Sharp Practice : French & Indian War Encounter

As we sweltered down in CLWC on a hot Monday evening in June we got the bits for Sharp Practice on the table once again. This time British and French Troops met in an engagement on the edge of the wilderness.

A powerful British unit consisting of three units of infantry and one of Grenadiers screened by Provincial Rangers clashed with two units of French Marines accompanied by two groups of Malice Canadien and a war party consisting of two groups of Native Americans allies.  

The deployment rolls favour the British as we both deployed opposite one and other over the open ground. It would have suited the French to deploy in the woods. 

As the British line formed and advanced, the Malice Canadien took advantage of cover and looses a couple of volleys into the line. Killing a leader for a perfect start. Soon there after the line responded with volleys of withering fire obliging the Malice Canadien to withdraw and subsequently breaking them. 

Meanwhile on the right flank, the second group of Malice Canadien made good progress through the woods flanking the British line. They caught a group of Provincial Rangers out in the open a where lucky enough to draw first blood.  However, in the following turns the Rangers struck  back audaciously charging into the woods and while loosing they, did enough damage to mean the Malice Canadien could not push home their early advantage. 

Now the French needed their No.1 ‘Big Man’ card to come out to allow them to move the Jump of Point up the Flank to employ an ambuscade on the  British Line as it advanced. Frustratingly, no number one card would come out for around four turns. It was a case of remaining patient. At long last the Big Man’s card came out and the French Marine Infantry could  return fire and the moveable deployment point moved up through the woods. 

At last it was time to strike, the second group from the Native American war party deployed, firing in to the provincial skirmishers. On the Following turn it was their chance to charge through a cloud of smoke , and, yes they ended up short by a couple of inches! 

On to the next turn they had to come out First, yes, and charged against a group of Provincials carrying Shock. They managed to one success with all their dice. Thereby loosing the fisticuffs and being driven back into the woods. 

The British line continued to advance  there was one chance left the  final group of Braves deployed to charge the Flank of the advancing British Line the Grenadiers peeled  off to face the threat. Whose card would come out First? On three 'Flags' the War party activated and slammed into the depleted init of Grenadiers sending them running. Despite this late success, the Marine Infantry were obliged to withdraw due to the conditioned weight of fire reduced the Force Morale to zero forcing the French and their Native American allies to quit the field. 

Panzer Lehr for Chain of Command

With Richard’s series of videos about reseaching and creating a Panzer Lehr Platoon for Chain of Command over on the Patreon Lardy hang out. It inspired me to get my own 20mm Panzer Lehr Force out and document them for the blog.   

A collection of figures equipt with MP40s suitable for Junior and Senior Leaders.

They are made up of a combination of Adler and Simon’s Soliders 20mm Miniatures. I think they were  my first foray in 20mm, having seen the Adler offerings at a Wargames Show. The Adler figures are some of the  nicest  20mm figures available currently  beautifully proportioned in a dynamic range of poses. The Simon’s Soldiers range augment them beautifully, being a little chunkier in their build. This gives a great range of poses and a sizes in the platoon. It will need a few more MG teams to be complete, in the meantime regular Wehrmacht teams will have to fill in. 

An MG42 Team on the move with a SHQ miniature acting as the third man. 

Three sections of six riflemen.

Some snipers & artillery spotters. 

Broadside

A Cold War  goes hot skirmish game depicting US Infantry deploying form some beauifully painted M113 APCs  to engage Soviet Motor Rifles. In addition to  some  lovely looking figure I liked the detail of  little kilometer markers on the road Side and the dinky yellow postboxes on the houses. 

Some pictures of the excellent Bridge over La Vie game of Chain of Command put on ShepwayWargames Club at Broadside. It is representing the Race to the Seine in August 1944. With Canadian Platoons trying to cut off the German retreat to the Seine.   

Savage Worlds Finale in the Levant

On Monday evening, down at CLWC we had the finale of our Savage Worlds Pulp Weirdoes game based in 1920s Post-Mandate Syria. 

My one eyed, one armed French adventurer faced off a gang of marauders & an armoured car, with a swash buckling all or nothing charge. With help from other characters Capitaine mal Maison  just about survived the shoot out being wounded several times.

Savage Worlds is a slick RPG system which translates very well on to the tabletop. It was a joy to play games with some amazing handmade terrain that really brought the campaign to life.

French Motorcycle Reconnaissance Fusilier Platoon: Chain of Command

In preparation for learning Chain of Command 2 I am going to play the “Many Rivers to Cross” Pint-Size Campaign, from the 2018 edition of Lard Magazine. This is always a good opportunity to put a campaign force list together.

Senior and Junior Leaders. 

For the longest time I have been taken with the look and the uniforms of the French Reconnaissance Motorcycle Platoon. It has always struck me has one of the most practicable uniforms of the Early War period.  Most of the miniatures come from Early War Minaitures & TQD Castings. With the release of Chain of Command 2 it a great opportunity to get them back on the table as a defending platoon in a Pint-Size Campaign.

1re Groupe de Fusiliers

2eme Groupe de Fusiliers 

According to the Blitzkrieg Handbook this platoon is potent in terms of firepower with two LMGs per Groupe eight Fusiliers. However they only have two Groupede Fusiliers and the V-B Team. Which  makes them smaller than the standard three Groupe French Platoon.

V-B Team with two Senior Leaders

Since this is one of the few French formations which benefit with two Senior Leaders the  The Support points difference  may give the opportunity to add an additional Groupe the Combat with a Junior Leader From List 5 to beef it up and act as a  mobile reserve. 

Some of the Support Options for the French Early War force:  

Support Option: Groupe de Combat

Support Option: 60mm Brandt Mortar Team with Junior Leader.  

Support Option: Hotchkiss M1914 MMG Team with five crew.

Support Option: Sniper Team.

Support Option: Engineer Team.

 The Beginings of a 'Groupe Franc' Sizaine.

Support Option: A Hotchkiss H35 & Somua S35.

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Chain of Command , Assualt on Fortiforcations May 1940

 That was a some introduction to Chain of Command  2. A German Pioneer assault on French fortifications in May 1940. The game was loosely based on Scenario 3: Point 247 from the Forgotten Battles : Battle for France, 1940 by Peter Heath. The Germans had just crossed the River Meuse and were to assault a series of fortifications.

Sadly in the set up I made bit of a pig’s ear of it. Not thinking I placed one of the objective markers in the town rather than on the hill. This resulted in a major advantage for the Germans. Due to a poor patrol phase the Germans advanced up the flank in to the village in the first round. Putting pressure on these poorly placed objectives markers from  the get go. Nevertheless, this provided me with an opportunity to salvage something for a bad situation, a position enjoy from a game perspective.

With an off table bunker buster smashing one of the fortifications in the second round. German Pioneers pouring into the town and swamping the French rifles posted as pickets at the edge of the village. Desperately, attempting to hold the line. As two further Sections deployed to protect this compromised flank as the final started in the third phase of counted down from eight. 

As the Germans brought their weight to bear the French Force Morale stated to tumble  When it reached t two the tattered remanence of the French Reserve platoon withdrew. leaving the field to the German. 

 

On reflection , it seems a plausible scenario for May 1940, an aggressive German Pioneers find a weak spot and flank a defensive position while the French scramble to plug the hole. I was struggling to focus on what was new, what was existing and  how it all goes together. There is a lot there once it gets on to the tabletop. 

I am very much looking forward to getting more games under my belt and becoming more confident with the raft of changes.