Tigers at Minsk - Neuville au Plein

 Time to crack on with Tigers at Minsk and the US para scenarios from Fireball Forward. This time it is Neuville-en-Plein on 7th June 1944. I first came across this engagement in Practical Wargaming in the late 1980s as it was included with Andy Graingers lengthy article on his 'Bocage Battle' rules. I ran it some years ago (umm, maybe 25 years ago....) with Johns As 'Platoon Commanders War' as it is an interesting battle.

Battlefield from the west. St Mere Eglise is off to the right, otherwise it is typical bocage type terrain. Lots of hedgerows, small lanes and a small orchard near the 'church' - actually a two story building but I used a church to represent it. The two story building can see over the small hedge next to the orchard, but otherwise all the other hedgerows block LOS, regardless of elevation.  The FF scenario uses a 4x4 table, so I did this using 7x8 hexes for a bit more elbow room. It made it easier to represent the lines of the hedges, which are tactically important.

There are three building hexes, the Germans win if they capture two and get either one SP gun or a complete rifle platoon off the southern edge or if they take all three. The offroad going is poor, vehicles have to take a mobility test if they cross a hedgerow or per hex moved cross country.

The mighty US defence force! A platoon of US Paras under Lt Turnbull from 506 PIR iirc, supported by a 57mm AT gun and an MG team. These guys are all veteran and have high firepower (so 3D6 per squad), each squad also has gammon bombs and they have a bazooka availability number of 4. They start dug in and their force breakpoint is three.

And marching down the road from the north, an entire Grenadier company from 91st Airlanding Div, supported by a platoon of tank destroyers!

Three rifle platoons of three sections each, plus the company SFMG42 section and 81mm (kurz) section. The TDs are a Stug and two Marders, although in Andys original scenario they were a platoon of four French tanks. I'll go with the FF scenario for now.

These guys are all average, so force morale breakpoint of seven. Each TD and the 81mm mortars have a single round of smoke.

The original scenario is 7 turns, which becomes 14 turns for TaM or a whopping 98 minutes on the game clock.

With all the blocking terrain and only a rifle platoon, the defence is quite dispersed! One squad and the MG in the church, another squad behind the hedge in the top covering the big field and the third tucked away bottom right to cover the field and also the covered route along that flanking hedge below the churcb. The 57mm is dug in at the crossroads and can shoot down all the roads to interdict sneaky SP gun infiltration. 

In the real engagement the Germans came marching down the road in a column, until the US sprayed them with MG fire. The scenario setup lets the US deploy the lead German platoon on the road to simulate the ambush, so I put them in a big clump two hexes down the road right in the LOF of the MG. Andy Graingers scenario had a similar setup. 

I left a hex behind them as the assault guns have to enter on the road on turn one and I wanted to leave room for them so they could be ambushed too! 

The US take the first turn and spray the Germans in the road with the MG and Squad. Both fire with 5D6(!) due to the bunched target. The 57 hasn't got any other targets either so opens up, even the lousy 57mm HE gets 3D6 due to bunching. 

Every single German squad is pinned and they are lucky to get away without anyone routing. That has evened the odds a bit. 

Historically, the Germans recovered quickly from the surprise of the ambush, these guys are from a regular division, not static troops. They fanned out either side of the road taking advantage of the extensive cover and that is what they are doing here.

I'm never quite sure what to do with blocking terrain in TaM, in this case I allowed the units to move two hexes 'behind' the hedgerow, they would only be exposed if they actually 'moved up' to the hedgerow. That may be overly generous. Three squads and the company weapons platoon head left to line up along this handy hedge. Someone must have been exposed as the casualty shows one squad being gunned down despite the hedgerow cover benefit. I'd planned to put the mortar spotter in the hedge and sent a squad to absorb any pins, and he obviously got hammered. 

The real disaster is on the road as the SP guns roll on and the 57mm proceeds to make its ROF roll and opp fires every single one! Both Marders are destroyed but the 57 misses the Stug. Combined with the lost squad, that is three German morale chips already gone. After all that, the 57 hasn't even got an opp fire marker! The odds of that happening are 1:8 but even so, it seems quite devastating. I might have a think about that, maybe limit MGs and AT guns to a maximum of two opp fire shots?

Otherwise, two German squads move on going right, one into the open field and one in the hex with the knocked out SP guns. I keep a reserve of one squad.

The ambushed platoon self rallies, with two squads recovering. Not a bad result.

The US open up on the ambushed platoon and proceeed to re-pin all the rallied squads! Well at least they are absorbing the US fire. The 57 opens fire and knocks out the Stug as well, and that is the end of the German armour. The Germans lay down covering fire and manage to pin both the squad and MG in the church. On the other flank, one squad and the MG42 lay down suppressive fire, then the 81mms drop smoke in front of the US position, blinding them. Two squads hop over the hedge and advance 2 hexes as they are screened by hedges or the smoke - all very professional!

The ambushed Grenadier platoon self rallies again, recovering another couple of hits.

The US relocate their left hand squad back towards the buildings (you can see it moving in the bottom right). In the church the US rally the MG but the pinned rifle squad keeps firing at the ambushed Germans, along with the 57mm who hasn't got any other worthwhile targets.

Between them they inflict enough hits to rout one German squad and pin the other two.

Over in the field, the leading German squads hop into the smoke, and the MG/rifle group advance up the left flank behind them. The Germans in the smoke are now spotted, the US squad fires at them but misses due to the smoke cover.

Sadly for the Germans, the combined fire of the church garrison and the 57 wipes out the ambushed platoon on the road. I should have moved them out of the way instead of sitting there trying to rally (I forgot pinned squads can retreat).

This tips the German morale over the edge, and there are a series of cascading morale failures as some Germans on the baseline leave the table, causing further morale checks.

When the smoke clears, the German attack in the centre has completely collapsed and on the left the German have retreated to the hedgerow. 

And there we are at the end, the Germans haven't a hope of winning now, and I call it with 18 minutes on the clock, out of a potential 98!

Well, the was a resounding success for the US and an utter catastrophe for the Germans. tbh I played the Germans really badly, I wasn't very focussed and kept muddling up in my head how the terrain worked.

Really I need to run that again, and this time I'll keep it simple - I got in a real muddle with hedgerows, LOS and cover so I need to re-read the rules carefully. I also need to get the Germans in the road out of harms way instead of leaving them to be mullered. Even just spreading them out into one squad per hex would reduce their vulnerability. Lastly, I'll stick with the opp fire rules as written, but next time I've got a rather better idea where I need to drop some smoke. Basically I was rushing, when the Germans have time for a more measured deployment.

Right, lets try again. Same US setup as before, but this time I'd actually read the rules on hedges, bocage, LOS and cover. The thing I'd missed is that unlike Squad Leader, hedges etc are IN the hex not along it, but only provide cover if the line of fire crosses the obstacle. That makes it much easier to adjudicate, even if it generates some apparently odd looking situations. In-hex terrain is more like the way PBI treats terrain items.

Quite an interesting first turn! The leading German platoon was duly ambushed on the road, but this time got away with just two pinned squads, despite being in the open - they don't benefit from the hedge around the churchyard as that is 'in' the hex in front of the church.

One of the the squads moved forward into the orchard, a second rallied in place and third tried to move south to reduce stacking but was gunned down by opportunity fire from the US .30 cal. The MG failed its ROF roll which let more German squads march on with relative impunity.

The decisive move was the SP gun platoon, which motored on in road column as directed by the scenario and was shot up by the 57mm. The leading Marder burst into flames, which handily put smoke in the hex, the Stug was hit but no effect and the last Marder was hit but just stunned and on the last shot the 57mm failed is ROF roll so was marked with an opp fire marker and unable to fire in the US turn. 

The burning Marder provided cover on the road for a German rifle squad and the mortar spotter... the stunned Marder managed to rally so the Germans had two operational SP guns in smoke cover. Lucky, lucky Germans.

The US fired at what they could, but the 57mm had to spend a turn removing its opp fire marker. This allowed the Germans to drop 81mm smoke on the road in front of the gun, while the Stug and Marder brassed up the church with HE, combined with every German squad in range.

There was a bit of German dithering (the green marker on the rifle/HMG squad mid left) but the barrage of fire was devastating. I'm using the old Command Decision 2 convention of rolling to hit for HE, and if it does hit, ignores cover modifiers (unless they are well made trenches, bunkers etc). Both the SP guns got direct hits, and coupled with the supporting small arms fire, eliminate the US squad in the church and pinned the .30 cal. 

On the other flank the Germans began to spread out along the hedge. 

Rather than wait to be close assaulted by the nearby infantry, the pinned .30 cal retreated across the fields back to the hedge south of the village. The US squad in the north rolled boxcars and eliminated a German squad behind the hedge.

The Germans had used their 81mm smoke up so switched to HE and mortared the squad in the north to no effect. More German infantry lined up to deploy along the hedgerow and both assault guns made their bogging rolls to cross the bocage hedgerow into the field, worried that the smoke would clear and they would be exposed to the AT gun on the road.

Otherwise the Germans in the centre rushed forward to occupy the church and surrounding area. They got quite lucky with their activation rolls and only one hex dithered. The large and dispersed German force is prone to having hexes fail to activate as the lone command element can't be everywhere. 

The .30 cal made it back to the hedge line, while the supporting squad to the south managed to pin the first Germans who had occupied the church. The US are very dispersed but in the original scenario they have an extra unit activation chit to represent Lt Turnbulls outstanding leadership. In this game the US get the usual leader activation, but they can make (one) double roll for activation for the hexes out of leader range, so generally the US will get to activate proportionately more stuff.

The Germans basically either rallied or moved up. The MG42 section made it to the church. The squad southwest of the church is actually out of sight of the Germans as the hedge is 'in' the road hex in front of it. One of those oddities from using in-hex terrain, but now I've got my head around the idea, that is OK.

In the north the weight of German support fire manages to pin the US squad behind the hedge, but not before they pinned a German squad. The mortars keep shelling and the smoke from the burning Marder still hangs around.

A bit of a stalemate in the south, both sides have got virtual firepower parity as the US squads are more effective - 6D6 vs 7D6 and everyone is in cover, and the firefight putters on indecisively. If that bunch of Germans jumps the hedge, they will just be gunned down. The smoke in front of the 57 clears though, so the road is now once more interdicted by gunfire, and it can fire across the field too.

In the north though, the SP guns manage to eliminate the US squad defending the hedge. This is a cue for the German infantry to advance, and being out of sight in open terrain, that is a scary two hexes per turn. The mortar team and spotter move over the hedge into the smoke. The last German squad was pinned in the open and moved behind the hedge to have a better chance to rally next turn. 

The next turn, the German infantry storm the hedge line! Sadly their supports are rather stuck. The third squad fails to rally, the Stug bogs in the field and the Marder only manages one hex move before bogging as well. The scenario specifies that all off road movement is difficult, not sure why (boggy ground maybe?) but it is quite entertaining. Luckily for the mortar team, the smoke persists, and they use it as cover to start mortaring the 57mm.

Things hot up in the south. Perhaps unwisely the Germans vault the hedge after the US squad is pinned and one squad is promptly gunned down by the .30 cal which then runs out of ammunition! The 57 took a pot shot at the German squad behind the hedge to the north, but had to pivot and missed. The German mortars missed it though.

Things got even hotter. A blazing storm of fire from the church garrison knocked out the US rifle squad as it moved towards the village. The Germans rolled so hot the MG42 ran out of ammunition too!

The US had reached their breakpoint, and sadly it was in the middle of a number of units relocating, so when the cascading set of morale failures had been resolved , all that was left was the 57mm gun, now sitting on the road at the far side.

The Germans hustled to follow up, but a number of units were immobilised by dithering. The German main effort was in the north, although the SP guns were still very wary of the AT gun.

In the south the Germans did manage to get a couple of squads moving, and one promptly ran into a minefield (the red counter) and was pinned. That was a random event, this game was long enough that I had a few of those.

Now, I probably shouldn't have done this, but I allowed the 57mm to limber up and move into the buildings. I'm not keen on the prohibition of vehicles in building hexes as these are big hexes. Maybe a bog roll to enter might be appropriate? The Germans need to capture all three buildings or capture two and get an SP gun or three squads off.

Once again the Germans put their command effort in the north with a platoon and the Marder concentrating in the field to the north. The Stug made it over the hedge onto the road, but otherwise there was an awful lot of dithering. The squad in the minefield managed to rally, but was still in the minefield. One German squad made it into the village however.

The US had time to unlimber in the last building, and the Germans then struggled to bring enough force to bear to dislodge them. The force in the north reinforced the foothold in the village as covering fire pinned the 57s. The mortar team and a squad marched down the road, but the Stug refused to move. Perhaps it was scared of the AT gun? Similarly the guys in the minefield refused to budge, which seems entirely sensible.

The only bright spark was that the Germans managed to pin the 57mm.

The 57 rallied, the German pinned it again and launched a close assault from the neighbouring buildings. The assault was repulsed! (neither side scored any hits). More German units moved into position but once again the Stug didn't move. Perhaps it has broken down?

The 57mm rallied again and the Germans tried again, this time they'd got the mortar spotter in position and the weight of support fire once again pinned the 57mm.

This time the Germans assaulted with two squads from the buildings west of the gun. 

And on this occasion they were successful and the 57mm guns were overrun. Silver Stars to the heroic gun crews.

And with 92 minutes on the clock, the Germans have occupied all three buildings for a win. The Stug once more refused to move so they aren't in a position to move any SP guns off before the game almost inevitably ends at 98 minutes.

In real life Turnbulls platoon blunted the German attack before being forced to retire, but the Germans were forced to postpone the main attack on St Mere Eglise  until the following day (which we gamed recently using One Hour WW2). Turnbull himself was killed by a mortar bomb the following day. 

Well, that was really good fun and a close run thing, despite the Germans early good fortune  they had to work hard to achieve a win and it came down to the wire in the end. Despite the disparity in numbers, that is actually a very balanced scenario and I think this time I played it better than my  first run where I was a bit distracted. 

Having more units evened out some of the randomness, but there was still plenty of friction, which I feel is appropriate for tactical combat, and the game generated plenty of exciting moments. Despite my earlier thoughts, I'll leave the opportunity fire rules alone for now, they work well enough, and it is right and proper that armour should avoid bunching in the face of AT guns. 

Right, that is it for Normandy, the US Paras are off to somewhere a bit sunnier next.