WWI Eastern Front - Between Kuropatniki and Taurow, Galicia 1917

Today, Lisa and I playtested another of her scenarios featuring Locker-Lampson's armoured cars on the eastern front in 1917.  In this one, the Austro-Hungarian troops (again proxied by my WWI Germans) must cross the table (bottom to top in the image below) as Locker-Lampson's cars try to stop them.

KuK troops - officer, three teams of 10 riflemen and a 2-man flamethrower team.

The armoured cars.  Ford Model T armoured car, which can only fire to the rear, plus the Rolls Royce and the Lanchester, all three armed with machine guns.

Lanchester AC advances on the table.

KuK move up, working up the nerve to cross the open ground.

KuK take advantage of the cover provided by the woods.

Infantry unnerved by the approaching cars open fire, and disable the Ford.

The Lanchester focussed its fire on the flamethrower team.  The flamerthrower was disabled before they had a chance to fire, so unfortunately we didn't get to see how devastating it could have been!

The infantry laid down fire on the Lanchester, imposing shock and forcing it to fall back.  They then attempted to dash across the open ground, thinking that the car was too suppressed to act.  Turns out they were wrong!  The crew made all their saves, and opened fire on the infantry when they were in the open.

Things went a bit better on the other side of the table had more success.  Heavy rifle fire managed to disable the Roller.

The Lanchester saw that the first group of infantry were making a break for the table edge.  It rushed forward to fire on them, but its fire was not enough, and the KuK got their first team off the table.

The last squad of infantry managed to disable the Lanchester.

Final result was that two teams of infantry plus the officer cleared the table in the time available, for three victory points.  The last rifle team would also have cleared the table as well, but not within the time limit.  The RNAS only eliminated one team, so final points count was 3:1 in favour of the KuK.  The scenario was tense, a near-run thing, and most importantly, fun!  We have two more scenarios yet to play, so there will be more reports before too long.

Failed loot transfer in Afghanistan

 

In place of our usual Tuesday night Traveller adventure, Arthur came up with some Fistful of Lead action in modern (or near modern) Afghanistan.  The scenario was slightly modified from the 'Hive of Scum and Villainy' scenario from Galactic Heroes.  In this version, a group of insurgents want to deliver some captured weapons to their colleagues, but word of the transfer has leaked, and rival Afghan National Police (ANP) and Afghan National Border Police (ANBP) are racing to intercept the insurgents.  The twist is that the ANP and ANBP are not on good terms with each other.

Each 4-man team starts on a different table edge.  One group of insurgents are escorting a mule-drawn cart that moves at a walking pace.  The ANP and ANBP start on opposite sides.

ANP team move to intercept.  Note that REAL ANP would never have access to anything as fancy as a Range Rover - but they might have had a brand new Ford Ranger pickup!

ANBP stepping out from their HESCO sangar.

The insurgent team with the contraband on the mule cart.

Insurgent group with jingle truck to remove the contraband once it arrives.

Insurgents and ANP maneuver around buildings, trying to get a superior position.

Sneaky sneaky!

First of the ANP is taken out.

But then the ANP sergeant dropped a grenade that injured two insurgents, including their leader.

Meanwhile the other two ANP engage the approaching smuggler insurgents.

The ANBP take advantage of the distractions on the far side of the table to quietly advance into better position.

ANBP used a combination of tactics, marksmanship and an uncanny ability to roll 10s to take out flanking insurgents.

The smuggler insurgents and ANP battled to a standstill but the mule cart kept up its advance.

One of the special rules for this scenario was that any time a Joker was played, a sandstorm would blow in, limiting vision to 12" and cutting all ranges to half usual.  This happened relatively early in the game.  There was a moment when it appeared that the sandstorm was about to lift, but then it rushed back in.  This meant my sniper wasn't able to control the table as he originally hoped, and then he was taken out by the ANBP and their uncanny ability to roll a 10.

Meanwhile the ANBP continued their advance, seizing control of the jingle truck.

Realising the truck is no longer available, the mule cart driver makes a break for the table edge!


Vicious fighting between the ANP sergeant and the insurgents left everyone wounded but the sergeant was finally defeated.

The remaining insurgents battle the ANBP for control of the mule cart, but the ANBP triumph and take control of the weapon shipment!

The end!  ANBP gain control of the mule cart with the contraband.

Jhamjar Lancers

 I've had these Brigade Games Indian Lancers in my collection for nearly 20 years, so this post is a bit of a cheat as they aren't actually new, but they've been retouched.  The main problem I've had is figuring out the lances.  I've previously used copper wire and later styrene rod.  Neither of these stood up to regular use - the copper wire bent, and the styrene rod just snapped.  So as I am hoping to start up my Jhamjar campaign, I re-armed them with metal wire spears from North Star.  I clipped off the sharp points to save myself and my gaming mates from injury, though!

First up, here is the new wire spear lance on the right, and the old styrene rod lance on the left.  I decided not to paint on the simulated bamboo segmentation on the new lances that I did on the left.

Here is the full contingent of 22, including an officer in sun helmet and three Daffadars (sergeants).

A close up of the three Daffadars.

Jhamjar Insurgents

I've been very much enjoying the Star Wars series Andor, as it traces the journey of Cassian Andor from petty criminal to completely committed rebel against the Galactic Empire.  Naturally, I have been drawn to starting a series of games based on a rebellion against the empire, but rather than dive into the Star Wars universe, I will resume my long-lapsed plans for my Jhamjar campaign. 

I will use the Too Fat Lardies' Dawns and Departures to build the campaign.  I haven't decided which rules for fighting the actual battles that will be set up, but am looking at Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles (and possibly standard FFoL for skirmishes), Bolt Action, and The Men Who Would Be Kings.  Who knows, with the second edition of Chain of Command coming out soon, I might add CoC2 into the mix.  Hanging on in the background there will still be GDW's Soldiers' Companion and the venerable Sword and the Flame.  Most likely I'll plan games with each of these rules.

I already have established armies for both the Djelli of Jhamjar and for the British Raj.  However armies are never complete!  In addition to his uniformed army, the common people of Jhamjar may get involved in the fight.  Inspired by Indian activists like the famous revolutionary M.N.Roy, groups of insurgents may appear to ambush the Imperial forces.

These figures are from Pulp Figures.  I did careful research on their clothing (aka I rewatched RRR) and decided to add a bit more colour, plus use of red highlights with turbans, belts and sashes to represent their revolutionary inspiration.  The lady on the end is from Eureka Miniatures.

More Eastern Front WWI - The Road to Monasterzyska

Lisa stopped by this afternoon for a playtest of the next scenario in the adventures of the RNAS armoured car squadron on the eastern front in WWI.  In this scenario, the Russian army is in retreat, and the armoured cars are assisting Russian infantry and Finland Dragoons in escorting ambulances on the road to the town of Monasterzyska in Galicia (now part of Western Ukraine, but in 1917 this was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).  As usual, my WWI Germans proxy in for the Austro-Hungarian KuK forces.

We rolled for leader traits before starting the game.  Amusingly, we ended up with negative or neutral traits for almost every unit.  Unfortunately for Arthur, the veteran Finland Dragoons ended up being led by a shirker, so these guys were prevented from charging anyone who hadn't already attacked them!  One of the KuK infantry units had the same trait, so there was a built-in resistance to action right from the very start.

Here is the table.  The Russian ambulances enter on the left and must exit by one of the two roads on the right.  The telegraph poles have no effect on the game, and are likely anachronistic for this part of the old A-H empire.

KuK infantry move up to cover the fork in the road.

Russians and RNAS move on to the table.

Finland Dragoons threaten the KuK infantry.

but then they decide to screen the ambulances from the other side of the road (as their leader unconvincingly tries to explain why he isn't attacking the enemy).  Meanwhile, their more enthusiastic infantry tovarischi engage in a firefight, inflicting shock as noted by the puff of smoke.

The ambulances move forward screened by the infantry and dragoons.  The tan truck is a proxy for the second ambulance.

The Austro-Hungarian artillery don't recognise the proxy ambulance and destroy it!  Meanwhile the KuK infantry in the crater are suppressed by the Russians and the armoured cars.

The field gun turns its deadly power on the RNAS Lanchester, destroying it.  The Rolls Royce uses the destroyed ambulance as cover.

The field gun plays an ace, a wild card, as a 6 which allows a free reload, and it destroys the Roller!

The game ended up a draw.  One of the two ambulances escaped.  The Anglo-Russian force lost both armoured cars, one of the ambulances and the dragoons but were able to destroy two of the KuK infantry teams and the A-H officer.  We'll be playtesting another of the scenarios next week.

Fistful of Lead Bigger Battles on the Eastern Front

Last night, Lisa invited Arthur and me to try another game in her WWI Eastern Front scenarios featuing Lt Cdr Locker-Lampson and the RNAS armoured section during the Kerensky Offensive.  Write up for game one is here. 

This scenario featured a scramble between Locker-Lampson's armoured cars, two sotnias of Cossacks and a zug of königlich und kaiserlich Austro-Hungarian infantry to control the village of Kozova in Galicia in what is now Ukraine, but was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the start of WWI.  In this scenario, the three forces enter the village from different sides and seek to control the town.  Points were given for each enemy unit wiped out.  In the historic battle, the Cossacks turned on the local Jewish population.  Lisa simulated this that when the ammo dump exploded, Cossack units were required to attack the nearest group of civilians unless the RNAS were within 8" to stop them.

Here is an overview of Kozova.  It was fun to have a chance to get the UmBum buildings and the Bolsheviks and Russian civilians onto the table!  

Bolshevik agitators march past a collection of Orthodox and Roman Catholic clergy.

Two sotnias of Cossack cavalry move onto the table.

Russian casualties being escorted to the train station for evacuation.

Cossacks and RNAS move into Kozova.

And the KuK troops (proxied by Germans in this case) enter at the other end of the village.

Arthur's veteran Cossacks attack and destroy a squad of KuK troops.

KuK infantry face down Cossacks advancing along the railway.

KuK MG manages to take out one of the RNAS armoured cars.

Finally on turn 7, the ammo dump explodes!  We tested each round - this was the trigger for the Cossacks to turn on the local civilians.

As so they did, wiping out the Bolshevik agitators first!

In the end, each side took significant casualties, each force lost two full units, but the Russian/RNAS side were penalised for the attack on the civilians.  As a result, the KuK force squeaked out a win by one point.  Thanks, Lisa, for inviting us to try out this scenario, and we are looking forward to seeing the further adventures of the RNAS armoured cars on the eastern front!