LOTR Campaign Game - The fall of Fangorn.

The Lord of the Rings Campaign is back.... my wargaming buddy has been investing heavily in bad guys so to accommodate the larger forces we have switched to Dragon Rampant, amending the point values and reinforcements to keep the balance of the game.

In the south of Middle Earth, the Forces of Men have been looking to dodge the evil Orcs' but have finally ran out of room, chased by 4 armies the battered force moved into Fangorn only to be blocked by a far larger enemy force, pinned in on all sides They need to win the day or be wiped from the map.

The plan is a simple one, await the evil horde and hope to batter them as they crest the hill. I picked a largely archer force, paying for the sharp shooter skill to try hold them back and break their morale.

With approx. 100 points to field Sauron's forces were not short of impressive units chase down human forces, Trolls, Heavy Pike and lots of cavalry....

The heavy cavalry swept forward facing off against the Riders of Rohan who fired their bow and evaded the initial charge, some of the cavalry were felled as they charged into the skirmishers in the tree line losing their advantage... the evil guys would only fall for that once. The Trolls and skirmishers rushed forwards to clear the wood.

The men of Gondor refused their flanks as the enemy cavalry regrouped as their infantry pushed around the left flank.

On the right the enemy infantry advanced, throwing their crossbows forward to be greeted by a hail of arrows.

On the left the Infantry braced themselves for the heavy cavalry charge, they could perhaps stop one unit, but four might be a challenge. 

The hammer blow fell. Holding off the horns left nothing to hold off the charging Trolls who swept through the rough terrain and smashed into the formed ranks, pushing them backwards.

The Human General was killed in the melee, Victory was complete for the evil army.

With nowhere to retreat the good army was removed from the board. Things were going to get harder before they got better in this campaign. Nice to know switching rules made no difference to the outcome of the game :-)

One more battle to fight this turn..... hopefully not a year before the next outing...

OPERATION MAX UND MONTZ - Wyre Forest Wargames Club on the Road...

The final post of March and a quick overview of our annual outing to WMMS hosted by the Alumwell Wargames Club. This year we opted for a WW2 outing on the Eastern Front.

A great show, with a very relaxed atmosphere, not the first on the list for traders with several of the main brands no longer attending, but then I have been going a very long time well before the internet.... However it does allow you to linger that little bit longer at each stand and pick up several pieces which you might have missed in some of the other shows where you are 2-3 deep in those first 3 hours of the day.

Numbers felt to be down around 15% to my eye, but it was Mothering Sunday which might account for the slight drop off. Let's of great games on offer and plenty of eye candy for future projects.

A great days gaming, chatting with the occasional bargain thrown in.

Apologies only our game on offer on this post and then mostly from the morning session, I am sure others will share their wider Pic's across the blogosphere. 

OPERATION MAX UND MONTZ, SEPTEMBER 1942 – GROSSDEUTSCHLAND INFANTRY DIVISION – EAST OF TSCHERMASSOWO.

 A portrayal of the advance of Sturmpionier Battalion GD launching a daring operation in the Gostischka Vally against the enemy bunkers of the so-called “Cemetery Hill” due east of the town of Tschermassowo.

The main objective of Code Name Max Und Moritz was the seizing of the strategic heights to control the hill and observe enemy forces to the east and enable to make countermeasures against Soviet artillery Positions.

Under an Artillery Barrage and support Stuka’s the 2^nd & 3^rd Companies attacked the hill with Satchel charges, flamethrowers, hand grenades, spades and knives, while the 7^th Company attacked to the East of the hill in “Prittwitz Hollow”

 

The Game.

Can the Russians stop the German advance and the capture of Cemetery Hill?

 

Played with using the Bolt Action Core rules alongside elements of Chain of Command introducing Force Morale, variable movement and turn end. 

When the scenario calls for an air strike some is bound to bring a Stuka.... it took all day but it finally found it's mark, which gave the Germans a marginal victory.

If you fancied giving us a try you can find more details of the club here. https://www.wfgamers.org.uk/

Standard Games - Outremer #scenario 2 Ambush...

I have been wanting to put a game like this on the table for a over two decades, admittedly the scale has increased than I originally planned when I backed the Footsore kickstarter a few years ago.

When I was a kid Standard Games Cry Havoc was all the rage, I always fancied turning it to miniatures. The board game had a bit of a renaissance in covid where two of us played over zoom with a game each moving the pieces on both maps.

Now it's time to finally get the toys on the table.

After three days on the road with very little water, the Christian horse is in desperate need of water. The Muslims are lying in wait for them at the watering hole.

I turned the forces from the scenario into a similar scale of forces from the Outremer book. The Victory conditions were simple the Arabs needed to kill more than they lose and not be forced off the table.

Coming on from the bottom left the Franks did not fancy getting anywhere near the large dune. if I was going to hide cavalry anywhere it would behind there.

Advancing on a broad front the Turcopoles flushed out the first Arab spear unit. 

The Franks advanced forward, with the Knights allowing the spear, bow and crossbows taking the front.

Things were progressing well the Christians were turning the flank, which forced the Arabs to break cover and move to the centre of the table.

More Arabs popped up, heavy Infantry defending the stone wall. The Christian Warriors Foot and Spearmen moved to across the lines of vines.

With the Franks advancing, low and behold the Arabs appeared from behind the dune, cavalry, loads of the them. Under pressure the Crusaders fell back.

Meanwhile the Christians had turned the flank of the Black Guard and the opportunity to push up the right hand side of the board.

A brutal exchange and both sides regrouped from a battering, the Arabs threw a light cavalry unit forwards. The Crusaders could not resist and spurred their heavy horse onwards.

The sneaky Arab cavalry evaded the charge and peppered the armoured knights with some well aimed archery and javelin fire. The Knights morale failed and they were sent packing, terrible dice when you needed a decent roll.

The Christians would be going thirsty today....

Cracking game and nice to be able to turn the hex game to miniatures.... now to read up on the campaign rules.

Fireforge Games- Christian Spearmen

Looking at the diary coming up and a planned club game in April it would appear that painting is going to be limited in the next couple of weeks. Especially with Alumwell looming large in a few weeks, so I am going to have to grab an hour here and there.

Fortunately a clear day in the last week has allowed me to complete a two more units for the Christian forces in the shape of  Christian heavy spear.

Following the same scheme as the warriors and crossbow men the occasional white or blue tunic to break up the linen and canvas shades together with a mix of shields with the occasional cross thrown in against the more traditional heraldic shield.

The two units are identifiable by one having the Norman kite shield while the others the straight top. But they could easily be mixed in together. 

I have added in a few with the Cross on the tunic to break them up a little and to use up a bunch of transfers that were in the box.

Really pleased with the general feel of these, but have a feeling that they won't fair well against the mass of Islamic horse archers. On the plus side the shields are really big....

FireForge Games - Crusader Crossbows & Warriors

A March update and time for the Christian forces to enter the table.

A couple of evenings of snipping, trimming and gluing before the weekend was spent getting the first of the Fireforge Christians onto the table... This was meant to be one of the those projects that was a minor distraction to fight some skirmish games in the Middle East, it now stretches into several boxes and is most definitely one of the larger collections I hold.

The Christian forces lack fire power, what have we leant from the first Lion Rampant Games? - Well for starters the Arab forces in the majority carry bows and the Christians have very little to counter these, couple that with Cavalry who like nothing more than to chase after there more nibble counter parts.

So few more units with Cross Bows should help to keep the light cavalry away.

I opted for a mix of colours for the padded coats, with the occasional light blue to give them a degree of uniformity. 

Similarly with the foot warriors I used the Fireforge Shield transfers mixed in the with some of the Crusades crosses, I wanted to give them an on campaign feel, with a cross over between a the Christian Cross and perhaps the design from their sponsor or overlord back home. You might say the Ridley Scott approach to history?

To my eye the mix of heraldry gives a good feel on the table top and will separate the bulk of the forces from some of the templars coming down the track.

Next up a couple of spear blocks to help hold the line..... March is Christian Aid Month  :-)

Dispatches from the front XXXVI - A rare double header.

A little bit behind on posts of late, hopefully things should calm down in a couple of weeks once year end is out of the way, this real life stuff can seriously hinder hobby time.

Last weekend saw a rarity on the hobby front, a show and an all day game..... I suspect I will have to make up for that in the coming weeks, lets kick of with Hammerhead. A great show as always from Paul and Sally at Kallistra the hall was packed with plenty of games to chose from and most traders 2-3 people deep. I was reflecting on traders that were missing and the number that now concentrate their efforts on perhaps 3-4 shows a year, you can't blame traders given the cost of overnight accommodation and travel costs. That's a lot of margin to make up before you have even sold a pack of figures.

I did my bit with a nice haul from the show. I am trying to be more proactive so on the evening started to prep them before they disappeared into the draw of things I really must get round to finishing, it might allow me to get a little bit of prep across the week.

The haul Pendragon for the AWI Project with a number of additional buildings and phase three of the project, with more Militia, British Cavalry, Indians and more casualty markers. The under cloth hills from Kallistra will give me more options on the tabletop.

Finally a a couple of packs from Perry to bulk out the Christian forces for the Crusades, separating the Footsore Mini's from their larger cousins. The next game is scheduled for early April so no pressure to get them complete.

With barely time to recover Sunday saw a Wyre Forest all dayer with a dry run for the Alumwell show at the end of the month, I won't give the scenario away but it sees German mechanised forces take on Russian defenders.

Having a dry run gave us the opportunity to tweak the forces and ensure that the scenario moves at pace and gives a balance of troops for each side.

A big shout out to Howard from the club, knowing my Crusades project is underway he very kindly gifted me his "to do" pile... Very generous.... but wow the list of things to do is growing day by day....

Meanwhile back from hibernation the LOTR's campaign is back, over a year has passed since the last posting - Dust, Tears & Dice: LOTR Campaign - Back from the annuals of time. New purchases from my wargaming buddy has perhaps pushed Infamy to it's limits so we discussed switching to Lion/Dragon Rampant it will certainly give a faster play and both rule sets have enough characteristics for the various troops types. We will need to tweak the points for each campaign force but it should not take long to convert.

A greater tester game saw a win for the good guys.... shame it did not count. It was great to be able bring the campaign back to life, as always so many games, so little time.

Getting things done - February wrap up

Quick post this morning before heading out to the first show of the year Hammerhead....

Keeping up with the theme of getting stuff done, the last of Arab foot figures for the Crusades project.

These are from Gripping Beasts metal range, I followed the theme of the previous unit and given these chaps a more uniformed feel, still keeping with the occasional flash of Green or Purple. Spears have been swapped out to steel pins, far tougher but that little bit of jeopardy when you pick them up.

Shield Transfers are from Little Big Man Studios although I did have to a scalpel to a couple of banners to make shield transfers fit two of the mini's who's shields were oval shaped.

I suspect this will be used as Heavy Infantry with Lion Rampant and the more uniformed approach separating them out from their lighter comrades.

March should see the Christians hitting the paint table and hopefully the last of the Muslim cavalry.

If you are heading up to Newark today the Wyre Forest Club is running a game so feel free to drop by and say hello.

Tactics II - Allied Turn 4 - Battle 2 - Oasis Assault.

The last game was September - wow

Back to the Tactics II campaign and the second battle of the Allied offensive, this game sees the British breaking out of the port of Karalan looking to push aside a solitary Infantry formation in a defensive position dug in around a desert oasis. Out numbered by 3:1 including Armour - how long could the Axis last?

If anyone is interested in the wider campaign this was the last post - Dust, Tears & Dice: Allied Turn 4 - The Allied hammer blow falls.

A flash of greenery in a desert landscape....

Hidden amongst the rocks and long grass the German defenders await the advance of the Allies.

Sensing the sneaky Germans might be waiting for them, the allies sent a flanking force to roll up the flank, Vickers Light Tanks and Bren Carriers sweep right, the vehicles are showered in sand as a mortar round lands close to the force.

In the centre a dreaded 88mm AT gun appears through the heat haze.

The 88 immediately makes an impact taking out one of the lead Matilda's as it enters the table.

The race is on, knowing the damage the 88 could do, the allies put their foot down, infantry flooded the table as they looked to close the gap on the defenders.

The allies call in mortar fire and get a lucky strike landing on the 88mm - result... Having ranged in it was only a matter of time.

Across the front the British and Commonwealth forces closed in on the defenders, an Anti-Tank gun was quickly neutralised before it could counter the advance on the left. A second Matilda pushed towards the oasis.

In a final hurrah a section of Africa Korps rush from the undergrowth to assault the approaching armour, they failed to score a hit, the supporting infantry beat the attackers back.

With the infantry attack repulsed and the 88 destroyed by another salvo from the mortar the German morale collapsed, unable to retreat due to a blocking force on the map, the German Infantry Battalion entered into captivity.

It was nice to dust off the campaign again, the loss of the allied heavy tank was quite a point loss but taking an entire unit off the map was a great result for the allies. The road was open on the left flank.