Wyvern Wargames All-Dayer

Last weekend Wyvern Wargamers held the annual winter all-day club. Three of us, plus my visiting brother Gharak got all of our toys it to play a game of big Chain of Command Espana. We played the Battle of Seseña October 1936, an excellent scenario kindly posted by Gaming with TooFatLardies.

Following the fall of Toledo to the hands of the Nationalists forces in late September 1936, Madrid became now the next objective of Franco’s Army of Africa columns. These approached the capital city almost unmolested, as the morale of the Republicans crumbled and by late October they were to less than 100 km away.

After the arrival of Soviet tanks and advisors,  a short period of training and concentration, the first Republican tank unit was operational and the Soviet advisors  pressed the Republican Government to put it into action sooner rather than later as the risks of Madrid falling to the enemy were evident.

A decision was taken and the objective was to cut the road connecting Madrid and Toledo with a main attack in the South through the Seseña-Esquivias-Illescas  axis, supported by a secondary action in the north aiming to pierce the front at Griñón. A spearhead of 15 T-26 tanks made for Seseña on the morning of 29 October. 

Ian and Matt took two platoons of infantry to represent Lister and Burillo's Republican columns, equipped with light support weapons and a mighty three T-26s for their assault. Defending Nationalists comprised of a platoon of Moroccans (kindly lent by Wyvern Stu, cheers!) garrisoning Seseña and Gharak's Civil Guard in Esquivias. If we were lucky, a column of Armoured cars might turn up too! (standing in for the Italian tankettes present on the day).

As on the day, the scenario had the T-26s charging forwards into Seseña and on towards Esquivias.

The experienced Moroccans, caught by surprise, seek what cover they can.



But where are those T-26s heading now? They scatter for cover in the face of a single antitank gun. 

Emboldened by the armoured thrust, Republican infantry slowly make their way forward, but come under fire.

Meanwhile Gharak's Civil Guard emerge quickly from their garrison and into the countryside to  face Ian's infantry. 

A brave (or, foolhardy) Moroccan tank hunter team makes a dash for an unsupported T-26. Amazingly, their grenades and molotovs cause the crew to panic and bail out! What isn't pictured is the first team, that tried the same, failed to make the dash and were cut down in moments.

From the Republican side  - good progress on the left, where a bloody me lee has cleared Gharak's paramilitaries but stubborn resistance continues from my Moroccans.

Lunchtime brings stalemate and the end of our first game. The Republican forces hadn't managed to capitalise on their surprise and take Esquivias but keep a foothold in Seseña. The Moroccans are battered but remain an effective force, but of course two of those T-26s remain in a commanding position. Honours even, but a strategic Nationalist victory. 

After a break for lunch, we set up a second scenario to continue the Republican push, moving the battlefield westwards and each side bringing up reserves. We ran a patrol phase and the attack and defend scenario. 

Game two saw the appearance of my Carlist Requetes. Viva, Cristo, Rey! 

Once again, the experience of the Army of Africa is telling, having fallen back from Seseña, they quickly take up defensive positions outside the town...

...and lay down a heavy fire with their light machineguns. And the Natuonalist airforce is scrambled to provide close fire support. 

Game two saw Matt and I's infantry grinding away at each other from range, my Moroccons having the edge, but  three wounded leaders bruising their morale. 

Meanwhile on the Republican left, Ian Column, better supported by armour that we were unable to draw a bead on and neutralise, managed to maintain up relentless pressure, eventually shattering Gharak's platoon. Game two, a clear Republican victory, but at quite a cost. 

All in all a great scenario for the day. Taking the Nationalists, I expected a battering from all that armour and us to be able to do little to mitigate them. But I had Moroccan firepower, six command dice and a sprinkling of luck in my favour. Gharak's platoon suffered the worse, but I gather he enjoyed a day back at the historical gaming. 

There were three other fine looking tables taking advantage of a wet Sunday afternoon, a massive 14' AWI game using Carl's huge collection. This was still going on when we'd packed up and left but looked like a close game. 

A smaller game of Sharpe Practice, hosted by the esteemed Rich Clarke himself, using a work in progress second edition of the rules. 

And a fabulous WWII game using Ade's extensive collection. 

The Other Partizan and SCW CoC

I got a gaming double-header last Sunday, kicking off with a visit to The Other Partizan up at Newark. Nor a show I'd been to before, held (for the last time) at the gloomy and labyrinthine Kelham Hall.

Unusually, I was completely uninspired around the traders, resisting more Empress SCW on the grounds that I've plenty more to paint still.

There were some fine games on offer though, most impressive being 'Berne Baby Berne' by the Bodkins. Full of excellent touches like this camp scene

Staggeringly big Swiss pike blocks (three of them!)

A gorgeous Burgundian Army

Other games catching my eye were Simon Miller's sizeable 'To The Strongest!', a large 'L' table with two games on

An impressive AVBCW game showing an assault on a BuF-held town

Something WSS-y? Good windmill feature

And in one of the even gloomier rooms a nice looking Pike and Shotte skirmish game.

So what did I think of Partizan? Well it was a nice day out, but felt like an 'old school' wargames show, similar in feel to Triples at the Sheffield Octagon. While the grognards may grumble , I think its a good thing for the hobby that many shows have moved on to more modern venues with better amenities - not least some decent lighting! After all, what's the sense in all the effort to put on lovely looking games if people can barely see them? And the trader shaving to supply torches to their customers is a joke , frankly. The show didn't seem busy on the Sunday, so hopefully the more to a new venue will reinvigorate it.

After the drive home, I headed over to Wyvern for a game of Chain of Command Espana with Ian and Matt. For a three-player game, we had two under strength platoons attacking Ian's Civil Guard. The balance didn't quite end up being right and Ian was up against the odds, but it was a fun game nonetheless.

My Carabineros take up positing in an olive grove, preparing to rush across the open ground

Ian deployed a Machinegun team in a do I any position in the church tower. With Los across most of the board, this could have caused real problems. But the dice offered a fitting moment - with its first shot, Matt's T26's HE she'll scored a direct hit, with a triple-6. Which invoked a rule I hadn't come across in CoC: the building starts to collapse, and Ian's gunners had to rapidly evacuate and  redeployed. A somewhat less dominant position!
  

Definitely a moment for a 'boom' marker to be applied

The Republican advance continues, making best use of meagre cover.

Taking up firing positions in a fruit grove, the two sides got bogged down trading shots for limited effect on the big sections. Matt's T26 was a threat, but advanced dangerously close to get firing arcs, cue a bold, but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to bring it down with Molotov cocktails.

To break the deadlock, my troops led a desperate tear gas attack and assault against the fortified churchyard, but we ran out of time to bring all of the action to a close. While Matt and I's Republicans were steadily grinding Ian down, we hadn't achieved our objective of forcing the Civil Guard from the field: their heroic defence against massive odds took the game.

With that I headed home for a much-needed sleep!

Wvyern All Dayer - Chain of Command

July brings another all-dayer up at a Wyvern, and Ade was kind enough to bust out his massive 15mm WWII Normaspndy collection. We played the first day of Operation Epsom using Big Chain of Command - the first day of the assault on 26 June 1944 by the two platoons from the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division supported by Churchill tanks.

Connor, Gav and I took the three British platoons agains a well dug-in two SS platoons commanded by Seasoned CoC players Ian and Bob. Ade was kind enough to umpire.



The town of Raurey (?) somewhat worse for wear after the naval and artillery bombardment.

The end of the patrol phase - a respectable attempt to reach the hedge line. But not wuite'a out jump-off points were thrown back and the Germans were in deployment range of it.

The game had a foreboding start , with this as Ian's Command Dice roll - so much for out preliminary barrage!

British troops cautiously approach the hedge line. The SS pioneers had done good work and were well dug in. A merciless fire erupted from the defensive positions and the morning mist meant the British couldn't bring their firepower to bear. The advance section was quick,y beaten back.

As the mist rose, the armour finally make an appearance, having been held up at a minefield on the way from the beaches. 

Churchill crocodile does its work on the makeshift bunker, and the Germans wisely withdraw

Fwoosh!

In the face of all the British armour, the Germans melt away from the hedgeline and a general advance begins.

But with caution and wisely so. Two panzershreck ambushes fair to take out the hulking Churchills, and the teams are scattered by British reaction fire. 

Sporadic fire continues, and British morale is shaken. But they reach the minefields and a Sherman flail begins to clear a path.

But the surviving Germans strike with their Panzerfausts, starting the collapse of British morale.

A cagey game all in all, it felt like the British should have had the resources to smash through, but despite a reasonable tactical approach, the dug in and elite German platoons were just too tough a nut to crack. Also completely a game of two halves - the first dominated by Ian's above average rolling and Connor's impressive ability to roll kills for his own troops. But once the British armour rolled on, the Germans were reduced to hit and run attacks from the hedgeline while the Brits leapfrogged onwards to try to engage them. It felt like it went to the wire, but the loss of the Sherman and a lucky shot killing my platoon leader sent us packing. Well played by Bob and Ian and as Walsh, Ade out on an excellent, highly historical and challenging scenario. Cheers to all!

Also on the day, Dane and Chris had a great looking American War of Independence game in 10mm - I gather the British same out on top twice on the day.

Terrain-athon

It's been a pleasant summer over the past few weeks, and I've realised I haven't put brush to miniature for over a month. While my painting hole is a cooler room in the house, the paint still dries too quickly to suit me. 

Instead, I've hit the terrain. I had a therapeutic week building up 15mm 4Ground WWII buildings. They are really fine pieces, and ready for the tabletop, but still need the edges touching up and some details adding. 

I've also churned out a bunch of small pieces that I've picked up over the months, ready for a game of 15mm CoC at Wyvern last weekend. First up 12 entrenchments for small and medium FoW bases. Well priced and I appreciated that they are all different sculpts. Thanks to Mike Whitaker of troubleatthemill for the tip on these, sourced from Daemonscape on eBay for the princely sum of £4.99.

For scale, with apologies for the lighting

More defensive works - barbed wire at 2"x6" for Flames of War. Mdf bases from Warbases, toothpicks and some hobby barbed wire. 

Next up a small copse of trees. These were from a bag of cheap Noch railway modelling trees, which means they aren't that durable and the flock is starting to bald already. Don't think they'll last that long, but I've loads of better woodland scenics armatures to build up at some point.

Last up for the 15s, some Landmark high walls that were on discount at Timecast, giving me 6' of walls. 

A nifty sidestep to 28mms, I saw these nice cypress trees in the local (usually pretty mediocre) model railway shop. They were only £1.50 each too. Based for my 28mm terrain, they'll go nicely in Spain.  

Last up, harking back to some of the first terrain I ever bought, I finally, finally painted the rest of my 28mm roads and junctions. I never loved these: while keenly priced and well detailed, they are a bit too chunky for what I was after and needed a lot of work to tidy them up. The originals feature in one of my first ever blog posts - so these have been sat awaiting the brush for at least 4 years! Once painted, they  make a decent large rural roadway though. I took an opportunity to refresh the original ones, re-touching the rocks and flock to match my terrain from the last few years. 

Last Sunday I got in a good game of Chain of Command with Ian up at the club. I took a small but powerful US Para platoon while Ian defended a farmhouse with Panzergrenadiers.

With precious few support points, I settled for a .50 cal.

And immediately emplaced it on a dominating hilltop overlooking Alan's jump-off points. 

I'd be outnumbers and outgunned, so wanted to hit the PG's hard at the outset, but my first section was stalled facing two. We mad an error here and interpreted the walling as hard cover - soft would have made a more sensible game. The .50Cal was valued support, but didn't do the damage that I'd been hoping and a static grinding firefight ensued. 

My second section moved to encircle the farmhouse, but Ian dropped his third into the farm itself, where it would be difficult to shift. This section took a battering as they tried to work their way out of the line of fire. 

Eventually, the Para's brutal firepower and more consistent activations meant they could grind the Germans' morale down. A well timed assault by one of my sections, followed by a sub-optimally timed one by Ian (assaulting a section that just unpinned on the turn end...) closed the game with a narrow US victory. 

I really should play more Chain of Command - it's been a few months!