A group from The Old Guard Wargames Club The North Riding Wargames Club met today to play out a scenario from Gold Beach King Green, using 15mm miniatures and terrain belonging to Mad Tin Hatter and Deedles.

Rules used were Flames of War v.4, along with scenario random encounters for the German defenders. The mission for the British was to reach the town of Crepon before the end of the game. Table length was 16ft (iirc.)

In the game, the British enjoyed success and, only, encountered token Axis opposition to their landing and push up the table (there was dozens of opportunities for random encounters to occur, but the dice rolls provided few real threats to play out).

Sherman DDs drifted coming to shore (luckily none were swamped) the current and surf causing problems, tanks became bogged down on the soft sand, minefields took out Allied armour, the player's in control of the inshore push chose to drive up the roads and stay clear of the flooded fields and inland minefields - that is, until a random chance roll caused one of the lead tanks to suffer a mechanical failure, the roadblock leading to a huge line of armour on the right-hand side of the table reaching as far back as the beach. In the end, all on-table Axis forces were taken care of and the MDF 'tiddly-winks' representing random chances were all triggered. The lead Sherman DDs of the left-hand push reaching the objective of the town of Crepon.
 
All in all, everyone enjoyed themselves and Pendraken Miniatures made quite a few sales from club members (10mm Naps, AWI, ACW, Flags, MDF bases, paints, and books).

(17pdr gun models that are being towed represent 40mm Bofors guns, due to current lack of correct models, in case anyone was wondering).

[You'll have to excuse the limits of my photography, should I not capture the excellent spectacle of the game that Mad Tin Hatter and Deedles put on.]

Great looking game! 

Wow, that is a great looking game !

This was a fantastic looking game today, really nice.

        

Indeed, a great looking game

Spectacular stuff!

One question. The pillboxes with no roof, are they knocked out or not yet completed?

That looks superb. Well done to everyone involved.    

 

Yes, it was certainly a good looking game. I told the chaps that it was worthy of being at a big wargames show - certainly should be seen at Pendraken's 'Battleground' show.

What I am missing, in the photograph collection, is more images featuring the Axis defenders (I can't say German as I'm informed they were assorted Eastern Europeans) but I was always at the other end of the table when the defenders were encountered, as I volunteered to move up the 'second wave' and others to play the game out - we had Mad Tin Hatter's son with us, yesterday, playing his first ever wargame (yep, you've guessed it, he kept rolling 6's! Sixes to hit, sixes to save. The Axis never stood a chance!).

There was the possibility of nasty surprises by ambushing Axis defenders in the various hedgerows and buildings (a number of these were encountered). Multiple instances of Axis soldiers surrendering. (iirc.) 21st Panzer armour making there presence known. And the Luftwaffe flying overhead, and making an appearance on the tabletop. But, as I said, most of this was to be decided by random chance, rolled for off a list of possibilities and the British player's got lucky. The one instance where I did roll for an Axis encounter, it turned out to be surrendering Axis troops - a sensible outcome, as there was one Axis base being met by a full Infantry Platoon of the 6th Green Howards.

The MDF name signs were made by (Pendraken's) Leon on the Monday before the game, using Pendraken's laser cutter. And on Tuesday morning, Leon popped back in to the games room and handed over a box of 3D printed 'Czech hedgehog' models to improve the look of the beach defences. Big thank you to Leon!   

If I can find any more photos of the Axis miniatures featured in the game, I'll post a follow up.

Oh, and I should add, Pendraken also received custom from us, buying cups of tea and coffee and food!
Yep, the games room has access to hot drinks, snacks, and there's a toilet inside the shop for gamer's/shopper's to use.

Quote from: Ithoriel on 03 April 2024, 03:45:33 AMSpectacular stuff!
One question. The pillboxes with no roof, are they knocked out or not yet completed?

Ithoriel, I'll ask James or Dave as I can't remember to be honest.

These are the Mont Fleury battery you're asking about, yes? From memory, of what was said, (historically) only two of the structures were completely constructed, possibly only one was operational with a Russian 122mm gun, and the other two buildings were still under-construction (possibly roofless?).

I'll ask those who are in the know and get you an answer.

(any other building or field fortification without a roof, it would have been lifted off to show Axis defenders being 'triggered' as a surprise attack and I caught the moment on camera before the roof was replaced)

Really good stuff 

Additional photo's of yesterday's game at Pendraken Miniature's games room:

James "Mad Tin Hatter's" photo's













Dave "Deedle's" photos:





Further information (provided by James) on the Mont Fleury battery:

Quote"The casemates for the battery were incomplete. Two were being built and had no roofs or guns (which were in some woods behind the casemate position). Only one of the casemates seems to have had a working gun."

[Right-click on the following photo image and "open link in new tab" to be able to zoom-in for a better look at the printed image and type.]




One of mine that I forgot to include, yesterday:

Thank you!

I had a feeling some of the fortifications were still under construction.

More fantastic photos, these (and yesterday's) much appreciated.

Wow!  A wonderfully detailed and superbly presented game.  Thanks for sharing.

Appreciate the feedback. It was a good game to get set up. We will be doing all 5 beaches over this summer gaming season .

Cheers
D