Miniature Wargames

Bolt Action AAR – Normandy 8 June 1944

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Bolt Action game.

The U.S. 116th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) is pushing west along the coast after breaking out of the Omaha beachhead. The 116th RCT commander has ordered B Company to take the German coastal artillery position outside the village of Maisy. The German artillery is shelling Allied shipping off of Utah beach and has thus far proven impossible for Allied aircraft and naval guns to destroy.

The German positions are defended by elements of the 914th Grenadier Regiment and the remains of several Ost companies.

US forces enter at the bottom with the objective of clearing the crossroads area of enemy troops. The minefield must also be cleared.

A lucky hit takes out the MG in the bunker, but it is replaced by a full squad of German infantry.

Mortar fire convinces German troops to shift positions in the ruins. US infantry advance on both flanks.

US infantry take loses on both flanks but keep advancing. The TD advances to within point blank range of the bunker. The Ost squad is eliminated, having fought far better than expected.

US infantry occupies some of the ruins on the right. The German squad leaves the bunker to destroy the TD by close assault.

At the end of the game (eight or nine turns) the crossroads was mostly clear of German troops, but a German half-track remained and the minefield had not been cleared.

Additional photos by another club member:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130153196@N08/albums/72157666994060225/with/26282212591/

WW1 Naval – 1/6000 Scale Japanese Ships

WWI Japanses ships by Figurehead miniatures.

Pre-Dreadnoughts and cruisers.

Dreadnoughts. The names for the ‘No13’ class were taken from battleships at Tsushima.

Rhodes, 305 BC

Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a game of Hail, Agrippa!. The Hail, Agrippa! rules are a modification of Hail Caesar published in Issue 66 of ‘Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy’ magazine. [Hail Agrippa! rules link]

The scenario was a hypothetical battle set during the siege of Rhodes by Demetrius son of Antigonus. Ptolemy has sent a fleet to lift the siege. It is met by the Antigonid fleet in the narrows between Evlimnia (Alimia) island and the mainland of Rhodes.

View from the island of Rhodes toward Makry (Makri) island with Evlimnia (Alimia) and Chalki in the distance.

Good command rolls allow the Antigonid divisions to race forward to support their isolated ships near Evlimnia.

One Antigonid division continues to advance while another balks. Blunders in the Ptolemaic center delay the advance.

Casualties accumulate for both sides in the center. The Ptolemaic division near Makry blunders several times and never gets into action.

The flank attack by the Antigonid heavy ships from Evlimnia finally goes in, but does little damage initially.

The flank attack becomes effective, but losses are still about even.

We quit at this point due to the time. With the battle a draw, the siege of Rhodes can continue.

WW1 Naval – 1/6000 Scale Ships

A few recent additions to my 1/6000 scale WWI ships by Figurehead miniatures.

French Lyon class, French 1913 Battlecruiser class (with fictitious names), British G3 class.

British Armoured Cruisers.

German Gazelle class.

Kagas, N3s (fictitious names), British CLs, US ACs (Shapeways)

WWI Naval – Gulf of Finland

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a WWI naval battle. In this hypothetical engagement, the Germans send a portion of the High Seas Fleet into the Gulf of Finland in an attempt to engage and destroy the Russian Baltic Fleet. The date is March 15, 1915. The scenario is similar to a previous test.

Scale: 1/6000 miniatures, 500 yards/in ground scale.

Rules: Computer code (described here).

Visibility 16,000 yards. Wind southerly at 8 knots. Seastate 2.

Status at the end of the game: Fin2-end-status

Damage output file: SK-Normal-Fin2-2016-1-23 excerpt.txt

Plot of ship movements:
All Fin2-plot-all
First 20 minutes Fin2-plot-1to20
20 minutes to 40 minutes Fin2-plot-20to40
40 minutes to end Fin2-plot-40toend

German CLs form up and attack the threatening Russian DDs to the north.

German DNs maneuver to avoid Russian torpedo attacks. The Russian boats are heavily damaged by German CLs.

German DNs and CLs evade torpedo attacks.

We quit at this point due to time. The damage was relatively even. The Russian destroyers and torpedo boats and the German light cruisers did most of the fighting. One dreadnought had been sunk on each side.