Sengoku Japanese: Ashigaru Milestone

Today I reached a milestone with the Japanese Sengoku project with the completion of the last unit of Ashigaru.

This gives each clan 30 melee (mostly Yari) and 30 Yumi armed warriors along with 6 Teppo armed fighters to skirmish ahead.

This also means I really on the home stretch now for the main army forces with all the foot Samurai complete and the Sohei (warrior monks) half done. I just have 15 cavalry and a few foot command for the Shimazu to stick together and then paint.

Fox & The Rat: Day 7, Crossroads

Capt. Rohrstock rubbed some of the ever present grit from his eyes and peered through his binoculars at the crossroads in the distance. The Stukas had already flown overhead and attacked a target behind the crossroads but he couldn't see any enemy in that area.

What he could see however was a Tommy tank and what looked to be a jeep on the road heading towards his force. As his infantry rushed forwards on either flank Rohrstock motioned his armoured support forwards towards the tempting targets. Unteroffizier Baade signalled his understanding and the Panzer III rumbled forwards into a firing position. It unleashed it's first shot whilst still on the move which sadly went wide.  

This aggressive action did not go unanswered however as Baade's tank was struck by fire from an unknown source, somewhere out in the desert scrub a gun had been setup that could not be see by any of the DAK forces. Fortunately it must have been one of the piddly Tommy 2pdrs as the rounds bounced harmlessly off the armour of the Panzer.

Unteroffizier Baade then showed extreme cool as he stopped the tank which was still coming under fire from unseen gun to take a better aim. This time one, then two shots rang out from the Panzer and first the Tommy tank and then it's accompanying jeep where hit and burst into flames.

Whilst the Panzer was bending to it's task Rohrstock's infantry had not been idle and had brought their foe under heavy fire on both flanks. Those on the left had halted the enemy advance at a lone building whilst those on the right had manged to knock out an enemy truck at long range, forcing it's occupants to spill out into the desert.

Taking advantage of the many set backs of the enemy Rohrstock sent his mobile reserve onto the offensive and they raced up the battlefield to take a position overlooking the enemy who where in total disarray. 

Whilst these troops had so far been untested in battle they were more than eager to get to grips with the enemy and unleashed a hail of fire onto the hapless infantry in front of them.

This along with the  destruction wreaked by Baade and his Panzer broke the enemies will to continue and they beat a hasty retreat from the crossroads giving Rohrstock another victory.

Fox & The Rat: Day 6 - ( British) Bulldog!

 Location - Front line Western Desert, west of Benghazi, Libya

Lieutenant Singh was beginning to feel some confidence in their push on Tripoli.  There was a seemingly light DAK force barring the Imperial forces in their quest to open up the road to the prize to the west.  The barren crossroads momentarily transported Lt. Singh back to multiple nameless desolate villages peppering his Punjabi homeland…..but not for long.

On the right was a Mk.II Humber (courtesy of Guards Armoured Division) with 1st section 1st Platoon next to them in some scrub; Platoon HQ next to them; and 3rd section 1st platoon drawn up around one of the low mean hovels next to the road.  In support of this section was a Bedford Truck.  Beyond these infantry on the left was a jeep carrying a MMG team.  At the rear hidden behind a sand dune was a Medium mortar.

The Royal Artillery obligingly got proceedings under way with a barrage on Jerry’s lines.  It did little more than force Jerry to keep his Square Heads down but one of their transport vehicles took a direct hit and was knocked out.

Both infantry sections advanced to cover while the Humber motored forward to put fire into some DAK infantry which had moved atop a sand dune in front of it.  In 3rd section the MMG team occupied the building it had been near to having ventured forward, taken fire, and tactically fell back.  Unfortunately the jeep transporting the MMG came under fire from an A/T gun and destroyed it - the MMG crew suffering an injury in the process.  ‘Damn’ muttered Lt. Singh, that put paid to his Hannibal-esque double envelopment.

The DAK half track had got onto the road now and shot up the 3rd section rifle team while other Jerry fire along the line was keeping Singh’s men ‘honest’.  The Indian troops were in danger of losing any momentum - tactically and strategically.  The Bedford made a dash along the line to draw up behind the 1st section - Lt. Singh had a plan.

This plan though was in danger of being dead in the water.  The half track manoeuvred at the cross roads to enfilade the LMG team of the 1st section.  They pulled back towards the safety of the waiting Bedford but some craven Nazis in a building opposite tore into them as they moved back and this was too much for the brave Punjabis who were taking unremitting punishment and their nerve just splintered.  

3rd section now coalesced in and around the hovel one of it’s teams had occupied.  Meanwhile the Humber had driven some of the DAK infantry off their vantage point on the sand dune and was putting real pressure on them.

In an audacious move Hannibal would have approved of 1st section rifle team - all 5 of them - embarked into the Bedford which sped off on the right flank, past the Humber and pulled up behind the smoking wreck of the Jerry truck and behind the relative safety of a sand dune.  The troops disembarked and took up positions out of sight of the DAK stuck on their own line.  The Humber then followed suite in the rear ranks of Jerry targeting the A/T gun and with precision gunnery the Guards Armoured are renowned for despatched the menacing threat which lurked over on the Indian left - small recompense for the boys in the jeep though.

Jerry knew the game was up and slinked away vulpine tail firmly between his legs. 

 

Old School Cool

We had our first look at the Never Mind the Billhooks rules this week when Stu brought over his venerable Dixon Samurai for an outing.

They required a quick dust as most of them hadn't seen action for many a year but the Dixon miniatures are full of character so even being over 30 years old didn't detract from the spectacle.

We managed to grope our way through a few turns and probably got some rules wrong, I especially want to go through the morale rules again, but overall I think we got the gist of the game. 

Armies are divided up into wards each of which is led by a commander who has a card put into the activation deck. As their card is drawn they can order the units under their command to act, either moving (sometimes into combat) shooting, or rallying.

By the time lunch came around the home team had the advantage due to some brittle morale on the visiting teams side.

Fox & The Rat: Day 6, The Face of Chaos

Capt. Rohrstock had heard about the failed attack on the airfield and as the Stukas passed overhead he was glad the guards had done their duty and kept his air support operational. This time his attacking force was spared a bombardment from the enemy guns so perhaps Gruber's raid had gone well.

The days after a breakthrough where always chaotic and he hoped to capitalise on this to push further into the enemies rear. Though the enemy was not completely out of the fight and was rushing reinforcements forwards Rohrstock hoped to brush them aside. A walled building dominated the centre of the battlefield and he'd tasked No. 3 section with it's '251 to mount a lightning advance which the rest of the platoon would then support.

No sooner had the half-track pulled out of cover then disaster struck! Rohrstock was not sure how they'd missed the massive British tank but they had, it's guns let loose and one of the shells struck the '251 bursting it into flames. The rest of the platoon could only look on in horror as the survivors bailed out of the burning wreck. Half the men did not make it out.

As Rohrstock cursed the setback his own armoured support put in an appearance with the Panzer III appearing from behind a sand dune to put a shell into the M3, causing it in return to brew up.

Whilst the exchange of tank fire had been taking place the Sikh's had pushed up vigorously and instead of the planned German occupation of the strong points it was instead they that had seized the ground and the initiaitive.

Despite the setback Rohrstock was pleased to see his men stick to their task, whilst not willing to advance across the open they didn't fall back either and instead opened a withering fire upon the Commonwealth troops which was supported by the now unopposed Panzer III. The section nearest him was taking the brunt of the enemy fire but his presence helped calm the men and keep them in the fight. 

With fire pouring into their positions Rohrstock good see the enemy visibly start to wilt and then the only return firing was coming from a mortar far behind the enemies lines, otherwise the Sikh's had been forced to keep their heads down and their spirit to fight was broken.

As night fell all the Germans could here was the sound of feet running back into the night as the enemy beat a swift retreat.

Fox & The Rat: Day 5 Battle 2 - The Guns

Sgt. Klinkerhoffen had read a British poem written during the Great War which put him in mind of this mission.

The German Guns

Boom, boom, boom, boom,
Boom, boom, boom,
Boom, boom. Boom, boom,
Boom, boom, boom.

Whilst the British private who'd penned the poem was commenting on the German guns it was the British artillery which was the focus of Klinkerhoffen's mission.

Ahead through the silent desert lay the British lines and an artillery position that had been causing so much trouble to the main DAK force. The mission as laid out by Lt. Gruber was simple, destroy the guns and any ammunition reserves and then escape with their lives.

Gruber had picked a small team for this mission hoping that stealth would allow them to breach the enemy camp rather than brute force. So along with Klinkerhoffen (who also carried demo charges) Gruber had brought along Pvt. Schafer with his sniper rifle and Pvt's Geerhart and Grosse with the MG42.

The plan was simple, the privates would remain outside the camp and provide covering fire if the alarm was raised whilst Gruber and Klinkerhoffen would attempt to destroy one gun each and then look towards the ammo carrier.

Klinkerhoffen lead off whilst the Lieutenant arranged the position of the covering forces and he quickly penetrated the enemy lines near an unoccupied pill box. As a sentry wandered past oblivious of his presence he dashed forwards and killed him with his knife. Looking around no one else was in sight so he dragged the body back towards the deep shadows around the pill box. 

By this point Gruber had the other men in position and was starting his own approach to the enemy lines hoping to make use of the gap in the patron route.

Then disaster!

For some unknown reason and at some undetected signal the guards switched their patrol direction. So rather than advancing into a gap instead the enemy started to move back towards the men at the edge of the camp.

As Klinkerhoffen crept towards the first gun an enemy dog patrol moved closer and closer to the main force until Schafer was forced to fire. Normally a reliable shot under pressure this time the bullet went wide and instead of the enemy dropping dead the alarm was raised.

Suddenly the enemy camp was alive with shouting and reinforcements being awaken and dashing to the front. Despite the pandemonium Klinkerhoffen kept steady and managed to set a charge on the first gun before backing off behind some sandbags.

The rest of the squad had however gotten bogged down in an exchange of fire firstly with a patrolling Tommy and then Gruber came under heavy but inaccurate fire from a British Officer. Their cover was well and truly blown. 

With British reinforcements flooding the area and no chance of reaching the second gun Gruber called off the attack and Klinkerhoffen who had still remained undetected withdrew from deep in the enemy camp whilst the others covered him.

Overall the mission had not been a success but with no casualties or prisoners taken at least the squad lived on to fight another night.

Fox & The Rat: Day 5 Battle 1 - Kleiner Flugplatz

0200 hours 14/10/1942

Location - Western Desert; Undisclosed location west of Benghazi, Libya

Roster: Lieutenant Tonkin

Sergeant Almonds

Troopers Carstairs; Godfrey; Crabtree; Flashman; Pike; Cooper

Clear night, waxing crescent moon, light winds, broken cloud scudding quickly on a south-westerly breeze.  Unknown number and quality of DAK sentries.

Sub unit of L Detachment led by Lt. Tonkin - recently returned to duty following a ‘scratch’ from his last outing against ‘Harry Hun’ - charged with attacking an isolated airstrip and attendant aviation fuel.  The main column have been subject to unanswered Stuka attacks - heaven knows where the Desert Air Force have been - so this should at least provide some well needed respite.

Intelligence indicated there was a small airstrip servicing an unknown number of Stukas guarded by a mixture of DAK Gendarmerie and sentries plus reserves of aviation fuel.  Objective was simple - to destroy as many aircraft, fuel facilities and auxiliary vehicles as possible.

L Detachment approached from the north-west.  The demo charges were allocated to Sgt. ‘Big Jim’ Almonds and Pte. Pike.  Sgt. Almonds approached the perimeter from a westerly direction whereas Pte. Pike approached from north/north-west.  The remainder of the detachment followed a generally north-west angle.  Two Stukas were drawn up on the strip which was in the centre of the compound while a fuel truck was a short distance inside the perimeter towards the western edge.

Tonkin, Pike, Crabtree & Flashman made towards a pill box at the north-western corner of the perimeter whereas Almonds set off towards the fuel truck and Carstairs and Godfrey made towards the perimeter fencing to the right of the pill box.  Cooper with his sniper rifle held back scanning for suitable targets should the alert be raised.

Pike was caught out attempting to gain cover from the pill box.  A close sentry and the DAK officer felled him and his charges!  Crabtree & Flashman making better use of the cover despatched the DAK officer.  Meanwhile a pair of sentries were close to the pill box to the opposite side where Pike was and near to where Lt. Tonkin had taken cover - they would be heading towards Almonds’ route of attack.  Tonkin’s pistol wouldn’t account for both so he took the high risk decision to lob a grenade - this accounted for one of Fritz - luckily Carstairs & Godfrey had a clear line of sight and took out the second. The balloon was now truly up and the the cat out of the metaphorical bag!

However a sentry with a vicious hound  further along the perimeter was alerted and caught Almonds scurrying between rocks and a sandbag emplacement.  He shot wildly but missed - Cooper took steady aim and accounted for the impetuous Jerry.  Without his master Der Hund  scarpered into the night.  This allowed Almonds to breach the perimeter and make towards the fuel truck.  

The sentry who’d taken out Pike targeted Crabtree and Flashman - he missed and paid for this by becoming Cooper’s second victim who exhibited his customary sangfroid.

Almonds now had a clear run to the fuel truck and he laid the charges - now onto one of the Stukas.  Jerry reinforcements were now streaming in from the south so he targeted the one furthest from these additional troops.  What he hadn’t realised was it was guarded by another blasted Hund and it’s master.  The cowardly dog handler sent Fido out to intercept him and the vicious beast brought him down and incapacitated poor Almonds before he had a chance to draw his dagger out and despatch him.  Time was running out for Tonkins’ mob.

Meanwhile Crabtree and Flashman picked up the charges left by Pike and were making slow progress towards the rear of the same Stuka which had beguiled Almonds.  Tonkins now rushed forward to where Almonds was now lying and picked up his charges determined to vanquish Fido and his handler and blow up the damned Stuka.  Fido launched himself at Tonkins but this time he was ready dagger drawn.  It was a tremendous tussle, Tonkins managing to injure the animal which whimpered it’s way back to it’s master but Tonkins too took some gouges and bites to his arms and legs.  Tonkins finally got rid of the dog and sentry with a grenade; Cooper had climbed atop one of the pill boxes and took out another Fritz advancing on Tonkins’ position from the aircraft hanger.  Carstairs and Godfrefy moved up in support of Tonkins but the Jerry reinforcements were now too much and Tonkins was out on a complete limb - too far out of reach for Crabtree and Flashman with the other charges to attempt to destroy the Stuka.  It was time to cut and run, the men were confident Jerry would at least not kill Tonkins and Almonds.  Cooper provided covering fire from his elevated position and they were able to drag Pike from where he’d gone down.

Score:  Tonkins and Almonds in the bag; Pike - light wound; 

Jerry - one fuel truck destroyed

Not a great result although superb bravery exhibited by L Detachment, in particular Tonkins and Almonds, and Cooper’s ‘Dead Eye’ wreaking havoc in the DAK ranks.