My summer endeavours

Back from holidays and slowly getting used to the same new routine. As said in my previous entry, I took my painting materials to my holiday place and have some very fruitful three weeks preparing my II WW armies. I have loaded some photos in the following album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52221446@N08/sets/72157624885492814/with/4960510991/

Cambrai Scenario # 1: The Beast's Last Sting (Battle report and scenario changes)

Today I had the opportunity to play  the scenario published as sketch in my previous entry. A first game ended in less than 15 minutes, with Lieutenant Bion and his crew lyind dead next to thier tank.

After a short brainstorming, the group of testers decided to refight but changing  a few things.

Cambrai Scenario Sketches # 1: "The Beast's Last Sting"

Following a detailed reading of Bryn Hammond's excellent "Cambrai 1917" (a must for anyone interested in this battle), my plan now is to publish some blueprints  for scenarios in the context of this famous battle. These won't be final ready-to-play scenarios but rather "sketches" of ideas that will evolve and reshape over time and hopefully will be enriched with contributions from other gamers. So please, join the effort and leave your ideas and comments.

The battle around Cambrai in 1917 is best known for being the first in which a significant tank force was employed while developing an active effort to coordinate the armoured, infantry and air British forces. The initial attack achieved a total surprise and the formidable Hindenburg line was easily pierced all along the front.

If you're looking for a good scenario covering this first and classical leg of the battle (tanks breaching the wire lines and crossing the first line trenches followed by infantry) , I recommend to play  Scenario Four of the Lardies' "Stout Hearts and Iron Troopers" M&B supplement. My interest is in other phases of the battle.

A ridge not too far

The final version of the Arras 1917 Scenario that I have called "A Ridge not too Far" has been uploaded as a pdf document. Access also in the "Resources" section. Thanks to my friends of Club Dragón for investing their time in the test phase. Please feel free to leave any comments.

Now on to Cambrai!

Arras game - Battle report (second test)

Blog's not dead!... but to maintain a fresh stream of entries it's much harder that I anticipated: family life, work, painting and a lot of reading (about the Battle of Cambrai)... difficult to strike a right balance among so many interests and obligations.

  

On Sunday and after a long abscence from our club, I finally arranged  a game to test the Arras scenario with the modifications of my previous entry. 

Trench Raid Scenario - Battle Report

We finally played the scenario described in the previous post, with a marginal victory for the Germans (they captured a full British section as prisioners but were not able to find any relevant documents).

The British deployed its sections in the dug-outs as marked in the map, deciding to cover its right flank (closer to the entry point of the Germans) with the off-table HMG in sustained fire role.

Trench Raid Scenario

Well, I have been offline longer than anticipated due to a combination of some nice holidays and a bumpy landing at my workplace. From my holiday reading, I highly recommend the Osprey Campaign 187 "Cambrai 1917", lots of useful stuff for skirmish scenarios (some ideas already in my head).

On Sunday I will play a trench raid scenario written by "Fat Lardie" Richard  Clarke for the SOTCW Journal 68 a few months ago.

The scenario simulates a night trench raid, where the Germans aim to capture some prisioners and documents from the British. A small 4" x 4" table, the British sections are resting in their dugouts and have deployed a couple of sentries on watch role in what apparently looks like another quiet night in the Western Front.