Reindeer Wars 2023

We celebrated the 43rd Anniversary of Reindeer Wars with a four day gaming fest at Miniature Market Retail Superstore on Manchester Road.

Leading off the festivities was 6mm Napoleonics using LaSalle rules with Kurt Linke as our GM.

The Allies made up of Austrians, Russians & Bavarians took to the field to face off against an entrenched French force guarding the only bridge across an important river.

It was up to the Allies to force the bridge and they made a valiant attempt attacking from both wings and the center. The French heavily outnumbered but with a better quality of troops did some serious damage to the approaching Austrians (Left) and Russians (Center). It was the Bavarians (Right) with a strong cavalry contingent that made the most progress early on for the allies breaking the French Left flank and starting to roll up the entrenchments near the bridge.

In the end luck was not with the Allies and French reinforcements arriving on both wings sealed the fate of the Allied cause. The day went to the TriColor Flag but while the French held it was at a heavy cost to their command with several artillery & infantry units no longer on the roster.

A Huge Thank You to Kurt for presenting such an interesting scenario with his fantastic looking game table and superbly painted miniatures. All of the players enjoyed this game and look forward to playing more LaSalle in the future.

Wednesday at Reindeer Wars we made a trip to Ukraine in this representation of the conflict in 2014 between Separatists and the Ukrainian Army.

Both sides had a rough road to go as the battle over the crossroads developed. The Separatists started holding the field but were soon greeted by the approaching Ukrainians.

The fighting was intense.

The losses were high on both sides as the battle developed.

Overall a great game with a great looking table. Our Thanks to Dave Schaffner for presenting this scenario at Reindeer Wars 2023.

Dave shares his After Action report and photos with insights as to how he saw the game develop …..

“This game played out differently, and could be characterized as a tale of two fights – the initial reconnaissance was hit hard by fire from the DNR platoon dug in at the crossroad position (with good Separatist activations occurring early in the turn sequencing). Then following the initial ‘shock’ of these losses, the Ukranian players responded well to recover, and continue on with their scouting mission – “END – FIRST CONTACT” chapter.”

“Next in the scenario, was basically the Ukrainian main body forces needing to reduce the crossroad opposition, while also responding to a new threat as an arriving ‘DNR’ (aka Russian) reinforcing column began entering the area – this beginning the second portion of the game – “THE MEETING ENGAGEMENT” chapter.”

“In this fighting, the commander of the remaining, supporting T-64 was able to gain a good overwatch position, to interdict the avenues of approach of the arriving Russian armor. Assisted by early activation opportunities, this allowed the Ukrainian team to defeat the reinforcing Russian elements – “END – FINAL ACTION” chapter, and “MATCH”.“

“I really enjoyed hosting this scenario again, and seeing it well-played as the action unfolded (and to relate here the story told).” And we Thank You, Dave for running such an interesting scenario.

Thursday 12/28 was our third day of Reindeer Wars and we hit it with a bang featuring two great games!

Steve Lowry brought out the big figs and buildings for this recreation of the Battle of Trenton from the American War of Independence.

The Continentals about to provide a “wake-up” call to the sleepy Hessians in the town of Trenton, NJ.

That’s some alarm clock……

Reports are after some tough fighting the day went to the boys in blue as the Hessians were not able to exit may of their forces from the board.

Our second game was a reprise of John Nozka’s Bolt Action “A Bridge Too Far-Poland 1939” from our Warlord Games Day earlier in December.

The set up was to find the Polish sappers coming on from the right and the German assault from the left in what was a race to the bridge.

In the background below you will see a German motorcycle infantry unit on the bridge but pinned by fire from Polish Infantry to the left and a 20mm gun to the right as Sappers move as quickly as possible to achieve their goal of destroying the structure.

Below the Poles threw everything they could as the lead German unit and had great luck with their mortar throughout the game. To the right the Germans move across a foot bridge and down the road we see more troops in gray streaming towards the front.

A bit earlier the troops approaching the foot bridge come under machine gun fire.

In the end the day went to the German team, but not before the Poles inflicted some serious losses. The bridge was intact but damaged by the Sappers and the Poles were forced to fall back.

Our fourth and final day of Reindeer Wars 2023 was on Friday 12/29 and featured a game of American Civil War Ironclads as the Union Navy attempted to force their way past Confederate defenses south of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Steve Lowry treated us to this slightly modified historical event using his hand made 1/1200 ships and Iron & Fire rules.

It was up to the Union Navy to force the issue and the Confederates were ready for them with a well prepared deployment and forts on either side of a partially blocked river channel.

Here we see the Rebel ships heading into the fray. They were not as well armed or armored by made it a tough fight by being aggressive and bottling up the Union assault force. Note the chain across the river blocking part of the channel. The red D6 indicates how long this sinking vessel will remain afloat.

The Rebels took advantage of their strengths ramming several Union wooden ships and causing severe damage to them.

In the end it was declared a draw which likely leaned towards a minor victory for the Rebels.

And thus concludes our Reindeer Wars 2023. We offer a huge Thank You to our stalwart GMs who provided us with interesting scenarios, our players throughout the week who joined us as they could to get into the many games presented and of course to the Superb Staff of Miniature Market Retail Superstore on Manchester Road who were fantastic hosts as always. Everyone’s efforts and participation is greatly appreciated! See you at the game tables in 2024!