Middle Imperial Romans versus Late Carthaginians

In a Basic Impetus Training game, Marc took command of my Carthaginian Army to face my Republican Romans masquerading as Imperials (because there are more Imperials in the club's competition than Republicans).

Watch the Carthaginians snatch defeat from the jaws of Victory.

The Carthaginians won the scouting.

The Romans deployed between a wood and some difficult terrain,

failing to appreciate their position had a great big lake in the middle

(a Carthaginian trick).

The Romans advance while the Carthaginians seemingly withdraw.

The Carthaginians send their slingers to delay the Roman legionnaires.

The Romans keep advancing, their cavalry desperately looking for opportunities,

shuffle about, hopping from one hoof to another, as if they want to pee!

The valuable Roman archery unit is ruined by some well placed javelins.

However both Roman wings are now well placed to close.

On the left the Roman auxiliary troops try to maintain order in face of stiff enemy missile fire.

On the right the terrifying charge of the Gauls has been held,

The Romans left starts to collapse,

while on the right they are failing to make headway. 

Desperate fighting, but the Carthaginians are getting the better of it.

Can the Romans cavalry recover the left flank?

Will the infantry combat on the right produce a result?

It is now in the balance...

Victory for the Romans,

their infantry finally prevailed.

Another exciting game!

Barbarossa - Axis Turn Nine

With supply lines stretched and Soviet resistance increasing the turns are taking a tad longer than expected.  So it goes.

Richard did a VP audit and the situation at the start of this turn is:

• AGN 13
• AGC 19
• AGS 18

For me victory in this game is the sheer experience of being able to play it along with the physical and mental energy required to play it.  It's a monster!

Army Group North make another attempt to take Riga.

Further east they are up against a new Soviet defensive line

Army Group Centre is pushing ahead,

but terrain and supply is complicating things.

Annoyingly both sides have to use the same out of supply markers.

The bulk of those units marked as Emergency Supply are Axis. 

Army Group South launch attacks which are critical if they are to make progress.

The importance of Lvov is obvious, but equally so the next city along the central road network,

which also links up with the one from the south.

More interesting is the attack to breakthrough the fortified line to the north:

success here will break the Soviet line.

Mopping up and catching up in Bessarabia.

How far to Odessa?

Will the Romanians carry the fight into the Ukraine?

(They start to roll for force commitment external to Bessarabia around Turn 18!) 

AGN success at Riga, 

less so south of the lake.

Note Estonian partisans have appeared!

AGC has been mostly successful.

The Soviets (that's me in this sector) failed to block a hole in the lines.

I was using the World in Flames empty hex defence, 

but forget that in this game the German factor 7 movement units have an infiltration capability.

Doh!

Lvov has fallen.

Battle for Ternopol is on.

But there is a major breakthrough to the north east of that city which

is going to cause a problem for the Soviet player (which is Richard in this sector).

In this image Kiev is visible on the top right hand side.

While this image and the preceding AGC one don't line up, 

you can follow the line that the edge of the perspex covering the map makes. 

Odessa comes into view

Don't Mention The War - Part 35 via Facebook

 AUSGAME 2023

JAN/FEB 1944

Production for the J/F 44 turn, the .25 BP increment increase is welcomed by all. Japan spends up big, spending 6 of its stored oil to max out its build to get extra units on board, especially with the 1944 pool additions. Italy is down to 5 BP as Germany is no longer shipping any resources and Mussolini is not looking forward to the Allies interest in an empty Sicily and a vulnerable Italian Coast. Reinforcements placed – Russia reinforces the Russo-Sino Front as the M/A turn sees the Garrison Value (GV) no longer being doubled – it will be close if the Allies win the initiative. However, the initiative is won by the German rolling a 5+1 (6) tying with the Russian’s 6 already rolled, with Axis winning ties as they have the +1. The weather is a 9, rain in the Arctic, fine everywhere else – the US is delighted. Germany is also happy as rain halves the Allied air-forces effects and there is a handy -2 on all attacks – they are likely to be safe on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. Italy not happy with fine in the Med, but Japan is pleased if not with the weather roll, certainly with winning the initiative roll as they can reinforce the Russo-Sino front and keep the ‘Russian bear’ at bay for another turn.

Axis 1st Impulse, Germany takes a Land action, Italy a Comb and Japan a Naval. The Italian sub searches in the W Med on a speculative roll but fails to find. Axis land units in Russia step back in the South leaving behind a rear-guard of the Berlin MIL and a Div (8 points) that just cannot withdraw quick enough – its rain. In the North reinforcements from E Prussia head out to bolster AGN’s line. Units are railed into Italy securing Italian factories and cities. Aircraft are rebased forward by both Germany and Italy to replace the J/F losses on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. Japan’s naval is similar to J/F opening moves, with the Advance Fleet sailing into the 1 Box of the China Sea and the Sea of Japan covered by naval assets in both the 4 box and 0 box. Their mission of convoy protection and securing the valuable resources into Japan. The Strike fleet is kept in Reserve to react to US intervention or Allied targets of opportunity. The Japanese Subs are sailed out on patrol, again on interception duties rather than conv attacks – no searches. Two more land units are landed into Russia to bolster the GV as well as several rebased acft – there will be no breaking of the Pact in M/A 44. EOT advances by 1.

Allies 1st Impulse – With fine in all but the Arctic (rain) the US elects to take a ‘Super Combined’ (Naval/Air and Land) spending 16 O-points, the CW takes a Naval/Air spending 10 O-Points, Russia and China a Land and France a Comb. The US flies 8 Ftrs and 3 NAV into the China Sea to contest the Japanese control and searches for the Japanese Advance Fleet, no find as both the Japanese and US roll a 9 and a 10 – apparently no one wants to play this round. The CW Naval action sees the massed fleets of the RN sail off the Coast of Italy to again support landings and invasions into Italian territory. Escorts are sent to protect convoys just in case the weather deteriorates and Tpt’s ship units from the US to France. The US massed GS in Western Europe are pitiful with very few inversions, but in a clear warning of things to come, most of the Germans front line is targeted by an Allied bomber. The Luftwaffe again shoot down the second Mosquito again on its maiden flight – there seems to be a problem with these planes or their pilots are flying too close to the ground. The air over the Western Front is filled with planes and both sides lose acft and pilots. The Strat bombing phase is similar as all the US Strategic bombers are shot down including the 7 factor B17G over Ploiesti – although it cost the Axis Ftrs the bombers are expensive to replace, but 19’s and 20’s on the A2A table is death and destruction and there were lots of them rolled. Allied land attacks were limited to a single coastal hex in Belgium with a soft retreat result. In the Med the CW expanded their occupation of a now empty Sicily and invaded the islands of the Dalmatian coast in Yugoslavia in an attempt to open new fronts and stretch the Axis resources. In Greece – led by the Greek 1st MTN Corps 3 x Greek Partisans attack the Italian 4.3 Milan MIL guarding the port of Solonika, despite air and Arty Spt the hex is taken on a costly squiggly 14 – the Greeks lose 3 x Partisans but overrun the port. The four Italian CA’s attempt to escape but two are found in the W Med by British Navs and two are found by the massed fleets of the RN off the Coast of Italy. Italy losses the CA’s Bolzano, Fume, Trento and Garibaldi for no loss to the British with fleet air arm doing the heavy lifting.

Russia’s Land saw little activity as the GS were poor and the attack dice rolls even worse, Russia is back to rolling 5’s again which saved the German rear-guard of the 7 factor Berlin MIL and the 1 Factor Luft DIV from almost certain destruction as they get a helpful retreat, the Russian second attack was equally poor with 13 -/- result. Russian units advance on both the Eastern Front and on the Russo-Sino border and pray for Snow or fine weather.

In the Far East – the US efforts are rewarded with inversions on the NEI oil hex and on the Chinese mainland. Attacks by a combined AUST and US force against Bangkok defenders takes the capital with ease and the final 2 x oil facility on Java is taken with the US capturing unused oil. The Communist Chinese launch an attack under the cover of their first Yak Ftr piloted by Russian trained PLA pilots, and despite the Japanese getting air and arty Spt and doubling the defence value, the Chinese roll TOTT with a +5.6 and a roll of 18 and take the hex adjacent to Sian, destroying both defenders – the Japanese line is now becoming dangerously thin. In Southern China Nationalist attempt to outflank the Japanese, further stretching the line.

Axis 2nd Impulse – Weather roll is a 4, SNOW in the Arctic, with bad weather everywhere else but fine in the N Monsoon, +3 to the EOT and +1 to the next weather roll. with an EOT advance of 3 the Allies can end the turn on a 1. End of session – Axis to kick off the next gaming session in two weeks as the Japanese player is on holiday in Noumea (Hex 1511) - it is the only way that the Japanese player will get there in this game.

The Western Front - Storm not much will be happening here.

The Western Front - the US take a single coastal hex.

The Royal Navy - dominating the Italian Coast

Two landings on the Dalmatian Coast will cause some concern to the Axis.

Partisans active and help take the port of Solonika.

Yep, the Italians are on the move again.

The Eastern Front - just went white again.

AGN - might see some more action here now that the snow has returned.

AGS - Snow will be a boon to the Soviet.

The battle of the Garrison

The Far East - Japan lose more oil in NEI and two hexes in China

The Nationalists and the Communists on the move - 

the Japanese line is becoming dangerously thin. 

Lucky it is storm in the temperate.

The Battle of the China Sea - US is contesting this sea area.

US Navy looking to bring the Japanese Navy into combat

US naval assets are starting to swing the Naval Balance

Japanese subs roam freely looking for victims in the Pacific.

Losses after the first two impulses

Don't Mention The War - Part 35

This session started with the production phase that concluded the January/February 1944 Turn (which also saw the Communist conquest of Ukraine but the less said about that the better).

The only bright note is the increase in the production multiple which is allowing Germany to keep its builds up.

March/April 1944

The critical roll was initiative.  Would the Empires of Evil be able to exploit their dastardly mission with a double move?  Greater dice skills prevailed.  Germany threw a 5 for the Axis while Russia threw a 6 for the Allies.  The dice Gods are cruel.  Germany had a plus one on the dice and would win ties.  Victory!  Or rather crushing defeat delayed for a brief while.

Next critical role was weather.  Fine everywhere except the arctic which is all of the Eastern Front were it was rain, glorious rain.

German forces pulling back in the east

The Soviet made a halfhearted attempt to catch some Germans as they were retreating (a mere 5 on the 2D10 just produced a retreat which the Germans happily accepted, hurrying on their way).

However with the fine weather in the West the Imperialists spent Offensive Points doing concurrent Land, Naval and Air impulses.

The massed air attacks achieved very little apart from sending more allied aircrews to Stalag 13.

Negotiations have already commenced on a future TV series

The attacks in Western Europe did very little and in the Mediterranean the Imperialists just grabbed some tourist attractions on the Adriatic coast.

Allied cruise ships somewhere in the Mediterranean.

Or rather that should be "everywhere".

Greek forces retook Salonika in a squiggly 14 attack (losses all taken by partisan units who would have been slipping (or slurping) back to their homes anyway.

In China there was a low odds attack that rolled ToTT and removed three Japanese units (which can now be rebuilt back in the homeland in time for its defence - the game is funny like that).

The weather roll for the second impulse is storms and rain in the west, but snow in the east.

Nikephorian Byzantines versus Classical Indians

In a competition game for the club's Basic Impetus League, my Nikephorians faced Mark Woods' Classical Indians.

The Byzantines were outscouted so that put them on the defensive,

however they did win the initiative on the opening turns,

not that it did them any good...

The Byzantine light cavalry start to move on the Indian's left flank

while their slingers look for a target.

The Byzantine army waits patiently while the light cavalry sweep round the enemy's flank.

The Indians advance coming under long range bow fire.

While the Byzantine light cavalry flit about,

the slingers withstand the charge of the Indian chariots

The chariots are yet to prevail (4 dice to 2)

The Indians have now got their elephants in striking range.

Action has commenced on the Byzantine left wing.

The first charge by the elephants failed to follow up.

The Byzantine light cavalry have routed the Indian Palace Guard (lucky die rolls)

and the Byzantine cavalry have routed the Indian cavalry

The elephants, now joined by the chariots (much reduced), charge again.

Both wings have been taken, 

although it will take time for the Byzantine cavalry on the left to turn around.

The Byzantine archery is decimating its opponents.

The Byzantine cavalry is repositioning.

The Indian elephants, even with the help of the chariots,

have been having a hard time making any progress.

A final charge by the elephants produced annihilation on both sides.

But victory had already been assured for the Byzantines,

when their light cavalry delivered a devastating volley to the chariots.

Barbarossa - The eighth turn

I expected the game would have speeded up, but it is getting trickier as supply lines are stretched and Soviet resistance hardens.

Army Group North is held up at Riga

AGC is held up by supplies and the challenge of moving troops forward quickly.

AGS has to take Lvov which is a major transport hub.

Compared to the other fronts Romania is faced with retaking Bessarabia 

and possibly not much more

By the turn end the situation is as follows:

Riga still holds and a strong defensive line has formed south of Lake Peipus.

AGC is battling supply lines and bad terrain

AGS has Lvov in a very tight grip 

but the real progress is occuring in the centre.

On the Romanian front the fight is to link up with AGS

(which is best seen in the previous image)

and finish clearing the Soviets from the rest Bessarabia.