Category Archives: Battle Report

American Civil War “the Last Waltz”

Posted on by
Reply

Remember double clicking your mouse button on any picture will give you a bigger version of the picture. Clicking the back button or arrow on your browser will return you to the post.

I haven’t done a battle report in ages, frankly for a couple of reasons, they are a lot of work and unless you were there can be a bit boring. I’m putting this one up because the occasion was a special one, a gathering of the “clan” so to speak to “honor” one of our long-time gamers and a gentleman of the first order Steve Gausche!

Joe N and Steve G back when we played WWII 20mm at the “Dogs of War” clubhouse in Burbank, California. Great times! Circa 1998?

Steve has been around the Southern California historical gaming scene for as long as I have or longer, from the early 1980’s, so 40+ years! I met Steve at the last Grenadier in Burbank California and discovering that not only did we have a love of playing with toy soldiers and history we both worked in the movie business and had the same job on different “sets”!  This led to a friendship and work relationship of over thirty years! We worked on many of the TV shows and Movies familiar to you all, Startrek, Profiler, Charmed, Magnum PI, Arliss, and more for long hours made bearable by talking history, miniatures, games and even doing a little painting on set waiting for makeup, hair, or special effects to do their thing.

Steve Gausche life long gaming pal! We had just re-based his ACW troops on magnets! We did this at a time when most others still hauls their mini’s around in old pizza boxes! Circa 1992!

These days Steve’s gaming has become limited because of health issues, yes none of us will last forever. I resolved to give Steve something to remember, a showing of the love and respect he had earned over the years in our gaming community. Steve and I had been talking and lamenting the fact that we hadn’t been able to game much over the last year with Covid, and other commitments and I said “well let’s do something now, no more waiting” when I asked him what he would like to do it was “American Civil War” his favorite period.

The shear number of troops on the table made for a great looking game!

Really at first it was just going to be me, Steve, and a couple of others on a Friday night at my place, nothing to complicated or special, however I thought I might just send out an email blast to others who might want to join. I figured that since I live up north of Los Angeles and it was a Friday evening game the traffic and logistics would have few people joining us, boy was I wrong! I ended up with an outpouring of support that touched me and made the night very special for Steve! Over a dozen gamer’s committed to coming up with many more sending messages of love and support for Steve! Friends in other states wishing they could be there, some of the players drove 4+ hours, all through the LA traffic, some even taking the day off to get there early for dinner!

Truly a gathering of the “Old Guard”

Thanks to all who attended and to my lovely wife who gave us a great after dinner spread of munchies! On to the game!

A good game always starts with good preparation. Terrain laid out, troops assembled, and rules, reference sheets, and all needed gaming aides at the ready!

With large groups, impromptu games, and limited time, fairly balanced forces and a meeting engagement is often a better choice than a historical battle. We went with a Corps per side, each player having command of a division and its artillery batteries. Mike Estey and I umpired as many had not played the Fire and Fury rules before, I helped on one end of the battle and Mike the players on the other end.

A little side note; ALL the figures on the table are Steve’s and all painted by him, they are beautiful as well! All the terrain was built, painted, and provided by me and it’s OK I think….

Thanks to Mike for spending much of his time helping to explain or answer questions from players, this made the game the success it was!

The original “Brigade” Fire and Fury is a great, classic, innovative rule-set, easy to learn and quick to play, perfect for this evening! Just enough detail and feel to be fun but not cumbersome.

The Battle opened with players rolling their entry positions. The table was basically divided diagonally following the main road stretching the length of the table. Each player rolled for entry at one of 4 points, 3 on their long table edge, and one on their short side. Rolling ended up with each side having one division coming on in the center and 2 on the southern edge. Classic example of two army’s who while searching for each other unexpectedly bump into each other resulting in a “battle”

As troops poured onto the battlefield both sides rushed to deploy into position while commanders struggled to come up with a battle plan! As happened in the Civil War the “eye’s” of both army’s, their Calvary was out gallivanting somewhere else!

Both side rushed units North to avoid being flanked, the Confederates had the advantage of controlling the road but were a bit slugish in issuing orders getting the troops moving down it. Union General Clark Dandridge commanding the Union right flank (on the northern flank) pushed his units hard and got into good defensive positions before Confederate General T. Daun could get his attack organized. The opening shots came from this flank with General C. Dandridges forces artillery battery pounding the assembling “rebels”.Unfortunately for the battle report I was to busy to pay much attention to what was happening on the Southern section of the battle field or even in the middle where the largest concentration of troops were located on both sides. I have to rely on the bits and pieces learned after the battle from those who survived….

 

Seeing the lines of blue clad Union troops already advancing on them the Southern commanders dressed their lines of battle and pushed in to meet the “yanks” It seemed the southern Generals had finally aroused themselves!

Right wing Southern Commanders (pun intended) Chris S, Stevie G, and Joe N.

Pictures of the battle are a bit lacking because of the photographer (me) having little time and not wanting to slow the game down. Everyone was having a ball and with the limited time for the evening I chose to pay more attention to moving things along than taking pictures and gathering information.

Around this point the various artillery duels settled down, a general push began, and firing erupted along the entire line of battle.

The far southern table edge looking out into the middle of the battle centered around the church where some of the heaviest fight would take place.

This gallery is from fighting in the center around the church. It was here that the legendary miracle of “Stones Church” happened! When called upon to roll the dice for the resulting firing and melee’s Confederate General S. Gausche rolled like never before with 4-5 consecutive 10’s, a few 8-and nines, but never less than a 5! This feat of die rolling just couldn’t be matched by  the Union Generals Clark Dandridge, his father General Dave Dandridge, or General Estey. Union Brigades were pushed back with several colors captured and battery’s silenced or forced to retreat.

Matt Denny and Mike Estey of the “Bengal Club”

About 2/3rds the way into the evening Matt Denny of the Bengal Club group made it (late nite doing peoples taxes) and being another experienced Fire and Fury player grabbed a beverage and offered his services to the Union!On the Confederate left flank the Union had been holding it own and in fact General Clark’s artillery was causing concern with Confederate General T. Duan’s infantry, disordering them and causing light casualties. General Daun was heard to tell his brigade commanders “let us push forward bravely and clear out this nest of vipers!”

I failed to get many pictures of this action but you can see the initial deployment in the picture I used at the top of this post with the pictures of the resulting action here.

Union forces sent to guard the flank under the young “give them the steel” Union commander General Clark fix bayonets and surge forward. Rebel General Daun struggles to get his men in position.

The Union brigade managed to reach the stone wall but a withering blast from the Reb gun batteries and the muskets of their infantry disorders and causes much loss of life to the Union brigade.On cue, sensing the moment and following General T. Dauns order to give them “the steel” two rebel brigades crash into the remnants of the Union brigade, killing or capturing what was left!

Going down fighting this union Brigade is attacked by two full rebel brigades, on of which is in brigade mass and hitting them in the flank! I think the difference in final numbers was negative 14 for Clark’s troops! Resulting in “Swept from the field”

With little opposition the Northern wing of the Confederate Corps looks to roll onto the Unions flank and finish folding the Union center.

A Union brigade suddenly finds its self alone, out of command, and facing more than 3 to one odds including a rebel battery to its front.

Meanwhile the Southern flank was like a pot beginning to boil over. An early push by Confederate General Christian Adolphus Snell (his father fought with the Prussians at Waterloo) was checked by large Union forces under the commands of General Dandridge and Estey. Dense woods and hilly terrain made maneuvering on that flank difficult but it was about to explode as night fell, this combined with the bad news from the Northern section surly would have caused the Union commanders to retreat, regroup, and not risk destruction of their forces in a less than advantageous engagement. Besides think of all that fine Tennessee Whisky we captured yesterday, certainly wouldn’t want that to fall back into Rebel hands!

General C.A. Snell pushes his brigades into the attack helping to give the northern C.S.A. brigades more time.

Fierce fighting was breaking out in the dim shadows of the wooded hills. The outcome was never a sure thing for either side.

Muddy “Catfish Creek” divided the forces of the Southern edge and the center. However it was fordable along its entire length, it being the end of summer. The Unions superior artillery and their Generals ability to keep it close in supporting the Brigades had a telling effect on Rebels ability to close in.

Another view of the left end and the center from the Union position (we captured Matthew Brady and all his equipment) showing again the perfect positioning of Union battery’s to support the Brigades.

With the Northern flank of the Union army turned as well as the Union center cracking and under pressure by having to redeploy forces to meet the Northern attack soon to come it’s the opinion of this reporter (known Southern sympathizer) that had darkness not begun to fall (it was 10:30 and many had long drives) the South would have carried the day! Not a resounding victory but certainly barring a lot of great die rolls would have forced the Union off the map. At the end every one was smiles and Steve with the biggest smile of all, being the “Hero” of the game!

 

WWII Russian Front in 20mm, the Hell you say!

Posted on by
Reply

The first real Wargaming I did was WWII micro armor and that became a lifelong fascination with the period, the conflict, the men and women who fought, died, and sacrificed so much for their beliefs. The battles in Europe and in Russia have always had the bulk of my interest as they were by far the most epic and important during the war. Micro armor had me for about 5+ years then I was introduced to 20mm or 1/72 scale WWII figures and was truly hooked. I have collected and played this scale for over twenty years and now have a huge collection of figures (both painted and unpainted!), more terrain and buildings than you could imagine (enough to do Berlin 1945 on a 4×8 table). Unfortunately as happens in wargaming rules change, periods go in and out of fashion, scales too…and over time I and my friends played less and less WWII, some got hooked on Flames of War and 15mm but I couldn’t get behind that type of game, to me Flames of War was a lot like Warhammer 40K, a game that made you buy their bloated rules, buy their figures, use their army list, and frankly the games don’t look like WWII. OK enough of that, bottom line our WWII games became few and far between. Well last week Steve and I dragged out the WWII 20mm toys! Wow I don’t think they have seen the light of day for years! I had even contemplated selling them off! I figured to have one last game before making that kind of decision.

Clicking on a picture will give you a larger version!

20mm scale is “Gods scale” when it comes to WWII “in my opinion”! I have always felt it gives great detail compared to 15mm, easy on the eyes, fun to paint without the detail or cost of 28mm.

A wrecked train adds realism to the scene as well as breaking LOS and providing cover. I hope to repaint and age these soon and I think this game has sparked my interest to do it!

For most of my WWII games I like to use maps to aid with the hidden deployment. I make this easy by setting up the terrain then taking a overhead picture and producing a map from it for the players.The Germans had the advantage of being deployed in defensive positions covering about 3/4s of the map with the Russian entering on the remaining quarter. Crossfire uses hidden deployment so I as the Russians had to start by probing the German lines in an effort to find them. This first probe quickly got out of hand and turned into a full-blown attack by the Russians.

The commanders maps are made from pictures taken from “their” side and then put in a clear page protector. Players then use “wet” erase markers to mark their deployments and moves.

We did a Russian front scenario loosely based on a game we did perhaps 4+ years ago where its late 1944, the Germans are fighting a tactical withdrawal back towards the borders of the Reich. The fight takes place with the Germans trying to hold a strategic section of railroad open as long as possible to allow both military and civilian transport trains to move west and escape the Russians. German forces consisted of a Company of infantry, a couple of Heavy Machine gun squads, 1 81mm mortar, 1 PzIV H, 1 Panther, and flak 88 AT gun. Russians had 2 companies of infantry, 2 Heavy machine guns, 2 x 120mm mortars, 3 T34/85s, and 2 ISU 152s. They also had some off-board artillery.

One of my first 1/72 scale buildings done 25 years ago! As I remember this one was from an Arifix kit and made of cast plaster! It originally a RAF control tower, I added stairs walls on the roof, window frames, doors, ect…. Its still going strong!

The Germans had the advantage of being deployed in defensive positions covering about 3/4s of the map with the Russian entering on the remaining quarter. Crossfire uses hidden deployment so I as the Russians had to start by probing the German lines in an effort to find them. This first probe quickly got out of hand and turned into a full-blown attack by the Russians.

Steve’s Waffen SS look real nice, he did a great job painting these!

Steve played the Germans and I the attacking Russians. The rules used were CROSSFIRE by Arty Conliffe, a very unique set of rules that while fairly simple use some very interesting mechanics that in my opinion give players the ability to play WWII in a much more realistic way. Less emphasis on dice results and more on tactics and maneuverability.

Steve once again playing the part of the “10,000 foot General”

One of the problems with most WWII rules and with larger scale rules in general is the “10,000 foot General” the fact that both player can see the deployment of the enemy force and couple that with most rule systems “I go, You go” turn based approach the games lose the ability to simulate the uncertainty in the decision process that commander faced in the field. In most games you look at the map see the other fellows force disposition and plan your attack. you can see all your enemies move and simply counter them as they can with your forces. Games turn into a simple stacking of odds and who roles better dice!

Russian armor appears in the form of three T3485s on the main road. Silly Russians…what are they thinking? That big striped thing down the road isn’t a Zebra!

Crossfire has fairly simple yet novel mechanics that allows you to as the defender to use the fact that the enemy would not really know your positions until the battle was joined and even then that knowledge would be limited. That is why in defense smaller forces many times held of or even destroyed attacking forces many times their size.

The Flak88 is a “Dragon” 1/72 model and the figures either Battle Front or Britannia.

Steve has a long-time reputation for poor die rolling so I had taken fewer troops to compensate, that was a big mistake! Steve proceeded to roll better than I have ever seen frustrating all my attacks.

Steve’s Panther works a crossfire with the flak 88 to insure a killing zone on a suspect Russian approach area. The control building was the main German held strong point.

The trains and the original track came from a HO set given to me by a neighbor. The trains need repainting and some conversion work to look more European. The track has been mounted on PVC, repainted, and flocked to look more part of the terrain.

German 81mm mortar deployed in bombed out warehouse. The painting, ageing, and basing of the train track really helped to make it look more part of the scene as well as create a defensive “berm” for troops or hull down position for tanks!

20mm gives plenty of opportunity for creating photo ops not possible in smaller scales.

After a short exchange of shots between the German “88” and the T34 the score was T34-0 Flack 88-1! The Panther moved up and soon all 3 T34/85s lay in a smoking pile…

The German Panther moves up into a better position. Now the Russian T34/85s are caught in a deadly crossfire!

The other flank saw the second Russian push but the results were not any better. The first Russian squad to leave cover was pinned down with heavy casualties, I ordered two Russian ISU 152s to destroy the German Mark IV and take the pressure of my advancing infantry but with Steve’s stellar die rolling they too soon lay as smoldering wrecks!

Britannia ISU 152s move up only to fall prey to the exceptional German fire! The pips/beads are use to mark things like Pinned, Suppressed, No fire, etc..

So within two hours the Russians lay strewn about like so many spilled matchsticks, their armor all ablaze, and I as the Russian commander being escorted into the woods, flanked by several commissars, to a fate familiar to “under preforming” Russian leaders…Dam we haven’t had that much fun in a game for years! I may even paint some stuff of the 20mmm lead mountain. .

A second German strong point on the other side of the railroad yard. The German forward observer scans for Russians.

Steve’s a happy camper given the performance of his Germans! and dice!

 

When “Hell Freezes Over”

Posted on by
Reply

 

Our first “large” Napoleonic game with hundreds of stands, infantry, artillery, and cavalry!

While talking to my longtime gaming buddy Stevie G the topic of 15mm Napoleonic’s was being bantered about when he waxed poetic about the great Napoleonic games we used to play with large groups of friends and acquaintances in years gone by, how he missed those games since most of the games now are largely just us two.  Now we have great games, but over and over with the same two general’s gets old. Steve said he wished the “Dogs of War” played Napoleonic’s, I almost choked at the thought and said “keep dreaming that will be a Cold day in Hell” when they take up Napoleonic’s much less Napoleonic’s in 15mm!! I had heard several members even boast about the fact they had gotten rid of anything in 15mm! The last time I ever even heard of a Dogs of War member playing a Napoleonic game was back when we were at the clubhouse in Burbank and Steve V was among us….

You got to love the look!, masses of colorful Napoleonic troops on the field!

A turn later the cannons roar as steel prepares to clash with steel!

Russians in their long brown coats trade blows with Austrians.

Well last month “Hell Froze Over” as not only are we playing games of 15 mm Napoleonic’s at the “Dog’s” we have been doing it almost regularly and members have started to buy the rules (Age of Eagles) and assemble troops! We have done several introductory, learning games, to get player interested and acquainted with the rules. The pictures I took are not that great as I was tired after working in the yard all morning but it shows the first BIG learning game, we played with five commanders (3 Austrian / 2 Russian). Yes it was a “hypothetical” game pitting forces (Russian and Austrian) that historically never fought each other, but this allowed players to get some of their own figs in the battle.

The action gets close and furious, a great game, with a fair amount of maneuvering and back and forth. One wonders what words may have passed between these two generals of division….

Just out of frame there was a large cavalry battle that see sawed for a few rounds until the Austrian Cav got the upper hand and drove the Russian Hussars and Dragoons off the field as well as capturing the Russian heavy artillery battery. The Austrians here in the center are slowly weakening the Russians infantry while driving them back as well!

No real report other than to say the Russians (Bill and Frank) got basically swept off the field by the Austrians (Chris A, Steve G, and Galen Y). The great thing about the battle was that Bill and Frank were the most experienced players while Chris and Galen have just stated playing and beat the more experienced guys! Shows how easy the rules are to pick up and how much players have already learned. For the most part the new players had the rules down well enough to run their sections with out help.

Right flank commander Frank V push his forces up in support but confusion in orders hampered his efforts against Galen who brushed him aside with cavalry while sending his infantry to help support Chris and Steve’s main attack on the Russian center. Frank has re-based and re-flagged Danny’s old Russians. “Looking good”

 

Austrian commanders Steve and Galen, “Gee Steve after getting your wish for a big Napoleonic game at the Dog’s you might look a bit happier!” Steve did smile a bit later, in fact he shouted with gusto when firing his artillery battery at a crucial point he rolled a 10! Yes believe it or not!

There seems to be quite a lot of enthusiasm for 15mm Napy’s at the moment and I hope this is the start of 15mm Napoleonic’s on a regular basis down at the Dogs!  Terry stone was observed wandering around the table muttering to himself about some bug that was biting him?

Visitor from a strange planet…ok, Texas!

Posted on by
Reply

Two weeks ago I traveled down to “the Dogs of War” club room in Reseda California for a day with the lads and a visit from Dr. Ray who gamed with the Dogs when we had the clubhouse in Burbank. Chris S. had asked in his weekly after action reports for some suggestions on games to be played on “Rays day” and “Full Thrust” popped into my mind since its very well suited to have 4-6 players and I felt it would be nice to play something that we all could do together. Full thrust is fairly simple to learn the basics in a few turns and low pressure allowing for plenty of “kibitzing” as we played. I have also wanted to toss in a different game or two to mix it up anyway and have lots of ships painted and ready to go.

We did a basic learning game two players per side with me game mastering (I was re-learning as well since I hadn’t played in a few years!). I tried to balance the forces but even though the points may be close between forces if a player doesn’t know the strengths, the weaknesses, and the play style of his force (or the enemies), they may still have a hard time dealing with the enemy. “Draw swords and rush forward” strategy is not always the best course in space.

Galen Y. and Chris S took forces from my Imperial German Space fleet, 4 ships split between them and Dr. Ray and Dave D. took an opposing force of six smaller NAC ships (British/American) and squared off.

It was a learning game so a Battle report would not be fair but suffice to say that both sides gave a got plenty of lumps! Bottom line is that fun was had by all! I think there’s more “Thrust” in our future!

Dr Ray on the right giving the acknowledgement wave he learned from the Queen of England, and the gang hard at it!

My poor attempt to do some “weapons graphics” hopefully I’ll get better!

The NAC (British) Heavy Cruiser “WATSON” and the NSL Battleship”BLUCHER” trading shots

A home made movement tool used for “square” based ship stands. The “Clausewitz” one of my battleships from the NSL or Imperial German Space fleet. Mini by Ground Zero Games.

It was a magnificent sight! Napoleonic Cavalry goes head to head!

Posted on by
5

Most commanders have a battle plan, a plan that they hope will unfold and work according to plan. This seldom happens in the Napoleonic period since once a battle commenced there was little a commander could do except to decide where and when additional forces were committed.

Commanders in the Napoleonic period spent much of their time preparing for the battle by arranging their forces to their best advantage based on what they thought the enemy commander was planning. Trying to figure out what the enemy commander was going to do was a daunting task requiring many hours of careful thought. Unlike modern battlefield leaders, commanders in the Napoleonic period had very limited resources available to them. No Aerial photography, no spy satellites, very slow communications, no radios, TV’s, computers, etc…. maps were many times lacking in detail, wrong, or just not available. General staffs were just being thought of! They had spy networks which were sometimes good, sometimes bad, and always slow! They could try and predict an enemy’s move based on what might be his immediate and long term campaign goals, go over past performance of the enemy commander, and try to get inside his head. Finally as the battle approached a commander used his Cavalry for determining enemy strength, moves, and to try and screen his own moves, strengths, and intentions.

Louis Davout was one of Napoleons ablest commanders. I has been often said that if he had been present at Waterloo the outcome would have been very different.

Our Saturday battle was based on this type of action where a large cavalry force has been sent out to both scout ahead, secure, and possibly be the beginning of flanking action against an important area on the Austrian army’s flank. The area consisting of a road and village network. This force also had an infantry force intended to hold the area after the cavalry has moved on.

I played the “Iron Marshal” Louis-Nicolas Davout in command of the French right and Davout has decided to personally ride with this force to make a timely assessment of the area. The Austrian commander Archduke Charles has planned to do almost a mirror image of the French move! (The Austrians are learning!) To mix this up a bit and introduce the effect of battlefield intelligence during the period, scouting, spies, and information gathered locally, would be simulated by modifying the way and time troops would be introduced to the battle field. I invoked a rather simple method to simulate this. Each commander would roll a D10 and high roll would be allowed to decide whether or not to place a unit on the battlefield one move in. Placement in this way gives an advantage to the winner by being able to make his opponent place his troops first or second and then being able to react to that placement later, or place some troops hoping to deceive the enemy into thinking that would be an area of deployment. The winner is not required to place any troops on the field thus

Archduke Charles the best of the Austrian commanders was always hampered by the commanders and politics around him.

can save any un-deployed troops to the end of the deployment phase(very powerful!). The Archduke (Steve) rolled badly and this resulted in Marshal Davout (Bill/me) being able to deploy almost 2/3rd of my force after Steve! The French clearly had the better scouting/intelligence this day!

My plan was to pin/feint on one side where (Steve) had deployed much of his Cavalry force. Then because of my better “scouting/intelligence” use my ability to hold off deploying much of my force until I saw where his forces were deployed, allowing me to concentrate more of my troops against his weaker flank. This would be an advantage for the French provided they were to act quickly, fight well, and have success before the Austrians could effectively react. The Austrian force was a bit larger in Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery, not huge but enough to make it hard on the French should they make even small mistakes.

A familiar sight on Saturday mornings on my gaming table…. Steve and a general overview of the battlefield from the French side look towards the Austrians.

My initial plan was to hold the road and village on my right pushing my cavalry down the open area on the of the village, but after the deployment rolls this strategy was changed to an all-out attack on the left and center based on “new” information and I deployed much of my remaining force to accomplish this. This simple process for deployment worked out so well in creating a more interesting battle that I’m at a loss as to why I never thought of it before!

There are several things that I like about it;

  1. It eliminates the “I go u go” deployments that leads to the same old boring heads up fight.
  2. Presents challenges to both commanders other than “roll well and live”
  3. Makes commanders pay much more attention to initial setup and terrain effects.
  4. Makes players think link commanders and consider the abilities of their troops carefully.!

I’m also now toying with a “strength roll” to have a force “weakened, strengthened, or remain the same” and possibly then a secret roll for the opponent to know this fact.

So on to the battle! I have recently painted a lot of French Napoleonic cavalry and wanted to get them into it, many games have Cavalry in them but normally in a supporting or breakthrough roll. I wanted a battles where Cavalry was the main focus.

The forces would reflect his;

French, 28 stands infantry (10,080), 32 stands Cavalry (5,760), 3 Artillery Batteries (16-24 guns).

Austrians, 36 stands infantry (13,680), 42 stands Cavalry (7,560), 4 Artillery Batteries (28-32 guns).

We used “Age of Eagles” rules by Bill Grey (Excellent!) and figures are 15mm primarily Old Glory (French) and AB & Old Glory (Austrians)

The Austrian force was larger for several reasons, Steve’s rolling of dice is less than “stellar”, and I know the rules better! I figured this would give a bit better balance, it did! (and actually, Steve rolled better than normal during the battle) but his roles for initial scouting were abysmal!

French infantry on the French left flank get new orders and goes on the attack!

Half of the the French infantry on the left goes into the attack while the other half supported by a battery of “12 pounders” moves to support the French Cavalry in the center.

Archduke Charles and his staff quickly recognize flaws in their plan and issue orders to strengthen the center and ad weight to stem the French push on the Austrian right! Austrian heavy Cavalry thunders to the attack!

The “French” plan was simple and very much as Napoleon himself liked to do, threaten the flanks, weaken the center, strengthen your center, crush one flank while your strengthened center prevents or slows their reinforcing the flank under attack. I won the first few initiative rolls allowing me to choose to move first or second and instead of occupying my right flank as the original battle plan called for I pushed my infantry hard on through the town on the left and into some woods in the center, my battery of 2-12 pound guns also moved into the woods. On the French right flank my Hussars and a Horse battery acted as a decoy/blocking force drawing the bulk of the Austrian cavalry and some of their infantry away from the middle.

Because of some poor activation rolls on my part I have to send in my French Cuirassier early to prevent the Austrian cavalry from charging my still deploying infantry and artillery. Realizing the importance of this charge their commanding officer goes with them! In the upper left you can see the French Carabiniers already engaged with the Austrian Dragoons, a fight that would see saw the entire game!

My French Carabinier fresh off the paint table make a great showing in their first battle…well they held their own stemming the tide of Austrian cavalry just long enough, and finally shattering the Austrian Dragoons! That fight went at least five rounds with the Austrians giving a great account of themselves until the end.

The battle went pretty much along those lines but was touch and go many times. Archduke Charles made several timely adjustments to his forces and rolled his dice rather well while I as Davout, had a good plan but rolled more 1s and 2s than usual resulting in my forces being a bit sluggish in getting to their positions. The battle that followed was just dam fun with a large cavalry fight occupying the center of the map for the entire game. Austrian Dragoons, and Cuirassier, exchanging charges and counter charges with French Carabiniers, and Cuirassier. The number of charges, counter-charges, retreats and reforming were amazing and made for a very exciting game with neither side getting the upper hand until the last turn when what was left of the French Carabinier routed the Austrian Dragoons.

The French left flank had all the infantry and the heavy foot artillery. These four brigades pushed into the town and deployed on both flanks of the cavalry battle to their center. Two brigades and the Heavy artillery deployed along some woods where they could threaten the Austrian Infantry and Cavalry trying to reinforce their right flank. The other two French infantry brigades supported by a small unit of French Lancer Cavalry pressed on to attack and crush an Austrian Infantry brigade and Artillery battery holding that flank.

The French right flank (Austrian left) was held by two French Cavalry units, the 5th Hussars and the 13th Chasseurs a Cheval, along with one battery of horse artillery. Opposing them were two Austrian Hussar units, a unit of Austrian Dragoons (these Dragoons were almost immediately sent towards the center) and a horse battery. The French put on a brave front and let the Austrians get just close enough but not within charge distance before retiring behind a small hill. The Austrians followed for several turns finally splitting their Hussars around the hill in an attempt to cut off the Hussars retreat. Once the Austrians split their force the French 13th Chasseurs a Cheval about faced and charged one of the Austrian Hussar units badly mauling it, Killing some, capturing others (as well as their commander) and routing the rest! (Bill rolls well!) The Austrian hopes of flanking the French in the center were dashed as now French had their horse arty and the 5th Hussars covering the bridge in the center while the other victorious French Chasseurs pushed back around the hill the threatening the remaining Austrian hussar unit from the rear.

The French Hussar and Chassuers move off refusing battle further splitting the Austrian forces a turn or two later they would turn on one of these separated Austrian Hussar units and shatter it!

On the Austrian right the French infantry crushed the unsupported Austrian infantry killing or capturing hundreds, some standards, and a battery of guns. The center battles also ended in the favor of the French with over 1,000 prisoners, and an Austrian Cavalry general captured, the rest routed or were unable to press the fight any longer. At this point Archduke Charles realized the battle was lost and ordered what remained of his Cavalry to cover the infantry and guns retreat. The French Cavalry pursued the Austrians until nightfall when both sides bedded down for the night wondering what the morning would bring. Marshal Davout looked with satisfaction at the lines of Austrian prisoners filing past his headquarters and the standards lying at his feet while writing his report to the Emperor, Archduke Charles rode on into the night once again wondering where and how he could turn the tide……

The French Cavalry General shouts to the slowly forming infantry “Quickly comrades! We will make time for you!”

French infantry and guns deploy.

This battle found roles reversed, infantry now playing the supporting role to cavalry! This is the first clash of Cavalry early in the battle the Austrian Dragoons (the heroes of the battle on the Austrian side) take on the French Cuirassier, briefly defeating them and causing the French cavalry to retreat (they later take on the French Carabinier! who finally defeat them)

The high water mark for the Austrians with their cavalry crossing the river and pressing the French hard!

 

“Dogs of War” battle reports coming

Posted on by
1

Chris A (left) and Chris S (right) running one of the “Dog’s” mega convention games “SHANGHAI”

My “Primary” gaming group the “Dogs of War” will soon be posting their Battle Reports here on my site. Chris Snell the great patron of “The Dogs” (he devotes part of his house to us) has for many years sent out weekly emails covering what has gone on and what is coming up at the club. Over the last year we have been refurbishing the club and I thought it might nice to also have the weekly battle reports Chris does get a facelift as well and giving Chris the ability to post them here with pictures would be a great way to do this.

Chris Snell (standing right) helps run the SAGA event at Games Empire. Seated is another Dog, Frank V.

A little bit about Chris…. Well Chris has been one of the original “Dogs of War” since the beginning and also probably the most active. In fact I can’t remember any “Dogs” game or activity that he has not been at!!! Chris has put himself in the forefront of all the projects and his efforts contribute mightily to everything the Dogs have ever been, done, or hope to do. Without Chris’s patronage the “Dog’s” may well have dissolved long ago. The “Dogs” are a great bunch and they all contribute much to the whole, but in any group there are always a few who provide the backbone that others build on, thanks Chris.

Side trip to Aberdeen Proving grounds, Historicon 1999? Joe, Dave L, Joe’s nephew, Tim D, Chris A,Chris Snell, Bill W (me) and sitting on fender of German Jagd Tiger is Ron Green.

So you will soon see Chris’s weekly reports appearing here! Yea Chris! I encourage all the “Dogs” to subscribe to this site and receive notifications when these reports go up. You can simply scroll down the main page and towards the bottom of the right side column you will see an option to enter your email and receive notification of new articles and updates on the site.

So welcome Chris and “Reports from the Pound”

Chris S (in tri-corner hat and long coat) helps run the Dogs pirate game “Maracaibo Mambo” at a past HMGS/PSW convention.

Visiting Old Friends for the Holidays, Crossfire WWII!

Posted on by
Reply

There’s a lot to be thankful for and blessings to be counted over the Christmas Holidays but one of my favorite parts of Christmas is the extra time off that I can sometimes devote to my hobby of Wargaming with Miniatures! This year is no exception, in fact I took a few extra pains over the previous few months getting other projects finished up so to have no interruptions during the Holiday Wargaming season (ok, who knew the shop / den sink would overflow!)

The “Machine shop” a central point of the evenings battle.

The first game I’ve managed to play over the holidays was a “Crossfire” WWII game in 20mm played with my longtime wargaming buddy Steve Gausche at my place. I have been doing WWII for near 30 years in some form or another, Micro Armor with Brian Stokes original Tank Charts rules then Steve Lorenz’s Panzer War. We then moved on to 20mm WWII trying several rule sets, Combined Arms, Battle Front, Overlord, Soldat and several others without really settling on one we liked. I and a few friends even developed our own set, “Frontline”. Now when I say developed our own set I mean we took as all rules writers do our experiences with other rules, things we liked, things we hated, and produced our version. Some mechanics had been done before, some were new. They played exceptionaly well with many players asking for me to publish them but I never did and after awhile we moved into other games and periods leaving WWII behind. Years later the WWII bug began to infect me again and I thought I’m either going to play or sell my stuff! I found however, as many of us have, that I had less time, and patience for rules heavy, slow games. I also was never one to buy into the “newer” rules types that are based on wargamers basically subscribing to a rule set full of ad on’s, updates, modules, and an official line of mini’s ala Flames of War or Bolt Action.

Wargaming Central at my place. Oberst vonGausche readys his men

I had played and purchased Crossfire years before but never given it a fair chance, I decided to try it again, the rest is history! Hands down in my opinion the best representation of the ebb and flow of WWII mid level combat period! (read my first CrossFire article)

As with most of our games when we don’t play a period for awhile there is that part about remembering how the dam game plays, rule sets typically have some overlap in rules and remembering rules for the game your playing verses a rule from another game can get confusing. We like to always do a “small game” first to help remember and sort things out….do we? Hell No! Get it all out! LOL!!! Yep instead of just remembering the basics we had to look up lots of other smaller less used rules as well. Crossfire is great because it has very basic, simple rules that apply overall to every army so picking the game up mechanics wise is easy; the strategy of using these rules to achieve victory is not!

If you talk to Miniature Wargaming folks many will say that miniature wargaming has been hurt by the advent of computers and PC gaming, I find that to not be the case at all. In fact I find that computers have increased the gaming community by allowing us to put our passion out there for all to see, certainly the computer has allowed us to do things to make our hobby much cooler and taken a bit of the drudgery out of it. One of the things I do for Crossfire is take an overhead picture of the battlefield (our playing table) on then print it out as a monotone map for players to use to record hidden deployment and battle plans. The map is placed in a plastic sleeve that can be drawn on with china makers, or better yet colored “overhead transparency pens” This ads a great deal to games and certainly removes the having to do the map making by hand! I keep the maps to use again and again.

Taking and printing a map for players is a great game aid allowing hidden movement and speeds game play.

I set up the battlefield to represent Russia during the 1943 summer offensive and a German push to secure a small urban area somewhere in Russia.

The forces would be fairly balanced numerically,German force, Panzer Grenadier company, 1 x Company commander, 3 platoons, each with 3 squads, 3 platoon commanders, 2 Heavy Machine gun sections (MG 42’s), 2 x 81mm mortars, 2 forward observers, reinforced by 2 Stug III’s, 2 PanzerKampfwagen IV’s, and 1 PanzerKamphwagen V “Panther A” and a fourth infantry platoon.

The Russians had a similar force, Russian “leg” infantry company, 1x Company commander, 4 platoons of 4 squads each, 4 Platoon commanders, 2 Heavy Machine guns (maxims), 2 x 85mm Mortars, 1x forward observer, additional resources included 2 x 76mm Anti Tank guns, and two M43 T34 with 76mm guns.The Russians might seem at first to be weak but they have the advantage of setting up and playing defensively as well as being “hidden” at the beginning of the game, very powerful factors in Crossfire! They were led by me…I’m a good player…but “they” have poor leadership in their on the table commanders as well as a troop quality of “regular’s” on the field. They also have limited counters to German Armor.

The Germans have what seems to be a powerful force but being on the attack they will need it since plans in Crossfire can go south very quickly, mistakes can be punished hard by your opponent! The Germans while not hidden have the advantage of being able to move and concentrate their forces, probing to find weak spots and exploit them; this is where Crossfire excels at duplicating the nature of WWII land combat. They also have excellent leaders at both Company and platoon level. The German troops are also “Veterans” giving a significant edge in morale and recovering from “pin” and “suppression” effects.

First moves and combat!

I played the Russians and laid out my “hidden” deployment on the map, situating the two Anti Tank guns to cover the most open of the approaches. My 4 platoons held a diagonal line running across the battlefield occupying to main buildings and then trench works on either end. The Mortars were at the rear of the headquarters building, this building also held one of the anti tank guns. The two T34s were hidden in town center as a mobile reserve to provide support in case of a breakthrough with the last anti tank gun dug in south west of town.

The German player deployed in the open with a 2 foot x 2 foot table corner as his entry point. Steve edged his two squads up onto two wooded hills where one immediately came under heavy fire from a Russian platoon holding the train station. His second squad held on the hill to the south.

Crossfire plays very differently than your typical “I go, you go game” with the action tending to localize in different areas of the battlefield, getting white hot while other areas do little. To me this is very realistic although it might take some time for players of traditional wargames to adjust to. Russian fire from the train station was getting the best of the Germans in the woods so the German commander brought up some armor in the form of two Stug III assault guns and prepared to ad their fire power to the fight. As soon as the Sturmgershutz III’s lumbered into position they came under fire from a hidden Russian 76mm anti tank gun that along with a platoon of Soviet infantry held that flank of the Russian defenses. The Russian gunners were in top form and after a brief exchange both German assault guns became burning hulks. This kind of ambush is the kind of action possible through use of Crossfire rules and hidden deployment rules and for me is the crux of WWII platoon/company combat in WWII.

Russian gunners take careful aim!

German support armor gets stopped dead in it’s tracks! Red Russian mud clings to the vehicles entire bottom half!

The Germans were becoming frustrated at this point as their frontal push and relying on force of arms was not working against the well laid out Russian defense. Clearly the Russians were well led and in greater strength than German intelligence had reported. Oberst vonGausche arriving on the scene held a conference with his platoon leaders and discussed a new plan of action, with the casualties already sustained and the loss of the two Stug’s the attack must well executed with minimum losses.

Mid game a final movement / combat.

The Germans decided to concentrate on the elimination of the AT gun and Russian infantry holding the south east flank and try to then apply pressure from the front, side, and rear of the Russian platoon holding the central train station. The German right flank was to regroup and hold, “just keep the Russian’s busy, prevent them from moving” said Oberst vonGausche.

The “Panther” helps hold the German right flank, continually bouncing rounds from the Russian 7rmm AT gun.

A “Panther” tank was ordered to give support to that effort. Two fresh German platoons, German mortars, and a pair of PanzerKampfwagon IV’s Panzers were set for the attack. Their German 82mm mortars began to drop smoke on the Russian positions to cover the German advance and the Germans moved into position. As the smoke cleared the mortars switched to HE (high explosive) rounds and the German tanks added their fire in as well. The concentrated fire suppressed and then killed the Russian gun crew. Russian return fire was ineffective at this point and they had no way to counter the German tanks.

The German Panzers engage the dug in anti tank gun.

A Russian messenger was sent to request support as German infantry moved up to close assault the Russian trenches. The German Mortars and tanks belched death and destruction once again into the Russian trenches killing a Russian squad, suppressing another, and pinning the third. Sensing the moment vonGausche ordered the men forward into the Russian positions.

German squads break into the Russian trenches, very little “quarter” was given on the Russian front!

Weak return fire from other Russian troops along with the Russian troops in the entrenchments failed to stop the German attack and with the odds in their favor the Germans cleared the position. Russian reinforcements in the form of two T34 tanks now rounded the corner trying to engage the German MK IV’s…the first German rounds missed the Russians, Russian return fire bounced their first rounds, the next German round found its mark and one of the T34’s burst into flames, the second T34 reversed out of sight.

The first T34 burns at the machine shop corner….

Seeing my flank collapsing as the Russian commander I decided to try and pull back and redeploy. The train station troops were given a retreat order but while exiting the back of the building came under fire and pinned in some woods back of the station.

A second Russian 76mm anti tank gun in the burned out warehouse failed repeatedly to knockout or even damage the German “Panther” tank. A Russian NKVD officer exhorts the crew to do better in the name of “Stalin”

At his point the Russian commander (me) decided that the town could not be held and further struggle would only get valuable troops and equipment destroyed. I ordered a full retreat and congratulated my self on a good defense, inflicting sustainable losses on the Fascist Germans, and looked forward to being reinforced in the morning and given the opportunity to retake the railroad yard in the morning!

It was not to be….I was shot in the morning, on orders from the political officer for cowardice in defense of the mother land…”long live Holy Russia!”