Miniature Wargames

Bolt Action – Eastern Front AAR

This weekend the local HMGS-South group played a Bolt Action game. German infantry and AT guns, reinforced later by a Tiger, defend a crossroads against Soviet tanks, infantry and mortars. Our host provided a great terrain table as usual.

The Soviets in the foreground need to capture buildings around the crossroads at the upper left.

Soviet infantry advance through snowy woods.

Germans hold high ground beyond the crossroads.

A German AT gun is destroyed after taking out just one Soviet tank.

A German MG crew and an officer hold off the Soviet left flank.

WWI Naval Battle – Strait of Messina 1914

In this hypothetical battle, The German Mediterranean squadron (significantly enlarged from the historical one) is cornered by the British in August 1914.

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

Rules: Computer code in development.

Visibility 20,000 yards. Wind westerly at 10 knots. Seastate 2.

Status at the end of the game: Messina Status

Damage output file: Messina-output

Plot of ship movements: Messina-plot

The German squadron heads east out of the Strait of Messina after coaling. Two British battlecruisers pass through the straits and approach from the northwest. Milne, in his flagship Inflexible, approaches from the southeast. The armoured cruisers of the 1st Cruiser Squadron approach from the northeast. The Goeben and the British battlecruisers are limited to 24 knots due to maintenance issues.

The first photo is well into the game. Two German CLs have been sunk and the British CLs have taken a lot of damage.

The two British BCs coming from the west steam at their maximum speed to catch up.

Under fire from four British ACs and two BCs (out of the photo to the west), the German ACs take heavy damage.

The Inflexible is sunk by the Goeben, allowing her to escape to the south with little damage. The German cruisers are all sunk and the British also lose one armoured cruiser.

Milne is posthumously hailed as a hero, and the Goeben reaches Turkey to play her historical role there.

Hail Caesar – Gilgenburg 1410

Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a medieval battle at the Dogs of War shop using the Hail Caesar rules.

Gilgenburg Prussia, July 13th, 1410.

On July 13th, two days before the battle of Grunwald/Tannenberg, the Polish-Lithuanian army captured and sacked the town of Gilgenburg (Dabrowno in Poland today). In this hypothetical scenario, the Teutonic Order army arrives to defend Gilgenburg.

Approaching from the north (right in the photo), the Order forces are divided by the lakes. Order infantry deploys to keep Polish-Lithuanian light cavalry out of Gilgenburg.

Poor command rolls for the Order cavalry allow most of the Polish army to move east of the stream. Most of the rear Polish infantry division is driven off the table.

When the game ended both sides had lost 4 units (20%) and each side was threatened on the left flank. The Polish-Lithuanian light cavalry division had cleared the way to Gilgenburg.

HURRICON 2014 Photos

Link to Flickr album of Hurricon 2014 photos.

WWI Naval Battle – Pola

In this hypothetical battle, The French attack the Austro-Hungarian naval base of Pola (Pula in Croatia today) in September 1914.

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

Rules: Computer code in development.

Visibility 22,000 yards. Wind southeasterly at 10 knots. Seastate 2.

Status at the end of the game: Pola-status

Damage output file: Pola-output

Plot of ship movements: Pola plot

The A-H fleet leaves Pola as the French approach.

A-H DDs make smoke to cover the deployment of the fleet.

The A-H divisions turn south to get more maneuver room. The French turn north to keep the leeward position. A French AC blows up and another turns out of line with steering damage.

The French take advantage of the good visibility to fight beyond the range of half of the A-H ships.

This scenario was not balanced well due to the French advantage in gun range and the slow speed of the oldest A-H ships.