The Battle of Stonne : 1940

One of the really interesting Battlefields we visited on our recent Ardennes holiday was the Battle of Stonne, we knew very little about it until the trip but it is quite significant as the French fought hard against the advancing Germans the area and village saw one of the largest Tank battles between French and Germans in 1940.

There is a single preserved tank to mark the centre of the village and an excellent small museum

The village saw significant fighting during the battle and famously (suggest checking out Utube if you are interested) a single French tank knocked out about 8 German Panzers right in the centre of the village. Anyway both sides also employed infantry in the battle and the village changed hands several times. It had been some time since Martin had fought with his early French so an opportunity to play a battle loosely based on the battle for the village.

The village of Stonne, the Germans will be advancing up the road, with two phases of reserves. The French hold the village, the objective is to hold the two ‘squares’ in the village.

The German first wave arrives and initially target a french anti tank gun on the edge of the village

German infantry work their way through the woods

German armour spreads out and target the french armour in the village but fail to damage anything

Whilst the infantry move down the right to flank the village the tanks engage each other. The pattern for much of the battle was for the tanks to hit but then fail to damage each other and this went on for some time neither side getting a decisive hit

After a while the second wave of Panzers arrive with motorbike machine gun outriders

The bulk of the German armour heads into the village

The French bring on their reserves ! Much of the French infantry in the village has now been knocked out

Still the tanks struggle to knock each other out

Final Germans reserves arrive in trucks

Dismounting they too head for the village

The leading French tanks have been immob.ised but are still holding up the advance

Finally the 38T gets around the flank of the Char and gets a killing shot in

Suddenly all the previously rolled 1’s turn into 6’s and a number of tanks / armoured vehicles on both sides are blown up

But by now the German armour is pushing through the village preventing the french infantry from retaking it

A final shot of the village, a German win as they are clearly holding the village. A fun battle bringing back some nice memories of our recent trip. Unusually both sides were plagued by poor rolling for the tanks which meant it evened out, perhaps in 1940 the tankers just weren’t very practised.

Some painting completed this week……

Ages since I painted a SYW unit these are Regiment No 30 Austrians, painted in the same style as the rest.

Some tents picked up at the Edinburgh show

Trucks which were gifted to me from Martin, these are the ‘ green’ versions to match the previously painted Desert colour

Here is one compared to a Rubicon Opal truck with some passengers on board . I’m on the look out for some American passengers but can locate any if anybody knows of a company making them ?

They are useful for a range of things here as a transport convoy which might make a nice idea for a skirmish ?

Well that’s it for now, we have already played our Port Republic battle so will share that soon, and plenty more gaming coming soon. I’m planning a rare visit to the Club in Carlisle as they are moving to a new venue and it is Battleground next weekend

Thanks as always for checking by ♥️

Matt

Battle of Cross Keys : Shenandoah Campaign 1862

This weekend we played the fifth battle in our Shenandoah campaign the Battle of Cross Keys. Background in a couple of sentences. After the battle of Winchester Jackson had managed to evade two Union forces converging on him, he rapidly moved south burning bridges to delay the pursuit. The Union forces became separated but Fremont eventually caught up to Jackson at Cross Keys. Thinking the Rebel force much larger than it actually was the Union attack was piecemeal. The Confederates counterattacked and eventually drove off the much larger Union army allowing them to escape again.

Plenty of resources on the web for the battle. With such numerical superiority we needed some tweaks to give some balance. This would be our first run out with V&F for the ACW. This gave the ideal opportunity to tweek the Union command down so they would fail to activate on a 1 or 2 and then a 3 if a brigade lost a Unit. Koltes and Bohlen’s brigades would arrive turn 3 as would Taylor for the Rebels. 

The setup up in the dungeon, using V&F allowed us to reduce the units down to 16 men giving slightly more room to move and just enough figures in my collection for the complete battle. Wooded areas would provide cover, but this wasn’t doubled for figures behind fences. Although normally Artillery would have to target the nearest unit we allowed counter battery fire instead as this was a feature of the battle historically. And on to the battle……

Trimble in the woods around Pense Farm

Union troops advance through Cross Keys itself and past Union Church

Stable’s Brigade moves off through the woods

and come under skirmish fire 

The artillery opens up, the Union getting the better of the exchange

Things hotting up in the woods, more Rebel troops are being fed in behind Trimble’s brigade, initially the Rebels get the better of the firing

The initial advance from the Union troops in the centre stalls and they pull back to regroup, Jackson (me) had to make an ahistorical decision here and push forward rather than let the Union forces simply regroup and overwhelm them when the Union reserves arrive. 

Up close hand to hand combat in the woods

The rebels are pushing forward as they did historically…….but somehow the Union forces just keep passing Valour and fortitude tests !

The Rebel advance on the left, I figured I could always pull back if things got too hot but might just break the leading Union brigades before the reserves arrived ?

The rebels are definitely winning in the woods

They charge into another combat…

And break through the Union line in the woods, it is all going so well ……..🤔

Yes you guessed it, despite breaking through and despite the Union forces on their left all being shaken and close to collapse they pass their test again ! The attack has worn out /shaken the rebels as well and when they are forced next turn to take a valour test they fail, and then fail their fortitude test as well the brigade collapses the whole right flank. Arghhhhh the dice gods were against me again.

At this point the battle was over, on the left flank the out numbered confederates would now have to pull back over the Mill stream and seek to escape

Jackson has lost again but as his historical objective was to tie up as many Union forces as possible perhaps I can claim a victory ? A great battle and fun to play, I was thwarted by my dice rolling again. At one point we nearly ran out of wound markers for the Union so many units were shaken but still they kept passing their tests holding their left by a whisker ! The campaign table of shame is at the bottom if you really need to know 😢 moving on to happier things the weather was good on Monday

So back out for a walk looking towards Glaramara in the distance

Out west

South towards the Langdales

Could have taken a lot of photos during the day as the light/colours were so photogenic

The Campaign table of shame !

We are hoping to play the final Port Republic battle later this week 

Thanks as always for checking in Matt ♥️

The Battle of Bennington August 1777 : American War Independence

This weekend saw a return to our ongoing AWI campaign. We have reached 1777 and the battle of Bennington. Despite its fairly small size perhaps only involving 3000 troops in total it is considered something of a turning point in the War. As such there is quite a bit of information on the battle on line and some beautiful illustrations of the battle.

Here the Hessian defenders in the Redoubt come under hand to hand conflict.

A period sketch of the battlefield which is quite confusing

and another more simple interpretation. For our game using Rebels and Patriots the battle is ideal with a wide range of troops and units on both sides. 

Our setup, I had roughly worked out the points for the two forces giving the American attackers a bit of an advantage about 20% more. The river is crossable but would hamper line infantry, not skirmishers. In the end I gave the Americans only one commander General Stark and with the wide deployment this was likely to give some activation challenges. The Hessian reserves would arrive on a reducing D6 roll with some randomness on their exact location on the flank. As the whole area is wooded and with a fairly large battle I removed the cover bonus for troops in the woods, but those in the earthworks and skirmishers would still get a cover bonus. One final bonus for the Rebels Warners’ command would be allowed to move D6 onto the table at the start.

Allied Canadians manning the earthworks at the bridge, the rest of the Allied force on the road or in the redoubt.

Stark advances across the bridge

The Canadians return fire and the Americans are initially thrown back

Dismounted Dragoons in the redoubt have little to do, but the cannon opens up and starts to weaken the attack by Nichols’ command

Who are advancing through the woods

Initially the Americans suffer multiple activation fails but the Allies can’t quite break the attack

Still the Americans advance

Warner is now across the river and the Allies are desperately hoping their reserves  will arrive soon

Both sides have Native troops supporting them and they end up in hand to hand combat in the woods

The attack from the right has been disrupted so the troops spread into the field

The Americans are mainly across the river now and Warner is advancing along the road

There has been a fierce fight at the redoubt with the Americans thrown back but now Stark is pushing across the bridge

Finally the Hessian reserves arrive, but the Americans fire two dramatic volleys throwing them immediately back

A second round of combat at the bridge and the Canadians finally break, allowing the Americans into the earthworks

Baum is now faced with the choice pull back to the redoubt or charge with his Grenadiers to retake the earthworks by the bridge ? No choice at all really in they go, the initial combat goes their way and they retake the works, but the grenadiers overrun and follow up, and in the second round of combat Baum is killed ! Ouch a really bad roll by me !

Baum dead in the earthworks 🙁

The Americans are starting to get the upper hand now

and numbers are starting to count as the Americans close in on the redoubt

More Americans moving over the bridge

With the reserves driven off by Warners’ units on the road the battle is up for the Hessians. An American win…..

A fun and difficult battle the sign of a good scenario is when both commanders think they are losing all the time and it certainly felt like that for both sides here, even if the result eventually went with the larger American force after the Hessian reserves were driven back in one turn.

A couple of painted units this week, other stuff hasn’t been finished yet….

Early war BEF mortar which has been in the queue for a while

and a Psyker for my Tallarn force.

That’s it for now, I’m off to London for a few days so no gaming for a bit

Thanks as always for checking in Matt