Show and Tell, 17 November: Austrian Line Infantry

More Napoleonics to add to the collection.  These are from the 'back catalogue', the drawers full of unpainted units that I'm determined to get to over time.  The figures are Essex original Austrian (Hungarian) line infantry, with the standard cast in metal.  I hope to get the second battalion done before Xmas.  We shall see...

Vasco de Gama - 31 October 2013

Halloween games for a reduced cast at Adrian's.  With 4 players we went for the clever Vasco de Gama.  Very clever mechanisms result in challenging choices but never complete dead ends.  What looked like some early hardships ultimately allowed Kieron to develop a commanding lead which he managed to retain, with the rest of us bunching up a full 10 points behind.  Final scores Kieron 82; Deej 72; Adrian 70; Orhan 69.

Hacienda & Maori - 23 October 2013

We played the rather clever Hacienda again this evening.  Quite close in the final scoring but Orhan's huge stable of horses and unhindered growth on one side of the board won him the game.  After Andy left, the remaining four played a game of Maori (in fact both previous times we've played Hacienda, we have also finished with this).  It's rather neat and we introduced a special rule where the 16 exploration tiles are discarded and drawn again if all players pass on the opportunity to pick up a tile, otherwise the amount of useless tiles starts to make the game drag.  The new rule worked a treat and we had an extremely close game which Kieron managed to win.

Hacienda: Orhan 123, James 110, Kieron 100, David 99 and Andy 95


Maori: Kieron 37, James 36, David 35, Orhan 27

Peloponnes & Medici - 9 October 2013

Almost a full house tonight, so an opportunity to play a couple of our favourite six player games - Peloponnes and Medici.

We had two early catastrophes which saw James lose his two buildings in about the third round, leaving him with nothing but a couple of sea tiles, but managed to recover somewhat later on.  Andy also lost a couple of buildings during the game when he was short of the building materials required when his mortgages were cashed in.  Kieron successfully (and perhaps a first for anyone?) managed to build in every round but fell foul of the final feeding where all but one of his population were wiped out.  Orhan and David both played perfectly balanced games and achieved good scores, but with lots of prestige tiles and a last round build of tile that meant his population were worth 4x rather than 3x, Stuart took a clear first place.  Final scores (prestige/population) were: Stuart 38/40, David 33/33, Orhan 24/24, James 20/21, Andy 17/18 and Kieron 32/3.

We then played a quick (60 minutes) game of Medici - another very clever Knizia creation.  The scores were wide-ranging this time, with Kieron not having one of his better evenings, ending up with slightly fewer points than the initial position.  Final scores: James 133, David 97, Orhan 79, Andy 76, Stuart 43, Kieron 22.

Operation Comet - 5 October 2013

Just over three years since Jonathan and James wargamed the Arnhem battle over two days (see blog entry for write-up, photos and video), Jonathan had put together another impressive table of figures, vehicles, buildings and scenery for us to play Operation Comet.

Prior to Operation Market Garden, Montgomery had suggested Operation Comet, a limited airborne coup de main operation that was to be launched on 2 September 1944.  Comet envisioned using the 1st Airborne Division, along with the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, to secure several bridges over the River Rhine to aid the Allied advance into the North German Plain.  The Divisional Headquarters for the 1st Airborne Division, with the 1st Airlanding Brigade and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were to land at Nijmegen, 1st Parachute Brigade was to land at Arnhem, and 4th Parachute Brigade was to land at Grave.  However several days of poor weather and Montgomery's concerns over increasing levels of German resistance caused him to postpone the operation and then cancel it on 10 September.

So to find out what would have happened, Jonathan and James attacked Nijmegen, which was being defended by Kieron and Orhan.

The Brits had to capture the bridge at Grave and the road bridge at Nijmegen (on right) and then attempt to control the road in between to enable ground troops to drive eastwards.  They had two main landing zones and a drop zone, but also dropped a glider each right next to the bridge objectives.

Jonathan's glider troops got shot up by the 88, which was then unsuccessfully close assaulted by those left.  The remaining soldier found refuge and kept his head down - but kept a British presence near the bridge.

James' first wave of parachutists landed but got decimated by Orhan's troops (only a training battalion but sadly still very capable of rolling sixes most of the time).

Fortunately, there were two more waves but Orhan's troops ensured that British progress was very slow.  But the glider landing near the Grave bridge was successful, and once the 88 and 20mm pieces were neutralized, the bridge was taken.

Soon, German reinforcements were arriving from the Fatherland, firstly half-tracks which made a bliztkreig attack by driving right up to British infantry and then engaging in close assaults.

This was followed by a Panzer IV, and the British defensive line south of Nijmegen started to get worn down.

Kieron's German reinforcements had less effect - they arrived into a farmhouse complex, and were rapidly hit by Jonathan's mortars and pressed into a defensive position.  Jonathan's troops had dug in around the village of Beek and along the hedgerows - although they themselves were thinned out by German off-table artillery.

The German reinforcements started to push the British defensive line apart.

We didn't play very quickly and got to turn 6 of the 8 turns in Day 1 (so Day 2's reinforcements didn't even get a look in...).

One of the British Jeeps made a last dash towards the Nijmegen road bridge, getting as far as the cross-roads in the centre of town.

The battle had swung back and forward all day.  There wasn't a clear victory.  The Brits had taken the Grave bridge and many of the buildings in the town, but the Germans still occupied the factory and killed many of the paras occupying buildings in the final turn.  There were still a lot of paras on the edge of Nijmegen but could they take the final bridge and town by nightfall?

The Germans were hanging on in Nijmegen and their reinforcements from Germany had changed the position south of the town significantly.  But tomorrow morning would bring British armour and reinforcements from the West.  Would they save the day or would the Germans ensure this was a bridge too far?

Here's a short video showing the table at the end of the game.

Tikal II - 25 September 2013

Third play of Tikal II - the pyramid exploration game with canoes going around the river.  Some nice mechanisms and good production values makes for a good game.  Final scores David 146, Stuart 133, James 132 and Andy 111.

Show and Tell, 22 September: Austrian Jaegers

This last month I've supplemented my Austrians with a couple of battalions of formed Jaegers (and an alternate skirmisher stand).  These Tyrolean skirmishers also could form up en masse.  They were well trained: at Leipzig "The 5th Jager Battalion formed square at a run (!), delivered a volley, and waited its fate with bayonets at the ready." (Nafziger - "Napoleon at Leipzig" p 229).  The uniform was pike grey with green facings, which earned them the nickname 'grey devils' amongst the French.