American infantry division

So whilst I'm away working I thought I'd do some homework

Points value for US 45 infantry division

Division regular

Tank battalion- 1 company M4 76mm

3No Foo

1No 240mm (8") howitzer battery

        1No regiment (3 battalions)motorised with trucks

Points 1653

Tank regiment from 45 light division -Regular

2 battalions M4 with 1 company M4 76mm

1 heavy battalion M4 jumbo 1 company M4 76mm jumbo

Points  824

(that's 40 tank platoons to a regiment)

Gents I wont be able to put anything on this Thursday but I will be there



Hamilcar Glider & Locust Light Tanks

Some photos of British Airborne progress.



Hamilcar Glider.....

Locust Light Tanks.....

Operational Games Organised.

I've got Jon's dates, spoken with Mark and Russ and discussed it all with Phil and it looks like we have a plan!

Friday 30th September

This will be a follow on from the recent WW1 operational game based on the Somme battles of 1916.  Commemorating Verdun 1916 we will use the same table layout but with a German Corp attacking a French Division.  The two towns will be replaced by Verdun forts.  We will introduce Observation balloons, aircraft and integrated tape measures on all the tables to facilitate pre-planned bombardments.  I may also allow some more corp assets.  Russ are you able to work out the points value for a German Corp?

We will do the smaller 2-2-1 layout and try and get the room booked behind the bar.  It may be impossible to use upstairs on a week day.  Russ, Jon and Mark will play and I shall umpire.  Phil may be able to make it but I will have to wait for confirmation.

Like last time, we will use the Thursday night to pre-plan the game and roll for preliminary bombardments.

Saturday 23rd October

Full table operational attack using a reinforced US armoured division.  Same tables as last time but I would like to replace the river on two tables with a line of dragons teeth - just an excuse to use another dramatic terrain piece that requires engineers to cross - can you organise that Mark?  I will give the US the option of a carpet bombing attack.  The German players will be given 50% of the US points to create their own defence force (including bunkers) as I think we now have the experience to play this to its full potential.

Saturday 19th November

A full operational game using a 1941 reinforced panzer division.  The defenders will be Soviet but because its 1941 I will have to do something a little different to allow the Germans to attack and outflank tables but allow the Russians some flexibility in defence.  The Germans will use their standard flank roll of 2> with a -1 for each level of tables.  With only 2 order changes each turn this may allow them to overstretch themselves, especially against a tough and superbly equipped opponent.  The Russians will use an armoured train allowing them too operate on a railway that will replace the existing road.  With inbuilt FOOs and recon this will give flexible firepower support onto adjacent tables.  In addition, any off table armoured or motorised reserves will be able to move on and put in flank attacks as part of their initial orders - but do the Soviet players go for a strong initial defence or powerful reserves to launch a concerted counter attack - they will have the points to decide.

There you have it!  Hopefully an autumn season of planned games that could lead to more games in the Christmas period.  In addition, Mark, Russ and myself are planning to visit Timecast on one of the Fridays before the two operational games and get some more terrain and trenches but fit in visits to RAF Cosford, the battlefield at Shrewsbury and the Roman city of Wroxeter.  Let me know what you think about the games and the visits.

The Berlin Hearald headline "The Russian bear is stopped"

forces of the Glorious Wehrmacht army met and halted the evil tide of the Russian communists last night. Here are a few pictures from our front line correspondent.

layout all the objectives are to the right

The hand of the Wehrmacht (well Phil actually)

Motorcycle  battalion race for the objectives, straight into a pre planned katushka bombardment.

Those sneaky Bolsheviks

The claws of the Russian bear close around the Wehrmacht boys

Assault into the village as the Panzer reserves turn to meet the green iron tide

Heroic action at the village as the assault is thrown back breaking the Russian battalion

Captain Von Okey in the latest panzers available stop dead the iron monsters.

A hole appeared in the line as a Wehrmacht battalion routs

(they were probably Rumanian )

Russian armour retreating

Night or the Prussians

The Russian bear halted

Good game gents



Future Operational Games

We had a great game on Saturday and it got me thinking about future games and formats.  We've got no shortage of actual games but we need to be careful about how we use our two most limiting resources; location and us!

Game Format

We have British reinforced division versus German kampfgruppe - we've played this twice but I think we will always get a different game each time we play it, especially with a points option for the Germans allowing them to field any force they want.

Mark is now able to deploy a reinforced US division - Tunisia, Sicily, Italy and Northwest Europe are all possibilities.

Mark also has a late war reinforced Panzer division - I think Phil might have the Russians to oppose them.  This would be a representation of the last German counter attack at Budapest in 1945.

WW1 is now a possibility.  Phil, do you have a British Corp ready for a two corp attack?  I have my French which can be used with the British.  Phil, do you also have an Austrian corp ready to use against Mark's Russians?

Imminent formats

Mark nearly has an early war panzer division ready - I have the Russians ready.

Russ is painting up a British paratroop division which will give us several options.

Phil, do you have a late war Russian reinforced division? - this would make an excellent game.

I am concentrating on rebasing and extending my Eighth Army and DAK forces for next year.

Future formats

I know Phil is working on winter terrain and Mark is looking at his current units for a Bastogne game.  A winter format will give us options for the eastern front with different formations from 1939 to 1945.

Mark is considering a Russian cavalry corp for WW1 games.

I have the plans but not the terrain for a Normandy style beach landing - this would probably not take very long to organise and would happen sooner if I knew we were regularly playing operational games.

Mark is keen to put on a Grand armee battle in this format.  I think Napoleon defending Paris (arguably his finest campaign!) in 1814 would make an excellent game - however, we would need to know how many of you would be willing to give this a try.

The half format would work very well for a Stalingrad game - the dense terrain over too large an area may well be too difficult for a full format.

Location

The club space upstairs is booked for the first weekend of every month.  However, we found out that this space is seldom used and is probably available every weekend.

In addition, their is an excellent conference room behind the bar - it is very long but a bit narrow for a full on operational game - check it out when you're next at the club.  This is nearly always available and is warmer and better lit than upstairs.

Us!

Of course the games need us.  Please consider your availability for the rest of this year and I will organise games to fit in.  Saturdays are favourite but Sundays could be arranged and possibly another week day - let me know!

The half format worked well for the WW1 game and I think we can do that again with three players.  Also, we could do the drive to Leningrad campaign in a one hit operational format with only three or four players.

Optional new rule

We got talking on Saturday about coldwar spearhead and what a great period that would make as an operational game.  The Russians would want to use a tactical nuclear weapon to clear a table (possibly 1C with its difficult town?) and I would love to see Phil make a mushroom cloud explosion marker!

However, this got me thinking for WW2.  The equivalent is an RAF or USAAF carpet bombing run against an entire table.  This is an operational game and this tactic is a possible option.  As umpire I would treat this as a preplanned bombardment and every enemy unit on the table would be rolled for on a D6 - 4,5 = suppressed, 6 = killed.  However, neither side would know the state of these units until troops spotted them or they attempted to shoot back.  This would simulate the destruction of communications and command and control, maintaining an historical lack of appreciation of how destructive the carpet bombing has been.  Again, let me know what you think - I think something similar could be use for a Soviet corp level bombardment.

So there's my ideas on where we are going next with operational games.  Please let me know your thoughts so that we can make these games happen.

General haigs drinks cabinet

Saturday we set up for a WW1 game using the multiple table system.

We had done all the pre bombardment on Thursday night

The British had bombarded most of the tables for 6 days and  turned the landscape into utter ruin.

The long pre bombardment had given the Germans (who were defending) an extra regiment in reserve.

The British plan was to attack with the whole corps ( yes a whole corps!!) across the whole front, with no reserves in order to get General Haig's drinks cabinet closer to Berlin

The Germans only placed troops on one forward table with the rest of the division held back at table 3 to ovoid most of the bombardment.

Table 1C

German regiment still here.

They didn't get the recall orders to a safe area like the rest of the division

pre bombardment took out a battalion (4 stands)

Table 1D

Table 2C

the real defence line

Table 2D

the strong sector with extra wire

Table 3B

The safe sector.

Most of the division was here for the pre bombardment, drinking schnapps and eating sausages.

The British only targeted this area once with one super heavy gun and missed

British assault pores thru and the German regiment falls back (That's twice now Oberst Shakespeare)

The Germans were caught and routed for Feck all!

The British moving thru 1D

those trenches look suspiciously empty, it could be a trap

( No they were empty)

The British run up against the real defence line

but pre planned gas puts a hole in the defence

The same on 2D

Fire fights, assaults, pushback and breakthroughs along the line

German reserve regiment come in to plug a gap

Desperate defence along the line

The breakthrough happened at 2D and with no reserves to hand the German line was broken

general Haig's drinks cabinet moves forward.

A well executed plan Russ

Well organised again Ian

Great game Gents, thanks for putting it on

I need more Russians



Saturday's WW1 Operational Game

Great game on Saturday.  Operational WW1 works.  Mark took some pictures which I hope we will see blogged before long.

Russ went with a straight forward full Corp attack with a division advancing down each table.  He had rolled four days prebombardment, and as it was the Somme I did not allow him to reduce the amount of days.  As Mark would get an extra regiment for the bombardment lasting more than three days, Russ opted to take an extra two days as per the rules.

The bombardment was reasonably effective, destroying some of the front kine wire and most of the pill boxes and bunkers but as Mark kept most of his troops on the back table, the Germans suffered few casualties.

However, he had placed one regiment in the BUA on 1C.  This suffered some losses before the attack commenced but as the British charged across no-mans land few casualties were inflicted by the defenders and Mark elected to retire from the town and augment his second line.  Once more this tactic failed and the British were able to maintain their timetable whilst this regiment was caught and routed in the open.  1D was undefended and the Germans were reliant on their second line.

Russ had kept no reserves off table as he reasoned that the shelled ground would hold up any reinforcements and so both tables were assaulted by a ratio of 3:1.  More importantly the lack of hold ups on the first line of tables meant that both divisions attacked the second line on time and in synch with their preplanned artillery.  Gas attacks seriously weakened the centres of both tables and the German fire was being spread across a full corp.  By attaching engineers Russ was able to wire in both divisions enabling better communication for a follow up attack on table 3.  The British were making good time against the trench line when Mark counter attacked with his carefully husbanded reserve onto 2C.  On this table the British began to waver but as the day waned the single defending regiment on 2D routed.  Russ (after many attempts) was able to send a flank attack from this table against the counter attacking Germans on 1C which stabilised this table.  In the final turn, Russ was able to assault table three from 1C and had overwhelming numbers ready and prepared on 2D.  The Germans had only a battery of 105mms on table three and so by 5.00pm it was declared a British victory!

We managed 20 turns and plenty of talking on Saturday.  We got a result with two players and an umpire on half the usual tables, so I would declare this a success.

I definitely think we could do a 2 x Corp attack against a 1 x Corp defence - this would give the defender more assets including army level reinforcements for a more interesting game.  We can use Aircraft and Observation balloons.  The balloon would give a plus one for support fire and be able to call in artillery on its own against spotted targets across all the tables.  Aircraft will scout and reveal HQs or swoop down for more detailed recon and suffer possible AA.

Well done Russ and Mark for an excellently played game!