Category Archives: Black Sea’s

June 22 – last games of the month

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So to finish off June 22 I have 2 last game reports.

Game 1 – Team Yankee

So Goldie and I had our third 1 on 1 game of his Russians v my West Germans. Score is 2 nil to me so far! Paul had left his Hind’s at home….and my Pah’s rotors had broken off so we had a no air support game.

Below is Goldie’s set up.

Goldie set up from left to right with BMPs/Carnations on left…..infantry in front of woods with armoured cars, in the centre 2 units of tanks with AA quad guns in support and rockets to rear with on the right AA rockets and another units of tanks.

In my set up below I had from my left to right…..4 leopard 2s including command tank….3 Jaguar’s…3 M109s with M113 spotter and then 3 more Leopard 2’s. On my right were 2 Luch’s recon and 3 Marder’s with Pz Grenadiers in them. Loose plan was to occupy buildings on right with PzGrs..hide the 5 vehicles until targets within 20inches of them and to use the M109’s and Milans/RPGs and Carl Gustav plus Mg’s to keep Goldie at Bay. Then in centre and the left use the firepower and advantage in range of the Leopards with the M109’s, Jaguar’s and Luch’s supporting.

I won turn 1 and let rip at the BMPs with my M109’s. They have been the stars of previous games……however Paul discovered his save rolling dice and they ran hot! Managed blow up 1 and 3 bailed out…they passed morale saves next turn and hoped back in.

Below I have run the Jaguar’s into woods with Luch’s flanking. On left Leopards advanced to ridge line..Goldie had no artillery spotters on this flank and his tanks were skulking behind a hill. The right hand Leopards are hull down on ridgeline.

Goldie advanced down left flank…infantry and supports head for the buildings,,,,tanks also advance…artillery spotter moves to edge of woods behind the town. My PzGrs have dismounted from the Marder’s into 3 buildings. Marder’s and Luch’s hiding in the town for now.

Very poor shooting round from me….Leopards….RPG’s….Milans…Carl Gustav…..and not much to show for it!

As for the M109’s and PzGrs on flank..aaahhhhh…just Bail Outs!! Goldie’s artillery spotter in the woods.

Whew…..this time…3 tanks down and 2 bailed out!

The Carnations moved around the flank as I had taken out their spotter. My PzGrs had survived previous round of Goldie’s shooting…with casualties….so along with the Luch’s and Marder’s who moved out now the Russkie’s were in range managed to take out 5! However Carnation’s were now in direct fire range…..pain coming my way.

Russian bully boys……

On the Russkie right the unit of 5 tanks advance onto hill and take out 1 Jaguar.

And they had moved up because I had moved the 4 Leopard unit around the other side of the wood…….a cunning ruse to pull them forward……

My right flank was basically gone……PzGr’s destroyed as were Marder’s and Luch’s after next round of Russkie shooting.

Now silly me neglected to take photos of final round! So below we have Goldie’s right side tanks advanced to the top of the hill…in the woods I have 2 Jaguar’s left and 2 Luch’s skulking. Skulking as I was keeping them safe to make a run for the objective marker between Tanks and AA rocket unit. So now what I did next was reverse my 4 Leopard unit…giving me 8 shots from them and 2 from the JagdPzs on the Russian tanks. 3 blew up and 1 bailed out. Objective is now open. I then moved the 3 Leopard unit to the right and put them on the right side objective.

And we called it a draw….next turn would have been interesting…me trying to get the objective on my left….and hold Goldie from taking the one I was holding on my right…but…was getting late and we were both tired…long week.

So I need to repair my Pah’s…..and Battlefront have finally resupplied their NZ Headquarters….so I have more PzGr’s to paint…Gepards to assemble and paint!(and ground strike aircraft)

Fun game!!

Game 2 – Black Sea’s

So Alan hosted a sailing ships game as my garage was again out of commission. The endless heavy rain’s we endured during month resulted in my downstairs bedroom flooding. So had moved stuff into garage while it dried out. I now own a really cool submersible pump for the next time I need one!

So scenario is a Franco/Spanish squadron is blockaded in a port and a British squadron is anchored off it on blockade duty. The F/S force is sailing out and needs to break through the British to escape.

Alan was on rules…I was on the couch drinking tea and eating chocolate biscuits while Goldie/Rob/Keith and Graham played.

View of British ships now hauling on chains so could fire broadsides at approaching enemy. They could not move to intercept for several turns.

Close up!

The F/S ships made for the southern end of the British blockade.

This is Goldie deep in thought….lovely polished head btw 😘

Is this a ramming event approaching…..British ship has quarterdeck hits…so low on firing.

Things did not go well for the F/S…several ships down and British are moving to block the escape…it looked quite promising I thought for most of the game. As usual every throw of the shooting dice was met by howls of pleasure or derision. Players do enjoy these games.

Final despairing turn of the F/S as they fail to escape. These sail games involve lots of dice being rolled…very nice wee models…the randomness of wind changes really stuffing up a plan……makes for a fun game in an evening.

And that was that….a month of more games than usual which all things considered was quite an achievement!

July games booked so far are an 1815 game this coming Thursday, the following Saturday Friend Weakley is back for a full days gaming in the Garage with most of the crew available…again 1815 game. Saturday 23rd at Hutt Club for another ACW game…this time adding cavalry plus sure to fit something else in……..

Til next time Terry out.

Black Sea’s – March 2022

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So Alan has been adding more vessels to his Sailing Ships Collection so I suggested a game be played at his house. Alan, Russ and now Rob have models.

So Alan hosted the group a couple of Thursday nights back. There were 3 players a side and I sat on a comfy lounger in the garage and watched. I did find it hard to follow the crazyness in the game so forgive me if I get some things wrong…. expect I will get corrected.

But as with all the Black Sea’s games so far, they are by far the LOUDEST games we play as everyone gets very excited…. and there was no alcohol being consumed to help!

Below a shot down the British line.

And over on the other side, the French are off! From memory each player got 3 or 4 vessels.

The 2 fleets approaching each other.

Goldie was commanding the British small ships…. who got confused and thought they were in a Formula 1 race. More later.

To me this looks like should be drums beating ‘Ramming Speed’!

And here we have Lewis Hamilton driving his wee ship though the French line, leading a charmed life and even inflicting damage on larger vessels!

By now my excursions to the table were really a head scratching event, I couldn’t work out what was going on.

Not looking good for this Britisher.

Lots of damage being done and the game slowed down a bit.

The wreck is what happens when the ‘Victory’ unleashes.

Oops..another Frenchie getting it!

Bye Bye!

End game….I think the British won. That ‘Victory’ is a beast!!

It was change watching the wee ships racing around the bigger vessels…..adding to the game I think.

Til next time…Terry.

Black Sea’s

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Now Alan and Russ have been collecting Warlord Games ‘Black Sea’s and have a number of sailing ships so I asked Alan if he would run an introductory game. I mean, what Wargamer has not read Hornblower, Bolitho, Ramage etc novels and wants to command a sailing ship!

So Alan set up a piece of blue cloth with 4 ships a side, each of a 3rd rater and 5th rater(Frigate). The British on the left were commanded by Rob in the top and Alan in the bottom of table. On the right with French were Steve and Goldie, with Russ commanding 2 Spanish in the bottom right. The wind was blowing directly down the table and 2 islands were in the center.

The Spanish ships with the French in the background.

Here are Alans 2 British ships.

Here we have a Frenchie moving forward. The base set comes with the dinky measureing sticks etc that you need.

Alan had purchased a bunch of flickering lights that were in the cotton wool so we had a great look to the shooting.

Close up of shooting…quite cool really.

Battle Kiwi have made some very cool battle boards to record vessel stats in as well.

Its quite an attractive game, it got VERY LOUD.

But did feel game got a bit slow with each player commanding 2 ships…and all relatively new to game…it did go a bit sllloowwww…but then I was watching and not playing.

And below we have a British ship sailing between 2 Spanish…..which as it turned out…was not a recommended activity.

As we can now see…or rather not see that British ship.

Now its end game in the south….and a British ship is crippled…on fire and has struck its colours.

What would Nelson say.

So that was the first game of Black Sea’s for most players…..its was loud….seemed lot of fun…..roll on the next on. Alan and Russ have painted up some really nice models and it looks a fun game.

Til next time.

Terry