Fjord Fiesta!

 

For our last game of the year, the Wollongong Wargamers decided on a bit of light hearted fun - and what can be more light hearted than Vikings enjoying a friendly fjord race?

The ships were set up on the startline, to which they had to race back after rounding the blue buoy. The smaller and slower sailing Karvis had a slight lead:

And off they went. The fjord was deliberately narrow and strewn with hazards - and treasure! Winning the race was not the only path to fame and fortune...

Perhaps too many hazards...

Competition soon degenerated into arrow storms and deliberate collisions. My hereditary foeman, Jarl Daniel, rammed my ship, and how the Gods laughed!

My little Karvi soon took some hard knocks...

And, heavily damaged, everyone else piled in too!

My Karvi's sinking cleared the channel slightly, and Jarl Caesar was in the lead, rounding the buoy already. In the background, Jarl 'Wolfman' Daniel's Karvi has stopped on the shoreline to pick up treasure...

Attention now focused on the lead ship, with Jarl Craig ramming it at full sail! Both Snekkas took heavy damage!

As the area around the buoy degenerated into a mass of arrow storms and boardings, Jarl 'Wolfman' Daniel just quietly sailed on by, hugging the coast - nothing to see here....

The fighting around the buoy raged, with Jarl Daniel's brave crew cut to pieces. With half his crew gone, and the ship barely afloat, would he succumb to boarding or sinking?

Ships were sinking or wrecked everywhere. 'T' boned by a Snekka at full sail, his Karvi disappeared beneath the waves. Justice!

Eventually there were only two Snekkas left, barely afloat. Jarl 'Wolfman' Daniel, his small Karvi laden with treasure, was able to sail serenely around the buoy and head for the finish line and a feat of seamanship the Skald's will sing about all through the coming Yuletide!

Team Yankee: RED DWARF

On the left Peter and Theo are both hard core 15mm Team Yankee aficionados, but Peter is beginning to see the advantages of 12mm. Stuart and Daniel on the right have long been convinced about smaller scales, however...

The NATO force was built around a squadron of STILLBREW Chieftains - two troops.

The Warsaw Pact force was a Soviet T-72 Tank Battalion of two tank companies and a Motor Rifle company, plus lots of Frontal Aviation.

The toys all laid out prior to the game:

The NATO team concentrated their infantry in the village and farms, linked by the Chieftains. Their longer range SWINGFIRES were held back in the depth village, and their Milan Compact Turrets were held in ambush:

The Soviets, sensing a strong defence, dismounted their Motor Rifles to lead the way, covered by a blizzard of SPANDREL ATGW from their BMP2s. But the artillery and frontal aviation was in the fight from the start!

So was the NATO Fast Air!

T-72s were being picked off before they had crossed the start line!

The Chieftains were also happy to reveal their positions from the outset...

With the first Soviet HIND attacks obliterating the NATO forward air defences, NATO air controllers resorted to overkill to write down Soviet air power!

However the British infantry Milan teams in the village, supported by the Chieftains and the Swingfires from the rear were steadily whittling away at the Soviet AFVs...

But the British infantry in the farm, under prolonged artillery bombardment from the start...

and now strafed by the surviving HINDS, suffered grevious casualties and withdrew to their fall back positions off table.

The RAF belatedly extracted some revenge!

However despite clearing the farm and the route to the objectives now relatively clear, nearby Soviet forces had also suffered heavy losses, and the intact Soviet tank company had a village full of fresh British infantry blocking the way...

Both sides were fought to a standstill, but NATO still held the ground, so we called it a minor NATO victory! A large small-scale game fought with nary a tank car park in sight. A couple more converts to 12mm Team Yankee!