Too little, too late

That is to say I have a bunch of thoughts lurking in my brain but haven't had the time and energy to hunt them all down and explore them and I'm way too tired for a long post tonight anyway.

However, I did manage to throw out another OHW scenario yesterday and played it out today in a couple of 10 minute sessions in between various duties.  This was the Lobositz inspired scenario played out on the 5" grid thrown over the hills. I added a few more minor terrain features to suit myself and doubled the number of units as usual for me. This led to 2 companies of Baluchs holding the Lobosch feature while 3 companies of British and Indian infantry held the town supported by a battery, a squadron of lancers and an armoured car disguised as a light tank. The Germans attacked with 8 companies of infantry, 2 guns and 2 squadrons of cavalry. The game ran for 12 out of 15 turns using an early 20thC variant of the Square Brigadier.

Atlantica during the Great War. Thank Gawd for the guns!

The main point of the game, apart from hopefully distracting me from things when I had time for a break and enough energy to play, was to try out the Square Brigadier on a smaller number of larger squares. The main advantage of the larger squares is that terrain and models fit better and I quite liked them last year when I experimented. Somehow the wider, more linear frontage helps clarify the movement and combat rules on an instinctive visual rather than an intellectual basis. The drawback as I found out then was that I obviously have fewer squares on table and thus less room to manoeuvre and less space for troops. To be more precise the cloth is 9x12 5" squares vs 12x15 4" squares painted on the table or the 10x12 3" squares of my portable board.  

An overview mid game. An initial attack on the hill in the far right corner has been repulsed.

It seems to work OK with the One Hour Wargames but while they can be an enjoyable diversion when time and energy  are short, they don't fully satisfy me, there just isn't enough to them. An appetizer rather than a main course. I'm not sure when I will have time but I need to try a full length Grant Scenario with as many units as I can jam into this grid. If that works then I can leave off attempting a better planned set of hills with square corners  and sized to one grid and just use the cloth over top with a non-gridded cloth for other games. If it doesn't well, I'll have more thinking to do.

Turn 12. The Germans have been repulsed again from the hill and  have resorted to a bombardment while in the town each side holds 1/2. Both "armies" were 1 unit away from morale failure and the dismounted Uhlans battling Baluchs in the streets  broke first initiating an order to break off the attack. If it had been a fight to the last man I doubt that 3 turns would have been enough for the artillery to finish clearing the hill or the battered German units to take the other half of the town but it was at least conceivable given lots of luck.

In the meantime, I'm off to Halifax in the morning for more  Airfix Battles on hexes, Scenario 2 from Scenarios for Wargames.