It's been quite some time since I last had a game of BKCII. As an antidote to my CWD prep and painting, I decided to put on a smallish game on a 2' x 2' table. Nothing was firm in my mind as to the scenario, other than I wanted to have some BUA's to fight over.
Whilst reading Caddick-Adams superb 1945 book above and the accounts contained therein, it morphed into a sort of mini-Westwall/Siegfried Line attack, especially as I was getting the terrain out of their boxes and came across my dragon's teeth and barbed wire. Certainly something different to my normal games where I like a bit of space to manouevre my troops around.
Forces wise I did a bit of a points calculation, with the attackers having 50% more than the defenders, but soon realised I needed to up this a bit. Whether this proves to be too much, about right or not enough remains to be seen. The results of all of this can be seen below:
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| An overview of the table, with the British attacking from the edge nearest the camera. The Germans are dug-in in and around the village. |
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| My home made dragon's teeth that haven't seen action for years. |
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| The RAF have made already made a breach in the defences across the road. |
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| A minefield backed up with barbed wire. |
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| The view from the German positions. |
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| Dug-in Volksturm troops have been pushed to the front to absorb the intial assault. |
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| A lone Pz IV in support on the right flank. |
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| A Fallschirmjager MG42 covers the minefield. |
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| A FJ Pak 40 and supporting heavy weapons cover the left flank. |
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| A Stug III covers the main approach, supported by FJ infantry. |
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| Another FJ MG42 covers the approach into the village, with other units nearby. |
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| The rest of the FJ. |
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| The CO dug-in next to the Panther, with its central position allowing it to move to meet threats that develop as required. |
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| The British force. |
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| Hobart's Funnies which will hopefully make light work of the defences. |
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| The main armoured force of Churchills with Typhoon air support. |
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| Three reinforced Companies, with assault pioneers attached. |
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| The British heavy weapons in support including a WASP carrier. |
So there we have it. The game is all set-up and ready to go, to be played hopefully later on today. It's been a long time since I played an attack on such a fortified position, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.
Alongside this the painting for the CWD is nearly complete. I need to finish a unit of cavalry, one of artillery and a couple of command stands and then that's it. If I have time a few civilians would be nice but I'll worry about that if and when time permits.
Thanks for reading and leaving a comment too.
TTFN.
Interesting set-up Steve. Still looks a tough nut for the Brits, even with those numbers.
ReplyDeleteHave never read any of PCA’s work. Not really my period, but I ought to rectify that.
Chris/Nundanket
Thanks Chris. The attack will go in at night, with dawn soon to break, so hopefully the engineers can clear more paths through the obstacles before they can be seen. Still a tough ask but then that's the fun of trying these smaller games, to give ideas a run through without a full table set up.
DeleteWWII was and is my first wargaming love, so the 1945 book a perfect addition to my library. I have other periods I enjoy too, but my Desert Island Discs choice would have to be NWE in 1944.
That is a outstanding looking table! Looking forward to the game itself.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nick and very kind of you to say:)! Fingers crossed the game plays well...
DeleteLookin’ good so far Steve. I reckon it’ll be a big challenge for the Brits though.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think anyone makes Volkssturm in 10mm scale (I have some of the FoW 15mm Volkssturm miniatures) so presumably you’re just using “bog standard” German infantry, yeah? Volkssturm usually have plenty of Panzerfausts etc, so the Brits will like that even less. The dragons teeth and minefields are rather restrictive for the British deployment - just as the Jerries would like it - so let’s hope the “funnies” can do the business 😉
Are all your minefields “real” or do you allow for dummy minefields?
Good luck with the game and for the forthcoming CWD event too.
Cheers,
Geoff
Thanks Geoff and it will be interesting to see how much of a challenge this is for the Brits. If the artillery plays ball and the Funnies do their stuff, it might not be too bad...
DeleteThe Volkssturm are my AVBCW Germans using WWI figures. Not perfect of course, but different enough to distinguish them when on the table. Whether they get chance to use the panzerfausts remains to be seen.
The minefields can be real, hidden or dummies, depending upon choice. For this game they are visible, as in the 1945 book above some recce flights for one attack could see where the soil had be turned over, thus indicating a minefield. In another attack the mine detectors couldn't find them due to the wooden and glass casings, which led to some real problems for the attacking infantry.
Looks a great game in prospect, your tables always look smart. I like the way you do fields and orchards etc, and gardens/enclosures around houses. Quite inspiring..
ReplyDeleteThanks David! Years ago I started to try and make my BUA bases look a bit more 'realistic', whilst keeping them durable for game play. I still want to make more, but as always, so many projects, so little time...
DeleteFantastic table and great looking game sir!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal!
DeleteGreat looking Germanic terrain and really nice dragons teeth, 2 to 1 looks long odds for the Brits!
ReplyDeleteBest iain
Thanks Iain! Fingers crossed our plucky chaps will get off to a good start...
DeleteLooks good Steve but should be pretty tough going for the Brits with only Churchills for armoured support. Orthodox military doctrine would suggest a three to one advantage as optimal for the attacker, so 50% more may be a bit mean!! I guess we will see when you post the game report 🙂
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith. I think with the night attack to kick things off (10cm visibility), then dawn (25cm/50cm), the Germans will not be able to see the initial moves. Then of course the artillery boys will do there stuff. So if all goes to plan, then it might not be too bad for our chaps...
DeleteThat's a good set up. The Germans have a good position without nay obvious holes (which is how prepared defenses would be) but the attackers seem to have the right tools for the job. 😁
ReplyDeleteThanks Stew! Well the game has just been played, so you'll have to read the latest post to see if the plucky Brits did have the right tools or not...
DeleteLooks a really good set up, and interesting situation.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jon!
DeleteA day late and a dollar short as usual. Sorry matey, blogger has stopped telling me when people post for some reason. All looks very nice indeed. Hope you enjoyed the game!
ReplyDeleteNo problem Mark and I had the same thing happen to me last year, all very frustrating. Glad you liked the look and hope you get to see part Two.
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