Battle Report Waterloo

At our club (Ottawa Miniature Gamers) we have been playing the Battle of Waterloo.

This was organised by one of our members. The basic concept was

Scenario: Waterloo 1815
This scenario is a framework for playing the battle over 4 sessions, representing the timing of the main phases of the battle.

Basic concept
Each division will start in one of the areas on the map, as indicated below. When an attack occurs a battle is fought. The campaign is designed on the assumption that the battles will be fought using Lasalle, though players are free to use other rules, with appropriate adaptations.

The possible lists and attachments for each battle will be determined by the campaign coordinator, based on the elements and strengths assigned to the battle. Standard attachments are noted in the tables below, but may be modified by the campaign coordinator. Standard battles will be between one normal Lasalle list plus one support. If the divisions assigned to a battle are at least 50% larger on one side than the other, the larger side can add a second support. 

Turns
To give a sense of the progression of the battle, the four campaign turns represent approximately the following times of day on 18 June 1815:

Turn 1 – 10:00-13:00
Turn 2 – 13:00-16:00
Turn 3 – 16:00-19:00
Turn 4 – 19:00-22:00

You can read about the entire campaign at the following link;

http://tyler.provick.ca/omg-forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=238&start=10

This battle report is Turn 4. I was representing Napoleon. This was the battle for Mont Saint-Jean. A victory would possibly give the French a victory at Waterloo. This is the map at the start of turn 4.

I have circled the area that I will be battling. There were three other battles going on at the club and two battles needed to be rolled for. My battle was played using the Lasalle rules.

I am using the French Infantry Division (Hundred Days) with a Light Cavalry and Veteran Infantry Organic Brigade. This can be found at page 107 of the rule book. The British are using an Infantry Division and an Infantry Support Brigade. The amount of support brigades were decided on the strength of the troops in the battle.

I will show the pictures then have a brief explanation. 

This is the initial set up. The British are at the far side of the table. (at the top of the image) and the French at the bottom. The image shows the entire British Force, but only the right flank of the French force. The French elite Infantry are in the centre. You can make our the yellow Infantry. The Cavalry is on the right. The British only have Infantry and two Arty Units. During the reaction phase the British fired their Artillery and cause one disruption. It takes four disruptions to kill a small unit.

This is a close up of the British Position.

 French Left flank. The Infantry is moving up, using the buildings as cover from the British artillery.

On the right flank the French have moved up mostly in March. The Cavalry is moving on the right to force the British infantry in square. The British move their right flank (Top left of picture) 

 Turn 5 French centre. Artillery fires for no effect.

 Turn 5 French left flank. Still moving up.

Turn 5 French right flank. Cavalry are closing in. I decided to by pass the British left flank. The Cavalry is aiming for the Artillery. Two of the British Infantry units have gone to square. (Top right)

 Turn 7 French left flank. Still closing in. The British are redeploying the Infantry on the tree line.

Turn 7 French right flank. French Cavalry have close on first British Infantry. The British decided not to go into square. When a cavalry unit attacks infantry in square, the amount of dies are halved. This not being the case the Infantry had to half the amount of dice. (Defender halves combat dice if Infantry not in square are attacked by Cavalry) So the amount of dice were French 16 and British 4. The unit was destroyed.

 Turn 9 French Centre Flank. The French Infantry have now reached the British Centre. This is the Elite French Infantry. One French Unit attacking one British Unit. (Just on the left of the smoke marker) The attack failed and the French were forced back.

Turn 9 left flank. The French are closing in on the British line in the woods. The trees are hiding one British Infantry unit. The French attack with the Unit close to the house. (Centre of image) This attack also fails and the French are forced back.

Turn 9 right flank. The French are still advancing with the Cavalry and destroy the British Artillery . Unit. The British decide to move the two units that were in square and move towards the objective.

Turn 10 British attack with Artillery and cause one disruption to yellow unit. (French elite infantry)

Turn 11 French Cavalry have killed all infantry and Artillery on British left flank. The British will be rolling for morale as they have hit break point. 1/3 of their units have been destroyed. The British make their roll.

 Turn 13 French left flank has collapsed the British Flank. All that is left is four British Infantry Units. One close to the Objective (The well top middle) and one that is surrounded by French Units and two that are on the complete British left flank.

Turn 13 French right flank. A French cavalry and Infantry unit decide to attack the two remaining British Infantry units on the British left flank. On the British turn they would destroyed the French Cavalry Unit and a French Infantry Unit. The British again beat the morale roll. They roll 5 dice and must beat the turn number. In this case they would need to beat 13.

Turn 15. This is the end. The French have captured the objective. The only remaining British units are the two Infantry Units that are just off the map. Having taken the objective the British roll only 4 dice and must still beat the turn number. The British fail to roll higher then 15 and lose the game. This was a decisive victory. The French lose 2 Units.

Final result of the Waterloo Campaign.

Painting - Dead Man's Hand

I was given 5 Reaper miniatures by Wlad and wanted to show the finish product. I use mostly vallejo paints as my paints were acquired to paint Flame of War miniatures. I did not keep a tab on the paints used for this project, but could probably remember if someone needs the details. The only real highlighting I do is for the skin. There I use dark and light skin paints.

This is really a very close look at the models. They are 28mm so you would need to have some really good eyes to see these details.

Battle Report - Flames of War - Firestorm: Caen Turn 1

Bernhard and I decided to play in the Flames of War Caen campaign.

There are currently 50 FoW groups across the world participating in the campaign.

The first turn is a beach invasion using the Hit the beach mission. There are many special rules in this mission. Amphibious Assaults, D-day fortifications, Delayed Reserves, Interdiction, Overwhelming Force, No Retreat, No Surrender, Preliminary Bombardment, Prepared Positions, and Total Air Superiority.

Bernhard and I decided to do Juno Beach

Juno Beach

Allied forces are making progress on Juno Beach. As the Allied commander, your job is to break through against strong resistance to reinforce the established beachhead and provide room to land more troops and supplies on Juno Beach. For the German commander, your job is to retreat with your forces intact while maintaining control of key strategic locations. This mission is ideal for an Allied tank, infantry or mechanized force attacking a German infantry or mechanized force.

Allies are the attacker. Bernhard used an Assault Company

One of the Firstorm troops are already added on the list above. The list also has an additional Armoured Platoon.

Allied Firestorm Troops: 3rd Canadian Division-Confident Trained Rifle platoon with Command Rifle/MG, 6 Rifle/MG teams, 1 Piat team, 1 light mortar (all have sticky bombs, Special rules-Canadian) (or 100 points)

AND

2 Canadian Armoured Brigade-Confident Trained, 2 Shermans and 1 Firefly VC (Special rules: Canadian) (200 points)

For the German list I used a Fortified company.

To the list above I added the Firestorm troop. German Firestorm Troops: Confident Trained Grenadier Platoon with 1 command Panzerfaust, 4 Rifle/MG teams, 1 Pak40 (100 points)

I used my beach table that I had made earlier for the campaign we ran at the Ottawa Miniature Gamers OMG Forum

I set up the fortified platoon on the table and we were ready to play.

I have circled both objectives. The objective closest to the beach was placed by the attacker.

The first thing that happens in the hit the beach mission is a preliminary bombardment. Basically the attacker rolls for every Infantry and Gun team on the table. Bunkers (Nest and Pill box) can not be hit. The preliminary bombardment was relatively successful and took out two Infantry and one 10 cm howitzer.

After the preliminary bombardment the attacker rolls for direction of current then initiates the amphibious assault. The current will be going from left to right as viewed from the table above. The first turn the allies have to leave half there force in floating reserve. The allies had 11 platoons so 6 had to be in floating reserve. This meant that 5 landing crafts were sent to the beach. One failed to find the beach, one was swept by the current. This meant that 3 landed.

The Canadians landed the commandos, an infantry platoon, and the flails. At the end of the turn the Canadian landing craft try to return to the floating reserve. Two landing crafts failed to return, only leaving 3 landing crafts for turn 2. The first thing the Germans have to do on their turn is to unpin do to the effects of the preliminary bombardment. The fortified platoon was able to unpin, but the Artillery were too scared to man the guns. One the German turn the 8.8 Pak 43 pillbox opened up and destroyed one flail.

Turn 2 saw the Canadian advance on the beach. Two more landing crafts off loaded one infantry platoon and one AVRE platoon. These are bunker busters so this will start clearing obstacles. The Canadians were able to destroy a MG nest. To destroy this nest you need to make a skill test, then to consecutive fire power tests. On the German turn all the MG nests started firing. There are 5 remaining nests and one pillbox. The MGs managed to kill 8 Infantry and the 8.8 Pak 43 killed another flail.

Turn 3 saw the Canadians bring in their Crocodiles. This is a flame thrower tank that has front armour of 13. So only the 8.8 Pak 43 can take it out. The Canadians start using their AVRE to take out the barb wire and the first sortie of typhoon and the first Naval gun fire. Both the Typhoon and the Naval gun fire will be mostly ineffective during the entire game. When the Typhoon manage hits the guns were quick to get out of the way and avoid the effects. The Canadians take out one wire obstacle and the German MGs open up again and take out 4 Infantry stands. At this point two Infantry platoons failed their morale test and replacement were sent forward.

Turn 4 see the Canadians take out one more MG nest and the Germans with a lucky shot take out a Crocodile. With the distance the front armour of the Crocodile was effectively 14, so the armour save roll needed to be a one for the 8.8 Pak 43 to penetrate. This was a lucky shot because the Germans needed a 4+ to hit. 3 for a trained troop and 1 for the distance, then the Canadians needed to roll 1, which Bernhard did, then the 8.8 Pak 43 needed to get a 3+ for firepower test.

Turn 5 saw the Canadians take out one more MG nest and a wire obstacle. This will assist the infantry greatly, however there are still 4 left. The Germans were able to take out one Infantry stand and bail an AVRE. With four AVRE on making closing in, the Canadians should finally start making progress. The Germans were able to bring in some reinforcements. Two Marders are making their way to the front.

Turn 6 the Canadians took out one more wire obstacle and the Germans brought in more reinforcements. The Firestorm troop can be seen approaching the two story building and the Marders are hiding behind the same building.

Turn 7 the Canadians took out two more MG nests and are know making progress with the infantry. Most Shermans have been destroyed, but the Canadians still have 4 AVRE and one Crocodile operational. On the German turn they destroy 3 Shermans and one bulldozer.

Turn 8 was the last turn as we were running out of time. As can be seen the Germans have reinforcements arriving from the forest, there is another platoon in the two story building and the Marders are still alive and fighting. The Candain have only two AVREs left. The Germans managed to take out the last Crocodile and one more AVRE. The one MG nest, one MG pillbox, the 8.8 Pak 43 pillbox, and the 7.5 FK pillbox are still active. At this point we called it a day. The Germans were still contesting the Allied objective, but chances are the Canadians would have taken this. 

The final result was a 4-3 German Victory. It was a great game.