SHarp Practice: Il ponte sul fiume (noto anche come il grande rotta napoletana)

With Andy and Jack indisposed last week Phil and I decided to take a break from matters WW2 and dusted off our Italian forces for a quick north vs south 85pt Sharp Practice scrap. Quick turned out to be a bit of an understatement!

The mission was a straight forward encounter between Phil's Neapolitans and my Kingdom of Italy armies, tasked with capturing a vital bridge and seeing off any enemy forces they encountered. The Neapolitan Chevaulegers de la Garde Royale deployed first and cantered swiftly down the road towards the bridge.

Unfortunately for them the Italian Volteggiatori of the 1° Reggimento Fanteria Leggera managed to move swiftly through the forest to a position overlooking the road, muskets primed waiting for the cavalry.

Phil tried to counter this by moving his line Volteggiatori up opposite the Italian light infantry.

Behind the 1° Reggimento Fanteria Leggera Italian line Volteggiatori pushed through the woodland in support...

As two columns of Neapolitan Fucilieri marched onto the field of battle!

A move mirrored by a column of Kingdom of Italy Fucilieri who entered on the opposite side of the table.

The Chevaulegers de la Garde Royale boldly cantered forward...

Towards the waiting muskets of the 1° Reggimento Fanteria Leggera!

In an effort to help, the Neapolitan skirmishers started to fire at the Italian Light Infantry Volteggiatori opposite, but to little effect...

The green-uniformed Volteggiatori took aim at the Chevaulegers de la Garde Royale -  one close range volley inflicting enough Shock on the cavalry to make them fall back and lick their wounds for the remainder of the battle!

Seeing the Neapolitans marching down the road towards them the Kingdom of Italy Fucilieri deployed into an attack column!

Rashly the Neapolitan Fucilieri column decided to charge the Italians - but came up short...

On the flank of the columns the Italian line infantry Volteggiatori joined their light infantry colleagues in skirmishing against their Neapolitan counter-parts...

Whilst the Italian attack column bore down on the Neapolitan Fucilieri...

In a desperate move the Neapolitan force commander challenged the Italian to a duel (which was a bit unsporting as he was on a horse!) The first round of sword play saw the Italian lightly wounded, but two more rounds were inconclusive so honour was shared.

Avanti con la baionetta! The Italian attack column smashed into the Neapolitan Fucilieri!

Two brave men of the north fell, but the Neapolitans were battered, one group broke, the formation broken, excess Shock taken - Phil's Force Morale took a hammering...

Belatedly, as usual, the Italian Granatieri arrived with the battle almost won.

Although Andy was not with us, I channeled his 'reckless tactical spirit' and charged the Italian line Volteggiatori into the Neapolitans facing them,

The Gods of War(gaming) were clearly with me in the subsequent Fisticuffs!

Whatever Italian is for "they don't like it up 'em" it certainly applied here...

As the remaining Neapolitan broke and were last seen running back to Naples as fast as they could!

The game lasted just 50 minutes and we were down the pub by 8.30pm!

Armoured Storm: Ding dong at El Ramalama...

Over the last few months Phil has enjoyed playing the odd game of Armoured Storm against me and Andy, and after several victories as the Deutsches Afrika Korps expressed an interest in trying out an Italian force(!) After painting one up it was time to see how well they'd fare against the might of the 8th Army...

The scenario postulated the Italians retreating after El Alamein with the British hot on their heels and then finding their route to safety cut off by a small British armoured force outside the Egyptian village of El Ramalama.

The rulebook did not include the stats for two of the Italian AFV's I had painted up so using a vague comparison to other tanks in Armoured Storm I came up with these.

West of El Ramalama two troops of Matilda IIs deployed to try and cut off the Italian retreat...

Their M13/40s making haste towards the mirage of safety...

One Italian platoon to the south of the main road, two to the north.

The southern platoon soon came up against a troop of Matildas...

With a second British troop deployed on a hill to the north of El Ramalama...

...watching the Italian armour trundling towards them.

Blimey! More Italian armour - a platoon of Semovente 75/18s! They pack a punch...

Battle is joined south of the village as close quarters as the M13/40s crest the ridge and exchange fire with the British tanks. One Italian brewed up and two were damaged (and unable to now fire until repaired), but critically one Matilda was also damaged reducing the British firepower by 25%.

The short range battle continued seeing the damaged Matilda succumb to Italian tank fire whilst the two damaged M13/40s were destroyed...

Another exchange of fire saw the Italians wiped out - but at the cost of a second Matilda. This left only two British tanks on the southern flank...

As the powerfully armed Semoventes advanced towards them!

To the north another M13/40 platoon pushed forward...

Cresting the hill they poured fire into a Matilda which brewed up!

The aggressive Italians moving into close range then taking out the remaining Matildas! The northern flank was now undefended! 

To the south the Semoventes pushed forward...

Past the burning hulks of their comrades towards the remaining two British tanks - where were the British who had been chasing the Italians?

Huzzah! The chasing Crusaders arrived, bombing down the road trying to catch the Italians up.

The third M13/40 platoon moved past the minefield to the undefended northern flank. Could they reach safety before the Crusaders caught them up?

Fast tanks, the Crusaders were able to move 50% more on a road than the Italians. Would that be enough to catch them up?

Probably not so the British lead troop took a short cut through the minefield(!) one of the Crusaders hitting a mine and becoming damaged. Despite this desperate gambit the two M13/40 platoons north of the village were too near safety to be caught and escaped.

Meanwhile to the south the Semoventes got in amongst the two remaining Matildas and brewed both of them up! The British delaying force was now all wiped out, it would be up to the pursuing Crusaders to stop the retreating Italians.

A platoon of CV3/33 CC tankettes who had been left behind but made a reckless charge against a third troop of Crusaders...

Forcing them to fall retreat so the tankettes didn't get into an effective close range!

Back at El Ramalama the Crusaders burst through the village in a desperate attempt to catch the Semoventes...

But their fire was ineffective and the Semoventes 75/18s joined the two M13/40 platoons in escaping the British trap!

Another fun game of Armoured Storm which certainly rewarded Phil's aggressive approach with the Italians - there was no point trying to engage the heavily armoured Matildas at range, you need to get in close and personal! I was a tad unlucky in my secret roll as to what turn the chasing Crusaders would turn up as it proved impossible for them to catch the Italians up, if we rerun the scenario I might have them appear from the northern roads to make it more challenging for the retreating Italians.