20mm WW II Game using Iron Cross Rules
Another Sunday game - amazing! Julian's wife was off to Taupo with a girl friend so of course, he took the opportunity of an empty house to invite a few fellow generals around for a game! After some intense negotiation with the dreaded "domestic control", I was able to attend.
Julian had intimated that he had been feverishly painting more AB Figures 20mm WW II miniatures - a scale we last used several years ago when we gave Chain of Command a few runs through. At that time, I invested in a few plastic 20mm figures myself - Brits and Krauts from Valiant (extremely large "20mm" figures but very nice) and, because Valiant don't make any, Russkies by Plastic Soldier Company - their figures being significantly more diminutive and thus much closer to genuine 20mm.
We were joined by John and Chris and played on a small (5' x 3' approx.) table. Julian and John commanded an American force trying to capture a position occupied by a battery of FH 105 guns that were shelling the Normandy beaches. They had two squads of infantry plus two MG groups and a Sherman tank each. Chris and I had half the number of infantry supported by an SdKfz 251 mounting a Pak 36 37mm AT gun plus a PzKfw V Panther tank. The German field artillery were merely there as a "target" and could not fire in our game.
Move one - my Panther advances into the cover of the woods
Johns Americans opposite my position, whilst Julian and Chris faced off at the other end of the table
Panther supported by infantry lies in wait for the Ami's to advance
Julian's Sherman with HMG group to its left in the woods
Johns Sherman emerged from the woods but took a pasting from my Panther and beat a hasty retreat to lick its wounds
In the distance, Julian's Sherman came out into the open to support John. Chris attempted to engage it with the PAK 36 on his SdKfz 251 but had no effect ; however, my trusty Panther inflicted three or four morale hits on it, and Julian also rapidly withdrew!
Meanwhile, Julian had worked two infantry squads supported by an HMG around onto our right flank and advanced into a wood defended by a single German squad under Chris's command
Two or three rounds of intense fire fight resulted in Chris wiping out one infantry squad PLUS the supporting HMG. In the meantime, my Panther had destroyed Julian's Sherman
The last picture I took before the game ended - Johns Sherman emerged again, took a shot at the Panther - but missed! The experienced German tankers did not make a similar mistake, and the second Sherman disappeared in a ball of flame and smoke!
The final count - the German side lost NO units at all, but destroyed two Shermans, two HMG groups and an infantry squad. Only Chris's infantry squad, our mortar, the SdKfz and my Panther took any active part in the battle. Maybe the Americans needed a third tank?
This is an enjoyable set of rules that we have not played for a while and have only really used three or four times in total - but we shall probably give them another go soon based on the fun we had today!
As I was a bit remiss in game photo's, I took a few more of my troops here this evening
Plastic Soldier Company SdKfz 251 with 37mm AT gun commanded by Chris
120mm mortar by Valiant Miniatures
One of our two MG groups - two MG 34/42 and two riflemen by Valiant Miniatures
My ever victorious Panther - an Airfix kit with AB tank riders
The Panther from another angle.
When the wives are away, the boys will play! A once sided affair dominated by the Germans. Good looking models!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan - yes indeed, absent wives are a definite boon! The Americans outnumbered us 2:1 in infantry but perhaps they also needed extra armour to balance the fact they had to do the attacking....
ReplyDeleteGreat looking game! I think the Americans could have done with a bit more armour support!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Yes - Julian is threatening artillery AND air support next time we play these rules!
DeleteThat looks like a fun game. How do the rules compare to Chain of Command? I have heard many good things about CoC and have it on my shelf, but have not managed a game with it yet.
ReplyDeleteCoC is quite different Lawrence - the stylized "Jump Off" points for example - although the mechanism they use to decide where the start positions are in the so called patrol phase at the start of the game is really nice. Iron Cross has a mechanism to give an advantage to the larger force - you get one activation "chit" per unit deployed plus two for the commander - so in the game yesterday, Chris and I had only about 7 activations per turn against 11 or 12 for the Americans - and you can use three or four activations on a single unit, as long as you roll sufficiently high to activate. It also has a facility to allow you to try to interrupt the opponent as long as they are moving - you cant interrupt if they sit still and fire.
Delete