OHW Scenario 17: Encounter

I fancied getting my ImagiNations troops out onto the table again and whilst pondering some options, I settled upon getting another One Hour Wargames scenario onto the table. To be honest the last one was a bit too static due to the BUA rules in BPII, but the next one, even though similar in premise, was all open terrain.

Some sketched plans and outlined ideas and a few hours later I was good to go. Rather than use the random forces options from OHW, I decided to go with equal forces, purely so I could get all my painted toys onto the table. A good enough reason for me!

I set things up the night before and after a nice bike ride in the morning, I was all set to bung some dice. I made a few tweaks before I started, as it's always good to mull things over and come to it all with a fresh pair of eyes as it were.

An overview of the table. The objective is to be in control of the hills at the end of the game. The Germans arrive from the West, the Italians from the East.

The calm before the storm as the farmer takes his geese to market.

Pigs are taken into the beech wood to forage.

The cows come out of the byre.

The Germans troops ready for the off.

The German reserves.

The Italians.

And their reserves.

The Game

This is a pic heavy AAR and hopefully the captioned photos will suffice.

The end of Turn 1. Both sides made tentative moves towards the hills.

The Germans march past a house.

German calvary move past the farmer and his herd.

The Italians pass the cornfield.

The end of Turn 2. The Italians advance rapidly and beat the Germans to the hills. The Germans have to shake out into line to meet the threat.

The Italian left flank.

The Italian right flank.

Italian light infantry amongst the rocks.

Italian artillery: "Duck!"
The Farmer: "No, geese!"

The Germans deploy.

Germans moving off to their left flank.

German cavalry move off to try and turn the Italian flank.

The end of Turn 3. Both sides begin to engage each other, but to little effect. Neither sides reserves appear.

Italian cavalry come under fire.

German infantry across the road begin to take hits.

The German cavalry pull back, wary of the Italian infantry.

The Italian right flank in a good position.

The farmer herds his geese to safety.

The end of Turn 4. Both sides begin to take hits, with the Italians losing an artillery piece. Both sides jostle to get the best position to bring their fire to bear. German and Italian reserves being to arrive, but slowly.

The Italian cavalry makes a disorderly retreat to preserve themselves.

The Italian light infantry come under sustained fire.

"Waht is good for the goose...". The Italian artillery battery breaks to the rear.

The first Italian reserves appear.

Ditto for the Germans.

The German cavalry move to the flank to try and threaten the Italian position.

At the start of Turn 5, the German lose a line infantry unit.

The end of Turn 5. The Italians get some revenge for the loss of their artillery by breaking the German line infantry. As the firefight continues, both sides reserves move forward slowly, when speed is of the essence. The German cavalry on the left wing see a chance and charge the Italian infantry on the hill.

The Italian reserves move slowly, but steadily forward.

Likewise the Germans.

The Italian right wing is under severe pressure but holds on.

The German cavalry charge in but fail to break the Italian infantry, who manage to turn to face the threat in the ensuing melee.

At the start of Turn 6, the Italian cavalry rides to the rescue...

...but fails to break the German cavalry, as the Italian line infantry retreat.

The end of Turn 6. Despite a heroic fight, the German cavalry break, as other Italian units move forward. The Germans push on but some shocking shooting means they fail to capitalise on their advantage.

A view from the Italian left.

The Germans begin to dominate the centre, but cannot gain any advantage due to poor shooting.

German reserves move off to the left.

The German cavalry break.

The end of Turn 7. As the Italians move slowly on their left, on their right the quickly move forward to shore up this flank. The Italian cavalry move to try and threaten the German left flank to slow the move forward. On the German right the cavalry charge each other, only for the Germans to be pushed back, locked in combat.

The Italian cavalry gain the upper hand.

The Italian left flank reserves still move too slowly.

Whilst on the right they have more vim and vigour.

The German grand battery cannot shift the Italian light infantry from the rocks.

The Italian troops on the hill come under extreme pressure.

The Germans offer a refused flank as their main units push forward to try and take the hill.

At the start of Turn 8, the Italian cavalry emerge victorious.

The end of Turn 8. With all to play for, both sides push towards the hills to shore up their positions or to try and take them. The Italians survive a hail of lead, losing a line infantry and cavalry unit, with others hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

The Italian left flank manages to hang on.

Troops finally reach the hill.

An Italian line infantry unit breaks on their right flank.

Italian reserve artillery deploys to shore up their central position.

Italian troops arrive just in time to ensure the right flank is secure.

The German guns have been unable to dislodge the Italians from the hill.

Italian cavalry break as they come under accurate fire.

The Germans try to break through in the centre.

End of the Game 

And after 8 hectic Turns, the Italians have managed to hand onto the objective, gaining a minor victory. Both sides had taken losses, as can be seen below.

Post Game Thoughts

Well that was great fun! Lots of actions and with relatively few troops and all on a 4' x 4' table. A few ponderings on the game as always:

• The Italians certainly had an advantage going first, but could have lost it if the Germans had been a bit more speedy in response. In the end both sides had about to same amount of moves, so no large 3 moves bounds to adversely affect the game one way or another.
• I decided to go with all cavalry, rather than a mix of cavalry and mounted infantry. This worked well, but I think it would have been better to have put all of the cavalry on the table at the start. A few more units are definitely required.
• It was good to have some melee, as these rarely happen in my games, so I was rather rusty on this front, needing to read the rules quite a bit. So some homework for me on this front.
• Having 3 unit Brigades rather than 4 worked well and maybe this is something I need to look at moving forward...
• I liked having some civilians on the table and this has pushed me to try and add some more as well as more decorative items to help dress the table.

What Next?

Well I've put in an order with Pendraken for some more troops to help flash out my mid-19thC forces. More on these in due course. My current aim to to try and carry on painting existing forces that are primed, whilst my mojo is up for this. Certainly I'm enjoying myself painting again, with the added bonus that I have enough troops to get some games in.

Alongside this I've been looking at some background fluff to go with the above, but still early days, but lots of fun doing the research. More info to follow.

I hoped you enjoyed the photos and AAR and if so, it would be lovely for you to leave a comment.

TTFN.