Operation Sealion : The Dover Command Tunnels

As S-day of Operation Sealion draws to a close the German advanced forces have closed in around key command locations in and around Dover. Taken by surprise the British Forces have been slow to evacuate senior staff and as Dover has been gradually overrun a panic has spread through the army command that Winston hasn’t been seen. As the remaining escape route north is held open a daring search and rescue mission has been implemented. At the same time German Forces are assaulting the command tunnels hoping to capture the Prime Minister and gather any other secret information that might be of use later in the invasion.

The scene is set at the start of the scenario

The scenario set up, a series of complex inter-linked tunnels, the red dots indicate the potential entrance and exit points for the British rescue force. This will be led by Gen Sir John Dill as the senior commanding officer, he is accompanied by Churchill’s bodyguard Walter Tommy Thompson, a sergeant Matthews and a selection of well armed private’s. The entrance point will be randomly selected and this will indicate the exit as the opposite side. The Germans led by a Hauptmann Schmidt, a selection of Sergeants and Private’s will be split and enter the tunnels randomly form the two other sides. There are three objectives for the British.

1. Locate and rescue Winston exiting the tunnels from the appropriate point (really nothing else will do) he is hiding in one of the rooms unknown to either force !

2. In every ‘square’ in the tunnel complex there is a piece of intelligence collected by the first figure to reach it, these are represented by small gold die which will be seen in later pictures.

3. Kill as many Germans as they can or escape as many British either would be the deciding factor in any victory.

The British rescue forces charges into the tunnels, Thompson on the right with Gen John Dill behind him

Private’s are sent in all direction to hunt for Winston, he will only be revealed once a figure enters the relevant room. In each room there is a figure and a marker indicating the potentially hidden Winston. This private searches the bathroom but to no avail.

The Germans have now entered the tunnel and begin to block off the obvious exit routes.

More Germans rush into the officers mess, but again Winston isn’t found

The Germans spread out and soon begin to collect the intelligence tokens

Including documents left in the Mess !

Using one of the doors the British continue the search

But the Germans have also made it into the Map room.

Becoming quite desperate Dill and Thompson rush through the map room but Sir John is knocked down, luckily he is only winded and is able to jump back into the fight

More intelligence gathered in the command room....but no Winston

Finally a German bangs through the storeroom door and as he approaches some of the store boxes an angry looking gentleman in a bowler hat smoking a cigar opens up with a Tommy gun !

Meanwhile the General is being overpowered, he is putting up a fight but can’t hold for long

One of the Germans is cornered.....

Whilst Schmidt hides in the next room

Another of the Germans is taken out

But the two on one combat is too much for Sir John his bravery may just have bought the others enough time 

Small combats have broken out everywhere with desperate hand to hand struggles in the tunnels, the British are trying to open an escape path the Germans looking to capture the PM

But Winston is also in trouble !

Another German is on the way into the store 

But Winston is no slouch, he will fight them on the beaches and in the tunnels........

He makes a run for it, while two of the Private’s hold back the Germans....it is getting desperate ......

Having knocked out another attacker Winston makes a dash for the exit, he is one move away when the German officer charges him to block the way, from nowhere Tommy Thompson comes to Winston aid.....surely he can rescue his boss ?

Nooooooooooooo.......... the Hauptmann has got off a single lucky shot and the Prime Minister goes down literally the last roll of the die !!!!!

This left me in something of a conundrum, surely Winston couldn’t be dead ? Perhaps wounded, perhaps captured to be rescued later, then we realised that this was in fact an actor impersonating Churchill, Winston had been changing clothes in the store room as a last and final attempt to slip out phew............

A splendid game, which really did go upto the wire, we had characters chasing about all over the place and then vicious hand to hand fighting to capture the PM. Sadly based on the criteria we had set the Germans definately won, not only was Winston (apparently) killed but they had collected significantly more intelligence as the British had been more focussed on the rescue.

This was one of the those games I had had in my head for a long time so it was nice to finally get it played 😀

The day after the Phoenix Wargame Show

So nearly everything is unpacked from the Phoenix show yesterday. This is just a quick post to show my game in place, and record a few thoughts on how it went. With things having been busy at home I wanted a game which didn’t require too much extra, the majority of the set is straight from the dungeon, as some of you will have seen I did paint up a few extra bits to add that little bit of extra for those people who just want to look rather than play, so the game whilst very much participation can count as a demo game as well.

I played through the game five (and a bit) times during the day, it is a slightly longer game than some of my previous participation games lasting I guess around 40 minutes. The rebels won every time which is how it is designed but in four of the games it went down to the last turn and even the last roll of the dice so it felt pretty spot on. Three of the games were with youngsters which is the best bit and all seemed to enjoy themselves.

The game in place just before the punters arrived

The forge at work

Cavalry charging through town, they don’t play but look nice

The unsuspecting Union camp

I bought a few bits, mainly to encourage the traders too our local show rather than anything I needed, the photo above includes some Russian Civil War Copplestone figures which I had agreed to buy from Phil....

Along with these rather nicely painted mix of Russian characters.

As to the show Norm has put up a detailed review and to be honest I didn’t see that much of it. It felt slightly quieter with a few likely causes, the new Glasgow show on the Saturday before, this is unfortunate as they are clearly picking up a lot of the same market, the fact that it was a hot Sunday probably didn’t help. This is the fourth show and I have enjoyed them all....hopefully it will manage to continue. I did get the chance to catch up with a number of friends and this was a very pleasant break to my game.

All being well I will be back next year 😀

Berdan’s Sharpshooters : ACW

Just trying to get back into more regular blogging so here is the latest addition to my ACW collection, picked up from Col Bills (so second hand) at the Dumfries show two small units of Berdan’s Sharpshooters. My photo as usual isn’t very good but they are a nice green colour.

So sure what next ........so many things to paint 😀

Rebels and Patriots : Phoenix Lakeland Wargame Show

I mentioned in a previous post I am putting on another participation game at the local show next week (30th June, near Penrith at the Rheged Visitor Centre), it remains a small local show but this I think is the fourth year and quite few traders etc are attending. In keeping with previous years I am running a small taster game, this year using the Osprey Rebels and Patriots rules.

Last night we managed a proper test run through of the scenario to iron out any issues

As I always try to keep participation games around 30-40 minutes the forces are fairly small and as a taster I have limited the troop options. In the scenario the ‘Rebels’ have sent force to capture the bridge. The ‘Patriots’ caught in camp must mobilise and hold them off, with only a small Picket Force at the bridge. The Union Forces do have a cannon but this is really just to scare the rebels as we found it pretty ineffective. 8 turns seems to be about the right number to get to the bridge and then try and hold for a turn or so. If you are in the area and coming to the show come and say hello or better still have a game 😀

The Great Game of Waterloo Replayed

As mentioned in my previous post I ‘popped’ up to Glasgow today to visit the Great Game in progress. Personal circumstances meant I didn’t put in as a player but it was still definitely worth visiting even if only for a couple of hours. The pictures kind of say it all.......... and I suspect there will be a lot more out on the web and magazines in the next few weeks and months. Whilst the visitors ticket didn’t give you access to the gaming floor the view from the balcony was as you can see quite impressive. I had also deliberately booked a lunchtime ticket which was again a great idea as they cleared the floor for about 40 minutes.

The scene on arrival, the nearest table was the original position of the French who have now advanced to assault the British line 

The Allied far left flank Papelotte and Frichermont

La Haye Sainte 

A sense of the scale

Closer look at Frichermont

The Prussians waiting to arrive three full Corps !!

From the French view

Overhead shot of Hougomont

Placenoit as yet uncontested

The lunchtime break which made observation much easier

Massive assault on Hougomount

Allied reserves at the back

La Haye

Centre of the Allied line

An attempt at a wide angle shot full table 80 feet long

At the bottom La Belle with Napoleon, top left just in view wellingtons command position

Plenty of stuff in the way of photos from this angle but looking down the main line of assault

This is the organiser being interviewed during lunch

As I headed for my train the Prussians had started to arrive on the left edge of the two top tables

A final picture of the overall scene....from behind the advancing Prussians.

A couple of final thoughts from me. On the plus side it was incredibly impressive effort from organisers and all involved, I’m glad I went and it was quite inspirational. Challenges which I am sure the organisers have wrangled over......how to make the command structure work, the French had attacked all along the line at once, hindsight being a wonderful thing rushing in but it didn’t look like they would break through ? Discussing it with one of the organisers he explained the command structure was in place but all the individual brigade commanders were just ignoring it and charging forward. The French are massively up against it with the arrival of the Prussians as historically they arrived only in the nick of time when the allies really were just about done in. The allies didn’t look even close when I left so the French are going to be very badly out flanked. Terrain - would have been hard but nice to see a bit more differentiation in terrain especially hills ! As this is such a characteristic feature of the battle but sadly this obviously proved too much to manage. All in all a very enjoyable trip....glad I went.

ACW camp and Waterloo Replayed In Glasgow

It won’t have gone un-noticed that I haven’t done much blogging recently. Just too busy......but a couple of things to catch up on. I have managed to paint up some ACW camp figures. Mainly from Perry, they will form the backdrop of the participation game I will be running at the Lakeland Phoenix Wargame Show at the end of June.

A union supply wagon

Misc camp soldiers

Some cooking breakfast

Mule with holder 

Perry Forge set

A mix of stuff from leftovers

A captain and his lady

...and finally stacked rifles

This picture caught my eye in a charity shop recently when wandering around Penrith 

Once removed from its frame and cut down slightly at the base it makes a reasonable backdrop

Coming into its own when I take those atmospheric black and white shots

Finally I am off to Glasgow tomorrow, not sure if other s have been following the Waterloo Replayed project which has been developing over the last couple of years. Sadly i wasn’t organised to get into the game as a player but it was too good an opportunity not to at least go and visit what promises to be the largest 28 mm recreation of Waterloo ever played on a 80’ by 24’ gaming surface. If anybody is visiting I will be there around lunchtime Saturday.