0200 Hours: Airfield Raid

02 Hundred Hours is a skirmish wargame focusing on night-time raids in World War II. If you see yourself as the SAS setting demo charges to blow up a lorry or as the Landesschützen investigating suspicious  sounds emanating from behind the oil drums, then this game might be for you.

A pair of SAS troopers survey their handiwork

The SAS team  comprised Officer, Sergeant, Demolitions expert, 2 Troopers and a Pair of troopers at 26 points

The Luftwaffe had Sergeant and 5 Pairs of Sentries on table plus Officer, 2 Dog Handlers and 6 Single Sentries. These come on as reinforcements when the alarm gets raised. All at 30 points

The SAS mission was to destroy the fuel dump, the ammo stores and the 3 planes.

The Luftwaffe mission was to stop the SAS or kill half of them.

View of the airfield from the road

View of the airfield from the ammo stores

The SAS enter near the fuel dump, immediately kill a pair of sentries and lay charges by the fuel dump

Alerted sentries make their way to the fuel dump.

Maybe not so alert. The German Sergeant and two sentries looking elsewhere

The SAS Demo expert must have gotten excited as the charge explodes prematurely.

The Alarm goes off and the Germans start to get reinforced

The German officer comes face to face with the SAS Demo expert and a trooper

The eye tokens indicate who is visible and who is covert. Only visible targets can be shot at.

The SAS officer hides round  the corner but made a noise earlier hence the eye token.

The German officer is added to the long list of defender casualties

One of the German reinforcements, a dog handler, also becomes a casualty.

The SAS Sergeant has sneaked up the righthand edge of the table and laid a demo charge in the ammo store. Although he is out in the open, he has not made a noise to alert the guards to his presence. 

We left the game there. Only 2 of the 5 objectives were destroyed, just under half the German force were casualties and none of the SAS team were injured so a slightly partial victory to the SAS. 

Shaun painted the figures, vehicles and planes. He also put together the very nice scenery.

I can see this game lending itself to other periods such as French Indian Wars and Star Wars. 

A full description of the game can be found at Boardgame Geek and the game is available from Grey For Now Games 

Puebla 1862 using Bloody Big Battles

It is May so Shaun and I decided to refight the Cinco de Mayo battle, Puebla, using Bloody Big Battles.

We used Vincent Tsao's scenario and took the map from Tim Tilson's Colonial Campaigns book Maximilian in Mexico. Shaun took the role of  Major-General Charles de Lorencz, commander of the French army and I  was General Ignacio Zaragoza, Republican Mexican Army of the East

The table looking east on Turn 1. 

The Mexicans are deployed awaiting the French arrival from the north-west

The table looking west.

Turn 3 and the French assault La Ladrillera occupied by the remnants of the Rifle Battalion whilst Mexican general, and future president, Porfirio Diaz looks on from the top of the building.

Turn 3 and the French exploit through La Ladrillera as their offensive fire obliterated the defenders and overrunning the Mexican general, and future president, Porfirio Diaz.

Turn 6 and the assault on Fort Guadalupe starts.

Still Turn 6 and all of the fort's defenders, the Zapadores and the Toluca Btns, have been forcibly evicted. Can the 3 base Fijo de Vera Cruz battalion swing about and save the day? 

The 3 base Fijo de Vera Cruz battalion swung about and fired into the flank of the 1/1st Chasseurs a Pied to no effect. On Turn 7 they were  assaulted and, having lost 2 bases, destroyed. In the middle centre the Zapadores are about to get overrun, bottom centre and the San Luis Rifles are going to get pushed back from the rifle pits, and, finally top centre the 2/2nd Colonial Marines fail to move against the La Ladrillera artillery battery.

The last turn shows the French rolling up the Mexicans on the ridge but too far away to take Fort Loreto. Meanwhile the 2/2nd Colonial Marines gaze glumly at the open road to Puebla having destroyed the La Ladrillera artillery battery. but again failing to roll to move.

This view shows the French right flank which suffered from poor movement dice and only saw combat when the Mexican cavalry obligingly charged  them on the last 2 turns.

At it stands it was a draw but if we had played another turn then the French would have captured Puebla. Besides the Mexican force had lost over 50% of it's infantry units and half it's guns and cavalry. The French, on the other hand, lost 2 bases of infantry. So no Cinco de Mayo celebrations for the Mexicans.

99% of the figures are QRF / Freikorps 15mm with 1% being Peter Pig or Minifigs. The keen-eyed amongst you may have noticed that some troops have been proxied. This is because some of my figures are elsewhere (I hope).

It's been just over 4 years, or 1,476 days to be precise, since I last posted anything to this blog. 

Our club has moved completely online, playing Tabletop Simulator now, and we rarely "push lead" as the pub where we used to game is no longer available to us.

We have found a place over in Cirencester where we can rent a table so we've started using that. It looks like a potential future venue for a Bloody Big Battles Bash day.

Playing this game has inspired me to not leave it another 1,476 days before I blog again.

Links

Vincent Tsao's scenario on BBB Groups.io

The Big Battles venue in Cirencester

Camerone - 157th anniversary solo re-fight using BBB

It's a club tradition that we refight Camerone near the anniversary using the excellent scenario from Tim Tilson's Colonial Campaigns book Maximilian in Mexico. The book used The Sword and the Flame rules but I use Bloody Big Battles instead.

Sous-lieutenant Maudet and his squad of Legionaries defend the south-west corner

Due to the lockdown I decided to refight it solo as it lends itself to solo play due to the Victory Points. To this end I was in charge of the Republicans as they have all the decisions to make.

The compound looking south-east, scratch built by Rodge

The French Force

Captain Danjou
Sous-lieutenants Maudet and Vilain
4 units each of 4 bases of Legionaries - MLR, Elite (never go spent), Aggressive
Incidentally this means that the French figure:man ratio is virtually 1:1

French defenders at game start. 2 base Irregular Cavalry unit on the upper floor of the Hacienda

The Republican Force

3 Commanders
Irregular Cavalry: 4 bases - MLR , Raw, Ragged Volley, Fragile, dismounted
Irregular Infantry: 4 bases - MLR , Raw, Ragged Volley
Regular Infantry: 4 bases - MLR , Trained

Republican Regular Infantry at start of 2nd Assault Phase

The Republicans attack in 3 Assault Phase. Each Phase is either 4, 6, 8 or 10 units of regular or irregular infantry or cavalry chosen by the Republican players. Each regular unit is worth 2 Victory Points (VP) to the French and each irregular unit  is 1 VP. The Republicans get 2 VPs for killing a French base. There are also VP awarded  to each side for other activities but I'm sure Tim would appreciate it if you bought his book to find those out.

The compund looking south-west 

An Assault Phase ends when the Republicans roll equal to or less than the number of units that are Spent.

For Phase 1 the Republicans selected 4 units of Irregular Cavalry giving the French 4 victory points. There is also a 2 base Irregular Cavalry unit, dismounted of course, on the upper floor of the Hacienda.

Dismounted Republican cavalry assault the compound at the south-western and both north entrances. Even through most of the Legion are low on ammo (green smiley faces) they cause 1 Republican  to go Spent (red smiley faces). This leads to the Republicans having to roll for Assault Phase end and not get a 1 on a D4 which they do.

Victory points for Phase 1 are 4 to the Legion  and 2 to the Republicans for killing a base

For Phase 2 the Republicans selected 10 units of Regular Infantry giving the French 20 victory points. I thought that maybe the 10 units would overwhelm the French as the Regulars are Trained and therefore have to lose 2 bases to become Spent.

3 Units of Republican Regular Infantry form up against the south-west breach

6 Units of Republican Regular Infantry form up against the northern breaches

Squads from left to right -  Sous-lieutenant Maudet, Sous-lieutenant Vilain and Captain Danjou.

 The 4th Squad holds the Hacienda against a Republican Regular Infantry approaching from the east

 This Phase was a really meat grinder as the Republicans assaulted time and again 

 The French held firm until slowly they ran low on ammunition

  The south-western breach holds 

Captain Danjou's Squad retires and the Captain is killed.  

 The 4th Squad charges out of the Hacienda to clear the courtyard

Maudet's Squad is pushed back from the south-western breach

Maudet's Squad counter-attacks and retakes the south-western breach

End of Phase 2 with Sous-lieutenant Maudet and 5 bases of Legionnaires left alive. With 4 Spent units it was only a matter of time before I rolled 4 on a D10. I was tempted to pay an extra Victory Point to continue the Phase for an extra turn but I could not guarantee killing everyone. 

Victory points for Phase 2 are 20 to the Legion  and 24 to the Republicans for killing 12 bases giving the French 24 and the Republicans 26.

For the final Phase 3 the Republicans selected 4 units of Regular Infantry giving the French 8 victory points. This was cutting it a bit fine as the Republicans could only get a maximum of 38, 2 for each officer and 2 for each base.

 3 Republican Regular Infantry units against the  north wall

One Republican Regular Infantry unit against the  south-west wall

Sous-lieutenant Maudet and 3 bases of Legionnaires in the stables fend off the first attack killing a Republican base

The 2 bases of Legionnaires in the Hacienda are overrun whist Sous-lieutenant Maudet and 3 bases of Legionnaires in the stables are whittled down to 1 base.

So Phase 3 victory Points are 8 for the French and 12 for the Republicans giving a total of 32 VP for the French and 38 VP for the Republicans. This meant a Marginal Victory for the Republicans. So well done my team!

Camerone works well as a solo game with this scenario as all of the decisions are made by the Republican player whilst the French forces "merely" have to defend the compound.

In my humble opinion Bloody Big Battles works well at this scale with minor tweaks. 

These were

• units can not combine fire power
• commanders only count when attached to a unit 
• in assault when a unit is required to retire and can not then it loses an additional 1 base and fights a new Assault

I can't recommend Tim Tilson's Colonial Campaigns book Maximilian in Mexico highly enough

99% of the figures are QRF / Freikorps 15mm with 1% being Peter Pig or Minifigs

The Hacienda was lovingly handcrafted by Rodge

Five Kilometres from Leipzig - solo rules for black powder skirmish actions

Five Kilometers From Leipzig (FKFL) is a set of solo miniatures rules for black powder skirmish actions roughly covering the period  1700 to 1870. It is written by Ivan Sorensen of Nordic Weasel Games and available as a pdf from Wargame Vault.

You have a squad of 6 men that skirmish against  military forces, guerrillas, outlaws or native warbands. The starting Stats are Speed 4", Shoot +0, Toughness 3 but this can  increase through campaigning. 

When a figure is active they may take a Movement Action and a Combat Action.

Movement Actions can be Move or Reload. Combat Actions can be Dash, Reload, Brawl, Bandage or Shoot. 

The opposition depends  on which campaign you are fighting. For example if you were fighting the Peninsular War (1807–1814)  as the French then you could be facing either a military force and/or guerrillas. For the French and Indian Wars then you could be facing either a military force,  guerrillas or native warbands. Finally as the French for the Franco-Prussian War then you would face just a military force.

Enemy type, number and deployment are all table generated as is the Mission

The Enemy can basically either shoot, reload or move towards near opponent in that order. In all cases they should keep to cover.

Each Mission earns several Victory Points per turn. At the end of each game turn roll 2D6. If the roll is equal or below the number of Victory Points earned so far, the Enemy withdraws and you win the mission.

You might notice that I use multi-based troops for the 1st game - just imagine each base is 1 figure. I also use 15mm figures because I don't have any 25mm figures

For the first game set during the Peninsular War I commanded a French squad. 

My opponents were 7 British infantry (Speed 4", Shoot +0, Toughness 3)

The mission was to capture and hold the centre of the table for 2 VPs per turn

The British deployed in 2 ranks. 

Both sides are armed with Smoothbore Muskets

The French advance

 The British advance

 The French advance

 The British open fire 

 The French reach the centre so can start collecting 2 VPs per turn

All of the British open fire 

 Everyone is firing!

  A firefight ensues killing 2 British and 3 French

This forces the British to take a morale check

Although I was down  to 3 men the British had 3 men Scared so they could not advance. The VP stood at 4 and I rolled a Double 1 so victory to me   

All the figures are by Campaign Game Miniatures.

For the second game I commanded an Abenaki warband during the French and Indian Wars.

Their opponents were 4 veteran settlers (Guerrillas) (Speed 5", Shoot +1, Toughness 4). 

The mission was Drive Off where 2 VPs are earnt every time an Enemy Flees or is Knocked Out.

As the enemy were outnumbered I set them up in a cabin. Both sides are armed with Smoothbore Muskets

 Basically the Abenaki snook up on the settlers

Both sides open fire

After 1 round of firing 1 settler was dead, 1 has fled as a result of that and another was Stunned

 After another round of firing the  same settler was Stunned

 One Abenaki goes for the outflank

Before he can get to the cabin one Abenaki gets shot, one settler gets shot and the other one flees as a result of the death. Game over

All of the figures are by Peter Pig

This isn't a bad set of rules. Very simple but they get the toys on the table. The Decision Tree could possibly do with expanding to include Close Combat but it works well enough. I certainly enjoyed both games and not just because I won both of them! 

This is Rangers of Shadow Deep without the fantasy. In fact I imagine it is possible to play RoSD scenarios with these rules.