/
 
 
 

The Soviets hurry to take up positions in the village before the Germans arrive.

Tonight's game of IABSM: the Zhena scenario from Bashnya or Bust.

The objective for both sides was the crossroads at the center of the village. Knowing that Tigers would be showing up, I decided my best chance to survive the encounter would be rushing up to take positions on each side of the village and flank the Tiger II's as they came forward. This tactic worked great on several Panzer IV's that came up which were quickly dispatched by my SU-85's.

Unfortunately, a pair of King Tigers had managed to sneak up between houses while on blinds and appeared point blank in front of my platoon of T-34/85's. I still managed to flank the Tiger's but it was then that I made my worst rolls of the game and ended up only annoying them.

On the infantry side of things, the Germans stubbornly held on to the church at the center of town. I sent an entire platoon to kick them out and they threw my men back with enough shock to get them all the way to Kamchatka.

I had a chance to place an artillery barrage on the church but my Big Man didn't like the idea of blowing up an orthodox church. But after a second platoon couldn't convince the Germans to vacate the church, I started taking shots at it with my T-34/76's, who were happy to do that rather than locking horns with the Tigers.

*knock knock* on the count of three we're coming in

In the end, the Tigers held the crossroads without a worry, and I knew I didn't stand a chance after my flanking maneuver failed to achieve results.

John Paul Hancock

 
 
MORE AAR
HOME
/
 
 
 

Martin's Introduction: We played scenario number 1 in the excellent Lion Gate campaign yesterday. I have uploaded the photos.

What a monster scenario. We played it on a 10' by 6' board modelled to scale from the map. We used 1 figure to depict 2 men as I'm a few figures short of the amount required. To be honest - even if I'd had the figures - I don't think there would have been the space in 20mm. It was bloody crowded as it was. You will also note that I had to use hooches instead of pillboxes - fresh out of pillboxes! I also used hedges instead of barbed wire. I don't think the overall effect looked too bad.

We only had time for the first three waves. There were enough left over for a fourth wave but we all agreed the result was a British victory. The Japanese simply didn't have the materiel left to do the job.

Subedar Nawin Chandra grimly took up his binoculars and surveyed the scene before him. He had just got off the telephone from the comedian in headquarters who phoned to tell him that there might be an attack on. He allowed himself a small wry grin at the irony of the call before grimacing as another shell burst somewhere far too close. A flotilla of Japanese ships lined the bay and from that flotilla came an ever growing mass of smaller craft teeming with Japanese soldiers. "This is it" he said to himself, it's death or glory time.

The Japanese could not have asked for better conditions, with a clear night, a calm sea and bright moonlight reflecting off the sea in front of the Dogras' positions. Chandra's biggest problem, however, was manpower or rather the lack of it. A force of double their size would have trouble defending this stretch of beach. However, they had made the best fist of it they could, sowing minefields and laying barbed wire to hopefully turn the beaches into a rather hot place for an invasion force to be.

The first wave was nearly upon them, and despite coming under murderous small arms fire and shots from mortars and the saluting gun that was "appropriated" from the Sultan of Kelan Tan, the first wave hit Badang beach relatively intact. Dozens and dozens of Japanese soldiers interspersed by engineers poured forth onto the narrow stretch of land. The sound of gunfire was absolutely deafening as a huge number of rounds cut into the invaders. This sound was punctuated by the muffled explosions of newly discovered landmines together with the clarion calls of artillery shots from the mountains behind them.

Several Japanese squads made it up to the barbed wire surrounding the two pillboxes and it appeared that some of the engineers had cleared and marked a path through the minefields perilously close to Havildar Ik's gun position. Suddenly the invaders broke through the barbed wire and were fighting at close quarters with the Dogras manning the 2nd Pillbox. The fighting was brutal, and Chandra had to finish one of the Japs off with his service revolver before the concussion of a grenade stunned them all. Suddenly the pillbox reverberated as an artillery salvo came down far too close. When the smoke had cleared, the Japs appeared to have melted away. A ragged cheer went up, and Chandra pointed out that there were plenty more where they came from.

He looked around at the scene inside the pillbox. They had been hit hard and although the Japanese invading force seemed to be dwindling – it was clear to him that they could not take on another wave. He risked another look through his binoculars past the carnage outside his position and confirmed his worst fears – there was another wave heading for the same beach. He quickly gave the order to get the reserve up to reinforce the decimated position. He grimly hoped they would make it before the next wave arrived.

Just as the first attack wave faltered, the next wave approached the beach. Subedar Chandra knew it was all down to whether this wave could capitalise on what the engineers had cleared in the wave before. What was left of the first wave was no longer a worry, however, he dreaded to think what would have happened if they had brought the second wave in a little quicker.

This time, good fortune smiled on the Dogras as the waves picked up a little and a couple of the landing craft foundered, spilling their men out into water that was too deep to wade through. In addition, a lucky shot from Havildar Ik blew one of the landing craft out of the water, sending the hapless occupants to a watery grave. Any jubilation was short lived however, as an errant shot from the flotilla of Japanese ships landed close to Havildar Ik's gun position, bringing a tree down on the 18-pounder gun, rendering it useless.

Although the Japanese had suffered large losses, this wave seemed somehow more determined than the first and punched through the barbed wire yet again. This time they completely overwhelmed Jemadar Singh's pillbox and put all to the sword, and the pillbox fell into imperial hands.

The fighting degenerated into a much more staccato affair with ragged volleys of shots between the two pillboxes. One of the soldiers in the pillbox still in British hands risked a look out to sea. It was with some relief he noted that the third wave appeared to be heading for the island beach to the East of their position.

Lance Havildar Do had made the same observation and realised that they were heading for the spit of land on which his pillbox was rather precariously perched. He started to scream down the field telephone to the forward observers, demanding that they shift the focus of the mountain batteries to his beach. Lieutenant Tombs calmly explained that it was a bit risky – some could fall on British positions. "I don't bloody care!" shouted Lance Havildar Do. "There won't be any damn British positions if you don't do something, Sahib!"

Despite the small arms and mortar fire welcoming them, the third wave arrived with only superficial casualties and launched themselves up the spit of land surrounding the pillbox. The fighting was intense and casualties heavy on all sides, but it was clear that the position was not going to last very long. The artillery was once more dead on target and the entire 3rd wave were caught in the devastation. When the smoke cleared all that could be seen were the dead and wounded that littered the beach and the pillbox was no more than a smoking ruin.

As dawn approached, Subedar Chandra surveyed the battlefield. He was as pleased as punch with the pinpoint accuracy of the artillery barrages that Singh and Tombs had brought down on the invaders. Although he could see the signs of a fourth wave forming up, he very much doubted they would risk another in broad daylight. The Dogras had performed well, and he had no doubt that this boded well for the campaign in the far East against the Japanese!

Kevin's Postscript: I have to admit (playing the British) to having some very jammy rolls, for once my artillery was spot on with almost every salvo (only one deviated by 3"), and secondly I rolled more than my fair share of "no damage" for my troops when hit. It was a long game, and we didn't quite finish the 3rd wave (50+% dead), let alone get to the 4th wave, but the outcome was in no doubt by then. Thanks to "Spoons" for setting up and umpiring the game (not to mention writing the initial battle report).

Martin Grimes & Kevin Tait

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

What a week this has been for me. I have painted a little bit every night and got in a game of IABSM3 today. Mark hosted a game out of my Greek Supplement - Scenario 5: Outflanked. I had the chance to play the Germans while Brian played the British. It was great fun. I also happened to roll better than I have ever rolled in my life. That made up for some of my poor tactics.

The shop that the game was in was dominated by flying space orcs and the like on the various tables. The table next to us had a giant walking robot thing that dominated the table. The table itself had little other terrain. Nearly wall to wall toys.

Mark was able to once again create a beautiful table. It really gave the feel of the village that the scenario was trying to convey. Here are a couple of shots of the table from my cell phone.

The scenario started out with the Germans racing up the road to the village. The Germans were able to reach the town first and held it throughout the game. It was a large scenario and the fight for the town would prove to be very bloody.

The Germans also managed to dominate a small rise just to the right of the village. From there, the German 2nd Tank Platoon deployed in a hull down formation and was able to spot and then destroy several British tanks. However, the deployment proved to be foolish as the tanks were far too close together. When the British returned fire, several other tanks took shock from the explosion of their fellows.

German 2nd Tanks deploy

The British advanced in a large column up the road toward the village. Since the Germans already occupied the village, they had the drop on the British column. The first blind was a fake and the second was a 25pdr gun on its limber. The gun and its truck beat a hasty retreat and their card never turned up for the rest of the game. The cards were there, just never drawn. In the background of the next picture, you can see more burning British tanks. Two platoons of British tanks attempted to move up the middle of the table off road. The tough going slowed them down and make them nice targets for the tanks of the German 1st and 2nd platoons.

Lead British elements are spotted

Did I mention, I love how Mark's terrain looks.

After the British gun ran away from the German tanks in the village, it was a turn or two before the village was again challenged.

German 1st tanks take the village

But that was not to last too long. Brian began to move a platoon up the road to challenge the defenders of the town. Meanwhile in the field, one British tank was abandoned, one destroyed and another immobilized. The second platoon also started to take damage and I think had also lost a tank by this point.

Part 2

We last left off with the British tanks in the center of the table getting increasingly in trouble. A blind of British infantry were spotted and immediately fled to a ditch nearby for cover as they had several Panzer IIIs nearby.

The headquarters of the platoon was unfortunate and was not able to reach the cover of the ditch. The HQ of the platoon was beaten to a pulp by repeated machine gunnings from the tanks in the area. Their Boys AT Rifle was completely ineffective at stopping the Panzer IIIs. Meanwhile, in the village, a traffic jam was developing. The British sent two platoons of Mark IV tanks into the town. All were the C model equipped with machine guns.

British tanks do better at the other village

This led to a point blank tank fight between a Panzer I, a Panzer II and several (6) Mark IVC tanks. It was an ugly fight with little real damage being dealt other than immobilizations all around.

Close combat tank style!

The tanks kept piling into the town. Eventually we had two CS tanks join the Mark IVCs and behind them was a command vehicle with a tank ace. Interestingly, this vehicle had some real potential to cause damage but he spent his time leading rather than fighting. In an attempt to break up the near stalemate in the town, I deployed an infantry platoon in the back of the village. They promptly drew the attention of the CS tanks who fired on the house causing some mild shock.

German infantry deploys

Now, the cards had not been unkind to me. I had some excellent early movement and all of my deployed troops were routinely coming up. But the blind card (which was controlling my reinforcement arrival) was not coming up. I had several blinds that were just idle.

German Blinds stuck

At this point I utilized the Skelton Gambit and deployed all of my on table blinds to get their cards in the deck.

The result of the Skelton Gambit

This proved to be a good strategy as my tank company HQ was immediately in action the next turn. Now my tank commander was not an ace but he sure did act like it. He chose to fire and fire often instead of wasting his time activating troops. Turns out, he was an excellent shot.

German Tank HQ

This company commander would take a shot on a badly obscured target and I got some extremely lucky die rolls to cook a British tank, much to that player's chagrin. Admittedly, that shot was borderline gamey but not out of the realm of possibility. Back to the poor bloody British infantry. They continued to take a pounding. One of the surviving British tanks managed to kill a Panzer III. In spite of loosing a tank, the Panzer IIIs poured fire on the troops in the ditch and slowly mounted some shock on them.

British Infantry take  a pounding

Now the German infantry was not completely idle. Since firing from the buildings was not working, the infantry - one squad after another, began close assaulting the British tanks. In the process they managed to knock out two tanks of the eight in the traffic jam. This was likely an unrealistic attempt as the infantry began to take hideous casualties shortly there after. The picture below actually captures the swarm covering up two of the tanks quite nicely. And quite deservedly so, I might add. No wonder my little lead guys won't talk to me after a game.

German infantry close assault

While the RAF was truly "Rarer than Fairies" in the Greek Campaign for the troops, the Luftwaffe proved the same in this game. Their card came up very early in the game and they promptly missed their targets all together. The second time their card came up, nothing came of it either. But this was a cool picture that we can blame on them.

Luftwaffe view

By now, the Second German Tank Platoon was able to recover some of their shock and began to advance down hill to dispatch the infantry in the ditch. The moved well on their way towards that goal.

German Second Tanks move in on the infantry

The German Infantry Headquarters attempted to move to a vantage point where they could overlook the town and aid the heavily engaged tanks.

German Infantry HQ moves to  a vantage point

The German Tank Company Headquarters began to flank the town to finish off the remaining tanks in the town. It was at this point, I ran out of time. The British were able to delay the German advance but not enough to really claim a win. The Germans held the town but were heavily engaged. Both the British and Germans had more reinforcements that had not arrived on table yet. At best, I can claim this as a minor German win. I made several tactical mistakes but did not pay for them nearly as dearly as I should have.

Bottom line, this game was great fun and I wish I could have stayed to play it out to its conclusion. Thanks again Mark!

Chris Stoesen

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Having enjoyed our last tank-on-tank game, Neil and I decided to play another. This time it would be Mechili and a chance to legitimately use my newly-painted Zvezda A13s.

The scenario is a simple one. Generale di Divisione Valentino Babini's Brigata Corazzata Speciale (Special Armoured Brigade) is positioned at Mechili, in the heart of the 'bulge' of Cyrenaica in Libya. The British 4th Armoured Brigade has arrived nearby and spotted the Italians, and has just spent a day reorganising after a rather taxing night march. As morning arrives on Friday 24th January 1941, both the Italians and the British move towards each other, each with orders to attack and destroy the enemy in front of them.

The British arrived on the battlefield first. It was, as history, very open, with the terrain sloping gently upwards away from the Brits, meaning that any tanks arriving in front of them would be silhouetted against the morning sky. The initial British force consisted of a squadron of twelve MkVI light tanks. Somewhere behind them were the Cruisers, waiting to be told where the Italians were so that they could move to attack them.

[Note that as I don't have twelve MkVI light tanks in my collection (I know, I know!), I was using six BEF MkVIs and six BEF Bren Gun Carriers as proxies.]

Such was the tardiness of the Italians (well, there was breakfast to be had, then the tanks needed washing so as to look their best etc.) that the British light tanks managed to get almost half way towards the enemy start line before the first Italian Blind even made it onto the table.

Once the Italians did arrive, however, things began to happen extremely quickly. Not sure what they were facing, the British tanks were initially unphased by the appearance of a few M13/40 medium tanks. As more and more Italian medium tanks began arriving, however, they quickly changed their minds and started calling for help from the Cruisers. Unfortunately, as in history again, the Cruisers refused to believe the Italians were attacking ("they're Italians, they don't attack") and so refused to move from their start positions just off table.

The Italians, played by me, were beside themselves with glee: this was going to be a duck shoot! What's more, the dice were with me, with the M13/40s rolling fives and sixes as if they were going out of fashion. Two MkVIs were knocked out almost immediately, with several more having lots of bits blown off them. After a couple more turns, the Italians were positioned in a semi-circle about a quarter of the way up the table, with the British in front of them desperately weaving backwards and really, really trying to persuade the Cruisers that there really, really was a substantial Italians attack underway.

There was a brief British attempt at actually attacking the Italian tanks (see the troop of "Mk VIs" just to the right of the hill in the picture above and to the right) but, as I said, the dice were with the M13/40s, and all that happened were that the British tanks were driven off, losing at least one of them, bailed out, in the process.

Things looked bad for the Brits!

Then the British Cruisers arrived...in the shape of three troops of three A13s each, with a Squadron HQ of three A10s.

Concentrating on the right flank, the Cruisers didn't mess about, immediately de-cloaking from Blinds and opening fire on the Italian tanks in front of them. It should have been very messy: the Cruisers were operating by the troop, each headed by a Big Man, and each having three Actions per tank rather than the Italian two. Not only that, but the Italians, operating tank by tank, now found themselves silhouetted against the sky, so were at +1 to hit all the time.

It should have been, but it wasn't...at least not for the next couple of turns.

The luck of the Italians held and, as you can see in the picture above-right, two Cruisers bit the dust fairly quickly. Even more satisfying, it was the Italian Big Man who destroyed both of them: it seemed that Maggiore Cioppino's gunner just couldn't miss!

Well, as you can imagine, the Dice Gods appreciate being appreciated, but my excessive gloating proved too much even for them and, in an instant, all the luck that the Italians had enjoyed disappeared faster than a bowl of cioppino (it's an Italian-American fish stew) in front of a hungry wargamer!

With the Italian magic gone, the battle came down to a straight and decidedly uneven fight. The Italians were losing one or two tanks each turn as the British three-tank troops concentrated their fire. Yes, the M13/40s were firing back, but single tank by single tank and with only two Actions. Within minutes, only Maggiore Cioppino and two other Italian tanks were left operational, and the good Major disappeared in a ball of flame soon after.

It had, however, been a great, fun battle to game. The initial Italian duck shoot accounted for four MkVIs (two less than historically, but we brought on the Cruisers a bit early to make the game flow a bit better) and the fact that I managed to account for two Cruisers made losing all but two of my tanks somehow less annoying than it could have been! The game played out exactly as the battle did in 1941, leaving Mechili in British possession and setting up the race to Beda Fomm that followed soon afterwards.

Robert Avery

Here are a few more pictures of the game:

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

One of my favourite scenarios from the Operation Compass scenario pack is Tobruk 3: the Australian assault on the El Gubbi airfield. Although I had seen the scenario played at the recent TFL Tobruk Day, I'd never actually played it myself, so when Neil rang and said he'd suddenly become free for a quick game, it seemed the obvious one to play.

The scenario involves a company of Australian infantry attempting to take the airfield from its defenders: two sections of Italian infantry and four 20mm flak guns in weapon pits. The Australians enter from the edge parallel to the main road, the Italians start the game under on-table Blinds. The airstrip itself was totally flat and featureless: a killing ground that for our game I outlined with barbed wire and hedges, not as obstacles but as indicators of where the flat bits started and ended. The rest of the terrain was also largely flat, but rough enough to provide decent cover for prone infantry.

The Australians began their assault swiftly: Blinds appearing rapidly on the other side of the road. Two platoons of infantry were soon spotted by the Italians: one provided a base of fire from the rough ground at the edge of the road whilst the other, backed up by another Blind, looped around the flank of a nearby hill. The nearest Italian AA gun opened up, but with little effect, as the Australians were pressed into the dirt or behind the crest of the hill, only the odd bush hat showing where they were!

The three crew of the first Italian gun were quickly dispatched. On the Italian right, the unspotted Australian Blind moved further onto the flank of the airfield buildings, and another Blind moved up to take control of the bunker where the first Italian gun had been.

Unfortunately for the Australians, there was an hitherto unspotted squad of Italian infantry in the lean to next door, who spotted their enemy and then opened fire. Their target turned out to be the Australian Company HQ which, unwisely, was operating far to the front of their main body. Although not many casualties were inflicted on the Aussie command element, they were effectively shocked into immobility for the next phase of the game.

The other Italian infantry squad and another 20mm autocannon also revealed themselves, inflicting a couple of casualties on the Aussie's behind the crest of the hill.

Obviously keen to get to grips with their opponents, the Aussie troops just charged forward, careless of the consequences. The "back" platoon laid down covering fire with two of its sections and sent the  third one in to assault the enemy infantry squad molesting its HQ; and both "up" platoons charged forward: mostly at the other Italian infantry squad, with one section going for the other Italian AA gun.

Unsurprisingly, all three charges were successful, and the Italians...well, they just fled! Both infantry squads headed out the back door as fast as they could, shock and awe oozing from every pore; and the other autocannon crew surrendered from the effects of casualties and a pin.

The Defence of the Airfield Buildings Crumbles!

The Italian retreat continued, their infantry still carrying way more shock points than their Big Man could swiftly heal.

Finally, however, the Italian secret weapon arrived! Five medium tanks entered the table from the far end, and quickly fanned out to defend the last remaining autocannon.

Unfortunately, only a turn or so later, the Australians' secret weapon appeared: two British-crewed Matilda tanks! Worse than that, the Australian CO had finally remembered that he had a battery of 25-pounders tasked to support him, their first barrage (arriving perfectly to order) landing on the three Italian tanks heading for the Matildas, crippling one that must have taken a direct hit, and severely shocking the others!

Although a few overeager Australian infantrymen were shot up as they attempted to follow up their initial success across the open ground of the airstrip, the result of the battle was really now a foregone conclusion. The Matildas shrugged off any Italian tank shells, and calmly picked off the Italian tanks one by one. The only good thing to come out of their arrival was the fact that I got to use my "tank on fire" markers for the first time...lots of them in fact!

It had been a cracking battle: very exciting despite the fairly small forces involved. Looking at the clock, we were amazed to see that we had fought the whole game from first chip drawn to final Italian surrender in only 2½ hours, and neither of us felt at all short-changed either:  IABSMv3 has once again proved its worth!

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

The afternoon saw Mick, Clive and I verses Max and Chris in one of the scenario's taken from the Operation Compass scenario pack.

We had to take an airfield entering from the eastern table edge and exit the western table edge, destroying all enemy forces en route. A tough task indeed.

We had three platoons split between the three players, each of four sections, light mortar, AT rifle and Big Man. Clive also had the Company HQ, whilst I had a pair of AT guns which would arrive at the rear. We were allowed to enter at the south western corner three Blinds per time, and had two False Blinds. We were to be reinforced by two Matilda tanks from the north western corner on the sixth turning of the Turn card.

Quickly we spotted AA guns protecting the airstrip. I was detailed to make a rapid penetration then turn left into the airfield buildings with Mick's platoon in support. Clive, bringing up the rear, would take the buildings and react to the enemy.

I decided (foolishly as ever) to assault the first AA gun with two squads and failed in their three movement dice, falling short by 1" each time. Exposed, a great target and no chance of further activation my troops were opened up on by everything in sight: three AA guns ringing the airfield and two infantry sections, one in the airfield buildings and one on the Italian baseline with another AA gun. I was actually quite fortunate that I decided to keep two sections back and suffered mainly wounds as I was at long range from three AA guns out of the four available.

A second assault saw me finally take the AA gun but still exposed I took heavy casualties.

Our tactic now was to drop Light Mortar rounds on the AA guns to cause wounds as there was no Italian Big Man available nor a Rally card to remove them. The Italians were firing and fighting hard and we were taking casualties as Clive and Mick pressed on to assault the airfield buildings.

Another AA gun fell foul of the Aussies. Mick went in again and cleared a building of an Italian section in hand to hand fighting, killing an enemy Big Man.

Suddenly an Italian Blind appeared on the baseline far away, but facing my battered platoon. Italian tanks, we all thought!

[L to R]  Kev, Clive, Mick & Bif

Fortunately Biff arrived, though only with one Matilda not two, losses from the lunchtime engagement. By now the remaining Italian AA guns were taking hits from Clive and Mick's infantry, and my light mortar. Biff's tank crushed the third AA gun. We successfully spotted the enemy Blind as a platoon of five Italian tin cans. The Italian tanks were poorly armed and armoured, and a long way away. I revealed my AT guns facing off against them whilst Clive and Mick were clearing the buildings. Initially the Italian tanks tried firing their MGs against the AT guns with little effect. My AT guns weren't activating as their cards were not coming up.

Next the Italian tanks tried to get closer but then their cards didn't come up. Clive called down artillery fire on the building on the Italian table edge containing the last section, and adjacent to the last AA gun. The Italian tanks then tried a direct fire on the AT guns and missed. They then switched to 'area' firing on the British guns with their pesky 47mm guns with better effect. With no Big Man anywhere near them, and the Rally card needed to remove wounds and shock points elsewhere, the guns' effectiveness was whittled away rapidly until they had only one firing dice available.

For their part the Italians were having trouble too. With a one man turret and a unable to move AND shoot in the same turn, plus only being able to fire a maximum of twice in a turn, the Italians did well considering. Our artillery was falling amongst them and causing a loss of initiative dice or pinning them preventing them from doing much.

Biff's Matilda now made a bee line for the enemy armour as Clive and Mick left the airfield buildings and advanced on our left towards the enemy baseline. They had taken some casualties but considering they were still able to operate effectively.

My AT guns hit a couple of tanks but had no effect, whilst Clive and me had sent Big Men to try and help their shooting, to no avail. I tried to advance an AT rifle crew but they perished trying to close the distance between them and the enemy tanks. I eventually managed to hit and immobilise an Italian tank at close range then tried to finish it off with an infantry section assault (foolish boy) only to be shot down by MG fire from another tank.

Biff took a couple of hits, but predictably against his armour 9 there was no effect. He then managed to hit an Italian tin can and force it to retreat for a turn with possible engine damage.

Our off table artillery and wounds/shock from the light mortars saw off the last AA gun and the Italian infantry section.

The game ended there pretty much and was considered a draw. We had managed to take four AA guns, two infantry sections and a tank but there were still four more left to destroy to fulfill our victory conditions.

The Allies won just on the day but it was a very close run thing. I must admit the action in the afternoon was much more hectic and so I didn't get much idea what was going on elsewhere but it was a very fun day out.

Kev

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 
 

The Italians suffered from Poor Discipline early in the game and had to deploy the bulk of their forces on their start line (still out of sight due to the heavy dust/smoke). 

The Aussies sent Sgt Bruce off for the captured anti-tank gun (ATG) at the first opportunity: it arrived very quickly, one Tea Break apart IIRC. 

Zippee & Gerard

The Italian tanks struggled to move in the soft sand between the construction sites, the infantry were reluctant to move out of the construction sites. One tank repeatedly broke down. The Turn cards arrived quickly so the supporting Bofors and Matilda arrived at the same time as the Italian ‘attack’ by two Blinds on the front left of the Aussie trenches (one Blind was a dummy, the other another platoon of five tanks).

The platoon of tanks was promptly spotted and received a hail of anti-tank rifle (ATR) fire, the tanks halted and conducted area HE fire at the trenches. This went on for a couple of turns, resulting in a dead ATR team in 7 Platoon (lead trench). Then the ATG and Bofors opened up and one by one the tanks were knocked out and/or abandoned. Results of the duel between the ATG and tank: score five dead tanks, five dead Aussie crew. 

The ATRs kept up a hail of fire which while not destructive in itself certainly proved irksome, often forcing retirements and the like. Even the Matilda had a go from the baseline with some success, unfortunately she then tried to move and immediately permanently bogged down and with that any thought of an Aussie counter-attack against the two Italian companies and second tank platoon faded. 

[L to R] Zippee's head; Sid, Nick, Joe & Egg

The only infantry action was late in the game when one Italian company spattered the lead Aussie trench with ineffective fire. In retaliation 1st Section 7th Platoon returned fire under direction of Lt Nash and shot an Italian dead. Thus ended the infantry ‘battle’. 

Final score I believe was seven dead Aussies, one dead Italian and five burning tanks – heck the Aussies still had a platoon under a blind at the end, which tells you something about the static nature of the game.

Zippee

 
MORE AAR
HOME
/
 
 
 

My regular opponent, Neil, and I played our first battle of 2011 today. Taken from the Operation Compass scenario book, the action concerns the exploits of the 2/8th Australian Infantry Battalion in the original assault on the Italian stronghold of Tobruk on 21st January 1941. Click on the pictures to see them full size.

The 2/8th Battalion has already successfully cleared the central area of the stronghold, and is regrouping in and amongst a series of Italian trenches in the south-east corner of the table. North and west of the trenches are areas where the Italians have been seeking to extend their fortifications i.e. the equivalent of building sites. Visibility is poor due to the smoke and swirling sand kicked up by the wind: spotting and shooting is limited to within 24".

Casualties amongst the 2/8th have been high, so Companies A, B, C and D have just been amalgamated into A/B and C/D Companies: in game terms, three four-section platoons. Orders have just come through to continue the advance towards Fort Pilastrino when an Italian counter-attack is sited coming in from the north-west corner of the table: two platoons of M13/40 tanks (seven in all) supported by two platoons of infantry.

Through the smoke and whirling debris, the Aussies spotted that the Italian attack was three pronged. One Italian infantry platoon headed south for the building site there, setting up a firing line on the edge nearest the Aussie positions. One Italian infantry platoon headed slowly up the centre, the unwilling Italian footsloggers 'enjoying' the benefits of two Hesitant Troops cards. Finally, the seven Italian tanks headed towards the northernmost building site, now being occupied by the Aussie 1st Platoon along with two anti-tank rifles (ATRs) from the Company HQ. The rest of the Aussie infantry sat still under Blinds: seven tanks, even crappy two-dice Italian ones, are quite formidable opposition. Besides, support had been called for: Sergeant Burgess had gone off after an abandoned Italian AT gun, and the Turn Card had already come out twice!

The Italians hesitated, seemingly unable to decide where to put their attack in. Gradually the Aussies were spotted, but this didn't seem to help Capitano Cavolfiore's decision making process! Finally, the lead Italian M13/40 pushed forward and started area firing HE into the northern building site and Australian 1st Platoon. The tank was met by a hail of ATR fire, none of which did more than chip its paint at that range, but then broke down and was promptly abandoned!

Sergeant Russell returned at that point, dragging a Breda 47/32, and an improvised crew was quickly put together. Several shells were sent flying towards the Italian tanks that had now moved into a more central position but, again, all that suffered was the Italian paintwork. The Italian counter-attack had ground to a halt at this point, and although their tanks were still either area firing or machine-gunning 1st Aussie Platoon, the effects were minimal.

Meanwhile, on the southern flank, Lieutenant Russell and 3rd Aussie Platoon had decided that it was time to get their attack moving again. Emerging from the Italian trenches, all four sections advanced in rushes towards the Italians positioned along the edge of the southern building site, taking a few casualties but doing a lot more. One section from 2nd Platoon joined them, although these brave Aussies soon found themselves exposed to flank fire from other Italian troops and would eventually be suppressed, but not before doing a surprising amount of damage to their enemy.

The first set of Commonwealth reinforcements then arrived: two Bofors 37mm AT guns from 3rd RHA which were quickly manhandled forward into a firing position in the centre of the Australian line. They would continue to hold the Italian tanks at bay, gradually advancing forward, but without actually doing any damage. The Italian armour had, at this point, suffered badly from Vehicle Breakdown: three of their tanks were now permanently immobilised, with the two forward ones abandoned as well.

The Australian 1st Platoon then saw the Italians start to move their second infantry platoon from the centre towards the southern building site. Hearing that their second set of reinforcements had arrived, two Matildas from 7RTR (armour 9!), they advanced west out of their building site and charged up and over a hill towards where the Italian infantry were. A whole platoon of Aussies smashed into two squads of poor quality Italians supported by two tanks. Unbelievably, the poor-quality Italians turned out to be amazing hand-to-hand fighters: the first round of the combat was drawn despite the Aussies rolling 49 dice to the Italian 14! The melee continued, and this time the Aussies pulled out their collective finger, dispatching both enemy squads and tanks.

The Heroic Commander card then appeared, so the Aussie 1st Platoon followed Lieutenant Gately forward into melee with another three Italian tanks! Two were dispatched, their crews abandoning them after minor forms of damage had been done, but the third caused heavy casualties with its machine guns, with more casualties being caused by other nearby Italians.

Aussie 1st Platoon had done the job though: the Italian left flank was utterly broken. Their right flank was also just about to give way: as the two Matildas trundled up into machine gun range, with 2nd Aussie Platoon moving forward to threaten an assault, the Italian white flags broke out. A glorious victory for the Australian infantry, who never really needed the reinforcing AT guns and tanks.

For the record, the game took about three hours from start to finish, and almost exactly followed its historical counterpart except for the fact that the damage to the Italian tanks historically was done by the AT guns rather than by the Aussie infantry. A great fun battle…a great start to the wargaming year.

Robert Avery 

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

The afternoon saw Elton and I in charge of an Italian counter-attack on advancing Australians. Elton took charge of a line of defences consisting of two MMGs facing the Australian attack and two dug-in, unable to move M11/39 tanks facing the wrong way; and I took charge of the four L3 tankettes and four M11/39s that would carry out the counterattack itself. Facing us was a company of Australian infantry packed up by a small carrier platoon of two carriers and a captured M11/39.

The Australian Blinds advanced really quickly: the infantry soon hopping over the barbed wire on the right of Elton's MMGs. We were lucky in that one of their carriers got permanently tangled in the wire, but the other carrier and captured tank were only delayed by one turn.

One Australian Blind immediately turned right and charged and overran one of Elton's MMGs with no loss, but then suffered some hefty casualties as it did the same to the other.

Fortunately, this delay had given me time to get our tanks forward, and from a central position on the battlefield, they uncloaked from their Blind and started hammering the Aussie infantry with everything they had.

We were positioned in amongst a building site where more trenches were being constructed: a central position, but one that would prove annoyingly difficult to manoeuvre about.

Meanwhile the Aussie infantry seemed to be ignoring both our tanks and their casualties, content to move around the edge of the board seemingly heading for the north-west corner. A brief duel between my tanks and the remaining enemy carrier and captured M11/39 ended with the enemy carrier being taken out and the main gun on the captured M11/39 being damaged beyond repair. This victory was somewhat tarnished when the captured M11/39 rammed my lead tank, permanently disabling both.

I now, however, had seven tanks left, and only a few Boys ATRs against me, so went on a bit of a spree against the remaining Australian infantry that was still moving around the outside of the table. The Australians needed to do something, so left one Blind in transit, whilst their remaining infantry charged my tanks!

A fierce melee developed, with me quickly losing a couple of L3s, but co-operative fire meant that the Australians were still taking heavy casualties. Things would have gone more my way except for the fact that we were fighting in a building site: my idea about getting cover might have worked against enemy tanks, but not against enemy infantry! At this point, the Aussie Blind left the table behind me and the game ended. Elton and I had lost the two MMGs and two dug-in tanks, plus another two L3s and two M11s. The Australians had effectively lost everything they had except for the single platoon of infantry that had left the table.

The scenario victory conditions were read: the Australians, by leaving the table, had got behind my position so affecting my morale to such an extend that the rest of the Italian line would withdraw. A victory to the Aussies, despite their heavy casualties. Annoyingly...incredibly annoyingly...with the other two afternoon battles both ending up as draws, the Australian victory here have the Commonwealth forces an overall victory on the day!

A great game, however, with fierce and bloody action throughout...and only a few mentions of the fact that I had written the scenario so should have known what the Australian victory conditions were!

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 

The tenth scenario from the Operation Compass pack takes place on 14th December 1940. It covers a real-life incident during the drive to surround Bardia, where Rae Leakey of 1RTR led his his mixed squadron of cruiser and light tanks towards the Capuzzo-Sidi Azeiz road in the pitch black, first shooting up a line of Italian lorries and then withdrawing in the face of a surprisingly aggressive attack by large numbers of Italian medium tanks.

This would be quite an unusual game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum, as not only would it involve no infantry, only tanks, trucks and lorries, but it would also take place at night, with both spotting and shooting therefore being much more difficult than normal. On top of this, the terrain was also awful: the 'road' running between Capuzzo and Sidi Azeiz was so bad that it would give no benefit to movement, and any vehicle attempting to move off the road having a small chance each turn of getting temporarily bogged down and not moving at all.

The action would take place right in the middle of the 'blue', literally miles from anywhere. The eponymous 'road' runs along the northern edge of the table, with a long, low ridge running parallel and just to the south of it. Things would begin with the arrival of an Italian convoy of supply trucks at the eastern end of the road at the same time as the lead elements of the British tank squadron arrive half way along the southern edge of the tabletop. After four appearances of the Turn Card, Italian tanks would start appearing at the western edge of the road.

Up in the Blue

The Italian convoy consisted of a staff car and seven trucks/lorries organised into an HQ and two groups of three trucks/lorries each. The British tank squadron consisted of an HQ A9 cruiser tank and then three troops: No.1 troop consisting of three MkVI Light Tanks, No.2 troop of two A10 cruisers, and No.3 troop of two more A9s. As British commander, I was slightly nervous about the paper-thin armour on the MkVIs and A9s, and determined not to 'mix it up' with the Italian tanks, but to try and out shoot them from range...which tells you all you need to know about my ability to predict the course of a battle!

The Italian tank force riding to the rescue of the convoy consisted of an HQ M11/39 tank, one platoon of three L3 Tankettes, and three platoons of three M11/39 tanks each. This seems very powerful, but the Italian tanks are without radios, so move individually rather than by platoon, and only have two actions to the three enjoyed by the Brits. On top of that, the main gun on the M11/39 is hull mounted, meaning the whole tank has to turn to acquire a target rather than just being able to swivel their turrets.

The Game

The game began with two Italian blinds entering the table at the end of the road on its eastern edge (the nearest edge in the photo above). Almost at the same time, a British blind (concealing the light tanks of 1 Troop) arrived midway along the southern table edge (where the circular patch of scrub is in the photo above).

Although the British tanks had great difficulty traversing the rough ground, the Rapid Deployment card meant they arrived within about a foot south of the mid-point of the road at the same time as the Italian blinds arrived about a foot east of the same point. The extreme darkness meant that although the British tanks spotted that the enemy blinds concealed a staff car and four lorries, they had no actions left with which to shoot at them.

The Italian lorries slammed on their breaks, then slammed into reverse and headed straight back towards the table's edge. The British MkVIs were about to give chase when they spotted a mass of Italian blinds arriving from the west. One MkVI headed after the retreating lorries, the other two headed west to investigate. More British blinds were now arriving on the southern edge of the table, but bad terrain meant that, again, progress was quite slow.

WHOOPS!

The two MkVIs advanced boldly in the darkness towards the Italian blinds, then got a bit of a shock to the system when the Italians advanced back at them and were revealed due to proximity at the Tea Break as two platoons of M11/39 medium tanks. In terms of real life as represented by game scale, the British light tanks didn't spot what the Italians were until they were only about six yards away!

Now it was the turn of the British to slam into reverse. One MkVI shot back towards the Italian trucks (and would spend the rest of the game chasing them in the darkness), the other spun south and reversed until it was out of sight behind the long ridge.

The two MkVIs advanced boldly in the darkness towards the Italian blinds, then got a bit of a shock to the system when the Italians advanced back at them and were revealed due to proximity at the Tea Break as two platoons of M11/39 medium tanks. In terms of real life as represented by game scale, the British light tanks didn't spot what the Italians were until they were only about six yards away!

Now it was the turn of the British to slam into reverse. One MkVI shot back towards the Italian trucks (and would spend the rest of the game chasing them in the darkness), the other spun south and reversed until it was out of sight behind the long ridge.

I say, chaps, is this what they mean by target rich environment?

Meanwhile the two British A9s of 3 Troop crested the ridge and engaged the flank of the Italian tanks, half of whom turned towards them to engage. Although you can't see it very well in the photo, below, the British cruisers are up on the ridge looking down on the road (the A9s are also being proxied by a couple of A13s).

More Italian medium tanks arrived on the edge of the table, this time heading up onto the ridge and, for the moment, it was eight Italian M11s versus two British A9s!

A volley of shots rang out on both sides, and the British tank crews paid the price for their thin armour: the left hand A9 was permanently immobilised and had its gun knocked out for good measure, with its crew abandoning ship as a result. In reply, however, the Brits managed no more than to drive one of the M11s backwards off the road into cover behind some shrubs. Things were not looking too good for the Brits!

Help was at hand, however, as the other troop of cruisers appeared just east of the ridge and prepared to open fire on the lead platoon of M11s. These had turned to face the arriving Brits, but their lack of initiative and need to physically turn their tanks to get their main guns to bear meant that the A10s survived the initial Italian volley undamaged.

Hyde Park Corner IN Rush hour

In reply, the A10's smashed so many bits off two of the M11s that their crews bailed immediately. That left one M11 still functioning, so the British MkVI that was hiding behind the end of the ridge shot forward into the gap between the two A10s, neatly being in cover behind the medium tanks from any return flanking fire from other Italians, and used its .50 to turn the remaining M11 into a colander, also forcing its crew to abandon.

Yes, my three tanks were right next to each other and vulnerable to a chain reaction if one of them blew up, but one of the great things about early war gaming is the fact that it's actually quite difficult to blow up a tank: you spend your whole time knocking more and more bits off it until it stops moving and firing and its crew decide to bail!

At the same time as the above, the British HQ A9, commanded by Leakey himself, had arrived on the flank of the Italian tanks flanking the A9s on top of the ridge. Some fine shooting quickly forced a bail-out on one M11 and another to retreat off table.

That meant that in one turn the Brits had knocked out five of the ten Italian M11s for the loss of just one of their cruisers. This loss had such a big effect on the Italian morale that Neil, my opponent, called the game at that point, congratulating me on a victory. He just couldn't see how his remaining tanks could survive...which was a pity, as I was looking forward to proving his point for him!

It was a short and most enjoyable game. The Italians were hamstrung by their low initiative, lack of radios and fixed-mount main guns: things the British were able to exploit despite their paper-thin armour and being outnumbered two-to-one. As for my dreams of being able to stand off and shoot from a distance...well, the photos below show that the battle looked more like Hyde Park Corner in rush hour, with the darkness meaning that nearly all shooting was done at less than 9" or 60 yards!

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

This afternoon Neil and I fought the second of our paired games from the Operation Compass scenario booklet. This time we would fight BuqBuq twice: once with me as the Italians, then swapping sides so I took the British. The scenario is very similar to the last one we fought, Sidi Barrani, in that it involves a force of British tanks (three platoons, each three tanks: one A9s, one A13s and one Light Tanks MkVI) attempting to suppress a mixed bag of Italian artillery positions supported by some ragtag infantry.

It promised to be a lovely afternoon’s gaming. The table was set up under a canopy on the patio, with Neil’s immaculately tended garden as the backdrop. The sun was shining, but there was a light breeze blowing. The noisy neighbour, who had refused to turn down his music, had gone out. A bar-b-que had been consumed, and there was ice cream for after the battles were done. 

The first battle opened with the British bringing their light tanks and A9 Cruisers on to one corner of the table, desperately spotting in all directions as they tried to locate the Italian gun positions amongst the sand dunes west of BuqBuq. A few false Blinds were located and dispersed.  

The Italians had spotted as well, opening fire at long range as soon as they saw the British tanks. The Italian force revealed itself as a battery of two 75mm field guns behind one h ill facing the British right; a battery of two 65mm infantry guns on top of hill facing the British left; and in the centre a single 100mm howitzer. The howitzer was supported by two anti-tank guns, but they stayed under Blinds for the moment. There were also four squads of infantry lurking around somewhere, but they, quite sensibly, played no part in the battle.

No damage was done by the Italian opening salvo, and the British rushed forward to try and close to effective machine gun range with the Italian guns. On the British right, the A9s (anachronistically represented in the photos by Grants as they’d never been on the tabletop before and I wanted to use them!) fired smoke, partially obscuring the fire of the Italian 75s, with the Squadron Commander also calling in fire support from some off-table 25-pounders. On the British left, the A13s (again anachronistically portrayed by Crusaders as I have them painted up in desert colours) advanced.  In the centre, the MkVIs hung back: nervous of the firepower of the Italian howitzer.

The first serious action was on the British left. Here, using their Armour Bonus Move card well, the A9s rapidly closed with the Italian 75s. One A9 was taken out during the advance, but the threat of the other two, and ranging shots from artillery landing on them, was enough to make the Italian gunners limber up and prepare to evacuate. Unfortunately they had left it too late, and moved too slowly. The crews of both guns died under a hail of machine gun fire from the fast-moving cruisers as they drove towards the main Italian position. 

However, as the A9s congratulated themselves on their success, a strange whistling noise was heard from above. They had forgotten that they had called in artillery and were currently parked right next to the explosion marker that indicated the centre of the expected barrage. The Off Table Artillery chip had come up and the British tanks rocked and shook as 25-pounder rounds landed on top of them! Neil was most dischuffed, despite the fact that his tanks actually took no damage.

On the British left, however, the Italians had done much better. The howitzer and 65s had managed to knockout two of the A13s and the Squadron commander in his A10 for the loss of only the howitzer. The British light tanks were still lurking at the back of the battlefield, but advanced forward only to be caught in salt flats that immobilised them for the rest of the game (which is what happened historically as well).

The British now brought their three surviving medium tanks together behind a hill and prepared to assume hull down position and machine gun what they thought were the only remaining enemy guns: the two 65s on the far hill. Up the hill they went, straight into the sights of the two Italian ATGs that now came off their Blinds. One A9 went up in smoke, and the other tanks retreated back down the hill.

At this point, Neil decided not to continue with this game: believing that there was no way that his three remaining operational tanks could win, given the large amounts of open ground that they had to traverse. I shall spare you his animadversions on the quality of the scenario; the fact that historical gaming didn’t necessarily equal fun gaming; his preference for equally pointed games with each side having a mix of infantry, artillery and armour; and his general unhappiness with, well, everything really!

After a little persuasion, however, he perked up enough to agree to refight the battle, this time with him playing the Italians. He adopted an almost identical deployment as I had, and sat and waited for me to advance.

Game Two

Having seen the consequences of splitting the British force, I had planned to put all my tanks together for one massive thrust up the right hand side of the battlefield. A quick break to get coffee, however, effectively wiped my brain, and I ended up sending the A9s and light tanks up the right hand side of the battlefield; and the A13s and Squadron Commander in his A10 up the left. I mentally kicked myself as I watched all three light tanks and an A9 get KO’d by long range Italian fire.

On the British right, the A9s (this time represented by the correct models) drove up close enough to make the Italian 75s limber up. As the artillery drove away, however, British off-table artillery landed on top of them, pinning them for long enough for the two surviving A9s to catch them and shoot them up.

It was on the British left, however, that the battle was won. A run of movement bonuses got the A13s and A10 into effective range with their machine guns for the loss of just one A13. The Squadron Commander’s card then came up, and he accelerated forward with a stonkingly huge die roll for movement and ended up right on top of one Italian 65mm gun. We rolled to see if his tank was damaged: not even a scratch on the paintwork. That left him in the middle of the Italian gun position: a 65mm gun underneath him, another 65mm gun on one side of him, a 100mm howitzer on the other, two infantry squads looking with astonishment at this metal monster that had appeared in front of them, and two anti-tank guns being pushed round into a position to shoot at him from the next hill along!

Then up came Tea Break. Every Italian gun fired. Both supporting A13s were disabled and would have to roll next time to see if their crews abandoned, but the Squadron Commander’s A10 was untouched.

Next turn began. The British Squadron Commander got to fire first and mullered the 65mm gun next to him. Then came Tea Break. The two disabled British A13s survived the barrage of shells that came their way, bits of their tanks flying off in all directions, frantically shooting their machine guns at any gunners and/or infantry they could see. The Squadron Commander’s tank was, of course, masked by the 100mm howitzer.

Next turn, the Squadron Commander A10’s card again came up first. This time he finished off the Italian howitzer crew on his right. Unfortunately, however, this meant that the Italian anti-tank guns would finally get a clean shot on him when their card came up. Not this turn, however, as the Armour Bonus Move card appeared, and the A10 carefully drove forward deep into the heart of the nearby Italian infantry, effectively screening his tank behind a somewhat surprised human wall.

Tea Break again…and again both immobilised British tanks survived a barrage of shells and wreaked horrible damage with their machine guns. Remember that they hadn’t activated yet, only firing on Tea Break, so hadn’t yet had to roll to abandon!

On the next turn, the Squadron Commander’s card was not the first to appear. It was the A9s, who now appeared behind the Italian ATGs who had slewed round to fire at the A13s and A10. Gunners fell in a hail of machine gun fire and, again, Neil conceded that the battle was lost to the Italians, caught in between the horns of a very British buffalo.

With only the merest hint of gnashing teeth, Neil helped me clear away, ignoring my largely unsuccessful attempts to avoid showing my satisfaction at my two victories. Admittedly our usually convivial post-battle analysis was a little foreshortened, but handshakes were exchanged and, it appeared, good humours restored.

It wasn’t until I was driving home that I realised that I hadn’t been offered my ice cream!

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

My regular opponent, Neil, and I played Scenario 8, Sidi Barrani, from the Operation Compass scenario book last night. We played it twice: once with Neil playing the British, once with Neil playing the Italians. 

The scenario features a squadron of British tanks sweeping through sand dunes near the town of Sidi Barrani looking to finally crush the last remnants of Italian resistance in the form of three batteries of guns supported by a few squads of Libyan colonial infantry. The scenario takes place at night, albeit under a full moon, so Blinds are aplenty; and spotting and shooting are difficult at all but close range. The British objective is to take out all enemy guns and make base-to-base contact with an objective marker at the opposite end of the table.

The first game opened with the British confronted by a mass of Italian Blinds spread out over the battlefield. The tanks of 6RTR shot down the road, frantically spotting in all directions. As it was dark, they saw nothing, but an Italian gun position opened up from just to the east of the hill that dominated the terrain: two 75/28 infantry guns with a Big Man.

The Italian fire was ineffectual, but provoked what I can only describe as an all out cavalry charge by all the British tanks that were available: three A10 Cruisers and the Squadron HQ of an A9 and an A10CS. I'm not sure quite what the Squadron HQ was doing charging up a hill straight at enemy guns, but it seemed to work quite well: one gun was overrun by an A10, disappearing under its tracks with a satisfying grinding noise, and the other's crew quickly mown down by concentrated machine-gun fire. The Italian Big Man, Sergente Agnello, survived unscathed for a short time afterwards, but eventually met with the same fate as his men.

Incidentally, those of you who are now trying to reconcile the pictures above with A9 and A10 Cruisers should congratulate themselves on their vehicle recognition skills: the only British tanks I had painted in desert strip were Crusaders and Valentines, so we used them instead of A9s and A10s!

A second Italian gun battery then opened fire at the flanks of the British tanks that were still milling around the wreckage of the 77s. Unfortunately this provoked another charge by the British: the command tank hurtling down the hill, and the final British troop, this one of lighter A9s, coming in from the road. Although these Italian guns were only 65/17 infantry guns, they were able to knock out one British A9 outright, and send another off the board to seek repairs, before being destroyed once again by machine-gun fire.

At the same time, two squads of Libyan infantry appeared from the hill top above the destroyed 77s (you can just see the edge of their Blind in the picture above: the obvious Blind is a fake), and charged into close combat with the British tanks. Although the infantry was dispatched in fairly short order, they did manage to cause the Squadron HQ CS tank to withdraw to seek repairs. That made three out of eight British tanks off the table. 

Next spotted was the final Italian gun position: this one housing two 45mm anti-tank guns. at last: something that you'd think would slightly worry the British tankers. Not a bit of it! As you can see from the picture, above, a troop and the Squadron HQ tank charged forward again. These guns proved a bit more deadly, however, and although eventually KO'd, two more British tanks were taken out or forced to retreat. That left three British tanks verses the only other Italian opposition: another two squads of infantry.

In the event, the infantry didn't manage to do much at all, so it was a British victory, but at a cost of five valuable and (in campaign terms) irreplaceable tanks, at least two of which were completely brewed up. I now took charge of the British for the return leg.

Game Two

Again the British were confronted by a mass of Italian Blinds. I now conducted what even Neil called a text book attack on the position. Hunting out the Italian gun positions with my heavier A10 Cruisers, who could probably take a hit or two, I then brought up my A10CS and laid down a barrage of heavy mortar fire on the hapless Italian gunners. The lighter A9s were kept in fire brigade mode: suppressing one infantry platoon and then using their superior speed to overwhelm the real danger, the Italian anti-tank guns, before they could do more than knock a track off one tank.

In the end the Italians were utterly defeated again, but this time with the loss of only two British tanks: one temporarily immobilised and one that had sought repairs after its turret had jammed. Just goes to show the benefits of Captain Hindsight!

A great night's gaming with a scenario that neatly characterised the differences between Compass and the other scenarios we've played recently. Next stop is probably Buq Buq (and I love the (genuine) quote from one British tanker who when asked where he was replied that he had "reached the first Buq of Buq Buq") where a similar action will take place, but with no CS tanks available and a nice surprise lying in wait for the Brits!

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

In this scenario, the Brits have to clean up some pockets of resistance in the Italian camp, Tummar West.

They start the scenario, however, without their Matilda tanks, so the British infantry had to attack on their own and suffered fairly significant losses.

But Elias threw the required six without difficulty, and all his reinforcements were soon on the table: three Matildas, two Bren carriers and a company of Indian infantry. From that moment on it was business as usual...but it still took until turn 13 before the entire camp was under British control.

The Stipsicz Hussars

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Like all other scenarios of Compass that we have played so far, this scenario is very one-sided. The British attack camp Nibeiwa with three Matilda tanks against Italian guns only capable at most of scratching the paintwork of the lumbering beasts.

As soon as the guns are neutralised, the Italian player has only Libyan colonial infantry with which to fight the tanks: and they can't even scratch their paintwork! 

You must possess a certain level of sadomasochism to want to play with the Italians. But Elias enjoyed himself immensely. And my just-painted Indian infantry company had their first outing on the tabletop.

Result: all Italians in the camp dead or captured. On the British side: two Scots and one Indian killed.

The Stipsicz Hussars

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

At the recent OML2 Day in Evesham, I met a couple of chaps from Oxford, Dave and John, who had just started playing IABSM. After a bit of a chat, I volunteered to go over to Oxford and run a game for them. The venue was John's excellent man-cave, the game one of the scenarios from the Blenneville or Bust scenario pack: #5J Belle Maison. Below is the resultant AAR.

The Riveaux valley campaign is drawing to an end, with the Germans proving resilient to Allied attacks. So resilient, in fact, that they have pushed the Allies back to Diot, a town at the head of the valley, and are now preparing to take that as well. Key to their attempt is their heavy artillery. Key to getting their heavy artillery into position is the road that runs through the village of Belle Maison. The Allies have recognised this and have rushed a blocking force into the village to prevent the Germans getting through. Now the Germans will attempt to clear Belle Maison of all resistance in order to bring up their guns and seal Diot's fate.

The Allied blocking force consists of part of B Company, The Alban Regiment: a Scottish unit headed by Captain Gordon Glasgow. Two platoons of stubborn Scots infantry are supported by a platoon of anti-tank guns (six-pounders), a couple of MMGs mounted on universal carriers, and a troop of three Churchill tanks. The tanks were held just south of the village, ready to be brought into action when required. Off-table artillery in the form of a battery of four 25-pounders had been tasked to assist whenever necessary.

The German clearing force was very powerful indeed. Six Panther tanks in three zugs were supported by three zugs of panzergrenadiers, one of which was mounted in half-tracks. There was also a small reconnaissance unit of a Puma and a couple of SdKfz231, plus multiple small recon teams (four Dummy Blinds).

Belle Maison itself is built along the main Chemont-Diot road. The road runs north-south but, at the bottom of a valley, it turns east-west for a couple of hundred yards, and it is this east-west section that is bordered by the houses and shops that make up the village.

Picture 01: Belle Maison and the start of the German advance

The Germans opened the action: advancing down the western or non-road side of the battlefield. They spotted movement in the houses at their end of the village, but couldn't identify exactly what it was they were seeing.

Picture 02: There's something in Belle Maison

The Germans were quickly spotted themselves; their Blinds being revealed as the Recon unit backed up by a zug of Panthers. Also spotted were the British carrier-mounted MMGs who were, unfortunately, quickly pinned down by saturating HE fire from the two Panthers.

The Germans were naturally keen to know what was in the houses in front of them, so concentrated their spotting efforts there, eventually revealing a platoon of British infantry. The British were operating two up, one back i.e. they started with two sections in the front row of houses, one behind.

Picture 05: British infantry revealed

Two more Panthers de-cloaked from Blinds and started shelling the houses, eventually forcing the enemy infantry to retreat one section to the rearward row of houses. The other would have retreated as well, but was pinned down by the tank fire.

More German Blinds now appeared, charging down either side of the bocage running through the centre of the field in front of the village. This was too good an opportunity to miss, and the British FOO, obviously positioned in the church tower called in his artillery. Initial ranging shots were disappointingly off-target, but it was only a matter of time before the guns' accuracy improved.

Meanwhile the British Churchills had appeared on the southern edge of the table, and immediately started a long range duel with the two originally-spotted German Panthers, still on the hill on the other side of the valley. The result was perhaps a foregone conclusion, and it was not long before two of the Churchills were KO'd for the loss of a little paintwork on the Panthers! The remaining Churchill headed into comparative safety, hiding behind the bocage on the main road.

Incidentally, it's worth noting at this point that the German Panthers, all of them, seemed to have some kind of super-armour in place that day. Despite being hit again and again and again by six-pounder fire (either from the Churchills or the AT guns) they only failed to roll less than five saves (on eleven dice) one or twice all day: an extraordinary and statistically improbable event!

The Germans then decided that the remaining British infantry in the main house had been softened up enough for an assault. Forward headed a Blind under which was a full platoon of panzergrenadiers. Unfortunately for the Germans, although the British were a little softened up, they were actually stubborn-as-rock Scots who happened at that precise moment not to be pinned by the German tank fire. Three squads of infantry charging with all their movement against one section of stubborn infantry defending a brick house. Yes, the Scots were wiped out, but the Germans lost two full squads: not all killed, but damaged enough to flee backwards and to play no further part in the battle. The remaining German squad squatted down in the garden behind the house, unwilling to move forward and get into automatic close combat with the other two Scottish sections.

Oh, and if you look carefully at the picture below, you can see that the British artillery has finally ranged in on the mass of German Blinds, dropping a couple of salvos on both them and the Panthers.

Picture 10: Aftermath of the German assault

There was now one of those weird lulls in the action as the German Blinds shifted east to get away from the British artillery fire; the Panthers moved forward in an attempt to get into firing position on the second row of houses; and the British Churchill moved forward to stop them so doing.

The action then started up again as the Germans switched the angle of their attack to the other side of the village. Both remaining panzergrenadier platoons de-cloaked and prepared to assault the second British platoon, which had been discovered in the houses at the other end of the village.

Picture 11: The action resumes

To conclude the account of what happened at the original end of the village, the German tanks disposed of the remaining Churchill without too much difficulty and, after some more HE fire, managed to set fire to the second row of houses. This forced the Scots to retreat up the hill towards the stone-wall surrounded churchyard, where they joined up with one of the six-pounders, which had just arrived there having moved across from its original position to the west.

The first Panther to poke its nose forward on this flank immediately began receiving AT fire, and although remained undamaged at the end of the game, was certainly not too keen to advance through the village gardens, or across some bocage, up the hill towards the carefully positioned gun.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, the Germans were preparing to assault the British in the houses in front of them. The final two Panthers moved forward, and were immediately engaged by the remaining British 6-pounder, hidden in the bocage in front of them. Again no damage was done, but it just meant that the Germans tanks couldn't do exactly what they wanted, but had to keep an eye on what the anti-tank gun was doing.

Their other problem was that now the British artillery was ranged in, wherever the German infantry and HQ elements went, they kept getting hit by salvos of shells! Although a section of British infantry was forced to retreat to the second line of houses as the first line caught fire, this was a tactical withdrawal with the platoon remaining mostly intact.

At this point we called the game as a British win. If you look at the picture below, you will see the gaps in the German infantry squads caused by British artillery fire. Although the Germans still had six functioning Panthers (although some had a few bits knocked off them!) they were literally running out of infantry. First platoon was down to one squad; second platoon had 25% casualties; third platoon had 10% casualties. They had also lost their support vehicles, and the British artillery showed no signs of running out of ammo.

As for the British, they had only really lost one section of infantry and the three Churchills. The MMG armed carriers were still prowling around looking for firing positions, and both anti-tank guns were still fully crewed.

Could the Germans have eventually taken the village? Maybe, but not with tanks alone. By this time I had literally been screaming "Is the road clear yet?" at John and Trevor, the German players, for about 45 minutes, as the calls from the heavy artillery waiting to get through got louder and more insistent!

Picture 17: The end of the battle

So all in all a great game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!. The Germans never managed to properly concentrate their assault in one schwerepunkt and, as you will have seen, split their tanks into petty packets as opposed to keeping them together as one stunning armoured punch. It was, however, the British artillery that properly broke the German assault, and willpower. The Germans were spending so much time avoiding the shells that they couldn't properly focus on their objective. Good play all round, though. My thanks to John for his hospitality and to Dave and Trevor for their participation in the game.

Finally, mention must be made of the German reconnaissance zug. After doing its duty in the initial spotting phase, it spent the rest of the game zooming round the battlefield as fast as the heavily damaged Puma would allow. Obviously it never actually achieved anything, but it did keep moving!

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

So far the Allies have had it all their own way and the British are now looking down on the village of Blenneville, which was the objective before the campaign started. Good fighting by the Americans previously means major success is a good possibility.

The town is low lying and looks open and narrow and from the aerial photos, better this time, and seems to be approachable from all directions. The hill, church and orchard dominate the town but the whole area has impressive buildings scattered around. The bad news is that the Germans holding the town are veterans from Russia and it won't be easy.

The Allied plan is to send 1st Platoon over the hills and 2nd over the fields to the east. The tanks and MGs are to advance down the road, but 2nd Troop will assist 2nd Platoon in the trek over the fields. The 3rd Platoon will surprise the Boche with an expert outflanking manoeuvre to the west.

The Germans have sections in the buildings to the west, with AT and MGs mainly guarding the Eastern approach.

After a slow start it suddenly sprung to life as the MMG in an advanced position to the east spotted the British section marching in the open watching the birds it seemed (double 1 on spotting for both them and the previous dummy!). Not the best shooting ever, but four dead and four shock later the MG had done its job.

The bad news is then it was then somewhat surprised with the very speedy advance of the suddenly appearing Shermans, and was pushed back quickly itself.

It was then the turn of the centre to get exciting as the AT Gun and Jagdpanther spotted the advance of the tanks down the road. Bad shooting though only made the tanks stop. The British to the west spotted the Germans in the houses there at this point. It's all going to get very exciting very soon!

The view from the German viewpoint looks very threatening indeed, with enemy infantry and tanks everywhere. To defend the main road the Jagdpanther and Pak 40 will need to work hard, and the other Pak 40 has the whole of the open field to the east to cover.

The first main attack was from the British 1st Platoon who went into close combat with the occupants of the western house and kicked them out quite handily.

Whilst the centre was where the main attack would go in, the British also planned to clear the east with combined attack with infantry and tanks. The Pak 40 here got this clear view of this attack. This Pak 40 was to end the attack but suffer at the end. A glorious little action

The Pak 40 in the centre was proving a pain as it destroyed several tanks so 3rd Section, 2nd Platoon decided to take it out in melee. This was a small but bloody melee which the gunners won, but seven men were lost altogether. One could sense the Germans really want to win this one for once.

The Jagdpanther then decided to get into the action and rushed forward to take out another tank at full speed. Great shooting there! Between the Paks and the tank-hunter, the British tanks really are suffering!

The off board manoeuvring went well and the British 3rd Platoon are now in place to attack the southern German position. The British are aware though that losses are mounting, and that the Germans Paratroopers are very deadly indeed with their two LMGs per squad.

This was to continue to be the case as the last two heavily armed sections were able to out shoot their opponents.

The beginning of the outflanking action can be seen here.

In the centre, this MG nest had proved very annoying and was causing some trouble so needed to be taken out. In the second most heroic action of the day, Lieutenant Bob Bristol led his men to glory. Brilliant!

In the background is the Jagdpanther and a lot of smoking British tanks.

Then suddenly after all the British suffering came the potentially game winning manoeuvre. First card of the turn was Armoured Bonus and then the British tanks card came up. This meant that the British had two flank shots from their Firefly at the Jagd-monster that had been doing them so much damage. First shot missed. Second shot hit, but bounced off the tank hunter's armour with only one 6 for penetration and four 6s for defence. The Firefly had utterly blown its opportunity!

To cap it all, the Jagdpanther went next, and calmly destroyed the Sherman to its front before reversing out of sight!

Glad I was playing solo as that was the one chance in a game you hope for.

The British then attacked and destroyed the Pak 40 to the east, but it had destroyed three tanks already, so done it job nicely. The was the difference from the last games: as with the exact same forces the two Pak 40 didn't kill any tanks whereas here they accounted for five altogether.

At this point the British were getting desperate as they suddenly realised they only had two full sections left on the map.

So Lieutenant Ian Ipswich decided to take things into his own hands and clear the church. His unit's move card was the last of the turn, so next turn there were potentially three cards that would allow his men to move before their opponents; with the Germans having two cards that would allow them to move first. This was by far the most heroic move of the game.

As the Allies had had all the luck in the campaign so far, it had to change. The German's card appeared first, allowing them to shoot Ipswich and his men to bits and then, to cap it all, a lucky long shot killed Lieutenant Stokes in the same unit's fire.

This was the end for the British as the German were still holed up in the main three buildings you can see here, with the JagdPanther strolling around along the road. The British only had their MGs, one full section and two tanks left.

The picture here shows the German in occupation of the buildings.

With the end of this game, the campaign also ended. Although the Germans had won the last battle, the one described here for the occupation of Blenneville, the result of the campaign was a Major Allied Victory:  four wins versus one loss.

The Blenneville action was another great game. This time German quality shone through as the Pak 40s and Jagpanther cleared the British tanks, and the five fire dice Paratroopers totally out fought the British which led to more melees than I normally like.

The Germans had all the luck this time, but after all their bad luck in the previous games, one can't really begrudge them something. I never threw a 5-6 for Air Support and that Firefly miss was something else.

Thanks Robert for a great campaign scenario booklet!

Craig Ambler

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Today John and Dave from the Oxford wargamers came over to my place for another game of IABSM. I'm umpiring for them whilst they pick up the rules so that they can go back to Oxford and spread the Lard to the other gamers in their club. Today's game was another from the Blenneville or Bust! Normandy scenario pack: scenario #4H, Diot.

It's towards the end of the campaign. The Allies are attempting to move south down the Riveaux valley, but have so far been outfought by the Germans at every turn. Now the Germans counter-attack, seeking to swing round to the east of the main axis of the Allied advance and 'cut the head from the snake'. In order to successfully concentrate their forces, they need to move through the small market town of Diot: a place where four major roads meet at a crossroads in the centre of the town. The Germans have dispatched a powerful kampfgruppe consisting of four platoons of infantry (one of them fallschirmjaeger) backed up by four StuG assault guns and a couple of Tiger Is to capture the town before their way can be blocked. The Allies have realised what the Germans are up to, and have dispatched the only troops available, two platoons of Scottish infantry from the Alban Regiment backed up by a couple of 6lbers and three Churchill tanks, to prevent the Germans getting a foothold in the town before reinforcements can arrive.

This was going to be a pig of a battle for the Germans, hence the reason for their overwhelming numbers. As you can see from the main picture, above, Diot's eastern side is protected by a river crossable only at the two bridges. The Germans would enter the table from the east and have to fight their way into the town over the bridges. The British troops could deploy anywhere west of the river, and would start the game under hidden Blinds although not dug in.

Rather than keep their StuGs and Tigers in separate zugs, the German commander, Dave, decided to mix them up and have two zugs consisting of a Tiger and two StuGs assault guns each. One of these mixed zugs would cross each bridge, with two of the infantry platoons backing up the armour at the far bridge, and another infantry platoon, the HQ squads and the FSJs backing up the armour as it crossed over the near bridge.

The British deployed two Forlorn Hopes, each a PIAT team and a section of infantry: one in the church, one in the town hall. The rest of the infantry were in the houses at the top of the town's main street. An AT gun covered the far bridge from the garden of the house at the top of the main street, with another lurking behind the bocage right at the northern end of the table, ready to deploy where necessary. A couple of Vickers guns mounted on carriers lurked on the road side of the Town Hall, and the Churchills were in reserve way out of town behind the far strip of bocage bisecting the fields to the south. Note that I was using Paras to represent the Scots: both suitably fierce opponents!

The game began with the almost simultaneous arrival of the two German armoured zugs. Rather than smashing forward, they crept slowly over the bridges, Tigers in front to soak up any shots fired, infantry kept behind on Blinds. I did remind Dave about the Tigers' Vehicle Breakdown card at this point, but he seemed very sanguine about it...but then Dave is very sanguine about everything!

Eventually the northern Tiger crept forward into the churchyard, trying to see down the main road. At this point, the PIAT team in the church steeple popped up and fired a couple of shots into the beast's flank...but only managing to slightly knock its main gun out of alignment. The PIAT team in the town hall tried the same thing, and both their shots hit but bounced: these Tigers are tough!

In response, Leutnant Eisbein, the Big Man commanding Tiger 31, put a few rounds of HE into the town hall with his 88mm gun, which began swaying and crumbling in an alarming manner! The PIAT team and supports would have to vacate the building next activation, or end up buried under a pile of bureaucratic rubble!

Moments later, he swiveled his turret and did the same to the church steeple, which also started showing signs of imminent collapse! Again the PIAT team and supports would have to vacate the building or risk being buried alive. Five hundred years that church had stood there, five hundred years...now it had been pulverised by 'Eisbein the Destroyer' and his Tiger tank!

Meanwhile, one anti-tank gun had engaged the other Tiger to no effect and losing half their gun crew to HE in return; and the other AT gun had moved into a position to try and engage the northern armoured zug in the flank:

The PIAT team and infantry section in the church eventually managed to get out of the building just before it collapsed. They were apparently very annoyed because rather than running for cover, they decided to close assault the Tiger! This turned out to be a very unwise move, even with a PIAT, as they were machine gunned down without doing the tank any damage at all despite hitting it several times and literally covering it with sticky bombs. Not only that, but the Big Man in charge of the MG carriers used the Brits' only Heroic Commander card to rush out from cover, grab the discarded PIAT, and fire a round into the Tiger at point blank range. No effect, and Sergeant Aberdeen suffered the same fate as his comrades.

The other PIAT team also managed to get out of the town hall before it collapsed, but did equally badly against the Tiger, and was also shot down. Eisbein was on a roll...but a lot of precious time had been used up dealing with the PIATS and accompanying infantry...time that would come back to haunt the Germans later.

Meanwhile, to the south, the Tiger there had finished off the AT gun and prepared to move forward off the bridge and round the corner towards the town. Unfortunately up popped the Vehicle Breakdown card, and the Tiger ground to a grinding halt just the other side of the bridge. The Germans now had a very superior new pillbox that was perfectly positioned to shoot at...nothing.

This was a real blow for the Germans, and more time was wasted as the two StuGs behind the Tiger carefully manoeuvred past the broken down tank. Lots of paint work was scraped and the two StuGs ended up almost on top of each other just opposite a gate into the southern field.

Well this was exactly where the British tanks wanted them, and with a Tally Ho! the three Churchills slowly chundered up to the bocage. The lead Churchill decided to fire through the gap created by another gate, the other two thundering up the bocage to try and shoot through it.

One StuG was taken out, but that part of the battlefield then descended into a duel between the Churchills and the other StuG and the new German pillbox which would last until the game ended. Although two of the Churchills were destroyed fairly quickly, the other held on effectively keeping the other StuG from intervening in the main action.

Meanwhile, back in the town, the British had deployed all their infantry from Blinds, and were preparing to shoot anything that came within range. They now had no PIATS and no AT guns left, so were quite happy when it appeared that the northern armoured zug's activation card had gone on holiday, and even happier when the Germans, impatient and aware of the possibility of British reinforcements at any moment, moved their infantry forward. The British FOO had by now had plenty of time to call in artillery. It had already hit the German Blinds to the south (although the effect was not yet known - the two Blinds have moved up behind the church in the right hand picture above) and no slammed down on the hapless German infantry to the north.

Messy, very messy and, more importantly, the infantry was pinned down, unable to move forward.

The German infantry continued to struggle forward through the artillery killzone, but whenever they got close enough to think about an assault, the British infantry in the houses shot at them, once more forcing them to ground.

With Eisbein apparently resting on his laurels (presumably working out how to paint a church and a town hall onto his gun barrel) the German commander called in his own artillery. Well, eventually got his artillery to answer the phone! With a horrible whistling scream, fire from a battery of Nebelwerfers hit the end house for long enough for the troops inside to be pinned and close assaulted, but the assault was repelled albeit leaving the house empty of effective defenders.

The Germans were now almost out of time. The northern armour wouldn't move forward into the town, the southern armour was still exchanging fire with the Churchills: desperate measures were called for. The Fallschirmjaeger platoon, still under Blinds shot forward and assaulted the house just to the north of the crossroads occupied by a single section of enemy infantry. Twenty-four SMG-armed veteran paratroopers led by a Big Man. Surely they would succeed!

Well...no, actually. That house was occupied by a section of enemy infantry, but so was the house next door, and the German, overkeen, had got too close and accidentally close assaulted both at the same time. That meant that they faced sixteen rather than eight very pissed off Scotsmen (aggressive and stubborn troops) led by Captain Glasgow himself. Two thirds of the FSJs were killed outright, with only three brave Scotsmen biting the dust.

That was it for the Germans. Although they might well have taken the town eventually - especially if they could get their armour involved again - they were out of time. The British had held the town and therefore won the day. Admittedly there weren't many of them left to celebrate...but won the day they had.

In all a great day of IABSM, and Dave and John are to be congratulated for dealing with such big forces in only their second try. All agreed that it was a great game, with plenty of those exciting, critical moments that make wargaming so much fun.

Robert Avery

 
 
MORE AAR
HOME
/
 
 
 

It's the Blenneville or Bust! scenario pack for I Ain't Been Shot, Mum, scenario #4B: Near Avaux. Normandy 1944, and the Allies are trying to push south from the beaches.

Half a squadron of British Shermans from 101st Royal Tank Regiment, under Captain Miles Manchester, supported by a company of infantry from 1st Battalion, the Windsor Foresters under Captain George Grimsby, attempts to secure a vital road junction. Holding the junction are four squads of elite Fallschirmjaegers under Major Sascha Sauerbrauten supported by two PaK 40 anti-tank guns and, the ace in the hole, a Jagdpanther commanded by Feldwebel Siegfried Spatzen.

The Battlefield (facing north)

The tabletop represents the (fictional) area around the road junction on the Avaux to Vartres road just south of the Petit-Ribeaux. The three main roads are reasonable quality, tarmacked surfaces giving the usual road movement bonus. They are just wide enough for two tanks/large trucks to pass each other, but sometimes a moving vehicle that tries to pass another will have to pull up short and reposition for the manoeuvre. The main north-south road is the Avaux-Vartres road, the turn off leads to Pierrecourt. The junction itself sits on top of a hill that slopes evenly and gently down on each side. The fields are bordered by bocage that is impenetrable to any wheeled vehicle, and is only penetrable by tracked vehicles weighing the same or more than a medium tank. Infantry and those vehicles that can cross the bocage take their entire turn to do so. There are, however, numerous gates between the fields, all shown as gaps. There are also two large wooded copses.

The Herr Major positioned his troops as follows. The two Pak 40s would be nestled in the bocage to the right of the house: one up close, one at the far eastern end of the table. In between them was a squad of infantry. Another squad of infantry was dug in behind the northern wall of the houses, with an MMG and FOO in the house itself.

The Jagdpanther covered the other side of the table, hiding behind the bocage just by the two trees flanking the gap in the most northernmost line of hedges. Two squads of infantry and another MMG were dug in to the next line of bocage, with their right flank touching the main road.

Finally, a lone MMG provided a backstop and rally point just by the gap in front of the most southerly copse of trees. Next to that copse were the two 81mm mortars that provided on-table fire support.

The British Arrive

The action opened with the British pushing forward Blinds on the eastern side of the battlefield. My opponent, Dave, had decided that the way forward was to push everything up the field that was open up to the half-way point rather than try and fight through the two rows of bocage to the west. All that would advance there, for the moment, was a Dummy Blind, representing a few scouts sent forward to see if they could spot anything.

Well, the scouts did spot something! A couple of lucky rolls, and the sunlight glinted off a bit of Jagdpanther that had not been properly camouflaged, revealing the behemoth's position.

Meanwhile, the German forlorn hope, a panzerfaust team positioned in the most northerly copse of woods, had revealed themselves by blowing a track off one of the two tanks of the British Squadron HQ. Luckily it wasn't Captain Manchester's, and the platoon of British infantry supporting the tanks quickly polished off the somewhat exposed paratroopers.

Now that they had spotted the German Jagdpanther, the British decided to try and do something about it. A troop of Shermans, under Lieutenant Salisbury, with their Firefly at the front, drove down the main road, the lead tank just edging into the field on their right far enough to take a shot at the monster.

Still cursing his failure to properly conceal his tank-hunter, Feldwebel Spatzen cursed again as his vehicle rocked with the impact of a 17pdr shell, and his engine began to make ominous grinding noises. Well, more ominous than usual grinding noises, as this early version of the Jagdpanther comes accompanied by a Vehicle Breakdown card.

Putting that behind him, however, he returned fire, and within moments the Firefly had so many bits knocked off it that its crew had no choice but to abandon the tank and run off back down the road as fast as they could. Luckily no-one had been badly wounded, and B Echelon was bound to have a replacement somewhere!

Job done for the moment, Spatzen ordered his tank-hunter to reverse over to the next line of bocage: now he'd been spotted (and then some!) there was no point in hanging around up front here, better to get back closer to the main line of defence. Was the grinding noise getting worse?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the main road, four more German units had revealed themselves: both anti-tank guns and the first two-squad infantry zug under Leutnant Felix Frikadellen. The infantry had taken the opportunity to hammer a British infantry section that had ventured too far forward before it limped into the nearby copse. The far anti-tank gun fired again and again at the British tanks advancing towards it, but couldn't have hit them had they been at 1:1 scale! Captain Manchester's tank, and then the tanks from the second troop, under Lieutenant Carlyle, used HE to whittle down the crew under the gun stopped firing. A PaK 40 versus four enemy tanks advancing over open ground and not a single tank taken out: inconceivable!

Unfortunately, the German first zug had now revealed its position, and the British tanks and infantry started firing everything they had at the house and nearby bocage. Leutnant Frikadellen was killed early on by a shell splinter and, to add insult to injury, first jabos then off-table artillery also began landing on the unlucky infantry platoon and one remaining anti-tank gun.

The British were now coming forward on the eastern side of the battlefield with almost every thing they had. Fortunately, the Jagdpanther was still running, and was on its way over to help out. The arrival of the jabos had caused a few nasty moments, but unbelievably the enemy aircraft had chosen to fire their rockets at the infantry by the house rather than at Leutnant Spatzen's baby.

To summarise the situation, around the house, the Germans now had two battered infantry squads, one anti-tank gun, and an MMG, being faced by five tanks advancing over the open ground and another three up and around the road, backed up by two platoons of infantry. Gulp!

Not to leave you in suspense intentionally, let's just deal with the remaining action on the western side of the field. If you look at the picture above, you'll see that there is a British Blind advancing forward next to the road, with a German Blind just behind the Jagdpanther. Both Blinds represented an infantry platoon: the Germans, under Major Sauerbrauten himself with an MMG (Leutnant Heinreich Hammelschulter actually commanding the two-squad zug); and the British a three-section platoon under Lieutenant Bob Bristol.

Both sides shook themselves out into firing lines behind the bocage that bordered the field between them, and opened up a firefight that would last the rest of the game. Despite their greater numbers, the British found the firepower of the Fallschirmjaegers hard to match, especially as one squad's first shot scored 28 out of a possible 30 on 5D6 (base four dice for being paratrooper hard cases plus one for the extra LMG), causing several casualties and utterly suppressing the British firing line!

Right, back to the main action!

Leutnant Spatzen brought his Jagdpanther around the side of the house, and spent a turn creating a little pathway through the house's garden and brick wall: the idea being that he would drive forward, shoot, then reverse back into cover. With four Actions, he would use one to go forward, one to fire, and then save two for the retreat: he was still a little worried about that grinding noise! Oh, note the Blind behind his tank: that's the one remaining 'faust and crew, waiting their opportunity to contribute.

Now began an epic defence of the position around the house.

Under British artillery fire all the time, the infantry and anti-tank gun crew were constantly pinned and whittled down until there were only two squads of four men each and one crew member on the anti-tank gun. No British tanks had been taken out, so about eight British tanks remained operational!

Spatzen sent his vehicle forward, fired and knocked out one enemy tank's main gun. He ordered the reverse, as planned, and began to consider his next shot. His driver put the Jagdpanther in reverse, and I said to Dave: "I should be okay, here, as it's anything but a 'double one' to get back into cover".

Fatal words!

Up came 'double one' and the monster vehicle ground to a shuddering halt. It could still shoot, obviously, but was now exposed to enemy fire.

The anti-tank gun then fired, blowing a track off another enemy tank, forcing its crew to 'abandon ship'.

Meanwhile, a British tank had got over the bocage and was now outflanking the German position. A barrage of sticky bombs from the battered Fallschirmjaeger squad did nothing, and it looked as if it was all over.

But it was not!

The lone remaining gunner of the anti-tank gun slewed his gun around, screaming with the effort, and sent a round straight into the enemy tank's ammunition store. Boom!

Spatzen's vehicle rocked with shots, but his armour held, as did his nerve and aim as his gunner blew another 'Ronsen' to bits.

But what to do about the two tanks near the road?

The 'faust crew were still under Blinds, so rushed down the road towards the enemy tanks! On their left, a huge firefight was going on, on their right, the action above. They must have been very brave men!

De-cloaking on the other side of the bocage from tank number one, they put a round straight into its turret and blew it to bits.

The British reacted by sending infantry and an MMG carrier over towards the road, but the cards were generous, and the 'faust crew rushed across the road, leaned through the bocage, and blew another Sherman to pieces!

This was the limit of their success, however. The British carrier manoeuvred onto the road and cut down the brave Fallschirmjaeger before they could get off any defensive fire. Still, not bad: two Shermans for one 'faust crew...and two Shermans who thought they were relatively safe as well!

So in two or three short turns, the British had lost six tanks! Hilariously, Dave then realised that one of his tanks that had hit the Jagdpanther had fired as a Sherman 75 not as what it actually was: a Firefly. He was hopping mad, but accepted that the moment had gone and the shot had obviously been a dud shell. Apparently he had mistaken it for a normal 75 because of the fact that the end of its longer barrel was painted white...exactly so it couldn't be identified as a Firefly! How we laughed! Well, I did.

At this point we had to finish. We called the game a draw because although the British now had almost no tanks, if any, operational, they still had plenty of infantry, and all the Germans had remaining was the Jagdpanther (now moving again!) and a small number of infantry. Both sides were mentally exhausted however: a draw was the correct result.

What a game, however. You can see the pile of poker chips from the last 'just one more' turn in the picture above.

An epic struggle where the advantage swayed backwards and forwards every turn. The British got their artillery in early, the Germans never saw theirs, and their mortars only fired twice as well. The final defence of the house, and the 'faust "rush down the road" attack were cracking fun to game, and the fact that it was so close shows that the well-crafted nature of the scenario (if I say so myself - I wrote it!).

Iron Crosses for Spatzen, the lone anti-tank gunner and the sadly-deceased 'faust crew. A nice cup of tea and a consoling pat on the back for Captain's Manchester and Grimsby!

Robert Avery

 
 
MORE AAR
HOME
/
 
 
 

Two Panthers rolled into Sorok seemingly unopposed. But soon thunder erupted from my hidden Zis-3 guns followed by anti-tank rifle and Maxim machine gun fire from my units within the church, who targeted the German transports that followed the Panthers.

One transport truck made for the bridge, where two mortar teams jumped out and started launching shells onto the church. They were silenced when a dug-in Soviet rifle platoon on the river bank opened fire on them. Shortly after, my Zis-3 guns managed to knock out the main guns of both Panthers, causing them to pull back.

But eventually, little by little, an overwhelming amount of Germans began to arrive. Two more Panthers arrived and finished off my forces in the church. My last action was for an SMG platoon to leap out of hiding in the village and charge several German half tracks that were preparing to unload, driving the German infantry into hiding, until they regrouped and join the rest of the Germans in taking the village.

Jon Paul Hancock

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

The third game featured at the August meeting of the Devon Wargames Group was an 'I Aint Been Shot Mum' scenario taken from Robert Avery's campaign booklet 'Blenneville or Bust', staged by Ian with his collection of Normandy WWII 15mm figures.

The scenario called for Fallschirmjagers but due to their unavailability for this mission the SS stepped in to the fray. These were still classed as elite to avoid unbalancing the scenario, giving them four initiative dice.

The British objective was to remove all enemy opposition to travel along the main roads. This was achieved if the Germans had no on-table units which could shoot with more than two initiative dice, which meant degrading each German infantry unit by 50% - a big ask!

The German hill-top position viewed from the allied lines

The terrain favoured the defenders as all hedges were considered bocage and terrain in between(the fields) were broken terrain - this severely restricted British movement. Visibility, unless on top of the hill or in the buildings, was restricted from one hedgerow to the next – dense stuff this bocage!

The German left flank looks to be covered, but what about the right?

Although facing two troops of Sherman tanks with a company HQ (ten tanks) the Germans had plenty of powerful anti-tank capability; namely a beast of a Jagdpanther, two PaK 40 and two fearsome Panzerschrek teams. The Germans also had the opportunity to deploy a ‘forlorn hope’ of one rifle gruppe and one of the Panzerschrek in the wood in the NE corner, close to the British edge; which would have caused havoc being deployed off a blind with the four actions!

What did I say about that right flank!

Apart from the ‘forlorn hope’, the Germans had to deploy south of the hedge in the NW quarter and west of the main road. In reality, they deployed quite away back in the east-west spur road; behind the east-west southern hedge and with the Jagdpanther as the backstop with the Kompanie HQ (less one Panzerschrek) close by! The German starting positions are marked on the map below.

The British armour takes full advantage of the opportunity presented

Due to the rearward deployment of the German forces the British, who could bring on three blinds each time their card was drawn, had a fairly free run.

The British entered the first three blinds with one on the road with one in the fields either side.

These blinds benefited from the rapid deployment card, which appeared with regularity. As a consequence these blinds reached the west most northern hedge and the houses undetected.

On their way in they managed to successfully recce the hedges at the road junction revealing the FOO and half of Zug One.

Due to constricted positions of this Zug and the FOO, German reconnaissance was poor. Ultimately they identified one of the blinds in the houses to be a dummy and the other to contain British infantry.

What a shame they didn't take the opportunity to occupy the houses on their first activation. This would have given them all round visibility making spotting so much easier – but fear of being targeted deterred the Germans from carryout this manoeuvre.

The German defenders are bundled out of their forward line

With few troops on the table and hence few cards, the tea break card made regular appearances – as did the British blinds card. As a consequence the blinds were ‘flooding’ on to the table.

With the defence hard pressed the German command struggle to hold the line

The Germans in the spur road did eventually manage to spot a blind on the British right, which turned out to be a platoon of infantry. The sight of this platoon caused the cautious Germans to pull back the half Zug, retreating towards the southern hedgerow but leaving the machine gun and PaK 40 in the lane. The British, still making good use of their rapid deployment card, quickly deployed off a blind and poured withering fire into the PaK 40 crew, causing four points of shock and pinning it. Unable to move and with no Big Man nearby to remove shock, this ultimately sealed the fate of the gun.

The British attack momentum doesn't let up

The British also made some useful employment of their off board 25 pounders causing various casualties and shock. However many times the Tea break appeared the British air-support card just failed to appear – maybe the weather gods were trying to give the Germans a chance! For the Germans, they did not take any opportunity to unleash their powerful off-board 12cm mortars.

Meanwhile, on the British left flank the blinds were making rapid, unopposed movement but one was eventually spotted revealing a troop of tanks. The Jagdpanther took a shot at the Firefly but regrettably for the crew they missed. Retribution was not long in coming. The next time the British armour card was drawn it only took one round of Firefly shooting to destroy the German behemoth!

The rear-guard prepares to sell themselves dearly as retreat is inevitable

With the British now starting to overwhelm the German infantry, and with their prized asset burning like a roman candle, the Germans admitted defeat.

On another day, with the Germans feeling more emboldened, I am sure the British would have to pay a high price to achieve their objective.

Thank you to Nathan and Steve for playing the game and to Nathan for the loan of a rather ‘fragile’ Jagdpanther and a grounded Typhoon!

Carojon

 
 
MORE AAR
HOME