An even bigger Flames of War game

It was a gaming weekend at the Defenders club in Broughton a couple of weeks ago.  This gave the opportunity for a large Flames of War game to be organised with 10 players, 5 Soviets and allied Romanians taking on 5 Germans.  An interesting confrontation then between Romanian Panzer IVs and German Panzer IVs.  I found myself on the right flank of the German line next to Adam, Ben, Dave and Ian with Phil and his Jagdtigers as overall commander and fire brigade.  Opposite were Luke, Pete, Martin, James and another Ian (I think).  Germans each had 2000 points and the Russians I think had 3000 points.

Views of the battlefield looking towards the Soviet table edge, moving along the table from German left to right.  The left flank, scene of some hot PzIV on PzIV action.

 Centre of the table.

 Ruined factory

 German right flank with blitzed town

   
Looking along the table from the German right, Germans on left, Soviets on right.

 The opposite end of the table.

The situation at lunchtime.  Three turns in and the Romanians and Germans were having at it with relish on the German left, but Luke's cunning plan for the Soviets was to refuse the German right and make a concerted push on the German left and centre.  This meant my Grenadier company was able to occupy the ruined town with ease and set up a PAK front with 88s and Adams PAK40s.  Unfortunately, we had little to shoot at.

 Lunchtime on the German left with PzIVs on both sides.  Ian had some misadventures with no AA on table to prevent a Sturmovik strike, which was pretty devastating, and an even more devastating artillery bombardment, which destroyed a Panther platoon.  Fortunately, Phils Jagdtigers stabilised the situation.

 The fighting about to get messy between Romanians and their former German allies.

 Dave's sector of the German front, note the T34s lined up in the middle distance.  These were supposed to be sweeping around having despatched Ian and Dave's forces and rolling up Ben, Adam and yours truly.  Unfortunately, the T34 commander hadn't had enough Vodka and steadfastly stood firm trading shots at a distance with the better armed German tanks.  I suspect the NKVD will be making a visit soon.

 Adam and Ben making a concerted effort to secure the objective by the big house on the road towards the left of the view, with Adams grenadiers having secured the ruined factory objective.

Close of play, with my grenadiers still having little to do, despite the late appearance of some lend lease Churchills and T34s to give me something to shoot at.







 On the left flank, the fighting was intense, with lots of scrap metal to deal with after the war.

 Final view of the ruined town that my grenadiers held, pretty much uncontested throughout the game.

All in all a fun game.  Luke's plan could have worked well, but the T34s seemed reluctant to get stuck in and the brunt of the fighting fell to the Romanians.  Phil's use of his heavy cats as a fire brigade worked really well and they were able to add stability wherever they were committed although they remain surprisingly vulnerable to artillery.  A great game and a big thank you to all involved.

Thanks for looking.

Flames of War game

Last Saturday a group of dedicated wargamers got together at a secret venue in Ellesmere Port to play Flames of War.  Six players, each 2000 points of Late War Normandy lists.  On the Allies right was Aiden with a British Infantry Company, in the centre Dennis with a mixed US armour/infantry list and lots of artillery and on the left Dave with a British armoured squadron.  Squared up against this allied might was Phil on the German right with lots of Jagdtigers (Normandy!!!???), Rick with a PzIV armoured kampfgruppe and myself on the left of the line with an SS panzergrenadier company.

Dennis, the allies "El Supremo" briefs Dave on his defensive tactics - hide and, if he spots you, run - he is facing Jagdtigers after all.  Meanwhile, Rick, aka Guderian, takes an oblique aerial shot from his Storch.  View looking across the table, Germans deploying on the right, allies on the left.

 Aiden, feeling a bit isolated, and ganged up on, on the allies right.

 The might of a Panzergrenadier company supported by PzIVs, 88s and a 105mm battery, ready to start to contest the ruins on the German left.

 The rear area of the Pzgrenadiers with a mortar platoon and 75mm IG section.

 A nice solid firebase with a grenadier platoon hunkered down in the ruins, flanked by dug in 88s.

 The objective farm sited along the boundary between my Pzgrenadiers and Ricks panzers, scene of some early attempts at coup-de-main by Aidens recce carriers.

 The scene of my first successful close assault by a Gepanzert platoon, two of Ricks recce armoured cars lifted Aidens defenders gone to ground status allowing the Sdkfz 251s to eliminate them and take the objective.

 The village on Aiden's flank with Dennis, the scene of Ricks wild PzIV ride and the furthest German advance of the day.

Unfortunately, in the heat of battle I neglected to take a more comprehensive set of photos.  My Pzgrenadiers and Ricks Pzs ganged up on Aiden, significantly wearing down his forces.  On the German right, Phils Jagdtigers advanced slowly on Dave's troops, surrounding themselves with burning Stuarts and Shermans.  However, their advance was too slowand Dave's dogged resistance meant his sector scored highest for the allies.  In the centre, Dennis's US artillery park was spectacularly ineffective, although his armour slugged it out with Ricks panzers, effectively neutralising both armoured forces.  Dennis cleverly held the village objectives and infiltrated infantry through to contest German held objectives, thereby cutting a lot of victory points off the German total.  On the German left, Rick and I held our objectives and took one of the ruined town objectives from Aiden, but his recce carriers kept the objective contested so no points there.  Overall, the allies won a victory in terms of objectives held and contested, although at the cost of the loss of both British flank forces and a significant portion of the US armour in the centre.  The German centre lost a lot of PzIVs and I lost my only PzIV troop (the first outing for my PSC PzIVs so no surprise at the poor first showing), but Phil's Jagdtigers were almost unharmed (loss of a Wirblwind section and one Jagdtiger only).

All in all a really fun game.  After playing several games of FoW, I'm finally beginning to see the nuances and subtleties of the game.  Still not sure how close to WW2 it is but it does give a fun game and the feel of the game is getting better for me.  Thanks to all involved, especially Aiden for the scenario, Rick for the scenery and inviting me, and Phil for the venue.

Thanks to you too for looking.

AMX-VCG conversion

While building my French armoured division c. 1985, it became apparent that I needed some engineering vehicles, primarily for mine clearing.  Based on responses on the TO&E site, it became apparent that in the mid 80's, mine clearance was still being done with an AMX-VCG, effectively an AMX-VCI with a dozer blade, jib and winch plus a trailer.

The look I'm aiming for, but in plain green drab rather than the later tri-colour scheme and with the jib folded back and dozer blade lowered..

As no one makes these in 6mm, I decided to try a conversion of my own.  I picked up two packs of AMX-VCI from Heroics and Ros, from the old Davco/Skytrex range they bought out last year.  I also picked up a pack of 10 dozer blades on e-bay from Keep Wargaming (some of their old Davco stock).  To this I added  a couple of packs of 1 tonne trailers from the neutral equipment range at Scotia.  To create the jib, I used some copper wire from Hobbycraft, bent into a suitable shape, with an offcut of plastic strip to act as the winch and jib support.  Once the jib and support were superglued into place, the dozer blade was attached to the bow of the AMX and this, with the trailer, was mounted on a suitable mdf base and painted.

Hey presto!

 

 

So, I converted 8 of these to provide me with two companies of armoured engineers for CWC.  Should do nicely for mine clearance duties.

Thanks for looking.

French armour on the offensive 1985

Thursday night Ian and I played a CWC game at the Deeside Defenders club.  I brought along two cuirassier regiments of AMX-30s and a mechanised regiment of infantry in AMX-10Ps with AMX-GCT artillery support (FAOs attached to each regiment) and a couple of recon platoons in 4x4s.  Ian came up with a scenario which involved the French armoured division assaulting a Soviet CAT II Motor Rifle regiment in BMPs with T64s (not T62s as originally posted - thanks Ian).  We had a last minute extra player so assigned him a battalion of US M1s representing the advance elements of a breakthrough force aiming to exploit and French success.

The NATO rear area with artillery assets deployed and on table units awaiting mobile deployment at the table edge.  In the distance the US M1s on NATOs left flank.  In the middle and nearest the camera are two French armoured regiments, with the mechanised regiment on the left.

 The Soviet rear area - lots of rocket artillery support - very nasty!

 The table layout, NATO attacking from left to right.  We were attempting to create a situation on NATOs southern flank around 2-3 weeks after an initial Soviet invasion with NATO launching a counter attack south of Fulda towards southern East Germany and/or Czechoslovakia.  Therefore, the terrain was designed to represent farmland crossed by a road and rail network, with sporadic low hills and isolated woods.

The French were told that there was no direct air support available, what air assets were around were interdicting the flanks along with helicopter gunships.  Opposition was to be a CAT II motor rifle regiment with the possibility of other armour assets to engage as the battle developed and the Soviets committed other assets.

The surroundings of the game at the Defenders club, with Ian (centre) engaging in verbal riposte with other club members.

As Ian was dug in, it was assumed that NATO air recce assets had identified these positions, so first turn saw scheduled assets smoke the forces opposite the French centre and left flank with HE concentrations also hitting portions of the left and centre.  These HE strikes were largely ineffective in the centre, but destroyed a dug in AT troop and suppressed another on the French left, clearing the way for the M1 battalion.

The situation at the end of turn 1 with French armour advancing towards the central village engaging a Soviet motorcycle recce stand in the village and attempting to secure the French right.  The second armoured regiment has advanced to short range of the Soviets dug in to the edge of the central woods.  They have traded long distance fire with a company of T64s and Sagger fire from BMPs.  The M1s in the far distance are approaching the Soviet defences dug in on the hill.  Soviet rocket artillery firing ICM concentrated on the French right, causing hits and a few suppressions, allowing BRDM-3 firing ATGM and T-64s to pick off a couple of stands.

In turn 2, the armoured regiment on the French right exchanged largely ineffective shots at long range with the T-64s and put paid to the recce stand.  In the centre, the French armour effectively neutralised or destroyed the T-64s and BMPs in front of them and close assaulted one of the infantry stands, destroying it.  On the left, the M1 battalion advances around the left of the hill, attempting to flank the remaining Soviet defenders, although a storm of HE sweeps the last dug in AT gun from the crest of the hill.

In more detail, the French in the centre can be seen suffering the effects of IATWs and long range Saggers and T-64 fire, although the Soviet defenders in the woods behind the village are almost eliminated.

In the left flank, the M1s fail their orders just short of getting a flank shot into the BMPs which have been causing at least some harm to the French centre.

In turn 3 the French right continue trading shots with T-64s behind the hedges to their front, while the French centre tried to finish of the defenders in the central woods with close assaults by the mechanised company, and took on the T-64s behind hedges beyond the woods.  Artillery was pretty ineffective this turn, but US CB fire more or less silenced the Soviet rocket artillery, which was nice.  IOn the left flank, US M1s edged the hill and opened fire on the move on the BMPs deployed behind hedges, destroying them pretty efficiently, before destroying/suppressing the T-64s which had been firing on the French centre.

 
In more detail, French AMX-10s can be seen just beyond the village, fresh from their mounted assault on dug in infantry.

View of the fire zone for the BMPs Saggers waiting to take on the oncoming French armour.

The US M1s having effectively silenced the BMPs and T-64s, have turned the Soviet flank.

Ians T-64s, his last decent armour, effectively suppressed.

At this point we ran out of time.  I suspect there would have been some hard fighting ahead for the French, but the US M1s were free to roam the table largely at will, so the result was a foregone conclusion, unless the Soviets could get their armour reinforcements on the table.

There were some interesting conclusions, not least from the French point of view, just how brittle the AMX-30s are.  They pack a punch and have a reasonable number of hit points, but a pretty lousy saving throw, so can only really survive on a battlefield lacking a lot of armour and ATGM and even then really need to move rapidly from cover to cover.  They aren't going to be easy to play in a stand up fight.  I suspect there will have to be lots of artillery and air support to give them any chance unless they are up against second rate motor rifle units.  Even T-64s can out match them!

Thanks for looking.

21st Panzer Division Counterattack - the conclusion

Day two of our games weekend dawned to a typical foggy November morning.  We got on with the action, which largely consisted of the various elements of 21st Panzer hunkering down in any suitable obscuring terrain (mainly Lebisey woods and the outskirts of Caen and Epron), while the British artillery (both Naval and Field) and Typhoons plastered anything in the open.  II Abt of PzRegt 22 lost a couple of PzIVs and Somua S35s to this, but they mainly made it into the woods and took up positions on the northern edge of the woods.  The Pz-pioneers eventually debussed at the edge of the Caen BUA and deployed along the edge of town, with 88mm Heer Flak assets in support.  The 21st Panzer FAOs called down battalion barrages on anything that looked like a concentration of infantry and any armour they could include in the beaten zone.  A recce Stuart stand tried to locate infantry in the woods, but was close assaulted by a pioneer and panzergrenadiers, becoming a casualty.

We called it a day in the early afternoon, having reached c. 6pm in game time, with the 21st Panzer firmly establishing a stopline in Lebisey woods and the edge of Caen and still contesting Epron and Blainville, both of which, especially Blainville, remained vulnerable to British advances, although probably at a high cost.  In the end we agreed that the British and German artillery, while unpleasant to be on the receiving end, was probably pretty realistic.  We thought the use of air power was probably too effective and discussed possibly allowing a random sortie to be available on a random basis, say a 50% chance, but still needing to be called in as usual.  We also felt that the game would have benefited from a wider table layout to allow more room for 21st Panzer to sidestep the advancing British, as they did in the actual battle.  We also considered using a more random appearance for the British (e.g. 6 on D6 on turn 1, 5 or 6 on D6 on turn 2, etc.) and German (6 on d6 on turn 3, etc) off table forces, to simulate delays getting off the beach for the British and Allied airforce interdiction delaying the Germans.

All in all a really enjoyable game with quite a nice flavour for the period.

The British infantry suffering the effects of suppression from artillery as they advance between Mathieu and Epron.  Losses were particularly high in infantry and supports in this area.

 Epron and Caen to the right with Lebisey woods in the centre background/.

 Looking north showing 21st Panzer deployed in Lebisey woods and Epron, with one stand surviving in  Blainville (to the right and behind Lebisey woods).

21st Panzer troops at the edge of Lebisey woods and the stalled British advance beneath Perriers Ridge.

 Looking south from Benouville.

 Looking southeast from Perriers Ridge.

Thanks for looking.

21st Panzer Division counterattack AAR



It's a Deeside Defenders games weekend.  We (Ian and I) had planned a big Sword Beach game incorporating airborne and beach landings plus the push for Caen, but we would have needed about 6 players.  In the event, Will joined us for the day, so, with three players we scaled the game back to 3rd British Divisions push for Caen by 185th Brigade and the counter attack by 21st Panzer.

 

The photo below shows the view of the table looking south with Perriers Ridge at the far end, the eastern table edge representing the Orne River and the outskirts of Caen in the foreground.  

 Looking east.

 Looking north.  A parachute battalion started the game dug-in in Benouville, east of Perriers Ridge, with a company from II Battalion PzGren Regt 192 in Blaineville just beyond and the remainder of the battalion in Lebisey woods.  88mm AT gun assets were placed with the II Batt and in the outskirts of Caen along with Heer AA assets.  The game was scheduled to begin at 3pm game time with the three battalions of 185th Brigade, plus an attached Sherman regiment, entering the table using mobile deployment from north of Perriers Ridge (at the bottom of the photo).

 View along Perriers Ridge, looking west at the end of turn 3.  The British battalions have crossed Perriers Ridge and are approaching Lebisy Woods.

 View looking south at the end of the third turn (3:45pm).  Elements of Kampfgruppe Oppeln are on table moving along the east bank of the Orne, while Kampfgruppe Rausch are partially on table in the suburbs of Caen.

 KG Rauch moving into Epron and the eastern edge of Lebisy woods.

 And again.

 I and II Abt from PZ Regt 22 moving up behind Lebisy woods anchored on the Orne River to the east.

 By move 6, the Germans had learned the power of British artillery and air support.  KG Rauch had lost most of its armoured transport to 105mm Priest artillery barrages, while I Abt of 22nd Panzer had been eliminated by repeated strikes by Naval artillery, Priest barrages and Typhoon strikes.  In the photo the void left by the demise of 22nd Panzer I Abt is to the east of Lebisy woods in the right mid-ground.  KG Rauch has been reduced to dismounted infantry hunkering down in Epron and Lebisy woods,  II Abt Pz Regt 22 and more Pz-grenadiers are moving up behind the woods.  In the distance, the British battalions on the German left and centre have both experienced some Hun hate in the form of concentrated 105mm and 150mm arty barrages, which have hurt the leg infantry quite badly, stalling their advance up to now.

 Looking east, the killing zone between Lebisy woods/Epron and Mathieu/Beuville where movement for both sides is currently a problem.

 Looking south towards Caen in the distance.

This is where we called it a day for Day 1.  Tomorrow will be an interesting contest between the might of British arty and air assets and the pluck of Jerry infantry trying to hold the stop line around Caen.  Interestingly, this is where the 21st Panzer did stop 3rd British Infantry Division historically, although they did manage to get a company of Pz-grenadiers onto the beach before pulling back to Epron at the end of the day.

All in all a fun days play with some interesting thoughts and experiences, particularly the frustrations of getting moving for the British and the devastating effect of British arty for the Germans.  Thanks to Ian and Will for a great game.

Thanks for looking.