Ulster Wargames Society - Katzbach 1813 with Field of Battle 3

Club meeting today and I put on a FOB 3 Napoleonic game based on a scenario from GDB 'Katzbach 1813' with Prussians (and some late arriving Russians) against French.

Andy took the French and Dave T along with Dave B commanded the more numerous Allies.

French are defenders and deploy up to roughly two thirds on way across table and Prussians up to 12" from their edge.

French deployed with mainly infantry formations in centre areas with several Legere in skirmish formation and mounted on flanks.

Prussians had their large 'standard' Brigade (2 Fusiliers and 4 Musketeers) on their left, a Landwehr Brigade on central hill with artillery and their cavalry massed on their left wing.

Both sides have off-table Reserves due to arrive on 1st, 2nd and 4th Movement cards.

Highlights of game were the Allied reserves arriving very quickly but their right wing refusing to activate for 3 full Move cards.

Prussian cavalry on left managed to dominate the hill adjacent to the river and were soon supported by arriving foot formations.

French did manage to get their Reserves on as well and were able to send cavalry to their left wing forcing Prussians foot into square.

Other French cavalry contested the hill on their right that Prussians had invested and indeed this became a hotly contested area of battlefield with numerous charges by mounted, units being flanked and destroyed and lots of morale points lost by both sides.

Things were more circumspect on Allied right as both side artillery were concentrated here with a steady drain of losses but less dramatic than elsewhere.

A French unit of Elite Hussars caused Prussians all sorts of problems despite being virtually surrounded (indeed they managed to escape trap) whilst a small unit (3UI) of Prussian Garde Jager caused similar mayhem before being routed.

Losses on both sides were mounting and French morale (31) was exhausted first but Allied morale was also tottering on brink despite having a large number of unengaged units (including the Russians).

When French pulled an Army Morale card Andy managed to roll a 10 and the Allied hearts sank but lo and behold they also rolled a 10 so French quit the field and it transpired that the Allies had  a mere 1 Morale left plus 2 'gifted' from French so very close to edge themselves.

Great stuff once again with FOB3 and always enjoyable when a game ends up so close

Clash in centre

Prussians forced into square as French cavalry swirls about

Intense action unfolds on high ground on Allied left

Both sides reserves shore up center

French 'Marie Louise units' advance in march columns 

Things bit more static on French left

Early stages (Prussians have occupied hill in far distance)

French deployment on left

Opposing Prussians (rooted to spot for ages)

Action on Prussian left with the hilltop contested fiercely by both sides

The Elite French Hussars in some trouble as flanked and threatened from rear whilst Garde Jager are doing their thing (unit at 11 o'clock)

Also at club several other games (good turn out again today) but no idea how these turned out

Phil and co played a Boer War game using Men Who Would Be Kings in 20mm

This Boer cavalry column seems to be tip toeing along a precipice !!

Jeremy and several others put on a game of Infamy Infamy (Sharp Practice for Ancients ?) in 28mm Romans vs Germans

Charlie and co played another Battle Tech game (think rules are Alpha Strike ?) with some nice sci fi buildings

Dave P and Adam played a 28mm game of Battlegroup WW2 but I failed to see or take any pics of this.

Vassal - Commands & Colors - Lake Trasimenus game completed

Finished another scenario of ongoing Commands & Colors campaign with Mike and his Carthaginians were victorious once more.

The extra command cards Carthage gains when under Hannibal is a definite advantage but Mikes shooting dice were awesome this game as constantly caused a drain of attrition to my units.

On to Cannae next.........................................

Combat HQ bash at Mikes

Game at Mikes using his favoured Combat HQ WWII rules and his 15mm kit.

An encounter type game set in 1944 with Mike and I as Germans (7 Inf Coys, 3 Stugs, 3 PzV, 1 Tiger, 2 Pak 40, 2 x 12cm Mortars, a Puma and off table support from 2 x 105mm Batteries) against an Allied force of British and Americans (8-9 (?) Inf Coys, 2 M5 Stuarts, 6 M4/76, an M10, 3 Cromwells, 1 Staghound, a 6pdr and support from a 105mm and a 25pdr Battery) commanded by Bryn and Simon.

Both sides set up with some infantry 'hidden' in towns and several blinds on table edge with several units in Reserve and then had at it.

Of course first few turns I managed a command failure gifting 'Wild' dice to enemy (1 roll of 5 dice saw 3 given away !) and indeed it looked like Yanks under Simon were going to easily crush my flank but he advanced some Shermans (after brewing my Stugs and the Tiger) well ahead of supporting foot sloggers and a reserve units of Grenadiers advanced from reserve using PzFausts to deal with this armour and a Panther also arrived and his advance was stymied.

It then became a long range attritional shooting match between us as as both weakened greatly.

On left Mike was having a more cat and mouse game with Bryns British initially but his Panthers dealt with Bryns armour and both side reserves came into play with a large field area being hotly contested.

Both sides had a morale pool (don't know levels) and our Pool was expended first ending the game but with Allies having a mere 2 Morale left themselves, so a very close run thing in the end.

A fun game in good company even if it was sauna like at times, as mini 'heatwave' here at present, despite the efforts of couple of air fans, but plenty of extra hot air to contend with from players not helping :-)

German left flank (Mike) note playing cards are blinds

Our right (yours truly)

Mikes Panthers in the ascendancy (before pulling back as targeted by artillery) 

A Pak40 bolsters my defence in town as Allied reserves appear

Panther also aids the defenders

Yank armour pushing ahead (note Shermans were all M4/76 types)

After crushing my Stug Coy in short order

Another view of Mikes flank (Bryns Cromwells died in wooded area on hill)

Commands & Colors Ancients - Vassal PBEM games ends

End of another C&C Ancients Vassal game with Mike and this time his Carthaginians were victorious at the Trebbia braking my winning streak when the outflanking force under Mago appeared inflicted telling losses.

But boy was it close as the previous Roman turn I was a mere 1 hit from destroying enough Cartho units for an auto-victory !!

A slick playing and fun light system that works well on Vassal

Combat Commander - a quick solo session

Only had couple of hours spare today so set up a solo game of Combat Commander using a scenario based around action at Goch Germany in 1945 with British in Recon mode against defending German 2nd line troops.

Fast and furious it proved to be as Germans just about held on for the win after multiple Sudden Death rolls (fairly whizzed through decks) with a lucky increase to Surrender level saving them from auto defeat so allowing a VP victory.

Bonnie Blue Flag rules played - The Wheatfield

Game at Stephens today (last for few weeks as he is off on holiday to England) and he choose ACW period with set of rules called Bonnie Blue Flag which we have never tried before (think he bought them at Warfare last year).

These are marketed as a fast play set with units as Regiments.

Scenario was based on a Guns of Gettysburg version of  'The Wheatfield' using Stephens excellent 15mm kit and troops (mostly Peter Pig).

Used standard sized units (5 bases) for ease although rules allow varied sized Regiments (4-12 bases) but no matter number of stands used units are rated for 3 Attrition Levels ie 6 for Veterans, 5 Experienced or 4 Raw.

System has interesting sequence of play (followed alternately by players) with Officers moving first then Charges, Skirmishers and other Moves followed by shooting by Artillery, then Skirmishing, then Musketry and a Melee phase.

I really liked how Skirmishers are handled being able to be deploy or recall at will but only taking 1 hit to get rid of them or forcing them back by advancing on them and their shooting is not too powerful.

Oddly they cannot be ignored by artillery (no shooting through to parent unit) but this is fine in practice and overall Skirmisher just worked.

Movement is a set distance with variable move of 1-2 D6 with usual deductions for terrain and is done per unit (no group moves).   

Shooting and Melee are conducted by causing a Morale Check on enemy which use a percentage dice system for passing or failing with units suffering Attrition hits and possibly falling back and maybe not being able to fire at next opportunity. 

Advancing troops seem slightly less vulnerable to being fired at than stationary chaps but with caveat that if you move over half you don't fire.

Officers give Morale bonuses to units in Command when shot at or when attached to a unit in Melee and can recover Attrition hits on units by using their own pool of Attrition (4-5) but are mostly invulnerable (only lost if attached to a unit destroyed by melee).

Rules are bit vague in several areas (and not much in way of support that we could find) but these issues were pretty easy to rule upon in practice.

All in all a fun set that should be quicker to play than our favoured Regt Fire and Fury (really its only downside is game length imho).