The Skirmish at Cotley's Farm. AWI Sharp Practice

Tuesday saw Martin at my place for another game, and despite the chaos, with holes in the ceiling, a ton of stuff from the shed in refuge from the leak in there, plus my office.. I was relatively well prepared this time, with laminated QRS and rosters, markers etc.. 

Sharp Practice in the American War of Independence, I mean, I painted up another six groups of 'Patriots' - so I had to use them, right? 

I even managed to put together a scenario.. 

Very simple. 1779, An important, and importantly loyal, personage was stuck at Cotley's Farm (B) with a broken carriage wheel, and escorted by two groups of British Light Infantry. One of the servants had unfortunately snuck away and alerted the local Militia, who could deploy immediately their leader token turned up at East Bridge (C). 

After two turns the wheel would be repaired and the carriage able to leave. It would move at the end of each turn (in Sharp Practice, the turn of the Tiffin card, or in this case chip). It could move 1,2 or 3 d6, but rolling two ones, would mean the wheel breaks again, so go 3d6 flat out and risk breaking down, 2d6 for a much lower chance, or the safe option and trundle along at 1d6 per turn. (As it happened in the game, the Carriage had the route blocked, and so was happy to minimise the distance moved.)

At the end of the first turn and each turn thereafter, each player would roll for the arrival of their reinforcements, the Patriots at (D) on a roll of 4,5 or 6, and the British player at (A) on a 5 or 6. 

The forces were fairly standard.

Patriots:

Leader 1 'Colonel' Nathaniel Collywobble Level III
3 Groups of Continental troops, (good quality, and almost able to go toe to toe with British Regulars by this stage of the war)
Leader 2 Lieutenant Oliver Whitstupple Level II
2 Groups of State Line
Leader 3 Sergeant Martin Bellwetherick Level I
1 Group of Colonial Skirmishers
And a separate command under Leader 4, Captain Prosperous Bonnheure Level II and his two groups of Colonial Militia 

British:

Leader 1 Captain Lancelot Farthish Level III
2 Groups of British Regulars
Leader 2 Lieutenant Alexander McCrippen Level II
2 Groups of British Light (in line formations)
Leader 3 Lieutenant Perry Allen Level II
1 Group of British Light skirmishers

How did it go?

The table viewed from the American end, around East Bridge. Just visible are the British light troops, and in the distance the British deployment point on the road.

And as the first three turns progress, the Militia in the foreground were rapidly joined by Colonel Collywobble and Sergeant Bellwetherick, just appearing in the distance, while the British forces resolutely refused to roll more than a 3 and add their chits to the bag.

The State Line appear behind Collywobble, and still no sign of the British regulars and skirmishers.

The first exchange of fire comes between the British Lights and American skirmishers, a very uneven exchange which saw enough casualties to the skirmishers to force them to pull back, and they were effectively out of the game. 

After this early success, the British lights decide they need to do something before they are overwhelmed by numbers, and despite the long range - present and fire a controlled volley, hoping to do enough damage to take the Militia out of the game before the Continentals and State Line can get into action, but the British volley must have been affected by damp powder or something - and they manage to kill only one of the militia and inflict a few points of shock..   Lieutenant McCrippen hopes it isn't going to be one of those days...

But it is.....   those militia seem to be phenomenal marksmen and the return volley cripples the British Lights 4 dead and 7 shock.... another exchange and it is 5 dead and 9 shock...  

Just in time as the British player (me!) was wondering how I was going to get out of this, I finally managed to bring on the Captain and his regulars, with Lieutenant Allen on the flank. But the Lights were so badly damaged, I had to pull them back into cover behind the farm buildings to rally off shock.. 

The two principal formations meanwhile manoeuvered into position and started to exchange volleys... I pushed the Lieutenant out to the left of the British regulars, hoping that the skirmishers might pick off an officer and dance invulnerable on the flank of his formation, or force them to detach a group and diminish the fire the regulars were receiving. 

At first the British seeming to have a charmed life, inflicting shock and casualties on the Continentals, seemingly with impunity. 

And then it all went horribly wrong for Captain Farthish... 

And I stopped taking pictures... 

Martin pulled back his damaged Continentals, the State Line lined up behind the central hedge and with a stunning volley, badly damaged Lieutenant Allen's skirmishers who were forced to pull back. I tried to bring my Lights back into action, using comand chits (flags) and interrupting the Militia with a volley but to little effect, causing nothing but one shock. 

There then followed two turns, where in one I got one command chit while Martin was able to activate all his leaders, and rubbing it in, a bonus activation. The British had to take a withering hail of fire without reply...   and so Captain Farthish decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and with casualties and shock mounting, and no real prospect of victory, withdrew from the field. 

And what of the carriage? Ignominious capture by Sergeant Jonathon Bellwetherick and his reduced group of skirmishers. 

A sad scene for Loyalist sympathisers, but never fear, Farthish shall return!

Kharkov 1941 - 28mm CoC

Forced into a change of venue as plumbing work was underway at my place, Martin put together a very nice table that just screamed 1945 Berlin or Stalingrad or as I eventually decided - Kharkov 1941. 

Great looking table, lots of scatter terrain. Using an attack/defend scenario from Chris Stoessen, (Loosely)! I had a Green Soviet Platoon, with supports in the form of 4 entrenchments, a bunker, a MMG and a 47mm AT gun. Martin had a 4 squad German platoon and elected to take a StuGIIIE, a Sdkfz222, and a flamethrower team. For Morale, my Green troops rolled a 6 for a Force Morale of 9, and Martin's Germans decided they hated street fighting and rolled a 1 for Force Morale of 8.

The patrol phase was relatively uneventful except  I ended up with an advanced patrol marker on my left, as did Martin. I hadn't considered how exposed it was as his vehicles could deploy (and if wheeled move) on any road. Sure enough, with initiative, the sdkfz222 arrived on a road, rolled 14 on three dice and trundled straight on to my leftmost JOP. A quick morale hit of -1. Oops. I wanted my AT Gun in the bunker on my right, so my only option was to deploy the MMG and hope to drive away the armoured car.

Err.. no.. not to be. 

and here's more trouble, a Stug advancing on my right. with an AT gun that rolls this for attack dice, repeatedly through the game.. 

And when it does eventually hit, it rolls 6 dice for damage, needing 5s and 6s... 

And now Martin has deployed a squad from his left hand forward JOP directly into the sturdy building on my right flank and opens up on a newly deployed Soviet squad. The Germans are in the ruined buildings to my front, and with my left-hand JOP gone I am having to deploy deep and manoeuvre to try and flank them. The bunker is holding on well, but the MMG is being peppered, and I have to bring on the Platoon sergeant to try and rally off shock.  Bringing on my squads, even behind entrenchments is a gamble - as Green troops they will get massacred in a firefight with German MG34s in the heavy cover of the ruined buildings. 

I'm finally forced to do something - the MMG team is wiped out, and a fresh squad is forced to deploy the AT in the bunker and Stug have exchanged hits, but the bunker is now at risk of crossfire, so I deploy a squad to engage the Germans in the right hand building.  There are now two uneven frefights I am likely to lose, and my third squad is still sneaking between buildings trying to work their way to my left under cover. 

And then the dice gods smile on the Soviets - I roll no less thane three consecutive double sizes giving me another phase, a total of 4 phases of fire uninterrupted, enough to break the morale of the German squad in the house on my right, another squad on my centre left and attempt to throw grenades at the 222.  I use my Chain of Command dice to end the turn and the broken squads rout..  

Martin gracefully conceded, and I felt like a very lucky escape! 

Very odd game, and while I couldn't hit the side of a barn with the AT gun, I more than made up for it on the dice luck with the double phases at a crucial time. At that stage I was in losing firefights, had no adequate answer to the 222 on my left and had been incredibly lucky none of my leaders had been hit with all the lead flying around.

Like many other CoC players we might think about house rules for multiple phases.

On the painting front, it felt like I had ben painting Jacobites for ever, so as a change from painting 18th Century infantry, I thought I would paint some 18th Century infantry...

American War of Independence 'generic' blue coats, three groups faced red, and three buff. All Perry plastics. The last couple of Sharp Practice AWI games, I have felt a bit limited in options for the Colonists, so this just adds some flexibility. Very quick and dirty 56 figures.

My Goodness, An Actual Game!

Ok, so actually it's my second game since we got the all clear from lockdown. Herself and I are still masking up for shops, and essentially not going out with the exception of my sister's birthday. But Martin and I got in a game on Tuesday. 

So we rotate between my place and Martin's. And of course, home turf, and home player selection of rules. Martin quite enjoys Black Powder, and I have no objections. It's quick to play, and so far, nothing has happened in our games that has made my eyebrows go up. (Plus; Martin's figures and layout are rather nice.) So I invested in a copy for myself and I'm gradually coming to grips with the rules. While still preferring Sharp Practice for large scale skirmish, Black Powder makes sense for me as a big battle set that doesn't need constant play to keep front of brain. (I still play General D' Armee and Horse, Foot and Guns  as well.)  

This week we played out a scenario from the 'Rebellion' Black Powder book. Breed's Hill or Bunker Hill as it is better known. As the new boy, I took the Treasonous Rebels (Yay!), while Martin played the staunch sons of Britannia. (I wouldn't mind swapping sides and playing again.)  Naturally, I forgot to take pictures till halfway through the game.

The first assault has come in and a British Brigade on the far side has been driven back and broken by fire from the redoubt.

'Tiny' American units have been driven back on the American right flank, but with the rest of their brigade retiring from the field, these Highlanders will follow suit. 

The 'red' (ok - pink) markers show 'wounds' on the brigade, this elite British battalion has been shaken by the colonials in the redoubt, the fleche, and the American artillery. 

Another small British brigade comes in at the angle of the redoubt, but the timely arrival of two additional American companies manages to hold the barricades against British bayonets. They roll many fewer dice than the British (2 to 6) but the barricades mean they save hits on 3+ and the first round of combat when the British charged in, the gallant Colonial company managed to save all of the hits, a critical point or the fortifications would have been breached.

Another forlorn British battalion approaches the fortifications, advancing at a stately pace into effective fire from the militia.

Seizing the opportunity at a critical moment as an elite British battalion started to waver under fire, one unit of courageous militia left their entrenchments and laid down a murderous enfilade on the redcoats. Who simply evaporated under the dual onslaught.

It's all coming to a close now, the battered militia, shaken and disordered are just hanging on as the British pull back.

Heroes to a man. The scenario rules are designed to ensure poor British command means their troops advance slowly but inexorably. Martin suffered terribly from poor command dice meaning his artillery didn't even deploy for a large part of the game. When they eventually did, it was clear they could have made a big difference had they come into action sooner. 

I think the key points in this game were the artillery delay, that the militia managed to disorder the advancing British, disrupting the assault, and where the British came to bayonet point, they were unlucky not to carry a key salient with a critical set of dice going my way - just!

On the side of the treasonous rebel dogs, there were three key things. Managing to get the additional company into the line. Pulling off a good dice roll to redeploy two rebel units after another broke, and finally the move to enfilade the British elites. Big risk, but after they were gone, the British lacked the troops to force the redoubts and it was game over.

Finally, some figures arrived from gamingfigures.com who are selling Ratnik's 18th century civilians:

These are just lovely! and there are a couple of sets available. Just the thing to populate the streets of Penicuik.

All the best

Never mind the b*llocks, here's the.... More 1745 painting

Only lightly censored, I've added another group (12 figures) of rebellious Scots - ready too be crushed by the forces of the Crown. 

For a bit of fun, I threw in the 2 'Naughty Highlanders' figures from the Flags of War range, (censored here - just lightly), and I believe the only non Flags of War figure in the collection so far, a piper from Alternative Armies, picked up when I purchased their Highland civilian women. To my eye, the Alternative Army figures are not as crisply sculpted or aesthetically pleasing as the FoW ones, but are pretty compatible in height and bulk. I also drafted in a standard bearer, as I didn't have enough of the Highland ones. It will pass.

And with that, I am now over 50% of the Jacobite Groups. And only another 24 Highlanders to do. The Lowlanders will need some care and attention soon, but next up, I think a few Government infantry units for balance, another two or three of those will give me enough for a first 1745 Sharp Practice game.  It's been a long road since 2018, but it feels like real progress.

Bagot's Hussars

Another unit for the Jacobites. This time 'Bagot's Hussars' also known as the 'Scotch Hussars'. They saw a lot of action in the '45, and were used extensively as scouts. They are by no means battlefield cavalry, but as the Jacobites were very short of cavalry, it's probably appropriate to model them, rather than a unit of FitzJames, which would be better than the Government Dragoons. It would be a little odd if the Jacobites had superior cavalry!

The figures, like virtually every other one in the army, are from Flags of War. The forces are creeping up in size. 

The initial plan was:

 This has now changed because I added in a few extras... 

So progress is steady...

Here's the latest, plus a couple of mounted leaders, Colonel Anne MacIntosh and Lord George Murray.

And here's the lot...  so far. Bottom right is the next group (12) of Highlanders that is underway. I must check in with Stiu to see how he is going with his 'Sausagemen'.

Roll Out the Barrel's

The first sort of 'straight' Government unit rolls (slowly) off the production line. Barrel's (4th) Regiment of Foot. A perennial favourite of wargamers, they famously suffered the heaviest casualties of any Government unit at Culloden. As usual, figures and flags from Flags of War.

Disappointingly, a varnishing incident has resulted in frosting on the left side of the flags, but I think I can rescue that. 

The one point to note is that the cuff lace on the FoW figures is the 'gate' type, whereas Barrel's wore a sort of spine and feathers arrangement. A certain type of wargamer would have filed the lace off and painted in the correct style. Clearly I am not that type of wargamer.

The full unit arrayed. For Sharp Practice, 3-4 groups of 8 (if regular infantry) are commonly grouped together under a single leader, or leader and sub-officer/sergeant. Adding a command base allows me to field a 'regiment' for differently scaled rules. 

What's this 'column' thingy then?

Hat company rear.