Tigers at Minsk - Livry revisited

 I fancied having another go at Tigers and Minsk, and I wanted to try converting one of the Fireball Forward scenarios to play with TaM. I did Livry as part of my WRG 1925-50 playtest series, and that seemed suitable being quite small but featuring the full range of arms.

As a reminder, the WRG version is here: https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/2025/07/wrg-1925-to-50-neu-part-4-encounter-at.html

Battlefield from the south. The WRG version was 400 yards x 600 yards, so strictly this should be 4x6, but it just seemed so constricted that I added in a couple of extra hex ends so some of the columns are 5 hexes instead of 4. 

Amazingly I managed to just about replicate the table layout. As a reminder, most of the hedges are high, so block LOS at ground level. There is a lower hedge running along the E-W road as far as he town, which provides cover but doesn't block LOS. Otherwise there are four built up areas and a couple of small woods.

The German defenders from the Panzer Lehr Escort Company. Two panzergrenadier sections, a tripod MG42 and a towed Pak 40. In the original scenario both infantry sections have panzerfausts and there is also a panzerschreck team, so I gave them an infantry AT availability of 4. The Pak 40 has an AT strike value of 7, as do the infantry AT weapons.

These guys are also high morale with a decent leader, so they got a force morale of 3 (ie their break point is losing three units) and the base number to rally is 3+, modified by cover.

And here are the British, from 7th Armoured Div. An infantry platoon with three rifle sections, a 2" mortar. They have an infantry smoke capability and an infantry AT capability of 3, which may be a bit generous.

There is a troop of three Cromwells. These have 2D6 of MG or 2D6 of HE and an AT defence of 6.  

Finally there is an artillery observer for a troop of 25pdrs with three fire missions.

The Germans need to set up the AT gun within LOS of the main E-W road and a burning wreck from an earlier ambush. As before I put the wreck on the crossroads in the town and the gun back down the main road, dug in on the edge of the wood. 

Otherwise the MG42 team is behind the southern hedge, due to low hedge along the road they can cover almost the entire front with opportunity fire. One PGR section occupies the buildings west of the crossroads, while the other is dug in well out of sight behind the northern buildings. I did think about a more linear defence but it is prone to being overwhelmed piecemeal.

The Germans have to knock out two Cromwells and avoid the AT gun being destroyed. The British also win if they get three Cromwells off the eastern edge. The time limit is 80 minutes, so a deliberate approach is possible.

The British come on with all three sections in line behind the handy hedge. The 2" mortar is in the centre and the artillery observer in the south. One tank comes on for close support, but stays close to the infantry. The northern section pops smoke into the open field beyond the hedge and then the British smoke is exhausted.

Unlike last time I'm going to keep a reserve.

The MG42 opp fires at the two infantry sections it can see (the third is obscured by buildings) but the fire is ineffective. The PGR in the buildings make their infantry AT roll (which now drops to three) and scores a hit on the Cromwell! Sadly they roll a miserable 1 for effect and it bounces off.

The British put down inffective small arms and MG fire on the Germans, they also call down an artillery stonk which falls short. The northern section moves into the smoke, but they are pinned by fire from the PGR in the buildings. The MG42 goes out of command so doesn't do anything.

Both sides trade ineffective small arms and MG fire. The British call down another stonk, which this time scatters wide and misses! I'm really not convinced that observed artillery fire is as useless as this. The 2" mortar is also bravely firing at the Germans, but needs a 6 on 1D6 to hit anything. Perhaps it should have a round of smoke?

The British section in the smoke fails to rally, despite needing a 3+.

Time to shake things up. I rule that the third observed stonk is on target, and the Germans are duly pinned. The British also manage to pin the MG42. The pinned British section falls back and is replaced by a fresh one in the smoke. The two remaining Cromwells come on into the big field now the German defence is pinned.

The Germans prioritise rallying their pinned troops. The other section and AT gun go out of command.

The British manage to activate all their units and pour fire into the Germans. While they miss the PGR, the 2" mortar hits the MG42 and it is finished off by the pair of Cromwells. The British take the northern buildings just as the smoke dissipates.

The Germans try for another AT shot at the massed tanks, but fail the availability roll (which now drops to 2), but they do manage to pin the British in the northern buildings with point blank fire.

The tanks now roll forward to take advantage of the gap in the German line. The British covering fire pins the PGR in the buildings and  the 2" mortar promptly runs out of ammunition, which is fair enough. The section in the north manages to rally though.

The Germans rally the troops in the buildings but fire against the British in the north is ineffective. In a bold move, the Pak 40 begins to relocate (it can load up and move one hex). As long as the British are in LOS of the occupied buildings, they can only move 1 hex per turn, plenty of time to move and set up facing the armoured attack, which will necessarily be channelled by the BUAs.

Ooer, what is this. The two covering British sections manage to rout the PGR in the buildings! This opens up the way for the Cromwells to roll forwards two hexes. The Pak 40 hastily reverses back into the woods and unlimbers!

The presence of unsupported armour in the dense terrain has not gone un-noticed however. The reserve PGR section picks up their panzerfausts and legs it down the hedgerows to close assault the tanks on the crossroads.

The British in the northern building manage to hit them with opportunity fire, pinning the German infantry, so they only get to roll 1D6 in the ensuring melee. The Cromwell rolls a 4 and misses, the German roll a 5 and hit! They then roll unmodified against the armour penetration table and score a magnificent 6! Kaboom! Scratch one Cromwell. Iron crosses and tank destruction badges all around. 

All is not lost however, if the Brits can take out the AT gun, they win. Covered by the section in the north, one British rifle section advances up the hedgeline. Unfortunately the other goes out of command.

The last two Cromwells swing around the church and line up on the Pak 40. They are out of arc of the gun, so it faces a hefty to-hit penalty for traversing.

They reckon without the veteran German AT gunners though, who effortlessly swing their gun around and roll a whopping 9 on the to-hit dice. Naturally this is followed by a 5 on the kill dice and another Cromwell bursts into flames. The other German section rallies, but it doesn't matter as it is game over with 52 minutes on the game clock and both sides force morale reduced to a measly one each!

That was very enjoyable and felt like a much fairer fight than in the WRG game. I did have to look a few things up as I've never done a close assault vs AFVs before, but overall the game worked very well and was a close fight. My minor morale mods worked OK too, and generally the Germans rallied faster than the British. 

Sadly the British fell victim to their desperate urge to conduct a cavalry charge on tracks, but when I pushed the tanks forwards, it seemed we were on the edge of a breakthrough. Keeping up a deliberate approach might have been more effective as we still had 38 minutes on the clock and the Germans were one away from their force breakpoint.

I'm still not very happy with the artillery fire. I don't mind map fire scattering, but I think observed fire was a lot more accurate than that, easy enough to fix I think. That is also quite a complex scenario in terms of the victory conditions (which are actually more complex than I've summarised). There are some simpler ones in the Fireball Forward rulebook, so I might try some of them. They have the added bonus that several are based on my favourite Squad Leader scenarios and I think in future I'll stick to standardish sized tables as this one was really a bit small. So, there is definitely more to come.

Funny Little Twin Villages. Krinkelt and Rocherath, December 1944

 For various reasons I've not been to a f2f game at Tapton for quite a while, so I was very pleased to be able to attend the latest outing in late August. Unusually for August, we were off to the Ardennes in December 1944!

Battlefield from the southwest. This is adapted from the Rapid Fire 'Twin Villages' scenario. Krinkelt and Rocherach are in the bottom left (and Elsenborn Ridge is off to the south).

From the north east. I can't recall the name of this village,, L-something. The previous day, infantry from the US 99th Division repelled an attack here by 277th Volksgrenadier Division and supported by elements of 12th SS Panzer Div.

Today the Germans are trying again as US reinforcements from the veteran US 2nd Division rush to the area.

This is played using Tims WW2 version of 'Funny Little Wars' with 54mm figures and (roughly) 1/48th scale vehicle. Matchstick firing cannon and nerf guns are used to resolve artillery and AT fire respectively. 

I was cast as a steely eyed nazi fanatic, along with John A and Pete. Here we have the thick end of 12th SS Panzer Division. Two Panzergrenadier battalions, a mixed Panzer battalion with Pz IVs and Panthers, plus elements of the divisional panzerjaeger battalion.

And tons of support assets, three SP Flak platoons, two panzer engineer companies, an SP infantry gun battery and a battalion each of Wespes and Nebelwerfers.

Some of the US stuff. We were sent away to plan while the Americans set up.

There were some absolutely beautiful toys on show, like this stunning Grille.

And this lovely Bergepanzer IV (a commercial conversion of a Solido chassis). I think the Wirbelwind is Corgi.

The US had this lovely US cameraman figure to record the proceedings.

Tim gave us the the general briefings and sent us off to plan what we were doing.

Out general scheme of manouvre was to operate with one Kampfgruppe down each major road. Each would comprise one PGR battalion, plus various bits of the panzer battalion and regimental support assets. Pete had I Bn and the Pz IVs (right flank) while John had II Bn and the Panthers (left flank).

The reserve (under me) was the Jagdpanzers, one company of panzer engineers and a Flak platoon. I'd assigned artilleur observers to each KG, but until they were in a position to call observed fire, I'd shell geographic targets in Rocherath. 

The US had quite a large outpost force at village L! The first job was to clear this lot away so we could deploy the full Regiment from our rather cramped entry area. This was Petes task, complicated by the bad ground and early morning mist which restricted visibility.

Various infantry and AT positions were scattered around further back, plus a few Shermans and M10s.

This barebacked 57mm gunner in the thick snow is obviously a hard case! 

US HQ outside the church in Krinkelt, including a fabulous MP figure on a motorcycle.

Our deployment area was quite constrained (and is notionally in a dip so out of sight of the US troops). Pete put a dismounted PGR company and a company of Pz IVs out front to push west along the road to L. Everyone else was backed up along the road as they offroad going was so bad.

The US had the Sherman 76 (christened 'Fury') pointing down the road. Fairly soon the Pz IVs came into view, despite the mist. Each vehicle represents approximately 10 real ones, and a pair of figures is a rifle platoon, so companies generally have six figures. 

The lead Pz IV took a hit (they can take two before being destroyed) but then spent the next few turns suppressed on the road unable to do anything and blocking the route for traffic behind. The US infantry are dug in behind the hedges and are busy lobbing bazooka shells at the tanks too.

Eventually the Germans manage to shake out into a more dispersed formation and their weight of numbers begins to tell.

The Grille moves up in support and clears away a lot of the US infantry with point blank 150mm shellfire. It is amazing how the snow camo lorries blend into the snowy basecloth.

World class pointing from Pete. Sadly the Grille succumbed to long range Sherman fire on a subsequent turn (as a platoon sized unit it could only take one hit).

With Petes KG off the road, John could now come on. The lead Panther company sped off southwards, looking rather grand.

Sadly traffic jams built up further back down the column, delaying everyone else. Each company activates in cards order, and if the order is wrong, the  following units get stuck...

The US film team bravely filmed the goings on from the edge of the woods.

More US reinforcements were straggling in all the time, and the defences looked a bit thicker now. You can see the lead Panthers in the distance across the snow covered fields.

 

On the road to L, US resistance collapsed and Pete put marching columns down the centre road and the remaining mounted troops down the road on the right (including an engineer company to support the Panzers). By now US artillery fire had knocked out one of the Flak platoons, a Pz IV had succumbed to AT fire and one of the PGR companies was shot up clearing out the US infantry, but the KG was still quite strong.

Meanwhile I'd been busy shelling the town with map fire. The shells went all over the place but occasionally found a target. A direct hit on this jeep and radio op. I managed to hit the church several times but noone was inside it.

By now John was well on his way down the left hand road, but it was still a very long column. Petes boys had shaken out into a more dispersed formation, which was slow moving cross country.  One his tanks had managed to finish off 'Fury' as it tried to retire. Poor old Brad Pitt.

The Panthers however seemed incapable of hitting anything.

Here they are banging away ineffectively at the Sherman in the distance. The ground scale is 1 foot = 500 yards, so it is a fair way away.

Still lots of Americans in Krinkelt.

This 57mm was in a great spot and managed to knock out an entire unit of Panthers (just visible in the distance) with back-back flank shots.

The only survivor from the L garrison was the artillery observer in his jeep, vaguely visible just beyond the burning 'Fury'.

The traffic jams built up again as the Panzer Battalion HQ came on.

But the rest of Johns KG are making good progress own the eastern road.

Petes boys are just about on the outskirts of Rocherath now.

But with four turns to go, we've run out of time to capture the road exit in the southwest corner (our objective) and there is little point trying to fight through the town in the remaining daylight. So we call it there, the US have won the day! The SS will have to try again tomorrow.

That was loads of fun, and given the amount of kit we had on the table, rattled along quickly and smoothly.  This game system is pretty mature now and produces a good game both f2f and remotely. I just like the feel of it, a bit like playing with (very big) Airfix figures and vehicles.

Many thanks to Tim for organising it and the gentlemanly approach of the other players. 

Panzergrau Zvezda Pz IIIj

 Who doesn't love a grey Panzer III? I already have a bunch of grey Peter Pig Pz IIIG/H which have seen extensive service on various fronts, but they are all 50L42 versions. It occurred to me that for actions from mid 1942 onwards (2nd Kharkov? Stalingrad?) it might be handy to have a 50L60 variant too.

And here it is in its grey wonderfulness. Zvezda don't actually make a Pz IIIj, this is their Flammpanzer III kit with the gun sanded down lightly. It is such an exquisite model though, that I already have three of them. 

This one is pretty easy to assemble, but still has several parts. They all go together cleanly and although it is designed to be push fit, I applied glue in sensible places. There is a moderate amount of hull furniture on it already, so I just added an ammo box on the rear deck and a commander (metal Battlefront figure I think - it is a pretty crude casting, typical of early BF). I didn't attempt to model the open hatch covers as they'd just get knocked off.

The box on the rear deck is a PSC one from the Russian 76mm gun with the lid cut off and turned upside down. The spare wheel is moulded on already. Sorry, this photo is a bit blurry. It is supposed to show all the nice stuff moulded onto the model.

This side view demonstrates what a dogs dinner this kit is. The hull is from a Pz IIIe (you can clearly see the lower side escape hatches), and it also has the early pattern drive wheels and no spaced armour on the hull front. The new turret is just plonked on the wrong hull. Fortunately the mantlet spaced armour is very distinctive and distracts from the other wrongness. The gun needed sanding as the 50L60 gun tapoers whereas the flamethrower is just a straight tube.

Panzergrau is a slippery shade, and it can often be far too dark. It fades rapidly, and is often depicted as having a bluish tinge (that varied by paint batch). For this I base coated it in Humbrol Sea Grey, which is a mid blue grey. Then it got a thin wash of Vallejo Panzer Grey, which is so dark it is almost black. The wash stained the Sea Grey nicely and also provided some shading.

Then it just got a good slathering of 'mud' all over the running gear and lower hull (which always looks good on grey or green vehicles) and a light overall drybrush of VJ Iraqi Sand to pick out the highlights and lighten it up a bit. The decals are all Battlefront, I couldn't be bothered to attempt a three digit turret number and just went with two.