1809 SP2. The Bridge

Three 1809 French Austrian games

The new games mat

Game One.  The Jager come on table for the Austrians.  Its a game of get to the bridge and hold it.

And an Austrian Column.  The French chips are not coming out

The Jager get to the bridge.  Where are the French?

The following Austrian column.  Still no Frenchmen?

A second Austrian column

And the Jager get to the farm

Finally the French

And more.  The French turn up and fire a great first volley

But the Austrians have troops at that bridge...

Too many Austrians and they begin to win.

End game.  The French move away defeated and the Austrians hold the bridge.

The second game.  The French are burning buildings and withdrawing over the river.

French skirmishers get to the first building

Talented arsonists.

The Austrians in force.

Buts the French have a focus on withdrawing.

The Voltiguers keep the Jager back.

And that second building is on fire as the French escape

Game three

The tabletop

The French hold the hill on the left.

But the Jager have rifles and stay at range.

On the other flank the lines meet

It gets bitter

A hammering for both sides but the Austrians get the worst of it.

The Jager now flank the French line

The French left suffers

The Austrians get into the farm buildings.

But back on the right the Austrians are having a bad time.

The Austrian Colonel is killed.  Bad things happen, and the whole flank collapses, followed by the rest of the force. 

Really enjoyable games.  The first time I`d used the Austrians properly, and on my new mat.

Tug Argan the Rhodesians and the Black Watch

 The main line of the gap at Tug Argan was manned by Rhodesian infantry. They sat upon a line of rocky knolls, named from north to south Black, Knobbly, Mill, Observation, and Castle Hills, positioned in a ragged diagonal echelon with 2,000–2,500 yard gaps between them across the mouth of the gap. On their left the Punjabis have been over run. 

The link to my planning document and Campaign AAR

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vcpci4t85rbo271/East%20Africa%201940%20CoC%20Campaign.docx?dl=0

Each was a miniature fortress, housing machine-gun nests surrounded by concentric rings of barbed wire. The linear pattern of the mounds however denied the British position meaningful depth, thereby increasing its vulnerability to individual Italian breakthroughs.
 
Breakthrough against the Rhodesians 

The Rhodesian's supporting Anti tank gun

The Italians move on, outflanking

And a second column drives towards the post 

The bren group has a shot I didnt see when I deployed the Italians.  Four hits and four kills.

The breda gunner and binos guy is an Early wars miniature.  Really nice figure!  The others are cheap plastic...

The column turns in on the post

The Anti tank gun brews the lead Italian tank.

The tankette shoots it out with the bren crew.

With yet another tank brewed the Italians still forge uphill towards the post

The Rhodesian bren crew are wiped out

Once again the static position of the post and its defences cannot deal with the attack

the Italians break into the post through the wire.

The Rhodesian Captain uses his webley revolver against the tankette

But the Rhodesians do no better than the Punjabis did in Post three. 

The Vickers gets turned around and scours the inside of the camp

But the breda machine guns in the tankettes are too much. 

The Rhodesian's surrender.

The Black Watch Rearguard.

The Black Watch counter attack on the lost post five.

The Italians hold the ground and for once move first. A column appears.  

The Bren carriers of the Black Watch pass the still burning Italian tank from the previous scenario.

The Italian attack develops

Using the road wadi the Black Watch start to deploy

Some relaxed Scotchmen in those carriers

The Boyes in the lead carrier takes out a tankette

The Scots take cover in rough ground as the Italians advance.  Wee Jock McGurk gives the regimental cat a good squeeze to play a rendition of Scrotland the Broove.

The Black Watch get a Vickers down

The Italians are flanked by the carriers

Its a carve up

The Italians anti tank rifle fails to get the nearest carrier

The carriers take an Italian JOP

Game over as Italian morale crashes

A good game.  First outing for the 20mm carriers.  From here the Black Watch must withdraw to Berbera, and Major Pyles must attempt a last rearguard in the hills at Lafaruuc.

My next 20mm project...