15mm Platoon-Level Test Game #3

All,

Okay, game 3 and we're cooking right along; first, on an admin note, I'm going to bump everyone up in rank to align with their real-life billets, or at least closer (my understanding is that at the beginning of the war the US Army had Sergeants for Squad Leaders and Staff Sergeants for Platoon Sergeants, but by the end of the war it was Staff Sergeants as Squad Leaders and Sergeants First Class as Platoon Sergeants; I've been way off either way, using Corporals as Squad Leaders and a Sergeant as the Platoon Sergeant), so the Squad Leaders are now Sergeants and the Platoon Sergeant is a Staff Sergeant.

Next, things are looking a bit shaky; the Lieutenant is still out, recuperating from his wounds, and 1st Squad Leader, Sgt Caje, is now bumped up from a 'Decent' leader to a 'Good' leader, although Kirby is still a 'Poor' leader (there just hasn't been any opportunity to remedy that), and the platoon hasn't received any replacements, so all three rifle squads are down a rifle team!

SSgt Saunders returned from a meeting with the Skipper and gathered the squad leaders to brief them: "Good news, the Old Man is still cutting us some slack with the Lieutenant out and being shorthanded, he cut us an easy one.  Battalion's up against a river and the Krauts have blown the bridge, but S-2 figures there must be a ford nearby that can handle our vehicles, so we're gonna go babysit some engineers while they snoop around the river to find a spot where the tanks can cross."

So, there we go, all set on the scenario, which is to "Screen" the engineers while they search to find a ford, which consists of rolling a D6 at the end of each turn, looking for a cumulative score of 20 to complete the mission, although the D6 score is halved if the engineers are under fire that turn, then fall back off the map.  My pre-game event was "Get Moving!", so the platoon's got a pep in its step and will have a positive movement modifier for the duration of the game.

Overview, north is up.  Far right is where the blown bridge is, so that's where the engineers will begin their search, moving west along the southern river bank until they complete their mission.

The opposing forces, US on the left and Germans on the right (consisting, as always, only of blinds at this point).

The Americans: 

Platoon Leader: Lt Hanley (not present, still recuperating from wounds)
Platoon Sergeant: SSgt Saunders (Bold, Outstanding Leader)
Bazooka Team

1st Squad: Sgt Caje (Reckless, Good Leader, -1 Rifle Team)
2nd Squad: Sgt Kirby (Cautious, Poor Leader, -1 Rifle Team)
3rd Squad: Sgt Littlejohn (Even, Decent Leader, -1 Rifle Team)

Attachments:

1 x Combat Engineer Team
1 x 60mm Mortar Team with Spotter

Overall the Germans will have five x Type A blinds, two x Type B blinds, and 1 x Type C blinds, but they will start the game only with two blinds on the table.

The two blinds represent the Germans having observed the American activity at the river and dispatching a patrol to go check them out, so you dice for the location of the two potential patrols, when the Americans move into LOS of one or both of them you dice to see which one is real, and you place all of these down around the 'real' one, then dice (in accordance with the tables in Platoon Forward) to see what the actual enemy forces on the table are.

Overview, now with troops and blinds.

The platoon's deployment: the 60mm mortar team is at bottom left, 2nd Squad and the spotter are in the buildings at left, the engineers are at the blown bridge (top right), with the bazooka team below them, SSgt Saunders left of them, and 1st and 3rd Squads further left, following the river, eyes peeled for the Germans.

I dice for location and here's where the 1st German blind goes (bottom center, with Americans visible at top center and in the buildings at center right, but LOS is blocked by the bombed out building just above the blind).

And here is the other blind's location (bottom left), with US forces across the river at center/center-left), but again, LOS is blocked by the cornfields.  

What this means is the US will likely go several turns of checking for the ford unmolested (no LOS to the blinds), moving west (right) down the river until they run smack into the other blind (which is off camera to center right), which means either the Germans are all going to be on the other side of the river and have to move up to engage (if Blind #2 at bottom left is 'real'), or the Germans are going to be on the same side of the river and right on top of us (if Blind #1 off camera to center right is 'real').  I will use the "All Knowing Odds Table," AKA the "AKOT," using the 'unlikely' column, to determine if the GIs somehow get a fleeting LOS to Blind #2 (bottom left), but more than likely it's going to be another knife-fight with bad guys right on top of us...

The engineers get to work trying to figure out if vehicles can cross the river here.  SSgt Saunders stands in the background, anxiously chain-smoking cigarettes, with Sgt Littlejohn's 3rd Squad behind him.

Nope, that spot doesn't work, so the engineers move left (right, on river, with bazooka team and SSgt Saunders below them) as 3rd Squad moves left (left center, with 1st Squad above them and 2nd Squad in the buildings at left).

Nope, that spot doesn't work either, so the engineers again move left, shadowed by the Platoon Sergeant and Bazooka team, with Sgt Caje's 1st Squad to their left, as Sgt Littlejohn continues pushing 3rd Squad left and Sgt Kirby has 2nd Squad in the buildings at bottom left.

Nope, so the engineers again move left, shadowed by SSgt Saunders and the Bazooka team, now practically on top of Sgt Caje's 1st Squad (right), with Sgt Kirby's 2nd Squad in the buildings (bottom center) and Sgt Littlejohn's 3rd Squad starting to climb into the ruins of a nearby bombed-out house (left)...

As a reminder, the blinds are at top right (above the left-hand cornfield) and just past the bombed-out house (far left).  

Also, it's Turn 4 and the engineers have been doing a great job on the D6 rolls, they're already at 14, so maybe one or two more turns to get through and we can get the hell outta here!

But what fun would that be? ;)

Sgt Littlejohn's BAR team moves into the rubble (center, from bottom right), where it promptly runs smack dab into a buncha damn Germans (top left)!!!

Yeah, this blind, as predicted, turns out to be the bad guys, they're on our side of the river...

I remove the other blind and lay all the damn German blinds down in this general area.  My goodness, that's a lot of them...  I start rolling on the tables to see what I'm actually up against...

NOOOOOO!!!!!  I'm missing a picture!!!  Dammit...  Here's what the Germans have:
1 x Platoon Commander
1 x MG-42 MMG team
1 x 50mm mortar team

1 x Panzerschreck team
2 x Rifle Squad (1 x Squad Leader, 2 x Rifle Team, 1 x LMG team, each)

The 50mm mortar team is the only one on the other (north) side of the river; one rifle squad and the MMG team are right on the south river bank, behind a hedge, the other rifle squad is behind a tree stand, and the Platoon Commander and Panzerschreck are actually in the ruins of the village.

Sgt Kirby's BAR team (bottom left) lays down fire, suppressing the German PC (top center)...

As his Rifle team dashes forward (center, from bottom left).

But a German rifle team spots them (top right) and opens fire...

What you're looking at: German rifle squad at bottom center/left, German PC at bottom right, German Panzerschreck team at far right, Sgt Littlejohn's 3rd Squad in/around the bombed-out house (center), Sgt Kirby's 2nd Squad (top right), Sgt Caje's 1st Squad (top left), with the German MG team, another rifle squad, and their light mortar team off camera to left.

Sgt Kirby's rifle team (left, with Sgt Kirby and the BAR team below them) is pinned by the German (top right, with 3rd Squad at far right) fire, but they return fire from where they're at* and put the offending German rifle team 'Men Down.'

I rolled to see if Mr. Poor Leader, Sgt Kirby, would run up there and rally them (he actually had enough activation points), but he, as usual, failed...

And then the American 60mm mortar team goes to work!

60mm HE rounds begin falling, knocking out the German Panzerschreck team (bottom right) and pinning the 1st German rifle squad's LMG team (yellow bead at far left, the center of the three teams behind the tree, with one of the 2nd German rifle squad's rifle teams visible behind the bushes at top left).

Feeling emboldened by the support from Sgt Kirby's squad and the mortar team, Sgt Littlejohn's BAR team (bottom right) pops their heads up and open fire...

Sending the Squad Leader 'Men Down' (you can see the singly-based figure of the squad leader at bottom center, with white bead, and the rifle team above him, also with white bead, signifying they are 'Men Down,' while the yellow bead on the LMG team to their left means it's pinned, and the red bead on the Platoon Commander, to their right, means it's suppressed)!  The remaining rifle team (just left of the tree) returns fire on Sgt Littlejohn's men (top right)...

Suppressing the BAR team (red bead at center), as Sgt Littlejohn's rifle team (just to their right) opens fire, to no effect. 

Sgt Littlejohn didn't have enough activation points to rally the BAR team...

With Sgt Littlejohn's 3rd Squad engaged in a point-blank range firefight (left center top), further back Sgt Caje's BAR team (bottom left) opens fire on the German 2nd Squad, along the river bank (top center right).

Suppressing the lead rifle team (red bead at center right, you finally get a glimpse of the German MG-42 team, at bottom left), as the German light mortar team (top left) returns fire on Sgt Caje's 1st Squad.

The rounds fall long, suppressing the bazooka team (red bead at far right), as Sgt Caje's rifle team moves up next to the BAR team (center, with engineers at top center right and SSgt Saunders at right center bottom, next to the suppressed bazooka team) and opens fire.

SSgt Saunders rallies the bazooka team.

And has them launch a rocket across the river at the German mortar team (top left)!

Suppressing them!

Then he hauls ass up to Sgt Littlejohn's squad in the bombed out house, though he can't manage to rally the BAR team yet...

Back on the German side, they get a Random Event ("Slow Down to Defend Your Flanks"), which I basically blow off as not being relevant here, so the German Platoon Commander goes to work, but he only rolls a '1' for activation points.  Well, being suppressed, the only action he can take is to self rally...

But he bungs that and runs to hide in cover (bottom right, from top left)!

This really puts the 1st German rifle squad in a pickle as their squad leader (and one of their rifle teams) is "Men Down," meaning he doesn't get to roll for activation, he can't do anything until someone else comes over and rallies him.  

This is part of the areas I'm still playtesting; I'm working under the concept that units are either "under command," or "not under command."  Units "under command" are stands that will receive orders from someone else this turn and, if that leader(s) rolls enough activation points, can do more than one thing per turn, but a unit "not under command" can only do one thing per turn (move, shoot, or rally), and can't be given orders from anyone else that turn.  So what I do here is allow the German rifle team and LMG team to perform as "not under command" so that each can do one thing this turn, and they both decide to fire at Sgt Littlejohn's 3rd Squad in the bombed-out building.  

Tactically, being "not under command" draws out some real choices: they can shoot, of course, but you see the LMG team is pinned, which means it can only do something in an active phase, it doesn't get to react (the unpinned, unsuppressed, un-Men Down) rifle team to their left will get to take one action (being "not under command") in its active phase and be allowed to perform one reaction to something the Americans do during their turn.  So, is having both fire the best option?  I could have had the rifle team spend its one action rallying the LMG team, which the LMG team could then use its greater firepower to fire with its own "not under command" action, and then be allowed to react with greater firepower (than the rifle team), and then hopefully in the next turn both it and the rifle team are in good order and can both act and react during the turn.  Or should I have had the LMG team rally the Squad Leader, so that he could then roll for activation points (he's a decent leader, rolling a D6, so he could then have 6 activation points to spend rallying, moving, and firing his troops).  But then again, any of those rally attempts could fail, and it's all rendered moot anyway, a wasted activation, so pretty cool stuff, at least from my perspective.

Sgt Littlejohn and his rifle team (bottom right) are pinned (along with the BAR team that was already suppressed), as the German light mortar team (off camera to bottom left) self rallies, the German 2nd Squad leader (bottom left) self rallies, rallies his rifle team up to pinned, and has them fire at the engineers (top right)!

The engineers are fine (right, on the riverbank), but their dice roll is cut in half (I rolled a six, which brought them to 20, game over, but had to roll it back to 17, so I've got to go at least one more turn, maybe two?)...

Sgt Caje's 1st Squad (bottom right) lays down fire, suppressing the German 2nd Squad Leader, as the 60mm spotter (I don't want to call him FO because, to me, that would refer to some off-table arty or mortars) moves up to get a better look (center, from bottom left).

And he calls in some more 60mm HE hate!

Targeting the German 2nd Squad on the riverbank, and it's deadly!  The LMG team is knocked out (center) and the other rifle team is pinned (yellow bead at left, with the lead rifle team (right) also pinned and their Squad Leader (center top, with red bead) suppressed, as the MG-42 team (bottom left) looks on in disbelief.

Sgt Kirby (far left) raises his head up to rally his guys, but a round ricochets nearby and he ducks back down (he's a Poor leader, so -2 on activation rolls, and he rolled a 2).

While back up at the bombed-out house, Sgt Littlejohn rallies himself and his BAR team, and then SSgt Saunders rallies the rifle team...

And then SSgt Saunders falls back to 2nd Squad and rallies the rifle team.

And orders the BAR team to move up (center top, from bottom left, where Sgt Kirby is still standing).

And then they (bottom left) lay down fire on the German 1st Squad (top center, with Sgt Littlejohn's 3rd Squad at center/right), suppressing the LMG team, as SSgt Saunders runs back to join 3rd Squad (center bottom, where he began the turn).

Where he (bottom right) promptly orders Sgt Littlejohn's BAT team (right) to open up!  They lay down fire...

And completely miss!  The MG-42 (bottom left) returns fire!

Suppressing SSgt Saunders, pinning Sgt Littlejohn, and pinning the BAR team!!!

So, on the one hand you can see how much an "Outstanding" leader with an outstanding activation roll can get done, but on the other hand, the BAR team's miss and subsequent German return fire has left 3rd Squad ripe for the picking, with only the rifle team (top right) in good fighting order.

Ze poor Chermans...  Their Platoon Commander again tries to self rally and again fails, fleeing the battlefield!!!

That's the revenge of my FO from the last game, I suppose ;)

The German 2nd Squad Leader (bottom left) rolls up five actions; he self rallies (good), tries to rally his lead rifle team but they fail and go suppressed, so he has to use another activation point to rally them again but only gets them up to pinned, then he uses another one to have them fire on the engineers (top right).  Again they don't hit anything, but they do bring the engineers under fire; I'd rolled a 4 but it gets cut in half so I've got a total of 19, will have to hang around for one more turn...

Sensing an opportunity to handle Sgt Littlejohn's 3rd Squad (top right), the German MG team (bottom left) lays down fire...

As one of the German 1st Squad's rifle teams dashes forward (far right, from far left, near the MG team, where the rest of 1st Squad is either suppressed or "Men Down")!

But Sgt Kirby's rifle team (bottom center, with their BAR team above and to the lft) spots them (top center, with Sgt Littlejohn's 3rd Squad just right of them) and opens fire!

But their marksmanship is atrocious and they don't hit anything...

So the 60mm mortar team goes to work again.

Knocking out the German 2nd Rifle Squad's leader!

And then Sgt Kirby finally decides to get into the fight!  He dashes up (bottom left) and orders his BAR team to engage the German rifle team sneaking up on 3rd Squad!

But they also manage to hit absolutely nothing!  "Dammit, Kirby," SSgt Saunders (far right) muttered, "you and your squad are gonna spend a month on the range when we get back to the rear!"

On the American right, Sgt Caje moves 1st Squad up (bottom right) to protect the engineers while they continue their survey work, firing on the German 2nd Squad (top left, with 3rd Squad's rifle team visible at left).

Unlike 2nd Squad's, 1st Squad's fire is ferocious, putting the lead rifle team "Men Down," (top right), suppressing the other rifle team (red bead at center), and pinning the MG team (bottom left)!

The German mortar team (bottom left) returns fire on Sgt Caje's men and the engineers (top right, with German 2nd Squad at bottom right)...

But again the 50mm HE rounds are long.

Sgt Caje's rifle team (bottom right) targets the German mortar team on the other side of the river (top center left), pinning them!

I'm reading my notes, trying to figure out if I cheated or not.  Each unit can only move once per turn and shoot once per turn (IF it has enough activation points), and it looks like I just let the rifle team fires twice in this turn, although the fact that I only let the rifle team return fire might mean that I actually only let the BAR team fire when 1st Squad moved up.  I dunno, hope I didn't cheat ;)

SSgt Saunders rallies himself (red bead) and the BAR team (left), and he tries to rally Sgt Littlejohn (yellow bead next to SSgt Saunders) but he stays pinned, so Littlejohn rallies himself, grabs his BAR team...

And they move up through the rubble, flanking the German rifle team just below!

Knocking them out of the fight in hand-to hand combat!

Sgt Littlejohn and his BAR team push their luck, moving up to take on the rest of the German 1st Rifle Squad (which is in pitiful shape, with their Squad Leader and rifle team "Men Down" and their LMG team suppressed)!

The Germans surrender!

Sgt Littlejohn (bottom right) is thinking about continuing to push his luck, but he spots that MG-42 team (top left)... 

And decides discretion is the better part of valor, falling back into hard cover to keep them under fire.

But the Germans are content to lay low as the engineers complete their survey and SSgt Saunders has the platoon conduct an orderly withdrawal, mission accomplished!

Wow, a helluva game.  Another knife fight; I'm not completely put off by them, but I would like to play a game every now and again where we don't start right on top of the Germans, but that's not an issue of the rules or the system (Platoon Forward), that's just how the blinds have worked out so far, pure luck of the draw.  In any case, they've given pretty intense games, so I can't really complain.  And especially not this time, where the platoon had its most successful mission, hardly taking any casualties and inflicting quite a few casualties on the enemy, though it feels a bit wrong that it happened without the Lieutenant (yeah, believe it or not, I actually like Lt Hanley).

Most importantly, the battalion found its ford and that night began pushing vehicles across, continuing its advance across Southern France.  I rolled it up and the Company Commander *almost* noticed the platoon doing a great job.  SSgt Saunders put Sgt Littlejohn in for a Bronze Star, but of course that was shot down as there were no officers there to witness, though Sgt Littlejohn did get bumped up from a "Decent" leader to a "Good" leader, and the platoon received replacements, so many that it's now three bodies over T/O strength, except for still not having their Lieutenant back yet.  Having said that, the replacements, plus the fact a non-player characters wants to ask a favor, means something big is coming for the next mission!

On a side note, keeping track of only five leaders and the relative strength of each rifle squad (BAR team and two Rifle Teams) is SOOOOOOO much easier than all the other campaigns I've run in the past, this is definitely the way forward, and bodes well for other projects, to include getting Kampfgruppe Klink back on track.

Hope you liked it!

V/R,
Jack