A Poke in the Eye - Tank Action

 With a spare hour or two, Will and I decided to play a quick WW2 armoured engagement.  Sides and units were decided by dice throws. I sniggered inwardly as I got a German force and even more so as I was given some Panzer IVs, a Stug III platoon and some heavy armoured cars.  Will ended up with the Soviets, mostly T-34 76s, some amoured cars and a handful of T-34 85s.  This should be a walk over methinks.

The two forces were placed on a table of rolling open eastern European countryside.  

My plan was to bring my tanks up to a ridge and pick off his tanks as they emerged into the open ground. My Stugs sat poised behind the rise in front of them.

 The PZ IVs moved up in support:

My first success was the elimination of a BT-7 light tank, using my Stug tank destroyers:

As my plan unfolded my armour deploys onto the crest to take on the exposed soviets:

But my tanks are not shooting well and one of my Stugs is hit.

However, a T-34 is also taken out, but a PZ IV that joins the battle burns on the ridge:

Then things go bad for the Germans.  The dice gods are not friendly as round after round bounce off the soviet armour.  All the while German tanks are slammed by 76 and 85mm rounds. Soon the German defence of the ridge is defeated, with half of my tank force on fire and the Soviets continue to advance:

Suddenly it is all over, the Germans are defeated 6-2 and withdraw the remnants of the force to lick their wounds.  

All of the model tanks were Roco Minitanks, apart from some 3D printed Armoured cars.  The rules used were my own home grown 'Tank Action' rules, which I have explained elsewhere on this blog.

Battle Report - Russia 1943

 Will and I played a quick tank battle, involving a few German and Soviet tanks.  I had six PzIVs and Will seven T-34s, two of which were armed with the longer 85mm gun.  We used my own 'Tank Action' rules which I have posted on this blog before.

The setting is a rural area with a river running across the centre and a key bridge (Bellona Bridge!).  there is also a ford.  Terrain consists of a small village, some low hills and a few small woods, seen here from the German end:

And the soviet end:

Both sides, out of effective range, moved into firing positions, with the Germans closing on the bridge and the soviets occupying the high ground near the village and the village itself:

Soon the tanks were close enough for some long range shots which were largely ineffective, but first blood came for the Soviets, which saw a PzIV brewing up from an 85mm round:

German revenge came quickly and a T-34/85 was destroyed:

The battle see sawed backwards and forwards as the Germans held a line along the river and the Soviets edged forwards.  The Soviets had more success, bringing two tanks up to the ford, knocking out another of the panzers:

However the germans were now in strong positions where they could engage the Soviet tank side armour. The Soviet success in crossing the ford was short lived as a 75mm round penetrated the armour of a T-34:

The soviet tanks continued to edge forwards and soon they had a tank on the bridge:

The battle raged around the bridge, with the soviet tanks moving around the flanks and engaging the Germans at close range.  Soon there were tanks burning across the field:

In the end the Soviets ran out of steam with just one operational tank remaining.  The germans had just two.  Whilst judged to be a German victory they were in no shape to carry on and would not be able to defend the bridge without reinforcement.

A fun game and another chance to play test my tank battle rules:

A Two Bob Battle - Eastern Front 1943

Yesterday Bob Black and his wife Sue paid a visit, and after a light lunch and extensive wargaming discussion the two Bobs settled down for a short wargame.  

I was keen to play test my 'Tank Action' rules, which are an adaptation of Charles Grant's rules from his book 'Battle'.  Movement and firing distances have been converted into hexes and and the whole armoured section is laid out on one side of A4. Here are the rules:

The battle takes place on the Eastern front in 1943, with the Soviets exploiting gains following the battle of Kursk.  The Germans are pulling back to a new defence line around the Dneiper river and seeing an opportunity, a soviet Guards Tank regiment is rushing forward to cut off the retreating enemy. They quickly outpace their infantry and artillery and hurtle headlong into a delaying force defending a low ridge. I played the Soviets while Bob controlled the Germans.

The soviet mission is to capture a small village, which is at the centre of the German delaying force position.

The Soviets advance towards the low ridge and the village objective is visible at the top of the table:

The Soviet force is made up of a large number of T-34 tanks of both 76 and 85mm variety and a lone tank destroyer.  In all there are 15 tanks.

The Germans hold the village  with a mix of Panzer IV tanks and anti-tank guns:

A major asset for the Germans is an 88mm gun hidden in a small wood, covering the road into the village:

The six German tanks are mostly concealed behind the low ridge:

Wishing to maintain momentum the Soviet leading tanks roar over the ridge to engage the germans, but quickly come under fire from two 75mm PAK 40s in defilade positions behind the ridge, the T-34s attempt to fan out and close in on the enemy, but are quickly taken out by the 88mm and flanking guns:

The initial soviet attack is blunted and their commander (me!) is shocked by the effectiveness of the ant-tank defence:

It was clear that small numbers of tanks would be picked off as they crossed the ridge and so the next few turns were spent bringing up as many tanks as possible in order to launch a mass attack towards the village:

Meanwhile, Bob brought up his Panzer IVs into firing positions along the high ground by the village:

As the Soviets shuffle into to position another T-34 is hit by a long range shot from the 88mm, which sits well out of range of the soviet tanks:

When ready the soviet tanks burst into view, coming under a hail of fire from the German tanks and anti-tank guns.  Another two T-34s go up in flames:

However, through sheer weight of numbers the soviets continue to roll through.  One of the German 75mm guns is destroyed along with a Panzer IV:

More Soviet tanks burst into the view and a close exchange of fire ensues (I only learnt from bitter experience how close the T-34s needed to be to take out the German armour).  More Panzer IVs go up in flames and I actually thought that the tide was turning in favour of the soviets.

The T34s roll towards the village and victory - or so I thought:

The 88mm firing along the road and the remaining 75mm firing into the Soviet flank soon  changed all this, as the exposed Soviet tanks suffer the same fate as those earlier:

Having lost well over half of their number the Soviet attack faltered and the survivors reversed back over the ridge.  It was a German victory and Bob and I retired to discuss the battle and the rules over tea. If the soviets had artillery and or infantry the outcome may have been different as the German anti-tank guns could have been neutralised.

The rules worked well, especially the observation/visibility element.  The final score was 9 - 4 to the Germans!

The vehicles, 88mm and tanks are all Roco Minitanks, with Airfix 75mms.  the game was played on a 5" hex board.

A Clash of Steel - WW2 Western Desert

I fancied a quick tank on tank battle and thought I would give my Roco and BPM tanks an outing.

The scenario is that the British are defending a low ridge with anti-tank guns and 25pdrs dug in across the high ground. They have 2 x 25pdr, 2 x 2pdr and one 6pdr anti-tank gun units. In support is an tank regiment with Matildas, as well as two squadrons of Crusaders and a single squadron of newly arrived Grant tanks.

The Germans, whose task it is to capture the ridge, have six companies of Panzer IIIs and IVs. Notably one company is equipped with the long barrelled Panzer IV F2.

Dawn; the Germans begin their advance:

The 25 pdrs open up and a Panzer III goes up in smoke:

The Germans make their first move on the British right flank:

But the 6 pdr knocks out another German tank, a Pz IV D:

The Germans try to knock out the British anti-tank guns without success.

On the other flank, however, the Germans successfully engage and destroy on of the 25pdrs:

On the British left flank Crusader tanks rush towards the advancing Germans and fire into the sides of the slower German tanks:

A major tank battle begins on the British left and in the beginning the British Crusaders cause considerable damage:

Then, the German Panzer IV F2s enter the fray and soon the tide turns against the British Crusaders:

A Stug III advances and is quickly destroyed:

But, the German armour outclasses the Crusaders and soon they are overwhelmed:

On the British right flanks some of the Matildas rumble forward firing at the Germans, but their shells cannot penetrate the frontal armour of the German tanks. The Germans do not have this problem:

Although one Matilda gets a shot into the side of a Panzer III, destroying it:

The Germans push forward up onto the ridge and a mass of tanks fire at the anti-tank guns, destroying two more positions:

Meanwhile on the British left flank the F2s finish off the remaining Crusaders:

With the defence of the ridge crumbling, the Crusader squadrons destroyed and the Matildas taking a battering, the British commander decides to commit his Grants, and they begin to move forwards onto and left of the ridge, engaging one of the F2s, with devastating effect:

The Germans return fire but miss and the Grants take out a Panzer III:

And a second F2 loses a duel with the third Grant:

The Matildas too score a hit on a Panzer III and suddenly it is all over. The Germans are beaten off the ridge and having lost well over 50% of their tanks they must withdraw:

An excellent game that could have gone either way. The Crusaders sold themselves dearly and swung the action in favour of the British, with Grants delivering the coup de gras!










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