The Battle for Wormley Common

Before I kick off this battle report I thought I would respond to a few requests on the blog on how I go about setting up my tables - they seem to get some great reviews so I am only happy to oblige.

So a bit like a recipe here we go. Firstly I make sure the table is completely clear before I start. As you can see this is made up of a number of boards in various stages of green GW flocked paper. Over time I have added to these and each board has a slightly different hue.

The table shown is about 4.5 metres long and 1.5m wide at the further end. Due the configuration of the shed the closer part is only 1.25 wide to allow access.

If rivers were going to feature in a battle I would add these and the hills first but given that they don't in this game the next step is to lay out the roads and railtracks.

With these placed on the table my attention turns to the buildings. At present I have around 15 VBCW English village buildings with a few more nearing completion. I try to make sense of the layouts and give them an organic feel. English villages are not laid out on gridded patterns but rather follow the contours of the land, the roads and other features.

With the buildings added I then add the walls, the fences and the hedges to partition up the land. Finally I add trees ...lots of trees. England is a temperate climate and trees are numerous. I am always struck by how few trees others put on their battlefields..I on the other hand probably put too many on the board. I use these to create clearly defined woods and copses (ringed by fences, hedges and walls) along with some single stands in the towns, churchyards and isolated spots.

So the above shot and below shows some of the pictures of the ficticious English village of Wormley Common.

Unfortunately we only had three players including myself for the game so it would be two versus one.

We decided that the objective would be to see who controlled the village by the end of the evening. Each building was worth 1 point with the church equating to two points. A total of 12 points were on offer. To secure each point an infantry unit had to either occupy the building at the end of the game or had passed through the building during the game

Mark commanded the BUF forces who would intitially deploy in the centre, entering from the left hand side of the table. He had at his disposal the following troops...

3 x Panzer 1's
1 x Armoured Car
1 x Officer
1 x Sniper
1 x MMG
1 X Medium Mortar
1 X Lt AT Gun
5 X six men rifle squads

a total of 14 dice

Confronting Mark were my Postal Division (entering from the bottom of the table)

1 X Medium Tank (Big Red)
1 X Half Tracked/HMG
1 X Medium Mortar
1 X Officer
3 X Six men rifle squads
1 x MMG

a total of 8 dice

Rolf would command the Anglican Leagues forces consisting of

2 x Light Tanks (FT17's)
4 X Six men infantry squads
1 X Officer
1 X MMG

a total of 8 dice

In hindsight the BUF were probably too powerful in terms of numbers of tanks and AT capability but true to Shed style we never play with points based games.

 

Given that the objective was going to be swung on points held at the end of the evening it was a very tactical game. The BUF realised they could hold the centre of the town with impunity but the game would be won or lost on the engagements that would take place on the outskirts.

The BUF quickly swarm into the village. The infantry seize the buildings and the armour takes up ambush positions

By the end of the second turn the centre of the village was held by the BUF and they had pushed across the railway line and taken the two buildings on the other side.





By now the League forces of Rolf had started to push forward from the Northern end of town - their mission to secure the church.



League forces marching across the fields

By the time the League had reached the church the BUF had already secured the building and squad of blackshirts had set themselves up in the tower.

Two rounds of expensive hand to hand fighting finally saw the chuirch wrestled from the BUF and into the Leagues hands.

At this point Rolf decided to push his armour up the road and engage the BUF panzers. Sadly both FT17's were consigned to the scrapheap in one brutal exchange of fire.

The Panzer 1's chew up the FT17's

This road is beginning to look like the highway to hell !

Mean whilst my posties started to push up the right flank. Quickly crossing the railway way line and taking the multi colored terraces now known as Ballamory street

 

To support this advance I pushed forward my half track - it got stuck crossing the rail line but pushed on the following turn to engage the BUF Armoured Car.

Sadly the exchange of fire came to nothing and the red liveried tractor unit soon came into sight of the BUF AT gun. I think the picture above tells the story of what happened next

 The repositioning of the AT gun presented a new target for my skulking posties in the terraces..

Running from the building to the cover of a stonewall they let rip with their bolt action rifles. Some great dice rolls soon put the AT gun out of commission - it can't fire if it has no crew !

By now my mortar was beginning to site in on the BUF occupying the school house. Not wanting to be inside with the shells falling around them they pulled out and took position in the play ground.

My mortar fired again - a six !!



Half the squad was removed !!

Now was the time to push forward. My posties in the other half of the terraces put down covering fire

Whilst my last remaining squad pushed up from the garage supported by Big Red

The squad stormed the remaining BUF in the playground and captured the school.

The clock had run down...what was the score??

Six points each ! A draw.

We debated for ten minutes whether the game could have been won by either side. The fact that the League had lost all but one of its tanks suggested that the BUF were probably going to end up as eventual winners - however this was going to be scratched up as a draw.

The peace and quiet returns to Wormley Common

Until next time