Monday 20 March 2023

Sicily 1943, Sumerians and British artillery

Well I seem to be keeping busy during retirement. First up the Americans saw some more battle time, this time using bolt action so that the wider support could get on the table.

A simple capture scenario, the Germans hold the three fuel dumps which the Americans are looking to capture, the Americans unusually failed to activate the barrage
The Americans all arrive first turn and spread out using the cover of the fields, the M8 moves upto the farmhouse
will they  need that 57mm ?
American armour heads down the road but the ravine will restrict mobility if they get stuck
Initially the Germans have deploy small squads of Fallschirmjager by the objectives 
Supported by infantry the M8 lays down fire over the farm wall
The Germans drop smoke into the ravine and the Sherman chooses to double back
The Germans have both a PzIII and Pz IV
The PzIV has an aggressive attack is the best form of defence approach and pushes through the smoke but is then hit and destroyed by the American Bazooka team 😢
Crossing the wall one squad of Americans assaults into the farmhouse knocking the Germans back but they take heavy loses doing so
Tight fighting around the centre
German MG in the orchard knocks out the American MG but then comes under heavy fire itself
Holding the centre the PzIII is immobilised and the. Blown up again by the Bazooka team. Both German tanks lost to the bazooka team !
But he German infantry is clinging on to the objectives
….and the Americans have left it one turn too late to charge forward. The Germans do cling on for a minor victory
But their burning armour will need to be left on the battlefield as they withdraw they have taken a lot of casualties.

A fun game and nice to get that Bolt action mix of combined arms. The bazooka team was outstanding perhaps I should make another one !

Second up Jon invited me to give his a Sumerians a run out. 
This is a really interesting tactical challenge with two identical armies on a flat desert with no terrain. Playing ‘blue’ I thought we would attempt a right flank attack and perhaps look to hold the centre and left ? After the initially couple of moves things are developing nicely. 
After a couple of failed pursuits my battle Chariots/cars sweep in form the right, suddenly my dice rolling luck changes and they literally crash through the enemy lines, driving both the enemy flank and centre sending them running back. This piece of worthless desert will remain under blue control for now ! Very enjoyable Jon needs to paint some more figures up now 
Finally my enthusiasm for Peninsular continues this week I am progressing a third British unit but on a whim jumped these Royal artillery 9pdrs into the queue, one was in the starter army the second from eBay. Of course when I have built more complete brigades I will come back and add some limbers for the artillery but I am focussing on core troops at the moment.

Thanks as always 👍 Matt


36 comments:

  1. A nice variety of gaming on show there Matt. The artillery look nice, considering they are plaaastic.

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    1. Thanks David…..but you have unfairly labelled the artillery who are fine metal casts 👍

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  2. A two day pass for the bazooka team! Yes, a second team is in order, to replace the inept off-board strike. Glad to see you giving Jonathan a run for his money. GI's look good , big force now. The RHA 9 pounders look good.

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    1. Thanks Joe I think another bazooka team is in order 👍

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  3. Your Sicily games sure look terrific, Matt! You have me eyeing my box of unpainted Americans. Super British artillery too!

    Yes, you soundly thrashed me and my Sumerians on Sunday. Maybe I can even the score another time? There are still plenty of painted Sumerians in the box ready for battle. I figured a dozen units each would make an enjoyable gaming session. With the game completed in about two hours, that felt about right. Of course, if I could have resisted your menacing battle cars a bit long the game would have lasted a bit longer too. If you want bigger armies to command, I can accommodate. Thanks for an enjoyable contest.

    I will get you next time...

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    1. It’s all about what you feed the asses !

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  4. Great looking BA and Ancients gaming (with Jonathan), Matt! Lovely RA too.

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  5. Two splendid games there Matt coupled with the artillery addition a very fruitful week indeed.

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    1. Thanks Phil a very enjoyable hobby week let’s see what happens this week ?

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  6. really cool Italian game, gotta love a bazooza

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    1. Thanks Martin, bazooka took down both German tanks so they deserve some sort of medal

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  7. Excellent looking game!
    And once again lovely terrains!

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  8. I do love the look of your Sicily table Matt, enhanced by the composition of your photos:).

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    1. Thanks Steve, kind feedback 🙂 if you witnessed the process you would realise there is no great plan I just tend to grab some snaps after each turn, I do tend to edit them before I post though

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  9. That bazooka team deserves a medal. Nice game and well done on handing Jonathan's asses to him. I enjoyed reading his battle report as well. Not nice having battle carts breaking through like that.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence I can think of several more Ass jokes but in truth with balanced forces the key thing was getting the first significant charge in and then just pushing, I was specifically lucky winning the initiative on a critical turn which help drive the attack in 🤔

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  10. Fantastic looking games and a pretty Pyrrhic victory for the Germans, I would have thought....if that is/was a linked campaign game, they would not take much comfort from it. The artillery look good...are they Warlord plastics? They look too chunky to me?

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    1. Thanks Keith, indeed whilst the Germans held on, they had pretty much lost 4 of their 5 infantry teams and both tanks. So they weren’t on the front foot. The artillery are Warlord Peninsular Metal, actually quite slight compared to the 95th figures and their plastics, but nicely done 👍

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Sorry about that.....for some reason, the same comment published twice!

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    2. No worries I could have given you a different response 😀

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  12. Nice work on the artillery and the games look good too.

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    1. Thanks and thanks for taking the time to comment 👍

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  13. These fights in Sicily are truly gorgeous to look at, and lots of fun, thanks for sharing!

    V/R,
    Jack

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    1. Thanks Jack….they are fun to play ….most of the time 👍

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  14. I comment on Jon's blog every time he posts up a game you've hosted for him - you always put on such a good looking spread! Thoroughly enjoyable game to follow and your bazooka team faired similarly to Densmol's Panzerschreck team in my own recent game. Evil buggers - shame my Canadian PIAT team has half the range of those two; I honestly can't see it having as much success on the battlefield.

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    1. Thanks for popping by Dai….the Bazooka was indeed a crack shot, I have later been told that in bolt action they suffer a minus one to hit which I wasn’t aware of, although I think they rolled sixes anyway. They won’t hit a thing when I command them !

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  15. Very nice looking Sicily game Matt. Splendid 9lbers too.
    Cheers
    Matt

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  16. Excellent Sicily game, well done with the Sumerians and lovely RA!
    Best Iain

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