View from the trenches

Defending Kobrin

2012-02-08T22:05:00.000Z

The second battle from the 41-Drive on Minsk skirmish campaign book. Elements of the 3rd Panzer Division are approaching Kobrin. The Soviet 205th Motorised Division have set up defensive positions to cover the retreat of of their Tank Divisions.

The Soviet troops may start in foxholes or trenches.

They have 3 Platoons of Infantry and a 45mm ATG. The infantry platoons have prepared squads with extra grenades and Molotov cocktails.

The German force objective is to exit 2 AFVs off the eastern edge. They have a platoon of two PzII tanks, a platoon of two PzIIIs and two platoons of infantry.

All the woods are dense (no vehicle movement) the streams have steep banks and marsh along most of their length, vehicles may only cross at the bridge or the fords.

Although the Russians are dug in and outnumber the German Infantry they are of low quality and lack the leaders to motivate them, (one of the strengths of IABSM is that the rules can model a small highly motivated confident force to combat a larger less motivated force). This won't be an easy task for the Germans however, the close terrain does not suit the German armour. If their infantry do not protect them the Russian infantry will have plenty of opportunities to close assault the German armour.

As the Russians had prepared squads for such an event I added a tank killer card to the deck, which would allow one squad to close assault any German AFV within range.

Other cards in the deck:

Russian Big Man 1

Commisar

Tank Killers

Platoons 1 to 3

ATG

Russian Blinds

German Big Man 1 to 4

Rapid Deployment

Axis Rally

German Blinds

Platoons 1 & 2

Armour 1 & 2

After action report to follow.

Armour Clash part two

2012-01-18T23:00:00.001Z

Not my usual type of game, an armour heavy meeting engagement in pretty open ground. I prefer Infantry heavy games with lots of terrain on the battlefield. This is the first battle in the drive on Minsk campaign as detailed in the previous post. Click on any picture to enlarge.

Start lines and the PLAN.

The Russian Infantry make great progress and reach the cover of the gully on the Russian right.

German slow start and Russians great spotting.

The Panzer 3 Plt moves down to the gully.

just in time to see the Russians deploying their ATG on the hill, they open fire.

The truck is HIT get that gun into action quick!

The Panzer IIIs clock two platoons of T26s moving into hull down positions.

Russian infantry reach the edge of the wood as the Germans top the hill.

With no big men to rally them the T26s tactics are to hold their position and fire from hull down positions.

With their first shot first blood!

Taking a chance when the recce bonus card comes up, they make a dash through the Russian infantry lines. Should have had them on overwatch. Just hoping the armoured car comes up before Tea Break.

With the Russians in their superior position the armoured duel is going against the Germans.

Ivan gets the gun in position.

The Russian armoured cars turn up and make a flanking move down the left ( two 6s & a 5 for movement). They then proceed to take no further part in the battle, a transfer to the penal battalion for whoever is in charge.

Those damn T26s are so hard to hit hiding behind that ridge.

The German Recce armoured cars break loose in the Russian rear.

Overview of the battle.

German Company CO tries to restart the stalled attack.

Those Russsian armoured cars threaten the German right. ( keen observers will notice they are not BA10s, I don't have any these are standing in ).

Skulking at the edge of the wood !!!

German recce turns back to fire on the rear of the Russian tanks.

The crew of two T26s abandon their tanks ( Shock overtaking their morale ).

One final salvo from the Russians takes out two PzIIs

One T26 knocked out, two abandoned, one with a damaged gun and one immobilised.

One PzIII and three PzIIs knocked out and one PzIII immobilised.

Russian infantry surrendering. ( should have had more photos of the infantry battle ).

T26s panic with Germans front and rear.

A German victory, but a costly one. Only one T26 was knocked out, but their low morale and only one big man eventually took it's toll on them.
The battle could have turned out very different if the Russian armoured cars card had come up a few times.

Armour Clash

2012-01-15T21:33:00.000Z

I decided to play through the Skirmish Campaign scenario book "41 Drive on Minsk" using the IABSM 3 rule set. An article by Tom Ballou on converting the OOB can be found on the Toofatlardies Yahoo Group.

The Skirmish Campaign books are easily converted to most platoon or company level rules. Each scenario can be played out on its own or as a linked campaign. A base force is given to each side and variable attachments are diced for, giving a different game each time you play out a scenario.

The first scenario in Drive on Minsk is Armour Clash which sees elements of the 3rd Panzer Division bumping into advancing elements of the Soviet 22nd Tank Division.

German Orders: Exit at least four AFVs off the eastern board edge.

Soviet Orders: Exit at least two AFVs off the western board edge.

Game length: 10 Turns.

German Force:

5 Big Men

M/C Plt, 3 sections of 8.

Recon Section, 8 men in Sdkfz 251.

Panzer Zug 1, 4 PzII

Panzer Zug 2, 2 PzIII

A/C Plt, 2 Sdkfz 231

Russian Force:

1 Big Man

Inf Plt, 3 sections of 10 men.

2 Plts, 3 T26s

A/C plt, 2 BA10s

ATG, 45mm

La petite ville française

2011-03-10T13:21:00.000Z

A Platoon Forward Game

My units are infantry, other units are allocated on a scenario by scenario basis. Below is the battle report.

The Briefing

Through a combination of manoeuvre and combat the regiment has gained a position on the enemy's flank.

Your battalion has been ordered to deliver the "hammer blow" by rolling up the enemy position. Your battalion is once again in the vanguard. There has been no time to arrange artillery support, but you will have the element of surprise.

Aerial view of the town square take from the east.

Aerial reconnaissance suggest that a French Battalion HQ is located in the town. The French forces are lightly dug in and mainly facing east. They are in company strength with at least one anti tank gun and a high likelihood of one or more tanks. (The defence is set with markers and until they are spotted or the French commander wishes to activate them their exact composition is unknown).

The town square, location of the French Battalion headquarters.

German OOB

1st Company & 2nd Company

CC +1, HMG

3 Plts. each

PC +1, rifle groups x3

Support

3 x Pz38t

Pz38ts thread their way through the woods.

Pre game events reveal three French positions, giving me some much needed intelligence.

Move 1

Company 1 advance through the woods the 38ts are just out of shot.

Move 2

Pz38ts break off left intending to strike deep into the rear of the french. Company 1 continues its advance through the woods. Company 2 still in reserve till we can identify French positions.

The French muster their forces realising the Germans are striking for the rear of the town!

( In pre game events the French commander was Bold, uncharacteristically, and would be quick to react, hence the activation early of some French defenders).

To be continued !

German Infantry Company for Platoon Forward.

2011-02-05T18:11:00.000Z

Company OC Hauptman Malwitz: A gifted commander very loyal to the government but with a pessimistic outlook.

1st platoon OC Oberleutnant Urtz: An average commander but cunning with a keen interest in engineering.

2nd platoon OC Feldwebel Breiding: A sensible but poor commander, motivated by increasing his position in life.

3rd Platoon OC Feldwebel Gunter: An average commander. Hedonistic and addicted to living life to the full.

MG Platoon OC Werner: An average commander, obnoxious and looks forward to the next bottle.

The company started as a Regular company at full strength and its current strength varies with combat losses and replacements.

How the company is represented on board is dependant on the rule set being used:

In Crossfire it could be 1CC, 3PC and 9 stands plus HMGs

In PBI 1CC, 3PC, 9LMGs and 18 rifle stands plus HMGs

Russian Civil War

2011-02-05T11:44:00.001Z

Another project started ! White Russian troops for a game in November. Peter Pig army box, a long way to go yet.

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France 1940

2011-02-04T22:02:00.000Z

Well my first game with Platoon Forward saw my German Company tasked with capturing a prisoner during a combat patrol against the french lines. Moreover only two platoons were allocated for the task. Support came in the form of one HMG from the company support platoon and Battalion HQ laid on a pre planned mortar strike.

The scenario required my troops to engage the french for at least four turns, inflict casualties and capture some prisoners.

I chose 1st and 3rd platoons commanded by URTZ and GUNTER respectively.

The French forces were placed as blinds, there are three types A,B and C. Blinds A will likely be an infantry section, blinds B could be heavy weapons and blinds C could be HQs or even armour. This allows you to set up a credible defence but not know exactly what you will face.

Next I diced for pre game events, luck was on my side with Gung Ho, company morale was high. This increased my chances of motivating my troops to engage in close assault.

Table seen from the German side, French units are dug in.

The artillery strike was planned on the right flank in front of the villa extending to the field.

Move 1

The strike was on target, killing one rifle stand and pinning the rest.

One section assaulted the pinned troops in the scrub killing another rifle stand and pushing the rest back.

The section captured some wounded French left in the scrub ( Result ).

In the centre a fire fight ensued with the dug in French section losing out to two German sections in the woods. However one French rifle stand hung in preventing any advance by the Germans.

Two French HMGs, one each side of the road poured fire on the German units but to no avail.

After four turns I retired my Platoons off the board having lost just one rifle stand, the French had lost two full sections.

The HMGs protecting the road.

A Major victory!

After action events make good my losses with replacements from Battalion HQ and the promise of an extra weapons team on our next outing.

Did Platoon Forward work?

1: The differing blinds allowed a credible defence and actually worked very well. Not knowing exactly what would the blind would represent but having knowledge of the probable units.

2: Any decision for the German force was helped by having a personality for the platoon commanders.

3: Random events anything from reserves to leadership tests add uncertainty.

Thumbs up for our first outing.

Next Blog I think I will layout my German company OOB.

Platoon Forward

2011-02-01T19:35:00.000Z

As I play most of my games solo I thought I would give Platoon Forward a try.

It is a generic system for adding personalities to your game, generating scenarios and random events.

It is split into three sections, each section can be used independently of the others. Section one generates the personalities of the unit, section two generates scenarios and section three events pre game, during the game and post game. It consists of over 50 pages with plenty of examples of how to interoperate the various tables.

I am going to base my games on a German company during WWII, but it can be used with a little tweaking for other periods. All references in Platoon Forward are at platoon level, but it scales up to company level with ease.

For my first game I will be using the PBI rules from Peter Pig, but plan to use other rule systems on a scenario by scenario basis.

Platoon Forward is available from toofatlardies for £7.00 on PDF.

The first game generated is a combat patrol with the objective of bringing back a prisoner. Look forward to the game report after the weekend.

Gifts from Santa

2011-01-13T13:09:00.000Z

Well I have been too busy to do much before Xmas, so not much to update.

Santa was kind enough to bring me a Peter Pig boxed army for the Russian Civil War.

I think you get the bases, casualties and standard bearers for free. All the figures were the usual high standard for Peter Pig, very little flash and really good castings. The first ten stands are done and I have now started on the colour companies.

I am going to try out Red Actions, a set of free rules from The Perfect Captain.

Each stand represents a platoon, between three and six stands to a company.

Over the holidays I did get in one game of Modern spearhead with my mate Tim, but didn't get any pictures, I would like to replay the game using Cold War Commander to get a feel for how different they play. The game, Syrians vs Israel, went well and was most enjoyable we should play more games.

Soviet Steamroller

2010-08-04T09:33:00.007+01:00

Setting: The Eastern Front Autumn 43.

Situation: Soviet forces attempt to secure a bridgehead.

Ruleset: Blitzkrieg Commander II

Game length: 12 Turns or until one side breaks.

Soviet Force

Objectives: Capture the village, 1 building held = 2VPs, 2 buildings = 5VPs. If any buildings have been taken at the game end, count any Germans on the eastern bank of the river as casualties. Inflicted more casualty pts than casualty pts taken, but not twice as many 1VP. Inflicted twice as many as taken 2VPs

Having moved forward during the night, the two infantry units may set up within 40cm of eastern edge of the board. Armoured units use mobile deployment from turn one.

CO (CV8)

HQ (CV7)
9 Inf (1 upgrade AT Rifle)
1 Maxim
1 Mortar (82mm)
1 Mortar (120mm)

HQ (CV7)
9 Inf (1 upgrade AT Rifle)
1 Maxim
1 Mortar (82mm)
1 SU-152

HQ (CV7)
3 T34/76
3 Inf SMG Troops

HQ (CV7)
3 KV1s
3 Inf SMG Troops

Art 2 x 152mm ( 2 scheduled Assets each )

Breakpoint 19 (3015 pts)

German Troops

Objectives: Soviets hold no buildings in the village 5VPs, if they hold 1 then 3VPs, if they hold 2 or more no VPs. Inflicted more casualty pts than casualty pts taken, but not twice as many 1VP. Inflicted twice as many as taken 2VPs

Infantry must setup East of the river.

CO (CV10)
4 Inf (1 upgrade panzerfaust)
1 MG 42
1 Mortar (81mm)
1 Pak 40 (with truck tow)

HQ (CV9)
5 Inf (3 upgrade panzerfaust)
1 MG 42
1 Mortar (81mm)

5 x Trenches, 1 x Gun Pit

Delayed Reserves may enter from move 4 any road on western edge, use mobile deployment rule.

HQ (CV9)
3 Inf (1 upgrade panzerschreck)
3 Sdkfz 251/1
3 Stug-III, 75mm Long

Breakpoint 11 (2015 pts)

Move 1

Kv 1s on the right flank forge ahead, while on the left flank the T34s only get 1 manoeuvre.

Move 2

Pak 40 brews up the SU152

Panzerfaust teams attack the KVs

End of move 2

Move 3

T34s reach the bridge.KVs lose 1 tank for little impact on the enemy.

The entrenched German infantry are a lot tougher than I thought.

Move 4.

No progress for the Russian forces and German reserves turn up on time.

Germans occupy the village.

The Soviet CO demands all out attack.

Move 5 & 6

Each attempt on the left flank to cross the bridge is met with accurate pak 40 fire and a suppressed T34.

Tank riders are suppressed and killed then one more KV is knocked out.

By the end of move 7 the Russian infantry had cleared most of the German infantry on the left flank and the centre. On the right flank the KVs were down to one tank and no tank riders.

Moves 8 and 9 were a disaster for the Russians only succeeding with two manoeuvre checks.

With only 3 moves left to capture the village I conceded defeat to the Germans ( me also ).

Lessons learnt: Trenches are a bitch!

Triple helix wargames

2010-07-24T11:54:00.002+01:00

Popped over to this game shop yesterday. It is in a unit on industrial estate. They have 15 games tables available, but I was there for the shop. They sell games workshop products and a good range of flames of war 15mm models. I met the owner who was very pleasant. If you are in their neck of the woods pop in and check them out.
I wish them well in their new venture. www.triplehelixwargames.co.uk
Tel 01373 855380

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Location:Westbury Wiltshire

Breakout from the Meuse

2010-07-13T12:29:00.004+01:00

This is my second game using Blitzkrieg Commander II. The scenario is set in May 1940, as there are not too many support units it is ideal for new players of the rules system.

FRENCH

CO (CV8)

HQ (CV8)
   12 Inf Units (Regulars)
   1 Support Unit (ATG, 37mm)
   2 Tank Unit (Somua S35)
   1 Tank Unit (Char B1 bis)
The French tanks have to be attached to the infantry and cannot act independantly.

GERMAN

CO (CV10)

FAO (CV8)

HQ (CV9)
   3 Panzer Units (Pz II)

( Commanded by the CO from above)
   2 Panzer Units (Pz III, 37mm)
   1 Panzer Unit (Pz II)

HQ (CV9)
   9 Infantry Units (Heer)
   1 Support Unit (ATG, 37mm, Pak-35/36)
   1 Support Unit (Mortar, 81mm)
   2 Trucks

ART Unit (150mm)

The mission for the Germans was to destroy the French armour or force them from the field.

Move 1: Seen from the German side.

The German plan was to push the infantry through the centre, while the Panzer Companies race down the flanks.

The Char B guarding the French right used its opportunity fire but failed to hit. The young veterans of the panzers wasted no time and opened up with all guns blazing, scoring enough hits to destroy the French tank. Move one and the toughest tank already knocked out! This was going to be too easy.

The French turn was pretty uneventful, they were still in shock from the loss of the Char B.

Move 2: Saw the German panzers push further on, the Panzer II Company on reaching the road were engaged by one of the Somua S35s, bad marksmanship meant it failed to score a hit ! The French weren't having any luck here. The Pz II succeeded with a third command roll and replied suppressing the Somua.

The French HQ despatched the other Somua to their right flank to cover for the lost Char B. This ended the move.

Move 3: Disaster, the Pz IIs about to finish off the Somua fail a command roll. To make up for this the infantry company have four successive command rolls they line the woods ready to advance on the central wheat field.

Move 4: The French finally have some good fortune, one Somua takes out a Pz III on their right and the other kills two Pz IIs on the left flank.

Move 5 and 6: The Germans regain their composure and redouble their efforts. The last PzIII kills one of the Somua S35s and the infantry advance on the wheat field engaging the French infantry.

Move 7: Germans falter, the infantry company have a command blunder and the CO fails his command roll, rolling 11. The French however fail to capitalise on the German inactivity, by failing their command rolls.

Move 8: The German infantry win the firefight with the French infantry, suppressing three of the four defenders. (dead markers show suppressed units in the picture below).

They waste no time in close assaulting the French.

They win the close assault killing three French units.

The last Somua crew however, skilfully pull back evading the shots from the German tankers.

The game ends thus:

German Losses, 1 Inf stand, 2 Pz IIs, 1 Pz III
French Losses, 3 Inf stands, 1 Char B, 1 Somua

A German tactical win but not a decisive one, as they didn't fulfil their objective.
You may have noticed the failure of the German Artillery, I forgot to move the FAO, lesson learnt.

This was a solo game, taking a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon and very enjoyable too.

Final positions

The game was loosely based on the Flavion - Breakout from the Meuse scenario in the Skirmish Campaigns book, France 40 - the Ghost Division. As I don't have any painted Pz 38ts I used PzIIIs instead. The books are great for scenario ideas. As written, the actions are scaled down and aimed at the skirmish level. However they are easily scaled up to company or battalion level.

The French Tank Museum

2010-07-04T20:02:00.001+01:00

Last month I visited the National Tank Museum of France. Located in the town of Saumur on the Loire ( wine growing region ! kill two birds with one stone ). Their website is www.museedesblindes.fr

I should have taken some exterior photos of the museum, I will get the hang of this eventually.
Each vehicle has a board with information in French, English and German. The layout is similar to Bovington Tank Museum, in that the halls run in chronological order from WW1 through to the present.

The museum houses plenty of French tanks ( to be expected really ) but also a good selection of other major nations. They have an impressive collection of German tanks and boast the only running Tiger II in the world.

They also have on display several anti tank guns and artillery pieces.

They have a shop on site which is well stocked with model kits, but no cafe. If you find yourself near Saumur it is well worth a visit.

The WWII German hall.

First Game Using Blitzkrieg Commander II

2010-06-02T15:36:00.000+01:00

My first game using these newly acquired rules was a simple affair, set in September 1941.

A German battle-group has been despatched to seize a village controlling a rail line.

The Russians have scraped together an infantry battalion with some anti tank guns in support, they have dug in on the outskirts of the village and along the rail line.

The board seen from the Russian side.

Russians

CO (cv8)

1 mortar 120mm

2 ATG 45mm

HQ (cv8)

9 Infantry

2 MG Maxims

Break point 8 (845 pts of 1000 )

Germans

CO (cv10)

2 support MG 34 in motorcycles

1 support IG 75mm towed by truck

1 Recce A/C 222

HQ (cv9)

9 Infantry Motorcycles

HQ (cv9)

1 Pz III, 37mm

2 Pz II

FAO (cv8)

1 Art Unit, 105mm le FH-18

Break point 7 (1495 pts of 1500)

I didn't make any notes during the game, or take any photos ( only got my new camera yesterday ).

The following pics show the end of the game. A minor German victory, having taken 6 casualties, 1 off their breakpoint.

Ivan holding off the german armour with only Maxims and grim determination. (appalling German command rolls helped ).

German infantry have taken the Russian trenches and move into the village.

A close run game which could have gone either way.

The rules worked really well, no bookkeeping and after a couple of moves very little referring to the rule book. The Battlegroups utility on the website is excellent for producing a custom made play sheet covering all the stats for your battle group.

2010-05-07T16:56:00.000+01:00

Just testing out the mobile blog!

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Saint-Nazaire Submarine Pens

2010-05-07T12:59:00.003+01:00

Google map of location

A couple if weeks back while on holiday in France, I persuaded the wife that a visit to the World War 2 German submarine pens at Saint-Nazaire would be a great day out ( for me anyhow).

It is also the site of the famous Saint-Nazaire raid by the British to put out of action one of the only atlantic dry docks capable of servicing the largest of the German battleships.

The view from inside one of the pens, the entrance would originally have had doors.

This panoramic view is taken from the top of the entrance to the basin.