Crisis Point 2019 Operation Herkules game 1

Will and I travelled over the Pennines to Dungworth on Friday afternoon and met up with Richards P and C.  Having got all the tables out of storage and ready, it was time to get the table laid out ready for day 1 of our game on the Saturday, based on the planned Axis invasion of Malta during 1942.  We were using Battlegroup rules with stats from the Tobruk, Torch and Barbarossa supplements.

The first scenario was going to be similar to the assault on Crete, with two platoons of Fallschirmjager, supported by a platoon of Folgore making an assault drop in the west central part of the main island, to secure an airfield.  They would be pitted against an airfield defence platoon and a lorried platoon forming an anti-paratrooper patrol, supported by a collection of tanks consisting of a Vickers Mk VI, A13 and Matilda II.

The table was c. 8x6ft, hilly on one long edge, with a road, villages and walled fields on the opposite long edge.  In the middle is an open space - an ideal landing zone - cut by a branching dry stream bed, forming some solid cover, but painful if landed on top of.

The airfield, complete with Gloucester Gladiator and Kittyhawk models.

An Italian SM-79 representing the pre-game bombardment, which resulted in British troops only sharing a d6 orders per turn for the first 3 turns.

The axial road and villages, scenes of some intense fighting between the British infantry patrols and Fallschirmjager, before the arrival of the British tanks ended German ambition in this area.

With Malta being firmly a British outpost, the villages were characterised by Mediterranean architecture mixed with red post boxes and a statue of Queen Victoria in the central square.

The unusual combination of architectural influences.

Around the villages, walled fields enclosed crops, orange and lemon groves, olive groves and vineyards.

Cactus patches reused here to represent thorny scrub growing in the foothills of the hills.

The dry gullies reaching up into the foothills.

The airfield, with AA defences in the form of two dug in Bofors guns.

So, the scene was set for the paratroopers to jump into death or glory (possibly both), while the British defenders were busy digging trenches and making sure every plane possible was ready for operations from first light.

More on the first day action as I get them downloaded from the phone.  Thanks for looking.