New year's first game

The first game of the year was a second world war game using a set of rules I am working on (in fact I have been working on them for a number of years). The rules are set at a large skirmish type scale with a couple of platoons of infantry per side with support units in the form of armoured vehicles and heavy weapons.

The Germans were defending a village with river crossing and had a platoon of infantry supported by a mortar section and an mg section, two Pz IV, an 88mm A/T gun, and a 37mm A/T gun.

The Allies (American Rangers) had three shermans, a 17pdr A/T gun, two platoons of infantry with an mg section in support.

As the game was an attack on an unknown defence the Germans started the game hidden from view and the Allies cautiosly approached the bridge from the road and the German right flank across country but things soon started to hot up when the Germans opened fire with their mortars and brought their tanks into play but had to wait until the Shermans got a little closer before knocking on out and immobilizing another leaving one lone tank to close the distance before it could do any damage to the panzers.

The german mortars open up on the unsuspecting Allied advance

The Germans bring their tanks into play to counter the advance on the Allied left of the Shermans supporting one of the Ranger platoons

The 88mm was spotted and opened up on a rogue truck approaching the bridge causing a road block there and soon the Americans were hard pressed to take the bridge and pinned down in the German crossfire.

In the centre the truck makes a suicidal rush towards the bridge but is unaware of the 88mm waiting just down the road to welcome it

However, in the meantime, the left flank Ranger squad got pinned down in a patch of rough ground and was supported by some fairly accurate mortar and HE rounds from the shermans onto the infantry on the German right flank.

The Allied right began to crumble as one squad was pinned down not far from some houses occupied by German infantry and soon were whittled down to a couple of men and forced to withdraw but not before their support had pinned the infantry in the houses and an accurately fired mortar round caused serious damage on the occupants of the houses who also had to withdraw but a support section soon re occupied the ground and fired on the Americans advancing over the bridge.

With one of the Shermans brewing up and a second just moments away from being immobilised, the Allied forces are forced to make a tactical withdrawal

Eventually the Americans reached the point of no return and were forced to make a fighting withdrawal but not before giving the Germans a bloody nose.

All in all the game worked reasonably well and all players seemed to enjoy having my rules thrust upon them. The game lasted about 21/2-3 hours which was just right for a club night so I think, with a little tweaking, the rules seem to work but I think a little more playtesting is required after a few tweaks here and there.

The photo above shows a squad of Allied infantry attacking the row of houses on the German's left flank but becoming pinned down under fire from the troops located in the houses. It also gives a good impression of the layout of the village and farm beyond

The map above indicates the playing area, approximately 5'X4' with the Allied deployment zone shown. The Germans were able to use hidden deployment and position their forces anywhere up to the river line from the right hand table edge. The ground was strewn with hedgerows and rough ground to restrict line of sight and provide some cover for the troops on the ground.