Good turnout this month. I believe we had 15 people involved in playing 3 games.
The games were :
D-day action using Rapid fire reloaded. Just a week early to confuse the Germans.
Fantasy using Halflings against Orruks with Midgard.
Trouble in the heart of Medieval Africa using Field of Glory Renaissance.
Setup time.
Game of Fantasy in Middle Earth.
Using Midgard in 28mm.
Organized, using terrain and models and umpired by Tim Snoddy.
AAR by David Maltman ( as dictated from Gorak the Orruk leader ).
Players
Halflings : Jeremy Dowd and Billy McClenaghan.
Orruks : David Maltman and David Smylie.
Orders of Battle, both sides 400 point armies.
Orruks
Heros : 1 Level 3 and 2 level 2.
Ard Boyz : 2 units.
Orruk Soldiers : 4 units.
Orruk Man-Skewers : 1 unit.
Hobgoblins : 7 units.
Warg riders : 4 units.
Mountain trolls : 1 unit.
Halflings
Heros : 1 Level 3 and 2 level 2.
Halfling Dog lancers : 4 units.
Halfling Heavy Dog lancers : 1 units.
Halfling Wardens : 2 units.
Halfling Heavy foot : 1 units.
Halfling Pike : 2 units.
Halfling Sword : 2 units.
Halfling Dog Rifle : 1 units.
Forest Trolls : 3 units.
Editors comment : The AAR was mostly derived from talking to the Orruk Leader Gorak after the battle, there being no Halflings present in a state to interview. Those that were present where generally roasting on spits and even Orruks mostly kill their food before cooking it. The Hobgoblins I'm not so sure about, I kept well away from them. The trolls just take their food raw, ugh!
The battlefield before the belligerents arrive. Reputation points are given at the end of each turn for having the nearest unit to each of the 3 standing stones. The river disrupts units unless they have the agile trait ( most of the halflings ).
The Orruks are the attackers so get to deploy first. One contingent deploys at the river, one at 12" from their baseline and the third contingent arrives on the second turn.
Orruks Deploy at river on central area and back behind left flank.
Halflings deploy Dog lancers in centre and infantry on flanks.
Orruk Man-skewers fire on Halflings knights, to no effect.
Halflings move to river, Dog lancers unit crosses river.
Orruks advance on left keeping out of killing zone range.
Wargs and Orruks arrive and cover centre and right flank.
Halflings fire on centre Orruks to no effect.
Halflings advance across the river. Halflings fire with little effect.
Orruks on left do a general charge. 2 of the Halflings units evade.
Two melees , each Halflings units suffers 1 stamina loss and are pushed back.
General shooting happened with no effect.
Halflings got 3 reputation for being in control of the 3 areas.
Orruks get 2 reputation for the first charge by a hero.
Halfling Dog lancers try crossing in the center and Orruks archers evade.
Orruks are attacked but cause 1 stamina and push Halflings back.
Hobgoblins lose 2 stamina and are forced back.
Shooting ineffectual.
Melee in the left flank.
Both Orruks and hobgoblins kill the halfling units.
Halfling Dog lancers attack Warg riders and push them back.
Halflings fire on center Ard Boyz and push them back.
Wargs push Halflings Dog lancers back on right.
You can see the Mountain Trolls are still wandering around. They are not the sharpest tool in the Orruk tool box but they are probably the best fighting unit. I think Mr Smylie lost track of that during the action, I only realised when doing the AAR - Editor.
Orruks control 1 area , halflings 2.
Halflings line up along river, Dog lancers cross in center.
Halflings fire on Orruks on right and get 2 hits.
Halfling Dog lancers attack Wargs, but are pushed back and hobgoblin support means they receive no hits.
Halfling Dog lancers and hero ( Prissy Prince Percy on Poncy Pegasus ) attack Warg Riders and are counter charged by the Wargs. Wargs win, Hero fails health to hero's test and receives 1 hit and unit pushed back.
Halfling Dog lancers attack Wargs on the right and are pushed back by the Wargs.
Orruks on left consolidate.
Warg Riders in centre get pushed back along with their supports.
Other Warg unit causes a casualty and pushes Halflings Dog lancers. Prissy Prince Percy on Poncy Pegasus fails another health to hero's test and is killed.
Final Warg unit kill Halflings Dog lancers.
Orruks have control of 2 of the areas and Halflings one. The tide has well and truly turned.
Left flank, Orruks attacked by forest trolls. The Orruks win and push back the trolls.
Halflings knights attack Orruks the Orruks win and push them back, 1 casualty each.
Halfling Dog lancers are pushed backwards in center.
Forest trolls suffer 1 stamina loss and are pushed back.
Halflings knights get a stamina loss and are pushed back into river.
Orruks get 2 points and Halflings one for holding the standing stones.
Melees continue and forest trolls lose, 1 point of stamina , Halfling Hero Clive loses one stamina.
Halflings knights are killed.
Warg Riders in centre win.
Orruks smelling the blood do a massive charge all along the front.
Except for the thickie Mountain trolls, could not think themselves out of a cul-de-sac.
On the left flank
First fight hobgoblins vs Halflings sword draw.
Orruks vs forest trolls , forest trolls die.
The Ard Boyz push the Halfling Pike back.
Orruks push the Halflings Dog lancers back with 1 stamina loss.
In the center
Wargs v Halfling Dog lancers draw.
Orruks vs forest trolls draw.
Orruks vs wardens broke in the stream.
Orruk Ard boys vs Forest Trolls, Trolls win and push Orruks back.
David Smylie ( aka Nakkar the Doomed ) on fine dice rolling for a change. In this game if you faced him you were the doomed one. It was interesting to watch the usually unflappable Billy get more and more annoyed as his dice rolling was absolutely trounced by David. Jeremy was similarly getting savaged by myself on the left flank. I think on average we were getting 2 to 3 times the number of hits in the melees.
The battlefield at the end of the game. Showing the Orruk army storming across the river.
The Orruks chalice overflows with reputation and the Halflings are devoid of honour and flee the field.
All that remains is to gather up our Orruk dead and send them on their way to the next life on their funeral pyres.
Then gather up the dead Halflings and have a celebratory bar-b-queue. I do love the smell of roasting Halfling in the evening, it smells of victory, oh and roast pork.
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Post battle interview between the Editor and Gorak the Orruk commander. The things I do for you readers.
Well Gorak, the lads did well, a crushing defeat for the Halfling army. But tell us way did the war start ?
All you humies think those short arses are nice little critters. But we Orruks know better than that.
These lands we have used for centuries to graze our pig herds. But those wee gobbits come out and kill our shepherds and steal our porkers. Causing starvation among the tribes. So we all got together to give them a lesson they won't forget soon, the manky nobbits.
Now, I smell that that hobbit has been done to perfection, which cut would you like ? I recommend the inner arm. At this point I was not sure what to do, refuse and risk offending an 8 foot tall Orruk or chomp down on something that looks like a child. Well cowardice took over from valour and anyway I reckoned Halflings are not human, so its not cannibalism. It did taste rather good, a bit like chicken, with pork crackling. Gorak then said "Ah the Pegasus should be ready, a special treat" so I asked for a bit of wing, a good choice apparently, a bit like pork, but much sweeter. At that point I took my leave while they still had more Halflings to roast, I did not want to become desert.
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A rogues gallery for those not familiar with the combatants.
The Orruk army.
Orruk Ard Boyz
Think over large Knights in Plate mail wielding huge axes or swords and you are there. Best of the Orruk infantry.
Orruk soldiers.
Lesser Orruks than the Ard Boyz, some armour plate, mail and shield. With spears and hand weapons.
Orruk Man-Skewers.
The Orruk skirmishers. Basically the soldiers in lighter leather armour with huge crossbows.
So named as, if they fire it a massed ranks of humans it is quite possible to skewer 3 men on one of the quarrels.
Hobgoblins
A lesser species related to Orruks, but more multitudinous. Use scale armour and hand weapons. Weakest units in the army, ideal for supporting units.
Warg riders
A smaller species of Orruks who have tamed ( I use the word very loosely ) Wargs to allow them to ride them. They use short bows.
Mountain Trolls
Trolls who live in close proximity to the Orruks in the Mountains and have been in alliance with them for many years. A good 8 feet tall and wield big, spiked clubs. Not the brightest of creatures, but the best fighters in the Orruk army. Don't wear armour but their hide is think enough not to need it.
The Halfling army.
Halfling Dog lancers
Medium Halfling cavalry on large dogs.
Halfling Heavy Dog lancers
Think Medieval knights on armoured large dogs.
Halfling Wardens.
Skirmishers using bows and slings. Very agile.
Halfling Heavy foot.
Wear heavy armour
Halfling Pike
Halflings with Pikes.
Halfling Sword
Skirmishers with javelins and swords.
Halfling Dog Rifles
Scouts with rifles. They seem to be infantry so I assume the rifles are for shooting dogs.
Forest Trolls
Forest trolls which have been captured when young and trained to act as mounts with a saddle for a rifleman to sit on. They don't wear armour, but have very thick skin so don't need it. They used large clubs with good effect. The Orruks thinks this is an abomination and any Troll riders get skinned alive before being roasted alive ( their one exception to roasting fallen enemies alive ). The Forest Trolls themselves only enemy unit that the Orruks would not eat, they just cremated them.
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Photos curtesy of David Maltman.
Game of WW2, France, Normandy, 6th June 1944.
Using Rapid Fire in 20mm.
Organized, using terrain and models and umpired by Chris Caves.
AAR by Gary.
Players
German : Andy and Stevie.
Allies : Jeremy, Ian and Gary.
I took part in a very nice game put on by Chris based on the landings on Sword Beach on 6th June 1944 using Rapid Fire (mainly Reloaded but with some bits of RF2).
Chris brought his usual superb terrain (10' x 5') depicting the beach area around Ouistreham and St Aubin using his lovely 20mm kit and terrain.
Some excellent looking concrete defenses and landing craft included.
German defenders (with early intervention from elements of 21st Panzer) were controlled by Andy and Stevie with Jeremy, Ian and I commanding elements of the Great Crusade.
A really excellent game it was too (Rapid Fire shines for this sort of endeavor).
British divided into 3 separate landing waves with plenty of 'Funnies' and other armour in first wave and 3 Battalions of well equipped Infantry in following waves (with more armour and Commandoes).
Huns had bunkers with 50mm or 75mm (in the Casino) AT guns, with several MG bunkers and numerous weapons pits, with some Panzer Grenadiers, Stugs, PzIIIs and couple of Marders arriving later.
Brits had a preliminary Naval Bombardment (which was pants) with ongoing support from naval assets (once FOO on table) and several sorties of rocket armed Typhoons.
Germans had access to Merville Battery (we rolled to silence it and failed at start) and later some Nebelwerfers.
Initial turns saw Naval fire fail and Germans also fail to hit any landing vessels (thankfully)
First Allied wave landed on right at St Aubin with subsequent waves coming in at center and left (Commandoes directly at Ouistreham).
British had several DD Tanks most of which failed to reach the beach.
Flail tanks cleared the beaches of mines under a barrage of anti-tank fire whilst 'dust-bin' firing Petard armed Churchills struggled to deal with bunkers.
German direct fire proved very accurate initially (so many 5s and 6s !!) and soon British tanks were burning all across the beach with foot sloggers slowly cross the sands under fire
First RAF sortie was shot from the sky but this nastiness seemed to inspire the invading troops who then used demo charge and flames throwers to take out the Casino and defended building at St Aubin which put a dent in German firepower.
However soon their armour arrived and seemed the invaders might get overwhelmed on the beach.
But British fire then proved deadly with Commandoes assaulting bunkers and a PzIII and the Marders lost to further Typhoon sorties and Sherman fire.
By this stage the Hun beach defence line was pierced in several places and weight of Allied numbers was beginning to tell as position after position was destroyed and a British victory was declared albeit a rather bloody one.
The battle blow by blow.
The invaders in their waves.
Quiet before the storm
The Casino in Ouistreham untouched by naval fire and housing a nasty Pak 40.
Allies ashore but Sherman burning.
Central German bunker which survived naval fire, Petards and tank fire finally succumbing only to direct assault by Engineers'
Slow progress (6" per turn in sand) across the beach.
Formidable defences at Ouistreham, Several bunkers and that sea wall.
Central area less formidable but swept by enfilading fire.
Beach obstacles and mines hampered the British armour.
Note the two large Bunkers to rear represented supporting batteries further inland and could not fire directly onto beach or be fired upon but could target units at sea, at which they proved to be pants.
Action hot and heavy with both sides suffering losses (lots of brewed armour).
Commandoes have destroyed the Casino and are pressing further into town as last of British support units arrive.
The landing fleet has miraculously remained intact.
Central bunker has at last fallen as British armour moves passes by.
Sea front at Ouistreham is in flames (fall of bunker on left cut of German access to support batteries).
Lots of burning armour on beach.
But central zone has been fully breached.
Ding dong duels between Stugs, Shermans and Churchills at St Aubin.
Typhoon helps deal with Marders on road out of town.
View from German side as Commandoes assault.
And from crumbling centre.
Last Hun reserves stalk Allied armour.
A busy beach indeed.
The Commandoes advance.
Incredibly the German artillery failed to hit this target rich environment.
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We are fortunate to get a second AAR, done by Chris and posted on the Facebook Rapid Fire Reloaded group.
Saturday saw me setting up and running a D-Day sword beach club participation game in 20mm at the Ulster Wargames Society
There were 3 allied players each with 4 full battalions and armoured support faced off against a couple of German defenders whilst I umpired and kept things rolling.
I used rapid fire reloaded and the sword beach map from the old rapid fire campaign guide as the basis. The table included two large Morris / Hillman “bunkers “ disproportionately close to the beach ( however these gun positions were only allowed to fire indirectly onto the approaching armada ).
The only other variations were the use of a Canadian battalion ,and the Royal Marines landing on a different part of the beach ( I gave the allied commander autonomy to distribute forces ).
The game was great fun and introduced 3 new players to rapid fire reloaded supported by 2 regular players.
I have also attached a few photos from test games ( in case you wonder why the “end “ photos of the action vary ).
The table and kit has been put together by myself with most of the infantry being old SHQ figures which blend perfectly with the many plastic figures , most of the armour is Airfix ( Sherman’s and Churchills built 25+ years ago ).
The landing ships include several from Raventhorpe ( still available ) Airfix LCM’s ,LCI from Britannia , along with some of the buildings.
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Editorial comment :
It's not a bit surprising the British won, they came a week early completely confusing the Germans.
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Photos curtesy of Gary and Chris.
