Saxon invasion

It has been a while since we saw my dark age collection in a big battle and at the end of last week the weather was god enough for a battle in the outdoor shed.

The scenario saw my Romano-British suppoted by Welsh allies take on the Saxon invaders with mercenary Picts. (Really all just an excuse to get as many figures on the table as possible) 

The set up, the objectives for both sides to attempt to take the enemy camp and capture and hold the Iron Age fort in the centre. Both armies have four elements, arriving from random positions. The stream is crossable along its length. There is a Druid figure protecting the hill fort who will move around random,y and target the closest unit each turn

The Saxon camp

First turn and all units get a double move to get things going

The second wave of cavalry for both sides arrives, plenty of space for them to manoeuvre at this stage

The Romano-british move away from the village and spread out, but leave a small force to hold the village as they are not sure where the Saxon reserves may arrive from.

The Saxons cross the stream heading for the hill fort

But the British are entering from the far end, as well as moving down the stream

Then the third wave of British arrive, welsh mercenaries who move immediately towards the Saxon camp !

The Saxons also have mercenaries Picts, so these are directed to defend the Saxon camp against the welsh

Some of the Picts are sent along the stream with their war dogs

The Saxon camp with the Picts running down towards the stream

A lone Saxon unit holding the stream crossing

The Saxons are now forming a defensive line, and although they are currently holding the hill fort, the British are bringing superior numbers of troops to recapture the fort

The Picts reach the stream by the camp and start to see off the welsh reserves

Picts stand shoulder to shoulder with the Saxons but Romano heavy cavalry is approaching them

The final welsh are chased down and are eventually wiped out

The British are finally bringing up all their reserve force

With their camp now safe more troops are sent forward

A desperate struggle on the fort, but the Saxons are exhausted

Unit by unit the Saxons are being beaten back with large gaps now appearing in their line

The final conflict takes place in the fort, where the Saxons are outnumbered. Both camps have been secured, but the British have managed to take control of the hill fort for the win. A splendid game full of twists and turns the scenario forced both side to be a little cagey which isn’t my normal style but was and interesting change. Nice of course to get lots of figures on a big table.

I have managed a little painting this last week although not much

I completed some 15mm heavy German armour which had been waiting its turn, 2 Panthers

A massive jagdtiger

2 jadgpanzer IV’s

The weather mid week was fantastic before the thunderstorms so a trip out into the central lakes 

This is Great Gable a very famous mountain in the central fells

One of the many stunning views looking south towards the sea

At the start of last week I had a trip down to George’s for a run through with Johnny Reb 2 using his extensive ACW collection. A good learning test out of the rules, which were fairly easy to pick up.

The Rebels hold the line in the trees

But then to get the most of the learning I decided to surge forward and in the process drove the Union back for a win, before the Union troops could settle down, aggression sometimes works ?

Plenty going on with another game in the North East on Tuesday this week and then we are away on a family holiday to ‘sunny’ South Wales all being well some castle will make the agenda.

Thanks as always for checking by

Matt ♥️

Peninsular Battle and painting update

With posting our St Mere Eglise battle to hit the 6th June I missed a quick battle from earlier last week and some painting updates.

A couple of guys who recently visited the dungeon were keen to have a go and Valour and Fortitude as a ruleset they had not played so I set up a small battle early last week. In the end I only had one visitor but we were still able to run through the battle/rules pretty easily.

Three infantry brigades each side with some limited artillery support, I left cavalry out this time to help simplify the rules

We weren’t taking it too seriously so the French just went for it, pushing across the table using some convenient fate cards allowing them to turn the British left flank.

After several turns the French had their noses in front although several of their brigades had taken quite a beating, a fun battle and good company for the morning 🙂

I’ve managed a bit more time at the painting table this past week.

First up the final Italian infantry unit, I was keen to get them finished so we can play them in the next few weeks. These are the metal warlord figures, picked up of eBay for a reasonable price, slightly smaller than their plastic counterparts, but they do add a little variety.

In the spirit of finishing things off I also had these ‘Ashigaru’ , I’m still not very familiar with Japanese troop names ? These being armed with bows. They are Warlord plastics which I picked up as a huge  (very cheap) army box, before I then amassed a load of Perry figures second hand. I thought I would at least try putting a unit together, they are not the best but if you can avoid the overly static poses they are not too bad. Also not my best painting.

Given that they are fairly pleasing to the eye ? And scale wise they fit fine with the Perry’s

Enthused I might prep up another Samurai unit this week.

That’s it for now, hopefully another couple of battles this week and a parcel on the way form Warlord games which should be arriving this afternoon 🙂

Thanks as always for checking out the blog 

Matt ♥️

St-Mere-Eglise : 6th June 1944

It is not so often that our fairly regular Friday gaming day falls on such an auspicious date as today. So ditching some plans for a Dark ages game I dug around for a D day scenario we could play. My late war collection doesn’t really work so well for beach landing scenarios but I found something manageable on the Rapid Fire website. The German counterattack which took place in the morning of the 6th June against the paratroopers of the 505th holding St-Mere-Eglise.

This required just a little bit of adapting to 15mm and our preferred Bolt Action rules. I also don’t have any 15mm early war French captured tanks which fought on the day so these were swopped for a smaller number of Panzer 4’s

The table as set up, St Mere-Eglise in the Centre of the table in the foreground , Neville Au Plein and in the distance Fauville. Half the American force 3rd Btn I believe are set up in the centre. Germans will attack from the north and South along the table, American reserves 2nd Btn arrive from the West (right in the picture) and I gave them the first arrivals from Utah Beach arriving a bit later from the East (left). The objectives of the American paratroopers is to hold on if possible to the village and the cross roads.

The American paratroopers set up in the buildings on the edge of the village

The Germans advance with infantry and some armoured support

With no opposition they quickly capture Neuville Au Plein

From the south more Germans but this time Georgian troops who are poorly rated

They also have some armour support

Both sides have off table artillery activated by spotters, after a couple of turns the Germans realise the American spotter is in the church tower, and rolling a lucky SIX take him out BOOM !

Another lucky shot sees a direct hit on the first building on the North edge of the village this immediately weakens the defence line form this direction

Turn 3 and reserves start to arrive the 2nd Battalion come down the causeway at the run

German armour is now entering the village blasting away into the buildings and the leading reserves get pinned down

From the North the leading Germans assault and captured the first set of buildings, the Stug swings East to  block any reserves arriving from the beach ?

Requiring 5’s to arrive on turn 5 two Sherman’s turn up from the beach, one immediately immobilises the Stug, the other pushed into the village !

A determined German attack is building from the South with only one partial unit now holding the first line of buildings

The northern outskirts are now in German hands

Another support Pz can be burning having been knocked out by a Bazooka team.

The American reserves are now  moving into the village but a Pz IV is sweeping around the western edge of the village

The Germans have made it to the centre of the village around the church but time is running out

A series of pretty desperate hand to hand assaults are carried out by both sides, but not surprisingly the elite Paratroopers get the best of combats and the german infantry is knocked back or out !

This was the scheduled end of the battle the Germans have taken the church and the two buildings to the North, but the paratroopers are still holding in force the three buildings around the cross roads itself. The puff has been taken out of the German Counterattack and we gave the Americans the win.

So despite a very promising early start and a sense that holding the village would be a tough ask the Paratroopers did a great job. A fun battle played in excellent spirits and really nice to get to play this on the 81st Anniversary, despite my efforts a historical outcome which was perhaps appropriate.

I have a few other things to post but these can wait as I wanted to post this up today.

Thanks as always for checking in

Matt ♥️