Battlefield 3D M8 "Scott"

 An interesting variant of the M5 Stuart was the M8 Gun Motor Carriage, a 75mm howitzer mounted in an open turret. I've vaguely hankered after one of these for a while and even downloaded some plans with a view to converting one of my spare PSC M5s, but the complexity of the turret shape put me off.

Anyway, Battlefield 3D came riding to the rescue with this very nice model of one.

This model is better than most with exquisite detail (possibly it is one of the outstanding Night Sky Miniatures STLs?). It is mainly single piece with a separate turret and .50 cal MG which stuck on fine) . Unfortunately the crew (not supplied) obscure the lovely interior detail in the turret.

The tools on the engine deck are nicely modelled. I picked them out with a pinwash here.

The crew are a cut down Battlefront jeep crewman and a resin figure from another Battlefield 3D vehicle. He is even holding a 75mm shell in his hand! The turret space is very restricted so I had to cut off most of their bodies and trim their torsos down.

I just did this one in plain OD although it has a darker green wash for shading, coupled with a light drybrush. I added Allied stars to it as it wasn't a vehicle sent to Russia via Lend Lease (afaik anyway). I usually like to keep the LL option but not in this case. I also figured that a tank with an unusual silhouette was going to have very prominent national markings on it to avoid any 'unfortunate accidents'.

Neil of Aufklarungsabteiling noted recently that the PSC Stuarts are way over scale. Here you can see in order (L-R) - a QRF M3 Stuart, the M8 Scott and finally one of the PSC bloaters. I know the M5 hull was slightly taller than the M3, but even so...

And here are both M5s hulls next to each other. The PSC hull is a bit exaggerated due to the rear stowage bin, but you can still see how much larger the basic hull is. That is a bit of a poor show really, although as all my M5s are PSC, it shouldn't show up on the table too much. 

Battle 2025 Pt 2. Action at Twin Farms

 Following on from the Battle 2025 "Armoured Clash" scenario, in Part 1, it is now time for the infantry to get a look in. In the original book, Grant devoted several chapters to the 'Queen of Battle', and as with armoured warfare, tried to model both weapons performance and organisations on real world examples. This was unfortunately also the section I struggled with the most to convert into a grid, as so much of the original was based on gadgets (blast templates, MG cones of fire etc) which don't translate well to a large scale grid, nor to groups of based figures as opposed to individual ones. Still, we all like a challenge! 

Movement Conundrum no. 1. In the original rules, the basic infantry move is 3"(!). Ludicrously short infantry moves are a feature of lots of 1970s rules, whereas in reality, infantry actually progress across the battlefield at rates not far removed from those of vehicles. I set this to one hex (equivalent to 5") and was even tempted to give them 2 hex movement as I do in my other rules - to maintain a 2:3 ratio with vehicles. In the end I kept it at one hex, but assumed that all infantry movement was tactical, so they can always move and fire (apart from support weapons), albeit in the 'moving' units phase.

Direct fire weapons. By which I mean rifles and pistols, which shoot at individual figures. These were easy, I just roll the same number of dice as active figures on the base. Five riflemen, roll five dice. Pistols are so utterly useless that I just ignored them and factored them into close combat. Ranges were harder, originally I wanted to maintain the ratio between rifles and MGs as well as the range bands (so 3 hex range for rifles and six hex range for MGs), but after playing the Armoured Action scenarios I realised these ranges would be far too long, so went with 2 hexes for rifles, 4 for MGs (300m and 600m respectively) and 1 hex for SMGs. I just eliminated the long range band in firing for effect, as it generally only hit on a 6 vs targets in the open anyway. SMGs were a special case, in the rules they have a 'fire cone' but in my experience, figures were usually so dispersed that they only ever targetted one figure at a time anyway, so I treat them as point-point weapons.

Area fire weapons. MGs, mortars and grenades on other words. In the original, these all had various forms of fire template, however, as with SMGs, figures were usually so spread out that it was rare to get more than a couple under the template and the rules for grenades were a rather tortuous add-on. I'll leave medium mortars and artillery for another post, so the mortars here are light mortars (50mm etc). I treated them as direct fire weapons so need a to hit roll, but to allow for target density, they roll one dice for effect per base in the target hex. I also dropped the effect number from 4 to 5+ as they aren't as powerful. I always liked the MG rules, as they had a lengthy beaten zone, prefiguring Squad Leader etc and rewarding enfilade fire. MGs therefore hit all the hexes along a particular line, rolling per base in each target hex. As in the original rules, LMGs were simply ignored (or 'factored in' to rifles).

Close combat. There aren't any close combat rules in the original, but this was a good place to put grenades and those otherwise useless pistols. If you are in the same hex, everything hits on a 4+ (SMGs on a 3+). I also allow infantry stands to attack vehicles in close combat, hits are resolved as offtable artillery hits. 

Morale. The morale rules as probably the worse written and most confusing section of Battle, and contain various errors and contradictions, as well as being unnecessarily confusing. If you tear the arithmetic apart, what you find is that absent any other modifiers, units fail morale on a D6 roll of '1'. So that is what I used as a basis. I simply used the various modifiers Grant provided, but added a -3 for 75% losses too. It raised the interesting question of what exactly the difference between 'in command' and 'in communication' is, but I simply ruled that if the unit could see the (functioning) HQ, it was in communication. Destruction of the HQ would render it out of command and out of comms too! 

I probably did some other stuff too, but enough blurb, lets roll, some dice. 

"Action at Twin Farms" , view from the south. Everyones favourite asymmetrical scenario, I've lost count how many times I played this at the time. This was originally  played on a half size table (from Grants 8x5, so 5x4) and eagle eyed readers will note I've added an extra row of hexes to make it 10 hexes x 8 hexes to maintain the aspect ratio. 

Here are the wicked German defenders. In the original, all Airfix Germans (1st set) with scratchbuilt MGs, here, all Peter Pig. Two MG teams, nine riflemen (on three bases) and a commander, plus the mighty Panzerschreck team. In the original, the team was based with the Panzerfaust figure as the loader! So naturally at school we all thought the PF figure was actually a HEAT round to go in Panzerschrek....

This lot have to defend the farms and possibly lay on an ambush.

And here we have the Russian attackers. In Grants original, all Airfix Russians riding Roco SWS halftracks and a Dodge Radio Truck carrying the radio op. He devoted a whole chapter to infantry organisation, and it was apparent even at the time that he'd scaled everything at 1:3. He insisted on calling the units 'sections' but then they were grouped into 'companies'. Each section had four riflemen, two SMG and leader with SMG or pistol and a weapons team. The latter either being a medium mortar or a home made Russian bazooka (!) team.

Well, I couldn't quite bring myself to give them German halftracks or US bazookas, so these are a bit more like a Russian APC recce company, equipped with Lend  Lease halftracks and scout cars. I also swapped out the medium mortar section and two bazooka sections and substituted an AT Rifle section, MG section and a 50mm mortar section - which is more in line with the mix of weaponry motorcycle companies had. The infantry element has the same mix of weapons as Grants original, so 6 x SMG (2 bases) and 12 x Rifles (4 bases). One 'section' of two bases plus a support weapon per halftrack. I also amalgamated all the leaders into a single company HQ element with a commander, 2iC and a radio operator 

The main German defence is laid out as per the book. One MG in the southern woods, one at the hedgerow junction supported by a rifle team with another rifle team in the copse to the northeast and one final team in reserve by the north farmhouse with the CO.

And the plucky Panzerschreck (Psk) team holed up behind the hedge. I rolled 11 for visibility, so infantry in cover can be spotted 3 hexes away (five in the open and seven if firing). Unlike with the tanks in the previous game, I'm ruling that hedges block LOS to infantry type targets, so although in theory the Russians can spot these guys at three hexes, in practice the LOS is blocked until they are within two by the angle of the hedge. Psk range is 2 hexes.

In the original game all these guys were deployed hidden (presumably based on a written deployment plan?) until within visibility range, apart from the AT team which remained hidden until it fired, something Grant skims over in the text.

And here come the Russians, just as in the book, motoring happily down the road. I assume this was a scenario specification although it wasn't explicitly stated. I'm sticking with the Spearhead turn sequence, so semi simultaneous, and the lead halftrack skids to a halt when it spots the lurking Psk team. Sadly, unlike Spearhead, it takes a whole turn to debus.... so the Russians are left high and dry. I might think about that in future iterations.

Woosh! Bang! Naturally the Psk scores a direct hit and blows the lead halftrack to pieces. At such close range it only needed a 5+ on 2D6 to hit. Five guys scramble out of the wreckage leaving three casualties inside, and I let the Russians allocate the hits so the ATR team is destroyed, and the rifle element loses a figure. 

Having taken losses, they need to test morale and roll a miserable 2. With 25% losses and having their ride blown up, their morale fails and they become pinned. Well that is just dandy, as the ambush spot is also within range of both German machineguns.... You'd think that someone had planned it that way. 

Unlike in the book, the rest of the Russians head off cross country, giving the Psk team a wide berth. The survivors from 1 section can deal with the Psk team on their own.

Easier said than done, as the SMGs are out of range and the riflemen need a 6 to hit targets behind soft cover and both miss! The Germans in turn spray the unfortunate Russians with MG fire and score no less than three hits (each rolls 2D6 as there are two bases in the target hex, needing 4+ against troops in the open). I eliminate the rifle team to reduce the target density. Naturally they fail their morale test again and get a big red marker. They will have to fall back next turn.

The remaining Russian halftracks park up prior to deploying. I'm trying to debus out of range so the guys can advance in a skirmish line covered by the support weapons. Maybe that is a mistake? I guess the only other alternative would be to charge in and debus at close range, but that strikes me as highly dangerous! Anyway, there is plenty of time for the Germans to redeploy their riflemen and an MG team to cover the threat, and they pack the copse with troops.

With the Russian infantry retreating, the Psk team march back to the other MG position. If would be good to have some more troops with the MG in case the Russians start to mortar it.

Rather than postpone the inevitable, the Russians debus. The MG and 50mm mortar sections stay back, while the infantry groups push forward one hex, hoping to conduct advancing fire. In the exchange of fire one of the Russian rifle teams is wiped out, and the rather pathetic response is just to hit one German rifleman. The Germans got penetrating fire from their MG onto the mortar section behind, but didn't hit them.

Everyone passes their morale tests, and in fact it is impossible for the Germans to fail as they are in cover. The German CO has moved up to maintain visual contact with the guys in the copse and maintain comms.

Just to keep track of things, I'm using tile spacers to mark casualties as it can be hard to remember who has lost what in a solo game. The heap of white crosses at the ambush site speaks volumes! I guess what I should have done was dismount the lead section and clear the hedgerows first. The shattered Russians here fail their morale again and retire off the table. That morale result felt OK, but it relied on the Russians being in the open and constantly rolling 1s and 2s. 

Back at the farm, the Germans push their last rifle team into the woods and the Russians advance to within 1 hex of the Germans. Close range for everyone, and a bloodbath duly ensues. The German rifles are hitting on 4+ and the MG on 3+ against targets in the open, while the Russian SMG teams are hitting on 4+ and the rifles on 5+. The Russian mortars range in on the German MG but fail to hit anything, and in perhaps a slightly dubious move, the Russian MG fires through their pals in support.

You can see the result in the piles of white crosses. Infantry combat in Grant was always extremely bloody if someone was out in the open. I should probably have prepped the Germans for a couple of turns with the mortars and MGs.

I realised I'd made a mistake and allowed the advancing German rifle team to fire as if they were stationary, so I rerolled the whole thing. The effect was similar however. The German MG/rifle team were knocked out and the other section suffered heavy losses. One of the Russian sections was finished off (the infantry component anyway) and the other reduced to two rifles and two SMGs. The Russians passed their morale however, whereas the Germans didn't and became pinned.

The two Russian teams charged the last Germans in the woods, and in the absence of any valid targets (no firing into close combat), the MG and mortar sections moved up to bring the second German MG in range.

The other German MG and Psk team had pulled back to the hedgerow now, and having shifted position and not fired for some turns, they were only visible at three hexes now unless they fired again.

The Russian close assault succeeded, although the German riflemen inflicted two more hits on the Russians. Amazingly their morale still held up - a problem with Grants morale system which I recall well. I'd be inclined to ignore the cover modifier as if a unit is taking hits, cover clearly isn't working - what Neil Thomas refers to as 'double counting'.

At the conclusion of that bloodbath, the Russians only had two infantrymen left on their feet, which probably wasn't enough to take the other German position as they'd need to move into range to direct the fire of the support weapons. I called it a day there as a bloody draw.

Hopefully a Grant-esque style photo. HQ and support weapons with transport.

And another. Infantry advance through woods.

That went pretty well in the main. It was a bit clunky in places but generally hung together OK, and the very big departure from the original area fire rules actually seem to work. The last scenario in the series has both artillery and medium mortars, so I'll see how they work out.

I could have replayed it again, but didn't feel any great inclination, so perhaps the itch is starting to be scratched. I was pleased with the way the ranges and moves interacted, although I'm not convinced by the load/unload rules. I think instead, there should be an option to spend a hex (vehicle) move to load/unload into a hex, or a stationary debus allows units to move a hex away to avoid bunching. it just feels a bit too laborious, rather like the original comms rules and mine laying rules.

I might fiddle with morale a bit, it is always one of those rather vague things, so perhaps fail on a 2 or less instead of 1 would be enough? I will definitely allow pinned units to fall back to cover though, as otherwise they just lie there being shot to bits as there is no cover benefit to lying down in the open.

Ottoman Eclipse

 This is another one in Tims seemingly inexaustible supply of strategic solo games. This one is 'Ottoman Eclipse' and covers the fortunes of the Ottoman Empire in WW1. The general structure is that there are a series of 'fronts' - Mesopotamia, Caucasus, Palestine, Galliopli etc which wicked enemies advance along, while there are also external fronts (France etc) and various external events driven by event cards. The player has a number of action points each turn to be able to influence/respond to these and the aim is to keep the "National Will" at sufficient level to avoid defeat for as long as possible. You do that by having military successes, avoiding the enemy occupying key points, fometing successful rebellions abroad etc. With anything up to six active fronts, various external things and only 1-3 actions per turn, there is always more to do than you can, so it is about prioritising.

The general layout, you can make out the nearer campaign tracks for Palestine, Arab Revolt, Mespot and the Caucasus. Over on the other side are Gallipoli, Salonika and 'The Narrows'. There are also boxes to track external theatres like Galicia and the Western Front, as well as India, Afghanistan etc. The National Will track is in the  bottom right, and we surrender when it hits -4. 

This was naturally an excuse to field ridiculous headgear. Many fez on the assembled Pashas (Pashi?). Mine is from the grand bazaar in Istanbul, purchased by a friends son. I also have one from Kosovo, obtained by a friend doing reconstruction work over there after the civil war.

There were repeated but disjointed attacks in the Middle East and Caucasus, and we beat a lot of these back with varying degrees of success.They are are only really a problem once they get within two zones of Istanbul, as each space lost then reduces Will by one. The British have just landed at Gallipoli and the Germans have won a great victory over the Russians so we are currently on +1.

We used some spare actions to fortify The Narrows with minefields and gun batteries and after a few turns it was looking quite strong.

It all went a bit pear shaped after that. Although we defeated the landings at Gallipoli and held off the various attacks from advancing too far, a string of overseas disasters (all those counters in the top right box) saw our National Will whittled down and the government finally collapsed in 1917! It wasn't quite a catastrophic defeat, but merely a strategic defeat. According to Tim, the worst performance so far. I think we'd over prioritised the immediate threats and should have put more resources into supporting the overseas fronts.

That was actually a very good game, and it very much felt like running a country on the back foot. There were just too many things to fix at once, and I think our priorities went out of the window as the pressure ramped up.

We tried it again on Wednesday night and this time put some more resources into the overseas fronts, which generated some more victories in both Russia and the Western Front and we were also quite successful holding back the various enemy offensives. Having built the Gaza line and with no landings at Gallipoli, we were feeling quite pleased with ourselves. Sadly we had reckoned without the Royal Navy who assaulted The Narrows and proceeded to fighting their way through all the minefields and forts to bombard Constantinople! At which point we were forced to surrender.

It transpired that this time we'd achieved a tactical defeat this timet, so we'd done slightly better than the day before, but still no win and worse than Ottomans irl. 

Battlefield 3D Staghound

 My European theatre British recce forces have always felt slightly inadequate, mainly consisting of Daimlers, Dingos and Carriers plus a Lend Lease White Scout Car. I fancied adding a 'heavy' armoured car, and the Staghound fitted the bill nicely, rather smarter than an AEC.

This is the Staghound offering from Battlefield 3D.

Like so many of their models, beautifully crisp and no assembly required, although it does have a rotating turret. Well, I say no assembly required, there are separate turret hatches which can be modelled open or closed. I added a commander, a PSC figure with his body trimmed down to fit the aperture.

There wasn't really room to fit the open hatch cover under his arm and it would have been very vulnerable to damage, so I left it off.

This is a very large vehicle for an armoured car. You can see the lovely detail all over it. I dimly recall an Airfix Magazine article on how to scratch build one of these. I can't recall which wheels you had to use, maybe off the tank transporter model? iirc the turret used the Grant one from the Airfix Lee/Grant kit, suitably hacked around.

It is a very imposing vehicle and those tyres are just enormous. I did this in plain late war British green - VJ Russian uniform with a light wash of VJ Bronze Green. Then the whole thing just got a light drybrush and a pinwash to pick out some of the details. I didn't bother with any markings. 

Wizard of the Kremlin

 I recently read this book, which was recommended to me by a friend with a keen interest in international relations. 

Essentially it is an account of the transformation of Russia from communism to Putins oligarchy via gangster capitalism from the pov of a (fictional) Kremlin adviser.

Some of the insights aren't particularly new to anyone who has watched the fate of Russia since the Wall came down, but some of it was very interesting and it presents a very Russian view of its relations with the West and the rest of the world. It also has some insights into Putins personality and background,  as well as how to dismantle and subvert democracy and dissent to achieve total state control. Very much 'full spectrum dominance'.   

Anyway, it is a nice easy read and reminded me that when I visited St Petersburg in around 2012, I think it was the scariest place I've ever been in my life, even compared to downtown Rabat at 3am. I gather it has now been made into a TV series airing later this year (or early next?) so I'll be interested to see how they have handled it. Better than 'King and Conqueror' I hope!

Hedgerow Hell Pt 3 - Barenton

 The final outing for my 'Hedgerow Hell' Normandy trilogy takes us to Operation Luttich in August 1944, the ill fated Germans offensive to the sea which eventually resulted in the encirclement and destruction of most of the German forces in the theatre.

This scenario is fairly early in the offensive, fierce resistance from US 30th Infantry Divison had blunted the attack and 10th SS Panzer Division was committed to force a breakthrough, unaware the reinforcements were already on the way. 

As usual, this is based on a scenario from the Command Decision book "From Normandy to Lorraine" and played with my One Hour WW2 variant. The units are small 'battalions', 2-3 companies, to get the unit count up.

Battlefield from the south. This is quite varied terrain, with just some areas of bocage, mixed in with wooded hills, small villages and lots of tracks. The hills are quite hard to make out in the photo I'm afraid but the Bocage bits should fairly obvious - edged in my mid 1970s vintage lichen hedges. Barenton is the town on the crossroads at the bottom, St Georges is to the east. In the top corner is Ger, and just to the southwest is La Gue Rocheux. I realised after taking this photo I'd forgotten to put the buildings for Le Gue on the table! They will appear in the game.

The victory conditions for each side are equally complex, but essentially both sides are attacking, so they need to both hold the enemy attack and complete their own. The US are attacking on the right and need to take some hills and villages, while the German are attacking on the left and also need to take/hold some towns and road junctions.

The German armoured spearhead in and south of Ger. 10th SS Panzer Division only had a single battalion in its Panzer Regiment, with two companies each of Panzer IVs and Stugs. Those two hills with Germans on are US objectives, but the German don't know that.

On the right is 10th SS recce battalion with assorted halftracks. I'm treating this as a Heavy Recce unit. The other unit is a mish mash of armoured engineers, SP infantry guns etc. I'm treating this as a Heavy Mechanised Infantry battalion.

Terry commands these, along with the entire Kampfgruppe.

Back in Ger we have two Pz IV companies, modelled as a single tank unit. I'm being very generous with the German armoured strength here as by early August the entire division only had about 20 operational tanks and assault guns. There are all the German logistic and HQ vehicles as well, along with the panzer artillery battalion (modelled as a battery of Wespe and a battery of Lorraine 150s).

Over in the northwest we have two battalions of SS Panzergreandier Regiment 21, plus the Stug companies. Tim has the Stugs and one of the infantry battalions and Simon the other infantry battalion. All the German units are veterans and the armoured units are combat teams, so not vulnerable to assault in close terrain.

But what is this? Americans! There is a battered infantry battalion from 30th Div in Barenton (3/120 Regt) and over in St Georges is a Recon Troop of 67th Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Div ('The Third Herd'). This is a light recce unit with M8s and jeeps. 3rd Armored was a 'heavy' armored div, so had 18 tank companies in six battalions rather than the more normal 12 companies in three battalions. 

Dimly visible in among the hedgerows in the top left are a pair of M5 Stuarts, two light companies which I've amalgamated from 1/67th Amd Regt. I'm treating this a heavy recce unit rather than a light tank. The Stuarts were commonly used for recce and screening.

John A is the overall commander and commands this lot. One Wednesday John B will take over the recce units.

And moving up from the south is CCA, 3rd Armored Div. A mechanised horde!

In the lead we have 2/67 Amd and 1/39 Infantry. The latter has an attached M10 tank destroyer company. Jim commands these.

Then we have 3/67 Amd and 3/39 Infantry, along with the HQ and logistic stuff. The combat debut of my Sherman ARV,

Brining up the rear are the air and artillery. A pair of Priests (don't look too hard, they are actually Sextons) and a flight each of B26 Marauders and P47 Thunderbolts. The former is for interdiction missions and the latter for ground support. I've also brought out my L-2 spotter, another debut.

The Stuarts lie in wait at the road junction.

The US got lucky with their air support, a maximum effort on turn one. The Marauders plastered the German supply columns.

Around St George both sides are busy moving up, but the leading recce elements had spotted each other so lobbed some artillery in either direction. The 10th SS recce battalion proved a bit more resilient than the US recon troop. The Pz IVs have moved over the ridge are are actually hidden from St George by that wood. 

In a slightly odd move, the US mech infantry park up in the open while the Shermans occupy the town. We will see if that becomes a problem.

Over in the west the Stuarts call in airstrikes on the Stugs (who are leading the German column) to no effect, and then fall back to the bocage around the road junction. The other US armoured column drives straight through Barenton and heads northwest over the ridge.

At St Georges the recce units trade shots ineffectively and the Shermans have a go at 10th SS recce, but with them being a mile away and uphill the fire has no effect. In a bold move however, the US infantry and their accompanying M10s advance into the woods right next to the Pz IVs. For their part the Pz IVs lob some shells at the Stuarts, a far easier target, and score some hits.

In the west the German engineers receive the full attention of US air and artillery, while one of the panzergrenadier battalions begins to dig in to the northwest of Hill 4. The Stugs take up hull down positions on the wooded ridge while the other lorried PGR motor down to the road junction, but haven't got enough movement to make it into the cover of the bocage due to the interdiction effects of the US airstrikes.

In response, the US Armored Infantry occupy the bocage to pin them frontally, while the Shermans motor at top speed around the track and emerge behind the Germans left flank! A bold move to be sure.

The Stuarts are in range of half the German army and take a pummelling. The Sherman ARV helps reorganise them - its first ever combat mission!

The Germans shell and shoot up the US infantry who become disorganised, while the Stugs chip a hit off the Shermans. In turn the US roll up another maximum air effort and shells and bombs plaster the unfortunate SS grenadiers. This is followed up by an overrun attack by the Shermans.....

With no less than six combat dice (due to the flank attack) , needing 3+ to hit infantry in the open, the Shermans duly crunch the SS under their tracks and take the junction. This puts them right under the guns of the hull down Stugs, but it was a heroic effort. Silver Star?

Over at St Georges, the US Recon troop is also taking a pasting and needs reorganising. I don't know why the US don't put them in some cover. The Shermans keep firing ineffectively at the SS recce up on the ridge and the Pz IVs keep shooting up the Stuarts. The M10s can't believe their luck and blow apart a number of Pz IVs at point blank range. 

Next turn the US just  get an interdiction mission, but the German Flak holds it off.

Artillery and M10 fire inflicts enough losses on the SS Panzer IVs that they became disorganised. The Shermans and (rather battered) Stuarts move up to support the infantry. Both sides have got more disorganised units than they can reorg in a turn now, and their artillery is running out of ammunition.

Over in the west, the Germans pour fire into the Shermans and Armored Infantry. Both units  are disorganised and the Ambulances and ARV rush up to sort them out. The US seem to be stuck here despite their early success, however on this flank it is the Germans who need to be attacking (they need to take Barenton). The early loss of that PGR battalion has really hurt their chances in this sector. 

The Germans manage to resupply their Wespes but US air interdicts the other supply column. That is a real problem for the Germans.

The Germans don't have any option but to withdraw their battered Pz IVs to try and reorganise out of sight. The US are now able to concentrate on the SS recce who also becomes disorganised. The US are too busy resupplying their guns to sort out the battered recon units. This is a high risk strategy for the US, but they have more units to burn than the Germans.

With the US main focus in the east, the US infantry just hunker down in the bocage. The Stugs inflict enough hits on the Shermans to disorganise them again, and in the absence of any spare logistic units, the Shermans withdraw out of range to the wooded ridge to try and reorg in peace on a future turn. The Germans seem to be curiously passive on this front, with neither the panzer engineers nor the other lorried PGR battalion making much active participation.

We broke for the night at that point. Lets see what happens tomorrow.

On Wednesday Jim, John B and Simon all turned up and were pleased to find they still had something to command. The battered SS recce retreated to Hill 4 while the Panzer IVs were reorganised and the the other German artillery battalion was resupplied.

Jim pushed his Shermans forwards while the Stuarts cautiously followed. The US infantry and M10s took enough losses from German fire to become disorganised.

The Germans kept pouring fire into the US infantry in the bocage, and the US LOG prioritised reorganising both them and the Shermans over on the hill. The Germans just didn't have enough force concentrated here to actually shift them, but the fire was effectively keeping them pinned down.

Over at Ger, the US fired all their artillery and air at the (still battered) Pz IVs, followed up by an assault from Jims Shermans. Heroic stuff.

The SS Panzers were just overwhelmed and disintegrated, leaving the Germans on Hill 4 somewhat outflanked.

Over in the west, the US infantry fell back up the hill, but the rejuvenated Shermans drove right around into the German rear. Patton would be proud!

The Germans decided it was all or nothing and sent the SS recce and the lorried infantry battalion straight up the middle towards Barenton after finally finishing off the M10s (who proved less resilient than their pals). The SS engineers moved over to the Hill 5 and Jims Shermans turned right round and parked up behind them.

The impudent Shermans in the northwest set off on an exploitation run through the German rear, pursued by the Stugs while the USAAF and artillery pounded the German counterattack. 

The US infantry up on the hill called down fire on the Germans in the valley, but the defenders of Barenton were screened by the woods in front of the town.

Micheals Shermans occupied Le Ger Rocheux firmly across the German LOC. The Stugs parked up a mile away and pondered their options. They might have been better employed in the attack on Barenton.

The SS engineers rolled south and took cover in the isolated woods, while the recce battalion and lorried grenadiers occupied the woods on the outskirts of Barenton. The grenadiers had taken enough losses by now to become disorganised.

The US recon units formed an arc around St George. They have been been resupplied and were looking a bit more chipper.

The Stugs now headed south, but didn't arrive in time before the German assault on Barenton went in. Although the defenders were left disorganised as a result, the SS grenadiers were repulsed and fell back disordered to the bocage up the road. The SS engineers were too far away to provide support.

The US tank battalions were now firmly in control of the German rear area, and the lead elements of 10th SS Panzer could now consider themselves cut off.

The Stugs motored through the bocage but too late to affect the outcome. 

Unusually we ran out of time at that point, something I generally try to avoid in a game. Running through the victory conditions as they stood, the US had achieved all theirs whereas the Germans had only only met two and were unlikely to attain any more. So, a hard fought US victory.

That was an interesting engagement in  complex terrain, with several players so I guess that was partly why it took longer than usual. I greatly enjoyed the bursts of mobility the entirely motorised forces managed to pull off, and in particular hats off to the US for carrying out their very own 'mini Falaise' encirclement of the Germans. 

Both sides were very evenly balanced: 17 combat dice each, 41 US SP and 42 German SP although the US also had air superiority and both sides had a very high proportion of light and medium armoured units. It really was a case of 'getting there fastest with the mostest', which the US managed to achieve more effectively. The limited number of units each side has, coupled with each unit only being able to do one thing,  forces heart breaking decisions each turn and under pressure everyone makes mistakes.

I greatly enjoyed the 'Hedgerow Hell' mini campaign it had a very different feel to other other games and made a nice change from the Eastern Front. Many thanks to all the players for bringing such enthusiasm to all three session.