrolling the Ebna gap encounters an Italian Column of Tanks and Infantry.

Continued -

AWI: Lexington and Concord 19th April 1775

My determination to stick just to two scales (15mm and 6mm) failed utterly a few years ago when I was seduced by the marvellous 10mm AWI figures by Pendraken. AWI was a period I always intended to play but never seemed to get around to it. Around 10 years ago I started a 20mm plastics collection but stalled having painted a handful of units. Those have now been sold in favour of 10mm.

The rules to be used are British Grenadier! by "Eclaireur". It is a rules system adapted from General de Brigade.

Similar to my other scenario based projects, I decided to work through the British Grenadier Scenario books in as close a chronological order as possible. It will be my intention to play a campaign in due course.

I was rather shocked to discover that the only game I had played so far being Lexington and Concord 3 years ago! I hope to rectify that this year with the next game 'White Plains'. This game was played in my garage before moving to my now permanent wargames room with better lighting. Unfortunately that poor garage lighting adversely affected many of the photos I had taken and I apologise for the poor quality of some. I also took few notes so the AAR is not as detailed as I would have liked. It does though give you an idea of my collection and how this battle played out.

A note regarding the terrain. I had no dedicated 10mm terrain so I used a mix of 6mm and 15mm. I decided to test the theory that it can look better to have buildings from a smaller scale in that they have a smaller footprint and therefore cover a more proportionate area of the battlefield. They did not achieve the look I wanted so will order some 10mm buildings in due course. 

And so to the battle:

On the Workbench: Last of Terrain, Brit armour and more ships.

A quick update on the what is happening on the workbench. Over the past week I have concentrated on completing new terrain boards and upgrading my existing collection.

This is the final batch of existing terrain boards that I will upgrade for now. In due course I am aiming to improve the cliffs, rivers and road sections. For now though I need to get back to wargaming and painting figures. 

Continued -

On the Workbench: Update on terrain, German armour & vehicles, 1/1200 naval.

It has been a busy week on the terrain front. Having started by creating new desert terrain pieces and upgrading my existing boards, I have gone full-on upgrading pretty much all my collection. This has delayed the playing of my next N.Africa battle but hopefully not for long.

My room has been taken over with terrain boards in various stages of 'upgrading'.

Continued....

Kingmaker Campaign: Map Moves

The Battle of Milford Haven was a serious loss to me. Half my nobles were destroyed in one battle. I had effectively become the Lancastrian force with Jack controlling 2 Yorkist royal pieces.

The next turn saw a partial reversal of fortune. Jack attacked London with the aim of capturing Henry of Lancaster. He failed in the attempt and crucially, Percy was killed. This was a major loss for Jack but still left him in a commanding position. 

I had Stanley disembarking in Preston and Greystoke now stranded in Wales. Pole and Howard were in the north.

As I tried to extricate Greystoke from Wales he was attacked in the area of Ludlow by the triumphant Buckingham and Worcester.

The intention was to play this out as a wargame but after further discussion with Jack we both felt it would be a pointless exercise. Greystoke's small force is so heavily outnumbered we would be playing out a short massacre. We therefore agreed that at our next meeting we would use the boardgame mechanism to resolve this battle. So the next posting for this campaign will be the result of that action and further map moves. 

Kingmaker Campaign: The Battle of Milford Haven

This is the first battle in the Kingmaker campaign with my son, Jack. A reminder of how this battle has occurred:

In the early moves of the campaign it was very much a case of assembling forces and identifying the best way of capturing Royal Pieces. Jack developed a clear lead on this gaining control of George of Clarence and Edward Earl of March. He had also assembled a sizeable force in the vicinity of London threatening to capture King Henry VI who was in residence there. I, on the other hand, controlled nobody! 

I saw an opportunity though of capturing George of Clarence from Jack who was busily attempting to evacuate him through the port of Milford Haven (south west tip of Wales). I sent a force under the command of none other than Neville - Earl of Warwick (The Kingmaker) together with Nobles, Clifford, Scrope and Cromwell towards Milford Haven with the intention of intercepting Jack's force before they could embark their ships. Using the road network I achieved my aim and Jack's force under the command of Stafford - Duke of Buckingham with Hastings - Earl of Worcester moved out to meet my force.

Buckingham positioned his force across a valley blocking Warwick's advance.

Scale = 6mm

Figures = Baccus

Rules = My own*

Table size = 3'9" x 3'

* A brief note about my rules.  They use the basic General de Brigade engine but heavily reworked for ancients/medieval. They are very much a work in progress. Readers familiar with General de Brigade will recognise some of the mechanisms used in the after action reports.

On the Workbench: Desert terrain update

Hills and rocky terrain pieces have now been completed for WW2 N. Africa/Colonial. Having had limited success with desert terrain in the past I am reasonably happy this time around but could still be better. Several of my terrain tiles have also been revamped in the same style. Here are the results:

Continued

On The Workbench: Terrain, terrain and more terrain

A quick update on the workbench in between writing up AAR's. I have gone full on terrain making and painting mode. The plan is to finish the terrain for the next 2 planned battles - "Into the Gap" WW2 in N. Africa and "Big Bethel" ACW. Both in 6mm.

Desert sand dunes, hills and mountains continue their construction process. They are intended for both my WW2 in 6mm and 15mm colonial. The 6 smaller sections nearest the camera are now complete. The terrain tile in the top left of the photo is being 'upgraded' and is drying off before drybrushing. When I bought my commercially produced terrain tiles I requested that the reverse side on several of them be 'sand'. The plan is to paint all these to make them a little more realistic and compatible with my mountains etc. "Into the Gap" will be their first outing. 

ACW 6mm: Battle of Cedar Mountain

Having extensively covered my Napoleonic projects I now turn to ACW. I intend to bring the reader up to date with my ongoing project. i.e. to play through the scenarios within the F&F, RF&F and Guns at Gettysburg scenario books. There are two AAR's to post in addition to 'First Bull Run' which you will find elsewhere on the blog with the ACW label. 

The rules used are Guns at Gettysburg by Dave Brown. I have introduced similar modifications to those used in General de Brigade. The most significant being Command and Control and the omission of skirmishers which are too fiddly for 6mm. 

This scenario is drawn from the Fire & Fury Great Eastern Battles scenario book. Transferring to Guns at Gettysburg orders of battle was relatively straightforward. 1 base in F&F = 1 base in GaG for infantry and artillery, and 2 bases for cavalry. As this is a brigade level scenario I introduced modifications to the rules mainly around attack formations to allow for the fact that each unit was now a brigade rather than a battalion.  

All basing for my 6mm ACW is similar to my Napoleonics. The only difference being cavalry:

Infantry 6 to a base 15mm x 15mm.

Artillery 1 cannon and 4 crew to a base 15mm frontage x 20mm

Cavalry 2 to a base 15mm x 15mm.

On to the battle:

On The Workbench: Terrain, WW2 Land and Sea

Normally I try and have one or at most two projects on my table at any given time. But on this occasion I have got slightly carried away!

So to the first:

On the left is a partially built marsh for the forthcoming ACW battle 'Big Bethel'. The 2 other pieces will be sand dunes/hills for North Africa.  

Continued.....

WW2 Brit Paras completed for Market Garden Scenario

The British Paras are now completed for the 'Battle in the Woods' scenario from the Rapid Fire Op Market Garden scenario book. All Heroics & Ros figures and vehicles.

Looks rather paltry compared to 15mm or 20mm! However, it will be an interesting exercise having originally played this scenario in 15mm using the Rapid Fire rules. This time it will be using Blitzkrieg Commander II and on a much smaller table.

The German vehicles have been primed and ready to paint. I did receive a bunch of German infantry from Heroics & Ros which are the old sculpts. I was hoping that they would be ok and although many are fine, they are not up to the standard of their new paras. I have therefore decided to hold off playing this game until H&R release their updated Germans. I will in the meantime complete the vehicles and all terrain required so all ready to go in due course.