Battle in the valley - The allied push continues...

Continuing with the Tactics II campaign.

All out war across the entire front with the Allied forces pushing hard against the Axis & Vichy defenders. 

After a slow push through the mountains, like Hannibal in ancient times. The British Armoured regiment burst out of what thought to be impassable terrain. Another though ask of the German defenders.

Another outing flipping the rule system to Xenos Rampant whilst ironing out some of the kinks to in unit stats to better reflect the troops in theatre.

Allied - 1425 BA - 57 Points plus free spotter - XR

Axis - 1000 BA - 40 Points XR

The Germans hold the pass with an Infantry company and single light AT Gun facing off against a mobile column of Armour Infantry and Tanks.

Nestled amongst the rocks and dunes the Germans await the allied assault. 

The terrain was not the best for tanks, so as the AFV's pushed through the main road, the Infantry swept left by the oasis looking to assault the high ground. The Bren carriers moved quickly as Infantry filled the compound.

In the centre the armour pushed forwards, their advance slowed by off table artillery from the German rear area. The allies returned fire looking to supress the AT gun and AT Team.

Finding it tough going to the front the allies continued to probe the left flank, a Vickers light tank pouring fire into the Germans on the ridge line.

The Bren carriers assaulted the ridge line. The Germans (heavy Infantry with the Heavy weapon trait) pushed back the first assault but were picking up wounds.

In the centre the second Vickers Light Tank was a wreak having taken a number of hits from the defenders. This only served to drive on the British advance they can neutralised the AT team and were pushing into the pass supported by off table artillery.

The damn bursts. The Cruiser Mk III crashed into the AT gun driving the crew off, the allied Infantry seized the high ground as the surviving defenders were beaten back, who were then attacked by the flanking light tank.

An allied victory but at quite the costs.

Xenos Rampant makes for a fun game, the difference between the Allied Light Infantry & the German Heavy Infantry was telling, trying to wheedle the Germans out of heavy cover was hard work, next time they really need some additional heavy weapons to break them the Axis line.

A couple of additional tweaks to consider, company/squadron commands/activations given the games are larger than 24 points as stated in the book. - An armour deduction for flanks?

Overall pretty slick and fast moving for an evenings game.

Wyre Forest Club - The Black Watch in Fallujah

Club day and an opportunity to put on a BIG game.

The Black Watch Regiment was ordered to support the US forces in throwing a 'ring of steel' around Fallujah before an all-out assault on the insurgents in the city.

The Regiment is ordered into the outskirts to secure two key buildings clearing any insurgents that get in the way.

Three Warriors supported by a Challenger & Scimitar are available for the operation.

The Brits rolled up to the Outskirts of the city, it was quiet, to quiet Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been stirring up the people but where were they?

Ambush.... unsporting the insurgents fired a recoilless rifle and took out the lightly armed command vehicle.

The command group ran for cover from their burning vehicle, the medic was killed in the blast but fortunately the rest of the group were unharmed.

The main group on the road poured fire into all potential hot spots as the flanking force of two Warriors hit the first target buildings. Infantry spilling out to take the fight to the insurgents.

Calling in the Predator to really add to the ferocity of the assault a number of insurgent groups were destroyed. The Challenger rolled on towards Target 2 unopposed, even if they had to shake off a roadside IED that would have caused some serious harm to a lesser unit. With the Insurgent commanders killed or wounded it was mission accomplished for the Brits.

An interesting scenario and a very different experience for both the British and Insurgent Commanders, the militia are numerous but are lost in droves if caught in the open, they need to pick their targets, timing and ensure they make use of the cover available. In this encounter they lost approximately 70 fighters. The Brits on the other hand need to manage their forces - In the mission the loss of a command vehicle and an immobilised Warrior and Scimitar cost the MOD around £1.5M but more concerning was the loss of two personnel and three seriously wounded.

Mission success but a loss when it hits the news wires back home.

Saladin & the last of the Arab Cavalry.

A break in the rain, long enough to varnish these - Yes the last of the Arab cavalry for the Crusades. Please no mounted troops for a while.... :-)

Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub - Recapturer of Jerusalem in 1187

Cast in metal from Gripping Beast it took a little but of cleaning up, but he is quite imposing and perfect for a General figure with Lion Rampant.

The last Arab cavalry. In the paint queue for a year and now complete, I think 16 units might be too many but lets see when they take to the table in the coming weeks.

Now back to the Chinese.

The Battle of Nyezane 1879 - Men who would be King.

Nothing like a large club game to get the gaming juices flowing... we last played this encounter over the the Wyvern Club perhaps 8 years ago..... where does the time go... it's a great scenario lifted from the Colonial Skirmish books.

The British briefing.... with a little help from Co-pilot

Gentlemen,

We stand on the threshold of our advance toward Eshowe. The Tugela is behind us, and the Nyezane River lies ahead. Intelligence suggests that Zulu forces are operating in this region in considerable strength. Their movements are swift, their discipline admirable, and their intent unmistakable. We must therefore proceed with vigilance and cohesion. 

Our task is to escort the supply convoy and secure the road to Eshowe. 

Your objective in this exercise is simple:

 • Protect the convoy

• Maintain formation under sudden attack

• Repel Zulu forces and secure the high ground 

Zulu strength in this sector is estimated at 4,000–6,000 warriors, likely from the iNgobamakhosi and uMbonambi regiments.

Thanks to Andy who carved us plenty of high ground for the Zulu's to watch the river. The British started with a number of units on the left bank of the river, with no Zulu's in the near vicinity a few scouts were seen far off in the distance but nothing to worry about.

The remaining British forces queued at the crossing, with only one wagon and one foot unit allowed to cross each turn, it would be a while before the full column was across. 

The Zulu's had there own challenges, they started with a few units on the table but then had the choice to either bring on 2 units a turn or wait until they rolled under the turn number to bring on 10 units in one go.... we opted to wait.....

The plan was a simple one use one of the horns to draw in the British slowing their push for the high ground whilst we wait for the main chest to appear on the table. Experienced warriors with their white shields headed into the donga and the benefit of hard cover.

Turn after turn we failed to roll low and the clock was ticking, the British had set up a firing line and with their free fire action were slowly chipping away at the Zulu's who had gone to ground, their mounted infantry were pushing forwards..

Seeing that the right flank of the Imperial forces was being weakened and still no main body we pushed forwards a little to pull the defenders back in to the fight.

The main body appears... each unit was 16 strength points but we had them on the table in 24 man units to give that sense of mass.

Counting rifles.... it turned out sending a single unit forwards into a massed rank of regular line and artillery does not work.... 1 point to the British for wiping out a Zulu unit, they also had 3 wagons across the river also worth 3 points - if they could get to 12 it would be a British victory.

As the British pushed forwards the main Zulu force was moving quickly through the tall grass that restricted visibility and long range fire.

The lead British unit were caught too far out in front and they were wiped out by the advancing horn 1st point back for the Zulu...

As the British shifted position the left horn saw an opportunity to punish the invading column catching the irregular horse and driving them backwards. The Artillery would need to work over time to keep the Zulu at bay.

Lots of finger pointing and not so much laughter from the Crown players as the seriousness of the situation started to dawn on them. The main body of Zulu's was closing fast but the let horn was not being slowed by the artillery or rocket troops and the NNC were no use with outdated rifles.

The main line ripped into the advancing Zulu pinning the first free units but the remaining Zulu pushed on...

The last Pic of the day before the journalist and his sketch booked headed to the drift... the left flank saw the gun and a whole company overrun and with the main body now in hand to hand with the Zulu chest - the 8 points amassed for the British started to be eroded.... Talk about being saved by the bell...

As the Zulu player we had taken a battering but had pushed the British aback and broken their line... it very much had a Zulu Dawn feel to it :-)

To watch the confidence of the British player erode and bemoan the need for that last company held up and the drift to plug the flank was very satisfying. But to be fair they had the same when our probing unit was destroyed in the early rounds.. we did not make that mistake again..... 

Great fun 'The Men Who Would be King' Rules easily handled the large number of units on the table and whilst the rules were new to a couple of players they were quickly into the mechanism after 2 turns. Great to get so many toys on the table and get to a reasonable result in an afternoon.

An early contender for game of the year......

Charge !!!! - Back to the Crusades...

The Chinese have taken a bit of a back seat lots of prep done and the foundations to make them ready for the finer detail in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile as we turn into February and prompted by, one of my gaming group launching a monthly painting challenge with the theme for the month of Charge!!!!

Yet another unit of cavalry for the Outremer project....

Rather worryingly these fine fellows were first under coated in last January. So the perfect excuse to get them table ready....

Great castings from Footsore and some extra Arab Heavy Cavalry for Saladin's army.

As with pervious units shield decals from Little Big Man Studio's so much easier and look so much better than had painted.

One more cavalry unit to go... before all of the Arab forces are finally complete....

Tactics II Campaign - Xenos Rampant - Go big or go home.

Campaigns.... I can't be the only one to run into the continuous problem, people lose interest or the games gravitate to huge battles beyond the scope of single evenings.

The Tactics II campaign has resulted in some great games mostly one formation a side, In the centre of the map the battlefield has been in deadlock as multiple units formed up to block one another...

Until now, with the Allies launching a push across the river.

Over the months we have tried Chain of Command, great for smaller games, Bolt Action for the scale up Company games, we have been playing a lot of 'rampant' games recently and a conversation turned to see if they would be suitable for fast play WW2... Let's see.

Taking the point values of a Bolt Action platoon V2 and comparing to Xenos Rampant gives a point value of 25 BA to 1 point in XR.

On with the game.

A combined Allied Armour and Veteran Infantry force attempt to breakthrough the German defences. Using the Platoon Forward for the terrain layout and scenario the already battle ravaged Germans need to defend the listening post.

The Germans had a platoon of Infantry and an 88mm AT gun against a range of Allied armour.

The Germans classed as heavy infantry opened up on the advancing British forces, inflicting casualties on the advancing infantry who were pinned and damage to the Matilda.

Looking to swamp the German lines a squadron of Vickers rushed forwards providing them with multiple targets.

The Allies cleared the wadi advancing on the entrenchments slowly chipping away at the defenders who put up a solid defence with the heavy weapon bonus representing the increased rate of fire for the MG34.

To the front of the village a section of Bren Carriers broke cover and headed for the village only to be countered by off table artillery that pinned the infantry rushing forwards in the open.

On the left flank the Axis AT rifle that had been chipping away at the slow moving armour finally ran out of luck showered with HE and then assaulted by charging infantry.

The Infantry screen was broken, a Bren fell victim to the 88.

However multiple MMG's from the Vickers and remaining Bren's caused the crew to abandon the gun. The German's remaining forces fall back.

A cracking game, Xenos Rampant played really well in WW2 setting, a couple of tweaks are needed to some units to make them better reflect their natural style of play on the tabletop. Game play was slick and we had a proper result in 3 hours... 

On the campaign map the Germans are pushed back from the river line with the shattered defenders down to 345 BA points or 14 XR points.

The allies lost a similar number of points but they had out numbered the Germans by around 3:1

A hole had started to open up in the German lines which would be need to be plugged but where from as they where under pressure across the line.

Looking forward to the next game and more rampant.