Greece 1940 : the Italians invade !

Having painted up the Greeks and with George coming to the dungeon for a game it was a chance to give the Greek/Italian 1940 project its first run out. The plan was to create some terrain which gave the feel of the rather desolate and often snowy Greek mountains in the winter of 1940. I wanted a theatre that felt and looked different to our games in Sicily, Norway or NW Europe. I’m also attracted by the limited impact of the Italian Armour. We’ll see how this develops as we go along.

For this first game the Greeks are all mountain troops so playing as Elite, they are outnumbered by the Italians who are supported by their characteristic 1940 Armour ! But the Italians of course suffer from some poor leadership which will make them hard to activate if they get pinned or lose any squad leaders.

In this battle the Greeks have set up a defensive position protecting a key road junction they are dug in on the surrounding hills with some strong defensive artillery. The Italians must break through to capture the road junction.

The Italians are supported by the Regina Aeronautica

But having dropped a single bomb in the first turn the Greeks are lucky to hit it early in the second turn !

Both sides now bring their infantry on

Italian infantry use the dry river bed as cover, whilst their armour ‘hide’ around the buildings ?

A second Italian tankette  can be seen just beyond the infantry in the ditch

The Italians are slowly developing their attack and focus on knocking out the two Greek AT guns

With support from their mortar and their flamethrower tankette they achieve this, suddenly the way to the objective is open.

The flame tank leads the way, alThough each turn it has to roll to see it it’s fuel has run out it seems to have an inexhaustible supply ! It causes a lot of problems for the defenders.

As the battle develops the Italians drive forward with their infantry but with poor leadership they are held back by defensive fire, the tankettes though have broken through

The last Greek infantry has to regroup and make a desperate charge to assault the leading tankette they manage to get a grenade into the tank and it blows up, but them they are wiped out by the flame tank !

Both sides are now desperate to grasp the objective, both sides throw their commanders into the fray but the Greeks win the contest.

In the final turn the Greek antitank rifle knocks out the armoured car. More Italians rush for the objective and although they have the numbers they don’t quite have enough to claim a clear win.

In the end a fun and very close game despite the differences the forces balanced quite well. The look is getting there although I’m thinking I might need a different base cloth ? I do have some more rocky terrain to get painted up. Certainly great fun to get the Greeks out on the table.

Thanks as always for passing through the blog 

Matt ❤️

Sicily 1943 Bolt Action and the Greeks

Gaming on Friday in the dungeon saw the Sicily Collection on the table to introduce Erik to Bolt Action as an alternative to Chain of Command. Not based on anything particular we played the standard breakthrough scenario. Giving me a chance to play the Italians for a change. Here  are just a few shots of the action.

The Americans are a mixed force with support in the form of a Sherman and a armoured car.

The objective line for the GI’ s is to get beyond the winding road running across the table

I encouraged the Americans not to hold back with potentially only 6 turns to break through so they came on pretty quickly 

The Italians did have some armour support but really frustratingly this was immobilised and knocked out really quickly by the Sherman, this left the Italians struggling to hold back the US armour, but they were having more luck holding back the American infantry which started to take some serious casualties

Realising the Italians had nothing to hold them back the US armour pushed forward

Ignoring the risk of being overrun the Italians focussed their fire on the American infantry keeping them pretty much pinned down

As the game got closer to the end the Americans rushed the Sherman off the table for maximum points, the Italian defenders are gradually being whittled down but they have blunted the advance of the American infantry.

In the end the American were able to claim a fairly clear win as several Italian units had been knocked out holding the line, but they did pretty well holding back the US infantry, a fun game and it felt fairly close right up tot the end, losing the Italian armour early on didn’t help the dense. Certainly a good introduction to bolt action first edition.

In the words of the famous Bard it’s all ‘Greek’ to me ? Well not quite, finally I have some painting to share it seems like these chaps have take a long time, but now I look back I guess my mistake was attempting to paint the whole lot in one go. The positive of course is they are now all completed and ready for action. I give you the Greeks 1940/41

Support weapon teams including a sniper

Artillery support, the guns are actually french 37mm which I understand the Greeks did purchase. The benefit of the Great Escape games is the guns crews can be purchased separately. So the AT guns can also serve with the french if needed.

Command squad

One of the 4 squads. 

Here are all four, I just didn’t see the point in putting them each in the Photo Booth. The figures are all METAL (David) and great sculpts from Great Escape Games. This force is all Evzone elite mountain troops and I plan to purchase a couple of regular infantry squads to fight alongside them. From my reading so far the Greeks really didn’t have any armour and the fighting I’m looking to play is very much the mountain conflict with the Italians, so for now the force will be entirely infantry and support. 

For those interested a size comparison, the Greeks are chunky chaps (very well fed) warlord Americans, Italians to the left, crusader Paratrooper and British older metal warlord, then a crusader British in think. I can live with the variations.

Finally another walk out in the South Western Lake District.

The beauty of Wasedale

Sca Fell to the left, my target for the day, and Sca Fell Pike in the centre (for non UK followers this is the highest point in England at 3209 feet)

Two more games planned this week before we are away again on a family holiday in the South West.

Thanks as always for popping by 🙂

Matt ❤️

Cropredy Bridge : ECW 1644

Just back from a family wedding in Bristol this weekend and straight into a Monday game. Having visited Cropredy on my trip a month ago I thought it would make an interesting scenario. Historically the Royalists commanded by the King were on the back foot, Waller for the Parliamentarians had been chasing his army up and down around Oxford but unable to pin it down. Eventually the King moved north along the right bank of the River Cherwell the Parliamentary forces tracked them about a mile away on the left bank. When some additional horsemen were sighted ahead the Royalist Vanguard and main army hurried forward leaving the rearguard upto a mile behind. Waller sensed an opportunity and sought to force a crossing of the river at Cropredy Bridge itself and Slat Mill Ford. The king meanwhile was well ahead crossing a third bridge further north.

The map above gives a good overview of the battlefield which is nicely spreadout. Historically both forces were broadly equal in both cavalry and infantry, the Parliamentarians appeared to have slightly more artillery available although by the end of the day this had been captured. What is less clear is how many troops actually took place in the fighting it would appear almost none of the Royalist infantry was engaged at all. 

From my recent trip a shot north cross the fields from Cropredy Bridge itself, the Cherwell runs along in the trees to the left. The river is likely considerably narrower now due to the later construction of the canal nearby.

A shot lookingSW from the slightly higher ground down towards Slat Mill Ford. The battlefield was mainly open ground at the time.

Our set up, the Royalists to the right spreadout and to the left Waller’s army about to force the river. Given the difficult nature of river crossings in Wargames especially when numbers are equal I had a couple of extra rules to avoid a complete log jam. Firstly although the crossing would funnel troops they wouldn’t cause any delay, secondly to avoid the Royalists reacting too quickly each command, Vanguard, main and Rearguard for the Royalists and the king separately would have to dice before activation and moving off the road. On to the action using our amended Kings of War Rules.

Parliamentary cavalry surges across Slat Mill Ford, the Royalist rearguard luckily activated quickly and moves its cavalry to meet the threat. In the distance the Royalist dragoons holding Cropredy bridge can really only hold for one turn before they and run over 

After the initial clash the Parliamentry cavalry get the better of it but we have found these cavalry skirmishes can last quite a while giving time for the infantry to form up.

The casualties are mounting up on the cavalry with both sides starting to waiver. Independent musketeer units and dragoons can be seen fighting on the flanks.

With the dragoons pushed away the Parliamentry cavalry surge over the bridge, luckily some Royalist cavalry has activated and charges forward to stop the advance. But the main royalist infantry hasn’t yet activated and is still sitting on the road ! Breaking with history Waller sensibly sets up his artillery on the left bank of the Cherwell.

Finally the Royalist main force activated and starts to move off the road from the village of Waddington

The village of Williamscot which will later see some fighting !

To the south both cavalry forces are almost blown, (you can see by the wound dice mounting up on both sides)

Eventually the Parliamentry cavalry win the day here in the south, but undeterred the Royalist rearguard infantry decide to charge forward before they are completely outnumbered

Royalist cavalry is reforming, the cavalry in the foreground are the kings lifeguard (I know they probably didn’t have armour but they are the best representation I have). having taken Williamscot the Royalists have take it back in hand to hand fighting. The royalist main infantry is now formed up and advancing but they come under the attention of the Parliamentry artillery across the river.

The the south Waller is winning the day but the parliamentary troops have taken a real beating and their cavalry is effectively blown.

The Parliamentry infantry starts to swing north only to see the Royalist main infantry force crash into their comrades near Cropredy bridge, what cavalry remains is still fighting around Williamscot 

There is fighting everywhere now but neither side has a clear advantage ?

The finally clash of cavalry late in the day around Williamscot sees the Parliamentry cavalry thrown back

The kings lifeguard make a final attempt to charge and break the Parliamentry right wing, in the centre the Royalist infantry advance is slowly grinding forward.

As evening falls across an extremely blood soaked battlefield, the Royalists are holding Williamscot and are closing on Cropredy bridge, pretty much all the troops left are battered and bloody and not capable of further action. A splendid battle and I know some of you don’t like it but after several minutes of discussion we were unable to split the two armies, a draw. On the basis that the king can escape to fight another day he can claim something at least, but he doesn’t have much of an army and Waller now doesn’t have a force with whoch to chase him. Great fun it felt like the battle was on. Knife edge the whole time 🙂

Prior to my trip to Oxford I had played a game over at Martins and don’t think I blogged it so for completeness here are a couple of shots. He had purchased a lovely collection of 10mm Schleswig-Holstein forces (German /Danish) conflict from mid 19th Century. Rather than a historical battle we got everything out for a battle……..

Both sides attempting to captured the various villages

Linear tactics akin to Crimea/ACW

We used V&F which worked well for this period

Plenty of fun especially as by German/Bavarian forces won the day 

That’s it for now although another battle planned for later in the week.

Thanks as always for checking in

Matt ❤️