A taste of 1940's 'O' Group

After being all at sea we decided to return to the land and try out “O Group” again using Phil’s very nice minis and terrain. We played the third scenario from the recently released 1940 Handbook from Reisswitz Press. As we didn’t quite have the correct minis for this scenario we just went with a German 1st rate battalion and a French 2nd rate battalion, both with some support.

The initial French attack on the left and right flanks went well and on the left they managed to get a platoon into the woods on the hill overlooking both the farm and the village of Montcornet. The single German platoon in the walled field next to the farm was looking decidedly outnumbered, although the FOO in Montcornet was doing a sterling job of providing fire support, thus keeping the heads down of the platoon in the field next to the T-junction.

The French advance on the right soon stalled as the Germans deployed the whole company, thwarting any outflanking move. The French pushed their troops forward on the left and managed to push the platoon out of the walled field, although some Germans appeared in the farm and stalled this advance.

Soon the French platoons on their left flank were starting to take casualties and/or were suppressed. At this point the French armour turned up only to be ambushed by a PaK 36. A hit and one severly shocked tank crew. The second tank drove off the road and headed towards the fields. In response the Germans deployed some Panzer IIIs and soon both French tanks were knocked out. At this point the game was called as it was time for me to head back North and the French were looking very unlikely to take their consolidation point and the German armour was looking very menacing.

'O' Group in Normandy

Today we played our second game of 'O' Group. The British were attacking with objectives as marked (1), (2) & (3). The junctions at 1 & 2 are the Phase 1 objectives and the bridge at 3, a Phase 2 objective.

The British pushed up a single platoon on the right to occupy La Haye and another platoon on the left to occupy the woods. However, the Germans were very aggressive and managed to suppress the attack on the left...

and quickly followed up with a close assault which pushed the Brits out of the woods. The Brits pushed up a second platoon on their right and managed to suppress the defending German platoon.

With mortars raining down on La Haye the Brits brought up a couple of Honeys which were quickly dispatched by an ambushing PaK.

With the British attack on the right bogging down the main thrust moved back to the left with a single platoon managing to capture Foy. The Brits brought up some reserve armour but these immediately came under fire from a couple of Panzer IVs.

Although they had captured the objective things were not looking good as the solitary platoon was surrounded by Germans and suppressed. 

At this point the game was called as we had run out of time.

The British attack on the right had been held off and although they had captured the objective of Foy their position was precarious to say the least.

'O' Group, a test game

Today we played a test game of the new 'O' Group rules from Reisswitz Press as a rules learning experience. The game was set in Normandy and had a British battalion of three companies attacking a German battalion also of three companies.

The Germans were in the North with the British attacking from the South. The British 1st phase objectives were the crossroads for B Company on the right and the built up area on the left for A company. B company's 2nd phase objective was the built up area on the German left. A company's 2nd phase objective was the bridge on the German right.

The British started off with three infantry platoons deployed, but the Germans had no on table assets. The British won the initiative and advanced infantry and combat patrols and managed to remove one of the German combat patrols, leaving a bit of a gap in their line. However, the Germans deployed an infantry platoon into the built up area to their left and immediately opened fire on the British platoon that was advancing on them. The platoon was very quickly suppressed and eventually lost a section. The Germans also brought on their MkIV tanks to help hold this sector.

In response the British brought on a couple of Cromwells but the defenders of the built up area were proving difficult to dislodge. 

As B company's advance was grinding to a halt it was decided that the main attack should shift to A company. However, the Germans were defending tenaciously and the British platoon in the centre woods was pushed back. The British advanced a platoon into the woods on the left, removing a German combat patrol. At the same time they deployed two Churchills which advanced down the road to try and support the troops in the woods. As one Churchill rounded the corner it ran headlong into a 75mm PaK round, which damaged the tank. The tank fired back causing some shock on the PaK crew.

Final image shows where we had gotten to as we finished, with the Germans holding off the infantry/tank attack on their left, but with the British infantry starting to outflank them on their other side of the table.

I am sure we got a few things wrong or forgot about but as this was a test game to learn the rules everyone involved was happy with the experience although one person might have enjoyed it more if they had bought the rules.

As regards future Zoom 'O' Group games, the 'to do' list includes,

Create some infantry platoon tags (one per platoon to highlight the platoon position)
Create force lists, with a deployed location record column (which can also be used for ambush locations).
Look at a way to make the battalion HQ order totals clearer (bigger dice)?