Taking the town-1914

This was the second game I ran at Enfilade.  This one pitted the Germans attempting to take a Russian village in 1914.  The rules for this game were the Two Fat Lardies' "Through the Mud and the Blood."  The rules are essentially a platoon based game.

I made a few tweaks to the game to let it run smoothly and to get everyone involved in the game and keep them involved.  For those who don't play the rules, most Lardy rules have a card that ends a turn.  In this set it's called the "Time for a Snifter."  I removed that card and allowed the commanders to run the deck.  Playing the last card ended a turn for this game.  

The scenario itself was based in 1914 with the Germans attacking a Russian held village.  This battle was not based on anything historical but more from a compilation of events I have read about over the years.

Two pictures of the board setup.  The Russian held the small village in the center/right of the board and the Germans attacked from the left.

The German commanders placed their blinds.  Since the Russians held the village, blinds were not used until the Germans got within 6 inches of an area where the Russian were hiding.

The Germans move out!  The three German players.  The gentleman closest to the camera has played Sharp's Practice before.

The Russian Commanders wait patiently while the Germans come forward.

The Russians Spot a German unit.

A Russian squad is seen and they pay the price!  This house became a bloody piece of swiss cheese.

The Germans continue their advance but start taking fire from the Russians.

More Russians appear!  The white cap on the house was target marker for a Barrage the Germans called in.  The German command hit his spot each time he rolled for his artillery.

The Germans begin to move into the fields in front of them.  The fields proved to be a deadly place to be for them.

The Russians continue to hold on.

More Russians spotted in a house.

More Russians die holding this house and section of woods.

The Germans are taking a beating trying to cross that field.

The Germans on the far side of the board try to outflank the village.  It didn't work out so well.

That little house caused a lot causalities to the Germans. Making them fight for every yard.

Finally close enough to close assault the house.

Moving through the field.

Remember the flanking move.  Here's the result. Lots of dead Germans.

There are the Russians who are responsible for stopping the flank move.

The house has been taken but at great cost.

The retreating Russian squad from the house.  Only 3 guys left from a 12 man squad.

Over view of the battle from the German perspective.

Lots of dead Germans.

The Germans finally make it across the field but leave a string of dead along the way.

The Russians continue to fire on the advancing Germans.

The Deadly field!

The woods provides little help to the beaten back Germans.

More Russians appear!!!

Close up on the house behind the swiss cheese house.

The heroic Russians continue to fall back or attempt too.  They have lost their bottle and it is difficult to move now.

One last shot of the Germans who finally said enough, we can't take the town.

Over all the battle went well.  The Russians held out against a weak attack by the Germans. I had given the Germans a 3 to 1 advantage for the attack.  They failed press their attack with the numbers they had at the start.  The German players spent too much time trying to shoot it out with the Russians and that cost them time and men.  By the time they had figured that out, it was too late.  Everyone had a fun time and seemed to enjoy the scenario.  I think if I had replayed this one with them the Germans might have come closer to winning.  For now the Czar is happy with the victory and the Germans are regrouping and licking their wounds.

Enfilade Recap.

This weekend (the 24th thru 26th) was the annual Enfilade convention in Olympia, WA.  Let me say that it was a fantastic weekend.  Myself and three guys from my group drove up on Friday morning.  Two others from our group were also in attendance as well this weekend.
Our drive up from Portland was uneventful, especially with the recent bridge collapse that happened many miles north of Olympia which made travel difficult for our gaming friends traveling down from northern WA and Canada.
Once we arrived we saw and said "hello" to many familiar faces that we only get to see at this time of year.

Friday's games included a home grown set of Civil War rules which had me on the Rebels side trying to take a bridge and hold off the union while the rest of the army formed up behind us for the following day's battle.  We didn't hold the bridge putting our army buddies in a tough spot.
That nights game was a exciting game of Musket and Tomahawks which had us playing a scene from the movie "Last of the Mohicans".  I commanded Colonel Monroe and the British regulars on the retreat out of Fort William Henry where they are set upon by the Huron nation.  Despite the premise of the movie, none of the stars of the film survived the battle except my character Monroe.  He was able to gallop away by the end of the game, alone.  Nearly every british and colonial soldier fell.

Saturday morning I ran my  "Surrounding the Russians, 1914" battle from the movie Tannenberg (1932).  The game went very smoothly with the Russians holding the town and the Germans failing to make a foot hold in the town. I had 6 people playing. 2 Russian players and 4 German.
The German players suffered from low movement die syndrome.  They were unable to get moving and their attack stalled, while the Russians moved to counter the German advance and chewed them up severely.
Here's the Russian Big Man roster and number of men in their squads:

BM#1 Poruchik Krylenko, Status III (10” range) w/ 6 man squad 

BM#2 Starshi Unteroficier Gorlice, Status II  (8” range) w/ 12 man squad

BM#3 Starshi Unteroficier Kazakov, Status I (6” range) w/ 8 man squad

BM#4 Mladshi Unteroficier Tarnow, Status I (6” range) w/ 9 man squad

BM#5 Mladshi Unteroficier Igor, Status I (6” range) w/ 10 man squad

2 HMG are available and can be placed with any squad or on its own.

Here's the German Big Man roster and number of men in their squads:

First Platoon:

BM#1 Lt. Albrecht, Status III (10” range) w/ 14 man squad

BM#2 Feldwebell Fritz, Status III (10” range) w/ 9 man squad

BM#3 Officer Cadet Knapp, Status I (6” range) w/ 7 man squad

BM#4 Lance Feldwebell Finn, Status I (6” range) w/ 12 man squad

One HMG can be attached to any squad.

Second Platoon:

BM#5 2nd Lt. Snickler, Status III (10” range) w/ 13 man squad

BM#6 Feldwebel Huinker, Status II (8” range) w/ 8 man squad

BM#7 Gefreiter Buckner, Status I (6” range) w/ 7 man squad

BM#8 Gefreiter Schaeffer, Status I (6” range) w/10 man Squad

One HMG can be attached to any squad.

Now some pictures from the game:

The two Russian players. 

The four German players.

The table lay out.

The initial setup with the Russians concealed and the Germans starting under blinds.

The Russians did very well with their spotting rolls and that forced the Germans to reveal a little sooner than they wanted but their movement dice was not on their side.

A Russian squad found hiding in a house and small tree line.

The German continue their advance.

Hung up in the trees.  The weight of the German advance got cold feet and hid in the trees trading shots with the Russians.

The house was witnessed three separate attacks in close combat with the Germans failing until the third time to evict the Russians. 

The Russian squad (those that survived) were decorated for their valor.

The Russians on the move to help the squad.

The Germans attempt one last charge to take the house.  They do but are bloodily repulsed in another round of Close Combat.

The Russians hold of the Germans and keep the road open at least for a little while.

For the wrap up of this game I did two things differently. I took out the Snifter cards so everyone would have a chance to play.  I always dread sitting not doing anything especially at a convention.  I didn't want anyone being bored.  It worked well. Everyone was involved throughout the game on every turn.

Saturday afternoon's game:

I played in a Sword in Africa game called Liberia 1920.  

These were my troops. Only 6 Leopoldvile Gendarmes and they held up twice their number in close combat for nearly 4 turns.

I was so proud of these guys. They fought well to the man.

One of the Liberian players.

Here comes the enemy!

The cavalry with only one donkey between them.

More enemy troops.

My 6 heros spring their ambush.

Crap! Air support!

The enemy advances into the village.

Another round of close combat.  More dead enemy soldiers.

Another round of close combat with more dead enemy but it's starting to take its toll.

The village we were suppose to be defending.

More of our side's troop protecting the village.

Damed plane had a bomb!

My last round of close combat. I died to the man but I took a few of them with me.

By the end of the game the Liberians had beaten us but there were far fewer of them to enjoy the victory!

Saturday evening's game was a Check Your 6: Jet Age game.

The scenario took place in India in 1965.

I controlled 2 Indian Gnats.

The game ended very uneventfully with only one Pakistani Jet shooting down one of our planes.  My jets ran low on fuel and had to make a hasty retreat back into Indian air space.  At least I lived to fight another day.

Here are some other random photos from other games from the weekend.  I did not play in a game on Sunday morning as I used that time to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in a year.

A Check Your 6 WWII air battle. Germans against British bombers.

Sink the Triptiz!  Beautiful ship models.  The German ships were sunk.

An ACW game which was the follow up game to the one I played on Friday.

Battle of Pelieu. Nice Terrain and lots of troops!

A Wings of War game.

An X-Wing battle around the Death Star.  This was a nice set up.

This is what I believe to be the new Age of Sail game with the prebuilt and pre-painted ships.

A Russian Revolution game.  

Over all we had a great time.  We can't wait for next year.!