Monday 20 October 2014

"The Dead don't take morale tests!"

As mentioned on Saturday I played a Russian Civil War wargame on Sunday at the club. And the title of the post today was something that for my part of the game was really fitting. £ players to a side, Colin Matt and Peter were the Reds. Tim graham and myself were the white army supported or I should say back by Britain financially.

Peter and Tim at the far end of the table, Matt and Graham in the middle and Colin and yours truly closest the cameras. The Rules were square bashing by peter pig and the White army was defending. As you look at the picture my forces are on the right and everything in the first 6 inches is waiting to come on the board so is not actually in the game yet (Most did not actually arrive at all for me, and never made it onto the board at all.) So all the White army troops are to the left of the road as far forward as the ruined building which was an objective.

The Reds Got a free move before the game started and the first move. Which put them right ontop of the ruin (objective). I had a regular unit and a Machinegun in the ruins and a tank behind. to my right was a militia conscript unit to my left a single machine gun.  I had reserves so I was confident I would hold out until they came forward. Yeah Right!
Tim Had troubles of his own as Peter attacked his command bunker. Graham did not! That's Grahams Cavalry charging the Red Infantry. Tim was able to beat Peters fist advance off and as I was in dire need with several elite (Professional) units against my ruin I was in deep do do! So Graham and Tim Kindly let me have the off table artillery fire this round (Very kind of them). I was lucky that it turned up mostly where I wanted it. Which stopped the Red advance for a turn.
But that only stopped them for a turn and Colin took the objective with relative ease. (The rotter). My troops were forced to withdraw batter into the town sector with the tank. Unfortunately they were too battered to counterattack straight away.
So Colin pressed the attack whipped out my Tank (Told you he was a rotter). And kicked me out of the village as well. See all my dead counters! My single Machine gun was rolling good dice though and managed to repulse the assaults on it for two turns. It was close but I was still holding on.
My entrenched Militia unit was assaulted and they run as fast  as Redrum well actually more like Shergar! (for those of us old enough to remember Shergar!) Tim has a solid position on the far right and Graham is causing trouble with his cavalry in the centre.
 And while Graham did loose one of the objectives he did win it back by the end of the game and had an uncomfortable habit of charging artillery in the flank. So I think he was having fun.
 So with 2 armoured cars and three infantry units attacking my decidedly average battered unit that had been pushed out of the ruin, then the village. My unit was pushed off of the board.
My plucky machine gunners were still holding on though. And time ran out before Colin (and Matt) were able attack them with the full force of his army which they were now able to do. I kept saying we'll call the game a draw and they kept declining! (I can't Blame them for that) and at the end of the game I had A SINGLE Machine gun stand in the game....Yeah come on then!

SO as Far as I am concerned it was a crushing defeat for me! And that's fair. I can't complain about it. I was out played and had bad luck .

As we packed the game up Graham worked out the victory points. Did he have to it really was rubbing salt into the wounds. Thanks Graham (What a git)!

Red army 42 Victory points.
White army 109 Victory points.

So I won! Did I really or is this just some cheesy ploy to make it sound better than it was?
Well as far as I am concerned I was beaten. But it turns out that because we had so few troops turn up and because Tim and Graham did well the white army won. Yippee!

To be honest I think I lost! No matter what the points say to the contrary!
Well Done Colin. You beat me fair and square no matter what the bean counters say!

Thanks for Popping by today. I have gotten something painted for Wednesday (Just got to base it now) so expect something Painted on Wednesday.

Cheers Guys don't let Monday bring you down and think of Crabzilla. The 50 foot crab ! 25 Miles from my house.
Ok It was a hoax but......... IMAGINE
Catch you all later.

23 comments:

  1. Great Batrep Clint and good to see that someone else shares my gaming luck (or is that skill) :-) Not tried Square Bashing myself but it does look like a nice game - though I'm a bit put off by the squares boardgame-esque style. What are your thoughts on it though? It seems to play quite smoothly. Thanks for posting.

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    1. Thanks Blax. Squares hmmm I must admit I was very anti them at first it did look and feel like a board game as you say. I have now come round to actually quite liking them. Not sure they will always work but it does make it clear how far you can move/shoot without getting a measure out, which I think the man/figure on the table top would actually be able to see for them self. I have mostly liked the ability to premeasure after all the man at the sharp end instinctively does so. The only thing I really have against it now is that the terrain can look stylised, but from a rules point of view I think it makes good sense and does stop quibbling over the last few milometers to reach or not reach cover. You are in the square you are in cover, not in the square, no dispute, not in cover.

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  2. Hehe cool battle report!

    All about having a good game. With no monster crabs!!!

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  3. Nice report Clint! Game looked a good one.

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  4. Great looking game - I am intrigued by the rules, which I've not tried before.

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    1. Thank you Dean. Starting this as a project would require 2 armies so you would need to be sure before spending time and money. But if you can pick them up on eBay I would get them to try.

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  5. Well, it's still a win for the team even if your forces were hit hard!

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    1. Yes but I did little to deserve it. My men were all extreme projectile acupuncture Targets.
      Thank you C6

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  6. I think you should of got a free monster crab to bring in on your side! Great report mate.

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    1. Thanks Simon. 50 foot crabs are not something I expect to see very often! Now a 50 foot zombie crab now that would be scary!

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  7. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat eh? That crabzilla picture made me giggle!

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    1. Crab-zilla, well that's Whitstable for you! The game was fun but anytime where you are left with a single stand on the board you have no right to claim it as any kind of Victory.

      Thank you Michael.

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  8. Now that's a crab - you'll need a lot of Old Bay to cook that one!

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    1. Just imagine the size of the pot it would need to go in! Thanks Miles.

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  9. A very enjoyable read, I like the choice of setting!
    I was quite surprised to see you refer to the royalists as a "white army". We refer to them as the "white guard" here. Nothing particular fascinating about it, but I had to point it out :D.

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    1. I will bow to your better knowledge. It is not a period I know very well at all. "White Guard" it shall be (until I forget). Thank you Mathyoo.

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  10. A victory... Hard fought by your poor overwhelmed troops... I like that...

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    1. I will not in my heart call this a victory. but I do appreciate you very kind words. It would be wrong to voice the possibility that Graham got some of the Victory points wrong. I am more confident that it is a fault in the rules.
      Thank you Dave.

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  11. Love it! What a win Clint! hehehe!

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    1. I will never count being down to 1 stand and the rest of your force being driven off a win. I made two very bad mistakes, not that either of them would have reversed the game, but it would have meant a less embarrassing defeat.
      Thank you Ray.

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  12. I don't think your army could afford many more victories like that - just saying.
    Great aar, but you did look like your were hung out to dry a bit from the start.

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    1. Thanks Joe One of the big mistakes I made was to start with too many fresh units off of the table when I had the option of getting slightly smaller wounded units on quicker. Still live and learn.

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