Thursday night Ian put on a great little battle based in Italy in WW2 where a small group of veteran German paratroopers took on an attacking force of American infantry with tank and artillery support. Scale 6mm and Spearhead as the rules.
It was also an exercise is how town and village sector fighting - as well as supply lines and different hill levels - had an impact on the battle. Ian is planning an operational battle around Monte Cassino so its worth demonstrating to the players how each of these elements work.
The table accounted for 3 victory points based on 3 sectors - lower town, upper town and the monestary. . The Americans had to take 2 sectors to draw, 3 to win.
Our plan was simple. Put the HQ in a central position to provide command and control over most of the map. We put our FOO and Nashorn (mobile 88mm) on the outskirts of the monestary - giving the FOO greater spotting range and the Nashorn a wide angle of fire.
We dug our infantry in on both sides of the town and had a small reserve of engineers between them in the area in front of the hill. The idea being that if the Americans pushed on one side the reserve could be switched to support the threatened plan.
The Americans came on and Mark was immediately pulled up for trying to angle his troops to attack my dug in troops in the town sector. It was explained that he did not know they were there and he had to follow his attack arrow. So only a few of his bases could move into the area my troops were dug in. They got badly shot up.
Meanwhile Frank was brushing up against Russ' troops - and the massed firepower persuaded Russ to back off and fall back.
Mark meanwhile was determined to eliminate my small band of paratroopers and managed to surround and attack my merry band.
The Germans were Veteran and dug-in and the Americans were Green. They got shot at as they came in and (for a change) I managed to roll well. Veterans are at an advantage in melee and the overall result was the Germans lost 1 stand to the American's 8! Mark made the morale check to not rout, but as he was generally left with crew-served weapons and a small number of infantry he knew they could not attack again.
Frank on the other side was gamely attacking but the Nashorn polished off a couple of his Shermans and Russ' indirect and direct fire was taking its toll. But Frank had pushed Russ to the back of the town. He also called in artillery on the village sector the surviving numbers of Russ' troops has converged in - forcing them to move out.
He also crept up their ATG followed by a Sherman with the express objective of killing the Nashorn. Luckily for us we kept suppressing the ATG and the German's own ATG suppressed the Sherman. In the next shooting phase these two units became the target of choice and both were taken out (the Nashorn killing his 3rd Sherman of the day).
However, the battle had taken its toll and Frank's failed morale roll meant that his force routed. Mark however was already moving up the reserve - also attacking Russ' troops.
As Mark pushed up, he moved two machine guns into the village Russ had vacated. They got shot to bits then Russ moved into the village sector themselves. The Americans realised that that they could not achieve their objectives. The Germans still held all three sectors and so victory was declared.
It was a battle that could easily have gone the other way and if the Shermans had got in they would have swung it to the Americans.
Great battle and food for thought for the operational game.
It was also an exercise is how town and village sector fighting - as well as supply lines and different hill levels - had an impact on the battle. Ian is planning an operational battle around Monte Cassino so its worth demonstrating to the players how each of these elements work.
The table accounted for 3 victory points based on 3 sectors - lower town, upper town and the monestary. . The Americans had to take 2 sectors to draw, 3 to win.
Our plan was simple. Put the HQ in a central position to provide command and control over most of the map. We put our FOO and Nashorn (mobile 88mm) on the outskirts of the monestary - giving the FOO greater spotting range and the Nashorn a wide angle of fire.
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| The key objective - the monestary |
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| The 3 layer mountain dominating the town |
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| The town from the side - you can see my German troops dug in closest to camera - Russ' on the far side |
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| Engineers dug in to the left - FOO and Nashorn on the hill. Mortar tucked away by the road |
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| Mark's first brush with the Germans |
Mark meanwhile was determined to eliminate my small band of paratroopers and managed to surround and attack my merry band.
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| Here comes the attack! |
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| After the attack - Americans decimated, |
He also crept up their ATG followed by a Sherman with the express objective of killing the Nashorn. Luckily for us we kept suppressing the ATG and the German's own ATG suppressed the Sherman. In the next shooting phase these two units became the target of choice and both were taken out (the Nashorn killing his 3rd Sherman of the day).
However, the battle had taken its toll and Frank's failed morale roll meant that his force routed. Mark however was already moving up the reserve - also attacking Russ' troops.
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| Frank's artillery blasts the Germans at the back of the town as Mark's reserve moves up. |
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| Russ moves back into the village and the Americans jack it in, |
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| Man of the match - our Nashorn took out all 3 Shermans which would have made a decisive difference. |
It was a battle that could easily have gone the other way and if the Shermans had got in they would have swung it to the Americans.
Great battle and food for thought for the operational game.
6 comments:
I think Frank and Mark put together a solid plan of attack. Mark was unlucky in his attack on your fortified outpost; 2:1 just wasn't enough! Success here would have split your defence increasing Franks chances of pushing on the left. Russ' phased withdrawal and counter attack capitalised on the American defeat on the left. It would have been interesting to see if the American acceptance of a full regiment of artillery in support would have made a difference - but the correlating German benefit of a battery of Nebelwerfers would have made Frank's advance even more bloody!
For such a small battle I enjoyed the challenge of defending against a full US regiment. Frank was unlucky to have succumb to some of my outrageous dice rolling later on in the game which did not help the attackers. If those Sherman tanks had gone through the village sectors our PAK40 and Nashorn would have been made idle. I was surprised by how resilient veteran troops could be and despite being pushed right back by Franks attack we managed to hold on.
I do enjoy playing the Germans more and more as they are so flexible and can re organise themselves pretty easily to handle most situations. After talking to Deb she has agreed to let me trade in the Audi for a "used" Nashorn -... low mileage.
you wouldn't have to worry about parking!
Yes and when road rage strikes.... no problem 88mm ready
very nice phil
What a beautiful battlefield...and this 3 layer mountain is very very impressive!
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