Fox & The Rat: Day 9 - We Must Hold

As the column moved forwards Capt. Rohrstock peered into the early morning gloom trying to pick out the enemy lines. The Stukas had done their work but he suspected it was mostly via guessing that actually being able to see the enemy. The wadi ahead and it's crossing represented the last natural defence between his men and Benghazi and he expected the enemy to put up a fierce defence.

The would no doubt be well dug in, he could only hope that they lacked the numbers to strongly man the entire wadi so he could seize the crossing point before reinforcements could arrive. 

As the men pushed closer to the crossing point Rohrstock ordered the anti-tank gun to deploy to give covering fire and the squad in the half-track rumbled forwards using a sand dune as cover. Rohrstock was sure the enemy would have a anti-tank gun and didn't want it to have any easy targets.

Then fire erupted from hidden positions all along the far side of the wadi, bullets whistled overhead and shells from a gun landed amongst the troops. Fortunately his men where by now veterans of many encounters in the desert and instead of panicking they behaved magnificently. Whilst the machine gunners laid down return fire the rifle teams pushed onwards towards the crossing point.

With the assault imminent the anti-tank gun starting throwing shells over into the enemy lines with great accuracy and the half-track had also reached a position to start throwing fire into the defenders. This seemed to much for the defenders as Rohrstock saw a unit of Indians break from their defences and fall back into the desert behind.

Then the moment of decision, with a roar of it's engine the half-track darted forwards which seemed to catch the British A/T gun by surprise, Rohrstock presumed it was still loading HE shells as it didn't open fire. At the crossing it's section poured out and started to lay down a heavy fire whilst supporting troops also advance to the line of the wadi.

A desperate struggle then erupted around the wadi with much reduced and shell-shocked Indians holding off two close assaults by one of the rifle teams. Rohrstock made a note to work on the close assault tactics if he ever got some time away from the front-line.

However, his men's firing was still top notch and the defenders where blown away in a storm of machine gun fire. Even as reinforcements started to arrive it was too late, the crossing was his and his men would not be shifted from control even by an entire division!

The leaves Capt. Rohrstock and his men on the very outskirts of Benghazi, no doubt staff officers are burning their secret papers even as you read these lines.

Fox & The Rat: Day 8 Battle 2 - Run Across

 He could sense it, Fritz had become complacent, he’d slipped up and now Lieutenant Harbajan Singh was going to resort to some good old fashioned ‘Teutonic’ efficiency and make them pay.

The intel was that a modest DAK force was isolated around a barely used track by an old dilapidated fort.  Singh would surprise the Jerry’s and ‘degrade’ their ability to function.  He hoped to catch them in a pincer.  The DAK were north of the fort and surely wanted to move south to link up eventually with their main column.  Singh though wasn’t entirely sure of their exact location so had to spread his own forces in something of a loose net and try to concentrate once the enemies’ exact intentions became obvious.

He was hampered with temperamental radio comms - his command squad approached from the north-west while his two infantry squads - one Indian Army, the other from the New Zealand division - approached from the north-east.  The Bosch were sighted, loosely drawn up infantry cowering around some scrub supported by a Panzer III and possibly a weapon team of some sort but they couldn’t be made out.  Damn those radios Singh cursed.  He called in an artillery strike on the DAK but the blasted radios failed to transmit.  As the British infantry moved towards the Germans that was enough and like startled geese the Bosch were off parallel to the track and trying to maintain as much cover from the low scrub as they could.

The British 6pdr A/T gun moved up in support of the infantry sections.  The Panzer III must have not seen it and was probably readying itself to tear into the infantry when it took a direct first hit and was knocked out - wham-bam!  Singh was relieved.

Meanwhile an Indian jeep-borne MMG team emerged from the south-east and raced towards the fort where they might be able to ‘intercept’ the fleeing Hun.  A MK II Humber from the recce squadron arrived on the western flank and immediately set about pursuing the infantry with their own MMG.  They had limited success against one team but driving 

over rocky ground firing against darting infantry was not what the manual recommended!

The New Zealand section were making towards a low sand dune where a sub-command unit were taking pot shots - and scoring one hit against the brave Kiwis.  More of an issue was the radio operator spotting for a mortar team behind the dune.  This inflicted more damage on the NZ section and the LMG team had to rally back and get out of the firing line.  Nevertheless the small command unit was shot up by Lieutenant Singh and his team coming up behind them forcing them to flee.  The mortar was now blind and Corporal Hadlee leading the rifle team drove the mortar crew off at the end of some viciously cold steel.  These successes though were scant reward as the main bulk of the DAK infantry was streaming south.  The Indian MMG and Humber tried their best to slow down the retreating Fritzes but were unable to inflict sufficiently high casualties.  The Indian infantry section now moving up behind the DAK infantry similarly tried to stem the flow but with little impact.  The DAK Leutnant was almost taken out by the Indian MMG as he disappeared into cover but he too managed to extricate himself with the bulk of his infantry.

The Bosch sub-command unit didn’t make it as it tried desperately to follow it’s kamerads.

Singh could reflect on destroying a Panzer III and capturing a medium mortar as well as inflicting casualties on the infantry but ultimately this kleiner kampfgruppe had slipped through his fingers.  Damn those radios!

The Silver Bayonet - Russians

Thinking about what's coming up this year and hopefully we'll start playing TSB later on.

I've now finished the first set of miniatures - mixture of North Star Miniatures first Russian TSB pack and Front Rank Napoleonics.

Got a further 8 to do - same mix - and some gribblies.

Woaaaaahhhh- scary!

Sengoku Japanese: Monk(ey) Magic

This week I've hit another milestone with the completion of the last of the Sohei Monks from Fireforge Games. 

With the addition of two banner bearers from Perry I've made up one unit each of naginata, bow, & musket for each side.

The banner icons are from a Uesugi clan decal sheet but they work well enough to tell the units apart despite not being historically accurate.

I've also painted up a few peasant types which I think are Perry but I couldn't find them on their website so perhaps now OOP?

This means I'm closing in on the home straight, though I do have 15 Shimazu cavalry to paint up so plenty left to keep me busy.

Sengoku Japanese: A Sleepy Village

With the armies coming along nicely I thought it was about time to crack on with some terrain to fight over so with a week off I've devoted my time to just that.

I started off with some houses from Oshiro Terrain which I'd backed on Kickstarter. This gave me a nice selection of houses to paint up to form a village. I also got some bits and bobs like a smith and cooking set and some pots etc which I've not painted up yet.

I've also been busy with the 3D printer and printed off some rice fields which I spruced up with some tufts and my normal water effect, heavy gloss gel.

The 3D printer also provided a Torii gate, road-side shrine, fences and various bundles of goods along with a well and a hand cart. All in all enough to setup a decent table for a skirmish game, which is handy as we plan to play Test of Honour next week for the first time.

Fox & The Rat: Day 8, Advance Party

Lt. Gruber grimaced as he laid back in medical rooms bed, his ankle aflame with pain and badly swollen. It had all seemed so simple at the briefing only 24 hours earlier. With the offensive going so well he'd been ordered up to the outskirts of Benghazi to scout out the defensives on the outskirts of the town and if possible destroy them. So when they'd crept up to the picket posts and spied the  anti-tank gun he know what needed to happen.

The initial advance had been flawless, by now the team was used to operating together and with himself on one flank and the ever dependable Klinkerhoffen on the other he felt sure that at least one of them would be able to place a charge on the gun.

Schafer with his sniper rifle and Geerhart with his MG34 had both reached their assigned positions to cover the advance and the Tommy patrols had not noticed anything but one of their officers was on the prowl and had started to advance outsides their lines straight towards the Sargent. 

Closer and closer he walked, never deviating, Klinkerhoffen had crouched down into the night and Gruber could almost see him willing the officer to turn back, but he did not. 

At the last second Klinkerhoffen opened fire and as he did Schafer and Geerhart took their queue to open a general fusillade of fire upon the unsuspecting Tommies.

Bullets flew and struck home and many of the defenders fell without realising what was happening but enough survived to raise the alarm. At this point the mission started to fall apart as the tangled roots which where the cause of Gruber's pain claimed him as he tried to advance and make the most of the confused moments after the firing started. 

He remembered limping on through the pain even as the reinforcements started to pour into the area like hornets pouring from a agitated hive and the continuous fire from Geerhart's MG34 as he attempted to cut a path through the enemy to the gun.

But one Tommy had taken cover so Gruber was forced to take him on, sneaking up behind with knife drawn his ankle almost fully gave out at the last moment and a desperate struggle took place. Gruber could recall subduing the enemy and before he could seek cover coming under a hail of bullets from behind. One of these bullets clipped his side and sent him tumbling, strange that would hurt far less than the ankle. 

As he lay their he could see Klinkerhoffen also engaged in a hand-to-hand combat which seemed to last forever. Again it was the German who emerged victorious only to be gunned down. Gruber recalled crying out which alerted the nearby Tommie's to his position and led to his unfortunate incarceration. 

Well perhaps a couple of days in a comfy bed being looked after by the enemy wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, in fact it would he thought be just the break he needed.