/
 
 
 
 

The campaign is going very well for the Allies, but where are my British, and this one looks like a walkover again with the firepower the Allies have available. The Germans though are Veterans and also well armed, although slightly lacking in numbers, but have some excellent Anti Tanks weapons.

The target is a destroyed Water Mill that is being used as a German Command post. This is on an island which can only be reached by two bridges one facing the village but the other is across very open field.

The American plan is to use their numbers to spread the Germans out. Tanks will arrive on both North and South roads, with all the infantry entering from the west, in the hope that they can rush the buildings and gardens near to this side. This will then offer cover to advance towards the bridge by the square.

The Germans leave one Platoon in and around the mill, with an MMG attached. The AT Guns will guard both bridges, with the monster Jagdpanther and the HQ in the square. The second Platoon will be in the houses to the north east of the square, the Panzerschrecks are ready to cover the roads.

Not much early action with the Allies blinds not spotting anything. This is the good thing about solo as I just play as though there is no one there, whereas in face-to-face you can see the dice roll, not much I agree. This had implications as the tanks decided the village was fairly safe to approach.

This was a bad move as in one turn three tanks were lost. Two to Panzerschrecks and one to the Jagdpanther, the ruins can be seen here. The nearer ones are the infantry victims whereas you can see the beast in the square ready for action

Now several of the American infantry platoons arrived and got into a fire fight with the German platoon, but not before the Church hiding tank killer was found and killed. The Germans were outnumbered in both locations but the extra LMGs certainly helped them.

The Sherman 76 then moved into position to try to put the Jagdpanther out of action. I really do need to get one of these models next time I go to a show! It moved into position, hit and managed to shock it but that was all as the Shermans then moved on the Armoured Bonus move.

The infantry fire fight was still ongoing as can be seen here, although the southern half of the village would soon be in the hands of the Americans.

The Americans move to consolidate the south of the village and also put pressure on the German units in the square. The German tank has already moved over the bridge to set up a killing field there.

To counter this, the Americans move into the buildings lining the square and open fire upon the Germans on the other side. These chimney sweeps are really in the house, I certainly need some more open houses as the ones I have are great for Napoleonics but not so much for WWII.

The only Germans in the village are in the second house on the right, but these are about to be attacked and destroyed by the Section you can see sneaking round the picture at the top of the screen.

The American 3rd Section goes in and totally clears the village.

With the village cleared the sides look at each other the bridge and pause to plan their next move. The Germans have the position but the Allies have the numbers.

The Americans quickly see the important position is the house near to the bridge. Impetuously though Lieutenant Charleston charges over the bridge with one section and is pushed back with just himself and one other survivor but the Germans are now very weak in the building.

The nemesis is finally destroyed by a flank hit from a 76mm gun. This was a gamble which succeeded well for the American. This Jagdpanther had destroyed five Shermans on its own and had seemed unbeatable.

With this flank now open Lieutenant Charleston leads his other Section across the bridge and this time the melee is conclusive and the building is taken with just one loss. Yes Charleston goes down in a blaze of glory at the moment of his victory. This is the theme of my games so far.

Then the fates then went against the Germans. A lucky American Artillery shell took out the officer in charge of the victory location building and then to cap it all both Anti Tanks pieces decided they had had enough after a very vicious fire fight.

This is where the game ended as the building had no chance of being held as eventually the forces against it would be too massive.

Another great game, broken up by a week in Austria snowboarding. The Americans had the numbers but the Germans the equipment. This is another theme of these games and so far the numbers are counting.

No German hero as there was no-one left for them. The American choice would certainly have been Charleston but an unlucky 1 on the dice saw to him so the choice is Jagpanther-killer Memphis.

So now it's onto Blenneville itself for the final attack, and at last I can use my British again!

Craig Ambler

 
MORE AAR
HOME
/
 
 
 

Shortly after my defeat playing the Americans in scenario #2B from the Blenneville or Bust! scenario pack, I received a text suggesting  another game. The text wasn't signed, and my new 'phone didn't recognise the number, but I assumed it was Dave, my opponent from #2B wanting to follow up on his success and play the next game in the series.

I duly set up scenario #3D: Saint Melotte, but was somewhat surprised when Neil, my other regular opponent, turned up instead of Dave. Ooops! Why you should make sure all the numbers from your old 'phone actually have been transferred across to your new one!

No matter: the table was ready, the dice were hot...game on!

Saint Melotte is a small village in Normandy. Surrounded by fields lined with bocage, it consists of a small square, a Church and a handful of houses. Just to the north is a manor house surrounded by orchards.

Neil and I diced for sides, and I would play the Germans. My force consisted of a strong infantry company of three platoons of three squads each, with another two squads and two MMGs in the Company HQ. The only support units available were four Tiger I tanks (I know that sounds a bit cheesy, but it fits within the whole campaign/scenario pack context) and some off-table 155mm howitzers. 

I would enter the table from the fields end, and my objectives were to deny the village to the Allies by taking two out of three of the manor house, the church and the village square.

The view from the ground:  the approach across the fields.

Note the road running between the fields in the centre of the photo. One of my infantry units could enter there if I wanted. I did, but decided to commit just the Company HQ squads to doing so: that would be enough to deny the bocage as a defensive line to the Allies, but not so much that I couldn't afford to lose them if I ran into trouble.

The British consisted of two small platoons of infantry, each two squads; an anti-tank platoon of two 6-pdrs; a MG platoon of two MMGs; and three Sherman tanks, two standard and one Firefly.

As I have no late war British infantry, I decided to proxy them with Paras. Not unrealistic, actually, as rename the village Ranville or similar, and you have the same situation.

Shown in the photo below is the British FOO in position at the top of the church tower.

I decided to concentrate my attack on the left flank: seeking to take the manor house first, and then assess my next move dependent on enemy dispositions. Accordingly, my Blinds advanced forward through the fields.

The British FOO, and other Blinds positioned somewhere elevated in the village, began spotting, and all three of my infantry platoons were quickly revealed. Still under Blinds are the Tigers (far side) and the Company HQ.

My tactic of forcing the British back from the first line of bocage worked. Shown here are the two squads of the Company HQ, led by Hauptman Siggi Starkbier, moving right to left along the road at the top of the field.

Their next move was to attempt to move into the nearest small house, and one squad duly rushed forward to do that. Unfortunately the house was full of enemy troops (well, a section and an MMG) and the squad were easily repulsed and would play no further part in the game!

BTW the yellow markers are Overwatch tokens, showing the squads using three of their four dice to move forwards, saving one for emergencies!

The British troops occupying the house.

Despite the fact that you can take the roof off the houses, it seemed like too much like hard work to put the figures in and out, so here they are in the garden!

Meanwhile, on the left side of the battlefield, the Tigers were now deployed, with the one top right about to swing its turret round to target the house with the British in it.

On the far left, 3rd Platoon's first squad had just worked its way through the gap in the bocage where the small stream was, and was about to run into an ambush (see below).

The same moment, but seen from a different angle. In the foreground, 1st Platoon are hugging the line of bocage, looking to join the remaining Company HQ squad in the road.

The ambush!

As the Germans tramped through the gap in the bocage, a British MMG opened up, killing two men and driving the rest to ground.

The picture is a bit blurred...chalk it up to the photographer being surprised!

Now began a long period when it seemed that there were no German cards in the pack.

The British were able to bring on their tanks, which had been lurking off-table to avoid the German pre-game stonk, and set up not only the anti-tank gun shown in the foreground, but the other infantry platoon, which would line the hedgerow opposite the road where the surviving German Company HQ squad was about to be joined by German 1st Platoon.

As my troops were obviously holding back, nervous about confronting the enemy, I had time for some more photography. Here's the same situation as above shot from a different angle.

The British 6-pdr, unable to see any Tigers, is about to start firing HE at the German infantry mentioned above. We couldn't remember if 6-pdrs carried or were capable of firing HE, but diced for it and decided that these particular anti-tank guns did!

I really was twiddling my thumbs now, as card after card came out for the British. My infantry in the road were pinned down and were being whittled away by HE fire, which really was very annoying!

The only good thing was that they were keeping most of the British occupied (Neil even moved his two non-Firefly Shermans over in support) giving me the opportunity I wanted to strike round the left flank. Once that pesky ambushing MMG was dealt with!

Here's a shot of the British CinC, Captain George Grimsby, in his White scout car.

Finally the German cards started to appear again, and my troops staggered into action. My main effort was on the left, and I got rid of the ambushing MMG by sending one of my Tigers straight for it. Quite sensibly, the British MMG bugged out, but not before losing a man to the Tiger's claws!

The Tiger was now in a Mexican stand-off with the Firefly, neither side wanting to poke their nose out first. You can see another Tiger on its way through the gap to break the deadlock!

In the foreground, a third Tiger has just blasted the building full of British infantry: no casualties, but the building would soon fall down, forcing the Tommies to evacuate.

Here is a rather blurry photograph of the fourth Tiger. Not only did it bog down as it was trying to drive up the muddy stream, but it then got caught in the blast radius of the British off-table artillery. And again. And again!

Bogged down, two points of shock, four off any movement...this tank wasn't going anywhere without assistance!

You may have been wondering why the British had been concentrating on the right side of the battlefield so much when my Tigers and two infantry platoons were so obviously curling around their right flank.

That's because I had saved my Dummy Blinds up, and brought them on not as scouts up front, but as unknown threats at the back. Here you can see the line of three Dummy Blinds advancing across the fields on the right, each one potentially a platoon of infantry or tanks, all on their way to support the rapidly diminishing 1st Platoon.

In the centre, two squads from 2nd Platoon occupied the manor house: one down, two to go!

The third squad entered into a prolonged period of close combat with one of the British Shermans around the corner of the hedge around the orchard.

Here you can see that the squad has been reduced to five men, but has forced the Sherman to retreat, shocked.

Behind the Sherman are the remains of ambushing MMG team.

Victory was within my grasp. Two Tigers verses one Firefly, half my victory conditions fulfilled. Surely nothing could stop me now!

Suddenly the drone of aircraft engines filled the skies. Allied Air Support! Typhoons! My lead Tiger, containing Big Man Leutnant Eberhard Eisbein, was critically hit and exploded, killing all inside. The other Tiger was caught within the blast radius, and loss a point of movement and, as it frantically tried to manoeuvre away from its burning comrade, bogged down in that bloody stream!

My whole attack stymied by the Rare as Fairies!

In the end, however, it made no difference. Neil was on a time limit and, as the clock ticked towards zero hour, I sent the infantry squad you can see near the Tigers in the photo above, forward to the church. They arrived unmolested, captured the British FOO, and then barricaded themselves in.

As the game ended, and Neil stretched out his hand to shake on a draw, wryly commenting that I would probably have won despite the long desert of my cards in the middle of the game if the two Tigers hadn't been destroyed/bogged down, I took great pleasure in revealing that actually I had won, as two of my three objectives were in my hands!

A great game, nonetheless, and I'm looking forward to the next in the series, #4H, whoever I happen to be playing!

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Our first game of IABSM. My German oppponent and I fought for control of a small village.

His first blind managed to zoom up and reveal itself to be his King Tiger, which began systematically destroying everything it came across. Fortunately for me, the King Tiger rarely was activated.

Our infantry platoons fought over the center of the field with his infantry sending off my first platoon only for me to bring up another entire platoon of Soviets, which gave him some authentic German feelings.

Eventually my forces got slowly overwhelmed as my T-34/85s had a hard time dealing with some StuGs and one tank became obsessed with a Panzershreck team (my interpretation of 'must engage in a firefight'). All the while his King Tiger and it's buddies were slowly working their way through my flank, and I'm not sure how I would have dealt with it in the end.

We called it after close to 5 hours. Really the most fun We've had playing anything WWII.

John Paul Hancock

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

26 days since the Allied stormed the Normandy beaches. Allied forces have been trapped to their bridgeheads and Führer has given orders that they are to be destroyed there, thrown back to the Channel. In their credit it must be said that they fight on tenaciously and have started another big offensive to break out. Part of the attack comes along the Ribeaux river valley defended by the 750th Grenadier Division supported by the SS kampfgruppe Engel. This far the 750th has given ground and our forces in Pierrecourt are facing encirclement before our own counteroffensive can be launched to cut off the head of the allied attack. 1002nd regiment of the 750th has dug in around the Pierrecourt, with the 4th company defending the crossroads between Chemont and Pierrecourt.

Lacking motivation, poor leadership and insufficient trust in the general situation has weakened the morale of the company and Hauptsturmführer Imgemberg has been ordered to reinforce the company with a platoon of Panthers and assume command of the defence. Enemy attack was imminent, recon indicating that enemy attack is spearheaded by a tank company supported with at least a company of mechanized infantry. Weather was unfortunately clear, so strong enemy air activity could be expected before own air forces arrive and clear the skies.

Initial plans, Panther locations marked by ovals.

Young Hauptsturmführer was not very happy with his assignment, armour was not supposed to be committed piecemeal, nor support infantry in static defence. But one does not ask, one obeys. Upon arrival, he quickly readjusted the defence (as original defender has set up the defence in wrong direction, confused by French maps) and told troops to occupy more forward defence to lure attacker towards registered artillery targets and immediately received news that enemy scouts were sighted. The footsloggers were still running towards the church when first enemy tanks crested the nearby hill. So the plan required improvisation and aggressiveness. Infantry would pin the attacker while artillery and Panthers would deliver the finishing punch.

His own Panthers guarding the left flank immediately opened fire, brewing one Sherman and driving other 2 back with multiple hits. Enemy jabos were unfortunately awake, as one immediately swooped down and attacked his armour. Fortunately his troops reported no direct hits and no damage, so Panthers were still free to operate. Young commander's aggressive training took over and he told the Panthers to hunt forward, making sure that the infantry in church would be supported.

On the other flank US infantry was spotted and as soon as they passed the last line of bocage, defending infantry opened fire, with one US squad gutted, platoon leader dying while trying to get his men advancing and rest of the unit suppressed behind the bocage.

One shot, one kill! Halftracks start to wish their commander was not so aggressive

Attacker tried to bring more of his troops forward, but unfortunately halftracks revealed themselves to the Panthers and half of the 2nd US platoon was soon withdrawing between burning halftracks. Better part of a US company was either burning or dead and this far Hauptsturmführer had suffered no casualties!

But the attacker pressed onwards, disregarding the mounting casualties. Jabos came screaming from sky time after time, but mostly failed to hit their targets. But slowly the amount of fire directed at the defenders started to tell. First Imgemberg's own tank lost its' main gun to jabo attack, next attack went wide and hit the PaK40 squarely, meaning that the right flank now had only on IG 75mm for long range anti-tank work. And the artillery observer in the church steeple was finally spotted and killed just before the spotting rounds from 150mm were to land.

And while the Panthers on the left flank were turning to unleash their fire at the newcomers, another platoon of Shermans made a glorious dash to flank them (the US player got exactly the right combination of cards and rolled very well for the movement, so suddenly the there were two Shermans facing the vulnerable side of Panthers). A vicious short range fire fight developed, with finally one Panther abandoned, two Shermans ablaze and one Panther with damaged main gun and broken track (the turn ended with neither having fired and all within 9", so we let them fire simultaneously).

And to add to the insult, the original surviving Sherman had limped to the bocage, survived few hits from the IG with main gun barely functioning and finally shocked the remaining Panther out of action. With no AT assets remaining, Hauptsturmführer Imgemberg had no other course of action but to withdraw his troops deeper to the forest. American attack was bloodied and blunted, but there was no question that they had the control of the crossroads.

After FOO died, MMG tried to use church as firebase: bad idea with all those .50" hmgs around...

Until turn 12 it looked very clear that Germans would win a clean victory, but the US player kept pushing on, ignoring casualties and probing for weaknesses with great audacity. And that finally paid off, after the Panthers diverted their attention for a moment. It took just one turn whole the whole defence to crumble as all AT assets were disabled. We almost played the game along the wrong table axis, as it never occurred to us that the topside of the map was not north.

The 75mm infantry gun gave a good showing, but could not engage half a dozen Shermans alone

Halfway through the campaign and I must say I like it more and more. This campaign also shows that regular games combined with a short debriefing sessions actually make players better. It used to be that many of our games were decided when a player first suffered a serious setback or first (and only) defensive line was breached. So we are seeing players continuing as long as there is a chance (or as long as it is not silly o'clock) and there is at least serious thought for a reserve.

Topi

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 

February 15th 1945

We played a game taking place in the sodden Reichswald in February 1945 with the Coldstream Guards and 7th Seaforths taking on some stubborn Fallschirmjagers east of Kleve. Lots of bogging Churchills and Kangaroos and some ineffective close range antitank fire with the Commonwealth forces prevailing and capturing the village of Qualburg.

The Seaforths and Coldstream Guards capture Qualburg as they did historically, but they will wait for the follow on forces to pass through.

Total Fallschirmjager losses were 23 (of 54) with most in the 1st platoon. All 3 platoon COs were casualties. The Jagdpanzers were unscratched.

Four Churchills were damaged with one a total loss. The Seaforths had only six casualties, most in the bogged 3rd platoon. The Kangaroo really made a difference as in real life to keeping the infantry losses low. Five of the Kangaroos were stuck for the duration.

Another good demonstration of I Ain't Been Shot Mum: Although outnumbering 11 to 2 in AFVs and 5 to 3 in infantry, the Allies had a tough fight.

Mark Luther

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

It was back to Burma last night at the Mid Somerset Wargames club and scenario 4 from the bloody Burma book.

The two armoured cars didn’t make it far down the road before they were assaulted by some fanatic Japanese resulting in one crew bailing out and the other making a run for it from whence they came.

Meanwhile, to the south, a company of Gurkhas, rather too tentatively, approached a rather nasty looking road block which some well dug in Japanese.

I’m typical Japanese fashion, they close assaulted one of the sections but where driven back resulting in a firefight.

However the rather cautious approach of the Gurkha company resulted in the rest of the Japanese forces regrouping and holding the road.

All in all, a very good game.

Lessons learnt from the battle? Moving through the jungle is hell.

Chris Lane

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Today I played scenario #3A from the Blenneville or Bust! scenario pack for I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! 

The situation is as follows: the invading Allies are working their way around the flank of the main German positions half way up the Ribeaux valley. The Germans have rushed a small kampfgruppe consisting of decent tankers and half-decent infantry to block a crossroads in front of the Allied advance. This scenario covers the battle for the crossroads as the lead elements of an American armoured division attempt to clear the Germans from their path before reinforcements can arrive. 

The battle took place in a valley between two hills, with the hills being at the south-east and north-west corners of the table. A main road runs north-south along the table's centre line, crossed by a smaller road running east-west nearer to the table's southern edge. A church and graveyard surrounded by stone walls sits slightly west of centre in the valley, surrounded by rough, open ground that, to the east changes into bocage lined fields, and to the south changes into woods. 

The Germans had at their disposal two two-squad platoons of infantry with a couple of MMGs in support. They had two PaK38 anti-tanks guns, one 75mm infantry gun, and could call on artillery support from an off-table mortar platoon. They also had an FOO in contact with a battery of 155mm howitzers, but could only fire them for effect twice. Their main "punch" came from three Panthers.

As all they knew was that the Americans would attack from the north, the Germans had to defend along the whole southern, long, table's edge to prevent themselves being outflanked. One infantry platoon, MMG and anti-tank gun went at either end of the table: the eastern force dug into the treeline, the western one dug in behind the bocage. Two of the Panthers were right by the crossroads, one hull-down either side of the main road. 

This provided a good solid defensive line, and one that could shoot at the Americans as they either came down the hill to the west or across the open ground to the east. The problem was that this was quite a passive defence, and one that could be quite vulnerable to a rapid American advance that would cover the killing ground faster than the Germans could react and shoot. Something was needed to break up the American attack, and that something would be the last Panther. This was hidden behind the southern end of the church as a Forlorn Hope, ready to emerge either side in order to halt and disrupt any US advance. 

Neil, my opponent running the Americans, had decided to mass his forces on western side of the table. His tanks (nine Shermans, three of them 76's, in three platoons) would sweep down the hill towards the church in a rapid armoured thrust, followed up by his three platoons of armoured infantry, one in half-tracks, the other two on foot. Behind this assault, the Americans had a weapons platoon consisting of two mortar-carriers and a couple of M2 half-tracks each carrying an LMG squad and a bazooka team. They, too, had an FOO, who was in contact with a cab-rank of air support and a battery of off-table artillery. 

After a brief scouting phase in the Germans' favour, a host of American Blinds swept over the hill to the west and headed south. One was quickly spotted and revealed as tanks: four Shermans to be exact. The German anti-tank gun in that sector opened fire, forcing the crew of one tank to bail. The other Shermans reacted by firing smoke, but failed to cover the anti-tank gun properly. It fired again, and was able to slightly damage the lead Sherman, now hiding behind the shoulder-high stone wall surrounding the graveyard. 

It was time for the German Forlorn Hope to make its move. The Panther edged out from behind the church and fired uphill at an advancing Sherman, forcing its crew to bail. It then pulled back behind the church to wait for its next target to appear. This totally disrupted the American advance, with the Blinds that had been coming down the open side of the western edge of the battlefield rapidly reversing direction and 'hiding' behind the church themselves. 

Desperate measures were called for. The American armoured infantry HQ half-track shot forward and sped towards the church, literally crashing into the brick wall surrounding it but able to give the bazooka team it carried a shot into the Panther's rear. Unfortunately, perhaps shaken by the impact, the shot missed. The Panther's turret slowly swivelled, and then it fired: blowing the half-track to pieces and killing the bazooka team, and the company commander. Only Staff Sergeant Ollie Oakland managed to crawl from the wreckage. 

More desperate measures! All the US tanks de-cloaked and charged the church! Lieutenant Memphis' tank, a 76, managed to get into a shooting position on the Panther and, after a couple of shots, managed to brew it up. 

This may seem like the Germans (i.e. me!) threw the Panther away (one Panther for two Shermans and the infantry company HQ), but it was worth it for the effect it had on the US attack. Their planned advance had stalled, meaning that they had to spend time sorting themselves out before moving forward again…and those German reinforcements were on their way. 

Not only this, but the delay had allowed the other German anti-tank gun time to get across the battlefield and set up to shoot at the enemy tanks around the church. They needed to be dealt with. The American support platoon was on table by this time. Its two mortar carriers hung back: they would conduct a rather ineffectual dual with the German 75mm infantry gun for most of the game. The two M2 half-tracks carrying the machine guns and bazooka teams, however, were available and, indeed, were about the only thing that was available to deal with the anti-tank gun. 

They moved forward, with one of them running straight into a shell from one of the remaining Panthers, de-cloaking from its position around the crossroads. The half-track brewed up, but its passengers managed to get out, although there were heavy casualties. The other managed to drop off its weapon teams, and they and the survivors moved forward under cover of smoke fired from a tank to mask the road. 

This is where I made a bad mistake and almost lost the battle! 

I needed to cover the anti-tank gun, or at least prevent it being shot to bits by the enemy machine guns. So to give it support, I moved my other infantry platoon and MMG across the table under Blinds. No problem there, but I was so focussed on protecting the anti-tank gun, so totally focussed on protecting the anti-tank gun, that I was totally surprised when the American support weapons actually climbed on top of the bocage and spotted then shot at my troops. My platoon was caught out in the open and lost an entire squad to enemy fire! The machine gun was also hit, receiving so much Shock that it headed for the edge of the table at top speed. 

The other infantry squad, and indeed the anti-tank gun, managed to get back to the tree line, but I had effectively thrown away one squad and the HMG. 

Meanwhile the rest of the American tanks had resumed their advance to the west, heading into the graveyard in an attempt to overwhelm the anti-tank gun and Panther. Most of them rapidly reversed their advance, however, when ranging shots from my 155mm howitzers neatly bracketed their position. One did come forward, but the Panther took care of it before switching its attention (ineffectually) to the US support troops busy annihilating my out-in-the-open platoon. 

Spotting also finally revealed an advancing armoured infantry platoon, and my dug-in infantry finally had a chance to do something: stopping the attackers in their tracks with withering fire.

The 76mm Sherman that had brewed up the Forlorn Hope Panther had been lurking under cover of the burning half-track by the church, but now tried taking advantage of the fact my Panther was distracted by sneaking forward and shooting at it, but the two hits it scored bounced off the Panther's thick armour, and return fire blew the unfortunate Sherman to bits. 

Blocked to the west, and having scored some success to the east, Neil now attempted to totally switch his axis of attack. Led by a Sherman, two American Blinds (the other two infantry platoons) now heading down the track in an attempt to outflank my position. Unfortunately, the Panther and other anti-tank gun were there and ready, and the Sherman was quickly brewed and the Blinds spotted. Now conscious that time was ticking away (you can see the photos are getting darker!) Neil decided on one last throw of the dice and charged his armoured platoon forward in a desperate attempt to close with my troops. 

Unfortunately it didn't work: the half-tracks were hit by the Panther and anti-tank gun and forced to deploy their men and, as I started shooting at them, the sound of German reinforcements were heard. The Americans were forced to break off their attack: the crossroads was safe and I had won the day. 

Great battle where my initial good deployment and, admittedly, some good dice-rolling were very nearly over-turned by the almost fatal error made with the second infantry platoon. Without the Forlorn Hope Panther severely disrupting the first American attack, I think I would have been overwhelmed. Interestingly, neither side got any of its off-table artillery firing properly, and the two American air-strikes both missed their target. A great game.

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 
 

The second IABSM game on our inaugural Burton Beer & Lard Day, Slim River, was taken from the Fall of the Liongate scenario pack that covers the invasion of Malaya and fall of Singapore to the Japanese in 1941 and early 1942. 

It is January 1942, and the Japanese have just pushed the British Indian army out of the Kampar position (see the Malaya Games Day reports for when we played that one). The British and Indian troops have fallen back to the village of Trolak, site of a vital bridge across the otherwise impassable Slim River. The British and Indian troops must hold the bridge for as long as possible, giving troops elsewhere time to retreat, then retreat and blow it behind them (just blowing it immediately was not an option, as the Japanese had demonstrated previously in the campaign their ability to repair blown bridges at lightning speed). 

The Indian contingent (two small platoons, a couple of anti-tank guns and a couple of Indian Pattern carriers) are manning a barricade a short distance north of the village, and the remnants of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (another two small platoons, two Lanchester armoured cars and two carriers) are holding the village itself. An enormous Japanese force, the Ando Detachment, headed by a column of tanks enters the table from the north, determined to smash through the roadblock, break into the village and capture the bridge intact. 

The game began with the appearance of some Japanese Blinds on the road leading from the north. The Indian troops spotted what was under the Blinds: revealing a column of seven Chi-Ha medium tanks. Meanwhile more Japanese Blinds had appeared in the jungle either side of the road. 

The Japanese tanks slammed down the road as fast as they could. In practice, as none of the tanks had radios to co-ordinate their actions, this meant that individual tanks pushed pedal to the metal whenever their card came up, leading to an uncoordinated series of traffic-jam inducing rushes! Finally one tanks got close enough to attempt to barge through the roadblock, only to discover there was a small minefield newly-laid in front of it. 

Also a mine was detonated, the tank was undamaged, at least until a two-section platoon of Punjabi troops stood up from their positions behind the roadblock and attacked it with whatever they had to hand. The official history of the campaign states that many of the Indian troops involved in the Malaya campaign had never seen a tank before, but these chaps were obviously in possession of some very sharp regimental tin-openers as the Chi-Ha was quickly disabled. 

Whilst this was going on, however, one of the jungle-based Japanese Blinds had been moving up through the lighter rubber plantation terrain alongside the road. Having avoided their own badly driven tanks, this Blind charged the Punjabi troops manning the roadblock on a Banzai-i-i-i card, revealing itself as a full platoon of Japanese infantry. Forty Japanese verses sixteen Punjabis was a bit of a foregone conclusion, even with the Punjabis defending a position. The first Punjabi platoon effectively ceased to exist, with the lone Punjabi Big Man finding himself alive, but surrounded by Japs! 

Reinforcements were on their way from the village, however, in the form of a British and a British Indian Blind that concealed the Lanchester armoured cars and two Breda anti-tank guns respectively. As they moved north along the road towards the roadblock, however, they were surprised by four Japanese Ha-Go light tanks emerging from a previously unknown track through the rubber trees. 

Meanwhile, the Japanese infantry platoon that had won the roadblock had slammed down the road and overrun the Punjabi Company HQ and the two Indian Pattern carriers. They were on their own, however, as behind them an unholy traffic jam around the roadblock and minefield had completely clogged up the route to the south. The Japanese just couldn't coordinate their actions to get their medium tanks through the narrow gap: especially as one of their number was on fire half-way through the minefield. 

The Lanchesters and anti-tank guns engaged and destroyed the lead Japanese light tank for the loss of a couple of anti-tank gunners, but then an uneasy stand-off developed as the remaining Ha-Gos and the British force waited on either sides of the corner, effectively waiting for the other to pop his head out first so that it could be blown off! 

Finally the intervention of another Japanese infantry platoon cleared the roadblock, and the Japanese medium tanks began to pour down the road…well, continue their uncoordinated advance in one's and two's! Not wanting to mix it with tanks supported by infantry, the British Lanchesters withdrew into the village. 

Also not wanting to mix it with tanks supported by infantry, the remaining Punjabi platoon made its way through the jungle to where the three remaining light tanks were waiting on the track in column. A sharp fight took place at incredibly close range, leaving all three Japanese tanks either destroyed or disabled, but the Punjabis were now effectively finished as a fighting force. 

Meanwhile, the remaining British Indian-manned anti-tank guns had been overrun by the leading Japanese infantry platoon, who now went on to assault the village itself. Three squads charged forward, but the perimeter of the village was lined by Argyll's, who smashed them backwards despite being severely outnumbered. 

The Japanese advance paused for a second as they brought up more troops. The British took advantage by withdrawing the battered Argyll platoon that had withstood the Japanese charge over the bridge in the middle of the village, with the British CO preparing to destroy the bridge by setting off the charges that had been laid along its length. 

Before the remaining Argyll platoon could withdraw, however, they were charged by a fresh platoon of Japanese soldiers, again bursting from the jungle under a banzai-i-i card. Although horrendous casualties were done to the Japanese platoon, the Argyll platoon was largely destroyed. 

Grimly resolute in the face of having to leave the survivors on the wrong side of the river, the British CO pressed the plunger. Nothing! Water had got into the fuses. 

The Japanese regrouped and prepared to charge the bridge. On the other side, the few remaining British troops prepared to re-cross the bridge and sell their lives dearly to give time for the wires to be checked, fuses to be changed etc. The British CO's card came up again. He ordered his men to wait one second before going to their doom, and again he pushed the plunger. 

BOOM! 

This time everything worked as planned (a roll of 10 on a d10!) and the bridge was blown to smithereens, leaving the angry Japanese on the wrong side of the river to call up their engineers as the British disappeared down the road. Victory conditions were checked, and the game was declared a draw: the British Indian troops had failed to hold off the Japanese troops, but had managed to blow the bridge before it could be captured. This game didn't quite reflect history: in 1942 the Japanese tanks got into the village and managed to get across the bridge in the face of withering fire from the Argyll's for long enough for their infantry to come up and secure victory. 

A truly excellent game played with great enthusiasm and sportsmanship by two veteran wargamers new to IABSM but who had played Far East games before. Both players agreed that they were now completely exhausted, as the action had been fast-moving and intense almost throughout the battle. As one said, that was the "longest, shortest 3½ hours he had ever gamed"! The key to the British success (comparative to 1942, that is) was the traffic jam that developed at the roadblock. The Japanese tanks just couldn't coordinate their actions well enough to get through in time to properly support their infantry. The British were, as in history, eventually overwhelmed, but managed to keep their shape as they retreated. A great game.               

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
/
 
 
 

The war in Normandy is going well for the Allies as they march inland and hopefully to break out as soon as possible. The Germans are on the run and need to stop the Allies from reaching Blenneville and winning this campaign, but will need to do better as soon far despite fighting well they have been defeated with severe casualties.

The American armoured column is certainly strong enough and confident that it will be able to push through the Germans defenders although it does include a unit of Panthers.

From the normal aerial photos the terrain is close and whilst the only building is a strongly built Norman Church, the surrounding hills are covered in trees and the low ground is very heavy indeed and mostly unsuitable for tanks.

The American plan is simple enough and is to attack both flanks whilst tying the centre up and then for the flanking units to move in towards the crossroads. The two infantry Platoons will move to attack the Church and hills to the west. The tanks will move on the roads to support these attacks, with the machine gunning halftracks supporting as necessary.

The German plan is to hold the centre with the tanks and MMG with the AT in support in the near hills. The church is covered by one infantry platoon supported by the IG gun. To the west the hills will be held by the 2nd Platoon.

The only action was slow in coming and was mostly medium range firing between troops in the Church against the American infantry. In the picture below you can see this going on. You can only see the American Shermans marching up the road, and please note the German AT gun in the hills.

The action extended to the west as the Americans advanced towards the entrenched Germans in the hills. This looks as though it will be a long fight but the Americans have the firepower, as in fact they do all over.

Then the confidence of the Americans was shattered in two minutes as the forward AT Gun managed to take out two of the Shermans on the road. This was a real blow to the Americans who had hoped to use their tanks in the attack.

The continuing fight for the church was a slow affair but losses can mount very quickly and the Americans do need to take the Church quickly.

The American then came on in force and caused a bit of a road block, but hopefully these will be used very soon.

But now the Germans are in place and waiting. From looking as an easy American victory it suddenly looks a closer prospect.

The road north was now full of Americans and they couldn't go anyway for fear of the Panthers at the end of the road. So Lt. Portland decided it was time to clear the church of its defenders to allow the men to spread out and hopefully threaten the crossroads more. To accomplish this he sent in the first section.

This attack was not successful at all, and the 1st Section retreated very quickly but had at least weakened the defenders some what.

The photo below shows the reason the roadblock. These Panthers were covering all the surrounding area with their superb long range weapons. These would seem to be indestructible to the American present.

But wait this was before Lt. Tim Tulsa and his men in their 76mm Sherman decided they had had enough, and two shots later two Panthers were smoking like a good cigar. To top it all the fire also took out a machine gun nest and the Artillery Observer. You can see the Panthers smoking in the rear of the photo with the pseudo Sherman in front.

This certainly was the game changer as before the Panthers and AT Guns had had it all their own way, but now the Panthers destruction allowed the field to become more open, although still terrible to walk through.

Now a close up as this event doesn't happen often.

Immediately after this Lt. Portland this time lead his men into the church and cleared it easily. Good show.

Things now starting happening very quickly as the Americans were mostly free of the threat of the Panthers. Tulsa and his Platoon destroyed the nearest AT Gun and then the section of infantry guarding the hills. This was done with the assistance of the 2nd Rifle Platoon as can be seen.

In the east at the other end of the table the Church was now in American hands and this allowed the 3rd Platoon to first shoot then manoeuvre slow across the very rough ground towards the Churchyard..

The Shermans of Lt. Tulsa had now outflanked the position and was advancing towards the crossroads to finish the job.

In the centre as well the battle was seeing the end game. The Panther got first shoot and missed twice and at such close range. The lone remaining Sherman from the 1st Tank Platoon now revenged its mates with a brilliant shot, I have never seen so many 6s thrown in go. The end result was that the Panther main gun was put out of operation.

One question I asked though was would one Sherman left out of four still be hanging around. Of course nothing in rules about force morale, so it seems OK if to me a bit shaky.

Brilliant action though!

The Support section then deployed to shoot the one remaining German section dug in over the valley. Two machine guns in one spot are a very powerful tool and upon seeing this the Germans decided it was all over.

Well almost. The AT gun at the rear of the hill had done some damage earlier in the valley and now took out a Sherman in the hills with another excellent shot. One can see the last German platoon in their defensive line as well.

Of course as is normal the AT gun was then shot by the remaining tanks and that was that.

The photographs below show the end position of the forces. All the Germans had left were a badly damaged Panther, one infantry gun and one section. These retreated to their next defensive position.

Again another great game. The terrain was very constrictive, especially for any vehicles, which basically meant everyone had to stick to the roads.

The obvious game changer was the two shots of the 76mm which destroyed the German defence in one go. One minute the Germans were in total charge and were about to move down the road to clear the infantry in there, the next the Americans had the run of the field.

The aces this game are Lt Tim Tulsa and Feldwebel Gustav Gevultzstraminer. Feldwebel Gevultzstraminer was easy as once again he was the only German Big Man left. For the Americans both Tulsa and Portland had great days, and in fact all the American leaders did something useful, but for the two shot trick Tulsa must be the one.

Now it's on the Vartres to see if we can beat these Boche again.

Craig Ambler

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Desperate for a game, and with my usual opponent unavailable, I reached out to another friend of mine: someone who hasn't gamed for four or five years but had expressed an interest in picking up the dice again. 

Easter Saturday provided the time, chez moi provided the venue and, even better, I got to break out my complete 8½ foot by 5 foot gaming area for the first time: three trestle tables rescued from various domestic tasks and returned to their original function as a wargaming surface.

Next decision was what scenario to play. Couldn't be anything too involved: I wanted to ease my opponent back into the swing of things. Well, there's a scenario in the Blenneville or Bust!pack that I've been wanting to play for some time: #2B Near Belle Maison. The plot is simple: having failed to find a bridge over the river Moire in scenario #1, the Americans bring forward engineers to build a bridge of their own. Unfortunately, the Germans are counter-attacking: and a small kampfgruppe led by Hauptmann Kurt Kirshwasser comes across the engineer column as it moves up to the front line. My opponent would play the attacking Germans, I would play the Amis. Key to this decision was the knowledge that all I had to do to win the scenario was exit my 'engineering expert' (who would start the game in a jeep in the middle of the engineer column) off the opposite end of the table.

As with most I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! games, we began by placing Blinds on the table: markers that indicate where enemy troops might be, but don't reveal if they are either really there or, if they are, exactly what they are. The photographs below show the table set up just before the start. Note the American column stretched out on the road; the three groups of German Blinds, one for each side road on top of the hill; and the single German Blind blocking the road in front of the enemy column.

One thing to note before I continue. All hedges are actually bocage: banks of earth surmounted by heavy vegetation that are impossible for wheeled vehicles and infantry to cross, but could be conquered by tracked vehicles of medium tank size or more. My apologies, but I don't have any bocage scenery (donations gratefully received!) so had to use an assortment of lower hedges, lichen and even barbed wire to mark where the bocage was.

The game began with everybody trying to spot everyone else. At the rear of the column, the Germans spotted three engineer trucks and the jeep containing the engineering expert (not that they knew about him) and a couple of tank destroyers. The Americans also spotted, and managed to de-cloak a couple of Panthers, although the thick bocage prevented seeing what was under the other Blind. Trained to react instantly, the engineer trucks were quickly abandoned; and the tank destroyers, wary of going head-to-head with what were obviously Tigers in disguise (although Panthers are bad enough!) fled into a nearby field and attempted to become one with the scenery.

The two Blinds in the centre of the column remained unspotted, and also found a gap in the bocage and took cover. At the front of the column, however, the column HQ was revealed as a couple of Jeeps, each carrying a Big Man and a bazooka team. Knowing that the Blind up ahead was a tank (it's in the game briefing so I wasn't using insider knowledge!), the Americans sent one Big Man and both bazooka teams into a small patch of woods at the junction just ahead of them, planning to make their way forward and see if they could clear the way forward. If they could, then maybe my engineering expert could whip down the road at top speed whilst the main force held off the enemy. Meanwhile, the German Blinds moved closer: 

Back at the rear of the column, the other German Blind had now been revealed as a two-squad infantry platoon:  my new Gebirgsjaeger figures taking to the table for the first time, even if not under my command. They were proxy-ing for the 30th Panzergrenadier Regiment as, again, I don't have any late war standard German infantry.

The two centre-column American Blinds were now revealed as a couple of platoons of infantry: one regular, one engineer. If I could just keep th Panthers occupied by the tank destroyers, then maybe the infantry could take out the enemy infantry.

Actually, this was going to be easier said than done, because what the photo above doesn't really show are the distances involved (big table!) and the fact that the engineer platoon didn't have any Big Men to get them moving: these are not front line combat troops. The photo below gives a bit more perspective.

Meanwhile, at the front of the column, one of the many German Blinds had revealed itself as another platoon of infantry. This quickly advanced down the road, under cover of the bocage, and prepared to stop the enemy bazooka teams from getting past the junction.

Back to the rear of the column. There the tank destroyers had opened up on the one Panther that they could still see, the other having taken cover behind a small copse. Shells whistled backwards and forwards: resulting in a couple of small scratches on the Panther's paint work and one blown up tank destroyer! The chap you can see running out of the back of the smoking M10 is Big Man Lt. Micky Miami, wjho survived having his tank destroyer shot out from underneath him, and would soon mount the other and take command there.

The second Panther was happy to keep the rest of the Americans pinned down: blowing up a truck (presumably just to show it could) and then starting a fairly leisurely HE bombardment on the engineer infantry. 

Things were not going too well for the Americans at the rear of the column, but perhaps things were better at the front.

Er...no.

One bazooka team was shot down, with the Big Man accompanying it (2iC Captain Alan Albuqueque, just to the right of the tree in the photo below) stuck on his own in a field on the wrong side of a line of bocage. He spent the rest of the game shouting morale-boosting slogans through the thick hedge as the German infantry moved forward and started a firefight with one squad of US regulars (just visible to the left of the tree in the photo below).

Meanwhile, at the back of the column, things were going even worse. The other tank destroyer had also been destroyed, and this time brave Lt. Miami had failed to escape the resultant explosion. In return, one Panther had slight damage to its gun sights, but nothing major. 

At the same time, the engineer infantry were trying to put an attack together, but kept being pinned by a hail of HE rounds that did no damage, as they were behind the bocage, but kept their heads firmly down.

With the front of the column firmly blocked - the American platoon had by this time lost a squad of infantry and were having equal difficulty avoiding HE fire - the German tanks at the rear of the column moved in for the kill. The Panther that had been hiding behind the copse drove down the hill and swung onto the road, flanking the engineers who had moved forward in preparation for an attack on the rear-most German infantry. A round of machine gun fire did heavy casualties, and the morale of the Americans broke: I surrendered to what had been a text book attack on an enemy transport column.

Admittedly, this is a difficult scenario for the Americans to win, and their off-table artillery had yet to zero in on target, and their air support had failed to make an appearance, and...and...well, let's let nothing, especially my abysmal dice rolling, take away from my opponent's well-earned victory. Using the tanks and infantry in concert together and sticking to a 'horns of the buffalo' plan had reaped its reward.!

Robert Avery

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

A Game of IABSM set on the Eastern Front with Dex. His Soviet attackers piled into the German held village in a rapid attack and although a platoon of Panzer IVs wiped out a platoon of T-34s, the T-70s came to the rescue and two German counter attacks were blunted, leaving the Soviets in control of the village.

Alex Sotheran

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Spring has been very hectic, so very little time to write here, even if we have played two more scenarios from Blenneville pack and I have finally painted the early war German schützen platoon and some armoured support for them. But badly lagging behind with the AARs. So onwards to Avaux.

After the successful recon action near Pierrecourt, the allied force pushed forwards along both flanks of the valley. Main thrust was supposed to be with the armoured division, but the infantry decided that they would not be playing a supporting role and their feint turned to a real attack. A company of infantry under captain Stromberg supported by a company of Shermans against unknown German force. More bocage than you can shake a stick at, so plenty of opportunities for the defender.

US player decided to do recon on a broad front with mostly dummies and then commit the main force where resistance was weakest. As soon as resistance was found, 105mm arty would start hammering it.

German kampfgruppe Steinhart had reasonably weak force of infantry squad, some support weapons and a platoon of StuGs. These held a broad frontage with the assumption that parts that were not under assault would form a mobile reserve.

Plans: red showing German MLR; blue is the US real advance; and dotted blue US recon effort. This picture probably already shows where and how it will end.

The battle started slowly, with US recon pushing forwards but not finding much anything.

This made the commander of the first Sherman platoon a tad careless - Shermans cleared yet another wall of bocage, this time without waiting for scouts and StuGs behind the next wall opened fire.

One brewed up immediately, second was abandoned and the whole platoon was saved only because Sgt Wilson believed in some extra armour and had hoarded anything looking like add-on armour to the front of his turret (the Sherman model with some track links as extra armour took half a dozen direct hits without as much as a point of shock).

2nd Lt. Belowitz made a brave dash in his 76mm Sherman to outflank Jerry, but was intercepted and barely got out of his burning tank.

It worked this far, but when you cannot get a penetrating hit, you cannot get one.

On the other flank, two blinds were staring at each other very menacingly, but nothing else happened (one US blind managed to tie up the other half of German infantry, so no mobile reserve). US player tried to push some recon troops through along the road in the middle, but was stopped cold by the hidden ATG.

To break the StuGs, US player brought forward another platoon of Shermans and a platoon of infantry, only to find out that few squads of veteran Germans supported StuGs. 1st US section was mangled badly and others started to take casualties, too.

US player finds more targets, unfortunately they shoot first.

Finally the breakthrough was achieved by spirited 2nd infantry platoon. They used the bocage and burning tank as a cover and dashed past the confused defenders to the next bocage. So now Germans were faces by a dilemma - their position was strong, but they had a platoon of infantry behind them, heading for the town, which was very lightly held. (At this point US player noticed that he had forgotten to hand out the bazookas to individual platoons, so the spearhead platoon had bayonets and grenades against StuGs!)

So a command to withdraw was given, with one StuG heading to backfield to hunt infantry, another trying to duke it out with yet another platoon of Shermans and hard-pressed infantry dealing with Amis. This worked for a moment, as the StuGs seemed to be invulnerable. They shrugged off grenades, solid AT shots from 76mm guns and gunned the attackers down: even took a critical hit from 76mm, with no effect. Until the inevitable happened, the StuG helping infantry lost its' gun and US player launched an assault, clearing out the German infantry. And simultaneously 2nd Lt Belowizt had found another tank, directed it to drive "just between those two burning Shermans!" and finished the other StuG.

The Germans managed to stabilize the situation for a moment by bringing the ATG to the village plaza and withdrawing some remaining grenadiers. Cafe by the plaza was declared a festung (fortress or stronghold) and men prepared to sell their lives dearly, as long as there was wine remaining. It did help that Lt. Hightown, leading the US assault, lost his head to scattering 105mm artillery at the moment of his victory. But unfortunately 60mm mortars got a fix on plaza and after an order for "rapid fire!" knocked out the ATG and shocked the remaining infantry so badly that they routed.

This time the game was not so lop-sided, both sides fought hard. German tanks had hard time hurting anyone, but their armour also kept the crews safe, so fortune favoured both. The decisive action was the brave outflanking manoeuvre by the infantry, which forced Germans to create ad hoc reserves in a situation where there were none available. So the lesson probably is "no matter what the situation is, part of your troops form reserve behind MLR."

Topi

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Blenneville or Bust:  a new Campaign from Too Fat Lardies for I Aint Been Shot Mum rules. I downloaded this as soon as it came out last week, being a sucker for TFL games and having only recently finished our Eastern Front campaign from the Vyazma or Bust supplement.

My first go at it (solo) is the British attack at Avaux by tanks from 101st RTR plus a company of infantry from 1st Royal Windsor Foresters - and no, don't going looking for these as neither the places or the units really exist!

This was a proper blood bath. The village has fallen but at such a cost and too many tanks were lost. Monty is going to be furious!

Norseygamer

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Since news came of the successful American attack to take hold of the bridge the British had been raring to get into action. No sooner than wished for than orders are given for the Company to attack and take Avaux:

"The news is that the village is very lightly held and with a full Company of infantry and two troops of Shermans we should have enough troops to take this village. An early fuzzy aerial photograph shows a quiet village with a stream running through its centre and with bocage surrounding it although with some good looking long views. All in all this makes it look a difficult one to attack, but we have some very good quality troops."

The Allied plan is basically to attack on a broad front and hopefully allow the extra fire power to take effect. The tanks will support the attack over the fields to the left and down the central road. The idea is to overpower the Germans quickly and then move through the village and onwards to victory.

The German plan was to cause as many casualties to the British as soon as possible. Two sections were placed to the front of the position: one lining the hedgerow to the west and the other in the church in the centre. The StuGs are placed in the orchard with a section supporting. The main central position of two MMGs and the Anti Gun are placed in buildings around the Square, with the last section to their left.

Start

For the Stonks, playing solo I set most of the squares with a number giving a leaning to the central village. One can see in the photo above where the Stonks landed and unluckily for the Allies managed to miss everything, despite spoiling the paint on one of the StuGs.

The advance was slow as the scouts tried to spot the enemy, but similar to the Americans, the British were unable to spot anything at all. This meant that both the 1st and 2nd Platoons walked straight into fire from the Church at close range.

This fire was deadly and destroyed the 1st Section of the 2nd Platoon advancing up the road. First blood to the Germans and a great shock to the British who had been expecting an easy advance. In the west the 3rd Platoon was involved in a fire fight with German section against it. Overall the British fire was better and Lieutenant Durham decided to advance one of his sections and cover fire with the other. Things began to look up for the British in the centre as the firepower advantage took hold and forced the German section to retreat from the church.

This was a time when it all went wrong for Lieutenant Ipswich as he ordered the 2nd Section to advance slowly towards these Germans and then to finish them off with fire. This order seemed to impress the men as they quickly dashed down the road and went in close with the bayonet, and unfortunately took Lieutenant Ipswich with them. This combat was very easy for the British and the Germans were dispatched easily enough, but this moved them into view of one of the StuGs which proceeded to fire on the victors killing Lieutenant Ipswich. This is becoming a common occurrence in my games as any leader who does something special is killed instantly.

The battle then became general as the British tanks on the left managed to break through the bocage and so came in range of the AT guns and also the central MMG position.

This fire had mixed results as the Machine Guns destroyed the remnants of the Section on the road, but the AT gun despite hitting several times didn't manage to damage it.

At this point the fight is now general and can be seen in this photo from behind the German position. The British are advancing all over the table, but have taken severe damage already but have just about finished the German first line.

Now it got very interesting as the British began the general advance that had been promised for some time. The main action was in the centre and east as this where the main advance was. In the west the well planned Platoon attack by Lieutenant Durham was going well if a bit too steady.

This turn was when the luck turned towards the British and was really going to change for them. The StuG that shot up the advancing British infantry now turned to hit the flank of the advancing British tanks and promptly failed to damage despite two good shots. This annoyed the Firefly who promptly showed how to do it properly and that was one precious tank down for the Germans.

This allowed the tank HQ to advance down the road.

At the same time as this was happening the remaining StuG decided to move through the orchard to assist in the centre and if you look carefully you can just see its barrel sticking out from beyond the tree. Look closely as it wasn't there too long.

The German 8cm mortars are an excellent weapons and in this game kept the British honest with their accuracy. The much slower British artillery did well later but the instant fire of the Germans made them the most dangerous weapon in this game for the Germans, well almost!

In the next photo you can see the deadly Pak 40 which was the only killer of the British tanks and managed to knock four of them before the crew lost their bottle. Heroes all of them as they survived artillery, MGs, AFVs and infantry shooting at them, though of course their Luetnant was killed in his moment of glory. This is why I play wargames for these little episodes.

One can really see the powerful arsenal that the British had in this game from this photo. The road is safe for them now as the last StuG failed to damage the Sherman in front of it and was then promptly demolished by the best shooting I have seen for a long time.

This is a photo of the west flank with the British 3rd Platoon advancing slowly towards the two infantry men left. This was a classic manoeuvre until it came to moving when it seemed the British didn't see the point of taking any risks.

You can see the two smoking StuG in the foreground as well.

The photo here shows the power of the PAK 40 as all the smoking hulks testify to its power and also the two tanks not shown who have retreated from its fire..

In the foreground one can see the 1st Platoon who are just about the make the game winning charge across the field in front of them supported by the MMG section

The end for the Germans came very quickly as this picture hints at. The crew of the Pak 40 finally gave up the ghost and ran back to the rear as fast as they could. The British artillery in the end did for them.

Lieutenant Bob Bristol after several minutes watching the tanks being destroyed decided to get into action and finish the Boche off. To this end he had the MMG pin the section in front of his position and he charged two sections across the field, unfortunately the first was badly hurt by the German machine guns in the nearby house. Next turn though the Gods though were with Bristol as the MMG were the first card up and they suppressed the infantry and with Bristol being next he duly charged the Germans in the slit trenches.

The first photo is pre melee and the second is the aftermath, and which you will see was a stunning victory with not a British hair touched. You will also see the official photographer wasn't as nervous after the event!

The next important card was the tank HQ. The remaining tanks had only one real choice and shot the MMGs in front of him with miraculous fire as when the smoke settled the unit had been destroyed and that was enough for the remaining MMG and the one infantry section.

You can see both surviving units here, although the MMG is mostly hidden behind the watermill.

The last photos are of the victorious British advancing over the field.

You may notice that there is no mention of the 88 gun in this narrative. The gun did hit three tanks and managed despite all its dice to not damage anything. Odd how often this happens.

The aces for this battle are Leutnant Feuerzangenbowle for the Germans and Lieutenant Bob Bristol. Feuerzangenbowle for keeping at least one of his sections alive, and Bristol for the excellent charge and hand to hand that almost gave the British the village.

Once again an excellent game. Looking at the setup I did think that it was impossible for the British not to win this, but now I am not as sure. If the 88 and StuGs had just hit one tanks each it would have been a close thing. Tactically I am not sure if I did much wrong. Maybe the Germans could have been held a bit more together, but then again I hate games where the defenders just sit back in a nice scrum.

Looking next I am back with the Americans Near Chemont, and hopefully another great game.

Craig Ambler

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 

April 1945. Combat Command A, 45th Armored Division is driving into the collapsing Reich. A kampfgruppe of Fallschirmjaeger with attached antitank assets is trying to block the American capture of Isabelstadt, the capitol of the medieval Kingdom of Mantovia. The Germans make their stand at Altmarienmarkt.

Big Scott was free from the Forges of Isengard this weekend so we had a game. Leaving my Seven Days to the River Rhine table set up we played some WW2 using I Ain't Been Shot Mum, which was interesting as it's been a few years. But this got his Americans and my Fallschirmjaeger out of their boxes after a couple of years. 

His Americans are obnoxiously well equipped as is only fitting, and they should get artillery and air support too. So I thought to stand a modicum of a chance I'd take my elite paratroopers with lots of Pak40s and some StuGs. 

Scott had two Armored Rifle platoons, Company Weapons Platoon, Platoon of M5 light tanks, two platoons of Shermans, three M18 tank destroyers, a FO with a battery of 105s attached, and the chance of air support.

I had two rifle platoons, a MG platoon (4 teams), Company HQ with three 80mm mortars and two panzerschrek teams, a platoon of five StuGs, a platoon of three Pak40s and an infantry gun section of two recoilless rifles.

My antitank fire was pretty dismal when it came to rolling for penetration. I only knocked out one M5 and damaged another. But Scott maneuvered so a lot of my AT assets were out of position and he could put fire on my infantry instead. I did better shooting up his infantry, inflicting about 50% casualties on his rifle squads, but he also killed a lot of mine, driving my forward platoon back from the tree line and pushing in on the flank of the town, and eliminated two of my MG42 teams as well.

I Ain't Been Shot Mum is a very crunchy game considering. Maybe I'm always trying to put too many platoons on the table? If I played it more often I think I'd streamline tank damage and casualties.

But still fun. It's always nice getting old toys on the table for a roll of the dice.

The figures are a mix of Battlefront, Plastic Soldier Company, Peter Pig, Old Glory and some old random ones I cannot remember.

James

MORE AAR
HOME
 
 
/
 
 
 

I Ain't Been Shot, Mum at the Outpost tonight with Steve.

Somewhere North of Caen, Steve's British pushed cautiously towards a German held crossroads, but suddenly the Germans appeared and started poking holes in the two forward platoons.

A last minute rush forward by the third platoon on blinds smashed the Germans in the centre and collapsed their defence lines!

Alex Sotheran

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

In 1943 a Soviet company supported by T34s attack a Romanian position in the Hasty Defence scenario from I Ain't Been Shot, Mum.

Despite initial success against the light Romanian tanks and infiltrating the flanks, the Soviet advance is blunted by Romanian reinforcements gathering strength and holding the line. the Soviets will have to wait for another chance to capture the railhead.

Alex Sotheran

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 

British Shermans come under fire from the German PaK 40 Anti-Tank gun

 
 

The second scenario of the IABSM Blenneville or Bust campaign featured an attack by the British against German positions near the fictitious town of Avaux. We played this scenario way back in the spring, so details are sketchy at best, but it was a good, close run game. As with the previous installment of the campaign, if you are planning to play the campaign and don’t want to know the particulars, consider this your official spoiler alert.

The British objective was to push six tanks off of the far table edge. They were attacking with an infantry company and a tank company with support from a battery of 25 pdr artillery, sopme MMGs, and roving Jabos of the 9th Tactical Air Force. The Germans were defending with an overstrength infantry platoon, a couple of StuG IIIG, a couple of MG-42s, and a PaK 40. They also had fire support from some off-table mortars and a FlaK36 88mm gun set up to fire onto the main road.

Looking South: the view of Avaux from the British side

The German defenders were dispersed across the table with a couple of squads in the town center, one in the farmhouse on the eastern side, and one in the manor house among the orchards on the west side. The PaK 4o was positioned in the southern part of the orchard with commanding lines of site onto the road. The StuGs were deployed to assist the infantry squad on eastern side.

The German forward MG post opens fire on British troops trying to move through the gaps in the boccage

The British advance was primarily directed down the more open east side of the table and along the main road. As they approached the center of the table, German forces began to open fire. A platoon on the east side was caught bunched up and had two squads gutted. The tank support on that flank “discovered” the StuGs positioned over there and began a firefight that would see most of the Shermans destroyed or damamged at a cost of one of the two StuGs.

In the center, a forward MG post opened fire and stalled the advance before being silenced. As the British continued to push ahead, the main German position in the town center came into play, further limiting advance up the road. Soon however the British were able to range in their battery of 25 pdr artillery on the town square and the resulting fire, along with support from the MMG carriers, mostly silenced the Germans and pinned the company commander in place.

Much of the German success would rest in the hands of the lone PaK 40 guarding the main road. The crew of the gun got off to a rocky start when presented with a golden opportunity to cut the head off the British attack. The British company CO drove his White Scout Car up the road and into line of sight of the hidden PaK. I got the required card and brought the gun out of hiding to try and take out the British commander. Several shots later – all misses – the lucky Englishman had scurried into cover. The next couple of firing opportunities were also duds as the British Vickers MMG carriers escaped. However, the guns earned their pay once the Shermans arrived. The gunners put rounds into several of the British tanks, immobilizing them or breing them up, including one specatular explosion that blasted a number of nearby infantry.

Panzerjaeger: the PaK40 creates a parking lot of destroyed British armour

As the game came to it’s end phase, the British were down to barely enough running tanks to satisfy the victory conditions. However, German AT assets were running thin, with one StuG down, most of the panzerfausts spent or with so much shock as to be worthless, and the PaK 40 about to draw the ire of both the 25 pdr battery and the surviving MMG carriers. It would all depend on the sequence of the cards and the Germans were aided by having Big Men in charge of the gun and the surviving StuG (plus the AT Gun bonus fire card). The Germans got the jump on the British and dispatched enough tanks to prevent them from securing the victory.

STuGs vs Shermans: Allied and German armour duel around the farmhouse on the east side of the battlefield

Another great game of IABSM. The Germans enjoyed considerable early success, especially as the British infantry often found themselves bunched up trying to use the terrain. As in previous games, this one reinforced the deadliness of MGs against troops moving in the open. However, the British recovered well and were able to use their artillery and MMG carriers to break the central German position. Had they had a little luck and gotten the first shots against the last two AT assets they might have had success, but the Germans still had an ace in the hole in the form of the off-table 88mm gun and had redeployed their last panzerfaust equipped squad to a reserve blocking position. The main thing I could see that the british could have done was to shift fire on their 25 pdrs sooner in order to hit the AT Gun. That was the key asset given their mission and they probably should have focused more effort on knocking it out.

The German win sets up the third battle of the campaign, in which Allied forces move to take the town of Pierrecourt.

Thanks to Brian for all of the terrain in this game. He hand-made the buildings using Sculpey and they looked quite good. Brian also painted all of the British.

Brian Cantwell

 
MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

It had been a long week, and writing a scenario for the Q13 battle that Neil wanted to play in our usual Saturday night game was not something that I wanted to do. Luckily I had options: in this case whipping out the Blenneville or Bust! scenario pack and setting up one of the scenarios I had only play-tested not played through. It would also give me a chance to test out my new IABSM-specific movement trays (see post here).

The British would attack from the 'bottom' of this picture

The scenario is a simple one: two thirds of a squadron of British tanks supported by a company of infantry would attempt to eject a supported platoon of Germans plus two StuGs and an anti-tank gun from a village in France. 

Avaux is a small village in Normandy bisected by a long straight road running north-south. Just near the village is a sizeable manor house surrounded by orchards. All the hedges you can see in the picture are actually supposed to be bocage, but Neil hadn't brought his bocage with him as he'd thought we were playing sci-fi!

After a preliminary stonk, the British would enter the table from the 'bottom' of the picture on the right, with the Germans beginning the game on-table under hidden Blinds. As the Germans had not a lot of troops to cover an awful lot of battlefield, they deployed their two StuGs to the south (i.e. behind) the orchard, ready to move to wherever the British developed their main axis of attack. The anti-tank gun was just in front of the lone grey house to the east; supported by two squads of infantry in the two houses just to its left. There were another two squads of infantry, supported by an HMG, in the manor house; with the final HMG being in the house on the north face of the village square. Dummy Blinds were in the house next to that one and lurking behind the hedge with the StuGs.

The game began with the British stonk. This they landed on the manor house and orchard, causing lots of Shock but only one casualty. The Shock would wear off before any of the troops suffering from it were in combat, so I got away quite lightly with that one. 

The British then began advancing cautiously on table. There was huge amounts of spotting from both sides as the lead British Blinds approached the first line of bocage, with most of the German positions being identified (but not what troops were in them), and most British Dummy Blinds being dispersed. In addition, the British tank squadron and infantry company HQs were revealed and placed on table half way along the first line of bocage. The squadron HQ tanks were held a few yards back from the bocage, so were effectively un-shootable.

Now that they could see that the centre-right (from the British point of view) was looking like a possible main thrust, the two StuGs, under Blinds, entered the orchard and drove north towards the line of bocage on its northern edge.

Swamp the second StuG!

They had just arrived there and gone hull-down when the British, conscious that time was ticking away, finally decided to start moving forward. One of the two HQ tanks moved up to the line of the bocage in front of them, its commander peering over the hedge embedded on top to see what was what.

What they saw, of course, was one of the StuGs, that promptly came off its Blind and opened fire, blowing the Sherman to bits!

This was a nice success for the Germans, particularly as the revealed StuG was then able to scoot backwards out of danger to wait to do the same thing again. The other StuG remained under a Blind at the hedgerow, but was soon spotted through the combined efforts of the two British infantry officers dismounted from their scout car and crawling up to the top of the bocage with binoculars. 

Taking their time, again, the Brits called in artillery and, luckily for them, it arrived almost immediately and dropped right on top of the StuG after only some minor adjustments from their FOO. With the StuG rocked by the 25-pounder shells falling around it, a platoon of British tanks revealed itself and sprang into action, hammering the StuG with AP shells until its crew abandoned ship.

Two of the British tanks then smashed through a gate and advanced forward as their two colleagues and squadron HQ tank maintained overwatch from behind the bocage. Half-way across the field, however, the two brave tankers halted, unwilling to advance further forward and give the remaining StuG an almost identical pot-shot as before: it now lurking on the edge of the orchard.

Meanwhile, a platoon of British infantry supported by a couple of Vickers MMGs mounted on carriers had advanced under a Blind towards the two shelled houses on the eastern side of the road.

Unfortunately for them, they were spotted by a German Dummy Blind. One of the carriers was hit by the PaK40 anti-tank gun and destroyed; with the infantry, caught out in the open taking horrible casualties (Great shot, Close range, 4D6!) from the German HMG in the house on the north side of the square. The remains of the British platoon and remaining carrier went to ground, and would only start moving forward again towards the end of the game. The German anti-tank gun, on the other hand, retreated to a position just behind the two houses containing the two infantry squads on the southern side of the square, waiting to see where it would be needed next.

Immediately after the close combat

Still nervous about advancing forwards against the one remaining StuG, the British commander decided to change his axis of attack. Two Blinds headed down the eastern edge of the town: one covered another infantry platoon, the other another platoon of four Shermans (well, three Shermans and a Firefly).

Obviously it would be foolish to advance with tanks against a ready-for-action, PaK40, so the British FOO called up the artillery again, and again it came down immediately and landed straight on top of its target. Ooof! The anti-tank gun crew, caught limbered, staggered from the remains of their SdKfz 11 tow, and desperately tried to get their weapon ready for action again.

Not wanting to give them any chance to recover, the British infantry platoon, still under a Blind, charged forward, intending to close assault the German gun crew. As they did so, however, they passed the two houses where two squads of German infantry lay waiting. As the British approached at the run, the first German squad opened fire, doing significant casualties but not enough to prevent a close combat from occurring. Outnumbered three to one but in a far superior position, the German squad lost the combat by only one 'kill', and so were pushed backwards out of the house, leaving the British platoon milling around on the other side.

This was too good an opportunity to miss. The other German squad (you can see them 'on the roof' in the picture above - just under the beer bottle in the background!) ran out of their house and poured fire into the disorganised Brits, effectively wiping out the entire platoon!

"I'm your huckleberry!"

Luck was now not with the Germans. Unfortunately the British artillery, and now air support, was both plentiful and, apparently, readily available. The German infantry and anti-tank gun crew, themselves now caught out in the open, was shelled and strafed...leaving them battered and reeling. In the centre of the photo above, you can just see the 'fall of shot' marker by the anti-tank gun poking out from behind the tree behind the house.

Up came the platoon of British tanks, and it was 'gunfight at the Avaux coral' time with two squads of battered German infantry, each with a single Panzerfaust, and a PaK40 versus four Shermans. Incidentally, in the picture to the right, the remains of the British platoon have been removed from the table: in reality the Shermans are parked on a lot of dead bodies. Not a pleasant thought.

Fire was simultaneous (shooting on the Tea Break card), and we decided to calculate my (German) results first.

Unfortunately (I seem to be using that word a lot lately) my troops were just too battered to do any significant damage. You can see that just one Sherman has taken a point of Shock: not exactly a spectacular result!

The tanks opened fire with their MGs, and knocked one German squad and the PaK40 crew into next week. Well, into retreating nine inches each, Pinned and with more Shock you could shake a stick at.

At that point I called the game and conceded defeat. If I'd taken out two, or maybe even one, of the British tanks on the right then I would have continued, thinking that perhaps the remaining StuG could have got across the table and done something.

It had been an epic game, much enjoyed by both Neil and myself. He had certainly felt very nervous about advancing forward against unknown quantities of Germans sheltering behind bocage, and the fact that he had effectively lost two out of three of his infantry platoons (mostly dead as well) shows how careful you have to be. In the end, the Germans had been a bit unlucky to get hit so quickly and accurately by the British artillery and, as a result, to be at such a huge disadvantage in the final clash, above.

In our usual beer-fueled post-match discussion, we agreed that I came reasonable close to winning and very close to achieving a very respectable draw, which is effectively a win for the Germans. One thing I would say, though, is that this scenario only works with the forces as written if the Brits don't know how few troops they are facing. That's why I played the Germans, and why Neil was seeing Germans behind every hedge!

Robert Avery

MORE AAR
HOME
 
/
 
 
 

Map, as seen from the German perspective

The panzergrenadier recon platoon for Kampfgruppe Engel had arrived at the small maison earlier during the day. A bridge over the small stream was one of the points where the Amis might try to cross and battalion commander had sent his east front veterans to secure the area. Their task was simple: either to stop Amis cold or blunt their advance and then withdraw in good order. Hauptsturmführer Gudelius had two platoons of veteran panzergrenadiers and a small platoon of armoured recon. A section of 81mm mortars were on call a kilometre behind the lines. His only concerns were the platoon leaders. Obersturmführer Ernst Kaltwasser leading the first platoon while having a long service record, had not previously been leading front line infantry, while Untersturmführer Arno Rost was straight out of the school, way too keen to impress everyone. At least Dieter leading the armoured platoon was an old hand, veteran of countless battles and most of his infantry squad leaders had already earned at least their bronze close combat clasps.

His plan was a simple one: infantry in the front would stop the Amis and armour would provide a mobile reserve ready for a counter attack. Intelligence had no idea what kind of forces where facing them, but the Allies rarely lacked tanks or artillery. Rost had volunteered to lead the right flank with the expected main approach for enemy. He did not still trust the blue-eyed youngster enough, so Klatwasser took the forested hills, and Rost was tasked with defending the bocage in a line stretching from the stream to the maison.

To the Amis' credit, their attack came in hard and fast, spearheaded by Greyhound armoured cars and jeeps. Kaltwasser's zug was well camouflaged and but their leader too inexperienced - Obersturmführer revealed his position by staying too exposed with binoculars. He had just given the orders for everyone to open fire and then at his mark withdraw deeper. The mark never came, as the first burst from the .50 cal AAMG from the leading Greyhound neatly decapitated him. His men returned fire, driving one Greyhound back and causing some casualties to the leading jeeps and their teams. One Greyhound tried to flank the defenders, but a fireball caused by a 'schreck rocket hitting the side of a paper-thin armour quickly discouraged the rest of recon platoon.

Panzerschreck hits, US big man plays hero

By the streamside, another US recon platoon, on foot was slowly advancing, when their patrol came running back. A some sort of tank with a huge gun had been sighted at the field by the next gate. Cries of "Tiger! Tiger!" went up as a German vehicle rounded the corner. 2nd lieutenant Cork's assuring "Hey, boys, that is just an armoured car!" fell on deaf ears as SdKfz 234/2 Puma opened fire with 50mm gun, thoroughly suppressing the first squad, driving men to ground. Cork saw his chance and started running forward with the second squad. His platoon lacked proper AT weapons, but the hunting cat did not have that much armour and might be taken out from close. Unfortunately for him, Untersturmführer Dieter Leimbach had plenty of practise with human waves and a few bursts from co-axial machine gun pinned Cork's squad. His new driver's screams of "They are going to overwhelm us, we must withdraw!" was met with a laconic "Greenhorn, this is nothing compared to Kursk."

"Just a Puma, boys. Nothing to worry about!"

On the other side of the field, Kaltwasser's platoon was eagerly waiting for the signal that was not coming. .50 cal machine guns and 60mm mortars were hammering their positions and now two 75mm howitzer carriages had passed the Amis column and were adding their considerable punch to the fray. One rifle gruppe took the initiative and withdraw to a better position, but the MMG team and two other squads stuck to their positions. Their fire only slowly slackening and more and more vehicles came forward. Where was the promised artillery support?

Beginning of the end: the HMCs arrive

As the panzerschreck team abandoned their position and weapon after receiving several almost direct hits, another Greyhound felt brave and came forward, only to find out that the long stretch of road was guarded by an eight-wheeled SdKfz 231 armored car. Service was long overdue for the gun and sights of the old recon car, but the first burst found its' mark and the Greyhound disappeared in a ball of fire, taking the whole crew with it. Later the commander of SdKfz 231 swore that a very strange sound came from the sights mechanism as the recoil struck, jamming the optics to a weird angle.

"Hans, what was that sound?"

The ever-present Amis Jabos also arrived to the field, making a strafing run against Rost's platoon, fortunately not causing any damage. As soon as the Jabo disappeared, Rost left his position and ran to his second squad, ready to take control of the mortars. Stopping the Amis advance with a brave dash and well-placed mortar barrage would surely earn him the Iron Cross so many of his men and officer comrades were already carrying. "Sir, too much incoming, come down. You want to water that Iron Cross with only a drop of blood, you'll get wooden cross by drowning things with blood." was met with "Nonsense, motherland demands courage! Now, give me the rangefinder." And then the bocage wall shook with a direct hit from 75mm howitzer. Gefreiter Schmitt shrugged with a "told you" and pushed what little remained of his platoon leader to side, so the corpse would not block machine guns line of sight. He could not even remember the name of the youngster, did not really care.

"Hans, what was that sound?"

While on the left defenders were slowly attritioned by overpowering firepower, on their right flank the Amis were faring much worse. Cork and his men were pinned down and when they rose to close assault the tank, most of the second squad was cut down and the whole platoon ran as the survivors lost their bottle and ran past their comrades. Leimbach kicked his driver and told him to reverse back: "This truly is not Kursk, there they came by battalions, did not run. Let's go hunt some Amis tanks, shall we." A sharp eared listener might have heard a muttering to the effect of "Kursk this, Kursk that." from the direction of driver's seat.

Nothing compared to Kursk, only a company of them

After the Puma disappeared between the bocage, some running survivors from the American recon platoon reached their company commander and the Stuart platoon in reserve was ordered to clear the riverside, while the attached armoured infantry was committed to the main road.

Stuarts arrive by the riverside. A plan to bottle them up by killing the first fails.

At this point, seeing even more Amis emerging from the sunken road, the remaining troops from Kaltwasser's platoon decided that they had done enough and withdrew, abandoning heavy equipment to carry at least few wounded friends back with them.

A well oiled machine starts to work

On the both sides of the field, the disrepair of the defenders' equipment was starting to show. By the riverside one SdKfz 231 has a clear shot at the approaching Stuart platoon, but despite frantic corrections, all burst missed and the leading Amis tank calmly put shell after shell through the armoured car's front, knocking both gun and engine out. And by the main road, the other SdKfz 231 was keeping the fire up, but only succeeded in hitting the barn behind approaching American vehicles. The Germans used few turns, several cards, upwards of 15 actions to fire and aim. Odd of rolling at least one 5+ on 2d6 on 10 or so tries are bad when dice are against you. Leimbach's own Puma was calmly gunning down targets of opportunity, but did not want to risk a gunnery battle with multiple targets at once.

When the 60mm mortars, after cutting down Rost's second squad, zeroed on his armoured reserve of light Luchs tanks and SdKfz 251/10 with a 37m AT gun, immediately immobilizing the halftrack, Hauptsturmführer Gudelius called the battalion and asked for a permission to withdraw. He had not yet suffered too bad casualties, but his capability of stopping the enemy's armoured might was nearing zero. And after a long agonizing moment, Engel came back on line, granting the permission to withdraw.

Last reserves, already under fire

This was done in good order, with Hauptsturmführer Gudelius ordering mortar barrage to cover the bent on the road by the maison, infantry withdrawing in bounds through the bocage.

Withdrawal in a good order

A clear victory for the attacker. Defender had a solid plan of stopping the attack at the jump of point, using the crossing as a choke. Mortars would drop barrage on bunched up attackers and light tanks would then counter attack. This unfortunately did not work, as the infantry Big Men died as soon as they came to view. This combined with German player's complete inability to hit any armoured target with his tanks meant that the game was over. A good game, this time decided by the lady Fortuna. Of course, it did hurt even more that the attacking player was moving slowly and methodically after first explosions, utilizing his firepower to the fullest. After the American machine started rolling, enemy squads in cover disappeared in a turn, first pinned by .50 cals, then pummelled by 75mm and finished by multiple 60mms mortars. Infantry just walked behind the barrage.

This was a modified first scenario from the Blenneville or Bust! campaign for IABSM - we are still building forces for the theatre, so had to use what was available. We were not sure if light mortars, 60mm in particular, should be allowed to shoot at armoured targets, but after a brief discussion ruled so that they can shoot at soft skins and open half-tracks, using the artillery die to check if they actually hit.

Topi

The modified OOBs were:

Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop/21st Armored Division

Recon HQ

BM1: Major Herbert Cartwright (Level IV) 

1 x Jeep with AA 0.50cal HMG

Recon Platoon 1 

BM 2: Captain John Fontanelli (Level III) 

3 x M8 Greyhound armoured cars 

3 x Jeep with non-combatant driver and 0.30cal MMG 

3 x 60mm Mortar Team (2 crew) 

1 x Bazooka Team (2 crew)

Recon Platoon 2 

BM 3: 2nd Lieutenant James Cork (Level II) 

3 x Scout Squad

Cavalry Assault Gun Platoon 

BM 5: 1st Lieutenant Chris Townsend (Level II) 

2 x M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage (HMC)

1st Platoon / C Company, 830th Armored Rifle Infantry Battalion 

1st Lieutenant Erroll Allen (Level II) 

2 x Rifle Squad (10 men each) 

1 x LMG Squad (2 LMG with 3 crew each) 

2 x M3A1 Halftrack with 0.50cal HMG 

2 x M3A1 Halftrack with MMG

Light Tank Platoon/Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (reinforcements) 

BM 6: Sergeant William Salisbury (Level II) 

5 x M5 Stuart Light Tank 

Air Support 

Roll D6, appears on a 5 or 6: strafing fighters with MGs

Aufklärungs-abteilung, Kampfgruppe Engel 

Kompanie HQ 

BM 1: Hauptsturmführer Heigel Gudelius (Level IV) 

1 x SdKfz 251/10 

2 x Panzerschreck Team (2 crew) 

1 x MMG (5 crew)

Erste Zug 

BM 2: Obersturmführer Ernst Kaltwasser (Level II) 

3 x Rifle Gruppe (each 8 men with two LMGs)

Zweite Zug 

BM 3: Untersturmführer Arno Rost (Level II) 

3 x Rifle Gruppe (each 8 men with two LMGs)

Schwerer Spahwagen Zug 

BM 4: Untersturmführer Dieter Leimbach (Level II) 

1 x Panzer II Luchs 

2 x SdKfz 231 or 232 

1 x SdKfz 234/2 Puma

 
 
MORE AAR
HOME