BLACK POWDER NAPOLEONICS

Cullison's Cards & Games, Jonesboro, AR

 

Great new store in town.  For anyone near Jonesboro, a visit to Cullison's is highly recommended!

 

Our scenario for today is that a French advance guard brigade of Marshal Grouchy's forces is moving north towards Wavre.  They are tasked with forcing a passage for follow on units to proceed past the small village by the river bridge and on off of the board along the road.

 

They hit a Prussian Landwehr Regiment hard the previous afternoon, forced its survivors to fall back out of their path, and bivouacked next to a small farm area.  Water, firewood, some rooms and beds for the officers, and a few chickens for the pots!  What a great place to stop for the night.  Grouchy get into a hurry?  Non! 



 

The Landwehr fall back to a defensive position and prepare to sell their lives dearly.

 

 

Both sides' OBJECTIVE is the road junction, and to hold it they must have forces in the areas marked A and B that can bring effective fire onto the road junction and interdict troops moving along it.   

 

Marching overnight "to the sound of the guns", a Prussian regiment reinforced with a field gun and companies of Volunteer Jager Riflemen move forward with orders to stop the French advance. 

 

Leutnant Scharf and Feldwebel Hopfer of the Jagers lead their riflemen forward!

 

The French 51st Regiment of the Ligne don't know it yet but they will cover themselves in glory in the upcoming battle.

 

But the 1st of the 13th Legere?  Ehhhhh.. not so much!  :)

 

The French seize the initiative and the 51st Ligne advances on the French right.  The 1st goes rocketing off to the woods, assumes skirmish order due to the terrain, and threatens to hold position A.  The rest of the 51st advance to threaten the Landwehr 's position.

 

The "Grumpy Old Men" of the Landwehr put up a TREMENDOUS fight, passing 3 separate morale checks, then using their auto-pass for being "Grumpy", until finally being destroyed in melee by the 2nd of the 51st Ligne.   



 

The 2nd of the 51st destroys a Prussian cannon with a brave charge through the canister.  VIVE L' EMPEREUR!

 

 

It then destroys the Landwehr, as mentioned, as well as destroying a Prussian Fusilier battalion.  Great job 2nd of the 51st!

 

 

The Prussian Musketeers and Jagers move around the right to secure position B and the Road Junction OBJECTIVE then begin hammering the French left with cannon, musket, and rifle fire.  The 1st of the 13th Legere, having taken its sweet time advancing to the front, fails its first morale test and flees the field in ignominy.  MERDE! 

 

 

The Prussians begin pushing onto the hill and into the woods to force the French back from position A to secure their victory.  

 

The battle swings back and forth until, the enemy units finally weakened, the Prussian Musketeers charge into the woods and destroy all except a single field gun and our heroes of the gallant 2nd of the 51st Ligne, which are forced to fall back.  Victory to Marshal Vorwarts' Children!

 

My buddy Brad played very well in his first game of BLACK POWDER Napoleonics and I think we put the hook in to see him join us for another game soon!  :)

FLAMES OF WAR

1500 pt LW Tank Fight at

Cullison's Cards and Games

Jonesboro AR

 

My buddy Shawn and I had a chance to throw down a US vs. German tank battle today.  Used the FREE FOR ALL format but really weren't going for any objectives.. just smash face tank fighting in the peaceful(?) French countryside.

 

I had a M10 TD Platoon's Security Section lurking on my left, the CO with a 3 tank Sherman platoon (mixed 75mm and 76mm guns) Alamo'd up with him on a wooded hill, my XO with another mixed Sherman platoon off to their right, and Stuart light tanks over on my far right.

 

 

Unfortunately, my Armored Recovery Vehicle was kept busy un-bogging tanks in the woods during the game!

Shawn had Recon halftracks on his left, two Tigers in the middle with his Panther CO, and a Panther Platoon with Armored Aufklarung on his right.

 

Shawn pushes his Recce forward on his left and, on his right, his main attack develops with Gepanzerte Auflkarung moving up supported by Panthers.

 

I respond with an Air Strike by P-47 Thunderbolts that nails a halftrack full of troops and a Panther, as well as popping my M10 ambush to engage the Panthers and moving up right side mixed Sherman platoon for direct fire smoke at the Tigers to try to blind them.  How'd that all work out for me?  NOT SO GOOD!

 

The TD threat removed by the Panthers, and after having blown away the Sherman platoon that moved up and tried to hit them with direct fire smoke, the Tigers advance.

 

Other than killing the one Panther, my air let me down the rest of the game.  Here you can see the pitiful attempt to range in and hit both the Tigers with a 3 plane strike!  DOH!

 

The Stuarts, after having slaughtering the Recon halftracks, have raced across the board to support The Alamo position and begin killing Panthers with flank shots.  Wooohoooo!  :)

 

As the enemy closes in the hill position begins to be overrun but the Shermans move out to flank the enemy and kill another Panther before dying to Tiger fire.

 

Shawn's Tigers kicked butt all game!  They were throwing 6's on their To Hit rolls like he was playing YAHTZEE! and winning.  Ouch!

 

In a desperate bid to cross the river, flank the last Panther, and take it out before they died you can see how well my Stuart crews do at fording operations.  DOH!

 

Thanks for the fun game, Shawn!  Good to get the tanks and Panzers out of the box again.  :)



BLACK POWDER Napoleonics

Demo Game at

Cullison's Cards & Games, Jonesboro AR

 

 

 

Got a chance to demo some Napoleonics for some new friends this weekend with a short Hasty Attack scenario.  Will and Cody, pictured with me, and Matthew each got to enjoy a spirited introduction to 28mm Historical gaming.  The guys are veteran Warhammer players, so the principles of you go I go move shoot and melee were already in place.  Lot of fun to see their joy at trying out a new historical period for wargaming.

 

The scenario was simply made up to accommodate my current forces available on the Prussian side.  The layout was a fair to moderately dense area of terrain somewhere between Charleroi and Quatre Bras on the French/Belgium frontier.  Napoleon's forces are advancing to try to drive a wedge between the Allied forces of Wellington and Blucher so he can defeat each in detail.  Cavalry has bypassed the area for easier routes of advance, and the lead brigade of a French Advance Guard has made contact with a Regiment of Prussians that are part of their army's picket outposts.  The forces are well balanced, so it's about who maneuvers to concentrate combat power the best, as well as who the ever present Dice Deities favor!

 

 

Not much action in the first turn other than some ineffective long range cannon fire as the French advance all along the line, pushing their Legere battalion out to get set up on a wooded hill from a position to bring fire along the enemy right and center.  The Prussians return the favor by pushing their Fusilier battalion out to occupy a rock wall position in the center of their line.  The remaining Prussians wait to see how the enemy attack develops before maneuvering to meet it.



 

The Prussian commander has his Volunteer Jager riflemen screen his Musketeer battalions advance on his far right to support the Fusiliers and to meet the advancing French.  He leaves his Landwehr battalion and its supporting cannon in position on his far left.  The "grumpy old men" of the Landwehr punished the French attack on the Prussian middle and routed a French Ligne battalion with musket and cannon fire.  Blucher would be so proud of them! 

 

Things start to get very tense in the middle as the French close in on the Fusiliers behind their rock wall.  Pointblank volley fire leaves them Disordered and Shaken, just one casualty away from having to test morale, but the Fusiliers bravely stand their ground. 

 

The Prussian Jagers rout after being hit hard with musket and cannon fire.  The French Ligne and Prussian Musketeer battalions "toe the line" and pour point blank volley fire into each other.  Casualties are high but both forces hang on, relying on musket fire as the commanders are unwilling to charge an enemy until they are weakened to the point they can't effectively defend.



 

 

Finally, the French win the musket battle.  A Prussian Musketeer battalion routs and another one falls back Disordered and Shaken.  The Fusiliers can only watch as their right flank folds.

 

 

The French brigade commander attaches to a Ligne Battalion and carries them forward to finish off the Prussian Musketeers who fell back.  The Prussian right is broken, the Fusiliers and Landwether have to fall back to their left and rejoin their army, and Napoleon's troops have opened the way to Quatre Bras!

 

Great fight guys!



 Flames of War Mid War Tournament

WOLFKRIEG 2016

Hard Knox Games, Elizabethtown, KY

 

My Army for the Tourney -  US Armored Recon.  HQ, 3 Recon Patrols, Armored Rifles, Sherman Tanks with "Reb" Jackson, and M10 Tank Destroyers.  Fast, hit hard, lots of fun to play!

 

 

Did fine in my first round attacking Panzer Grenadiers with Nebelwerfers, Recon, Panzer III's and Marders in support.   Took on his Panzers with my Shermans and his Marders with my M10's and the .50 caliber MG's of my Recon platoons.  Lost a recon platoon but captured an objective for a 5-2 win.

 

Second round I got all caught up in the game and forgot to take pictures!  Attacking Italian Bersaglieri with German PaK 40's and Panzer IV's in support.  Mauled several of his platoons but didn't kill any, got all shot up and was sitting on the objective for a 4-3 win, but failed a platoon check and then the army check for a disappointing 1-6 loss.

 

Round 3 vs. my buddy Tom's Panzergrenadiers with Recon, Tigers, and Italian Semovente's in support.  Flung myself upon his middle objective where there were no infantry, but a Tiger and a Mk III awaits!

 

 

Lost my Shermans to a flank charge by the Italian Semovente's but pushed deep into his objective area.  Nailed his Mk III, could NOT kill the Tiger, but picked off his Recon for a 2-5 loss.  Great fight, Tom!

 

Day 2, Round 4 started off defending against a Tiger company with Grenadier, FlaK, and Nebelwerfer support.  Shermans racing in from Reserve come up behind his army and take out the Nebelwerfers.

 

M10's and Recon help to destroy his FlaK wagens and his Grenadier platoon.  He could not force my Armored Rifles, Dismounted Recon, and M10's off of an objective with just his Tigers so I ended up with a 6-1 win.

 

Round 5 was defending against a Panzer Kompanie with 88, FlaK, and Recon in support.  My Armored Rifles dug in on the forward objective, M10's ambushed, and destroyed his Mk III platoon.  Shermans finished off his FlaK and his Recon and he failed his army check. 6-1 win for me.

 

Finished up with 3 wins, 2 losses, and some really great games that were a lot of fun.  Wolfkrieg is one of my favorite tourneys as I get to see a lot of friends I don't see otherwise.  Looking forward to next year already!