AVBCW: Big Game 2015 03 14 Part 1

15/03/2015

Yes, JP, Roo & I held another AVBCW Big Game – we’ve now been doing this for four years. We had two tables (each 6×10′) set up. I’ll concentrate on the table I was playing on for the first couple of postings.

Breinton Bridge

At the northern end of the Golden Valley control of this bridge was being contested between the rebels and the Royalists, as it is on the way to the market town of Hay-on-Wye.

Roo did us up some new river sections, rest of the secenery is the stuff I have churned out over the last few years.

My Malvern Hills Conservators (led by Sir Ed Ward-Glear) set up, along with Captain Arrowmsith’s (Richard) BUF tank and…pepperpot…
Our third ally was Tym’s forces.

More BUF infantry deploy. As the table edges qwere split in two, the three of us loyalists opted for the MHC and BUF to deploy on the western edge of the river, with Tym deploying pretty much alone on the eastern river bank. Our goal was to seize the bridge ASAP, occupy the cottage, and block both of the road junctions.

Gavin (as the Reverend Captain Verity of the Anglican League), deployed his Anglicans on the eastern bank of the river.

Clive (as the Bishop of Ludlow), deployed his forces including the awesome scratch built rocket launchers.
Both sides advanced.

The Bishop of Ludlow’s forces advanced with trucks pulling hand break turns to act as cover ! Behind the trucks, the rocket launchers prepareed for their first salvo.

Meanwhile the BUF forces, raced towards the bridge – the BUF’s tank ignored the Bishop of Ludlow’s forces leaving them to the pepperpot and the MHC. Arrowsmith’s cavalry occupied the road, whilst his infantry and command squad occupied the cottage and bridge.

Verity’s Anglicans move through the woods aiming to flank the bridge.

Meanwhile, Sir Gilbert’s LDV roar forward in their trucks and improvised contraptions !
(NB: Doug’s last game was hampered when he pulled a random event card reducing everything to mud and his vehicle column got bogged down for virtually the entire game – this time he was luckier)

And Sir Gilbert’s supporters the WI mounted the crest…of the hill…

Tym’s Royalist column arrives – lots of Crossley’s filled with…more women !
Is there something we don’t know about the women of H’ford ?

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AVBCW: Motor Quadricycle of Death !

27/11/2014 1 Comment

For my barfday, Byakhee Rich got me a present, though I suspect he had ulterior motives as he dropped some hints.

Yes, a Motor Quadricycle of Death ! From Zinge Industries. They seem to do a lot of WH40K inspired bits, but as they note on the page this vehicle is inspired by the WW1 German A7 tank.

Rich had built it for me and undercoated it black. Hmm now which AVBCW faction uses a lot of black ? And does that faction have a commander who has a reputation for lots of tanks, armoured cars and stuff ?? 😉

Rich had built it with rotating wheels, moveable HMGs and moveable hatch.

This popped into my head for some reason ! 🙂

Here’s a second one I bought afterwards, in its basic kit form. It turns out a bit of work had been done to allow all the moveable parts, as Rich commented:

If you bought wheels rather than tracks, that’s heavy engineering so you’d better let me do it. Holes drilled through the hull sides, brass rod axles, milliput and grinding tools for that bit !

So I have dropped it off with him.

To encourage him to complete this task of engineering, I painted the present green and slapped on some MHC transfers, so the MHC can go zipping round the Malverns in this strange vehicle, no doubt built at the Morgan Car factory in Malvern Link.

The MHC logo is a transfer, and is about 5mm wide, so a perfect circle isn’t going to happen and looks fine when placed on a table and observed at several foot’s distance with a Mk1 eyeball.

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AVBCW: Painting Challenge

07/09/2014

Well hopefully it won’t have escaped some peoples’ notice my mate JP & I are hosting another one of our Big Games on the 27th September. So we’re busy gearing up to organising it, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.

As usual, I am providing armies for delinquents who don’t know better and haven’t got their own little toy soldiers.

A recent review of the detritus, found a load of Foundry WW2 Home Guard cyclists.As one of the things JP & I are pushing in our latest game is the lack of fuel and ammo, bicycles are an ideal anitdote to lots of tanks and armoured cars.

As you can see, there’s a fair bit of greenstuff to make the arms meld in with the bodies, otherwise excellent models, so I planned to have a new unit of them to deploy on the battlefield – in accordance with my plan to get a new unit on the board with every single game I play !

In addition, my review found a number of other units to put together…

Luckily, Byakhee Richard is one of them so as Chief Engineer for many of the larger more complex items I build, he has been busy building new armoured vehicles for me. These (Musketeer) Lancia Armoured Trucks were used in the 1920’s not least in the Irish Civil War.

There was a fair amount oif blue language used whilst Richard built this Austin Morris A/C, however the outcome is very good with an excellent crew including one of Paul Hicks’ tank commanders – a bren gun, BOYS anti tank rifle and smoke bombs and this makes an excellent addition to the mechanised arm of the MHC.

Richard did however send me his list of mobile BUF….including a request for more cavalry, and even dismounted cavalry.

Good job I have some on the painting table. Again Musketeer BUF…

Looks like I’ll be busy over the next couple of weeks painting this lot up in time for the ganme.

Good job I almost finished the command group for the socialists for Mike then isn’t it ? 😉

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AVBCW: The Malvern Hills of Madness

18/07/2014

Our second game of the day. (Again all photos by JP some muppet forgot their camera)

After lunch we set the table up again, using H P Lovecraft and other pulp horror books to create a ridge across the middle of the table to represent the hills above Ham Green. We upped the points value of the forces from 300 to 450. JP’s black shirts deployed two regular units of 10 troops, an HMG, and 10 militia along with an HQ unit.

I deployed 2 x 5 shotgun armed militia, 10 Regulars, an HMG, a mortar and an HQ unit. Both of us opted to take a Medic. We were after all testing the rules out.

Both sides approached the ridge on opposite sides, and it was a race to get to the crest of the ridge first. So we were expecting a shoot them up session.

BUT, that suddenly changed. JP’s BUF moved up their HMG to some cover on the ridge, less than 6 inches from my shotgun armed militia, so in order to test the rules, I charged them in in an assault move.

OUCH ! The Bolt Action rules are pretty messy in close combat – I wiped the HMG crew out entirely.

Meanwhile his regulars advanced and shot my mortar spotter team. My mortar fired at them, hit and knocked off a couple of them. Our two regular units then did the expected stand off shooting session.

Then I got a dose of my own medicine when JP’s unit charged my HMG, with the same results.

Then I charged and wiped out his HQ. We now had units behind each others front lines. In the end the swirling melees lead us to include we had a draw.

Lots to chew on in terms of the rules, and the games added to our ongoing narrative in Herefordshire. Looks like the MHC and BUF emnity continues…

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AVBCW: The Battle of Ham Green

17/07/2014

The Malvern Hills Conservators were the attacking force trying to secure the western flanks of the Malvern Hills. We were using Bolt Action rules for the first time – and deployed forces worth 300 points given the size of JP’s table (about 4′ x 3′). All pictures by JP !

Expecting a rag tag set of bandits occupying their territory on the western flanks of the Malverns, the MHC encountered BUF forces in Ham Green complete with a light tank ! The MHC armed with a Lanchester A/C, and a large humber of shotguns decided to move forward anyway.

My new shotgun armed unit moved into the scrubland to avoid the BUF tank.

The BUF march down the road.

First turn the light tank brewed up the Lanchester leaving the MHC in an impossible situation.

Advancing through cover the MHC. LMG, SMG and rifle fire whittled down the MHC before they closed in on the BUF.

The BUF confidently marched down the road, whilst their tank stalled.

A firefight ensued. The MHC and did a couple of casualties before the inevitable withdrawal.

A good game, and for me it was great not to have to drag loads of scenery over to JP, having donated to him lots of stuff and his own efforts.

It quickly became apparent that under sustained fire, units quickly break down (the red and black markers). Unsurprisingly my new shotgun unit broke down and ran. The shot on the Lanchester was lucky and did spoil my plans straight off. I think JP was a bit guilty about his luck on this one as he didn’t move his tank in the best way.

After this game we broke for lunch provided by Mrs JP.

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AVBCW: A Royal Mitre Exchange 2

10/03/2014 1 Comment

Soon the first exchanges of fire started, except strangely on Table 2….

The BUF moved their French tankette towards the level crossing towards the Anglican League, but the driver or machine seemed strangely inept and kept stalling. This obviously inhibited the advance of the Nice South African Royalists.

A BUF unit did manage to cross a hedge on the second go, and then stood around a lot not doing much before eventually sidling along the hedge at the bottom of the embankment towards the railway crossing.

NB: We were using some rules modifications to test for entire units crossing obstacles not model by model as this tends to slow down play in large games like this.

On Table 3, the BUF were not hanging around.

Captain Arrowsmith’s motorised cavalry column stormed up the road towards Sir Gilbert and the Anglican League. He had got all but his cavalry in soft skin transport. He was flanked by Captain Arnett who deployed a field gun to ensure that the AL and Sir Gilbert’s gangsters brave LDV could not get past the BUF.

Sir Gilbert and co ready themselves !

On Table 1…

The Royalists fail to break through, and turn tail before the Red Menace.

Phuttt, Fizzle !!!!!

On Table 2, lots of strange roadside items were laid out, barrels, a strangely large number of Post Office Boxes, and unmarked vans. Just as the Nice South Africans passed a barrel, there was a strange sound, and it was revealed to be a roadside bomb !

All the present factions (BUF, AL, Royalist) immediately sought to find and destroy any other such cowardly and wretched items, targeting the suspicious post boxes, vans and so on. It was soon revealed many of these items were indeed similar booby traps and were swiftly dealt with. Strangely, the post boxes seemed to be genuine, so a few letters managed to get damaged with anti tank rifle rounds. Now who had carried out this act of indiscriminate destruction ?

Back on Table 3…

The BUF de-train…

And promptly shoot up the (corrupt) local Police that were obviously acting in collusion with Sir Gilberts gangsters LDV. Captain Arrowsmith had at least resisted temptation to shoot up/bomb/burn the buildings he’d passed, but the Policemen were a provocation too far.

Sir Gilbert and the AL responded in kind, shelling and mortaring the closely packed BUF infantry that came off the worse for the wear, losing a third of the infantry in one turn.

On Table 2, the terrorists who had planted the IEDs revealed themselves from their hiding spots, two units of the Red Menace – Socialists – pounced on the hapless AL troops and opened fire at close range causing chaos and confusion ! One unit ran away (aided by a chance card)

The BUF under Major Campbell pounced (ponced?) in a lugubrious fashion with their French tin can finally getting into gear, and getting out of the way of the Nice South Africans. Just then a fog descended reducing shooting ranges and allowing the BUF through the gap…

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AVBCW: A Royal Mitre Exchange 1

09/03/2014 1 Comment

Fourteen gamers, three tables, and a shed load of troops. Yes, JP & I staged another Big Game following on from the Battle of Foy.

We had set up Table 1 (last post), we set up Table 2 on the day once Roo had delivered the wholly unexpected railway embankment sections which proved a real psychological barrier. Yours truely had to stand in for Roo in the morning due to Roo’s daughter’s Willy Wonka party so for once I actually got to “play”.

Table 3 was set up late as well once Byakhee Richard arrived with his gaming mat, and was set up as generic Herefordian countryside albeit with a defensive line for Sir Gilbert and the Anglican League.

Three tables all 8×6′. The hall just about had enough room, and tables to cope with this.

Leadboy, one of our newcomers set up on Table 2. At first no one twigged about the numerous post boxes, unmarked vans and bafrrellas littering the table, but it soon became apparent the dastardly Socilaists were planning to wreck the planned hand over of the captive Bishop of Hereford to the Anglican League. As you can see in the photo, the unmarked blue van was dangerously close to his forces and took a lot of effort to eradicate !

Mort’s Anglicans were well dug in.

The BUF under Baron Foy delpoy along with their Royalist allies.

All on Table 2.

Whilst on Table 1, the Royalist column moves in to deliver the Bishop as part of the deal.

On Table 3, the BUF deploy and move in to deliver Sir Gilberts a stern warning !

To be Continued…..

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AVBCW: The Welsh Invaders of Longstreet

22/02/2014

For the second skirmish game using Brink of Battle, we opted for more buildings. JP laid out a single central road, hence the name of the fictional hamlet of Longstreet.

JP chose to deploy his Welsh militia – an elite force all tooled up with ‘traits’ such as Marksman, sharpshooter etc, so there was only 5 of them. Yours truely took the cut and paste approach and did the same 7 guys just in black.

I set a couple of guys out across the left hand field.

The other five lead by my commander went up the road – and the commander promptly got knocked down (luckily not dead) by one of the Welsh marksmen.

The rest of the troops made better use of ‘concealment’ and ‘cover’, which when we read the rules properly are two different factors. The Welsh militia and BUF then exchanged fire whilst inching forward down the centre of the table.

JP tried a falnk attack, but we both learnt one key issue – the order in which you command your men. His guy out in the open had a very close shave, got behind the hedge before eventually being bumped off by me using the turn sequence tactically.

Ultimately my firing line behind the stone wall proved too much and the Welsh militia was driven off.

God save the King & Mosley ! The BUF Three Counties League will have to retaliate against the separatist Welsh and bring them to heel !

What we learnt:

  • Cover, and Concealent are dealt with differently in Brink of Battle
  • Though we still have enough Action tokens to command all our troops in these small battles, the order in which you activate your troops is very important.
  • Don’t stand out in the open !!!!!!!!
  • JP really had bad dice rolls
  • Traits are really important and make a real difference.

Looking back at an earlier posting, many of these points were noted before, but not rammed home until the rules are actively used in anger so to speak. They remain a fun set of rules for real low level skimishing. JP is considering a horde of ill equipped farmers to test things out further.

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AVBCW: Rescue Mission, or BUF in a Barn

21/02/2014

Following on from our last game, Byakhee JP & I had another game using Brink of Battle. The BUF had been trapped defending a barn somewhere in Herefordshire, and ended up being captured by the Anglican League troops. I recreated from memory the scenery, and deployed 500 points worth of troops to act as their captors, whilst JP deployed 500 points of Blackshorts to rescue their colleagues.

My awesome forces of 7 men deployed around the barn in the centre of the table.

  • One commander, with SMG
  • One NCO, with grenades
  • One NCO with upgraded stats
  • Four troopers with rifles.

We decided that the squad of BUF prisoners in the barn would not provide any input into the game in terms of combat.

The Blackshorts advanced/pranced across the fields, avoiding nettles, thistles and other weeds known to scupper their plans.

Though the Blackshorts drew first blood shooting one of my BRAVE Anglican League, my REWENGEE was swift as I downed two of his dodgy troopers in short order in an exchange of gun fire over the hedgeline.

I moved a couple of troopers up on mt left to counter their advance.

Which resulted in another exchange of fire – again I came off better shooting his bald pated leader and two other troops. By the end his final two troops fled. My trooper who shot his leader promptly got shot by another black short minion.

The captured BUF squad in the barn were then subjected to a sermon outlining the errors of their ways and made to sing a hymn or two before being released back into the community.

Things we noted:

  • JP had appalling dice rolls, all at the wrong time
  • Though he did get “The Edge” more than me, which did not prove decisive in this game…
  • As we had so few troops we simply assigned action chits, in larger games with more troops you should do the IGOUGO option.
  • We didn’t get the Concealment vs Cover rules right
  • Rural Hereford provides a lot of hedges tyo hide behind, something JP had been checking
  • The hedges are substantial and apart from armoured vehicles impassable.

We just about remembered the rules and they are very innovative skirmish rules.

We then had a second unconnected game…

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AVBCW: Clipping Hedges

27/10/2013 3 Comments

For our second game of Chain of Command, we re-arranged the table, and added the em-4 barn.

Clipping Hedges

Old farmer Arthur Webley has been clipping hedges, but he’s also been clipping some of the gun runners of their goods as payment to cross his land. As a result he’s amassed a goodly load of weapons.

Both the BUF and Anglican League don’t want these weapons falling into the wrong hands.

We commenced the Patrol phase.

My BUF deployed well I initially thought.

JP’s Anglicans popped up very close and a ferocious firefight ensued.

Then JP deployed his tankette – he had subtley altered his army list.

I seemed to be winning the firefight. All our troops were “green”, i.e. rubbish…except I had bought an upgrade to this unit and they were “regulars”, so my shooting wazs better, and they weren’t using the covers as well as I was. Even so both sides started building up shock markers at a…shocking…rate (sorry). 😉

Then he brought on another unit which more than evened the odds…

And a third…

And brought the tankette up, which was armed with an HMG (10 shots…). Unsuprisingly having finished off one of his units, damaged a second but with no way of harming the tankette, my regulars made a quick sharp exit ! This left that flank undefended, and my jump off points exposed.

My central section streamed into the barn – yes the doors are moveable, which on retrospect was a hideous egotistical mistake…

…because my thrid section on my left flank got caught out be an impetuous advance by his third unit who wiped them out in two rounds of shooting.

Even pulling the central unit out of the barn and forming a firing line couldn’t save them.

The tankette was now coming round behind the barn. This left my central section trapped in a pincer movement, with no escape routes. I therefore conceded the game. I had lost because I ahd become fixated with the barn, and by entering it had effectively (as Jp put it) taken a section off the board. In this set of rules, and probably most others you need your troops shooting, not marvelling at architectural excellence ! Occupying terrain features is one thing, driving off the enemy is more important. Other lessons learnt will be in the next posting on the rules.

We resolved to run our next game, with the BUF holed up in the barn needing to be rescued.

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