A bridge too far - The batrep

It’s been two weeks since I played the game but I’ve been so busy breast feeding my baby chickens that I’ve not had a moment to commit the action to paper so to speak. This is the concluding game of my short VBCW campaign - pitting the defenders of Brompton against a Mosleyite force of black shirts. Game 4 of 4 saw the Brompton force attempting to destroy a bridge ahead of Edward VIII ‘s advancing army of the Severn Valley.

Arriving near the bridge the Brompton lads got off their bicycles, readied their weapons and split into two groups on either side of the road. The armoured car “unlucky for some” crept cautiously towards the bridge and following up behind was a lorry packed with TNT. The plan was relatively simple, the armoured car would flush out any opposition, the infantry would sweep the flanks and the lorry would be driven up onto the bridge and then detonated. The only fly in the ointment was that they had a mere six turns to reach the bridge before the lead British Army vehicles arrived, so they were going to have to get a wriggle on.

The black shirts were deployed in two of six random locations, and since the wife placed the counters I had no idea which of the six they were actually at.

On the right hand side of the road the Brompton boys and the armored car were relieved to find that no one was lurking behind the wall. 

On the left hand side of the road, things immediately took an unfortunate turn for the worse. The Brompton force ran slap bang into 6 of the ten man BUF defenders…with predictable results.

Despite the BUF retreating to the woods, within minutes those attackers that weren’t injured or taking cover were legging it off the board to be counted as losses.

The armoured car provided much needed fire support, preventing a total rout, but couldn’t hang around since the other defenders still needed to be located and suppressed before the regular army arrived at the bridge.

The brief respite did allow the Brompton flamethrower chap to recover in the nick of time, allowing him to barbecue a couple of BUF who’d run over to finish him off.

The armoured car pressed on towards the bridge only to discover Action Group leader Hartwell and three other defenders lurking nearby. Armed with a turreted MG it should have been curtains for the BUF at such close range…

But it was not to be. Hartwell had a grenade…and he wasn’t afraid to use it. With the best die roll possible  he damaged the armoured car enough for it to immediately withdraw instead of risking a protracted engagement and potential destruction. 

Pulling back off the road, it left the way clear for the lorry full of TNT to make a last minute dash for the bridge.

Too late! The first armored vehicles of the Royal Tank Regiment arrive on the bridge and open fire on the lorry. At this point I realised that there was no way the Brompton force could now reach the bridge to destroy it…but they still had a vehicle packed with TNT that could maybe block the bridge with a disabled tank?! Wedging a brick on the accelerator the driver leaps from the cab as the lorry begins to pick up speed.

And just then the gunner of the tank gets his eye in. The second shot finds its mark and a lorry full of TNT  becomes a cloud of smoke and a blast that shatters the windows in the distant cricket club. Hartwell was very close to the explosion and was only saved from serious injury by the wall. Some of his nearby associates were not so lucky! 

So that ended the matter pretty conclusively. The BUF’s victory in this mission gave them enough points to win the entire campaign, so Hurrah for the blackshirts, or boo hiss depending on your political leanings. I have a British army infantry and naval shore party force to paint up so I’ll probably return to Brompton at some point in the future but for now it’s on to pastures new.

It should be noted that the change in rule sets for this battle may have worked against the Brompton boys. Turns in Five Men In Normandy can be one of three types, an all firing and no movement turn, a cautious all movement turn and a regular turn with a limited number of figures allowed to move and fire. With a tight deadline for reaching the bridge the Brompton force spent too long bogged in positional firefights and unable to advance. Them’s the breaks I guess.

Next post will be 100YW related. I didn’t buy the Ecorsures rules for this as I’d planned because after a bit more digging I discovered aspects of the system I wasn’t that keen on. Instead I stumbled across a set from a gentlemen called Mr Atherton, on the interweb, which look cool - so I’ll trial them on here with a bit of a knockabout to see how they work on the table.

The15mm ECW is definitely now “a thing” but progress has been set back by the continued absence of my Steel Fist Miniatures test order. Going on their website to enquire as to their whereabouts I noticed that most of the Steel Fist range I actually want are suddenly “currently unavailable,” Another hour or so on the interweb saw me chance upon the Blue Moon / Old Glory range and I have now “invested” in them instead. They’re not as intricately detailed as the Steel Fist figures but it’s a pretty comprehensive range at a much more competitive price. 

They even do a camp set which looks pretty swish and I’ll most likely order the thing even if I haven’t got the slightest idea what I’ll actually do with it.

Two of the rather sweet little 4 Ground houses finally got built with a third still under construction. 

Okey cokey, I’d best be offski. It’s half four here and not a child in the house has been washed as my gran used to say. 

Behave yourselves until next time…and remember. Wherever you go - there you are.

A bridge too far - Game 4 of 4 & The law of unintended consequences

Soz to all whose blogs I’ve failed to comment on in the past two weeks, but that orange buffoon in Washington persuaded me it was time to go on another internet detox. Having finally girded my loins and summoned sufficient courage to come out from under the duvet, here’s another post.

The final game in my four game VBCW mini campaign beckons.

Situation fluff.

The BUF’s attempt to seize control of the vital Brompton industrial area has failed and Action Group Leader Hartwell and his merry band of blackshirts have fled the field.

“The Major,” Brompton Town’s military supremo, receives alarming news from a trusted fellow Rotarian in the Whatgoesup Aero Club that elements of the King’s Severn Valley army has left its barracks in Worcester and is heading east on the A21 towards them. 

Birmingham promises to send reinforcements to the town but the Major knows the only way he can delay the government force is to blow up the bridge across the  nearby river Stour. With no time to waste he creates an adhoc flying column and heads off with all the TNT the Public Works Department can provide.

Meanwhile, crossing the very same bridge on their way back to the safety of Worcester, the remains of Hartwell’s disheveled BUF Action Group are intercepted by a motorcycle outrider who brings exciting news. Lead elements of the 1st RTR are only an hour away, the spear point of a powerful force intent on crossing the Stour at the very bridge they’re currently standing on.

Hartwell reasons that if he can make a big show of “holding the bridge” for the regulars, he might offset some of the recently acquired damage to his military reputation. Hurriedly he orders his men to take defensive positions around the bridgehead.

The Brompton force has eight victory points from the previous games and the BUF have seven. The dice decided that for both sides this missions importance is high so there’s 5 points to be gained from the game and victory in the campaign itself to the side that wins this one.

The bridge over the river Stour. A bridge too far? I’ve resorted to my hexon tiles to create the none urban landscape needed for this scenario. The hex divisions will play no part in determining movement etc, just the general lie of the land.

I’m giving the 5 men in Normandy rules a run out here, because they were the original set I chose for the VBCW project and though I eventually sidelined them for the FFOL ones, I’m still keen to see how they work out.

The Forces.

The BUF have ten men a tank and an armored car from 1st RTR that’ll enter the board over the bridge on the BUF’s turn 6. The BUF infantry start in hiding at two of six locations, their position automatically revealed when the Brompton force comes within 6 inches of them. 

The Brompton force includes an armoured car 10 men and a lorry loaded with TNT. Either side will concede the mission if four or more men are lost.

The law of unintended consequences.

I had occasion to root around in the barn last week, (looking for an angle grinder as it happens), when I stumbled across a box within a box that hasn’t seen the light of day in about 6 or 7 years. A quick inspection revealed a 15mm Peter Pig pikeman with no head and a bundle of warning orders from when I was re enacting with Sir William Pennyman’s Regiment of Foote. Said pikeman, headless or not, is the last survivor of the great 15mm twin army chuck away, plucked from the ranks for a head swap that clearly never came to fruition. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his colleagues were all mistakenly despatched to landfill, but have since consoled myself that without a head he couldn’t have heard me anyway. Phew. Also in the box were these…

Dear old “4 ground” - we hardly knew ye. Driven, somewhat ironically, into the ground this last 4 years…apparently. Must have stuffed them into my “never to be opened again” box a long time back. They look neat don’t they. Shame they’ll never be used, what with being ECW and 15mm.

Anyway where was I, oh yes, unintended consequences. Regular readers will recall that I purchased two Silkie hens last summer, one of which actually turned out to be a cockerel. As a bit of an experiment the wife and I took up a friends offer to use their incubator this spring and thanks to Eddie the cockerels unstinting and untiring efforts to fertilise everything vaguely chicken shaped (and even a few things that aren’t chicken shaped) we’ve ended up with these two.

Taa daaaaa… May I present Daphne and Gladys (or Dave and Gary depending on how they develop).  Since Eddie the cockerel has been “boffing” both Brenda the Pekin and Elsie the Silkie the odds are that these two are going to be Pilkie’s, but we’ll see.

But Broom I hear you cry aren’t you going to cunningly segue way back to the headless pikeman and the unintended consequences header using your skill with DJT’s “the weave” . 

Why yes ;-) 

Yes I am.

A prime reason to go back on the internet was to look up a YouTuber who I recalled had Silkie Pekin cross chicks themselves and while browsing I began to realise I’ve been following loads of YouTube channels that I barely visit anymore. 

One I ummed and ahhhed about deleting was a figure painters site (with a delightful West Midlands accent) who’d been doing Empress Miniatures 28mm Indian Mutiny range and had inspired me to start that particular project last year. Wouldn’t hurt to see what he was up to these days would it?

Oh bugger.

Yeah,  beautiful 15mm ECW sculpts from a company I’d never heard of. In light of the headless pikeman and the potential terrain already in the bag was this the universe sending me a message…? 

The question is, am I finally over my 15mm ECW colleywobbles? « Gives the matter 3 seconds of deep thought » 

Erm. Yup.

Order placed yesterday for some test pieces. Could be the next project I reckon. 

A fine body of men.

Toodleooh for now mes amis.