Finns fight the SS in Disposable Heroes

Tuesday night Godders rocked up to my place with a platoon of Late Finns and requested a game of Disposable Heroes.  Who was I to refuse?  I got out my SS, stripped each section of a MG42 to make the game a bit fairer.  And away we went.

Very basic scenario.  Take that hill.  The centre hill is worth 2 points.  The two shell holes worth 1 point each.  The Finns enter the game from the right, the SS from the left.

 The Finns grab the first victory point and set up a HMG in one of the minor victory locations.

 The SS sprint their full 9 inches and take the second shell hole.  Game even so far.

 The Finns Lieutenant waves his arms, and yells "lets take that hill!"

 The Finns hit the crest first, but the SS are nearly there too.  It's time to fix bayonets and fight to the death..

 Sneaky Finn sniper takes out the SS leaders.

The Finns win the close combat battle and take the hill.  The SS try a few sneaky maneuvers but they are countered by the tenacious Finns.  The SS are beaten to a standstill and are force to concede the hill.  Finns victorious.  The battle was costly.  The Finns lost 18 KIA, the SS 20 KIA.  Another great game of Disposable Heroes.  Good win to Godders.  All figures are 28mm.  The SS are Bolt Action and the Finns are Battle Honors.

Where Have the Italians Gone? : Disposable Heroes After Action Report

Not far from Beja Tunisia, thing have gone quite.  The small town of El Kabab is a critical outpost manned by elements of the Italian Superga Division.  But no-one has heard from them.  What has gone wrong?  Have the Americans captured the town?  Where have the Italians gone?  Maybe their omission from Point Blank was the last straw?  A small recon platoon is dispatched from 21st Panzer Division.  Their commander (me) is a cunning man and very popular with the ladies.  The platoon dismounts from their trucks and advances on the town.  Meanwhile, the American US II Corps advance.  Their commander chews his bubble gum and surveys the town ahead (this did happen and took about five minutes of my life away that I will never get back).  Something is not right.  It's too quite.  He sends in a platoon of the men he hates the most- the Disposable Heroes.
 

German advance.

 The Americans advance.

The American use their elevated positions and start spotting.  An Afrika Korps squad is revealed on the right flank.

 The American reach the town.

Americans take cover in the warehouse. 

 Hand to hand fighting in a house,

 The Germans are driven back, the last three fighting men.

Heroes of the game.  This squad did all the hard fighting and won.

We played this game as a meeting engagement.  Both platoons advancing on an unoccupied town.  We used blinds to hide our troops.  Two blinds per squad.  One blind hiding the unit, the other a dummy.  A simple rule burrowed from I Aint Been Shot Mum from the Too Fat Lardies.  A very quick summary of the game :

Youngy advanced his units on a broad even front.  I tried to be sneaky faking an attack up the centre of the board whilst most of my platoon was on the right flank.  I kept my dummy blinds advancing behind cover whilst the real units advance in the open.  The Ruse worked.  Youngy started concentrating his weapon teams in the middle of the board and spent activations attempting to spot them.  We both reached the town together and auto spotting within 12 inches revealed our forces.   Then it was a mad dash for the cover of the houses.  Youngy pinned and routed my HMG team early in the game.  The riflemen of both sides shot it out. The dice gods deserted me and favoured Youngy.  He began to pin me down.  Soon four German teams could not return fire and the Americans charged in with bayonets.  Vicious house to house fighting resulted in complete victory to the Americans.  My brave men were wiped out or surrendered.  Final result Germans : 25 Dead,  2 Surrendered, 1 Ran Away.  Americans : 4 Dead.  Germans driven from the village and complete victory to Youngy.  Great game.  Good fun.  Best rules in the world.  And where did the Italians go?  Better send emails to Iron Ivan Keith and Chal.  They might know.  Thanks for reading and goodnight.         

Afrika Korps v Australians : Blitzkrieg Commander Battle Report

Welcome to another Blitzkrieg Commander Battle Report.  This time we return to the desert in 1943 and pit the Deutschland Afrika Korps against the Australian Imperial Force.  Godders commands the Germans, I command the AIF.   At stake is the small town of El Godfrey, a place where weary goat herders can rest after a long day of goat herding.  (Does anyone know where I can buy some 15mm goats?)  Rommel needs this town as a staging point for his thrust to Cairo.  The Australian plan is simple and it worked at Tobruk.  Let Rommels tanks pass the outer defensive perimeter and draw them onto hidden guns.  Ambush the following infantry.  And cut off the panzers retreat. 
 

 The Panzers advance towards El Godfrey in two powerful formations.

"It's a trap!"  The Australian anti-tank guns sited in the town open fire on the Germans.  British armoured support hits the Panzers in the flanks.  The German commander is not worried.  His following infantry will deal with the guns while he turns to deal with the flank tank attack.  "Where are the infantry?"  

"It's another trap!"  The Australians rise out of their caves and ambush the panzer grenadiers on the left & right flanks.  This was a blood bath.  All the bonus flank shots decimated the Germans.  After the first round of shooting only a few Germans remained. (Apologies for unpainted figures - that's a carton).  

 The Panzers take a terrible beating from the Anti-Tank guns.

 But the Australians don't get it all their own way.

 The Germans turn to secure their flanks.

The British are out gunned and out armoured.  Very soon the British tanks are all burning wrecks.  However enough damage has been done to the German Battlegroup and they reach breaking point.  A roll of the dice seals their fate and they are forced to retreat.

El Godfrey has been held.

This game was set up in scenario format ignoring army points.  It was going to be a hard ask for the Germans to win.  The idea was to have a fun game.  All it takes are a few failed CV rolls on the Australians part and the Germans would have a good chance of winning.  We tried to simulate the circumstances of the first battle of Tobruk, using a later time period to suit our models.  It seemed to work.  A good interesting game that lasted 2 hours.  We have seen what German do to cows, thankfully the goats where saved.    

Belgians v Germans : Blitzkrieg Commander Battle Report

The brave Belgians and the Germans face off in a 1000 point meeting engagement of Blitzkrieg Commander.  Both sides advance towards a farmhouse destroyed by the relentless Luftwaffe.  Yours truly commands the Belgians, Guido commands the Hun.

The Belgians win initiative and move first, attempting an outflanking maneuver on the left.  The Belgians have one awesome ACG-1, and two not so awesome FT-17's.

Unfortunately, the Belgian flanking tanks are up against a nasty German tank formation.  Outranged and outgunned the Belgians are destroyed in a matter of minutes.  Flanking maneuver failed.

The Germans decided they don't like cows and shoot them all.  Here two German mortar teams set up behind a stone wall.  Ready to rain suppression down on any Belgian infantry that advance towards the farm.

And here come the Belgians advancing along the right road.  Infantry with a couple of HMGs in support.  They come under heavy mortar fire.  Yellow markers are suppression.  Blue dice are the hits taken.  Each unit needs 6 hits to be knocked out of the game.

More Belgian infantry advancing in the centre.  This time they have 47mm SA-FRC anti-tank guns in support.  However highly mobile German infantry are now in the farmhouse and are raining down fire on the attackers.  Both AT Guns are suppressed and are soon knocked out without firing a shot.

The Belgians Alamo.  They make it towards the protective cover of a stone wall and find more German cow atrocities.  The Belgians have two anti-tank rifles which will surely put a halt to the advancing Panzers.

The Panzers line up on the Belgians left flank and let rip.  The Belgians are under intense fire from armour, mortars, infantry and HMG's.  Before long the Belgians reach breakpoint, fail their break dice roll and run off the battlefield.  Germany victorious.  The Belgians lost three tank units, two AT units, two AT Rifle units, and three infantry units before breaking and fleeing.  The Germans lost one HMG unit and two Infantry units.  Thanks for the game Guido.

Disposable Heroes Showdown

I travelled into the club last night and met up with Youngy for a Disposable Heroes showdown.  My Waffen SS v Youngy's US Airborne.  Elite v Elite.  No-ones running from the fight in this battle.  We used the page 44 Meeting Engagement scenario.  The building objective is in the centre of the table.

My SS are on the left.  The US Para's are on the right.  I am fielding a Command Team, 2 Full Sections, 1 Sniper Team, 1 HMG, and 1 Mortar.  The Para's have a Command Team, 3 Full Sections, 1 Browning MMG, and 1 Mortar Team crewed by about six men.  I am thinking to myself.  Whoever wins initiative is going to run into that objective building in turn 1.  We throw the dice, I loose.  Youngy's into the hard cover objective and I am going to be pressed getting him out.  From there we move all our units at a run and get into cover and good firing positions.

Once the shooting starts it's first blood to the Para's.  Youngy is very worried about the SS HMG that has set up on the second floor in the next building.

From that point on it's a gun battle.  Troops are getting picked off let right and centre.  Because both sides are elite, pins are very hard to achieve.

Youngy must have got bored because out of the blue his section holding the objective charge out and into the opposite building that houses by HMG team and Command Team.  Prep-Firing takes it toll on the Germans, but no pins are achieved.  That allows snap firing back and a few para's fall in no-mans land but they get in the building and close combat to the death occurs.  The SS HMG crew give the Command a hand.  The SS are triumphant.  But only two of them remain.  7 Paras and 5 SS are KIA in the melee.

Over the next few turns the SS HMG rules the battlefield in the centre.  The para's are mowed down whenever they broke cover.  The Paras retired from the field of battle to fight another day.  The SS are victorious.  The butchers bill.  26 Paras Killed.  10 SS Killed.  Game length 120mins.  Great fun and many thanks to Youngy for the game.  Thanks to NWS blokes as well.  The club hall was full of gamers and travelling well.

RE the blog.  Still playing up.

Waffen SS Panzergrenadier Platoon

I have now finished my Waffen SS Panzergrenadier platoon for Disposable Heroes. As with all my Disposable Heroes platoons I build two sections (incorrectly labeled above as platoons - opps), plus command and support. Support usually consists of a mortar, HMG and some AT capability. My core NCO's are armed with Assault Rifles so I had to paint an extra 5 NCO's with MP40's. That way I can swap and change depending upon the theatre of war. In the future I would like to add a scout team with a 250/1 halftrack for transport. And maybe some 251 halftracks for the troops. But that will be a long, long time away. All figures and vehicle above are 28mm Bolt Action Miniatures. Except one. The gunner on the back of the Schwimmwagen is from Company B Miniatures.

Next on the painting table I have some half finished WWII Australians. Once they are done it's full steam ahead with Dystopian Wars.

Waffen SS Panzerschreck Team

Waffen SS Panzerschreck Team to bolster my Disposable Heroes Platoon's anti-tank capability. Figures are 28mm Bolt Action Miniatures.

Waffen SS Anti-Tank Team

Been doing a wee bit of painting lately. Mainly finishing off odds and ends so I can start my Empire Fleet. First off I had to finish my Disposable Heroes SS platoon. Which I did do and I will show some pics over the next few days. First off is the anti-tank team. These lads are armed to the teeth with Panzerfausts and mines. I am a bit disappointed with the flesh. Figures are 28mm from Bolt Action Miniatures.

Tabled

On Friday night I travelled to Godders house to play a game of Blitzkrieg Commander. It was a 1000 point meeting engagement with new forces. I was the Germans and Godders was the Russians. We are both building up to 2000 point armoured battlegroups for the very late war period. This is not much of an after action report because I got tabled after six turns. Tabled means I lost all my units and Godders lost none. I was thoroughly beaten down and humiliated, Hero unit of the battle, a Russian Katyusha Rocket launching truck (unpainted!!). Godders got all his forward observer command roles in. Constantly suppressed my units and maneuvered his formations into positions that offered him cover and good fields of fire. Artillery is king of the battlefield. Good win to Godders.

My 1000 point Germans. (Sorry about the crappy photos)

Godders 1000 point Russians. Note the unpainted and unmade Katyusha!

An example of my units in flames.

I Painted Something

I actually painted something. I had to get out of my slumber. Perth is in it's hottest recorded summer and boy is it hot. Even at night. Painting is hard work. I painted up this 15mm Sd.Kfz. 250/1 Halftrack. This little fellow will be a Blitzkrieg Commander HQ leading a Panther formation. He will be in his first battle tonight against the Soviets. Vehicle is 15mm Battlefront.

A Difficult Affair II

Wednesday night is gaming night and once again Godders and myself faced off with Blitzkrieg Commander. This time we used a real historical battle scenario titled "A Difficult Affair II" written by Steve Curtis. A Difficult Affair II is part of a series of scenarios centred around the Battle of Kursk in 1943. This scenario is played out in a small area of 16" x 24". All infantry.

The situation : At 1500hrs, on the 4th of July 1943 various German units of the 4th Panzer Army are sent forward into Soviet positions on reconnaissance in force missions. The objectives of these missions were to discover traps and gain lodgement in the Soviet lines.

Godders in Command of the 15th Company, 3rd Battalion, Panzer Fusilier Regiment, Grossdeutschland is tasked to capture the western edge of a low treeless ridge west of the village of Butovo. High command believes the ridge consists of dummy positions.

Godders sets up in his starting positions. He is in command of 9 Infantry Sections, 2 HMG Sections, a FAO and off board 81mm Mortars.

I am in command of a Soviet Reinforced Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 199th Guards Rifle Regiment. My mission is simple, hold the postion at all costs. Not one step back. I have 4 Infantry Sections, 1 MMG, 1 on-board 50mm mortar, a FAO and off-board 82mm Mortars. I have one wooden bunker and my troops can start the game dug in. I have access to barbed wire. The string line in the centre of the photo represents the crest of the ridge. I placed my MMG in the bunker. I put two infantry Sections in the crops on the left flank. And two infantry Sections dug in on the crest of the slope on the right flank. All troops are concealed.

The Germans started and immediately advanced into no-man's land. As the Soviets are concealed the Germans cannot shoot until they reveal the Soviet positions, or the Soviets reveal themselves by opening fire. Which they did to good effect. Most Germans were under half range and were in the open. German sections began dropping like flies or were suppressed. This went on for three turns then Godders diced up a blunder. Which was actually lucky because his visit to the blunder table forced all his units to retreat one full move, safely away from the open ground.

Now in cover, and all Soviet positions revealed, the Germans began the process of concentrating fire and slowly withering down the defenders. Although the Germans took casualties from return fire. But it was the Soviets turn to blunder. My visit to the blunder table was devastating. All my troops advanced one half move towards the enemy. This included my MMG in the bunker and my dug in sections. Now they were all exposed in the open in no-mans land. (The blunder chart represents a loss of command and control of your troops and my lads obviously got all excited at their success to date and went forward after the Germans).

Needless to say, I lost 3 sections and the MMG. I was now down to 1 section, 1 mortar, and my off board mortars.

The Germans advanced up the hill without much effort. The mortar and remaining section were knocked out in close combat. And the game was over. Victory to Godders. And a game well played.

The Butchers Bill. The Soviets were wiped out. Not one step back. The Germans lost 7 Sections and achieved their objective.

Real Historical Outcome. The German 15th Company took the ridge after two hours of fighting at a very high cost in soldiers. It was pre-planned that the 15th Company would then support an attack on the village of Butovo but due to their heavy losses the company was withdrawn from the line. A sign of things to come in the Battle of Kursk.

So as you can see the game played out on the tabletop matched the historical result perfectly. The game would have dragged on if I had not blundered but the result would have been the same. Godders would have stayed in cover and slowly whittled away the defences with HMG, rifle and mortar file. Both of us agreed it was a great scenario to play and using infantry exclusively was challenging and fun. In this scenario one unit of infantry (stand) represent one section. We had to house rule off-board mortars as these are not covered in the rules. And once again Godders supplied me with Belgian beer. Very nice all round.