Sunday WWII 15mm Game

Yes folks, that's right - two games in three days - must be my birthday...oh, wait!

Unfortunately, Andrew, the creator of the rules we wanted to play test, got in touch around 0715 to say he was feeling a bit off colour and would not make the game :( However, the rest of us agreed to carry on, so we had five in total, two Germans, John and Barry, v's three British, Chris, Rick and me. 

I allocated scratch forces to each side, the British basically had a platoon of infantry each in APC's plus six Sherman tanks, with Rick having a larger force of four infantry platoons and four Cromwells, four Comets and four Achilles SPG (M10 tank destroyers with 17lb guns for our American readers!) ALL the allied vehicles were classed as grade 2 ie adding 2 to their dice roll when firing.

The Germans had two Tiger I's and a Jagdtiger graded as +3, a PAK 43 88mm AT also +3, three Panthers and a Jagdpanzer IV graded +2 plus a couple of PAK 40 and a company of infantry each, mounted in SdKfz 251 carriers. There was also a reserve of 5 x PzKfw IV's that might come on as one of the Random Events generated whenever anyone rolled a double in the Rally phase.

The scenario was not intended to be balanced. By late 1944/early 1945, the Germans were very much on the backfoot, and the Allies had all the advantages - numerical superiority of both equipment and manpower as well as complete dominance of the air - we just wanted to see if the rules gave an entertaining and reasonably accurate approximation of combat at this point of the war, with the forces engaged.

All vehicles and figures, bar German infantry, are from my quite large but rarely (if ever) used 15mm collection!

The table before we got started, British attacking from right to left.

The basic idea of how the game played out.

My command at the outset.

Sherman 75's advance.

German Jagdtiger

Tiger I's move forward opposite my position.

Panthers in cover ready to engage Chris to my left.

Tigers aim......

...... and fire......

Scratch one Sherman!

After a couple more changes of initiative, two more Shermans were blazing, but they had also taken out the Jagdtiger (flames JUST visible in the top centre, above the road!)

A roll of a double during the German Rally phase, and the random event was ...... Allied air support arrives!

The JaBo strike resulted in one hit on a Tiger.

Way off at the far end of the table (the British right flank) Ricks command made slow but steady progress towards the "schwehrpunkt"

German Nebelwerfers which, strangely, never fired during the entire game....

All of a sudden, my remaining Shermans managed to take out both Tigers, but were knocked out themselves in the exchange of fire - I am now down to a single remaining Sherman!

 

Meanwhile, to my left, John moved his Panthers forward to engage with Chris and his six Shermans.

And the Jagdpanzer IV joined the advance.

Allied command vehicle

Bang ..... Bang! A Sherman and Panther are knocked out in a deadly exchange of fire!

And to my right, Ricks command continues its ominous advance.

The remainder of my force - "Ram Kangaroo" mounted infantry, an AA tank and the solitary Sherman - move past the burning wreck of a Tiger.

To my left, Chris had the better of the exchange with John, and most of the German armour was soon hors de combat.

Although, he did not have things all his own way......

Another double rolled in a German Rally phase generated - another Allied air strike! This time, all three aircraft got past the German flak but only one hit its target.

Chris dismounts his infantry, ready for an assault on the woods ahead.

German reinforcements arrive! But is it too little, too late?!

The British have time to stop for a cup of "char"!

Towards the end of the game and Rick had arrived to do the heavy lifting as I had lost my last Sherman taking out the 88mm PAK 43!

Achilles Tank Destroyers move in for the kill.

The German reinforcements did not last long or have any real impact on the eventual outcome ....

Finally, a couple of shots of the table at games end - the field of battle is littered with the smoking hulks of brewed up tanks.

Not an easy game for John and Barry - it was almost a foregone conclusion they would lose, although the British had some good fortune, both in terms of the gun duals and with the random events which could have seen the German reinforcements arrive much earlier, or German artillery strikes rather than British air support. The two Tigers took out 5 of my 6 Shermans and I was lucky to knock out the Jagdtiger early in the game or it may have accounted for two or three of Chris's tanks too. John had bad luck with his dice - all his vehicles were equal to the opposing Shermans so should on average have at least knocked out one enemy each - which they did not! By the time Rick arrived, he really only had a bit of "mopping up" to do, and Chris and I had our infantry poised for the final assault to dislodge their German counterparts. 

A good win for the British and we ironed out a couple of kinks in the rules too - there was a lot less friction in the air than a fortnight ago, that's for sure!