Gazala/Cauldron Boardgame

Last week, wife and self having gone down with a bug of some kind, and not feeling up to a game with figures to pass the time, I sorted through my boardgames, which I have not played for decades, and chose one I thought I could play solo. 

One map, not too many counters, straight-forward rules and victory conditions, and a pretty clear task for each side - British: hold Tobruk and keep open the supply line, Germans/Italians: capture Tobruk and cut the British supply line while establishing their own. Destroying the other sides units was going to help as well. I decided the British would fall back to the ridges and hold them, hanging on to "boxes" where sensible to slow the enemy, counterattacking if a suitable chance arose, and not trying anything daft. For the Germans/Italians, it was to keep trying to outflank the British with the Germans and use the Italians to pin them in place.

The map - East is at the top, West at the bottom.

Opening deployment - the British scattered around all over the place, the Germans concentrated to the South, the Italians, with a few extra Germans, to the West.

One person's narrative of their boardgame is probably another person's torture, so I won't do a blow-by-blow account. I took a photograph every three turns, which seemed more than enough to get a sense of the game's ebb and flow. The arrows show the general direction of movements and action: British arrows in green, German/Italian in brown.

As can be seen, the British are pulling back fast for the ridges, abandoning their minefields, while the Germans and Italians shift south and east. Bir Hacheim took an almighty big offensive to take, armour and artillery being needed to knock out the Free French quickly. Although tempting to ignore, it has to be taken to open up the German/Italian supply route. However, it meant the German armour was not as far east as they might have liked by this time.

The British have established a front along the ridges, leaving the minefields to slow the Italians, while the Germans are stretched out trying to cut the British lines of communication.

The Italians ground forward and the British pulled back from in front of them, while the Germans hammered away at the eastern end of the British line; the latter threw brigade after brigade into blocking the breaches and also making opportune counterattacks. I worked out very quickly it was not a good idea to attack any German armour or infantry backed by AT units!

Success for the British in pushing back the Germans after the latter overreached themselves; the Italians continued their slow drive eastwards.

The Germans rallied and pushed back against the British, but were still not able to break through. The lost units on the right of the picture show it very much in the Germans' favour, but while the British hold Tobruk, they can take the losses and still win.

Germans and Italians grinding their way forward, but still no British collapse, the latter having enough units to fill gaps here and there.

British counterattacks and the Germans are in trouble, but their line stabilises.

The British on the back foot once more in the east, but holding on.

A general movement by the British back to closer positions around Tobruk and their lines of communication still open as the game ends.

I really enjoyed playing this game after such a long time not plying boardgames. I admit playing a game solo is not as interesting as against a real opponent, but this one seemed to have enough to and fro to it that it made me think carefully about what to do and could, at times, have gone either way. It was certainly a good way of getting back into the boardgames I enjoyed decades ago. I intend to try another one soon.

Back to Sun King figures this month and so I had a go at another battle from a later war, adapted to the 1670s. In this instance, I chose Chotusitz 1742. The Austrians became the Allies - Dutch and Spanish - while the Prussians became the French. The Austrians had caught the Prussians by surprise, attacking their rearguard, and Frederick II had to come back with his main body to prevent a disaster. He succeeded, though the battle ended in a draw when the Austrians realised they had lost the element of surprise.

I reduced the terrain to the key features and then fitted in the opposing armies according to the size of the table - six feet by four feet - and roughly in proportion to the original armies. The village counted as a defensible built-up area; the ponds area was impassable to all troops. The French ended up with two regiments of foot and six regiments of horse (each two squadrons) on the table at the start, with one off table beyond the stream; the Allies had seven regiments of horse, with one off table behind the left win,) and seven regiments of foot, plus a battery of artillery. The French were expecting their main body of five regiments of foot and one battery to arrive between the road and the village at some point. In other words, the two sides were equal, but the Allies had a decided advantage early on.

The off-table cavalry arrive on Turn One; the French main body depended upon a die roll: from Turn 6 they rolled a d6, if a 6 result, then the main body arrived the next turn. However, the main body automatically arrived on Turn 9 otherwise. The game was for twelve turns. In the event, the French main body arrived on Turn 7, which ensured the Allies were not going to achieve their aim of defeating the French cavalry and infantry on the table and seizing the village. In fact, the cavalry actions on both wings went on long enough to mean that the Allied foot never really got into position fast enough to engage the two French regiments screening the village. So by Turn 12 I declared it a draw.

As always, figures are almost all North Star 1672, with some League of Augsburg/Wargame Miniatures. Rules are a "home version" of Mr. Neil Thomas' Pike and Shot rules, adapted for the 1670s.

The opposing forces set up ready: French to the left of the picture, Allies to the right.

French right wing cavalry in front of the ponds.

Allied right wing cavalry - Dutch regiments.

Allied foot - Dutch regiments.

Allied foot - Spanish regiments.

Allied right wing cavalry - Spanish regiments.

The Allied commander.

The French foot covering the village.

French left wing cavalry regiments.

The opposing cavalry start moving to engage on the Allied left wing,

The Allied foot on their right made a tentative advance.

The opposing cavalry on the Allied right wing move forward.

Various squadrons have retreated, but the Allies numerical advantage is about 

to come into play on this wing.

On this side of the table, the French had the edge after the early fighting.

The Allied battery spent most of the game bombarding the French foot near the village.

End of Turn Two.

Cavalry fighting continues.

The French hold on still, but their numbers are thinning.

\on the Allied right wing, the fighting was too and fro still.

The Allied foot patiently wait for the cavalry fight to end,

not wanting to risk their flanks to enemy horse.

The French left wing is still holding on.

The French right wing is pressing the Allied cavalry hard.

The Allied foot nudged forward a little, optimistic about the result of the cavalry action.

Here is a Spanish regiment.

Turn 5 and still fighting it out on the cavalry wings, with squadrons engaging, retreating, rallying and re-engaging their opponents.

The French right wing is being fought back into a corner up against the ponds.

On the Allied right wing, the French horse are making life difficult for their Spanish opponents, pushing them back.

End of Turn Five.

The Allied foot on their centre left have pushed forward, sensing success for their left wing cavalry.

Most of the French right wing cavalry has been defeated now.

The Spanish cavalry is struggling against their French opponents.

End of Turn Six.

The dying moments of the cavalry battle on the Allied left wing.

In the distance, the French main body appears.

Spanish foot get moving.

But their cavalry is still struggling to overcome the French horse.

The French main body arrives on the field.

The French gun battery moves on in draught.

Spanish cavalry in trouble - front and flank attack!

The remnants of the Allied left wing cavalry reform as their foot goes forward.

The Spanish infantry edge forward, still not sure of their own cavalry's success.

French foot drawn up for action in the centre of their line.

The French commander.

Gardes françaises regiment: the French had one elite regiment and one veteran regiment for the game, otherwise all units on both sides were just trained troops.

End of Turn Eight.

The opposing foot now move towards each other as the French battery deploys and opens fire.

And the cavalry are still fighting it out on the Allied right wing.

Turn Ten and the opposing infantry are moving into musket range.

Only French cavalry left on this side of the table now, but too weak to deter the Spanish foot much, although it was too late now for the Allies to secure a victory.

Turns Eleven and Twelve see the foot engaging in close range musketry exchanges.

The Allied foot fall back having had the worst of the shooting.

Two of the order sheets I use for the game. Simple symbols and abbreviations, I find it takes no time at all to complete a turns orders, even with this many units. All movement is then simultaneous, once charges are resolved, then simultaneous musketry and artillery, then close combat, then any morale test still needed.

I think this is a difficult game for the Allies to win if they do not get a quick success on the cavalry wings, or risk pressing forward their infantry even while the mounted units are still engaged. I enjoyed the scenario though and it was an easy battle to convert to a late 17th Century format.