IABSM in 20mm. Somewhere in Normandy:
Mercian Miniatures
The boy and I had a bit of refresh game tonight. As much as the club is enjoyable, it can be quite noisy and you can often be bothered by others which makes learning the rules hard.
Anyhow, tonight it was Barbarossa. The Germans consisted of 3 panzer grenadiers platoons, a pair of 75mm infanttry guns and 4 panzer IIIs H.
The Russians had two platoons, two 45mm ATG and 4 T26s. The Russian tanks could only show up when our event card was drawn 3 times.
Both sides had access to medium mortars but these played to part in the game.
The Germans advance boldly and their reconnaissance team quickly revealed one of the Russians platoons on their left flank whilst their right flank advanced cautiously through a field.
The boy deployed his Infantry guns and started pounded the revealed platoon but some return fire kept them quiet, at least for a term.
Meanwhile the German right flank was spotted by the Russian HQ teams whoes HMGs opened up, causing a great deal of shock little casualties. This was the sum of the right flank for most the game.
On the left flank, then Germans kept surprising the Russian platoon by the woods which allowed a well timed assault from their 2nd platoon, which was successful.
The Russian atgs had appeared and tried lobbing shells at the Inf Guns to very little effect.
At this point the T26s rumbled on very little. The both panzers IIIs pounced, setting one T26 ablaze whilst kicking the others about.
The Germans had control of the board and the Russians decided to bug out; their commissar was dead so there little the political party could do.
Chris Lane
My afternoon game at Operation Market Larden X was Phil & Jenny’s excellent Throw Them Back scenario for I Ain’t Been Shot Mum.
This involved a German counterattack on one of the Normandy beaches just after D-Day, with my instructions being, as one of the German players, to get a significant force “onto the sand”.
View from the inland “German” end of the table
The forces involved
Knowing that the Allies had access to reinforcements coming off the beach, there was no time for shilly-shallying around, so my co-commander and I sent our troops up the table as fast as we could.
We knew we’d run into prepared defences, but felt that this sort of “reconnaissance by panzer” was still the best strategy to adopt.
Reconnaissance by panzer
The first obstacle we encountered was a dug-in 6lb anti-tank gun blocking off the left side of the table. It opened fire from its concealed position and battered one of our Panzer IVs as it struggled to get through a particularly thick hedge.
Another IV was on the road just to the right, so I picked up the dice and announced that the tank would swing round and come at tbe AT gun from the rear. An enormous dice roll later, and it ended up just short of actually crunching the gun under it’s tracks.
It was now just a question of who got the drop on whom, and unfortunately and despite cutting down half the gun’s crews with the co-ax, the Panzer IV took a couple of 6lb rounds point blank and promptly brewed up. Other tanks got their revenge however: HE and machine gun fire rapidly removing the gun and its accompanying infantry as a threat.
Meanwhile, on the other flank, a column of tanks supported by infantry was making its way along the track towards the beach. Another AT gun, again supported by infantry, opened fire, and the Germans soon lost two of their Panzer IIIs.
Back to the left and centre, and the Germans were getting their advance going, although another Panzer IV was lost to an AT gun lurking at the beach end of the central road.
But the Allies were also on the move, with tanks starting to pour off the beaches and advance towards the action.
Up in front, the Allied commanders were obviously nervous about their right flank, particularly as we now had a platoon of infantry supported by a couple of aged Somuas advancing forward.
They moved two platoons of infantry up as a blocking force but, in the heat of battle, forgot that we had more infantry avdancing up the central road.
With a quick trot across the asphalt, the German infantry set themselves up behind the hedge bordering the road and prepared to open fire.
Most wargames give a bonus for fire on the flank, but IABSM doesn’t. It does, however, give a bonus for shooting at multiple targets…such as six squads of infantry plus support weapons all crowded together in a neat line behind a hedge at close range.
The dice were rolled, and we had generated thirty casualties on the unfortunate Tommies! Thirty!
The saving rolls were not good, and half the Allied firing line disappeared, the rest suffering from more shock than an electric eel wearing a copper jacket!
Unfortunately at this point time beat us and although there was a bit more jockeying for position, nothing more of any great significance occured.
Phil carefully weighed up the situation (ignoring both sides’ loudly exhorted claims of victory) and declared a the game to be a draw.
Aftermath
Which was actually a fair result I think.
Although we had advanced just over half way down the table and cleared the Allied forward defences, we had lost two thirds of our tanks…and although we had caused two of the three Allied platoons horrendous casualties, the end game would realistically been our infantry (admittedly armed with plenty of ‘fausts) verses the Allied tanks from the beachhead.
All in all a brilliant game of IABSM played across what can only be described as a fantically created tabletop. Well done to all concerned and particularly to Phil and Jenny for putting on such a great display.
The scene is set for hard fighting tomorrow as Nigel Chapman and Alan try to clear the village of St Lambert-sur-Dive of the tenacious German rearguard (me).
Will Major Currie win his bravery award again as we play through “A Canadian VC”. “Does that sound like a Tiger engine starting to you, Sir?…..”
A Few Shots of the Pre-Game Table
The Game
After a great days gaming St Lambert-Sur-Dive was liberated by the Canadians. Great use of tactical bounds by Nigel Chapman.
The Germans were initially successful in holding up the British infantry who were very cautious the “empty battlefield. The German armour then put in an appearance to try for some early damage to the 1st Sherman troop but to no avail. Some crack shooting from the Canadian Sherman’s saw the Germans Tiger lose its main gun to the first hit and the Panther lose its main gun and become permanently immobilised in the first two shots at it!
With German reinforcements slow to arrive they were then on the back foot. The British then steadily cleared the village through good use of their veteran infantry and when one of the Panzer IVs fell to a side shot causing 5 net hits, it was all over for the depleted defenders!
Great fun had by all.
Nick Bellamy
I set up and played a couple of 'lonely pint' games over weekend for purposes of rule refreshing and plain old fun because (thankfully) this is how I still see myself and wargaming!
One was the IABSM scenario 'Action at Galmanche' from rule book. Only partly through this as lots of rules refreshing (been ages since used IABSM) but lots of action already.
Forgot that Blinds are auto-spotted on a Tea Break Card so was a bit nonchalant with the British deployments and they were all spotted in one go. Still the German Pak40 failed to brew two Shermans (some damage to gun-sights and mobility) and crew has been reduced to a mere two so Actions reduced.
German infantry shooting also sub-par (much less potent than in Chain of Command) although I did miss that Shock is doubled if shooting from Ambush.
British pre-game Stonk did inflict a lot of shock and killed the German Mortar Observer (not sure if any Big Men/Cot CO can call in these now?)
Had also forgotten that there can be a lot of markers required (I had to dig mine out) with Pins, Suppression, Overwatch, Shock and several types of damage for AFVs but this is a nice playable and flavoursome WW2 game (I prefer it to CoC in many aspects)
Sergeant Steiner
As the 2nd New Zealand Div pushed west towards Orsogna in December 1943, a battlegroup of the 18th Armoured Regiment, 22nd Motorised Battalion and some armored cars of the Divisional Cavalry made a feint along the Melone - Guardigrele road.
The board was mostly open muddy fields dropping off from the twin track. Vehicular off road movement had a good chance of bogging.
Jon had 2nd Company of Halftrack borne infantry (with 5 Big Men total) from the 22nd NZ Motorised Battalion. Eleven M4 Shermans from B Squadron, 4th NZ Armoured Brigade and two Staghound armored cars.
He came in on the eastern edge of the table centered on the road. The infantry had debused from their M5 halftracks No sense in getting them bogged!
The Germans didn't have a real chance but certainly could've caused more damage if the artillery had arrived and the PzIVs were more effective.
Overall casualties for the New Zealanders were 22 and the company CO killed. One Staghound immobilized and one bogged. Only one M4 damaged and three were bogged One infantry platoon and one troop were still on Blinds at the end.
The Germans had both PzIVs knocked out and lost 16 men out of 40.
From the official history:
The German engineers had prepared four demolitions along the northern road, but it was not until they were half-way to Melone that the tanks, though under frequent shellfire, were delayed by cratering.
It was by then nightfall, and the Germans who had held the line of the road during the day were falling back. Our own infantry followed hard on the heels of the German rearguards, who stalled off pursuit by a second demolition, by small-arms fire from the cover of village buildings along the way, and by blowing up in the middle of the road a lame tank which had been towed back from the main road junction.
Near the village of Salarola three Germans tarried too long and fell prisoner. One of them, coolly directing the retreat of his rearguard, was the 27-year-old commander of I Battalion 9 Panzer Grenadier Regiment, by reputation ‘the most capable and bravest’ battalion commander of 26 Panzer Division.
Still the men of 2 Motor Company pressed on in the darkness and they were nearing the junction of the two lateral roads when a third demolition was blown in their faces, making a hole about forty feet across. This in turn they skirted, only to find the enemy covering the road from posts sited in the prearranged delaying line before the Melone–Orsogna road. Not until next morning, the 3rd, did the company confirm the enemy's withdrawal from this position – a hurried withdrawal, it appeared, from the amount of abandoned equipment left scattered about.
Mark Luther
A 6mm I Ain't Been Shot Mum game played at GigabItes Cafe in July 2023
Doing the north shoulder of Kursk always gives me a chance to break out the big guns!
This game takes place a few days into Citadel with the German offensive running into a counterattacking Soviet force in wide open terrain.
The German players had 4) Ferdinands, 3) StuG IIIs (with 2 Tank Aces), and 2 StuH42s of StuG 244. German infantry consisted of a weakened company of Grd Rgt 507 and a pair of MMGs in support. Their objective was to continue the advance south and get a viable force off the table.
The Germans did take a few losses among the grenadiers-who were already at 2/3rds strength. The 3rd platoon on their left was wiped out. No real damage to the assault guns.
The Soviets took in on the nose in the exchange. 15 of 19 T34s were out of action. The infantry company on the right was in okay shape only losing 1/3rd strength. The other company facing the bulk of the grenadiers and StuGs however lost at least half of their men
German victory but the followup units will have to fight their way through Russians occupying the German start line.
Mark Luther
Three weeks past, Reynor Padilla, Bruce Ross and I played *Storming the Citadel* PSC table 5, CoC leveled up to IABSM (just times-ing everything by 3 kinda).
So far Grossdeutschland has swept all games including this one, which was a fall-back for Russians from the lost village of Butovo to the next one up the road, evacuating wounded in trucks and horse carts with the remnants of the original rifle company. 3 PG mounted platoons plus 3 tank platoons went tally-ho on the defenders, leaving a mess of screaming horses and a burning caravan.
The remains hightailed it out to fight another day, but not before calling in two Sturmoviks with bombs and rockets (first time we used air) plus a regimental battery to keep the wolves at bay.
Learnings: choose the slow (for Russians) predictability of arty vs. the 1/3 chance for the plane to circle back for another run if your precious activations (if using CoC dice like we are).
Also, giving all the PG platoons their Hanomags with MGs, too, is firepower overkill…so we’re still working on game balance (only 1 PG platoon should be mounted) as we prepare the last village battle of this bend in the Kursk narrative here.
Will Depusoy
Mid-game of Board 4 “Storming the Citadel” PSC adapted for IABSM. In this game, 67th Guards for the Soviets are hiding in the village of Butovo and Grossdeutschland has to ferret them out before cutting the Kursk salient.
The game looked great, with Panzer IV HE setting straw roofs afire, and poor shots all-around due to the multiple linear obstructions.
Three Kats duel with a pair of Zis-2’s for the highway, whilst the six remaining Russian squads in this campaign stretch get whittled down by dismounted Panzergrenadiers with an extra fire dice.
Will Dupusoy
We are continuing our CoC-activation Kursk campaign south of Seattle (parallel to Big PSC “Storming the Citadel” played two weeks ago with the GD division) this time with Das Reich jumping off their panzerkiel past the village of Berezov into the first defensive belt, also on July 5th.
George Kettler played 155th Guards Rifles with a supporting pakfront (5+5 dice) and Reynor Padilla played both mixed platoons of Panzer IIIs and IVs and two Panzer VI “Tigers” plus armored Panzer Grenadier (PG) company. An anti-tank trench was in the middle with a minefield covering its end, Soviets deploying on the high terrain past the village.
Stuff got spotted quickly as Blinds closed, and Reynor was supposed to get four platoons off the Soviet edge with at least 50% left. Kicked off with two entrenched Zis-2s making quick work of the Panzer III platoon in the tall grass. Both players were discovering the lethality of bunching sections in the 9”-18” “Good Shot”-band, with the PGs with their Hanomag MGs getting the better on the rifle platoons exposed on the skyline with no cover. The smaller AT guns did not catch one sneaky Blind that made it all the way into the end zone full of Panzer IVs.
Then the Blind with the two Tigers revealed, with one running for the line while the other engaged the AT Guns, the other two PG platoons disembarking behind them. After four hours, we called a minor Soviet victory with three possible platoons breaching the band after losing four Panzer IIIs. We’re still fumbling with the rules, activation and getting used to the firepower vs. range chart. Thanks, Raynor and George for getting this campaign string off the ground, and please chime in!
Will Depusoy
We’ve been converting Kursk “Storming the Citadel” PSC to IABSM, but using CoC activation and buying support “platoons” instead of single models.
Three games in and Grossdeutschland got the left op without firing a shot in first; got mangled in a second play of trying to kill the op (this time on the right side of Butovo, with different players); then managed to clear four out of eight minefields on board, tw0 with some good rolls at the right time before Force Morale dipped below four (two German companies with lotsa pioneers versus one Soviet.).
Thanks Jess, George Kettler, Raynor PadillaBruce Rosse Ross for kicking off this hiatus from 28mm Stalingrad!
We are still getting used to the game, but like that it has all the friction, crunch and option tricks from CoC, but plays bigger and recycles old Battlefront minis. Thinking about using BG Kursk’s campaign as a parallel storyline to GD’s progress towards Prokhorovka.
Will Depusoy
An excellent game last weekend of IABSM here in South Burlington, Vermont on my patio.
The battle recreated an engagement between 12th SS Panzer Division vs. British 11th Armoured Division on June 27th near Caen. Order of Battle is from the excellent book Monty's Epsom by Skirmish Campaigns.
The Germans had four Panzer IVs, two 81mm mortars, one platoon of infantry, a sniper and tank killer team. The Brits had 2 Fireflies and 6 Shermans and two platoons of infantry. Steve Emerson and Barnaby Ore played as the Germans while Dave Goodwin and Steve Smith played as the Brits with yours truly as the umpire. Figures are Airfix, the Panzers and Shermans are Roco 1/87 while the Fireflies and Bren Carriers are resin cast by Heiser 1/87.
A big shout out to Barnaby Ore who came all the way down from Canada in his quest for some good Lard action!!!
The battle progressed slowly at first with Germans spotting the Brits as they moved from right left but holding fire. On the British left flank one platoon of tanks and one of infantry made good progress and put good shots into the buildings to set them on fire. However the panzers revealed themselves from the treeline and quickly brewed up 2 Shermans before the Firefly could return fire.
On the British right the infantry charged a squad of Germans but were thrown back with losses. Eventually however the Shermans closed the distance and were able to penetrate into the village without getting shot at by the Panzers. The German tank killers took multiple shots at the tanks as they rounded the buildings but were only able to inflict a few points of shock but no kill.
Pressed by the Shermans coming at them from both sides, the Panzers retreated to the tall grass. A Firefly coming up the British left flank brewed up one of the Panzers while a Sherman that pushed past the buildings was able to brew up another one with a flank shot.
On the British left one Sherman and one Firefly closed the distance however their accompanying infantry in the wheat field got bogged down by mortar fire coming from behind the railroad embankment.
In the last few turns, the numbers of Shermans began to overwhelm the Germans. The last panzer's shots bounced off a Sherman by the house but then he was brewed up by a different Sherman. On the British left one Sherman got a bit too close to the trees and a panzerfaust fired by the last squad brewed it up but then the squad was forced to retreat. The German commander in his Kubelwagen along with the shattered remnants of the platoon retreated through the tall grass.
Overall a definite British victory but one that could have become a stalemate had a few more Panzerfaust shots landed.
Dan Albrecht
15mm game set in part of Southern Italy. Tried to create a valley with a typical village that needs capturing.
IABSM kicks off & boy am I rusty with the rules. I will persevere. The Germans on the high ground are finding the Allies easy to spot, as it was in reality. Brits are trying to get smoke going but not going well! Defenders yet to reveal themselves.
Des Darkin