Heretical Gaming is my blog about my gaming life, featuring small skirmishes and big battles from many historical periods (and some in the mythic past or the far future too). The focus is on battle reports using a wide variety of rules, with the occasional rules review, book review and odd musing about the gaming and history. Most of the battles use 6mm-sized figures and vehicles, but occasionally 15mm and 28mm figures appear too.

Friday 22 December 2017

WRG 1925-1950: Race to St. Leger II

After completing the Race to St. Leger scenario as the British, I then swapped sides and had a go as the Germans.

British

Royal Dragoon Guards:
2 troops of 2 x Sherman M4 and 1 x Sherman Firefly VC

Green Howards:
1 company of 3 rifle platoons (each platoon has a PIAT team, and 2 have a 2" mortar)

Germans

352 Fusilier Bn:
1 company of 2 grenadier platoons (1 with 3 squads, the other with 2 - all squads have a single Panzerfaust 30); and 2 x HMG belonging to the Coy

21 Pz Div (detachment):*
3 x PzIVG


*it should by StugIIIFs, but I couldn't find them, so I substituted PzIVGs instead.


I didn't use the Threat Generation System on this occasion, as I am not entirely convinced that as designed, it does brilliantly for generating attackers against a fixed defence.  So I used the following system:


I would roll randomly for each platoon/troop-sized element in the British force.  The first sub-unit so selected would then have another die rolled for it, and this would generate where along the baseline it appeared (the baseline was simply split into 6 evenly sized sectors for this purpose).  If infantry appeared before tanks in a sector or adjacent sector, the tanks would be co-operating with the infantry; if tanks were generated before infantry, the tanks would push on rapidly to try and punch into the Germans' depth.  I thought this would generate some interesting variation and make it impossible to either predict the attack or make the attack so disjointed as to be unviable.


The Battle:

The empty battlefield.

And with the German defenders.  The PzIVx are located by the road (bottom), by the hedge (centre) and by the orchard (right); the infantry is concentrated loosely around the central hedgeline

That was a surprise! The British begin by sending a troop of RDG Shermans towards the orchard on the Germans' right flank.  Since they have turned up first, they will race ahead to try and punch through.  They have found the one spot not really covered by observation!

A wider view

Action!  The PanzerIV knocks out the advancing Sherman

But is itself quickly knocked out by the other tanks in the troop; the German infantry are in a good position to ambush the Firefly with their Panzerfaust...but totally miss at close range!

HE and machinegun fire suppresses then routs/destroys the German squad defending

Another Panzer IV engages...and totally misses!

German infantry observes a British infantry platoon advancing on the other flank

There is an intense exchange of close-range fire; the German Landsers will prove tough enough to suppress the attackers and stop the attack

Sherman tanks from the second RDG troop advance through the centre, supporting the British riflemen

The RDG Shermans neatly dispose of the second Panzer IV (see the appearance of the third plume of smoke!) and proceed to drive into the Germans' depth!

The third Panzer IV opens up and brews up the leading Sherman!  (It is hidden in the hedge, near the right-angle (centre)

I was hoping that this would force a retreat, but British morale is still strong

Return fire from the Firefly knocks out the last Panzer IV!  The road to St Leger is open
Game Notes:
A fun game, and not the less so because my AI system neatly found the weakest point in my defences and ruthlessly exploited it!  My shooting was no better than the Germans in the previous attempt - well done to the RDG for boldness and skill!!

I think my decision to use a different system was justified, not because I think that the TGS is poor, but just because it was designed with a type of game and type of ruleset in mind.  Sometimes war isn't all that omni-directional.  I know that the TGS weights the probability so that more enemies will appear in the frontal arc, but actually the chance of things not appearing in the frontal arc are pretty high too. This seemed a good way of keeping the unpredictability but increasing the focus and concentration of the attack.

No comments about the rules, everything worked fine.

Figures and vehicles by Baccus 6mm and GHQ.

6 comments:

  1. John,

    Cool fight, but I was a bit surprised at the quick finish. I'd have been tempted to have the remaining British armor push on through, but then have the British infantry have to mop up the remaining German infantry (though it's perfectly realistic to assume the surviving Germans would have thrown in the towel with all their armor brewed up, the right flank collapsed, and more tanks and infantry closing in).

    V/R,
    Jack

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  2. Yes - the WRG rules are harsh on unsupported infantry against tanks that also have enemy in their rear. I just used the published scenario's victory objectives but even if I hadn't, it would have been over quite quickly for the unfortunate German grenadiers.

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    Replies
    1. John,

      Ahh, gotcha. You know me, I like the dramatic last stands, looks like the Germans were smarter than that though ;)

      And even for mine to work, you'd have had to have had the tank that broke through call back to the tanks in the rear and have them join him, leaving the Brit infantry all alone to mop up.

      I only mention it because I've thought of doing similar with my KG Klink games, having a dynamic where the panzers just haul ass off the other side of the board and leave the infantry to do the heavy lifting. I haven't actually done it yet, because it's hard to have tanks there helping you kick some butt and then let them leave ;)

      V/R,
      Jack

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  3. Noted - now you mention it, I should probably have done it that way, to see if the Grenadiers could have either escaped or managed to disable another tank before capitulating.

    I think it is a great idea for KG Klink games since they are set in 1940 and reflects one of the distinct facets of that particular operation.

    Funnily enough, British orders at Army Group level seemed to suggest exactly that for D-Day and the armour should very boldly handled, but it doesn't seem to pan out that way on the day.

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  4. John,

    Remnants are always of interest to me because I'm always playing campaigns where what happens to the guys is key, so don't put too much into my bloviating ;)

    Regarding armor being boldly handled but not panning out, that's sometimes the problem with theory, it seems awful hard to do in real life. Like the old "don't worry about your flanks, just push ahead!" Yeah, unless and until you start getting hit from the flank!

    V/R,
    Jack

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  5. Yes, agreed. It is okay for FM Montgomery to say that he is happy to risk the destruction of an entire armoured brigade on D-Day to achieve his objectives, less fun if you are the lead tanker *in* that brigade...

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