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We continued our play through Operation Husky and the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 this past weekend at Metropolitan Wargamers in Brooklyn, NY. We’re working our way through the events of July 11th in the Sicilian Weekend book by the Too Fat Lardies for their I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum rules for 15mm World War II play.

Operation Husky, July-August 1943 (Gela in green)

The scenario represents the northeast section of the town of Gela where ferocious fighting had taken place the day before in the early actions of the Allied invasion of Sicily. The table was set up with a couple dozen buildings from a variety of manufacturers, including JR Miniatures, Battlefront, Mark IV Miniatures, Miniature Building Authority and Games of War. The occupying US troops all began hidden in Gela with the Italians arriving on blinds at the opposite end of the table over a small railroad cut, bridge and road surrounded by open farm fields dotted with trees. The objective was simple: the Italians had to take back this corner of Gela and the Americans had to hold what they had fought so hard for the previous day.

The Americans deployed in well-defended positions in the town with two platoons of rifles and light machine gun squads perched in buildings. A combat engineer platoon armed with a 37mm M3 anti-tank gun in tow sat hidden along the main street through town. Off board, 4.2 inch M2 mortars and 105 mm M2A1 howitzers from the 33rd Field Artillery Battalion were available as support to be called in by the captain from the company HQ perched in the tall building at the center of town. Tough and dug into great positions, the Americans looked to have a clear advantage.

The tabletop battlefield for Gela

As in the previous scenario southeast of Butera, the Italians again represented a massing of manpower from the Livorno Division with six small rifle platoons and a machine gun support platoon. Accompanying them this time was Mobile Group E compromised of light French Renault R35 tanks and pre-war Italian CV33 Tankettes. What the Italians lacked in a starting position on the field and quality of equipment and troops, they certainly made up for in volume as they began the game arriving on three blinds per turn.

Italians arrive northeast of Gela

As the Italians neared the town, the Americans bided their time and sought not to reveal their positions until the approaching forces were nearly on top of their positions. Approaching in the open, the Italian blinds were spotted in the open to reveal tanks and infantry closing in at the center and edge of town. With IABSM’s randomly card-activated units mechanic, my US commander was perhaps overly cautious in waiting a turn or two too long to start getting the American cards into the deck. This all but negated off-board US artillery support for the game and allowed the Italian attackers to get dangerously close to seizing a quick victory with nary a shot fired.

Italians swarm the edge of the town and the hidden American positions

On the Italian left, one of their early shots fired down the street took out a crew member of the M3 anti-tank gun, forcing the remaining American crew to haul it back around a corner to safety. In answer, the US engineers opened fire at close range and threw back the initial push by the Italians on the American right. At the center of town, US rifles, machine guns and bazookas firing from within a massive central building ripped into the Italians marching forward in the open. Under heavy fire at their center, the Italians fled for cover to either side as their approach was slowed and their returned rifle and tank shots had little effect on the Americans.

Italians encounter fire from US engineers defending from buildings

Italians encounter fire from US engineers defending from buildings

Italian armor repositions away from American fire

With nowhere to go but forward, an Italian rifle platoon at their left assaulted the US engineers holding down the American right from a building. The Americans took heavy casualties and were thrown backward from their position into the open street to the rear. In response, returned fire from engineers in a nearby building flung the Italians back from their brief victory.

Italian rifles push a US engineer platoon from the building position

Back at the center, another round of combined arms fire from the Americans in the large central building continued to feed shots into the Italians, forcing them to continue to slide into cover to either side of the open field outside town. While pushing the Italians back with casualties and shocking fire provided a short-term positive for the US, it also allowed the Italians the chance to redeploy and set themselves for a move into town on the American left.

Italians slide from the center toward the American left

Meanwhile on the US right, the surviving engineers were chewed up by additional fire in the street which stalled them out of the action. With the main street into town wide open, the first Italian tank positioned itself to roll down the cobblestones. Waiting in the distance was the American anti-tank gun with a clear field of fire down the street looking to stave off an armored assault into the heart of Gela.

Italian armor sneaks around the American right as the US 37mm M3 anti-tank gun waits in the distance

With the Italians abandoning the center, the fight moved to the flanks. One US rifle platoon moved to reposition into buildings further to the edge of town on the American left as two Italian platoons, one already having suffered heavy casualties, snuck between buildings for cover. The American engineers on their right sought to hold down the approaching Italian tanks and three rifle platoons, and the US anti-tank gun crew had yet to fire a shot. The American rifles, machine guns and bazooka crews who had caused so much damage at the center were facing a choice of redeployment as their Italian targets skirted to either side.

Italians mass for an attack on the US engineers

Several hours in, we called the game. The small-scale tactical nature of IABSM is highly contingent on when a platoon or command ‘big man’ card activates. With so many Italian cards in the deck, a run of activated Italian unit cards may have provided the push they needed to get to the main street and victory. That said, each US card drawn was continuing to have devastating results on the somewhat weaker Italians, causing casualties and flinging them into reconsidering different routes. The large number of Italian on the field were still poised to match up with the higher quality American troops, although the US had clearly blown an early opportunity to use their off-board artillery effectively. Good and bad command choices had left Gela contested for the day.

Brooklyn Wargaming

 
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Today Neil, my regular gaming opponent, and I played Scenario 12 from the Sicilian Weekend scenario pack: The Biazza Ridge. A German kampfgruppe is heading for the Operation Husky landing site when it is hit in the rear by a small number of marauding paratroops led by the indefatigable Colonel James M. Gavin. Some of the Germans turn back to deal with this menace...but the Airborne troops prove such a pain that eventually the whole German column has to turn around to deal with them. This scenario covers the German assault on where the paratroopers are dug in: the Biazza Ridge.

The tabletop was largely empty, with only a narrow trip of dense wood on the left, and a thin salient of light wood in the middle interrupting what would prove to be a very open field of fire. A road and railway track ran up the right of the battlefield. The ridge itself was surmounted by two farmhouses. The initial force of US troops [a platoon of Airborne infantry with two pack howitzers] was lightly dug in on the ridge's crest, the Germans would advance from the opposite end of the table. The Americans could expect reinforcements, the Germans had a company of average infantry, two Tiger tanks and a single Hummel SP 150mm gun.

The Germans entered the table under Blinds but were soon spotted by the Americans, who enjoyed the advantage of high ground. The Tigers and one platoon of infantry were advancing down the road on the US left; the Company HQ on the right; with the other two platoons of infantry coming up the centre.

On the German right, the lead Tiger was struck by shells from the US 75mm howitzers, and was shaken, but not stirred. The panzers advanced slowly up the road, pausing to fire HE back, killing one crewman. The infantry advanced along with the tanks.

On the German left, the Company HQ fought its way through the dense woods, with its two squads bursting from the woods and up the final stretch of slope leaving two MMGs behind as fire support. They took some casualties from the Airborne troops who popped up from behind the ridge to fire at them, but the concentrated fire from the MMGs kept the US infantry from doing too much damage.

In the centre, the two infantry platoons also reached the end of the woods and headed up the slope, also taking a couple of casualties, this time from the howitzers who had decided to pretend the Tigers weren't really there!

The Germans kept creeping their men forward, but crossing the open ground and equally open lower slopes of the ridge was proving very difficult and time-consuming. The six foot tables seemed very long indeed! Meanwhile, on the right, the Americans had received reinforcements in the shape of an anti-tank gun, which promptly slammed several shots into the lead Tiger, eventually forcing its crew to bail out after its main gun was destroyed. The anti-tank gun then became the target for every German that could shoot at it (1st Platoon, the other Tiger, the Hummel) and was eventually knocked out, along with one of the pack howitzers that had been doing sterling service hammering the German 1st Platoon. Colonel Gavin had unfortunately been killed shortly before: he was manning the .50 cal on the half-track that had pulled the anti-tank gun into position when it was critically hit by one of the Tigers and blown to atoms!

American reinforcements were now arriving thick and fast. Next up were two FOO teams: one from a battery of four 105s, and a naval liaison party in touch with the cruiser Boise and its six-inch guns. The Boise had almost single handed stopped a major German panzer attack on the beachhead in a previous scenario from the same supplement, so I was very wary of its firepower! The FOO teams and US Big Men quickly called in the off-table assets available, and the German advance slowed even more as squads became pinned under the blasts.

Two Shermans arrived next. Rather than challenging the Tiger to a stand up fight, they headed up onto the ridge to support the infantry there. Finally, two trucks arrived with another two platoons of US paratroopers. These set up shop opposite where the Tiger was still crawling forward, and started exchanging fire with the German 1st Platoon.

Meanwhile, the German Company HQ squads, protected by the suppressing fire of the MMGs and other two platoons had crept up to ridge line and given the Airborne troops there a taste of their own medicine: popping up to blast them before popping back down under cover. Several turns went by with either one side or the other popping up to shoot, but the other two German platoons were still creeping ever closer, even if they were still losing men to artillery fire.

The battle continued in the same vein right up to when we had to call time because the 'real world' beckoned! At the end of the game, the Germans still hadn't quite taken the ridge, but were still moving forwards despite the tender ministrations of the US off-table guns. The Tiger was now seriously threatening the US left flank, and although both Shermans were now in position to support the infantry, they had taken several barrages from the Hummel, whose 150mm shells had managed to knock out the alignment of both tanks' main guns. The final position is shown below:

We called the battle as a draw: the game was still balanced on a knife edge. Although the Germans hadn't achieved their victory conditions yet, with a bit of luck they could have done so. Historically, Gavin and his men fought their enemy to a standstill and, likewise, could have done so here. A really good game, despite the (relatively!) small number of men deployed.

What was really good was the way that IABSM 3rd edition played on this, our second game. Big Men were rushing here and there on the battlefield, using their command initiatives in a much more "command-y" way than the more rudimentary system of 1st and 2nd editions. The modified artillery rules worked brilliantly (far too brilliantly if you happened to be German!) and, once again, everything just seemed a bit tidier, more logical, and neater. We are already planning our next game: perhaps a return to the Far East and Bloody Burma...

Robert Avery

 
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Great game yesterday as we fought the Lille action from the TFL Dunkirk Day. This was actually the only battle from the day I hadn't fought, and having enjoyed the other two I was keen to give it a go.

I played the French: defending a spread out town (loads of gardens and fields and hedges and houses and passages and alleys) against a German attack. It was also a good excuse to field my newly-painted petrol station from Timecast: a lovely model that, despite being for modern warfare, looks the part and comes with half a 2CV sticking out of the garage!

The game begins with only infantry on each side but, after a few turns, both forces get a healthy injection of armour. The French were defending across the long side of the table so, perhaps unwisely, decided to spread their two platoons out: one on the right, one on the left, placing a section in each key building. The left was further bolstered by a 75mm gun (dated 1897!) emplaced on a hill towards the rear of the table. There was another 75 hidden behind a hedge on the right, ready to be wheeled into the road that led straight towards the Germans.

The Germans, headed by Major Lardich von Skinner, slammed on with a full armoured platoon on the French left. This advanced quickly and soon destroyed the French squad holding the key building there, and hunkered down to begin exchanging fire with the French squad in the next key building towards the centre of the town. On the French right, the only Germans seen was a platoon of AT guns and their horse- drawn limbers. This was too good an opportunity target to miss, so one keen French squad, still under a Blind, left its house and headed forward to fetch Capitaine Legume's lunch of horse-meat sarnies.

Unfortunately the next turn saw another German platoon appear behind the guns (bloody card based initiative system) and despite taking cover in (not behind, in) a hedge, the keen French squad were quickly reduced to a few distinctly unkeen gibbering idiots (3 figures, 14 wounds!).

The rest of the French on the right - two squads led by Legume himself and an MMG - opened up on the Germans crowded forward to see all these dead Frenchmen, and did four or five casualties. Not a lot, but this was enough to halt the Germans in the building they were occupying and lay down smoke from their light mortars rather than advancing forward. A firefight developed, through the smoke, which did few casualties on either side, but bought the French time for their armour to arrive.

Meanwhile, on the French left, the Germans were preparing to move forward again. Sergeant-Chef Aubergine, seeing the danger, ran to the 75 gun on the hill and took personal charge. Up to then th gun had failed to hit anything it had fired at, especially buildings! Laying the gun himself, however, two rounds slammed into the house where the Germans were, doing horrible casualties and forcing them to abandon the building as soon as possible! Fine shooting!

The Germans, seemingly angered by this, sent two squads forward to silence the gun, and used the other two squads to assault the next building in line, also with a French squad within in. Aubergine's men had time to fire a round into the Germans coming towards them, seriously damaging one German squad, before being close assaulted by 12 German figures. Twelve Germans verses Aubergine and two gunners. Aubergine, however, is a d6+1 Big Man! The Germans were repulsed and sent 4" down the hill, where they took up firing positions and prepared to shoot the 6ft 7" mad Frenchman with the massive ramrod and his gun crew.

Things looked bad for Aubergine, but the next chip out of the bag was the French Heroic Leader card! Down the hill went Aubergine and his two gunners and smashed the Germans from the table!

The other two German squads, meanwhile, had successfully taken the next building, but were somewhat surprised when Aubergine, on the next turn, slammed another couple of shells into the house. In effect Sergeante-Chef Aubergine had defeated an entire 4-squad German platoon with nothing more than a 75mm gun from the last century and his massive ramrod!

Meanwhile, on the rest of the table, both sides armour had arrived. The French had six tanks: 3 H-39's and 3 Char B1's. The Germans had four PzII's and three PzIV's.

With their quick movement (Rapid Deployment, Blitzkrieg) the Germans managed to zoom their PzIV's up the board and catch the French armour in the flank. Shots rang out, but the Char B1's were made of stern stuff. No damage was done to any Char's, although one H-39 finally secumbed to engine damage after taking five hits! The Char's then ponderously turned towards the PzIV's and, despite having shells clanging off their armour, took two of them out in one turn.

The final PzIV, Big Man (Oberleutnant Willi Kaiser) on board, retreated rapidly, and one Char, a bit over keen, chased after him. The PzIV then stopped, shot forward again, passing the Char B1, stopped just behind it, whipped his turret round, and slammed two shells into the Char's rear at point blank range! A superb bit of tactical manouevre that resulted in one brewed up Char!

Meanwhile, another Char had advanced to the centre of the table right into the advance of the PzII's. One PzII was blown to bits, and the other three scattered into cover. It looked as if this Char was unstopable, especially as it had Lt Epinace on board, even if he was dressed as a nun! [I use one of PP's excellent French nuns as Big Man 4]

Then, however, the drone of Stuka's was heard and the German player nominated Lt Epinace's Char as their target. Deviation dice were rolled - a direct hit would have meant the end of Epinace! - no...a miss...deviation behind Epinace's Char by five inches. Phew! Safe!

Hang on! What's that building that the bombs have landed on? The one that Epinace's Char is using to protect its flank?

Yes, you guessed it: it's my new petrol station!

A quick check of the rules failed to discover effect of Stuka bombs on a petrol station ;) so the German player, Neil, claimed that the kriegspiel approach means that the station should blow up, taking the Char with it! I, however, pointed out that the French Fuel Shortage chip was in the pack, and so there obviously wasn't any fuel to blow up. Neil then pointed out that my Char's ran on diesel, so the station could be full of petrol. This was a fair gendarme, so we decided to compromise and have the Char brew up as the petrol station exploded, but with Epinace emerging from the smoke, untouched but with his Nun's costume blackened and in shreds!

The battle continued for one more turn, but it was obvious that the Germans couldn't take the town. His PzII's and other PzIV were all damaged or destroyed in the next turn by French MMG fire or the three surviving French tanks, and although the French infantry was sadly depleted, the Germans were down to a third of a platoon of effectives.

A heroic victory for the French, although as Legume had died earlier it was left to the newly promoted Capitaine Aubergine to organise the celebrations!

A great game which really seemed to capture the difference between the French and German forces. Although not specifically mentioned above, one key feature of the game was the German rapid movement and the French decidedly stationary approach to things. Legume kept getting the Hesitant French Commander chip, so culdn't move from his exposed position, and several times the French could neither advance nor retreat because of the Hesitant Troops chip.

Lardies may be interested to know that Aubergine's gun is now in a small display cabinet on my shelf, along with Epinace's soot- blackened wimple and a diagram showing how to take out a Char B1 with a PzIV!

Robert Avery

 
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Unfortunately for Kev he wasn't able to get to our game last night. We played the first of Rich's Dunkirk scenarios from the Summer Special 2004: Cassel. I was British, Clive German (as ever).

We had played "Oi, get orf my truck" last week, and Clive had got so engrossed in attacking my forces that he lost his objectives and was forced off by the British infantry tanks with a bloody nose.

He was determined to get his revenge this week. Clive, aggressive as you get in LFS, is a tad more cautious in IABSM, and slowly trickled forward trying to identify the British position. When he did, his two flanking forces were hit in a lovely ambush on the British left that pinned one section with 5 wounds and killed three in another. These troops were grounded for the rest of the game despite having four half tracks, one their number had its mg blown off by a 2lbr, the others skulked trying to pin the ambushers, fearing a closer move.

On the right, the Brits were defending a small copse against the MG platoon. Amazing shooting from the Aldershot rifle display team saw one MG team wiped, another decimated for only 1 man down. These guns were then kept out of the game by the HQ light mortar plastering them with smoke for long enough for the supporting infantry platoon to get the same treatment. I rarely missed and we got kill after kill! (I can tell you that that isn't my normal luck!)

Clive did ,move a group of panzers (mk1's) through the centre. 1 section was caught on the wrong side of a hedge and badly hit. This forced me into dramatic action as Clive's tanks had shot up the Boys rifle earlier on. A Vickers at a roadblock held them back until it too was KO'd.

His second platoon finally moved forward, close enough to get into a vicious fight with the weakened section, killing or capturing all of them. They followed up into the MMG and Anti Tank position on the crossroads. despite a heroic defence, the crews left the stricken guns to the Germans and retreated onto the HQ section in a farmhouse on the corner.

A section close assaulted a tank, forcing it back. Then Captain Chulmondley grabbed a bag of bombs and heroically legged it to the tank shedding its track and then even survived the hail of fire to escape back to his platoon. A VC recommendation by any one's standards!

With the Germans on both flanks, Chulmondley realised that his work was done. The Brits retreated back through the funnel left by the decimated Germans to form another stop line, it would be unlikely with fighting like this that Hitler would want to send more tanks into the close country around Dunkirk.

A great game and Clive's second bloody nose in a fortnight. The British are losing but doing so by extracting a heavy price on the Teutonic hordes.

Max

 
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I played  in two games at the TFL 2004 Dunkirk Games Day. In the morning I fought and won the Cassell battle, defending a vital road junction against the advancing Germans. In the afternoon, I defended a canal against a German attempt to cross by rubber raft: another victory.

Here are some shots of the games:

Robert Avery

 
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IABSM game played in Oct 2012 at Gigabites Cafe. Doug & Greg had the Poles, and Dennis and Brian attempted to get across the river. The Germans had a Company of Grenadiers, a platoon of motorcyle troops, several MMGs, a group of armoured cars and some pre game stonks. The poles defended with a company of infantry, a troop of tankettes, a battery of 75s and a couple of 37mm Bofors anti-tank guns.

Mark Luther

 
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We recently decided that a campaign would be fun, so I picked up the Blenneville or Bust campaign from Two Fat Lardies written by Robert Avery. This is a fictional campaign set in a valley in Normandy immediately following the landings. The first game of the campaign involves an American reconnaissance effort.

Spoiler Alert - If you are planning to play the campaign and want to have limited intel, read on at your own risk.

I set the game table up and took some aerial reconnaissance photos for the Americans to use when planning their attack (and I kept them away from the game table until their planning was done to put them into their company commander role).

The German player decided to defend forward and to shut down the main road completely. He stationed an infantry platoon in and around the farmhouse, augmented by an MMG and a panzerschreck, and stationed a second platoon on the hill with the other panzerschreck. The 'AT platoon' made up of a couple of 37mm armed halftracks were positioned in the centre while the heavy armoured cars were off table as a reserve.

The German Anti-Tank Platoon

The American's initial probe was with one of their reconnaissance units right down the main road and toward the farmhouse. It was a classic example of recon by burning armoured car. The panzerschreck destroyed two M8s, and the MMG and small arms hosed down a couple of jeeps. The survivors fell back in disarray, but the lone surviving M8 was to be important as it proceeded to hose down the offending platoon with the pintel mounted 0.50 cal for turn after turn, keeping them pinned in place and inflicting shock and casualties.

Panzerschrek Ambush!

With the main road clearly well covered the Americans shifted their focus and started bringing units down the track alongside the river.

The attached Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon manoeuvred into the fields in order outflank the farmhouse and keep the Germans deployed there pinned down and away from the real battle that was shaping up further north near the bridge as another Recon patrol raced north followed by the pair of M8 assault guns and a platoon of Stuarts.

The recon patrol took a couple of passing shots through a gap in the bocage but soon rounded the corner at the north end of the table and came face to face with the German heavy armoured car platoon coming up from reserves.

Recon Column II

The M8s and the SdKfz 231s began a furious firefight that lasted for the rest of the game and dragged in the Stuarts and the German AT halftracks. 37mm and 20mm gun lack the punch to usually destroy vehicles outright, so for the most part the vehicles accumulated damage and shock until their crews abandoned them.

An immobilized Stuart kept fighting from the position it occupied in the opening to the field bordering the road. The heavier armour of the Stuarts gave them an edge, but the American gunners were not up to the task and missed many easy shots, allowing the Germans to remain in the fray. Adding to the Germans misfortune, a P-47 made a couple of passes over the battle area attacking the lightly armoured German vehicles with its eight 0.50 cal MGs.

Coffin Corner

The second German infantry platoon had pulled out and retreated back to the house and woods next to the bridge, along with the second German panzerschreck. However the first platoon in the farmhouse was wiped out by a combination of 0.50 cal fire from the HQ platoon's M8s and assaults by the I&R platoon. This allowed the remaining M8s to start back up the road where they were able to bring additional 37mm fire into the flanks of the remaining German vehicles aligned to defend against Americans pushing toward the bridge from the west.

9th Tactical Air intervenes

At this point the wife declared that the beef stroganoff was ready, so we called the game and went upstairs for some food. The Americans were the winners as they had ample forces left to defeat the three remaining German armoured vehicles and ample M8s or Big Men available to rush one onto the bridge and satisfy the victory conditions. With the strength of the bridge determined, the allies are ready to continue their push forward up the valley and into the heart of France.

Another fun game of IABSM and a really fun scenario. The biggest gun on the table (other than panzerschrecks) was a 37mm and the M5 Stuart was suddenly heaviest and best armoured thing around.

Because the strike values on the weapons were low (3-5 dice), there were not many times where the guns scored the required 3 successes over the defender's armour save to produce a brewed up vehicle. So shock and damage played a huge roll, especially immobilizing hits that reduced the amount of shock required to force the crews to abandon the vehicles.

Both sides were using their Big Men in the vehicle platoons to activate vehicles sooner and get off the first shot, but in this case I think the better plan might have been to always use those guys to remove shock and keep your crews from abandoning their vehicles. Looking forward to the next game in the campaign, where I'll be playing the German defenders tasked with stopping the Allied advance.

Brian Cantwell

 
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Played a fantastic game of IABSM yesterday against my regular opponent, Neil, who was fresh from winning a Warmaster tournament.

Scenario 11 from the Sicilian Weekend supplement: The Gela Plain. In a desperate manoeuvre, tanks (unsupported by infantry) from the HG Division have broken through the thin Allied line forming the outer defences of the beachhead and now aim to get into the beachhead itself to cause chaos and disruption.

The scenario features fourteen German tanks (Pz IIIs and IVs) crossing a wide, open plain towards where a makeshift collection of Americans defend the line of the sand-dunes marking the edge of the beachhead. Forget the need for justifications based on logarismic scales: this is 75mm and 105mm guns firing over open sights! The only advantage enjoyed by the Allies are the six-inch guns from the cruiser, Boise, now only 3,000 yards from the shore, its crew taking constant, nervous soundings, and more off-table artillery from a battery of 155mm howitzers.

One platoon of four PzIIIs burst onto the plain and immediately began a firefight with the US artillery. Although the guns enjoyed the first shots, having been under Blinds, there was something defective about the HE they were firing (must have got wet on the journey in) and all that resulted was scratched panzer paint. In reply, HE shells killed one artilleryman, but had real difficulty doing any real damage because of the dampening effect of the sand dunes.

A platoon of PzIVs then arrived, and under cover of more HE from their colleagues, raced into close range and began spraying the artillery position with machine gun fire.

Backwards and forwards the luck went, with the odd panzer being KO'd in exchange for more artillerymen going to that great arsenal in the sky.

Meanwhile, the US Big Men had frantically been calling in fire support and, after a series of ranging shots, the ground shook as salvos from the Boise's mighty six-inch guns began landing. More German tanks had arrived, still under Blinds, and unluckily, one Blind was hit by a salvo from the Boise followed by a salvo from the off-table 155s! The Blind revealed itself as four more PzIIIs: only to discover that three had engine fires as a result of the tender ministrations of Madame Boise! All three would eventually burn out!

USS BOISE

The Americans had also received reinforcements in the form of a couple of Shermans from the 82nd Recon Company. One was knocked out fairly quickly, the other sent scurrying back to the beachhead with a turret jam. With his artillery running out of crew, things looked a bit bleak for the Yankee commander, so he leapt aboard the departing Sherman and used his Heroic Commander card to not only turn the tank around but also fix the turret jam. I must have been feeling especially generous: after all, how do you heroically fix a turret jam?

Anyhow, the surviving Germans (who needed to exit a certain number of tanks to win the game) and Americans were still hammering away at each other, the US Big Men too busy to ask the Boise for more help. Two combat engineer bazooka teams were shot down, but only after taking out a PzIV. It looked as if the Germans would suppress all resistance and just have enough tanks to win!

Even more desperate measures were called for. An American Big Man led out a squad of combat engineers armed with improvised anti-tank bombs into close combat with a PzIV. The tank was set on fire, but the Yanks shot down by another German tank spraying their comrade in an attempt to clear the pesky infantry away.

Finally another German tank took a good, clean, direct hit from the only surviving US gun, and went up in smoke. The Germans could no longer win a victory, so were forced to limp backwards off the table, leaving the carcasses of many, many burning tanks behind. The beachhead was held: but only just!

A great game that followed what happened historically almost exactly. If the Boise hadn't pulverised one PzIII platoon, the Germans would probably have broken through...but she did, and they didn't! If I say that all the Americans had left at the end of the game was one 105mm gun with two crew remaining, and a handful of infantry, it shows you just how close it was. As for the Germans...well, fourteen tanks went in and only two came out unscathed!

Robert Avery

 
 
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Operation Husky, July-August 1943 (area around Butera in green)

Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of the island of Sicily, commenced on July 9th 1943 with combined naval, air, airborne and amphibious forces from the United States, England and UK colonial nations attacking a largely Italian force backed by their German allies. Over the next five weeks, the Allies took the arid and rocky island of Sicily and opened up the Mediterranean for the eventual invasion of mainland Italy.

The Sicilian Weekend campaign guide for I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum offers 24 scenarios from the opening days of Operation Husky on July 10th and 11th 1943. Like the other scenario books from IABSM publisher Too Fat Lardies, the Sicilian book presents solid historical background and maps, along with force lists and detailed briefings for each side easily adaptable to a number of lines of 15mm WWII miniatures. The scenarios may be played individually or as part of a linked campaign, and so we recently started playing through a few of the Sicily scenarios at Metropolitan Wargamers in Brooklyn, NY.

We began with the eighth scenario in the book, Southeast of Butera, on the morning of July 11th 1943. Members of US 3rd Infantry Division are presented with a simple mission of aggressively pushing through the field to link up with their fellow Americans at Gela. The Italian force from the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the Livorno Division, must hold the invading Americans back.The scenario presents the Italian and American forces each entering the table in column on blinds. The counter attacking Italians rolled in mounted in trucks at one road at the table edge, and the Americans arrived on foot at one end of the table.

My first to arrive American machine gunners and bazookas quickly took up position on a rocky hill overlooking the road and a crossroads in the distance. Italian trucks moved in with their heavy weapons likewise leading the away with machine guns and 81mm mortars deploying at the road edge. Initial long range fire from the US machine guns pushed some of the Italian line back over the road. The Italians offered several rounds combined of direct mortar and machine gun fire in return, spraying bullets and landing rounds amid the bunched-up US machine guns. The Americans scooted back over the crest of the hill and the bazookas ran off to meet the other Americans arriving by the road to their right.

As the heavily-damaged US machine guns rallied, the Italian column continued to advance on the board in force. Four Italian rifle platoons spread out from the road to run at the advancing American column ahead and to cover the crossroads overlooked by two rocky hills. As the Americans moved straight on to meet the Italian front line, a recon platoon accompanied by four bazookas made way for the hills and the Italian flank.

With an Italian front deployed across the field in several lines and more rifles rushing into the hills at their left, the battle settled into two main firefights. American rifles at the center gradually pushed through the field toward the overwhelming number of Italians. Between the two hills on the Italian left, Italian and American rifles echoed back and forth. As gunfire was exchanged across the lines, US bazookas attempted to run to engage the Italian trucks which had made their way to safety beyond the battle at the rear. Despite moderately mounting Italian casualties, the Americans just could not break through.

The US forces ultimately ceded the field to the Italians. Even with superior command quality, the initial deployment of the US machine guns had been a bit premature and was not met by the quick arrival of supporting rifle platoons. Rushing them to the hills at the crossroads might have made a difference. The Italians had also managed to get the vast majority of their troops on the board early in the game, and their neatly arranged front line allowed them to angle directly over a defense of the road. In our refighting of the early hours of July 11th, 1943, the massed Italian counterattack had stalled the US invaders southeast of Butera. What awaited at Gela later in the day would unfold in our next battle.

Brooklyn Wargaming

 
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Last week we got in our second game with IABSM version 3, this time using a scenario from the Sicilian Weekend scenario book published by Too Fat Lardies. This book contains a scad of scenarios covering the first two days of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943.

The scenario for this game was Scenario 7: The Road to Scoglitti. The Americans are ashore and forward elements of the 180th Regimental Combat Team, 45th Infantry Division, have established a blocking position north of the beachheads. On the German side the Herman Göring Division is counterattcking toward the beachheads. Lead elements of Kampfgruppe Links are tasked with brushing aside the US roadblock and opening the way for the rest of the battle group to drive the Americans back into the sea.

The players were given briefs for their side only and in keeping with the confused situation after an assault landing, neither side had a very accurate intelligence picture as to the other side’s forces or mission. The US had essentially an infantry company composed of good regulars and some airborne troops, reinforced by a machine gun platoon and fire support from half of a battery of 105mm howitzers. The sum total of the American anti-tank assets was four bazooka teams! The Germans attacked with a reinforced infantry company as well, but enjoyed a greater level of support. Each of their platoons was plumped out with an extra squad and one of the platoons was mounted in armoured halftracks, They also had a machine gun platoon, but the real danger to the US lay in the platoon of two 15cm self-propelled guns and the platoon of three PzKw VIE Tigers. The main German weakness lay in their leaders, who were all of lesser quality than their American counterparts.

The terrain was relatively open, with some terraced hills covered in olive groves on the American side giving some limited cover. I made these light cover, giving the US troops a place to conceal themselves, but not blocking line of sight, so once revealed, any German could see and attack them. The ground though was strewn with boulders and rocks, making off road travel for tracked vehicles slower and stopping the movement of wheeled vehicles off-road.

The US deployed their forces evenly, with a couple of platoon, two MMGs and two bazookas in the larger grove to the west and a single platoon, one MMG, and a couple of bazookas in the smaller grove to the east. The Germans entered the table on blinds from the road from the north. The Americans had a couple of dummy blinds on table and used these to spot some German units and soak up German spotting attempts in return. The first German units were revealed to be a unit of a truck and a kubelwagon screaming up the road and a unit of halftracks. The halftracks headed off road and toward the olive groves but were finding the boulders (and their bad movement dice) to be slowing their progress. As the grunts debussed and started forward the platoon came under fire from US artillery and a pair of MMGs that were revealed and started to fire on the oncoming panzergrenadiers. The German squad and MMG from the truck on the road also debussed into a hail of fire. These squads were cut down and gutted by a large volume of US fire, leaving the first panzergrenadier platoon with only a squad and some halftracks. The halftracks began to return fire using their pintle MMGs though and started to put some shock and casualties on the US machine guns. This brought down 105mm of US retaliation and two of the tracks were destroyed by artillery fire.

As the Germans fire began to reduce the effectiveness of the US machine guns, the US commanders moved two blinds forward to give them more firepower on the front line, each of which represented a full platoon of infantry. Once these blinds were spotted and the troops placed on table, the US forces found themselves tightly packed and presented excellent targets to the surviving Germans. This blunder (which was more of a game familiarity issue than a tactical blunder per se) opened the door for the Germans as the US troops took heavy fire and serious casualties. A couple of reduced German squads managed to reach the US lines and assault some of the suppressed squads, but didn’t have the strength to inflict telling losses and were subsequently wrecked by fire from the US line.

The Germans had suffered a few turns of delay where they did not get any Blinds cards to enable them to bring on fresh troops, but eventually began to bring on more blinds. One dummy blind raced across to the east olive grove and revealed a US MMG and bazooka. Another platoon of infantry moved on and immediately debussed, but before they could move away the tightly packed mass was hit repeatedly by American MMGs, suppressing the troops and heavy losses and shock. Two squads were chewed up before the German’s own MMG could begin to lay some effective suppressing fire on the American MGs and permit the surviving squad to clear out.

While the packed Germans at the road were being hammered, another German blind had moved about halfway up the road before being revealed as the platoon of three Tigers. A brave (foolish?) bazooka team crept to within range and fired off a rocket at the beast – and scored an immobilizing hit to the track! More importantly, the vehicle also picked up two shock and as it was immobilized and Morale III, one more shock would send the crew packing. Fortunately for the Germans the American bazooka was unable to score another damaging hit before two German Rally cards had come buy and allowed the tankers to recover their shock. A platoon of American infantry had been trying to cross from the east grove to the west grove when the Tigers appeared and now it was their turn to experience the rocky Sicilian ground. The lead squads of the platoon were only about 7 inches from the cover of the grove, but rolled miserably for movement and were caught in the open and hammered by all three Tigers. Only a few men ever reached the safety of the trees.

As the end game approached, the US players shifted their artillery onto the Tigers and between that and the work of their intrepid bazookamen, the big tanks slowly began to accumulate damage to optics and running gear. Their morale didn’t falter though as the German CO, Hauptman Klink, moved forward and used every bit of his limited command initiative to remove shock from the big tanks. The SP infantry guns had suffered rather bad luck in the card draws (slow loading crews perhaps), but were able to add additional fire against the US line. The German players finally decided that no nasty American AT gun was going to pop out of hiding and that no Shermans were on the way and dedicated full resources to squishing the last of the bazookas. When the last one was killed we called the game at the next Tea Break.

The game was decided to be a very, very minor and very, very Pyrrhic victory. The US infantry strength was dangerously low, they had no machine guns or bazookas remaining, and their AT power was reduced to the incoming artillery. The Germans on the other hand were also virtually depleted of infantry and their heavy panzers were all damaged. The SP guns and Tigers would be able to clear off the remaining American infantry, but there was no way this company was making any further advance on the US beaches.

Another great fun game with lots of tension on both sides. The friction introduced by the IABSM system was definitely at work on both sides during the game. The US, with more and better leaders was able to offset some of the friction on their side, but not always, as was the case for the ill-fated first platoon caught crossing between the olive groves. We also got to try out the artillery system extensively in this game and it is definitely a great improvement over IABSM2. Clean and easy to use, but still with a lot of the air of uncertainty that characterized WWII artillery close support. Against moving targets, it required great luck to bring the guns in before the target had moved off. Against a sitting target like the immobilized Tigers, the guns could be brought in and reliably hammer away at the target. Shifting to a new target was always a decision not to be taken lightly as it required restarting the entire process. I ran into a couple of the players a couple of days later and they were still thinking about what they could have done differently. A sure sign of an engaging game.

Looking forward to the next IABSM game.

Brian Cantwell

 
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Another cracking game underway at 1st Cops Miniatures HQ up in Snaith.

This is another practice game in preparation for our Seelowe Nord game based on the book by Andy Johnson - Author of historical fiction.

Cracking game on a lovely table and an opportunity to test principals.

All kit and terrain from the collection of 1st Corps

Mercian Miniatures

And here are some more shots from Michael Curtis:

 
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A few photos of The 1st Corps 28mm Eastern Front demo game at The Other Partizan today.

Michael Curtis

The Battle of Kamenewo, 6th October 1941

The Battle of Kamenewo on 6th Octobr 1941 marked a pivotal moment on the Eastern Front, showcasing the Soviet T-34 tank’s dominance and halting the German advance towards Moscow.

On 6th October 1941, near the village of Kamenewo south of Mitensk, the German 4th Panzer Division, part of General Heinz Guderian’s 2nd Panzer Army, advanced rapidly following the capture of Orei. Their objective was to push towards Tuis and ultimately Moscow. However the Soviet High Command, alarmed by the speed of the German advance, dispatched Major General Dmitry Letyushenko and his 1st Guards Rifle Corps to intercept the threat.

Letyushenko’s force was a patchwork of units, including the 4th and 11th Tank Brigades and airborne troops from 5th Airborne Corps. Crucially Mikail Katukov’s 4th Tank Brigade, equipped with the newly produced T-34 and KV-1 tanks, played a decisive role.

The German Panzer III and IV tanks, under-armoured and out-gunned compared to the Soviet machines, were caught off guard. The Soviet tanks attacked from the flanks, supported by infantry and airborne units blocking the front. The result was catastrophic for the Germans : most of 4th Panzer Division’s armour was destroyed, and advance towards Tula abruptly halted.

One of the standout Soviet tank commanders during the battle was Lieutenant Dimitry Lavrinenko who, with just four T-34s and three KV-1s under Sergeant Antonov, reportedly knocked out eleven German tanks and two artillery pieces in a single engagement. Lavrinenko would go on to destroy 52 enemy tanks in just two months before his death later that year.

The battle was a wake up call for the Wehrmacht. Guderian himself acknowledged the superiority of the T-34, noting that it was the first time his forces had encountered such formidable Soviet armour. The engagement at Kamenewo not only stalled the German advance but also prompted a reassessment of German tank design and tactics.

This clash demonstrated the growing competance of the Soviet tank commanders and the effectiveness of their new armoured vehicles. It was a turning point in the early phase of the Battle of Moscow, foreshadowing the fierce resistance that would ultimately blunt Operation Typhoon.

And here are some more photos lifted from the excellent Don’t Roll a One blog: highly recommended as a source of inspiration.

All figures, buildings and vehicles are by 1st Corps.

 
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Quick IABSM Bash with Woody tonight

Dice and pizza and run out of IABSM rules to test forces and scenario ready for our weekend at the South Yorkshire Air Museum last weekend in November.

Swift German movement under covering fire pushed the strained British Infantry at rear of the gun battery at the Filey Gap into the sea and into a POW cage!

Mercian Miniatures

 
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Neil and I played "Scenario 17: Fauville" from WTHHYBB yesterday. This is the one where US Airbourne come on one end of the table and the German/Georgians come on the other. Yanks have loads of elite infantry, Germans have huge numbers of superior infantry plus some ex- French tanks.

The game started badly for the Americans with Neil's realisation that he had brought the wrong tea chest of figures with him! Back into the car and home to get the Airbourne figures.

This, naturally enough, upset the American figures so much that they spent the first few turns sulking on their baseline, refusing to move on to the table! The Allied Blinds chip seemed stuck to the bottom of our chip bag!

At the same time, the Georgian 5th Platoon suddenly developed the running skills of Dame Kelly Holmes (although not the shoulders: that would have taken many more years of training...and I'm tempted to add the old joke about "or the balls either" but I won't! I was watching her on Strictly Come Ice Dancing and would put her in the ring with Amir Khan any day!) and hurtled into Fauville, occupying a house that dominated the southern approaches. They then spent the next ¾ of the game getting their breath back and doing nothing!

This delay in getting started, and the enemy's 5th Platoon's rapid advance, meant that the Airbourne troops could occupy the chateau, but then weren't sure what to do next. Orders were to take Fauville, but there did seem to be a lot of Germans (well, Georgians in German uniforms) already in there, and this was supposed to be an encounter game, not an attacker/defender game.

The Germans then brought up their mobile artillery, and began firing incredibly badly aimed shots at the Amis Fallschirmjagers. No casualties, but the Yanks realised that if they didn't do anything, and fast, they were just going to get chipped away at from long range until they lost their effectiveness.

A platoon chip followed by an heroic commander chip provided just what they needed, and 3rd Platoon charged across an open field straight into a German column moving to outflank them. With their extra SMG's and elite rating, the US were rolling over 50 dice verses the Germans under 30, and beat them easily: with enemy survivors surrendering and being taken to the rear ("to" the rear, Nick: "to" the rear).

The Airbourne troops then established themselves behind hedges: almost untouched after their efforts. Unfortunately, the German mobile artillery finally got their range in, and started dropping shells on them; the German tanks moved up and started machine gunning them; and the German 5th Platoon finally got their breath back enough to fire shots at them from the flank ie along the line of the hedge.

Continuing their aggressive tactics, Winters himself (orange paint!) led another platoon forward, and charged down a road, round a hedge, and caught another German platoon in the flank. All the dice in Berkshire were gathered up for the US close combat, and the German platoon evaporated!

Unfortunately, this proved to be the high watermark of the US action. Although they now threatened the German mobile artillery, they still hadn't dealt with the tanks, and had got a bit far forward from their support in the chateau. The two Amis platoons were subjected to a hail of fire from all sides, and had to go to ground with heavy casualties.

At this point, the US commander assessed the situation. He had lost about half to two thirds of two platoons, and their bazookas more to the point. The rest of his force was under cover in the chateau, but taking heavy (if largely ineffective) fire from large numbers of the enemy. Two German platoons had been destroyed, but that still left three almost untouched, three tanks, and two mobile guns plus a couple of MMG's. He ordered the retreat.

Although defeated, he could also take comfort, however, from the fact that his sniper (presumably murmuring biblical phrases all the while) had killed three German Big Men and left the fourth one in such a state that he refused to attach himself to anyone, merely hiding behind a house "in case he was needed later on in the game". The other Big Man, in his tank, had welded the turret hatch shut, along with all other ways a bullet could get into the tank!

A great game that the US lost really in the first half an hour. The delays getting onto the table meant that the Germans were able to effectively defend an encounter situation...and if there's one thing I'm good at, it's defending! Significantly, both German platoons that did move towards an attack were annihilated! What was also obvious was how devastating the US Airbourne troops are in combat. With a Big Man and a bonus for SMG's at Close Range, there were some firefights where a section of infantry were rolling 6d6+2 for shooting!!!!!! Without the armour and mobile artillery, the Germans would have been in serious trouble.

Neil, in a massive sulk I might add, was muttering something about Scenario 18 having the same situation but with my troops now attacked in the flanks by another company of US Paras but because he'd had to fetch his Americans, having forgotten them in the first place, we just didn't have time to play on! Shame!

Perhaps, later on, he took comfort from the fact the result was the same as the historical one...but I doubt it!

Robert Avery

 
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The second scenario I did was the second scenario from the D_Day scenario booklet Where The Hell Have You Been, Boys?. Tough sledding, but the Rangers held the line. One German squad got through past the gun near Rudder, but was easily cut down. The rest of the line took heavy casualties but held.

George Gouveia

 
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In “Holding The Pointe,” my Germans were on the counter-offensive and looking to push the Americans back into the sea.

With all my forces deployed at the game’s start and all American units under blinds, my Germans began in overwhelmed confusion. This disadvantage made the game play so much more like the actual action in Normandy as German forces scrambled to head-off the Allied attack inland. Rather than focus my attack, I made the poor gamble of splitting myself to chase two sets of US targets. By the time a large force of German reinforcements arrived in the seventh turn, my initial force had gotten chewed-up in a series of stand-off firefights amidst the thick bocage near my original deployment.

My divided force tactics were ultimately my undoing, and I’m certain a more textbook massed attack may very well have giving me a greater shot at victory.

Brooklyn Wargaming

 
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The first D-Day scenario I did was the first scenario from Where The Hell Have You Been, Boys?:  US Rangers try to find hidden guns protected by German troops.

Ranger D and E Companies advanced from a trench and took fire from sniper and MG42 from the farm. The Rangers took some hits, drove on, and close assaulted the building, taking out the MG42. They then moved down the road, found the sniper, and took him out. 

Then MG42 fire started from the south side as the Rangers advanced down the road. The MG42 causes some casualties, and pinned the advancing rangers, who are trying to spot the hard pavement road where the guns might be.

Some Ranger reinforcements from Company F luckily arrive to the east of the town of Le Guay. This draws the attention of the MG42 for a few turns, allowing the Ranger D and E Companies to advance and run across the road to the left using bocage as cover. They move off the table to the south, find and blow the guns.

Rangers win but the Germans but cost the Rangers 18 men.

George Gouveia

 
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My first game — “Find The Guns” — saw me playing as the defending Germans looking to hold off the Allied advance from Pointe du Hoc with a couple heavy machine guns, snipers and some off-board artillery. One of the remarkable things about IABSM is the vast amount of space represented on the table, making decisions of movement and firing very important. My artillery was also very unreliable, representing some of the German communication challenges come alive. That said, with only a few men at my disposal, I was able to stave off and force the Americans to redirect through constant harassing fire until their reinforcements entered under a blind at my rear. With one of my machine guns and both snipers finally destroyed, the last of my Germans found themselves pinched on two sides of more-skilled US troops who took the game.

Brooklyn Wargaming

 
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The Set Up

Still WIP and …… I know there is not a Martello tower up north but I am no longer calling this Bridlington it is simply my ‘British Seaside Town’. Still lots to do and buildings to add in the background and then more details.

Yes. That is the Iranian Embassy minus a floor . It was always intended to double up as a seaside hotel.

Day One

Terrific first day at 1st Corps HQ:

The Germans managed to establish a foothold in Bridlington although suffering heavy casualties. Tomorrow is the British counter attack.

Great fun!

Day Two

Second day at 1st Corps HQ , Snaith:

The British put in a counter attack to drive the invaders back and recapture the harbour area to prevent second and subsequent German assault wave landings. .

A very even fight took place over nine turns but eventually the Brits pushed the Krauts back into the sea to secure a firm hold on the main and dominating feature of the hotel.

A terrific weekend was had. We sorted out lots of points concerning the forthcoming games weekend at South Yorkshire Air Museum the last weekend in November.

Salutes to Cookie who gets a Mention In Despatches for retrieving 10 x 4 sheets of our terrain base from three lanes of the M5 motorway! ( dont go there !!) . Fusilier Chris for all his efforts especially his ‘sausage surprise’ on Saturday and Sunday mornings! Michael , another Mention In Despatches for 3D printing throughout the last week, into Saturday night and for having no sleep over the next week or two either! Simon , as always for talking sense and sorting out lunch over two days.

Mercian Miniatures

 
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Tomorrow Cooky and I are refighting Market Garden .

This scenario is based on 1st Parachute Brigade trying to reach the bridge at Arnhem. In their way is the blocking force set up by Sepp Kraft and his SS training school troops.

We are using I Ain’t Been Shot Mum rules and dusting off my 20mm collection that I painted thirty years ago.

Marcian Miniatures