The first game of the year was a nice FtF affair over at my good friend Keith Flint's place, to have a playtest of his Startline WWII rules, based upon some WRG ones from the 1970's. The plan was to have two players per side, but Adam had to pull out at the last minute, so Roy and I faced off against each other, with Keith guiding us through the rules. Roy chose the Germans and I happily took command of the Poles.
The scenario was a simple Attack-Defence one, with the Poles able to deploy half of their force on the table, with the reserves coming on from Turn 3 based upon a die roll. Not having played the rules before, I went with two Companies of Infantry with integral support and a Platoon of tanks. Roy had all of his troops on the table from the start. Both sides had random access to Air Support, with the Germans having a slightly better chance than the Poles, which felt right.
I didn't make any notes and took some photos as and when opportunities arose, or when the low Winter sun didn't provide too harsh shadows across the table! Hopefully the following will give you some idea of how the action unfolded:
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| A view from the Polish left flank early on in the game. The Poles have deployed dug-in Platoons of infantry on both sides of the road by the T-junction, supported by the Platoon of tanks in the centre. The Germann Infantry on their right flank are making good progress, whilst their tanks in the centre are engaging the Polish ones and getting the upper hand too. |
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| A view from the Polish right flank. The FAO is placed in the damaged building and is hoping that his Artillery can help stop the German Infantry coming along on this flank. Luckily poor command rolls have hampered them more than the Artillery! An objective marker can be seen in the ploughed field to the left of the ruined building. |
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| Two Platoons of German Infantry make slow progress on their left flank, which is fortunate for the Poles. |
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| The Polish tanks aren't doing too well... |
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| German Pz II's have KO'd a Polish tankette as the German Infantry push forward. |
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| The Polish Infantry wait patiently as off table mortar and infantry guns target them (the green marker). |
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| AA guns ready to meet any threat from the Luftwaffe. |
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| Another objective marker can be seen on the road in the middle of the Polish positions. |
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| A Hs-123 dive bomber avoids plenty of flak to attack the Poles, but luckily does minimal damage, but does KO the vital ATG. |
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| The Poles reploy as section of Infantry to cover the German attempt to turn their flank. This proved to be the high water mark for the Germans here. |
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| The German Panzers have struggled to move forward, having spent time engaging the Polish tanks. |
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| German SdKfz 221 & 222 close in on an objective and threaten the FAO in the building. |
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| The Polish tanks have had to retreat due to losses sustained and its effect upon their morale. |
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| The German Panzers move in for the kill, with the Polish Infantry suppressed (green markers). Soon they would overrun the dug-in troops, KO'ing them all. |
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| A view from the German right flank. |
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| The dangerous 88mm SPG's have not had much effect upon the game, a lucky break for the Poles. Roy christened them dustbin lorries and the name stuck, with much good natured banter revolving around this! |
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| Polish tanks burn in the distance. |
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| Only one Polish tank remains, apart from possible reserves if they arrive in time.... |
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| The Polish Airforce finally makes its way through the flak and helps stop the German Infantry from pressing forward to threaten the Polish right flank. |
End of Game
We reached the end of Turn 5 and it was obvious that the Germans would simply be unable to to take one more objective to win the game, so we called it a day. Taking stock of the situation at this point, the Germans were in a strong position and the Poles had taken quite a few losses, so we called it a minor German victory.
Post Game Thoughts
Well that was a lot of fun and great to have a FtF game for once. Roy was a wonderful opponent and the whole game was played in the right spirit, with lots of good natured banter! So as always a few thoughts on the game etc:
- Having Keith guiding us through the game meant that Roy and I could spend our time concentrating on our tactics and plans of attack/defence, which was great. Very quickly we were getting the hang of the core mechanics and so things moved along at a fair old pace.
- Not having played the game (other than once before last year) meant that I didn't know the nuances of the rules, so went with what I thought would be a historically appropriate deployment, namely two infantry platoons with support and a platoon of tanks. During the post game chat, I did say that I would have been better off taking all my tanks to start with from a purely games point of view, but this wouldn't have felt right at all. So 'play the period not the rules' is very apt here.
- Both of us had some really bad dice rolls, with poor Roy often suffering from the 'anything but a one' at crucial points early on in the game. This hampered his movement somewhat so his infantry, especially on the left flank, simply couldn't get far enough forward to really make an impact on his attacks. Likewise my off table mortars and artillery couldn't hit a barn door, but at least did make an impact towards the end of the game, enough to stem a German attack.
- It was great to see large parts of Keith's '39 Polish Campaign troops on the table, many of which I'd not seen for years. Being able to see the Hs-123 and Karas planes in action was a treat as often they simply fail to show up!
- We thought the victory conditions, broadly based upon the FoW objective markers principle, made it very hard for the attackers. A possibly better option might be the BKC approach of diving the table into sections, which we all agreed would be worth giving a go to see how it works with these rules.
- This scenario was certainly a tough one for the Attackers. Post game we agreed they needed more troops/points than the Defenders to give them a chance. Also the open terrain and the good defensive positions afforded the Poles a good advantage. But as with all rules, the more you play them, then the easier it is to come up with balanced and challenging scenarios. A definite benefit of only playing a few sets of rules IMHO.
- It would be nice to give these rules a go with some Late War kit, something I might be able to do using my BKC forces, with a few additions, such as 2" mortars etc.
- The Geek Villain games mat looked really good and I'm very tempted to get one for my games. Seeing it in the flesh is of course much better than online, as I could see that the print would be too big for my 10mm games. Expect to see one in due course...
So there we have it. At home I'm making good progress on keeping focused on my painting and gaming, but more on that in another post. Until next time.
TTFN.
Game looks terrific, Steve! When I first saw your post, I was astonished that you had built up a Polish army so quickly. Turns out these are from Keith's collections. Figures look to be 15mm rather than your more typical 10mm fare. Is this correct?
ReplyDeleteVery interesting period that I would enjoy seeing more.
Good stuff!
Keith certainly does put on a good game for sure Jon:). If only I could knock out a force quickly and to such a high standard, I'd be a happy chap! The figures are indeed 15mm, with them being Command Decision, Peter Pig and another one which I cannot remember the name of. I have a Polish force in 10mm, sadly still bagged up, but highish on my WWII list, as I think it's a great campaign and one sadly under-gamed IMHO.
DeleteGood looking game and enjoyable report Steve.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard and glad you enjoyed it!
DeleteGreat looking game Steve. Love the early War kit. Even a German biplane! I wasn’t aware if this until now and have just read up about the Hs-123 on Wiki, so thanks!
ReplyDeleteChris/Nundanket
As mentioned Chris, Keith does put on a good game:). The Hs-123 is one of those kits from my Airfix days that I always wanted, but never had. Such a great plane and looks superb in its pre-war camo scheme. If you want some fun, have a look at pre-war and early war French bombers, which Roy told us someone had summed up rather nicely as flying greenhouses;)!
DeleteIt sounded to me like a fairly convincing effort by the Germans. With plenty of casualties inflicted they made a decent effort towards achieving their objectives.
ReplyDeleteYou were right to base your plans on history. Sure, we could all look back with hindsight but, when the Poles are defending their own territory, they surely have to “make do” with what they have now rather than what they would ideally prefer.
The old Airfix Henschel HS 123 is an old favourite of mine - I can still remember the box artwork all these years later.
Cheers,
Geoff
The Germans did make a good effort to get close to the objectives, having effectively turned the Polish left flank. A Platoon of Infantry had arrived as reserves, so could have made it a tough task for the Germans to take another objective. As we discussed at the end of the game, the Poles would have made a quick fighting withdrawal, as another Turn or two would have made their postion untenable, unless the other Tank Platoons arrived, which was not gauranteed.
DeleteIt was interesting to have to choose from options already laid out as to whichh troops to deploy, so as mentioned, I went for what I saw as a plausible deployment, of mainly Infantry with some tank support, given the latter were often held back as a reserve.
The Hs-123 is a classic and that artwork likewise is firmly embedded in my memory:).
Nice looking game Steve, capturing objectives if the sides are balanced is of course going to be tough especially when they are placed at the back. The poles are an interesting option for an expansion project ?
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt:). Keith was trialling the FoW approach to objectives, where there is one placed as part of the scenario, then one each by the Attacker and the Defender. Based upon experience this makes it very hard for the Attacker to claim all three, leading to the fight focussing on just getting two.
DeleteThe Poles are a great force, if only for the wonderful camo schemes and tankettes. I have a Battalion plus support for BKCII and notes for them somewhere, but need to focus on tidying up loose ends on other forces before switching to a new project!
Oh, Poland! Great to see that 39' game.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pity that at least the game didn't turn out differently than the history haha!
Poland has been a firm favourite ever since I first played a game with Keith's forces many years ago. Sadly my shooting early on was shockingly bad, so was unable to 'alter' history!
DeleteA great looking game that I thought the Poles did pretty well in - historically, my impression is, they seldom gave the Germans this much trouble! The HS 123 has been on my on again/off again list for SCW aircraft - our mate Rick has a beautiful 1/48 version for his 28mm SCW collection......
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith! The Poles did pretty well in some battles, giving the Germans a real bloody nose at times. There problem was deploying everything right at the front, with little operational reserve once the lines were pierced. The did do a rather nice flank attack on the Germans that played havoc with them for a few days. As always, plenty of options for 'what if's?' in terms of playing a campaign, which is my aim one day.
DeleteThe Hs-123 is a 'must have' IMHO and last night I was trying to track down something affordable in 1/144th or 1/100th scale that was not a silly price. No luck so far...
That’s a nice looking table and clearly some thought has gone into the scenario design, as to get the balances and challenges this close on a first game is good.
ReplyDeleteI always thought the original rules were armour / APC centric as it was here that the manoeuvre happens and the infantry (unless motorised) are essentially static.
I can highly recommend the Geek Villain mat.
Anyway, a very nice start to your wargaming year.
Getting scenario balance is tricky, especially whilst developing a set of rules, but naturally this is where playtesting and others views come to the fore. Keith has upped the infantry movement rates to try and avoid the issue mentioned with essentially static infantry being an issue in the past I believe. Post game we were talking about FoW nad how often the infantry get to do bery little, with it dissolving into a tank-on-tank game, with whom ever wins this in all likelyhood wins the game. Not very interesting IMHO.
DeleteI ordered a mat yesterday, the Summer Field one and look forward to it arriving. I'm hoping it will be a good match for the mid-green static grass flock I use...
Thanks for putting up such an interesting AAR! As I am currently 'in Poland' myself, some of the themes struck a chord! I was trying to map your game visually - how big was the battlefield supposed to be, and how big was the table?
ReplyDeleteI saw your recent AAR and I will post a comment in due course! Not sure how big the game was meant to be, but IIRC 50cm equates to 500m in the rules. The table itself was 6'x4', maybe a bit larger. Hope this helps?
DeleteYes, that's really helpful: 1mm = 1m, like WRG, so just shy of a mile square. It really helps me to calibrate what is going on in terms of ranges and suchlike.
DeleteI'm glad it helped clarify things for you. The rules are based upon the old 1973 WRG ones IIRC. Basically they are free to download once you have joined the group, linked at the start of the post.
DeleteNice looing table and sounds like a fun game. A good attack and defense scenario will be a close run thing for the most enjoyment. It's usually a treat to play with other peoples toys, just show up and roll the dice. š
ReplyDeleteThanks Stew and it was indeed fun:). A rare treat to be able to turn up, play a game and go home, whilst someone else has done all the hard work;)!
DeleteProbably woild have been better to give the attacker a bit more kit/personnel, the HS123 is a lovely little model and a favourite plane from ww2, lovely looking game, I got The anarchy for Christmas and am about half way through, what a fantastic book and of course I thought of your recent game!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
I think we are all in agreement that the Attackers needed more troops. In BKC, normally they have 50%-100% more, dependant upon scenario etc. The Hs 123 really is a nice kit, which reminds me I found a supplier of 1:100 ones:). I'm glad you're enjoying the Anarchy book, which not only provided plenty of game inspiration as recently seen, but is a real eye opener on the history front.
DeleteForgive me for coming late to this report Steve. Thanks for giving the game a place on your blog, and I'm glad you and Roy had a fun time. Funny you should mention late war - I'm hoping to arrange a game at Roy's to see how the rules cope with late war tanks.
ReplyDeleteNo problem on being late to the party as it were Keith! Always good to showcase your wonderful Poland '39 toys and I look forward to seeing how the rules work with those late war bits of kit:).
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