Huns versus 100 Years War English - The Final

The final of the Club's Basic Impetus League was to be a rematch between my Huns and Phil's pseudo-English (I say pseudo as his army is actually other figures masquerading as English - fancy dress perhaps).

The previous game can be revisited here:

https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2024/11/huns-versus-100-years-war-english.html

This game was to be no different, except we got off to a mixed start regarding terrain placement.  Traditionally an infantry army picked from Table A and a cavalry army picked from Table B.  However, a new reading was that "the table" to be used was the one dictated by the composition of the defending army.  This produced a battlefield swamped with terrain to such an extent that our two armies would not have engaged.

The compromised terrain.  The brown is impassable and the green a wood.

Not ideal for my Huns, but at least it provided an opportunity to at least have a go.

Advance!

The longbows got the first shot and every unit scored at least one hit,

that was then compounded by three poor cohesion rolls on my part.

The damaged units attempt to recover.

The shooting continues, and one unit of longbow is routed,

but another unit of Huns is wrecked.

The Huns try and spread out...

But it all falls apart.

There was one more turn after this but understandably I failed to take a photo. Victory to the English.

Paternal Ancestor

My Grandad on my dad's side.

In the Yorkshire regiment (Green Howards) Italian front WW1 (marked with an X )

(which I think is the 9th battalion to which he might have been posted 

after being in the 6th battalion at Gallipoli.)

Sadly he died when my dad was only five and so I don't have a lot to go on as Dad never talked about him (understandably).  But he did provide the above information.

Grandad standing in the flat cap.

No idea when, where or what.

Sources:

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/165545-9th-bn-yorkshire-rgt-green-howards/

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/1617772

And with some further investigating I found this:

Thank you, National Archives UK.

Stolberg Corridor - Day Five Completed

We pick up at midday on September the 17th 1944.

Here is the map for ease of reference:

The German 12th Infantry Division commence an attack to take Gressenriche.

A bloody attack is made on Eschweiler by the 12th,

while 9th Panzer tries to cut the town off.

The 12th Infantry make a massive attack on the US 47th RCT.

Gressenriche has been captured and the US 47th RCT is falling back.

9th Panzer keeps trying to breakthrough.

Mopping up around Gressenriche.

A final assault on Eschweiler as night falls.

Half the town is now back in German hands.

Both sides regroup, rebuilding units using saved Ops dice as Support Points,

and combining shattered units (these are just off board).

The front line.

With four days of fighting left, do the Germans have enough strength to recapture Stolberg?

Norman Cavalry

I've always had a soft spot for the Tin Soldier range, they have character.

The figures were a gift from a Yorkist gamer iirc.  In painting these ten I have only scratched the surface of the gift, but I enjoyed painting them and look forward to working my way through the other figures.

The packet said DN1 but the catalogue I found online had them as DNA1 or DNA2 (there is a slight difference in the angle of the lance, that being the only difference as far as I can tell).

I was worried that I had them painted up too dark, but that is probably okay as it was the Dark Ages.

CR-11 PILGRIMS/MONKS - Part Two

As forecast, here is the rest of the packet, painted up and based after being padded out with a few peasants (mainly Old Glory, but with one Tin Soldier). Very easy and enjoyable to do. No expectations of seeing them on the tabletop, but you never know.

Stolberg Corridor - Day Four and Day Five

We concluded Day Four of the Campaign, 16 September 1944.  The US have captured Stolberg, destroyed the German 353rd Infantry Division which was its garrison and mauled the 9th Panzer which had been sent to its rescue.  But now the 12th Infantry Division was about to arrive, and the US forces needed to regroup. 

9th Panzer are pulling back.

The lead elements of the 12th Infantry Division have arrived as night falls.

They used road movement which is a first for us in a Rommel game.

The situation at the end of the day.

The table depicts hex rows 18 to 26.

Panzer Grenadiers hold Gressenrich, one part of Eschweiler 

and a position deeper in the woods towards Stolberg.

I have orientated the map to match the images and so apologies for the town names being upside down.

The German reinforcements that arrive along hex row 29.

The 12th Infantry Division plus some rebuilt units of 9th Panzer.

But first the 17th of September starts with some US mopping up operations that they hope to complete before the new German forces arrive.

This is Gressenrich on the US right.

Eschweiler in the centre.

Which the US are desperate to clear.  

The Germans are down to their last man!

Gressenrich is under continual attack.

As are the Germans in the woods.

9th Panzer try and break through to Eschweiler.

They succeed and then try and surround leading elements of the US 3rd Armoured Division.

On the US right flank the 47th RCT of the 9th US Infantry Division try again to capture Gressenrich.

As CCB try to eliminate the Germans in the woods to their rear.

Gressenrich is about to fall.

The US forces have pulled back into Eschweiler, trying to avoid encirclement.

The 89th Grenadier Regiment of the 12th Infantry Division

 make a major assault to capture Eschweiler.

Isolated US forces on the German right are surrounded and attacked.

The 48th Grenadier Regiment of the 12th Infantry Division

 make a major assault to recapture Gressenrich.

The German forces being fresh have a significant advantage in the fighting.

They are well supplied with artillery even if it is of lesser calibre than what the US have.

9th Panzer deal with the US troops in their rear

while the Grenadiers continue their attack on Eschweiler.

The situation at midday on the 17th of September.

There are four days to go so we are at the halfway point.

One of the aims of this scenario is to see how Rommel handles a multiday campaign situation.  The rule system is very flexible and it would be easy to add things, but the challenge is balance along with ease of play.

For example, support points.  These are critical to rebuilding forces.  However, it is up to the scenario to decide how many are available each day.  I settled on these being saved Ops dice at the end of each day.  They are therefore capped at 10 and allow for fighting to die down during the day to allow for regrouping etc.  Seems reasonable.  One support point fully restores one stand or allows for a shattered stand to be brought back as a shaky unit.  In addition two shattered units can be brought back as one for no cost- this bit I added and it might be a bit generous as I failed to allow for the complete removal of shattered stands that were surrounded or already shattered (as such I have not rebuilt an units of the 353rd Infantry Division).

The US still have 16th RCT of their 1st Division, but that is covering Aachen, but are located at hex row 14 on the Aachen side and would only come back into play if the Germans were able to make it that far with their counterattack.