Little Omaha (15mm PBI) at Nijmegen

As a Club we were asked to put a game on at the Skirmish show (a local show which is on twice a year) the organiser does try to theme each show. And this time he wanted  Arnhem. The only problem is no one at the club has any British paras of this period. I have some 15mm US Paras and Graham has both British and German so we had a quick look at a few other options and Nijmegen was selected as while not at Arnhem it is still part of the race to  Arnhem by 30 Corps and in this instance the 82nd Airborne.  (Here is a link if you are unfamiliar with the battle LINK ) But I suspect you are.

Peter Player the Germans. I played the US Parkas and Tim Played 30 Corps.
Pete Set up first and selected 2 20mm FLAK wagons as his option.

I had 2 Platoons to cross the river and capture the far end of the bridge.
here my troops move forward with canvas boats and a Sherman in support.

Fearing Tim would not push for the bridge too much
AND
because I was a little scared of crossing the river in Canvas boats with 2
Flak Wagons defending the river.
I sent 1 of my platoons into the town.

Peter was stopping Tim from advancing
so I managed to close assault one of the Town Squares.
It was a success, but a costly one.

The British get gunned down as they approach the town.
I said at the start that Tim needed to put a tank in that square.
Yes it would have made it vulnerable to Paserfausts
BUT the square would at least be Partial cover.
As you can see he did not.

The Square of Death in the town
My Paras in the town are shot at by 3 surrounding square and while they do
take the pressure from Tims advance
As far as he was concerned not quite enough

Elsewhere I have crossed the river with 1 platoon and destroyed the two Flak Wagons,
But not fast enough and  with little cover advancing on the other side of the river towards the
bridge is perilous.

Tim Rushes this side of the bridge and captures one end.

The last move of the game (we were on a countdown clock)
Tim rushes a lone Sherman towards the far end of the bridge.

But it is too little to late.


 

Conclusion: Do not put me and tim in charge of attacks across a river. we both dithered to much instead of pressing on which we both should have done. Peter was a demon on the count down clock and the game ended on turn 5 when it should have lasted on average until turn 7. If It had lasted until turn 7 I think we may have done it, but the Germans managed to blow the bridge so we will never know and 30 corps were delayed somewhat longer than they were in real life.

Over all it was a good fun game and Peter did play well while I dithered and worried about troop losses. While it is easy to point the figure at other players, IF I had just gone for it and gotten both Platoons across the river a different game would have resulted.

But overall Fun.

The big thing I did muck up though was when I left my house in the morning I took my box of Normal US troops and left my Paras at home. (A slap head moment in the car when I realised) so we played with the US troops acting as Paras. Other than me pointing it out I do not think anyone would have noticed. So I think I would have gotten away with it. But I put my hands up and admit I actually forgot 5 different things on the way to that show. The troops being one of them.

A Few More BUF

Yes back on a VBCW for a little,. You might be thinking I wimped out about the Skirmish show Battle report. And the truth is I suppose I have. Which is not to say I will never do it, but I just wanted to break up the waffle with some painting.

I think these are all Musketeer Miniatures, but if you know better please correct me. One medium or heavy machinegun (depending on which rules) an NCO commanding the gun and an officer commanding a bow tie.

I do have a few more to come, so maybe on Friday or Sunday. All depends on what live throws at me.

They are of course painted for Matt and his ever growing collection. But I shall be back to colonial stuff before too long.

Thanks for looking today. All the best Clint

Autumn Skirmish Show report.

I was having one of those days I had forgotten 5 things, or more rather I had remembered 5 things I had forgotten pertinent to the show on the car ride up to Sidcup. I may well have forgotten a few more but 5 I can recall. Luckily I did remember my name, some money, a packed lunch and mostly what I wanted to buy if the right traders were there. The bad news is most of the traders I wanted were not there. One of the traders was their BUT he had sold out of what I wanted and was not getting any more! So for Shopping I will need to wait until SELWG at Crystal Palace.

But here is what I did buy. (Let's get that out of the way first). 1 pot of paint from Tolehaven. and One OH6 "Loach" Model from a mate (Thanks Ian) and yes I did get a discount. The helicopter was an impulse buy but I can always use stuff for my Vietnam Project in 20mm scale. And that gives me 4 helicopters I have yet to build. I hope to do them in the AHPC later this year, but I will need to buy some crew first. So Total spend was only £6.20

Right on with the games. (A couple of games are missed out just because I did not like them,... call it editing)

Tonbridge Wargames Club/Society

28mm Bolt Action

Part of operation Market Garden

Herne Bay/Whitstable Club

I think 20mm  Napoleonic not sure what rules.

Medway Wargames Club.
28mm American war of Independence
Or As I like to think.
Traitorous Colony Scumbags
Betray the King
(Honest I am not Bias!)

Using the "To the Strongest" rules.
 Just because they work better than some rules
specifically for the period.

Gravesend Gamers Guild
Space Marines Vs Chaos
40K

Nuff said.




Hornchurch Club Playing Guildball.
Looks nice and a fun game, but I for one do not need any distractions.

Old Guard Wargames Club
(I Know at least 2 Old Guard wargames Clubs
so this may not be the ones you think!)

Not sure of the scale the rules
or what the two sides were
BUT
I do know they were enjoying it!

I will do a report on the Game we put on later this week. By We I do mean the Rainham wargames club. But if you want a sneak peek pop over to Ray's Blog and the kind mister Rousell willgive you some clues. Here is a link (http://onelover-ray.blogspot.co.uk/) he claims his blog was never called "One Lover!" I think Google thinks different!