Right, I'm back again after a couple of hours sleep so here is part 2, with more pictures of the game I ran in the morning and the game I played in the afternoon.
As I said, Nathan and I put on a Chain of Command 1940 game, with two platoons of German infantry attacking some entrenched British and French troops. Each German platoon was at full strength (4 squads of 10 men plus 5cm mortar and 2 senior leaders) with attached support. The German's were played by "Demon Dice" Geoff and Nick. Geoff's support was a pair of Panzer 38t's and a sIG33 auf PzI SPG. Nick had a Pz I, BefPzI with senior leader and another squad in a Sd251. The British had an understrength platoon with 2 squads of 8, a 2" mortar, Boys ATR, 2pdr ATG and Vickers MG. The French were also at reduced strength with 2 squads of 11, a VB squad of 3 launchers, a 25mm ATG and a Hotchkiss MG. Ian and Simon took command of the Allies, with support enroute.
The game went quite badly for the German's as they both went their separate ways and didn't work together. Geoff's demon dice rolling kept him in the game while Nick advanced through the woods towards the village. The Panzer38t proved to be exceptionally tough, with the 2pdr banging away at it without being able to actually kill it. The return MG fire did eventually kill the 2pdrs crew off, mostly down to one burst that killed 4 of the 5 crewmen in one shot. Demon dice indeed. Geoff's advance was halted when he stumbled onto a dug in French squad and assaulted them. His entire squad was wiped out except for a wounded junior leader, who was then executed by the French with a declaration that "We don't care about any war crimes!" The other flank say a similar event when Nick's advance squad found the dug-in Highlanders, who opened fire as they crossed the field and killed them off too. Before the German's could gather themselves for another go the Allied reinforcements arrived. The French got a Char B1bis, which promptly got immobilised by a Pz38 shot. The British got an 18/25pdr which replaced their 2pdr and was able to keep the German armour at bay. As lunch time arrived the German's called it quits as their force morale fell due to losses.
Thanks to Geoff, Nick, Ian and Simon for playing the game in the Lardy spirit. I hope you enjoyed it, I know I did.
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| The finger of Geoff points the way on the left! |
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| There are Germans in the woods! |
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| British 2" mortar hides in the back garden |
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| Germans push on again |
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| The town is full of French and British troops |
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| Geoff's demon dice rolling ability strikes again |
In the afternoon Nathan ran the CoC game while I went off and played Sharpe Practice, run by Jim. A lovely set up with Grand Manner buildings, Perry figures and a modified Games Workshop board. I was the gallant French, fighting to free the Spanish from British oppression. Jamie took the British imperialist dogs. He had to defend a supply dump from it's rightful liberation by the forces of garlic scented Frenchmen. He had 3 sections of 10 redcoats, one of them being light infantry types. I was advancing with a small force of gallant men, with 3 units of 10 fusiliers and one each of grenadiers and voltigeurs. Things went badly for the Redcoated devils, first off one of his sentries was caught by the voltigeurs. Sadly he died as he was captured rather than face the ignominy of being forced to eat croissants and drink wine. Two units of fusiliers and the grenadiers advanced forward, with the final fusilier unit swinging out on the right flank. This pulled the British lights out to that side, while another unit occupied a separate building away from the supply dump. This unit was then attacked by the Grenadiers and wiped out, while the two fusiliers and the voltigeurs gathered themselves to assault the main camp. The British lights were banging away at the detached unit of fusiliers and causing some casualties and shock, but that was all part of my plan. This left the British with one unit of 10 men facing nearly 30 advancing Frenchmen. Yes, the British were behind a wall and yes they were firing pretty accurately, but it would not be enough. Especially when they decided to charge out at the French! Oops, it all went wrong and despite my dismal dice rolling ( I drew the first round despite having nearly 3 times as many dice to roll) the British were wiped out to a man. This left the 10 man light infantry section who, despite their best efforts, were gradually whittled down in a crossfire of musketry. A great game with excellent company and a beautiful set up to play it on. Thanks to both Jim and Jamie.
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| The fusiliers advance up the centre |
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| The British sentry legs it from the Voltigeurs |
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| British Light Infantry firing at the French right flank |
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| The sentry tragically falls on a bayonet as the Voltigeurs catch him. |
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| The main assault gathers as the Brits fire desperately |
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| The Grenadiers clear the building of red-coated vermin |
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| The Lights are forced out of the supply dump by weight of fire |
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| The French move in a "liberate" the supplies |
All in all it was a cracking weekend, even though it's taken me several days to recover. And I didn't even have any alcohol!
Well, that's that done. I am off to the hospital in a bit to see if they can fit the tube again. Wish me luck and I will catch you all later.
I also have another additional pair of Sd250/1's finished, to transport any support options such as engineer or MG teams. So here are the ten Sdkfz 250's all together. Look impressive, but I have a feeling that they are going to blow up easily.
