Saturdays are open to anyone - not just those taking part in featured games. 

There are certain wargamers who cannot make Monday nights so third Saturdays provide the opportunity to turn up and grab whatever space is available to play their own games.  Why not do the same?
FEATURED GAMES
Usually someone suggests a theme then club and player resources are pooled to recreate a large scale battle.  Sometimes we even arrange a two-day game.  SCROLL DOWN for the latest report.
                                                                                                                                        
 Next Date in 2019:    Saturday 16th February

War in the pacific - Saturday 19th January 2019

Saturday saw another exciting encounter in the Pacific Theatre between the forces of Imperial Nippon and the gallant USM defenders.

The Japanese were flushed with their success some months ago when they captured the strategic island of Horbury Bay. Once again they relied on the Imperial navy to weaken the resolve of the defenders with a tremendous naval bombardment. They were indeed surprised and confused and were slow to react when the first wave of attackers "hit the beach."

The Japanese commander, Rich "bushido" Lawrence decided to forgo the traditional sneaky Japanese tactic of a flank march in favour of an all-out, steamroller frontal assault. There were early successes as the USM troops were recovering from the bombardment and all along the beach Japanese forces landed with only token opposition.

On the left flank, Captain Andy "kamikaze" Gledhill quickly drove the USM back until Lieutenant  "Ike" Lowe threw in a greyhound armoured car into the defence. It failed to inflict much damage on the attackers but they were forces to make very slow progress. It took several thousand bullets, anti tank rounds, tank shells and eventually (the kitchen sink) no - a lone flamethrower team who had worked round it`s flank to put the greyhound out of action. By the end of the encounter, "Kami" who had already captured the bridge (obj 1), was in a position to advance onto "Mount St Mary`s" (obj 2). By then "Ike" Lowe had summoned reinforcements to bolster the situation!

In the centre, "Bushido" with the strongest contingent was having the greatest success of the day. He advanced inexorably through the jungle to capture the village of My Lai (obj 3). The USM, commanded by John "Abe" Smith suffered heavy casualties but was able to fend off the Japanese until he restored "comms" to call in an artillery strike which helped stall the attack. By the end of the day, My Lai was still securely in Japanese hands and elements were moving towards Mount St Mary`s and even the crucial area around "Devils crossroads" (obj 4).

The Japanese right flank resembled a scene from an earlier conflict in that it became a "war of attrition"! Lieutenant Mike "steady" Sharp who commanded a smaller but highly experienced force was the first to suffer the impact of Captain "lucky" Smith`s legendary lucky dice throwing - sorry excellent generalship! Before "steady was able to reach the beach, he was sustaining heavy casualties and struggled to deploy his heavy support weapons. When the Japanese did push forward, "lucky" with a stoke of genius ordered the first of his two air strikes which stopped the enemy in their tracks. They remained some way short of the railway station (obj 5) by the close of play.

In summary, your esteemed umpire and editor concluded that the USM had retained 3 of the 5 objectives but had suffered considerably more casualties. The game therefore was judged a draw and so the saga continues!!!

Next time the tide has turned!!  April`s game sees the USM on the offensive. Having stemmed the tide of Japanese imperial expansion, they must now push the enemy out of the Pacific once and forever!!

Blame Stu Lowe for this idea! I am happy to put a game on using pretty much the same terrain, objectives, rule amendments but with the USM attacking!

Please let me know your thoughts on the game, whether you wish to be involved in the next one and if other club members may wish to take part.

Finally, my thanks go to Ian and Andy for the loan of their excellently painted (but reasonably priced) figures and terrain and for Ian`s exceptional dice bag  drawing!!