Arras 1940

 Arras is one of the iconic battles of the 1940 campaign, and one of the great what-ifs, particularly the fate of one Erwin Rommel. I ran it fairly early in lockdown as a One Hour WW2 game and much fun was had, although I've actually got enough kit to do the Command Decision version (!). Far too many Matilda Is.

Anyway, a brief summary: after the Germans broke through at Sedan they rapidly isolated all the Allies units in northern France and Belgium. The counterattack at Arras was an attempt to cut off the Panzer spearheads, or at least to allow some units to escape back into the rest of France. Originally conceived as a four division attack, it was repeatedly watered down until it ended up being executed by barely a brigade. Wiki summary here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arras_(1940)

Here we are, Arras itself is in the northeast with the river Scarpe running through it. The terrain in the area is generally fairly flat and dotted with small woods and villages. The isolated Allied units are attacking from the north and various German motorised units are to the south - the Panzer Regiments being busy motoring westwards to the sea.

The Allied forces, 4th and 7th RTR comprising 1st Army Tank Brigade and mainly equipped with Matilda Is and a handful (16) Matilda IIs. These are represented as two (heavy armour) tank units. There are also 6 Durham Light Infantry (DLI) and 8 DLI from 151 Brigade, both leg infantry. 6 DLI are on the right and 8 DLI in reserve. Finally there are elements of 3 DLM, our old pals from the Battle of Gembloux. This is actually a composite unit as many of the surviving tanks of the DLMs had been distributed as infantry support. This is a powerful elite and heavily armoured unit (Somuas were pretty good in 1940), but is also flagged as unreliable - irl 3 DLM was first accidentally shot up by British anti tanks who misidentified them, and then became embroiled with 7th Panzer Regiment who motored back east to the sound of battle. 

The Allies don't have any significant artillery or aircraft, which may be an issue.

Closer view of my Matildas. These are all Zvezda models although I have some Peter Pig Matilda Is as well. Some of them have gas detection patches on. I've been generous and given both Regiments a model Matilda II although irl they were mostly in 7 RTR.

The Germans are a right rag bag. SS Regiment Totenkopf was the first unit to encounter the heavy British tanks, and panicked badly. SSTK was drawn from concentration camp guards, but unlike camp inmates, the British shot back. These are represented as three unreliable infantry units in trucks.

In reserve we have Schutzen Regiments (SR) 6 and 7 from 7th Panzer Division who were made of sterner stuff. They were reinforced with the divisional anti tank battalion, plus field guns and heavy AA guns firing over open sights. These guys are all in reserve, we have I/6 SR with AT guns, II/6 SR with heavy 88mm (elite) AT guns, I/7 SR also with AT guns and II/7 SR who are just a regular infantry unit. Both the units with AT guns are 'unreliable' as the Germans rapidly discovered that their 37mm shells just bounced off the Matildas and Somuas. The 88s and regular infantry are reliable though. 

Finally the Luftwaffe is present in the form of a regular bomber unit. There aren't any German tanks so no German blitzkrieg options and strangely German air superiority doesn't impede Allied reserve movement. German reserve movement will be impeded by the Allied tanks though.

With so many unreliable units, particularly the otherwise devastating Somuas, this is going to be a wild ride. 

The 7th RTR attacked in the centre and II/3SS ran away. German reserves failed to move up (rolled a 1) and the centre was open! The Germans bombed 6 DLI.

6 DLI collapsed under the bombing and 3rd DLM moved up to fill the gap (I made a mistake and made it roll for arrival even though the Germans have no tanks).

4 RTR attacked on left and easily routed I/3 SS. The 88s moved up into the line.

On the right III/SSTK decided to stand while 3rd DLM didn't turn up after all (failed its reliability test) and 8 DLI took their place. irl 3rd DLM became embroiled in a tank battle with 7th Panzer Regiment so didn't manage to intervene decisively.

7th RTR tried to outflank the 88s through the centre but failed. The lull allowed more German anti-tank guns (I/6 SR) to move up. The Luftwaffe busily bombed 8 DLI and missed.

Both 4 and 7 RTR attacked the German gun line and bounced. II/6 Schutzen decided to stand and fight.

7th RTR attacked the centre again while the Luftwaffe bombed the right.

The Matildas overran the 37mm Pak 36s and their place was taken by the last German infantry reserve, II/7 SR. The DLI had also had enough of the bombing and withdrew.

7th RTR tried once more in the centre and bounced. III/SSTK attacked on the right however....

And sent 7th RTR packing, at which point with only one unit left in the field, the Allied attack collapsed. That was a fairly historical outcome, 3rd DLM failed to arrive, the British infantry were pinned down and separated from the tanks and the Matildas were unable to break through the gun line. 

Having the 3 DLM as an unreliable unit is quite a clever way of modelling its travails on the day, but it adds a real wildcard as it is the best unit in the game with a 50% chance of arrival. The unrelieble German units are great fun as you just don't know who is going to stand or not, and with no less than five of them, I guess the luck on those evens out a bit.

As such an important battle and such a random scenario, it deserved another go.

In a catastrophic opening, 4 RTR assault I/SSTK. The SS stand and fight and rout 4 RTR on a 6! 3 DLM manages to move up and take their place, and this time decides to stand and fight under Luftwaffe bombing. Maybe not such a bad result after all as now the elite heavily armoured French are in action.

7th RTR attacks the centre but II/SSTK decide to stand as well and the attack fails. The Luftwaffe bomb 6 DLI with no result. The German luck on reliability somewhat balances out 3 DLM.

Heavy fighting in the centre again has no result (both sides rolled 'attack centre').

7 RTR tries yet again and bounces off the SS. The Luftwaffe finally see off 6 DLI however, and their place is taken by 8 DLI.

The British infantry immediately get stuck in and assault III/SSTK, who also decide to stand and fight.

But the DLI rout them anyway, and II/6 SR move up to fill the gap. I'm saving the Pak 36s for the tanks, as the AT guns still get a bonus despite their heavy armour.

3rd DLM goes into action on the left and demolishes I/SSTK.

The Luftwaffe bomb them, even though this is a low odds attack. It allows the Germans to make a reinforcement roll in this sector and I/7 SR moves up. Still untried of course. The Germans have to make reinforcement rolls as they are facing armour in the sector.

3 DLM attack I/6 SR who promptly run away. 7 RTR have another go in the centre and II/SSTK runs for it, its place is taken by II/6 SR with its 88s.

3 DLM try to outflank the 88s and fails (very unlucky! Needed a 3+). This allows I/7 SR to fill the gap. The Luftwaffe bomb the Somuas ineffectively again.

Heavy fighting in the centre once more as 7 RTR and II/6 SR duel repeatedly but with little effect. Both sides need 5+ to hit.

3 DLM attacks the gun line and the Pak 36s stand. The attack fails. The Luftwaffe see off 8 DLI though. Only two allied units left now!

3rd DLM overruns I/7 SR, forcing the Luftwaffe to hold the line once more. II/7 SR make an unsuccessful flank attack on 7 RTR.

 

7 RTR try again the the centre and II/7 SR on the right, all to no effect.

3 DLM are held by the Luftwaffe while 7 RTR sees off another attack by II/7 SR.

3 DLM fights its way through the Luftwaffe, and 7 RTR concentrates on the 88s but is held off.

More attacks on the flanks by both sides which are ineffective.

But finally a double combat on the left flank sees 3 DLM overrun the 88s. With just one German unit left in action, it is a very hard fought Allied victory! Once that Somua is in action, things can go south very quickly for the Germans.

General view at the end. You don't often see that many dead units in Dominion.

That was perhaps a more random scenario than some of the others due to the profusion of unreliable units, but it was great fun nonetheless. It was interesting how much of a slog the Allied tanks found it without air superiority, as without artillery or bombs to blast the way ahead, armour struggles a bit unless it has a serious quality advantage.

I really enjoyed that and it captured the flavour of the battle very well. Now I've got my head around them more, I understand how the rules work and they are another excellent addition to the Dominion series. That is probably enough Dominion of the Blitzkrieg for now, so on to other things for a bit.

Strike Force One

 Recently on the Wargames Developments WhatsApp group the subject of Strike Force One came up. This was first produced in 1975 by SPI as an introduction to (board) wargaming and they used to give it away free at conventions etc. Hilariously it is still in use today on professional (as in DoD etc) wargaming courses in the USA, where the students are introduced to the basic game and then modify it for Cyber, drones, chem etc. One of my WD colleagues was involved in some of the chat about modelling chemical weapons, and some of the others were a bit disparaging about how simple it was etc. 

Anyway, I'd completely forgotten I own it, but of course it was given away free with Nicky Palmers 1977 book "Comprehensive Introduction to Board Wargaming", a book I read cover to cover at the time. Nicky Palmer also took part in the definitive two part series replay of 'Third Reich' in the AHGC General along with Marcus Watney, from which I learned a few more interesting strategies. I was fortunate enough to play a few games with Marcus in later years.

Anyway, I digress. I did play Strike Force One a few times in the 1970s and then forgot about it. After the chat on the group, I just had to give it another go.

It really is pretty minimal, ten counters, four turns but a surprisingly comprehensive set of rules as it has to explain in some detail concepts like CRTs, 'moving adjacent' (aka Zones of Control) etc. There is a page or so of advanced rules which include things like stacking and more advanced terrain effects.

The game is set in  a hypothetical WW3 invasion of West Germany with four US companies facing six Soviet ones. The Russians have four turns to capture two of the three towns.

The initial setup is fixed. ZOCs are sticky and in the basic games woods are impassable - lets assume everyone is mechanised and these are dense forests. Units can only stack one per hex, movement is four hexes and every unit has the same combat value. The CRT is pretty brutal, a 2:1 only gives a 50% chance of success and most results are retreats. A single 'Defender Eliminated' appears at 3:1, so most eliminations will be by forcing retreats on units which cant - due to ZOC, stacking or blocking terrain.

The Russians swarm unit X at 3:1 and push it back. This exposes unit Y to encirclements next turn if it doesn't do something. Combat between adjacent units isn't mandatory btw, but ZOC stop all movement and retreat.

The US try a 1:1 counterattack and manage to roll AE! that isn't good. They push Z forward to protect Y southern flank (it is on an objective).

The defence collapses spectacularly in concentric attacks. One Russian pins A in the village at the top.

By turn 4 it is a complete wipeout. 

OK, that was good to remind myself of the rules. I need to be much more canny with the US and make use of the blocking terrain to channel attacks so they are only at 2:1 or worse. Unfortunately the initial setup is fixed so X is always going to get attacked at 3:1.

On the next run the US did a bit better, and ended the game losing but with half their units and one village in hand.

Next game ended up much the same. I seem to recall the attacker having a much easier time of it when I used to play, but some of the people on BGG seem to think it is more balanced game, so I'm either a brilliant Russian or useless US player.

I thought I'd give it a go with the advanced rules. Woods cost 2MP but combat strength defending is doubled in them. Units can also stack two per hex. The US weathered the first attack, abandoned the centre and then occupied a lot of woods. The ZOCs block access to the villages and the defending units are doubled in the woods, and they all have open retreat routes. This is a much tougher position for the Sovs to attack. 

The Russians focussed on the north and managed to drive the US out of the woods (at 2:1 with four units) and then the village.

I'm not quite sure how the US managed to both lose a unit and get another surrounded! I must have made another mistake.

With two villages in the bag, the Sovs just put ZOC on the last US units to keep them bottled up.

That was actually kind of fun and an interesting blast from the past. I think it is very funny that serious people are still playing this, but I can see how it is a simple framework you could add chrome to - rather like the Neil Thomas One Hour rules.

There is plenty of stuff about it on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5960/strike-force-one-the-cold-war-heats-up-1975 and you can always download it from the SPI games archive should you feel the inclination.

Chickamauga September 1863

 Time to try out my minor revisions to my version of Neil Thomas's ACW rules with the Zoom gang. This time we are off to Tennessee in 1863. After being forced out of Chattanooga, Braggs Army of Tennessee retreated across the mountains towards Atlanta.  Rosencrans pursued with the Army of the Cumberland, but became dispersed crossing the mountain passes. Bragg laid a trap and concentrated his forces to defeat Rosencrans in detail. The Union rushed to concentrate their forces along the Chickamauga Creek as Bragg struck.

This scenario is based on the one in the excellent Volley and Bayonet ACW scenario book. I've played it solo before but never with actual players.

Battlefield from the south, you can see the Chickamauga meandering through the woods. The woods are dense but the creek is fordable. There is a mill (Gordons Mill) in the southwest, which is presumably why the woodland peters out down there.

The CSA are coming on from the east and need to capture all the roads leading west and north as well as exhaust the Union army. The game lasts two days, six turns per day with an overnight segment.

Here is the table with the troops deployed. This is a BIG battle, and is using almost my entire collection of ACW infantry. The Union only start with four infantry divisions deployed and a couple of cavalry brigades, while most of Braggs army is already approaching the creek like a coiled spring.

Here is Braggs centre and right. I've colour coded the bases with dots for each corps and also marked the veteran and green units. Bragg didn't seem to believe in Corps integrity as the individual divisions are scattered all over the place. These are Hoods division (Longstreets Corps), Cheatham (Polks Corps), Forest and Walker. Bragg himself is just visible in the middle of his units.

John B is Bragg and also commands Hills and Walkers Corps. Tim has Polk and Buckners Corps while Jim has Longstreet and Forests Corps. Simon is joining on Wednesday and will take over Walker and Forest.

Cleburnes division (Hill) will enter during the day, while the other two arrive on the night of the 19th. Breckenridge (Hill) and Johnson (Longstreet).

Braggs left, heading towards the mill and the road exit at I1. This is Buckners Corps (Stewart and Preston) plus Hindman from Polks Corps. There are bridges and fords all over place. There are also quite a few hills, which can see over the woods, to a certain extent anyway.

Rosencrans left. You can just see Mintys cavalry brigade in the far distance, and on the nearby wooded ridge are 1 and 3 Division from XXIV Corps (Thomas). John A is Bragg and commands the overall Army and the cavalry. Micheal commands XIV Corps and XX Corps with Ian taking XX Corps on Wednesday.

Down at the mill we have Wilders mounted infantry brigade armed with Spencer repeaters! There are also 2 and 3 Div from XXI Corps (Crittenden). These are commanded by John for now with Mark taking over on Wednesday.

Marching to the rescue is this lot. No less than five more divisions. 2 and 4 Div from XIV Corps, 2 and 3 Div from XX Corps (McCook) and finally 1 Div from the Reserve Corps (Granger). Most of this lot march on along the southern road, but Granger will enter on the 20th in the north. Rosencrans is just visible on the end of the ridge at the top of the screen. From here he can see most of his army which will help with C3. 

Union traffic management could be interesting, but the horrible terrain in the north will delay the CSA.

The Union breakpoint is a mere 11 bases, rising to 21 as the various reinforcements turn up. The much bigger CSA Army starts with a BP of 19, rising to 25 as their reinforcements arrive. Bragg needs to strike hard and fast while he has the advantage. 

Right, to battle....

The action opened with Buckner and Polk (Tim) trying to sort themselves out a bit. The CSA pushed forward in the south, covered by their artillery on the hill as Polks stray division marched southeast to join them.  Stewart got as far as the hill behind the stream while Hindman took position in the treeline further south.

Hoods Texans moved aggressively west down the main road to keep Thomas's Corps busy, while Forest very appropriately moved into the middle of the woods. Braggs plan was to hit hard in the south, pin the centre and largely ignore the north until reinforcements arrived.  

Sadly this came unstuck when Stewart came under a storm of very accurate (lucky) fire which managed to knock a base off in one salvo, and they retired back behind the hill to recover. Rosencrans took the opportunity to push Wilders cavalry up onto the hill,  while Palmer marched up the road to hold the cavalry's vacated position.

Thomas' Corps in the north just took Hood under fire, but at long range and against cover, it was largely ineffective. The CSA responded with fire and managed to knock a few hits off various exposed Union units and Stewart rallied. Sadly Forest managed to dither, presumably lost in the forest.

In the northeast, Walkers reserve division marched north, presumably to clear away the Union cavalry. You can see the green dither marker on Forest. The players all seemed to find this very funny. Bragg had moved south to better control the southern attack, so Forest was no longer in immediate command distance and hidden in the trees.

The Union hung on tenaciously at Gordons Mill as reinforcements moved up the road from the southeast. Thomas was trying to unite the four divisions of his Corps, but unfortunately the road was blocked by Palmer, who chose this moment to dither. The firepower of the Wilders Spencer rifles came as a horrible surprise to the Confederates. Polk and Buckner seemed content to stand and shoot at long range in the south, whereas ideally they would have been closing in while the Union army was still deploying. 

Thomas (XIV Corps) by now had all four of his divisions in roughly the right place, but Jim was doing a great job of keeping them pinned with Hood and Forest. The latter had finally made his way to the treeline. Polk made a devastating attack on Wilder, inflicting no less than seven hits on the cavalry. Van Cleve had also had enough at Gibsons Mill and fell back, so Preston pushed west once again.

Both Gibson and Wilder fell as far back as they were able, and by now XX Corps (McCook) was able to support the defence of the mill, although there was a great traffic jam on the road behind. 2 Div (Johnson) involuntarily took up position behind the hill north of the mill as it dithered, although in fact the reverse slope was quite a good spot. Van Cleve failed to rally however.

Up in the north, Forest and Hood kept skirmishing with Thomas, neither side inflicting decisive losses, but the Confederates were tying up four divisions with two of their own!

Walker closed with Mintys cavalry who loosed off an ineffective volley into the forest.

With that we had to close for the night going into turn five. Unfortunately it was all taking longer than I'd hoped. A combination of the number of moving parts and player unfamiliarity with the rules which led to discussions on the various options. Maybe it will speed up tomorrow but I suspect not as we are into the 'dogfighting' stage of attrition, as Montgomery put it. 

Afternoon of the 19th saw more heavy fighting around the mill as Polk and Buckner threw their divisions forwards. The fresh XX Corps was in a decent position but still took heavy losses. Cheathams veterans hung on in the ccentre and combined with Hoods Texans, drove back Palmers inexperienced division in the centre.

In the north as night fell, the Confederates began to gain the upper hand. Although Thomas secured his right flank on the ridge, the left flank began to collapse as Palmer fell back and then Baird as the fire became too much. A dangerous hole opened up in the Union centre just as Walker finally finished off Mintys cavalry brigade after a successful bayonet charge which overran them.

Overnight, two more CSA divisions arrived and Polk assumed command of the southern wing of the Confederate Army and either dug rifle pits in place or extended the line. The Union just dug in, but Wilders cavalry finally rallied and moved back into line behind the stream. Palmer could have moved back into his old position but chose to dig in instead.

In the north Longstreet took over but both sides largely consolidated in place. Thomas rallied his Corps and dug in along and behind the ridge. You can just see the two CSA reserve divisions on the right, Breckenridge and Johnsons divisions.  Cleburne had already been allocated to Polk.

Hindman charged in the south and finally took Gibsons Mill, driving back the Union and capturing their artillery. In turn his division was destroyed by concentric fire by the Union troops entrenched in depth behind the bridge, but Breckenridge was now in place to exploit the bridghead. The entrenched CSA troops on the hill north of the mill held their positions and along with Cheatham, poured fire into the Union positions.

In the north Cleburne advanced due west and occupied the wood south of the ridge but was driven out again by fire. Walker cleared the road in the north and joined the extreme flank of the Confederate army. Thomas' Corps just hung on as best it could.

Breckenridge occupied the bridgehead again in the south while Longstreet pushed divisions forwards aggressively in the centre to exploit the gap in the Union lines.

Walker crossed the stream in the extreme north to flank Thomas, while Cleburne and Johnson held on to their foothold on an south of the ridge despite heavy fire.

In the south XX Corps was forced back from the river line, but Cleburne was also repulsed. This looked pretty much like the Confederate high water mark as losses were disproportionately mounting on the CSA side.

We were running short of of time and called it at that point. Although the Confederates had dented the Union line and inflicted heavy losses, I couldn't see them achieving their objectives in the time remaining but both sides declared honours even.

After a slow start, that actually went pretty well. I was very pleased with the rules tweaks as they all worked fine although there are still a lot of moving parts to manage. Actually running a game with people clarified some bits where I'd been unclear or made mistakes - in particular I got the sequence of morale tests in the charge sequence wrong, for which I apologise to the Union. Im minded to tone down the cover effect of dense woods, making them soft cover if you will, compared to Rifle pits etc. A break from Neil Thomas cover/not cover, but necessary I think. 

There was a certain desire expressed to try some more ACW battles, so I'll add the clarifications and tweaks to the rules and put on another game in due course.