Urban Warfare Day - Market Garden

 I solo played the Memoir 44 'Overlord' scenario of Market Garden last year, time to try it out at our 'Urban Warfare' day at Tapton with actual humans. This is essentially a double sized M44 scenario, with some extra rules to cover the table having six sectors instead of the usual three.

I did this with my Hexon and 15mm stuff, it proved to be quite a big game...

Battlefield from the southwest. It is 26 hexes long and 9 hexes wide, representing the 65 miles or so from Joes Bridge at Neerpelt up to Arnhem. Each unit is a couple of battalions (or equivalent), and I guess each hex is 2-3 miles. We'll, that is how I justified the OB anyway. As I generally use a couple of stands to represent a unit, that means each stand is roughly a battalion. 

To fit the M44 mechanism constraints, the scenario layout is somewhat abstracted in places, but here are XXX Corps lined up for the off. Arnhem is dimly visible in the distance at the end of Hells Highway, the grey central road.

XXX Corps faces off against KG Walther. Walther has 6th FJR and SS Richter (from IInd SS Panzer Corps), both holed up in Valkenswaard. Guards Arnmoured Div has four armoured combat teams, each of one armoured and one mech infantry battalion (Irish, Grenadier, Coldstream and Welsh Guards groups), while 43rd Div has three infantry units representing six battalions of infantry, and 8th Armoured Brigade in support each with an armoured regiment and another infantry battalion in carriers. XXX Corps artillery is represented by a pair of 5.5" guns. This is quite an armada.

In reserve KG Walther has the 10th SS Panzerjaeger battalion and the 10th SS Engineer battalion. I'm sure they will stop XXX Corps all on their own!

East of Arnhem, 9th SS Panzer has two leg infantry units and Stug Brigade 280, representing the two weak SS Panzergrenadier Regiments and all the reinforcing units. 10th SS Has Graebners 9th SS recce Bn (mech infantry) and two tank units with various SS panzergrenadiers in trucks, and inevitably, Tiger IIs on the 506th Tiger Bn and Tiger 1s from KG Knaust and Pz Ko Hummel. Knaust is represented as a special leader figure with the Tiger 1.  

This is obviously an abstraction as the bulk of 10th SS was ferried slowly over the river, but the tank units are blocked in by Graebner to start with.

West of Arnhem is 1st Airborne Div (six infantry units representing all 12 battalions of the division, including the Poles and Glider Pilots), with Col Frost as a leader riding an armed jeep. Well why not.

Kraffts 16th SS Ersatz Bn is dug in on the outskirts of Oosterbeek.

Nijmegen is strongly held with two leg infantry units from Korps Feldt plus massed Flak and Artillery at the south end of the bridge. Obviously irl the guns were north of the bridge, but hey ho.

Karl Euling and his 'ghost battalion' of 10th SS Panzergrenadiers are north of the river, out of shot.

West of Nijmegen are four units of 82nd Airborne. The battlefield has been reversed here for game purposes, as the real para assault came in from the east. They also have three lots of assault boats to row across the Rhine, and Major Cook/Robert Redford to lead them across. The rest of the division is presumably fighting off the numerous German counterattacks elsewhere. 

Further south are 101st Airborne. Easy Company, James Caan etc. Five units to take Eindhoven and the bridge at Veghel. Opposing them are some bits from 15th Army - 59th Infantry Div at 30% strength, the Tilburg Polizei battalion etc.

However Panzer Brigade 107 are in reserve to the east. Two tank units (Panthers, halftracks) and another Mech infantry (halftracks, SP Flak). The 107th was entirely equipped with Panthers, Jagdpanzer IVs and various models of Sdkfz 251. They were even reinforced with some Jagdpanthers for their famous attack on Veghel.

I had seven players for this, so Anthony was German CO and took Korps Feldt in the centre, Lloyd had KG Walther and 107th Panzer while Tim Had 9th and 10th SS Panzer.

Pete commanded the British, and from north to south, John took 1st Airborne, Diego the US Airborne Corps and Simon XXX Corps.

Each sides commander was responsible for managing and allocating the command cards. The horrible wrinkle in this scenario is that the Allies start with 13(!) command cards, and the Germans with a mere three. For every Allied unit destroyed, the German hand size increases by one, and the Allies drop by one. A very clever way of modelling operational surprise, but a brutal first few turns for the Germans.

101st AB made an early advance towards Eindhoven, but the Germans prioritised the south for command cards, so 107th Panzer also got rolling but then ran out of cards!

At Arnhem, the Germans also got moving quickly, but not enough to forestall 1st Airborne who were busily engaging Kraffts battalion in Oosterbeek. Tim did manage to clear the lower river road to get the Tiger IIs rolling for Arnhem though.

RAF Typhoons strafed the 107th Panzer, who busily retreated back their start line. Oh dear!

The Nijmegen sector remained very quiet while all this was going on.

The Eindhoven garrison took heavy casualties, but hung on and drove off the first assault by the 101st. The US Paras also rushed the bridge at Veghel, contesting it with the local garrison.

At Arnhem, Col Frost was killed leading an assault against Krafft. His very first battle. Typical!

British Paras took the the east end of Arnhem with heavy losses, but Krafft still hung on grimly as the Tigers rolled onto the bridge. 'Bring up the PIAT!'. The Germans were still prioritising the north and south sectors, while the Allies were prioritising the north and centre to get the paras in good locations before XXX Corps got rolling.

The priority for the Germans was to destroy Allied units to get their command deck size up, and reduce the Allies, even at the cost of losing units. The Allies needed to stake claims on the ground.

Having said that, Korps Feldt rolled forwards to beef up the Nijmegen defences. 82nd Airborne hadn't really done anything in this sector at all.

XXX Corps also popped into life with a massive attack on 6th FJR and KG Richter. Both German units took some losses but hung on in their fortified villages. The Allies also took a few hits and were stymied for now. Infantry dug into towns are hard to shift with tanks. 10th SS Panzerjaeger moved up in support, but Loyd was very nervous about the odds! As KG Walther is outnumbered over 3:1, he was right to be.

The 101st finally clear Eindhoven, albeit with heavy losses. 107th Panzer is parked to the east of the city. US Paras are also having a go at the bridge at Veghel (off camera to the left).

Fighting still rages at Arnhem. 1st Para have occupied most of the city now, the SS tankers are stuck outside, but Krafft is still hanging on by his fingernails.

XXX Corps has another go at 6th FJR.

And break through! 6th FJR surrender and the left hand village hex falls, while SS Richter is fairly shot up too and the Irish Guards engage 10th SS Panzerjaeger on the road junction beyond.

The 101st are hanging on in Eindhoven, just, as Panzergrenadiers supported by Panthers batter at the outskirts.

In Arnhem 1st AB finally captures the north end of the bridge. There isn't much they can do about the Tigers on the bridge hex, but they do chip a hit off them. The German tankers can't do much to the Paras in the city hexes either, but can at least contest the bridge. 

KG von Furstenbergs SP guns advance southeast of Nijmegen to threaten the 82nd, who mill around in the open.

SS Infantry push into the western edge of Arnhem, while Stug Brigade 280 supported by motorised infantry advances around the north of the city. 1st AB is looking a bit ragged now and quite a number of Allied units have collapsed, giving the Germans more command cards and the allies fewer. I neglected to take photos of the tank battle raging south of Eindhoven, but in fact the Germans up to a hand of ten cards now, while the Allies are down to three(!). 

In fact this is the end - in the final turn, coordinated German assaults all along the line knock out several Allied units. In Arnhem the SS retake the bridge, and the combination of the destroyed Para unit and now controlling the bridge is enough to garner the Germans 13 VP and victory.

In the end neither XXX Corps nor the 82nd really got going, but the Germans managed to knock out a number of Para units and retain control of a number of key objectives, which was enough to give them victory. A very different flow of play to both my solo effort (which went right to the wire, 11:12) and David Crooks play through (which was an easy Allied win). It may be that the way the card decks are stacked at the start make the outcome very variable, but I'd like to play that again, but maybe in 6mm on the M44 boards as it setting up with 15s on the Hexon was a major effort, although it looked grand.

Something to tell your grand children. Any mighty bored they will be!

Halfaya Pass - two more times

 For the afternoon session at Tapton I set up the Halfaya Pass Memoir 44 scenario. I'd solo played this a few weeks before.  This covers the attack on the pass which took place in April 1941 as part of Operation Battleaxe. 

The pass is defended by a mixed Italian /German force of infantry, artillery and anti tank guns dig in and protected by minefields and wire, with some tanks in reserve. The hills are steep, so units stop on entering them. I use 'flat' hills for the terrain here, when other people are handling the toys, it makes it less likely the models will slide off. 

The Allies have an entire Infantry Brigade (nine infantry units) and most of 1st Army Tank Brigade (five units of Matilda heavy infantry tanks). 

I honestly can't recall who played the first game. I think it was Simon and Andrew. Both sides need six VP to win, but the onus of attack is on the British as the Axis have artillery, so can win by just shelling the British on their start line. One of those M44 scenario design things to force an attack. 

There are exit hexes at the end  of the highway, so British units can get VP by exiting here, as well as killing stuff. 

Many of the minefields are dummies (0), and the Germans can rearrange them at the start of the game. The British went mine hunting early on, and unsurprisingly found the real minefields clustered around the road with the gaps at the side. The Germans busily shelled the Allies in the meantime, and moved one of their reserve Panzers up into the pass. The Allied infantry took heavy losses from the Axis fire up to this point.

As the Allies pushed through the minefield gaps, they played an 'airpower' card on the cluster of Axis units in the pass (you can just make out the Spitfire, the desert camo is very effective). It was absolutely devastating; it knocked out one artillery piece, drove the other back, destroyed the Bersaglieri and damaged the panzer company. Ouch. Some of them were already damaged, but even so...

The Matildas took advantage of the slackening fire to mass on the left, firing broadsides at the infantry on the hill as they went.

And off they trundled down the road, through the shattered defences, knocking out the Panzers on the way.

The German infantry pulled back to intercept them, but one squadron managed to roll off the exit hex.

The German infantry got into its stride, assaulting the next squadron.

The Matildas retreated again, into range of the AT positions on the left ridge. More German infantry joined in. 

Suddenly the British were looking a bit thin on the ground.

They frantically attempted to repair some of the damaged tanks.

Off they went again, but it was too late. The cumulative losses did for them and the Germans gained a last VP, winning 6:5. That was close! I thoughtit was gonna ng to be an easy Allied victory for a while. 

Meanwhile Tims gunboat was also being thoroughly shot up over on the other table!

We had a break for tea and mince pies, then kicked off another game . John and Andrew (British),  and Simon, Tim and Pete (German) played while Bish observed. 

The British went mine hunting again, but this time used more of their infantry to do it, who also cleared some of the wire. The mines on the road turned out to be the dreaded 'four' strength field! The leading Matiladas were very lucky and only suffered one hit though.

The British put in an infantry attack on the left, having found some minefield gaps.

Although some units were rather shot up, eventually a bayonet charge carried the ridge and cleared the first Italian trenches.

The attackers pressed on into the pass and cleared the German AT gun positions on the left ridge as well. The Axis right flank was looking very dodgy now.

One very battered Matilda squadron ran the gauntlet of the Italian artillery and made it off the table.

The Allies were strong enough to attack on their right as well, and pushed up onto the ridge. The Germans other Panzer company was committed here already to thicken up the defences.

The Allies pressed on steadily however, and overran a German last stand on this isolated hill. That was 6VP to the British and a creditable win.

Including my solo play, that is three times I've run the Halfaya Pass scenario, and it seems to be very balanced. Fun to play with interesting terrain and a mix of unit types, even if it looks a bit scary at first with all those fortifications!

Dug in at Sidi Omar

 The first scenario I ran at our recent Command and Colours day was the Memoir 44 scenario for Sidi Omar, which took place on November 25th 1941 during Operation Crusader. iirc Rommel dashed for the Egyptian border, only to run into 3rd Indian Motorised Brigade and 1st Army Tank Brigade. 

3rd Indian (Mot) Brigade facing off against 21st Panzer Div. Each element is roughly a half battalion for this scenario, so on this front the Allies have a brigade with six infantry units and a 25pdr Field Artillery Regiment. The Allies were commanded by John and Andrew.

1st Army Tank Brigade has a mix of Matildas and Valentines, which was handy, as that was what I had in my box of tanks. These are all rated as Heavy Tanks, so take four hits each, but being infantry tanks, they are also slow, so only move two. The Spitfire is there in case someone draws an air power card.

21st Panzer has four tanks and a couple of infantry units. The tank on the far left is accompanied by a heroic leader. In the original scenario this is shown as a heavy tank, I've no idea what that is supposed to represent irl. The "leader" is an excuse to field my Sdkfz 251/3 command halftrack.

While 15th Panzer has three tanks, three infantry and an artillery piece. The Fiat G50 is from Tims box of planes.

Pete took the Germans for this game.

The first game, as Memoir 44 so often does, degenerated into a huge tank battle almost at once. I guess the high movement rates, range and firepower of armour encourages players to engage them early.

Soon there were damaged and burning tanks scattered all over the desert, with honours roughly even,

The British tanks heavy armour saved them for a bit longer. By now the German infantry was moving up in support. 

In a shock move, one of the German infantry made a dash for the British base line, using the generally useless 'Behind Enemy Lines' card - which allows one infantry unit to move up to three, fight then move another three.

There were exit victory hexes behind the Indian position, the German got 1 VP for each unit exited.

Somewhat battered, the Germans made it! Well on their way to Egypt. I marked the exit hexes with some of my EWM oil drums and ammo crates. 

By now the rest of the Germans were a bit thin on the ground, whereas the Matildas were unscathed.

They proceeded to run around crunching German units under their tracks, and fairly soon the British claimed a victory.

Off we went again for a second go. The players swapped sides, so Pete took the British, Andrew and John took the Germans. In a change of pace, the Germans opened with a huge infantry attack in the centre.

Helped by cards like this one.

Fairly soon the Germans were assaulting the Indian positions on the Ridge. 

The leading Indian positions were eventually overwhelmed, but the German infantry was a bit tatty by now. The British armour decided to intervene.

And it all kicked off into another massive tank battle. 

Astonishingly, another German unit managed an end run off the table.

The Germans had now racked up lots of kills, and the Panzers swarmed this unfortunate Valentine, its demise was enough to give the Germans victory. So that is 1:1 Axis to Allies.

We then had a big player changeover. Dave took the British and Bish the Germans. These two players were bit less experienced and took a while to think their moves over. The Germans pushed both infantry forward in the centre and tanks forward on the left.

Once again the Indian right front was engaged.

Supported by armour from 15th Panzer on their left.

Having enticed the German tanks, forward, the British played their trump card - Armoured Assault.

All four British armoured elements rolled forward, and with the combat bonus given by the card, obliterated all four opposing German tank units with minimal losses. 

The Germans tried to snatch victory with an all out assault on the Indians.

Although it had some success, their earlier losses had been too heavy, and the German attack collapsed. Final score, Allies: 2 Axis:1, which tbh I was a bit surprised at. An interesting feature of this scenario is that both sides have the same command rating, partly to reflect the German surprise at encountering this position I suspect.

That was a very good scenario, and warrants replay. Each playing took around 45 minutes to an hour, excluding setup.