W ostatnią sobotę miałem przyjemność zagrać jako sojusznik solenizanta – dzięki Daniel! Nasz sojusz Niemiecko-Włoski mimo wszystko utrzymał resztkami sił w postaci Tygrysa i kilku niemieckich spadochroniarzy relikwię znaną z historii, a także z Indiana Jones: Poszukiwacze zaginionej Arki. Zdesperowana załoga Tygrysa walczyła do końca i prawdopodobnie z garstką spadochroniarzy ocaliła relikt – ku swojej zgubie.
On last Saturday I had a pleasure to play as ally with birthday boy – thank you Daniel! Our Italian-German alliance survived – as Tiger and few German FJ took relict pretty know from history and from Indiana Jones and The Raiders of The Lost Ark. Desperade crew of Tiger and few remnants of FJ saved relic to they own doom.
Sad. Orchard.Tygrys i niemieccy spadochroniarze. Tiger and German FJ (paratroopers). Prawa strona należała do Włochów Daniela. Right flank of Axis belonged to Daniels Italians.Brytyjczycy Ździebła. Cornholios British. Piękny model. Beautiful model.Paraolimpijski rzut Łukasza, taki normalny dla mnie i dla Łukasza. Paraolimpic roll of Łukasz, so normal to me and Łukasz.Jak często na stole widujecie Tygrysa? How often on the table do you see Tiger?Niemieccy spadochroniarze. German paratroopers.Walka o sad. Fight for orchard.Walka wręcz wygrana przez niemieckich spadochroniarzy. Meele won by German paratroopers.Kolejna walka wręcz. Another hand to hand combat. Niemieccy spadochroniarze nie poddają się łatwo. German paratroopers do not give up easily. M4 Sherman w akcji. M4 Sherman in action.
Podsumowanie: – paręnaście kości na stronę, po jednej stronie Niemcy i o wiele rzadziej widywani Włosi, ikoniczny Tygrys. – świetna kompania Daniela, Cornholio, Torgill’a z którymi grałem i osób które nam towarzyszyły Agaty, Kasi, Rafała i Juniora. Dzięki za świetnie spędzony czas! – czy warto wystawiać Tygrysa i inne takie pojazdy – warto! Warto móc je zobaczyć na stole!
Summary: – around a dozen or so dices per side, on one side Germans and more rare Italians, iconic Tiger. – a greatest company of Daniel, Cornholio, Torgill which whom I played and other companions – Agata, Kasia, Rafał and Junior. Thank you for great time with all of you! – it is worth to field Tiger and other such vehicles – yes it is! It’s worth to see them on the table!
Yesterday we played in Bolter first battle of Market Garden campaign, our first battle had place in Son, close to Eindhoven. Before game we had great prelection done by Piotr Galik from association Semper Fidelis. So it begun on 17.09.1944 – when American and British paratroopers when dropped down to secure bridges and allow Allied tank divisions moving thru them to the heart of Germany.
Prelection before the game.British sapper unit with support deployed close to the demolished bridge.Last German survivors hidding in the forest.Acht coma acht waiting.German Heer vs American paratroopers.German reinforcements arrived in small numbers at start.More British arrived.Royal Engineers managed to build part of bridge.More parts of bridge were done. Veterans losed they hand to hand combat on riight against German regulars.I forgot about second wave in turn two, so they started run on turn three.Germans tried to stop British advance.Bridgehead completed.Everyone get out to cover bridgehead.The beginning of the end.
Summary: – thank you all for great game! – Karol tested bridge building with me in one of our games beetwen Red Army and Germans. I was again builder of a bridge – now for British.
Today we played in Marian estate small game which happened in the African desert not far away from Tobruk. Both sides seem similar – jet Germans were a little bit more mobile. Marian played DAK (Deutsche African Corps) and I took his British 8th Army.
Main target were to take and hold lone 8,8 anti air gun – holding it to an end was worth 3 VP, each unit was worth 1 VP. Half of units were placed 20″ from each corner and other half came in second turn as wave.
British arrived on the field.Germans did the same.Tommy – give artillery fire on Jerries position, hurry up!Hans give me one more cartridge!Matilda II slowly arrived on the field.British attempt to got cover.Some support from SAS arrived.Germans took 8,8 and prepared for British assault.Germans on BMW motorcycles arrived.Hand to hand combat beetwen German pioneers and British infantry. Few Germans survived this combat untouched.Almost in the cover.Artillery barrage called by observer arrived pinning many troops and destroying German HQ.1,2,3 feuer!SAS and Matilda crew tried to save a day, but it was too late.Matilda was immobilized by Panzer III, it crew left the tank as battle was over.
Summary: – it was DAK victory over British Commonwealth – 10 to 3 VP. – thank you for great game Marian from Maniexite.
Today (06.06.2022) we played 3rd game of Italian campaign – battle of Termoli – town which has port and road to the north and south Italy. It’s part of games played in Bolter and supported by Polish Institute of Remembrance (called shortly IPN – Instutut Pamięci Narodowej).
Thank you Michał for representing IPN and IPN for support..Thank you for prelection Mr Piotr.Uboat blown up in secret raid of British commandos done on Monday.Left flank covered by British troops.American infantry advance to take control over harbour.Germans have the same plans related to harbour.Right German flank.M10 heading toward railway.Sniper took position.Americans advance into the harbour facilities.Germans try to prevent them.More M10 arrived on the battlefield.British reserves arrived.Panther covering road to the town.Duel beetwen M10 and German tanks of different types.Commandos emerges from they hidenout.Sniper switched position.Panzer from the church.British commandos arrived in poontons.Ubboat started going down.
Summary: – spliting table for several zone areas for Order Dices was great idea, we played six turns. – thank you all for game and for borrowing models for me. – thank you for interesting prelection before game started!
About Audie Murphy – the most decorated American soldier. He took part in Italian campaign.
Today we played second part of campaign on Sicily. It was recreation of combined action of Allies forces in area of Salerno, Italy. American and British troops landed by air and sea in area of Salerno. This campaing we play in Bolter and is supported by Polish Institute of Remembrance,
Institute of Remembrance (IPN).My borrowed force (thank you Dudzio and General).
Summary: – thank you all for good game. – as German side we forgot briefing and losed initiative. – Allied side won this battle.
Today (25.05.2022) we played in Bolter first struggle of campaing on Sicyly – when Allies forces raced up to take Messina. This campaing is supported by Institute of Remembrance (IPN). One table were British against Germans and on the other USA against Germans and Italians. Who would be first in Messina general Bernard Montgomery or general George Patton?
Table of USA and Germans&Italians:
Germans and Italian hidden in the town.Italians with Sahariana.Semovente hidden under roof.Shermans on they way.Ready to start fire on incoming Sherman.Shermans crossed a hills and advance forward.One tank immobilised by German Pak 7,5 cm, other stressed and Fubar was rolled by me.
Table of British and Germans:
Summary: – thank you for great game to Karol (and for borrowed to me models), to everyone who participated, to sponsor Institute of Remembrance (IPN) and to place we played – Bolter! – Victory belonged to British, as they were faster than USA – historically general Patton was much better than his British counterpart.
🇵🇱 Dzisiaj rozegraliśmy większą bitwę, w której Niemcy podjęli ostatnią próbę powstrzymania połączonych sił alianckich przed zdobyciem Tunezji i uzyskaniem dobrej pozycji do dalszego ataku na Sycylię.
W tej grze wszystkie niemieckie pojazdy oraz jednostki transportowane ciężarówkami stanowiły pierwszą falę i rozpoczynały grę na stole, natomiast reszta tworzyła drugą falę. Następnie alianci zaczęli wchodzić na planszę spoza stołu – jednostki bez transportów również pojawiały się jako część drugiej fali.
🇬🇧 Today we played a larger battle in which the Germans made a final attempt to stop the combined Allied forces from capturing Tunisia and securing a strong position for a further assault on Sicily.
In this game, all German vehicles and units transported by trucks formed the first wave and started on the table, while the rest made up the second wave. The Allies then began entering from off the board – units without transports also arrived as part of the second wave.
🇵🇱 Podsumowanie: – Dziękuję wszystkim za świetny czas! – Tym razem siły alianckie wygrały!
🇬🇧Summary: – Thank you all for great time! – This time Allied troops won!
As you maybe know in Wrocław, Poland we play many different games – among them WFB, Middle Earth, 40k, Black Powder, many skirmishes – among those games is great Bolt Action from Warlord Games. While last time I had some serious things on my head, which was moving IT stuff from one office to the other, so I wasn’t playing games for last two weeks, but I’ve been on „last” game of African campaign supported by Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (IPN).
On last Wendesday 6.04.2022 we participated in event connected to history, model making, education and reconstruction.
Event was open by no one than director of Wrocław IPN dr. Paweł Rozdżestwieński and head of the branch (in PL called Naczelnik Oddziału) of the Office of National Education in Wrocław dr. Katarzyna Pawlak-Weiss. Then all fluff about Tunisian campaing were told, especially about battle of Kasserine Pass and fights for Mareth Line. In first part one of us – Maciej Molczyk said words about Polish Independent Carpatian Brigade up to the moment were it was changed to 3rd Division of Carpatians rifles, being part of 2nd Polish Corps. In addition there were ppl in uniforms of this unit.
In meantime IPN got great diorama, painted by Bonapartist Paint Studio.
After prelection Bolt Action games on two tables started, I said that I will be there for minutes, finally I left at the end of event.
Below photos are mix of photos done by Wrocław IPN with logo of IPN and some photos done by me. Text was translated from IPN post.
Today on the Bolt Action evening we played 1,000 games on tournament conditions – there were four of us – me, Jędrzej, Karol and Marek – we played two different games, me on Jędrzej and Karol on Marek – so it was Red Army on Heer and Great Britain on Heer.
Jędrzej and Marek if I’m correct goes to tournament in UK on May and they wanted to play with someone they want play, I agreed and asked Karol if he can too – with Karol we are not tournament players (I was in past in WFB 5-7th editions).
Table for me and Jędrzej.First models I painted after I returned to hobby – thanks for Planszóweczka.pl and Rafał and Patryk!Russian conscripts took position behind solid stone wall.Panzer IV and inexperienced mortar. Karol and Marek table.
Summary: – it was nice to play 1 vs 1 on Jędrzej, we usually play bigger battles in Black Powder, jet we played some WFB game too. – with Karol we manage to build two nice tables from terrain avaible in Bolter. – we played scenario from Fortress Budapest – it was to take control over some important things placed on table, in case of my battle with Jędrzej I lost 10 to 5. – thank you all for game and shop for place to play!
🇵🇱 Dzisiaj razem z Pawłem rozegraliśmy pierwszą od bardzo dawna partię w Bolt Action. Na stół trafił drugi etap kampanii związanej z lądowaniem aliantów w Normandii. Naprzeciw siebie stanęli brytyjscy spadochroniarze Pawła oraz moi Finowie, wcielający się tym razem w niemiecki Wehrmacht. Obie strony wystawiły siły liczące po 1000 punktów. Sam scenariusz był dość klasyczny, ale przy ograniczonym czasie nie szukaliśmy już niczego bardziej wymyślnego.
Wojska obu stron wchodziły do gry po wylosowaniu odpowiedniej kości rozkazu, co od początku dodawało starciu nieco niepewności. Po lewej stronie stołu rozwinął się niemiecki Heer, po prawej pozycje zajęli brytyjscy spadochroniarze. Czarne kości wyznaczały cele, o które miała rozegrać się walka. Brytyjczycy zajęli pozycje i przygotowali się do obrony, podczas gdy niemiecka piechota ruszyła naprzód, wspierana przez StuGa. Szybko doszło do starć na krótkim dystansie, a wymiana ognia między regularną piechotą niemiecką a elitarnymi spadochroniarzami zebrała krwawe żniwo po obu stronach.
W pewnym momencie niemiecki porucznik próbował poderwać do działania dwa oddziały jednocześnie, lecz jeden z nich był tak przytłoczony sytuacją na polu bitwy, że nie ruszył za swoim dowódcą. Mimo tego natarcie trwało nadal. StuG, pancerzownica i średnia haubica konsekwentnie wspierały piechotę, a artyleria zdołała przy okazji zniszczyć brytyjskie działo. Gdy StuG ruszył do przodu, by wesprzeć walkę o skrzyżowanie, sytuacja zaczęła przechylać się na stronę Niemców. Niedługo później na stole pozostały już tylko resztki brytyjskich sił, choć i niemiecka piechota była już mocno wykrwawiona i daleka od swojej początkowej sprawności.
Ostatecznie skrzyżowanie zostało zdobyte, ale sukces okupiono bardzo wysokimi stratami. Było to zwycięstwo osiągnięte ciężkim kosztem – dokładnie takie, jakie najlepiej pasuje do realiów tej kampanii.
🇬🇧 Today, Paweł and I played our first game of Bolt Action in a very long time. On the table was the second stage of a campaign related to the Allied landings in Normandy. Facing each other were Paweł’s British paratroopers and my Finns, this time standing in for the German Wehrmacht. Both sides fielded forces worth 1,000 points. The scenario itself was fairly classic, but with limited time available, we were not looking for anything more elaborate.
The troops of both sides entered the battlefield after the appropriate order die had been drawn, which added a certain sense of uncertainty to the clash right from the start. On the left side of the table, the German Heer deployed, while on the right the British paratroopers took up their positions. Black dice marked the objectives over which the battle would be fought. The British took up defensive positions while the German infantry advanced, supported by a StuG. Close-range fighting broke out quickly, and the exchange of fire between the regular German infantry and the elite paratroopers took a bloody toll on both sides.
At one point, the German lieutenant tried to spur two squads into action at once, but one of them was so overwhelmed by the situation on the battlefield that it failed to follow its commander. Despite this, the attack continued. The StuG, a Panzerschreck, and a medium howitzer steadily supported the advancing infantry, and the artillery even managed to destroy the British gun in the process. When the StuG moved forward to support the fight for the crossroads, the situation began to shift in the Germans’ favour. Not long afterwards, only the remnants of the British forces remained on the table, although the German infantry too had been badly bloodied and was far removed from its initial combat effectiveness.
In the end, the crossroads was taken, but the success came at a very high cost. It was a victory won dearly – exactly the kind of outcome that best suits the realities of this campaign.
🇵🇱 Podsumowanie: – Powinniśmy częściej grać w Bolt Action, a nie tylko przy okazji trwającej kampanii związanej z D-Day. – Nie przepadam za proxami, ale moi Finowie idealnie nadawali się do udawania niemieckiego Wehrmachtu. Może kiedyś, gdy ogarnę i pomaluję swoją „szafę wstydu”, zacznę zbierać 1. Dywizję Pancerną gen. Stanisława Maczka, amerykańskich Rangersów, a może nawet obrońców Festung Breslau. – Mieliśmy grać na 1200 punktów, ale Dudzio zapomniał pojazdów, więc zeszliśmy do 1000 punktów. Te brakujące 200 punktów po stronie brytyjskiej to były klasyczne jeepy i Bren Carriery. – Musiałem wyrzucić połowę zdjęć, bo zwyczajnie do niczego się nie nadawały. – Jedynym oddziałem, który całkowicie straciłem, był dowódca wraz z adiutantem. Poza tym każda drużyna piechoty została zredukowana do 2–3 modeli. – Haubica to świetna sprawa, podobnie jak moździerz i CKM – bez niego nie wychodzę z domu 😉 – Snajperowi udało się zdjąć najpierw PIAT-a, a potem CKM – tutaj miałem sporo szczęścia. – Zdobyłem 9 kości rozkazu Dudzia, sam tracąc tylko 1. To pierwszy raz w mojej boltowej karierze, kiedy udało mi się przejąć aż tyle kości. Dudzio po raz pierwszy grał aliantami – zwykle gra Niemcami – a ja po raz pierwszy zagrałem Niemcami, używając moich Finów jako Heeru. Na co dzień gram raczej Armią Czerwoną albo Finami. Zresztą ta gra wyglądałaby inaczej, gdybyśmy rozegrali ją na pełne 1200 punktów. Następnym razem zagramy starcie Armii Czerwonej z SS.
🇬🇧 Summary: – We should play Bolt Action more often, not only because of the ongoing D-Day campaign. – I do not really like using proxies, but my Finns were perfect for standing in as the German Wehrmacht. Maybe one day, once I get through my “pile of shame,” I will start collecting the 1st Armoured Division of General Stanisław Maczek, some American Rangers, or perhaps even the defenders of Festung Breslau. – We were supposed to play at 1200 points, but Dudzio forgot his vehicles, so we dropped down to 1000 points. Those missing 200 points on the British side would have been the usual jeeps and Bren carriers. – I had to throw away half of the photos because they were simply no good. – The only unit I lost completely was my officer and his aide. Other than that, every infantry squad was reduced to just 2–3 men. – The howitzer is a great asset, just like the mortar and the MMG – I never leave home without it 😉 – My sniper managed to take out the PIAT first and then the MMG – I had quite a bit of luck there. – I captured 9 of Dudzio’s order dice while losing only 1 of my own. It was the first time in my Bolt Action life that I managed to gain so many order dice. Dudzio was playing Allies for the first time – he usually plays Germans – while I was playing Germans for the first time, using my Finns as Heer. Normally I play either the Red Army or Finns. In any case, the game would certainly have looked different if we had played the full 1200 points. Next time, we will move to the Eastern Front and play Red Army vs SS.
Tancred’s Tabletop Tales 