I had been mostly running games using late war Soviet forces to get the mechanics of the rules locked down. I decided now that I was generally happy with the flow, I needed to start bring in other national forces to see how they performed on the table top and if they give the national “feel” I am looking for. So, I pulled out some of my British forces to put them to the test.
I just set up another generic battle (which will probably be the case for a little while longer), as to ensure I could focus on the mechanics I wanted to see. The scenario was based loosely on the attack of the 51st highland division attack to the west of Caen.
I set up up the table to play deep, to give the Germans some choices on how far forward to hold and give clear limitation and opportunities to the British to attack and maintain supply. The board was set up with various hills to give a bit of a rolling effect and a lot of wooded areas to sue for cover. I also included a good number of small hamlet/farm areas, a stream and a larger town that the Germans could hinge their defense around.
The German forces would start with their most forward battalion on the table, with two others initially hidden (this was to test the recce rules). All would start entrenched, camouflaged and set for artillery registration. They would have one reserve understrength Tiger battalion that would be potentially available after turn three (based on a die roll under the turn number each turn).
Th British (technically, the Scots) would start set up no within two foot of any visible German unit, up to two foot on the table. The game would start as overcast, with the British rolling each turn until they rolled under the turn number. Once successful, they would receive direct air support from a squadron of Typhoons.
The German force was a regiment of SS Panzergrenadiers, of three battalions. One was mechanized, with the other two motorized. The formation was supported by a battalion of 105s in direct support and a battalion of 150s in general support. The off board reserve was an understrength Tiger battalion (I could not find my Jagd Panthers…).
The British had two Infantry Brigades, supported by a Churchill battalion. The Churchills were required to be cross attached to the infantry battalions. The British attack was supported by two regiments of 25lb artillery. Once the clouds cleared, the RAF would support the attack with a squadron of Typhoons.
The victory conditions would be based on the success of the British attack. If the British could clear a road off the table, they would win a major victory. If they caused more “worn” levels on the Germans than they had themselves taken, they would win a minor victory. Anything less would be a German victory, with having only fifty percent worn results resulting in a German major victory.
The Germans set up one of their battalions forward to contest the forward town and center road. The other two battalions (with the Regimental HQ) was set up in the main town and hidden. The plan was to attrit the British with the forward battalion and use the Gepanzert Grenadiers to shift to wherever the British attack developed.
The British set up with their Brigades abreast. Their plan was to crush the forward German defenses and then sweep to the right and secure the flank.
The British attack got off to a bad start, as the first brigade decided not to receive their order, which delayed their assault for an hour. The second brigade went forward without their mates, as planned. The attack started with some long range artillery and gunnery. This had no real effect on the Germans, but they were able to put out concentrated fire on the attack, maximizing their suppression on the second Brigade. The first brigade got going and slowing came on line over the next few hours, as the second brigade started to close with the Germans. This caused the second brigade to get a bit of a mauling, requiring it to pull one of its battalion out of line. The German losses, started to kick up, but they were still quite manageable.
With the success of the defense, the Germans decided to hold their ground and take their pound of flesh out of the British. Unfortunately, their early success probably caused a bit too much optimism. As the battalion was swarmed and overwhelmed the next two hours and almost destroyed before it pulled back. They had caused the British a lot of damage, but their holding the extra hour resulted in their destruction (and almost guaranteed a British victory).
As the first battalion was getting mauled, the Germans could see how the British attack was developing. The opted to shift the Gepanzert Grenadiers to their left to cover the flank. The Tigers arrived in a timely manner five hours in to help solidify the center.
It took a while, but the clouds finally cleared and the RAF made an appearance, just as the Tigers were taking position. With the targets in sight, the Typhoons went hunting. They were successful in spotting the Tigers and engaging. However, the battalions AA was able to drive off two flights, with the other missing their prey. It was a lucky day to be a Tiger!
Once the fate of the German first grenadiers was clear, it was decided to pull back what little was left of the formation to the rear and hold the next line. The British forces were in hot pursuit, with the remnants of the second brigade exposing themselves again, while the first brigade was charing for the edge, where the Gepanzert grenadiers were waiting for them.
We unfortunately ran out of time at this point (got started a little late), as the store was closing and had to end the game after six turns. It was clear the British would not be able to get a major victory, as they would not have enough force in place to clear the German mechanized infantry and the second brigade was in no condition to clear the center. On the German side, the almost total destruction of the first battalion was enough to give the British the victory. To their count, they had pushed the Germans back two kilometers and destroyed a formation. They had taken serious casualties themselves, but there were more spread within the brigade and could be easily recovered.
Another playlets in the books. Most everything worked well overall. I should have stepped up the pressure to get the players organized sooner, as not to have started late. However, we got far enough to know the outcome. The recce rules worked fine, as did the AA! I did try something a little different with determining fire ranges from the companies the first couple of turns (I was looking for a simplification), but that proved worse than the problem, so we went back to measuring from each company. No plans for any other changes, so it is just a case of running more test case scenarios to lock things down!
- Mantueffel