Here’s another After Action Report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus blog. It’s a Western Desert scenario taken from the Operation Compass scenario pack and is actually the second time that AWIC has played through the game.
Click on the picture below to see all:
After the encounter at Whyteladyes Lane, the Royalists retreated to the small hamlet of Cookham. The Parliamentarians, however, rather than withdrawing to regroup, have followed them.
Cookham, a pleasant place mostly home to farm labourers, is split by the Moor: an open piece of land crossed one way by a small stream, Strand Water, and the other way by Dean Lane, now more of a road.
Unwilling to surrender the Moor, “Little John” Boulters leads his men forwards to the eastern edge of the open ground only to see Sir Christopher and his men just arriving on the other side. The stage is set for another epic For King & Parliament clash!
I would command the Roundheads, John would lead the Cavaliers.
Two brigades of foot in the centre, a brigade of horse on each wing, guns and a bodyguard unit of cuirassiers also in the centre.
A brigade of foot, a brigade of Scots mercenaries, a brigade of Dutch horse.
Is on the Parliamentarian right.
One squadron of Dutch horse finds itself isolated on the wrong side of a hedge.
The Highlanders just emerging from the splash-through stream will move forward and will be charged by the enemy cuirassiers.
And I have established a decent line of battle against a more fragmented Royalist advance.
But they just won’t budge for many turns (I suspect their commander, Sir Kavan Nelson, defected to the Royalist cause) leaving me fatally weak in the centre.
But, again, having lost their Colonel, I just can’t get them to move forward. My army appears paralysed, and the Royalists are about to take full advantage!
But because Sir Kavan won’t move his men forward, I am outnumbered!
It’s six units to four, and two of my battalia are Highlanders that have spent their first, ferocious charge!
Losing a pike-n-shot battalia and a General in one turn is a good way to shed coins fast!
And that’s where I ran out of coins!
Well that was a game that was really going my way when a sudden paralysis amongst my troops caused by the loss of my Colonel of Cavalerie and Sir Kavan’s defection (I can see no other explanation as to why Aces suddenly appeared all over his brigade!) meant that the Roylaists were given a chance to rally, catch their breath, and then move forward and concenrate their numbers with devastating effect.
It didn’t help that my CinC, Sir Christopher, led a sorely-needed Scots mercenary battalia on a complete Jeb Stuart-like perambulation up the wrong side of the left hand wood, effectively taking them out of the battle at the moment of decision. That was deffo my fault though!
A great game that saw John keeping his nerve as I scored early successes, pulling back and then seeing an opportunity and taking full advantage. Just to emphasise the point: at one stage of the game (after the early clashes) I was something like eight coins in front!
Time for the Parliamentarians to retreat and regroup!
Robert Avery
What with COVID-19 putting paid to wargaming shows across the country, it’s good to see some remote events still taking place. One such that happened last weekend was Virtual Lard 3, and one game run there was an I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum scenario by Mike Whitaker.
The game was set in the Italian theatre. Here are some photos:
Lumbering Battlefront SturmPanzer IV approaching between Battlefront (left) and Tom Grenfell resin (right) walls.
Windmill: Najewitz 3D model, printed by Tom Grenfell.
Ruin/medical post to left of Battlefront church, and church walls: tabletop-arts.de resin
Town hall: unknown ebay resin.
Building with balcony: Empires at War
Building with creeper (centre left): CR Ninive resin
Kubelwagen and staff car: 3D prints from https://www.thingiverse.com/m_bergman designs
Orange shuttered building in rear is Najewitz 3D design printed by Tom Grenfell.
Church: Battlefront
Churchyard walls, ruined building just to right of spire, building to right of town hall: tabletop-art.de resin
Single story barn just N of that: Najewitz 3D print courtesy of Tom Grenfell (as is the building hidden by the spire)
Buildings, left to right/top to bottom:
Farm: Empires at War MDF, heavily fillered
Odd square building: unknown eBay resin
Twin roofed house by bridge: C R Ninive resin
Single story with courtyard: 3d print, own design
Town hall: unknown eBay
Two story with lots of windows: unknown eBay
Another own design 3d print
Another C R Nivive resin
Pair of Empires at War MDF
Small house at corner of walls: own design 3d print
Large house at bottom: unknown eBay
Time for the next encounter in my North Wessex For King & Parliament English Civil War campaign.
After the battle just north of Bisham Abbey, Sir Christopher Grey has led his Parliamentarian army (reinforced with more Scots mercenaries) east in an attempt to loop around the Royalists whom, he believes, are regrouping before moving north on their existing axis of attack.
The Roundheads get as far as Cookham Dean before they realise that the Cavaliers have been tipped off and have managed to get a blocking force across the Parliamentarian line of advance.
Battle will once more be joined!
The Parliamentarians (commanded by Yours Truly) advance in column from the top of the table. The Royalists, commanded by John, lie in wait athwart Deans Lane. Whyteladyes Lane is the road, bottom right, running into Dean’s Lane.
At the head of the column is a Highlander battalia: some of MacLeod’s Oathmen. They are followed by three Scottish standard battalia and then a brigade of English foot. The Parliamentarian horse is to the right of the column (left as you look at the photograph) moving along a smaller lane in an attempt to avoid congestion.
Two brigades of infantry, one of them pike-heavy; two brigades of horse, one each side of the infantry.
Note the Oxford Musketeers on the right. This commanded shot battalia would go on to destroy almost the entire Scottish pike element.
Scots at the front, English behind, Dutch horse on the far side!
The battle opened with the horse on both sides moving forward.
The Roundhead Dutch horse started the game quite far from the action, so needed to get up to the schwerpunkt as fast as possible: in the event, two units managed to do so, but one got slightly left behind.
Likewise, the Royalist right flank horse brigade (Stafferton’s Brigade) started the game behind the main infantry line, so needed to thread their way through to the centre.
Note that the lead Highlander unit has already destroyed the Royalist Forlorn Hope (“Gauldie’s Men”) but got themselves disordered in the process.
The Red Meeples represent veteran units. The blue dice are Dash, the white dice are Ammo.
The Royalist horse move left whilst the Parliamentarians desperately try to sort themselves out. Moving from column to line in a restricted space is proving difficult!
Meanwhile the other Royalist horse face off against their Dutch opposition.
Note the Oxford Musketeers on the far side have crossed the hedge.
No matter who initiates the charge, the Royalist Swedish horse (whilst they still have dash) always have the initiative.
Note that the Parliamentarians are going up a gentle hill.
The 1st Cookham Militia confront some of MacLeod’s mercenary Scots.
Derrick’s Horse confront another of MacLeod’s battalia.
At the top of the picture, the Oxford Musketeers have turned to outflank the Scottish line and blown away the first of MacLeod’s pike battalia.
At the bottom, Derrick’s Horse have been destroyed.
…and are keeping the second from interfering with the demise of the Scots.
The Oxford Musketeers have blown away a second Scottish battalia, with the third and final Scottish battalia destroyed by one of the Cookham Militia units.
Things are not looking good for Cromwell’s lot!
But the Parliamentarians have already forfeited a lot of coins and (to the right) the Royalists have battalia in reserve.
At this point the Parliamentarians finally ran out of coins and I was forced to admit defeat: a fairly crushing defeat!
It had been a great game, even if I had lost!
The truth was that I never really got the Parliamentary battle line properly sorted, which allowed the Royalists to defeat my brigades piecemeal. Annoying, as before the battle I’d specifically told John that I needed to avoid that happening!
Robert Avery
Here’s another After Action Report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus blog. It’s a Western Desert scenario, but not one taken from the Operation Compass scenario book..
Click on the picture below to see all:
Here’s another great 6mm I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum battle report from Mark Luther, fought remotely due to the C19 lockdown.
The encounter is based on the lopsided engagement in the area between Step' and Hill 227.9 on the morning of July 6, 1943 involving the 107th Tank Brigade and the StuG IIIs of StuG Abt. 245 and off-table Tigers of s.Pz. Abt .505.
Click on the picture below to see all:
Here’s another great battle report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus website featuring a game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum taken from the Operation Compass scenario pack.
It’s 14th September 1940, and the Italians have finally begun their invasion of Egypt. A huge column of Italians - motorcyclists in front, followed by infantry in trucks, followed by tanks - has streamed across the border in almost a parade ground formation. Five divisions-worth heading into Egypt.
In front of them is a mixed force of British troops - infantry, artillery and tanks - with orders to slow them down. Click on the picture below to see what happened:
Over the years, various people have adapted the TooFatLardies' company-level rules I Ain't Been Shot, Mum (WW2) and Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam) for other, more modern periods.
One such adaptation, never officially published, was I Ain’t Been Nuked Mum. Here’s a battle report from 2015 taken from the now unfortunately moribund Maxim to Milan blog imagining action from the Cold War of the 1970’s.
The scenario is an attack-defence scenario based on a West German counter-attack after Soviet forces had been halted by NATO resistance.
Click on the pic below to see all.
Blogger “A Wargamer in Cyprus” has been playing through the Operation Compass scenario pack. I haven’t been able to get hold of him to ask permission, so I hope he doesn’t mind, but here’s a quick report of his game using a slightly amended version of Scenario #01: The Road to Fort Capuzzo.
Hostilities have just been declared, and the 11th Hussars are on the rampage. Click on the picture below to see all:
Time for another go at For King & Parliament, and the fifth scenario in my North Wessex campaign: Bisham Abbey.
After the last clash at Burchett’s Green, both sides have withdrawn to regroup and reform.
With “Little John” Boulters remaining in command whilst his father still recovers from wounds received at Widbrooke Common, the Royalists are bolstered by the return of the troops from Maidenhythe, hitherto sequestered by the King in Oxford. The Roundheads also receive reinforcements in the shape of a brigade of mercenary Scots troops under Colonel Macintosh MacLeod, and Sir Christopher (overall commander) is finally persuaded to lead from the back rather than the front!
The Royalists are ready to move first: marching north towards Marlowe. The Parliamentarians are ready for them, however, blocking their path just north of Bisham Abbey, a monastery-turned-manor-house that sits on the banks of the Thames.
The table from the Parliamentarian side
The Royalist army, ably commanded by my friend John, consisted of four brigades. On the right was Col. Stafferton’s brigade of horse (two units of Swedish horse); to their left was Col. Spencer’s brigade of foot (the Cookham Militia, three battalia); to their left was Col. Sir William Ray’s brigade of foot (two standard battalia - the Maidenhythe Foot - and the Oxford Musketeers, a commanded shot battalia); and finally, on the far left, was Gen. Derrick’s brigade of horse (three units of Swedish horse).
The Royalist commander ponders his plans
The Parliamentarians, with Yours Truly in command, consisted of only three brigades. The Cavalerie, on the right, were led by Col. Hurst, and consisted of three squadrons of Dutch horse. Next to them, in the centre, were Gen. Nelson’s three battalia of infantry supported by the guns of Littler’s Battery. Finally, on the left, were the three battalia of mercenary pike under Col. MacLeod. A Forlorn Hope was positioned in the small hamlet of Bisham, mid-way between the battle lines.
MacLeod’s Scots in the dawn light. Well, we started at 9am, which is pretty dawn-like for a Sunday!
My plan was to pivot on the mercenary Scots, sending my horse forward as quickly as possible to smash through his lighter Swedish-types and then curl around the rear of the Royalist army. I would give up the distant hedge on the left, but take the nearer hedge in the centre.
As this was only John’s second game of FK&P, his plan was to advance generally across his entire front and see what happened when the enemy was encountered!
The red Meeples indicate veteran units.
The Parliamentarian coup de grace was administered by Sunnybank’s commanded shot and the Scottish mercenaries. Between them they utterly destroyed the Royalist 2nd Foot Brigade (the Maidenhythe Foot and Oxford Musketeers) which, added to the coins lost when the Royalist horse and artillery evaporated under the tender ministrations of Grey’s Cavalerie, finally emptied the King’s coffers!
In the end, my plan had worked, albeit with several road bumps on the way. I lost three of my command stands, and would have been gradually overwhelmed if it hadn’t been for the extraordinary fight shown by the 3rd Grey’s Cavalerie (the only non-veteran unit in the brigade, obviously). They turned the tide of the battle, with the Scots then digging in their heels and refusing to be broken.
All in all, another great game of FK&P!
Here’s another great little battle report from Chris Lane, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group, and featuring more action in Malaya.
Here a British probing attack gets tangled with Japanese pickets. Click on the picture below to see what happens…
With the varnish on the first two cohorts of blue-shield legionaries literally still drying, it was time to take the Marian Romans out for their first game of To The Strongest.
Looking at their list, the Romans have three basic options dependent on their commander: Caesar (Spain and Gaul); Pompeii (the East) and Sulla. My choice was to field a Caesarian army, mainly because I already have Gauls so wouldn’t need to paint any of them. My list was therefore as follows:
Proconsul
Two units of legionaries (one veteran)
Legate
Two units of legionaries (one veteran)
One unit of Cretan Archers
Legate
Two units of legionaries (one veteran)
One unit of legionary artillery
Allied Cavalry Leader
Two units of veteran Gallic cavalry
One unit of horse archers
I’m thinking that perhaps the Gallic cavalry should, if veteran, more properly be Germanic cavalry, as the Gauls fighting for Caesar didn’t seem to be very good whereas the Germans were very effective, but that’s something I can rectify in due course: for this battle they were hyped up on Getafix’s potion!
Kavan, my opponent, chose to field a Syracusan army. Not strictly speaking contemporary, but very much the sort of army the Romans had faced in the years leading up to the Marian period. His force consisted of:
Commander-in-Chief
One unit of Bodyguard Hoplites
One unit of Light Infantry
Commander
Two units of Gallic mercenaries
One unit of mercenary Greek cavalry
Commander
Two units of Syracusan Hoplites
Two units of light infantry
Commander
One unit of Syracusan Hoplites
One unit of Syracusan cavalry
One unit of light infantry
I deployed the Romans in a long line of Legionary bases, with the Gauls on the left wing.
The Roman Battle Line
A friend had warned me that being very much an infantry army, my flanks were very vulnerable, so although I felt my left was covered by the Gallic cavalry, I was very much aware that my right was somewhat ‘floating’, so just after the picture above was taken, I moved the legionary artillery onto the small hill behind the 9th/10th Cohorts.
Kavan also deployed in a long line but, obviously reading my mind, heavily weighted each flank i.e. his Gallic mercenaries were in the centre along with the bodyguard hoplites, but he had two hoplite units on his far right and one on his far left.
That’s an awful lot of syracusans
I opened proceedings by advancing slowly forward, holding my line. The Syracusan centre, on the other hand positively leapt forward. My Gallic cavalry annoyingly hung back, but this was countered by the fact thatb his right-flank hoplites were also slow to get going.
syracusan centre advances forward speedily
As the two centres approached each other, the action actually began on my right wing where, as predicted, the Syracusan cavalry attempted an outflanking manouevre, backed up by a unit of hoplites and some light infantry. The 9th/10th Cohorts turned to face them and the artillery opened fire.
The Syracusan cavalry were disposed of by the artillery (superb shooting!) and, for the rest of the game, the 9th/10th Cohorts would hold off the hoplites despite being attacked in their rear by more Syracusan light infantry. At one stage, the legionaries survived four consecutive rear attacks whilst disordering the hoplites in front of them. Plaudits and rewards all round!
cohorts IX and X hold the right flank against all comers
On the left wing, my Gallic cavalry were keeping the two enemy Hoplite units occupied, using their superior mobility to avoid a head-on clash and occasionally managing to threaten their flanks even if contact couldn’t be made. Two veteran cavalry units for two Hoplite units seemed a fair exchange to me, so it looked as if the action was going to be decided in the centre.
the two centres are about to clash
The legionaries and enemy Gallic mercenaries clashed first. I was expecting my pila to make a difference, but they didn’t really have much effect at all. The clash became a grinding melee where the quality of my legionaries was perfectly balanced by the size (and therefore extra hits) of the Gauls.
Slightly to the left of the above, my 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th Cohort unit were faced by two units of Syracusan light infantry. I just couldn’t get rid of these: every time I charged forward, they evaded, and I soon found my troops well in front of the rest of the centre. Kavan had done to me what I had done to his two Hoplite units on the far left!
cohorts I to IV distracted by light infantry
Eventually, however, one of his light units were caught and disposed of, leaving my legionary unit to turn either for the enemy camp or back towards the centre to drive into the back of the enemy who were, bu now, hard pressing my men there.
the centres have now clashed!
I decided that the Roman thing to do was to go to the aid of the legion, so two cohorts of fresh Roman infantry drove into the back of the Celtic mercenaries, smashing them from the table.
This proved too much for the Syracusans, who had by now lost enough troops to force a retreat. It had been a narrow victory for the Marian Romans.
Lots of lessons learnt about the capabilities of the Marians. I was very pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the Roman artillery, although I do feel that that was down to the cards they turned rather than any innate ability. On the other hand, I was disappointed with the Roman pila: the extra attack card was useful, but not decisive.
What was without doubt the key to victory, however, was the manouevrability of the Roman cohorts along with their staying power, particularly the three veteran units. I foresee interesting times ahead, particularly as the next fight will be with the Sassanids.
Two of my regular wargaming opponents, Bevan and Dave, turned their guns on each other: playing a game based on the famous British counter-attack near Arras on 21st May 1940.
The British attack had already broken through the main road west from Arras – the N25 - and this was an attempt to close the other viable road west that Rommel would have to use to supply his over stretched tanks. This road (the D3) runs through the village of Wailley just west of Arras, so the British mission was to take the village and block the road. The German brief was to keep the road open at all costs.
Unfortunately, Dave’s photographs of the game disappeared into the technological ether, so here’s a shot from one of Michael Curtis’ excellent Arras games. Click on it to read Dave’s report on his battle…
Over the years, various people have adapted the TooFatLardies' company-level rules I Ain't Been Shot, Mum (WW2) and Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam) for other, more modern periods.
One such adaptation, never officially published, was I Ain’t Been Nuked Mum. Here’s a battle report from 2015 taken from the now unfortunately moribund Maxim to Milan blog imagining action from the Cold War of the 1970’s.
The scenario sees a hastily assembled US force of a mechanised platoon, an anti-tank section and an armored cavalry section on a mission to stop a breakthrough by a Soviet company of T62s with a motor rifle platoon in BMPs attached.
Click on the pic below to see all.
Another great I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum battle report from the keyboard of Chris Lane, and taken from the IABSM Facebook Group.
Their game this time saw part two of what has now become their fall of Singapore campaign. In this battle, a full strength British company was tasked of taking two strategic hills while the Japanese (briefly) rested. The Japanese commander was tasked with holding the hills but with the option of taking a junction for a major victory.
Click on the picture below to see all…
Here’s a quick AAR taken from the I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum Facebook Page: Chris Lane and Simon Godly-Kelly fight it out in Malaya.
Click on the picture below to see all:
I had a chance to get my new English Civil War siege gun bases onto the tabletop as I played out the latest scenario in my North Wessex campaign using the For King & Parliament campaign.
Both sides have withdrawn from the field of their last encounter at Pinkney’s Court, with the Royalists now looping round to try and outflank the Parliamentarians. As a desperate excuse to justify the use of siege artillery, the Royalists receive a couple of huge cannon as a gift from the King. Keen to try them out, they set them up across open fields and prepare to fire off a coupe of shots. As they do so, the Roundheads appear on the other side of the field and battle is joined.
Here’s what happened:
Royalists on the far side, Parliamentarians nearest to us.
With siege guns in position for testing!
Parliamentarian horse moves forward rapidly to assay an assault on the Cavalier right flank. The lead battalia in the Royalist column on the road would move quickly over the hedge to block them.
Lots of cannon fire at them, but very few hits.
The 1st Cavalerie, led by Sir Christopher himself, would smash through the Royalist line, but then disappear off over the horizon in pursuit of the routers before them.
Blocked by the single Royalist infantry battalia in front of them, the surviving Roundhead Cavalerie turn to face an enemy infantry column coming in from the right. Dragoons assist.
As the Roundheads in the centre have cleared it of Royalist cavalry
The game ends as one of the siege guns is overrun
This was a tricky battle for the Royalists as they start the game in a very awkward position. In addition, their siege guns just couldn’t hit anything and, when they did, my units saved time and time again.
A workmanlike Parliamentarian victory.
Lovely little battle report from Dan Albrecht and buddies, taken from the I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum Facebook page.
They used Scenario #14 from the Anzio: Wildcat to Whale scenario pack, North of Carroceto. The scenario focuses on the German attack on the Right Flank Company of the Scots Guards holding the area of Carroceto railway station during the late evening and night of 9th/10th February 1944.
What is particularly interesting about this game is that it features the use of a sand table, something that you rarely see these days. Click on the picture below to see all.
Here’s another great battle report from Mark Luther, this time using the A Canadian VC scenario from the main I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum v3 rulebook. Mark played this game remotely with four players scattered around Atlanta area and in Florida.
The game is based on the August 19, 1944 Canadian advance into St Lambert where the Allies are trying to plug the Falaise Gap.
Click on the picture below to see all:
Three great games of To The Strongest this Sunday, all Sassanid Persians versus 100YW English. I took the Sassanids for Game One, Kavan for Game Two, and then it was back to me playing the Sassanids in Game Three.
Henry V versus the Persians!
The results? I think it fair to say that the Sassanids did very well indeed, winning all three games! Those of you who are paying attention will have worked out that that meant that the day was two-one to me.
The first game was a glorious victory for both me and the Sassanids, but one largely caused by Kavan’s terrible cards! I used standard tactics: horse archers on the wings keeping his men there occupied whilst the heavy horse and elephants punched their way through the middle.
The escorted elephants punch a hole
The second game was a similar affair, but this time it was me on the receiving end. I knew what was coming, so managed to deal with the initial horse archer advance on my right wing with mass longbow fire. In the centre, I had massed my heavies opposite his, but lost two of my three generals in the first round of combat. This effectively stuffed me command-wise, and I got overlapped on the left by those gosh-darned light horsemen as I just couldn’t get the units I needed to activate into action regularly enough. As my left began to crumble, Kavan punched a hole in my centre which he then flooded with the rest of his heavies: the coup de grace coming as he took my camp.
The English camp falls…again!
With both of us now very familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of both friendly and enemy troops, the third game was a neck-and-neck affair which either of us could have won. Each side had one camp each, and both fell: mine to mounted men-at-arms that three units of horse archers just couldn’t stop in time; his to another heavy cavalry punch through the middle. I won in the end, but it was a very close run thing.
All in all, an excellent afternoon’s gaming.
The Sassanid Heavies roll forward
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction)
Welcome to Vis Lardica, a not-for-profit website mostly dedicated to the company-sized wargaming rules produced by the TooFatLardies, but encompassing my other gaming interests as well.
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