Operation Cygent - Post Campaign Thoughts

With the recent and successful attack on Pemba, giving the British the objective of the campaign, I thought I'd do a bit of a wash up on how the campaign finished and then some thoughts on the campaign in general.

The mist continued to linger over the campaign area, as both sides took stock of their respective situations. See the map below for more details:

An overview of the campaign map and the general dispositions for both sides.

The British are firmly in control of Pemba (3), with no immediate threat that can be seen. A depleted 'A' Coy and 'A' Sqdn, with 2nd Recce, are holding the approaches to the bridge to Pemba. The German Volkstuurm and 2nd FJ Kompanie lack any offensive capability in reality. The Nebelwerfer (2) has no FAO left to call it in and the Heavy Panzer Kompanie are too far away to pose any imminent threat to the British positions.

'D' Coy and 'D' Sqdn, although depleted in strength, have plenty of armoured support in the form of Churchills and Cromwells. The FJ Kompanies around them have no armour to support them, no any heavy weapons with which to maintain any prospect of offensive action.

Post Campaign Thoughts

In no particular order:

• The Warplan 5/5 map was perfect for my needs, with the basic terrain descriptions for each square enough to allow me to figure out some basic positions for forces etc, without having to go into too much detail. The simple map movement worked fine too and was easy to remember. I will certainly be using these maps again for my games and campaigns.
• Next time I might try and find a map with a bit more varied terrain, rather than lots of open grazing land. Of course I can always tweak the terrain descriptions to suit, but it is easier to use those given.
• The simple Recce spotting rules worked OK, if not always that effective due to poor dice rolls! Something that I might work up in a bit more detail, but will ponder this and other issues in due course.
• The Random Deployment entrance points worked fine for the Germans, along with the Hidden Counters and Blinds, giving a nice Fog of War to the game, which is just perfect for solo play. It was always fun to see what was 'under' each counter when it was revealed, wither voluntarily of as a result of Recce spotting.
• I deliberately kept the initial German forces that were available 'light weight', to reflect the hasty nature of the German response. As the Campaign Turns progressed, 'heavier materiel' became available, such as the Panzers and Heavy Panzers. Not knowing what had actually been drawn added a nice level of friction to the campaign. all-in-all I'm pretty happy with how this worked.
• The Weather Chart was great and this is something that I will certainly be using in future games where appropriate. It added another level to the campaign and the games, as the case of the Mist showed. Its effects were not too dramatic but enough to be noticeable, which was good.
• The basic starting OOB were good, but I wished I had typed them up and printed them out to make it easier to keep track of the losses suffered by both sides. This is certainly much easier to do that various bits of paper here and there. Lesson learnt.
• The mixed German units were fun to have in the Campaign, even though not all of them got to see action. How often do you actually field Volkstuurm or out of date Panzers in a game? Certainly a first for me and something I hope to do in the future.
• Borrowing some ideas from battlegroup Panzer Grenadier worked well, but these really need to be worked up into a more formal set of house rules for future games. This will be done in the cold light of day, once the Campaign is out of my hair so to speak.
• The 'House Hosing' felt right and like the above, this needs some thought and firming up for future games.
• I'm really happy how the Campaign played out from a solo perspective. Nominally I was the British commander, but the items outlined above made it really fun and unpredictable throughout. I would change hats so to speak when it was the German's Campaign Turn and think what would be the most logical approach for them and also ignoring the God's eye view that I had of the table.
• I did find it hard to maintain momentum as the Campaign progressed, as some of the fun went out of it as I felt I needed to keep putting updates on the Blog. The break did me good but it was hard to pick up where I had finished off and at what stage was the Campaign. 
• I felt the Campaign as a whole, being inspired by Operation Market-Garden, worked really well. Having a grounding in a historical campaign and/or action, helped figure out the whole narrative. So for example the weather and its effects upon Air Support, the fragmented nature of the German units and reinforcements etc. Going forward I will try and do something similar for future campaigns. Of course the historical research part of it is fun too.
• Be flexible and take the KISS approach to the Campaign. Afterall you want it to be fun and frankly you cannot cover every conceivable situation that might arise. Things what would be the most probable outcome of any situation, given the local and overall situation and then go with that. It seemed to work OK in this campaign.

It seems funny to think that it is all over now and that it's time to move onto to something else. What that might be I'm not sure. I want to try and get some painting in for a campaign I have planned for the Autumn, alongside some smaller games of something or other. We'll have to wait and see what might grab my attention.

I have a FtF game tomorrow with a friend and some acquaintences from the Cotwswold Wargaming Day, using 28mm figures on a large table and some SYW type Imagi-Nations using the ever excellent Honours of War rules. This should be fun and I'm looking forward to it and keeping my fingers crossed my back holds up!

So until next time, stay safe and keep healthy!