The Rodes Goes Ever On - Wars of Such Magnitude AAR

Hey, check it out; I played a game!

Kelly recently hosted a game at his home for the Army of Central Maryland group. Rocky was having us refight Chancellorsville using his rules, "Wars of Such Magnitude".

Scott and I played as the Union, while Kelly was commanding the Confederates. 

Both sides were given some pre-game deployment options. I had II and IV Corps (Couch and Meade) on the Union right flank, with III, XI, and XII Corps (Sickles, Howard and Slocum) on the left flank. The plan was that the left would hold its positions, as their brigades were less reliable. Couch and Meade, with larger, steadier brigades, would be the attackers. Scott took command on the left, while I commanded the right.

Kelly opted to follow Lee's plan for the day, splitting his forces between Lee (attacking the Union left) and Jackson (attacking the Union right).

Seemingly out of nowhere I had a number of Confederate divisions attacking Couch's flank, which was out in the open. Luckily Meade managed to get his divisions moving towards the steam. Couch couldn't seem to get off his ottoman, so most of his brigades sat still. 

Seeing that the terrain had split Lee's approaching troops, Scott decided that the best defense was a good artillery barrage. He quickly reorganized his guns into better firing positions.

Kelly did realize that he had been moving Rodes' divisions a little too quickly, and so moved them back down the road they were approaching from. A good sport, and what likely saved the Union's right flank; I don't think I could have handled that concentration of Confederate brigades.

Scott's troops continued to hammer the approaching rebels. You can see a couple divisions moving to block Kelly's troops moving toward the gap in the Union line. 

Here's an overhead shot of the game around midway through. You can see the gap between the two Union forces that Scott is working to fill. If Kelly's troops managed to break through, that would be free to cause havoc in the rear of the Union lines. 

Over on the Union right, Couch's troops managed to finally get moving, aiming to push the Confederates from the hills in front of their position. 

Meade received an order to swing his divisions along the intersection towards the Orange Turnpike, aiming to push back A.P. Hill's troops. 

Scott's "unreliable" continued to do remarkably well, going so far as to begin rolling up Lee's own flank!

In the last few turns, both sides were relatively battered. Meade desperately tried to get his brigades to stop moving forward as Hill continued falling back in good order. The fighting eventually petered out with both sides unwilling to advance into the others' lines. 

Over on the side side, it was looking fairly grim for Lee and his troops. Scott's forces continued their wrap-around while fresh troops moved up the road.

We called the game there as a decent Union victory.

After-game discussion touched on how to produced a more historical result. Since Scott and I were free of Hooker's indecisiveness and could see how Kelly's troops were approaching, we were able to counter and fight off what had been Lee's masterstroke tactical plan. 

Blinds may be an option, forcing the Union players to react to divisions that don't actually show up. For example, had Kelly deployed his entire force together while I thought I was attacking Jackson's historical flanking maneuver, only to end up punching at shadows, then Scott's troops would have been sorely outnumber while I desperately counter-marched to his aid. 

Regardless, I enjoyed trying out Rocky's rule and I look forward to trying them again. 

Painting Update - Napoleonics, WWII, Starship Troopers

 I've not had a lot of time to play games recently, but I have been painting.

This is a second battalion of the 10th Legere, post stripping and repainting

I copied Storm of Steel's patrol markers for O Group, using 2" bases with miniatures and bases colored to match the company they belong two. I think they look very nice compared to just having paper markers.

I also completed the mortar base for the French battalion. While not necessary, it's a good reminder for when your battalion mortars run out of ammo.

Here's a trio of French HMG bases, which are useful to either attach to platoons or use independently. And some 60mm mortars, which can be attached to French company commanders. 

And a pair of 75mm field guns, which act as artillery barrage markers. 

I've also started a new project (gasp!). Little Wars TV released a secret set of rules for gaming in the Starship Troopers movie setting. They're meant for solo or co-op campaign play as you take a platoon of Mobile Infantry through a series of missions, trying to keep your platoon commander alive through their deployment. 

The above is a standard Mobile Infantry platoon of one command team and seven infantry teams. In the back row are a media team that can be added as a side objective while playing, and support options; a recon team, a heavy weapons team, and a Marauder power armor team (a nod to the original Starship Troopers Mobile Infantry).

I've got a second platoon to finish as well as plenty of bugs, so expect more Starship Troopers in future posts. 

Painting Update - Napoleonics, WWII

 I'm still busy painting. Here's what I've recently finished.

The main push of my Napoleonics project is finishing the French infantry. Here's the first battalion of the 6th Legere.

And this is where I would have posted the second battalion for the 10th Legere, if the varnish hadn't frosted for no damn reason. Now I have to strip the minis and repaint. At least I managed to save the fanion.

I also decided to finally put together a couple battalions and supports for O Group. I've been missing the game since moving away from New Jersey last year.

I decided to paint up French and German battalions for the Invasion of France, as I believe it's underrepresented on the tabletop and wasn't as much of a crushing victory as 'mainstream' history would have you believe. The above is a French Company, made up of Command Decision.

After a lot of hemming and hawing between 3mm, 6mm, 10mm, and 15mm, I just decided to go with 15mm miniatures for the relative ease of access and quick painting (although some French vehicles are incredibly difficult to find decent versions of). It's also been around a decade since I first started in the hobby with Flames of War, and there's a certain nostalgia of working on 15mm WWII again.

I decided to follow Storm of Steel's battalion building guide, as I like how little table space the platoon sections take up for the infantry companies. Plus, battalions are dead easy to paint up in this scheme, with 29 models per company. That's only a few more models than a single battalion in General d'Armee.

The Gorokhov Breakthrough - Rapid Fire Reloaded AAR

This past weekend I took part in Kelly's kickoff game for a campaign using Rapid Fire Reloaded.

Set in a semi-historical 1944/45 Eastern Front, Kelly has a series of games lined up with players taking command of Soviet and Germans forces.

The first game was based on the "Take the High Ground" scenario from One Hour Wargames.

The Soviets started with two tank battalions and a motorized rifle battalion on the attack.

The Germans began with an infantry battalion dug in on reverse slope of the hill.

Both sides aimed to control the hill by the end of the game, which would run for 15 turns.

The Soviet rushed forward, looking to push their T-34s and T-34/85 around the hill and hit the dug-in infantry. 

The attackers also had three turns of artillery barrages, but these failed to hit any Germans; the first two barrages targeted empty locations, and the last missed.

German reinforcements quickly arrived; Panthers, Panzer IVs, StuGs, and a mechanized infantry battalion.

The shorter travel distance for the Germans immediately saw Soviet losses as the Panther platoons reached cover and opened fire.

Hoping the Germans tanks were two preoccupied with their Soviet counterparts, the Soviet infantry prepared to rush over the top of the hill and engage the dug-in Germans.

One lucky Soviet infantry company held the flank in the case of a German counterattack.

Unfortunately, the Soviet infantry's attack failed and most of the infantry platoons were wiped out. The survivors retreated back down the hill, out of line of sight. 

Pressing their advantage, the German Panthers began advancing towards the remaining Soviet tanks. Soviet infantry reinforcements were added to the encampment on the hill. 

The Soviets did receive a few more reinforcements (additional T-34/85s and T-70s) which did an admirable job of attacking the weaker German flank and destroying several tank platoons.

However, this couldn't put a dent in the German advantage. While neither side was able to establish an uncontested claim on the hill at game's end, the Germans had caused enough damage to be able to declare a victory. 

Painting Update - Quar, Napoleonics

 I've been away from the hobby for a bit, but I'm back to painting! Here's what I finished.

I decided to work on the Crusader company first for my Quar 15mm project; Here's the Company Command Squad. They're wonderfully characterful models, especially the pistol-wielding Caerten and the "musician" carrying a gramophone.

One of the models in the Command Squad is a Pykpyk handler (pykpyks being small furry squirrel-like mammals that the quar use to relay messages to squads). The 15mm rules use these animals as a means to issue orders.

Rounding out the basic Crusader company is a weapon squad, which adds both anti-infantry and anti-tractor firepower via H-11a LMGs and Splagen torpedoes (the Quar version of a rocket-propelled grenade). 

I also, finally, picked the Napoleonics project back up, finishing a couple batteries of foot artillery.