Bolt Action Parachute drop.

 Great game set up by Nigel today using his 20mm WW2 figures and Bolt Action rules. The main idea was the British parachuting in just inland of the Normandy Beach landings to try and take out  some German artillery positions that were pounding the beaches. Using the great idea of dropping paper counters from above onto the table and placing the British Para's where the counters landed. I was playing the Germans and had drawn a map of where my troops were positioned but this was a dawn attack so only a few sentries were in position. With Ian and Nigel playing the Para's we played one pre-game turn to allow the paras to try and form squads and for the Germans to raise the alarm and get into position. Then it was a standard 6 turn game with the chance of a final seventh turn. 

In this photo you can still see a few paper counters representing some of the para's before being replaced by figures. The grey building is the main German bunker. Sadly for me the counter nearest the bunker is the para's flame thrower team. 

The para's slowly approach the bunker. There was also 4 artillery positions for them to try and capture and/or destroy the guns within and the German HQ in a farmhouse over on the far right flank. 

The para's quickly attack the bunker and flame all the occupant's.

The pin markers on top of the bunker are for the occupants, the German MG team up top helped keep some of the advancing Para's at bay for a few turns. 

But numbers started to tell and even my MG got wiped out. 

Over to the left the para's destroy two of the German big guns. 

It took six full turns for the para's to capture or destroy all the guns and the bunker but over on the left the Germans still held the farmhouse HQ, but only just. The dice decided that we did not play a final seventh turn which could have seen the Para's grab a total victory. 

A closely fought game resulted in the Germans stubbornly holding on to one final objective that the Para's had failed to gain. Once again, Bolt Action gave us a great day of gaming with thanks to Nigel for planning the game and hosting us. 

20mm Bolt Action: Fight for the Farm

 Today Nigel had kindly invited us over for a game of Bolt Action using his excellent selection of 20mm figures and scenery. He had devised a scenario based on the Fight for the Farm scenario in the most recent issue of 'Wargames Soldiers and Strategy'. Ian and Nigel had played through this scenario last week but we replayed it today with a few tweaks to the sides to make the objective of capturing the farm more achievable for the British. 

Ian took control of the Germans whilst Nigel and I were attacking as the British. 

We sent my platoons of British quickly forward on the North side.

Nigel's platoons facing the open ground in front of the farmhouse did a more cautious approach. Our plans to lay down smoke to help cover our advance did not work very well.  

Ian's Germans advance rapidly towards the farmhouse. The dice to the right showing 'Ambush' indicate his hidden units waiting to take a pop at our Brits.  

German Command move into the farmhouse. 

The British take the buildings towards the north, hoping to fire upon the Germans in the main farmhouse. 

Nigel prepares to advance his platoons. 

Ian moves some German troops towards the buildings the British had occupied.  

The large blob of cotton wool shows how good our laying down of a smoke screen was; we kept messing up the dice throw to allow Ian to re-position most of the smoke. Here he has placed it right in front of my troops in the house, blocking them from firing.  

I forgot to take more photo's as we eventually moved towards the main farm and our number of troops firing started to take their toll on the Germans. We had also switched from firing smoke to attacking the farm with our mortars. Last turn of the game saw the remaining few Germans start to withdraw resulting in a victory for the British as they took the farm. 

This was a really good scenario resulting in a fun and closely fought game. 

We think we will play another scenario next week. 

Finally a couple of photo's of work recently finished. A 15mm Belgian Farmhouse for our Napoleonic games and the start of re-basing some 28mm Vikings now that the Normans are complete. This may take some time to get a whole army done. 

Re-basing 28mm Normans and another try at 15mm General De Brigade.

 Quite a few years ago now I painted up a 28mm Norman Army and later added a 28mm Norman force for Saga (a game that I never got on with). For some time now I have been thinking of re-basing all of my Normans into one combined army. We recently had a go at playing the new 'On Bloody Ground' rules based specifically in the 1066 era. Having really enjoyed the rules it has finally spurred me on to rebase my Normans, the progress is as below. 

Light cavalry with javelins.

Spearmen

Formed and skirmish archers.

The whole force so far, just 4 units of infantry left to re-base. 

This will result in an army of 11 units by painting up 4 new mounted figures and an extra 10 infantry to add to the existing forces. All rebased in a manner that by using varying movement trays I will be able to use my Normans in a whole range of rules. I am most looking forward to trying 'On Bloody Ground' in 28mm but I need to rebase my Saxons and Vikings too and they will need a lot more new figures painted. Maybe I shall try a small Norman v Norman game first with a few 'Freebooter' units added in from my Saxons and Vikings.   

Before playing our game of 'General de Brigade' today we took a look at our new 15mm buildings which arrived a few days ago. This was a club order to 'Hovels' for a range of 15mm buildings to suit a few of the 15mm projects we are currently doing. We all really like these, preferring the etched detail of the resin models over the flatter mdf models. 

Some plain models for me and Ian to paint up from a range of 15mm periods. 

Nigel opted to buy pre-painted models including this lovely windmill...  

...and part of a well know Napoleonic farm.

Nigel did buy the whole farm. 

So on with the game. We simply deployed a few battalions each across the table from each other and used the game to try and finally work out mainly the orders phase. 

I sent my light cavalry off on a reckless 'Assault'.

Overhead view of the main battle. 

Nigel's French take up position. 

My light cavalry rout after being hit on both sides by artillery then fail to charge only for Ian to really put them to the sword with his light cavalry, you can see the remains of the first unit routing. 

The 95th skirmish against the French near the farmhouse. 

So how did we find playing General De Brigade today. Ian and Nigel had played a very small game last week so were more clued up on the order system so we got through that phase of the rules more comfortably than last time but it still seems slow and cumbersome. Missile Fire and Melee are quite quick to resolve but then the Morale phase throws in lots of looking things up in the rulebook. Overall General De Brigade seems to slow moving for our more relaxed style of play. They would better suit regular Napoleonic enthusiasts eager to play a game over a full day. Next time we are thinking of playing Fortitude and valour, a free set of rules available from the Perry Miniatures website, and at 8 pages long an easier read.