Operazione C3 / Herkules - The invasion of Malta 1942

The recently deceased Paddy Griffith, who had previously run a number of games (Operation Seelowe - the invasion of Britain 1940, the invasion of Crete 1941 and the 1940 Norwegian campaign) at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, was due to run another such event on 16 October 2010.

I am happy to be able to report that the game will go ahead, and with the help of Paddy's notes (kindly sent on to me by his son, Robert) a group including myself, Jerry Elsmore, John Drewienkiewicz, Adam Poole and Richard Clarke will design and run the event.

The game will deal with the planning and execution of the Axis invasion of Malta in 1942.  Players will represent military, naval and political leaders.  Brirish, Maltese, Italian and German interests will be represented.  A team of umpires will set the scene and keep the game on track.

For booking details please see the Duxford website. http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/server/show/conEvent.3269
You must book with Duxford in the first instance and then contact me for briefing details etc.

John G Robertson

Another death to report I'm afraid.

I have today attended the funeral of John Robertson (known to many as 'JR'), the well known Dundee based wargamer and historian.  John died following a long illness on Monday 19 July at the age of 75.

I will post a longer piece on John's life another time.  For now I will simply say that I have said a reluctant farewell to a great friend and mentor. 

The funeral was attended by a number of John's wargaming proteges, including Paul Jenkins, John Munro, Billy O'Rourke, Richard Proctor, Stuart Riddick, Ady Blake and Tom McCafferty.  Paul, John and I made an emotional visit to JR's attic wargames room - still a source of wonder and excitement after all these years.

John is survived by his wife Morina, daughter Pamela and grandson Owen.  My thoughts are with them.

The Battle of Cunaxa - 401 BC

This was another battle played using Phil Sabin's Strategos (or Lost Battles) rules.  The historical battle was fought between The King of Kings, Artaxerxes II and his brother Cyrus who had risen in revolt in order to try to grab the throne.  Althought most of the troops present were Persian levy units, Cyrus had engaged a force of Greek mercenaries which were represented as 10 Veteran Hoplite units. 

A good source for the is Xenophon's 'The Persian Expedition' which devotes a chapter to the battle.  I highly recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in the period - very readable and real 'boys own' adventure stuff!

I played Artaxerxes and Martin Rapier was the revolting Cyrus.  All the toys were Baccus 6mm from my collection.  Photos were all taken from Artaxerxes' side of the table.

Below - The King of Kings army is already deployed with scythed chariots on the left and the King himself top right.  Cyrus is still arriving.

The King of Kings (in the chariot) with cavalry bodyguard.

Hoplites advance screened by Persian light troops.

Battle is joined.  The black counters mark the 'key zones' for Cyrus (left) and Artaxerxes (right).  Red counters mark 'spent' units.  The King's left wing is looking OK although the centre and right are under pressure from hordes of Hoplites.  Cyrus has died a traitor's death leading his bodyguard against the King.

The King of Kings leads his bodyguard against some rare veteran cavalry and more hoplites.

Crisis!  Artaxerxes has perished heroically at the head of his army and the enemy advance into his key zone.  Quite a few of the King's units have by now been eliminated of run off.

Victory!  After hanging in the balance (and looking pretty bad for the King's Army), the rebel force finally disintegrates.  The Persian troops flee while the Greeks march off in good order.

Historically Cyrus was killed during the battle and his Persian troops fled while the Greeks stood firm.  The Greeks, refusing to surrender,  offered their services to Tissaphernes (a leading Persian noble and 2ic of the King's Army).  He turned them down but after inviting the Greek leaders to dine, the King had them killed.  As the Persians knew they couldn't defeat the Greeks in battle, they were allowed to march northwards and (eventually) home. 

COW 2010 - Part 3 - Sunday

The first session I attended was Bob Cordery's talk on pioneering US wargamer Joseph Morschauser.  Bob gave us some background on Morschauser's life and outlined the rules he used.  The interesting presentation was followed by an opportunity for a number of people to play games using his rules, as Bob had set up four tables with identical terrain and figure sets. 

Below:  Bob explains a point in the rules to an attentive Richard Brooks (left) and a bewildered Tony Hawkins.  Don't worry Tone, it's the way Bob tells them!

Following this session I sat outside for a while and wrote up some notes - including some for a game after an idea came to me during Bob's presentation. 

The weather was like this pretty well all weekend:

I then took the opportunity to look round a few other sessions, including 'Return to the River Don' presented by Graham Evans.  Despite seeming (from the title) to be a game about the waterways of South Yorkshire, this was in fact the latest incarnation of Graham's Russian Civil War grand tactical rules.  A spectacular (as always from Graham) looking game, it seemed to be very popular.

I also looked in on Martin Rapier's 'Drumfire' WW1 game.  This had been extensively reported on this blog before, but it appeared that Martin had at least found some competent players...

Unlike my previous photos of Drumfire games, this was taken from the German perspective.

After lunch I attended Richard Brooks's presentation on Moltke the elder.  Moltke was the chap who from small beginnings (in the Danish Army) oversaw the rise of the professional military in Prussia throughout the third quarter of the 19th century.  Look out for Richard's book on the subject which is due to be published next year.

The conference closed with the AGM of Wargame Developments.  No additional matters arose, but both Bob and I pointed out the need to book early for COW 2011 which will be on 8-10 July 2011.  Bookings can be made via the WD website http://www.wargamedevelopments.org/cow.htm while session details should be sent to me.

My thanks once again to all who attended COW and in particular all those who ran sessions and of course the long-suffering staff of Knuston Hall.

Only 52 weeks 'till the next one!