This week I finally got in my second game of L’Art De La Guerre (following on from my introductory game June last year), this time 300 points and hosted by Andre at the Christchurch Wargaming Club. I decided to trot out my Mycenaeans who have not seen action in a long time, and opposing me Andre fielded Achaemenid Persians – so an anachronistic match-up but a not too far off semi-historical mix of opposing troop types – well at least if you ignore the wheels on the chariots (and think of them as cavalry)!
Continue reading “ADLG Mycenaeans vs. Persians”Raid On Villa Winter
“Captain Hendry de Cromault paddled steadily and quietly through the uneasy surf, his sergeant and some of his men behind him doing likewise. To either side more boats of British Commandos were also paddling through the surf. As their boats ran up on the volcanic beach with the crashing breakers covering their approach, the first rays of the sun were providing a faint glow off to the east well beyond the mountains, and even further, as the sun rose over Africa and headed towards the Atlantic Ocean. Quickly drawing their boats ashore, they were startled by the sudden winking of a bright lamp inshore, sending jumbled encrypted Morse code signals; ‘a U-Boat must be about’ Cromault thought to himself, ‘why else would the Villa Winter be activating it’s powerful beacon lamp, hopefully it doesn’t stumble across their transport home, a Royal Navy Destroyer lurking to the north’. Even as he thought about it his raiding force was assembling around him at their rallying points, and beyond expectations the entire force had safely made it ashore. Assembled on one of the remotest parts of the Canary Islands, they set off to accomplish their mission of destroying the secret mid-Atlantic U-Boat base built and run by by Gustav Winter, a reclusive German engineer, disguised beneath his Villa ‘Casa Winter’ on the island…“
Continue reading “Raid On Villa Winter”Discovering L’Art De La Guerre
Over the long weekend just gone (Queen’s Birthday here in NZ) I was back in my home town of Christchurch and my old local wargaming club there had some members hosting an introduction and training day for Art De La Guerre (ADLG) to coincide with the recent release of Version 4 of the rules. This looked an interesting opportunity to finally try these out and also catch up with several old wargaming comrades from the 1980’s and early 1990’s (most of whom I have not crossed paths with for many years).
Games would be 200 points in size (essentially the smallest size game normally played, and vaguely similar to big battle DBA in army size – more commonly games are 300 points or occasionally 400 points), and the focus would be on basic mechanics, and for those already familiar with ADLG, the rule changes in version 4. The game was played in 15mm and the Early Imperial Romans’ were loaned by Andre (one of the event organisers & host) and my opponent was Gordon with quasi-historical Gallic opposition.
Continue reading “Discovering L’Art De La Guerre”US Marines in Crossfire 1942-43
Quite some time ago I developed a US Marine force for Pacific Theatre operations, especially for my favourite campaign (Guadalcanal & the Solomon Islands) but also designed to cover the subsequent campaigns through 1943 to early 1944 (e.g. Gilbert and Marshal Islands). This covers the period of the “D” and “E” organisations of the US Marine Divisions & Regiments, primarily the first three Marine Divisions. The next restructure “F” occurred in May 1944 prior to the Marianna & Palau, and Philippine, Campaigns which all kicked off around June-July 1944. So this is my take on US Marines for Crossfire for the first 18 months these divisions existed and the initial campaigns to ‘retake the pacific’…
Continue reading “US Marines in Crossfire 1942-43”Pacific Theatre Reading List
Back in late March 2020 New Zealand went into it’s initial (ultimately 5-week) lockdown to stop the spread of the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of that lockdown I took the opportunity to try and catch up on some reading on the pacific theatre (as I have accumulated a reasonable collection of books and had read only a few) – this is the reading list I put together for April 2020…
Continue reading “Pacific Theatre Reading List”Nice DBMM Intro Video
Nice introductory video to DBMM (De Bellis Magistrorum Militum) and the key aspects of the rules; note this does not go into mechanics, just the overall concepts. Great for those not previously familiar with the DBx series of rules from WRG. Expect there to be more in this series from WRG…
USS Hornet: Mutiny & Mayhem at Midway
The traditional history of the battle of Midway briefly covers the USS Hornet’s Torpedo Bomber attack and then dismisses the remainder of the air group as flying too far south and missing the Japanese carriers, but the truth is quite a bit different! In fact the air group was a dysfunctional formation, led by a poor performing commander that went on a ‘flight to nowhere’ that resulted in actions that amounted to mutiny, the loss of numerous aircraft without seeing action, and the near-suicidal lone attack by the torpedo bomber squadron from the group.
Continue reading “USS Hornet: Mutiny & Mayhem at Midway”D-Day New Guinea
“Java is heaven, Burma is hell, but you never come back alive from New Guinea” – Japanese military saying…
This book covers a little known and possibly not well documented portion of the Papua-New Guinea campaigns of World War II. While the desperate battles for Papua and the Kokoda Track are well documented, and MacArthur’s focus on getting to the Philippines as fast as, and by any means possible is well known, the (primarily) Australian led capture of Lae in New Guinea is not so well documented and perhaps under-rated – along with the privations the Japanese troops suffered in their eventual retreats over the mountains that equal (and perhaps exceed) those of the Kokoda campaign.
Continue reading “D-Day New Guinea”Chain of Command First Action
Down at the AWC Kieran and a few others have been playing Chain of Command. I finally had a chance to get down to the club so played an introductory game with Kieran… Using the basic ‘Patrol’ scenario (essentially the traditional ‘encounter’ game – although probably never the best scenario type for an impromptu wargame, especially first taste of a rule set) we set up a village crossroads ‘somewhere in Normandy, 1944’. Continue reading “Chain of Command First Action”
Tales Of Cromwell Tanks
If like me you love Cromwell tanks, then you will enjoy this video of annecdotes and facts about the British Cromwell Tank in WW2. The Cromwell first saw action in the Battle of Normandy in June 1944, equipping the armoured reconnaissance regiments of the 7th and 11th Armoured Divisions and the Guards Armoured Division. The armoured regiments of the 7th Armoured Division were also equipped with Cromwells at this time (in lieu of M4 Sherman tanks). Centaurs (the Cromwell without the Rolls Royce engine) were used in combat fitted with a 95 mm howitzer, as part of the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group during the initial ‘amphibious invasion’ days of the Normandy campaign. Continue reading “Tales Of Cromwell Tanks”
Jagdpanther with Hilary Doyle
Fantastic Video of the Weald Foundation operational Jagdpanther, presented by Hilary Doyle (renown German Armour Expert) with some absolutely fascinating and obscure facts included. A must watch if you are a WW2 Tank fan. Continue reading “Jagdpanther with Hilary Doyle”
Britain Did Not Stand Alone
In 1982 only New Zealand offered the United Kingdom aid in the Falkland’s Crisis (later conflict), offering warships to participate in the looming conflict and when politely declined by the UK instead providing these warships to relieve Royal Navy vessels from their Pacific and South East Asia stations so they could participate. But was this all the aid the UK received? While the USA, NATO, Commonwealth, et al stood by and offered no help at all – was someone else actually providing significant help? Continue reading “Britain Did Not Stand Alone”