Poland 1939 - The FoW 'Bypass' Scenario

Keith invited Paul and I over to his place to give the latest version of his 'Startline' rules a run out, using the 'Bypass' sceanrio from the Flames of War Missions Pack. Hard to say know to such a game with good friends and good company. So after the usual catch up chat and some VERY nice cakes brought by Paul, we adjourned to the games room to cross swords. After a dice roll to see who would get which side, Paul ended up with the Germans and myself the Poles.

The Scenario

Broadly speaking the Poles have a force defending an objective (a village in this case), but there is another objective towards the far end of the table, away from the German starting edge, on a bridge over a stream. The Poles have some reinforcements available, but you don't know exactly when they will arrive or where on the table, so a nice bit of uncertainty there for both sides.

The Game

We both set up with a screen hiding our deployments, which worked a treat, as you really had to consider all option as the defender as to how and where the Germans might attack. I opted for two lines of dug-in troops, one Platoon up and one behind and to the right, to cover the objective and any flank attack.

Paul chose to attack the village with his Infantry and Light Tank Platoon, sending his Heavy Tank Platoon and Kradschutzen Platoon away on his left flank to try and race to seize the objective on the bridge.

If the Germans were in control of any objective at the end of Turn 6, then they would win the game.

No notes were taken during the game, as we were simply concentrating on the game, but hopefully the following photos will give you an idea of how the action unfolded.

Keith on the left consulting the rules, Paul on the right pondering his next move. The Poles are dug-in around the village, which can be seen middle left of the table. The Heavy Tank Platoon and Kradschutzen Platoon can be seen top right.

The Polish defence in depth.

The other objective.

Kradschutzen and Armoured Cars tasked with seizing the bridge.

The Panzer IV's move to the flank screened by the hill.

The Germans begin to attack the first Polish defensive line in front of the village.

A fine view as the Germans begin to advance.

The Germans begin to over run the Polish defences.

But luckily for the Poles there FAO calls in some devastating fire on the truck mounted Infantry, effectively knocking them out of the game.

The Panzer IV's are forced to divert their effort to attack the Polish flank.

The armoured cars continue their advance. The 6 wheeled armoured car is so evocative of the early campaigns.

The Kradschutzen are advancing rather lethargically. Paul was incredibly unlucky with his die rolls, rolling a '1' three times in five Turns, meaning they only moved at half-speed.

The Polish strategic reserve arrives in the form of Renault R-35 tanks, veritable 'Tiger II's' when viewed from a Panzer I.

More Polish reserves arrive, with perfect positioning, allowing them to effectively seize the objective. I think this was on Turn 3.

The Germans still hope to be able to seize the bridge, but is it a bridge too far?

The Heavy Tank Platoon in line astern formation.

The Germans have broken into the Polish defences, but they still haven't cleared the first lines yet.

With the bridge no longer an option as the Polish Infantry are in complete control, the Germans divert this planned attack to the Polish flank.

The tanks exchange fire with each other down the street.

The Polish first line has been completely over run.

Polish Artillery arrive to secure the approaches to the bridge.

The Kradschutzen are still unable to enter the fray. They do look good though.

The Polish Artillery deploys.

With the bridge secured, the Poles take up defensive position on both sides of the stream.

The Germans try to break into the Polish postion on their right flank.

The Renault R-35 tanks hold position, exchanging fire with the German tanks.

As smoke screens the Germans, some Polish Tankettes suddenly burst through the smoke and into the German rear.

The Germans have only been able to breach the first line of defence.

The still are a long way off getting into the Polish flank.

Post Game Thoughts

A great days gaming and in the end a pretty comprehensive win for the Poles. As always a few thoughts post-match etc:

• If I was going to play the Germans, I would have gone with the same plan as Paul did. Keith on the other hand thought the best option would be to just steam roller the Polish defences with a full on head on attack. These divergent views might be down to Paul and I playing a lot of BKCII, with screening the village and a laft flank drive making the most sense, with Keith of course being much more au fait with the rules and what might work better with them. 
• Paul not being able to get his Kradschutzen going from the off meant that quite early on and certainly by the end of Turn 3, we agreed that the bridge objective was simply too far away, especially given the Polish Infantry had arrived, which meant it would be contested and take a long time to seize.
• The Polish FAO really hampered the frontal assault when he managed to call in his Artillery and KO a whole German Platoon, which really helped slow down the German attack before it got going.
• The rules worked well and Keith's tweaks since I last played certainly made for a much smoother and fluid game. It helped of course that Paul and I just had to concentrate on what we wanted our troops to do, whilst Keith double-checked things in the rules. most of the dice rolls we got the hang off, so play was much quicker than before.
• Neither side managed to call in any off table Air Support, which was a shame.
• As Keith pointed out, for the first time neither side managed to KO a tank, despite lots of hits, but failing those all important penetration rolls.
• The Poles certainly got lucky with the early arrival of their reinforcement and espcially when the Infantry arrived at the bridge, which pretty much sealed the win for them.
• As always it's great to play with early War kit as Infantry really do have an important role to play compared to Late War games, when they can seem to be bit players in the action.
• The scenario was a good one and one that I can see working well for BKCII and even for some BPII games. I will certainly be perusing the scenarios at my leisure and probably printing them off too for future use.

What Next?

I doubt much in the next week or so as it's busy on the home front then I'll be travelling for Father's Day, but you never know.

As always thanks for reading and any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.

Closing The Ruhr Pocket, Beringhausen, 28th March, 1945

Sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men go somewhat awry, and this was the case on Tuesday. I was due to meet up with friends to play a game of Keith Flint's Startline rules, but the night before my wife luckily spotted a nail in our car's tyre, which was only a week old! I was able to get it to the garage to pick up on Tuesday morning, but would not be able to make it for the start of the game, which was a real shame. However I did arrive just before Midday as Turn 2 was nearing its conclusion. With the game in full swing, I chose to observe rather than take part, as I wasn't up to speed and didn't want to slow things down. This was fine as it was interesting see the game unfold and how the playtesting was helping Keith refine things.

So rather than an AAR, there are just photos of the game with some notes that might help give an idea of how the game progressed before I had to leave.

A Combat Command of the 3rd US Armoured Division is advacning from the left towards the village of Beringhausen, which is defended by a German Kampfgruppe.

Germand infantry dug-in and supported by Stug III's.

Loads of US tanks, with the infantry following on behind, some way back it must be said.

A mix of Shermans and Pershings.

I'm not sure what took out these Pz IV's as they were already brewing up when I arrived.

All the toys were from the collection of Roy Boss, with some bits from Keith I believe.

German reserves or reinforcements that would arrive from Turn 4 on a die roll of 4+, then 3+ etc.

German AA half-tracks, which did sterling work driving off most of the US air attacks!

They arrived and then flew off due to the heavy flak.

A mortar strike KO's a US tank destroyer.

US tanks begin to overun the German positions, but they stubbornly refused to die or surrender despite being heavily outnumbered.

Sod's Law and the King Tigers and Panthers arrived on Turn 4, just in time for the Germans but a real blow to the Americans.

The half-tracks arrived the next Turn too.

US tanks try to flank the German positions.

The Germans still hold on.

They didn't even fear the Pershings!

A view along the German defensive lines.

The Panzergrenadiers debus.

The Americans still struggle to get round the German flank and take hold of the important objective markers.

The Panthers move to meet the American threat to their right flank.

Despite being rather menacing, their shooting was shocking at this point!

Infantry move up to try and KO the German infantry and to seize the objective markers.

End Of The Game

Well by the time I had to leave, the game was still being played, with things nicely in the balance. In the end Keith declared it a minor German victory and the Americans could not gain control of enough objective markers for an outright victory.

A few thoughts in no particular order:

• It was great to meet up with the chaps and have a great time watching them play and exchange plenty of good natured banter. Let's hope next time I can make if for the start!
• I'd suggested we meet up at the Big Battles centre in Cirencester rather than Keith's house, so that we didn't impinge upon Jane, plus we would have plenty of space to play, which we had in spades. However it was the coldest day of the Autumn with frost on the cars and was rather cold inside. What was I thinking! Next time only play in late Spring to early Autumn;).
• I think the game proved useful for Keith to clarify some points, to consider others etc. Certainly playing very late War was of course a different kettle of fish to say Poland 1939, plus we all had slightly differnet views on some points or were in agreements on others. Having this variety of opinion is what a playtest is all about.
• It did highlight the importance of playing with rules you know and are comfortable with, as it soon became apparent that the German decision to dig-in in front of the BUA's was maybe not the best choice. I think it was a bit of a steep learning curve for all of us and with hindsight, the deployments would have been rather different.
• Getting the Germans out of the BUA was a real challenge and hadn't been completed by the time I'd left. This has always been a challenge for me whilst playing BKCII, as you want a balance between game play and historical accuracy and so far I've not found an easy answer. 
• It's been mentioned before, but the WRG rules that Startline are based upon, made infantry somewhat superfluous to the game, given their very slow movement rates compared to the tanks. I know even in BKCII, it can be hard to make the infantry keep up and be part of the game, but you need them to secure an objective, which armour can't. How you solve this for Startline/WRG I'm not sure. Maybe giving them increased movements rates, having the in half-track or as tank riders or making them the only units able to contest an objective might help?

Eye Candy

Next to our table the Big Battles chaps looked like they had a table set for a game, and very nice it was too. The buildings looked to be a mix of scratch built and shopt bought MDF ones. So here are some shots for your delectation!

I hope you enjoyed this post and as always, any comments greatly appreciated!

TTFN.