All,
A few years ago I'd had an absolute blast running battalion-sized games in 10mm on the Eastern Front for Steve Whitsell, who was running a Firestorm Campaign on Kursk. I played the games using "I Ain't Been Shot, Mum" rules by Too Fat Lardies, and it was such a great time that I had a yearning to see if I could recapture some of that wargaming magic. But my 10mm is all gone, so it would have to be in 15mm, so I decided battalion level probably wasn't going to work, so I did up a roster for a U.S. Rifle Company in Europe.
Here's the map, US baseline is at left, Germans can set up anywhere east (right) of the north-south running road at left. Fields and a farm to the south, a hill in the northeast, with swampy ground in the center.
Looking from the US baseline.
Looking from the German baseline.
The opposing forces, US on left, "German" on right.
The Americans, running a standard US Army rifle company of three rifle platoons (PC, Bazooka team, and three rifle squads, each), and a weapons platoon (PC, 2 x MG teams, 3 x 60mm mortar teams), plus an attached platoon of M4 Shermans.
The commanders ("Big Men" in IABSM terms) are the CO, XO, and the five platoon commanders.
My thinking was that these guys just came ashore (call it D+5) and this is their first action of the war, so lots of training but never seen the elephant, so I decided to try something novel, I made their command quality 'undetermined,' and would let the dice sort it out. Normally each Big Man is rated between Poor and Superior (I'm probably mis-remembering the terminology) and has a certain number of command initiatives (again, terminology) he may exercise when activated, from between 1 and 4 or 5 (something like that).
What I'm going to do is allow each Big Man to carry out 1 action when they're activated, and then make a 50/50 roll for another action. If successful he gets a second action, and keep rolling as long as he keeps passing. My thinking was that the luckier a Big Man got, the more actions he would get, and the 'better' a leader I would rate him after the game based on the fact that he was seeing his first action and 'proved' to be an effective combat leader, and the reverse would be true as well. In the event, my dice-rolling was horrible and everyone should be rated as a 'Poor' leader ;) Well, not everyone, there was one dude that fought his ass off.
Here are the 'Germans.' That is, I'm using Joe Legan's "Platoon Forward" solo gaming supplement in order to determine the enemy forces, so I don't know (and won't know) what I'll be facing until these markers ('blinds') are spotted on the tabletop, at which time I'll roll to see if it's real or a dummy and, if it's real, what is actually there. "As" are mostly going to be riflemen, "Bs" are mostly going to be crew-served weapons, and "Cs" are mostly going to be AFVs, though there is a small variance in each category to get something from the other categories.
I took this photo after completion of the game, showing exactly what did show up:
-German CO
-2 x Rifle Platoons (PC, Panzerschreck, and 3 x Rifle Squad)
-1 x Mortar Platoon (PC and 2 x 8.0cm mortar)
-1 x ATG Platoon (PC and 2 x PaK-40)
-1 x SPG Platoon (2 x Sdkfz 251/9 w/short 7.5cm gun; one vehicle designated as PC)
-1 x Panzer Platoon (2 x Panzer Mk V "Panther;" one vehicle designated as PC)
Quite a bit for one US Rifle Company to handle, we'll see how it goes...
Table, with US forces deployedd (far left) and German blinds placed.
US left.
US right.
Blinds scattered across the table, looking from German baseline.
Closer look at German right.
And German left.
Those dirty Germans placed a blind right on the other side of the Line of Departure (on the US right, 3rd Platoon opposite, with US XO at top right).
And not much further on the US left (1st Platoon at top right, 2nd Platoon at top left, with CO behind 2nd Platoon and Tanks between 1st and 2nd Platoons.
With IABSM being card-driven (and not wanting to be bothered with rolling up blinds and putting their cards in the deck later), I went ahead and rolled up all the blinds and made up the entire deck before I started. Here you can see the German forces in their deployed positions.
Panthers prowling on the far left.
ATGs and mortars in the center.
As well as the Stummels.
And all the infantry over on the right, 1st Platoon dug in on the approaches to the hill and 2nd Platoon dug-in on the hill.
And they're off! All three rifle platoons move up, as do the tanks.
On the right, 3rd Platoon continues pushing, under the exhortations of the Company XO.
The Stummels go to work, in indirect fire mode.
And begin pounding 2nd Platoon.
2nd and 3rd Platoons continue pushing ahead.
As do the tanks. The lead Sherman heading left manages to spot a Panther (top right) and fires...
But he misses.
The US mortars go to work.
Pinning the crews of the Stummels.
The German mortars respond.
Suppressing 2nd Platoon's command team.
The Panthers, quite unafraid of the Shermans, push out from their ambush positions at the farm.
The lead Sherman on the left is knocked out and his partner is suppressed.
The 2nd Platoon commander tries to rally his command team but fails and falls back (center right, from top left, with the CO looking on at bottom center).
Both Panthers fire, engaging both columns of Shermans (top left and top center).
The second right-column Sherman is knocked out.
As is the lead Sherman in the left-column (that was their Platoon Commander)...
3rd Platoon takes cover before the growling behemoths...
Things are not looking good; 3rd Platoon has advanced the most (top right) but now sits opposite two angry beasts. 2nd Platoon is pinned down by German mortar fire (center), it's commander cowering in the rear. 1st Platoon has barely moved off its start line (far left bottom), and three of five Shermans are now flaming coffins...
The remaining two Shermans push left, where the lead tank is able to get a bit of a flank shot on one of the Panthers (top center)...
The 75mm AP round ricochets off, but the crew is suppressed (top right). The 3rd Platoon Commander calls up his bazooka team...
They creep forward and launch a rocket.
And knock out the enemy tank!
The remaining Panther moves up and fires at the lead Sherman (top left).
But he misses! The American tankers pump AP rounds out as fast as they can load them...
And the other Panther goes up in flames!
Man, tankers have a life expectancy similar to RTOs and Huey pilots in the Vietnam War...
The German mortars (bottom right, with the PaKs above them) fire on 3rd Platoon (top left)...
But the rounds fall long.
In the center, 2nd Platoon has their commander and a rifle squad still suppressed (right/bottom right), but the remainder of the platoon moves up, into cover (top left).
The suppressed command team and squad try to rally but somehow both fail and fall back!!! The PC is about to be summarily executed for cowardice in the face of the enemy...
On the German right, their CO is anxious about the progress the US 3rd Platoon is making (off camera to top left), particularly now that his Panther Platoon is kaput, so he dispatches two rifle squads from his 2nd Platoon atop the hill; they move to the Stummels (bottom left) and will now serve under their Platoon Commander for the duration of the battle. The Stummel PC is currently planning a counterattack to secure the left flank.
The German mortars (bottom right) adjust fire and zero in on 3rd Platoon (top left).
This time the 80mm mortars cause some problems for the Yanks, with their PC going 'man down,' two squads are pinned and one is suppressed...
The CO (far left) gets the 2nd Platoon commander and squad rallied, then boots them in the ass, so they move up (center right, from far left), looking to re-join their platoon (top right), as 1st Platoon finally gets moving (top center left, from top left).
The German CO (far right) is ready to do some tank hunting (the two remaining Shermans are just visible at top right), so he sends 1st Platoon's Panzerschreck team forward (you can see them at right, just in front of the line of German fighting positions), and calls forward 2nd Platoon's Panzerschreck team (at right, just behind the middle German fighting position, just left of the CO, visible by his gray halftrack).
The US 1st Platoon (bottom right) spots the German 1st Platoon's panzerschreck team (top left) and opens fire.
As the US mortars again go to work...
Man, the US CO (top left) hasn't even moved this whole game. The XO hasn't done much either...
Trying to break up the German Stummel-led counterattack before it begins, the rounds fall long.
The Shermans push ahead, way out in front of their infantry...
Although 2nd Platoon, now whole again, does manage to get moving and pulls in right behind them (far left).
German 1st Platoon infantry fire on US 1st and 2nd Platoons (top right, with 2nd Platoon visible at top center left, behind the Shermans).
Both US platoons get roughed up quite a bit...
1st Platoon commander works to rally his boys under fire, while also laying down some fire, suppressing the German 1st Platoon's Panzerschreck team (top left).
But the German CO immediately dashes forward and rallies them.
Before dragging them back into cover.
While the German 2nd Platoon's panzerschreck team stalks ahead and fires on the lead Sherman!
The Sherman is immobilized! The crew stays in the vehicle, suppressed.
US 2nd Platoon moves into cover (left and far right) and lays down some fire. Their Platoon Commander jumps behind the last remaining (fully functional) Sherman and gets on the tank-infantry phone.
Back on the right, the XO moves up, looking to help 3rd Platoon rally, but he doesn't get very far (far left), so the 3rd Platoon PC has to do it himself. Oh wait, he can't because he's 'men down'...
For the first time all game, an American MG team goes to work.
Suppressing an enemy rifle squad (far right) belonging to their 1st Platoon.
Back on the right, the XO makes it to 3rd Platoon and begins getting them back in fighting shape.
Back on the left, the 2nd Platoon PC is moving up with the last Sherman, spotting targets for them as they hammer away with their 75mm main gun and MGs.
The German 2nd Platoon panzerschreck team is mowed down (top left) and the nearby rifle squad is suppressed and forced to fall back (far right), ending up next to their PC.
The 2nd Platoon PC and last Sherman continue working their way up the line...
They knock out a rifle squad (bottom left) and suppress the 1st Platoon PC (right)!
In the German center, the two rifle squads attached to the Stummel Platoon get moving.
Those poor PaKs haven't had a target all game; that's the problem with ATGs in wargames, they're usually just 'area denial' weapons because of their immobility...
In response one of 3rd Platoon's rifle squads moves up to the hedgerow (center, at the corner, behind the burning Panther in the field) and begins firing on them (top right).
Now rallied, the rest of 3rd Platoon moves up.
Back on the left, the remaining German squad atop the hill (from 2nd Platoon) fires on the US 2nd Platoon PC (top left), who's been doing great work directing the fire of the last Sherman.
The Sherman crew is suppressed and the 2nd Platoon PC is 'men down.' This sucks...
As a reminder of why this is so devastating, the tank will now lose an acivation trying to rally itself, rather than have the 2nd Platoon PC help it rally, and it may fail, and the 2nd Platoon PC may not rally himself, he has to have someone else come up and help him since he's 'men down,' so it really makes things difficult, right when things were sort of going my way...
The Germans manage to get some rallying done in order to solidify their defenses on the right, with their 2nd Platoon PC moving down off the hill to assist (bottom center).
The remaining panzerschreck team (from their 1st Platoon) moves up and takes a shot at the last Sherman...
The 88mm rocket immobilizes the Sherman, whose crew remains inside the vehicle, suppressed.
The German 1st Platoon fires on the US 2nd Platoon squads in the trees (top right).
While on the German left, their mortars (bottom right) go to work on 3rd Platoon (top left)...
While the Stummels begin moving up, firing their 75mm guns...
And 3rd Platoon is suffering under their intense weight of fire...
Back on the right, the Panzerschreck team reloads and fires another rocket...
And busts it wide open...
3rd Platoon throws some meager fire at the German counterattack force...
The XO (left top) looks on as the GIs of 3rd Platoon start to break and run...
The US mortars try and save the day...
And they do good work, taking out one rifle squad, suppressing the other, and pinning the crews of both Stummels!
One of the US MG teams moves up (bottom left) and fires on the Stummels (top center, with the XO visible at far right and elements of 3rd Platoon above him).
And the other US MG team lays down fire on the main German defensive line.
The German 1st Platoon PC is mowed down (center) and a nearby squad is suppressed, while the 2nd Platoon PC is pinned (bottom right).
The German CO (far left) goes to work rallying the troops and getting them to return fire.
On the German left, the remaining rifle squad in the counterattack tries to rally but fails and falls back (far right, from center).
The US Co finally moves up and gets the remnants of his 1st and 2nd Platoons moving, where they reach the immobilized Sherman (the lead Sherman that just got knocked out is just off camera to top right).
The CO (right) fails to rally one of the rifle squads and the break and run (far left)...
Some of the Doggies manage to move up and check on the 2nd Platoon PC, who is still 'men down.'
That squad that failed the CO (center) trying to rally them and fell back just tried to rally themselves, failed again, and fell back again (bottom left, from center bottom)!
On the German left, the Stummel Platoon rallies and moves up on the US 3rd Platoon (left top).
The US MG team on the right (bottom left) fires on the Stummels (top right), trying to cover 3rd Platoon (far right).
In the center, the remnants of 1st and 2nd Platoons manage to rally the 2nd Platoon PC and mosy forward a bit...
But as soon as they do that the German mortars begin pounding the hell out of them...
While on the right, 3rd Platoon is already in really bad shape when the lead Stummel comes crashing through the nearby hedgerow...
And they all join their comrades in breaking and running.
The XO (far right) looks on as they just keep going...
The CO gives the order for the remnants of 1st and 2nd Platoons to fall back (some at top right, some at top left), while the right-hand MG team (bottom center) continues burning out its barrel to cover his comrades.
Two rifle squads are abandoned to be captured (they were 'men down' and thus can't do anything until a friendly unit moves into base contact and successfully rallies them). Pretty depressing, but typical Army ;)
Man, what a fight! I had an absolute blast, the only issue being it took about 4 and 1/2 hours... Nevertheless, I played another one.
Coming right up.
V/R,
Jack
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