Berlin Kaput!

This was the 2nd half of The Biggest Wargame Ever Played (in my basement). The ruined city was laid out on Pete's rubble themed cloth 6'x3'. He also has quite a few ruined buildings, some of them made by the talented Walter Kordon. By the way, does anyone know Walters status? We haven't been able to reach him. The rest of the buildings were my undamaged structures with the roofs removed to give 'em that "there goes the neighborhood" look. We wanted some rubble heaps to scatter around because half blown away structures without rubble heaps look odd. After experimenting with piles of mixed plaster and (clean) kitty litter, we finally settled on scrap foam core cut into irregular shapes and colored shades of gray.

 At this stage, the Russian infantry and tanks were starting to press in on the hidden German infantry.

Russian engineers attack Germans in a house using a flamethrower
The German mortars and howitzer were scoring some good hits. The advancing Russian infantry were unmasking the hidden German units in ambush, and were being rewarded with a hail of fire.

 Ivan finds Fritz the hard way. "Get back in there" says the Commisar "or I'll shoot you myself!"
Once the Germans were uncovered they were pounded by the Soviet tanks and mortars. The attack was pressed from all four sides, lavishly supported by heavy weapons.

T34s plow through the rubble of the ruined city
The end was near and the defenders would not have lasted much longer now that they were visible to the attacking hordes. Due to the sheer scale of the game we ran out of time, but the writing was on the wall so the Germans surrendered.

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.

Bolt Action Germans

My Bolt Action German infantry company is nearing completion. I did it as an ordinary 1944 Wermacht infantry outfit that has seen a lot of action. It is rated average since heavy losses have been made up with new recruits who are a little too old or young.

German infantry company

The company is composed of 3 platoons of 7 to 9 men plus a Lieutenant, medic and sniper team. The company commander has at his disposal for the mission an artillery spotter team, flamethrower team, Panzerschreck team and a Marder self propelled gun. To complete the German side I plan to acquire a couple of mortars and maybe a light artillery piece.

The Americans are also coming along toward reinforced company strength, but need one more infantry platoon. Of course, I picked up another Sherman tank after watching Fury at the movies last week.

                                         German infantry squad

 

France 1944

We are on a Bolt Action kick right now. Mike has painted up a scruffy veteran German battlegroup composed (so far) of paratrooper and Waffen SS infantry elements and a Stug III. I deploy American regular infantry supported by a Sherman and a halftrack. Mike has made some really nice bocage sections to dress up the table. I won todays game so, of course, it must go on the blog.

Captain Von Mike oversees the advance of his Germans

The American right was anchored on a 2 story farmhouse, the center was dominated by bocage and the left by a grove of trees occupied by German infantry.

Here we see the American infantry advancing in the center. At the top of the picture a halftrack burns, having been knocked out by the enemy Stug in the first turn of the game (*$#@!). Most, but not all of the passengers got out safely.

 

The fighting among the hedgerows was savage. The Americans got the upper hand due to enfilading the German positions on the left with the Sherman and on the right with small arms and sniper fire coming from the farmhouse. The Stug (upper right) was moving to counter the Sherman when an airstrike called in from the upper floor of the farmhouse by a forward observer team destroyed it.

The German infantry fought stubbornly, but with their Stug gone and fire pouring into their position from front and flank and their commander not being able to roll any decent dice, they finally had to give way.  

 

Bolt Action, Italy, summer of 1944

U.S. supply dump. MG team moving to set up in sandbag emplacement upper left

 

I played a game of Bolt Action with Mike Covell today. I like the game but haven't gotten around to playing it in about a year, so we lost some time relearning it as we went. Still enjoyed it though. Each side had 6 infantry squads supported by assorted heavy weapons. The Germans had one PZKW IV tank and the Americans had a Sherman with a 75mm gun plus an M3 halftrack.

German infantry advance on one objective, the American supply dump
There were three objectives, a ruined village held by the Germans on their left, a supply dump held by the Americans on their left and a bridge across a stream held by noone in the center.

U.S. tank & infantry move to capture the village

Both sides held reserves off table and fed them in as the situation dictated. The German tank supported by well positioned infantry quickly moved to control the bridge in the center. The Americans were unable to get any of their 3 bazooka teams in a position to strike at the tank without being shot down. The Germans also made a play for the supply dump on the American left, but were pinned down by a .30 cal machine gun ensconsed in a sandbag emplacement backed up by an infantry squad and a sniper team. Meanwhile, the Americans committed most of their reserves on the German held village. Sadly, at this point we ran out of time and had to cut the game short. A good time, but too much time lost relearning the rules. I have another Bolt Action game scheduled with Pete this weekend. We should be able to move it along quicker now that we are brushed up on the rules.