Night Attack on the Shilohwaddy, and the Navy's here!

Back to Burma for this posting.

Japanese assault troops.  Classic light infantry; you don't always need a lot of heavy weaponry for a good game.

Since March there has been a dearth of posts, and indeed of gaming.  This was down to the usual culprits; work and family commitments, visa renewal hoop-jumping, and even getting back into playing jazz on the bass guitar again (a change is as good as a rest).

But the urge was there, and I had been hankering for some kind of game.  Finally, after lengthy negotiations Matt and I were able to get together in late June for a Bolt Action Burma Bash at my place.

This was followed a few weeks later by a small Napoleonic engagement, of which more in a future post.

The Bolt Action game saw another victory for my fearsome IJA; yet again with a little help from my (evidently bolshie) friends in the Royal Artillery.

The first idea was to play another game in a long running and very intermittent Kokoda Trail campaign, only to realize that I didn't have the necessary mule teams painted  in time for the game.  

So instead I thought we would turn once again to that indispensable source of inspiration, the scenarios contained in Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames.

We have played many scenarios from OHWG so far, both with our Dark Ages and Napoleonic armies, but this was the first time to use it for WW2 and Bolt Action.

The scenario we are running was #27, Disordered Defense, and was inspired by the Battle of Shiloh of all things, with the Japanese taking on the role of the Confederates.

We dispensed with any point-based army lists for this one- we simply didn't need them, as the orbats were specified in the scenario (although tweaked around a bit to make it more suitable for Bolt Action).  

This would be an infantryman's fight; no tanks or vehicles.  My Japanese would have three, ten-man veteran units (squads in BA terms) plus a medium mortar (with spotter) and a command team.

These stalwarts would be pitting themselves against three regular Commonwealth squads (my customary opponents, Matt's fictional King's Own Academicals), a command team, and another infantry squad, this one made up of veteran Gurkhas.  In support was a Vickers MMG, along with a spotting team for the "free" artillery barrage that the Commonwealth troops get in BA.  

The Commonwealth have two units on table at the start of the game, the rest come in later, on turn #8.  All the Japanese enter the table at the south edge in turn #1, moving lengthwise across the table to the towards their objective, a crossing over a meandering stream, located not far from the northern table edge. 

Our mission- clear the area south of the crossing of Allied troops, and have at least one unit on the northern side of the stream by the end of turn #15.

The table was considered all jungle except for 25mm on either side of the huts, roads and the stream. Jungle was soft cover, and any jungle terrain pieces were considered particularly dense patches that were impassable, and which would block line of sight.

No running, so maximum movement was six inches. For a charge, a run had to be declared, but the distance moved would still be only six inches (you just try running across a new growth jungle floor one day, and see how far you get).

The stream was deemed fordable all along its length, being in effect a very wet road (albeit one infested with leeches).

To add some spice to the proceedings, I thought we would have the action take place at night, using the rules given in the Empire in Flames supplement.  

We selected the Flare! variant, so every turn we were to have rolled a dice; on a four or more, a flare would have illuminated the battlefield with no need for spotting rules for that turn. This in fact never happened, for the simple reason that we kept forgetting to roll the dice. 

Next time.

The two fences simply marked where the two Commonwealth units that began the game on table would be.

The crossing.  If there were any British troops left on the south (lower) side of the fordable river by turn 15, it would be a Commonwealth victory.  Otherwise the Japanese would win.

The game kicked off with the Japanese making a general advance; one squad on the left, another going up along the left of the road, and the third inching its way towards the squad on our right. 

Stealth and speed, men!

The plan was to take out the spotter team, and then use one squad to flank the British in Zone 2, while our right-hand squad would try to work its way around the British left flank and hopefully take them in a crossfire.

As it turned out, the Royal Artillery saved us the bother.

Major Bloodnock sees the advancing Japanese- and promptly loses his (blue?) bottle...

Major Bloodnock, RA; an officer whose hat is worth a good 10,000 men on the field of battle- to the enemy, that is.  This worthy gentleman once more proved himself to be mathematically challenged- if not, in fact, an outright fifth-columnist.

Matt rolled an outcome that saw me able to place the dice where I saw fit.  Of course, I placed it plumb smack in the middle of his forward infantry squad. 

Gulp...

The subsequent roll did not miss, and a hail of Sheffield steel rained down -again- on his hapless infantry. 

Matt’s reaction, I have to say, was remarkably stoic. I would have been cursing the Gods. This was the third time an artillery barrage had ended up not just falling on friendly heads, but in effect had put the kibosh on his chances of victory. 

"All out..."

I don’t think the King’s Own Academicals could any longer be quartered in the same province as RA troops, let alone the same barracks, given the bad blood that must now exist between them. 

If I were a gunner I’d be hiding my arm of service badges.

"'Ere, they've buggered off!"

"So they 'ave- they've scarpered!"

It’s rumored that Major Bloodnock’s last reported sighting was in a small village in rural Bolivia, working as an itinerant musician and selling souvenir reed-pipes.

Battle-hardened Japanese troops move up in the night, bugles blaring and reeking of sweat, shit, and sake.

"Almost there!"

Eyes on the prize, lads...

The Japanese set up a position overlooking the crossing.

Rather remarkably, my mortar team actually hit something, landing some rounds on the British Vickers team lurking in a hut, and managing to take out a number of its crew.  

Mortars are largely ineffective in BA terms when compared to other weapons, as targets rarely stay still long enough for the mortars to range in on them.  But this time the boys did good.

By the end of turn #13, victory was in sight.  The area south of the crossing had been cleared of the enemy; I had destroyed his Vickers MG, taken out his C/O team, and sent a much-depleted squad back across the river where it pretty much cowered for the rest of the game.  

My right-flank squad repels an attack after a fierce firefight,  Next turn it will cross the stream and dig in behind the copse on the lower right.

Getting one's boots wet for Victory and the Emperor.

My own squad followed the foe over the river and got an essential toe-hold on the north side of the crossing.  

So far things were going exceedingly well for the Japanese, but any potential success would be thrown away if the Commonwealth forces got as much as one unit on the south side of the river, thus giving them the victory.

With one squad routed, and another reduced to a terrified cadre cowering in the underbrush, Matt had just two full-strength squads left in play by this time.  

One of these was a squad of regulars, who after entering the table on turn #8, mysteriously just kind of holed themselves up in a hut and passed their time brewing cuppas and swatting mosquitoes.  Either they were waiting to see if the war might suddenly come to a convenient end, or else they were trusting in Matt's other remaining squad to pull His Majesty's chestnuts out of the tropical fire.

Underemployed, underpaid, under pressure-  but in no great hurry.

This other squad were the Gurkhas.

These were veteran (in the rules as written they always are), and had been placed on ambush not more than two moves away from being able to cross to the other side of the stream, so they were a real danger.

I decided that I could afford to have one squad gutted if it meant drawing the teeth from this very menacing threat, so resolved to move up against them by ordering my squad into the river- out of cover but well within spotting distance of the enemy- and then Banzai! charge them.

As is, of course, the done thing when you are playing the Japanese.

Of course I’d lose a lot of men to incoming fire and melee; but if I could shave the strength of the Gurkha squad down by even just a third to a half, my neighboring full-strength squad should be able to make short work of the survivors.

As it turned out, I bit off somewhat more than I could comfortably chew.

Kukris of Kryptonite.

Gurkhas; tough troops, a good fighting reputation, and certainly deserving in being set somewhat apart from their compatriots in arms.

But damn it, Warlord has turned them into a veritable Nepalese Death Star- on steroids. Gurkhas scornfully kick sand right into Chuck Norris' face- and he hasn't the guts to stop them. 

In close combat they are pretty much indestructible. I halve my attack numbers; they double theirs. And did I mention they are always veterans?

Now had I known- I don't have a copy of the Armies of Great Britain supplement- I would probably have done things differently.  Suggesting we finish early and go out for a beer instead, for example. 

But I had committed myself to the charge; and in my profoundly misplaced confidence I duly advanced my squad across the stream, the men lustily screaming out Banzai!! 

All of which clearly didn't seem to unduly trouble the Gurkhas. 
 

"てんのへいか、ばんざい!"

The Gurkha's CO gives his orders...

Before even getting into contact I had lost almost half of them to uncommonly accurate incoming fire.  

Ouch.

And just to add insult to injury, it was about the only time the whole game Matt rolled anything better than an average result.

"Oh, SHIT!!!"

When the battered survivors actually got into contact, it just got worse.  

Much worse.  

"Draw your KUKRIS!"

You wouldn't believe the amount of melee dice Matt could roll; while I, of course, had to reduce my own pitiful number of dice by half.

By the time the double-whammy of melee had been worked out I had lost the squad.

The-whole-damned-entire squad.

"Well, THAT was quick!"

The Ghurkas had gotten away with barely a scratch- although it was later determined that Lance Naik Thadapur Rai had, in fact, lost a fingernail while carelessly slamming home a fresh clip into his Lee-Enfield in all the excitement.  

Even Matt, while enjoying what was in effect the only ray of sunshine to illuminate Commonwealth fortunes throughout the game, thought that this was way over the top. So by mutual agreement, the next time they see action the Gurkhas are going to be de-fanged. 

They will still be fearsome, but forcing a morale check with some kind of modifier- especially when getting up close and personal with a kukri- should be enough, without necessarily turning them into a squad of crazed Nepalese Terminators.

Nevertheless, and at the cost of being lavish with the blood of the Emperor’s devoted servants, at least we did buy time.  The Gurkhas had been held up a turn repelling the Japanese attack, and it was clear that the clock was fast running out for them to actually get across the river and set themselves up on the south bank.

Too little, too timid- and far too late.

So despite having to put up with that unpleasant little speed bump, by the end of the 15th and final turn the Gurkhas were still north of the stream.  That meant I had successfully expelled the enemy from the area south of the crossing, with a squad of my own infantry dug in on the northern side.  

The game had ended in an undisputed Japanese victory.

But I couldn’t help but think that had the Gurkhas been in play right from the start, positioned well forward so as to start inflicting damage from the get-go, and if the Royal Artillery officers hadn’t failed their "A" levels math examinations, then the outcome may well have been different. 

At least it would have given me a lot more worries.

Had my squads been carved up early in the game, having three regular units coming on in turn eight against a mauled Japanese attacking force meant that the outcome would have matched that of Shiloh much more closely.

As it was, the butcher’s bill for the fight was quite lopsided; I inflicted twenty-six casualties (with a bit of help from the RA, admittedly), and in turn only lost thirteen. Mind you, ten of these were as a result of me having unwittingly thrown that one squad into the Gurkha wood-chipper.

Although it must be said that the Dice Gods were clearly favouring rice and raw fish over bully beef and chapattis this day.

And it wasn't Matt's best game.  Matt is a great opponent; a real gent and sportsman, he never gives up.  He possesses considerable tactical acumen, nerve, and is a dangerous and challenging opponent on the wargaming table.  

But this time he was having very much an off day, and playing uncharacteristically cautiously.  I think that when he at his usual form, he would have given me much more a run for my money.

One thing we realized is just how tough it is to take out veterans. Regulars have a hard time against them- I can’t imagine what possible good inexperienced troops would be, unless to provide a meat shield. 

Put them in fortifications, and with a larger number of weapons being fired downrange, and I suppose they have their uses. Probably historical, but I wouldn’t want to be in their field boots.

A great game with never a dull moment.  The night fighting rules worked well, and like all the scenarios in OHWG the game went right to the wire, regardless of the era being played.  That book is simply excellent value for the money. 

This was how I like my Bolt Action games to play.  Infantry-focused, lots of suppressing, flanking and movement, and all the time facing historical opponents over historically plausible terrain.  

Neither Matt nor myself are fans of those games where you pick an arbitrary point limit, create a list, and end up fighting ahistorical opponents over ahistorical terrain.  A lot of people here like to play games like that- in fact it's often unavoidable given the variety of different wargames armies out there- and that's absolutely fine. But it's just not our thing.

And it doesn't mean we're about to drop everything and take up CoC.   

For a start, the issue of point costs have just never come up in our games as we tend to play scenario-driven games, using points as a way to get some approximate parity of forces without feeling any need to scrutinize lists.  Terrain, experience, and the vagaries of luck often negate any attempt at balancing force composition anyway.

And as the mechanics of BA are fundamentally sound, they will take a good amount of tweaking.  Something jars with the rules as written? Then we decide what would work, and agree to change 'em for the next time round.  Then we just get on with the game.  

I've always approached my wargames like that, and I always will.

We're having a ball.

*****

Now on to some recent hobby acquisitions. 

I now have a Japanese “fleet” on the slipway, ready to patrol the Irrawaddy against Matt’s Commonwealth forces.

One is an unusual but sleek-looking armoured motor patrol boat, an AB-Tei Type C.  Just the thing for covering a Japanese supply convoy along the coast, and considerably well-armed for it's size.

The gunboat is a hefty model given its length, but the resin is both light and high-quality, the casting flawless. A simply beautiful model of an interesting, useful and off-beat subject.  

The second craft is a small landing boat.

The landing boat is indeed designed just for carrying personnel and supplies. Barrage have the Sherman pictured above with several different models, just to give an idea of scale.

I anticipate a craft full to the gunwales with a squad of infantry, patrolling along the coast, and ready to go inland and search for pesky coast watchers or bailed-out Allied aircrew, while the gunboat provides any fire support as needed.

Barrage also do a very nice model of a Daihatsu landing craft, which can carry a Japanese tank, but that one is for a future order. Generally, though, I tend to do better when I don't rely on armoured vehicles. Give me an additional squad of fanatics with bayonets, loaded to the gills with seishin and sake, any day of the week.

Based in Spain, Alf at Barrage was really helpful. Initially I had to email him, as his site wasn’t set up to receive orders from Japan. He replied within minutes, and after an exchange of e-mails he soon fixed things so I could order online.  I had mentioned that we have an active Bolt Action community here, and he sent me a .pdf file of his rules for using gunboats and other riverine craft. 

The models arrived much sooner than I had expected, and to add to my satisfaction, I found he had thrown in a model of a Shinyo kamikaze motorboat as well.

I can easily imagine a raid on a small harbour installation by British commandos trying to destroy it before it could cause any havoc with an Allied amphibious landing.  It would make a great scenario for Bolt Action. 

So I couldn't have asked for more.  Barrage is simply a great vendor to deal with, and with a lot of exciting models in the catalogue. 

http://www.barrageminiatures.com 

Highly recommended. Go, Navy!

*****

Away from Bolt Action and the Far East, but staying with WW2, I also got myself a box of plastic Italian tanks in 15mm for my North Africa project, but more on that in the future. 

Some breakfast for the Matildas.

Lorenzo's Rams sounds suspiciously like it should be the name of some gay porn flick from the 1980's, but the vehicles themselves are nicely moulded and easy to put together.  The box came with a free set of FoW rules, too. 

I played the first edition of FoW way back in 2003 with Kris, my late and much-missed friend, while visiting him in Frankfurt.  We were using his 1940 French and German models in 20mm.  The game was fun, and we had no issues with parking-lots full of fender-to-fender tanks.

Next up, a report on a Napoleonics game that I had with Giovanni here the other day.

First FUBAR competition come and gone!

Time for an update. There has been a lot of gaming, purchasing, painting, and just idle daydreaming on all things hobby related since my last post.

Everything except blogging, which is simply because I spend much more time on the iPad these days than I do on the computer, and Blogger isn't very tablet-friendly. 

Japanese SL in Russki livery.  The train made choo-choo noises- what more could a gamer ask for?

Anyway, here is an account of my mixed fortunes at FUBAR, our first ever Bolt Action tournament held way back on the 1st of October, and held at the community centre at Seiseki-sakuragaoka here in the west of Tokyo.

I have to be honest and admit that I actually enjoyed it much more than I ever thought I would. I had never played in a tournament before, in fact I've tended to be quite suspicious of them in the past, due to those stories you hear out there of overly-competitive, unwashed basement dwellers who delight in sucking the fun and energy out of gaming.  

Now that's unfair stereotyping to be sure, but I had never been much for competitive play, preferring my games to be scenario-driven, firmly grounded in at least some historical context, and played against plausible historical opponents.  

I'd heard horror stories about tournaments where one finds Japanese flame-thrower teams darting around the front lines in Kurogane field cars, or unlikely mixed platoons of SS, paratroopers, and- for all I know- COBRA troopers; win-at-all-costs power gamers busy mini-maxing points with not even a cursory nod towards historical plausibility.  

Each to their own, but I wanted nothing to do with that scene.

But I needn't have worried.  There were no such excesses evident, the air was redolent of soap, and as a change from my usual gaming fare it actually proved a nice break.  

It turned out being a very enjoyable tourney, with great people to game with.  There was loads of enthusiasm, with everyone playing to win but not wanting to do so at the expense of everyone having a good time.  Lots of good humour and nobody taking it all too seriously.  

In fact it was surprising just how much we were all able to learn about the finer points of the rules through accessing the group's "hive mind", especially given the range of experience when it came to playing Bolt Action.

In my case, all my experience had been against Matt's Far East British, so I was not at all confident about my chances.  I duly managed to come in 9th out of a table of 12! 

But better than I thought I would, given that the Japanese would be up against all manner of Axis and Allied mechanized nastiness.

For a one-off day of gaming I can live with any of the historical anachronisms, and I have to say I really like the second edition of the Bolt Action rules, which seem to play much better than the first edition. Hurrah to that extra dice for LMG's and MMG's.

We had five, very nice tables laid out for the games. 

Jungle table- The sun doesn't shine in jungle; neither did my IJA.

 

Giovanni was responsible for this rather nice desert table.  This was much more to my men's liking on the day.

Fear, loathing, and weirdness in Peenemunde

My mountain fort finally saw combat!  I didn't have the chance to play on this table, though.

Psyche Ops.

I liked this one; very "Market Garden-y".

I had decided to risk all and go for what was very much a light infantry force. No tanks or vehicles. Japanese armour would most likely get toasted by anything the Germans or Soviets could bring to the party, so why bother?

Instead, I would spend the points on what was my army's strength; being able to throw wave after wave of good-quality infantry, in large squads of twelve or more, straight at the enemy and to get in close with the bayonet.  And shrugging off any pins or casualties, as was the done thing.  

With just about all my troops being fanatics, no one can better my IJA as far as force morale goes.

I've been gaming long enough to realize that numbers often count, both in being able to absorb casualties and in the number of dice to be rolled; the more dice, the more things average out.  Just being able to roll a dozen dice in a firefight means I'm bound to hit something, let alone unleashing them in a Banzai! charge.

So in the end I went for a very vanilla infantry platoon- straight by the book. My only luxuries were a sniper team, a suicide A/T team, a 70mm light howitzer in support- and the combat debut of my new pointy stick guys- bamboo spearmen.  

To be honest I doubt the historicity of being able to field spearmen in separate squads.  In reality, it's most likely that any army troops finding themselves reduced to having to wield spears instead of rifles would have been skeletal, emaciated, malaria-ridden, poorly-supplied waifs, so it seems to me that having them as a separate troop type seems kind of gamey  (as, I suppose, they were...).  

But for game purposes, they would do; I could get a lot of them, and they were as cheap-as-chips. 

When first putting together the list, I had most of what I needed except for that squad of bamboo-spear armed infantry and  70mm light gun. These were ordered, and came mercifully quickly from Warlord Games.

The morning of the tournament I was knackered, having been up until 2 o'clock the previous night furiously trying to get them ready for the day (some things never change...).  I probably could have had them fully finished, had I not decided to break out the epoxy putty and do a few conversions, which took time.

 

So I ended up just block painting them, with no shading or highlights, so I knew they wouldn't be winning any painting prizes. But at least they were table ready, and after the game I would take my time to dip them, go over the highlights, and tart up the bases.

I'd rather do it this way then try to do a rush job with the basing just for the sake of the competition.

On to the tournament.  I played three games, all against people I've never played against before; all were good sports, and everything went smoothly, with very little in the way of rules clarification or refereeing needed. 

*****

First round, and I ended up being butchered badly in a face-off against a platoon of Soviet combat engineers- and that in what should have been my natural habitat, jungle terrain. 

Faulty tactics and deployment on my part- my opponent was more focused on the objective.  I dithered around, and I paid the price.  Some nasty hand to hand combat was to take place, so it was no bloodless walkover; but it still came to an end rather embarrassingly quickly!

 

Reach out and touch someone- with a T-34/76.

Sub-machine guns; don't leave home without 'em.

The only army I really fear is the Russians. My strength is in the number of infantry I can field, and the Soviets can match as many boots on the ground as I can- and have exponentially better quality tanks and support kit, even if their morale can be suspect.

And I'm here to tell you that their veteran SMG squads are fearsome things.

Chalk one up for International Bolshevism.  

***** 

Next round, and I went on to again lose the second game, this time fought over a Russian factory complex against- as one does- a reinforced platoon of the Afrika Korps. 

It was a lovely table, and a challenging scenario.  And did I mention that the IJA didn't have any AA assets?

 

Still, I only lost by a very slim margin due to my opponent being smarter than me meeting the scenario conditions first.  

This despite the fact that not only had I managed to thumb my nose at his Pz-II, but that I had actually ended up dishing out more casualties than I received- admittedly helped in part by a DAK "own goal" from its own air support. 

Shades of Matt and his Royal Artillery, as regular readers of this blog will remember.

Fear not, the train was just a static wreck.

Humiliation came in the form of Erik's DAK sending a motorcycle combo down the flank of the table, where I had nothing to counter it.  Thus he was able to seize the objective and hold it right up to the point when time up was called. 

Didn't see the Hun in the sun.  Be sure to check your six next time, Robato-san.

 

The spearmen did manage to wipe out a squad of over-confident Jerries.

Damn these internal-combustion engines, anyway.

Quite unsporting, and just the thing I would have done had I had the chance! Next time I will get my bicycle squad painted.

Erik was a great opponent, and despite the disappointing outcome the game was a lot of fun.  And it was fought against a good-looking army; I have to admit I find myself tempted to do a DAK force one day.

*****

The third and last game, fortunately, was much more to my liking; a delicious triumph, one against none other than the much-vaunted late war Germans.  And what's more it was largely won by my bamboo spear-armed, inexperienced troops at that. 

 

By this time I had gotten into my stride. In the second game I had figured out how better to coordinate my all-infantry force, and this scenario, coupled with a relatively open desert(!) terrain, allowed me to play boldly and aggressively.

Despite being pitted against a late Wehrmacht army armed to the teeth with assault rifles and other nasties, the Japanese launched an assault that ended up wiping out two German squads plus a Nebelwerfer, and in doing so the spearmen- underfed, malodorous, yet valorous-  led the Japanese army on to victory!  

Banzai! indeed.

It helped that James, for all his high-tech Teutonic instruments of frightfulness and death, had no tanks- or any armour at all- with which to crush Imperial Japanese dreams. 

 

I had dreaded the prospect of facing just a Pz-III, let alone a late-war nasty such as a Pz-IV or Panther.   I've had enough trouble in the past with Matt's M3 Lee-Grant.  Against a Panther I would have been Kat food; all I had was my suicide A/T squad. 

Fortunately, they were to remain under-employed, holed up in a small building and no doubt relaxing with a few games of Go, or getting in a bit of Karaoke practice.

 

Through the swamp and on to the Nebelwerfer!

Loved James' dice bag; luckily this was the nearest thing he had to a Panther or Tiger.

It was evident to the both of us that with the Japanese being fanatics, the opposing player has to destroy all my squads virtually to the last man, as they rarely rout.

This meant that while the enemy is having to take two turns or more concentrating fire from several of his own units to try and actually wipe mine out, I was able to leapfrog my larger, relatively unscathed squads around the rest of the table, flanking weapons teams and mopping up his smaller squads here and there in hand-to-hand combat and/or firefights. All the time adding more victims (and victory points) into the bag.

Love it when a plan- finally- comes together.  Third time lucky.

*****

A great way to spend the day.  There were some wonderful modelling and painting in evidence, good sportsmanship in spades, and it was clear that everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves- really positive vibes all round.   

We had an excellent turnout, and both Giovanni and James Kelly did a fantastic job organizing the day- many thanks to both of them for their hard work.

On top of all that, we were also able to recruit a new player for our Napoleonic games as well, so all in all it well worth attending.  I'm looking forward to the next one.

In the meantime, it's more Napoleonics at my place on Dec. 10th.  Need to get some painting in.