Battle of Derna game Video

To cap off our series commemorating the 250th Birthday of the US Marine Corps, we’re featuring a wargame run by Pete Panzeri, recreating the Battle of Derna in April, 1805.

Derna stands on the coast of what is today Libya, then the Tripoli province of the Ottoman Empire and for centuries an open haven for high seas piracy. During the First Barbary War of 1801-1805, the US Marines mounted their first overseas expedition and at Derna, they’d raise the American flag over foreign soil for the first time.

The moment is commemorated in the Marines’ Hymn to this day, with the opening line, “From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli.”

We’re back to finish up our 15mm wargame recreating some of the opening action in the Battle of Nasiriyah.
(recently played with the South Florida Miniature Games Club)

John’s Marines are doing well leveraging their superior firepower, but he’s running out of time to cross the table and reach his objective.

Mark’s Iraqis are also cooking up some nasty surprises with off-board artillery, and of course he still has his IEDs.

Yes, the Marines WILL win the battle … but will they break through in time, without losing too many units?

Join us at the South Florida Miniatures Game Club for a 15mm recreation of the Battle of Nasiriyah, one of the opening engagements of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March, 2003.

The system on the table is Seven Days to the River Rhine by Great Escape Games, adapted to include A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, AH-1W Super Cobras, and Improvised Explosive Devices so infamous during the Iraq War. T

he scenario features “Task Force Tarawa” – a Marine battlegroup heavily engaged in the early stages of this battle. Thus, this episode adds to our ongoing series commemorating the upcoming 250th Birthday of the US Marine Corps.

We had a great game of Seven Days to the River Rhine yesterday at Das Krieg Haus, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Presented in 15mm, the scenario was designed to recreate part of the Battle of Nasiriyah, an engagement during the opening days of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March, 2003. In summary, an American Army unit (507th Maintenance Company) had strayed into the AO of the Iraqi 6th Armored Division, Third Corps, where they were pinned down with heavy casualties. Elements of Task Force “Tarawa,” 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, were tasked with breaking through Iraqi forces to relieve the 507th.

The game included new house rules for IEDs. American victory conditions were to get one third of their break points off the north edge of the table along the Nasiriyah Highway, while keeping at least a third on the table to hold open a path of reinforcement or possible fall back. This had to be accomplished by the end of Turn 5. Iraqis victory conditions were to prevent the Marine mission.

I might be the slowest painter in the hobby today, given that it’s taken me since last Christmas to finally finish 66 20mm Middle East Militia figures from Caesar Miniatures.

Hey, if I didn’t make it part of the channel’s production, I’d have NEVER gotten these guys done.

What projects do you have hung up in painting limbo?

We’re back to finish up our speculative wargame, taking some guesses at how  British armored forces might perform in a potential future conflict in Estonia.

In Part 1, we saw the British seize key terrain early on, forcing the Russians to assault entrenched defensive positions.  But rather than attack the British head-on, the Russians flanked them to the north — and when the British responded, the Russians also struck in the south and center, forcing the British into some very tough decisions.

Can the British hold against the onslaught?  Or will Russian numbers pry them off their objectives?

Once again we take our wargames into the near future, with a look at what Britain’s armored forces could possibly look like on tomorrow’s battlefield.

The scenario is Estonia in 2028-2030. Having closed the Ukraine War and taken a pause to recover, the Russians now push into the Baltic States. Here, Britain’s “Operation Cabrit” force finds itself amidst an Article V NATO response, deployed to check one of the spearheads of the 1st Guards Tank Army.

Using unclassified technical data, I’ve put together a “guestimated” Panzer Leader force including Britain’s upcoming armored vehicle programs like the Ares, Ajax, Boxer, and Challenger 3. Heavily outnumbered by older Russian equipment, will the Kings Royal Hussars and Yorkshire Regiment hold out against the 27th Motor Rifle Brigade?

Once more we step into the boots US Marines of yesteryear with a wargame set in the historic Battle of Belleau Wood.  They system is “Tactical Combat” – presented by Mark Ritchie in 15mm.

Belleau Wood was a ferocious battle in the last year of World War I, part of the Aisne Counterattack that stalemated Ludendorff’s Blücher Offensive toward Paris.  The most famous part of the battle was fought between Marines of the 4^th Marine Brigade (5^th and 6^th Marine Regiments) and the Germans (technically many of the troops were Bohemian in ancestry) of 237^th Infantry Division.

Belleau Wood stands beside places like Iwo Jima, Khe Sanh, and Chapultepec, iconic milestones in the history of the Marine Corps, part of the bedrock of their history and traditions to this day.