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.

First game of Kiss Me Hardy

After playing several naval games using the “Black Seas” rules from Warlord Games we decided that we would give the “Kiss Me Hardy” rules from Too Fat Lardies a go.

During a mighty storm, the French Fleet successfully broke the Royal Navy blockade and have run South to the protected anchorage of Rochelle. However, the huge 3 decker, Commerce d’Marseille was damaged in the storm and had to take refuge in the bay at Saint Neotee.

Repaired, the big 3 decker is now running South, accompanied by the 3rd Rate Tonnant and two Frigates, Gloire and Venus.

The blockading Royal Navy fleet was scattered by the storm but in the subsequent chase, HMS Victory (100 guns) and HMS Ajax (74) and frigates Shannon (40) and Diamond (40) have located the French laggards and are now moving to intercept.

French Objective: Get the Commerce d’Marseille, around Saint Evenage Point and into the safe anchorage at Rochelle.

British Objective: Sink or capture the Commerce d’Marseille. Sinking her will count as a tactical victory. Capturing her will count as a major British victory.

The French fleet sails South with the frigates providing cover.

The Royal Naval frigates move to intercept with Victory and Ajax standing off.

The Royal Navy crash through the French line, pouring fire into the French, which caused the frigate Glorie to strike its colours.

The Tonnant passed between the British frigates and as they sailed away it turned it guns on the Ajax. Damage was done but these ships are tough.

This left the two British frigates chasing the last French frigate which soon struck its colours. However, the Commerce d’Marseille was left staring at two British ships of the line. It turned West into the wind and was becalmed and broadsided by both Victory and Ajax. Even the plucky Tonnant couldn’t help and at this point the game was called as the French were unable to get the Commerce d’Marseille into port and it was being hunted by two British ships of the line.

An interesting game and very different from “Black Seas” in that the movement was more sedate and generally almost all the shooting was at the masts to try and slow ships down. Similar scenarios using the “Black Seas” rules have seen all the shooting at the hull to try and destroy ships as mast hits are more difficult. We did find some issue with using the turning circles on a congested table but already we are looking at alternatives. All appeared to enjoy the game and it is one that will be played again.

Rome teaches Dacia a lesson

With the war correspondent away it was down to his trusty sidekick to take up the typewriter and report on the Roman invasion of Dacia.

The Dacian plan was to hold the right flank behind the river and make the legion come to them, whilst attacking the Auxilia on the Dacian left flank. The Dacian left flank advanced to the river only to find it held by Auxilia and cavalry.

The Dacian cavalry skirmished with the legion, but unfortunately only brought the rubber tipped javelins.

The Roman cavalry attacked on the other flank and managed to get across the river, forcing a warband to retire. The Dacian plan was going awry already.

Especially since Chris had clearly got bored and advanced the Dacian right flank across the river and stared straight at the orderly Roman legion.

With some fine shooting and a bit of luck the Dacians managed to break the Roman line on the left flank.

To help their brothers out the Dacian fanatics attempted to cross the river but the Roman cavalry stood fast and held...

But not for long and we ended up with the unusual sight of a warband chasing the cavalry.

It was starting to look bad for the Romans as the Dacian left flank now turned their attention to the legion. 

However, the Legion marched forward munching their way through the Dacian right flank. Chris possibly now had second thoughts about crossing that river.

The final straw was the Roman cavalry charging down the warband on the left flank, after it had failed in the attempt to drive the cavalry from the hill.

 

2nd Panzer try to take the Bridge at Celles

We played another game of What a Tanker during the 1944 Ardennes offensive with Kampfgruppe von Bohm hoping to take control of the bridge at Celles. However, the British 29th Armoured brigade had other ideas. After abandoning their new toys (Comets) they jumped back into their trusty Shermans.

The British deployed from the North West hoping to cut of the Germans advancing towards the bridge from the East. The British Cromwell and a Sherman raced down the road to take position covering the bridge and the road through Celles, whilst the Firefly and a Sherman headed east to try and get flank shots into the advancing Germans.

The Stug poked its nose around the bend in the road, which drew attention from the Cromwell. First round away and suddenly there was smoke pouring out of the Stug. Strike one to the British.

With the Firefly having no target it now moved to the South to try and outflank the second German tank which was prowling to the South of Celles. The Cromwell crossed the hedge and poked its nose around the corner of the building, only to find itself staring straight at a Panther...

Quickly the driver found reverse and got out of the firing line. However, the Sherman behind the hedge was not so lucky and took some damage from the Panther. With the Firefly advancing to the rear of the Panther the commander decided to charge the British. Unfortunately this didn’t end well with the Sherman getting a flank shot and the Cromwell firing into the rear. Scratch one Panther. Thus ended the German Ardennes advance.

82nd Aiborne try to hold off the Germans

The Germans looked on at the causeway and wondered whether it was a good idea to flood the fields as it now made it difficult for them to push the invaders back into the sea. The Germans deployed two sections and as they got a double phase started to run towards the cover of the woods.

Unfortunately the second section didn’t get into cover and the Americans deployed a section of airborne behind a hedge.

With the Americans getting a double phase it wasn’t looking good for the Germans left out in the open and soon there was a field full of casualties. “Well there goes the plan” muttered the German commander. With only two sections left things were going to be very difficult for the Germans, so they deployed the Somua to hose down the hedge line. Unfortunately this caused few casualties.

The Americans responded by sneaking a bazooka team into the ditch beside the causeway...

and managed to hit the Somua with their first shot. However it did little damage but did force the Germans to deploy their last section into the ditch.

The Germans opened fire and managed to hit everything in the ditch but the bazooka team. The Americans now had a target to shoot at and so they did, causing significant casualties and soon the German section was down to half strength. Meanwhile the German section that had been hiding in the woods pushed forward to the edge...

but immediately drew the attention of the American second section.

This was not a firefight that they were going to win and with the Germans running out of troops and force morale plummeting, the game was called.

Romans Take a Walk in the Forest...

This is another Infamy tale where the Romans decided that the corn in the fields looked ready for collecting. Unfortunately the local Germanic tribes weren’t too happy about the Romans stealing their winter supplies.

The task for the Romans was to collect corn from two of the three fields. This was simple for the first one as this was near where they could deploy, but the other two fields were deep in German territory.

The Roman main force deployed into the field and how they sang as they harvested the corn.

They would soon be singing a different tune as a Germanic warband looked on menacingly.

The Romans advanced to try and hold off the Germans, but another even larger warband turned up on their flank.

“Steady lads”, shouted Centurio Tonius Starkus, “we can hold them here whilst the Numidians flank them”. Unfortunately Adalhard had spotted this and sent a warrior group to head off the Numidians.

The two warbands crunched into the Romans, who hastily formed line but forgot to close up. Buckets of dice were rolled and the Roman line buckled and then broke.

Soon the Romans were running, with only the Legion recruits and the Numidian cavalry able to avert a complete disaster by holding off the flanking warrior group.

The Syrian Coast...a long long time ago

After a break of nearly four weeks our award-winning reporter packed his camera and moved west from Mesopotamia to the Syrian coast in the 12th century BC. The city of Ugarit...or as renamed “Bu**er-it” by Chris, was under attack by the marauding Sea Peoples lead by Goliath of Gath aka Tony. Rob acted as Tony’s deputy having bemoaned his bad luck fighting on the same side as Chris. The Hittite Governor of Carchemish aka Simon has rushed to help local King Ammurapi aka Chris. The battle was fought under the walls of Ugarit.

Chris and Tony had masterminded the deployments. Tony had seemingly “refused” his right wing, leaving quite a gap between his battle line and the walls of Ugarit. However it meant the rest of his line was a sold wall of deep warrior units with a few chariots on his left. Chris had deployed the Syrian/Hittite force across the length of the board. The lightly-armed Syrians were on the left facing Rob and the “refused” flank, while the chariots were allocated and deployed in the centre in “penny packets” between two commands. No chariot Schwerpunkt here! It was a deployment that was either inspired or catastrophically insane...

Tony immediately played his stratagem and three units and a general surged forward two boxes. How Tony!

The whole Hittite line moved forward somewhat daunted by the solid mass of bronze clad warriors charging towards them. Chris tried to move his Syrians around the refused flank but found that light troops die quite easily and even impressive-looking light chariot units only take one hit. Add to that the fact that the Hittite camp was fortified and garrisoned meant turning the flank and taking the camps was going to be a long-shot.

The Hittite stratagem to bring on a flank march unit of spearmen behind the Sea People’s left flank failed miserably when a chariot unit turned, charged it in the flank and destroyed it. Why Chris chose a slow-moving spear unit for this mission was in hindsight very strange. 

In the centre the Sea Peoples got to work with their deep units. Hittites troops died and once again the ability of deep warriors to withstand immense punishment paid dividends. The “free” hero now allocated to warriors was also a useful asset. With no manoeuvre room the elite lance-armed Hittite chariots had no choice but to charge frontally...and die. Chris’ flank attack was going nowhere...

With the Hittites down to five out of fifteen victory medals, and the Sea Peoples having lost a measly two it looked like curtains for Ugarit. However hope was restored when centre command Sea Peoples deep unit was flank charged and destroyed, quickly followed by another on their right. However the hope of a miracle was finally extinguished as yet more Sea People warriors wiped out the raw Syrian arches plus another light chariot unit. With the Syrian army destroyed the Hittite commander wisely withdrew his remaining troops from the field leaving the city of Ugarit to its grisly fate.

Believe it or not it was an enjoyable battle, if only to see Rob happy! The chit pulling certainly favoured the Sea Peoples but that was no excuse.

The battle itself proved historically accurate. Excavations of Ugarit show the destruction layer dating to circa 1190BC, and Egyptian records show that it had certainly been destroyed by 1178BC.

My challenge now is to persuade Tony to buy a New Kingdom Egyptian army which I conservatively estimate at £300...

Simon