Corps Blimey!!!

Reinforcements have just arrived for my WW1 Russians in the  form of Corps/Army artillery

it was acquired from the western imperial powers (irregular).

 GWAH15 Austrian commander

 GWF23 French 155mm Howitzer

 GWR14 Russian 15cm Howitzer

 HA5 British 60lbs

 HA4 German 21cm short howitzer

HA3 Naval gun on field mounting



Their Finest Hour

Gentlemen,

For this Thursday I am putting on "Their Finest Hour" which if you remember was a Spearhead WW2 game I originally played this January.


I am in the process of e mailing you all with the game map and orders of battle together with specific night time rules and victory conditions.

Mark is fielding the German forces and this time we have opted for a attack / defence points system to see how this plays out.


The Allies will be attacking with a 350 point force against a German 300 point defence.


Be ready for action 7.00pm Thursday



Here is your tactical map of Saint Rennan and surrounding areas...

The Germans are tasked with defending the 3 88 Flak batteries which are deployed in woodlan clearings North of Saint Rennan.

The British are tasked with destroying the 3 batteries for an overall victory.

Info sent to Baccus

Hi Pete

As requested, a bit more about our demo game at Joy of Six

Deeside Defenders are again aiming to put on a quality demo game for Joy of Six.  Last year they put on the spectacular and colourful Battle of Banja Luka (where the Ottoman Turks defeated the Holy Roman Empire near the Bosnian town of Banja Kuka in 1737).. 

This year they're putting on a battle that combines Hollywood and WW2 : The Bridge at Remagen.

This was the 1969 film which dramatised the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge when the American 9th Armoured captured the last intact bridge over the Rhine.

Although the actual battle took over a week and involved lengthy artillery duels, Deeside Defenders are going pure-Hollywood and aiming to retain the essence of the film instead - a mad dash by the Americans to capture the bridge before the Germans decide to blow it up.  

Both sides have the objective of getting a better result than their film counterparts.  The Americans have Lieutenant Hartman (played in the film by George Segal) who must lead his recon group up to and over the bridge - followed by the tanks of 9th Armoured).  The Germans are led by Major Paul Kruger (played by Robert Vaughn) who must blow the bridge BUT (as a point of honour) also keep it intact long enough to allow remnants of the German 15th Army to escape to the German side of the Rhine.

The Americans have lots of tanks and troops but must get to the bridge quickly using one of three routes - along the riverbank (shortest route but under direct German artillery fire), across country (safer but slower) or along the back roads (even safer but much slower).  

The Germans have limited troops on the 'wrong' side of the river to hold vital areas but a train carrying an armoured division of Panthers is en route.  If the Americans are tardy in getting to the bridge then the Panthers will be in a great position to hold open the bridge and prevent the Americans from capturing it.

The German player must therefore produce a better result than in the film (i.e. destroy the bridge AND not end up in front of a firing squad).  Hampered by poor quality explosives this is unlikely to happen so the German player must send Kruger off to requisition more (not ideal at the height of the battle) and may get shot for deserting his post or failing to do his duty.

The American player must get troops onto the bridge quickly to get the armour across before the bridge is blown and the Panther train turns up.  But running down the shortest route could mean losing all their troops and armour to German artillery!  

Deeside Defenders will be playing their own Hollywood Rules of Spearhead (the popular WW2 rules) - cut to the bone to speed up gameplay and better reflect the essence of the film.  

There will be a few cameo appearances in gameplay (including - for those who know the film - the Hitler Youth who takes on Hartman's squad with his machine gun).  The German player can place him anywhere in a town sector and he will automatically suppress any American unit that strays into his spot!  

The Americans themselves will have access to an airstrike to take out a pesky 88mm gun (or possibly a pesky Hitler Youth!).

While the emphasis is on fast play and enjoyment, Deeside Defenders are not skimping on quality.  They've spent the last 6 months buying and painting specific terrain features to reflect the landscape of the film (not many people know that the Bridge at Remagen was filmed in Czechoslovakia and that the film crew had to do a midnight dash over the border when Russia invaded in 1968!). 

They're putting their usual attention to detail into the troops, vehicles and guns and have playtested the battle a few times (starting in December 2015 (click on the link to see the battle report)). This led to some of the rule changes such as restricting the Hitler Youth to the town sectors.  It also saw a spectacular failure to blow up the train carrying the Panthers ("anything but a 1....aaah crap!") followed by extraordinary shooting by the American tanks to kill the Panthers anyway!  

( http://ifitsnothistorical.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-bridge-at-remagen-hollywood-rules.html ) 

Work is ongoing to provide visitors to Joy of Six that visit the Deeside Defenders table with information as to what's going on, who's who, what's what and where's where to make it easier for them to follow the action.  And paintbrushes are flying as the team are painting up additional specialist scenery from Leven Miniatures, Timecast and Legions IV Hire to make the table look as good as possible.

More updates to follow on this extravaganza soon!

Remagen update

Sound track sorted

just need to borrow your sound effects CD Ian to make up a play list



Actions for Bridge at Remagen Game

ACTION STATIONS!

Thanks for everyone's input on Thursday.  The following are the actions we have agreed to.

Ian to create event cards - so far Hitler Youth and USAAF.
Ian to create range sticks and laminated OOBs and Umpire Notes.
Ian to put 4" to 6" more train track down.
Ian to contour corner furthest from bridge.
Mark to look at tracking sound effects, movie theme and "sad" bit.
Ian to write up introduction.
Ian to buy and paint up US command tents from Leven. (Anyone know of red cross transfers I can use for hospital tents?)
Phil to make large explosions for the bridge.
Russ to bring his fields.
Mark to photo and blog his bunkers - DONE!
Mark to provide Ian with his spare 88mm.
Ian to paint up 88mm for bridge defence (Do we reckon 44/45 camo or Hollywood German grey?)
Ian to reconfirm OOBs for Mark
Russ to email Baccus and confirm we are a demo game (interactive demo to enable cleansing of thrush types).
Phil to put together graphic for Russ to print.

All - Does anyone have access to a display stand that we can use?

Dress rehearsal Thursday 30th June - Jon we can move this to fit in with your shifts.

Bits and pieces

Possible river defences for Remagen game

 Possible field defences for WW1 game

 Command vehicles

allied or axis ?



World War One Project Update

I have been focused 100% on finishing my World War 1 British & German Corps and today I though to sort everything out that was either nearly or 100% game ready.

Overall I'm happy with progress, there are still things to do like the Mortar companies plus a lot of artillery. I also have a final 7th German regiment to paint and base to complete the Corps.




British and German Corps (1916) with divisional assets on both sides (engineers and tanks complete for British)

German Corps......... 7.7cm brigaded artillery attached out together with 7.6cm trench mortars..

British Corps... still some finishing touches and extra artillery to do but it's coming together nicely...

New Sculpt H & R Germans....

British Tanks...

British Infantry... ( I need to re base these as I don't really like the grass effect)

 British 60 Pdr....

 Another British Brigade...

British 18 Pdrs....

British Corps and Divisional Headquarters...

German Divisional & Corps Headquarters.....

German 77mm guns and artillery crew (new H & R Sculpts)

A Baccus 76mm trench mortar, blends in.... just!

Some more German 77mm and Infantry

On the face of it I think I have enough stuff to field a game in June but with me being away from next Friday for a week I think it may be a little too close to try and organise this for the Saturday.

It may be better to have a few practice games during June which will give me enough time to finish off everything proper and get my 1:600 aircraft ready.

Maybe we go for July instead?

There is still the option to put a game on in June it just depends on who can make it and what we want to play?