The Battle for Little Orton : VBCW

These pictures have been on my iPad for a while and I just hadn't got round to sharing before the main battle at Albanich. It was a good battle so I thought I ought to share just for the record. The battle for Little Orton took place slightly to the north of Great Orton around the main village. My memory is a little hazy so I will let the pictures tell the story. The scenario we played was a 'breakthrough' battle where the Royalists had to push through the Albertine forces.

The spring offensive....

One of the St Andrews league units move into the village to take up defensive positions in the Butchers.

A strong Royalist force of regulars backed up by the Carlisle Constabulary approach the village from the SE.

Albertine forces dig in to the North with two Matilda l Tanks looking to force the right flank.

Air support for the Albertines.

Rolayist Vickers tanks probes down the Main Street forcing Scottish machine in crew to keep their heads down.

Fierce battle across the street with control swapping sides several times.

Albertne Militia charge down the Main Street.

Royalist forces out flank the Albertines but are then caught themselves and gunned down by a unit on the road.

End of the battle, the Royalists had managed to break through with a single unit and took the battle....but both sides had taken a lot of casualties.

The Battle of Thurstonfield : VBCW (Albanich 2016)

Royalist forces under the command of Sir Marmaduke Langdale have pushed westwards towards the village of Thurstonfield with a view to cutting a wedge from Carlisle to the Solway Coast this will hopefully isolate the Albertine forces currently north of the Solway and allow them to be eliminated piecemeal by Royalist supporters from Dumfries.

Marmaduke Langdale

Having carried out various feints further south and around Great Orton this is the main push to the coast and Langdale has amassed considerable heavy support for the attack. The Borderers are also supported by the Penrith Union of Fascists under Viscount Achibald Rackham the local Penrith MP.

Achibald Rackham

To counter this attack the Albertine forces are rushing as many troops and units as they can to the area. The Village itself is held by the Thurstonfield Volunteer Rifles supported by the Wigton Local Defence Volunteers and a unit of the West Cumberland Naval Artillery.

John Lambert VC

These mixed units under the command of John Lambert VC have blocked the main routes into the village but their only hope is for strong re-enforcements, these are on their way in the form of Scottish Troops from the St Andrews League under the direct command of Major Hamish Fraser.

Hamish Frazer

So the scene is set for a major assault by the Royalist forces on the village. This was played as our display game at Albanich 2016. The table is 4'8" wide and 7' long. We used Bolt Action Rules with our own dungeon rules for aircraft. We also used our own special events rules which occurs every time a unique white die is drawn from the bag. I want to say a big thanks to Steve who helped on the day, painted some of the troops and planes. Without him it wouldn't have happened :)

Battle of Thurstonfield

Albertine forces occupying the main street

 Although Albertine forces hold the village at the start Fascist Units have already moved onto the street. West Cumberland Firemen have also just arrived as support.

First re-enforcements arrive

 The first re-enforcements in the village are a strong unit of West Cumberland Miners with a newly fitted Renault 35 Tank. The Scots have also rushed their Matilda tanks forward to push the Fascists back.

Bitter fighting in the main street

 The first really tough fighting is in the main street where the Fascists attempted to drive towards the Albertine Roadblock, they come under strong automatic gunfire from the Matilda and the C9 armoured car.

Scots Infantry pulls into the village

 With a lucky hit to one of the Royalist Vickers tanks the attack on the Royalist right flank looked like it was going to stall then the Firemen were called away to a fire in the next village (random event !)

Aircraft from both sides in the air above the village

 Not wishing to face the heavy gunfire in the main street one of the fascist units has forced its way through the terraces hoping to outflank the defenders.

Scots attempting to regroup

 Whilst rallying the firemen the Albertines are able to bring an infantry unit to hold the dangerous outflanking move behind the village.

Did anybody notice I had called the pub the Pike and Shot ?

Renault 35 has now been disabled but is still firing

 Although pinned down on the right the Borderers regular infantry is pushing forward towards the cross roads, they are supported by both a Vickers and an A9 tank on the road.

Firemen have pulled themselves together and are back on the offensive

 Realising the main thrust is coming down the road the naval artillery manned by local Fishermen has been moved to cover the cross roads from outside the village shop.

Carlisle Constabulary pinned down

 In the main street the Matilda Tanks have killed or scared all the infantry away, advancing they have pinned the Carlisle constabulary who can't or won't progress.

Royalist Tanks surge towards the road block

 Eventually the Royalist tanks are close enough to charge the road block this forces the remaining Thurstonfield Volunteers to flee ! the way now seems open to the remaining Royalist forces until a Matilda Tank trundles forward to block their path.

Vickers tank charges through the road block...... but without support

The battle draws to a close

At this point we decided to call a halt. Although the Royalists have the advantage and have broken through into the village the Albertines have plenty to keep fighting with, as a demonstration game it didn't really matter. The assumption for further battles will be the Royalists now hold the village but lacked sufficient strength to push to the coast.

We had a great time at the show talked to loads of people and much to my embarrassment we won a prize for the game. Thanks to everybody who took the time to come and have a look, to chat and share so much positive feedback, thanks also to Simon and the organisers of the show, all being well we will back at Albanich 2017.

Our prize !

Battle of Great Orton :VBCW

On the eve of the battle of Thurstonfield I need to catch up on dispatches from the front, (although I am getting a bit out of order with other games we have played). The Royalists having previously attacked at Crofton Hall and Micklethwaite have also pushed towards the village of Great Orton.

The Spring Offensive

Although strictly outside of Albetine territory they choose to contest the village rather than allow the Royalists to develop such a strong jump off point for any future moves. The two forces were equal in size, but for the first time the Royalists had managed to persuade the Penrith Fascists to give them air support.

Regular Infantry supported by the Carlisle Constabulary 

Albertine Gloster Gladiator looking for ground targets

Royalists capture the Post Office objective

 There were three key objectives to control the village the Post Office, the Grey Citroen parked in the middle of the village apparently owned by the local defence force commander and small wooded hill to the South of the village.

Fascist reserves make a foolhardy charge across the open street

 This was also the first battle where we implemented a random event generator. Very simply we have added a white dice to the bag every time it is drawn a random event occurs. I have written loads they range from the mildly annoying to positive and fun. But on this occasion it forced the Fascist reserve unit to charge the nearest enemy. Needless to say they were gunned down as they broke from cover into the street !

Local defence unit attempting to approach the Citroen

Supported by a Matilda I Tank St Andrews League push for the PO

King's Own Border Artillery 

 With three objectives to capture both forces are fairly strung out. The Royalist artillery have unlimbered to control the road through the village but find they have very little enemy to target.

King's Own Borderers make their way through back gardens

The Hill outside the village has already been taken by the Albertines

Hawker Fury overhead

Aircraft from both sides seek advantage overhead.

Albertines have forced the Borderers back out of the village

 Although the Albertines took control of the village itself and held the hill they were spread very thinly and there was a chance the Royalists could snatch the other objective. With his eye off the ball the Albertine commander didn't see the Vickers Tank coming up behind him and he was mown down by machine gun fire. You can just see him in the distance.

Daka Daka Daka .........!

 Eventually the Hawker Fury was able to catch up with the Gladiator and although we have fairly hard rules for plane to plane combat a lucky roll saw our first ever Air to Air kill in 28mm.

Albertines now controlling the village

Constabulary make a hasty retreat to look for criminals

 Hit by another random event the Carlisle Constabulary decided to chase off after a local Criminal rather than push forward into the village.

Borderers have the car at last

By the end of the battle it was a clear win to the Albertines with two of the three objectives in the bag. The Royalists would have to regroup and attack again.

More tanks : VBCW

Final stages now of prep and the final bit of painting. An extra tank for both sides, as usual I have kept the scheme very generic so they can see combat in other theatres. The tank on the left is a Renault 35 the other a Vickers with 2 pdr gun.

I do have a few more bits to finish off but I have the afternoon of work.....yepee. Hoping to blog a couple more bits of background.

Albanich 2016 : Battle for Thurstonfield Village

Little posting as I have been spending what feels like every spare minute on preparation for Saturday. We are pretty much there now and after two more battles in the campaign over the weekend (to be blogged later) we had a a full test setup on Sunday afternoon.

Thurstonfield setup

Still a few more bits to sort out but the list is finally getting shorter.

Prince Alberts Scottish Tank Corps : VBCW

Well the start of it anyway...... Have had a nasty head cold today so only been able to tinker and finish stuff off between sneezes etc.. But here we have an armoured unit to support our other scots. Two Matilda I's. The drivers are of course removable and I have kept the scheme fairly neutral. Their first outing will be as part of Prince Aberts Scottish Tank Corps. They have tracked down from the north avoiding Scottish Independent forces and Royalists' to support Prince Alberts' supporters in West Cumberland.

Scottish Tank Corps