Ah we theah yet?

Lord Marmaduke, of Bunkerton,  travelling abroad and recently landed in Atlantica, has his man examine a sign post to ensure they are on the right road.

Officially Lord Marmaduke is tourist, travelling abroad while on leave, but rumour has it that he is actually an emissary from the Grand Duchess Gloriana of East Anglia to the Council of Oberhilse. 

Hold at all costs

Today I made it back to Ron's for another game of Memoir 44. I don't recall the last time I actually won one, but they've all been fun and close games so it doesn't really matter. Today the Canadians came out at last! The bulk of these are Valiant figures that I painted for him a few years ago. I think their last game may have been with BKC.

The Canadians are holding a bridgehead over an un-named river somewhere in Italy, with palm trees (well they were new and fit nicely on the hexes). A handful of reinforcements are near but the Germans are already on hand. Victory was based on who held the bridges at the end of the day.

One of the things we have been playing with is some simple way to differentiate between different tanks. We ended up by classifying tanks by weight and by gun as heavy, medium or light. Heavy tanks move 2 and take 4 hits, mediums 3 & 3, lights move 4 but only take 2 hits. Heavy guns get 4 dice out to 4 hexes, mediums 3 at 3 and lights 2 at 2. (So for example a standard Sherman is a medium tank with a medium gun but a Firefly would be a medium tank with a heavy gun and a Churchill would be a heavy tank with a medium gun. ) We also decided to allow the Canadian 6pdr to use the heavy antitank gun rule but with a reduced range of 3.

The Canadians were concealed and could not be fired on unless the firing unit was adjacent or if the Canadians revealed their positions by firing or moving.

I braced myself to be overwhelmed by a pincer attack before my reinforcements arrived but the cards were kind and the first of the small handful of reinforcements showed up before the first shot was fired. At last the first assault came in and my lead units were destroyed or driven back but not without giving as good as they got. As the fighting raged on my left, I kept a wary eye on a group of  German Tigers and mobile artillery apparently being held in reserve behind a tangled vineyard in the center.  As the German infantry on my left was slowly shot to pieces without taking any more ground, the Tigers finally rolled forward, around my right and into town.  I opened up with everything I had and soon there was a burning Churchill but two burning Tigers as well. One last push by the German infantry just increased the death toll. Final tally Germans 7/14 units lost (2 Tigers, 1 Stug, 1 mobile artillery and 3 infantry with several others carrying several hits.), Canadians  3 units lost, 1 Churchill, 1 M10 TD, 1 sp 105mm with 2 damaged infantry units.) (As an aside the artillery losses on both sides were due to an exchange of Barrages by off table heavy artillery.)

Victory!

When I quizzed Ron about his tactics, it seems he ran out of useful cards at several points, especially for his armour, not surprising really considering how many good cards I had in my hand all day!  I felt a little bad because his combat dice were pretty cold as well, while mine were average verging on hot. Still, I've been on the other end of that in several games and there were some pretty tight moments for me during the game. The armoured assault by the Tigers being particularly dangerous.

Don Featherstone: A Muse of Fire!

By now surely most of the wargaming world has heard the sad news of the passing of Don Featherstone, one of the greatest modern pioneers and proponents of the hobby.

I still remember the thrill when I found his book, Battles For Model Soldiers, in W H Smith's on St Catherine's St. in Montreal on my way home from cadets during the winter of 1970/71. Already I had an interest in military history, knew that somewhere grown men were playing wargames with soldiers and spent my time converting  toy soldiers into detailed models and painting Airfix figures and wondering just how one went fighting battles in adult fashion. Here was my salvation!

(from Battles With Model Soldiers by Don Featherstone)

When I look inside the cover of that book more than 40 years later, the figure 7.25 has been penciled in, doubtless the price. It seems awfully cheap now but was certainly more money than I usually carried in my pocket at 15, more than my month's allowance anyway. I'm not sure how I survived the agonizing fear that someone else would find the book and buy it but when I finally got back to Montreal the next Saturday, there it was, and here it is beside me now.

(from Battles With Model Soldiers by Don Featherstone)

There is little doubt that I would have found my way into the hobby with in a year or two anyway but Don's spirit, enthusiasm,attitude and advice has had a lasting effect. I think this short quote from that book sums up probably his greatest influence on me, and not just as far as my hobby goes:

"Nothing in these pages is a dictate, no word says you must or you shall do it this way. On the contrary, the book sets out from the very beginning to stimulate the reader to think for himself, and to use what he has read merely as a foundation for efforts and ideas which reflect his own temperament and character. " Don Featherstone 1918-2013