Lots of Gaming Lately

 I have been playing games lately - just haven’t been able to do battle reports. Over the past three weeks I have played  two WWII era games of One Hour Skirmish Wargames. I also played one game of Brother Against Brother  and one game of Chocolate Box Wars.

Here are some random pictures of the games (Note: As I uploaded these, I realized I don’t have any of the OHSW games.  I’ll see if any of the other players took any and share later.)

Setting up the Brother Against Brother (BAB) game. Setting is the Indian Mutiny with the British moving to relieve the siege of Lucknow. TONS of TROOPS!!!

Nobody said the British were going to have an easy go of it! The objective is to cross the table and get over the bridge. Lots of Mutineers in the way. 

About half way through.  2d10’s worth of movement is excruciatingly slow!

When we called it a night. We made it about halfway across the board. It was bloody with lots of losses on both sides. Ralph did an excellent job of getting as far as he did while blasting away at the rouges trying to stop us. 

My Chocolate Box Wars game with Charlie.  It was the first game for both of us in our club round robin tournament campaign. I am using a British Interventionist division circa 1866 and Charlie has a Franco-Prussian era division. Here is my initial deployment. 

Early game.  Both of us moved on our left flanks in strength. 

My light cavalry squadrons did excellent flank guard work on both sides of the army. They destroyed or helped destroy three stands of Charlie’s forces. 

Late game. I tried so many times to get one more hit on Charlie’s badly shot up stand!  At the beginning of the next turn I finally put the last hit on him and ended the game. 

Here is the final location of the survivors. It was a, “short sharp action,” to be sure. Good thing we can re-constitute the division for the next game or we would be in a world of hurt!

All in all both of these games, and the One Hour Skirmish games were loads of fun.

Meet Me At The Mosque - An Indian Mutiny Game

Last night I had the opportunity to play in a Brother Against Brother (BAB) game hosted by friend and club mate  Byron.  The scenario was East India Company troops supported by loyal Indians such as Gurkhas and Sikhs against mobs of Mutineers.

The victory conditions were simple; move to the mosque and secure the gunpowder cache stored there.  Attaining that goal was more difficult to achieve.  The British were commanded by Ed, Charlie and myself while the the Mutineers were ably led by Robert, Rob, Dave and Chris.

The sides entered at opposite corners of the board, trying to win the foot race to the mosque.  Our plan was as simple as possible.  Charlie had the majority of our troops (Sikhs, Naval Brigade and a couple of EIC squads) and his mission was to get into combat as quickly as possible on the left flank.  Ed took the next largest force (loyal Sepoys, and EIC European infantry) in the center to continue the line and be the base of fire as I advanced with cavalry and the two elite Gurkha squads.  Good plan and Charlie and Ed carried out their part to perfection, if only I could make decent move rolls!

Robert and I had cavalry squads that we charged forward headlong to block enemy infantry from the mosque.  We got one round of melee in, leaving his horse decimated and my squad leaderless.  When I finally got the leader replaced, I charged into the center of the mutineers and was promptly wiped out.  Ah!  Glad to see that I haven't lost my touch in destroying my cavalry command!

I also had the two Gurkha squads, but they had a combination of lead and concrete in their boots and I couldn't get them forward to the mosque!  I actually rolled two inch movements THREE TIMES on 2d10!!!  The last two turns of the game I managed to get a foothold in the mosque, where Robert had managed to get a couple of squads of mutineers.  We entered melee combat, but it was inconclusive and we were locked in melee when Byron called the end of the game.

The mutineers took serious casualties, as they always do.  Charlie did a great job decimating several enemy squads.  Ed added to the mutineer carnage with great long range fire from all his squads.  Havildar Rajput's squad had some especially devastating fire rolls!  But, of course, SGT Zanni took the credit for winning the battle single-handed lay in dispatches and he ended up with the VC and a peerage.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful troops and great terrain that Byron has for the game.  I especially like his buildings.  They are very detailed with complete interiors.

Overall a very fun game, using a great set of rules.  Great game night!  Thanks Byron!

Part of Charlie's Command - Naval Brigade Infantry and EIC lads.

Remnants of Mutineer Cavalary Squad after Ed's infantry got done with them.  The next turn a cavalry vs. cavalry melee took care of the rest.

British EIC cavalry after the melee.

Ed's Infantry force including some loyal Sepoys.

Center of the British line towards the end of the game.  This was a strong position and the Mutineers could not have overcome the firepower that issued forth from this position.