Monday 24 August 2015

Trapped in the bocage...

My final Spearhead game with Rhys was a meeting engagement using Keith's scenario generator system; 650 points a side.  In keeping with our Normandy theme this week, we set up a table with plenty of terrain, including lots of bocage-type heavy hedgerows.

The table from what would become Rhys' left corner.  The water course counted as just a stream, so was fordable by all.

Rhys's force was taken from a German Panzer Division (1st SS) list - 4 rather small battalions (10 to 12 stands apiece), graded Regular.  Two were of leg infantry, each of which had an 88 stand in support, along with a stand of 120 mm Mortars, and two were armoured, with Panzer IV Hs and their accompanying half-tracks cross-attached.  Rhys had two small batteries of off-table artillery; 2 stands of 105 mm howitzers, and 2 of 150 mm.

Rhys had been telling me about a game he had recently where he had maxed-out on British field artillery.  25-pdrs might have crap attack factors, but the British ability to mass their fire over and above what any other nationality can do in Keith's scenario system proved cost-effective in his game, and he recommended I give it a go.  Sure, I said, I'm game!

So my on-table force was also 4 battalions-strong, each slightly understrength, but not greatly so, and larger than Rhys'; they were taken from a British infantry division list (15th Scottish), except for the tanks which were an independent Armoured Regiment, of Churchill VIIs (from 6th Guards Brigade), and whose three companies were parcelled out to the three infantry battalions.  In support, I had a full 18 stands of 25-pdrs, along with their corresponding 9 forward observer elements: one for each battalion per infantry battalion.  Thus nearly 1/6 of my points allocation was spent on FOs, and another 1/6 on the artillery itself.

German advance orders in red; British in blue; positional objectives are in yellow. I don't think the central one on Rhys' side is actually a valid one, but we nothing else in the centre that looked even this noteworthy...  Excuse the cropped off table - I didn't aim the camera properly!
Rhys opted to group his two infantry battalions together, on my left; they were tasked with taking the hillocks there; his 88s would be deployed in overwatch positions to cover the infantry's advance.  One Panzer battalion would be a central holding force, while the other would advance down the road on my right.

My three battalions were almost identical, each 21 elements strong  including the FOs.  I determined to defend on my right, anchoring myself on the village by the stream; while I would concentrate my attack on my left, and then sweep around toward the centre after the 10th move with timed orders.

Rhys' Panzer IVs move down the lane toward the village on my right while my 6-pdr element gets off some telling shots.
On my right, I secured the near village and adopted defensive positions as Rhys' tanks moved down the road.  The tall hedgerows here really limited manoeuvre and visibility.  My 6-pdr element, that had unlimbered just in time as the lead tank of his column moved into view, got off a lucky shot, suppressing it (factor 5 vs 6 isn't the best...), halting his advance temporarily, and allowing me time to consolidate my position and start calling in artillery fire.

Here's the same confrontation viewed from Rhys' side of the board.  The forests are cut up brown-fibre doormats with flock on top - easy to make and rather effective, visually.
On my left, I advanced boldly, and since Rhys did much the same, we were soon in close contact.  My artillery fire over here wasn't initially very effective (although that would soon change), but the constant casualties it inflicted gave me the upper hand.  And my Churchills weren't suffering too much from his 88 batteries either, as they swept up my flank, past a developing fire fight between two woods, and onwards...

The view from Rhys's centre toward my left flank; his troops are bottom- to mid-right.  I had the advantage both in numbers and in fire support here...

In the centre, there was some exchange of fire between our tanks where visibility allowed, which went to my advantage, aided by the Churchill VII's formidable 8 Defence factor, and this tied up his central force, preventing it from aiding both his left and right flanks. On my left, my artillery dice suddenly started to roll hot (oooh look at that - 4 sixes !), and Rhys' casualties mounted alarmingly.  By turn 6, I had forced his first battalion there to check morale, which it failed, and the survivors started legging it toward their rear; they didn't survive the next turn however.

A bit of smoke won't help Rhys' batallion here - the lane to the left is littered with dead Panzer IVs (which we keep forgetting to provide wrecks for...)
On my right, Rhys' tanks were taking too many losses from a combination of artillery fire, PIATs from behind hedgerows, and AP shells; by turn 8 this battalion had also been forced to turn tail.  Since Rhys had only bagged a single victory objective - which he was about to lose, whereas I had not only already broken two battalions, taken 2 objectives, and was about to seize 2 more, the proverbial operatic fat lady was clearly in fill aria mode by this stage!  I'd only lost 8 elements in the process, and Rhys was just 1 stand off losing his 3rd battalion...

So what were the lessons learnt?  Well apart the the obvious ones we all know about 6s beatings 1s, the British fire concentration, although appearing a non-starter to the casual eye, proved its worth.  Individually, each gun isn't up to much, but the ability to keep a sustained massed barrage going at the crucial point of contact - assuming you don't dilute your attack too much - can be very much worth it.  I'm wondering if the ability to do this with heavier pieces than 25-pdrs would be too overwhelming.  Test-driving required!

The other thing I learned were some further inanities of the points system.  Apparently the WW2 points were developed by the Auckland club and thus pre-date Keith's involvement; and they really need reviewing.  For example, a Pz IV H has a +1 attack factor on a Sherman, and a longer range.  For this it pays a 20% premium in points (4 points), which seems a bit steep, but is perhaps arguable.  But a Churchill VII pays just 10% extra to get 2 extra defence factors over a Sherman (and 3 on the side armour!), albeit while losing some speed in the process, making it very good value in comparison:  there is no way 11 Shermans are as good as 10 Churchill VIIs, and even more obviously, there is now way 11 Panzer IV Hs are as good as 12  Churchill VIIs - indeed, 13 of them  aren't!  Likewise, a T-34/76 costs the same as a Sherman, despite moving faster, and having all other factors the same.  Even worse, a Panther costs more than an IS-2, despite the IS-2 apparently being better, or at worst, equal, in every respect, factor-wise!

Rhys' game account here.




Saturday 22 August 2015

Falaise Gap - Part V

For those interested in the specific details of the forces we used, they were as follows:

Player 1 (Allied):

A. South Alberta Regt. + Arygyll & Southern Highlanders (Canada); Morale: Regular
  1 x  BHQ (Rifle; Uncommanded; in and around St. Lambert: Maj. David Currie)                  
  4  x Rifles        
  3 x  Sherman
  1 x Firefly              

B.  10th Polish Dragoons; Morale: Regular 
  1 x  BHQ (1/2 t; in and around Chambois: Maj. R. Dowbór)
  1 x Brigade HQ (Sherman; may roll for 1/6 chance of air support per turn: Lt.Col. Władysław Zgorzelski)
  2 x Achilles 
  4 x Rifles (1/2 t)
  2 x Rifles (Carrier)
  2 x HMG (Carrier)
  1 x 3" Mortar (Carrier)
  1 x 6-pdr (Carrier)
  2 x Sherman
  1 x Firefly

C.  24th Polish Lancers; Morale: Regular
  1 x  BHQ (Sherman; near Chambois: Lt.Col. J. Kański)
  1 x Stuart
  2 x Achilles
  6 x Sherman
  3 x Firefly
  2 x Rifles (1/2 t)
  1 x Rifles (Carrier)

D. 2nd Battalion, 359th Infantry Regiment (US Army; Morale: Regular
  1 x BHQ (Rifle; Uncommanded; in and around Chambois: Major Leonard C. Dull)      
  2 x FO
  9 x Rifles
  2 x HMG
  1 x 81 mm Mortar
  1 x 57 mm AT (t)
  1 x M10
  3 x 105 mm (off-table, with FO)
  3 x 105 mm (off-table, with FO)
  3 x 105 mm (off-table, no FO)
  3 x 155 mm (off-table, no FO)

Player 2 (Allied):

A. 1st Polish Armour; Morale: Regular 
  1 x  BHQ (Sherman; Hill 262: Lt. Col. Alexander Stefanowicz)
  1 x Brigade HQ (Rifles; may roll for 1/6 chance of air support per turn: Lt. Col. Z. Szydłowski)
  1 x Stuart
  2 x Achilles
  6 x Sherman
  3 x Firefly
  4 x Rifles

B.  9th Polish Rifles; Morale: Regular 
  1 x  BHQ (Rifles; North slopes of Hill 262: Maj. M. Kochanowski)
  1 x FO
  2  x 5.5" (off-table)
  8 x Rifles
  1 x HMG (Carrier)
  1 x 3" Mortar (Carrier)
  1 x 6-pdr (Carrier)
  1 x Engineer (1/2 track)

C.  Podhale Rifles; Morale: Regular 
  1 x  BHQ (Rifles; around Mont Ormel: Lt.Col. K. Complak)
  1 x Carrier
  3 x 17-pdr (t)
  4 x Rifles
  1 x HMG (Carrier)
  1 x 3" Mortar (Carrier)
  1 x 6-pdr (Carrier)
  1 x Engineer (1/2 track)

D.  8th Polish Rifles; Morale: Regular 
  1 x  BHQ (Rifles; North slopes of Hill 262: Lt.Col. Aleksander Nowaczyński)
  1 x Carrier  
  1 x FO
  2  x 5.5" (off-table)
  3 x 17-pdr
  6 x Rifles
  1 x HMG (Carrier)
  1 x 3" Mortar (Carrier)
  1 x 6-pdr (Carrier)
  1 x Engineer (1/2 track)

E. 2nd Polish Armour; Morale: Regular 
  1 x  BHQ (Sherman; southern slopes of Hill 262, south of Chaudehard: Lt.Col. S. Koszustki)
  1 x Stuart
  2 x Rifles
  3 x HMG 
  6 x Sherman
  3 x Firefly

Player 3 (Axis):

A. 2nd SS Panzer Div.; Morale: Veteran  
  1 x BHQ (Panther; enters turn 1 east of Hill 262: SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Weidinger)
  1 x Brigade HQ (1/2 t: SS-Oberführer Otto Baum)  
  2 x Panther
  2 x Pz IV H
  1 x Engineer (truck)
  4 x Rifles (1/2 t)
  2 x Rifles

B. 362nd Inf. Div. (?); Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (1/2 t; enters turn 2 east of Hill 262)
  1 x StuG IIIG
  1 x 20 mm SP AA
  1 x FO
  2 x 105 mm (off-table)
  6 x Rifles

C. 9th SS Panzer Div. (in part); Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (Panther; enters turn 8 north of Chaudehard: SS-Obersturmbannführer Wilhelm Bittrich)
  1 x Brigade HQ (1/2 t: SS-Oberführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock)  
  1 x Panther
  2 x Tiger
  1 x Pz IV H
  2 x Rifles

D. 9th SS Panzer Div. (in part); Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (Panther; enters turn 8 north of Chaudehard: SS-Obersturmbannführer Walter Harzer)
  1 x FO
  2 x 105 mm (off-table)
  1 x Panther
  1 x Pz IV H
  2 x Rifles (1/2 t)  
  2 x Rifles
  1 x 120 mm Mortar (t)

Player 4 (Axis):

A. 5th Regiment, 3rd Fjr. Div.; Morale: Veteran  
  1 x BHQ (Rifle; near Mimbeville: Oberstleutnant Karl-Heinz Becker)   
  1 x Brigade HQ (Rifle: Generalmajor Eugen Meindl)
  5 x Rifles
  1 x 120 mm Mortar (t)
  1 x 20 mm AA (t)
  1 x StuG IIIG

B. 8th Regiment, 3rd Fjr. Div.; Morale: Veteran     
  1 x BHQ (Rifle; south of Mimbeville: Oberstleutnant Ernst Liebach)   
  6 x Rifles
  1 x 81 mm Morta
  1 x Engineer
  1 x StuG IIIG

C. 9th Regiment, 3rd Fjr. Div.; Morale: Veteran  
  1 x BHQ (Rifle; Sourdevais: Major Kurt Stephani)
  1 x FO
  2 x 105 mm (t)    
  6 x Rifles
  1 x Engineer

D. 353rd Infantry Division; Morale: Regular
  1 x BHQ (Rifle; north of Mimbeville: Generalleutnant Paul Mahlmann
  1 x SMG
  6 x Rifles
  1 x Engineer
  1 x PaK 40 (t)
  1 x StuG IIIG
  1 x 20 mm AA (t)

Player 5 (Axis):

A. 2nd Panzer Div. + 10th SS Panzer Div.; Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (Panther; enters turn 1 west of St. Lambert: SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel)
  1 x Brigade HQ (Rifles: Generalleutnant Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz)
  1 x 234/1 AC
  1 x Tiger
  1 x Panther
  2 x Pz IV H
  2 x Rifles (1/2 t)  
  4 x Rifles
  1 x 251/2 SP 81 mm Mortar
  1 x Engineer
  1 x SP 20 mm AA
  1 x 88 mm AA (t)

B. 116th Panzer Div. + 12th SS Panzer Div.; Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (Panther; enters turn 1 west of Chambois: SS-Oberführer Kurt Meyer)
  1 x Brigade HQ (Rifles: General der Panzertruppe Gerhard Graf von Schwerin) 
  1 x 234/1 AC
  1 x Brigade HQ (Rifles)
  1 x Tiger
  2 x Panther
  2 x Pz IV H
  2 x Rifles (1/2 t)  
  4 x Rifles
  1 x GW1 SP 150 mm
  1 x Engineer
  1 x SP 20 mm AA

C. 84th Infantry Division; Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (Rifles; enters turn 2 southwest of St. Lambert)
  1 x Brigade HQ (Rifles) 
  6 x Rifles
  1 x 120 mm Motar (t)

D. 276th Infantry Division; Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (Rifles; enters turn 4 west of Chambois)
  1 x FO
  2 x 105 mm (off-table)
  6 x Rifles
  1 x 81 mm Motar

E. 277th Infantry Division; Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (Rifles; enters turn 6 west of St. Lambert)
  6 x Rifles
  1 x 81 mm Motar
  1 x StuG IIIG
  1 x PaK 40 (t)

F. 326th Infantry Division; Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (Rifles; enters turn 8 west of Chambois)
  6 x Rifles
  1 x Engineer
  1 x 20 mm AA (t)

G. 363rd Infantry Division; Morale: Regular   
  1 x BHQ (Rifles; enters turn 10 west of St. Lambert)
  1 x FO
  2 x 105 mm (off-table)
  6 x Rifles
  1 x PaK 40 (t)
  1 x 75 mm IG (t)







Falaise Gap - Part IV

To the west, things sounded like they were even more bloody, but I naturally had little idea what was going on, it being all of two meters away...  From what I could see, Peter had driven westwards hard with his first wave, and been mauled in the process, losing both the 2nd SS Panzers and the 362nd Infantry in the process, before his southbound force had even arrived on the table!  He almost broke Rhys' Podhale Rifles in the process, but there's a big difference between "almost" doing something and actually doing it... 

The veteran paratroopers assaulting from the other direction proved to be a big headache for Rhys - and he new this would be case, since they are his regular WW2 gaming force!  And once the 9th SS Panzers arrived just in time to replace the exhausted 353rd Infantry on their northern flank, they started pushing up the hill in real earnest.


Detail of elements of 9 SS Panzer Division supporting 3. Fjr-Division assaulting Mont Ormel. The brownish pipe cleaners are being used to represent light entrenchments (the Poles having dug in during the night).  The number of vacant positions attest to the intensity of the fighting in this sector of the table.

As it happened, the Germans just couldn't shift the Poles off the northern Hill 262, just as happened in real-life (in our game the 9th SS Panzers were  essentially destroyed in the attempt), but the Poles couldn't hang on to the southern portion of Mont Ormel either; again, mirroring the real life situation, and thus opening the way east for those elements that could make it.


The rest of the view of Mont Ormel shown above, at the end of turn 12.  No German forces remain to the left (northeast), while the 3rd Paratroopers have cleared a path straight up the centre of the shot, demonstrating yet again that when it comes to assaulting close terrain, "veteran"-rated infantry just can't be beat...

So after 5 1/2 hours of play, and 12 turns completed, we essentially had our result, and it was very close to what happened historically.  The Poles had fended off all assaults on Hill 262, but could not prevent a corridor being opened up for part of the 7th Army to slip through, south of Mont Ormel.  But while men may have gotten through, hardly any heavy equipment made it. A satisfying result to a good day's gaming!

In hindsight, the eastern end of the battlefield should have been rotated northwards, gaining an extra km there at the expense of a kilometre of unused terrain to the south.  And with more research, unit positions and strengths, etc., could have been tweaked, but it all went pretty well I thought. Here's Rhys thoughts on making up the scenario.

Falaise Gap - Part III

The "Attack" orders I issued to the units under my command were simple, and effectively amounted to "Move east", through St. Lambert for the units in the north, and over the middle bridge for those in the south; I was determined to avoid the hornets nest of Chambois as much as I could.  In the previous day's play test, the Canadians in St. Lambert had given a very good account of themselves, and prevented any German armour from passing their, while the Poles in Chambois overextended themselves in trying to close off the open plain to their north; we also hadn't figured out the correct way to represent the powerful American artillery support. Knowing this last point would be rectified on the actual day, I was determined to assault St. Lambert with as great as force as possible.

My advance in the north got off to a rocky start, as I hadn't even got within sight of the enemy when Paul successfully rolled for a P-47 flight, which proceeded to take out my SP 20 mm AA platoon, plus a platoon of mounted Panzer Grenadiers.  However, Paul had deployed the Canadians ultra-defensively, with essentially everybody deployed within the village, rather than around it, which meant he essentially gave up the chance of inflicting any casualties as I approached the village, even when my infantry waded across the shoulder-deep river.  As a result, I was able to assault the village pretty well much at leisure: the first assault went in on turn 6, and I had completely cleared both sectors by turn 8.

German troops surrendering to the Canadian South Alberta Regiment in St. Lambert, 19 August 1944. These roles would be reversed the next day in our re-fight.

My southern advance was both more cautious, and less successful.  I attempted to utilise what cover there was as much as I could, but I was in a bit of Scylla and Charybdis situation - the cover was arranged in such a way that the more I minimised my exposure to the artillery spotters in Chambois, the more I exposed myself to the rather numerous 17-pdr-equipped Fireflies and Achilles platoons in its environs (the Poles had more 17-pdr equipped tanks and tank destroyers than I had tanks in total...).  Slowly, but surely, my casualties mounted, and I had almost nothing to show for it in exchange.  The only tank platoons to make it successfully across the bridge were two stands of Panthers, and these were promptly knocked out, one by artillery fire of all things (needing two rolls of 11 or more on two dice; not great odds to be sure, but when you have four full battalions of artillery at your disposal, why not?).

Thus by the end of 6th turn my combined 116th Panzer Division - 12th SS Panzer Division battle group, which together comprised just a single SH "battalion" of 17 stands, had lost 9 stands, including all their armour and mechanised assets, and were forced to retreat with a morale check result of 4.  Bereft of armour, my following up infantry units looked like they were going to have a hard time of it traversing the same route. As a result, Paul decided it was time to block off the southern half of the table completely, by moving his two Polish battalions north.  The 10th Dragoons, a mechanised battalion, drove out of Chambois, on the left (west), while to their east was the 24th Lancers; each had a company of Achilles tank destroyers from the 1st Polish Antitank Battalion in support.

The 24th Lancers move out into the open plain. Excuse the crappy photo - I discovered my camera was broken, and will have to be replaced; this is one of the few pictures I took that was even semi-useful.; most of the rest were just blurs...

In our test game Rhys has similarly decided the Poles should move out into the open, and, spurred by the knowledge he had just two turns' worth of fuel, moved as far out as possible. This left his more western unit rather exposed to attacks from the following up German infantry, which, although without tanks, did have the AT gun and StuG platoons to assist them, so were not entirely helpless at long range.  And so it was great interest that I watched Paul carry out exactly the same manoeuvre...

On the upside (from the Allied point of view), Paul's movement meant my northern Panzer unit, severely weakened from the assault of St Lambert, and which had just begun to move eastwards, would find itself confronted with a mass of armour whose guns covered most of the northern section of the plain, with precious few opportunities to hide. Sure enough, by turn 11, they had taken enough casualties to force a morale check, with however, they passed...

The downside, as Paul soon discovered, was that by moving not only his 24th Lancers as far north as possible, but also his 10th Dragoons, the Dragoons were no longer being effectively supported by the Americans still in Chambois.  My infantry, plus their limited, but effective support units (including one stand of 88s that did sterling service once it had unlimbered by St. Lambert) eventually (on turn 12) eliminated enough units to force a moral check on the Dragoons, which they promptly failed in the most horrible manner, and disintegrated, leaving the 24th Lancers essentially without infantry support, and suddenly very anxious to retreat back from where they came, opening up the route east. If the Dragoons had undertaken a more limited advance, I doubt I could have picked them off in the manner I did.

Falaise Gap - Part II

Rhys provided all the forces, as he had just enough to pretty well much do the whole lot by himself.  Getting information on the Allies was easy enough, but not so for the Germans, since these were for the most part a rag-tag collection of "units" in retreat, with even their commanders having little idea at the time how many men or pieces of equipment they had, and in case, many of them didn't live to fill out any sort of post-battle report...

The Allies on the east half of the table, who would be commanded on the day by Paul Reynolds, amounted to 688 points under Keith McNelly's scenario system, not counting the 1/6 chance each turn of receiving air support.  We omitted one of the Polish battalions that in real-life was defending Chambois, the (Polish) 10th Mounted Rifles, partly because we figured that something must have been guarding the area to the south, which we were not portraying, but mostly because we couldn't figure out how we could possibly fit four battalions into such a small area on the table!

Above: Cromwell IVs of the 10th Mounted rifles in action near Falaise (photo taken from here).  Note how open the ground is here in comparison with what the were fighting over a month before in the campaign. It must be said that Cromwell IVs are not exactly the most capable of weapons systems in Spearhead, so their absence from the table was not sorely missed...

The Poles around Coudehard and on Mont Ormel amounted to 778 points; again, not counting the 1/6 chance each turn of that they would receive air support (so it was potentially possible to have more than one air model on table at a time). We let them deploy just a little bit further south than they were in real life, because we didn't have quite enough of the northern end of the hill modelled on our table as it turned out.  These would be commanded by Rhys on the day.

Above: the view as it is now from the war memorial and museum on Mont Ormel, looking west toward the Dives. Public domain image by Jacques Wiacek.

The Germans attacking Mont Ormel from the east and north totalled 750 points, but were split into two waves, with the northern force (9th SS Panzer) only starting to arrive from the 8th turn, and thus would have a harder job of it than their points count would initially suggest.  These would be commanded by Peter Page on the day. Also taking on the Poles here, attacking from the west, were 396 points of veteran paratroopers and regular infantry; these were commanded by Jon Palmer, whom I had never met before; he turned up with a box of his gear for us to have a look at, and when he opened it it, I saw the largest collection of Russian WW2 lead I have ever seen - an entire 1:300th Tank Brigade, modelled at 1:1 scale! That would equate to a complete Tank Army at Spearhead scale...


Above are shown the on-table positions of the various "battalion" HQs, or, for off-table ones, their entry points: yellow for Axis and red for Allied, along with their turn of entry for those starting off-table.  I say "battalion" in quotes, because for the Germans, in many cases these represented the remnants of entire divisions, or in some cases, two divisions...

Play started at 10 am "real life", since Peter and Paul had to drive up from Wellington, representing daybreak, 20 August 1944.  After about half an hour going through the scenario and any little rules (e.g. air support, lack of counter battery assets, and low fuel stocks) we started the first turn, with Peter's 2nd SS getting immediately up and personal with the Strzelcy podhalańscy (Podhale Rifles) on the southeastern slopes of Mont Ormel. Peter was no doubt hoping to avoid this:

Above: the aftermath of the German assaults on Mont Ormel (public domain image from the Polish Ministry of Information).

Falaise Gap - Part I

It's been a long time since I had a game of anything; too busy at work.  But this year I'm at least having some sort of summer holiday - or to be more exact, a winter holiday, since I'm spending it in New Zealand.  I've taken a week off from staying at my parents' place in Christchurch to move north up to Palmerston North to spend some time gaming with my oft-time partner in testing gaming systems beyond their design limitations, Rhys Batchelor.

And since it's August, Rhys's suggestion of replaying something set in Normandy was particularly apt, suggesting the main action at the Falaise Gap, 20 August 1944.  Now this is a somewhat larger action than Spearhead is normally played, but not greatly so, and in any case, we were roping in three other gamers to help move the lead around.  It took the two us two complete days to put the scenario together, including setting up the table, preparing some extra scenery, and play-testing one half of the field to see how it all looked. The last part was far more organised than we are wont to be, but as it turned out, was time  usefully spent.

Here's the scenario description I sent out to our other players last night:

Background: the Falaise gap, 20th August 1944.

Reeling from defeat in the west, the remnants of the German 7th army are trying to escape east, as powerful Allied forces threaten them from both north and south   Fortunately however, Allied command friction has meant that their path eastwards has not been cut completely.  Only a small force of Poles stands between them and the Seine: the Polish 1st Armoured division.  Are they up to the task of blocking the 7th Army’s desperate retreat?

Scenario description:

The table is 2400 x 1200 mm, representing the most important 9.6 x 4.8 km of the action, encompassing St. Lambert and Chambois to the east, and an all-important crossing of the river Dives between them, along with Mont Ormel in the east, also prosaically known as "Hill 262".

The bulk of the 1st Polish Armoured Division is on table. One battle group, consisting of two battalions, the 10th Polish Dragoons and the 24th Polish Lancers, is deployed around Chambois.  Unfortunately, each battalion has only have enough fuel left for two turns’s of Advance orders (movement under Defend orders is not restricted).  With this battle group is the 2nd Battalion of the American 359th Infantry.  This unit may not undertake any Attack orders whatsoever, but has powerful artillery support to aid the defence of Chambois.  To the north, a small force of Canadians hangs on to their beleaguered position in St. Lambert.  They too many not undertake any Attack orders, having exhausted themselves during the night trying to prevent Axis units crossing the bridge leading west over the river Dives from the southern half of the village.

The majority of the Polish force has moved out from Chambois overnight and is now deployed around Mont Ormel, 5 km northeast of Chambois. Facing east are the 2nd Podhalian Rifles. Facing north are the 9th Polish Rifles, and between them is the 1st Polish Armoured Regiment. Facing west, and deployed around the village of Coudehard, are the 8th Polish Rifles, and south of them, also facing west, is the 2nd Polish Armoured Regiment. Enough supplies have been paradropped over the night to allow the Armoured Regiments to undertake two turns of Advance orders each; while the three Rifle Battalions have unrestricted numbers of Advance moves.

Certain German units have made it across the river Dives in the night, and are now positioned between Chamois and Mont Ormel.  The bulk of these detachments come from the veteran 3rd Fallschirmjäger Division, organised into three small commands, plus remnants remnants of the 353 Infantry Division as a fourth manoeuvre unit.  Still on the west side of the Dives, approaching St. Lambert, are the remnants of the 2nd Panzer Division and 10th SS Panzer Division, amounting to little more than a battalion’s worth of effectives, while further south are the remnants of the 116th Panzer Division and 12th SS Panzer Division, also amounting to little more than a battalion’s worth of effectives.  To their rear are the remnants of 5 infantry divisions, the 84th, 276th, 277th, 326th, and 363rd, which will make on to the field of battle over the course of the day.

To assist the 7th Army in breaking out to the west, Feldmarshal Walter Model has ordered two combat formations outside the gap back into the fray.  The 2nd SS Panzer Division, down to barely 20 tanks, and assisted by the badly-depleted 362 Infantry Division, is in position to assault Mont Ormel from the east, while to the north, what is left of the 9th SS Panzer Division, is awaiting fuel before starting off southwards towards Hill 262.


The table was 1200 by 2400 mm, the biggest we could fit into his dining room space, which equates to a 9.6 by 4.8 km slice of the battlefield, and was just enough to cover all the important bits, once it had been rotated slightly off a strictly east-west axis.


The west side of the board is the high ground that the Germans have to surmount in order to escape; the north is much more strongly held than the south.  The centre is flat open country, lacking the bocage seen in the Cotentin peninsula.  The east is is also flat, but has the river Dives meandering northwards; small enough to be crossed by determined infantry, but deep enough to stop vehicles, save at three bridges.  One, leading into Chambois, is strongly held by the Americans and Poles, and thus not likely to be of any use to the Germans.  Another leads directly into St. Lambert, but can be taken with effort, as the Canadian defenders are weak.  The middle bridge is not physically blocked, but is nonetheless overlooked by the American artillery observers stationed in Chambois, so crossing it will not be without its hazards...