Holland'44 - 3Q20 - Turns 9 to 11

The focus is now all on Arnhem.  If the Germans can take this they will win an automatic victory.

 Apart from some traffic congestion, 30th Corps has a clear run up to Nijmegen.

 A ferry has been created at Nijmegen allowing lead elements of Guards Armoured to get across.

The 1st Airborne are working hard to keep the way clear.

 The Germans are moving to secure the north bank of the Lower Rhine,

while keeping up the pressure on Arnhem.

 11th Armoured have secured the right flank.

 On the left the focus for the Allies is now 'sHerjogenborsch

 While sizeable German forces remain just off map,

the Allies seem to have well secured the corridor and are after the victory locations on the fringes.

 But the Allied focus remains on linking up with Arnhem.

 The Germans are trying to feed units into the Betuwe, but it is a slow process.

The attacks on Arnhem continue and the Germans are trying to reinforce Nijmegen.

 Allied reinforcements continue to drive up Hell's Highway.

11th Armoured face a very marshy area on the right flank.

 To deal with that they have moved to the north and are now successfully attacking south.

 82nd Airborne have linked up with 1st Airborne,

but are yet to break through to the guys trapped in Arnhem.

The overall situation on the morning of the fifth day.

The sun is yet to break through the clouds and is not expected till the afternoon.

Critical day has arrived.

Paras yet to arrive can be seen in the holding box, top right hand corner.  Allied losses amounting to 4VPs are in the second box up on the far left hand bottom corner.  More worrying for the Allies is that the US paras are running out of remnant counters and if forced to take losses it's going to hurt.

Nikephorian Byzantine versus Mughal

This was a competition game played at the club.

 The Mughal army has a lot of firepower,

I planned to use my cavalry to attack 

while my infantry would cover my right flank.

 First turn and the race is on.

 Second turn and we are yet to get into action.

 Third turn and still nothing.

 But turn four sees some action.

My cavalry shoot up the enemy artillery - phew!

But my slingers are shot to pieces by the enemy muskets.

My centre cavalry starts to suffer attrition.

 Turn five and losses mount.

Varangians to the rescue!

Game over.

We did some damage,

but the Varangians failed and the next turn were annihilated and the army morale broke.

So it goes.

We messed up retreating units through units that they could/couldn't interpenetrate.  I must check this out.

The Battle of Corunna

I put this game on for the NWS Game's Day  on 15 August.  This post has also appeared on the NWS blog.

The idea for this battle was the similarity between its name and a certain virus that is currently plaguing the planet.  I also hoped that it could be played with different rules and scales (Black Powder and General de Brigade being two obvious candidates, but even adding in Shako from the ANF and even, shudder, a bit of Slaughterloo).  However, one step at a time.

Russell took on the role of Moore ably assisted by Mr Napier playing himself.  Simon was Soult and Darren was Delaborde.  I umpired and supplied the figures.  The built up areas were Darren's.  Rest of the terrain was the club's and might be the first time they had seen some use in a while.  Rules were Napoleon's Battles.

 Set up based on the Osprey map of the battle (the map of which fitted nicely on a 6x4).

Forces as per the scenario in the Red Book (the map for it requiring a 9x5).

 The French start a fire fight using their artillery and longer range of their light infantry.

Frazer is bringing up the 3rd Division.

The French cavalry are having a very hard time moving in the appalling terrain.

(hard to spot but the battlefield is littered with scrub and stonewalls).

 The British start to retreat, almost in panic...

 Paget has arrived, but the rest of the British forces have been badly shot up.

 The French Division commanded by Merle make a massive assault on Paget 

who has been too late to deploy into the village of Elris.

 Paget has been pushed back in Elris, 

but two brigades of Baird's Division are now counterattacking.

 The French have a hard time forming up in Elris.

The British still have a strong hold on  Pedralonga (on the left) 

and Elvina (on the right).

 The French make another all out attack.

With their attacks repulsed and the sun quickly setting,

the French withdraw hold their ground(!) for the night.

The British retire to the harbour and pray for good weather for their sail back to Old Blighty.

Thanks everyone for participating.

Getting the terrain "right"for historical battles is always a challenge.  Main issue with this game was possibly the size of the villages.  In my haste to put the game together I failed to see that the scenario specified that the villages could only hold two bases maximum!  Whoops.  Still Darren's BUAs were too nice not to use.

World in Flames 47

The coming of the second front.

Things are not going well in China

and that is an SS mountain unit in the Persian Gulf.

The Japanese have declared war and are trying to stop Soviet access to the Iranian oil fields.

 Rostov is in Soviet hands and the threat to the Caucasus front has reduced a bit.

But the big event is the Allied occupation of Norway.

The Axis are trying to reinforce, 

but it will be a challenge and hopefully a death trap.

In that last image you can see the losses for the May/June 1943 turn so far.  Two Russian units (from Gomel), three Chinese, four Commonwealth aircraft, a US infantry and both their amphibs(!!), versus one Italian Nav and one German surface ship.

Trial of Strength - September'44

The Soviets attack before the rains turn everything to mud.

 The Soviet offensive in Finland continues.

There has also been a breakthrough in the Carpathians

 that is throwing the Axis allies into a turmoil of uncooperation.

 Finland has surrendered.

There have been bloody attacks towards Lvow and Warsaw.

 The Axis have pulled back to shorten their supply lines

 or rather lengthen the Soviet supply lines.

A close up of the central front.  

The white unit is the Soviet Polish Army 

that has been pushed forward and is now adjacent to Warsaw.  

This should trigger the Warsaw uprising,
which is that 7 strength point unit sitting on Warsaw.

Note: 

The counters with a U on them are the Soviets that have broken through the Carpathians.  They are unsupplied and will be for a while.

The counters with numbers on them are Axis units that were attacked in the Soviet turn.

Holland'44 - 3Q20 - Turns 5 to 8

The lovely overcast weather continues.

 The 1st Airborne are trying to maintain a perimeter.

 While 30th Corps races to Nijmegen.

So ends the second day (Turn 5)

 1st Airborne shrink their perimeter,

but also start offensive action south of Arnhem.

 30th Corps looks a bit thin on the ground...

 Disaster in Arnhem as the paras start to lose their hold on the city.

 1st Airborne decide being south of the river might be best.

The US paras are having a hard time at Nijmegen,

but lead elements of the 30th Corps have arrived to help them.

 The German counterattack towards Helmond has not been very successful,

or rather hasn't really eventuated,

but at least it is tying down the British 11th Armoured Division.

End of day three (Turn 8)

The German off map position is menacing.

Back to Basic Impetus and Byzantines fighting Classical Indians again

 At the club Dave and I got back into Basic Impetus, practicing for the league competition.

Set up.

Advance!
Byzantine light cavalry has headed off to the flanks.
(and the left flank unit is out of the picture)

Contact.

Byzantine fire cleared away the enemy skirmishers,

although they did lose a unit themselves.

The climax of the battle.

The Indians break.