Athens 1986

There are a couple of things happening here.  First, I'm trying to cut down on stuff by digitizing my photo albums.  Second, I find it much easier to access digital photos.  Third, I actually have some photos that seem to have survived the test of time. And finally, these photos actually fit in with various projects and interests I have (had and still have).  

As mentioned in this post, I've had a long-time interest in Greek mythology. So, it is not surprising that my first major overseas holiday was to Greece.  The following photos are all from Athens around April 1986, not long after the airport had been bombed, although being a young man in my twenties I was blissfully ignorant of such worldly events (also coincided with the US bombing Libya and I think a visit to Athens by Kissinger as I recall there were some protests and worse, the museum was closed due to some dignitary having a private visit, the day I tried to go).

Stolberg Corridor - Day Six

September the 18th 1944.  The newly arrived German 12th Infantry Division along with the somewhat mauled 6th Panzer keep up the pressure on the US 3rd Armoured which is much reduced after five days of constant fighting.

The US start to pull back.

The Germans try to maintain contact.

We moved the playing area two hexes and Stolberg is back on the table.

Eschweiler has been retaken, after it was abandoned by the US.

Grenadiers of the 12th Infantry attack some of the shaken US infantry 

holding the heights near Mausbach on the German left.

While the Germans feel they have a numerical advantage, most of their units are no longer fresh.

That makes sustaining an offensive tricky.

However, they do have a preponderance of artillery now.

A massed attack all along the line.

Bloody noses on the left and right,

but success in the centre.

The Germans keep up the pressure on the US centre.

Making multiple attacks on the centre against the weakened US troops.

And then a breakthrough!

But in what otherwise could have been a devastating blow to the US,

the Germans run into a solid gun line and are driven off.

The situation during the night with units being reorganised.

Two US units are limping back to help defend Stolberg.

In some ways this game is a playtest of this scenario for Rommel.  The base material is sound and the adaption for Rommel was straightforward.  The allocation of Support Points and perhaps some aspects of available events and tactics could be altered along with which side goes first, but as it is, it is certainly producing some interesting challenges for both sides.  The situation with the availability of and the restrictions that apply to the RCT from the 1st US Division is also a bit arbitrary

The next day will see the playing area move another two hexes to cover all of Stolberg but also bring in the US 1st Division troops that are occupying the heights shielding Aachen (hex row 14, bottom left-hand corner).

Note that the orientation is the reverse of the above images of the game.

The Germans have reached hex row 18, but also the hill on row 18 where they had their breakthrough and have infiltrated as far as Vicht (row15).

Burgundian Ordonnance versus Hundred Years War English

I should be using a Medieval tag for these posts, not Ancients, but so it goes.

For this game Dave chose his English to face the Burgundians.

The Burgundians won the scouting and set well back hoping to inflect some long-distance casualties.

The Burgundian hand gunners rush forward.

Burgundian missile fire is abysmal.

Not so the that of the English.

The hand gunners lead the English knights in a merry dance,

as the two sides close.

The Burgundians are down a few units, but their line holds.

Burgundian knights to the rescue.

It's getting close...

And it's a draw!

Jutland by Donald Macintyre

To give him his full title that is Captain Donald Macintyre DSO & 2 Bars, DSC RN (Retd), so an authoritative figure with service in WW2 so not a contemporary, but someone who knows the business.

The book was published in 1957 and the copy I was given is the 2nd printing from 1966.  It has lovely, yellowed pages but is falling apart.

It gives a background to the war and the naval race, focuses on the challenges of both sides and gives an account of the operations leading up to the final encounter at Jutland.

Both sides were trying to gain an advantage over the other and both sides thought they had this which led to the battle major.  What the Germans didn't know was that the English were intercepting their radio communications and so had their trap ready.

What the British didn't expect was the superiority of German seamanship and the resilience of their warships to damage.  This enabled the Germans to escape the trap they had fallen into greatly assisted by the failure of various British commanders (including the Admiralty) to keep the commander of the Grand Fleet fully informed of what was happening.  Not easy with communications that required line of sight or wireless, which was still in its infancy.  However at least one commander managed it (mostly) - Commodore Goodenough of the First Light Cruiser Squadron.

Operationally it is best described as a draw, but strategically it was a British victory as the High Seas Fleet (although there were two subsequent sallies) wasn't able to break the blockade.  The blockade which contributed to the German collapse.

The book was enjoyable to read and contained plenty of detail plus useful diagrams to illustrate various stages of the battle.

Now to find some boardgames that cover it.  I have one, SPI's Dreadnought, but that would be a labour of love to use as although it has all the counters and a scenario for the battle, there is a lot of record keeping.  Also, having read the book, I doubt it would catch the fog of war (or in this case sea mist along with clouds of smoke deliberate and unintended) which played a major part in the battle.

More Seleucid Heavy Cavalry

Another unit finished.  I had fun painting these, although I was a bit heavy handed with the wash I put on the cloaks, they were meant to be yellow, not brown.

It is also amusing to see that I painted the other unit of these a year ago.  

https://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com/2024/02/seleucid-heavy-cavalry.html

Lots more Weimar

Since my last post on this game, we have played another three times, swapping around and experience quiet different games each time.  Only thing in common is the excitement.

Game Six

Everyone lost in this game as the brownshirts took over.

The various parties that had sold out to the brownshirts.

Game Seven

This game saw Germany collapse in anarchy.

Game Eight

The DNVP won this by establishing four regimes.

Summary

Richard has provided this summary of the eight games played so far:

1.SPD - Anarchy (Turn 5) Win

2. KPD - Councils Win (Turn 3)

3. DNVP - Regimes Win (Turn 3)

4. KPD -Councils Win (Turn 1 in 10 minutes)

5. SPD - VP Win (Turn 6)

6. Everyone lost- NSDAP takeover (Turn 6)

7. DNVP - Anarchy Win (Turn 6)

8. DNVP - Regimes Win (Turn 5)

The skew to the extremist parties is in line with the reported results from people playing this game. It is very, very hard to win as the government and even harder to win as the Zentrum Party. The reported win rate is about 10% of games.

Lots of fun however, and I think it's fair to say it's never over until it's over.

Burgundian Ordonnance versus Danish and Swedish

Only a 100 year difference between these two armies as my Burgundians blasts Dave's Danes and Swedes to bits.

Deployment.

The Burgundians deliberately held back to give their artillery plenty of time to bombard.

And the big guns got a big hit.

And hit again.

The feudal crossbowmen who had been pushed forward on the Burgundian right

suffered from the Danish and Swedish mounted crossbow

The big gun kept on delivering results.

Both units of Burgundian crossbowmen took hits,

but the feudal crossbowmen put paid to the mounted crossbowmen.

Better still the Burgundian longbows started to wear down the enemy left.

The Danish and Swedish kept coming.

The Burgundians kept shooting.

The enemy made contact on the Burgundian left but were repulsed in the centre.

The Danish and Swedes fought valiantly,

but were largely obliterated.