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This game was part of the 2nd Mech Corps attempt to capture Budapest before the end of 1944. Axis forces are a hodgepodge of small units. It was also a chance to use my recently painted Hungarian toys.

We decided to call it at this stage. The Russians were running out of infantry: 30 out of 64 men down along with two COs. Really weak to begin with. The T34s were strong on the right so might have able to hold their own against the Billnitzer Group. But having an IS2 taken out by the Turan was a surprise.

Hungarian Police were barely touched: only 3 KIA. The Grenadiers were down 16 men and had no COs left. Both Nashorns gone.

Neither FO was able to do much in this game.

Mark Luther

 
 
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It's 0715 on 15 May 1940, and KG Klink, attached to the 7th Panzer Division, is on the move.  The 7th Panzer Division has broken through the French front line and is on the road to Flavion, with reconnaissance elements pushing both north and south of the city in search of a way to by-pass the city, or at least find an undefended back door. 

North of Flavion, recce elements of KG Klink have discovered a ford over the River Moiste near a small farming hamlet; led by KG Klink's Reconnaissance Company Commander, 1st Lieutenant Wehner, the Germans quickly push across the river and secure a small bridgehead on the western bank, before sending for reinforcements.  Colonel Klink, the Kampfgruppe Commander, immediately broke off a detachment of infantry and armor to reinforce Lt Wehner at the ford.  But time is of the essence; French forces under Captain Cognac have spied the German bridgehead and are already forming up for a counterattack.

I am playing this game, the sixth of KG Klink's campaign during the Fall of France in 1940, with my eight-year old son, with me commanding the Germans and the boy commanding the French.  We are playing the games in 10mm, a mix of Pendraken and Minifigs UK troops and equipment, on a 6' x 4' table, using Too Fat Lardies' "I Ain't Been Shot Mum," modified a bit to suit our tastes. 

The scenario is "Cognac and Moiste Cabbage," written by Robert Avery and published in the Lardies' Christmas 2005 Special.  On a side note, Mr. Avery is now pasting my IABSM battle reports on the Vis Lardica website (https://www.vislardica.com/); I am happy for the extra exposure, and proud to be considered a contributor.

Overview, north is up, with the German baseline at right (east) and the French at left (west).  The River Moiste is at center, running north to south, and the key ford is at center right, where the dirt road intersects with the river.  The ground is flat, rolling fields, with heavy stands of trees at far right, bottom center, left, top left, and far left. 

Cabbage fields abound, providing no significant cover or concealment nor real impediment to movement, but there is a stone wall (the sideways 'V' at center left/bottom) that halts movement and is only barely passable to tracked vehicles; similarly, there is a wooden fence running along the northern side of the main, east-west running road.  The fence itself is not the problem, it's the drainage ditch running just below, invisible to the naked eye ;) , the fence. 

At top left is The Farm, consisting of a residence, an outbuilding, and a barn.  At center is the tollkeeper's house, and at top center right is Mademoiselle Chevelle's home.

A close up of the objective, the ford (center), with the tollkeeper's home at bottom left and Mlle Chevelle's home at top right.  You get a good look at some of the cabbage fields and the wooden fence running on the north side of the main road.

The objective of the game is possession of the ford, with possession being defined as having troops on the enemy's side of the river at the conclusion of the fight.  The Germans start the game in defensive positions, with guidance being to set up a significant amount of their forces on the western (French) side of the river.  The French begin the game at The Farm, in the northwest (top left), which is their marshalling area for the counterattack.

The Forces Involved

The opposing forces, with Germans on right and French on left.  Each side will begin the game with a main force on the table, then each side will receive two separate sets of reinforcements as the game goes on.

The Germans 

The entire German force

Here is what the Germans have on the table at the beginning of the game. 

Looking at the picture of the initial German force, top right:

  • At bottom center is the onsite commander, 1st Lt Wehner, Recon Company Commander and holder of the Iron Cross, 2nd Class.
  • At top right is Lt Wehner's 1st Motorcycle Platoon (already dismounted).  They are led by SSgt Gradl, holder of the Iron Cross 2nd Class.  He has three squads:

1st Squad - SSgt Sachs
2nd Squad - Cpl Rein, a replacement squad leader.
3rd Squad - Cpl Wilhelm

  • At top center are two squads of the Assault Engineer Platoon:

1st Squad - Sgt Barkstrom
2nd Squad - Sgt Hafl

  • And center left is a Schwerer Platoon consisting of:

an MG-34 team under LCpl Steinkamp
and two Pak-36 37mm anti-tank guns under Sgt Kallenbach

German Reinforcements

On the fourth draw of the "Turn Card" the Germans will receive reinforcements from the KG's Panzer Company, specifically, two Pz IVCs from 4th Panzer Platoon:

Sgt Graebner's tank, holder of the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, with four tank kills

Sgt Kapp's tank

And on turn 10 the infantry arrive, the Schutzen Company's 2nd Grenadier Platoon under 1st Lieutenant Ost, with three squads:

1st Squad - Sgt Lutz
2nd Squad - Lipniki
3rd Squad - Sgt Axthelm

They are riding in trucks and accompanied by a section of two 80mm mortars under LCpl Vigerte, seeing his first action of the war.

The French

Here are the French, under Captain Cognac:

This monstrosity is the force the French start the fight with on the table.  I must admit I'm a bit nervous, looking at the force arrayed against me. 

At top centre right is Capt Cognac's command stand. 

At top left are two platoons of infantry, each consisting of a platoon commander and three squads. 

At bottom left is a weapons platoon of two machine guns and an 81mm mortar (the scenario says it's supposed to be a 60mm mortar; I don't have a 60mm mortar for the French, so I resolved to use an 81mm mortar but treat it like a 60mm mortar, but, in the event, I forgot, and ended up treating like an 81mm mortar). 

At centre are two Somua S35s, with a single H39 to their right.  At bottom centre/right is a 75mm field gun being towed by a horse team; it's supposed to be towed by a truck in the scenario, but I've got horses so they're using horses (no difference in capability on the table, and wouldn't matter anyway as they came straight off Blinds into firing position during the game).

At turn 8 the French receive this beast as reinforcement.  Please note this is a different Char B than I used in the last fight.  Why am I telling you this?  Just pointing out how goof I am; I actually have three Char Bs, but only two S35s and three H-35/39s.  And my British early war tanks are even more limited.  To be honest, I never really thought I'd be playing early WWII games, it was something that hadn't really interested me before I started the KG Klink saga.

And in Turn 12 the French receive another platoon of infantry as reinforcements.

And in Turn 12 the French receive another platoon of infantry as reinforcements.

The Game Begins

Below is  an overview of the map, north is up, this time with Blinds on the table.  The German Blinds are at centre bottom and top centre, while the French Blinds are all at top left, in and around the farm and intersection.

Yes, the playing cards as Blinds are ugly, but I'm having a hard time coming up with an alternative as these are so simple, cheap, and effective (for play purposes, not aesthetics), and there are so many variations as to make a prettier solution tough.  What I mean is, each game is different and has different forces.  I'm playing with an 8-year old, so I'm trying to keep things as straightforward as possible.  So I can buy pack after pack of playing cards and write directly on them what the card is: i.e., 1st Rifle Platoon (PC and 3 Squads), Weapons Plt (2 MGs and 1 Mortar), Field Gun, Char B, etc...  But I can't see doing that with something that is better looking but much more expensive.

I know a lot of guys make pretty Blinds and just label them as "Blind #1," then they have a roster on the side to show what troops Blind #1 is.  Again, I'm trying to keep things simple for the boy, I don't want any confusion as to where he puts the Blinds, what he does with them (because he thinks it's a certain unit), or what troops go on the table when the Blind gets lifted.  And printing off new blinds each game doesn't work either; I'm a cheapskate, and printer ink gets damn expensive!  So, I apologize for the ugliness of the playing cards, but I don't see another way right now.  

I am all ears if someone out there has an idea for prettier Blinds that I can write the exact unit on AND change to meet the unique needs of every single game. 

The Germans have four Blinds (out of a total of seven, three real, four dummy) in the south and three Blinds in the north.

And the French mass in the northwest, with a total of eleven Blinds (if I recall correctly), three of which were dummies.

And the game is afoot!  The French Blinds start pushing east towards the ford (top center), approaching the unseen German forces at top left and top right.  I would later verbally and physically abuse the boy for being so timid with his Blinds and not pushing forward stronger to seize the river crossing.  We both have seen everything about each other's forces, the only secret is their location, so he knows exactly how little I have and how much he has, and he knows what to do (you'll see him establish a base of fire and begin pushing his manoeuvre elements forward, just not as aggressively as I expected).
 

The French Blind at the Farm's residence (bottom centre), quite unbelievably, have spotted movement across the river, in the treeline to the northeast (top centre left).  Whatever could it be?

It's my damn Weapons Platoon, dammit!  Two ATGs (the infamous "doorknockers," at top left and centre), and the MG-34 (bottom right).  Sorry for the blurry photo, I'm just aggravated that he spotted these guys, immobile in the treeline, so quickly.  This is not good at all...

Wow, what a fight!!!  At the same time, I feel terrible, my boy is shellshocked!  Just kidding; he was a bit on Sunday, when we played, but's it's Monday and he's already over it.  But man, that was rough!  We talked about him being a bit more aggressive; his comment was 'being the attacker is kind of hard.'  I couldn't help but laugh; he gets it.  It's not fun having to move up and expose yourself to enemy fire in order to accomplish your mission, but it's gotta be done, and he's showing a pretty good grasp of fire and maneuver between elements. 

We also talked about small unit leadership, working to make sure your leaders are in the right spot at the right time to help your attack or defense succeed.  I really didn't like his positioning of his CO on his far right, for a supporting effort (we talked about unity of effort and focus of effort, too), and late getting to the main effort (Somua, H39, and 2nd Platoon pushing up the road).  I thought he did a good job with his supporting fires; I wouldn't have fired the mortars on the German tanks, I would have kept them on the north treeline and pounded the German Weapons Platoon into oblivion, then shifted fire to the south treeline to pound the Motorcycle Platoon.  Having said that, what he did worked; the MGs, mortar (for a moment), and field gun did a good job overall in keeping the German Weapons Platoon in check, until the shifted the field gun to firing at the German tanks, too.  Shifting the mortar and the field gun to the German tanks kept them out of the fight, but was probably too much, and let the German MG and one ATG back into the fight, as well. 

Having said all that, I should have just kept my damn Company commander up there with the Weapons Platoon, and I had some bad luck with the tanks not activating much, and then one running away.  And I would have been in more trouble if the boy would have pushed sooner in the center; we talked about the art of trying to time up the assault with appropriate suppression by supporting fires.  It turns out he had the idea down, he just didn't foresee how long it was going to take his assault troops to get to the objective once the Germans were sufficiently beat up.

But it still all came down to that crazy close combat at the toll keeper's house; I was certain I was going to lose that fight, and by all accounts, I should have.  I figured I was going to have to throw in the towel; my tanks cover the withdrawal, holding the French at the ford while Weapons Platoon falls back in the north and the Motorcycle Platoon has to drop all its gear and swim the river to escape.  But somehow I won; the French moved up with a PC and three squads in good order.  I had a PC, a suppressed squad (-2 in close combat), and a 'men down' squad (-3 in close combat).  The first round of combat was atrocious for the boy, and it didn't get any better.

In the first round he had a squad match up against each of mine, and then the PCs faced off.  I went -2 and -3 but managed to tie both squad vs squad fights, and then my PC beat his PC in a straight up roll!  The two French squads fell back, suppressed, and their PC went down.  Their 3rd Squad charged my PC and put him out, but then I beat a suppressed French squad in an even-up roll off, and I beat his fresh squad despite being -2.  Then I finished off his last squad in an even-up roll off (both sides were suppressed).  Incredible!

Casualties:

German: ~25 casualties, one PaK-36 ATG destroyed
French: ~60 casualties, one 75mm field piece destroyed, two Somua S35 tanks destroyed

Character casualties:

  • Cpl Rein, 2nd Squad, 1st Motorcycle Platoon, Recon Company, KIA
  • SSgt Gradle, Commander, 1st Motorcycle Platoon, Recon Company, WIA - out for campaign
  • Sgt Hafl, 2nd Squad, Engineer Platoon, Recon Company, WIA - out for campaign
  • Sgt Kallenbach, ATG Section, Schwere Platoon, Schutzen Company, WIA - ambulatory
  • Sgt Barkstrom, 1st Squad, Engineer Platoon, Recon Company, WIA - ambulatory

Awards:

  • SSgt Gradle, Commander, 1st Motorcycle Platoon, Recon Company, was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class, for leading the defense of the Toll Keeper's House at the ford of the River Moiste.
  • Sgt Hafl, 2nd Squad, Engineer Platoon, Recon Company, was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, for the defense of the Toll Keeper's House at the ford of the River Moiste.
  • Sgt Barkstrom, 1st Squad, Engineer Platoon, Recon Company, was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, for the defense of the Toll Keeper's House at the ford of the River Moiste.
  • Sgt Kallenbach, ATG Section, Schwere Platoon, Schutzen Company, was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, for destroying two enemy tanks in the defense at the ford of the River Moiste.


*Lt Wehner did not report Sgt Kapp for withdrawing his tank from the fight; Sgt Graebner told the Lieutenant he would take care of the matter.

The rules are working like a champ; the boy finally complained about the Tea Break card ("maybe we ought to take out the Tea Break card..."), but I talked to him about friction, not being able to do everything you want, when you want, and he was okay.  Our 'blinds move at end of turn' house rule worked; my only complaint there, as I mentioned above, is the ugliness of my blinds, and my only answer so far is to move to get the blinds off the table as quickly as possible. 

My only other complaint is how long the games take; I don't want to sound like a whiner, but you have to keep in mind I play a LOT of skirmish games and small, platoon-level games where I can play three games in as many hours.  Our game last week took about 3 1/2 hours and this one took about 4 1/2 hours.  So I'm not complaining that they are inordinately long games, it's just that I can only take playing so many long games in a row before I get aggravated and move back to playing my small, quick games for awhile.

Having said that, we're having a lot of fun and I really want to keep this going so I can close out KG Klink's "Fall of France" episode and move on to whatever is next.    

Anyway, hopefully we've given you an entertaining battle report to enjoy, some food for thought regarding the rules, and some food for thought regarding the future of KG Klink (and go ahead and toss your thoughts my way, please).  Thanks for reading, hope you liked it.

Jack

 
 
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This was the second game of two that we played on the same afternoon. Both very fast, but not very bloody.

We used the same terrain as for the previous encounter, but with enough differences to ensure that we couldn't use all the weak/strong points that we'd found in the last game.

The Germans begin the game by deploying their artillery, more to scare their opponents than anything else.

Everything else, for both sides, is hidden under Blinds.

As soon as the game begins, the British think that they could gain the most advantage by combining their force and attacking a single point.

Although this meant that the British could advance quickly in three spearheads, it didn't actually work as a tactic, as their armoured vehicles were easily picked off.

As a result of their losses, the British did not advance beyond the wire, so the result was total victory for the Germans.

Burt Minorrot

 
 
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It's 1600 on 14 May 1940, and KG Klink, attached to the 7th Panzer Division, is on the move.  Earlier this morning KG Klink attacked and destroyed a strongpoint manned by the French 5th Infantry Division.  Having broken through 7th Panzer Division is on the road to Flavion.  However, an hour ago, 7th Panzer reconnaissance elements on the march came under fire from the (fictional) French village of Riqueville.  7th Panzer continued west around the village, and KG Klink immediately received a FragO to stand detached to reduce yet another French strongpoint. 

Colonel Klink decided to lead the assault himself, composed of the better part of his Grenadier Company, two platoons of tanks, a portion of the Kampfgruppe's Reconnaissance Platoon, and a section of 80mm mortars.  Aerial reconnaissance stated the French force as a couple platoons of infantry with perhaps a couple crew-served weapons, with maybe a single tank in support.  Ordinarily a single tank in support wouldn't be something for Colonel Klink to be too concerned about, but when that tank is a Char B, with it's extraordinarily heavy armor...

Regarding rules, I'm messing around again. Years ago, when my father was still alive, he'd come over pretty much every weekend and we'd play wargames (sadly, this was before I created a blog to record all my wargaming efforts).  In any case, we primarily played three games: Force on Force, Bag the Hun, and I Ain't Been Shot Mum (IABSM).  So it's been awhile, but I've had a hankering for some larger, reinforced-company level games that are a bit grittier that what I normally play, so I decided to give IABSM another try. 

I did change some things up, vastly simplifying the shooting and morale mechanics, but I've kept the 'guts' of the game as written: platoon and 'Big Man' activation randomized by cards and further randomized by the 'Tea Break,' starting the game on 'blinds' and having to be spotted, and variable (diced-for) movement.  I say guts; others may have differing opinions, but to me, those items are what set the IABSM rules apart from others. 

This desire to play a larger game and try out IABSM again also happened to coincide with my eight year-old boy telling me "it's been a long time Daddy, we should have another battle."  I happily acquiesced ;)

The Battlefield

Overview. North is DOWN, with the Germans entering the table at left (east) and the French defending the right (west) half of the table, including the village, at top right (southwest). 

The north is covered with crop fields and bushes which provide neither cover nor concealment, and while the bushes across the entirety of the table might look a bit bocage-ey, they're just bushes.  At far left is The Chateau, which has The Orchard just above it.  At centre top left is The Farm (with a wood fence running around it and north *down* through the fields), and at centre/centre right is The Granary.

The figures that will be used are 10mm: a mix of Pendraken and Minifigs.  Basically it breaks out to most of the infantry are Minifigs and most of the vehicles are Pendraken.

The Germans

At left in the photo below is the Kampfgruppe Commander, Colonel Klink, proud owner of the Iron Cross 2nd Class for his actions in Poland.  At top is the German infantry company: top centre left is the company commander, Captain Freitag (Iron Cross 2nd Class).  He has three of his four platoons available.

I thought about adding all of the Iron Cross holders as "Big Men," but I didn't. I only did the KG Commander, the Company Commander, and each Platoon Commander, which is how I treated the French as well.

The Infantry

1st Platoon Commander: 1st Lieutenant Klugmann, Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class

  • 1st Squad, 1st Platoon: SSgt Aust
  • 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon: Sgt Kamphaus
  • 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon: Sgt Lehmkuhl


3rd Platoon Commander: SSgt Janke, Iron Cross 2nd Class

  • 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon: Sgt Hauer, Iron Cross 2nd Class*
  • 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon: Sgt Nader
  • 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon: Cpl Arndt, Wound Badge


4th Platoon Commander: SSgt Mader, Iron Cross 2nd Class, Tank Killer Badge

  • 1st Squad, 4th Platoon: Sgt Imhofe, Iron Cross 2nd Class*
  • 2nd Squad, 4th Platoon: Sgt Kandler
  • 3rd Squad, 4th Platoon: Cpl Rishel, Replacement Squad Leader


Two vehicles of the Reconnaissance Platoon:

  • SdKfz 221: Platoon Commander, 2nd Lieutenant Weidner, 1 Tank Kill
  • SdKfz 221: Cpl Edst, replacement vehicle commander


Three vehicles from 2nd Tank Platoon:

  • Pz III: Platoon Commander: 1st Lieutenant Loeb, Iron Cross 2nd Class, 2 Wound Badges, 4 Tank Kills
  • Pz III: SSgt Grossman
  • Pz III: Sgt Mayer, 1 Tank Kill

Two vehicles from 4th Tank Platoon:

  • Pz IV: Platoon Commander: SSgt Mangold, 2 Tank Kills
  • Pz IV: Cpl Ed st, Replacement vehicle commander

Mortars

  • A mortar section under Sgt Osswald, who has been incredibly unreliable in the past. Sgt Osswald is the forward observer on a motorcycle
  • Two 80mm mortars and crews

The French

The French are commanded by Major Renaut (left) and have:

  • Two rifle platoons of three squads each (Lieutenants Renoir and Gagne, respectively)
  • A weapons section of a single machine gun and a 25mm anti-tank gun (I gave them bonus MG fire and a bonus ATG fire)
  • A single Char B commanded by Sgt Guillaume.

Opening Moves

Overview, looking north to south, Germans on the left (east) and French on the right (west), everyone on Blinds. 

The French have a Blind for each rifle platoon, weapons platoon, the Char B, and four dummy Blinds. 

The Germans have a Blind for all three rifle platoons, both tank platoons, the recon platoon, and the weapons platoon (mortars), plus three dummy Blinds.

Looking east to west from behind the Germans.  I'm playing the Germans.

I've got my infantry on the left, intend on getting my mortars set up around the chateau (bottom left), got Recon and Panzer IVs on the road, Pz IIIs at bottom right.

Looking west to east from behind the French: the boy is playing the French, so I had no idea at the time, but it turns out he put the tank at bottom left with two dummy Blinds, two dummy Blinds in the centre, and then the two rifle platoons and the MG/ATG at bottom right.

The Germans move first, pushing their blinds west and trying to spot the dastardly French.
 

A French Blind creeps up to the Granary (centre, with the ville at bottom center/right) and peers east (top)...

The Action Begins

Intermission

For those not familiar with IABSM, when you start the game every unit is on 'Blinds,' which we are using poker cards for, and you draw cards to move Blinds/units/dummy Blinds.  At the beginning of the game you only have three cards in the activation deck: Allied Blinds, Axis Blinds, and Tea Break.  But as units get spotted and/or the owning player decides he needs to get them on the table, cards for the units and their leaders (or "Big Men," as the Lardies call them) go into the action deck.

So right now the deck has the following cards:

  • German 1st Rifle Platoon activation
  • German 1st Rifle Platoon Commander
  • German 4th Rifle Platoon activation
  • German 4th Rifle Platoon Commander
  • German Rifle Company Commander
  • German Weapons Platoon activation
  • German Recon Platoon activation
  • German Recon Platoon Commander
  • German 2nd Tank Platoon activation
  • German 2nd Tank Platoon commander
  • Axis Blinds
  • French 1st Tank Platoon activation
  • French 2nd Rifle Platoon activation
  • French 2nd Rifle Platoon Commander
  • French Company Commander
  • French Weapons Platoon activation
  • French MG Bonus Fire
  • French ATG Fire
  • Allied Blinds
  • Tea Break

When the Tea Break card pops out the turn is over and the deck gets re-shuffled.  So we've had a number of turns since we added troops to the table (and their cards to the deck) where the Blinds haven't gotten to do anything, and it's really frustrating and doesn't make a lot of sense, and, as I recall, was part of the reason I gave up on the rules. 

If you're not familiar, it is supposed to be a huge bonus to still have troops on Blinds.  These are your guys that have yet to be detected by the enemy, so they can't be shot at and they don't have to deal with terrain when they're moving.  But I think the fix is simple, and can't believe it didn't occur to me earlier: there are some set actions units that did not activate are allowed to undertake as part of the end-of turn sequence.  Frankly, I just ignore these as I figure if the unit(s) didn't get to activate, well, that's the whole point of friction in rules.  But I feel like Blinds not being able to activate doesn't make sense, so I think the answer is to allow Blinds to activate automatically as part of the end of turn sequence.  I'll try it out next game and let you know.

Back to the Action

Captain Freitag (left) has managed to get the understrength 1st Platoon back into fighting shape, though SSgt Mader's 4th Platoon is beat up (top center), while Sgt Osswald, the mortar FO, has managed to get into position in the Farm (far right).

*yeah, that's right, the mortars have yet to speak this game.  Don't misunderstand, I'm not complaining.  I was complaining about Blinds not activating because it's supposed to be a big advantage to be on Blinds, but it doesn't bother me at all that units actually on the table don't activate, that's the point of friction!

I hope my commentary isn't ruining the narrative: it probably would have been better if I'd simply typed something like "the mortar section got their tubes set up and began cracking open ammo crates, only to discover the rounds were supplied without the fuses!  Sgt Osswald quickly dispatched a team back to the rear to find some fuses for their 80mm HE rounds."

Aftermath

Man, what a fight!  I was a bit worried about the disparity in size between the attacking German force and the defending French force; my experience is that most wargame rules struggle with games that have substantial differences in the size of the opposing forces.  But the friction/fog of war brought about by the use of the cards meant that the fight was extraordinarily tense and the outcome hung in the balance until the very end.  The fight was very enjoyable for both of us and we will definitely play again, the only change being our house rule of allowing Blinds to activate at the end of the turn if their cards don't come out.

KG Klink accomplished its mission of taking the village, but it was a real meat grinder.  Here are the casualties for the battle:

German

  • 55 KIA/WIA/MIA (including the rifle company commander, a platoon commander, and two squad leaders!)
  • One Pz III knocked out
  • One Sdkfz 221 knocked out

French

  • 40 KIA/WIA/MIA
  • 20 Captured
  • One Char B destroyed
  • One 25mm ATG destroyed

Character casualties

  • Sgt Hauer, Leader, 1st Squad, 4th Platoon, Grenadier Company, holder of the Iron Cross 2nd Class, was killed in action.
  • Captain Freitag, Grenadier Company Commander, was severely wounded, ending his campaign in France.
  • SSgt Mader, Leader, 4th Platoon, Grenadier Company, was severely wounded, ending his campaign in France.
  • SSgt Aust, Leader, 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, Grenadier Company, was severely wounded, ending his campaign in France.
  • SSgt Grossman, Vehicle Commander, 2nd Platoon, Panzer Company, was wounded but is able to return to action immediately.

With Captain Freitag out for the duration of the campaign in France, the Grenadier Company needs an interim commander.  Col Klink was going to push Lt Klugmann into the spot, but had second thoughts following the action at Riqueville.  Following his platoon being shot to pieces and his commander being severely wounded right next to him, Lt Klugmann had fallen into a funk, and so the 2nd Platoon commander, Lt Tausch, was given the company.

Colonel Klink never showed up; I guess his vehicle broke down on the way to the battlefield, or maybe he went to the rear to help find those 80mm mortar fuzes.  For the mortars that never fired...which reminds the good Colonel, something needs to be done about that slacker, Sgt Osswald.

In terms of heroics, two members of KG Klink were recognized for their personal bravery on the field of battle:

  • 1st Lieutenant Loeb, commander of the 2nd Platoon, KG Klink's Panzer Company, holder of the Iron Cross 2nd Class and two Wound Badges, was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class for heroism in leading his tank platoon through heavy fire against a qualitatively superior enemy dominating a key crossroads adjacent KG Klink's objective.  Lt Loeb maneuvered his platoon in a flanking maneuver, then personally pushed his vehicle nose to nose with enemy tank, blasting the enemy tank to destruction at point blank range (his crew members were also decorated).  This kill was Lt Loeb's fifth tank kill of the war.
  • Cpl Edst, Vehicle Commander, Reconnaissance Platoon, was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for bravery.  When his platoon commander engaged at point blank range by enemy infantry, Cpl Edst placed his vehicle in the line of fire, eliminating the threat.  When his platoon commander's vehicle was destroyed by enemy anti-tank fire, Cpl Esdst pushed his vehicle forward to cover his platoon commander's evacuation.  Cpl Edst then engaged an enemy tank with auto-cannon fire in order to distract it from maneuvers by friendly panzers to outflank the enemy tank, engaged an enemy strongpoint in a building in the village to relieve pressure on KG Klink's pinned infantry company, and then Cpl Edst fought off a charging enemy officer attempting to disable his vehicle in close combat.

Hope you had as much fun as we did!

Jack
 

 
 
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A request for a France 1940 game (Dunkirk Movie just came out) and a desire to get some French tanks out on the table made me look for a quick and easy scenario. So I stole the Jandrain game from Rob Avery's Vis Lardica site.

The game focuses on the French counterattack by SOMUA S-35s of the 3rd Light Mechanized Division against the panzers of the 3rd Panzer Division on the morning of May 13, 1940. The Panzers had pushed the French Dragoons out of Orp in the morning and were reported to be moving to Jandrain when the French launched the attack by the 1st Cuirassiers.

Mark Luther

 
 
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Operation Martlet game #2 from TFL's Chain of Command pint-sized campaign book converted to IABSM. A British infantry company with tank support against a couple of platoons of 12 SS Panzer supported by a lone Tiger (historically should probably have been a Panther, but hey). Again on my 2' x 3' board using the excellent H&R 1/300 models and Leven buildings.

Setting up the Game

Here is the campaign plan. This game is on map 2, the small village of Fontenay-le-Pesnel. Historically the grenadiers of the thinly stretched 12SS Panzer were attempting to hold the British 49th Infantry Division with Shermans in support.

An expanded version of the map in blurry detail

 Google street view shot showing the terrain from the junction of the main road and the track near the British entry points. Note small hedges (soft cover) and generally flat terrain.

The Game

LESSONS LEARNED

  • Yes, Churchills are tough
  • Even Tigers get unlucky
  • Close range infantry fire is deadly, even when you're in cover.
  • Rules get forgotten ... thats the fog of war ;)

CUSTOM RULES

  • MGs can fire through smoke, but at heavily reduced rate (-3DR)
  • Infantry fire from the side/rear is more effective
  • Range effects AT accuracy and penetration. AFVs have front/side/rear armour values.

James Tree

 
 
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I recently came across the excellent CoC Operation Martlet campaign write up on http://tinyhordes.com/tag/martlet-campaign/, so decided to try the first game using IABSM on my mini-board (2’ x 2’) in 1/300 H&R.

After a little research (Google Streetview) and buying a 1/25,000 WW2 map of the area suggested in TFL ‘At the Sharp End’, I decided to go with slightly different terrain setup from that in the scenario, based on this overly magnified section of map:

The thick black line bottom centre to top right is the main road and has a few farm buildings and a church, so to convert that to a wargame layout I've added the high stone walls favoured in Normandy around the farm and a low wall around the church. There is an orchard on the right. ‘A’ marks the British entry point along a narrow track towards a large building on the main road. A church with a spire is at the German end. 

Additional/Changed Rules

  • Scale changed to 20cm = 100m (1/500)
  • Infantry fire from side or rear is more effective
  • I used the morale system from Summer/Winter specials – Germans dropped a couple of points, but didn’t really kick in.
  • Tactical movement - I can't remember if thats in IABSM as I've been a lot of CoC Batreps
  • Made easier spotting – although, nobody in cover got spotted before they opened fire
  • AT fire has modifiers for range and penetration and vehicles have discrete front/side/rear values – not sure if this really adds anything, the original rules being a very simple/elegant solution.

Lessons Learned

Churchills armour is too tough for Pz IVs … but their gun is dire! 3 Churchills v 1 Pz IV and eventually they batter it into submission.
• Even an SS PzGren squad with 2 LMGs can be over-powered by 3 or 4 British squads at close range. Maybe I reduced the German force a little too severely and should have stuck with 3 squads each.

James Tree

 
 
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For this game we went back to using the IABSM rules from the TooFatLardies: a set of rules that come with with army lists for all the participants in World War 2.

As always, we played on a randomly generated table: which each player putting down whatever scenery he happens to have available.

The game's objectives: the Germans must break through the Soviet frontline and get as many units off the table to the Russian rear; the Soviets must prevent the Germans from escaping.

The photo below shows how the table ended up looking.

Each army deployed the same number of units. All the German units deployed either on table or under Blinds, the Soviets had a combination of Blinds and hidden Blinds.

The German Deployment

Soviets under hidden Blinds

Well, most of them!

The Game

Not much happened on the first turn, except that the Germans probed forward cautiously, but from the second turn onwards, Soviet artillery began to make its presence felt...even if some German units were missed by "millimetres".

Both sides then clashed on the Soviet right, where they had placed barbed wire, and fierce fighting broke out:

Whilst on the other flank, the Germans arrived at the wire undetected.

Although the Soviets desperately defended their right flank, eventually they were overwhelmed by an avalanche of German troops:

Although once through the wire, the Germans begin to have a hard time moving forward.

And a good Soviet smoke screen allows them to reform their troops without the Germans knowing what they are doing.

A Soviet Maxim soon appear on the left flank, slowing the advance of the Germans.

 Despite this, the Germans are starting to get their troops off the battlefield. Starting with the lightest and fastest.

The rest of their units, however, were engaged in fights that had them bogged down around the trenches.

At the end of the game, once the agreed number of turns were over, a quick count up revealed that the result was technically a draw, as the Germans managed to get only a couple of light units off the board and the Soviets hadn't suffered too many casualties as they slowed down the final advance of the Bosche, who were losing more and more troops.

A great game that both sides enjoyed.

Burt Minorrot

PS: Don't tell the Germans, but they would have won if they'd just got one more unit off the board!

 
 
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After reading TFL's excellent CoC 'Talking Tactics' posts on their blog (I just love the level of research and thought that's gone into these rules) I thought I'd try putting theory into practice in IABSM with a small game involving a US Infantry company versus a heavily-reduced German Grenadier company, both sides with plenty of leaders.

 

The Defenders: My reduced German company. Two weak platoons and an MMG, plus a level II and III Big Man and Company HQ

The Attackers: A full strength US Infantry company with an MMG, bazooka and plenty of level II (1 figure) and III (2 figures) leaders plus a Company Commander (level III)

 

After probing forward with Blinds (not really got the hang of these yet), my US #1 platoon is advancing up the bocage hedge in the middle of the table. The German 2/2 squad behind the bocage hedge bottom left has just opened fire and caused some casualties.

In addition, the German MMG and Company HQ, top right, has opened fire on the squad as it crosses the field behind the house causing a few more dead.

The US #2 platoon has moved up behind the bocage bottom-right, and is ready to open fire on the German 2/2 squad in the orchard.

The #1 and #2 US platoons over-power the German 2/2 squad in the orchard, which retires (well, the one remaining man). Their leader, runs off to try and find another squad to command.

The US #1 platoon moves up to their position.

The US #3 platoon deploys around the house and bocage hedge to the left, but starts taking casualties from the MMG on the hill (top left) and the squads across the lane.

The US #1 platoon moves into the orchard and starts to out flank the German position. The #2 platoon moves up through the centre into the small orchard.
The #3 platoon in the centre is still getting hammered by deadly fire from the MMG on the hill (just inside close range for the MMG).

There is a US MMG in the upper story of the house attempting to provide support, but it is just outside close range and the bocage is providing just too much cover for the German MMG and Company HQ.

 

The Americans have managed to get some kills/Shock on the MMG, but are now trading close range fire with the German 1/2 and 1/1 squads across the track going North: both behind bocage hedges.

The German 2/1 squad has moved from the hill to try and shore up the right flank, but makes a deadly error...

US #1 platoon has moved through the orchard and takes position along the bocage hedge and blasts the German 1/2 squad...unfortunately taking position behind an ordinary hedge ('okay shot' cover) rather than a bocage hedge ('poor shot' cover). This softer cover means it starts taking casualties from the US platoon lined up along the bocage in an unequal fire-fight at close range.

I decide to add a mortar strike for the US to get things moving. It lands spot on target and wipes out the MMG! If it was the Brits, I'd try some 2" smoke!

The US #1 platoon fires again and almost wipes out the German 2/1 squad in the hedge!

The yellow dot on the house is supposed to remind me that I have a unit (the US MMG) inside - not sure if that works yet. Still not sure how to represent units inside buildings. I did think about having building templates off the board to place them on...or just play with everything damaged until I can find/make some where the roofs come off!

The remaining close range firepower of the nearly bigger and more resilient US platoons (still have three Actions after two dead) is too much for the battered German squads and they start to take lots of Shock and with few leaders they can't remove it. Their few remaining troops start to break and run.
 

Lessons Learnt

Close range fire is really deadly even across bocage hedges from units firing with 3/4 actions!

MMGs are lethal at close range (although I did beef the German MMG up a little) with good leaders.

To suppress a well placed MMG you need artillery or tanks or just try and go around it.

Without lots of leaders, squads just can't recover Shock and are ground down.

I still struggle with the use of Blinds: early days

Rule Variations

A few rule variations that I'm trying:

Fire from higher elevation gets an additional dice (so the MMG got 5D6 plus +3 for the Company Commander). Even versus a target in bocage or a stone building, it's deadly. Not sure if its OTT? How much cover would a bocage hedge give to an MMG fired from a hill at 150m? Especially if it has the company command over-seeing firing? Thoughts?

Also artillery gets a one column shift if it lands behind a linear obstacle, like a hedge or bocage.

I have played with the ranges, so using 1/500 (20mm = 10m) (my table is only 2' x 3') and will try 1/400 (I think 1" = 10m) next time which works. I find the IABSM default 12" = 80yds very odd. My quick ref sheet has everything in meters. Movement is still 1 pip per cm. Cross a bocage hedge is -3D6.

Also, I might add some markers to the table to assist understanding in batreps...or do too many markers 'spoil' the report? I know Mark Luther's masterpieces use toned down markers.

No close assaults ... firepower did all the damage. I'm still not sure how to sequence them, given that jumping out from behind a bocage hedge, crossing a road and over another hedge puts you at a massive disadvantage in CC.

Didn't think about it, but does IABSM have smoke grenades? Might have helped.

James Tree

 

 
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Off to Edinburgh for a week to visit daughter #1 at university, and to play a game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! with Mr Hodge down at the South East Scotland Wargames Club. The scenario chosen was  Derek's adaptation of a scenario that I wrote for the Xmas 2005 TwoFatLardies Christmas Special: Moiste Cabbage and a Quick Cognac.

The scenario is set in France in May 1940 amongst the cabbage patches that border the Moiste river. A German probe has discovered a previously unknown ford across the river is unguarded, and has dug-in to protect the crossing whilst reinforcements are summoned. The French have spotted what is going on, and dispatch Captain Cognac and his men to re-capture the ford as soon as possible.

The picture belows show the battlefield. The Germans, led by Derek and a fellow club member, would begin the game dug-in around the ford by the woods on the left. They consisted of a platoon of infantry support by a squad of engineers with a flamethrower; two anti-tank guns; and a single medium machine gun. They could also expect two lots of reinforcements to arrive at some point in the game: the first, a zug of two Panzer IV tanks; the second, another platoon of infantry, this time in half-tracks, supported by a couple of medium mortars.

I was playing the French, who would start the game around the farm to the right hand side of the picture, and had at their disposal two large platoons of infantry, each of three squads, and three Somua tanks. They could also expect two lots of reinforcements: the first, a single Char B-1 bis tank; the second, another platoon of infantry.

Those of you used to reading my battle reports might notice that the scale of things in the pictures above looks a bit different from usual. That's because the game used Derek's 10mm figures rather than my normal 15mm models. Nothing wrong with that, I hasten to add, as the ground scale of IABSM is much closer to 10mm than 15mm, but it all looked very small to me. In fact, my entire force fitted easily on the top of a chair:

Luckily I'm short- rather than long-sighted!

As a final note, Derek was using the command card modification to the basic IABSM rules that were the subject of his article in the 2017 Summer Special. This meant that both sides could draw chits that allowed units or Big Men to be activated out of the normal run of cards drawn i.e. if two French command cards appeared before the Tea Break, then I could immediately use them to activate a unit that had not yet had its card drawn. Interesting...

The Battle

Knowing Derek to be a wily player who would be seeking to delay my advance hedgerow by hedgerow, I decided to place my entire infantry force on the left hand side of the table, with the tanks in support on the road.

The idea was that half the infantry would pin half the German force (as the Bosche had to defend their entire front) whilst the rest of les gens braves charged forward to hook around the left flank of the German line. Meanwhile, the tanks would advance slowly: waiting until the infantry had spotted any anti-tank guns before deciding the best way forward.

The French 1st Platoon duly advanced forward quickly, and occupied the hedgerow overlooking the road (see picture, above). It soon became apparent that the Germans were lining the hedgerow on the other side of the road, as a hail of fire came my way. The two German squads were ten-strong good troops, each with an extra squad support weapon, and were therefore firing with five dice!

This was very bad, and despite worming their way into whatever cover was available, 1st Platoon began taking heavy casualties, not helped by a run of German cards and command chits. 

As one French squad disintegrated, something needed to be done, especially as the German line was still too strong to hit with my left hook of the other French platoon and Company HQ squad. Luckily my Somuas were ready, willing and able to intervene, so No.2 Tank moved up to the corner of the road and began pumping HE shells into the German line.

The Germans did have an anti-tank rifle, but I wasn't too bothered: Somuas have good armour, and anti-tank rifles are fairly poop. This turned out to be a bad mistake, as the second shot from the damned thing must have found a weak spot in No.2 tank's armour, got inside, and taken out the entire crew!

This was getting to be just too much, but fortunately the tank had had time to Pin enough Germans for my surviving riflemen to weaken the enemy enough for my hook to go in: so the French 2nd Platoon, still under a Blind, hopped the hedge in front of them and charged forward into close combat with the battered German squad in front of them.

The Germans broke backwards, with their other squad retreating backwards from their hedgerow as well rather than staying to face two platoons of Frenchies on their own.

I couldn't let the Germans regain their balance, so French 2nd Platoon lined the hedgerow they had just attacked and poured fire at the German line as the Company HQ squad, led by Captain Cognac himself, sprinted down the side of the battlefield towards the last hedgerow by the river, where more German infantry had appeared.

Almost without stopping, Cognac led his men around the corner of the hedge and assaulted the flank of the nearest German squad. Although Cognac's squad lost three men, almost a third of its strength, the German squad broke and ran for the ford, quickly followed by the other squad, who fell back onto the other side of the river in a more orderly fashion. Bravo to Captain Cognac!

Cognac's HQ Squad drive back the right hand German squad

Meanwhile, the other two Somuas had spotted that the small house by the ford contained a German machine gun. This they pounded remorselessly until a combination of casualties and accumulated Shock forced the MMG team to retreat. 

In reply, the Germans had revealed an anti-tank gun, which began shooting at the Somuas, but this was quickly masked by their own infantry as they fled back across the ford.

At this point, some German reinforcements turned up: two Panzer IVs. Fortunately, these were the early war models with a not-bad gun, but appalling armour: one was quickly taken out by the combined fire of the Somuas who, in exchange, only received a couple of points of Shock.

Retreating German troops mask their own anti-tank gun. The men closest, with all the Shock markers, are about to do the same for their tanks.

Things were definitely going my way now: I had largely driven the Germans back across the ford and taken out half their armour. When another round of fire from the Somuas took out the main gun on the surviving German tank, Derek declared that the Bosche had had enough and would retreat from the field. Victory was mine!

Commentary

A great game that was played in good spirits, with both sides taking their reverses on the chin! I was pleased that my plan had worked, despite the hard going early on, but recognised that I got lucky in the endgame when the dice certainly seemed to turn in my favour.

It was very interesting to play the game in 10mm rather than 15mm. The first thing that strikes one is the emptiness of the battlefield: using the larger figures sometimes means one feels a bit resentful that what look like dense targets don't seem to take much damage ever. Using the smaller figures, you can understand why.

Using figures that match the ground scale also means that all the distances in the game feel, well, righter somehow. It's not something I can put my finger on, but the game definitely felt better in 10mm.

On the other hand, and the reason why I'm not going to convert from my 15's, the 10mm figures are very small. I just didn't like them as much and had real difficulty quickly seeing such things as which tank was which, how many figures remaining in a squad etc. Derek's toys are lovely, but I prefer the extra characterisation and detail of 15mm figures. I guess I just prefer the aesthetics of a 15mm game. It was the same with the Franco-Prussian 6mm games I played last year: lovely, but just too small.

What I certainly won't do, however, is ever turn my nose up at a 10mm game of IABSM, and might even have a think about whether I have room to play 15mm games using a 15mm groundscale. The mathematicians amongst you will be able to help me out here, but I'm assuming that that means multiplying every measurement in the rules by 1.5. Not a total pain, but probably enough of an annoyance to put me off actually doing so!

So, in conclusion, 10mm figures felt very right...but I prefer my 15's!

Whichever, many thanks to Mr Hodge and friend for a great game and their hospitality. I might even have to visit my daughter more often: that will please her!

Robert Avery

 
 
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A 6mm IABSM game played at Giga-bites Café Spring, 2017, this scenario is the action that took place on the outskirts of Kolonie on the Belgium-Dutch border on the morning of September 14, 1944. The Allied bridgehead was held by the 5th Coldstream Guards (11 Armoured Division) with C Squadron of the 15/19 Hussars just down the road.

The German units coming down the road straight for the canal consisted of 6 Luftwaffe BewahrungsBatalillon zur besondere Verwendung (a Luftwaffe penal unit) and Sturmgeschutze from 2/559 schwere Heeres Panzerjager Abteilung.

At the end, the mediocre Luftwaffe troops and the StuGs pull back. The Germans lost four full sections and several others: a total of 46 men and a StuG.

The Brits had much fewer infantry casualties:  11 men and one Platoon Leader, a PIAT team, and two Cromwells.

Historically, the German attack also petered out. Sergeant Hollis received a Military Medal, and Roderick the Military Cross. The appearance of the Hussars was the turning point in the game and in actuality.

Mark Luther

 
 
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As I said in an earlier post, I’ve started to get into modeling mainly as a spinoff of my miniatures wargaming habit. Well, that habit continues, and every now and again I have an opportunity to play a wargame or two – thanks to a very patient wife (wargaming opponents have been hard to come by here in Khabarovsk). We recently tested out a new set of rules, called “I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!” Lots of fun. Here’s the after-action report.

For the test scenario, we ran a simple hypothetical meeting engagement with two platoons of German Infantry with light mortar support against two platoons of Soviet Infantry with HMG support. The overarching objective for both sides was control of the bridges in the town.

IABSM uses some interesting mechanisms, which add to the unpredictability of the game, and I think add to the interest as well. Firstly, it uses a system of blind movement, whereby units are represented by “blinds,” until those units are spotted or open fire. A blind may be an actual unit (platoon, in this case), or it may be a small recon squad of a few men (basically a “dummy” blind – no combat potential, but able to spot and move). This means you don’t really know what you’re facing, sometimes until you’re right on top of a unit (like in real warfare). In this photo, the Russians advance on the town, using the cover of the buildings and forest to advance practically unnoticed. The dice are used for movement, firing, and spotting, and as your unit loses men, it loses dice, thus reducing it’s effectiveness.

Here, a German platoon with light artillery support is revealed early on, as they advance in the open. Each squad can then move on it’s own, but usually with reduced effectiveness. Blinds receive four initiative dice, but each regular Wermacht squad receives only three. Nte that the squads are represented by four figures for ease of play, and due to the lack of figures in sufficient numbers, especially on the Soviet side. Need to do some more painting!

The Germans advance on the town. The dice next to the unit are it’s reserved dice, which can be used for firing or spotting at any point in the turn.

Here a Soviet platoon takes cover in a ruined building. Note the Maxim HMG in support. The AT rifles are actually substituting for light MGs – again, need to do some more painting – I only had enough LMGs for one platoon! Another interesting feature of IABSM is the use of a card-based initiative system. Cards representing every unit (as well as some special characteristic cards) are placed in a deck and shuffled. Then they are turned over one at a time, to indicate when those units are activated. There is also a “Tea Break” card, which indicates the end of a turn, when all unit cards are reshuffled. What this means is that unit order is not fixed, and it is possible (even likely) that not every unit will activate every turn! In fact, this HMG unit, after taking up it’s position in the building, never once activated the entire game! Obviously new recruits lacking appropriate supervision.

Here we see the deleterious effects of combat. This German platoon has made it to the bridge – but it was unfortunately as far as they ever got. They tried to advance in the open and received withering fire from the Soviets behind hard cover in the buildings of the town. The white counters represent “wounds,” which reduce the squads’ effectiveness. The black counters represent actual casualties. One more casualty on this squad on the foreground, and they will be down to one figure, or zero initiative dice (I used the number of figures to represent how many dice the squad had +1, since even if a squad has no dice, it still has the potential of action, albeit this action more often than not would be to seek out cover – which the two squads with attached platoon leader in the background have already done).

RUMBLE! Close assault usually proves devastating and decisive, and this was no exception. The assault ended with the two squads of Germans in full retreat. This left the Germans with a squad with Platoon commander in the church, and the second platoon taking cover by the bridge on their left flank. However, they had by this point sustained too many casualties to offer effective resistance, and left the field of battle, regrouping for a counterattack on another day.

Overall, the game was really fun, and while it was unpredictable, this added to the “feel” of the game. The ranges in this game seem rather “short,” meaning lots of ineffective fire until you really get close. Artillery was a mixed bag. In this game, there was no forward observer, but IABSM allows for “blind firing” of light and medium on-table artillery. What happened was the German mortars ended up sitting way back on the table without line of sight to anything, and just fired off of map coordinates. Usually, the fire scattered, but occasionally it was dead on, and there didn’t seem to be any difference in accuracy if the mortar unit could see the impact point or not – perhaps I’m reading the rules wrong, and if so, feel free to correct me. This was a bit of a sticking point for me, but all in all, the mortars did not have an overwhelming effect on the game. Overall, the rules are worth a look-see. Check them out at www.toofatlardies.co.uk.

Randy Stoda

 
 
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The setting is spring of 1940. A small town in Belgium, where a railroad, a highway and a canal all meet. The Third Reich wants this important road network. The Belgians and the British are desperate to hold it from the German blitzkrieg, but are woefully undermanned and virtually without effective anti-tank weapons. Thankfully, the British have managed to send a company of Scots and a few tanks (Matilda Is and Mk VIs).

Belgian Marines hold the Town

The photos are from a game of "I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!" played on April 17th 2010. We played at UH-Clear Lake, our usual third Saturday of the month.

I wish I had taken photos of the Stugs shelling the buildings of the town and driving the Belgians out by collapsing the stone houses on top of them. I think if the German player had continued to do that, shelling the village, he could have turned that entire flank. As it was, he split the Stugs off to deal with some British infantry.

The German player had some astonishing luck with his divebomber. Three times he hit right on target. Blew the heart out of an entire platoon of Scots, and slowed the only real anti-tank weapon (a 25-pdr) to a crawl.

A Stuka divebomber prepares to strike British infantry

This flank is now safe from the Stuka, with all those Bren guns pointing skywards. But the damage was done. The platoon pounded by the Stuka was half dead, and all discouraged. Other than the Boys AT Rifle team (which banged away gamely at the Stugs), the platoon was done for the day.

British Motorized Platoon pulls up to defend the Canal

Miraculously, at the end of the alloted game time, the German player had not reached the village. I think this was more due to a few tactical mistakes on his part than any particular genius on the defenders' parts. You do not want to leave your infantry out in the open in front of a weapons platoon's worth of medium machine guns! Very bloody.

Also, the card driven system, with random turn ends did not help. Finally, I got a bit of luck with my aircover as well, with the Rare As Fairies showing up twice to strafe the German ATG crews. I have experienced a great deal of frustration while trying to get an attack under way using this system myself, so I can empathize with the German commander.

IABSM! is not my favorite set of rules, though it is pretty simple once you get used to it. My biggest gripe is that random turn end (the Tea Break card). You have to be super careful to get that deck of cards well shuffled so that the Tea Break doesn't happen too early in the turn every time. It is incredibly frustrating when you move the same unit over and over and the rest of your troops are glued in place.

The Scattergun Gamer

 
 
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A small game set on the Eastern Front:  Soviets versus Germans.

Hardly had the game begun when both sides advanced rapidly forward in to firing range and began to take casualties.

The Germans, more motorised than their opponents, are able to act more strategically: taking advantage of the hills and forests, and using their armour to cover the advance of their infantry.

The German tanks opened fire on the Soviet armour without stopping to think about it.

But the Russians, not being in the business of pulling back (it is what the commissars to the rear are for), advance using their KO'd armor as cover.

The Soviets go through the woods.

The artillery deployed strategically.

On this occasion, the Germans are a little less aggressive:  all their troops take cover.

With their forward observers in the best position possible.

Soon the tables are turned, and it's the German armour that are taking hits.

Although they want to conserve their troops, they are here to fight and win the battle...which is why, in the end, the Germans decide to advance.

Which is what the Soviets have been doing since the battle began. 

So the gap between the two front lines is shrinking.

And in the end, close combat becomes inevitable.

Because of their excessive caution, the Germans are in a worse position than the Soviets, and are soon getting the worst of it.

In the end, as always happens to us, the game ends in a draw as time has beaten us, and we have to clear things away.

A great afternoon among friends with lots of laughs and fun.

Burt Minorrot.

 
 
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Played scenario 10 from the All American 82nd Airborne scenario pack tonight at the SLW club. My Germans took on Ian’s farm boys and tried a double envelopment. Ian was a clever so and so, allowing me to observe certain areas then, once I thought them clear, move up to them. I walked into these and many a tear was wept back in Dusseldorf after the casualty list came in.

My armour could not hit a barn door (rolled a '1' on almost every HE round I fired). The FOO did a great job calling in support, but the Tea Break card kept turning up before any of my support cards! I did have some luck with the second flank attack and actually reached the village, only for a platoon of reinforcements to arrive!

A very good game and will try it again in two weeks, but I will umpire this time.

Here are some photos.

Desmondo Darkin

 
 
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I played a game of IABSM at the club yesterday against a potential new member, Steve who contacted me via the IABSM Facebook group. I created a scenario based upon Scenario Generator No. 5"Breakthrough" in the IABSM rulebook.

Background & Set Up

The British need to advance along the only road towards the village of Ste Madeleine-sur-Fleuve. To do this, the main force has sent a relatively strong mobile scouting group down the road to probe the German defences and hopefully force a breakthrough. This forces consists of two troops of tanks (each with 3 x Cromwells and 1 x Sherman Vc and L2 BM), one section of carriers equipped with Vickers MMGs (L3 BM) and two rifle platoons (one in four half-tracks and one carried as tank riders, L2 BM). The HQ (L3 BM, L2 BM) for this force has an attached platoon of 4 x 3” mortars carried in 4 Loyd carriers and is carried in a half-track. Each rifle platoon has one member designated as a sniper.

Chips

  • British Armour 1 
  • British Armour 2
  • British Platoon 1
  • British Platoon 2
  • British Support 1 (MG carriers)
  • British Support 2 (mortars)
  • British Sniper
  • British Big Men 1-7
  • Armoured Bonus

There is a German defence screen ahead of the village which has been ordered to stop the British advance, to allow time for the Germans to complete their withdrawal towards to major town of Falaise to the south.

The German force consists of two Zugs of Panzergrenadiers (each with L2 BM), supported by two SdKfz 251 Stummel half-tracks with short 75mm howitzers (L2 BM) and two Marder III Ausf. M with 75mm Pak 40 a/t guns (L2BM) and a Zug of three Panther tanks (L2 BM). The HQ(L3 BM) for this force has a section of three Panzerschrecks and two MG42 teams. The Germans are dug-in behind some hastily-built field defences.

Chips

  • German Armour 1
  • German Platoon 1
  • German Platoon 2
  • German Anti-tank 1 (Marder IIIs)
  • German Support 1 (short 75mm halftracks)
  • German Support 2 (Panzerschrecks)
  • German Support 3 (separate MG42s)
  • German Big Men 1-6

Note that neither side has a chip for the HQ. This is because any HQ-attached elements have their own chips. In addition to the Tea Break chip, the bag contains two blank chips which act as a countdown. Once the blank has been drawn 12 times, the game ends.

We rolled a D6 to see who would be the British and who would be the Germans. I rolled higher and chose to play as the German commander.

The terrain is relatively flat with some hedges breaking up the ground, a couple of lines of bocage (marking the German deployment area) and a small wooded area from which the British troops will emerge. There is a small reservoir by the road and a walled potager at the German end of the table. The ploughed fields on the side of the road are designated as soft going (-1" on each movement dice). The temporary German field defences can be seen to the left of the reservoir and the right of the road.

The Game

The British advanced under blinds but two units were soon spotted by the defenders. These were one of the tank troops and the carriers armed with Vickers MMGs. These could fire on the move.

Most of the German defenders were hidden in the deployment area but there were a few units under blinds. One was spotted by the carriers and was exposed as a pair of Marders.

The British tanks opened fire, and one Marder was immediately knocked out by the troop Sherman Vc with the 17-pdr gun. 

The second Marder would soon follow, leaving the road almost open for the British to drive hell-for-leather towards Ste Madeleine-sur-Fleuve.

The Germans began to emerge from under their blinds, with the main threat being the weakened Zug of three Panthers. 

The Panthers were soon in action and two Cromwells were hit, causing them to brew up. One was the tank with the troop commander.

One Panther was knocked out by the Sherman Vc in the tank troop as the 2" mortar with the platoon which had been riding on the tanks laying down smoke to obscure the British advance.

Realising the the British intended to use speed to get past the German defences, which had been across the table in the bocage, the first Panzergrenadier Zug began to advance across the open ground, secure in the knowledge that the British infantry in the ploughed field were pinned by 75mm howitzer fire from the Stummels. Elsewhere, the Panzerschrecks had destroyed two of the carriers, and damaged a third as the British continued their thrust along the road. There were two British units still under blinds. The Armour Bonus chip was helping the British move quickly.

The rear tank troop engaged with the Panthers at short range, but without any luck. The Germans were more accurate and the remaining two British tanks were soon taken out by the long 75mm guns on the Panthers.

The Panzergrenadiers advanced on the British platoon pinned in the field and wiped them out. A Panzerfaust managed to damage one of the Cromwells in the other troop but couldn't prevent the Rifle platoon in the half-tracks (under a blind), the remaining two carriers and the tank troop from getting off the table, with the Panzerfaust and MG42 teams being wiped out by Vickers fire. However, the victory conditions were that four units with at least 50% of their original strength remaining should exit the table and this was no longer possible, so this game ended up as a victory for the German defenders.

Aftermath

This was an interesting game, not least because I had expected the British to advance on a wide front and deployed my two infantry Zugs in a line across the table. Steve, however had other ideas and went for a mad dash along the road. The only unit held back was the mortar platoon, who stayed unused under a blind at the back of the table. Steve was never able to use the firepower of the 3" mortars to suppress the German defence. 

What really mattered here was whose firepower was best and it turned out that the three Panthers were more than a match for the British tanks, excepting the destructive power of the 17-pdrs on the Shermans.

A couple of notes about the way I planned the scenario. 

First, I rolled a dice to see who would be attacking and who would defend. 1,2 or 3 was a German defence and 4,5 or 6 was a British defence. I rolled a 2, so the Germans were the defenders.

Then, I used a dice to select which tanks would be available for the Germans.

  • 1-3 Panzer IV
  • 4-5 Panther
  • 6 Tiger I

Then I rolled again to see how strong the Zug would be. A full-strength Zug is five vehicles. The roll would be as follows;

  • 1 or 2 - full strength
  • 3 or 4 - one vehicle under strength
  • 5 or 6 - two vehicles under strength

I then rolled a D6 to see if the anti-tank unit would be Stug IIIs, Marders or Pak 40-equipped SdKfz 251 half-tracks. I'd already decided that only two would be available. Clearly, Stugs would be the best choice here, but it wasn't to be.

Carole Flint

 
 
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 Our scenario  takes place in May of 1943 during what was known by the Yugoslavs as The Fifth Enemy Offensive, also known as the Battle of the Sutjeska or Fall Schwartz (Case Black). By this point, things in Yugoslavia had shown as horrific an aspect as is possible in war. In the words of a British liaison officer who served with the Partisans:

 

It was the nature of partisan resistance that operations against it must either eliminate it altogether or leave it potentially stronger than before. This had been shown by the sequel to each of the previous five offensives from which, one after another, the partisan brigades and divisions had emerged stronger in experience and armament than they had been before, with the backing of a population which had come to see no alternative to resistance but death, imprisonment, or starvation. There could be no half-measures; the Germans left nothing behind them but a trail of ruin. What in other circumstances might possibly have remained the purely ideological war that reactionaries abroad said it was (and German propaganda did their utmost to support them) became a war for national preservation. So clear was this that no room was left for provincialism; Serbs and Croats and Slovenes, Macedonians, Bosnians, Christian and Moslem, Orthodox and Catholic, sank their differences in the sheer desperation of striving to remain alive. 

Basil Davidson

 

From 15 May – 15 June, the 7th SS, Prince Eugen Mountain division (said to have “developed a distinctive reputation for cruelty”) took  part in Case Black aiming to pin Tito's main force of about 20,000 Partisans against the Zelengora mountain, in southeastern Bosnia. The 7th SS was raised from the so-called volksdeutsche volunteers of the region, and augmented by Balkan draftees of only partial German background.

During the battle, the division was ordered to move through the Italian zone and block the possible advance of Partisans towards the Adriatic sea and Albania, and close the south-east part of the encirclement and then advance north over mountainous terrain to crush the Partisan forces.

On May 20 the division captured Šavnik. The Partisans headed by the 1st Proletarian Division broke out of the encirclement, and two battalions of the 7th SS  were moved to cover the left bank of the Sutjeska river and block the Partisan's escape route. In Case Black, the division suffered total losses of 613 men. The German claims for Partisan casualties are hard to translate into pure battle casualties, since they often counted the innocent civilians they slaughtered as “Partisans”.

Our action depicts a small piece of this overall action between Tito’s now seasoned Partisans and their hunters.

7th SS “Prince Eugen” Division Briefing

You are part of a blocking force to cut off the partisans on the run. You have a forward platoon in the village that sits across the escape route in radio contact with the company HQ off board.

The forward platoon has just cleared the village in their normal brutal manner and now occupy it.

You will have two more platoons of infantry and a strong armour platoon coming up if the occupying platoon gets in any trouble.

Once you are all assembled in the village, you will press on further down the road to chase partisan units that already passed this point before you blocked it.

You will have occasional “eyes on” via a Storch recon plane.

Reinforcements will arrive primarily via the north road with one infantry platoon via west edge. The armour element is strong: a platoon of three Italian M13/41 tanks and one heavy French Char-B with a  flamethrower in lieu of its 75mm hull gun.

1st Proletarian Division Briefing

You are being pressed and are trying to evacuate in order, but a single platoon of fascists and their collaborators have occupied and are burning a village on our route.

Your unit already crossed this point and will backtrack to clear the village for those behind, including our wounded, who will enter from the west road and  pass through the village and exit via the south road. You should have the element of surprise, as they will be distracted while they are rounding up the villagers for extermination.

Clear the village of the enemy before any of his reinforcements come up, make time for our wounded to pass through and get further down the road, and then hold up the fascists as long as you can before continuing our retreat.

The Partisan Hospital Train

The enemy is bound to have some armour in the area and we only have a few antitank rifles and a couple captured guns, but the terrain is narrow and rough, which will help.

All Partisans start on the board: four infantry platoons, two MMG teams, a captured Italian mountain howitzer, and a captured German PaK 36 37mm AT gun. The hospital train will enter from the west soon after they hear the attack start.

The Action

The Germans set up their three squads in and around the village square. One squad, with the lieutenant, conducted the work of herding the villagers into the building on the west side of the square and setting it alight, while the other two acted as security. While they went about this horrid business, the Partisan commander watched through binoculars, his blood boiling.  From the bluff on the far south edge, he sighted in his two medium machine gun teams, and waited for his four infantry platoons to creep up to the distracted invaders.

Partisan Machine-Gun Teams Prepare For Action

The Partisans were allowed to set up on Blinds no closer than 12 inches from the security squads. This allowed them to push three platoons fairly close to the back of the building on the east side of the square. At their commander’s signal, the machine guns and a platoon across the marshy wastes on the south end of the village shot up the security squad at the south side of the square to nothingness and the hit the lieutenant’s squad hard enough to persuade them to flee to the north side of the square. The security squad in the east building was swamped by two full platoons at their rear in close combat, with no quarter given.

Partisans Swarm The Village

The signalman in the square crouched next to the truck and sent out word to the captain: help! He was soon unable to carry on any further communication. Orders were dispatched to converge on the village.

Help!

Grasping that they would also be surrounded and destroyed, the remaining five members of the death squad and their leader scrambled out of the village and down the hill, sheltering in the house there.  The Partisans gave up the chase and consolidated their position on the crest,  and loading their captured truck with their newly acquired  guns, ammo, and boots.  

Soon, the German observation plane flew over and confirmed the fragmentary message already received—the village had fallen. The Partisan hospital train was spotted passing through the village and heading south, along with the captured truck.

 A Storch Confirms the Worst

The Nurses, the Wounded, and the Booty

A few turns passed, allowing the wounded to make it through the village and part way down the road, while two platoons of Partisans stuck to the buildings on the edge of the village and carried on a desultory shootout with the death squad at the base of the bluff. One more Partisan platoon still on Blinds edged out toward the north east corner.

Second Partisan Platoon Probes Forward

Soon after, the German HQ platoon and the other two infantry platoons came onboard, sheltering behind the wooded hills on the north edge of the battle area, awaiting their armour to clear the Partisans. The Germans were relieved when they finally saw their armour come on at the north road entrance.

German Reinforcements Start Arriviing

“What is THAT?” wondered the Partisans as the big French Char-B lumbered toward them, surrounded by her three Italian M13/41 handmaidens. They found out as the armour veered left toward the exposed platoon on the east and the Char-B shot a 12” stream of flame into one squad and their lieutenant. They got away with only two dead" amazing luck after the 5D6 fire effect.

Flammenwerfer!

The Partisan platoons on the village bluff took a quick lesson and before the tank platoon could turn back toward them and advance, they scurried away at top speed from the crest!

Discretion is the Better Part of Valour!

The door was open, and the German infantry started pressing forward and the tanks clattered up the hill into the village square before the infantry could catch up.

Tanks in the Square!

In the square, the tanks caught some of the escaping Partisans, but most escaped down the hill and into the woods and marsh beyond, just as the 37mm AT gun and the Italian mountain gun opened up, along with a few antitank rifles. One Italian tank was immobilized by an AT Rifle team.

While their fellows were fleeing, Partisan Platoon 3 boldly counter attacked around the west side of the village buildings, grappling in close combat with the German infantry coming up to support the tankers. The assaulting platoon and the defenders were both bled to a small number, effectively eliminating all supporting German infantry. An untouched German platoon, along with a squad from the HQ company had lagged behind and now were still at the bottom of the hill and of no help for the tank assault.

Platoon Three Counter-Attacks

Close Combat in the Square

Everything in the Balance

We called the game at that point, since the hospital train and captured truck had rounded the bend and were safely away and the Germans could not pursue without heavy infantry support through the marshy wastes and rocky trail beyond.

Had we carried on a few more turns, the puny antitank weapons of the Partisans might have done more damage to the Axis armour, and some more of the Partisan infantry would likely have been roasted by the fearsome flammenwerfer, but the result would have been the same: the Partisans would escape to fight another day.

Partisan Gun Line

Great job Hauptmann Bernie and Lt. Rick, and great job Comrade Captain Lee, and Lieutenants John C. , John M., and newbie Sgt. Chris!

Joe Patchen

German (North) End Positions

Partisan (South) End Positions

 

 

 

 

 

 
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6mm IABSM game played at Gigabites Café in June 2017

 
 
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Comparing my previous after action report to other batreps of the same battle on Vis Lardica, I realised I made a number of major errors:

  1. I played the stream as unfordable
  2. I forgot the Canadians were vets
  3. Also, after a bit of research I figured I had the hamlet a little wrong:  no church and the main road being the 'lower' of the two

Which all add up to a good excuse to play through the scenario again. So...

James Tree