Operation Sealion : Crossing the Great Stour

Taking a break from our Konigsberg Campaign George came to the dungeon for a battle so a chance to update the Sealion campaign. As we march through Day 2 the Germans have landed Paratroopers to capture a key river bridge over the Great Stour at Wye. The force has been dispersed  with only a small force capturing the bridge. As reinforcement from the main German army drive towards the bridge to relieve the force other Paratroopers are also marching towards the bridge to support their comrades. The British need to capture the bridge to slow the German advance.

The Bridge over the Stour, the green hatched area the drop zone for the Fallschirmjager on the racecourse

The battlefield, as to be expected I threw in some scenario specifics to make it interesting. Firstly the Paratroopers at the bridge would have 4 units. A 5th unit would arrive to the battlefield randomly, having missed their drop zone for the bridge. In the worst case for the British they may arrive from behind the British lines. The British hold the North side of the river which is marked by the railway line. The British infantry can set up anywhere more than 18” from the bridge or arrive from their baseline. The German reserves must enter from one half of their baseline chosen at the start. The river can only be crossed on foot and the bridge would provide cover for any troops actually on the bridge itself.

The German paratroopers can be seen on the bridge, the British infantry are now in place and will attack the bridge from a number of directions

German relief forces starts to arrive, including a 38T in support

More Germans advance along the road from Wye

The British use the abandoned bus and the garage to use cover to get closer before open up on the bridge defenders, but they can’t leave it too long they must strike fast to try and capture the bridge before the rest of the Germans arrive.

Arrghhh turns out the second unit of German paratroopers had dropped to the NE and they now arrive behind the railway station, they immediately knock out a British antitank rifle team which was targeting the 38T

Unusually the British light mortar team hits the machine gun team on the bridge, and while the German infantry approaches the bridge a unit of British sailors exit the Pub to exchange fire with them.

In desperation the British commander has to rely on the local homeguard to lend support, surely they won’t be asked to take the bridge against German Fallschirmjager ?

No first assault on the bridge is by British regulars who knock out the machine gun

But then they are in turn wiped out, the British have a Cruiser tank which using the buildings as cover lays down machine gun fire on the bridge

Seeking to outflank the position the Germans cross the river

Continued fire is wearing down the defenders on the bridge so the Germans bring up more manpower, the sailors are pinned down by the picket fence but at least they are drawing fire 

A second unit of British infantry makes a dash for the bridge knocking out another defending unit

Desperate stuff the bridge is again cleared by the Germans and the British have few troops left to gain a win, the only option is to send in the homeguard.

With shotguns and old hunting rifles they brutally take down the remaining Fallschirmjager , so shocked are the defending Germans on the bridge that they fail their activation frozen to the spot in horror. The British have reached the bridge, are contesting the objective and it is the end of turn six. Surely a draw ? 

Noooooo the Germans roll for an extra turn and get it, despite one unit fleeing to loot the houses down the road the final unit which had advanced across the river is able to charge the Homeguard in the rear ! 

The Germans are able to consolidate their position on the bridge, and final attempt to charge the bridge fails when the unit fails its activation despite the British officer in support.

The Germans have won a hard fought battle, the remaining British no longer have the strength to contest and will have to withdraw north. The lost Paratroopers can be seen heading towards the bridge from the station. Once again a good battle, the Germans had the upper hand at the start with some very poor British shooting, but for a couple of turns it suddenly turned around and was very close in the end. In terms of the campaign as the British still hold the high ground to the North East of Wye we might see a counterattack next time ?

The start of the week saw a school friend of mine over from New Zealand. As the only nice day was Monday I took him out into the lakes. It turned out to be a corker ! With magnificent views.

Looking west towards Swirl How

Looking North towards Scafell the highest point in England in the distance

The memorial on Swirl How to the Halifax Bomber which crashed here in 1944

With the loss of the whole crew

Well that’s it for now, not much painting although I might just finish some late Roman Cavalry this evening, then I’m back down to London for a couple of days meeting up with some school friends. No games planned till later next week.

Thanks as always for your support

Matt

Blood in the Sand : it’s all about the Elephants

After lots of WW2 gaming I was hankering after something different and it has been far too long since we have seen any elephants fighting in the dungeon. So this week sees a return to my Blood in the Sand (imagination) Campaign.

The Kingdom of Lycaonia is a difficult and barren province leading to frequent border skirmishes and battles over the control of more productive agricultural areas. King Antiochus has sent an expeditionary force east against their constant enemy the Cappadocians. The two armies have tracked each others progress along the Halys River waiting for the other to make a mistake. As the sun rises in this remote and desolate area of Asia Minor the two army vanguards approach each other across the river. But their main armies are strung out on the line of march………

This shot is after turn one when the vanguards have arrived and deployed

Scenario setup, each army is split into three sections

A. Vanguard to arrive turn 1 D6 roll the Red numbers

B. Main army to arrive turn three D6 on pink numbers

C. Rear guard to arrive turn six D6 yellow numbers a roll of 5,6 delaying them for a turn

This creates just enough variation and ‘fog’ for the deployment and arrival of the armies which are strung out on the march.

All forces will get a double move the turn they arrive but can’t use this to charge into combat, this ensures we don’t spend all day marching across the sand. The river is crossable along its entire length but can be dangerous and is poorly mapped in this area. To represent this every crossing must be rolled for on a D6

1: A sudden flood the unit fails to cross is washed down stream 2xD6 taking D6 hits

2: River too deep unit fails to cross and stops (can attempt next turn)

3: Deep but crossable, the unit gets across but can’t move further or charge

4: no problem charging across incurs difficult terrain adjustment

5: as above

6: Fordable, the river causes no impact or slowing of movement.

(You wouldn’t believe how many 1’s we rolled 😂)

Finally I have enjoyed using the fate card system in V&F recently so created some similar card based ‘events’ which each army could draw and use to add some spice to the game, if any was needed 🤔

So onto the action…..and of course as the title of the post suggests really this battle is just about getting as many Elephants onto the table as possible, oh and camels as well.

The two Vanguards meet at the river and seek to prevent any crossing

In the river is unpredictable and everybody fails I. Their first attempt to cross so instead they exchange arrow fire

The exchange of fire continues awaiting the arrival of their respective main forces

The trumpet of elephants at last….

A range of spearmen and archers supporting yet more elephants

The Lyaconians are not holding back and their heavy elephants push ahead of the main army

The Cappadocians seek to control the high ground

Our elephants manage to cross the river

Where they crash into some Galatian mercenaries

These are despatched and the elephant is brought around to charge again

The Cappadocians are now in pretty strong defensive position holding the high ground

One of my elephants charges in but waivers causing it to panic and stampede, luckily to the left where there are more squishy enemy light troops

The enemy bolt throwers start to pick out the elephants at long range

My lead elephant is finally killed and the enemy start to push across the river

Pushing my infantry back and finishing off my wounded elephants 🙁

Late as usual my rear guard march towards the battle

The focus of the battle is now on our side of the river

…but both sides are nearly burnt out

After several more turns of combat the field of battle is thinning out

In the distance my left flank has crossed the river, and my cowardly light troops are hurling missiles at the enemy elephants to bring them down. We are now holding the high ground but lack enough troops to move onto the attack ? At this point we decided a ‘bloody’ draw as a fair result, neither of us felt we were really winning the battle at any point and as befits this campaign a lot of blood was spilt in the sand, both forces would now attempt to withdraw and regroup.

Despite lots of wet weather the odd day has been nice so I have taken the opportunity when it arises to get out in the hills and as I know a few people like the landscape shots 🙂

Looking NW towards the Kentmere Horseshoe

North towards Highstreet

Longsledale Valley

That’s it for now, another game planned for tomorrow which I need to set up and hopefully some more painting to share but we have been away again in London for a few days enjoying some ‘culture’ so not much has been finished.

Matt ♥️

Norway 1940 : Bolt Action

Another jolly week visiting relatives and squeezing hobby time in around other stuff. Jonathan was visiting from over in Canada and we were looking for a fun game so time to roll out my Norwegian collection. Not a historical encounter but a basic Bolt Action breakthrough scenario.

The Norwegians will be advancing from the left supported by two Polish Infantry squads. The Germans are dug in on the high ground on the right and around the small building where the road heads of the table

The Germans have half their small force dug in on the hill, the Norwegians fail to call in a preliminary barrage so the Germans hold their position in ambush

They also have a 75mm gun as support

The Norwegian commander pushes the Polish infantry to the right and sets up their mortar in the cover of the small wooded hill

A wider shot of the German start position

The Norwegians have two units of elite ski mounted troops who advance across the road and fields, the Germans having moved up into the copse come under heavy fire and are pinned down

On the left the Poles are hit really hard as they cross the road and as soon as they break cover

The Norwegians start to advance knowing they need to break through in six turns

They are supported by a single French R35

After several failed attempts German reserves arrive and head towards the second wooded hill

The first unit of ski troops have been nearly wiped out but the second now sweeps up the hill to combat the defenders, who are cut to pieces

The ski troops then cleverly pull back down the hill awaiting the next turn before sweeping into the victory zone

The German machine gun is knocked out by mortar fire

We are now at six turns and the Norwegians have broken through for a pretty clear win, the Germans just couldn’t stop the tide, although they put up a pretty good fight. Almost all the Poles have been wiped out as have the leading ski troops. A fun game and great to get something different on the table.

Painting this week, after the game last week I realised we didn’t have enough wound markers and I had six more in the box

That should be enough ?

I’ve also finished my Tallarn Captain

Recently I also picked up a couple of rather poorly painted but cheap Spanish units off eBay. I was hoping these would need fairly limited work to get them table ready, here is the first unit. A new flag and a general reworking. They don’t look too bad and certainly good enough, my plan isn’t to create a whole Spanish army rather collection enough for a single Brigade to support the British. So perhaps 3 or 4 units plus some cavalry and an artillery piece ?

Finally Martin was having a clear out and gifted me some 28mm trucks, these are really cheap plastic models but actually look pretty good. He originally thought they were Opal Blitz but after me spending loads of time on the internet, I think I have them identified as Russian Zis-150 trucks. They look very close to American dodge trucks though so some will be painted for Sicily and some generic.

Here is one with some Germans in the back

Finally we’ve been out and about again, a trip to the very interesting Jodrel Bank in Cheshire

…and Appleby Castle where the Norman Keep was renovated about 3 years ago

It has a really interesting history, and a good collection of helmets to try on 

It took me ages to try them all on 😂

Phew busy at the moment, thanks as always for checking in.

A couple of days in London at the end of this week then hopefully some more gaming 

Matt😀