..And Then Two Came Along At Once (part 2)

Saturday 15th September 2018 - WDW


Bolt Action (WW2) in the pacific theatre:

"In a lookout post on a small island off the coast of Manila in June 1942, a sleepy spotter was roused into action by the distant whirring of the engines of a flotilla of Japanese landing craft. He immediately radioed this news to the nearby US base who promptly dispatched a battalion of marines to the beach area. By now the Japanese task force were landing and overhead came the thunder of their first naval bombardment. This stunned the newly arrived marines but they soon rallied to engage the Japanese in deadly close quarter combat. They were slowly thrown back by the overwhelming force of frenzied fanatic warriors.

 Marine reinforcements arrived only to be confronted by the second naval bombardment which once again stemmed their progress! By now a second Japanese force was arriving on the US right flank, taking the thinly spread defenders by surprise and quickly captured the first of their objectives - the bridge over the river Kwai! The battle had intensified and all along the marine lines and the counter attack was being repulsed. Spear armed fanatics were being mown down by their progress was unabatted!  Motorised units struggled to penetrate the dense jungle of the island`s hinterland and hopes of a quick victory was evaporating.

After 6 hours of bitter fighting, the marines were forced to retreat and conceded the conquest of the island to the imperial forces of Japan. The Americans were left to lick their wounds and regroup for the battles ahead.

So ended the first engagement played by members of the Wakefield and Ossett wargames club on Saturday 15th September using Warlord Games Bolt Action rules.

Those involved were - John Dean, Ian Harris, Dave Churm, Andy Smith, Andy Gledhill, Jim Ellis, Stu Lowe, Richard Lawrence & Mike Yewdell.

Thanks to John Smith`s [for his] excellent landing craft models and Ian`s buildings."

Photos are on the WDW Facebook page.  Report by Mr Dean.


Renaissance - "Baroque" rules:

"Andrew and Tim played a pick-up game of "Baroque", organised by Chris and loosely based on Mohacs, with Andrew as Hungarian and Tim as the Turks. Working on the basis numbers had been exaggerated, the Turkish army was slimmed down somewhat.

The Turkish foot drew up on a low range of hills, with all the cavalry on their left. The Hungarians drew up with foot in the front line, and mounted behind each flank.

They had a lot of difficulty getting their cavalry out, giving the Turks an excellent opportunity to destroy them. "Unit of the match" award goes to a Landsknecht musketeer unit, which warped probability disgracefully, seeing off several overwhelming attacks, and buying time for the rest of the army.

Eventually numbers and quality told, and the Turkish horse began to break in to the Hungarians' formation. On the other flank, the Hungarian nobility made heavy weather of breaking in to the Turkish line; however, they managed it eventually; and this was very much the position when we drew stumps, with each army winning on its left. A clash between the Hungarian pike and the A-class Janissaries in the  middle would have been decisive; sadly, we timed out.

We were very impressed with the rules, and intend another big battle (24 or so units a side) later in the year."

Report by Chris Jackson.