Operation Aurora

 Today's game was based on Bob Cordery's Battle of Arora Junction a Colonial action that was fought in 2013.

My version of the scenario is set on my fictional continent of Uqbal in the 1950s. A large chunk of Uqbal was a former colony of Albiona, however control has recently been handed over to the Democratic Party of Free Uqbal (DPFU) who represent the ethnic group that dominate North Uqbal. Other ethnic groups are aggrieved and want independence; fighting has broken out across the former colony. 

Under pressure near the Capital, the DPFU is pulling troops back from the verdant South. At Aurora Junction, one such detachment has broken camp and is about to depart by rail.

The plan - light green represents impassable jungle plants

A force from the People's Democratic Front (PDF), green figures, have been instructed to delay the departure of the DPFU, tan figures, while saboteurs destroy a rail bridge further up the line. To do this in game they must keep the enemy engaged until turn 12. Green get the benefit of surprise, appearing from behind two low ridges: Unfortunately they must attack across open ground.

Any excuse to get the toy trains out of storage

The DPFU commander coordinates his troops withdrawal from the ruined building 

Army Green arrives and advances towards the two ridges

Departing DPFU troops turn and take up positions

Green troops on the Right Flank rush towards the enemy firing from cover

On the Left, Green keeps the enemy busy whilst the machine gun strafes the building

Despite being in cover the unit in the building is decimated

By Turn 8 the DPFU are at EP - the PDF need to hold on for 4 more turns to delay the enemy

The Game ends at Turn 10!

The PDF were not able to stop the departure of the enemy force, however they inflicted a large number of casualties.

OHW #08 (in colour)

The next installment of my OHW games may be found here. 

Follow me men (to almost certain out of focus disaster)

Holding the line

I haven't had much time for wargaming recently; this is mainly due to exercise. During the summer months I try to do a few charity cycles (one was last weekend and there are a few more lined up) so I'm forced to venture outside into the fresh air and do a bit of training so as not to appear completely ridiculous in front of a load of other middle aged men (and a few women) all of whom are far fitter than me. Moaning (and cramp) aside, it's all for charity so it must be a good thing. Did manage to squeeze a quick game in this morning, however.

Artists impression of your humble author

Introduction

In this game I returned to war-torn Uqbal in the 1950s. The forces of the People's Democratic Front (Green) have launched another attack on the territory held by the pro-government Democratic Party of Free Uqbal (Tan). Green's objective is to break through the enemy's defensive position. The DPFU's reinforcements are on the way but unusually heavy rains in the area have held them up and they arrive piece-meal during the first half of the game. the game is 15 turns long or will end when both sides' reach exhaustion point. Bob Cordery's Portable War Game rules were used. Note: I think there must be something wrong with my dice, or my soldier's eyesight is as bad as mine.

The Game

Start - Army Tan have 2 units dug in holding the line

Army Green attacks

on both flanks

Close up of the defenders - those bendy rifles probably aren't too accurate

Green's advance reaches its high-water mark

The arrival of a Saracen Armoured car pushes back Green's attack

Green's Recoiless Rifle manages to a put a dent in the Saracen but otherwise they have stalled

Despite Tan reaching EP by turn 13, Green failed to break through the defenders

The Second Action at Twin Farms

Introduction

As in the original Action at Twin Farms (Battle Part XVI, Meccano Magazine August 1969 by Charles Grant), the attacking force had failed to capture their objective (see previous post).
Having reinforced, the Commander of the Northern force (I've decided to call them the Uqbal Liberation Army), returned a few days later for another attempt.

In this second game I equipped the ULA with a tank but took away their machine gun (hey, they've got a tank!). The ULA (Army Tan) therefore have 5 Infantry units, a Commander and a Tank.
Assuming the tank was going to be a hard nut to crack I replaced one of the PDF's Infantry units with another Recoilless Rifle, so the PDF (Army Green) have 4 Infantry Units, a Commander and 2 Recoilless Rifle units.
The situation remains the same apart from the PDF have utilized the wrecked vehicle as additional cover.

 

Game

Opening gambit

The ULA Commander, full of confidence due to the presence of his armoured support, threw most of his infantry in a mad rush at South Farm while his tank would remove the opposition from North Farm.

Defenders of North Farm

South Farm defence

Here we go!

Unfortunately, despite having Turn 1 initiative, the tank missed its first shot...
Things then got much worse as both Recoilless Rifles hit their target

A Double Whammy (according to the tabloid press)

Why did I give them 2 of those things? Oh, yes the ULA have a tank...

South Farm turn 3

On the left flank things seemed to be going better and hand-to-hand combat was initiated as the ULA attempted to storm the farmyard.
The right flank however can only be described as pear-shaped.

ULA tank - about as effective as cotton wool smoke

Turn 6 South Farm

Heavy fighting on the left saw one of the PDF Infantry units wiped out but a reserve unit moved up from behind the farm and engaged the ULA before they could take advantage of their success.

Turn 6 North Farm

Over on the right, the PDF broke from cover and moved to attack the ULA

Turn 8

Somehow by the end of Turn 8 the attackers had become the defenders!
It could have still worked out, the Strength Points were still in the balance, a few lucky dice rolls... then this happened

The ULA Commander falls!

Oh the humanity! With the loss of the Commander's 6 SPs the ULA went straight into Strength Point Debt (EP Exhaustion Point is set at 33% hits remember) and could only defend their current position, once again failing to take Twin Farms.
To be fair they defended gallantly reducing the PDF to EP by Turn 11 and thus ending the game.

End of Turn 11

I rather enjoyed that! It seems like a few more "Modern" games might be required. Thanks for dropping by.

PWG Action at Twin Farms

Introduction

Some fantastic recent posts by the Archduke Piccolo and Ross Mac inspired me to have a go at a Portable Wargame in the "Modern" period. I have some pdfs of Charles Grants' articles in Meccano Magazine (1969-70) and chose the Action at Twin Farms as a scenario as it only involved infantry so should be easy for me to get a grip of the rules with (I haven't played a Modern game for many years).

I have one of these half-tracks somewhere...

Charles Grant had a beautiful style of writing; here is his dry description of one side in his conflict


In other words, Airfix WW2 Germans

Whilst I'm rambling on about inspiration, Mark the Man of Tin is doing great things with ultra cheap plastic figures on his blog so I thought I'd pay tribute to this by using some of my son's old toys. I have set this game in the Colony of my 19th Century Imagi-Nation that is referenced here - It is the early 1950s and The Kingdom of Albiona has granted independence to its former colony (Albionan Uqbal). The democratically elected government is headed by the DPFU (Democratic Party of Free Uqbal). Almost immediately fighting breaks out between ethnic factions from the North and South of the country. The Albionan Army still controls the Capital but fighting breaks out across the rest of the former colony...

Game Mechanics

For this game I have used the rules in Bob Cordery's first Portable Wargame book (ie without Pinning and unpinning) to keep things simple - I still managed to forget the 3 dice rule for machine guns, so have since written myself a crib sheet in Large Friendly Letters for the hard of thinking.

Game

I'm going to start this with a quote from Charlie Wesencraft; "I had learnt my first lesson in warfare: men under cover are more difficult to hit than men in the open" (Practical Wargaming 1974).
A small force from the People's Democratic Front (PDF) from the South of the country have crossed into the North's territory and occupy a position at Twin Farms to use as a base for reconnaissance. A patrol from the Northern army arrives and is ambushed.

Twin Farms setting - RH Farm is already burnt out

PDF troops in position - Commander embedded with recoilless rifle unit

First vehicle to arrive is knocked out and its occupants take a hit

I treated the recoilless rifle like artillery and decided that a hit on a soft vehicle was going to be enough to disable it - unluckily for the Northerners, the first shot of the game brought their motorised advance to a halt. Not knowing what they were facing the entire force disembarked and advanced on foot...

Turn 2

Machine gun behind cover but out of range

Turn 3

Turn 3 - Advancing through the open to get in range

Turn 5 - all the attacking troops are forced into the open to get in range

Fierce fighting continues

The machine gun (hampered by my forgetfulness) finally starts to do some damage

Turn 10 The Attackers have reached Exhaustion Point 

I used a roster to record SPs lost so you can't really tell from the pictures how many casualties each unit had taken; suffice it to say, by Turn 10 the Northern troops had suffered too many losses, reached Exhaustion Point (set at 33% hits) and withdrew to go and look for a tank.
I will have to play more games with the first set of rules before I start introducing pinning etc.

The PDF Commander celebrates

Firing Line in the open