Scottish Corridor Campaign Battle 04 - Probe at Bas de Mouen re-visited

This was a replay of the second battle in the campaign, scenario six from the TooFatLardies' Scottish Corridor mini-campaign book.

As I will explain in the game notes, I didn't stick with the WRG 1925-1950 rules that I have used thus far, but instead mashed together that set with the TooFatLardies' "Chain of Command".

Orders of Battle:

Kampfgruppe Frey / 1st SS Liebstandarte Division
1 x Panzer Grenadier Pl
2 x PzIVF

3rd Monmouths
1 x Rifle Pl
1 x 6lb anti-tank gun

The Battle:

To simulate the pre-battle patrolling and advance, the Chain of Command rules use "patrol markers" to indicate where each side gets to.  Here, red for British, blue for German.

This translates into "jump-off" points, which I suppose are similar to spawning locations in computer games i.e. where the forces of each side can spring into the game.  Green for British, yellow for Germans.

The game underway.  The Germans advance a section through the woods on their left, accompanied by a Panzer IV.

Some luck at the right moment allows the British to ambush the advancing German section as its riflemen try to advance towards a farmhouse.   The German section in pinned by the fire, but not destroyed.

Same situation seen from the British perspective

The Second Phase

The Germans move a second tank up and also begin an advance on their right (top).  Again, the British (located in the building top-left) try to ambush the advancing German panzer grenadiers but again their shooting suppresses rather than kills.  The supporting German MG42s (in the hedgeline) return fire to suppress the British infantry in response. 

A British 6lb anti-tank gun (hard to see: on the top-left by the road, hiding in the hedge) suddenly opens up on the leading Panzer IV and brews it up!

Third Phase

German machinegunners eliminate the anti-tank gun crew and cause some casualties amongst the British in the buildings (top-left).  However, the Monmouths have got the better of the German section nearest and eliminated an MG42 team and the riflemen who had been pinned in the open.

Victory on each flank!  The German section has been destroyed by the British in the near ground, but the British infantry section in the buildings has been eliminated by the German sections on the far side of the road.  The Germans had a little good fortune and slightly against the odds, the British platoon lost its nerve first and withdrew!  The Germans were thus able to successfully probe to the edge of the board past the now undefended buildings (top-left).

 Results:

British losses: 15 men killed and wounded, 1 6lb anti-tank gun destroyed.
German losses: 16 men killed and wounded, 1 PzIVF destroyed.

Game Notes:

Recent campaign games had worried me a little that the Germans just did not have sufficient chance of winning.  I was using the WRG 1925-1950 rules along with the "Threat Generation" solo system published in Miniature Wargames 373:

 And whilst this gave very exciting games in general, playing one side obviously gives the player incentive to play against the system as hard as possible and "win" the game by beating the system.  However, experience has shown that if I play sensibly and methodically, I'd have to be quite unlucky to lose.  So in this game, I decided to experiment with something else.

There are two main reasons I haven't been using the TooFatLardies' Chain of Command rules for the games so far.

Firstly, my 6mm troops are based in elements and Chain of Command uses a figure-removal system.  Secondly, the Chain of Command rules are heavily interactive, in that players have to make decisions in both their turn and their opponent's turn.  So what I decided to try in this game was to keep the firing, movement, visibility and morale elements of the WRG rules, but use the patrolling and activation systems for the Chain of Command rules, whilst limiting the "out-of-turn" options to opening fire on a visible target.  This means that the "non-active" side can get a couple of additional shots off, but can't immediately open fire on troops they can't see.  For instance, in the game played above, the British infantry in the buildings could fire on the German infantry in the open field but couldn't fire on the German infantry section which was activated that turn, because it was in the hedge and over 50m away.

I was very pleased with how it worked and it created a very close game.  I'd warn players about one thing though: the realism levels are high in this game!  So, infantry can get suppressed easily and it makes dismounted manoeuvre hard and tank combat is often decided by who gets off the first shot.

For future development, I may look at how the combat system in Chain of Command can be made more "element" friendly or alternatively how a more extensive junior leadership system can be incorporated into the WRG rules.

Played on a 3'x2' board, buildings from Total Battle Miniatures and figures and vehicles were mainly from GHQ in this game.

Scottish Corridor Campaign Battle 02 - Probe at Bas de Mouen

Scenario Two: Probe at Bas de Mouen

Troops from the Liebstandarte Division attack from the right, British troops from the 3rd Monmouths advance from the left.

As the British player, I picked a Sherman to support the infantry platoon.  The Germans are an SS platoon with random reinforcement options.

The battlefield.  The Monmouths start at the top-left.  The British commander decided to use the building at the top-left as a base of fire whilst the advancing troops moved through the trees beneath the road.

British infantry advancing...

The firebase (the buildings are occupied), with a Sherman supporting

British troops advance but run into trouble: German infantry engage, whilst a Tiger advances through the trees to support

The British suffer a few casualties but are able to take out the tank with a PIAT.

German infantry take cover at the edge of the wheatfield; the battlefield looks empty apart from the smoke from the destroyed tank

Same position, different angle.  German infantry have occupied the building in the top-left quarter of the shot.  The Sherman has advanced to provide supporting fire.

German infantry advancing through the woods destroy the Sherman with a Panzerfaust

German infantry see the shapes of tommies in the woods; the British infantry have cleared the German infantry out of it

The German infantry could not be persuaded to advance again, so the battle peters out...

Outcome:

German losses: 14 infantry, 1 Tiger tank
British losses: 8 infantry, 1 Sherman tank

Game Notes:
Quite hard fought this one and it took longer than the photos suggest, as both sides (realistically) moved slowly as many of their elements were suppressed. Tanks once again proved vulnerable to hand-held anti-tank weapons on both sides.  Again, the ability of the played side (the British) to mass fire over the randomly generated Germans proved decisive in achieving first fire, and then manoeuvre, superiority.
The game took just over an hour to complete, played on a 3'x2' board.  The buildings are from Total Battle Miniatures and the figures are a mixture of GHQ and Adler.  The vehicles are GHQ, the artillery from Heroics and Ros.  Rules as ever are the WRG 1925-1950 set, used with the "Threat Generation" solo rules in MW373.

The Scottish Corridor Campaign - Battle 03 Encounter at Le Valtru revisited

Scenario One (Second Attempt): Encounter at Le Valtru

The third battle of the campaign saw the Germans of SS Division "Der Fuhrer" again trying to take the village of Le Valtru against British opposition from the Seaforth Highlanders.

As before, this battle is from TooFatLardies' Pint-Sized Campaign, The Scottish Corridor.  Details of the first battle can be found here.

 Again I picked a British Infantry Platoon supported by a Churchill tank.  The Germans are an SS Platoon with support randomly generated.

The village of **** about to see action for the second time

Another shot of the village, looking lovely in the sun!

The British advance again.  An infantry platoon supported by a Churchill tank.

On this occasion it was first blood to the Germans! A hidden PaK40 opens up with devastating effect on the British infantry tank

Very smartly, the British infantry platoon puts in suppressing fire and then destroys the anti-tank gun, killing or capturing the road

A German gun covers the road

British infantry advance through the village bound-by-bound, systematically clearing the houses

A German tank (Panther) attempts to change the balance and the British infantry suffer some casualties from the fire of the supporting gun.  The relentless advance is continued however

The Germans fled after losing further infantry positions within the village: understandably perhaps, the Panther crew did not fancy its chances in the close confines of the village when its supporting infantry were killed or captured.

Outcome:
The German defenders got off to a great start by eliminating the British Churchill tank early on but after that, very little seemed to go their way.  The systematic advance of the British infantry through the covered approaches in the village rendered the Panther of limited effectiveness, although the German gun did manage to cause half-a-dozen casualties in one of the British infantry sections, proving very capable against infantry in buildings.

Germans: 21 killed and captured, 1 Pak40 lost.
British: 6 killed and wounded, 1 Churchill destroyed.

Game Notes:
The systematic use of covering fire and covered approaches makes it hard for the German defenders, even infantry in buildings, when they are activated piecemeal: the weight of British support fire silences the defenders and renders them very vulnerable to close assault, which is (realistically) deadly.  At the ranges involved in these campaign battles, armour is very vulnerable, even the heavier tanks.
The game took around 50 minutes to complete, played on a 3'x2' board.  The buildings are from Total Battle Miniatures and the figures are a mixture of GHQ and Adler.  The vehicles are GHQ, the artillery from Heroics and Ros.  Rules as ever are the WRG 1925-1950 set, used with the "Threat Generation" solo rules in MW373.

TFL Scottish Corridor Campaign: Battle 01 "Encounter at Le Valtru"

I have started to have a go at the next TooFatLardies' Pint-Sized Campaign, The Scottish Corridor.

The first battle is an encounter battle between elements of SS Kampfgruppe Weidinger and the 7th Seaforth Highlanders.  I used the WRG 1925 - 1950 rules along with the Threat Generation System from Miniature Wargames 373.

I took the Scots and used the cards to randomaly generate the German forces.

British Orbat:

1 Platoon of British Infantry
2 additional rifle squads
1 Churchill VII

The Battle:

The village of Le Valtru in the centre; British approaching from the right with the Churchill on the road

View from behind the British platoon

Same, from the other side of the road

A Pak40 advances down the road, is fired at but missed by the Churchill and sets up at the corner of the village; the British infantry poke gingerly towards the centre of the village

One can see the various British rifle squads advancing in this shot (some are in the houses); the Churchill is at the edge of the bridge

A Tiger I turns up! Luckly for the Scots, the cool British tankers despatch the Tiger with one frontal shot!

British infantry working around the flank start firing on the German anti-tank gunners

Same position, wider context; the German crew was quickly eliminated

 

A small group of German engineers ambush British infantry moving through the church, eliminating a rifle group

 

The Scots suppress and eliminate the German engineers in short order, but a German grenadier squad then repeats the process on another British squad moving into the last building in the village (closest); extremely accurate MG42 fire eliminates another British rifle group

The Scots pour down fire on the German grenadiers and bring up the Churchill to support them; accurate rifle and Bren fire kills the German machine-gunners

A textbook infantry assault eliminates the last German infantry; the Churchill VII then brewed-up an advancing Flammpanzer III (just below-left of the crossroads) and the game ends

Outcome:
The Scots lost two rifle groups (8 men) killed and wounded, whilst the Germans lost a Tiger I, a FlammpanzerIII, a Pak40 anti-tank gun, two rifle groups and two machine gun groups (12 men).

Game Notes:
A relatively easy victory for the British, as the random generator generated the German vehicles coming in dumb up the road, whilst no German infantry was generated until the British had already secured the village and occupied excellent defensive positions.  When the Germans did get to fire, they were extremely effective!  But luckily for the Scots, they were generated in such a disjointed way that I didn't feel the result was in much doubt unless the Scots' dice rolling was truly awful.
I think I do need to have a think about how the generation system works in this kind of encounter battle to make sure the Germans have a fair go in this scenario.  I need to consider how much of this game was just bad luck for the Germans and how much (if at all) the system was against them.  Obviously all the Germans can't be generated straight away, because that is an attack/defence game rather than an encounter battle.  Off the top of my head, it may be better to give the British two or three free moves (on the proviso that they don't advance further than 150m - i.e. three infantry moves) but then maniuplate the threat deck to permit a much higher chance of activating hostile forces.

Played on a 3'x2' table, the game took about 35 minutes.