Friday afternoon's SAGA

I get two days off a week. This isn't unusual for many people, however, I can't take Sundays off unless I'm on my holiday. As a pastor, I work Sundays. I'm not really complaining; I knew that this "came with the suit" when I took up the ministry. So I take Friday and Saturday off. So this past Friday, my wife says to me: "Let's get out the dice and figures and play a game." We decided on SAGA since we're both still learning the system.

So out came her Welsh and my Irish. She chose the Welsh because she has a great affection for Arthur and his reign. She holds that Arthur has a strong tie to Wales, and I certainly can't dispute her. She as an Arthurian army for WAB/Hail Caesar and so the figures were readily available in the house. I have some Dark Ages Irish and use some early Saxons as the more well-armoured Gaels. (I had a professor in univerity who held -with a good bit of evidence- that the Dark Ages with the Volkswanderung and the destruction of the Roman civilization in the West never took hold in Ireland. I leave that to greater minds than mine.) {By the way, Volkswanderung sounds like a peaceful vacation excursion rather than its alternate term... "Barbarian Invasion." It sounds like a few Goth came by, knocked on the door and said "Hi! We saw your light on and decided to drop in!"}

Anyway, we chose to go with the standard 6 point game, giving each of us a Warlord, a unit of Hearthguard (4@), three units of Warriors (8@), and two units of Levy (12@). Beth's Warlord and Hearthguard were mounted, and her Levy were bows and slings. All my troops were on foot and armed with javelins, except for the one Warror unit that was wardogs, because... well, because I couldn't resist.

Beth's version of Arthur - a Gripping Beast figure. Behind him are various warriors.

A close-up of some of Beth's Welsh warriors.
A more abstract Auxilia shield and the famous "Fox Boys"

Faction dice, Irish in brown and Welsh in yellow.
Birdies, snakes and elk for the Irish and Dragons, Celtic Crosses, and Celtic trefoils for the Welsh.

I won the initiative and deployed and moved first. It was a straight heads-down attack led by the wardogs who hit a Welsh levy unit and pushed them back. I was also able to grab some harder cover with a small homestead on my right.

The Wardogs pose for a photo. I think the dogs are Gripping Beast while their handler is from Mithril Miniatures LOTR range. He is listed as Beorn in human form. I've always liked the figure as well as his bear-form counterpart.

Sic 'em, puppies! The Wardogs take on the Welsh levy.

A unit of my Bonnachts (Warriors) occupy the farmstead.

Their opposition - one of Beth's Warrior units

My javelin armed Kern/Levy face more of the Welsh Warriors.

The Hearthguard and Warlord begin their ride into history.

Beth's Levy fell back but had given the Wardogs casualties.
The red bingo chip indicates a "fatigue" on the unit.

My Kern had exchanged javelins with Beth's warriors who fell back to leave the heavy lifting to the Hearthguard and the Warlord. It wasn't pretty for me.

The Hearthguard are a mix of Gripping Beast and Old Glory Arthurians/Late Romans.
My Kern are Old Glory figures.

The slaughter from Beth's perspective.

And again.

After disposing of the Kern, the mounted Hearthguard (less one... Hurrah, me!) wheeled left to take on more hapless Irishmen.

So Beth caved in my left, shattered my centre, and demonstrated on my right where one unit of Warriors and one of Kern/Levy held on. My Hearthguard attacked her's with my Warlord and a handful of warriors, but they were driven back, When her Hearthguard and Warlord wheeled left, the handwriting was on the wall. Shortly after that, her Hearthguard killed my Warlord and that was the end. 

Through later discussions, it appears I wasted my Wardogs and would have been better served by holding them in reserve until a melee started somewhere nearby. Since they move as mounted troops and ignore difficult terrain, the Wardogs could fly through stuff and add a nasty attack to an on-going melee. Maybe arming my Kern with slings would help too, doubling their missile range. The next game will see,

Welsh archers

The Hearthguards engage in a spirited discussion of politics... with swords and spears.

My Hearthguard, Warlord, and a few Warriors fall back.

The end of the game from the Goodyear blimp.

... and from a slightly closer angle.

More Than a Skirmish With This Very Ground

This Very Ground is Iron Ivan's French & Indian War skirmish game. I enjoy playing Iron Ivan's sets of rules. They have the consistency and simplicity that makes for a very playable game. The scope is 1 figure = 1 man skirmish level gaming. We've discovered that if you put too many troops on the table, the game bogs down. This was almost the case last Saturday. The game did not break, but a few odd quirks showed themselves due to the number of figures involved.

Andy drew up a scenario where French and British regulars faced each other in a forest clearing, which is as close as you can come to a set-piece Seven Years War battle in the North American theatre. No native warriors were involved and no militia or provincials on the French side, although two units of Provincials were fielded on the British side. Both sides had three companies of line troops, two light companies, a grenadier company, and three guns, two of which were 4-pounders or lighter. As I said before, the British fielded two additional companies of Provincials, who are slightly less competent than the regulars.

In the photos below, the troops are arrayed in the clearing which is deliniated by pieces of masking tape.

The French forces under Martin and myself.
Grenadiers are nearest the camers, then two line and one light company, the cannon, and a line and a light company.

The British under Kevin, Brian, and Bear.
From the bottom, two light companies and the limbered guns, three line companies, the grenadier company, and two companies of Provincials (said to be from Virginia)

Looking down the French line, as Andy shuffles boxes in the distance.
There were four games in progress that Saturday - our F&I, Wayne's WWI, Sara and Bill's D&D (5th Edition, thank God)
and a small RPG. This made for 16 people!

Lobsterbacks! All the figs were from Andy's collection.

The Colour party of Regiment Berry.

The French won the initiative in the first turn, and we advanced slowly. I put my light company in skirmish order to screen the grenadiers and the line troops to the grenadiers' left. Martin began a bombardment of the British line with the three guns - 2 Fours and a Six. The British advanced in good order with Brian sending out a light company to match my skirmishers. When they finally met, the British lights got the better of my light company and I took heavy casualties.

French Artillery, ruining the day for some of the British. The cotton shows the gun has fired.

The light screen advances ahead of the fusiliers and grenadiers. I tried to keep them from masking the guns.

The British advance - mostly Ral Partha figures with a smathering of Old Glory for command and NCO's.
The French figures were the same. No native warriors were used (Partha, Front Rank, and Blue Moon)
and the Compagnies Franches de la Marine (Partha) stayed in their boxes as well.

Brian's two light companies - one deployed in skirmish order, one in line.

Bear's disembodied hand moves a bunch of British.

My musketry was poor and my light company got hurt. Martin's lights tangled with the Provincials, one company of which had to fall back due to a morale failure. The other caused Martin's lights to hug the wood line and begin to give ground while the British grenadiers advanced. The British spread their guns out to cover the entire field while Martin massed his three cannon into a Grand Battery of sorts. (He called himself "too Napoleonic" for anything less.) 

Eventually, Brian caused my lights to break once I charged his. He won the melee and my officer and drummer, the only survivors, fell back quickly. One of my fusilier companies bravely charged one of Bear's line companies. Both were destroyed, although he fell back with a handful of troops, while my officer - the only survivor - held his ground and taunted the British mercilessly.

Brian's lights come on at full strength.

My lights and Bear's line troops pass each other.

The lights give fire as do the cannon.

This block of Redcoats became hard to manage at one point. We were unsure of the rules regarding interpenetration of units and spend a long time searching the book. We decided that you could interpenetrate but the unit could do nothing else that turn.

Ready your firelock! Present! Give fire!

"Votre mère était un hamster et votre père avait une odeur de baies de sureau!"

With one line company down to a brave but foolhardy officer and a light company down to an officer and a drummer who decided that discretion WAS the better part of valour. We French graciously conceded the field to the British. According to the understanding of fighting in that age, force-in-being was preferable to a bloody field victory. So the convention was signed and we "withdrew." Martin had lost a light company and had sustained a number of casualties to his fusiliers. Bear, Kevin, and Brian had lost one company completely and had suffered some serious casualties to another company. All the guns were intact, although the British plan was to sweep the flank with the Provincials and grab the guns. It didn't work out that way.

It made for a good game. This Very Ground is not designed for such set-piece battles. It's usually best for more fluid skirmishes in broken ground and wooded areas. Having said that, it does work for this sort of game, although such things as interpenetration of formed units and the so-called "Golden Highway" of the Seven Years War and other conflicts of the period (where one army permits the other army to withdraw without pursuit and harassment. Such behaviour drove the native warriors crazy!) are not reflected in the rules as written. We played the rules "as written" on Saturday, but had to improvise some of the things the rules didn't cover. Please don't get me wrong; the game and the scenario were great. It's just that the rules didn't cover some of the situations in which we found ourselves. So some table-top jazz had to be played. So long as everyone agrees, why not?

On Martin's end of the field, his lights are falling back and his fusiliers are losing men. Meanwhile, Bear and Kevin's Provincials prepare to sweep around the flank in open order while the remnants of a line company fires on Martin's troops while a fresh company comes up (on the far right,)

Martin's guns keep up a scalding fire.

Brian's light company continues to fire although this time it's the company in line.

The Royal Artillery answers the French.

The lone 4-pounder supports the advance on the British right.

"C'mon! Put 'em up! I can take yez all... wif one hand tied behind my back!"
"Jacques! The captain's been in the brandy again!"

On my painting front, now that Easter is past, I'm busily finishing some commissioned figures for Bear, painting some loot from Hot Lead (Renaissance Poles), and doing up some Warmaster figs 'cause I want to,

Test for WWII gaming

 Two weeks ago, the Hamilton Road Gaming Group of London, ON ran a split-table set of games using Iron Ivan's Disposable Heroes WWII small unit skirmish rules. Both sides of the table used German troops vs. Canadian troops. Andy games-mastered one side of the table while I handled the other. My side saw the Canadians under Rob and DJ defending against an attack by SS troops under Bear and Tyler. Andy's side had Mark and Kevin pushing the Canadians while two young friends of Mark's handled the German Wehrmacht.

Actually I had expected a one-large-table game with the Canadians attacking the Germans, but that was not to be. Since I'm not sure what was going on on the other side of the table and the game on my side is pretty much a blur, I'm just going to post photos and comments. (For the record, I've had what my physician thinks is a little bit of pneumonia. No fun there.)

Andy's side of the board. The "fields" are cut up door mats which look a lot like standing grain. Mark is preparing to measure something at a bit of a distance. The troops in the woods (the light green felt) are in foxholes or slit trenches (represented by short lengths of dark brown felt.)

Rob grins idiotically while the troops are set up. (It's okay; he's my son; I can say that.)

Panther (Warlord Games Bolt action range) and a Hetzer (plastic model.)

Tyler lines up a shot with his PaK gun. Ya gotta get down to eye level to set up the shot!

Panther, Hetzer, and the front of a Tiger I with SS troops advancing.

DJ's vehicle park. M3 halftracks, an armoured car, a Churchill tank and an M4 Sherman.
DJ has set up a Canadian armoured/motorized platoon.
The 3-inch mortar in the foreground is considered to be in a weapon's pit
since it sits on a chunk of charcoal coloured felt.

This beast is DJ's as well and it was leant to the SS...

... for a while.

The Canadian larger mortar in weapons pits. Mortars are usable for smoke in DH, but little else. There is little chance of hitting anything with the thing, unless you run up and club somebody with it.

DJ's favourite. I call it the "Chicago Piano" even though I know it's not correct.
Quad .50 calibre heavy machine guns on a halftrack platform can ruin your day.

DJ's Humber A/C - his latest addition. He finds these Dinky Toys at local flea markets and second-hand stores.

On of the halftracks is down and out, but it now becomes cover and a line-of-sight blocker.

Bear's SS sniper team lurking in the field. Plastic models painted in the "Pea pattern" cammo by your humble blogger.

Measuring for either the Hetzer or the HMG. In the game, the MG42 HMG (tripod mounted) has a range of 75 inches and a rate of fire of 8 shot per turn! That's hard to beat and hard to stand up to.

Canadians entrenched along the wood line.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table...

A Canadian PIAT team in a foxhole. I don't think the PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) gets the respect it deserves. The thing is spring-launched with a rocket motor kicking in after the spring kicked it out. It's probably the only late-war anti-tank weapon that could be fired in an enclosed space; the blow-back from the bazooka, Panzerfaust, or Panzerschreck would really mess up a room. The Russian anti-tank rifle was too bulky and long to use without a stadium.

 

Mark and Kevin's Canadians hold the bridge with the assistance of a Sherman 75.

A German squad takes cover in a wooded area. The two red bingo chips indicate that the unit has failed morale ("guts") twice and has had to fall back. A third failure caused the unit to bolt, although it can be rallied.

A few more photos to close:

The Tiger I assists the SS advance through the grain field. Rob painted the tank and I painted the figs for Bear... except for the Panzerschreck team, which is part of my collection.

A stubby Pz. IV and a PaK 40 use the smoke to hide out or maybe the smoke was laid down by the Canadian to keep the two things from firing. Take a guess; you'll probably be right.

Canadian sniper team in a foxhole. As you can see, they vibrate so fast, they're hard to see.

Speaking of Tigers, I got to see the movie "Fury" not too long ago - not a movie for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. In my opinion, the real star was the Bovington Tank Museum's Tiger I - the last running Tiger tank in the world. It is an impressive piece of equipment, although further reading shows that the series of tanks like most German vehicles were powerful and dangerous, although over-engineered, finicky, hard to repair, and not as well supplied as they might have been. Still wouldn't want to face any of them.

Rob and DJ's squads occupy the houses in the centre of their side of the board. One of the squads were commando figures in the green berets, a second was in shirt-sleeve order for Italy, and the third in standard battle dress.
I'll use whatever figures I have.

All in all a fun game. I just need to be sure of the table conditions before setting things out from now on.