Shedquarters Day 2023 No 4

 Oh look! Time for another quarterly all day gathering.

We were joined by Chris K, who I paired with Chris A for the first game. That made it a "Chris Mass" on their side of the table, thus justifying having Mince Pies on show in November. We started up with a spot of Spanish Civil War. Richard & Phil (on the right) had two Italian CTV regiments, set the task of continuing their drive along the southern Spanish coast. Chris & Chris had a motley selection of militia and some Peninsula army battalions to oppose them.

Chris & Chris rapidly deployed, taking advantage of the sunken road.

Phil got his artillery out early, but was immediately pinned by the Republican mortar battery.

Richard resolved to evict the troops in the sunken road by enfilading them with his Lancia armoured car.

The militia weren't taking it lying down. Pablo and his chums rushed it, threw a stick of dynamite, and blew it up. Which was a bit of a shock.

The Italians called up some Naval Gunnery to support their attack (aka playing a Joker) and shelled the Republican mortars, forcing them to stop shelling the Italian artillery. Alas this happened close to the end of a turn, and the Republicans were able to open up again shortly.

Undaunted, the Italians sent in some ground attack fighters. 

Some workers militia were holding a forward post in a village. Richard brought up the "tanks", whilst Phil advanced on it with one of his battalions.

Having lost his Lancia, Richard took a more cautious approach to clearing the sunken road. Dismounting two of his battalions at long range, he then dowsed the position with heavy fire. And hit very little.

The return fire was unexpectedly effective.

Phil & Richard shot up the central village, and were luckier this time round. The Republicans had received some reinforcements in the shape of a shiny worker designed and built wonder weapon, entering stage left.

Richard responded by driving the CV33 Flamme up to point blank range and setting fire to it. This was surplus to requirements in the attack on the village, which saw the militias expelled with heavy casualties.

With the game delicately poised, it was time for lunch, with the traditional baguettes.

The game restarted with a completely ineffective bombing run on the antique Schneider accompanying the Peninsula Army (yes, I know the only ones they had were in Madrid, but I bought the model, didn't I?)

Richard couldn't wait for the infantry to catch up, so he assaulted the survivors from the village with his armour. He wiped out the unit completely, but at the cost of two tankettes, including the Flamme unit. The costs of using armour unsupported. He was not pleased.

Phil's artillery continued with their wretched day, being bombed by a rare flight of Republican aircraft. They weren't very effective.

However, the artillery failed their Terror Test and chucked it all in, heading off table.

Richard finally realised he needed to sort out the sunken road, and closed to close range, setting up an assault.

Part of Richard's problem was that he and Phil had focussed a lot of their card resources on Phil's wing. However, he was struggling to get forwards. In an error I allowed the Schneider to fire in bombardment mode, which slowed Phil down considerably.

Phil's lead unit was really in a bad way. He needed to reorganise.

Chris didn't give him time, and launched a close assault from the village. This destroyed the unit with minimal cost to the Republicans.

Richard was pouring in fire at close range now, and had his third battalion left flanking. The truth is the brave workers in the sunken road had held up three times their number, and effectively blunted the Italian advance on this flank.

Phil's end of the table was a bust by now, and Richard was in a bad way. We had another hour or so play in the game, but we wanted to get Chris A's game of the Battle of Cape Bon on the table, using Nimitz, so the Italians graciously withdrew.

On to the Naval Game

Richard & I took two Italian cruisers, stacked with essential supplies for Italian troops in North Africa. We can't fire to the rear, as that's where all the barrels of much needed aviation fuel is stacked. No worry, there are no Brits in the area.

Or are there? Ultra has tipped off the Royal Navy, and three British and one Dutch destroyer are heading to cut us off.

Chris was closing on the rear of of our little flotilla.

Phil (top left) was looking to cut us off from our table exit. We hastily decided to split up and make a run for it.

I'm heading towards the top, Richard to the left.

Phil came in a bit too close, and I caught him with a full broadside. He started to burn and sink quickly.

However, I got caught by some shelling, and my cargo caught fire.  Shortly after this, so did Richard's. We limped off the table edge, but the purpose of our mission was foiled as all the supplies were lost. And possibly my ship too, which had been hit quite badly.

I do like Nimitz. It does the sort of rivet counter game, but in a really neat simplified way. Chris A has got the game management of the ship cards sorted, and it all ran smoothly.

Chris A then had to pack away and go off to another engagement, so the rest of us headed to the village pub for an evening meal. 

A thoroughly satisfactory day.