Norway 1940 Still in the outskirts of Kvam ?

 With the snowy terrain (Norway1940) still set up the Germans (Jonathan) was keen for another fight, so I tweaked the terrain a little and changed the scenario. The narrative for this encounter goes like this, the Germans broke through on the outskirts of Kvam. They have sent a Recon missing forward which has been picked off and immobilised. The British have captured the occupants and must now try and hold the objective whilst the Germans outflank and attack from all directions. This is a very slightly modified ‘hold until relieved’ objective from the main rule book. The forces were effectively the same although I had stopped out the PzII for a RAD8 recon vehicle just for variety. On to the action…

The objective which is in the centre of the 4x4 battlefield, obviously with a snow background it is quite hard to get the photo contrast correct. Those with a very keen eye will note I have upgraded the snow since the first battle. (Ok I admit this probably only matters to me)

The capturing force have set up at the objective but must try and hold till they are relieved themselves

British reinforcements start to come on turn one including their rescued antitank gun.

Another infantry unit moves up in support

The Germans have set up in a number of key buildings and will attack the objective from at least three directions,  it they are initially distracted by the Vickers gun emplacement and spend a lot of early effort eliminating it before advancing ?

More British are rushed forward

The RAD8 sweeps in form the German left again focussing on the Vickers gun

The final British infantry unit moves on through the woods

The British are building up a strong defensive force and the Germans continue to fight from long range

Eliminating the machine gun is their main focus 

Gradually the defenders are being reduced in number but they have numbers in support

Finally the Gebirgsjager break cover to rescue the objective

On the British left a unit attempts to hold a German unit in the brown railway building back

It’s getting congested at the railway crossing

Suddenly with time running out the Germans are advancing from two directions

The Gebirgsjager do briefly capture the objective but are then eliminated themselves

But the Germans are at last advancing in numbers from the right and the British have few troops left to defend😬

Ferocious hand to hand fighting at the objective and the Germans claim it for the second time

In the last turn this German unit comes under intense fire from all directions but are able to cling on but the British HQ are contesting the objective 

The Germans have all the advantages at the end of the battle with numbers aplenty but technically a hard fought draw with no one side fully controlling the objective.

Having quite a bit of fun with this minor deviation into Norway 1940, how fun it is to explore a new theatre, needless to say it has led to some purchasing, reading of reference material, watching tube documentaries. In a moment of weakness I order some Gorgon Norwegians who will be supplemented by some converted winter Germans who arrived very promptly from eBay. I don’t plan a huge Norwegian force 3 or 4 infantry squads with infantry support. Hopefully just enough to make an independent force?

Newly arrived in the dungeon

Most of my painting has sadly been walls and skirting boards in the last few days, but the external gaming shed saw us engage in a live/remote whiskey/blues music tasting event I didn’t get much painting done that evening 🤪

Hope all are well keep safe….a big game planned for next weekend. Matt

Norway 1940 : The outskirts of Kvam

 Inspired by a recent WSS article about Norway in 1940 and the battle for Kvam I have been exploring a bit of WW2 history which I was not very familiar with and which surprisingly I have many of the necessary figures already. What’s not to love it also gives me the opportunity to expand my early war collection a little which is always fun. The original plan had been to re-fight the Battle of Kvam in a single scenario. But as this was to be a virtual game with Jonathan and his first experience of Bolt Action we reduced the size a little to use this ‘skirmish’ on the outskirts of Kvam as a bit of a tutorial.

The scenario is a simple breakthrough, the British are holding a line along the main road where it is crossed by the railway. The Germans must push through 👍

German infantry advance on their right flank using the cover of the railways buildings and their Pz II armoured support

The ‘deadly’ British anti-tank rifle lies in wait ! (NOT)

A unit of elite Gebirgsjager hold back a turn then advance across the open ground

Light mortar has successfully dropped smoke to cover the advance

The Germans make a break for the defenders 

The British keep up a steady fire holding the advance and forcing some of the attackers to occupy the station building for cover….slowing their assault 

The Pz II has pushed up to the road junction with no ‘big’ targets it effectively is a mobile machine gun but opens up at close range on the defenders

Both Germans units in the centre are pinned down but the British are struggling to actually any cause casualties

The British take their life into their hands and assault the tank, they are able to set it on fire but the crew are able to extinguish it…..the British will pay for this !

Clearing the smoke form their eyes the German crew crash through the defending line scattering(wiping out) the squad which attacked them, luckily the machine gun sees what is happening and jump out of the way

Weakened though the German infantry and now within range to assault and the charge in brutal as always the British commanding officer is a casualty 

The Germans have broken through

……and the British will have to regroup further back in the town

A nice little scenario it looked for a while that the Germans wouldn’t make it , in fact if the tank had blown or the crew failed to extinguish it the battle would have gone the other way I think. I’m already thinking about some more terrain although the ACW buildings work surprisingly well I think. I need to find some better snow for the roofs but this was some cheap felt I picked up in town on the Saturday.

May has been a challenge weather wise in the North of England but not bad all the time

And occasionally a lovely sunning evening

Oh and picked this little piece up in a charity shop for £2 I wonder if they have these in Norway ?

Lockdown is on the way out so more face to face gaming on the way and hopefully the Hessians will be finished soon ? Take care😀

Battle of Shedisky : RCW

 I have been a little preoccupied with work lately and some taxing DIY. Hence a limited amount of time for blogging. However we played another face to face game at the weekend, we might hope that soon we won’t need to mention this fact but it still feels significant somehow.

Anyway the Russian Civil War collection saw some action. A simple Bolt action game, we rolled for the defender and the ‘Whites’ would be defending and attempting to hold three objectives whilst the ‘Reds’ would be attacking.

The central of the three objectives held at the start 

The left hand objective the fuel truck, is in the light woods

The Reds fan out and advance, they have been forced to split their assault as a minefield is located in the area where the trees have been cut down

The Reds left flank, the Sailors are classed as elite, but we have downgraded the vehicles slightly so they are not overpowered 

The Reds tremble as the Whippet crawls forward ! Intimidating in 1918

Digging in to the damaged building for cover

The Rolls Royce advances but then pulls back when it realises the enemy artillery is ready and waiting

Ordered to cross the road the reds leave their cover

Local independent militia forces are supporting the Whites but will be easily scared off I suspect if they come under pressure

Contact with the enemy as gunshots ring out in the woods

Fierce fighting by the cross roads but the armoured vehicle isn’t being supported by the infantry !and is isolated

The Sailors can’t make any progress across the fields

The assault goes in on the left and the Whites are knocked out 

The Rolls Royce has been immobilised and pinned down but the Sailors are make a bid for the objective supported on their right by more infantry

After the assault the Reds have had their number significantly thinned out but they have captured one of the objectives, can they dig in and hold it ?

The Priest can only look on is despair as they start to unload the fuel

His prayers are answered when a rare random event causes two of the Red units to flee 😀

The whites have been thinned out but the attack is running out of steam and there isn’t enough manpower left for the Reds to take the objectives.

The remaining Reds flee 👍

This was a scenario straight from the rule book but was tough for the reds, they didn’t manage to do-ordinate and were unfortunate when their machine gun was knocked out first turn. Great to get another game in and the RCW collection on the battlefield. The Russians needed a warm up for a planned game in the near future. It has also reminded me I have a couple more units to get painted up.

A couple of people have questioned gaming in the garden so I took wider shot of the table set up in our ‘shed’ outdoor living area. As you can see it is well covered and as long as it isn’t too windy/cold it is a spacious and pleasant place to game. I have the space to game here a 13x6 table so more of this in the summer 🙂

Hope all are well 👍