More buildings, yet more buildings!

 Hello again, I have been a bit busy with other things but have managed to sort out a few more buildings for my town project. I still have yet more to base up but have run out of the wood I use for the bases at the moment. So here you go with the latest few that are finished. 

First up is a calvary, a religious icon that will make a nice scenic piece in the town. The cobblestones are made out of FIMO clay and then rolled with a Greenstuff World roller. The pavement is from 4 Ground and the fences are Wills Scenics. The calvary is from Sabotag3d and the flowering plants are from Serious-Play. I am reasonably happy with how it all came together, although I did mess up with the positioning, the opening in the fence should have been on the pavement edge, not on the cobblestones. Ah well, you live and learn.

Calvary and nice garden surround.

Then I based up some of the Landmark buildings that are sadly no longer available. I arranged 4 of them to go together and then constructed the basing around them. The garden may be a bit too "grassy" and I may revisit in the future and add a vegetable plot, but apart from that it is good enough and makes a nice addition to the town.

Landmark buildings x 4

The cobblestones are Fimo, rolled and baked in the oven for 30 minutes. The pavements and walls are 4Ground and are not baked. 

Rear yard and garden.

Finally here is a view of the town as it stands at the moment. I still have a few things to tweak on it, the hotel needs to be based to match the rest and I still need some more roads. the final arrangement is not fixed, but I think it is coming together fairly well.

My small town, a work in progress

Well, that's the lot for now. I am off to play Chain of Command in the jungle tonight. Should be fun....

Take care folks, stay safe.

4Ground buildings, green stuff roads and other stuff

   A little while ago I won a few buildings from 4Ground. I have now made them and based up two of the three I got. These will join the ones I did previously in making a town set up for various games from WW2 onwards. 

First up is the 15mm Terrace with additional floor. This will make a nice addition to my street and it was fun getting back into the basing of these. The walls and pavements are also from 4Ground and I think they do add to the final structure.

Front facing

Rear facing and gardens

Closer view of the gardens

The other building I have finished is the 15mm North West Europe Farmhouse. This comes quite nicely painted up, but I have done a bit of work and painted some of  the bricks in different shades of grey and repainted the roof in a green tile to match the lean-to I added. Again, the walls etc are from 4Ground but the other bits are from other companies. I think the lean-to is from Battlefront and the green house and cold frames are from Sabotag3d. I'm pretty happy with how it came out in the end, it obviosuly belongs to a more well-to-do member of the local community.

The farm is it comes

Based up and painted up

The vegetable garden

and from the other side

A rear view showing the courtyard, grass and vegetable garden

Another purchase I have recently made is a couple of greenstuff rollers from Greenstuff World. To be accurate, I got them from Firestorm Games, but you get the idea. I duly bought 18" of greenstuff on eBay and had at it. A bit of practice and things improved until, eventually, I had 6' (or 180cm) of cobblestone roads for my town. Various shades of grey and brown were slapped about on the stones, then some mud brown and gloss varnish on the mistakes to make them look like mud and Robert is your mother's brother. I think 6' will be enough for the town, the country side will have mud tracks that I already have.

Roads, 18 sections of 4'

A closer look at the cobblestones (and mistakes mud)

A few bits of road arrayed around the farm house.

Gaming has been a bit scarce, mostly because I caught a stinking cold type thing which laid me low for a couple of weeks. Last Monday I did get to run a game of Billhooks for Panjo and Colin, which Colin won quite easily due to a random event making one of Panjo's units change sides. We are having another go next Monday, hopefully I will remember to take some pictures this time.

Tomorrow Christopher and I are off to BIG for a day of Lardy games. The event is called Gert Lush Lard and I am looking forwards to it. Chain of Command in the morning and Infamy in the afternoon, should be a good day. 

Catch you all next time, have a good one and take care.

Chain of Command 29 Lets Go Campaign

For the last few weeks/moths I have been running the "29 Let's Go" Chain of Command pint sized campaign for some of the Devon Wargames players. Primarily this was to show them the way the game is played at its best, one platoon against one platoon.

Picture stolen from JJ's blog

As I have said previously, the best place to see the battle details is JJ's blog. He has taken many pictures and put up a few reports already. I am now putting up the final result and the details of casualties etc.

In the campaign the Germans get a single platoon for the majority of the actions while the Americans get a new platoon for each game. This gives a big advantage to the American player as they get three squads of twelve men for every game while the German has to husband his resources and try to minimise losses while still stopping the advancing enemy.

The campaign is fought on 5 maps in a ladder sequence. It is possible for the Americans to win in 5 games, put unlikely if the German player is sneaky careful. As it was, this run of the campaign took 9 games as Ian managed to pull a few sneaky wins and one completely flukey one.

Above is the map of the battlefields as they appear on the ground. Maps 1, 2 and 5 are defended by a single platoon of Germans. Luckily maps 2 and 3 are off the advance route and are held by other platoons, so they just serve to delay the advance. 

In the campaign the games went well for the Americans initially. They won game 1 and 2 on maps 1 and 2, then lost game 3 on map 3 and had to refight it in turn 4. Turn 5 on map 4 saw a major back step for the Allies when, despite getting 6 phases on the trot before any Germans were even on the table, they failed to get a chain of command dice and the concentrated German firepower broke their force morale very quickly. The battle was lost for want of a single 5 in 7 phases of play.

That set them back to map 2 on the main road. The original German platoon was well rested by now and called up reinforcements, giving them a full platoon again. They went on to win and consolidated their position. This also caused the American Colonel to waver, requiring a visit for General "Dutch" Cotter to get him moving again. Game 8 and the Germans inflicted a few casualties and then pulled back to maintain their strength. Game 9 was the final round and would decide if it was a major German victory or if the allied advance would continue. As it went on, this final battle was a very cagey affair and it went right down to the wire. Both sides lost many men and force morale fell, reducing chain of command dice until, finally, the Germans broke and the American advance could continue. However, all the Germans except for the defending platoon had escaped and the ongoing fight would be harder for it.

Below is a table detailing the losses after each game. Losses are not all dead, 50% are dead or badly wounded enough that they are counted as dead, 25% are wounded and miss the next game while the final 25% are lightly wounded and are available for the next game.

The different coulours on the German column show the losses for the other platoons. In total German losses were 86 infantry, 2 NCOs and 9 support weapon crew. That works out as 43 dead and 43 wounded. American losses were 103 infantry, 1 Senior NCO, 3 NCOs and 6 Shermans, giving 52 dead GIs with 51 wounded.  All told the losses were fairly equal, except for the 6 Shermans!

It was fun to run the campaign for the lads, especially as  I got to see their tactics and planning change each time they played. I can recommend the pint sized campaigns to any one who like Chain of Command, it makes for a very different game to the usual game as you have to be more careful with your losses. 

That's it for now, I am off on the yearly pilgrimage to Partizan tomorrow so expect news of that next week. Catch you all later.

I am still here

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been a bit down and just couldn't be bothered. However my wife said "Beatings will continue until morale improves" so I am back, hopefully the bruises will start to fade now. 😉

Games have been played since I last posted, but not as many as I would have liked. I have been running a Chain of Command campaign for a couple of the Devon Wargames Group fellas so they can play the game as it is designed, rather than in a multi-player game as the club games tend to be. Best place to see what has been going on is over at JJ's blog as he has been photographing and documenting the games, and the learning curve, that have been played. It's been most enjoyable to watch how the tactics have evolved as the campaign has gone on. Ian, commanding the Germans, has gone from "Get everything on the table" to "Wait, wait, let them come closer" while JJ and Steve have developed from just going for general advances to picking their target, setting a plan and then using all the assets they have to push through. I hope they have enjoyed it as much as I have.

I have also played some cracking ancients games using To The Strongest. I really like these rules and would recommend them to anyone who doesn't mind not having 100% control of things when you game, if you like Too Fat Lardies rules you will probably like these too.  We have also played a couple of games of For King and Parliament from the same author.  Again, these are a lot of fun and have inspired me to go through my lead pile for the Renegade ECW figures I bought a few many years ago. We played the game using some very old 15mm armies borrowed from a friend, but they looked good and the game was very entertaining. Here are a few pictures of the game.

The forces are arrayed, Royalist to the right and Parliamentarians opposite.

Things are heating up as the lines close for battle and the flanks get all confusing

Anyway, that is it for now. I will do another update later about yesterdays Legionary show in Exeter, where Nathan and I put on a game of To the Strongest using Romans and Dacians.

Later folks and thanks for sticking around......if anybody did.

It can't have been 6 months!

It's hard to believe that it's been 6 months since I posted here. I have been a bit down and struggled with being ill again, a continuous run of infections around my stoma have really knocked me and I have taken a while to get through it. Not everything has stopped, I have still played a few games and still painted a few bits, it's just been the social side of things that have taken a hit.

But just to upset you all I have returned. And by "you all" I mean the one person who reads this tripe.

Gaming has primarily been boardgames of several types. Zombicide, Blood Rage, Mythic Battles Pantheon etc. Wargames have mostly been Chain of Command, with the occasional foray into Congo and Death in the Dark Continent. 

As for painting, I did very little last year, but after having a break I have managed to get a bit of my mojo back. Not a vast amount but at least a bit of it has returned. So I have finally painted some 15mm Germans for Ian at the Exeter club, which inspired me to paint some German vehicles that have been sat in my plastic pile for too long.

Ian's German Infantry

Ian's infantry were a mixture of Battle Front and Peter Pig, 94 figures all told based for IABSM.

Early War Sdkfz 251s and Panzer 38ts

Next up are some early war German armour. Five Sdkfz 251 halftracks including a command 251/10 with it's mighty 3.7cm pak gun. These are supported by a trio of Panzer 38ts, ready for France or Russia. The half-tracks are Plastic Soldier Company while the Panzers are Zvezda models

Later war Sdkfz 250s 

Some more half-tracks were then stuck together and slapped with paint. A box of Plastic Soldier Company Sdkfz 250s were made up as a mixed recce force. A command 250/11 with it's 2.8cm Pzb leads a pair of 250/1 infantry carriers and a pair of 250/9 recce tracks with 2cm cannons. A decent mix of vehicles that can either add support for Chain of Command games or be recce elements for Battlegroup games.

Late war Panzer IIIs

A trio of Panzer IIIs wereadded to the line up, picked up at a bring and buy somewhere some time ago. Pre-made but unpainted, they will now be part of my late war German force. Who needs Panthers or Tigers? Also, see if you can spot the error in construction. I didn't notice until after I had painted them and don't know if it is worth fixing.

Late War Sdkfz 251s

Finally for today is some more 251's, Battlefront models this time. A quartet, painted up to mechanise my German infantry.

All told that's 20 vehicles, so it's been not too bad.

I have painted some other bits for WW2, but these will appear tomorrow hopefully as the varnish isn't dry yet. Later folks.

Legionary plans and a bit of painting

Tomorrow is Exeter's premier(only) wargames show, Legionary. I am ineptly assissting Nathan with a 28mm ACW game using the Pickett's Charge rules I reviewed recently. The scenario is based loosely on Blochers Knoll during the Battle of Gettysburg.  Hopefully it will work well, hopefully.......

As it clashes with the monthly Devon Wargames meet this year, Jon "JJ" Jones is also putting on a game, using his exquisite 15mm Napoleonic forces. So a decent showing from the club, hopefully enough to drag along some new members.

I have done a bit more painting, although not that much. 
First up is the Renedra/Perry Miniatures ACW house. This came in the Battle in a Box set I bought and I finally decided to get it painted. It goes together easily enough and can be modelled with doors that open, with a bit of care when gluing it anyway. I went for a generic white(ish) structure with grey roofing. Looks ok to my eyes, but I do wear glasses!

 Then I broke away from 28mm for a change. I bought the Landmark building set way back in the distant mists of time, when Battlehonours UK released them. Since then I have gradually based up some of them and decided I needed a church for my expanding 15mm town.

I repainted the church as it was originally a bit too green, so it is now a nice shade of grey, well several shades actually. It was then based on a bit of hardboard and walls were added, also from the Landmark set. A couple of trees were made and stuck onto the base and gravestones were purchased from several places and put onto Flames of War bases so then can be removed if needed. Finally it was all flocked, grassed and tarted up.

 Hopefully it looks ok, it took a bit longer than I expected, primarily because I kept getting distracted, but it should look good on the table.

 At Crusade way back in January I bought a couple of 15mm barns from Original Laser Designs. Quite simple to look at, they went together very easily and painted up quite nicely as well.  At some point they will be based up to add to the town.

 Finally I painted some more ACW. Yes, I know I said I had finished. Yes, I know I have no willpower, but the guns were sat there all forlorn and unpainted. So I painted them.  Two each for the Confederates and Union, each with four crew. So that really is it, until I buy some more tomorrow!

It could be worse, I could have a load of figures to paint still..........

😉

Adios for now and if you are in Exeter tomorrow say hi, I'm the ugly fat bloke helping on the 28nn ACW table. 

Zombicide, a few tanks and off we go

Sorry but I'm here again, just when you thought you were safe.

I have done little in terms of gaming or painting since I was last here, hence the lack of updates.  I have played a couple of games of Zombicide with the lads on Monday nights and last week we had a bash at Lion Rampant again, but that's been it.  I don't have any plans for anything major either.  I am missing this Monday and probably the following one too, so gaming is going to be really light for the next few weeks.

I have managed a small(very small) amount of painting so here are some dodgy looking pictures of some averagely painted figures and vehicles.

First up is some Zombicide figures, 15 assorted zombies that I needed to get finished. There are 9 walkers, 4 runners and 2 fatties, which finishes my share of the group purchase for seasons 1 and 2 of Zombicide.  I now have season 3's zombies to do, but that's going to take a while.

 Then we have a few of the survivor figures.  I painted them to look like they do on their cards, at least as closely as I could anyway.  They are based on (left to right)
Steven Seagal in Machete, Nick Frost in Shaun of the Dead, John Goodman in The Big Lebowski, John Cleese in Fawlty Towers, Simon Peg in Shaun of the Dead and, at the back, Jack Nicholson in The Shining.  Nice enough figures as usual, my favourite is John Goodman. 


The rest of my efforts have been aimed at my ever expanding 15mm WW2 collection.  The recently finished Russians have some reinforcements in the shape of 3 BT-5's and a massive KV-2, all made by Zvezda and easy little kits to make and paint.  That is it for the Barbarossa Russians now, I don't need anything else for them.

Finally I painted up a Plastic Soldier Company Tiger tank that I ordered in a sale they had.  I usually prefer the more common Panzers but it is nice to have some options available for the Germans.  I need to add some more weathering to it but I am happy with it at the moment.  I need to get a new pot of MiG powder to dirty it up so it'll have to wait until I get into town.


So that's it for wargaming over the last month.  Not much to report and it's looking pretty rocky for October too. 


I am off to Chelmsford tomorrow to see a consultant surgeon in the upper GI department.  Quietly hopeful that he may be able to at least alleviate my problems if he can't cure it.  Appointment is on Monday, but we are staying up there as travelling wipes me out.  Most things wipe me out at the moment, so I hope he can do something about it.

Well, that's it.  I'm off now to prepare for the England-Australia game.  Not saying who I'm supporting but I won't be too upset if Australia win.

Not much to see here

Hello again, it's time for another rambling post of no interest whatsoever.

I have done very little gaming over the last month, but still managed to do a little here and there. Chain of Command is still the favourite game here, so this post by Trailape is worth checking out if you are undecided about which way to go for a WW2 small action set of rules.  I have tried out both sets of rules and my preference is also for CoC.  That's not saying Bolt Action is bad, it's just a bit too much like Warhamster 40k for me.  Trailapes post also brought about a special offer from TFL, so if you are considering getting CoC, now is the time.

Purchases of lead and/or plastic have been limited by a serious lack of funds, being sick for so long has really hit the finances and belts have been tightened.  So I have bought nothing lately, but the lead mountain has grown somewhat significantly due the the amazing generosity of Gaz Amos (top bloke even if he still has a pornstar moustache).  After my previous post about Fighting Season he was kind enough to offer me some Mongrel Miniatures Arab and Syrian figures.  Assuming it was a pack or two I gratefully accepted.  A box duly arrived from deepest darkest Salford, but it was much bigger and heavier than I expected.  Opening it was like Christmas as a kid, I knew what I was expecting but what else was there.  Arab and Syrians but more of them than I expected, plus some Israelis and Congo figures from Mongrel, some US infantry from TAG and some Cold War Russians and Yanks to top it all off.  Thanks Gaz, you have restored my mojo a bit and paint has been slapped on lead for a change.

Painting has been a mixed bag, with several long delayed projects finally getting some work done to them.

 I ordered a 15mm factory from Sarissa Precision as all my buildings are residential so I wanted a change.  It came in a big bag and was a pleasure to build.  Unlike 4Ground it comes unpainted, so is a blank canvas and open to a wide range of paint schemes.  I sort of followed one that I saw on their website, except I added windows of plastic and printed off some roof tiles.  Paint was mostly from B&Q in tester pots with a few craft paints added.  All in all I think it came out pretty well and I am looking forward to seeing it dominate the table as it is 180mm square.

 The roof is removable and there is a walkway that the outside stairs lead up too.  I have some fencing arrived now so will be making up a yard for it, just to tie in with the other buildings I have based.

Following on from my German platoon for the Barbarossa period, I picked up a box of Battlefronts new plastic Russian infantry when we visited Battlegroup Souths show at Bovington tank museum.  They are nice figures and the box includes Maxim mg teams too, so plenty of firepower to support the Russian horde.  I did get the metal command pack as well to provide the 50mm mortar and flag bearer.   A quick check of the list for the Russian force in 1941 and the platoon was painted up.  CO(with a flag), 2IC, Commissar, 50mm mortar team and four squads of 13 men makes it a large platoon, but quite tactically rigid as the squads are not broken up into teams.  They will make a change from the Germans though, more a blunt instrument than a scalpel I think 

 I also picked up some support for the Russians, with some Zvezda T-26s and Plastic Soldier Company artillery.  The Maxims are from the infantry box, so the platoon is almost 100% plastic (7 metal figures out of 98).  The five T-26s are more than I will ever need for CoC, but a nice force for Battlegroup games.  Two Maxims, two 45mm AT guns and two 76mm infantry guns also gives a reasonable spread of support too.

Finally I purchased a Warbases Mark I tank (just because I could) a while ago and have finally got it put together and painted up.  It will be used for my VBCW force, based on the fact that many were sent out to towns as displays after WW1 and Newton Abbot was a major train depot so had plenty of engineer types to get it up and running again.  I have tarted it up a bit from the original.  I didn't really like the square gun barrels or exhaust pipe so I replaced them with some brass tube and I also added some Lewis guns to the sponsons and in the bow, courtesy of Colonel Bills supply store.  I am happy with how it has turned out and it is a much cheaper alternative than the others out there while still making a decent replica of the original. 

A final note about hospitals and such.  I am still p****d off with UCLH for the way they cancelled at the last minute, leaving us over £100 out of pocket in hotel costs.  I have now been referred to Mid Essex hospital in Chelmsford(getting further away every time) and should be there early next month to see a top man in the gastroparesis field apparently.  Fingers crossed and all that.

Catch you all later, I am off to do something less constructive for a bit.

Latest Chain of Command Platoon

I have finished them, so here they are for all to see and wonder!

Wonder, that is, why they hell I decided to do this force.  Basically, because I just love the little Sdkfz 250 series of vehicles.  Tiny little armoured personnel carriers, enough space to carry half a squad of men but costing practically the same to build as a full size Sdkfz 251 Hanomag.

But they are pretty little things.

 So here is the platoon in all it's panzer grey glory.  Seven Sd250/1 carriers with a single Sd250/10 3.7cm Pak carrier as support.  Seems that this is the full strength of a Panzer-Aufklarungsplatoon (gepanzert).  The actual platoon structure was identical to the standard panzergrenadier squads, 12 men per squad with two MG34s.  Where it differs is that two men were designated drivers for the Sd250's in each squad.  This only left 10 men and, by the time you take out a squad leader and six men to man the MG's, there are only 3 riflemen left.  Sustained combat is not going to be their strongpoint.  Fast assaults to seize objectives or exploit a weakness in the lines however, that they will excel at. 

The figures and vehicles are all Plastic Soldier Company.  In fact the figures are the same models I used for my Blitzkrieg Germans, just painted in fieldgrey trousers instead of light grey.  The vehicles are beautiful little models.  They come five to a box with a variety of options, APC version(250/1), mortar carrier(250/7), recce (250/9), Pak(250/10) and Panzerbusche(250/11).   The last one also includes the ground mount for the sPzB41 2.8cm squeezebore gun, which is going to be useful for my Falschirmjagers! 

So, here is my attempt at a Chain of Command list for a Reconnaissance Panzer-Grenadier platoon.  It has been checked over by the rules author, so is sort of TFL approved.  I'm going to give it a try anyway, just need to get some Russians as opposition.

 To support my new platoon I also purchased some additional Zvezda armour, four Panzer 38ts and a single Sdkfz 222.This gives me enough Pz38's to field a full strength platoon of 5 vehicles and a pair of Sd222's for scouting.

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.

So there it is, my latest addition to my Chain of Command forces.  Catch you later.

Just a quickie....

Been a bad weekend, so not a lot to report.  I popped into the Devon Wargames meet, but didn't stay as I felt rough.  There were some nice games going on, a large Napoleonic bash with 28mm figures, a Chain of Command game in post war Indonesia(I think) and a game of 15mm Ancients.  More updates will appear in due course on the Devon Wargames blog.  Nathan has also just posted about the game on his blog.

 I have also updated my CoC Platoons page as I realised that I had expanded the collection somewhat since I posted it.  I had only shown four platoons on there, two German and two American.  I now have the full amount(for now) shown along with their support.  There are now nine platoons shown, which should be enough shouldn't it?  Not a chance.  At least three more are planned just for Europe/Russia, then I am going to look at either the far east or desert theatres!  Not sure which yet, but I am tempted by Crusaders going up against M11/39s.  Tin foil armour rules, until the German's arrived and messed it all up.

A quick shout out to the nice chaps at Firestorm Games too.  I placed an order with them for some French vehicles and decals from Battlefront.  It sat on "processing" for several weeks, with one part of the order changing to "packed", but the other bits never arriving. So I rang them as I needed them for the OML3 game last weekend.  A quick chat with a very helpful man saw my order being changed to a substitute that they did have and promptly being posted first class to make sure I got them in time.  Now to some that may sound like a screw up as they didn't get what I wanted, but hold on a second.  I have been chatting to several people in the wargames trading business over the last month or six and all of them have expressed their problems with Battlefront lately.  You place your order on the Monday, on Friday a delivery arrives.  That sounds good, until you open the box and realise that you haven't got what you ordered, just what BF feel like sending you.  I find it hard to blame the retailer for the ineptitude and ignorance of their supplier.  Battlefront have seemingly dropped the ball over the last couple of years, which is a shame as they do some cracking models.  So thanks Firestorm for sorting out my order and getting it too me in time for me to paint the little Frenchies up.  It obviously helps that they are a Welsh shop.  Land of my Fathers and all that.

So that's it for now.  I am struggling this weekend so didn't get much of anything done sadly.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow.  I have a Rubicon Sd251 and some Warlord Germans to finish off.  Hope you're all doing better and getting some gaming in. 

OML3 part 2

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.

The finger of Geoff points the way on the left!

There are Germans in the woods!

British 2" mortar hides in the back garden

Germans push on again

The town is full of French and British troops

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.

The fusiliers advance up the centre

The British sentry legs it from the Voltigeurs

British Light Infantry firing at the French right flank

The sentry tragically falls on a bayonet as the Voltigeurs catch him.

The main assault gathers as the Brits fire desperately

The Grenadiers clear the building of red-coated vermin

The Lights are forced out of the supply dump by weight of fire

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.