Ardennes '44 Battle Report - the Crossroads

Last Thursday I had a yen to play a winter game. Having just finished scratchbuilding some schurzen for my Classic Armor Diecast Pzkpfw. IV's, I wanted to get them on the table - even though the tactical numbering and weathering hasn't been done yet :-(  Gamer's ADD - but stay tuned for a post on those in the near future.

Anyway, I laid out some Ardennes-y looking terrain for the Germans and Americans to fight over. The scenario we used was one from Bolt Action but we used our house rules, "Blitzkrieg!" for the game.

The objective of the scenario was to be the side holding the buildings with no enemy contesting. (The Germans were the attacking side, trying to punch through and take a vital crossroads. The Americans got an infantry squad and a bazooka starting in the village.) As this is a forested area, I ruled that any off-road movement by vehicles was restricted to d6" and only after passing a Training check. Of course, in the real Battle of the Bulge any traffic was restricted to roads for this reason.

American bazooka team. The remaining American relief force consisted of two squads of paratroopers, three Sherman tanks and a couple of bazooka teams. Half of them started on the table edge. The rest of the Americans came on as reserves, starting on turn 2. I ruled that in order to come on, the unit must pass a Training check.

The Germans got three Waffen-SS panzergrenadier sections each in a Sdkfz. 251 halftrack, a command section and Panzerschreck team in a Sdkfz. 250, and three Pzkpfw. IV(h) tanks. Two of the infantry sections started the first turn on the table, dismounted - seen above in the trees at top right and centre right.

It took awhile for the Germans to come on table as they were finding it difficult to pass their Training checks. Probably something like this going on off table:

The American Shermans had no such issues and one tank rolled on from each US entry point.

A squad of paratroopers moved up to the right of the road, while a .30 cal. team hopped into the foxholes to the left.

Farther left, more paras move up.

Pzkpfw. IV(h) moves up, followed by a Sdkfz. 251.

Bazooka teams wait in ambush. Our ruleset allows "overwatch" fire - basically you forego shooting in your own turn and place a marker where you're aiming. If in its next turn, a target moves within range of the marker, you can take your shot at that point.

Bazookas have the roads locked down...

German infantry shoot up the American bazooka team in the ruined house while the "IV" rolls forward and knocks out the Sherman.

Next turn, German machineguns turn on the foxhole.

Over in the centre, SS infantry take the house ruin while the Sherman gets immobilized. The game ended in a draw, with Germans at the crossroads but the Americans contesting their possession of the objective. The Shermans were all "pillboxed" with their tracks knocked off or engines damaged, but there were still paratroopers about to cause the Germans problems in consolidating.

The Americans' die rolling luck was appalling - I think Mike in particular suffered from "1-itis" with his tanks. A fun game though and I like the aesthetic of the winter terrain. I think that in Spring I may do some work on the winter ground cloth - my ubiquitous Martha Stewart bedsheet. I reckon it could benefit from a light random spray with brown or green-yellow rattlecan - just to give a bit of interest and texture. Of course it's always more fun to play winter-themed games when it's nice and hot outside... right now there's plenty of winter terrain around - just in 1:1 scale :-(

Some 15mm World War 2 Stuff

15mm Panzer IV-Hs - the one on the front left is from PSC - the others are Battlefront

After a grumble about running out of photo space on the site, I tried to use Flickr. I loathe the various free photo-sharing sites, and this renewed attempt to employ one lasted about fifteen minutes. So I am now bent over by Google. It was just a matter of time anyway!  So with that out of the way, finally a new post!

Another view of the PSC Mark IV

I had not done much of this since Curt C's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge wrapped up earlier this year, but the WW2 bug has got me again. I have a pile of 15mm stuff waiting for attention, and I am starting to move through it. Just a few pics of some recent worktable progress on more 15mm WW2 material - German and Russian stuff from the Eastern Front.

A Mark IV-H from Battlefront - I barely managed to get the armoured skirts attached...

For the Germans, some Mark IV-H panzers.  One of these had been painted some time ago - and had already seen action on the gaming table (too bad it could not help its larger friends during that game, but anyway)- but the other two are new models.  One is from Battlefront, and the other is a test model from Plastic Soldier Company.

The PSC Mark IV panzer models are lovely, whereas the Battlefront models - which look nice too - are pure hell to put together.  On the other hand, the Battlefront Panzers are available with the Zimmerit finish, which may matter to some folks. I highly recommend the PSC Panzers, so long as you don't want (or don't care about) Zimmerit on the tanks.

I started basing my 15mm vehicles while working on my Golan Heights Project.  I liked the overall effect, so I have started doing this for my WW2 15mm stuff as well.  So far I'm pleased with the results, although the grass was maybe a little lighter than I had hoped.

And now the infantry...

Some 15mm Russians from Battlefront...about 1/100th of the total force I will need...

Russians are up first. You pretty much always need a lot of Russian troops for almost any Eastern Front scenario, so this is the first step in tackling a LARGE pile of stuff. These are Battlefront castings - but I have some Peter Pig ones coming up too. And I am doing a few on individual bases, for skirmish gaming purposes.  More on that in a later post...

It will be a while before enough stuff is accumulated to play a game, but Dallas mentioned the other day that the 70th anniversary of Kursk is next year.  I think that will serve as a nice motivation to get through this pile and fill a table with flaming tanks next year...

Battle Report - King Tiger Fail (Bolt Action in 15mm)

German King Tigers lead counter attack (not exactly as depicted)

Last week Dallas hosted our regular game.  We played the popular (and excellent) new Bolt Action rules, but used 15mm models instead of 25mm-28mm figures. The scenario was late war Eastern Front, set in Poland in the summer of 1944, with a German counter-attack against the Russian bridgehead over the Vistula River.  The actual counterattack included the 501st Schwere Panzer Abteilung, equipped with King Tiger tanks, so this provided us with an excuse to roll a platoon of fabled "big cats" on to the table.

Panzer Grenadiers and Mark IV-H - models from Battlefront

King Tiger platoon - models from Battlefront.  This would be terrifying...in most games.....

The table was 6'x4'.  The Germans had to enter on one short edge and cross the table to exit the other short edge.  The German force included a platoon of panzer grenadiers in half tracks, a Panzer IV-H, and a platoon of four mighty King Tiger tanks!  The Russian opposition consisted of a blocking force of a platoon of infantry and a platoon of T-34/76s, and off-table reinforcements in the order of a company of 10 T-34/85s and another platoon of infantry.   The blocking force was able to occupy a ruined village at the centre of the table before the game started while the Germans marched on.  The Germans would have 10 turns to make the crossing of the table.

Russian forces prepare to try and block the German advance - models from Old Glory and Plastic Soldier Company

Germans would have to enter from the left side of the photo, and get all the way across to exit from the right side (across the bridge)

 Hugh and Dallas took command of the Germans while I played the Russian side.  Historically the King Tiger tank, although fearsome, was beset with all sorts of challenges - it was slow, and very prone to breakdown.  To reflect this, we slowed the King Tiger's move pace to 6", as opposed to the regular move of 9" for tracked vehicles.  The King Tigers were also prone to a "Scottish Check" if they ever tried a run order (i.e. double move) to reflect the tendency of the drive trains on the big tanks to break.  If a "1" was rolled, the tank would be immobilized.

One other modification - the sheer number of Russian units/vehicles may have made the game difficult, so we applied a kind of "hen and chicks" rule to the Russian tanks, making them operate in platoons.  If the platoon was to fire, all tanks would have to try and hit the same target.

T-34/76s move up into the village

"I'll just race through the village - what could go wrong?"

Even though we were playing a smaller scale, we left the ranges un-changed, so both sides were getting stuck in right from the first turn.  Dallas had smoked the T-34/76s by the end of the second turn, and my off-table reinforcements started to appear in the third turn.  The fortunes of the King Tigers took a turn for the worse...

T-34/85s enter from the flank - note the pin markers starting to accumulate on the Tiger in the village...

Dallas had one of the worst bad-luck dice-rolling evenings I can recall in a long time.  "1" after "1" after "1"....it was really something.  The Tigers would miss their shots, or miss the penetration roll, or fail to do anything serious if they did penetrate...it was something else.  Meanwhile, on the Russian side, we had some pretty hot rolls, and the T-34/85s were able to score a couple of kills on the big cats.

King Tiger hammers away at T-34/76s

T-34/85s arrive with tank riders for support

Hugh sent the panzer grenadiers in for an assault into the village, with the support of his Panzer IV-H.  I sent one platoon of tanks directly in to the village, and two more up behind the village in a blocking position.  Because of Dallas' horrible luck, we were able to slow the German assault to the point where it was not going to make it across the table.  Pressed for time, Dallas took the chance on double-moving his King Tiger tanks, and when it came time for the check on whether the tank would break down, he rolled...."1"s, of course.

T-34/85s advance over a bridge

Now THAT is how you take out a King Tiger! Double sixes on two penetration rolls...

Panzer grenadiers capture a building in the village

Russian infantry continues to attack

Crumps show the withering fire endured by the T-34/85s as they approached the village

The Germans still chewed up the Russian force - they lost two and a half squads of infantry, seven tanks knocked out and two more immobilized.  The Germans lost a squad of infantry, the Mark IV-H was immobilized, two of the King Tigers were knocked out and a third broke down.  We called the game at the end of the sixth turn.

Russian go after a German squad that got a little too close...

T-34/85s hammer the village

This King Tiger broke down during the advance...to add insult to injury, the T-34/85s later knocked it out!

This was my first run through the new Bolt Action rules and I was really, really impressed with them.  We played what was essentially a massive game - over 3,100 points of stuff per side. Still, the game moved fast. Keeping track of kills to the infantry (which were based in groups) was only a minor headache, easily handled with a tally sheet, "casualty caps" or some other such approach.  If you have WW2 stuff based for "Flames of War", feel free to give Bolt Action a try - I think you will enjoy it.

This King Tiger ALSO broke down during the advance

Looking back I think slowing the King Tigers down was a little too hard on the Germans, considering how much table they had to cover. But I think a more - er - "average" outing by the Tiger gunners would have changed things for the Germans.  I am looking forward to playing the Bolt Action rules again - and I am looking at using them for my Golan Heights project too.


Immobilized and burning King Tigers

The final turn - lots of wrecked tanks, but the German advance had been stopped

The platoon-based action for the Russian tanks worked very well too - it was a good way to have a great deal of armour on the table, but still reflect the Russians' relative lack of initiative when it came to the operations of their tanks.

Thanks again to Dallas for hosting.  I can't wait to play Bolt Action again.

Meanwhile, I expect Dallas will burn those dice...