Niscemi- Biscari Highway July 1943

The Niscemi-Biscari Highway was one of my favourite of the Squad Leader 'US Para' supplementary scenarios, it was a tiny scenario with five US Para squads against a company of Germans led by an armoured car and it featured in a nail biting replay in the AHGC General.

This is the Fireball Forward take on it, played using Tigers at Minsk. Essentially, after para dropping into Sicily on 10th July 1943 as part of the Allied invasion, Lt Eaton from 82nd Airborne Div rounded up various stragglers and marched north west in the direction of Niscemi. They captured a pair of Italian 47mm guns and set up defensive positions facing southwest towards Biscari behind a narrow stream.

Battlefield from the south. Niscemi is off to the north and Biscari is down the road leading southeast. The battlefield is heavily wooded with a mixture of thick woods (indicated with pine trees) and orchards (round trees). There are some buildings and hedges scattered around, and the creek is in a wooded gully, impassable to vehicles. I'm treating the creek as bad going for infantry too, so they need a 3+ to move out of it.

The original scenario is 5 turns long, so as usual I multiplied by 14 to become 70 minutes on the game clock.

The US paras. Two normal rifle squads, and a pair of anti-tank squads - essentially both 47mm AT guns, but the US can abandon them at any time and fight as normal rifle squads. They also have an MG team, some bazookas (availability 3) and an artillery observer with two fire missions.

These guys are all high morale and have a breakpoint of 3.

And here are the baddies, an Italian motorised company! They have three rifle platoons, each with two rifle sections and one MG section (I assume this represents the slightly odd Italian organisation with massed LMG sections). Each platoon rides in a lorry and a light truck. They also have some armour support, in this case an old Renault 35 infantry tank in Italian service.

These guys are low quality and have a breakpoint of 4. I'm treating the tank as average quality though.

They are forced to all enter on turn 1 on one of the roads, and have to stay mounted(!) until a US unit is spotted. Once a US unit is spotted, they can enter the southern edge dismounted. We will have to see how that works out.

This is a very different force from the SL scenario, which has nine German rifle sections with some MGs and an Sdkfz 231 armoured car, supposedly from Herman Goering Div.

The US setup. The victory conditions are quite complex, the Italians get points for taking buildings, taking the bridge, exiting units and destroying the AT guns. Some things are worth 0.5 VP, some are worth 1 VP, and the Italians win if they get 3VP or more, otherwise they lose.

Given the terrain, I had to set some units up in the woods covering the bridge, and I've put one gun team in the building on the left. The artillery observer is in the centre and hopefully we can see as much of the southern edge as possible. I've kept one squad in reserve in a central position where it can intervene on either flank. I'm worried the Italians will just rush up either flank, or make use of the woods to just mass  overrun my guys.

First move for the Italians is hard based on the scenario restrictions. In FF units activate by platoon, so I'm going to activate a whole platoon in TaM too and treat the US as concealed until they fire or the Italians move adjacent. I guess the scenario rule is to simulate the historical ambush, but I'm sure there must be an easier way to do it.

So, I activate one rifle platoon, and they motor on with one squad in a light truck out front. This motors down the road until it bumps into the MG/rifle squad in the woods at which point the 47mm in the building blows it to pieces and the passengers dismount pinned. Historically the Italians led with the R35, which was destroyed.

OK, the rest of the Italian platoon motors on but now the US are spotted, they just dismount in the entry hex - a rifle section and MG team. I forgot to opp fire them with the .30 cal!

The flanks of the US position look promising, so I put one platoon into the woods. They debus and plan to take the bridge or possibly march north, depending on the US reaction.

The building on the left looks a very inviting target. It is only held by an AT gun, which cant fire due to its opp fire marker. I put the third platoon here, dismounted into the orchard and support them with the tank. It is safe from the AT gun this turn as it has already fired, and the orchard is no obstacle to tracked vehicles.

The US commit the reserve squad immediately, and they move to support the building and FOO. The .30 cal shoots up the Italians on the road in front of them scoring two hits which I take as a pin on the rifle section and the lorry is destroyed. BOOM! I'm not counting transport towards morale, but the already pinned section is shot down by the US rifle squad, reducing Italian morale to 3. The 47 in the building removes its opp fire marker but the 47 by the bridge goes out of command.

The FOO calls down fire on the Italians in the orchard. I've adjusted the artillery rules to let them call in spotting rounds, they can FFE once it is on target - the spotting rounds scatter like normal artillery calls, but you get +1 to accuracy for each subsequent turn. The spotting round misses this turn.

The Italians on the road run for the gully to get some cover, the MG guns down the rifle section (double six!) and pins the MG team! Italian morale drops to 2.

To add insult to injury, the platoon in the woods goes out of command and dithers amongst the trees.

Over on the left flank though, the main effort does better. The Italian Rifle/MG team pin the 47mm crew and the other section and R35 bravely advance. It isn't obvious but they are hidden by the building hex from the US squad and FOO in the treeline.

The US turn is fairly uneventful by the bridge. The US try to shoot up the Italian MG and miss, and the MG team rallies in its own turn. One of the Italian rifle sections goes out of command but the other pushes forwards bravely up to the bridge. It is hidden from the US by the dense trees.

On the other flank the US manage to drop a spotting round in the right place finally, and the US 47mm crew rally but are immediately pinned again by the Italian MG. The Italian rifle section lines up an assault, supported by the tank.

Well that is a result! The black dice are Italian, and they just scrape the one hit needed to rout the Americans. Scratch one US 47mm gun AND a building captured. That is 1.5 VP to the Italians and US morale drops to 2.

Incomiiiiing! A turn too late the US artillery hammers the Italians. Ooer, I've got artillery hitting lots and lots of hexes. I'm playing it as a standard stonk vs the target hex (3D6 plus density mods) and 1D6 against all the adjacent hexes. That just feels better than a single hex strike and makes the beaten zone more like that in WRG. It also looks really cool. 

I'm treating woods hexes as open ground vs indirect fire. The net result is that the Italian infantry are all pinned and a lucky hit even stuns the R35.

Good stuff, I think that worked well.

In response the US reserve squad moves left along the treeline ready to counterattack.

On the right flank the Italians finally get moving. The lagging section moves up, while the others cross the stream. The 47mm opportunity fires them and hits but the small calibre HE has no effect.

In a shock development, the US Paras in the treeline are routed by the Italians! I cant quite remember how that happened now. US morale drops to one. Rather than be stonked again, the pinned Italians shuffle left out of the target zone while the R35 fails to un-stun itself.

The Italians in the building advance into the tree line, from there they can dash across the open ground to the top building unless the US do something about it.

The US are suddenly in a tight spot. They have to move the rifle/MG team back to cover the open ground in front of the top building. Down by the bridge the gun team abandon their 47mm so they can fight as a normal rifle team. It makes them more effective in close quarters combat, but gives the Italians another 0.5 VP as the gun is abandoned.

The Italians take advantage of the weakened defence to rush the bridge. The lonely MG in the stream loses its nerve and goes out of command though.

The Italians on the left have finally sorted themselves out. Everyone is unpinned or unstunned. If they can pin the US MG/Rifle team, the section at the top can rush the next building and win the game.

Sadly they reckon without very hot US dice rolling, which eliminate both the rifle section and MG team in the orchard! The FOO also drops a spotting round near the R35.

The loss of those two units drop Italian morale to zero and it is time for a series of break tests.

After a catastrophic series of dice rolls, the Italian attack on the right has fallen apart. One rifle section and an MG have retired while the other MG has left the table completely.

To pour salt on the wound, the US manage to pin the only rifle section in contact.

This time the FOO is on target with the spotting round. Still a Mexican standoff on this flank. If only I'd re-read the victory conditions at this point....

On the right the Italians pull back into the woods to reorganise for a coordinated assault.

And the entire Italian left flank goes out of command. That rather scuppers my plan to drive out of the artillery target zone!

Kaboom! Down comes the artillery, but the R35 escapes unscathed. The US commit their other rifle squad to hold the bridge, leaving just the MG team to interdict the Italians on the left. Something of a gamble. 

54 minutes gone. The Italians need to keep an eye on the clock now.

The R35 starts to machinegun the .30 cal in the trees, hoping for a pin so the infantry can rush the last building. Now of course what I SHOULD have been doing was driving the tank northwards to try and leave the table now there were no AT defences left. I'd completely forgotten you get 1VP for that, but I was obsessed with the house.

The Italians moved into the stream once again.

A massive firefight ensued which saw the Italian MG roll high and run out of ammo, but succeeding in pinning one of the US squads. This was followed up by a bayonet charge...

Yes, you guessed it, the red dice are American. The Italians were routed, and cue another set of break tests.

The MG team fell back but the guys at the bridge held firm.

On the left though, it was a mass retreat.

The Italians suddenly remembered the house in the top right corner was worth 1VP and sent the MG team northwards while the other section pulled back. Cant risk any more morale failures.

And on the left the Italians finally remembered that getting the tank off was worth 1VP too, so the R35 slipped behind the the building. Allowing for LOS from the US .30 cal, it would take 3 turns to get off from here. 

As time ticked down, the attempt to infiltrate up the right hand side of the table ran out of steam.

And on the left the Italians didn't get anywhere at all as 70 minutes clicked around. I could kick myself, they may not have made it but it would have been close.

That was a great game, I really enjoyed playing that, it felt like a real knife fight with lots of meaningful decisions and some real swings of fortune. A very Squad Leader type experience in fact, and as a bonus I felt my changes to artillery worked rather well.

I enjoyed it so much, I played it again! I'll try and keep the photo count down a bit for the next run.

I went with a similar setup to last time for the US but with the reserve squad deployed much further forward as that left hand building is vulnerable.

For the Italians I did the 'ambush move' up the road to the bridge as I thought the woods might make it marginally more surviveable. The US 47mm blew the truck apart just like before though, and once again the passengers bailed out pinned.

I re-read the scenario description and oddly the Italian squads aren't bad but their leaders are awful, so I'm still treating them as poor troops for rally purposes (due to their poor leaders) but average for morale purposes - so that raises their breakpoint to five from four in the first game.

This time I weighted the attack to the woods and river crossing. Two platoons came on here, all debussing out of sight. I figured they could go for the bridge and that building in the northeast corner and there is tons of cover. 

On re-reading the rules afterwards I discovered that you can see down roads though woods hexes, so perhaps not as much cover as I thought! I don't normally play woods like that.

As it worked so well last time, I brought the other Italian platoon and the R35 on at the far west. Threatening the building and a possible armoured breakthrough to the north.   The US declined to opp fire at the tank as in the original scenario the guns cant be rapid fired (the Paras had never seen an Italian 47mm gun before), so I ruled they don't get ROF rolls for the gun. 

Back at the bridge the Americans easily gunned down the scattered survivors from the ambush. So much for it being a covered approach.

And the dice gods decreed that the US 47mm would pivot, hit the R35 (a magnificent 11) and then blow it to pieces leaving blazing wrecks filling the hex with smoke! The US artillery spotter called down a spotting round which scattered - I'm using the RAW for the spotting round scatter.

The US rifle squad in the central woodsline was also able to draw a bead on the orchard and opened up to no effect.

Back at the bridge one Italian platoon went out of command while the other pushed forwards through the trees. With this flank under control the .30 cal relocated to the central treeline.

A good job as the 47mm team in the building went out of command. Both sides fired away ineffectually, without the tank support the Italians didn't have quite enough firepower to pin the buildings garrison. The US spotter managed to drop a round on target in the orchard though. I'm really liking how the revised artillery rules work.

Back at the bridge, both Italian platoons went out of command. I'm focussing the Italian command effort on the left flank as I dont want to write off the units there.

The Italians left the MG team behind to provide covering fire while the rifle sections tried to duck away from the incoming barrage. You can see them pushing around to the left, masked by the building from the US .30 cal. The 47 team abandoned its gun (they fight infantry better without it), so 0.5 VP to the Italians. Down came the barrage and pinned the Italian MG team, while the US small arms was ineffective.

Back at the bridge both Italian platoons woke up and advanced! The Paras shot at the ineffectively as they advanced into the stream. I've put Italian Rifle/MG teams on the flanks and the central section is moving up to storm the bridge.

On the left though, weight of US fire shatters the Italians. The MG team and one of the rifle sections are routed as the artillery comes down. The Italians have one morale chip left. The last surviving section has made it into the hedges next to the building however.

In an exciting development, we had some random events. The Italians got an extra fire dice, while the US rolled up a random minefield. It has to be placed in open terrain so they mined the open approach route the the northeast house.

At the bridge the Italians poured fire into the defenders and actually pinned the US 47mm, while the third squad charged over the bridge. The US rallied and abandoned their AT gun now the Italian infantry were so close. The US return fire was ineffective but a lucky (random) sniper pinned the right hand Italian MG.

On the left the US managed to pin the lone Italian squad. On a random event they were able to move one hex in any direction and they went to hide behind the hedge and rally in peace.

Up in the northeast an Italian section makes a run for the building. They managed to exit the stream (3+) but had to skirt the minefield. Some Paras ran after them but the woods and hedge obscured the Italians from view.

At the bridge the Italians rushed the southern Para squad covered by the MG.

And were duly repulsed. To add insult to injury, the US managed to rout the northern MG team so the Italians reached their breakpoint and some of the Italians fell back.

The Italian section in the north had taken the building. but now had to fall back into the minefield! Fortunately they survived unscathed. They are now stuck in a minefield in full view of the US squad which has finally caught up with them.

The section on the left held fast, but the US had moved their MG team into the top building to lock it down. The Italians here had shot their bolt and were best employed as a force in being to tie down US troops, no chance of rushing for that northern building now.

In a shock development the last Italians at the bridge assaulted the US Paras and overran them! To get the VPs they would need to clear the other squad away too (you need to clear all adjacent US troops to capture the bridge).

On the left flank, everyone went out of command!

At the bridge the Italians moved up their MG in support, but they were pinned down by US fire and their supporting section went out of command. Ouch!

To try and save the day, the last Italians on the left moved into the trees adjacent to the building, shrugging off the furious US fire (lots of fives, no sixes). 

And launched an assault. Two dice vs three isn't great odds but better than nothing. 

Yes, the red dice are American and yes, you only need fives in close combat. The Italians were routed and once more triggered a series of break tests.

Amazingly the Italians on the right all held firm. The guys in the minefield managed to escape and reoccupied the building. Now, I could exit them off the top edge but that is only worth 0.5 VP and I need 1VP for an Italian win.

The disorganised Italians around the bridge try to rally but only manage to unpin one section. The US are content to sit and shoot.

68 minutes on the clock! Time to get a wiggle on.

The Italians charge the paras defending the end of the bridge, covered by the (pinned) MG. The MG misses and another low odds assault goes in.

And they are duly thrown back pinned. The assault on the bridge has failed. I exited the section in the top building anyway for another 0.5 VP. The US don't have enough movement to take the now unoccupied building, so the Italians have accumulated 2.5VP, just short of the three required for victory. A close US win!

That was great, I really enjoyed those two games, partly as I felt I know what I was doing (finally) and there were lots of meaningful decisions for both sides to make. A good tribute to the original SL scenario. The dice and random events threw in some curveballs, but that is tactical combat, and I felt that my troop quality mods are working fine without being overpowering. The longer game generated two random events (or four in total, one for each side) which added some interest but wasn't excessive.

I was particularly pleased with my revised artillery rules, I much prefer the spotting round mechanic, it is much closer to the old Squad Leader system and avoids wasting a precious fire mission on some duff dice rolls which scatter. The larger beaten zone also makes artillery look more scary and means you dont have to worry about scatter as it is factored in - the secondary blast zones only get 1D6 of fire in them, so you can go 'danger close' if you wish, with some risk. 

I'm still getting to grips with some of the LOS and terrain oddities in the rules, tbh I'm inclined to go with the rule of thumb that if a rule is commonly ignored without breaking the game, then ignore it. 

Anyway, that was a great experience, very good fun and sets me up nicely for the final game of the US Para Sicily trilogy, and it is a whopper! Watch this space.