Poland 1939

Full of Christmas spirit our reporter headed East and back six years to Poland in 1939. I dusted off an old “Battlegroup Blitzkrieg” scenario, amended it slightly and served it up for the delectation of Greg and Tony. The game was based on a historical Polish counter-attack at Tomaszow Lubelski which saw the elite Warsaw Armoured Motorized Brigade reinforced by the 1st Light Battalion attacking the troops of the German 4th Light Division. Greg took the armour-heavy Poles and Tony and dug-in Germans. In defiance of the cost-of-living crisis Tony supplied some truly excellent Marks and Spencer mince pies, and I provided warming hot drinks. I wasn’t going to have the heating costing me money!

Tony dug in two sections of infantry covering the centre and north of the table, with a PAK 36 emplaced also covering the exposed centre.

Greg rolled his orders dice and got off to an awful start for the Poles. A double one for orders. Indeed, the opening moves saw a total of five double ones rolled and other low scores which rather stymied the Polish attack. At one stage it looked as if the Germans may begin a counter-attack against the numerically inferior Polish forces on-table. Things picked up marginally for the Poles when their pre-planned 105mm artillery strikes the German positions killing most of an Mg34 team and pinning other troops. Greg’s frustration with the orders finally reached breaking point and he refused to use the allotted blue Peter Pig dice and changed two red dice. The result was 10 orders plus officers...

The main Polish attack seemed to be through the rough ground along the north edge of the table, and the similar terrain to the south.

Tony played a canny game of using suppressing fire to pin units and force Greg to draw chits to re-activate them, thus degrading force morale. However, Greg got lucky drawing several “air attack” and “breakdown” chits rather than “numbers”. But soon blazing Polish tankettes and an armoured car also littered the table,

only killing one PzII in reply.

Greg’s chit count mounted as he continued to un-pin units, and Tony now started to use a mixture of suppression fire and direct fire to kill units. One Polish infantry team routed when it was pinned and then failed its morale check.

Greg was sure the Poles were doomed, but gallantly pressed on. His armour and infantry managed to wipe a German dug-in infantry section, and the Vickers Es also knocked out a second Panzer II and the heroically annoying Sdkfz222 armoured car.

Artillery fire finally killed the Mg34 team who had hung-on grimly since being decimated in turn three, and a lunatic bayonet charge across open ground saw the Poles wipe out Tony’s platoon command unit and break the German morale. A close run thing as Greg was also close to breaking point.

Both Greg and Tony declared it a “good game”, and said they enjoyed it. As with most BG “Blitzkrieg” games this was a real “combined arms” encounter, and not the seeming tank-fest of the later years of WW2. The tanks don’t dominate, artillery is important but not battle-winning and the infantry have a real role to play. The game could easily have gone the other way if Greg had drawn “numbered” chits early in the game, but he didn’t! That’s one of the fun or frustrating aspects of “Battlegroup”, depending on your point of view. As ever we found a few oddities in the rules. The German 50mm mortar at one stage seemed a battle-winning weapon, and the rules and data cards had different interpretations of their use and effectiveness. I was also baffled by the potency of the Polish Vickers E’s 47mm gun. Knowing that it was a short, low-velocity gun, and to quote Osprey’s Polish Armour of the Blitzkrieg, the Poles found “the performance...disappointing”, I was amazed to find it has the same anti-armour performance as the high velocity 37mm Bofors the Poles selected for their own 7TP design. I also see that in BG Blitzkrieg the 7TP costs less than the Vickers E. Something is definitely not right here!

Saturday afternoon sees our reporter packed off to sunnier climes in Southern Italy during the 3rd Servile War for a large game of TTS.I can’t wait!

Simon

Secrets of the 3rd Reich meets Xenos Rampant

So, from Abbeville in France 1940, our intrepid reporter just had to move several hundred miles and five years in time to “somewhere in Germany 1945”. With the arrival of “Xenos Rampant” I had volunteered to run a trial game using Greg and Tony as guinea pigs, plus I could dust-off my long-neglected “Secrets of the 3rd Reich“ figures and terrain. I read the rules quite carefully and wrote-up a crib-sheet as an addition to the fairly sketchy Osprey QRS which I downloaded from their website. Phil also kindly sent his more professionally produced QRS.

I used two of the set German and US forces from the rulebook, and the “snatch the VIP” scenario. A German scientist was hiding in an abandoned research facility. The American OSS were trying to locate him and the local German Werewolves trying to stop them. Greg had to pull out, so I took the Germans leaving Tony with the Yanks. Chris also popped in to see how things were going.

The scientist was placed as per the scenario in the centre of the board and Tony’s forces raced onto the table. His Command Group moved quickly in their half-track, and his OSS team used their “infiltrator” attribute to make a pre-game 12” move which allowed them to take the “high ground” of part of the complex in turn one. Things already looked tough for the Krauts.

I moved my sniper squad into a bunker from where they began to fire at the American infantry. The Hitler Youth, in this case my Pulp Nazi female figures, took cover in some undergrowth as did the Heer unit.

Soon the game had degenerated into a brutal firefight. Our two “large” units traded fire with the Yanks taking casualties. Tony’s OSS proved almost impossible to target and kill being in cover and benefitting from the “Hard to Target” skill. No German unit seemingly wanted to close within 12” to shoot. The one that finally did regretted it.

Eventually I managed to get off a Panzerfaust shot against the M3 Half-track which had deployed its team. Pretty useless. Tony now had the scientist and was hustling him to the rear. 

Time for the Germans to counter-attack. As the “SS Assassins” advanced in open, skirmish order they found the Yank flamethrower squad hiding in cover. Disaster! 

With four of the five men burnt to a crisp the survivor raced off the board in panic. Counter fire from other German units killed two of the squad but their morale held. When the final German fire forced the American “large unit” to retreat I conceded to Tony, as their withdrawal only helped his forces back to where they wanted to go.

After the battle Tony and I chewed things over. Our overall verdict was “OK but nothing special”. Playing with 28mm figures on a 4’ x 4’ table the ranges can look a bit weird, so we think they would play better with 15mm. We don’t think we got much if anything wrong, but probably missed some of the subtleties which were buried in unit -specific “special rules”. It is clear from reading them that they are aimed at the gamers who love pulling bespoke forces together with special skills and options, plus leaders with varying characteristics. Most of the book is devoted to assembling your forces and from memory the rules take only 30 of the circa 190 page count. Not quite my cup of tea but I acknowledge it has its place in the gaming pantheon. Actually somewhere near the bottom cleaning out the Augean stables. I think they will appeal to Chris...

Simon

France 1940 - The allies counter-attack

On a bitterly cold Sunday morning our reporter arrived in an unfamiliar location. The Lost Ark Game shop in deepest Stevenage. Taking advantage of an offer from John Leggett to come in and use their 8 x 6’ table, I had arranged a Battlegroup Blitzkrieg game set in June 1940 near Abbeville, on the River Somme. Unlike most France 1940 games, this would not see rampaging grey Panzers, but rather an attack by gaudily camouflaged French armour supported by a more soberly painted British force. The scenario saw the French 2nd DCR supported by the 11th Hussars and Queens’ Bays trying to fight through the German 57th Infantry Division to capture the bridges over the Somme and hopefully counter-attack the German forces to the west of the Dunkirk salient. The terrain was taken from Google Earth and was as representative as I could make it, with a flat rolling centre and the small villages of St Maxent, Warcheville and Onicourt lying on the flanks. Chris and Greg took the infantry heavy and well dug-in Germans, with Phil taking the French and Tony the British. The ORBATs had been slightly “tweaked” from history in order to help with game balance.

The game started with Tony moving his armour up the road towards Warcheville.

His infantry commander debussed into a house no doubt to reconnoitre. Disaster. It was booby-trapped and the resultant explosion saw one dead and a “pin”. Chris’ dug-in PAK36 and Pzjager I both opened up at long range and unsurprisingly missed. Phil, suffering from poor command and control moved his mechanised infantry up the road from St Maxent, and his mighty CharBs rolled across the open fields south-west of the village.

Greg’s dug-in ’88 opened fire and missed, but his 105mm howitzers put their PRTP to good use in inflicting pins on the carrier.

Turn 2 saw Phil’s CharBs pour suppressing howitzer fire onto the ’88 position, and Greg regretting not using his surplus orders from turn one to put units on “opportunity fire”. On the allied left Tony kept up his relentless advance in true cavalry style. As he manoeuvred two A9s across a ploughed field there was a loud explosion. He had driven straight into a minefield. Cue one dead tank, and the other sitting immobile and exposed.

Turn three saw the allies launch a co-ordinated, planned artillery barrage across the German line. The main results were a dead Mg34 team and a loader team but the German BR chits were starting to accumulate. Tony also continued to pour more armour up the road and through the fields, headed by light Vickers MkVIs. Chris responded by charging a MkVI with his infantry and despatching it with anti-tank grenades. It was all getting very bloody and messy. Things became even bloodier when up the road charged the British infantry platoon in their light trucks. The bemused German infantry poured fire into the convoy and soon all three trucks were ablaze with their infantry crouching beside them seeking cover.

Back with the French Phil had managed to swing some of his H39s into action and together with the remaining infantry they began to wear the Germans down.

Chris too was suffering on the German left and as his Stug and Pzjager I continued to fire ineffectually they both succumbed to the mighty 2pdrs of the British armour. His senior leader was also forced to flee when his Horch staff car was destroyed by a rampaging MkVI.

Both German forces were nearing exhaustion. The French were still in good shape but the British too had taken quite a battering thanks to the lunatic infantry platoon. However, they still had plenty of armour and off-table artillery support. Greg finally got lucky as his ’88 killed two Char Bs in a single turn but both German forces both broke, leaving the table to the allies. Greg’s second to last token was an “air attack” but even this only resulted on a rather ineffective Me109 strafing attack. Where were the Stukas when you needed them!

The game had lasted 6 turns and 4 hours, including a lunch break which saw the Banks and Tony disappear for a noodle-based lunch. History had been rewritten as back in 1940 the Germans had held the Allies. Even then it had been a close-run-think with the Allies running out of impetus and ideas, plus poor co-ordination and mechanical breakdowns. With this latter point in mind I now realise that In hindsight I forgot the “unreliable” rule that applied to the British A9s and A13s, and Tony who also possessed a copy of “Blitzkrieg” either hadn’t read the rule or “conveniently” forgot it!. If Chris had drawn any BR1 chits he could have played them on Tony’s armour as “breakdowns”. It may have made a slight difference.

Many thanks go to John and Lost Ark for hosting us again and supplying tea and coffer plus warmth. We will be back!

Simon

Spectre – 1st game

OK, having purchased a copy of the Spectre modern skirmish rules, in their recent sale, I decided to try these out, with Greg’s help.

No modern skirmish game of mine can really do without some zombies! However, they only featured indirectly here. The background to the story was that a group of 8 local hoods / ne’er-do-wells ( classed as “Militia”, armed with Assault Rifles) had ambushed an ambulance carrying critical virus samples. They had then taken these back to their compound, hoping to ransom these samples back to the authorities.

However, unknown to the hoods, the sample case had a tracking device and a Delta hit team (a 4 man “Professional Soldier” force, with Assault Rifles, a Combat shotgun, a LAW and a couple of grenades!) had trailed the hoods back to their compound. Pausing briefly to launch a recon drone, the Delta team moved in to breach the compound. However, after successfully breaching the compound fence, the Delta team tripped the home made zombie alarm belonging to the hoods! Game on!

Game 1

The Delta team inserted behind the abandoned workshop, splitting left and right. The hoods divided into two teams, also headed down each side of the workshop, from the opposite direction. However, the right hand hood team was quickly reduced to 2 “supressed” men, by a well placed grenade from the Delta team. These two surviving hoods quickly fell back to the shack.

The right hand hood team then switched attack avenue, managing to wing one of the left hand Delta team and then dashing into the workshop. They then charged out of the far end of the workshop, in tactical stance, losing one of their number in exchange for one of the Delta team. However, the surviving Delta team member managed to eliminate 2 more of the hoods, before being gunned down by the gang leader.

The left hand Delta team had meantime flanked the workshop, killing one of the 2 retreating hoods sheltering behind the shack. They then started to flank the shack itself, via a small shanty cabin, to the side of the main shack. This forced the last member of the shack defence hoods to try to flank round behind the Delta team, but he was rapidly gunned down, as he advanced on the 2 Delta team members. At this point the gang leader decided it was time to leave!

Game 2

Deciding the cover was better at the other side of the compound, the Delta team entered the compound, behind the abandoned school bus, splitting left & right, in two man teams.

The hoods also then split into two, 4 man teams, flanking out far left & right, attempting to gain overlapping fire positions on the Delta team. However, all they really succeeded in doing, was losing a man in each team, while also resolving the moral dilemma of maintaining ‘cohesion’ with a fallen & ‘bleeding out’ team member! So long sucker!?

The Delta team then got rough, unleashing the LAW into the rusting convertible, where the gang leader & 2 surviving goons were sheltering. The LAW itself did little damage, the shock effects of this and accurate suppressing fire from the Delta Team lead, first suppressed the gang leader’s team, before killing the gang leader & leaving his two associates bleeding out.

This forced the right hand hood team to return back toward the shack and the valuable sample case, but a series of lost initiative rolls (to be fair Militiamen ‘Command’ ratings are only 2!), saw the Alpha Delta team dispatch the remaining hoods, with advancing fire, capturing one of the hoods alive, for interrogation about how they knew about the samples in the first place!?

Overall, a quick, brutal modern skirmish game, but with about the right feel to it. The Cohesion distances seem a tad small (3” for “Professional” soldiers?) and cover modifiers need a little thought, but worthy of further outings. As games are also short & brutal, the presence of a Game Master or Umpire, seems a good idea.

Kiss Me Hardy – Evergreen

The French have been having some success before the Lines of Torres Vedras in Portugal & the natives are getting restless and need to be fed! The merchant vessel Evergreen has been commissioned to take vital supplies to Lisbon, escorted by the frigate HMS Surprise and the Carronade Brig Defender.

However, French spies have learned of the mission and plan to intercept & sink or take the merchant vessel. Two frigates, La Némésis & Hermione, are lurking to the East of Point Teless head, while the Brig Génie is waiting to the South, in case the British try to sneak in that way.

The British sloop Sealark has been scouting ahead of the merchant vessel & her escorts and sights the two French frigates!

The French frigates quickly moved toward the South West, to try to cut off the British route to the South East. The schooner Sealark bravely crossed the bows of the French frigates, to disrupt their attack, but suffered badly as she emerged into the Port broadside arc of La Némésis.

However, HMS Surprise used the opportunity of Sealark’s brave attack, to move into a windward position, to engage both French frigates. This allowed the merchant vessel Evergreen to sneak across, just to the South of Point Teless head, thus staying well to windward of the two French frigates. It also allowed Defender to slip around the rear of the bigger French frigates.

While HMS Surprise’s elite crew was trading pretty equal blows with the two French frigates, the French Brig Génie attempted to work-up from the South, but she quickly suffered from well aimed damage from the little guns of Sealark & the unengaged battery of Surprise. Génie struck her colours, but Sealark had paid a heavy price, with all guns now out of action.

While the Frigates continued to slug it out, Defender had managed to wear around the rear of Herminone, into a perfect rear rake position! Her carronades wreaking terrible damage, bringing down masts and upending guns! (Double dice for carronades & double dice for the rear rake!!).

With the merchant vessel Evergreen now sailing away to Windward, the French Commodore decided to call off the attack. Another win for the British.

This game was run using Too Fat Lardies “Kiss Me Hardy” rules, with the small ships “To Covert Glory” adaptation & my own modified turning templates. Also ranges were increased by 50%, to better suit the Black Seas 1:700 scale ships.

To the Strongest in Sicily 1040AD

Having travelled from the dusty northern plain of India in 1857, our man was quite looking forward to an assignment to the beautiful island of Sicily in 1040AD. Despite having signed a peace treaty with Fatimid Egypt in 1037, the cunning Emperor Michael IV has sent troops to Muslim Sicily to fight in the civil war that has erupted between the Fatimid Governor and the rebels backed by the Algerian Zirid dynasty. Could George Maniarches recapture Sicily which had been lost to Christianity for over one hundred years?

Tony and myself took the Byzantines, with Chris and Phil the Fatimids. The deployment by both armies was quite traditional with infantry heavy centres and cavalry and lights on the flanks. However close inspection did reveal subtle differences. The Byzantine infantry were “deep” with extra bow, the Muslims elite Auxilia and separate bow, plus the Byzantines double armed with lance and bow.

The Fatimids advanced rapidly using their bowmen to pepper the Byzantine infantry with arrows, but to little avail. With slightly more units as “deep” are quite expensive in points, the Fatimids also managed to slip light cavalry around the flanks.

 

Tony reacted with a light infantry attack which forced the Fatimids off the table. First coin to the Byzantines, and Tony was able to follow up with his own flanking breakthrough.

 

 

My forces were fixated on the enemy to their front, plus were determined to use up their allocation of arrows. They rather ignored Phil’s lights creeping towards the flank. Eventually my cavalry did manage to kill a Muslim cavalry unit, plus their General. Tony killed some more cavalry and swept away light javelinmen. All was looking good for the Byzantines with the Muslims down to five coins.

However “ones best plan never survives first contact with the enemy”, and that assumed we had a plan. Whilst out making coffee I heard plaintiff cries as one of my cavalry units died, and the loss of the General had little effect on a Fatimid force now comprised solely of light troops. Tony was unable to capitalise on his flanking attack, being frustrated by the Muslim veteran light javelinmen, whilst in the centre the Muslim infantry finally scored multiple disorders on a unit of spear and bow. Both Byzantine camps now fell to Phil’s rampaging light cavalry, with my attempt to turn and face them being “too little too late”.

 

Tony lost a cavalry unit and finally, following some deft handling of the veteran Auxiliaries to move a disordered unit out of the line and replace with a fresh one, the resultant Islamic charge killed the “deep” unit of Byzantine infantry which saw the final three Byzantine coins surrendered to the forces of Islam. 

In the post-match interview I had to admit the loss of the camps was down to me, although the camps were behind Tony’s centre. Command confusion and bickering in the Byzantine high command? How historically accurate! Back in the real world of 1040 the Byzantines were more successful but fell out with their Norman mercenaries who rebelled and most territorial gains were lost. Michael IV became ill, retreated to a monastery and died in 1041. His son and successor Michael V lasted only a year before himself being blinded and packed off to a monastery by his mother-in-law. No mother-in-law jokes please!

Next week our reporter takes a well-earned break having been invited to dinner by a Frenchman...

No doubt a report on the 1940 Abbeville game scheduled for December 11th will follow in due course.

Simon