Consthum Village Blitzkrieg: Bloody Bucket (7b/11)

 

Yesterday morning we played the next game in our Bloody Bucket campaign. After taking Holzthum Village with their force intact, the Germans decided to Blitzkrieg Consthum Village, the next objective on their way to Bastogne. Both sides had full platoons.

Sturm Platoon #5

CD 5 Green FM 8

1 SL (CR reduced to 6")
3 man rifle grenadier team

2 Sturm Squads w/JL

1 LMG Squad w/JL 

Supports (22)

Pregame Barrage (2)

Panther w/SL (12)

le. iG.18 (4)

MMG Team (4)

American Rifle Platoon

CD 5 Regular FM 11

2 SL's w/ Bazooka Team

3 Rifle Squads w/JL

Supports (?)

2 Minefields

Entrenchment

0.3cal MMG team

Sniper

The Game

Since the German FM has been forced down to 8 because Unterfeldweld Johann is now known as "The Butcher", the Americans got to move first. They diced up 2 free moves, so they got 3 moves with their PM's before I even had a look in. You can see the result below with both the position of the PMs as well as the JOP's.

I would have liked to get a little further north and east (you are looking west in the above photo), I was also a little alarmed that the American had got a JOP so far forward but I did notice the P-Y had placed the 2 JOP's in the foreground very close together. Of course, I was attacking from the south and as there were no roads to the south I could enter anywhere on the that edge with my Panther. We had diced up the terrain conditions at the start of the game and fortunately the ground was frozen so no limitation on movement which of course favours the attacking player.

The game did not start off that well for me, as P-Y got multiple double phases and then threw a quadruple 6, getting a free CoC dice. Fortunately, the random event this time was a barrage in the northeast quadrant which affected no one this early in the game. He did place 1 platoon in the house in his forward position. I waited until I finally got a double phase when he was not on overwatch and placed my Panther to the southeast and a le.IG18 in the west with a Sturm squad. I hate placing units in the open but I really had no cover anywhere and P-Y was already well ahead of me in CoC dice. He held off using his squad in the building so I could not fire at them as I was too far away to see them. I felt it was now time to move the game along so I deployed my Rifle Grenadier team in an attempt to force the Americans to reveal themselves which they had to do as they would get overrun. I was now able to bombarding the house with 3 units; the Panther, the IG Team as well as the Sturm squad. 

P-Y was now up to 2 CoC dice while I did not have one, but I was lucky with my firing and wounded a SL he had to deploy in the house. to remove shock. He deployed a 2nd squad behind the house and started to inc them around to get in a position to fire at my units in the open. They only reason I was holding on was that I was firing three units at his one despite me being in the open and the Americans being in hard cover. By now my Rifle Grenadiers had been killed so my FM was down to 7 while P-Y's was down to 9 from 11. His SL in the house got wounded.  I felt the only way to combat this was to increase my firing pressure so I added my LMG squad plus my 2nd Sturm squad to the mix. This worked as I now had 5 units firing and I was starting to cause significant damage, P-Y moved his 2nd squad around the house and fired back at my guys in the open hitting on 4's as my troops are green and the Germans firing back hitting on 5's. I got lucky and 2 more of his his leaders were hit and his FM was down to 5. By now I had moved my Panther next to the house where he had a JOP shutting it down. He had to use a CoC dice to interrupt and move one JOP or I could have shut down both JOP's. 

Things were now looking good, the Americans were forced into a position were they really had just one useful JOP preventing them from firing from the southeast at my flank. I was able to manoeuvre the Panther into a position where it could fire at the American platoon in the open. I was able to fire all 5 units over the next couple of phases at the troops in the open, they broke, the American FM went down to 4 and the American platoon made a break move hauling a wounded SL and JL with them. But I had a CoC dice and ended the turn. Two routed leaders and a team are a lot of FM tests, the American retreated. One table to go! You will note that "The Butcher" stayed back and never deployed so he has not been shot in the back yet.

The Germans lost their 3 Rifle Grenadiers, 1 IG artilleryman, as well as 6 infantrymen. The Americans lost their sniper, their Bazooka team as well as 12 infantrymen.

In respect to the campaign I am at turn 7 still, and just realised from FB that there are no limits on the number of tables you can Blitzkrieg in one turn with one platoon. I did take some loses here, but really if I can take the last battlefield in this turn, the Germans will have a major victory in the campaign. Time to Blitzkrieg yet again. This is going to be a challenge as although the Americans lost many men on Battleground 6 in the original assault, they have been able to retreat enough men from Batllefields 5 and 3 to make a full platoon.

Burn Suomussalmi!

 

Last week, I had a much anticipated game via Virtual Wargaming. I have decided to really push ahead with my Winter War campaign project and wanted to test some new ideas. What really was anticipated though was the chance to put on a Winter War game for some Finnish Wargamers. Who better to comment and constructively critique my plans!

You can find the actual scenario at the end of the post.

Forces

Finland Regular Platoon 5CD +1 (FM 10)

SLx2

LMG Squad x2

Rifle Squad x2

Demolition Squad

Supports

• Demolition Squad
• Bofors PstK 36 ATG

Soviet Union Green Platoon 4CD (FM8)

SL x2

Rifle Squads x3

NKVD Squad

 Supports

• Wrath of the Gods
• 50mm Mortar Team
• MMG Team
• T-26

Summary:

We had 3 players with myself as the games master. Sabbath took the Finns and Eero and Janne took the Soviets. I thought the Finns got quite good JOP's and the Soviets despite the Finns having their special patrol phase rule (not limited by a 12" daisy chain) were well positioned as well. You can see this below.

I am a hopeless photo taker, but at least they are in order. We used dice to assign the Finns the buildings that they had to burn. What they were not sure of is whether they would have to burn more buildings after they burned the first two. 

As you can see below, the buildings with the smoke on top of them were the Finnish targets. The House Burning rules that I had written up to replace the 1940 demolition rules were a bit of a failure, so I will not describe what they were. They were essentially too complicated but at the same time a little too easy to be successful, they will certainly need revision.

The Soviets launched their attack very quickly with the help of The Wrath of the Gods (a modified pre-game barrage) and once Janne arrived made some very aggressive moves.  They got quite close to the small house in the left hand of the screen but then seemed to stop. Sabbath was able to get 3 squads of Finns behind a hedge to defend against the Soviet advance through the woods. The Soviets had 2 squads in the woods and a squad just north and south of the road.

There was a lot of close range fire which the Finns came out on top and one of the squads eventually launched an attack on a Soviet squad driving them back into the Soviet NKVD squad. The NKVD chaps were quite upset about this and suffered significant excess shock.

While all this was going on the Finnish team armed with gasoline bottles were able to catch the first house on fire. They also now had a 2nd Team on board who were working on a much larger house in the centre of the village.

The Soviets had now taken quite a few hits on their Force Morale and although they were able to cause some damage to the Finnish FM by placing their MMG team in the forest which started to chip away at the Finns, their FM dropped quickly to a point where they only had a couple of Command Dice. 

The Finns had thought their job was done but Sabbath got another command from the battalion that their reward for their success was to have to burn two more houses before they could yield to the Soviets. Fortunately for them the Soviets FM dropped quickly to zero so they had to abandon their assault.

Unfortunately, as Eero had not had a chance to deploy the Platoon Commander, so we did not get a chance to see if he would get a visit from the Commissar, end up getting shot and being replaced by a Ranking Senior Leader (CR 12", 4CI).  It would have also be nice to see the T26 in action.

Soviet Squad #4

Attacking Finns

Soviet Squad #3

Finnish Demo Team exiting the house.

Finnish Demo Team #2 in action

Retreating and Broken NKVD

Two Finnish Squads

Broken Soviet Squad #1

Position at the end of the game

Terrain Closeups

Well I am hoping my Finnish friends had a good time. The scenario itself appeared to be OK. The 4CD Soviets seem to be fine. Pity the Ranking Senior Leader did not show up. I certainly need to work on the mechanism to burn houses, as it was not very smooth. The Finnish player certainly played the House Burning rules in a completely unexpected way. But of course that is what play testing is for!

April 9th-Game 4

We had another game in the April 9th campaign this past Tuesday. This was a replay of our 3rd game as the Danes had held the table, we decided to go with the exact same JOP's as our previous game. For a terrific report on the game have a look here, but I can tell you that the Danes are doing their country well.

Holzthum Village Captured- Bloody Bucket (7a/11)

 

Another busy week of wargaming, with the 11th game in our Bloody Bucket campaign. We are now at Turn 7, so the chances of a major German victory has passed. In this game I was attacking Table 3 (Holzthum Village) for the 3rd time. Previous attacks had been by the Flank Attack Scenario, both of course had been unsuccessful, so this time as I had some choice I felt I should go with the Attack and Defend Scenario. As previously reported I now have the sobriquet "The Butcher" from my troops so it was time to win one, before I got shot in the back!

Sturm Platoon #5

CD 5 Green FM 8

1 SL (CR reduced to 6")
3 man rifle grenadier team

2 Sturm Squads w/JL

1 LMG Squad w/JL 

Supports (27)*

Pregame Barrage (2)

Sniper

SL

Panther w/SL (12)

le. iG.18 (4)

MMG Team (4)

*should have been 22...miscounted!

American Rifle Platoon

CD 5 Regular FM 9

2 SL's w/ Bazooka Team

3 Rifle Squads w/JL

Supports (?)

2 Minefields

2 Entrenchment

0.3cal MMG team

Bofors ATG

The Game

I have laid out a few photos below from P-Y, they are always better when taken directly rather than through the internet. As noted above I decided to attack across a broad front, I felt for the first time the Patrol phase went well for me as I was able to restrict all go the American JOP's to on the road or in the houses just south of the road. At the same time I was able to place my JOP's across a very broad front, with one in the centre south and one each on the western and eastern flank (the 2nd picture below is flipped so the south is at the top of the screen). I do not like having unsupported JOP's but the Americans have been very cagey in deploying in all the games so I felt that I only opportunity to win was to force them to deployed when I had all my troops on overwatch. The Pregame Barrage is always a help here.

So I planted my Panther on my left flank, this time with a SL to increase my CI, the tank has 3 weapons. I then got the IG in position on my right flank, and because of a double phase was able to get a MMG team and a LMG squad in the middle of the table behind a hedge all on overwatch. P-Y did put down his Bofors in an entrenchment and it did get off a shot or 2, but I was able to take it out relatively easily.

I threw a quadruple 6! This was the 2nd random event in our game. The last time it was a torrential rain fall which was quite helpful to me. This time, however, one of the house got fire with rapidly spreading smoke to the southwest (5th photo). My plans were a mess. The game settled into multiple CD throws with very little action. We were both accumulating CoC dice, but nothing else was happening. I then decided to shake things up by deploying 2 scout teams, one on the right and one on my left flank. As the JOP's were well up the table, I was able to get both teams in a fairly good position. I captured the entrenchment where the Bofor's had deployed, just south of the road with my left flank advancing scout team. I also was able to advance the the team on the right flank, with a SL and the Rifle Grenadier team to a position just south of the houses on the road behind a hedge and close to the other entrenchment that was placed on road in the previous game. I still could not get the American's to deploy!

I am always fearful of the Bazookas, despite being in a Panther. But it was time to finish off the game so I advanced the Panther up my left flank and got almost to the road. P-Y had move one of his JOP's back to protect it. It was certainly well protected as it was placed in a high walled garden. The Americans had already had one JOP in difficulty as it was in a burning house and I had observed that the other 2 JOP's were quite close to each other. This could be it. I advanced the Panther down the road, but this is where I made a big mistake. I left my side armoured exposed and the tank got ambushed at close range. I felt I was done for but P-Y threw just one hit, despite being 4+. An easy save. The Panther advanced and was able to get within 4" of both JOP's. P-Y withdrew! 

On to Table 5-Consthum Village with a Blitzkrieg!

April 9th Campaign -Game 3

This past Tuesday we gathered online for our 3rd game in our Denmark, 1940 campaign. We had played our Patrol Phase the day before and our positions are as below. As you can see Eero set up a beautiful terrain for us. The German JOP's are in blue, with the Danish ones in red.

I felt this was going to be a pretty tough game for the Germans, as they had to capture my JOP in the windmill. To find another excellent AR and the result of the action, please click here! 

The Last Ditch-Bloody Bucket (6c/10)

We played our 10th game (actually 11th but one had to be replayed) last evening in our Bloody Bucket campaign. With this game, all tables have now been attacked at least once, some several times. This was also the last battle in turn 6, nominally the first day of the battle for Bastogne. In turn 7, we move to the 2nd day of that battle where my support options are now 12 + 5 for each time, there is a re-attack. 

I wanted to attack Table 6, so my supports would be 22 the next time I attacked. I also wanted to do some reconnaissance to see what P-Y supports had on this table. I really had no expectation of winning this game, but surprisingly it was closer than could be predicted. 

Sturm Platoon #2

CD 5 Green FM 8

1 SL (CR reduced to 6")
3 man rifle grenadier team

1 Sturm Squad w/JL (-2 men)

1 Sturm Squad w/JL
1 LMG Squad w/JL 

Supports

Pregame Barrage

Panther

American Rifle Platoon

CD 5 Regular FM 9

2 SL's w/ Bazooka Team

3 Rifle Squads w/JL

Supports (?)

2 Minefields

Entrenchment

0.5cal HMG team

SL

Game Summary

As usual it was almost impossible for me to get good JOP's, they all ended up on the table edge. I was able to get one up on the western edge but this was immediately stymied by the placement of 2 minefields.I got an early double phase so was able to place my Panther on the road on overwatch. I then followed with my Sturm Squad with 6 men, behind the Panther. I was able to advance rapidly up the table and shut down 2 of the American JOP's. Things were looking good. I had a pregame barrage so that slowed the American deployment but they did get 2 squads down in the area to the right of the HQ (house on the right side of the intersection). These threatened my Sturm squad behind my tank so I had to place my LMG squad in the open on my left flank. This worked as I was able to rush the Sturm squad to the large barn on my left flank and capture the JOP there. This did cost me as they were fired by one of the American rifle squads before they got in losing all but 2 men. By now FM was down for us both, I was really handcuffed by the fact that I had no more troops to capture the HQ so had to rely on a FM drop to win the game. We went back and forth for almost 4 hours, I was able to take down a lot of Americans but while the the American FM had dropped to 5 mine was now 3. P-Y was able to deploy his HMG in hard cover and that was about it for the Germans. A hard fought American victory. This was a brutal game with both sides losing 17 men.

The Summing Up: Battle 10 /Turn 6c

The Americans lost 8 dead men with 5 wounded on Table 6.

Sturm Platoon #2: 16 dead, 5 wounded-pretty well a spent force!

Campaign Tracker

Germans

Men's Opinion -11 (-3FM), CR 6", I am now called the Butcher by my men!

Overall Commander Outlook Secure

Americans

Not tracked

So on to turn 7, I rolled up a 4, so VG Sturm Platoon (6), so positions are as follows at the beginning of turn 7.

Turn 7-German Force Position and Strength 
Sturm Platoon 1 unknown (11 dead)
Sturm Platoon 2 unknown (16 dead, 5 wounded)

Sturm Platoon 3 unknown (7 dead)

Sturm Platoon 4 unknown (9 dead, 6 wounded)

Sturm Platoon 5 unknown

Rifle Platoon 1 unknown

Sturm Platoon 6-Assembly Point A 

Virtual Lard 3

Virtual Lard 3 took place this past Saturday, and it was another great event. There was 14 games with 80 participants, and was highly successful.  I never got to play this time  but did present  the Approach to Mirfeld scenario.

Here are some screen shots which demonstrate the image quality as seen through Zoom.

I had initially advertised the game as a training session for Chain of Command for 2 players. Of course, 4 gamers signed up, 3 of whom are quite experienced. I divided the players into 2 teams, the most experienced player Brian hailing from Ontario teamed up with our novice player Andy from Kent. They took the defending Germans. James and Will, from Texas and Seattle took the attacking Americans. The game took about 3 and 1/2 hours, which I suppose is OK for this many players.

I will not go into the game itself except to say it was a German victory, I believe this is a challenging game for the Americans. Here are some photos, I think I will put this scenario to rest now!

Another great Lard Event, plans are already underway for VL4. I believe I will present something completely different for this next outing.