Coldwars 2014

I, with a few friends just came back from Coldwars gaming convention in Lancaster PA. Here's a few photos of some of the games that went on.

An ACW game, Fox Gap, 15mm Regimental Fire and Fury.

Another ACW game

Some kind of winter battle game in 15mm. Company B Aerosans.

25mm ACW game about to start.

A 25mm Alamo game. This was a very popular one that had over a dozen people playing it.

A 15mm Vietnam game I played in. The objective was for a French convoy to make it from one end of the table to the other end. The Viet Minh had something to say about that.

The convoy moves off. Lots of firepower. River craft, tanks, armoured recon, off board artillery, and aircraft.

The Viet Minh spring an ambush. The convoy starts to get shot up.

Red disrupted markers everywhere. The French loose this one. The rules used were a variant of Battlefront. I found them too detailed for a convention. The French were handicapped with limited airpower and off board artillery. If we were allowed to use these forces with bombardments and strikes in suspected areas the outcome would have been different.

A multi table D-Day Pegasus bridge game in 25mm.

The attack on the lift bridge starts.

A 25mm WW1 Western front trench game.

The Germans wait for the French attack.

Another 15mm Alamo game. The Mexican attack is about to begin. BLOODY DAWN rules for Blue Moon 15mm figures.

The Mexicans rush the walls.

775 28mm Zombies hordes waiting to attack! 

The squads of vigilantes waiting for the swarm. I would have wanted to play this one but was committed to another one.

And another game I participated in. A hack and slash game of an English army against a large Viking raid in 28mm.

The Vikings approach.

A view from the opposite side.

John was busy with holding back the Vikings. He did a great job too!

My Knights attempt a charge on the Viking wall.

One of the beautifully painted Knights on the table.

And last the Dealer hall where your wallet will grow thin quickly.

Advance and take that Normandy village!

Our group decided to do a WW2 skirmish game. A small scale, 1 figure = 1 man type of game. Very little armour. The scenario was a supported Canadian force moving on a Normandy village. We had the opportunity to play this as a double blind game with a ref watching all plotted off board moves. When opposing sides came within sight of each other they were placed on the table. The Canadian force consisted of 2 platoons of infantry supported by 2 Sherman M4A1's, a Daimler scout car, and a mechanized mortar section (universal carriers). The German forces are unknown.

The shelled out Normandy village.

The Canadian forces decided to split into to flanking forces. The left force had the benefit of the 2 Shermans while the right force had the scout car and the mortar section.

The left force advances across a field. Infantry spread out to minimize artillery strikes. The right force is moving up the other side of the road but hasn't been seen by the enemy yet and therefore not placed on the table.

The left force proceeds across the field. No Germans in sight yet.

Still quiet.

The Canadians are becoming too confident. No enemy in sight.

Ambush!

A German squad with a supporting MG34 opens up on the the Canadian flank. Once Canadian squad manages to pull back with one casualty while the other leading squad gets pinned down and annihilated. Only one soldier escapes!

Counter attack. The German squad has bugged out.

With the help of some HE fire from one of the Shermans the German squad on the Canadian flank is forced to pull back. The Germans did manage to slow down this Canadian platoon with minimal losses.

Hidden armour.

 While the left forces was struggling with the German flank attack the Germans moved a Mk IV into a building and started to engage the 2 Shermans.

View from the other side.

View of from the Canadian side of a well hidden Mk IV tank.

Smoke!

The mortars manage to place down a smoke screen to hide the Shermans. This forces the Mk IV out of the building. Meanwhile on the right side of the road the right force makes it to the church.

Backing out of the house.

Caught a German mortar in a nearby field.

The German mortar crew got caught in the open and paid the price.

Canadian infantry make it to the church but can't move any further.

The scout car falls victim to a lucky mortar round.

With the scout car knocked out the Germans decide to go on the offensive and run their Sd. Kfz 251 halftrack down the road to engage the stalled Canadian infantry.

What's that down the road?

One of the Shermans reversed it's course in the field and decided to move down the road. It managed to take a shot at the German halftrack  but missed. It was at this time that the Canadian forces realized that they'd need more help in taking the village and decided to pull back.

The game ended with a German tactical victory.

The rules used are home grown. As mentioned the scale is 1 fig = 1 man, 1 vehicle = 1 vehicle.

Worthington Force vs 12th SS

This game was a long time in coming. My friend John has been working on his micro armour and terrain for quite a while and finally had enough done to host a game. The scenario he chose was a segment of Operation Totalize. That mad dash to close the Falaise gap. The Worthington Force consisted of the Algonquin Regiment, mounted in half-tracks and carriers and the British Columbia Regiment (armoured), consisting of Shermans, Fireflys, and Lynx II armoured scout cars. Their objective was a pre-dawn rush down current day route D658 to Point 195 just north west of Potigny.
In the darkness when passing through the town of Cintheaux they take the wrong road and are now heading south east along the Chemin Heusse.
This is where our game starts. The rules used are Shwere Kompanie. The figures are 1/300 micro armour and the game scale is 1 vehicle = 1 vehicle, 1 infantry formation = 1 squad.

The choices of which hill to take. 1 would be optimal but is a long reach. 2 has better cover. 3 is the safest.

The Canadians decide to rush for hill #1. In reality it's Pt 132 on the map.

Heading south 3 squadrons of the British Columbia Regiment head down the highway.

Way out in front of them recce units look for the enemy.

A Lynx II scout car near the base of hill #1 or Pt 132.

It's hard to mask such a large force moving in a mass. Elements of the 12th SS, 85 Infantry Division and Tigers of SS Pz Abt. 102 rush into firing positions.

A zug of Panthers races up from Potigny.

The Canadian armoured column can he seen moving down the road.

The German forces manage to place armour on either side of the highway and start engaging the Canadian tanks.

Tigers take a bead on the column.

Through a gap in the trees the leading elements of the column come under fire.

The soft fields on either side don't allow for quick maneuvering. In 5 minutes 11 Shermans are burning.

While the action on the road is happening the Algonquin regiment decide to make a run for hill #2 and dig in.

They start to break off the road and head to the hill to the right.

The infantry dig in while the armour column struggles with fire from both sides of the road.

The second troop lays down a smoke screen to help the lead elements get out of the intense fire.

Time to retire?

Looking north Pt 132 or hill #1(bottom left) isn't going to be reached today.

It was at this point we decided to call it a game. 2 of the 3 tigers on the German left did get knocked out by fire from a few Fireflys. Of the 3 squadrons of armour on the road 1 squadron was completely decimated.

In reality the Canadian force did receive the heavy resistance from the Germans and made a run for Pt 140 with the 2 remaining squadrons at around 9:30am. The main Canadian 4th Division didn't know what happened with Worthington's Force and couldn't offer any amount of artillery support. It was with the support of some Typhoon fighter bombers they managed to keep the German forces at bay.

Our game lasted about 4 hours and we were surprised at the high level of canage on the road. We can see now how Wittman pulled off his famous attack on the British 7th Armoured Division at Villers-Bocage.

The micro armour allows you to play the large battles and use more realistic distances for combat. I found the game very enjoyable and we are actually going to do a repeat of it again soon.

Making roads

Another guest article from my friend John. He's discovered a cheap and easy way to make roads for gaming. Check out his 'how to' below.

Step 1
Cut artist grade cardboard into 1" x 12" strip and cut 1/2" x 12" non glossy sticky floor tile and stick them together. I game micro armour so this size works well for secondary roads.  For full size roads I use  2" cardboard and 1" tile.

Step 2
Run a bead of latex paintable caulking along edge of cardboard and tile. Smooth in and rough up a bit.  You can add some screening at this stage as it will stick to the caulking.  Wait for caulking to dry.

Step 3
Prime with watered down black acrylic paint.  Wipe the tie tile gently so you leave a trace of the paint.  You can always add more.

Step 4
Paint the edge of the road your choice of brown (raw sienna for me) and then once it's dry you can dry brush it with lighter a shade of brown and add dabs of green or flocking.  

Step 5

Make more.  This is a collection I've started for 1/265th but you can vary the size depending on the scale.  A Panther alongside to give you and idea of size.  You'll be cranking out miles of scale road before you know it.

Here's a sample of John's work in 1/72 scale. He made a whole pile of roads for my skirmish game. Looks great eh?

Normandy Tank battle

A new feature I'm starting on my gaming blog is guest articles. For the first one my good friend John has been working out the kinks of his micro armour game and has supplied me with his latest work on a Canadian armour formation meeting to German Panthers in Normandy. Enjoy!

Here's the latest scenario I was playing with. I'm using Schwere Kompanie rules which once you get the hang of it is pretty fast and furious.  1 inch = 50 yds

The Canadians have been tasked with taking a ridge and advance with 2 troops of Shermans each with 4 M4's and 1 FireFly each.  Normally the troop would only have 3 M4's. They will have to cross an open field in order to reach their objective.  They have also been informed that there are 2 Panthers on the ridge.

Image 1 is the start line and the Canadians have the initiative.  Combatants are 30" apart or 1500 yds.  The Canadian plan is to hit the pedal and sprint the screen of M4's across the open ground as two separate battle groups with the FF's in support.  Max move for the M4's is 16 inches which uses all there action points for the turn and they will not be able to fire as seen in image 2.  Gutsy but let's see what happens.

 The Panthers get to declare  fire on the fast approaching M4's. 

P1 blows his roll due to the M4 fast moving target modifier.  P2 2 is luckier and gets a kill but the crew survives.  Panthers get a 2nd shot as they have only used 1/2 of their action points.  The Fireflies are curiously immobile.  P1 gets a hit and due to his roll suppresses his target and the crew breaks.  P2 gets a miss.  FF's advance half of their action points and are able to fire. FF1 hits and suppresses Panther but survives his break test.  FF2 fires to no effect.

Now it's ugly time.  This part is a judgement call as the easy targets are the M4's but the prize are the FF's.  I opt for the easy target and am able to kill 3 more M4's as they are the one's I've opted to move first. The rules are 'I go you go' and the Panther's have expended all of their action points but were able to fire twice. However notice that, hey where did those trees come from?  Notice that 2 of the M4's have advanced to a flanking position expending all of their action points. The FF's advance half of their action points and are able to fire which results in the death of one Panther.

Aspect from the Canadian side.

In the image above, Panther 2 decides to bugger off at this point in reverse using all action points and Canadians advance on their objective and get a lucky flank shot and kill the fleeing German. So ends tactical experiment 1 with a Pyrrhic Canadian victory with 50% casualties.  This was strictly a move and fire experiment to see if it would be possible to go Russian style on the Germans and overwhelm them in open ground at high speed. 

I found the rule set to be very easy to use and realistic and made for a fast and furious pace. I'm looking forward to adding other elements into the mix.

Hope you enjoyed.

John