VSF Ottomans on land and sea!

 I picked up a couple more of the PMC VSF resin kits on Ebay, another tracked steam tractor and a steam landing craft. Sadly all the VSF kits in the range are still OOP, but I keep my fingers crossed that Minifigs might get around to restoring them to production at some point.

Of course, I needed some crew (and I still had an Ironclad electric cannon that required manning), so when my sister-in-law asked what I wanted for Christmas, I gave her a small list from the Tiger Miniatures Balkans Ware ranges!

Taking a break from fantasy I decided to to get my new Ottoman kit table-ready!

First up the PMC steam landing craft. I couldn't see me having a lot of use for a landing craft, so decided to make it an armed barge instead. I'd got a deck gun in my Christmas gift package, but unfortunately the gun's barrel came just below the top of the barge's side. I made a gun platform from a couple of circular mdf bases I had to hand and now the gun can be fired without fear a blowing a hole in the barge's side!!!

I can always take the gun and platform out if I need a troop transporter at any time for a game.

Now the crew for the two steam tractors and the electric cannon.

A useful bunch of additions to my VSF forces for the Balkans. I'm looking forward to getting them on the table now!

VSF 1899 Balkans War 2

 We managed to get together for a second game set in the 1899 Great Steam War in the Balkans, using a VSF variation of The Men Who Would Be Kings. On this occaision neither side had any infantry support, except for a field gun and a couple of machingun units.  Otherwise both the Greek and Ottoman forces were entirely foreign supplied (and manned?) high tech equipment.

I had just bought two new steam tank models from Black Pyramid (and they are big! compared with the Ironclad tanks) which i had only had time to paint with a basecoat before the game. I shall weather them up before the next one.

A Turkish steam tank advances supported by a unit of German-made steam robots. An electric cannon gives fire support whilst Turkish machineguns set up in the scrub.

Another view of the Krupps steam robots and the electric gun.

Three light one-man walkers move forward. On the left is an Ottomen design armed with a deadly electric gun. the two other walkers are a Austrian design, mounting a machinegun and flamethrower each!

A heavy steam tank, armed with an electric gun and two machineguns advances, whilst a Turkish field gun unlimbers on the hill.

On the Greek side a heavy tank, medium tank and light walker (all British-made) use the ridge in the centre of the battlefield to screen their advance.

A French-designed armoured car boldly drives down the road to scout beyond the ridgeline. This would prove costly as it became the only visible target for the field gun and three electric guns, Opps! It was swiftly reduced to a battered metal box with no gun and the speed of a child's pedal car!!!

On the far flank a Greek field gun and machinegun set up "supported" by a second armoured car. This armoured car would remain in support for much of the battle as it's was constantly bogged down in the rough terrain (wheeled vehicles are fast, but risk getting stuck when moving off-road).

Three Enfield one-man steam walkers shelter behind a hill prior to their advance. Once again these small walkers would suffer heavy damage attempting to close with the \Turkish forces and all would be knocked out. (Perhaps the Greek commanders will realise that even armoured "cavalry" suffer charging across open ground in the face of modern weapons).

After much maneuvering, the Austrian walkers got into range with their flamethrowers. The Greek tank caught fire and was swiftly abandoned by it's crew.

 

Almost the end. The Turkish tanks advanced to get a clearfield of fire at the last Greek tank.

Endgame with only one tank and an armoured car left operation on the Greek side their commanders quit the field whilst they still had something to withdrawl! An outstanding Turkish victory this time.

We had a lot of laughs, and fine tuned some of the rule ammendments, particularly on fire weapons.

VSF 1899 Balkans War

In the later part of the nineteenth century the Great Powers of Europe vied with one another to utilise the new technologies to create increasingly sophisticated weapons of war. Great Britain, France and Russia all developed weapons based on the technology of steam, whereas Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire depended more on the power of electricity, expanding on the pioneering research of Victor Frankenstein. All parties were keen to test their new weapons in earnest, but at the same time reluctant to commit to all-out war against another major power in Europe.

 1n 1899, the outbreak of war in the Balkans gave them the opportunity they were seeking. Each Great Power reinforced their allies in the region with new technology and military “advisors” to train in their use (and often operate the weapons as well). Britain and France supported Greece, Russia supported Bulgaria and Germany and Austro-Hungary threw their weight behind the Ottoman Empire. The ancient regions of Thrace and Macedonia became the testing grounds for the latest war machines.

 Here is a report on a typical engagement in Western Thrace.

An early casualty, a severely damaged the Ottoman armoured car makes a slow withdrawal. To the right is an Ottoman one-man walker with and electric lightning cannon, to the left Krupps Steam Automatons advance through the wood.

A slightly blurry view of the battlefield.

The left flank of the Ottoman force.

And the right flank, beyond the picture, another regular infantry unit anchors the line. 

THe centre of the Greek line, Enfield Steam Walkers advance, supported by Greek infantry. A French-made armoured car has bogged down by the road (the armoured car was to be unable to move for most of the game!).

The Greek left flank.

And their right. The Cretan Gendames have already suffered casualties from accurate rifle fire from an Ottoman infantry unit.

The Enfield walkers suffer from heavy fire from electric weapons and the Ottoman field gun. All are damaged and have their MMGs disabled. The drivers decide to charge the enemy (more of a gentle trot by now) as one of them bursts into flames.

A second walker is knocked out.

As the last walker arroaches the Ottoman line the Ottoman walker (now also damaged), intercepts the charge.

The two machines batter away at each other until the Ottoman driver is victorious, but was almost immediatly struck by a shell from the Greek field gun and destroyed!

Whilst the Ottomans held the upper hand in the centre, their flanks were being whittled away.

The last stand of the surviving Ottoman forces, the tank just visible at the top of the picture had failed to move for the entire game and only fired twice!

An overview of the end. The Greeks had two intact infantry units poised to swing around into the surviving Ottomans' flamk. At this point the Turkish commander order a withdrawal.

1912 Balkans War with Chain of Command

I had Mark around the other day to play Chain of Command with my 1912 Greek and Turkish platoons. It was an attack/defend game, with the Turks defending a road junction.

Mark had the Turkish platoon and I took the Greeks. We both had a second senior officer, a machine gun, field gun and section of irregular militia in support.

Here is the table after the patrol phase (the colour is a little odd on these pictures).

 The view from the Greek side.

And from the Turkish side.

I started badly with the Greeks, my first roll only gave me the option to bring on a senior leader in that phase (which I declined to do). Mark brought on his irregular militia behind the hedge next to the junction and put them on overwatch. My next roll was 3 sixes, ending the first turn! (Which was quick seeing as our last 3 games of CoC never got to a second turn!). I brought the Italian Legion volunteers on my right flank then had first go in the new turn. Turn ending meant that Mark lost his overwatch, so I deployed a section of regulars in the centre, behind a hill with my senior leader and my field gun which started to pound the irregulars.

 The Turkish irregulars take position.

The Greek field gun "Open Fire!" 

 Watched by the senior leader the Greek regulars advance behind the hill.

On the right flank the Italian Legion take the field.

Mark deployed his field gun which started counter battery fire, bought on another section and started moving his irregulars across to counter my infantry advancing towards the wood on his right. My dice let me down for the next hour or so as my attacked slowed to a plod on the left. On the right the Italians were stuck behind the hill as Mark stuck a section of Albanians and a machine gun in front of them, so advancing in the open into that cross fire didn't appeal. I never got the activation dice I needed and my field gun seemed to be firing blanks. My only success was putting my machine gun in support of the Italians, which was doing a good job of knocking off a couple of Albanians and piling on some shock.

The Albanians show up.

Mark, on the other hand, seemed to get exactly the dice he needed. His field gun repeatedly blasted mine, regularly getting 4 or 5 hits on 6 dice! The shock was piling on and the crew dropping like flies. I had to pull my senior leader back to rally them and keep the gun in the fight. He moved the irregulars up to block my advance through the wood and deployed another section in their original position to add some long range rifle fire on my gun. Enough was enough, the gun crew broke, I threw silly dice for their rout and the ran off table taking their junior leader with them. My Force Morale now dropped to 6.

Suddenly the dice gods smiled on me and I started getting reasonable activation rolls. I brought the elite Evzones on to support the regulars and my irregulars militia popped up in the field next to my machine gun to add some more pain to the Albanians.

The Greek irregulars lurking amidst the crops.

Trying to manouvre around the wood and avoid the machine gun, I accidentally triggered a close combat by coming too close to the Turkish irregulars. As it was the start of Mark's turn when we realised (!) we decided to go back and fight the melee. I was glad we did as I inflicted 8 kills on his irregulars for 4 dead in my unit. The irregulars broke and ran away. Mark then threw 3 sixes, ending the second turn and routing them off the table with their junior leader! He redeployed his gun and infantry to face my new threat and we settled down to a long range fire fight for a couple of phases.

 The Greeks line the hedge.

As the Turks re position to face them.

I then got an activation roll which allowed me to activate everything on the table!  My Evzones and infantry poured fire into the units in front of then, scoring a lucky hit and downing one of Mark's Junior leaders taking his Force Morale to 4. On the right the combined fire from my machine gun  and irregulars pinned the Albanians. My Italians took a gamble and charged over the hill (if I got a low movement roll I'd be stuck in the open in front of the machine gun!). I rolled high and got in close enough to trigger a close combat. I scored 7 kills, wiping out the entire section (or at least what was left of it). Section destroyed and junior leader killed, that's two morale rolls knocking Mark's force Morale down, game over.

The Italians charge in to inflict the coup de grace!

It was a great, fun game, with a lot of laughter. It had swung back and forth and could have gone either way, at the mid-way point I certainly felt my Greeks were on a road to nowhere. The turning point had been that accidental melee, where I rolled ridiculously good combat dice! It just goes to show.

Bash-up in the Balkans 1912

I dug the 1912 Balkans War armies out again for a game using The Men Who Would Be Kings today. It was a straight forward encounter scenario using 36 point armies and a lot of fun.

Greeks:
1 unit elite regular inf (Evzones)
3 units regular inf (Greek inf and Italian Legion)
1 unit poor regular infantry (Cypriot gendarmes)
1 unit irregular inf 
1 unit field gun (poorly served)

Turks:
3 units regular infantry (1 mounted)
1 unit poor regular infantry (Militia)
1 unit irregular infantry
1 unit machineguns (well served)
1 unit field gun (poorly served)

The Turkish gunners were superb, showing unusual accuracy. Together with the machineguns they dominated their side of the battlefield, catching several units in a murderous crossfire. The Greek gunners were less impressive, failing to activate on numerous occasions. To be fair, their initial deployment wasn't good, off on the opposite flank to the Turk's gun, the central hills blocked a lot of their potential targets.

 The two forces eye each other up, viewed from the Greek side of the battlefield.

 Greek infantry advance across the hills.

 Cypriot gendarmes take cover in scrub to try and avoid the Turkish shells, only to be raked by the machineguns.

 The Italian Legion advance through the shelter of the woods.

 The Greek artillery attempts to redeploy whilst the irregular volunteers move up to screen the gun from the Turkish mounted infantry.

 The Turkish infantry in the centre of the line take some fire from the Greek infantry.

 Turkish militia in the central woods snipe at the Greeks advancing across the hill in front of them.

 The Turkish artillery scan for their next target.

 The mounted Turkish infantry move up, cutting down the Greek irregulars with accurate rifle fire.

 The Greek's last throw falters as the Italian Legion are pinned by the Turkish artillery fire....

...to be finished off by the Turkish machineguns.

A clear win for the Turks! After lunch and a nice beer, we swapped sides and played it all over again, this time it was much closer, with the Greeks winning this time.