Memoir 44 Battle of Arracourt

      Continuing on gaming with Memoir 44 and Peter Laing figures, I chose the Battle of Arracourt. So far the scenarios I've used consisted of infantry units with some armor support. This game has more armor; the US forces also have 3 artillery batteries.  It's a good thing I chose this scenario, as I barely had enough painted Peter Laing figures. If I continue to use this game, I will have to get painting more of the PL figures.

    By the way, instead of using the command cards, I chose to roll average dice and also rolled regular dice for initiative.

The scenario from the rulebook; the Germans on top.

The board laid out. In this picture the Germans are on the bottom.

The board from the German side. I think the Peter Laing figures look better than the giants that come with the game. 

The Germans prepare to attack.

The Germans assault the village of Bezange la Petite, which has an isolated American infantry unit. The infantry in the village knocks out two tanks, and with fire support from the artillery (in the foreground), eliminates the panzer unit.

In the Germans turn they continue the attack on Bezange. The Americans send two tank units to relieve the pressure, along with sending an infantry unit into Rechicourt, to provide fire support. 

One American armor unit destroys one panzer and makes the panzer unit retreat.

As the panzer unit falls back, another US armor unit ambushes it and eliminates the rest of the unit.

The Germans counterattack and destroys one of the US armor units. (As can be seen in the photograph,  there are a couple of very large German soldiers on the board. I used these for markers so I could remember which units were activated.)

The German attack on Bezange finally eliminates the US infantry in the village, and panzer grenadiers move into the village.

The US artillery unit in the foreground was moved forward early in the game. By moving this battery forward, it could fire on both villages in the center of the board. The battery opens fire and destroys one tank and makes the rest retreat.

The Germans start bringing more units forward to secure Bezange.

Meanwhile on the German left, the 111th Panzer Brigade struggles through the woods to get into action.

The US artillery fire eliminates another panzer unit.

The German right flank units launch a vicious assault on the two forward American armor units...

...and destroys both of them!

The right most US artillery battery opens fire on a panzer unit from the 111th coming through the woods, and destroys two of the tanks.

The center battery drives back a panzer assault on Rechicourt.

The German commander sends his panzers to try to deal with the pesky artillery.

The attack on the left destroys one gun and forces a retreat, however, in it's overrun phase, the German  fire does not cause any more damage. The German attack on the center battery misses the battery. The German infantry assault on Rechicourt forces the American infantry to retreat two spaces, which puts them between the artillery and panzer unit.

The center battery now brings the panzer unit under fire, which destroys it (and wins the game for the Americans).

The right hand battery gets its revenge on the panzer unit that attacked it, destroying the last panzer. Perhaps the German commander would have been better off attacking elsewhere. The Germans lost 7 units, the Americans 4. The Germans did seize two villages, but fell short of seizing Arracourt, it's objective.        

A couple of points. This is the first time I have used artillery in Memoir 44. As I have mentioned in other posts, proper use of artillery in wargames has been a weak point for me. In this game, the artillery dominated the game.  I actually marked the different batteries so in future games I can keep track of their success (or failure). I didn't realize how powerful guns were in Memoir 44 until this game. I had watched a video on Youtube of a Memoir 44 Pacific game. In it the Japanese were in fortified positions, the Americans storming the beach with flamethrower tanks and several artillery units. The Japanese player continued to leave the fortified positions and attacked the beach. To me it seemed like a mistake, even though I don't know the rules for this expansion.  However, at the end he explained that he tried to crush the beachhead before the artillery landed, where the artillery could take their time and pick off the Japanese at a distance.  After seeing how well artillery works, his tactics make more sense to me.

Another point that I found in this game. As usual, I was playing this game solo. By the end of the game, I found myself leaning heavily on the artillery and was excited at the successful center battery which was doing so much damage (which led me to mark the unit for future games). But something happened when I went to the German side of the board. I actually got frustrated about these guns, just like I would if I was playing against another opponent. This led me to attack the guns.  I found that, at least in this game, I really was trying to win for that side. I wonder if I feel this way in most games?

New Britains "B" Series Figures

It's been a while since I've gone on Ebay to look for toy soldiers. This week I've found a great lot of Britains "B" series, along with some figures identified as Hanks & Fry. In " The World Encyclopedia of Model Soldiers" by John G. Garratt, there is no listing of a Hanks & Fry, but there is a separate listing for Hanks Brothers & Co, and A.Fry, Ltd. No matter, this is a useful lot of new figures.

I am assuming the figures on the left are the Hanks & Fry. These figures have great potential. I can see them painted as Spanish American War Americans or British Boer War infantry. On the far right is a Northumberland Fusilier. I already have one of these figures, however this one I would use to create a mold.

The other great buy; Britains "B" fusiliers and another Guards figure.  Hopefully I can fix the running figure, at least until I could make a mold of it.

While all the figures have broken rifles, I am thinking of making rifles and drilling holes to insert the rifles. I haven't decided yet if I will just use wire for rifles, or make a small mold of a rifle that I can cast.

I'm not sure of the make of the British figure with the white helmet. It's a nice figure, but one that I don't see much use for right now.

Battle Cry with Peter Laing Figures

    While trying to work out how to use toy soldiers with Memoir '44, I also started thinking of what other games I could play using different Richard Borg games with my Peter Laing figures. I decided to try using Battle Cry with my Peter Laing Boers and Victorian British parade figures.  It's a simple answer to using my toy soldiers in games.  I used the First Bull Run scenario for the game.  My poor cards shuffling led to a large part of the game taking place on the Union (British) left, and on the right of the Confederates (Boers) line.

The board set up, with the British on the bottom and Boers on the top.

The British moving up their left flank. I always try to keep units on the dividing  line so they can respond to either  zone.

The Boers attack the British artillery, killing one gunner. The British cavalry counterattacks ...

...and drives the Boers off. The card drawn by the British was the "Hit and run" card which allowed the cavalry to attack, the move again. The cavalry takes the hill, giving them advantage against the Boer cavalry, should the Boers choose to attack. The blue mounted Boer is a General figure.

The Highlanders advance to try to take the center ridge line. The Boers had poor luck in drawing cards for the center.

The one Boer unit on the ridge has a General with them, giving them an extra dice. The Boer cavalry on the left attacks the British artillery again.

The Boer cavalry eliminates the British artillery, and the Boers on the ridge kills one Highlander.

One Highland unit climbs the ridge and kills two Boers.

The Highlanders kill the Boer General and wipes out the Boer unit he was attached to.

The Boers now attack the ridge and eliminates the Highlanders holding the ridge.

Another unit of Highlanders push onto the ridge.

On the Boers' right, the Boers wipe out two British infantry units.

The British fire on their left eliminates one Boer unit, and forces the other to retreat. The Boers retreat to the ridge.

The Boers counterattack on the ridge destroys another Highland unit.

The British, led by their General, drives one Boer unit off the ridge. The British used a "Leadership" card, which gave units with a General attached extra movement and fire benefits.

The Boers draw a "counterattack" card, which basically lets the Boers use the last card the British played.  The Boer cavalry on the ridge has a General attached to it, giving them the benefits of the "leadership" card. The Boer cavalry sweeps off the ridge and hits the British infantry's flank. With all  the extra dice, the infantry unit is wiped out. The British has now lost 6 units, which means they have also lost the battle.

The field at the end of the battle, from the Boers line. The game tends to start off slow,  as the  infantry and artillery move 1 hex at a time. Once you get enough units into combat, the game gets interesting. I am thinking of maybe using average dice to see if that would move the game along a little more quickly. 

The New Wargame Room and Memoir '44

     While there is still plenty to do with my new wargame room, I managed to make enough room to set up a wargame. I've also have had renewed interest in Memoir'44.  Unfortunately, when I first bought Memoir '44 I didn't buy any of the other extensions of the game. Having recently read a book about the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union, I started looking for the Eastern Pack, but found that the cost is more than I can afford.

   I decided to play a game of Memoir' 44 using the scenario of the airborne drop on Sainte Mere Eglise on D-Day. One thing I like about this scenario is after setting up the board, the Allied player drops 4 figures from above the board. Where each figure lands you add another unit, unless the figure falls off the board or lands on an enemy square, then the figure is removed. For the Americans, it worked out well. One unit landed in St. Mere Eglise itself, next to a German unit in the town. Another unit landed in the woods, between the town and a large force of German infantry and armor. The other two landed in the same hex; that means there was only one unit and not two. I wasn't going to report on this game, but it turned out more fun than expected. In the end the German counter attack broke the American's right flank and won the battle.

 

Starting to clean out my new wargame room.

After a few days of cleaning up the room.

Memoir'44 set up for play.

In the corner of the bookcases can be seen stacks of books and junk to be sorted through.

German panzers attack American paratroopers holding a section of hedgerows.

The paratroopers did have a strong line protecting their right flank guarding the approach to Sainte Mere Elgise. The Germans, lead by the panzer unit, smashed through the center of the paratroopers line.

The paratroops eliminated the panzer unit, but it is too little, too late. The Germans eliminated four units, thereby winning the battle.

One reason I wanted to use Memoir '44 is that I could use my old Airfix figures instead of the game figures. Unfortunately I don't have enough German figures and some of the figures I do have are turning brittle.

A New Wargame Room

      When I first started wargaming, I had a nice large gaming table in my basement, allowing for large scale games. However, my first dog started losing use of his hind legs and couldn't make it down to the basement, I started working on my gaming upstairs. After Scrappy passed, we got a new dog, whose short legs made it too hard for her to get down the stairs, so I continued most of my gaming activities upstairs.
    My wife started talking that she would like a room made in the basement. However I pointed out financially the cost would be too much for us right now. I then suggested I move my "library" or as Donna calls it, the junk room, down into the basement. By doing this, I can start weeding out junk that I no longer use. Also, and more importantly, I can make a larger wargame table and expand my gaming to beyond my chessboard games. What's more, Jerry has no trouble going down the stairs into the basement.
  The library will become a guest room. We have already moved a desk into the room. So if I choose to, I can still do small games upstairs.

Another One Day Army and New Terrain

     After casting several Peter Laing Guards and using them in a game, I was overcome with the desire to cast more, to be used strictly as "Toy Soldiers".  I cast enough for a whole army to create a "Red Army", and cast several more to round out the "Blue Army".  The Red Army received a paint job of gloss enamel paint. Once agin, the figures were cast, cleaned up, based and received their main paint job in a 24 hour period. Details, such as faces and crossed belts took extra time. At the same time I rebased my 18th century Toy Soldier armies. While painting my figures, I also painted one of my Backyard Wars figures as a member of the Irish Brigade based on the illustration in "Uniforms of the CivilWar 1861-1865" by Philip Haythornthwaite.

   Ian Dury kindly sent me some new  background scenery for my games. I think it will vastly improve the photographs of my games. Thank you Ian, I hope to put them to good use.

The new Red Toy Soldier Army marches out of town. In the background is the scenery that Ian Dury sent me.

The Backyard Wars Irish Brigade.

The Red Army lined up for their first battle.

The Sudanese advance their center.

The Red casualties start building up. The Red Army ended up losing this battle.