Lessons Learned - A Bridge Too Near?

Well, the project I have been working my tail off on has finally been playtested, and there's a lot to learn from this. I think overall, the scenario works, but as this is my first river crossing game, I did make some rookie mistakes, or at least, I think I did....anyhow, 6 of us met at the Games Tavern in Chantilly, which I have spoken about before on "500 Miles...", and the staff went OUT of their way to accommodate us. Thanks so much, Doshu! I wish more game stores were like this. Well done to Games Tavern indeed.

The Good:

• Was for the most part, pretty well organized, though I need to do better organizing the troops into units, I think I am going to color code bases to make that easier. Shouldn't be TOO odious a project.
• I did a decent job of keeping the game moving once we got started, and we played to a conclusion, even if that conclusion was a bit of a British curbstomp of the Germans.
• My alternate plan for the British worked...after a fashion, but I really need to potentially give the British another alternative, perhaps a transport with some rubber rafts?
• We got done in 10 turns (granted, the German BR went from 75 to 29 and showed no sign of slowing down), but yes, this was a rough one for the Germans. 

The Bad:

• I forgot the damn Churchills. I did a packing list, on my phone...which I don't think works as well as paper (the wife pointed that out and boy, is she right).
• I still cannot seem to get the artillery in BG right, or is it my confidence levels in getting it right, I still cannot tell?
• I should have split up the experienced players, but their both being British did keep the game moving.
• I should have had the Volksgrenadier be the starting force, and the Volkssturm be the reinforcement option. I think I need to have set forces, and take this out of the hands of the players.
• River Crossing games make for some of the most complicated wargaming I have ever done, and yeah, I need to get some opinions from the internet brain trust (the wife said, "ask Piers", Piers, if that isn't a damned endorsement, I do not know what is?)
• 7 turns was too long for the Germans to expect to hold on without reinforcements.
• Should have moved the river closer to the middle, give the Brits less travel time, and the Germans more depth.
• The German OOB may need some work.
• Learn to take a breath and not get overwhelmed. It's a game and as long as people have fun, let it be.

All in all, it went well for a playtest, learned a lot, and I think it will be better next time. Now that said, I will be color coding my figure bases and finishing up the flocking. I think once that is achieved, setup will go faster, much faster.

Some players also suggested allowing the Germans a rear guard on the British side of the river, but I wonder if that is counter-intuitive to speeding up the game a hair?

Anyhow, here are the pictures!

The British objective was simple, get units off the British edge (the Germans had to pull one chit for every British squad or vehicle that got off their edge). The Germans had to simply hold on and prevent this, and collapse the British morale, somehow....

The game itself started off with the British making an approach march along the road to the bridge, and there being some desultory fire from both sides. The Germans blew the bridge in the face of the British, and a British tank was pinned as a result. Later fire from a German Hetzer took out the only British tank lost, as the British scrambled to shift the Churchill down from their right to replace the bridge at the center. This took three turns whereby the German Mk IIIN and the Marder II were both knocked out by British fire. A Typhoon strike took out the Flak 88 and caused more mayhem. This was in conjunction with the British recon elements and their FO calling in very accurate artillery fire (2 25lbr batteries and a 4.5in battery). 

After the bridge was deployed, the British rushed across, deploying their motor battalion and combat engineers to overrun the weak German defenses in a series of brutal close combats (and yet another lesson in why Flamethrowers in BG might be a bit overpowered, one took out an entire VS squad in a building without a second thought).

The British then ran the entire truck mounted British airborne platoon off the table, and inflicted more losses, which even the late arriving reinforcements (which the German player could begin to dice for on turn 7, that's going to change), could not stop. With the German BR sinking to 29 out of 75 and showing no sign of ceasing to drop, the game was called and a British victory was awarded.

PS: I just realized, this is Post #20 here at Festungplatz..well, on to September!!!

Blood in the Streets, Part Deux

The After Action Review from Potomac Wargamers has arrived in my inbox, with some really smashing pictures of my game from August. I figured, why not share it with you all?

Download it here!

Picture taken from PW Review, Picture by Fred Haub

Picture taken from PW Review, Picture by Fred Haub

Gambioux, More Bolt Action, this time in France '40!

A pair of German AFV nose their way cautiously forward

Another Wednesday Night game at Tom's and it was a pretty good one. The scenario was part of a three scenario mini campaign found in the book France '40, Battles for the Meuse. The scenario itself was a tough one for the French, if you ask me, and I say this as a German player. All they had was an infantry platoon, a 25mm AT Gun, and 3 H-35s. Not much to hold off 4 MK-IIs, 4 MK-IIIs, 2 PzKfw 231s and 2 PzKfw 222s, not to mention a platoon of German infantry.

A view from the German Order of Battle, including variable attachments

A view from the French order of battle

A view of the battlefield from the French side

The objective was to take control of both hills on either side of the table (the hills on the left and right sides of the photo respectively). We Germans therefore planned on moving up the gap between the town and the woods on the left and then taking the bridge on the right and advancing on the other hill from the French rear.

Our plan worked...after a fashion, but it was something of a hollow victory for the Germans, as much of the French garrison escaped...and I get the feeling we shall be seeing them again in the 3rd and last scenario...

The beginning of the German advance

Schisse! A French AT gun has found the range to one of my Mk-IIs..and promptly knocked it out!

The French quickly had us at a disadvantage, they had blocked the gap I mentioned earlier with that burning MK-II, which forced us to advance up the road, much to our chagrin. We managed to get the better of the French AT gun...(ably suppressed by George Buzby) when the French armor showed up.

A clash of steel chariots

The French armor was quickly pinned down by concentrated 20mm fire, and eventually was knocked out for no German losses, with my MK-IIs and the Mk-IIIs (ably commanded by Scott Fischer) bypassing them. 

The German Advance continues

German armor enters the town of Gambioux

Our advance continued against little if any resistance, and the game was called on turn 12 with a resounding German victory. I know this kind of thing was historical in May of 1940, but honestly, I felt badly for the French players, they basically had to watch the Panzerwaffe advance on all fronts over their hapless Poilu. I have been assured the next scenario will be different, but it did feel a bit imbalanced here. I certainly would not want to play the French here.

More from Crete!!! Another Bolt Action Game

I am finally penning this AAR about another Crete game at Tom's house. The game was another scenario from the Skirmish Campaign's book on Crete. It was...bloody for the Australians to say the least, but it looked pretty grim for them starting out. The Germans were dug in on the heights overlooking Retimo Airfield...and they had everything. Captured Italian artillery, Matildas, you name it, they had it.

And what did we beleaguered FJ have? Not much more than three squads, a 8cm Mortar, which at first, was pretty underwhelming, and a Pak 36, which was also very underwhelming. In short, I was expecting to get rolled. The only good news, the Aussies had 10 turns to take the hill. But...we managed to hold out, but the cost wasn't cheap by any means.

The view from the German side across the airfield, you can see one of the Matildas, and the Captured Italian piece.

After some desultory exchanges of fire, and movement of our 3rd squad to a forward position to slow down the Australian advance, the fighting began in earnest right about turn 3 or so.

The Australian infantry advanced up the German left, seeking to winkle the Germans from one position after the other...and they found out this wasn't going to be cheap. 2 MG-34s in a cross fire managed to turn the advance into a horror show, and the pins were stacking like firewood. But it didn't help that the 10 man FJ squad soon got cut down to 3 by British fire from their captured Italian field piece and those damned Matildas.

The Australian advance, just before the carnage begins.

The advanced position soon collapsed onto my position further up the hill, and we hung on for our lives as Australian fire soon began to whittle down our numbers (including a lucky 2" mortar shot that silenced my MG-34!)

The 2" Mortar Round that took out my LMG!

The Australians overrun the advanced position

It wasn't long before things were looking grim, to say the least...and then, finally, the mortar, which had been missing just about every round fired...began to get the range..and it began to take a terrible toll among the Australians.

The Mortar that saved our bacon!

The Australian advance begins to falter under accurate German mortar fire

A closeup of the Australian advance

While the Australian advance in the center was faltering, and one of their tanks was damaged by 37mm fire (which was about all we could manage from the front), their advance up the left was gaining steam, and it looked like we were going to lose another position...when I turned to my fellow Germans...and asked for some mortar rounds...it was our last two rounds...and boy, did they deliver.

The Australian advance on the German left is finally stopped.

At that point, the Australian player morale cracked, and the game was called. As it was, it was a very near run thing..we had no ammo for the mortar and about 12 guys left out of three squads, a Platoon HQ, a mortar, and a 37mm Gun Crew. Not much at all left if the Aussies tried again. (Which historically, they did not, but the Germans fled during the night).

I think what hurt the Aussies was frankly, our dice were hot, and theirs were not. I saw one poor Aussie player roll 4 consecutive FUBAR rolls with one squad in a row. It was well, to put it mildly, quite ugly as that squad did little more than break to the rear after a couple moves of trying to get forward. Meanwhile, once our mortar's dice got hot, they stayed hot. And it was telling what a well placed 8cm mortar round can accomplish!

The positions at Game End

FJ Duck Shooting, or adventures on Crete

Ah Crete, that sunny island in the Mediterranean where 76 years ago, two very different but motivated armies, faced each other in a fight that was nothing short of brutal.

I played a game at Tom's house last night, as he is experimenting with Bolt Action, 2nd Ed. We used a scenario from Skirmish Campaign's book on Crete, it was based on the fight for the northern end of Herklion Airfield, which historically, ended badly for the Germans, with an entire FJ Regiment being slaughtered in and around the airfield.

I played British, one, because I loved the idea of using a 40mm Bofors in a game, and two? I didn't fancy the German chances at all. They were dropping onto a wide open runway surrounded by low hills, where a dug in British infantry platoon (from the 2nd Bn, Black Watch) awaited.

Boy was I wrong.

My co-players, John, who was an experienced wargamer, but new to Bolt Action, and Glen, who is new to wargaming, were a good mix of players, and the good thing about Bolt Action is that it is beginner freindly. Now I had an opportunity through variable attachment rolls to get some armor, or perhaps more infantry, or maybe a FO team...nope, I got a 3" mortar that did little during the game but miss a lot.

The Germans took some flak on the way in from the Bofors and some Bren guns, but little damage was done due to our collective bad dice luck, and only one German squad suffered the fate of most accounts of the battle, where they were cut down scrambling to get to the weapons containers. Instead, most German squads landed easily and proceeded to grab their weapons with little trouble, then hightailed it for the nearest cover, daring the British to come after them.

So, of course, we did, but with only 10 turns, and the Germans having a hell of a head start on us, it proved to be a task too far for us to kill all the Germans. The one assault the Germans launched on British positions was broken up with some casualties on our side, but all in all, it soon became a cat and mouse game with the Germans, one that they played to run out the clock and win the game.

I liked the scenario, but the game illustrated my concerns about Bolt Action. It's kinda gimmicky and it seems that actually killing anyone as opposed to endless pins is more likely. Not that I am objecting, but it in this case, served to slow the game down.

I would probably have to play it again, but hey, I have another shot at another Crete game next week!

And wouldn't you know it, but I didn't get any photos! AARGH!!!

Stubborn Defense on the Outskirts of Stalingrad

On Sunday, I and a relative newcomer to the hobby went over to a friend's house to help an old freind of mine, Mike Pierce, playtest a new 28mm scale Battlegroup WW-II scenario he is preparing to run at Cold Wars.

It's set during the initial drive of the German panzers towards Stalingrad and specifically, the line of advance by the German 24th Panzer from the south, and the scratch Soviet forces put in their way to buy time to reinforce the city.

I, my newcomer friend, and George Buzby (who was to later redeem the entire Soviet defense with his very capable use of our mortars) ended up on the Russian side, whereas our host, and most of the other gamers wound up on the German side.

We had to hold a railway station for 10 turns, and of course, not run out of BR, but we had some issues:

A view of the Battlefield from the Russian Side. The railstation is in the lower left of the picture

1. Over half of our initial force was little more than militia. No ability to close assault, Inexperienced morale, and 5 man squads with no automatic weapons. In short, speed bumps, they had some heavy weapons at the platoon level (an ATR and a Maxim).

2. The Regulars were also Inexperienced, and while they had some means to fight back against the German force coming right at us, with Molotovs, a 45mm ATG, an ATR, and a 76mm Infantry Gun, as well as some off table mortars, we had to hold on for six turns or cede control of an objective to get our reinforcements, which consisted of more Inexperienced armor (2 T-34 and 1 KV -1) and NKVD infantry. We did have a sniper team as well, who did remarkably well for a few turns.

3. The major problem, the initial BR for the Soviets was 20. Thus the usual Soviet defense of "hold your positions and make them bleed" was not doable under the circumstances. We somehow had to hold off the Germans for 10 turns and prevent them from taking the rail station.

The hapless Soviet defenders, before the storm breaks

So, how to fight a mobile battle with no vehicles and green as grass infantry against Hitler's veteran panzers?

A horde of Hitlerites!

Well...we almost managed it.

What helped us at first was some lucky rounds from the mortars being called in and destroying one of the German armored cars. This plus some bad German die rolls for the entry of their units helped a lot. It slowed them down quite a bit, our sniper managed to kill the German FO team, and give the rest of the Germans a scare. (The sniper team soon fell from HE and MG fire from one of the MK IVs). The mortars managed to pin the German flank for a turn (a remarkable six units no less) and one German recon squad was shot to pieces after it walked into a building ringed with Soviet positions. At that point, it was all for the loss of an ATR on the Soviet side.

First Blood to the Glorious People's Mortars!

But that was the extent of the Soviet luck. After that, the Soviets could not seem to roll to save their lives. German "6s" seemed to appear at will, and the Soviet defense began to crumble as two Stuka missions (one timed, and one random chit draw) appeared to pummel the Soviets. The militia had to abandon their positions on our right because well, we could not afford to take the casualties as early in the game. (It also did not help we drew two "5s" in a row).

Just as things looked bleak, the Soviet reinforcements appeared, and the Soviet BR got a bit of a bump. Then, the Germans played a breakdown counter, and immobilized the KV-1. We were well positioned to shoot up the leading MK-IV and immobilize him, failing to kill him at all (this came down to our hero mortars, who really were the saving grace for the Soviets, again, well done George!).

Another Glorious blow by the People's Mortars!

But the BR began to pile up as unit after unit simply folded up under the heavy German fire, and it wasn't long before the game was called..on Turn 9. One more turn, and it would have been a Soviet victory. But alas, this was not to be,

But, as much as 90% of our predicament was the Soviet side's abysmal dice luck, there were some suggestions I made:

1. Give the militia Molotovs, don't let them seek out close combat with German armor, but at the very least? Let them defend against it and force the Germans to dig them out.

2. Make the initial Regulars Regular morale, there's just too many green Soviet troops against just a horde of German veterans.

Mike thought both were good ideas, and he increased the size of the militia squads to 8. It makes a lot of sense as there were lots of militia units forming in Stalingrad. They were untrained hordes, but they were hordes nonetheless.

Well, hopefully with the changes, and a slightly less compressed map (that did prove to be a slight issue), the game will play a bit tighter, as it was, even with our hapless Soviets, we almost won.