Salute 2013

Resolved to make the annual pilgrimage to the largest UK wargames show, a group of stalwart Taff’s girded their loins in preparation for an adventure across the Bridge, and to the big smoke! Wives and girlfriends had received the news with mixed emotions; they knew we may not make it back (with any money) but it was a risk we were prepared to take!
We would come together at first in two groups, and travel from Cardiff with the aim of rendezvousing for second breakfast at Reading service station.
The first group consisting of Ian, Dai, Jack and Rob W (honorary Taff for the day) headed off without incident at around six; Jack had been up all the previous night, the excitement proving to be an effective enemy of sleep, but this would not diminish his enthusiasm during the long day.
The second group, Mike, Rob J and John G set off from Caerphilly a little after six; with a brief delay to pick up Ken, we were also off to a good start.
The first part of the journey passed without incident and with the use of nothing more than the Force the two groups met at Reading as intended. A splendid breakfast, accompanied by witty banter and before we knew it we were ready to set off again. Spirits were high, but there had been a tense moment when John had been quizzed as to his intended purchases. Unknown to us it must have been at this moment that John, a famously abstemious hobbyist, had resolved to make at least one purchase before the day was done!
We set out from Reading, the Fellowship complete and in a convoy of two cars, with Ian leading and us following, using the glint from the reflected sunlight on Dai’s pate as our guiding light, we journeyed around the North Circular. Passing the time discussing the virtues of the Jewish community, prompted by the numerous Orthodox members of that community that were on view as we got closer to the promised land.
We arrived at the Excel Center a little after nine-thirty, and with spirits soaring we left the cars to continue on foot to the show, all except Rob that is, who had brought his own wheel chair. Sitting comfortably he was pushed by Ken into the vaulted chasm that is the Excel Center although Ken nearly threw him on his face at the very first kerb he came to!
It has to be said that spirits were dented slightly when we joined the back of the very, very long queue waiting for the start of the show. Whilst we stood (sat in Rob’s case) waiting for the queue to start moving, we were entertained by the no doubt intended irony of who were sharing the venue with…about twenty thousand marathon runners! As we, men mostly of a certain age and physique, stood in eager anticipation of seeing the latest and best toys our hobby had to offer we watched an endless procession of lycra clad men and women pass by to register for a 26 mile run. I’m not sure which group was more confused by what they saw as they looked at each other, but what I can say is that after about five minutes of trying to hold my wargamer’s belly in, I gave up and just embraced my inner-geek; each to their own!
After a wait of about half an hour we were in….and immediately frozen to the spot in the entrance…wow it looked brilliant!!!
Dai’s military training quickly came to the fore, and he set out the battle plan for how were going to get around; woe betide anyone who deviated! Of course there was too much to see to recount adequately here the full splendour of the show, but I will pick out some highlights.
Of the manufacturers, there were all the usual favourites; Perry’s, Trent, Warlord, Foundry, Fireforge, Forgeworld, Gripping Beast, Victrix Musketeer Miniatures, Front Rank etc, etc and of course our very own Stu with Great Escape Games (and very busy they were).
The stands were mostly well presented, and bursting full with the toys within. It was nice to see some of the planned projects on display from the likes of Warlord, with drafts of the BP and HC supplements for the American War of Independence and Crusades respectively out on show.
As we moved from stand to stand it became obvious that some traders were not relying on the allure of the toys alone to bring the punters in, but had resorted to using shapely females in tight tee shirts or short skirts to help; being hard-core gamers we were immune to such tricks…well mostly!
The demo/participation games were of the highest standard, with a couple of the 28mm WW2 games looking brilliant; a real inspiration. The recreation of Waterloo in 28mm also had to admired, especially as it came with a 1:1 scale Napoleon!
The books stalls took a pounding, and Ken had himself a great bargain from the Bring and Buy; Bolt Action rulebook for just a tenner…Jack's for the rest of the day!
I have to report that the Battlefront stand was very rubbish, and FoW around the show looked like it was flagging a little, which was a shame.
After six hours of taking it all in we decided to call it a day and head for home; Mike had been to the cash point on three separate occasions but despite this it was Ken who had spent the most on toys; who says that public sector pensions are not what they were! Rob did buy some furniture, but that doesn’t count….
With the Fellowship assembled at the cars we headed for home, totally knackered, but having thoroughly enjoyed the day. As we drove into the setting sun we all agreed that our hobby was in a great place, with so many great companies producing so many great toys. We have a brill club full of like-minded people, and a super venue in Firestorm to bring it all together!
We are motivated for another great year of gaming!

28mm WWII Bug

So....

We have been absent from the blogfor a little while, but obviously not the wargaming!

Lots has been happening in recent weeks, but one system/era seems to have us all talking and  wanting more each time... WWII in 28mm.

The HT games tend to be quite big loud games with lots of shouting and laughter, so for this we need a simple yet effective, and of course enjoyable rule set. For this we have been using Warlord games Bolt Action. A brilliant little rule set, that lets you play for fun, not too complicated, and uses a very unique turn system. We are currently talking about a campaign that will see our troops and units go from regular conscripts to harden war veterans. We hope it will add a lot of interesting aspects to an already fun and gripping game system.

On Saturday 6th of April 2013

This Saturday a couple of our members along with a few friends with slimier enthusiasm took part in an extraordinary Historically accurate big battle, it was based on the the Second World War battle for Normandy, to be more precise the battle for Cean and surrounding villages.

It was a spectral that saw a mass of Canadian infantry, fool hearty British paras (The red devils) and the best of allied Armour, face off against sneaky Waffen SS panzergrenadiers, with all the trimmings of Tiger tanks and pak 40s.

German Orders
To: SS-Standartenfuhrer Kurt Meyer, 25th Panzergrenadier Regiment, 12th SS Panzer Division
5th July 1944

In our glorious defence of the Reich, you must hold the village of Cairon until reinforcements can be brought forward. The main highway D22 to Buron (and Caen beyond) must remain available to our forces.

Deposit your forces in depth around the village to prevent the Canadians from marching too quickly along the D22. Further Panzer units will be dispatched from the divisional reserve once the intention of the Canadian Scottish to your north-west becomes clear. You may be required to send motorised forces to assist in holding Buron.

Fight for every inch of ground. In the Fuhrer we trust.

SS-Brigadefuhrer Otto von Hennig

The battle was a lot of fun, with the German players being able to set ambushes and ruses with markers where a SS unit was hiding. This meant that the Allies had no choice but to trundle forward not knowing what may lay in the next wood or ditch, which were sites in the rolling boccage of Northern France.

For this game we used the very fun, and more in depth rule set of Rules of Engagement, from Great Escape Games.

The First Allied Column rolling towards the town.

Canadian Infantry advancing cautiously through the boccage.  

Canadian Infantry advancing cautiously through the boccage. 

A German Pak 40 waiting for the right opportunity to fire.

Sneaky SS sniper team picking off Canadian officers .

2 Tigers from Cean brought up to support the defenders. 

The Battle of Danzig 1807

This Thursday we travelled to the, Battle of Danzig 19th March

This week, we took the chance to get our Napoleonic armies on the table again.
A table top game that saw the incorporation of a Prussian Star Fort, French earth works and a lot of artillery!

The game fluff (as they say in the wargaming world)

A statement from The Forth Coalitions high command, Moscow.
January 12th 1807

Two allied Division are to be dispatched, one Russian and one Austrian, to the Northern coast of pussia, where they will find the support of the British Royal Navy.
With the main goal of supporting the Prussians, and to attempt to Holt or stall the French Dog, Napoleon, advancing his armies east. The Allied command staff in charge, have full authority to attack Napoleons forces on site and to deploy where ever is needed by the Prussians. All Diplomatic agreements have been passed prier to this mission departure.
The over all goal of this mission is to hold Emperor Napoleon at bay, and to show him and his armies that the country's of the east are not afraid of him or his unjust war.

Update from Moscow
2nd March 1807

A large division of Napoleons Grand Army, Commanded by Marshal. Joseph Lefebvre, has marched on a small Northern Prussian town, called Danzig.
The French have begun a laying siege on the Fort protecting the town.
French Reinforcements are believed to be en route.

Two French battalions taking the hail of volley fire from the Austrians

French reserves moving to intercept the Russians.

The first French brigade keeping up their fire on the fort.

The Prussian trying to fight out.

Prussians advancing on the siege works

Late Crusades

A quest, to return the Holy Land to Christendom.

In the ever ending quest to quench the thirst of Historical gaming, we intend to delve deep into the holy land, bearing the cross of Christ, and waging holy war. 

This Era has really captured the hearts and minds of most of our Members. Sparking a lot of conversation, and of course money spending.

I predict big things for us with this era. From Heavy Templar Knights to Siege engines hurling rotten cow carcasses. And of course masses of Muslim horse archers, what would the Holly land be without Muslim horse archers! 

A few of us have been captivated buy the new range on miniature, coming form FireForge Games.

Their rapidly expanding range of Late medieval miniature, has us packing the rattling the piggy banks, and scouring the internet for release dates.

FireForge Minitures

Non of us really have a bad word to say, beautiful sculpts, with very little mold lines. 

Extremely excited about what this company has to offer.

Rules to use.

For most of our games we stick with what we know, and it mainly comes by way of Warlord Games with there range of rule sets, For this it would be Hail Ceaser.

But with leaked information of other company's, such as one close to home for us, Greatescapegames, bringing out a rules set for this era in the near future, the tides could be turning.

There is lovers and haters of all different rule sets, but we are always open minded and enjoy a new challenge.

Always on the hunt for rule set that drags you into the game, the realistic the better.

Tales of the last few weeks.

So we have been absent from our blog for a week or two, a lot of painting has been done, as well as a lot of loving! (Valentines day).

Last night Thursday the 21st of Feb. We played our first game of Napoleonic'sr.
The update, wright up and pictures will be up on the Naps thread. It was a fun game.
Not everyone got their miniatures finished, including some very suspicious Spanish? but, the Battle of Talavera was waiting for no man or Model!
And Fun was had by all!

Carnage on the Sabbath day.

Brothers Vs. Brothers

This Sunday we look forward, to a bit of American Civil War.

The First Battle of Bull Run, 1861.

The battle of Bull Run - 3pm The struggle for Henry Hill
Union commander - General Irvin McDowell
Confederate Commander -  General Joseph E Johnston

 Earlier this morning... Confederate forces attempted a full frontal assault on Union forces dug in at Mathews hill.
Union forces defend with not much problem, and force the Confederate infantry back down the hill.
 With Union troops full of vigor  they form up to pressure the confederates that are now in full retreat to Henry Hill, where General. Jackson (nicknamed stone wall during this battle) had arrived out of the woods with his division, at the top of the hill. Union officers in all their wisdom believed that the confederate retreat would be so disorganized  that they would never be able to reform another attack. It took the Union commanders 3 hours before they decide to press home their long lost advantage.
 Union troops form and march on the new confederate position, only to discover that it is much stronger than they could of imagined.
 Coming under a mass bombardment from well placed Rebel artillery. Jacksons Division was being strengthened with fresh waves of Infantry coming from the nearby train station (The first time in American history that reserves had been brought in by train).
 Supported buy artillery union troops push up Henry Hill and Into the fray.

Objectives
Confederates -
1) Hold Henry Hill
2) Secure Henry House, If Union Troops advance on it, Engage and route them.
Confederate Division orders:  to be disclosed on entering the battle

Union -
1) Secure an Attacking position at Henry House. And push on to the summit of Henry Hill.
2) Push Confederate forces off Henry Hill, attempting to route them in the process.
Union Division orders: to be disclosed on entering the battle

Confederate Cav, turning and charging.

Union  Advance with heist up the center. 

Union rear Guard, trying to Catch up with a very hasty central advance. 

Assault on the Union extreme left

And then, we went to the beaches!

D-Day landings

Thursday the 7th Feb 2012

This Thursday we ventured to 1944, And the D-day landings. This game was huge, and a lot of fun.

American G-Is storming up the beaches.

A Birds eye view.

A Report sent back to the allied command, the day after D-Day.

t was an epic struggle; the unbiased umpire (playing on the German side) awarded a narrow victory to the forces of right and good (Allies). 

As you looked from the sea, the allied right flank was secured by the manful storming of the beaches by GI Dai "Hollywood" Smith against a Ukranian "Volunteer" defence force commanded by John "I didn't know they were going to be behind me" Gallagher. John also had to contend with my paras sneaking up behind him; between Dai and I we managed to destroy John's company to a man, and Dai held the objective. Ken "can I come on yet" Butt made a last minute dash for glory with his Stugs, and managed to destroy three para Tetrarchs, but at the cost of four Stugs, so was a case of too little too late for the German left flank. 

I cant account for the other sectors so well, suffice to say that Pete "88mm" Fisher and his defending Germans were sat in the centre ground surrounded by a ring of destroyed and burning allied armour, mostly belonging to Dave "whay do may tanks keep sinking" Lowrie. Pete seemed to be enjoying himself though!

At the other end of the battlefield a beachhead was formed by the determined efforts of Navy Mike "I've got a battleship and I'm not afraid to use it" Edwards, and Ian "this bloody sand is soft" Jones. The beachhead was formed despite the best efforts of Mike "it's a ridge" Baldwin and his small force of Stugs. Giac "call me Wittmann" Scarano, arrived fashionably late to the battlefield with his Tiger force and proceeded to cut a swathe through the allied armour, but I think the damage had already been done by the allies.

Great game, a real spectacle, excellent terrain, both the club's and Mike's!

So, in the gaming trilogy of The Longest Day, that's two down with both being narrow allied victories. I have to say that Pete was very sporting in his analysis of defeat in the first game during conversation on Thursday. I think the last game in the trilogy is 21st Panzer's counterattack on Pegasus Bridge, so opportunity for all you boys preparing para and commando companies to give them an outing!

Also, I believe mike is planning the next trilogy around the allied breakout and operation Cobra, so maybe time to dust of the Lehr or buy that US light armoured company that is so alluring! I hope there is going to be some bocage!

A report sent back to German High Command, the day after D-Day

Postenreportenfuhrer reported,

Having exactly forecast both the exact place and timing of the allied backstossen (back stab), the fuhrer lured the Amis into a skilfully laid trap. Although the ost secktor communications bunker had been treacherously destroyed by red devils, the brave 353 regiment was ready and waiting. By skilfully lying low and covering themselves with shattered debris ,our spandaus took a heavy toll of the nervous forces of the degenenerate races.

On the western end, obersturmbaumfuhrer Gallacher fought like a caged bear. His plan to die to the last man was carried out in full. Bunkengecleaner Peter surrounded himself in glory by cutting a swathe through the ami cardboard tanks. In the West, slave labourers had deliberately built their oversized defences in the wrong place. Here the allied tanks and infantry hid awaiting the small but perfectly formed tigerstossenkiller jac giac Zooprano. The graduate of der brigendenhitlerjugendgestella took out three ami zugs in two turns. At the same time, a perfectly coordinated stug batterie, commanded by die alte fritz ken" die grossenbadensmella' , careered into the reich history books , with a perfectly orchestrated counterattack. Burning tanks and a dead para were strewn all through the flooded fields!

The allied claims of victory will be dashed at the bridge of oustereim as the gallant 21 panzer division is already revving their supercharged engines on their heavily armoured wunder weapons.

Über und out

Michel baldwinnem.

Juli 1944

 Four German company commanders were shotten in an unrelated incident!