Beutepanzer in Musselburgh – Two Fat Lardie Day

We had the joy to present a game of "Muddy CoC" on the Two Fat Lardie game weekend in Musselburgh near Edinburgh today. I played the Germans with Jim, and Angus and another Jim (on old SESWC club defectant) who played the French. Two platoons each side with 2 d6 support points are trying to get to a centre stranded "Beutepanzer" Mark IV. An engineer has to get there and on a roll on 5-6 in a 6 he can restart the engine. Another objective was to destroy the other morale.

Jim and me were opting for an extra Medium machine gun a flame thrower and a granatenwerfer.
I basically rolled abysmal and sent section after section into the meatgrinder, just to get to the centre staged Beutepanzer. To my surprise Jim, the old one, didn't roll very well on his fire dice for his MMG or grenade rifles. Thats what saved me in the end, my troops got shot under  my feet away but my engineer got in the damn tank and after two fails started the bloody engine!!! 6 inches, if you are under constant fire, can be damn far away. But in the end, I would say, you can't come between a Schneider (me in this case) and his Beutepanzer! It just ain't gonna happen. After all, we had more casualties, but our morale was still fine, band with the panzer in our hands , it was a straight victory!

The second game was a Napoleonic one, where I was gang pressed into fighting in the Grand Armee against the Habsburgs. The rules where OK, but as I never studied them enough, I pretty much played on automaton and failed spectacularly, as I charged and rolled a double 1(!!!) and the opponent rolled a double 6!!! We were finally beaten by Austrians, yes my dear friends it cannot get any worse!

One battle you win the other you loose - Fortuna is a not a lady!

Still a very enjoyable experience!!!

The un-varnished (re-touched) truth on display for your entertainment:

The defectant Jim and Angus

and the other Jim 

Schrödinger‘s Battle at the Palava near Koshka around 1812

What could be more entertaining than experimenting with some old folks, a book, a cat and some metal? But that sounds worse than it was.

Campbell had found in an old tome, a scenario book, which could have been written by some Danish saga researcher. To my understanding, we were playing "Over the Hill" a rule system, I had never laid my eyes on before. Angus and Ken and myself were told to capture the village "Koshka", while Peter and Campbell defended the cat and would win if they did. 

Campbell was at the same time the umpire to equal measures, but one could only probably tell when one would observe the experiment with some distant or pertinent Newcastle brew. The River "Palava" was uncrossable apart from a 20" gap next to the village.

The Russian were to deploy first and then the Würtembergers could occupy the village and rearrange their set up to their hearts content.

My plan was to  get heavy artillery on the safe side of the river protected by light Cavalry and some regiments near to the cat, while the main assault was hitting the Swabian militarists as hard s possible! To my delight  the Russian CinC (Angus) and Ken (the Heavy Cavalry brigadier) agreed and we marched forward!

Now as it turned out there was a lot to discuss about and old folks with their noses in books and a lot of noise, so from one point of view one could say that the Russian advance was very sluggish, but at the same time and in equal measure ,we had only played about 4 turns. 

Ken was in particular very effective in bashing through German lines and finding out about Russian extra boni in the rules, we never applied in the first place. One of the mali, if you never do read the rules. At the same time I immensely frustrated Campbell, as I was just in range to amuse the occupants of Koshka, while protecting my flanks with square formations. As I reformed to line, his cavalry sweeped through all my units and swiped away my flank without actually applying the correct movement rules, as it was observed from the outside from some old folk (Jack), but me and Campbell were unaware of in equal measures and at the same time.

So at the end of the experiment the time might be insufficient (or not) to kill the cat, we will never know. As the divergent opinions were in equal measures present to claim victory and distribute defeat, could only be defined by an outstanding observer, but he was drunk at that time.

Don‘t ask me, ask Schrödinger!

Some Russian Uhlans or maybe just some light cavalry

The badly dressed Russian Cavalry on the other side of the table 

The Observiant Russian Centre 

The South-German Brigade deploys

Schrödinger's Würtenbergers Reiterei advancing sabre drawn!

All advance!

The massed russian Army reaches a little village named Cat

The Cat is surrounded by a field of green

the Strategically superior position of the Russian forces 

My little Brigade had reached the objective: in range of the Cat

The Non-Bavarians try various counter moves 

Meanwhile the Swabian guns try to cannister the green field away

But from a different perspective all looks lost

The greener the guns the better the aim

The finger prooves too many Russian trying to enter a Koshka 

The Russian Heavy Cavalry is near

And the field is left empty by the Würtemberger‘s the Cat is definitively dead

My Brigade forms a Line what a waste of atoms