The Battle For Heimsdorf 1944

I've had plans for another Black Powder game in the wings for a few weeks now, but real life has prevented me from getting it onto the table so to speak. So on a whim a few days ago I decided to get in a simple game of BKCII but on a 2' x 2' board. This is something I've done before and fancied having another go at some BUA fighting. In less than an hour I had the board set up ready to play the game the following day.

Force wise I went with a 'classic' Birtish versus Germans somewhere in NWE 1944. Eeach side had a Battalion of infantry there abouts and some armour and in all honesty I just took what I fancied out of the box. I had planned something a bit more thought out but was feeling a bit off after my Covid and Flu jabs the day before, so this was a nice and easy solution. Scenario wise it was who could control the BUA after 8 Turns, again to keep things nice and simple.

So without further ado:

An overview of the 2' x 2' board as viewed from the British side.

Allied bombers or artillery have already had an effect upon the village.

The road leading in from the East.

The village duck pond.

The road in from the West as viwed from the German side.

The main German approach road.

The town square, which needs a cross, memorial or something similar.

The German Fallschirmjager, with PzIV's and some Training School obsolete tanks.

The British with trusty Churchills support.

The end of Turn 1. The Germans have pushed cautiously into the outskirts of the town and are close to the churchyard. The British only have one Company arrive on the right flank and likewise move forward with caution.

The British infantry move forward covered by the Churchill, wary of any Panzerfaust armed infantry.

The Germans close in on the town square and church, with Panzer IV's in support.

The infantry line the road in preperation to moving forward.

The end of Turn 2. The Germans move forward slowly on their right flank whilst their centre holds. For the British their left flank Company and Recce arrive and all units push forward.

The Recce Company move forward but fail to dismount from their Carriers.

Infantry move through the orchard covered by a Churchill by the duckpond.

The British close in on the churchyard too.

The Germans advance on their right, but rather slowly.

The Germans bring up some ATG and IG support.

The end of Turn 3. The German right flank surged forward but failed to engage the Churchill by the duckpond. In the centre fighting broke out around the churchyard and the Germans occupied the church (shades of The Eagle Has Landed). The British Recce engaged the Germans in the sawmill, nearly KO'ing one unit, but the Churchill by the duckpond was suppressed by Op Fire, as was the one by the church, but by a Panzerfaust.

Fighting rages by the sawmill with a German unit nearly KO'd.

Likewise things hot up in and around the churchyard.

The British CO orders forward the Churchill Crocodile and support.

PzIV's cover the town square.

A Panzer IV engages the Churchill...

...as do some 251's.

The end of Turn 4. The Germans managed to KO the Churchill by the duck pond and an infantry unit by the church, but achieved little else due to poor command rolls. The British move forward where possible and have the Churchill by the churchyard suppressed by Op Fire. The Crocodile moves ominously forward and is in range with its flamethrower.

With the Churchill KO'd, the Germans pull after losing an infantry unit and the British push forward into the gap that is left.

The Churchill engages with the PzIV in the town square.

The Churchills vie for space.

The PzIV comes off worse as it engage the Churchill by the churchyard.

The fight at the churchyard intensifies.

The end of Turn 5. A poor Turn for the Germans that managed to achieve little due to failed command rolls once again. The British had a good Turn with the Crocodile KO'ing two infantry units and a Pz IV brewing up too.

The British try to consolidate their left flank as a Pz IV burns.

British reserves arrive and move up the main road.

The Crocodile has cleared the church and churchyard, with the former burning.

The Germans still hold the town square, but their hold is not a strong as it might be.

The end of Turn 6. The German reserves arrive on the left flank and they manage to KO a British Recce unit, but lose a Pz IV in the process. The British pushed forward where possible but had little to show for it.

The left flank is stalled as the Churchills push forward to the town square.

A bit of a traffic jam.

The German reserves arrive.

The end of Turn 7. The Germans manage to suppress a Churchill, but fail to do much else. In comparison the British KO a 251 and suppress another with their PIATs, whilst the Crocodile KO's another infantry unit and suppresses an MG unit too.

The infantry make short work of the German 251 half-tracks.

The British Recce AC brews up.

The Churchills dominate the town square and the churchyard.

The devastatingly effective Crocodile.

End of Game

With the German armour all but gone and over a third of their infantry, they began to quickly withdraw, leaving the British to consolidate their gains.

Post Game Thoughts

The game was fun to play and worked well considering how quickly it had been thrown together. I must admit I wasn't fully with it due to the after effects of the jabs, so things might have been fudged a bit here and there. For example I completely forgot about the off table mortars I had planned to use, until around Turn 3, ditto the artillery for the British, so I just carried on without them. As always a few thoughts:

• It was interesting to play the game without any off table support such as Artillery or Air, ditto the mortars for the Germans. It did highlight the fact that you do need a combined arms approach to achieve your objectives, which is one of BKCII's strengths IMHO. 
• Without the above support, the Crocodile was the game changer for the British, which I think I've mentioned before when fighting in BUA's. SMG armed units of man portable flamethrowers would make a big difference too. One day I might get my Soviet troops finished to give these a try out...
• The BUA's worked well, with the building and the 'gardens' clearly defined. There is a bit on confusion about Line of Sight in BKCII, with it limited to 5cm in a BUA, but you can spot concealed troops when within 10cm, so a bit of a contradiction. For the buildings they were a 6+ to hit and classed as a 5+ save which worked well and wasn't too tough.
• Both sides suffered from some poor command rolls, with the Germans coming off marginally worse. I could have brought their reserves on early but simply forgot!
• For this sort of game it is really worth spending the time on sorting out the scenario and OOB for both sides, with the points as a guide. In reality I had too many units to play with but at the time I enjoyed the game as it was and just went with the flow. Next time a more considered approach will be in order.
• I really enjoyed playing on a 2' x 2' table again, as you are into the action pretty damned quick. Setting the scene was fun too, sorting out the look of Heimsdorf.

Next Steps

As I was setting the game up, I thought I could leave the board pretty much as is and just tweak it slightly for different periods. So my plan now is to have a game set in 1844, using either Rebels & Patriots or BPII and then one in 1744 using Honours of War. Whether it works or not remains to be seen but it should be fun and I'm looking forward to it.

Hopefully one of the games will be played out this week, so watch this space. Painting is still sidelined due to half-term here in Bristol, so the house (namely the kitchen) is being used all the time so no free time to paint, but you never know. Also the weather is still unseasonably mild so I spending some time in the gardend doing Autumn planting, which is nice at this time of year.

So until next time stay safe and keep healthy!