Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear - Russo Japanese War AAR #1

Wednesday night saw the first in a number of linked scenarios for the Russo Japanese War using Through Mud & Blood from the Too Fat lardies stable.

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14th March 1904 North Korea.

Advices received at Ntuchwang state that General Kuroki Tametomo commander of the Japanese First Army have landed at Chemulpo,  the Russian garrison is ordered to fall back on the River Yulu, holding the railway line until the Russian non-combatants can be evacuated.

Our correspondent telegraphs that the Russian defenders were initially caught unawares by the Japanese advance, with members of the high command and sensitive military documents cut off in a small compound at the cross roads at An-lien.

Elements of the 16th Siberian Infantry defend the railway line against the advancing Japanese.

Russian infantry advance through the millet field with Russian blinds advancing down the road to secure the compound and it's valuable content.

Ignoring the left flank the Japanese advance at pace down the main road towards An-lien

 

Elements of the Japanese First Army rush to engage with the Russian defenders, Major-General Asada's advance guard lacked any rear support Sir Ian Hamilton wrote "Fortune was in the mood to be wooed"

Russian elements reached the edge of the millet field but were quickly engaged by the advance Japanese whose aggressive attack forced the Russians back to their start line.

Additional Russian forces are committed as the initial line of Russian defence is forced back by excess shock.

The Japanese press home their attack reaching the cross roads but are forced back by a number of volley's from the Russians at the railway embankment leaving behind several dead including Lt Tanja of the Satsuma Clan.

The Japanese mass for a second attempt at clearing the walled millet field.

The intensive firefight draws additional combatants into the engagement, the Japanese rushing down the main road, whilst the Russian 16th Regiment sweep round the compound engaging the Japanese left flank.

The 16th Siberian Infantry leave the safety of the railway embankment and move towards the Japanese advance guard.

A view from the Russian lines, the Russian detachments have taken a high number of casualties but continue to hold the railway line from a series of Japanese close combat attacks.

As the encounter draws to a close the Japanese are forced into defensive positions opposite the Russian defenders, repeated close combat assaults have weakened their number and whilst suffering little shock, lack the strength in numbers to carry the position.

The loss of a number of Bid men did not allow the Japanese forces to pool their infantry and piece meal attacks against the defended position proved to be ineffective.

The Russian non-combatants and garrison command slip away with the Japanese unable to follow up.

Chain of Command Scenario - Defend an objective....

Sunday night saw my first outing for the newly reorganised German Battlegroup for use within Too Fat Lardies latest rules - Chain of Command.

They were facing off against an elite British Paratroop force under the veteran CoC commander Major "give me a one" Deacon..... somewhere in Northern France.

We thought we would give Scenario 6 - "Attack an Objective" a go with my hard pressed Germans taking the role of defender, I have to hold out in the top right farm complex until the end of the game no small ask against the Red Berets...

The patrol phase was a disaster, two of my counters were locked down one move out by the British forcing my remaining patrol markers to be set only a short distance from the main objective. The Para's jump off points gave them control of the foremost farm over looking the T junction.

I order 1st Platoon to dig in barricading the farm complex and being placed on over watch to cover the approach to the farm, however the para's field craft kept their casualties to a minimum, the para's were soon returning fire keeping the defenders heads down.

 

More para's advance towards the objective skirting the hedge row and the farm complex.

 

My MG34 opens up on the advancing para's forcing them into the farm buildings whilst British casualties are only a single figure I had managed to force them into a defensive posture even though the Brits were making great use of covering fire suppressing many of the defenders firing positions. 

I needed a way of forcing the Para's from the farm, fortunately I had saved my support points for one major counter stroke from my rear most jump off point I activate my ace in the hole - a Pz IV H.

HE shells start to land on the Para's defending the farm......  I must be honest I am feeling rather smug.....

The Brits had a similar plan and in response to my armour, on rolls a Sherman to counter my panzer, it fires and misses, I return fire and boom....

So good I had to photograph it twice - sorry Ade.....

The armour exchange was a minor distraction and the Para's press home their attack advancing through the corn field, my MG was forced to keep their heads down due to covering fire from the farm and with only one window on the northern side of the farm I could do little to slow the para's advance. 

I even cashed in a CoC dice to launch an ambush but the para's field craft protected them from significant casualties.

Believe it or not this was still turn one, smoke from the para's 2" mortar was making targeting difficult, but the British could not see a way to force there way into the complex not with a PZIV wandering about, we agreed to call it a night......

German victory.....

And to think we never got past turn one....

German Late War Support Weapons - Chain of Command

With the infantry finished I thought I would bring the support options up to speed to give me some variation in future scenario's, as with most wargamers I seem to have gotten a little carried away already, with the painting table full of extra's..... so much for sticking to a plan.

First up two Pak 40 AT Guns - Eight points each on the support charts.

For the cheaper option, 2 MG 42's worth 4 points each.
Technically with 5 crew so I will need to work on some additional markers. 

 

I also finished the last of the command bases, with 3 officers to represent a senior command should it be needed.

Next up vehicles and with Derby 2013 approaching who knows what else.....

Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command - Big men and leaders.

Having given the late war infantry a make over and re-organising them for Chain of Command, I should be able to muster two full Platoons to hold off the allied advance, however the current basing (3 to a base) has left me a little short of Senior and Junior leaders fortunately a quick order to Peter Pig has provided the necessary reinforcements.

Gaming and painting has been a little thin of late, so I set myself the challenge of getting the leaders finished with 48 Hrs.... for tonights club outing. SNOW Pressure then.....

I am pleased to report that the reinforcements are now available with a few hours to spare the snow still a little wet.... I just hope they don't fall foul of the curse of freshly painted figures on there first outing. 

 

Paul over at  Move along nothing to see here has steadily been building his collection and opted for junior officers on 1p bases, I thought I would follow suit adding senior officers on 2p's with a second figure to make them a little easier to identify.

I also included a medic to give me an option on the table should it be needed to keep those big men active.

 

The standard infantry squad in CoC is made up of an LMG team of 2 crew and a rifleman, whilst the rifle team is made up of 6 riflemen. Longer term I would like to add some two figure bases to give me additional figure options.

I am toying with bolstering the rifle squad to 9 men and the LMG team with only 2 to fit with my current basing, but will have to see what that does for game play.

  

1st Platoon - Veterans from the front in a mixture of over coats and cold winter gear.

 

2nd Platoon - Volkstrum and HJ

Next up support weapons....

15mm WW2 late war Germans.- Messing about in the snow...

Whilst waiting for the postman to deliver my copy of Chain of Command I thought I would give my Germans a make over, originally based for the Panzer Grenadier rules, they needed some additional Bigmen for CoC, my plan is to base the Junior leaders on one pence pieces and the seniors on two pence pieces.

First up 3 sections and the anti-tank team.

Given the figures are three to base, I will need to build some shock and casualty bases which should be complete over the next few weeks, which will allow me to split into the separate fire teams, although I could assume they are in a weakened state?

The units will represent a mix of veteran infantry and volkssturm designed to stem the soviet advance. The militia had the potential to lack morale and combat effectiveness so by being placed under Nazi Party control they would be bolstered by political fanaticism, I need to think about how they might be represented in the rules?

I wanted to give them a winter feel, they had previously been varnished with a satin finish, so a covering of lacker gave them a duller feel, together with a light dry brushing of white.

The snow effect was created using Bicarbonate of Soda and a PVA/water paste, it should be thick enough so that it sticks to a brush, I applied a liberal "blob" of the paste and allowed to dry, in some cases added a second application for depth, before another dry brush of white, followed by another lacker coat to fix in place.

Next up Bigmen.....

Chain of Command - Too Fat Lardies

Wow September already, August was a washout on the gaming front due to the warm weather and holiday's fortunately Rich Clarke has come along with a fine set of rules to kick start the remainder of 2013 and restore the balance of the universe......

Like many wargamers I always seem to end up back at WW2, whether it's micro armour rolling across the Russian Steppe or the Far East with 28mm Marines holding out against the Japanese onslaught.

Having played out the first game of CoC over at our club the Wyvern Wargamers last week I am hooked. A great excuse to dust off the 15mm collection which has been in cold storage for over 3 years.

The basic force composition within Chain of Command is "platoon plus" which should give you  3 sections units with a limited amount of weapons support and perhaps a couple of vehicles, perfect for a evenings gaming.

The game comes with a  fantastic patrol or  pre-game phase this is almost as much fun as the game itself as players jockey for the best launch point for their attack.

Rich has designed a new command and control mechanism using command dice to generate the set number of phases in a turn really forcing you to make command choices when you only have limited activations available all this building to the triggering of a "Chain of Command" score which allows you to make game changing moves.

I thought I would try late war and the closing stages of WW2 with fanatic German defenders holding out on all fronts as the allies push into the Fatherland, with a little bit of tweaking I should have the first elements on the table within a couple of weeks.

September could be a busy month......