Operation Cygnet - Campaign Moves Day One

A bit more detail on the campaign, before things kick off in earnest. To start with I tweaked the following from Wesencraft's original, to try and reflect more Autumnal weather. At the start of each Campaign Turn move I would roll 2D6 to see what the weather was and then the following moves would be 1D6, to see if the weather changed or not. Nominally 3 Campaign Turns roughly equates to one day.

Weatherboard

2-3     Fog

4        Mist

5-9     Fair Weather

10-11 Light Rain

12      Heavy Rain

German Forces

For the Germans, I thought what might plausibly be in the 'front line' plus a few 'Blinds', then three units were chosen randomly from the following:

Heer Kompanie

1st FJ Kompanie

FJ Assault Engineers Kompanie

Stug III Kompanie

2 x Blinds

Deployment

With the German markers selected, it placed two on the villages in squares 12 & 19, with another one by the bridge in square 8. Naturally all were placed 'face down' so I, as the 'Attacker' wouldn't know what was in them. Alongside this I would play as if I didn't know something was there, but would send Recce units forward to probe the route of advance and likely areas of resistance.

The British would start arriving via the roads on squares 22, 23 & 24, led by the squadrons from the 43rd Recce Regiment (the Gloucestershire Regiment), followed by the 7th Somerset Light Infantry and the Sherwood Rangers.

The starting positions.

Turn 1 - Weather Fair

The 1st Recce Sqdn moved forward on the left towards the hills and stopped by the sanatorium (17) to observe the village of Wuppertell (12), but saw no enemy activity. The 2nd Recce Sqdn pushed up to the edge of the craggy foothills (13) but encountered no enemy. The 3rd Recce Sqdn on the right moved up to the village of Tremleurr and again there was no sign of the enemy. The 7th SLI then followed up Club Route (the main line of advance towards the objective in 13) with the Sherwood Rangers.

For the Germans, three new 'units' arrived via randomised die rolls and selection, all via the Western or Northern edges. Seeing the British Recce units approaching Tremleurr, the unit inside chose to reveal itself by opening fire and turned out to be the 1st Kompanie of the 3rd Battalion, Fallschirmjager Regiment 6.

The 43rd Recce Regiment lead the advance.

German re-inforcements begin to arrive from the North & West.

As the 3rd Recce Sqdn approach Tremleurr, the defenders open up, causing them to halt and radio back the situation to the 7th SLI Colonel.

Turn 2 - Weather Fair

With the enemy engaging the 3rd Recce Sqdn from Tremleurr, 'C' Coy 7th SLI and its supporting armour move towards the village in preperation for an attack. The reserves began to arrive and a Battery from the 94th Field Regiment Royal artillery deploys to be ready to provide fire support if required.

With the enemy on the right flank, the 2nd Recce Sqdn push carefully forward to the crossroads (13) but spot no signs of the enemy. The 1st Recce Sqdn move towards Wuppertell, but again see no signs of the enemy. 'A' & 'B' Coy's move up to the edge of the rocky ground (13) and wait, so as not to get too far ahead of the possible assault on Tremleurr.

The German re-inforcements move to the bridge (8), towards the road junction (7) and close in on Wuppertell. With the enemy so close, again the German 'unit' in Wuppertell chooses to reveal itself and turns out to be the Assault Engineers from the 3rd Fallschirmjager Battalion.

The end of the Campaign Turn 2.

The 1st Recce Sqdn have failed to spot the enemy in or near Wuppertell. The 2nd recce Sqdn is on 'overwatch' at the crossroads.

The British begin to move units towards Tremleurr in preperation for an assault, as they need to take the village quickly so as not to hold up the advance.

Turn 3 - Weather Mist

The weather takes a turn for the worse as late afternoon approaches, with a mist beginning to form. This will hamper visibility and so prevent any air support arriving and limit what the FAO can see. This does not prevent the build up to the assault on Tremleurr, as the AVRE unit is brought up and 'D' Coy moves forward in case it is needed to aid the assault. 'A' & 'B' Coys move through the craggy hills to support the 2nd Recce Sqdn that are holding fort at the crossroads. As this mist begins to form the 1st Recce Sqdn spots a German unit moving to the outskirts of Wuppertell and it turns out to be the 3rd Kompanie of the 3rd Battalion, Fallschirmjager Regiment 6. Seeing this the 2nd Recce Sqdn withdraws a safe distance from where they will observe the enemy whilst awaiting support.

Two more German 'units' arrive on the Northern table edge, whilst the 'unit' in 17 moves to the road junction there so as to be able to move towards either Wuppertell or the bridge (8) as required. With two Fallschirmjager Komapnies in Wuppertell, this is now a strong position and one that will require some effort to take, or it will remain a thorn in the side of the British advance.

The end of Campaign Turn 3.

Wuppertell appears to be strongly held. do the British try to take it or mask it as they continue their advance?

The British are ready to assault Tremleurr.

Next Moves

Well the next thing to do is to transfer the assault on Tremleurr to the table top. With the mist coming down and no air support and limited artillery support, plus dusk approaching, this might be a rather tough ask. Do the British wait until Dawn and attack then, hoping for better weather, or try and risk an assault from the line-of-march? Given their timetable to get to the bridge as quickly as possible, the latter option seems the best fit in campaign terms.

Thoughts So Far

It's early days I know, but so far things are working out as planned in terms of the broad campaign mechanics, which is all one can hope for really. The map and terrain information help drive the logical movements etc by both sides, which in turn helps drive the narrative. The 'Blinds' are working well along with the Recce spotting rules from Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier, although the British units have rolled very low, hence them not seeing a thing by and large! Still it all adds to the story.

The other good thing is it has motivated me to get back to the painting table and to try and finish off all those little additional units that have been in the queue for far too long! The actual game itself may be some days away due to real life, but I'm hoping to get it played out later on this week, all being well.

Until then stay safe and keep healthy!