A Larger Sharp Practice Game AAR

We returned to Sharp Practice this week with the 40mm Peninsular collection.

I decided I wanted quite different forces and push the size of the units to see how it impacted the game. Quite a lot it turns out.

For our game Chris Charlton commanded two formations of 32 Spanish infantry each with 3 level 1 commanders to allow the unit to be broken up. He also had a Spanish heavy field gun and a troop of British Light Dragoons.

Steve meanwhile had a formation of 40 Hessians with 2 level 1 and 1 level 2 commanders plus 4 six man skirmish units each with a level 1 commander.

So 72 Spanish and 64 French.

The French/Hessian deployment point was next to the Villa in their own half of the table whilst the Spanish deployment point was on their own table edge. Each side needed to capture and hold the villa.

I also allowed 2 of the French skirmish units to deploy already on table to allow them to get into to position and have half a chance against the artillery.

I already had in my mind how this would play out, the British cavalry flanking left forcing the French to hive units off to keep them at bay, the Hessians occupying the Villa to use its walls as cover from the gun, the skirmishers nuibbling away at the advancing Spanish.

Probably not surprisingly none of that happened as the players had their own ideas.

First move the Hessians occupy a position between the villa and the woods to the right flank of the villa, two units of French skirmishers started to deploy into the Villa grounds, the other two to ruined walls either side.

The British Dragoons meanwhile deployed to their right flank and the gun to the open Spanish left flank with the infantry marching straight up the middle one formation behind the other.

As the French Voltiguers get into position behind the walls and ruins the French are almost deployed and a quick shot from the left flank unit empties a Light Dragoon saddle.

The Spanish are still sorting themselves out and slowly moving forward.

The Light Dragoons however get two sets of cards back to back and charge the Voltiguers.

The French stand firm and with the cover of the wall have almost as many dice in combat as the Cavalry.

The net result is the French lose just one Voltiguer and the Light Dragoons have two troopers dragged from their saddles, losing the melee they are forced to retreat.

The Spanish have got going, Chris sacrificing a cohesive line in order to just get forward.

The Light Dragoons take more casualties from skirmisher fire as they try to rally and eventually, down to three troopers from eight, they break.

Things may however be about to change as the Spanish heavy gun is deployed and made ready. Its first shot into the Voltiguers ont he French right wipes the unit out to a man

The Spanish are now at long range and the Hessians unleash a first volley supported by skirmishers and they are now inflicting casualties.

The Irish regiment responds with a volley of its own and the Green faced regiment passes through to fire its own volley.

At this point we start to see why such large units do less well in gaming terms as the casualties are spread over the formation and nobody seems to take enough hits for anything to happen for quite some time.

The game has devolved into an attritional firefight, the Spanish gun joins the slaughter but with the walls blocking visibility is not inflicting huge casualties on the Hessians.

40 Hessians and 18 skirmishers however are taking a toll on the front unit of Spanish, as the night closes there is an hour of play left but the outcome is not really in doubt and we declare a French/Hessian victory.

Its been great to get so many of the lovely 40mm figures on table and try a different game out. It does however highlight  a need for somethign different for larger games.

Lots of fun and thanks for bearing with me Chris and Steve.

Thanks for stopping by.

A bunch of Completed Based 1919-20 Figures and Buildings to Share

With some help from Chum Steve I have a whole bunch of completed figures and units to share with you.

These figures are all based around the Partizan potential demo games either for Poland or Mongolia both 1920. Mongolia looking most likely on the basis that most of the figures required are already done.

So filling in some gaps firstly a Russian Officer from the lovely STP range carried by Studio Siberia and more recently for the boxed sets by Empress. The Cherry Cap and black band mark him as an Officer of the General Kornilov shock division. In Mongolia he will simply be an White officer.

The Russians, both red and white, have relatively few Machine Guns so I am remedying that for the game, this one is unusual as its set up on its stand rather than its wheels. This is from the Empress range of figures which is becoming quite extensive now.

This Tchana for my Kuban Cossacks is a 3d printed model ery kindly gifted by chum Chris Charlton, many thanks Chris. I really enjoyed painting this.

I think it is marketed as a WW2 peice but works well enough for me for 1920.

For the Poles I have a second squadron of the Uhlans with yellow pennants and hat bands. Sorry I am not sure what unit they are but I have the unforms from mutliplle imgaes I have found.

The first squadron are nearly all old Renegade Germans on whatever horses I could find, many Redoubt from their Zulu war range, these are a mix of renegade and Scheltum on a mix of Scheltrum and Mutineer miniatures horses, which go well with each other given they are all based on the Ebob horses. The heads are mainly Studio Siberia with a splash of Scheltrum heads.

These are in the 1919 Polish uniform but the cavalry breaches with the yellow stripe added to the collar tabs and cap band give a nice splash of colour. I have another bunch of these to do so will make an effort to translate some of my sources from Polish to let you know what regiment they are.

Also for this project I picked up a couple of bomb damaged houses at Vapnartak in York earlier this year. 

Nice 3d printed buildings equally useful for Poland or Russia, sorry no idea of the company name, it was a table full of buildings run by some nice people, if I knew I would be going back for some more.

The Paint jobs are quick and easy mainly relying on dry brushing to varying degrees.

The shell holes in various parts of the buildings are a nice touch.

Building two is slightly smaller and simpler but in some ways I like it better.

My painting was based on existing examples of cottages with white painted log walls and grey wood tiled rooves. Add to this darker patches where there is smoke damage.

Simple but effective I feel, I will get a couple more if I find the company again. I might even be able to use these for retreat from Moscow games when I get back to that old project!

These last are mainly for Mongolian game, I may try get a sneaky gun and crew and maybe the Cossack Plastoon finished too but time is against me. 

Anyway tried these with a brown background, oddly it washed out some of the images. Firstly White Russian MG.

Copplestone Back of Beyond range, fairly generic paint job so they mix in.

Another unit of Kuban Cossacks. All from the Empress range, initially Tsuba figures for the Russo Japanese War.

The horses are Ebob and came out really nice. The horses and riders are a little small so wont mix but fine by themselves.

The figures themselces are really quite lovely, typical Paul Hicks beauties.

Notice the Cherkeska coats are a mix of colours and the Gymnasterka shirts are too, with civilian white and army Khaki mixed with black and parade ground red shirts. The Cossacks provided a lot of their own gear so an opportunity to make each one a litle indvidual.

This chap on the left is probably my favourite with a blue grey Cherkeska.

So thats it for now, Thanks for stopping by.

Assault on Urga Russian Civil War AAR

Chris Flowers invited us to put a Russian Civil War Game on at the Barn this weekend.

We have been toying with what game to put on at The Other Partizan in October and decided either the 1919 Russo-Polish War or The Mad Baron in Mongolia. As the Poles are not ready yet we used this as  a test game for Mongolia to see if it was the better fit.

The game was based on real historical events, Baron Von Ungern Schternberg led the Asiatic Cossack Division, along with whatever other white troops they could raise, into Mongolia. his aim seems to have been to capture Mongolia and raise the tribal Mongolian Warriors into an army before marching back into Siberia and destroying the reds with his Mongol hordes.

All good fun and room for lots of gaming scenarios. For this game we decided to re-create the assault on Urga (Now Ulaan Bator) the capital of Mongolia. 

The Chinese had taken advantage of the Russians distracted by the Civil War to send an army into Mongolia and occupy it. Holding it down with typical brutality.

The Russians have 4 regiments of infantry and 4 regiments of cavalry, although these last are fairly weak regiments. Supported by artillery, MG's a couple of Tchankas and a fighter plane.

The Chinese have 5 regiments of Infantry, one of cavalry and again MG's, artillery and a fighter plain with the addition of an emplaced FT17 tank and a light armoured car.

The planes and armour were almost certainly not there (Although the Chinese definately had planes in Mongolia) but they add to the game both visually and from a playing perspective so bare with us please.

 The town of Urga itself has some fieldworks in front and both Chinese and Russian areas of town. To the left from the Russian view is a holy mountain covered in forest. As this is taboo to the locals it is unguarded and the Russians are about to take full advantage of this.

The temple next to the holy mountain houses the Bogda Khan, holy leader of Mongolia, under Chinese guard. The Barons forces need to capture the town, release the Bogda Khan and ideally deal a crippling blow to the Chinese. The Chinese meanwhile must only stop them.

Again all historically accurate, sometimes history being stranger than fiction.

Move one and the Russians press on assaulting the two, at long range firing only inflicts shock temporarily slowing down troops, as we have limited the supply of artillery shells to 2 average dice plus one for the Chinese and one average dice plus one to the Russians, there is little firing going on.

First shots come from the FT17 as its a little nearer the advancing Russians, causing the odd casualty.

The Russians deploy a 75mm field gun and return fire Quickly damaging the FT17

From the forst on the holy Mountain a battalion of White Russian Officers advance on the Temple to free the Bogda Khan.

In front of the officer an open flank of a Chinese Militia battalion, their MG mounted in a dilapidated truck.

The Bogda Khan and some of his monks, no doubt wondering who best to pray for, certainly not the Chinese but is the Bloody Baron any better for them?

.

The Baron himself as describe by Dmitri Alioshin in his memoir Asian Oddysey, in a red silk Chinese jacket and blue cavalry breeches festooned in Mongolian shamanistic charm necklaces.

As the Russian Officer regiment close on the Chinese flank the Chinese dispatch their own Russian mercenaries to block them.

John Cossack regiment pours around the forest to attack the Chinese flank, diverting attention from the advancing officers.

A company of Chinese and the MG have been re-deployed to face the Officers whilst their comrades open fire on Johns Cossacks.

In the centre the Russians close on the redoubt taking casualties from the FT17. 

On the right Richards Cavalry close on the Russian quarter of Urga defended by two regiments of Militia.

Chinese cavalry under Chris, form up by the redoubt ready for action.

On the right flank of the cavalry Rich has a regiment f Mongol tribal cavalry. They are classed as militia with low training level but are aggressive.

A second round of firing sees the lead Russian unit very badly damaged and the FT17 destroyed by Russian artillery fire. 

As the Russians close in though they take significant casualties from the advance elements of the Chinese assault troops.

Chris changes the orders of his Assault troops and they erupt out of their earthwork to storm into the Russians.

Firing works with players needing to roll below the number of troops firing, MG's each crew man represents 5 riflemen so players need to roll equal to below a total of 10 using however many dice they see fit. Risk takers can some times get lucky and Chris has rolled 3 d6 needing to get equal or below 10. Lucky bugger!

Chris sees his best chance of using the Chinese Cavalry to blunt the attack of Johns Cossacks and take the pressure off the Chinese defending the area aroudn the temple and marches them out of the town.

Its become a race between the Mad Barons Officers and the Chinese Mercenary Russians to get to the Temple precinct and secure the Bogda Khan.

The White officers have won that race and deploy to wait for the Chinese employed Russian counter attack safe behind the temple walls.

Johns Cossack regiment is formed up and stormign forward towards the Chinese quarter of town.

The Chinese Dare to Die troops have wiped out the leading Russian infantry but now come under fire as they are caught in the open.

With the unit reduced by small arms and MG fire the Russians charge the depleted Dare to Die company.

At this crucial juncture the Chinese fighter plane arrives, strafing the Cossacks and causing enough casualties to give John some pause.

In the woods the Chinese MG inflicts 2 casualties on the officers but before it can do any further worthwhile damage to the Russians it is knocked out by small arms.

The table is busy now with all troops from both sides committed and the Russians closing in on the defenders.

Advancing from the forest the officers regiment line the walls of the temple precinct in anticipation of the Chinese coming to get the Bogda Khan. The spiritual leader of the Mongols meanwhile is still prayign in the temple as nobody has thought to go get him.

The remaining Dare to Die troops are forced back and the Russian infantry close in on the redoubt.

To the Russian right flank Richards Tchanka has inflicted a few casualties on the Chinese and the Cossack regiment charges in.

After taking casualties the cavalry charge home wiping a company of Chinese Militia out in the ensuing melee. 

The Dare to Die troops are destroyed but take the most of a company of Russians with them as the rest of the regiment closes in.

The remaining Chinese Assault troops charge the advancing Russians with great slaughter on both sides. The Chinese are a 10 man company with sub machine guns but as they are moving they are far less effective.

The Russian mercenaries take heavy casualties as they try to take back the temple and are eventually forced to retire and the Bogda Khan legs it over the wall with his rescuers.

The Chinese cavalry are hemmed in by the superior Russian Cossacks and not doing to well at all.

At this point the Russian fighter plane at last arrives and causes even more mayhem in the Chinese ranks.

The Cossacks on the right charge a further unit of Chinese Militia, who are forced back along with their supporting MG.

Supporting their respective forces a Chinese and Russian armoured vehicle ace off against each other. As the supporting Chinese troops have fled its unlikely to end well for the Chinese vehicle.

End of the day and its all still to play for, the Barons forces have rescued the Bogda Khan and are holding bits of the defences but the Chinese are far from beaten. On balance a partial Russian victory.

Bodes well for the game at Partizan and if we go with this then a few ideas on how to make it look a bit nicer and some additional forces to add in.

Thanks for stopping by.