Capturing Caesar's Camp: Actions 06 & 07 - Counter-attack at Villiers

For the next two actions in this re-fight of the TooFatLardies' pint-sized campaign Capturing Caesar's Camp, as the British offensive began to slow, the Germans launch a counter-attack at the village of Villiers-sur-Mareuil. The aim is to force a diversion of British effort and energy to remove this 'thorn in the side' of the advance.

 

The British are fielding a slightly weakened platoon to defend Villiers - the Germans have a fresh platoon with which to attack. The British are supported by an additional FOO and 3" mortar section, and an additional Vickers MMG and Rifle section.

The British are in a somewhat offset 2-up 1-back defensive position. One section is by the hedgerow by the road on the left;Two section is just in front of the church by the wall; the FOO is actually in the church, along with an additional Rifle section; Platoon HQ is in and around the old barn (bottom-left building); the Vickers MMG is by the bottom junction; and Three Section is in reserve by the hedgerow below the church. Three section is also responsible for guarding the right flank, if uncommitted.

One section (left) and Platoon HQ (bottom-centre)

Two section (top-centre); FOO (church); Three Section (bottom-right); Vickers MMG (bottom-left)

The Battle (Action One):

Somewhat giving the game away, there were two actions that took place in quick succession - I have rolled them into the same report. 

Jerry! A German squad is moving down the extreme flank (behind the hedgerow)

A better look.

The Germans have also managed to get a Pak36 forward too!

However, all this is being observed by the FOO - he calls in the mortars! The anti-tank gun's crew become casualties

As the mortar fire continues, some of the German riflemen manage to get forward, but the MG34 team is eliminated. The British (bottom) are holding their fire, not wanting to give away their position until they have to.

A wider shot

More Germans turn up.

But just as these Germans try to get forward on the other side of the hedge...the mortars arrive again!

Another 8 Germans fall in a few moments. The Germans have still not spotted a single defender.

The remaining Germans retreat!

Understandbly furious, the German company commander throws in another attack!! He also calls for some additional support...

Action Two: 

The Germans push forward another Pak36 (top, just on the far side of the road)

Yet again, it is quickly identified and a further 3" mortar strike is carried out

But this time...Stuka! No it isn't, it is a 109E Jabo. But still bad news...

The very-sharp eyed pilot identifies the British position in and around the church...

And neatly lands is bombs into the church tower, eliminating the FOO team and the supporting section! The nearby Two section are suppressed also.

The 109E pulls away...

Meanwhile, the Germans are again going right-flanking. I assume that their Recce patrols must have spotted the main British position in the centre and are determined to avoid it!

The Germans push forward, encouraged by their Platoon commander (base to the rear)

Rapid fire!!!

Some good shooting by the Camerons - the German squad is entirely eliminated!

Less good news - this has attracted the attention of the Jabo...

The 109 strafes the British section...thankfully they were more scared than actually hurt...

Another pass by the 109 - by now, some of the Camerons are in harder cover; the German platoon commander has managed to slip away into the further field

On the 109E's last pass, it gets hit by the Vickers MMG! I would like to report it went down in flames...but it was barely scratched. Still, it aborted its last run.

A German sniper works his way forward rather gingerly (by the wooden shed and the three tall trees in the centre of the village)

Meanwhile, another German squad appeas, this one going right-flanking, skirting the woods.

And then slipping through them

The British reserve section's Bren is covering the road

A German Kubelwagen turns up?!

Some German engineers are poking forward into the edge of the village too. Everyone is busy not spotting each other.

The British Bren gunner wasn't napping - as the Germans advance, four of the German riflemen go down!

This is followed by a very ineffective exchange of fire

But the Germans have shot their bolt - the Platoon Commander knows that there is little point in pressing the attack further, and gives the order to pull back.

Scene at the end of the battle - note that One Section on the Left has pushed forward a little - it managed to suppress the German engineer group (amongst the buildings).

 Game Notes:

That concludes the campaign! In the first action, the Germans lost 6 KIA, 13 WIA and the British nothing at all, unsurprisingly, since there were only a few moments where the Germans might have spotted a British soldier. The second action was rather more even: 6 KIA and 14 WIA for the Germans, 4 KIA and 10 WIA for the British. The Germans were a little unlucky in the second game, and the British Bren gunners really earned their pay. 

The first action would obviously have been terrible in H2H play, but it was quite satisfying solo: an attack getting hit by mortar fire and failing seems to have been a thing which happened quite a lot in WW2 in France (both in 1940 and 1944). There wasn't anything obviously wrong, or even generally unfair about it, except in that the British tended to have a FOO as potential support in all scenarios, and the Germans didn't.  I suspect there might be an element of rules-preference here, which I noticed in the KG Heller campaign too: if the rules a scenario is designed for are slightly more direct-fire than indirect-fire friendly, that same scenario will play out somewhat differently if used with rules which are more support-fire friendly. I would definitely count these rules, and the WRG rules family more generally, as somewhat more support fire friendly. 

The second action nicely demonstrated that bombing can be very effective! It should have been a Stuka, but I didn't have a model to hand, so I used a 109E as an early Jabo instead. Air support can be quite effective in these rules, especially with bombs or bigger cannons. Despite early losses, it was worth pressing on - the British were actually not in that great shape after the loss of those four elements in the air strike - both sides were equally shaky, is what I am getting at, so if the last Bren gunner had shot less well, then even a moderately successful German advance on the flank could have 'unlocked' the position. But it really wasn't that kind of campaign for the Germans!

Anyway, despite it not being that close in the end, I hope readers have enjoyed the write-ups. I promised new readers I do lose reasonably often in these scenarios, including once losing the entire campaign! But sometimes, things do go well and I get lucky too...

There have been lots of useful comments and suggestions on the blog and on The Wargames Website and The Miniatures Page. For those, many thanks, and  I will look to carry out a few refinements on my solo system before it is next in action.

 

Models by Baccus 6mm and Heroics and Ros. The 109E is from the Plastic Soldier Company. Buildings are a mixture of Battlescale and Leven. Rules used were Wargames Rules for Armoured Warfare 1925-1950, aka The Farquhar Version. 

 

 

Capturing Caesar's Camp: Action 05 - The Chateau on the Hill

Okay, next action in the TooFatLardies' Capturing Caesar's Camp pint-sized campaign, featuring the 51st Highland Division's counter-attack towards Abbeville in the summer of 1940 to try and stem the German tide...

 

As regular readers will know, the Scottish infantry have previously proven themselves masters of those indispensable elite military skills of  'being lucky' and 'rolling sixes'. Let's see if they can continue to demonstrate this peerless mastery... 

 This is the last action for the Camerons in this campaign, as they attempt to seize the high ground on the Seaforth's flank. Should they succeed, it is very likely that the main attack will be successfull and the German bridgehead at Abbeville will become untenable.

I should apologize for the images here. The sunlight/shadow divide somehow looks a lot starker in these images than it did whilst I was playing. Hopefully it will still be clear enough to follow. 

 The Set-Up: 

This part of the ridge features a chateau. The trees lining the road to the left (top-half of the board) are the top of the ridge, and block LOS completely. The Camerons are approaching from the right.

The Battle:

The Camerons approach - they have been reinforce by an extra section in this one, as well as with a FOO, a Bren carrier and a Vickers MMG.

The Germans ready to ambush them at the junction of hedge and trees! One of the weaker squads, as a result of previous actions.

Very much first blood to the Germans - six Highlanders are felled in the first few moments. The Platoon Commander brings up the Vickers MMG and one of the reserve sections to restore the situation. Meanwhile, the other section goes right flanking (top of the road)

Feeling this is a bit too obvious, and the odds a bit too stacked, the German squad retires to the far side of the road before any fire can take real effect.

And poof! Like spirits, they disappear into the green, leaving the Scots shooting into nothing

After dusting themselves off, the Camerons bring themselves up to the hedgeline, then recommence their attack, going right-flanking (top)

Once they are going, the remainder of the platoon moves up to the other side of the road

This move works out really well though - they catch the Germans in the open, trying to move back forward! They are quickly gunned down.

Meanwhile, the right-flanking section are working their way around the flank...

and run into a German AT gun!!

The Bren carrier is brewed up in short order! The German crew are then eliminated or driven off by the fire of the accompanying infantry at short range though.

The British flanking movement continues towards the chateau. Now because of the light and the terrain, this is hard to spot, but another German squad is around in the centre - they are in a concealed position (good) but the British advance has them pretty much cut-off - they have no possible uncovered escape routes.

As the British infantry probe forward, a German flamethrower team prepares for action (left)

Sometimes the boldest moves just pay off! Covered by th platoon support weapons and reserve section, the lead section rushes the chateau.

Apologies, these Germans are really difficult to spot in the trees and shadows, but they are there - and do open up on the British - without much effect.

A shootout ensues, but not with any great effect.

There is a brief fight with the German flamethrower team. A couple of British casualties are caused (the ATR team).

But rifles and grenades quickly eliminate the Germans.

Feeling the situation isn't going to be restored, the German platoon commander withdraws, as he has spotted the rest of the Camerons moving up to the edge of the treeline opposite.

Game Notes:

Well, this action proved that the Camerons hadn't quite lost their touch, although it was a little touch-and-go. In both of the 'initial' elements of the fight, the Germans actually got the drop on the Highlanders (the ambush on the lead section, and the destruction of the Bren carrier). But where the Germans lost out was in a couple of really dismal activations, one squad being gunned down in the open and another effectively trapped. This meant that the Germans needed to be lucky themselves in activating sufficient troops around the chateau to make that more of a fight, which didn't quite happen. Losses for the British 4 KIA, 6 WIA; losses for the Germans 5 KIA, 13 POW (all the WIA were taken prisoner in this action).

 I think the game might have been improved by two things - firstly Rod's suggestion of an additional element (at least) to guard the support weapons, which would have made a more interesting fight after the Bren Carrier was destroyed - not least because the German squad would have been in a much more useful position than it actually activated in; and secondly, objectives might automatically have an additional activation card chosen for them (this was how the British were able to take the chateau prettyt easily in the end). Nuts! has a better system I think, which I will now use, which makes buildings themselves 'activation points'.

 

As ever, figures by Baccus 6mm, and models by H&R. I 'think' the building is Timecast, but not totally sure. Rules are 'the Farquhar Version', Wargames Rules for Armoured Warfare 1925-1950.