Saturday 24 August 2013

Clemens Revenge

After two defeats at the hands of Frithuwald during raids, Clemens redeems himself in a pitched battle ...

 
The Saxon horde is on the rampage again

They dash forwards full of confidence
 
Especially as their Champion forced back the Romano British Champion in single combat
 
The Saxon confidence was now sky high

But Clemens men were not too disheartened
 
His forces organised

He sends forward his best troops to block the gap between woods and broken ground
 
The Saxon warriors are quick to advance

One group of Saxons decide to go through the marsh ahead of their archers

 
They attack the Romano-British levy


Which surprisingly holds firm

And pushes back the Saxons into the marsh

First blood to Clemens' men
 
Next they charge Clemens' elite troops by the woods

But the British warrior shieldwall unexpectedly breaks forward to join in 
 
Now more Saxons rush forward to join in the melee


The British hold them
 
Casualties mount on both sides

But one group of British warriors breaks leaving a hole in the line

Clemens orders a retreat to regroup and calm the men
 

The Saxons surge forwards exultant

They form shieldwall
 
and charge again

Clemens gets three units into the fray

Both sides lose more men
 
Meanwhile, in the broken ground, Saxons tried  to attack the British skirmishers but found themselves attacked by Levy men instead
 
Frithuwald breaks his shieldwall to send forwards his elite against the Levy

Battered, they still hang on
 
Spotting his chance, Clemens pounces on the other leaderless elite unit

and they are defeated and rout
 
At this point, Frithuwald sees the game is up and flees too, hoping that his one intact unit can evade the Levy to get back to camp.
 
So despite his poor start as a Warrior Lord, Clemens now finds himself the hero !  More men will surely flock to his banner next time.

Sunday 11 August 2013

The Battle at Chinese Farm

Israeli attack on Egyptian positions in order to secure a crossing.

 
This was fought down at the Writtle "Essex Warriors" Club today.  The game was put on by Ralph (who supplied all the troops and vehicles) and Ian's Israelis were the aggressors whilst my peaceloving Egyptians were quietly trying to mind their own business ... ahem !
 
Egyptian forces in "laager" beyond the crossroads - its night and visibility limited

 
Egyptian Order of Battle Sheet for Cold War Commander 
 
The Chinese Farm
 
The book which has inspired Ralph to pen this scenario
 
Israeli forces on the move

 
Including engineers with bridging equipment
 
Stirrings at the farm at the sound of engines
 
Egyptian HQ also awakes
 
Israeli General Ian doesn't know that Ralph the umpire is about to pounce on him !
 
The Israeli attack begins down the road with jeeps ahead
 
A formidable phalanx of Israeli armour
 
Isareli HQ vehicle orders more troops forward on their right
 
With infantry in APCs close behind the tanks
 
Still no reaction from the farm
 
But a forward observor seems active on the high ground
 
An Israeli artillery "stonk" hits the Egyptian HQ first time supressing the command vehicle and destroying the Egyptians best anti-tank asset too !



 
Another Egyptian armoured division decides to move into position behind the farm
 
The Israelis keep on coming on their left

 
One jeep gets caught in an unseen irrigation ditch
 
The yellow markers indicate where some Egyptian infantry might be hiding
 
The Israeli infantry debus from their APCs now they are in the irrigated zone
 
Over at the back road, the Israeli bridging column makes very slow progress

 
With a CO in helicopter urging them on
 
An Egyptian heavy AT gun reveals itself and opens fire
 
As the first Egyptian infantry casualties are taken in the irrigation trenches
 
An Israeli tank is brewed up
 
Egyptian infantry bail out of a damaged recce APC
 
Birds eye view of the struggle in the irrigation ditches and trenches
 
Off table Egyptian artillery hits the bullseye with a devastating barrage

 
But it is not at all one-sided - another Egyptian tank blows up over on their right
 
Egyptian armour reached the high ground
 
And to the right of the farm
 
With infantry shielding amongst the trees
 
Even though the Egyptians lose more tanks, on both the right
 
and the left, their stubborn resistance coupled with the lack of progress of the Israeli bridging column,
 
 means that the Israelis have failed in their objective - to rapidly bridge the water and get troops across.
 
As it was my first game of Cold War Commander, I think we can put it down to beginner's luck coupled with one or two heavy hints from the umpire at critical moments !