Strength & Honour Game Two.

While I am aware the designers had 2mm scale in mind when they were designing the big battle ancients game Strength and Honour.  We got  our   under used 15mm ancient armies out.  Giving them a dust off. They work really well. On my second outing of this ruleset down at the Central London Wargames Club. Dave was good enough to hold my hand all the way through the mechanisms. 

Tonight it was Romans verses Partians. I opted for the Romans on the bases I couldn't find Patria even if I wanted to, and I kind of know how Romans work.  

As is most important in ancients games I gave a little thought to the deployment before hand. Previously, when playing ancients I'd necessarily get this wrong, this would result in instant and catastrophic defeat during my foray in to Fields of Glory a number of years ago. This time it was different, more by luck than judgment if I'm honest. Although I did double check  where I to start my deployment.

Once deployed neatly in checker board legions I let loose with the cavalry on the flanks swooping deep into the flanks an drawing the Parthians out to cover their flanks. 

To be fair I did benefit for the struggles Dave had trying to cross the river bisected the table. While I confidently wedged my Legions betweena lake and some fields to protect their flanks.

I was delighted to see that my probing the flanks was working and I did benefit from so good dice roles, while Dave suffered so 'reversals of fortune' at key times. This is the mechanism, which  following a failed manoeuvre role  the initiative shifts back to the other player.

The skirmishers on the left flank was rolled up efficiently once my cavalry got around the woods and caused them to come out in to the open to protect the rear.  

But the real success was  to catch a unit of Dave's Cataphracts between my Roman Cavalry and a Legion causing them to ping back and forth until the broke and fled. 

The last act was concluded when, the right, a combination of Legion and Skirmishing flank attacks drove the second unit of Cataphracts from the table. 

Roma Victorinus!

I am sure we'll try some more of the Strength and Honour malarky.

Skrimish Ragers Solo Game 8th May 2020

After a long hiatus from blogging I have been inspired to pen report of occasional Skrimish Ragers games which I have been playing  recently. Skrimish Ragers in a zombie apocalypse game which the player(s) take on a group of survivors fro a Zombie Apocalypse and endeavour  to survive by completing missions and acquiring resources to further develop their characters.  Although  it is a tabletop game it does have roleplaying game elements. 

Approaching the farm through a cornfield  Beau stepped up with the aid of his crossbow dispatched two Zombies in the cornfield. By the time the group had reached boundary of the farm and crossed the sty they were attracting the attention of the Zombies milling around the farm yard.  Florence wanders in to the field and dispatched an approaching Zed with her Mag-lite. Beau missed a the second zombie twice then Michelle tried to shoot the zombie also missing, by this time it was on the group.  

It was Nammie’s turn and she missed too,  swinging her club wildly,  but successfully dodged the  zombie’s free attack, getting out of the way. This left  Beau in the the path of the attacking Zombie. He was not so lucky, The Zombie bit Beau directly on the neck causing him to get infected and turn immediately in to a Rager. (This is not a good thing in these rules.)

The group scattered Nammie being the closest was followed by the Rager, who was once Beau  and miraculously managed to wiggle free  from his grip and  as escape  to the shelter of a farm building.  this resulted in the Rager his turning his attention to  Florence   they fought  Struggling on the floor  with a supreme effort  after   being wounded with an non-infectious wound  she  dispatcher her former friend with an  massive blow to the head. but wounded now, unable to run  and in the centre of the farmyard  there was no guarantee  to she would be able to escape.  

Searching the farm building Nammie found 50 Points of resources and a zombie, she managed to grab the resources  and move before the zombie. escaping the  building just ahead of them.  

Now can they get off the board back in the direction the came? Michelle had shot a zombie and hopped over the fence on to the drive   two more  where approaching her,  she  raised  her revolver and fired stopping another and growing tof the rating zombie  on to her  allowing Nammie and Florence keep just a head of the  shambling zombies. Backing up Michelle fired again   an took out another zombie as  it lurched toward her. This shot again  drew  the other zombie toward her allowing Nammie to get out of the Farm with the all important resources.  

Florence limped toward a zombie moving in her direction,  in an effort to get through the  gate.  Michelle took a bead on the Zombie , but “click…”  she was out our ammunition. Time to run!  Florence swings, connects, knocking the zombie off it’s feet…  She moves away, dragging her leg behind her at just over walking pace.

With Nammie and the supplies almost clear Michelle decided  discretion is the better part of valour and also beat a hasty retreat.  

The Shooting and movement on the road to the farm had draw all the zombies on the table toward the road so still limping Florence had to throw herself over the picket fence and head back at a limp to the sty, where she had the presence of mind to pick up Beau’s crossbow and to made her escape. Through the cornfield with  every turn the zombies pursuing on her but only after two successful dodges she just got off the board before the horde caught up with her. 

Beau: Average Joe  

Cross bow/  knife. 

Kills. Two Zeds 

Then turned into a Rager. 

Florence: Average  Joe 

Baton 

Kills 1 Zed 1 Rager. 

Wounded -4 to all skills 

Recovered Beau’s crossbow. 

Michelle: Civilian 

Revolver 

Kills:  3 Zeds 

Nammie : Civilian 

stick 

Recovered 50 points worth of resources 

So the first solo game of Skirmish Ragers went very will. I have been very much enjoying our Skirmish Ragers campaign games at Central London prior to lockdown.  I though this would  a good opportunity  for some solo gaming. This is the first of a series of solo games I played of the past couple of years.

Chasseur à Pied Completed.

Well here is my completed Chasseur à pied. He is depicted  has the  Jon Smith Modellbau instructions suggest waiting an early version  of the horizon blue greatcoat.  I did contemplate  painting it French blue as per the early pattern greatcoat. In the end I opted to go with the horizon blue option because it offers a contract to the kepi.

The horizon blue was mixed in with grey, black, French blue and Prussian blue was mixed in varying amounts to represent dirt and grime engrained into the greatcoat.  The buttons  where painted  in U.S. grey and then high-lighted with pencil lead.  I feel the general look of the uniform is a bit too Confederate grey. I will come back to it later see if it blue is glaze would help it.

The kepi got the French blue treatment with shadow layered with a  touch of black. the piping was  painted with lemon yellow and then highland with pale sand with a touch of sand mixed in. Lots of patience and a fine rigger brush.  Knowing when to stop was a key in painting the piping.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this post I do hope you like the almost finished result. Please feel free to add your comments below.

Malaya 1942 Campaign Game One - Patrol

Well, after the first campaign game and its one nil to Dave's Australians. So fair dinkum cobber. 

More haste and less speed is the lesson I will take from this encounter. 

This post will basically consist of a list of the mistakes I made. The end result  was basically engineering my own defeat from a relatively strong position.

Lesson One 

Just because I have tank does not mean I should deploy it at the earliest opportunity

When to do so would put it directly in the cross hairs of a the only Australian unit capable of destroying it. I didn't exactly make it difficult for the Australian 2 Pounder by placing the lump of metal where they want it. 

One upside of this was it provided me the opportunity to use my new smoke and flame marker, recently, liberated from my wife's craft box. I suspect the destruction of this tank was a touch of karma. At the beginning of the game when I rolled my support dice I  had not rolled high enough to get a tank. We decided to re-roll it so allowing me to choose a tank from the support list. 

The first couple of rounds things were going quite well on the right. My squad advanced on the tentatively and  made contact with the Australian section lurking in the jungle. By combining direct fire with my mortar team I was successful in pushing them back.  So far so good. Alls going to plan. 

Lesson Two 

Better situational awareness when advancing units 

This is where  it all when wrong. Over on the left of the I pushed forward with the second squad. I rolled long. This brought me within four inches of the Australian section and there by initiated the close combat sequence. Which basically desimated both sections. But because the  the Australians are tough they don't take any shock while the remained of my Japanese withdrew due to a ton of shock. 

The veritable movement generated by dice roles are something I really like about Chain of Command. On this instance I rolled myself into trouble with a high roll. But it beautifully replicates a unit wondering around the Jungle a stumbling into a into a enemy unit.  

Lesson Three

Remember the sequence in which to activate units (This should have been learned by now)

The was compounded by the mistake I made in the last game by not ordering my mortars to fire ahead of advancing my infantry. My ability no to pay attention to the lesson of the past possibly makes me suitable for high office. 

Lesson Four

Hold a lead back in reserve to deploy the reserve 

My next mistake was to deploy my junior leader prior to getting my  reserve squad on to the table. Hence, this meant that the reserve did not make it onto the table. 

All this mayhem resulted in my command dice dropped to two dice. This basically paralysed my ability to  move. This was compounded by the factor my senior leader was caught on the wrong side of the road. 

Lesson Five 

Try not to be stupid

To react to the Australians reinforcing on the right. It was necessary to move my senior across the road to get the attack moving forward again. As he moved from cover onto the road an Australian Bren team took the opportunity to use a Chain of Command dice to interrupt his movement with a hail of bullets killing the senior leader. This reduced my command dice to zero there by forcing the Japanese to withdraw. 

The first game went to the Australians. Well done Dave! 

Chain of Command - Malaya 1942

Finally I got my Japanese finished and on the table.  This was the warm up game before Dave and I undertake the Too Fat Lardies Malaya 1942 campaign. We felt we made some interpretive mistakes in the Patrol and Deployment phases of the game we decide to use it has a learning game.

My placement of the Jumping off points were in the jungle when they should have been on the road according to the Campaign notes. But that aside I got a my tank on to the table early.  This was met with an Australian 2 Pounder Anti-Tank gun. For the next couple of rounds it exchanged fire with my Type 95 Ha-Go resulting in a disabled tank and a routed gun crew.

Since the lumbering beasts had been dealt with we started to deploy our infantry sections. I deployed mine incorrectly in the jungle where I should have placed them on the road.  Nevertheless, I advanced two sections through the bush while the flanking section had a Mexican standoff with a squad of Australians on the other side of the road.

What followed for me was a lesson in close combat I advanced a unit of infantry with in four inches of an Australian section resulting in a close assault. The entire unit was killed (twice). It was a really good reminder to at the very least rock a unit back with shock at the very least, and ideally pin the before closing to engage them with close combat,  particularly if they are Australians.

One central error in this phase of play was activating my dice in the wrong  order. My senior leader started issuing orders before The junior leader attracted to the light mortar selection. As a rule of thumb i should work from the rear forward when activating command dice. 

 Following that hammering it was necessary to regain some honour and turn things around. This time I got the activation order correct firing the mortar sections first and the having. The senior leader orders one of the remaining units to fire on their Australian counterparts.

Because the Japanese squads are larger plus the support of a mortar combined with rolling lots of sixes I made short work of two Australian Squads on the right. This was made somewhat easier by the face my command dice gave me three phases on the bounce. Followed by a further two consecutive phases of play. The game ended with  Dave curing my  jammieness.