A New Battle Mat

Our recent air combat game used a WW1 battlefield mat as a playing surface.  Whilst it did the trick it did not look very attractive.  I like my games to look good, which in turn sustains my interest.  I decided to treat myself and ordered a new mat from Tiny Wargames.  It arrived in quick time and I am very pleased with it.  It measures 6 x 4 feet and is of European countryside with a scattering of clouds.

Here is a section of the mat with a group of 1/144 scale WW2 aircraft.  There are two Fairy Battles being escorted by a couple of Hurricanes:

I think the clouds do much to give an impression of height. The hexes are 3.5 inches across.  As an aside, I was surprised how effective the RAF earth and green camouflage is!

Blitzkrieg Commander

 Bob Black and I have been dabbling in Blitzkrieg Commander, spurred on by the release of Victrix 12mm WW2 figures.  We both bought a box of the company's starter sets, which has a handful of tanks and some infantry.  To get the ball rolling I bought some Normandy style houses:

I had a lot of fun painting and basing these, using a variety of paint sample pots from my local DIY store.  Some cardboard bases, cardboard walls and flock hedges and the results are quite nice:

I then set about painting the tiny tanks and figures, again a lot of fun.  Now, I am embarrassed to say that in the process I found some metal figures from Minifigs that I bought years ago and never got around to using, so I painted these first.  I put 10 figures on a base representing either a platoon or company, depending upon the scenario.  The tanks are all on single bases.  Here are some sample shots:

Panzer IVs

British Infantry and Cromwell tanks:

British Shermans

I still have some support weapons to paint and plenty of spare infantry.  I am looking forward to Bob coming over when we can give the rules a go.

Operation Barbarossa - Crossing the River Bug 1941

 Over the last couple of days, Phil visited and we decided to have a go at a WW2 scenario.

This battle is based upon the Rapid Fire scenario (which adapts the historical action to make it more challenging) and reflects the start of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.  The game sees the German 18th Panzer Division mount an amphibious assault over the River Bug on the Polish border.  The Germans have three objectives. Launching from their harbour area around Patulin, they must cross the river Bug and construct a pontoon bridge, break through the first defence line and take the town of Matykaly, and finally capture the bridge over the river Ljasnaja;

Map copyright Rapid Fire

The Germans start in a surprise move with the assault boats in the water and the first troops landing. An initial view showing the bulk of 18th Panzer Division, with the assault just beginning:

The Germans have a significant advantage in artillery with a complete regiment in support:

The initial objective, once across the river, will be to break through the soviet first line of defence, which consists of a pill box, a T-26 turret and quite thinly spread infantry.  There are wire and minefield obstacles too:

Beyond that is a soviet Rifle battalion holding the village of Matykaly with several anti-tank guns:

Further on, after crossing a railway line, is the river Ljasnaja and the key bridge.  A further soviet battalion is defending here, along with artillery and air defence weapons:

The Germans have two battalions in the initial assault, with a third following on.  There is also a Panzer regiment, as well as the full regiment of field artillery.  Here is the initial assault going in:

With more troops waiting in nearby woods:

The engineer field park is in the village of Patulin and nearby the tanks of 18th Panzer wait for the bridge to be built:

During the previous night German recce teams sneak across the river and take up positions in the trees on the enemy bank:

Soon the Germans have several companies across the river but they are exposed to fire from the pill box, the T-26 turret and a machine gun in the wheat field. Casualties are heavy as the German infantry attempt to advance over open ground:

Air support is called in but is not very effective.  German casualties continue to mount and now they begin to receive soviet artillery fire, directed from a nearby hill:

Even more worrying, the first tanks from the soviet reserve begin to arrive on the field.  Seen here is a T-26 trundling over the railway beyond Matykaly.

As soon as possible the Germans begin the construction of the pontoon bridge, having first laid a smoke screen.  Meanwhile the boats continue ferry troops across.

After suffering heavy casualties from machine gun fire from the bunkers, the pill box is pounded into submission.  Meanwhile, under cover of another smoke screen German engineers take out the T-26 turret with a flame thrower.

The first T-26 advances around the village but is hit by an airstrike and burns:

German Panzer IIIs line the bank to provide cover as engineers are close to completing the bridge. They receive a setback though when a soviet shell damages the roadway. The engineers work frantically to finish the bridge.

Now that the bunkers have been dealt with the German infantry can make some progress.

At last the bridge is completed and German tanks begin to cross.  The minefields have yet to be cleared and this creates an obstruction that will need to be bypassed:

The tanks fan out and begin to deal with the remaining soviet forward defences:

They flank the hill that caused the infantry so much trouble and approach the village.  To the rear of the village is an anti-tank screen, which will have to be dealt with before the tanks can break through.

An overview of the scene at this point in the battle. Soviet tanks sent forward piecemeal are quickly dealt with as two burn in the foreground as clearing the village begins.

Back at the bridge more tanks cross the river:

The Soviets bring forward another tank and their 3rd rifle battalion, but their anti-tank capability is all but destroyed.

The final German infantry units cross the Bug.

Using a spotter aircraft, artillery is rained down onto the German advance with little effect, however the one remaining anti-tank gun scores a hit on a Panzer III.

At this point, the remaining Soviet units begin to withdraw.  Their ability to stop the tanks is now very limited and their infantry are being cut down by heavy German artillery strikes. At the same time, the Germans have been severely bruised and decide to lick their wounds until more infantry support can be brought up, before attempting to capture the Ljanaja bridge.

The German chefs cook up a well earned gulash for the tired troops!

This was an immensely enjoyable game.  I played the Germans and Phil the Soviets. Fortune swung from side to side. During the early stages it looked like the Germanswould be stalled by the first line of defences. Fortunately attempts to disrupt the bridge building were limited and the late arrival of Soviet tanks in any number helped tip the balance.  Once the German tanks had crossed the river the end became inevitable, but it could have gone the other way.  This was a costly victory for the Germans.

We used home grown rules for the game.  The German figures are mostly from the collection of Eric Knowles and the Russians are from my own collection, consisting of a mix of Hinchliffe and Zvezda figures. The bridge, engineers and boats are all originally from Eric Knowles. The tanks and vehicles, mostly plastic come from a variety of sources.  The river came from the ABC wargamers collection and may have been made by Jack Alexander.  It was great to get all of these wonderful modles onto the table.

Capture the farm and Orchard

 Another Rapid Fire game, again set in Normandy using Rapid Fire rules.

On this occasion, using a scenario borrowed from Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy Magazine, the Allies, advancing from the right,  have orders to take the farm buildings and secure the orchard.  Forces consist of a full US platoon, with a mortar and supported by a single Sherman tank.  The Germans have two sections of infantry, a sniper team, a machine gun team, and an assault gun to arrive later. The Germans had also laid some mines.  These were laid at the Y junction by the triangular field, although on the table indicated by a marker.  The German forces were all hidden and represented by markers, several of which were hoaxes.

Map courtesy of WSS magazine

Below, a  view of the table.  Some of the markers can be scene as round discs. 

The Sherman arrives and fires some speculative shots at the farm, which in fact contains the German sniper team.  The observer is killed.  Will, playing the allies, is worried about the marker at the Y junction and fires a few shots into the hedge, with no effect.

A view from the German end of the table.  In fact, the Germans have no forces in the farm buildings, other than the sniper team in the centre farm.  Both sections and the machine gun team are in the area of the orchard.  The idea being that the German commander wants to outgun the enemy that are likely to try to move around that flank.

Soon contact is made.  Two section of US troops, supported by the Sherman run up against the first German section and the machine gun in the orchard. The US suffer some casualties, but the Germans also take losses from tank fire and the machine gun is hit by small arms fire.  It looks bad for the Germans.

However, the Stug III arrives and quickly destroys the Sherman, but the US mortar is now raining bombs onto the Germans. In the background more US troops can be seen moving around that flank.

Now the second German section appears and causes a number of US casualties.  With the Sherman destroyed, the infantry sections cut to pieces with failing morale and the sniper picking off the bazooka team and mortar observers, the US assault on the orchard falters.

Attention shifts to the other flank, as the third US section moves to secure the farm.  But, with the Sherman destroyed, and despite attempts to mask them with smoke, the Stug III deploys and fires HE into the the US infantry.  Their morale collapses after taking casualties and they withdraw.  

The battle is over.  having suffered heavy casualties and lost their tank support the allied attempt to take the farm buildings and orchard fail.

A German victory. The figures are by Valiant and the tanks are from Armourfast.

Advance to contact!

 Will popped over today and it proved to be a great opportunity to get some figures on the table for a game or two.

The first game was set in 1944 and saw US and German troops probing forwards in Normandy.  Both sides had 100 point forces and both elected to to have a tank company represented by three tank models.  The US had a couple of infantry platoons, heavy machine guns and mortars, while the Germans simply had the three tanks and four companies of infantry. Rapid Fire rules were used.

The troops would arrive and advance to contact based upon a roll of the dice. 

This was the area of operations, the Bellona river, with its humped backed bridge, dotted woods and fields and several ruined buildings.  The US forces appear from the right and the Germans on the left:

Closer up on the US side, with the river in the background:

Looking down the length of the table from the German end:

The US forces begin to arrive; an infantry company cautiously moves towards a small wood:

Both sides bring their tanks onto the field, with a Panzer IV now sitting astride Bellona bridge.  Then follows an exchange of fire between it and a Sherman along the road.  A second Sherman moves up behind, while another Panzer IV creeps around the wood by the river.

More US troops move cautiously around the hedgerows.

A third Sherman advances to support the US left flank.

The third Sherman attempts to outflank the Panzer IVs by the bridge.

The two Panzer IVs strike it lucky and one of the Shermans on the road is destroyed. US mortars deploy near one of the buildings and a Bazooka team attempts to sneak towards the Bridge.  Unfortunatel the Bazooka team is knocked out shortly after.

A wider view of the field, showing large numbers of German infantry closing in on the Bellona river, while the US infantry occupy a building supported by the third US tank.  In the background a Stug III has crept around behind the bridge to engage the second Sherman on the road.  The Panzer IV on the bridge withdraws after being damaged.

German panzer grenadiers line the hedge and fire at the US troops in the building.

With the Stug III covering the approach to the bridge, the two Panzer IVs swing around to engage Sherman 3. Meanwhile two more companies of Germans rapidly advance towards the bridge.

The Stug III destroys the second Sherman on the road by the bridge.  The US attempt tp mask the two Panzer IVs with smoke, but they move to a new position and engage Sherman 3, causing some damage and forcing it to withdraw. The german tanks and infantry pour fire onto the building and the US infantry follow Sherman 3 reawards.

The Germans now dominate the river preventing any further forward movement by the US forces.

Supported by the Stug III masses of German infantry pour over the bridge outflanking the US troops, who now concede defeat.

It was a major victory for the Germans.  The Rapid Fire rules worked well and Will and I are now getting the hang of them without constantly referring to the rule book.  Most enjoyable.