Operation Battleaxe with NQM

 For my session at COW this year I'm planning on running Operation Battleaxe with Megablitz in a retro gaming session. I originally wrote the MB Battleaxe scenario about 20 years ago, so I've been spending some time updating it. Having done some more work on the OBs, I also thought it would be an ideal game to try with NQM, as it would be a more open combat environment than my previous playtests. 

So here we are, the Battleaxe battlefield from the south. Each hex is around 3km, and I'm going to use battalion size bases ie Megablitz scale. The battlefield is fairly constrained in size as most of the fighting occurred around the fortified positions along the Egyptian Frontier in the vicinity of Fort Capuzzo and Halfaya. The table is around 40km x 40km, with the Gulf of Sollum cutting into the top right corner. 

If I was setting it up again I'd perhaps shift it all one hex north to give a bit more desert elbow room. 

Halfaya Pass, Sollum and Fort Capuzzo. Getting the terrain to conform to the hex grid was a bit of a challenge, the coastal strip is around 2km wide and Sollum itself mostly on the plain, so this is a compromise. I did the escarpment itself as full hexes instead of a hex side, as the series of limestone cliffs were significantly bad going for a fair distance inland. These hexes are impassable to vehicles unless on a road.

Halfaya was garrisoned by KG Bach with a battalion of panzergenadiers, various attached artillery and Italian subunit and of course some 88s. I rolled this into an infantry unit and a command/support AT/Flak unit. The position was extensively fortified and mined so rated Heavy defence. 

Sollum, Capuzzo and Bardia were garrisoned by three battalions from Trento, with various attachments. Bardia is off table so I've got two Italian battalions and a comand/support unit l holding Sollum and Capuzzo, in medium fortifications. 

There is also an HQ for the Frontier and a dual purpose logistic unit. 

The desert flank is screened by the 33rd recce battalion and the fortified Points 206 and 208 (Hafid Ridge). I thought a lot about recce and for this game and I'm not letting company sized units fight, it is far too easy to use them as an ad hoc tank battalion, and I don't see why one armoured car regiment should have as much firepower as an entire infantry brigade. If they want to fight, they need to mass together, and they'll get one (light) combat dice per 2 or 3SP, as per the original NQM rules. 

The garrisons of Points 206 and 208 were a mixture of panzergenadiers, motorcycle troops, and attached AT guns, artillery etc. I've done each as an infantry battalion and a medium AT gun. The AT gun on Hafid Ridge is the command unit so has 3SP, but the gun on 206 only has 1SP. A few 88s were positioned here too, so factored in by giving company sized units the firepower of a battalion. Both medium fortifications. 

15th Panzer Div were responsible for the Frontier area, so 104th PGR manned the defences while 8th Panzer Regiment, 15th motorcycle Bn and the bulk of the AT Bn were held in reserve around Sidi Aziz ready to counterattack and restore the defences. I've also given then an HQ and some logistics. Irl they were very short of fuel, but I haven't figured out a simple way to model that. 

In reserve near Tobruk is most of 5th Light Div, the core is 5th Panzer Regiment and the two motorised MG battalions, but they also have artillery, Flak, SP panzerjaegers etc. These will not be released until the second day at the earliest, depending on the situation. 

Finally we have the airforce in support. Three fighter wings, one ground attack and one bomber, each representing 30 to 40 aircraft. I'm rating the Italians as worse than the Germans or British for air to air combat.

And waiting to smash their way into Libya, XXX Corps, comprising 4th Indian and 7th Armoured Divisions, newly refurbished by the "Tiger" convoy. 

Both Divisions are still very under strength from previous fighting. 

4th Indian can only put one of it's brigades into line, designated Coast Force. Their objective is Halfaya and Sollum. They have been reinforced with heavy artillery, a squadron (1SP) of infantry tanks and the divisional engineers. Like the recce, I'm only letting engineers fight as battalions of 2 to 3SP, they can still do engineer tasks as companies. 

4th Indian was reinforced with 22nd Guards Brigade and 4th Armoured Brigade, all designated Escarpment Force. Their objectives were

 Fort Capuzzo and Sollum, aiming  to isolate the fort at Halfaya before it was assaulted. 

4th Armoured had been equipped with newly arrived Matildas (heavy armour) and detached from 7th Armoured Div. 

7th Armoured Div itself just comprised 7th Armoured Brigade and 7th Support Group. 7th SG had two motorised infantry battalions, AT, engineers, artillery and AA. Their job was to follow up 7th AB and provide flank protection. 

7th AB could only field two armoured regiments, one with a mix of old cruisers and the other with shiny new Crusaders. They were beefed up with 11th Hussars, deployed as a unified armoured car regiment. 

Their objectives were points 206 and 208 and then to destroy all German armour in the Frontier area in conjunction with 4th Armoured. With the stacking limit of 7SP per hex, these formations take up an awful lot of real estate! 

Finally the desert airforce was in support with two fighter and two bomber wings. Yes, the British really did opt to attack with air inferiority, pointing to the limited aim of the operation as a whole. 

As I was running three turns per day, the planes could fly missions each turn. I also decided to have a Megablitz style overnight turn,, but obviously planes would be grounded then. 

Action opened on the 15th June as XXX Corps rolled forward. The British recce was uniformly unsuccessful so the coastal force just advanced to contact. Both sides deployed their fighters but in the absence of any worthwhile targets, held the bombers back. 

33rd Recce Bn fell back before the mass of British units. A certain amount of rule reading was needed here, but in the end I just treated them as Megablitz type recce and they could opt to stand or retreat. The Germans needed to be careful not to get surrounded. 

By the afternoon, the Indians were shelling Halfaya and German fighters provided CAP to discourage RAF bombers. One German recce company had misjudged distances and ended up trapped at the top of pass, fortunately the escarpment slowed the Indian infantry who were unable to catch them. The Indians were content to shell the fortifications while the engineers tried to clear the minefields (reduce the defences) . 

4th AB and 22nd Guards Brigade advanced past Halfaya in the evening and there were furious German bomber attacks on the Matildas, and RAF bombing raids on Capuzzo. 

The Axis raids missed completely, but the barrage markers would interdict 22 Guards Brigade. The Capuzzo garrison took some hits. 

The Indian artillery seemed incapable of rolling anything but 6, and KG Bach took a pasting. Trento ran a very risky resupply mission to the garrison while the road through Sollum was still open but Halfaya was almost surrounded now. 

In late afternoon, 4th AB managed to take Fort Capuzzo, but 7th AB was repulsed at Point 206. Now it was the Germans turn to roll 6 and run out of ammo, while inflicting heavy casualties on the British. 

As evening drew in, air activity was intense. The Luftwaffe bombed Capuzzo while the RAF bombed Point 206. Both sides planes had taken some damage now, but the Luftwaffe scored a big success and downed both a flight of Hurricanes and one of Bombers. The Axis lost a flight of BF 109s.

8th Panzer counterattacked at Capuzzo to try and retake it. The fort was held by one Regiment of Matildas who were out of ammo! 4th AB was somewhat isolated as 22 Guards had been delayed by bombing, the only unit which had made it forward was the RHA Portee 2pdrs, and they couldn't quite make it to the fort. 

7th AB lined up to attack Point 206  again. I ruled that the mass bombing raid counted as 'reinforcements' so they were able to resume the assault. 7th Support Group was catching up now and screened the left flank as naughty Germans might have come on via Sidi Omar. I could have put some units in to support the assault but wanted to keep a fresh brigade in reserve. 

The defenders of Point 206 were duly overrun. 11th Hussars took the ridge and were disorganised while the cruisers stayed back to reorg and casevac. 

15th Panzer retook Capuzzo however, while the remains of the original garrison dug in across the road to Bardia. One of the Matildas took a permanent casualty and the brigade reorganised. The Germans just took the fort with one panzer battalion, the motorcycle battalion was pinned by artillery fire and the Germans wanted reorganise at least one panzer battalion. 

In a shock development, the Indians took Halfaya, storming through the minefields! I can't recall a single desert game where Halfaya hasn't fallen to direct assault, so there must have been something particularly fearsome about the defences in real life not reflected in our games.  Perhaps I need to make the defences 'very heavy'. 

One Axis battalion on 0SP was destroyed (thanks for noticing that in the rules Mr Evans!) and the rest of KG Bach fell back to Sollum to join the Italian garrison. 

There followed a night turn, and I allowed both sides to redeploy within the limit of their front lines or dig in, and remove any disorganisation but no combat. I also required recce units to laager back, as well as British armoured units. The Germans garrisoned Capuzzo with their motorcycle battalion and 33rd AT Bn. 

Dawn saw the arrival of 5th Light Division which opted to enter via the Trigh Capuzzo to Sidi Aziz instead of further south at Sidi Omar. 8th Panzer put in a counterattack on Point 206 which was contested by 7th AB, while the reorganised Matildas of 4th AB attacked Capuzzo, supported by elements of 22 Guards who had now caught up. 4th Indian Div pushed down the coast road and put in an attack on Sollum, supported by it's squadron of I tanks. 

5th Light was too far away to intervene in the morning, but it was shaping up to be a real dogfight. 

With the combined infantry/armour/air/artillery assault, 22 Guards easily retook Fort Capuzzo and pushed the Germans out. 

But the Germans managed to retake Point 206, expending prodigious amounts of ammo in the process. 7th AB fell back with loss. 

Finally 4th Indian shot it's way into Sollum and linked up with 22 Guards Brigade. KG Bach fell back along the escarpment, but not before the leading Indian battalion was shot to pieces. 

Meanwhile the ground between Point 206 and Capuzzo erupted into a huge tank battle as 4th and 7th AB engaged 5th and 8th Panzer Regiments. When the smoke cleared and ambulances drove around the battlefield picking up casualties, the Matildas of 4th AB had repelled the Germans but 7th AB had been shattered and withdrew from the field. 

As evening fell on the 16th, both sides threw in all their remaining planes but the Germans were able to envelop and cut off the exposed 4th AB. 

A German motorcycle company bravely held off the relief column from 11th Hussars (I gave recce companies the option to stand and fight if attacked, but this was generally a one shot effort!), and assailed by four Panzer battalions and an SP panzerjaeger battalion, the Matildas finally succumbed leaving a sea of abandoned tanks. 8th Panzer was now down to one battalion with 2SP left. 

The only bright spark for the Commonwealth was that KG Bach was finally destroyed by 4th Indian attacking up the escarpment, but by now Panzergrenadiers were dug in north of the ridge. The coast road was still open to Capuzzo though. 

Overnight the British infantry moved up their artillery and dug in along the line. I briefly considered trying to mass 7th Support Group against Hafid Ridge, but with the British mobile troops reduced to two armoured car regiments, it would be almost impossible to hold it. 

The Germans shuffled their battered armour around and tightened their grip on the road to Bardia. 

Finally at dawn on the 17th the Panzer put in another counterattack on Capuzzo. The defenders were completely destroyed, but the massed British artillery inflicted such heavy losses that the German attack was actually repulsed. 

The British still had a firm grip on the coast road and fresh units in reserve. 

The only part of the original front line left was Hafid Ridge, thoroughly screened by 7th Support Group. The Germans only had one undamaged Panzergrenadier battalion left in reserve, so there was little hope of a successful counterattack now against the entrenched British infantry so Rommel called off the attack. Equally, the British now had no functional armoured units (again) so were content to hold their gains. 

The British had done rather better than historically, so a British win! I'm not sure Churchill would be very pleased about Wavell losing all those tanks though. 

I really enjoyed that, it was great fun and very exciting. It still took about three and a half hours to play, but I'm playing both sides and there is a lot to think about each turn. 

This time I got to grips better with the air system as I deployed fighters, bombers, ground attack planes and flak. Just like the the ground units, the rate of attrition was fairly high, so not throwing in everything every turn is a good idea. The opposed D6 combat system is a bit if a crap shoot however, and I'm wondering about something more nuanced. 

I'm still struggling a bit with the recce system and moving more and more towards the Megablitz approach. Using recce as recce doesn't produce much in the way of an advantage unless you are a big fan of pre-move bombardments and the temptation just to use them as light tank battalions is overwhelming, especially as in the RAW a recce battalion  gets a whopping three combat dice, while an infantry battalion just gets one, which can't be right, surely?

In the end I played it that recce battalions deployed as a single 3SP unit got 1 combat dice like everything else, whereas the 1SP companies don't get any. Both types can decline combat, and generally fall back before normal combat units, but have the option to stand if they wish. I'm slightly minded to adopt the Megablitz convention of placing formation orders but allowing recce units to find out what they  are, but there is a risk Il just end up playing Megablitz with the NQM combat system. 

I've also been playing that combat outcomes are modified by a combination of unit morale and losses, but actually the maths is a bit screwy with that as some of the effects end up being double counted. (I won't bore you with reams of calculations but trust me on this one).  I'm minded to revert to just accounting for losses but also to give the side with superior morale a basic +1 on the combat outcome roll as well. Something to play around with anyway, and it feels like I'm getting there in terms of something logically consistent I can hold in my head.