Sunday 14 July 2013

The Slaughter at Tawan - A Russo-Japanese batrep



Eight Rejects got together on the hottest day of the year, (groaaaaaaan!!!!) we all crammed in Posties hot shed and nearly died of heat exhaustion.........

The 1st Japanese army under the command of Gen Kuroki has orders to meet up with the 2nd and 4th armies south of Liaoyang a major town in the area and defended by a large (not large enough!) Russian army. To make matters worse the 1st army has been engaged in fighting a retreating Russian army, the main part of the Russian force has reinforced Liaoyang, but a substantial part has dug in to await the arrival of the Japanese 1st army, just outside the village of Tawan,south east of Liaoyang. The Japanese commander must attack the Russian positions as soon as possible and must not waste time.
Meanwhile the Russian commander Lt-Gen Slutshevski (what a great name) of the 10th European Army Corps must hold his position at all costs, if the Japanese 1st army cannot make the rendezvous the two armies will be seriously outnumbered and defeated and the way will be open to relive Port Arthur.


The Russians in our dug in positions on the hills, I was the Russian CO, I was in charge of the European Russians, while Dave and John had the poorer quality Siberians.



The Japanese were commanded by the jeans and two T-shirted Francis, he complained about the heat all day and says he doesn't own any shorts????? Also on the Japanese side were Ian, BigLee and Surj.
I've got to admit to being worried at seeing the 12 Japanese artillery pieces limbered behind the Japanese lines, we only had 5?



The Russian 10th European Corps
Behind the trenches you'll notice the empty artillery emplacement, there were infact artillery 
in each and every one of these, but the were not placed in the table until we fired. 


A few close up's of our enemy. Most were painted by my good self and they featured Curt's painting challenge the year before last.


General Kuroki


This poor Japanese unit was the first unit to take casualties, as they were the only
 visible unit at the start of the battle.


My Ruskies, they were all ducking down so not to be seen by the Japs.



Bloody hell, there's a lot of 'em!!!!


BigLee was being very cheeky, so got the usual punishment.......Posties girlie 
long nails dug in the head....ouch!


The most excellently named General Slutshevski admires the open field in front of him.


The usual contractual Postie pic!


A quick couple of moves and the Japanese are over the hill and advancing very quickly.


Long range artillery fire knocks a few casualties of the advancing Japanese.


The Russian did have two more battalions of infantry behind each of the hills.


A Russian Machine gun, this only got two fires in the game before being annihilated by the Japanese artillery.


The Japanese  have a lot of advantages over their Russian counterparts, for one,their infantry can fire 30' while the Russians can only fire 20'. You can see the obvious advantages straight away, the Japanese could if we were standing up stay at 21' away and shoot the hell out of us and stay safe, or move into our range and have a 3-1 shooting advantage????


BigLee's troops move off the hill, leaving his 3 and Surg's 3 artillery free to fire at us.


Note the 2 empty artillery positions, the one on the right was completely destroyed, the gun and the redoubt. While the one on the left was nearly destroyed by the guns but was finished off by long range infantry fire.


An aerial view of the table.


BigLee was getting hot and bothered, so he took his t-shirt off, which left him in 
his vest, (no wonder he was bloody hot!!!) He then proceeded to wobble his fat belly for the camera!


Oh joy!! The Japanese re-enforcements arrive....The Guard Corps, no less, with more artillery????
Ian decided to move them up the road towards my already dire looking position.



A great looking pic, but doesn't it look dodgy for the Russians?


Nice and pretty blue lines?


The Japanese move into our range at last, so we stand up and give fire, knocking a few 
casualties off the Japanese, not near enough though.


My left take a massive battering from both the artillery and the infantry. Both support units have now moved up into the trenches, the remains of one of the units can be seen at the back of the hill, while the other still remains in the trenches....but for how long????


A little bit of relief for us Russians, the rest of our artillery turn up and as the Japanese reach a certain place, we unleash the mines we had set, that we didn't know we had set???
These caused more casualties than our artillery and infantry had made the whole of the game. Fran and co were not amused....ha bloody ha!


Ian caused two casualties on our newly arrived artillery from the infantry on the road. 
I don't think we hit a bloody thing with them!!!!


Fran's Japanese Cavalry


A view from the trench....gulp!


And the right hand view from the same trench, note Fran Cavalry, waiting to be unleashed.


Things can only get better....here come their Guard?



Crap, where've my troops gone??


We managed to knock a few casualties off the Japanese, but their fire power was just too good. 
So we threw in the towel and retreated before we were totally wiped out. 
Booooooo!

 This was only our second game with Posties new rules, questions were asked and bits will be changed in the rules, I think we need another few games just to completely iron out all the kinks in the rules, but they seem to work very well. It was a little bit of an unbalanced game, but as you know its hard to get the balance right sometimes.


77 comments:

  1. Seems like you had a great time.

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    Replies
    1. We did, well the Japanese players did anyway!!

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    2. The look on your face after just an hour was worth it!

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  2. Not a land-based period I am familiar with but an interesting BatRep none the less. Action nicely documented making it easy to follow.

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  3. Things could have been worse, you could have hung in for longer only to be fried that bit more ;-)

    Sounds like you had a lot of fun though

    Ian

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    1. It was too damned hot to think properly, but we all enjoyed ourselves.

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  4. What a great way to spend the afternoon, shame about the result though; still a cracking looking game Ray.

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    1. We did think we had a chance at the beginning, but it pretty soon became apparent that we were doomed!

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  5. You git! That picture of me and my belly!! Lol

    Great write up though. We were very lucky with our artillery fire in the first few turns. The dice gods were with us on the Japanese side thats for sure.

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    1. he he!
      Dice gods my arse, it was the 5 v 15 pieces that did it!

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    2. Stop crying Ironsides and it was only one t-shirt and who the feck wants to see your white pimply legs?

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  6. great write up, we were also fighting the heat but with only 3 of us
    Peace James

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    Replies
    1. The body heat radiating off the Rejects would heat a small country for a few years!!!

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  7. Great looking game though the odds seemed stacked against you

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  8. What kind of save or defensive bonus did the trenches give the Russians? Seems to have been a good game where all had fun.

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    1. If I remember correctly they gave the Japanese a minus 2 D6, and minus 4 D6 for firing at the redoubts.

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  9. What a great report, thanks for sharing Ray! Ah, the old wargamer physique of which I myself have!

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  10. Glad no one melted during the game.
    Like the trenches. Too bad you couldn't use them more to your advantage.
    And yes, awesome name for a Lt-General!

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    Replies
    1. I was damn close to melting, thank god my kids had their paddling pool out in our garden, every now and then I'd go and dip my feet into cool off.

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  11. Good going there, gentlemen. Thanks for the debriefing, Ray.

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  12. Great report Ray. When's is Big Lee's baby due? Looks imminent!

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    Replies
    1. He's only 8 weeks gone, its gonna be a big'un!

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  13. An exciting report, great pictures of a fantastic battlefield Ray!

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  14. great looking game, theres some big lads in that room!

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  15. Great looking match, Ray, and nicee to see all of your troops on the table. Perhaps you should have painted the Japanese artillery with a hex or infirmity. Or fed the other side hard liquor to impair their judgment on a hot day! ;-)

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    Replies
    1. They already had the hex, imagine what they'd been like if I hadn't!

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  16. Impressive scale of events, the game, and BigLee! ;-)

    Maybe you guys need to chip in together and get an aircon unit in that shed? Cool in the summer, warm in the winter...

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like a plan, I'll mention the aircon to Postie.

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  17. Impressive size there Ray and maybe next time.

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  18. Nice AAR and the game looks fantastic. Nice job by the Rejects.
    Rod

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  19. Great looking game. If I were only living in England I could join you for all the fun!

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  20. "arse handed to you on a plate in a sweat box."

    is putting it mildly Andrew!

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  21. Excellent AAR, Ray! Weather conditions look similar to our January game; nudging 35C outside=another couple of degrees inside the shed. Lots of liquid refreshments required! I took a profile photo of some of my team last year and a bigger bunch of beach-balls on legs you've never seen!

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    1. I don't think I've ever been so hot and bothered before,I should have taken a group before and after shot, it would have been a sight!!!

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  22. Great looking figures and table as ever.

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  23. Excellent post Ray. Nice looking table and a interesting period of gaming.

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    Replies
    1. I agree, its not a period you see too much.

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  24. Nice report mate. The latent heat of 8 large blokes in a shed with very limited ventilation on a hot summers day. This is the first time I have not been envious! I would have cooked!

    I am puzzled though are you suggesting that Big lee wears a vest under a tee shirt? Seriously! That's just wrong! It's just so wrong, did he grow up in the 50's? Does his wife dress him? Does he wear a hanky on his head as well? Ok no more fashion police time, he can wear what he likes rally and I will take the piss! Still at least he did not just play in just his pants!

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    1. I've got to admit, it was quite a relief to finish the game and get out of the shed, and as for Lee??? Nuff said!

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  25. Great looking game there Ray! I enjoyed the report.

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  26. Nice batrep the table and forces all arrayed for battle look fantastic. Maybe next time the boot will be on the other foot :D

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  27. An interesting aar; I think you knew that from the start you would be hammered by their artillery which outnumbered you so much.
    Not a period I've ever tried (on land) - interesting though.

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    Replies
    1. It was a "oh crap" moment when we saw all their troops!

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  28. ah, two of the nations I love in a battle against one another. I can't watch it, I can't .....

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    Replies
    1. Thaey were my exact thoughts as they started to throw their dice for their artillery!!

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  29. A great battle and nice AAR, Ray. And a great problem, so many artillery batteries!

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  30. Great looking table and AAR! I really enjoy the period.

    Christopher

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    1. It is an interesting period, you have the Russians still trying to fight using Napoleonic tactics with quite useless leaders v the Japanese who keep stealing all the good ideas and tactics from other European powers. It kind of one of those interim periods, not quite ACW but not quite WWI either??? If that makes any sense??

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  31. Awesome looking game (minus the heat-stewed Rejects disrobing over the course of events)! The balance seemed a bit skewed but I guess the entrenchments and the secret (even to the Russians) mines helped adjust things. The troops look brilliant Ray!

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    1. I think Postie was feeling a little sorry for us Russians and added the mines in at the last minute. They did take a few casualties from them, but not enough to stop them rolling over our positions:0(

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  32. Nice report and I like the look of the table and figures. The games with that many players are always fun. Look forward to more reports from this historical period.

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    1. We don't usually get all of us -2 in the shed at one time, its great when it happens though!

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  33. Fran won, Fran won, la la la la la la.

    I knew it was going to be hot in that shed. Next time you boys should play strip battles. The nice thing about losing though is that you'd be cool when you lost.

    Sorry I'm late getting out here. Been non-com for a couple days.

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    1. Yep! The idiot won! I still can't believe Fran doesn't own a pair of shorts????

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  34. Cracking bat rep Ray. Very glad to see thos miniatures you sweated over last year finally getting some play time.

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  35. Sounds like all you were missing was a breeze!

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  36. Great AAR Ray!! nice looking terrain and minis

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  37. Good looking Game Ray, I am going to have to go some to do that much in 28mm.
    Cheers
    Stu

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  38. Great AAR and very nice looking game!

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  39. Excellent review and pictures Ray! Thanks for sharing!

    Greetings
    Peter

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  40. Operating on such huge field seems to be complicated at all. Great, how you managed that doing a exciting battle-report in a good company!
    Peter

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  41. Great looking game and battle report. I do like the period, but only have a handful of 25mm figures. Best, Dean

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  42. Great report on a good looking game but this weather is too rare to send it in a steam room with Fran and Big Lee ;)

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  43. Here's hoping you get the kinks knocked out and the balance spot on.

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