The Spoiling Attack AAR - Bonus The Russian Are Coming Campaign Game

Well finally an AAR for my 'The Russians are Coming Campaign'! Yes the Great Game continues in the Antipodes with the Russian Empires tentacles attempting to envelope Australia. This is an extra Campaign game to reacquaint myself with the Colony at War Rules, the scenario finds the South Australians on the attack against a weak defending unit that is reinforced. That's about it for my preamble over to the game and I hope you enjoy the AAR for 'The Spoiling Attack!'...

The Russians defend their entrenchments against the rampaging Volunteers of the the Adelaide Rifles!

The History

Wednesday August 27 1879

Captain Beach blew his whistle and the brave lads of the Adelaide Rifles advanced as one from their jump off positions along Taylors Road! Ignoring the random shots of their foes and cheering the red clad Colonials moved rapidly toward their objective Captain Beach urging them on every step of the way!

Meanwhile Captain Mordvichev cursed under his breath, he commanded a few wretched Sailors drawn from from the fleet whom he thought would be lucky to score in a brothel let alone score a hit on one of the Colonials with their rifles! He was worried as he considered his options, withdraw was out of the question yet he doubted his ability to hold, as the bullets whizzed around him he looked about frantically while trying to keep his Sailors in line and firing.

The South Australian Riflemen quickly came upon the Russian's position and so far only Private Earle Page had fallen from their ranks, he was wounded by a lucky shot from one of the Russian Sailors! Beach and his men were ecstatic and quickened their pace to close in for the kill.

Mordvichev damned Satan and feared for his life as the Colonials approached, but Lady Luck smiled on him he spied two sections of Russian infantry in their heavy green tunics marching just to the rear of his position, he promptly summoned them to march to the sound of the fighting and once they were close enough gave them orders to immediately attack the advancing Red Devils!

Beach's Force had reached the Russian entrenchment and he ordered them to move to encircle it! Whilst two sections approached frontally Sergeants Chris Watson and George Reid's men advanced to engage the Russians flanks! The advance then continued and much to the South Australian's surprise Russian Infantry appeared on before them, the attack stalled just as it was about to snatch a victory!

A fierce firefight broke out! The Russian Sailors buoyed by the arrival of the Regulars doubled their efforts. The South Australians were halted by the Russians furious defence! The air was now filled with lead and the screams of the wounded and dying...Sergeant Chris Watson's section suffered heavily and pulled back to be replaced by Sergeant Cook's boys, all along the line the Riflemen were checked!

Ignoring the hail of fire Captain Beach personally intervened, he exclaimed 'For the Queen!" Then he drew his sabre, emptied his revolver into the massed Russians and lunged forward into the their entrenchment! Inspired by their Officer the South Australian Riflemen were drawn irresistibly forward! A desperate melee took place for control of the trench, men fell on both sides and the carnage to the left and right of the melee was fearful as the close range shooting continued. The intense fighting seemed to last but a moment and it was followed by an eerie silence...the Russian's defending the trench broke the Colonials had prevailed! A great hussah rose from the South Australians as the Russians Sailors fled whilst their accompanying Infantry retired alongside them.

Captain Beach was elated and gathered his section commanders together to regale them, it was only moments later after the conflab as everyone calmed down he looked around and was confronted with the horrors of war, the dead and dying of both sides were piled in the entrenchment and its surrounds, Beach under his breath cursed this damnable war and its evil bounty...

The AAR

The Battlefield at the start of play with the South Australian Militia in the foreground deployed along Taylors Road and the Imperial Russians in the distance!

Captain Beach prepares to launch his men forward to GLORY!

Nervous Russian Sailors man their positions in response to the Colonial sortie...

Turns 1, 2, 3 & 4

The South Australians advanced in open order...

...whislt the Russian defender fired but unfortunately for them scored only one effective hit!..

Turn 5

Once the Riflemen were in charging distance of the entrenchment Captain Beach formed his centre troops into line and ordered the left and right sections to continue in skirmish order and flank the Russians!

Unseen by the South Australians Russian Infantry were fast approaching to assist the Sailors in their defence of the entrenchment!

Sergeant Watson's section takes a pounding from the Russian Regulars with half their numbers casualties they retire, luckily for Beach Cook's section was in place to replace them!

Turn 6 & 7

Beach's main assault section led by Andrew Fisher come to grips with the defender, this vicious melee would continue for two turns!

To the right of the main assault Cook's fresh section gave the Russian a couple of turns of volleys!

Whilst to the right of the melee for the trenches Reid's section engaged the Russians they faced!

Turn 8

Success for the Colonial Force the trenches were taken after a hard slog!

Captain Mordvichev and his Aide comer face to face with their foes as they occupy the Entrenchments!

The melee lost the final few Russian Sailors break!

Turn 9

Captain Beach in the occupied Russian entrenchment!

An overview of the battlefield at the end of Turn 9...

Victory to the South Australians as they hold the entrenchment and the Russians are on the run!

This scenario played well if the Russians had had a little more luck with the dice they could well have been successful as the close up firefight and the melee were both very evenly balanced. I've got my head around the Rules again, they work well for games like this but the last scenario in this Campaign is going to involve all the available figures I have and that will stretch the them to the limit as each figure on figure fire/melee requires a dice throws with anything from D4s to D12s! It'll work but it will be a long game!

Next time: Background on the Final Campaign Game, 'The Big Show - Assault on the City Of Adelaide'

The Christmas Pudding Factory Incident AAR

The Xmas FUBAR Game has been played, and prefacing this with a thanks to HG Wells for penning War of the Worlds first published in full in 1898...😊...

Martian Tripods 'Red' and ' Green' on the the Move December 1874!

The Forces

Humanity

8 x Steam Powered Armoured Wagons

1 x Heavy Auto Cannon (no -1 at long range as pre-sighted prior to the battle)

1 x Tesla Gun (no -1 at long range as pre-sighted prior to the battle)

2 x Steam Powered Blimps (One Bomb attack each arriving Turn Two)

The Nasty Martians

2 x Tripod Fighting Machines

The Objective

The Martians have Eight Turns to exit one Tripod from the opposite tabletop edge to the one they start on, the Tripod must have at least one functioning Weapon System.

The Battle Report!

Late December 1874 and Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants formed up the troops of his 7th Steam Power Armoured Detachment in advantageous positions to fight advancing Martian Fighting Machines. He selected uneven and marshy ground well to the South of Little Tinkle on Clyde for the battle. This terrain plus a tributary of the Clyde River would help his cause, the battlefield was split by a metalled road running North/South and the tributary was spanned by one of Brunel's wonders!

It was mid morning when the Evil Martian Tripods lurched into view and halted appearing hesitant on the skyline. Using this pause Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants gathered his men and read them a rousing declaration from her most Imperious Highness Empress Victoria! The men were buoyed by the words and prepared for action!

The Tripods known to the British as 'Red' and 'Green' had spent several days trekking across the English countryside to reach their objective, a Human Factory located in Little Tinkle on Clyde. The Martian High Command had methodically calculated that the destruction of the Facility would break the unexpectedly high spirit the Humans were showing when facing their Fighting Machines! The two great machinations halted to survey Human defences located near a stream along a roadway as they came into view. The Humans took this pause as hesitation but it was not, the Martians spent a few minutes to plan their attack, they quickly determined these men and their puny machines could easily be swept aside so they ADVANCED!

The peace and quiet of the English countryside on that serene winters day was shattered by the roar of the Martians Machines powerplants and sounds of their rocket fire!

Reacting to the Martians attack Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants ordered his vehicles and Blimps to deploy with for his artillery to give them covering fire!

The air resounded with the noise of Steam Engines running at full speed, explosions, the Pew-Pew of Lasers, shouting, screams of pain and the clang of hot metal on the cold armour of the Martian Fighting Machines!

The battle played out quickly. Soon the burning wrecks of several Armoured Wagons lay upon the field of battle but the defenders were elated as they appeared to score telling hits on the closing Behemoths!

With the two Fighting Machines virtually upon the defences of the 7th Steam Power Armoured Detachment one of Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants Engineers triggered off one of the two mines they had buried in the fields, 'Red' disappeared in a huge fountain of earth generated by several hundred weight of TNT! A huge cheer erupted from the British lines and there was much excitement among the defenders at the sight of the explosion but their high spirits plummeted as the smoke haze cleared and seemingly unhurt the Tripod with its Red Eye glowing fiercely continued to close on them.

Any regular fighting men would have fled at this point but the elite 7th urged on by Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants doubled their efforts and fired at the Martians Machines as the literally 'walked' over them! Again damage was inflicted on them but alas not enough to stop them!

The battle was over and it resulted in a victory to the Martian Invaders. Even though Human losses were comparatively light they had not been able to stop the advance of the Fighting Machines which continued on Northward in the direction of the Puddin' Lady's Christmas Pudding Manufacturing Co Factory!

Post Script...

Although the battle was lost the campaign was saved thanks to the ingenuity of our Hero, Captain Darling. Yes the Christmas Pudding Factory was saved! On hearing of the defeat of Sir Blythe-Hamilton-Pants Force Darling engaged the services of well known landscape artist Edward Wilkins Waite who quickly whipped up a full size and totally realistic painting of the Puddin' Lady's Christmas Pudding Manufacturing Co Factory which Darling cunningly used in a clever ruse to fool the Martians! The full size painting was put in place a mile south of the real factory and the Martians on seeing it blew it to smithereens! Convinced they had completed their mission successfully they reported the details to their Leaders. 'Red' and 'Green' believing their work was done withdrew albeit leaving the real Factory in tact and producing its precious wares! A huge well done and pat on the back to Captain Darling, yet again he had pulled the Empires bits out of the fire!

Some Pictures...

 Artillerymen of the 7th Steam Power Armoured Detachment zero their Heavy Auto Cannon in  on the approaching Martian Tripods!

The Crew of the Detachments Tesla Gun too laid in their sights on the looming Martian Machines...

End of Turn One Picture

The Martian Tripods advanced firing their rockets at their Human foes without achieving any successes, the outranged Humans advanced their Steam Powered Armoured Wagons!

End of Turn Two Picture

The Martians continue to advance, they destroy one of the Armoured Wagons on the road with rockets, the men of the 7th fire their first shots scoring no damage on the Fighting Machines!

End of Turn Three Picture

The Martians draw level with Brunel's bridge and using their Lasers they knock out another Armoured Wagon on the Human's right flank. The British Blimps launch their Bombs at the Tripods but inflict no damage, the Artillery on the other hand scored hits and the Martians took damage, nothing significant though!

Even through the Martians were advancing remorselessly and inflicting casualties on the 7th Steam Power Armoured Detachment the remaining Humans continued too put up a stout defence!  Here four active Armoured Wagons continue to engage the Tripods!

During Turn Four the Human triggered a mine consisting of several hundred weight of TNT, it created a large crater but barely scratched the Martian Machine, it scored a single 'Speed' hit...also in the picture a Steam Powered Blimp engaging the Tripod with its Rapid Fire Gun (eg Machine Gun)...

Turn Four

This picture is mid turn just before the Mine Attack on 'Red'. The second Armoured Wagon on the Human left is destroyed and 'Green' now has an open run to get passed the defenders! 'Red' engages the Heavy Auto Cannon...

'Green' having destroyed both of the Armoured Steam Wagons on the British right simply 'strolled' over them in Turn Five!

Turn Five and the Tesla Gun Crew fired at point blank range at 'Green' but were unable to disable it, it swept passed them and out of camera shot!

During Turn Five the Martians were passed the British line of defence but still attracted fire, several hits were scored on the behemoths inflicting more damage but still they soldiered on! 

Tally Ho!

Turn Six and 'Green' reached the Martian objective, eg exiting the tabletop, a Victory to the Martians!

The situation at the end of Turn Six and the game!

The Martian Tripods seemed to win an easy victory but they took a bit of damage despite having a 2+ saving throw on a D6 for any hit; 'Green' was only one speed hit away from being immobilised taking three of the four allowed and 'Red' had taken half of its allowed Speed and Steering Hits

Summary Stuff!

Okay we've played a smaller version of this scenario before but never had both of my Big Martian Fighting Machines on the table at once! I'd like to play this again sometime mid year as I think it is pretty well balanced. This was not an easy win for the Martians both Tripods were damaged  and they were very lucky as they had to consult the Breakdown Table three times and each time luckily rolled the 'power surge' result so neither one was handicapped by the 'Breakdown' results! Plus there were plenty of Human assets still in action, only three out of eight of the Armoured Wagons were destroyed, both the Blimps were still in action and only three out of a total of eight Artillery Crewmen had become casualties, the British still had a lot of firepower at games end! Be ready to read about a rematch later in 2024...

Next Time: Captain Darling's Grand Tour Review or a way overdue AAR or two!

The Battle For Chateaux 'X' - FUBAR VSF AAR

Hello again Dear Readers it's been a while but I'm back and I'll hopefully will be able to divert some more time to my VSF passion over the next few months! This post, my first in quite a while is a FUBAR VSF AAR, yep I got the TSOG guys to play a game last Monday!

Background

The Great Steam Wars of the 1880's engulfed the World and battles between the European Empires raged across the length and breadth of virtually every Continent! The Low Countries in Europe were a hot spot of activity and as allegiances and alliances changed Armies of the Great Empires fought many actions within their borders...one of those was fought for the possession of Chateaux 'X'!

The Battle for Chateaux 'X' begin German Steam Armour advances with Infantry support!

The Armies!

British Army - Lord Arfwitt - the 22nd Steam Assault Detachment

Unit                              Activation         Expertise          Armour           Suppression     Hero Pts

HQ                                    2+                    4+                    6+                    2                     2

Guard Infantry                  2+                    3+                    5+                    4                      2

Armoured Infantry 1/2      3+                    4+                    5+                    3                      1

Armoured Infantry 2/2      3+                    4+                    5+                    3                      1

Line Infantry 1/2               4+                    5+                    6+                    2                      1

Line Infantry 2/2               4+                    5+                    6+                    2                      1

Naval Auxiliaries              4+                    5+                    6+                    1                      1

Artillery Detachment        3+                    4+                    5+                    2                      1

Automaton MG                3+                    3+                     4+/6+           Special Rules     0

German Army Oberst Oinker - 3rd Grenadier Gruppe

Unit                              Activation         Expertise          Armour           Suppression     Hero Pts

HQ                                   2+                    4+                    6+                    2                      2

Jager Border Guards       2+                    3+                    5+                    4                      2

Armoured infantry 1/2      3+                    4+                    5+                    3                      1

Armoured Infantry 2/2      3+                    4+                    5+                    3                      1

Line Infantry 1/3               4+                    5+                    6+                    2                      1

Line Infantry 2/3               4+                    5+                    6+                    2                      1

Line Infantry 3/3               4+                    5+                    6+                    1                      1

Artillery Detachment        3+                    4+                    5+                    2                      1

Automaton MG                3+                    3+                    4+/6+            Special Rules     0

All Vehicles       

Activation         Expertise          Armour             Suppression      Speed      Crew

      3+                    4+                    3+                        2                   10”          5/6

Vehicle Notes;

Vehicle Activation roll of a 1 requires an unmodified 1D6 Roll on Breakdown Table

Vehicles must move 3” straight ahead before it can turn up to 45 degrees

Vehicles without turret have 6 man Crew

Special Rules;

1. Heroic Points can be spent to reroll a die per Point HQ may use its Points on Unit within 12”

Gain 1D6 movement

Gain 1 FP factor for a shot

Reroll a save at 3+

2. Automaton requires 2 successful unsaved hits in the one attack to kill, 1 unsaved hit causes a roll on the Malfunction table, if Controller is closer to firer than the Automaton he may be targeted and has 6+ Armour, the Controller must be within 12 Inches of the Automaton if not it rolls to activate a pass and  it remains stationary a failure and it rolls on the Malfunction Table

An Automaton Activation roll of a 1 requires an unmodified 1D6 Roll on the Malfunction Table

Scenario Rules & Victory Conditions

The Chateaux 'X' scenario begins with both sides placed within 6" of their table edge, one Armoured Steam Wagon enters along the road for each side per turn for the first three turns and at the end of turn three each side places their Artillery Detachment anywhere within 20" of their table edge, once placed it can not move but it can pivot.

The game runs for eight complete turns and at the end of the game victory is given to the side with the most Victory Points at that time.

Victory Points are earned for;

1 VP per live figure within 12" of the edge of Chateaux 'X' on the player's half of the table

2 VPs per active vehicle within 12" of the edge of Chateaux 'X' on the player's half of the table

2 VPs per live figure with 12" of the edge of Chateaux 'X' on the other player's half of the table

4 VPs per active vehicle with 12" of the edge of Chateaux 'X' on the other player's half of the table

Chateaux 'X', everyone's objective, seems the Senior Officers of both sides wanted a classy bivouac for the night!

The AAR

With cold Autumn nights approaching many Commanders sought better lodgings and Chateaux 'X' drew the attention of both Lord Arfwitt and Oberst Oinker, they manoeuvred their forces to gain control of this vital location in the lowlands of Holland.

The Germans deployed with a strong right wing and their elite Jagers in their centre with their Automaton under the control Engineer OberLeutnant Willi Orvontee. The British placed their troops in a long line on a board front with their Guard Grenadiers in the rear and their Automaton supporting their left flank. Both sides expected reinforcements of Steam Powered Armoured Wagons and Artillery which would enter along the road.

Both sides advanced aggressively the British skewing their advance toward the dead ground behind Chateaux 'X' where as the German continued their attack on a wide front!

The road was the centre of the action for the Steam Powered Armoured Wagons of both sides and it became a battle within a battle. In a confused firefight interspersed with Breakdown Events a draw ensued, One British vehicle was destroyed, one bogged down and the other dogged by fires fought on valiantly earing them double VPs, while for the Germans two vehicles were destroyed and the other successfully ended the game near the Chateaux giving them VPs.

While the armoured clash continued the foot soldiers of both sides drew closer to the Chateaux and each other. Initially the British had the better of the exchange of fire but near the font entrance of the Chateaux the garden became a killing field and two British Units were hammered by the German Armoured Infantry.

During the last two turns the British artillery came into play pushing back two German Units and then the fresh British Grenadier Guard Unit was released and on entering the fray unleashed a barrage of fire that made the difference! They defeated all the Germans facing them and they then pressed forwards to earn even more VPs for their side!

At this point the action ended with a British triumph over their German foes, they scored 54 Victory Points to Germans 34!

Our Battlefield, the British are in the foreground!

The British initial positions...

Captain Walee and his new Automaton on the extreme British left.

The Germans deployment mostly hidden in the fruit orchid...

The Huns left flank advances!

(the blue mini die indicates Units that have Heroic Points they can spend during play!)

The British move forward carefully shielding their reserve, elite Guard Grenadiers armed with the latest repeating rifles and grenade launchers with a Naval Unit...

Germans massing at the edge of the orchid about to begin their grand attack! Their best Unit is ready to lead the way!

The first German Steam Powered Armoured Wagon to arrive coordinated closely with the Infantry!

"Mensch Vorwarts!" The German advance begins!

Meanwhile the British Steam Armour was in difficulty, a fire broke out in their leading vehicle!

(the infamous Breakdown Table strikes!)

Not to be outdone the Germans Armoured Behemoths too fell foul of fickle mechanics! This allowed the British to hit the middle vehicle below destroying it!

Meanwhile the first infantry casualties are taken, the Germans best troops, their Jagers take hits from opportunity fire!

The roadway became the location of a hot armoured action! Below in the distance two British vehicles move down the road toward their German counterparts, a third one after putting out an internal fire veered off the road when a second fire broke out (curses!). In the foreground the two surviving German vehicles face them.

In an attempt to clear the road for their last vehicle the second British Armoured Wagon moved off the road but due to a power surge it ended up bogged down in the Chateux's pond! It became a pillbox for the rest of the game, luckily though it was within 12" of the Chateaux so qualified for VPs at the last moment!

Firing was now general across the line as both sides Units advanced, initially the British got the better of this but in the foreground of the below a shattered Unit of Redcoats retire losing seven out of ten figures (the red disc indicates routing units!)!

The British artillery deployed on their left and proved deadly targeting the German foot troops...

The final German push supported by artillery looks promising and despite losses they were advancing steadily!

Note the lonely looking German Automaton ambling forward in the centre of the picture, its operator, Willi Orvontee is lurking near the artillery behind the hedge.

Ground level view of the German right...

Despite losses the British gunners toiled and their work reaped rewards, they broke two German Units pushing them back out of the VP area of the Battlefield!

The last German Steam Armoured Wagon destroys the the British vehicle facing it and trundles down the road! It ended up earning the Germans VPs.

The final dispositions around Chateaux 'X'! These are the figures/vehicles that earned the sides VPs, the British are to the right and Germans (obviously) are to the left, it was 54 British VPs to 34 German VPs! Take that Huns, three resounding cheers her Her Majesty Queen Victoria! Hussah!

The Summary!

Alan and I lined up as the British and Dave and Maurice took the reins of the Germans. This was a proven scenario formula I have used many times before, it forces players to advance to a central point and if the want to win 'advance lots'! The victory conditions rewarded the attacking and both sides did that, uncertainties of the Breakdown Table ensured that both sides Steam Armour were not major influences and as usual the Automatons proved unreliable (as they should be). The British tactic of retaining a strong reserve in their Guard Unit as against the Germans advancing their best Unit, the Jagers proved crucial and was telling in the end result. We haven't played these rules for ages but they were quickly picked up and the game ran quickly and smoothly. Fun was had by all and the fickle steam vehicles added a lot to the entertainment! 

Hopefully we'll get another game in before the FUBAR VSF Christmas Extravaganza!

Next Time; Back to the Russians are Coming Games!