VBCW – Destroy the Enemy Camp (or Phone Box)

October 2, 2026 The Uncivil ServantBolt Action, wargaming, battle-reportLeave a comment

Another run out of the Very British Civil War forces. This time the scenario rolled was “Demolition” where both sides had to destroy the enemy camp or in this case the “phone boxes” were used as the communication centres for both forces. Half of each force had to be held off table as reserves however these reserves could enter the table from any table edge using the “Fog of War” deployment option.

The Anglican League deployed 2 of their 3 sections and the HQ to defend the objective.

Anglican League heavily defend their “camp”

While the Miners deployed a section in the Church yard and an MG on the roof of the garage.

Miners had their objective in the churchyard

The AL start to push down the flank to try and gain the building.

As the Miners reserves arrived the AL command remembered they had an appointment elsewhere and headed to the farmyard.

The reason the commend did a runner was the arrival of the Vickers MK III on their flank.

Vickers MkIII moves on to threaten the Anglican League objective

The AL countered by moving on the their Armstrong Whitworth armoured car which took a hit from the MK III.

Armstrong Whitworth moves on and takes a hit

They then got serious and moved on a Renault and Anti Tank rifle team along with a “tank hunter” team to try and destroy the MK III.

Renault and AT rifle arrive to tackle the Mk III

The AL then moved their light howitzer up to try and bring the churchyard under fore to soften the Miners section up before the infantry moved up.

Artillery moves up to threaten the church

The Miners managed to bring a section across and engaged the AL infantry moving down the flank.

The AL triggered an event that meant that it started raining for a couple of turns however it didn’t really effect the game.

Near the AL objective the Mk III had turned and engaged the Renault and destroyed it. This was the first time any armour had been destroyed in the games due to poor dice throwing from each side!

Renault bites the dust while worrying about the “tank hunters”

This time the Miners triggered an event that meant that one of their sections was upgraded, it was decided that the nearest to a house.

The upgraded Miners pushed forward close on the AL section which has now been reduced to 3 men from 10.

With the aid of the beer the Miners move forward

The AL “camp” was open but the Miners had no infantry to close and try to destroy it.

Anglican League open but none of the Miners infantry in the vicinity

The Miners however had their “camp” well covered and still heavily defended which had stopped the AL advance.

By now we had played the 6 turns rolled for a 7th which didn’t come up so another game ended in a draw.

Again another good laugh and I now have to go away and try to VBCW some amendments.

VBCW – Looking for revenge

September 30, 2026 The Uncivil ServantBolt Action, wargaming, battle-report2 Comments

We had another game of the Very British Civil War as the Anglican League looked for revenge against the Miners. This time we added more support troops with armour entering the fray.

The Miners were commanded by Nigel and me, while “”Broken Dice” David and “Uncle Albert” Julian commanded the Anglican League.

The scenario we played was the “Seek and Destroy” mission from the Bolt Action rules using the “meeting engagement” deployment where forces were either designated as the “first wave” and entered the table on the 1st turn or could be held in reserve. For the Miners everything was designated as “first wave” after struggling to deploy some of the reserves in the last game. The Anglican League held a couple of units in reserve.

In the first move the Miners moved up the supports on early deploying the light howitzer, Rolls Royce armoured car and the “Tachanka” which is a Vickers machine gun mounted in the back of a hastily armoured van.

The majority of the Miners infantry were moving up through the village and looking to destroy the Anglican League.

A couple of sections of Anglican League moved onto their left flank supported by an Armstrong Whitworth armoured car and a mobile pillbox.

A section of miners moved up to support the armoured car and await the advancing Anglican League forces.

An early run of the “action” dice meant the support on our right flank were all put on “ambush” awaiting for targets to appear.

In the village a Vickers MkIII moved up in support of the infantry and to engage the Anglican League armour that had appeared.

The Vickers and the Renault R35 exchanged shots with verry little effect while the Vickers used its machine guns to target the Anglican League holding the churchyard.

The Miners were now well ensconced in the village with an MG in one building and the Sniper in the other while the command admired the rear garden.

On our right flank the Anglican League broke cover and engaged the miners.

The mobile pillbox had to move down the road and try to engage the Miners in the centre as it couldn’t cross any of the walls or hedges!

The six turns passed quickly with neither side making any real breakthroughs and the game ended when the extra turn wasn’t rolled. With both sides only destroying 2 units a piece the game was a draw and the commanders withdrew to discuss where things had gone wrong.

Miners command have a meeting to discuss what to do next

Another entertaining game with no “events” happening and I am happy how the rules are working for the VBCW.

Megalomania takes charge – Napoleonic What If battle (Part 1)

September 30, 2026 The Uncivil Servantwargaming, battle-report, General de Armee 2Leave a comment

So Nigel decided that we needed to have a large Napoleonic battle that would give us a chance to get the Napoleonic collections on the table. This was going to be a multi-session game using the General de Armee rules.

Each side would have 5 Divisions that could be used with some initially being deployed in reserve. The French were being played by “Broken Dice” David (Bavarians), Paul (French) and me (French with a scattering of Poles). The Allies were played by Alan (Prussians), Dave A (Russians) “”Uncle Albert” Julian (Austrian) and the Allied Cavalry reserve by Dave B who was missing for this session.

The French deployed with the Bavarian Division on their right flank, with French divisions holding the centre and the left flank. The Guard and Cavalry divisions were held in reserve.

The Allies deployed with the Prussians on their left flank, the Russians in the centre and the Austrians on the right with the Austrian Grenadier and combined cavalry division held in reserve.

The French left flank prepares to advance and engage the Austrians on the left flank supported by a cavalry brigade.

The Austrians await the advance while a brigade slowly advances through the woods.

The Russians were also preparing to advance through the centre to contest the village.

As expected the skirmish lines clash on the left flank as the French columns advance.

It was a similar situation in the centre and the right flank and skirmishers exchanged fire and long range artillery fire dominated the early turns.

While both the French and Russians advance to engage in the centre the Bavarians hold just throwing out their skirmishers to slow the Prussian advance.

Prussians advancing on the French right flank

In the centre the exchanges between the skirmishers has started to thin the ranks while the French move up and try to take the village.

Skirmishers taking casualties in the centre

On our right the Prussians push their columns forward to drive back the Bavarian skirmishers.

Prussian columns advance on the Bavarians

The Russians manage to occupy the village first and the first French battalion that assaulted was forced to retreat and another moves into position to try again.

In the centre the French advance stalled as both of my lead infantry brigades decide to go “hesitant” and refuse to advance!

So the first session end with most of the action restricted to skirmishing action along the front no doubt it will get more serious in the next session.

So far an enjoyable, of frustrating experience but proving to be an enjoyable game.

Clash in the Village

September 21, 2026 The Uncivil Servantbattle-report, Bolt Action, wargaming1 Comment

Broke out the Very British Civil War collections as Nigel’s Miners Local Defence force took on the Anglican League forces (commanded by “Uncle Albert” Julian). I provided the umpire services assisted by “Broken Dice” David (who supplied the terrain).

We were using Bolt Action V3 rules with the addition of “event cards” from “Went the Day Well” rules.

The scenario played was “key position” where 5 objectives (2 telephone boxes, a post box and two boxes of supplies) were placed on the table by the players. Forces were deployed in opposite quarters of the board.

In the early moves both sides started moving rapidly for the objectives with the Miners LDV rapidly grabbing a couple.

One of the rules included was that on the first dice drawn for a side each turn that side rolled a D6, if a 6 is rolled an event occurs for that side. The Anglican league threw for an event and drew a card.

Early on the Anglican League get an event

A quick discussion was held to agree which unit should be affected and a D3 was rolled and the unit would be affected for 2 turns.

The Anglican League moved up their Mobile Bunker and laid down fire on the Miners in the village.

The Anglican League were confused as a van with bits of armour welded to it reversed down the road. Then to their surprise the rear doors opened and a Vickers MMG opened fire killing one of the crew members of the Anglican League MMG.

With the Miners already holding the majority of the objectives the Anglican League moved their artillery onto the table to try and clear some of the Miners from the church yard.

Anglican League artillery support appears

This was countered by the Miners moving their artillery up behind the Tachanka to engage the mobile pillbox and approaching artillery.

The Miners moved a section of infantry to cover the wooded approach to the village and possibly grab the last objective on the far side of the wood.

Miners section moves up and covers the woods

Seeing this an Anglican League section runs towards the woods and secures the objective supported by the HQ unit and its Medic Team.

Anglican League finally grab an objective

The Miners artillery hits and destroys the mobile pillbox as they also manage to cause heavy casualties on a Anglican League section on the hill.

The Miners have now secured the Church yard but are taking fire from the Anglican League Roadside bomb team behind the church.

Near the wood both sides are taking casualties as the firefight develops.

The Anglican League loses the artillery dual and the howitzer is destroyed by HE fire.

Turn 6 is played out and the game ends time to count up the objectives. The Miners are holding 4 while the Anglican League only holds 1 so Victory goes to the Miners who will regroup at the Miners Working Mens Club for tea and medals (or something stronger).

A highly entertaining game and the Bolt Action rules played out well with the VBCW amendments I included. Fast furious and plenty of laughs.

Kiss Me Hardy – Convoy

September 17, 2026 The Uncivil Servantbattle-report, Kiss Me Hardy, wargamingLeave a comment

Something a bit different this week as we returned to Kiss Me Hardy. In this scenario a Franco-Spanish squadron (Nigel and me) needed to escort two armed merchants carrying this years treasure shipment from one end of the board to the other. The Royal Navy (“Broken Dice” David and “Uncle Albert” Julian) simply had capture both the merchants to win the game.

The other change was the largest ships were 64’s with the majority of the fleets being frigates.

The game didn’t start well for the Franco-Spanish as we randomly threw for wind direction and the wind was blowing down the table directly at our fleet! That would mean that we would have to tack up the board 😂.

Chaos soon broke out in the French squadron as some of the fleet successfully tacked and other had to take avoiding action!

While the French managed to get some order back in its sailing order, chaos stilled reigned with the Spanish as they tried to tack.

Some sort of order for the French but still chaos in the Spanish squadron

The RN were showing off closing rapidly and we had the sense of impending doom.

The first RN squadron closed with the French and started by setting fire to the Hermion as they sailed past.

On the other side the Spanish decided to play “bumper cars” as they were trying to avoid the RN but were taking damage.

The other thing that soon became apparent was that frigates could not take a lot of damage as the broadsides were rapidly being reduced because of the damage.

The RN fire soon reduced the Siena to a floating wreck and a roadblock.

The RN thought that “bumper cars” looked a fun game and joined in with HMS Leopard lost its bowsprit so would not be able to tack after the Spanish that had broken through.

The Dauphin was trying to avoid the RN but the RN had successfully tacked and were trading broadsides!

The Dauphin escape didn’t work out a the RN managed to grapple and launched a boarding action!

With losses mounting the Dauphin struck after losing a second round of the boarding action. At the same time the Duc de Duras (the other merchant) had her Mizzen mast shot away and failed its strike test and struck! So the RN had managed to capture both of the merchants with only some of our frigates surviving ☹️.

So a convincing victory for the RN but another cracking laugh as things went wrong but another good game.

Hide and Seek

September 17, 2026 The Uncivil Servantbattle-report, wargaming, What a Tanker1 Comment

Organised a quick game of “What a Tanker” where 3 Shermas and a Firefly (Dave B, Nigel, Paul and me) took on a Panther (Alan) and 3 Panzer IV’s (Dave A, “Broken Dice” David and “Uncle Albert” Julian).

On the German left flank the Panther moved up to a “hull down” position with a Pzkw IV in support.

Panther and Pzkw IV move up on the left flank

On our right flank 2 Shermans moved up while the Firefly moved forward and used the garage as cover trying to hide from the Panther.

On our left flank the first of are Shermans went “bang” after being hit by a Pzkw IV.

With the first Sherman down Dave B got the pleasure of using a reserve Stuart as the first replacement tank.

I backed the Firefly up further behind the garage to avoid taking fire from the Panther and the Pzkw IV as the Sherman who was supporting me had retreated off the board after taking some “temporary damage” from the Panther.

With the Firefly hiding and the other Sherman retreating from the table the Panther had run out of targets and was sat there surveying the scene.

On our left flank the remaining Sherman was facing two Pzkw IV’s and after surviving a couple of shots finally succumbed and we had another Stuart rolling onto the table ☹️.

The first Stuart had moved up the road and was peeking around the corner trying to spot the Pzkw IV.

The Panther had used its advantage on “fast” trait and rushed forward to try and get behind the Firefly. But the Firefly managed to move to keep the garage between them and faced off against the Pzkw IV. In the meantime Dave B Stuart had used its “fast” capability to get behind the Pzkw IV.

Panther hunting Firefly and Stuart hides behind Pzkw IV

My worry about the Panther was misplaced as the Pzkw IV took me out ☹️.

The Sherman that had retreated off the board had finally managed to recover and return to the board only to be faced by the Panther. After a quick exchange of shot the last of our Shermans went up in flames.

The second Stuart (Nigel) had moved through the village and after a brief exchange with the Pzkw IV’s on our left flank moved into position to target the Pzkw IV on the right flank.

Finally a success for the allies as the Stuart from the village manages to hit and destroy the Pzkw IV in the field, trigger much celebration on the allied side 😀.

The game was called at this point as a comprehensive victory to the Germans but as always a cracking laugh and good game.

General De Armee – Meeting Engagement

September 6, 2026 The Uncivil Servantbattle-report, General de Armee 2, napoleonics, wargamingLeave a comment

Nigel organised a small General de Armee game with a division a side with the French facing a Austrian, Prussian and Bavarian force.

The game started with the deployment and scouting as usual and with great skill and dexterity the French (me and Nigel) did not manage to spot any of the allied brigades so had to deploy relatively blind.

The French could hold 2 brigades in reserve, which we did with the Poles and the cavalry. The Allies could have a single brigade in reserve and they also left their cavalry in reserve.

Bavarians on the Allied left flank, Austrians on the right and Prussians in the middle

The French deployed the Marine brigade on the left and the Recruit brigade on the right with the artillery in the centre.

The French plan was that the right flank (the Recruit brigade) was to advance through the farm and then drive forward on the right while the Marines held the Austrians and Prussians on the left.

However this plan was scuppered on the first turn as the Allies won the initiative and advanced a battalion to grab the village.

As the Bavarians were unformed in the village I threw in a battalion to try and push them out! This failed as the garrison held and the French battalion was forced back with heavy casualties!

Bavarians grab the village and scupper our plans

While I was fighting over the village the rest of the French had advanced and were engaged all along the line and my skirmishers to engage the garrison.

The French Marines had advanced and were driving back the Austrian skirmishers and were preparing to launch a charge on the Austrians.

On the left I launched another assault on the village this time the lead battalion was supported.

The engage the Prussians the Poles were deployed from the reserves and advanced through the woods.

To counter the advancing Poles the Bavarian cavalry advanced from the reserves.

While the last French assault on the village was beaten off by the garrison however the garrison itself was dispersed through casualties.

The next turn the French managed to win the initiative so this time a French battalion could advance and seize the village.

The Bavarians immediately launched an attack to retake the village but was beaten off and retreated.

This was a lucky break for the French as my recruit brigade had taken heavy casualties and was looking decidedly iffy.

With the Bavarian brigade having two “retreating” battalions it had faltered and “Broken Dice” first rolled a 2 which would mean that he would have a “Sauve qui Peut” result, basically “run away” but he had a reroll so rolled a “1” so not only did the Bavarians “run away” the brigade was also broken and would quit the field.

So I managed to grab a victory from defeat for the French as we called the game (or it could be that “Broken Dice” grabbed defeat from victory).

Another cracking game with great friends.

Kiss Me Hardy

September 1, 2026 The Uncivil Servantbattle-report, Kiss Me Hardy, wargamingLeave a comment

Had another game of “Kiss Me Hardy” the Franco-Spanish had 8 ships on the Franco-Spanish fleet (5 1^st rates and 3 3^rd rates) while the Royal Navy had 6 ships (4 1^st rates and 2 3^rd rates (2 74’s a 64 and an 80). So we had gone over the top (and unhistorical) on the 1^st rates but we would see if this helped or hindered the Franco-Spanish.

Sides were decided randomly with Nigel and me Julian commanded the Franco-Spanish while “Broken Dice” David and “Uncle Albert” played the RN.

As usual we also decided the quality of the ships randomly and the Spanish managed 1 average and 3 poor ships, the French had 2 average and 2 poor. This time RN threw better with the RN 5 elite ships and 1 average.

The Franco Spanish sailed on in a single squadron with the Spanish forming the back of the line (but we had forgot a rule which would bite us later). The RN also formed two squadrons, and battle plans were formed.

French sailed on with the Spanish due to form the rear of the line.

The RN sail on in two squadrons in perfect formation.

Chaos breaks out as the Spanish arrived, we had forgotten that we needed to take a “sailing test” to hold formation and with 5 poor sailing ship we needed to throw a 6 on a D6 so the line was split.

The French try to head the RN squadrons while the Spanish do some random sailing in the rear.

As the fleets close things start to go wrong for with the French with fire breaking out on the Orient as she receives fire from the Victory. Also the Genereux had her steering gear shot away.

The Victory and the Orient collided and the became locked when the Victory successfully grappled and the boarding action began.

The Spanish had finally managed to get the wind on their quarters and were able to engage the second RN squadron. The boarding action continued on the Orient with them losing another deck! The Genereux managed to collide and lose its bowsprit in the process.

To make matters worse for the Genereux she was also set on fire but and another strike test was needed.

Another French ship starts to burn as another fire breaks out, things are going badly for the French.

More collisions occurred between the Spanish and the second RN squadron with mast falling!

In the next turn the “strike test” card came out early and with three French ships and a Spanish ship “striking” the game was called with victory to the Royal Navy.

Another cracking game and a good laugh.

“Fifteen (Well five actually) Men on a Dead Mans Chest”

August 25, 2026 The Uncivil Servantbattle-report, Blood and Plunder, Pirates, wargamingLeave a comment

The most recent game it was time to debut Paul’s collection of “Blood and Plunder” that he has been working on.

In the scenario three forces were involved. A Franco-Spanish force (commanded by Dave A, Dave B and “Uncle Albert” Julian) an Anglo-Dutch force (commanded by me and Nigel). While “Broken Dice” David played the Pirates who were the meat in the sandwich. While Paul provided umpiring services.

In the scenario the Pirates had kidnapped a local Spanish official and the treasure he had in his possession and decided to hide in an abandoned farmhouse. The Franco-Spanish launched a rescue mission, while the Anglo-Dutch wanted to capture him for the information he could provide.

The expectation was that the main forces would engage each other while both sides would try to engage the Pirates!

Both sides deployed and deployed to advance towards the farm but who would be the most aggressive.

The Anglo-Dutch forces advanced rapidly towards the farm and soon started exchanging fire within the farmhouse.

A four-man Forlorn Hope armed with firebombs advanced towards the farm but was shot at and soon there was a single man stood there. Luckily, he passed his morale test and he rapidly took cover under the wall.

The British charge the farmhouse trying to get into the ground floor.

While the Anglo-Dutch were heavily engaged with the pirates with both sides suffering heavy casualties. However, the Franco-Spanish were cautiously moving from cover the cover as they approached the farm.

Spanish forces slowly advancing across the board, will they cross the centre of the table?

The Dutch on the hill engage the Spanish at long range with both sides taking casualties.

By now the French had moved into a position to flank the British contingent and bring them under fire.

By now the Pirates had taken heavy casualties being outnumbered 2 to 1 by the Anglo-Dutch who were now fighting to enter the lower floor, while the British were now in a firefight with the French on the flank.

The Dutch were engaged in a firefight with pirates on the upper floor while the other unit was engaged with the Spanish now fighting to enter the building on the other side of the building.

Dutch shooting at the pirates on the upper floor

The Dutch musketeers now moved into the farm to reinforce the British who had cleared the ground floor and trying to hold off the Spanish attacking the other side of the building.

Dutch enter the building to support the British

The Spanish had advanced and wiped out another Dutch unit while the fighting continued in the building. This had not been helped when the French joined the fight through the side entrance.

Spanish nearly cross the centre of the table

The end came as the Spanish and the French drove the British and Dutch from the farm, rescuing the captive and recapturing the treasure. In addition, they managed capture the Pirate leader when he tried to sneak away.

So the Franco-Spanish tactic of waiting for the Anglo-Dutch and Pirates to “kick lumps” out of each other and then move in and “pick off” the survivors worked.

A great first game and look forward to the next game. The rules look interesting and give a good game.

Thanks to Paul for organising the game and just waiting for him to finish off the ships 😁.

Mission 5 – Large Airfield

August 23, 2026 The Uncivil Servant02 Hundred Hours, battle-report, wargamingLeave a comment

Playing the last scenario of the North Africa campaign for 02 Hundred Hours.

The SAS raiders were controlled by “Uncle Albert” Julian, Nigel and me, while “Broken Dice” David again controlled the DAK forces. As with the other scenarios the raider players each took a character model and dividing the normal troops between them.

The scenario was a “Large Airfield” the raiders had to destroy the aircraft (1) and as many of the fuel tanks (2) before withdrawing.

To make life more difficult for the raiders the “Alert Level” started on suspicious so we only had a short time to get in position before the alarm would be raised.

The single aircraft was in the middle of the board which would prove a problem later in the game as the German reserves arrived.

The raiders were moving on from the far board edge to avoid crossing the open airfield.

Early moves saw my sergeant move onto the board and hide in the guard box to avoid the patrolling sentries.

Split into three groups the raiders moved on with Nigel and “Uncle Albert” targeting the Fuel Tanks while I had the responsibility of destroying the aircraft with demolition charges.

The raiders crept on making the best use of the terrain to avoid being spotted by the patrolling sentries.

Couple of raiders playing “peek a boo” with the DAK Officer up the road

“Uncle Albert’s” patrol had moved into position in the cover and were awaiting the alarm to be raised before taking action.

As the alarm is raised sub-machine gun fire rips through the night and the first of the sentries goes down.

This was soon followed by more fire from the raiders and another sentry goes down.

On the far side more firing takes out another sentry clearing the way to the Fuel Tanks.

The SAS sergeant has an argument with a dog handler as they round the water tank.

But the handler is taken out and the dog runs off.

The first fuel tank is taken out by the SAS Officer and the patrol moves off to provide support to the centre.

First loss for the raiders as the bren gunner is taken out before he can fire a shot.

The DAK Officer takes out one of the raiders with a pistol shot. Also by now the German reserves were flooding the airfield and all heading for the centre of the board and surrounding the aircraft!

The SAS sergeant bumped into another sentry on the way to the last of the fuel tanks.

But the rest of the SAS patrol had cleared the way by taking out the German guards in the hanger and were advancing on the Fuel tank.

The DAK officer had snuck up on my sergeant but had failed to take him out, but then he was taken out himself by the rest of the patrol.

The SAS sergeant had by now taken out the sentry and was moving towards the Fuel tank.

By now we had decided that we would start to withdraw as our losses are mounting and there was a large number of DAK troops guarding the aircraft. The patrols near the exit points started to withdraw.

A grenade thrown at the fuel tank which exploded in a most spectacular way which killed 5 guards but also one of the SAS raiders. But also just after this we managed to exit the 50% of our troops from the board so we had won the game 😁.

Second target down with spectacular results

It was now time to count up the points for the objectives destroyed

“Uncle Albert” = 5 pts

Bryan (me) = 8 pts

Nigel = 5 pts

This gives us a final total of:

“Uncle Albert” = 15 pts

Bryan (me) = 38 pts

Nigel = 5 pts

Giving a grand total 58 points for the campaign. We didn’t managed to win any medals but we avoided getting demoted and got “mentioned in the local papers” for our activities.

I have to admit that the game can be incredibly frustrating at times but overall it is a brilliant game.

Overall a great laugh with good friends.