15mm Platoon-Level Test Game #5

All,

Greetings, and welcome to our first sort of 'normal' wargame, where it's a straightforward attack-defend scenario and all the troops are starting on the table.  Yeah, wanted to give that a shot to see what it looked like ;)  So it's been a few days since the platoon was deprived of SSgt Saunders, but so far it's not been a big deal as they've been in reserve or they've been in the line with no contact, but today that all changes.  The battalion has put in an attack on a decent-size urban area; as always, it's been pulverized by arty and the fly-boys, but off the left flank is a dug-in defensive position that's really giving the battalion a hard time, some machine guns, someone calling in 105mm arty, and some sort of self-propelled gun over there, too.  The Company Commander, Captain Blakely, suddenly impressed with Lt Hanley's leadership, immediately knows which platoon is getting the call to crack the tough nut on the battalion's flank!

Overview, north is up.  At top center is the main enemy defensive position, while at far right and bottom center you can see portions of the urban area the battalion is attacking.  Lt Hanley's platoon represents the far left flank of that attack, the goal of which is to subdue the enemy position, root out the German Forward Observer (FO), and locate and knock out the enemy self-propelled gun (SPG).  Quite a task for a single platoon!  In any case, you can see half the area is bombed out, lots of craters, as you get to the west side there are quite a few cultivated fields with crops about four feet high, so they do represent an LOS issue for troops at ground level.  There's a few scattered hedges and trees, but not many.

The opposing forces, Americans on the left and Germans on the right.

The Americans: 

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

1st Squad: Sgt Caje (Reckless, Good Leader, full strength)
2nd Squad: Sgt Kirby (Cautious, Poor Leader, full strength)
3rd Squad: Sgt Littlejohn (Even, Good Leader, full strength)

Attachments:

1 x Forward Observer team for a battery of 105mm howitzers
1 x M1917 .30-cal Machine Gun Team
1 x 60mm Mortar Team 

*Please note that I rolled up the pre-game event and again it was "Reinforcements."  I'd already picked the 60mm mortar for my 'Light Support," so I went with the MG team again as reinforcements.

The German blinds; they do have one automatic unit, which is the Forward Observer (top center right), and then they've got four Type A blinds, two Type B blinds, and originally they had one Type C blind, but when I rolled pre-game reinforcements for the Americans the Germans got an extra blind, which I actually made a Type C, rather than Type B, just for fun.

The table, now with troops, US along the bottom and German blinds from halfway up the table and back.

Lt Hanley found himself wishing SSgt Saunders were here to discuss, but he wasn't, so the Lieutenant had to come up with the plan all on his own.  He'd keep it simple: he'd hold on the left side with his worst squad, put most of his support in the middle, and have his two best squads leapfrog up the right side, through the bombed out village, until he got into a position to jump-off and take the hill, ideally by flanking it.  He just had a sneaking suspicious that SSgt Saunders would have counseled him to go up the left side, to easy to get bogged down fighting house-to house on the right...

Sgt Kirby and 2nd Squad are locking down the left side, expected simply to hold the line and not allow enemy troops on this side interfere with the assault element moving up the right side.  You can see a German Type A blind at top left, in the field.

The American far right, where Lt Hanley (with the bazooka team, at far left) has the MG team in position in the rubble (bottom right), Sgt Caje's 1st Squad in a supporting position (just above Lt Hanley), and Sgt Littlejohn's 3rd Squad in the craters (bottom center), looking to dash up and snatch the bombed out house right in front of them.  Once 3rd Squad is in there, Lt Hanley will lead 1st Squad up into the south end of the village (top right), with 3rd Squad and the MG team covering.

In the center we've got the 60mm mortar team (left) and the FO (right, with 1st Squad just below him at far right).

The German blinds set up, as well as their FO.

The German right only has two blinds, a Type A (top left, the one you saw in the picture of Sgt Kirby/2nd Squad's position) and a Type C (top right).

There's a Type A in the ruins at far left, and another Type A and a Type B on the objective (the hill, right).

You can see the FO at left top center, in the buildings on the right side of the road in the village, with a Type A blind just left of him), a Type B blind in the ruins at bottom center, and the other Type C blind at bottom right.

The German FO, which begins the game hidden.

The German FO's (bottom left) field of vision.

This game I'm intending on starting a more traditional game, with everyone on the table, so I start rolling up the blinds...

The Type A and Type C on the German right flank are empty, leaving absolutely ZERO enemy troops over there, with Sgt Kirby (Poor Leader) and his squad sitting opposite all that nothing (off camera to far left)...

The objective has a sustained fire MG-42 team (MG team with gun on a tripod) and a rifle squad, all dug-in (rifle squad is Squad Leader, LMG team, and two rifle teams).

And there's the SPG Battalion was worried about, a Sdkfz 251/9 "Stummel," with a short 75mm howitzer mounted, ready to lob HE all over the place.

Please keep in mind, when I wrote the narrative about the 'machine guns, FO, and SPG giving Battalion a hard time,' I'd already rolled up all this stuff, I wasn't cheating, nor am I able to read the future.  Even that stuff about 'SSgt Saunders would have counseled to go up the left flank;' actually, I did struggle with the question of whether to go left or right, but then I decided to go right, placed the US troops and the German blinds, then rolled up the German blinds, so it's pure blind luck that there are absolutely NO Germans on the left side of the table, opposite Kirby...

In the enemy's left rear is an 80mm mortar team set up in a bombed out house.

And then they have another rifle squad in the bombed out village.

So the table is set time to get it on!

I started it but didn't finish it, then basically played it as a company-level game with IABSM, you'll see in another batrep.  Another?  Yeah, I suppose I shouldn't call this a batrep, just some pretty pictures...

V/R,
Jack