"Breaking the D-Q Line": After Action Report, Bovington 2012

The smoke-blurry and gas-smeared eyes could hardly pick them out. The dense smoke of the shelling and the fire from the burning village made the task even harder. The ears could not register them above the constant drone and whine of the “Big Ack” FK8 contact patrol aircraft flying above the main defences of the Hindenburg Line seeking their prey.

From all of their impaired and battered senses, the German defenders of Etaing first felt the arrival of “B” Battalion of the Tank Corps in Etaing on a damp September morning in 1918. A deep, very low, seismic, dull rumble of the earth. A cup of ersatz coffee shaking on an ammunition box. Shivers of soil falling from a leaking sandbag.

Long before they were seen or heard, the tanks were felt on the front trench of the Dorcourt-Queant Line.

The House is crammed: tier beyond tier they grin
And cackle at the Show, while prancing ranks
Of harlots shrill the chorus, drunk with din;

‘We’re sure the Kaiser loves our dear old Tanks!’

I’d like to see a Tank come down the stalls,

Lurching to rag-time tunes, or ‘Home, sweet Home’,

And there’d be no more jokes in Music-halls

To mock the riddled corpses round Bapaume.

Bovington play-test: Breaking the D-Q Line, September 1918

Another quick teaser in advance of our participation game at the Wargames South show at Bovington Tank Museum this Saturday and Sunday (7th and 8th July).  Last night we ran through the participation game for Saturday and it went pretty well, all things considered.

Like all play-tests, we spent a little too long trying to remember some of the less used rules in "Through the Mud and the Blood".  It's funny what you forget when you haven't played a set of rules for a few months!  I chatted for some time with the other players about how they found the balance between the sides, the precise force compositions needed for the games and the victory conditions.  A couple of the players kindly agreed to pretend to be completely new to the wargaming hobby and ask difficult question (bless 'em!) - all very useful preparation for the weekend!

All in all, I was pleased that we'd run through the game as it's highlighted some things Richard and I need to remember when umpiring, and has allowed us to make a few small tweaks to the forces available.

Bovington 2012 - 7th and 8th July 2012

I’m making the trip down to the Tank Museum in Bovington this weekend for the Battlegroup South show with TooFatLardies.  We’re putting on another of our participation games, this one being a game of “Through the Mud and the Blood” game set in 1918.

The Bovington show is a two day show, which should give us plenty of time to recreate the fighting along the Drocourt-Quéant Line in early September 1918, and in particular the attack by the British 4^th Infantry Division on the German fortified village of Etaing.  This was a far more mobile stage of the War than then the battles of the Somme and Passchendaele.  However, the British Army’s ability to mould an effective “combined arms” force and its determination to “get the job done” in finishing the war was finely balanced against a German defence which utilised effective modern weaponry in  well-sited defensive positions.

Das Rattenloch: Part 5 – Putty and Painting

A bit of a bumper update this one, to go through the last stages of building the late First World War German bunker, das Rattenloch, and its painting.  I don’t know how many of you have taken on board a project and felt it weighing like a small millstone around your neck until you finished it.  Well, that’s kind of how I felt in finishing this terrain board off!

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve really enjoyed the process of getting to where I have done.  However, what started out (rather over-optimistically) as a weekend project is still on-going three weeks later.  I’m not sure why it’s taken so long, although you’ll see that the “putty” stages with the bunker took a great deal longer than expected.  I’m sure there’s a quicker way of doing that part, and I’ve offered some suggestions of where I went wrong.

"Das Rattenloch" – Part 4: The Defenders of the Position

With sincere apologies in advance for yet more mangled German, this blog post introduced the occupants of das Rattenloch. What I wanted to try and do as part of the project was to integrate a small number of figures closely into the terrain. I would have one section to deploy intact into the bunker itself, and another couple of sections and support weapons which could be deployed into the position once the bunker was destroyed. The German defenders would be position defenders, or Stellungsbattalionkämpferer - far from the elite of the German army, but still more than capable of clinging on grimly in the face of repeated British attacks.

I was quite taken with the idea of trying to match the painting of the German defenders with the painting of the bunker (of which more in a future Blog post) and to try and match up the bases on the figures with the terrain in which the bunker is located. I thought this would probably be simple enough for the Stellungsbattalionkämpferer occupying the intact bunker position, but perhaps a little more challenging for the troops who would be occupying the destroyed version of the bunker which I’m currently building.

This might not make a huge amount of sense to you all right now, but please hang in there.  It should become clear eventually!

"Das Rattenloch" – Part 3: ground cover

Another quick update on the (now-(correctly) renamed) “Das Rattenloch” terrain board.  I’ve added the ground covering this evening.  By comparison with the endless sticking of cardboard planking onto the trench sides in my last post, this stage was completed pretty fast.

Broadside 2012 - Sunday 10th June

Just a quick post this one to remind the blogosphere that this Sunday, 10th June 2012, is the Broadside wargames show in Sittingbourne, Kent.

As I write this, I am attempting to persuade my lovely wife that a trip to Kent this weekend is exactly what our family needs in the post-Diamond Jubilee period.

In case I don't make it, I wish everyone going all the best, particularly fellow bloggers Fran, Ray and Big Lee (and others from the Postie's Rejects club) who are staging a game based on the pivotal battle of Amiens in 1918.

 These guys' phenomenal blogs set the standard for the rest of us to follow,  and as it seems like there's been a couple of glitches with themarketing of the show (though no fault of the show organisers),I thought that the least I could do was to give them  a bit of support and spread the news of the show.

So if you're in the lovely Garden of England this weekend, see if you can make it over to Broadside as it looks like a great little show.  

I did a little more work on the (newly renamed) "der Rattenloch" last night and I'll hopefully be posting the next set of photos tomorrow or Saturday.  Catch you all then!