The Twin Villages

After the fun of St Vith, it is back to the Bulge again, this time for a trip to Krinkelt and Rocherath at the northern end of the Bulge. Avid readers will no doubt recognise this setup from my earlier playtesting post. In the end I gave up with that set of rules, they were just to fiddly, and went with a rather reworked and beefed up version of One Hour Wargames (six hit variant) and incorporated some of the concepts around unit types and interactions I'd already developed.

Battlefield from the south, Krinkelt is on the left, the Westwall on the right.

Two battalions of the 99th dug in covering the gap. These were both green infantry battalions, which reduced their endurance (5 hits). After much fiddling around with handfuls of bases, I ended up plonking them on some old movement trays I had (5"x3"). They are battalions after all and take up a fair bit of space. The big bases also solved some issues around measuring.

Tim, Graham and Jerry deep in thought planning their defence. It is amazing how much discussion six units can generate! In fact that is one of the things I really like about Neil Thomas's approach, the ruthless focus on key decisions. If you've only got six elements, every single one matters.

The wicked Germans (John and Tim) also pored over their briefings.

There was great excitement as we were issued with Sheffield Wargames Society anniversary tape measures. I am sure these will be highly collectable in future!

The German assault opening with a massive barrage form artillery and Nebelwerfers. The first combat outing of my Nebelwerfers in fact.

The barrage was surprisingly effective despite the US trenches. The US battalions each took a couple of hits and with only three hits left, became disorganised. Oooer.

The Germans rolled on over the next few turns with Teutonic precision. Two regiments of Volksgreandiers, followed by the divisional Fusilier battalion and a kampfgruppe from 12th SS Panzer Division (historically this wasn't committed until after the first VG attacks had failed). Jerry focussed on rallying off the hits caused by the barrage, so for the first couple of turns, the US positions were quiet - effectively suppressed by the German barrage.

Back in Krinkelt, the first US reinforcements rolled up. A battalion of artillery and an infantry battalion reinforced with towed tank destroyers ('Heavy Infantry'). Graham commanded these.

Back at the front, withering German fire from three VG battalions inflicted hits on the US, Jerry once more focussed on rallying them off rather than firing back at reduced effect. So those MP44s really do work.

The rest of the Germans marched off around the right flank. Sadly the slowest troops were in front. The ground scale is roughly 6" to the mile, so these guys are fairly bunched up, but not unreasonably so for tactical movement.

The US artillery inflicted a few hits on the VG but not enough to stop them and Jerry bugged out, abandoning their positions in the gap. When I'd playtested this scenario, the US usually fought to the death here.

As the Germans rounded the bad ground, they sorted themselves out and the motorised SS battlegroup moved to the front.

The US trooops in the town had meanwhile been busy digging in. One of Jerrys disordered battalions tried to rally.

The SS meanwhile went on a wide flanking manouvre and were very excited to roll up the supply lines running north from Rocherath. Lots of Coca Cola and ice cream captured here!

They then went on to overrun Jerrys disorered battalion outside the town, but sadly the camera didn't record that for posterity. The Germans closed in on the town and the US forces fell back from the outskirts, worried about their flanks.

The Germans put a heavy assault in and street fighting erupted.

While all this was going on, more reinforcements from 2nd Div turned up.

And piled up the road to support their pals in the town. The fighting there continued to rage (the units were now locked into close combat) and losses mounted.

The SS withdrew to regroup (having superior mobility, they were able to disengage) and the Fusilier battalion piled in. This was enough to finally overwhelm the defenders and the crossroads were cleared.

German losses were also heavy, these VG were pummelled by artillery out in the open.

Before the Germans could occupy the village, US reserves forestalled them and moved into the town. I do like this aspect of the move sequence as there is actually some point in keeping reserves.

The US were starting to look a bit thin on the ground as the reorganised VG surged forward once more, they had quite a way to go to pin the last US reserves and the daylight was fading...

The US reserves in the town were overwhelmed once more. The SS were out of the fight now, but the route to Elsenborn was open!

The very last US infantry unit slipped in among the buildings. Although the VG outside the town had chewed it up, they hadn't done enough to stop it and as night fell the crossroads were back in US hands (abeit rather tenuously).

That was sooo close, and the players all seemed to enjoy themselves. It also followed the historical action quite well as the US defences were outflanked on the right and the defenders found themselves all bunched up around the villages themselves. IRL the SS battlegroup wasn't committed until both VG regiment attacks had failed. This was the incident recounted in Charles MacDonalds 'Company Commander' when his company was overrun by German tanks and infantry northeast of Rocherath.

I think that went pretty well and the modifications seem to work alright, one of the players commented that he didn't even realise it was a One Hour Wargame. I've borrowed so much stuff from Megablitz, NQM and Spearhead that it is quite a different game.

We did have a bit of a discussion about the uses and limitations of artillery in a divisional level action as our professional gunner objected to some aspects of the artillery model. There are a couple of simple additions I can make to model the pinning and suppressive effects better, and it would also allow for counter battery and harrassing fire. I also need to tidy up the treatment of terrain as there was some confusion about  LOS and terrain effects. There was some discussion about march mode vs tactical, but given that the battlefield represented here is only a few miles square, I reckon the divisions are operating 'in contact'. There is a neat idea in Rommel I can borrow to tweak the terrain effects so I can model road columns through dense terrain (this mainly affects armour and artillery).

OK, next time we'll try it out with a proper tank battle, then I suspect that is my COW session sorted.

The guns!

Regular readers will have noticed that I play a fair bit of WW1, and a key feature of WW1 is artillery, lots of it. Field guns are generally well catered for in the various scales, but I was after some heavier stuff and was drawn to the Irregular 'Really Useful Gun' range as they are a sort of intermediate OO/HO scale and will do for both 15mm and 20mm games. Good job, as those are two of the three scales I use for WW1.

A pair of British 6" howitzers, these have more early war type spoked wheels. I have also used these as Russian howitzers. Irregular gun crews with these.

Another pair of later pattern British 6" howitzers, this time with more trench friendly wheels. Irregular will supply whichever wheels you want.

A lonely QRF 60pdr. This is a proper 15mm model but is such a beautiful casting I had to have one.

View from the rear. Those look like Peter Pig gunners.

A collection of Irregular Krupp 150mm howitzers, I went for the short barrelled versions as they are good for the whole war. The shields were not pleasant to stick on, and are held in place with large amounts of blu tak and super glue.

Some of the crews have picklehaubes. The gun shields are too wide ot fit the trench type wheels on without some filing down.

And some crew are in Feldmutze. You can specify crew types on purchase.

A similar collection of Schneider 155s. The shields would only fit the narrower wheels (same problem as the German 150s)

This pair have trench wheels.

They are nice hefty pieces though.

The Schneiders with shields.

Crews in Horizon Bleu. The French didn't have much heavy artillery until later in the war, by which time the light blue uniforms where much more common. These guns have been pressed into service a couple of times for use as captured artillery pieces in German service (see the Periers Ridge and Day of Days game reports). The uniform colours aren't glaringly different under club lighting!

The Irregular models go together fairly well for metal artillery pices (give me plastic any day, but hey ho) and have the huge advantage of being cheap, come from a large and very flexible range with outstanding customer service. All these models have come out to play on a number of occasions, in fact rather more than I'd originally envisaged. It just goes to show that you can never have too much artillery.

Playtesting

I've been fiddling around with some brigade level WW2 rules for  a while now. This seems to be the level of WW2 warfare that it is hardest to get right as the differences in direct fire ranges are still significant, but there are a host of formation level considerations which can add a mass of extra complexity. Once you are pushing divisions around, a lot more can be abstracted out, and if it is only a company or two, then traditional shooty wargames mechanics will usually do the trick.

Anyway, this lot are aimed at getting a brigade level engagement resolved in at most a couple of hours, and ideally on a small (3x4 or 3x3) table as that seems to be size we most commonly use at the club now as the tables in the bar are a bit smaller than at the old club venue. The concepts and mechanisms are a mixture of different inspirations, but it probably bears the closest resemblance to Johns 'Brown Bess'. I tested it with a One Hour Wargames scenario, slightly bodged to resemble the initial attack on Krinkelt and Rocherath during the Battle of the Bulge.

277th VGD and 12th SS Panzer Division take on the 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions.

View from the west. Two battalions of the 99th are dug in covering the track to the crossroads. The hill features are dense woods, impassable to vehicles and half speed for infantry.

This is the standard setup from the OHW scenario. Each stand is roughly a company and the battalions are deployed in extended line. The US entrenchements provide 'medium' cover and rendered the German barrage largely ineffective.

Two battalions of 277 VGD march on. They came on in march column and deployed into line. US defensive fire scored a few hits.

Two more VGD battalions over of the left. One of them is deployed in a double line. Faster and more manouverable but generates less firepower. All the units on table at the moment are green, so generate less firepower and break on three hits.

The 277 Fusilier Battalion. These guys have bicycles (not much use in the snow!) and have an attached infantry gun company. They are rated as competent. Normally they'd break on four hits, but the attached company makes if five.

Ooops. It turns out the US have some artillery support. The 99th was very short of ammo so this particular firing battalion only has two fire missions. It does hit every single stand under the template though...

The dug in US troops are proving a hard nut to crack and one VG battalion breaks and retires, losing a base in the process.

A battalion from the 2nd Div arrives in Krinkelt. These guys have an attached Sherman company and are rated as Competent. 

The Germans now commit a KG from 12th SS Panzer Div. A battalion of panzergrenadiers with a company of Pz IVs in support. These guys are experienced and have a base morale of six!

A third battalion from 99th Div turns up and forms  line on the edge of the town. The 2nd Div Combat Team forms double line and heads off for the more open northern flank.

Unsurprisingly, US artillery lands on the SS, suppressing the tanks. The routed VG have been busily rallying (so they are down to only one hit now).

Some sneaky VG head into the forested hills on the US right. Slow going in the difficult terrain.

Another battalion of 2nd Div turns up, these guys have a towed tank destroyer company as well. With them they also bring a much better supplied artillery battalion in support.

A bit of a stand off on the German right. The VG have sorted themselves out after being stonked and the Fusiliers are forming up to assault the US line.

Over  on the left, the VG are spotted in the woods and US defensive fire suppresses a base. Unit commanders can choose who gets hit, in this case the German weapons company (which isn't deployed in any case). The US are allocating hits to their rifle companies and their weapons company gives a defensive bonus in assault.

The SS Panzers come crashing in, although the Pz IVs are still suppressed and their MG company is undeployed. The VG assault the US flank. The US already have two hits and one more will break them

The Fusiliers assault the other US battalion in the flank. At this point I decided that units should be more clumped together (easier to keep track of what was where). Units in line can still extend if they wish. The Germans are manhandling their deployed MGs and infantry guns forward. 

In the face of the concentric assault, both US battalions are finally routed, but they've done a sterling job, delaying the German advance for seven turns. The newly arrived troops in Krinkelt start frantically digging in!

Left exposed, the 2nd Div Combat Team is also routed. I forgot to take any photos of that bit. The routed units stop around the village and try to rally off hits. One of the village defence units has managed to dig in.

The Germans spent a few turns rallying off hits before resuming the advance. The SS ran into withering defensive fire and more US artillery which suppressed three of their infantry stands.

The Germans advanced through the barrage. The other 2nd Div team had formed line but didn't have time to dig in before the German attack.

Over on the other flank, the VG sorted themselves out, rallying off hits and limbering up their support weapons.

The Germans launched a mighty assault all along the front.

The VG were repulsed, both battalions breaking. It was up to the SS now..

The weight of US fire was too great and the SS were already disordered so they too were thrown back.

Over on the other flank the Germans closed in as US defensive fire tore into their ranks.

The already damaged US battalions took more losses.

But the assault on the newly dug trenches in front of Krinkelt failed and at that point the game ended just as the route to the crossroad was open. The US had pulled it off, at huge cost.

That wasn't too bad, a reasonably historical result and manageable enough that I could run the whole thing myself in a couple of hours. There were some slightly creaky bits - I need to figure out if it is worth differentiating the battalion heavy weapons companies and I also need to sort out some issues around hit allocation within units. I'm not convinced this is the way forward though.