A Bridge - Maybe Too Far, Maybe Not

The Khan, pleased with the showing the two great powers had made for his favor, presented a second objective. There was, he said, in a small village, another strategically important bridge over the river Blast. The Russians would occupy the village with the task of blowing the bridge. For their part, the British were to prevent its destruction. 

Whether fueled by personal ambition or out of earnest belief in the glory of their respective empires, commanders on both sides relished the opportunity presented. With both sides fueled by jingoist sentiment for the other, it was perhaps inevitable. Certainly, that is what the Khan had anticipated, as modern historians have since uncovered.

Of note, for the concerned, the village (its name and location lost to history) was properly evacuated prior to the start of hostilities to ensure none of the Khan's subjects fell victim to the European soldiers.

Early troop dispositions.

The latest in technology.

Russian forces hold their positions.

To the surprise of many, Lady Pennington, late of the Royal Geographic Society, sporting an ensemble from Grace Brothers of London, led the British mountain gun battery.

 

In the distance can be seen the Russian general riding out to inspire the men under his command.

A crowd forms on the British left.

Eager though he was, the Old Man was late to the party.

Lancers badly riddled by the Russian artillery charge into the fray. Better to die in glory than idly standing by.

The sound of the bagpipes resounded to the alarm of all concerned.

 

Moving a Gatling without horses is a long and tedious process.

Lady Pennington, with her eyes keener than any man, rained destruction on the Russian defenders.

An overview of force dispositions.

An again the bagpipes loomed close.

 

A violent scrum for possession of the bridge.

Cossacks and Highlanders collide!

A sacrifice by the sons of Scotland to push back the Russian battery.

Things got a bit sparse at the end. It was the British Gatlings that carried the day.

 

On this occasion, it was the Russians who were forced to concede. The British, thanks to their Gatling battery taking out the Russian engineers, managed to stave off the destruction of the bridge, but only after the first attempt to blow the bridge failed.

*******

Saturday, I fielded a reduced size version of Table Top Teasers #1 : The Bridge Demolition. The table was reduced to 3' x 3', and the forces reduced as well.

Attacker: two infantry, one cavalry, one gun, one Gatling, one commander.

Defender: one infantry, one cavalry, one gun, one Gatling, one engineer (a single figure), and one commander.

For the rules, I used my own Lancer Rifle Gatling, albeit with some on the fly modification for formations, as I played.

As I always play solo, that is not unusual, but in this case I played the British and diced for decisions for the Russians (their commander had diced as Aggressive). I was sure the British had lost until the die roll for the bridge's destruction gave them a few more turns.

Mid-Week Update

This is something of a catch-all update post.

Although I have not played a figure game in a few weeks, I did play Scenario 5 from Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit #1 earlier this month, so it hasn't been a total gaming drought. However, with the first quarter of 2021 on the books, and the first third nearly so, I decided to take a look at how I'm doing with my declared goals for the year.

That tall stack of Germans is a mix of squads, squad weapons, and DM markers.

 

Painting-wise, the late 19th C. Russians are done and they have already been on the gaming table. The WWI Austrians are well underway - which, I've realized, is usually where my desire to paint begins to wain. I think it's painting the little bits and bobs that I find tiresome.

I am happy to paint the trousers, tunic, boots, flesh , helmet, gun and even packs (although not the straps so much), but the other kit - grenades, scabbards, canteens...yawn. It's probably not surprising my favorite figures to paint are the Marx and Airfix WWII Russians, as they have almost no kit to speak of.

Not painting the bits and bobs isn't an option however, unless it's a "paint conversion". My OCD, perhaps not as intense as in others, is still noticeable. Not painting at all is an option but that ship has mostly sailed.

On the gaming front, counting everything together including some homebrew playtesting, I've played some 27 games or so.

Battle for Moscow. I really need to clip these counters.

I have managed at least one hex-and-counter game per month (Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kit  (ASLSK) #1 and Battle for Moscow). I really appreciate the all-in-one nature of the board games. I don't need to paint anything or build terrain or even provide dice in some cases. Scenarios are always ready to go. Everything is in the box or ziplock package. The rules can require some serious study (ASLSK I'm looking at  you) but that's not true of every game and certainly isn't unique to board games.  The more I can make setting up and playing miniatures like setting up a board game the better, I think (I have ideas about this) .

Speaking of figure games, I haven't put one on the table in April yet, but that will be rectified shortly. I have played quite a few this year with a variety of rules including my own homebrew (WW2 and Late 19th C.), One Hour Wargames, One Hour Skirmish Wargames, Disposable Heroes / Coffin for Seven Brothers, Panzer Kids, and Crossfire.

A play test gladiator match using a D&D tile box as the arena.

I even managed to play an aerial game which was just a pie-in-the-sky idea (no pun intended) back in January. Since then, I've doubled the size of my plane collection (from two to four!), but have yet to get them back out. Too many options, not enough time.

There's still plenty of time though until the halfway point of 2021 and my plans remain basically the same:

• Play 1 figure game per month.
• Play 1 hex-and-counter board game per month 
• May's entry will be a replay of Burning Mountains, which will require 7+ hours of gaming time.
  
• Finish painting the first WWI Austrians.

Outside of gaming, I received my first Pfizer vaccine jab, and I'm going next week for the second. I don't game in person with others, so it really doesn't relate to gaming but still, kind of important.

Austrian Progress

Fifteen minutes here, fifteen minutes there and the troops are coming along. Straps are kind of sloppy because I haven't cut them in yet.

I need to dig through my selection of brown paints to see if I have anything resembling Isonzo-braun for the helmets. 

With any luck, I will finish these the painting this weekend.

Another Panzer Kids Deluxe Eastern Front Edition

Tuesday night, my son and I held another game of Panzer Kids Deluxe. This time I set it somewhere on the Eastern Front in winter.

 The Soviets had three T-34/76 tanks, while the Germans had a Tiger I and two PAK-40 anti-tank guns.

The mostly immobile Germans were no match for the speedy Soviet tanks, who also rolled better when it came to shooting.

 

 

At the cost of one tank, the Soviets captured the village.

This one wasn't a nail biter by any means -  the forces were mostly balanced cost-wise, but the lack of mobility and low defensive values for the PAKs was too much of a difference.  I should have given the Germans just one PAK and a PzIV. Still we had a fun time - plenty of sound effect making and dice rolling hi-jinx, and we can't wait to play again.

It was also nice to try out the winter table. The ground cloth is a military surplus poncho I acquired for performing at noise shows - it's far too hot to wear under lights on a stage, but it does make a decent winter landscape I think.