Road Block

On the 24th of August, 1919, the Dominion of Faraway declared war against Oerberg claiming that Oerberg had violated the peace treaty in February when their troops ambushed a Dominion convoy in the disputed zone.  Within hours a column of Faraway  troops crossed the border from the Kapelle into Oerberg.

The column consisted of a light tank, a squadron of cavalry, 7 companies of infantry including 2 machine guns and three batteries including one light mountain gun. No enemy were in sight but the Oerbergers were well known for their ability to hide their entrenchments and make good use of dead ground.

The advance guard was hit hard by fire from artillery and an advanced post of Frontier Mounted Police with a Pompom gun.

As soon as the squadron of Larsen's Lancers came within rifle range of the farmhouse a furious fusillade followed by artillery fire tore into them causing heavy losses. They pulled back as Ross's Rifles deployed to attack the farm supported by the light tank. As the Rifles extended their front they came under a heavy fire from a wooded knoll to their right but the casualties did not stop the advance and the Mounted Police fell back before they could be flanked.

An ambush of Oerberg mounted rifles waits until the time is right, 

As the Dominion troops pressed forward they were surprised again by a concealed PomPom gun which opened up from a rocky knoll on the other side of the farm. The advance threatened to stall but the Royals were at hand and the artillery opened up as they deployed.

The advanced guard takes the farm as the artillery arrives.
(The smokeless powder makes it harder to follow the action)

Quickly the advance resumed and the advanced Oerberg troops were either wiped out or forced to retreat. As the Dominion infantry pushed forward the artillery fire became more deadly and was joined by a hail of bullets from the two companies of the Railway Volunteers.  The battle stalled into an intense firefight. The defenders took serious losses but not quite enough to force them to reterat while the Dominion forces did not have enough effective infantry companies available to risk an assault. To avoid useless bloodshed, General Spice order his men to fall back to regroup.

Evening approaches. The Oerberg forces have taken heavy losses but are still holding. The attack has to be called off for today. 

And that was that, just the sort  of brisk action with the advantage shifting back and forth that I had been picturing. I did pick up a few minor ommissions, errors and bad choices in the rules but they were quickly fixed up. The game itself took about an hour to play through which was about perfect for what I wanted. If I hadn't pulled noy 1 but 2!! aces, the Dominion just might have gotten the extra couple of hits needed to break the enemy's morale, maybe.

I'm going to need more hills for the native army! Luckily the large bases allow me to go back to building hills under the cloth.

Ready to Roll

The Square Brigadier Rules (click to view) have been updated and the table is set.

Mobilization

"Be sure you are right then go ahead!" 

Oom Bob is ready. 

One of my goals is to have each of my remaining collections of figures present a different sort of gaming experience. In part this can be done by different historical periods and different levels or battle but it also includes styles of gaming. This tends to go against my instinctive urge to use variations of the a current favourite rule system for as many periods as possible.

So, having some time today,  I took the plunge and reorganized and rebased ny remaining early 20thC  forces for a style of game that was once a favourite. The goal will be to have twelve units per army or at least twelve where more are already available. 

The Faraway Expeditionary Force: Force HQ, 1 cavalry squadron, 1 light tank, 7 infantry companies, 2 of which include an MG, 3 batteries.

 The Kapelle Rebels almost have enough units based for an ambush. Recruiting continues.

The Oerberg Defence Force: HQ, 3 cavalry squadron, 1 cavalry MG, 4 infantry inc 1 MG, 2 batteries.

At this point the quick and easy foamcore bases are just painted to not jar with the cloth but with only one 3"x3" base per unit I'd like to add unit names (or id) and maybe stats to the base. But not until they've been engaged. In this format there are several rules systems they could use but my plan is to resurrect the Square Brigadier and fine tune it.