Adventures on the Wargames Table

Game 2 of the Kampfgruppe von Luck Pint-Sized Campaign for Chain of Command For this encounter I could call on a whopping four points of support.  No prizes for guessing what I opted for, yes a Rifle Team and a Bren Team combined (with freebie Junior Leader) to form a whole section.  Re-organising the lads I now had three full sections (incl the support) with one of the platoon sections having an extra bloke. All Dave has to do is get a team off my table edge! The outskirts of Ranville (Para table edge at the top) The cobbled track denotes the sunken lane - up to the buildings View from the Paras side The Patrol Phase resulted in the Paras having jump off points on the left flank by the fields and amongst the buildings on the right.  The Germans did well to push one right forward alongside the narrow track with the other two in the orchard (upper mid left in the pic). JOPs in place Dave brought on plenty of troops in quick succession so as to ...

Game One of Kampfgruppe von Luck Private Goodbody scanned the hedgerows through his telescopic sights.  There was just enough light now to properly make out the shapes of trees and bushes across the wide fields of wheat.  He shifted his weight slightly, as his left ankle was still sore after the drop.  Laden with extra kit and plenty of ammo, his landing had been heavy.  His ‘stick’ had been fortunate as they’d landed close to Ranville but plenty of his fellows in 12 Para were still unaccounted for.  The drop had quickly become a shambles as aircraft weaved to and fro through heavy flak.  He wasn’t too concerned though as the lads were gradually turning up in 1’s and 2’s, sometimes more. Sergeant Cameron appeared at his side and held out a tin cup of scalding hot tea. “Movement?” he asked, his broad Scottish tones barely a whisper.  Private Goodbody was the sniper in No. 3 section and had the sharpest eyes in the platoon; if anyone could spot Jerry...

Wargaming plans are just like real military plans in that they usually don't survive contact with the enemy, or in this case, real life!  Anyway, despite setbacks we muddled on as best we could.  But rather than play the full-on campaign the decision was made to make this a "practice game", i.e. not worry about the campaign aspects - we'll do it 'properly' at a later date. The Paras have to roll as their drop was a bit of a muddle, they got two Senior Leaders and a Sniper for the HQ section ( Look Hans, no pesky 2" mortar! ), No1 section was fine, but both 2 and 3 were missing a Bren.  So they'd have just three Brens against my six LMG's plus I'd taken an MG42 team and an adjutant as supports.  The Paras get no supports ... I was feeling quietly confident. Here's the table ... now, I do have a heap of wheatfields (golden grass door mats!) but they're in the garage somewhere, so just imagine the open spaces covered in rolling fields...

Saturday started with George manning the Post Office whilst I set up the terrain for game 2.  Business in the PO was quite brisk and I enjoyed having a chat with the locals.  At one point George loudly asked me to stop being so friendly with them as they'd only expect it in the future! :-D Later, Evelyn kindly took over from George so that we could set to. Having held off the attack in game 1 the Germans were alerted and, in the absence of clear orders from OKW, they moved towards the nearby bridge in case the Paras sought to capture it and secure a route inland.  The local German commander had previously received orders to rig the bridge for demolition in case of attack.  So it would be a race... could the Paras de-activate the explosives in time or would Jerry blow them all to pieces? George's win in game 1 meant that he would have the advantage of an extra MG42 entrenched within 12" of the objective.  The crew had been alerted and dragged from their beds ...

Our D-Day campaign marches on! Game Four is loosely based on scenario three from the Chain of Command supplement Kampfgruppe von Luck, entitled "Attacking the Corridor of Death". The Germans have gained the upper hand after driving in the Paras forward positions during game three of our campaign. For this game Orange Dave would be starching his upper lip, waxing his moustache and commanding the Paras. The Germans would soon be heading in to the heart of Le Bas de Ranville. Here's the map from TFL's supplement. My own take on it is slightly different; mainly because it was easier to find the church than dig out other buildings! Anyway, I think it looks okay. Dave has deployed half his force on the table, although (very sensibly) you can only see the odd figure. He placed his mortar behind the church with the spotter in the stone barn. As they lost the last game, the Paras could only fortify one building rather than two, so Dave chose the old cafe. This ...