Late war Evercy-Caen Road Hill 112.

The D-Day landing went well, now the 4th Special Service Brigade and XXX Armoured Corp are under orders from Monty to take out Hill 112 which is still hampering the reinforcement landings on the Beachhead.
41, and 43 RM commando led by Lord Lovat himself formed the Infantry Spearhead, with support from RM Armoured Division in the form of 2 platoons of Sherman III's and Firefly's and Royal Artillery Support from the RHA. Almost forgetting the Were too busy drinking Tea RAF Support.
Accompanied by a Division of Armour from the Infamous 7th Armoured Desert Rats.









Standing in the way of the British drive for Hill 112 was rumoured to be Tiger Ace Wittmann with 102nd SS Panzer Division fielding 8 Tiger 1E and a Platoon of Panzer IV's supported by a Division of Panzergranadiers there own supporting act of 2 Tiger 1E, Stugs and 8.8 AA Batteries.






Mission Was No retreat.

Germans Defending. 5000 points

British Attacking. 5000 points


Turn 1 saw the British Infantry Advance through the Cornfields. Calling in the RAF to bomb the 88 AA Battery. This turn they decided to turn up but the barn Door target was not big enough for them to hit.



Sherman Firefly scored some hits on the most forward Tiger 1E causing the German cowards to Bail out.

The Desert Rats Recce Platoon decided to try an outflanking manouveur causing a little concern on the German Left.


No reserves arrived.
The German Crew decided to return to the behemoth Tiger 1E and returned fire on the Sherman Platoons causing Zero casualties, the Panzer IV's moved up to offer some support to the 2 Lone Tigers sitting on the German Right.

The German Artillery Spotter decided to drop a barrage on the most Forward Sherman Platoon, causing the first Casualty in the form of the 2i/c for the canadian supporting Infantry.



Turn 2.

Saw the British Commandos Dig in on the Left to give LOS for the Sherman Firefly's. The most advanced Sherman Platoons moved forward with the 2 Fireflys on the edges of the Cornfields, yet again taking more pot shots at the Tiger 1E's in the Font Line yet again scoring a couple of hits but no damage done.

7h Armoured Desert rats decided to open up with their Fireflys on the Tigers on teh German right scoring a hit on both causing both tanks to Bail.

RAF failed to show the Tea was still brewing.
Royal Artillery decided to target the centre of the road ranging in on the Dug in Infantry which they somehow managed to survive.

No reserves arrived.
German crew got back into the Tigers and took revenge on the narest Sherman Platoon suffering 2 casualties. One Tiger 1E platoon revealed itself from Ambush taking on the Honey Stuart Recce platoon casuing a measly one casualty on a light tank from an 88 barrel !!!!

Turn 3
RAF Strike call arrived with a full flight targeting the 8.8 AA Guns. Amazingly they managed to destroy one after dodging the AA fire.

All British Armour advanced, British Infantry advanced. The Sherman platoon passed morale checks and took revenge on the Panzer IV's taking out the whole platoon in one fell swoop.

Motorised Infantry on the British right advanced and unloaded its troops ready for an assault.
Canadian Infantry assaulted the Panzer grenadiers dug into the trenches causing them to flee.

German reserves showed up in the form of 2 more Tiger 1E platoons.
Honey Stuart recce platoon was no more thanks to some Tiger 1E precision firing.
The remaining Tiger 1E took revenge on the Sherman firefly.

STUKA Strike called on the 25pounder battery, the RAF failed to Intercept and all AA guns failed to hit the STUKA, one transport tractor destroyed.

The reserves advanced up the centre of the board to offer fire support to the threatened objective.
Artillery called down on a Firefly causing 2 Cromwells either side to go BOOM but the remaining firefly remained unscathed with its crew cowering under the hull for cover.

Turn 4
British forces raced up the road to try and force the German occupying force from the Objective.
A panzer Grenadier platoon was wiped out during this assault from a combination of Recce carrier fire and assault from the Motorised Infantry. On teh Right the canadians attempted to assault the Panzergrenadiers but ended up pinned from defensive fire.

A double template of Artillery was brought down on the Massed Tiger 1E's on the Road causing 4 to Bail. RAF flight was intercepted and shot down by the STUKA!!!!

Tiger crew remounted and plastered the cromwells milling on the road.

Time had run out and a draw was called.

German Losses
2 Platoons
British Losses
3 Platoon

The scenario ended in a draw.
Britsh VP's - 3
German VP's - 4

Flames Of War Late War Camapign Setting....

Starting on the 10th November a Late War Campaign will begin for the battle of a strategic point of the Normandy Invasion........

The plan is to recreate the actions seen at Hill 112 along the Everecy-Caen Road where a high vantage point was held by the Germans for Artillery support.

The first weeks mission will be No Retreat.

Defending - Axis
Attacking - Allies

Battle report with pictures to Follow.

Warmachine

Tournament Play.
Having played several games of WM at the RGMB club i decided to jump in at the deep end and enter myself into the WPS Warmachine tournament. This also happened to be my first taste of Competition gaming and an eye opener it was.
The list i took with me and consistantly played was the following:-
Major Victoria Haley (oh why did i use the epic variant)
Thorn
Black 13thStone
Gun Mage Unit with UA
Aiyana and Holt
Hunters X 2
Ironclad
Precursor Knights with UA
Squire
Well the first game saw me facing off against a player from Portsmouth using menoth and he was using the Caster which makes your battlegroup fall over in his control area. Game Over first Loss.
Second game was against Trolls, damn i hate these buggers with the stonebearer, champions and tough rolls. ARRRRRGGGGG the dice also happened to be against me whatever i needed this game.
Third Game was against a Dicenot player from Altrincham and faced off against the menoth again. can anything kill these buggers - Not a hope in hell - another Loss.
fourth Game - Against Ritchie Padgett(who was extremely hungover) using Legion - One of the nicest blokes to play against and was yet again an almost game (damn those dice) and was much closer than the outcome would suggest.
game 5 against Circle and at last a Draw. This game basically ran out of time and was grinding to a war of attrition where Victory conditions were on equal parts.

My Second taste of competition play was in altrincham at the Gamers Crypt being the sole representive of RGMB and coming a respectable 12th.(if it was on VP's only i would have ended the day in 3rd place)
This was a one day event with 3 X 750 point games.
The first game was Mosh Pit and i faced off against a Cryx force.
My opponent from memory was using the following list:
Witches Coven
Bone jack x 3 (arc nodes)
Death Jack(i thnk thats right)
Pistol Wraiths
Black banes raiders
Bile Thralls.
I used
Capt Victoria Haley
Thorn
Iron Clad
Hunter x 2
Black 13th
Sword Knights
Aiyana & Holt
Squire
Gun Mage Unit with UA

I lost Haley early on Turn 3 but i already had control of the Mosh Pit by this Point, All of his ARC nodes were out of commision by Turn 2 and then the Black 13th hammered the Witches Coven in Turn 4 - game over and a win. Max VP's achieved.

Game 2 was v's Khador Epic Irusk List with an Infantry Spam list.
Bloody hell this was a hard battle mainly due to the fact he had so much on the table and it was a control scenario, I was overwhelmed with infantry and lost on the control sections in turn 5 due to the fact i could not get into the section due to the weight of Infantry but still a loss is a loss.

Game 3 - V's a circle list with Baldur, constructs and some unknown infantry units.
I managed an Early caster kill and went for the all out max on VP's forgetting that the game was objective based. the game ended with 19VP's - 5 VP's but still managed to lose this game. bloody blinkered gaming.

Overall was an enjoyable day and at least the Dice Gods did not abandon me (especially after buying pink dice to counter the curse of the previous tournament)

Now onto the next Competition I can attend whenever that maybe.....

Upcoming clear out of old Miniatures.

On return from the North Sea I shall be having a clear out of no longer used/needed Miniatures. These will probably end up on eBay and will consist of the following armies/games:-

Necromunda: Van Sarr Gang
Warhammer: Ogre Kingdoms Army sold off in Unit sizes totalling approx 4000points.
Eldar: Selected Units that I will never use. Probably totaling about 1-1500 points worth.

Flames Of War

At the present time this is probably one of my favoured playing systems, i do not know why as i have failed to win a single battle to date with my British Commando Force with RAF and Royal Artillery Support in a typical 1500 point game.
I have suffered 2 complete wipe outs, where i could not decide on tactics and obviously ended up chosing wrongly.
The 3 other games of FOW have been much closer and Tactical mistakes through choosing the wrong targets towards the end of the game had been made.
Of course using a small but very effective force made up of British Commandos is good once into assault range. It is getting into the habit of using cover to get them into position to use this excellent ability, this is where I appear to be falling down. in future games i need to be more aware of cover available and use it accordingly.

More to follow....

Warhammer Historical: ECW

Along with a few other members of RGMB, historical wargaming is coming to the fore. The next Installment is an English Civil War Army where I have chosen Scottish Covenanters. The Army is complete and awaits the painint table where the Infantry Units of Pike and Shotte have been sprayed and base coated.
They now await my return to home to continue with the construction of what will be yet another Army.

For a report on the clubs first foray into the English Civil War era follow the Link.
http://rgmb-stonebridge.blogspot.com/search/label/English%20Civil%20War

Warmachine

Ah the love of Warmachine, I purchased the Cygnaran figures before i even looked at any rule books and then went along to the RGMB club after many a year absent from Tabletop wargaming.
My First foray into the IK kingdom of warmachine was V's a Menoth force and i was handed a quick beating. After a few weeks of persevering with the Cygnarian force i managed a couple of wins my Regular force for Mk1 Warmachine is well, pretty consistant, and threats of being jack-socked are often muttered.
The list often comprises the much hated:
Capt Victoria Haley
Black 13th
Aiyana and Holt
Squire.
As to the force composition for Mk 2 i have not even bothered to look at, and time will see if I have to change my cygnarian composition and play style (not that i have one)

Above you can see my attempts at painting the Black 13th with a Defender (which often falls apart) whilst onboard a ship at Sea in India.