19C - War of the Antipodes - Battle Report 2 - Battle of the cross roads

This is the second battle to test my new rules – 19C VSF. This is using Version 3 of the rules.

NSW and Victoria have both identified a small village at a cross roads as being vitally important for future operations.

Both armies are very similar in composition.

Infantry 4 Companies each. The NSW companies are slightly stronger but this is off-set by Victoria having an Armoured Infantry company.
Artillery 2 medium field guns each.
Cavalry 1 squadron each
Vehicles 2 heavy assault vehicles each. Kangaroos for NSW and Emus for Victoria.
Army Commander 1 reliable army commander each.

Starting positions and the lay of the land

NSW is coming from the right in red and Victoria from the left in blue.

Turn 1

There is no Line of Sight between the two armies, seemingly advancing unaware of each other. But something has alerted both armies and they race for the village. NSW has rolled higher and gets to move first.

The NSW cavalry rolled three action points and is able to nearly reach the cross roads on the first turn.

Not to be outdone, one of the Victorian infantry also rolled three action points and is also closing in on the village. Supported by an Emu that rolled two activation points, it is looking pretty even at the moment.

End of turn one

Turn 2

More moving by both sides as they advance on the cross roads.

The NSW cavalry reach the village but the rest of the forces are strung out down the road in a big traffic jam.

The Victorian infantry reach their side of the village, their cavalry swing round a hill to threaten the NSW column, and the two Emus take up positions on a small hill.

NSW looks like it may take a beating. Its only advantage is that the remaining Victorian forces are someway back while NSW are in a mass.

End of turn two

Turn 3

NSW move the troops to occupy one half of the village and to line the road to meet the coming Victorian attack.

Kangaroo I fires at Emu II. At short range it scores 8 hits but only 1 damage.
Victorians then return fire.

Emu II fires at NSW Infantry I. Emu II gets three activation points and therefore can fire all its weapons at once – a medium artillery piece and two Gatling guns. It scores 16 hits and inflicts 15 damage points. NSW infantry loses three bases and goes down to red reliability.

Emu I fires at Kangaroo I and scores 10 hits but only inflicts one damage point.

Victorian Cavalry fire at the NSW artillery and cause 2 damage.

The rest of the Victorian troops advance towards the battle.

End of turn three

Ground view from turn three. The Emus and Kangaroos tower over the other forces.

Turn 4

NSW Cavalry do a “shoot and scoot” after getting two action points and inflict 9 damage points on the Victorian infantry occupying the village section across the road.

The NSW infantry then come forward to occupy their side of the village.

The NSW infantry lining the road then blast at the Victorian infantry in the village and cause 16 damage point from a double firing having got 2 action points. The Victorian infantry is reduced to two bases and only yellow reliability.

The NSW army commander urges forward the remnants of the NSW infantry who close assault the remaining Emu. Both the infantry and the Emu inflict one damage each so the Close Assault is a draw and they stay in contact for the Victorian turn.

The NSW Kangaroos fire at the other Victorian Emu and together score 9 damage points causing the emu to be destroyed. A big setback for the Victorians.

The NSW artillery manages to get 3 action points and fires at the Victorian cavalry and causes 8 damage points reducing it by 2 bases.

Then it is the Victorians' turn.

The Emu blasts the NSW infantry causing them 3 damage points, and removing another base while only receiving one damage in return. The remaining NSW infantry retreat towards the safety of the wood.

Other Victorian troops consolidate as things look a little worse than last turn.

End of turn four

Turn 5

NSW seems to be gaining the ascendancy.

All the units with LOS of the last Emu fire at it and with 28 hits manage to cause 4 damage points which is enough to destroy it. The Victorian position is now looking shaky. 

The other NSW units start moving to consolidate their positions or to further threaten the Victorians. 

The NSW cavalry move round the left flank to threaten the Victorian rear. This forces the Victorian to reposition some of their artillery.

The remaining Victorian artillery firing down the road target one of the Kangaroos and get three action points. But from the resulting 12 hits only cause three damage points.

The remaining Victorian infantry and cavalry hide in the village or behind the slopes of the hills to get out of the line of fire.

End of turn five

Turn 6 and turn 7

NSW starts to advance cautiously, making sure all the units have sufficient support and more than enough firepower to destroy the Victorians unit by unit.

With the Victorians on the outer arc and NSW on the inside, NSW has the ability to concentrate on any part of the Victorian defence and overwhelm it.

The Victorian commander decides that a nasty loss is better than a heavy defeat and starts to withdraw his forces back towards their line of communications using the artillery as a base to cover his withdrawal. The NSW commander has no wish to send his forces into the fire of a ready and vengeful defender and lets the Victorians go.

End of turn seven

Ground view of the battlefield as the thin red line advances

Some changes to version 3 of the rules. 

The saves for the Emus and Kangaroos was changed from a 2 to a 3 making them easier to damage before the battle as otherwise they would be nearly impossible to destroy. With a save of 5 armoured infantry are not significantly different to normal infantry so I am going to change this to a save of 4 in Version 4.