The Battle of "Berlin", Part 1

Pete and I began the third and final battle in our Bolt Action Russians v Germans series. Each of the battles was planned for two evenings because they are a bit on the large side.This series was a little unusual in that its purpose was to encourage Pete to get his Russians painted. Each of the battles would pit my slightly understrength German infantry company with a few supporting vehicles against as many Russians as Pete could get painted. The downside was Pete had a lot of unpainted stuff which he worked very hard to make table ready.

This last two part battle would feature the German Kampfgruppe Diefenbach defending a ruined town on the road to Berlin against the mad Russian General Pete Behronovich of the 964th Guards Tank Army. General Behrenovich is pretty sure he is attacking Berlin itself (which he expected to be much bigger), but geography was never his strong suit at the Academy.

The sun rose in the East, as it so often does in this part of the world. The Fascists were dug in and well hidden in the town. Behrenovich, ever mindful of his mens welfare, ordered a preparatory bombardment of the town. "Make the rubble bounce" he said (in Russian), and so they did. By the time the firing had stopped they had scared the urine out of the defenders. Pin markers abounded and two of the four defending armored vehicles were immobilized.

While the German defenders picked themselves up and started the process of working off the pin markers Russian infantry cautiously approached the town from the South and Southwest. A firefight broke out between the Russians and the defenders of the municipal building. The Russians committed the bulk of their armor to the fight, sending in six tanks and a tank destroyer. They soon dispatched the enemy Marder and Stug deployed at that end of the town square. A Panzerfaust fired from the building failed to penetrate a Russian tank and a second defender with a Panzerfaust was shot by a tanks hull machine gun before he could launch. A German sniper, in turn, shot the leader of the infantry pressing the attack on the building.

Russian infantry was now moving in on the defenders from all sides. The defenders, now fully recovered from the effects of the bombardment, were holding their fire in their hidden positions, waiting for the Russians to get close enough to engage.

At this point we ran out of time. This battle will be completed next Saturday, and the results, with pictures, posted soon after.

I'm (still) Spartacus

Mike and I got together for our every other Thursday game. It was my turn to pick the game, and I picked Big DBA Spartacus vs the Romans.  As a way to save time I set up the board, and Mike had the choice of the table side and army. Mike chose Spartacus because he is a Romantic.

The armies square off. The slaves supply of Diet Pepsi can be seen lower right and Spartacus himself, upper right.
 The Roman army has 30 stands of Legionaries (Blades), four stands of skirmishers (Psiloi) and two stands of Cavalry. The slave army has 12 Blades representing enslaved men with military training, armed with the best of what Roman equipment has been scavenged from stricken fields and captured towns. Three more stands are Warbands representing German and Gallic POWs who have banded together. 16 stands are Fast Horde representing the majority of the slaves with no military background and the worst of the available equipment. 4 stands of skirmishers (Psiloi) representing shepherds and the like and Spartacus himself at the head of the army's single Cavalry stand round out the army. The sharp eyed wargamer will note that this is not a fair fight. In fact, normally I wouldn't have built two armies that are such a mismatch, but I saw the movie when I was a kid and it stuck with me. To try to even things out a bit, and represent Spartacus apparent tactical skill I set up the table with more woods and hills than Roman armies of the period would like, and required the Romans to set up first.

                   One of the three Roman legions
The Roman scouts reported the rapid approach of the slave army, and they rapidly deployed their three legions to face the onset. Spartacus deployed his best men on his left, hoping to overwhelm that enemy flank and then turn and roll up their line.

The best of the Slave army. Experienced men armed with previously enjoyed Roman gear. 
The Romans moved forward slowly on both flanks and pressed the attack vigorously in the center. Honestly, that had more to do with how the movement dice played out than any concious decision on my part. However it came to be, the heavily armed legionaries clashed with the poorly equipped slave hordes on a hill in the center, and quickly broke them.

The onset of the ill equipped, untrained hordes. What could go wrong?
 Spartacus, although illiterate, could read the writing on the wall and withdrew back into his inaccessible mountain stronghold. I think the next time we play this matchup I'll propose that slave commands won't break until they reach 50% casualties to represent desperate men who know what will happen to them if captured. I hope that will balance the two sides.

 The slave right anchored firmly on a hill by skirmishers backed by German and Gallic warbands.

  The end comes quickly. You can't talk to a man with a gladius in his hand.

Bungle in the Jungle

The following is an account of a game of AK47 that Mike and I recently enjoyed. It was loosely based on a real event in Northeastern Nigeria earlier this year. The Strategy Page website covered it in an article about Boko Haram and VICE news has a video on Youtube.

A quiet village just off the road to Samvisi. Enemy occupied?The Nigerian President, whose popularity in a recent poll had dropped below zero (many respondents disliked him multiple times) decided to mount an expedition against the even less popular Boko Haram rebels. The South African military security firm STTEP was hired to plan and organize the effort and, within a few weeks had selected and prepared the Nigerian Armys 72nd Mobile Battalion to lead the attack. One of the several columns striking into rebel territory consisted of a platoon of APC mounted infantry, two platoons of truck mounted infantry, a unit of 3 Panhard armored cars with tank guns and a small group of STTEP advisors in Humvees. Their mission was to clear the rebels from a road that led to the main enemy stronghold in the Samvisi Forest.

The Nigerian commander grants an interview to the BBC while the battle rages behind him The terrain along the Samvisi road was was lined by several areas of dense jungle that might provide cover for rebel units, but the timetable for clearing the road was such that the column would not have opportunity for methodical recon. It was thought that a bold stroke would carry the column through to its objective.

STTEP "advisors" scout ahead and are attacked from the bush
It wasn't long before the government column was bogged down by attacks from jungle on both sides of the road. Several vehicles were in flames, casualties were heavy and two of the platoons broke and ran. The remaining infantry platoon, the Panhards and the advisors drove the ambushers away and continued down the road. The bridge over the river leading to their last objective was in sight when they were surprised by the appearance of 3 ancient M48 tanks in the service of the rebels.

Rebel tanks (upper right) engage the Panhards and Humvees Heavy firing ensued. One of the rebel tanks exploded but one of the Panhards was knocked out and another immobilized. The Nigerians column was in shambles and had failed to reach their objective in the allotted time. The Nigerian commander concluded his interview with the BBC, rejoined his unit as they limped back down the road the way they came. The rebel commander, known to the Western press only as Mike el Brockporti kicked back in his rat infested jungle headquarters to savor his victory.

I'm Spartacus...?

After evading or defeating a number of hastily raised Roman forces Spartacus was at last brought to bay by a properly trained Roman army of three legions led by Peticus The Unlucky. The terrain was fairly rough, which favored the Slave Army, but the majority of their men were poorly equipped and trained hordes. The balance of the army, and it's main hope was the hard core of experienced warriors armed with captured Roman weapons and equipment.

       Peticus contemplates the advance of the Slave Army
Spartacus deployed his best equipped men under his own command in the center. His lieutenants Gannicus and Crixus commanded the Left and Right wings composed mainly of hordes of desperate but poorly equipped and trained men arrayed around a small core of well equipped, experienced men. Peticus opposed one of his legions to each of the three Slave generals. His plan was to delay a decision in the center where the best of the enemy army was by making use of rough wooded terrain. At the same time he would crush the weaker enemy wings and envelop their center.

 

             The left wing of the slave army is broken
The Roman right flank had little trouble breaking the enemy facing them but they were unable to capitalize on their success because, at the summit of the hill dominating that part of the field the rebel commander Gannicus struck down the commander of that Legion throwing their command structure into chaos. Gannicus stood his ground on the hill but the rest of his command crumbled and fled. Without their commander the victorious Roman legion was unable to effectively intervene on behalf of their hard pressed center.

               Crixus charges downhill into Victory and Death
On the Roman left flank the Slave commander Crixus "The Undefeated Gaul" compensated for the shortcomings of his willing but poorly equipped hordes by agressively leading from the front surrounded by his hard core of Gallic and German warriors. Crixus heroism cost him his life, but he broke the Roman left. At this point Peticus decided to withdraw from the field and Spartacus, who had narrowly escaped defeat was only too happy to see him go.
 

Desperate action in Darkest Africa

Africa circa 1880 - The warlike natives of the interior were at it again, running cattle raids against the friendly tribes of the coast. The Colonial Governor decided to send an expedition up country to burn a few villages, take hostages and restore order. As the main column moved inland, a supply depot was established at a trading post on the border of the hostile territory. The post consisted of the trader's house, stables and a storehouse. The army linked those buildings together with sandbag walls forming a compound, and left a company of 50 marines commanded by Lt Covell to defend it.

The Chief of the hostile tribesmen observed all of this with interest and then, when the main force of the enemy was a day's march inland, descended with all his warriors on the supply depot. The warriors surrounded the post and comenced a series of uncoordinated attacks from all directions.

A native wave strikes the wall near the store house
The tribesmen lacked nothing in courage, but had not the tactical coordination to strike from all directions simultaneously. Deployed in the jungle in a loose ring around the post, parties of a few score warriors would break cover and charge one or another face of the position only to be met by a withering fire and a thin but determined line of bayonets.

Two waves of natives cross the open ground under fire near the main house
While each thrust was driven back with stinging losses, the marines lost a few to the native spears in each clash. As the day wore on it became more difficult to secure the perimeter with the dwindling number of men. Finally, the decision was made to withdraw the remaining defenders to the main house.

Defenders hold 2 walls under assault while withdrawing others to the main house
The tempo of the native attacks increased as the defenders started to pull back. Most of  the marines succeeded in reaching the house, but some were caught in the yard and forced back toward the stable, where they barricaded themselves.

Native warriors pour into the compound
Alerted by the sound of repeated volleys of rifle fire, the main column had doubled back and was making its way through the rough terrain toward the besieged outpost. The native Chief's scouts had kept him aware of their progress. At last, he was forced to withdraw from the field.

Notes: The inspiration for the game was, of course, Rourke's Drift. The rules were a homemade 1 page deal that worked quite well. The native manpower was, for practical purposes, unlimited. The number of warriors in each attack and the direction was random. It was very difficult for the natives to get over the sandbag wall, but as each wave receded a few marines were left among the slain. The arrival of the relief force was determined by a cumulative die roll at the end of each turn, with a total of 50 representing the rescue of the garrison. In the event, it was a close run thing, with the 21 surviving defenders holed up in the house and the stable nearing the point of a morale downgrade due to heavy casualties.

If anyone wants a copy of the homegrown rules, send me your email and I'll send the Word file along.



 

Bolt Action Tank War

I like the Bolt Action rules for WWII and I like tanks so when Warlord came out with their Bolt Action Tank War.....well, you know the rest. I couldn't afford to do it in 28mm scale but I do have some 15mm armor so, for no investment, Pete and I tried a game. Pete claims I am inspired to blog mostly when I win and not so much on other occasions. I say it's just a coincidence.

 Pete commanded the Germans and fielded 1 platoon of Tigers, 1 of PzkwIV, 1 of StugIII and one of Marders (a kind of hillbilly tank destroyer). My Americans consisted of 4 platoons of Shermans and 1 of M10 Tank Destroyers. I also had a Forward Air Observer detachment in a half track. All platoons on both sides consisted of 3 vehicles.

          American air power helps to offset the superior German tanks  We used random die rolls to determine the order we set out our various units. Those rolls went badly for the Germans who mostly set up first. Pete placed his PzkwIVs on his right (east of the village), Tigers and Marders in the center and Stugs on his left. His plan was to quickly move the PzkwIV unit into the center to support his main attack with the Tigers. Pete has a deep and abiding love of Tiger tanks. I piled 2 units of Shermans on the PzkwIVs before they could get to the center and, using Happy Dice, got them all. In the center the Tigers took a toll of the Shermans but were stopped by a combination of defensive fire from my ground forces and air strikes. The poor Marders were pushed forward to try to keep the attack going but their light armor was not much help against the American guns. As he was running out of options, the German commander withdrew.

The game played easier than a typical Bolt Action infantry game because it was vehicles only. It was a good size encounter played out in a few hours. The Bolt Action Tank War book is interesting to read, but really didn't add much to the basic rules. If you want to save some $ you could certainly play the game without it. We will run this scenario again at the upcoming JeffCon, the Historicon of the North.

War of the Roses accidental army

I hadn't planned on gaming the War of the Roses but Mike, driven by greed for the new Perry Miniatures figures for the period, dragged me into it. As luck would have it, I already had a large number of longbows from fantasy gaming and a reasonable number of Old Glory dismounted men at arms that I picked up at a convention on impulse. Supported by a generous toy donation from Mike and a few purchases I am now the proud owner of a small army of the period.

Lord Percy, his vassals Foxham and Baskerville and their retainers

The rules we use are Fantasy Warriors, which really work well for small scale medieval warfare. The scale is 1 figure = 1 man and the individually mounted figures are grouped into units. I use movement trays for mine, Mike goes Old School. In my army most of the units have 28 men. I have 3 companies of veteran Men at Arms (dismounted for battle as they did in that period), 5 companies of trained bowmen, and a half company of levy billmen. Along for the ride are a dozen border reivers, light horsemen used for scouting etc and a pair of cannons that are a menace to friend and foe.