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For this game at The Source, the Centurions wargame club welcomed guest gamemaster, Mike Whitaker (co-host of the Meeples and Miniatures Podcast) who ran a demo game of the Too Fat Lardies rules, "I Ain't Been Shot Mum".

A company of infantry with armor support on each side provided an afternoon of great entertainment. We'll be playing these rules again.

War Artisan

Umpire's Report

The first of the two games I played in Minneapolis, organised by Jeff Knudsen for the Centurions group. Actually, it should come as no surprise to regulars to know that I didn't play it, but umpired it, having stuck the rulebook, blinds, markers, cards and microdice in my suitcase :D

The scenario pitted an American company in defence against a German attack, in some far flung corner of the Ardennes in winter '44. Snowy table, sadly, unavailable, (barring Photoshop trickery!).

Fitz (aided by Elliot and N (argh, blanking on names)) took the Germans, and Jeff and... hrm, I should have taken notes!... the Americans. The latter deployed two platoons across an obvious defensive hedge/wall/building line, holding a third in reserve back at the village. The Germans advanced across a wide front down both roads, one side with a platoon backed with a pair of StugIIIs, the other four PzIVs, while two full platoons pushed through the woods and downslope. Their pre-game stonk hit the obvious targets (farm and chateau), and caused a fair amount of shock.

The Americans retaliated with some 105mm battery fire, which blew a track off one of the Panzers and somewhat discomfited the other. The Axis advance took a fair amount of fire from the defensive line, but the key breakthrough came when, under MG, tank and mortar fire, one of the American sections in the farm was pinned, and a somewhat unintentional and lucky close assault drove them out.

The Germans then consolidated their attack, by which time frantic requests for support from the Americans had turned up a troop of Shermans including a '76, as well as revealing two 50cals on tripods and a pair of 57mm AT guns on a hill in back of the defensive line.

Cue derisory German comments about the efficacy of 57mms.

Cue a brewed up StuG.

The second StuG got brewed by the Shermans not long after, leaving an interesting position in which the Germans had hold of their initial objective, but the Americans were falling back to their command HQ, under cover from the Shermans, 57mms, and 50cals. It would have been interesting to see what happened next.

Much positive feedback - most of the group hadn't played IABSM before, and I think they enjoyed both the mechanics and the feel of the system.

Thanks again to Jeff and the Centurions, and The Source Comics and Games shop for hosting the game.

Mike Whitaker

 
 
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Extracts from the Operation Compass scenario pack:

The Italians invaded Egypt on 13th September 1940. Their main problem was the narrow coastal strip. A good road ran the length of Libya, but this stopped at the border with Egypt some five miles west of Sollum.

From that point, troops would have to advance down a narrow track along the narrow coastal strip, or advance along the plateau at the top of the escarpment with their right flank wide open to the south. The escarpment could only be traversed at two places: at Sollum, where the escarpment actually meets the coast with a small trail joining the two; or through the Halfaya Pass some five miles further into Egypt. Both the Sollum trail and the Halfaya Pass made excellent bottlenecks for any defensive action from the British.

1st “23rd March” Blackshirt Division and 1st Libyan Division would advance along the coastal track and attack Sollum. Opposing them at the border was part of the Support Group, under command of Lt. Colonel J. Moubray of 3rd Coldstream Guards, consisting of: 3rd Coldstream Guards; the 25-pounder guns of C and later F Batteries RHA; one company from 1st KRRC; and a company of machine-guns from 1st Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.

The above is the background to my last game of 2017: the third scenario from the Operation Compass scenario pack, #03: The Invasion of Egypt. 

View from the Italian end of the table

I would play the British attempting to do as much damage to the invading Italians as possible before being forced to retreat through sheer weight on numbers. Bevan would play the Italians: unenviable targets in potentially the biggest duck-shoot ever. The table was big: 8ft long by 5ft wide, and devoid of anything of interest except a few hills and lots and lots of folds and creases in the very rough ground.

The Forces

The British

Lt. Colonel Moubray had a small but perfectly formed force. Up front, hiding behind the ridge line on the (his) left of the road closest to the Italians, he had a couple of A9 Cruisers borrowed from 1RTR. Behind them on the next ridge back was a platoon of Guardsmen and one of the Northumberland's MMG teams.

Then, at the back of the table, near the small outcropping to the right of the road, he had placed his two 25lbs of Royal Horse Artillery and another MMG. Behind them, his reserve consisted of another platoon of Coldstreams. 

A tiny force compared to what he could see coming at them down the desert strip, but well-prepared, mostly elite troops keen to give the Italians another bloody nose.

“You are Captain, the Honourable Michael Brodrick of 3rd Battalion, the Coldstream Guards. It is September 1940, and the Italians have finally begun their invasion of Egypt, what, what?
Two days ago, you watched in amazement as a huge column of Italians - motorcyclists in front, followed by infantry in trucks, followed by those tin cans they call tanks - streamed across the border in almost a parade ground formation. By your reckoning, five divisions-worth! And in front of them? Why, just you and your boys, supported by some gunners and grease monkeys from 1RTR. A sticky wicket, if ever there was one!
Luckily, the Eyeties have to keep to a narrow strip of land near the coast - no good in the desert these foreigners: takes an Englishman to do the business, eh? - so can’t project their force properly around your flanks. Means as well that you can punish them as they come forward, eh? What?
Right, orders are not to lose any guns or any tanks, but to delay and do as much damage as possible to our pizza-loving chums. Pisa-loving chums as well, eh? Hah! Hah!
Alright, Sergeant-Major, carry on: let’s show them what for, eh? Middle stump, please...fire!”
— British Briefing

The Italians

Captain Porcini, in charge of the Italians column had the opposite problem: he had loads and loads of men, but they were all of mediocre quality and he could only bring them onto the table in the order in which they were marching.

That meant that most of his infantry (four platoons worth) was up front, and his tanks and artillery (a platoon of four AT guns, a platoon of four field guns, and a platoon of four tankettes) were at the back and would therefore be last to get involved in any action.

Not knowing what was waiting for him either, all he could do was get onto the table and re-act to circumstances. Bevan and I both agreed afterwards that this one of those scenarios that you play a lot better the second time!

“Avanti! Avanti! On to Cairo!
You are Captain Pietro Porcini of 23rd March Blackshirts Division. It is 13th September 1940, and you currently have the honour of leading Il Duce’s invasion of Egypt.
For months you felt nothing but frustration as you twiddled your thumbs in a variety of desolate holes many miles from civilisation. You got used to a numbing boredom alleviated only by the occasional harassing attack from the enemy. Finally, however, the moment has come, and you will lead the way to victory.
You are currently advancing down the rough track that forms the only “road” into Egypt along the coastal strip. You got off to a slow start this morning as your men became entangled with a column of Libyan colonial infantry, but a few swift kicks up the backside soon got things moving again.
The English have been firing artillery at you since dawn, but other than that all you have seen of them is the odd dust cloud on the horizon.
If the invasion is to succeed, you must keep your vanguard column moving. In front of you is another seemingly endless expanse of rough, dirt terrain. Keep moving forward and disperse any enemy you encounter en route.”
— Italian Briefing

The Game

As it happens, getting their column onto the table unmolested proved to be no problem to the Italians, as the British Blinds card proved to be incredibly elusive for the first few turns.  Before the Brits had a chance to anything, the Italians had six units onto the table, and had deployed a platoon of infantry and anti-tank guns  to counter the two British tanks that they had spotted lurking behind the first hill. Faced with four AT guns and having no HE, quite sensibly the tanks withdrew below the crest of the hill to await developments.

The Italians continued to flood onto the table

Finally the British finished their tea and decided it was time to act. Despite the dust they had kicked up, the tanks had spotted the main Italian deployment point, so the RHA opened fire. Useless! Their initial ranging shots proved so far off the mark that it was doubtful the Italians had even noticed any shellfire heading their way!

A different story elsewhere, however. A quick bit of spotting revealed the lead Italian Blind to be a small platoon of motorcyclisti and the order was given  to the nearest Northumberland MMG to open fire. A huge roll of 22 effectively annihilated the lead squad of motorcyclists: ouch!

Meanwhile, the A9s had decided to get into the act. No HE, but their AT rounds would work nicely against the two lorries that had been spotted just next to the motorcyclists. Two solid hits and both were aflame, with stunned Italian infantry leaping out of them in all directions.

As anticipated, it was turning out to be a duck shoot: it was just a question of whether the Italians could organise themselves to do anything about it. Not that that would be easy for them: only two Big Men for the whole force, and a force of only two Actions at that.A good run of the cards, however, meant that an Italian platoon shook itself out and headed up the slope to the ridge behind which lurked the two British Cruiser tanks. With their thin armour, they could be vulnerable to an infantry attack!

Unfortunately for the Italians, the RHA chose that moment to get their eyes in, and shells landed all around the Italian infantrymen, pinning them to the ground.

Most of the Italian column was still under Blinds, so next time the Italian Blinds card came up, Bevan decided to get everything onto the table...and I mean everything. Each remaining Blind shot forward as far as it could and then deployed. Time to bring those numbers to bear...

As I think you can see in the pictures above, the Italians had now developed a plan. The tankettes, anti-tank guns and as much infantry as was around would head for the ridgelines near the British tanks and attempt to drive down that side of the table, presumably outflanking their enemy as they went.

Meanwhile, the Italian field guns would set up and soften up the enemy troops on the ridgelines, with their flanks protected by the remains of the motorcyclists and now-lorry-less infantry.

With Capitano Porcini booting more backsides, and despite the best efforts of the RHA, it wasn't long before the Italians managed to get up onto the ridgeline, and into a position where they could look and shoot down on the British tanks.

The British A9s promptly retreated over the next ridgeline, well aware how vulnerable their flanks were. The British also set their second platoon moving to reinforce the ridgeline: the advantages of having a reserve!

This was a good thing, as the Italian guns had finally set up and found their range. The first platoon of Coldstreams began taking fire: only one death, but being Pinned wasn't going to help them stop the Italian column.

Worse, one of their tanks was hit by an Italian anti-tank gun as it reversed over the ridgeline and prompt brewed up. A catastrophe! Below are the picture of that phase of the battle:

Meanwhile, the rest of the British had been hitting the Italian guns with everything they could, recognising that they were actually the only really dangerous bit of the Italian column. It had taken some doing, but finally the Italian guns had been neutralised.

This was good as, just in time, it meant the two 25pdrs were now free to engage the Italians on the hilltop. They'd better make it quick, however, as things were getting distinctly sticky over there.

Now the RHA had not been shooting very well all game: obviously suffering in the desert heat. If they didn't hit the Italians soon, then it would be too late: the anti-tank guns would take out the remaining A9, and then the tankettes and infantry could swarm forward and perhaps overwhelm the British line.

Fortunately, they chose this moment to get their act together, and the top of the ridge disappeared in a cloud of smoke and dust:

That was enough for the Italians. 

This turn they were Pinned on the ridgetop, and the British had an Artillery card, an Artillery bonus card, and their CinC with the guns to make sure they stayed that way...and down blow, there was so much Shock being suffered that it would have taken a legion of Big Men to sort it out, not the mere two available.

With regret, the Italians began to turn back. The coastal road was effectively blocked for now.

Aftermath and Analysis

Well that had been quite an unusual game of IABSM: rather than a more usual attacker/defender scenario or similar, that had been a duck-shoot and attacker scenario, with victory dependent on whether enough damage could be done to the Italians before they got their act together, and it was quite a close run thing.

Yes, the troops along the road had been comprehensively malleted, and were going nowhere until a lot of Shock had been removed, but on the other hand, the Italian ridgeline force had got itself into a position where a successful attack on the rather small British line did look possible. Thank heavens for the RHA!

Here are a couple of pictures of the final position:

Captain Hindsight

As mentioned before, both Bevan and I agreed that this was a scenario that one would play better the second time. Between us we sketched out what we thought the Italian plan should be:

  • pause as far from the Brits as possible
  • deploy the artillery and machine guns on the large hill on the Italian baseline
  • send forward the motorcyclisti to spot the enemy
  • give them a good pounding with the guns before sending the column forward.

Not historically accurate (our game was much more in tune with what actually happened), but stood a good chance of working.

Our battle had been a great and very interesting game of IABSM: all we now needed was the chance to play it again!

Robert Avery

 
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The Introduction

Big IABSM tomorrow with some of the guys from the SLW. Scenario is a Canadian attack, driving to the objective of the main rail line from Caen.

The Canadians will have Kangaroos to transport one company, tank support, artillery with a pre-game stonk, and a few little surprises as additional support.

The Germans will be made up of a reinforced company, with elements of other units grouped as a Kampfgruppe. The problem will be how they decide to deploy. The table is 12 foot by 6 ft, with the Canadians fighting up the length of the table. 

This is by far the biggest game we have attempted with IABSM. My hope is the size of the table will give the Germans depth to deploy , and give the Canadians a lot to think about. The key will be their plan of attack. 

Here is the table set up. 20mm figures etc to be added tomorrow.

The Game

The Big IABSM game was a cracker! Five players slugged it out over the Caen countryside, with the Canadians pushing slowly but surely through the German defences, towards the railway line. The OOBs were as follows:

Canadians

1 x rifle company of three platoons
1 x rifle platoon in Kangeroo carriers
1 x recce troop
2 x Sherman troops
1 x battery of 25pdr off-table artillery support
3 x pre-game stonks

The Germans

1 x rifle company of three platoons
2 x Tiger tanks
2 x Panther tanks
2 x STuGs
1 x recce adhoc formation with a section of infantry
1 x 120mm mortar battery off-table and FOB.

The forces were not too different, but:

  • Allied artillery was far more reliable and easier to get.
  • The Germans had no idea the point of attack, and had to spread their forces thinly, and hold reserves to plug the gaps.

The Plans

The Canadian plan was a two pronged attack, probing for the enemy, and when found, massed firepower deployed against it.

The Germans split the defence in two, dividing the commands, separated by the main road. The infantry company was deployed in a line across the table with pockets of armour further back. The ad hoc Kampfgruppe was held in the rear as a last gasp force to be thrown in if things got nasty.

The Canadian stonks were a huge success (or so it seemed to the Canadians!) with a host of damage done to any forces in the radius of the shells. Rolling three successive sixes also meant three key buildings were also set alight, denying the church, a key farmhouse for defence. Crucially the FOB had lost the church steeple!!

The Action

The Canadian assault went in and made good progress on the right flank, driving halfway up table before getting bogged down in a firefight with the first line, eventually breaching it, but with heavy losses on both sides.

In the centre, the recce unit initially did well and infantry moved in, again halted at the main line of defence, which they never overcame.

On the left, the advance was slow, and the Kangaroo-mounted platoon were ambushed, taking heavy losses. But what of all the Canadian armour? The armour was on the Blind cards, and turn after turn this card failed to come up. They were also out of spotting range, so never auto-spotted, so they just sat there, unable to influence the battle, much to the frustration of the Allied player.

We agreed that despite the Canadian losses, they had in-fact breached the main line and were close to breaking out. The Tigers were still hidden, and the ad hoc unit available, but they were on the wrong side of the table, and with eight Allied tanks still on table, the chances were getting slimmer of preventing the Canadians from winning the game.

Highlights

The Daimler AC engaging a Panther and inflicting enough shock to drive it off!
The Kangeroo troop being ambushed. Three of the four vehicles were ablaze in minutes.

Hopefully this gives you a flavour of the game.

Desmondo Darkin

 
 
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On 8th September 1939, German Gebirgsjaegers moving along the Carpathian mountain range bumped into a unit of Polish Border Protection Corps mountain troops near the Dukla Pass. After a short battle, the Poles withdrew, leaving the pass open for the Gebirgsjaeger to continue their advance.

That was the background to scenario #39: The Dukla Pass, taken from my just-published scenario booklet, The September War, Part 2: another thirty of so scenarios for IABSM covering the German invasion of Poland in September 1939.

The game would involve both sides wrestling for control of two objectives, with victory going to side that controlled both objectives on any appearance of the Tea Break card.

The town of Dukla, from the Polish side. Note the two objectives.

Each side would start with a certain number of troops on the table, with more due as time goes by. The Poles are outnumbered overall, but get their troops onto the table faster than the Germans, so must use that advantage to try and defeat their enemy in detail rather than facing them all at once.

The Forces

The Poles have two understrength infantry platoons, a unit of mounted scouts, two medium machine guns and two mountain guns. 

I call the Polish platoons understrength, as they only have two squads of infantry instead of the paper-strength three, but those Polish squads are 12-men strong each, making them hard to whittle down.

The Germans have two strong platoons of infantry: each having three eight-man squads, two MMGs and a light mortar. They also have a weaker platoon with only two infantry squads; a platoon of mounted scouts; and a couple of GB mountain guns. All in all, a very tidy force, provided they could get all their troops onto the table.

Game One

I would play the Poles in both games. In the first game, my plan was to storm the left hand objective with my mounted scouts, then hang on grimly whilst the main part of my force took the other.

Accordingly, my first moves were to get the scouts onto the table as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, it seems like my enemy has the same idea, with a Blind suddenly appearing from the hills to the left, followed up by other two Blinds coming up fast from his baseline.

The cards didn't fall my way either, allowing the Germans to occupy the house and barn next to the objective marker before my mounted scouts could even get there. Worse, the rapidly deploying Germans also managed to get a unit near enough to the other objective to count it as "taken", so unless I did something very drastic very fast, this was going to be a very short game indeed.

Fortunately, my scouts knew what was expected of them, so spurred their mounts forward into combat!

Hit in the flank, the first squad of German scouts were bounced out of the hut they had just occupied, losing three of their number in the process. Unfortunately I also lost two men, and was now facing the whole German scout platoon plus a squad of Gebirgsjaeger infantry that had now arrived.

The result was a foregone conclusion and, despite their valiant efforts, the first squad of Polish mounted scouts was soon bounced back and down to zero Actions.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, the Germans had managed to get a squad of infantry into the copse of trees holding the other objective marker. I sent in one of my two infantry squads (the other was still off table) to try and shift them, but quickly came under fire from more Germans in the village itself.

Dukla:  twinned with Stalingrad (look at the fountain!)

Although I could probably shift the German squad given time, time was what I did not have, as if the Tea Break card came up, that was it: game over with both objectives in enemy hands. Time for more drastic measures: back to the mounted scouts!

In went the second squad of scouts, desperate to shift the Nazis from the objective by the hut.

An epic charge, with my scouts outnumbered two to one and facing infantry in buildings. The first round of fighting was, unbelievably, a draw, but then numbers began to tell, and soon the second squad of scouts was also reeling backwards and out of any further fighting.

It was then only a matter of time before the Tea Break card appeared and the game declared over and a resounding Polish defeat.

Intermission and a Stewards Inquiry

As the above had only taken about ninety minutes to play, we had plenty of time for a second game. As we cleared all the figures from the table, we discussed the game, with me remarking how extraordinary it was that the Germans managed to get so many of their Blinds onto the table, given the fairly crippling rules about their deployment.

A pause and awkward silence from the other side.

A hastily convened Stewards Inquiry then discovered that the Germans had accidentally fielded at least one platoon too many at the start of the game, giving them the opportunity to take both objectives almost immediately with the plethora of troops therefore available to them.

Ah well, no harm done (can you hear my teeth grinding together?) and lucky we have time for another game!

Game Two

In the second game, I decided to deploy my two infantry platoons first, with my scouts and MMGs the units that I would have to  wait for. One platoon would head for each objective: surely enough to hold out until my reinforcements arrived, particularly as the Germans would only be dripped onto the table this time round.

Blind Six in the picture above is my infantry platoon, with two Dummy Blinds to try and scare the Germans off. Blind Seven is the other infantry platoon, Blind Three my mountain guns.

Unfortunately, the Germans had also come up with a cunning plan: they sent the one infantry platoon they had at their disposal (!) straight for the  objective by the church as well.

Here I made a tactical error. Although my men got up to the objective first, I only sent one squad into the hut to hold it, keeping the other back to (presumably!) offer fire support.

All that this meant was that when the full platoon of Gebirgsjaeger arrived at the hut and stormed it, numbers were thirty German mountain troops versus twelve Polish Border troops.

So I had lost that objective already, and a squad of infantry I could ill afford to lose!

On the other side of the battlefield, however, I had my second platoon of infantry, my machine guns and my CinC (plus FOO) happily positioned in the wood surrounding the objective. Not much to shoot at, though, as the Germans (what little there were  of them) were all on the other side of the village. If only I had some artillery...

The next phase of the game involved me dropping round after round onto his men by the objective, quite happy to wear him down.

In addition to the pin markers and growing number of empty German bases caused by my artillery, you can see in the picture above that the Germans have managed to get their mounted troops into the churchyard. This was starting to put some pressure on my squad at the top of the picture  and, additionally, although I was quite enjoying the stalemate, I wasn't actually getting very far towards winning the game, and those German reinforcements would arrive eventually.

Fortunately, my Blinds card came up, giving me the opportunity to bring on my mounted scouts...and what an opportunity it was.

sorry about the blurry picture: I was getting all excited!

Thundering onto the table under a Blind, the scouts smashed straight into the rear of the German troops lining the hedge in the churchyard. These were annihilated for no loss to my scouts, and even when the other squad moved up to shield the flight of their comrades, I only lost two men.

However, moving his scouts into a position to shoot at my scouts meant that he exposed himself to fire from my squad in the house, and suddenly the Germans had lost their entire unit of mounted scouts for the loss of only two Polish horsemen. The rest of the scouts moved around the church, preparing to make a quick break for the nearby objective should the opportunity arise.

The Germans did then manage to get one platoon of reinforcements onto the table, but we had unfortunately run out of time. One objective was hedl by both sides, so we declared a draw, but the advantage was definitely to the Poles.

Aftermath

A couple of great games of IABSM and a very good testing of the Dukla Pass scenario. We called "honours even" on the day as a whole, which suited both of us nicely (can you still hear my teeth grinding!)

Also goes to show that you can have a great WW2 game without any vehicles and, in my case, giving me anything with a horse is bound to lead to a charge or three!

Robert Avery

 
 
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With the launch of the second half of The September War, my scenario pack for Poland 1939, I thought it was time to do some last minute play-testing. The scenario chosen was #58: Jablon.

It's late September 1939. The surprise Soviet invasion has shattered the Polish border troops left in the east of the country. All looks lost, so any remaining Polish formations have been ordered to break for the nearest border with a neutral country so the fight can continue at a later date. Soviet columns drive deep into Poland hunting out the fleeing Poles. Isolated Polish units engage and block these Soviet columns wherever they can, trying to hold them off for long enough for the bulk of their comrades to escape.

One such encounter took place on 28th September, with a contingent of mixed Polish troops (border troops, dismounted cavalry, naval infantry) trying to hold the advancing Soviets at bay in and near the village of Jablon.

The game premise was simple: the Poles would start the game by placing an objective marker anywhere in or around the big farmhouse opposite the church. If the Soviets managed to capture and hold the objective marker on any appearance of the Tea Break card, then they win the battle. The Poles, however, are trying to slip away under cover of darkness, which would fall sometime after the sixth appearance of the Tea Break card. If the Poles still hold the objective on any appearance of the Tea Break card after darkness has fallen, then they win the game.

The Soviets would start the game advancing towards Jablon. Looking at the picture, above, Soviet Blinds would start the game as far onto the table as the far side of the Polikarpov's flight stand base. The Soviets had a company of infantry and a company of T-26 light tanks (well, nine) at their disposal. The Soviet platoons were three squads of ten men each, with a Level I Big Man in charge. They  had only a couple of MMGs and three light mortars as support: the column had outstripped its other assets. There was also a small chance the Polikarpov would intervene.

For their part, the Poles began the game with their support weapons and a platoon of infantry on table under Blinds, with a further two platoons of infantry arriving when the Blinds card and dice allowed! The Polish platoons were all fairly battered two-squad platoons. Their support consisted of four somewhat ancient 75mm guns and a couple of tchankas.

Not knowing exactly where the Poles were, the Soviets decided on a double-pronged attack. One platoon of tanks and an infantry platoon would go up each side of the battlefield, aiming to swing round and hit the large farmhouse from the side. The third infantry platoon would augment the right hand thrust (Blinds #3, #5 and #6 in the picture above). Finally, the MMGs and Company HQ mortars would lay down fire from a central position. 

Not phased by the sea of red thundering towards him, Dave, playing the Poles, began to spot from his hidden Blinds. As he was spotting into open ground, before long he had a very good idea of what he was facing. Amusingly, this also meant that the chips were stacked very much against him...and, yes, I was using my blue French poker chips for the Poles.

As the Russians got closer, the Polish guns and machine guns opened fire from their concealed positions. The big farmhouse held a tchanka and a field gun. The hedge line in front (i.e. towards the Soviets) held the other tchanka and another gun. Finally there were two more guns dug-in towards the rear of the table, but still able to direct fire into the oncoming Red Army horde.

but how did they get the horses up the stairs?

time was ticking on: the poles had received reinforcements

The Soviet light tanks opened up as well, and this exchange of fire between the T-26s and Polish support weapons would take up the next phase of the game: the Russians edging their infantry forward whenever they could. As the climax of the game approached, honours stood fairly even: one T-26 each side had bailed, and the Polish tchanka crew and gun crew by the church had been so battered that any survivors had abandoned their weapons and fled.

The Climax

The Soviet approach phase actually took longer than the simple paragraph, above, implies: about 45 minutes of playing time and around four appearances of the Tea Break card. It was getting late and the Poles still looked pretty comfortable. Then came the very rapid climax of the game.

Up came the Soviet Human Wave chip, formerly known as the Uraaaaaaaaagh! chip. This was too good an opportunity to miss, and Bevan, playing the Soviet infantry, hurled a platoon at the Polish positions in the farmhouse. The extra charge bonus that the chip gave him meant that the whole platoon went in okay, but another squad from the other Soviet infantry platoon came up short, giving rise to the first of quite a few "if only's".

A huge Close Combat broke out between the charging Soviets and the troops in that section of the farmhouse. If you look closely at the above picture, you can just see the barrel of the Polish artillery pieces in the middle window: it couldn't fire, but its crew grabbed their weapons and piled in, giving the Poles about 15 men with which to fend off the 29 Soviets, many of whom were puffing and panting after their long run in.

In the event, this first round of melee was a draw: with each side losing five men. This could have been disastrous for the Poles, but they had a second squad on the other side of the building, and the tchanka crew from upstairs along with a couple of Big Men including the company commander,who joined in for the re-match.

Desperate to hold on to the objective marker, the Poles fought like lions: this time sending the Soviet platoon, or what was left of it, fleeing backwards, completely mullered. It would take no further part in the game.

This victory was at a high cost, however. Both Polish Big Men were killed, and an anti-tank rifle team that had been doing sterling work against the enemy T-26s. In all, the Poles were left with one squad of infantry, the tchanka (four crew left), and the artillery piece (four crew left)...all of whom were carrying quite a bit of Shock.

The Soviets, however, had plenty of men left, and moved their next infantry platoon, still at full strength, up into position to charge into the farmhouse on their next activation. With them they had their Big Man, and Commissar Dushkin to make sure they understood the, er, seriousness of the situation!

All the Soviets needed was the opportunity to go in, and the objective was surely theirs.

Unfortunately, and here's another "if only", the Gods of the chip bag had other plans. Despite the huge number of Soviet chips in the bag, the first three  out of the bag were:

The three remaining Polish guns fired into the Russian infantry platoon as it lined up to start its charge, effectively annihilating one squad. Dave began to relax slightly.

Big mistake.

The next chip out of the bag was the Soviet Heroic Commander chip: and in went the infantry again!

Unfortunately, the dice were with the Poles, and only the front Soviet squad made it into Close Combat, so despite the heroic efforts of Commissar Dushkin (with the flag) and the Big Man (both of whom survived), the Soviets were pushed back again.

At that point, dusk fell, meaning that the next appearance of the Tea Break chip would end the game, with victory going to whoever held the objective marker in the farmhouse. The Poles still had two platoons under Blinds, but the surviving Soviet platoon was just as big as those two combined, and there were still seven T-26s in action.

But it was not to be.

I picked up the full chip bag, plunged my hand inside, and drew out...the Tea Break chip.

Night had fallen and, under cover of its all enveloping darkness, the remaining and victorious Poles slipped away.

Aftermath

Well that was a game and a half!

For those who say that IABSM is a slow game, we completed the above in about 2½ hours, and even if night hadn't fallen with such a thump, would probably have fought out the remaining action in a maximum of another hour or so.

I had thought that the Soviets would walk all over the Poles, but all that open ground and the lack of support weapons with which to suppress their opponents really made a difference.

On the Polish side, they effectively fought the battle with only two thirds of their force, so although they didn't have much left in the farmhouse, they could have reinforced the troops in their with ease.

A great game, and one that is definitely passed as ready for inclusion in The September War, Part II.

Robert Avery

 
 
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This game was part of the 2nd Mech Corps attempt to capture Budapest before the end of 1944. Axis forces are a hodgepodge of small units. It was also a chance to use my recently painted Hungarian toys.

We decided to call it at this stage. The Russians were running out of infantry: 30 out of 64 men down along with two COs. Really weak to begin with. The T34s were strong on the right so might have able to hold their own against the Billnitzer Group. But having an IS2 taken out by the Turan was a surprise.

Hungarian Police were barely touched: only 3 KIA. The Grenadiers were down 16 men and had no COs left. Both Nashorns gone.

Neither FO was able to do much in this game.

Mark Luther

 
 
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It's 0715 on 15 May 1940, and KG Klink, attached to the 7th Panzer Division, is on the move.  The 7th Panzer Division has broken through the French front line and is on the road to Flavion, with reconnaissance elements pushing both north and south of the city in search of a way to by-pass the city, or at least find an undefended back door. 

North of Flavion, recce elements of KG Klink have discovered a ford over the River Moiste near a small farming hamlet; led by KG Klink's Reconnaissance Company Commander, 1st Lieutenant Wehner, the Germans quickly push across the river and secure a small bridgehead on the western bank, before sending for reinforcements.  Colonel Klink, the Kampfgruppe Commander, immediately broke off a detachment of infantry and armor to reinforce Lt Wehner at the ford.  But time is of the essence; French forces under Captain Cognac have spied the German bridgehead and are already forming up for a counterattack.

I am playing this game, the sixth of KG Klink's campaign during the Fall of France in 1940, with my eight-year old son, with me commanding the Germans and the boy commanding the French.  We are playing the games in 10mm, a mix of Pendraken and Minifigs UK troops and equipment, on a 6' x 4' table, using Too Fat Lardies' "I Ain't Been Shot Mum," modified a bit to suit our tastes. 

The scenario is "Cognac and Moiste Cabbage," written by Robert Avery and published in the Lardies' Christmas 2005 Special.  On a side note, Mr. Avery is now pasting my IABSM battle reports on the Vis Lardica website (https://www.vislardica.com/); I am happy for the extra exposure, and proud to be considered a contributor.

Overview, north is up, with the German baseline at right (east) and the French at left (west).  The River Moiste is at center, running north to south, and the key ford is at center right, where the dirt road intersects with the river.  The ground is flat, rolling fields, with heavy stands of trees at far right, bottom center, left, top left, and far left. 

Cabbage fields abound, providing no significant cover or concealment nor real impediment to movement, but there is a stone wall (the sideways 'V' at center left/bottom) that halts movement and is only barely passable to tracked vehicles; similarly, there is a wooden fence running along the northern side of the main, east-west running road.  The fence itself is not the problem, it's the drainage ditch running just below, invisible to the naked eye ;) , the fence. 

At top left is The Farm, consisting of a residence, an outbuilding, and a barn.  At center is the tollkeeper's house, and at top center right is Mademoiselle Chevelle's home.

A close up of the objective, the ford (center), with the tollkeeper's home at bottom left and Mlle Chevelle's home at top right.  You get a good look at some of the cabbage fields and the wooden fence running on the north side of the main road.

The objective of the game is possession of the ford, with possession being defined as having troops on the enemy's side of the river at the conclusion of the fight.  The Germans start the game in defensive positions, with guidance being to set up a significant amount of their forces on the western (French) side of the river.  The French begin the game at The Farm, in the northwest (top left), which is their marshalling area for the counterattack.

The Forces Involved

The opposing forces, with Germans on right and French on left.  Each side will begin the game with a main force on the table, then each side will receive two separate sets of reinforcements as the game goes on.

The Germans 

The entire German force

Here is what the Germans have on the table at the beginning of the game. 

Looking at the picture of the initial German force, top right:

  • At bottom center is the onsite commander, 1st Lt Wehner, Recon Company Commander and holder of the Iron Cross, 2nd Class.
  • At top right is Lt Wehner's 1st Motorcycle Platoon (already dismounted).  They are led by SSgt Gradl, holder of the Iron Cross 2nd Class.  He has three squads:

1st Squad - SSgt Sachs
2nd Squad - Cpl Rein, a replacement squad leader.
3rd Squad - Cpl Wilhelm

  • At top center are two squads of the Assault Engineer Platoon:

1st Squad - Sgt Barkstrom
2nd Squad - Sgt Hafl

  • And center left is a Schwerer Platoon consisting of:

an MG-34 team under LCpl Steinkamp
and two Pak-36 37mm anti-tank guns under Sgt Kallenbach

German Reinforcements

On the fourth draw of the "Turn Card" the Germans will receive reinforcements from the KG's Panzer Company, specifically, two Pz IVCs from 4th Panzer Platoon:

Sgt Graebner's tank, holder of the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, with four tank kills

Sgt Kapp's tank

And on turn 10 the infantry arrive, the Schutzen Company's 2nd Grenadier Platoon under 1st Lieutenant Ost, with three squads:

1st Squad - Sgt Lutz
2nd Squad - Lipniki
3rd Squad - Sgt Axthelm

They are riding in trucks and accompanied by a section of two 80mm mortars under LCpl Vigerte, seeing his first action of the war.

The French

Here are the French, under Captain Cognac:

This monstrosity is the force the French start the fight with on the table.  I must admit I'm a bit nervous, looking at the force arrayed against me. 

At top centre right is Capt Cognac's command stand. 

At top left are two platoons of infantry, each consisting of a platoon commander and three squads. 

At bottom left is a weapons platoon of two machine guns and an 81mm mortar (the scenario says it's supposed to be a 60mm mortar; I don't have a 60mm mortar for the French, so I resolved to use an 81mm mortar but treat it like a 60mm mortar, but, in the event, I forgot, and ended up treating like an 81mm mortar). 

At centre are two Somua S35s, with a single H39 to their right.  At bottom centre/right is a 75mm field gun being towed by a horse team; it's supposed to be towed by a truck in the scenario, but I've got horses so they're using horses (no difference in capability on the table, and wouldn't matter anyway as they came straight off Blinds into firing position during the game).

At turn 8 the French receive this beast as reinforcement.  Please note this is a different Char B than I used in the last fight.  Why am I telling you this?  Just pointing out how goof I am; I actually have three Char Bs, but only two S35s and three H-35/39s.  And my British early war tanks are even more limited.  To be honest, I never really thought I'd be playing early WWII games, it was something that hadn't really interested me before I started the KG Klink saga.

And in Turn 12 the French receive another platoon of infantry as reinforcements.

And in Turn 12 the French receive another platoon of infantry as reinforcements.

The Game Begins

Below is  an overview of the map, north is up, this time with Blinds on the table.  The German Blinds are at centre bottom and top centre, while the French Blinds are all at top left, in and around the farm and intersection.

Yes, the playing cards as Blinds are ugly, but I'm having a hard time coming up with an alternative as these are so simple, cheap, and effective (for play purposes, not aesthetics), and there are so many variations as to make a prettier solution tough.  What I mean is, each game is different and has different forces.  I'm playing with an 8-year old, so I'm trying to keep things as straightforward as possible.  So I can buy pack after pack of playing cards and write directly on them what the card is: i.e., 1st Rifle Platoon (PC and 3 Squads), Weapons Plt (2 MGs and 1 Mortar), Field Gun, Char B, etc...  But I can't see doing that with something that is better looking but much more expensive.

I know a lot of guys make pretty Blinds and just label them as "Blind #1," then they have a roster on the side to show what troops Blind #1 is.  Again, I'm trying to keep things simple for the boy, I don't want any confusion as to where he puts the Blinds, what he does with them (because he thinks it's a certain unit), or what troops go on the table when the Blind gets lifted.  And printing off new blinds each game doesn't work either; I'm a cheapskate, and printer ink gets damn expensive!  So, I apologize for the ugliness of the playing cards, but I don't see another way right now.  

I am all ears if someone out there has an idea for prettier Blinds that I can write the exact unit on AND change to meet the unique needs of every single game. 

The Germans have four Blinds (out of a total of seven, three real, four dummy) in the south and three Blinds in the north.

And the French mass in the northwest, with a total of eleven Blinds (if I recall correctly), three of which were dummies.

And the game is afoot!  The French Blinds start pushing east towards the ford (top center), approaching the unseen German forces at top left and top right.  I would later verbally and physically abuse the boy for being so timid with his Blinds and not pushing forward stronger to seize the river crossing.  We both have seen everything about each other's forces, the only secret is their location, so he knows exactly how little I have and how much he has, and he knows what to do (you'll see him establish a base of fire and begin pushing his manoeuvre elements forward, just not as aggressively as I expected).
 

The French Blind at the Farm's residence (bottom centre), quite unbelievably, have spotted movement across the river, in the treeline to the northeast (top centre left).  Whatever could it be?

It's my damn Weapons Platoon, dammit!  Two ATGs (the infamous "doorknockers," at top left and centre), and the MG-34 (bottom right).  Sorry for the blurry photo, I'm just aggravated that he spotted these guys, immobile in the treeline, so quickly.  This is not good at all...

Wow, what a fight!!!  At the same time, I feel terrible, my boy is shellshocked!  Just kidding; he was a bit on Sunday, when we played, but's it's Monday and he's already over it.  But man, that was rough!  We talked about him being a bit more aggressive; his comment was 'being the attacker is kind of hard.'  I couldn't help but laugh; he gets it.  It's not fun having to move up and expose yourself to enemy fire in order to accomplish your mission, but it's gotta be done, and he's showing a pretty good grasp of fire and maneuver between elements. 

We also talked about small unit leadership, working to make sure your leaders are in the right spot at the right time to help your attack or defense succeed.  I really didn't like his positioning of his CO on his far right, for a supporting effort (we talked about unity of effort and focus of effort, too), and late getting to the main effort (Somua, H39, and 2nd Platoon pushing up the road).  I thought he did a good job with his supporting fires; I wouldn't have fired the mortars on the German tanks, I would have kept them on the north treeline and pounded the German Weapons Platoon into oblivion, then shifted fire to the south treeline to pound the Motorcycle Platoon.  Having said that, what he did worked; the MGs, mortar (for a moment), and field gun did a good job overall in keeping the German Weapons Platoon in check, until the shifted the field gun to firing at the German tanks, too.  Shifting the mortar and the field gun to the German tanks kept them out of the fight, but was probably too much, and let the German MG and one ATG back into the fight, as well. 

Having said all that, I should have just kept my damn Company commander up there with the Weapons Platoon, and I had some bad luck with the tanks not activating much, and then one running away.  And I would have been in more trouble if the boy would have pushed sooner in the center; we talked about the art of trying to time up the assault with appropriate suppression by supporting fires.  It turns out he had the idea down, he just didn't foresee how long it was going to take his assault troops to get to the objective once the Germans were sufficiently beat up.

But it still all came down to that crazy close combat at the toll keeper's house; I was certain I was going to lose that fight, and by all accounts, I should have.  I figured I was going to have to throw in the towel; my tanks cover the withdrawal, holding the French at the ford while Weapons Platoon falls back in the north and the Motorcycle Platoon has to drop all its gear and swim the river to escape.  But somehow I won; the French moved up with a PC and three squads in good order.  I had a PC, a suppressed squad (-2 in close combat), and a 'men down' squad (-3 in close combat).  The first round of combat was atrocious for the boy, and it didn't get any better.

In the first round he had a squad match up against each of mine, and then the PCs faced off.  I went -2 and -3 but managed to tie both squad vs squad fights, and then my PC beat his PC in a straight up roll!  The two French squads fell back, suppressed, and their PC went down.  Their 3rd Squad charged my PC and put him out, but then I beat a suppressed French squad in an even-up roll off, and I beat his fresh squad despite being -2.  Then I finished off his last squad in an even-up roll off (both sides were suppressed).  Incredible!

Casualties:

German: ~25 casualties, one PaK-36 ATG destroyed
French: ~60 casualties, one 75mm field piece destroyed, two Somua S35 tanks destroyed

Character casualties:

  • Cpl Rein, 2nd Squad, 1st Motorcycle Platoon, Recon Company, KIA
  • SSgt Gradle, Commander, 1st Motorcycle Platoon, Recon Company, WIA - out for campaign
  • Sgt Hafl, 2nd Squad, Engineer Platoon, Recon Company, WIA - out for campaign
  • Sgt Kallenbach, ATG Section, Schwere Platoon, Schutzen Company, WIA - ambulatory
  • Sgt Barkstrom, 1st Squad, Engineer Platoon, Recon Company, WIA - ambulatory

Awards:

  • SSgt Gradle, Commander, 1st Motorcycle Platoon, Recon Company, was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class, for leading the defense of the Toll Keeper's House at the ford of the River Moiste.
  • Sgt Hafl, 2nd Squad, Engineer Platoon, Recon Company, was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, for the defense of the Toll Keeper's House at the ford of the River Moiste.
  • Sgt Barkstrom, 1st Squad, Engineer Platoon, Recon Company, was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, for the defense of the Toll Keeper's House at the ford of the River Moiste.
  • Sgt Kallenbach, ATG Section, Schwere Platoon, Schutzen Company, was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, for destroying two enemy tanks in the defense at the ford of the River Moiste.


*Lt Wehner did not report Sgt Kapp for withdrawing his tank from the fight; Sgt Graebner told the Lieutenant he would take care of the matter.

The rules are working like a champ; the boy finally complained about the Tea Break card ("maybe we ought to take out the Tea Break card..."), but I talked to him about friction, not being able to do everything you want, when you want, and he was okay.  Our 'blinds move at end of turn' house rule worked; my only complaint there, as I mentioned above, is the ugliness of my blinds, and my only answer so far is to move to get the blinds off the table as quickly as possible. 

My only other complaint is how long the games take; I don't want to sound like a whiner, but you have to keep in mind I play a LOT of skirmish games and small, platoon-level games where I can play three games in as many hours.  Our game last week took about 3 1/2 hours and this one took about 4 1/2 hours.  So I'm not complaining that they are inordinately long games, it's just that I can only take playing so many long games in a row before I get aggravated and move back to playing my small, quick games for awhile.

Having said that, we're having a lot of fun and I really want to keep this going so I can close out KG Klink's "Fall of France" episode and move on to whatever is next.    

Anyway, hopefully we've given you an entertaining battle report to enjoy, some food for thought regarding the rules, and some food for thought regarding the future of KG Klink (and go ahead and toss your thoughts my way, please).  Thanks for reading, hope you liked it.

Jack

 
 
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This was the second game of two that we played on the same afternoon. Both very fast, but not very bloody.

We used the same terrain as for the previous encounter, but with enough differences to ensure that we couldn't use all the weak/strong points that we'd found in the last game.

The Germans begin the game by deploying their artillery, more to scare their opponents than anything else.

Everything else, for both sides, is hidden under Blinds.

As soon as the game begins, the British think that they could gain the most advantage by combining their force and attacking a single point.

Although this meant that the British could advance quickly in three spearheads, it didn't actually work as a tactic, as their armoured vehicles were easily picked off.

As a result of their losses, the British did not advance beyond the wire, so the result was total victory for the Germans.

Burt Minorrot

 
 
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It's 1600 on 14 May 1940, and KG Klink, attached to the 7th Panzer Division, is on the move.  Earlier this morning KG Klink attacked and destroyed a strongpoint manned by the French 5th Infantry Division.  Having broken through 7th Panzer Division is on the road to Flavion.  However, an hour ago, 7th Panzer reconnaissance elements on the march came under fire from the (fictional) French village of Riqueville.  7th Panzer continued west around the village, and KG Klink immediately received a FragO to stand detached to reduce yet another French strongpoint. 

Colonel Klink decided to lead the assault himself, composed of the better part of his Grenadier Company, two platoons of tanks, a portion of the Kampfgruppe's Reconnaissance Platoon, and a section of 80mm mortars.  Aerial reconnaissance stated the French force as a couple platoons of infantry with perhaps a couple crew-served weapons, with maybe a single tank in support.  Ordinarily a single tank in support wouldn't be something for Colonel Klink to be too concerned about, but when that tank is a Char B, with it's extraordinarily heavy armor...

Regarding rules, I'm messing around again. Years ago, when my father was still alive, he'd come over pretty much every weekend and we'd play wargames (sadly, this was before I created a blog to record all my wargaming efforts).  In any case, we primarily played three games: Force on Force, Bag the Hun, and I Ain't Been Shot Mum (IABSM).  So it's been awhile, but I've had a hankering for some larger, reinforced-company level games that are a bit grittier that what I normally play, so I decided to give IABSM another try. 

I did change some things up, vastly simplifying the shooting and morale mechanics, but I've kept the 'guts' of the game as written: platoon and 'Big Man' activation randomized by cards and further randomized by the 'Tea Break,' starting the game on 'blinds' and having to be spotted, and variable (diced-for) movement.  I say guts; others may have differing opinions, but to me, those items are what set the IABSM rules apart from others. 

This desire to play a larger game and try out IABSM again also happened to coincide with my eight year-old boy telling me "it's been a long time Daddy, we should have another battle."  I happily acquiesced ;)

The Battlefield

Overview. North is DOWN, with the Germans entering the table at left (east) and the French defending the right (west) half of the table, including the village, at top right (southwest). 

The north is covered with crop fields and bushes which provide neither cover nor concealment, and while the bushes across the entirety of the table might look a bit bocage-ey, they're just bushes.  At far left is The Chateau, which has The Orchard just above it.  At centre top left is The Farm (with a wood fence running around it and north *down* through the fields), and at centre/centre right is The Granary.

The figures that will be used are 10mm: a mix of Pendraken and Minifigs.  Basically it breaks out to most of the infantry are Minifigs and most of the vehicles are Pendraken.

The Germans

At left in the photo below is the Kampfgruppe Commander, Colonel Klink, proud owner of the Iron Cross 2nd Class for his actions in Poland.  At top is the German infantry company: top centre left is the company commander, Captain Freitag (Iron Cross 2nd Class).  He has three of his four platoons available.

I thought about adding all of the Iron Cross holders as "Big Men," but I didn't. I only did the KG Commander, the Company Commander, and each Platoon Commander, which is how I treated the French as well.

The Infantry

1st Platoon Commander: 1st Lieutenant Klugmann, Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class

  • 1st Squad, 1st Platoon: SSgt Aust
  • 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon: Sgt Kamphaus
  • 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon: Sgt Lehmkuhl


3rd Platoon Commander: SSgt Janke, Iron Cross 2nd Class

  • 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon: Sgt Hauer, Iron Cross 2nd Class*
  • 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon: Sgt Nader
  • 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon: Cpl Arndt, Wound Badge


4th Platoon Commander: SSgt Mader, Iron Cross 2nd Class, Tank Killer Badge

  • 1st Squad, 4th Platoon: Sgt Imhofe, Iron Cross 2nd Class*
  • 2nd Squad, 4th Platoon: Sgt Kandler
  • 3rd Squad, 4th Platoon: Cpl Rishel, Replacement Squad Leader


Two vehicles of the Reconnaissance Platoon:

  • SdKfz 221: Platoon Commander, 2nd Lieutenant Weidner, 1 Tank Kill
  • SdKfz 221: Cpl Edst, replacement vehicle commander


Three vehicles from 2nd Tank Platoon:

  • Pz III: Platoon Commander: 1st Lieutenant Loeb, Iron Cross 2nd Class, 2 Wound Badges, 4 Tank Kills
  • Pz III: SSgt Grossman
  • Pz III: Sgt Mayer, 1 Tank Kill

Two vehicles from 4th Tank Platoon:

  • Pz IV: Platoon Commander: SSgt Mangold, 2 Tank Kills
  • Pz IV: Cpl Ed st, Replacement vehicle commander

Mortars

  • A mortar section under Sgt Osswald, who has been incredibly unreliable in the past. Sgt Osswald is the forward observer on a motorcycle
  • Two 80mm mortars and crews

The French

The French are commanded by Major Renaut (left) and have:

  • Two rifle platoons of three squads each (Lieutenants Renoir and Gagne, respectively)
  • A weapons section of a single machine gun and a 25mm anti-tank gun (I gave them bonus MG fire and a bonus ATG fire)
  • A single Char B commanded by Sgt Guillaume.

Opening Moves

Overview, looking north to south, Germans on the left (east) and French on the right (west), everyone on Blinds. 

The French have a Blind for each rifle platoon, weapons platoon, the Char B, and four dummy Blinds. 

The Germans have a Blind for all three rifle platoons, both tank platoons, the recon platoon, and the weapons platoon (mortars), plus three dummy Blinds.

Looking east to west from behind the Germans.  I'm playing the Germans.

I've got my infantry on the left, intend on getting my mortars set up around the chateau (bottom left), got Recon and Panzer IVs on the road, Pz IIIs at bottom right.

Looking west to east from behind the French: the boy is playing the French, so I had no idea at the time, but it turns out he put the tank at bottom left with two dummy Blinds, two dummy Blinds in the centre, and then the two rifle platoons and the MG/ATG at bottom right.

The Germans move first, pushing their blinds west and trying to spot the dastardly French.
 

A French Blind creeps up to the Granary (centre, with the ville at bottom center/right) and peers east (top)...

The Action Begins

Intermission

For those not familiar with IABSM, when you start the game every unit is on 'Blinds,' which we are using poker cards for, and you draw cards to move Blinds/units/dummy Blinds.  At the beginning of the game you only have three cards in the activation deck: Allied Blinds, Axis Blinds, and Tea Break.  But as units get spotted and/or the owning player decides he needs to get them on the table, cards for the units and their leaders (or "Big Men," as the Lardies call them) go into the action deck.

So right now the deck has the following cards:

  • German 1st Rifle Platoon activation
  • German 1st Rifle Platoon Commander
  • German 4th Rifle Platoon activation
  • German 4th Rifle Platoon Commander
  • German Rifle Company Commander
  • German Weapons Platoon activation
  • German Recon Platoon activation
  • German Recon Platoon Commander
  • German 2nd Tank Platoon activation
  • German 2nd Tank Platoon commander
  • Axis Blinds
  • French 1st Tank Platoon activation
  • French 2nd Rifle Platoon activation
  • French 2nd Rifle Platoon Commander
  • French Company Commander
  • French Weapons Platoon activation
  • French MG Bonus Fire
  • French ATG Fire
  • Allied Blinds
  • Tea Break

When the Tea Break card pops out the turn is over and the deck gets re-shuffled.  So we've had a number of turns since we added troops to the table (and their cards to the deck) where the Blinds haven't gotten to do anything, and it's really frustrating and doesn't make a lot of sense, and, as I recall, was part of the reason I gave up on the rules. 

If you're not familiar, it is supposed to be a huge bonus to still have troops on Blinds.  These are your guys that have yet to be detected by the enemy, so they can't be shot at and they don't have to deal with terrain when they're moving.  But I think the fix is simple, and can't believe it didn't occur to me earlier: there are some set actions units that did not activate are allowed to undertake as part of the end-of turn sequence.  Frankly, I just ignore these as I figure if the unit(s) didn't get to activate, well, that's the whole point of friction in rules.  But I feel like Blinds not being able to activate doesn't make sense, so I think the answer is to allow Blinds to activate automatically as part of the end of turn sequence.  I'll try it out next game and let you know.

Back to the Action

Captain Freitag (left) has managed to get the understrength 1st Platoon back into fighting shape, though SSgt Mader's 4th Platoon is beat up (top center), while Sgt Osswald, the mortar FO, has managed to get into position in the Farm (far right).

*yeah, that's right, the mortars have yet to speak this game.  Don't misunderstand, I'm not complaining.  I was complaining about Blinds not activating because it's supposed to be a big advantage to be on Blinds, but it doesn't bother me at all that units actually on the table don't activate, that's the point of friction!

I hope my commentary isn't ruining the narrative: it probably would have been better if I'd simply typed something like "the mortar section got their tubes set up and began cracking open ammo crates, only to discover the rounds were supplied without the fuses!  Sgt Osswald quickly dispatched a team back to the rear to find some fuses for their 80mm HE rounds."

Aftermath

Man, what a fight!  I was a bit worried about the disparity in size between the attacking German force and the defending French force; my experience is that most wargame rules struggle with games that have substantial differences in the size of the opposing forces.  But the friction/fog of war brought about by the use of the cards meant that the fight was extraordinarily tense and the outcome hung in the balance until the very end.  The fight was very enjoyable for both of us and we will definitely play again, the only change being our house rule of allowing Blinds to activate at the end of the turn if their cards don't come out.

KG Klink accomplished its mission of taking the village, but it was a real meat grinder.  Here are the casualties for the battle:

German

  • 55 KIA/WIA/MIA (including the rifle company commander, a platoon commander, and two squad leaders!)
  • One Pz III knocked out
  • One Sdkfz 221 knocked out

French

  • 40 KIA/WIA/MIA
  • 20 Captured
  • One Char B destroyed
  • One 25mm ATG destroyed

Character casualties

  • Sgt Hauer, Leader, 1st Squad, 4th Platoon, Grenadier Company, holder of the Iron Cross 2nd Class, was killed in action.
  • Captain Freitag, Grenadier Company Commander, was severely wounded, ending his campaign in France.
  • SSgt Mader, Leader, 4th Platoon, Grenadier Company, was severely wounded, ending his campaign in France.
  • SSgt Aust, Leader, 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, Grenadier Company, was severely wounded, ending his campaign in France.
  • SSgt Grossman, Vehicle Commander, 2nd Platoon, Panzer Company, was wounded but is able to return to action immediately.

With Captain Freitag out for the duration of the campaign in France, the Grenadier Company needs an interim commander.  Col Klink was going to push Lt Klugmann into the spot, but had second thoughts following the action at Riqueville.  Following his platoon being shot to pieces and his commander being severely wounded right next to him, Lt Klugmann had fallen into a funk, and so the 2nd Platoon commander, Lt Tausch, was given the company.

Colonel Klink never showed up; I guess his vehicle broke down on the way to the battlefield, or maybe he went to the rear to help find those 80mm mortar fuzes.  For the mortars that never fired...which reminds the good Colonel, something needs to be done about that slacker, Sgt Osswald.

In terms of heroics, two members of KG Klink were recognized for their personal bravery on the field of battle:

  • 1st Lieutenant Loeb, commander of the 2nd Platoon, KG Klink's Panzer Company, holder of the Iron Cross 2nd Class and two Wound Badges, was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class for heroism in leading his tank platoon through heavy fire against a qualitatively superior enemy dominating a key crossroads adjacent KG Klink's objective.  Lt Loeb maneuvered his platoon in a flanking maneuver, then personally pushed his vehicle nose to nose with enemy tank, blasting the enemy tank to destruction at point blank range (his crew members were also decorated).  This kill was Lt Loeb's fifth tank kill of the war.
  • Cpl Edst, Vehicle Commander, Reconnaissance Platoon, was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for bravery.  When his platoon commander engaged at point blank range by enemy infantry, Cpl Edst placed his vehicle in the line of fire, eliminating the threat.  When his platoon commander's vehicle was destroyed by enemy anti-tank fire, Cpl Esdst pushed his vehicle forward to cover his platoon commander's evacuation.  Cpl Edst then engaged an enemy tank with auto-cannon fire in order to distract it from maneuvers by friendly panzers to outflank the enemy tank, engaged an enemy strongpoint in a building in the village to relieve pressure on KG Klink's pinned infantry company, and then Cpl Edst fought off a charging enemy officer attempting to disable his vehicle in close combat.

Hope you had as much fun as we did!

Jack
 

 
 
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A request for a France 1940 game (Dunkirk Movie just came out) and a desire to get some French tanks out on the table made me look for a quick and easy scenario. So I stole the Jandrain game from Rob Avery's Vis Lardica site.

The game focuses on the French counterattack by SOMUA S-35s of the 3rd Light Mechanized Division against the panzers of the 3rd Panzer Division on the morning of May 13, 1940. The Panzers had pushed the French Dragoons out of Orp in the morning and were reported to be moving to Jandrain when the French launched the attack by the 1st Cuirassiers.

Mark Luther

 
 
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Operation Martlet game #2 from TFL's Chain of Command pint-sized campaign book converted to IABSM. A British infantry company with tank support against a couple of platoons of 12 SS Panzer supported by a lone Tiger (historically should probably have been a Panther, but hey). Again on my 2' x 3' board using the excellent H&R 1/300 models and Leven buildings.

Setting up the Game

Here is the campaign plan. This game is on map 2, the small village of Fontenay-le-Pesnel. Historically the grenadiers of the thinly stretched 12SS Panzer were attempting to hold the British 49th Infantry Division with Shermans in support.

An expanded version of the map in blurry detail

 Google street view shot showing the terrain from the junction of the main road and the track near the British entry points. Note small hedges (soft cover) and generally flat terrain.

The Game

LESSONS LEARNED

  • Yes, Churchills are tough
  • Even Tigers get unlucky
  • Close range infantry fire is deadly, even when you're in cover.
  • Rules get forgotten ... thats the fog of war ;)

CUSTOM RULES

  • MGs can fire through smoke, but at heavily reduced rate (-3DR)
  • Infantry fire from the side/rear is more effective
  • Range effects AT accuracy and penetration. AFVs have front/side/rear armour values.

James Tree

 
 
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I recently came across the excellent CoC Operation Martlet campaign write up on http://tinyhordes.com/tag/martlet-campaign/, so decided to try the first game using IABSM on my mini-board (2’ x 2’) in 1/300 H&R.

After a little research (Google Streetview) and buying a 1/25,000 WW2 map of the area suggested in TFL ‘At the Sharp End’, I decided to go with slightly different terrain setup from that in the scenario, based on this overly magnified section of map:

The thick black line bottom centre to top right is the main road and has a few farm buildings and a church, so to convert that to a wargame layout I've added the high stone walls favoured in Normandy around the farm and a low wall around the church. There is an orchard on the right. ‘A’ marks the British entry point along a narrow track towards a large building on the main road. A church with a spire is at the German end. 

Additional/Changed Rules

  • Scale changed to 20cm = 100m (1/500)
  • Infantry fire from side or rear is more effective
  • I used the morale system from Summer/Winter specials – Germans dropped a couple of points, but didn’t really kick in.
  • Tactical movement - I can't remember if thats in IABSM as I've been a lot of CoC Batreps
  • Made easier spotting – although, nobody in cover got spotted before they opened fire
  • AT fire has modifiers for range and penetration and vehicles have discrete front/side/rear values – not sure if this really adds anything, the original rules being a very simple/elegant solution.

Lessons Learned

Churchills armour is too tough for Pz IVs … but their gun is dire! 3 Churchills v 1 Pz IV and eventually they batter it into submission.
• Even an SS PzGren squad with 2 LMGs can be over-powered by 3 or 4 British squads at close range. Maybe I reduced the German force a little too severely and should have stuck with 3 squads each.

James Tree

 
 
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For this game we went back to using the IABSM rules from the TooFatLardies: a set of rules that come with with army lists for all the participants in World War 2.

As always, we played on a randomly generated table: which each player putting down whatever scenery he happens to have available.

The game's objectives: the Germans must break through the Soviet frontline and get as many units off the table to the Russian rear; the Soviets must prevent the Germans from escaping.

The photo below shows how the table ended up looking.

Each army deployed the same number of units. All the German units deployed either on table or under Blinds, the Soviets had a combination of Blinds and hidden Blinds.

The German Deployment

Soviets under hidden Blinds

Well, most of them!

The Game

Not much happened on the first turn, except that the Germans probed forward cautiously, but from the second turn onwards, Soviet artillery began to make its presence felt...even if some German units were missed by "millimetres".

Both sides then clashed on the Soviet right, where they had placed barbed wire, and fierce fighting broke out:

Whilst on the other flank, the Germans arrived at the wire undetected.

Although the Soviets desperately defended their right flank, eventually they were overwhelmed by an avalanche of German troops:

Although once through the wire, the Germans begin to have a hard time moving forward.

And a good Soviet smoke screen allows them to reform their troops without the Germans knowing what they are doing.

A Soviet Maxim soon appear on the left flank, slowing the advance of the Germans.

 Despite this, the Germans are starting to get their troops off the battlefield. Starting with the lightest and fastest.

The rest of their units, however, were engaged in fights that had them bogged down around the trenches.

At the end of the game, once the agreed number of turns were over, a quick count up revealed that the result was technically a draw, as the Germans managed to get only a couple of light units off the board and the Soviets hadn't suffered too many casualties as they slowed down the final advance of the Bosche, who were losing more and more troops.

A great game that both sides enjoyed.

Burt Minorrot

PS: Don't tell the Germans, but they would have won if they'd just got one more unit off the board!

 
 
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After reading TFL's excellent CoC 'Talking Tactics' posts on their blog (I just love the level of research and thought that's gone into these rules) I thought I'd try putting theory into practice in IABSM with a small game involving a US Infantry company versus a heavily-reduced German Grenadier company, both sides with plenty of leaders.

 

The Defenders: My reduced German company. Two weak platoons and an MMG, plus a level II and III Big Man and Company HQ

The Attackers: A full strength US Infantry company with an MMG, bazooka and plenty of level II (1 figure) and III (2 figures) leaders plus a Company Commander (level III)

 

After probing forward with Blinds (not really got the hang of these yet), my US #1 platoon is advancing up the bocage hedge in the middle of the table. The German 2/2 squad behind the bocage hedge bottom left has just opened fire and caused some casualties.

In addition, the German MMG and Company HQ, top right, has opened fire on the squad as it crosses the field behind the house causing a few more dead.

The US #2 platoon has moved up behind the bocage bottom-right, and is ready to open fire on the German 2/2 squad in the orchard.

The #1 and #2 US platoons over-power the German 2/2 squad in the orchard, which retires (well, the one remaining man). Their leader, runs off to try and find another squad to command.

The US #1 platoon moves up to their position.

The US #3 platoon deploys around the house and bocage hedge to the left, but starts taking casualties from the MMG on the hill (top left) and the squads across the lane.

The US #1 platoon moves into the orchard and starts to out flank the German position. The #2 platoon moves up through the centre into the small orchard.
The #3 platoon in the centre is still getting hammered by deadly fire from the MMG on the hill (just inside close range for the MMG).

There is a US MMG in the upper story of the house attempting to provide support, but it is just outside close range and the bocage is providing just too much cover for the German MMG and Company HQ.

 

The Americans have managed to get some kills/Shock on the MMG, but are now trading close range fire with the German 1/2 and 1/1 squads across the track going North: both behind bocage hedges.

The German 2/1 squad has moved from the hill to try and shore up the right flank, but makes a deadly error...

US #1 platoon has moved through the orchard and takes position along the bocage hedge and blasts the German 1/2 squad...unfortunately taking position behind an ordinary hedge ('okay shot' cover) rather than a bocage hedge ('poor shot' cover). This softer cover means it starts taking casualties from the US platoon lined up along the bocage in an unequal fire-fight at close range.

I decide to add a mortar strike for the US to get things moving. It lands spot on target and wipes out the MMG! If it was the Brits, I'd try some 2" smoke!

The US #1 platoon fires again and almost wipes out the German 2/1 squad in the hedge!

The yellow dot on the house is supposed to remind me that I have a unit (the US MMG) inside - not sure if that works yet. Still not sure how to represent units inside buildings. I did think about having building templates off the board to place them on...or just play with everything damaged until I can find/make some where the roofs come off!

The remaining close range firepower of the nearly bigger and more resilient US platoons (still have three Actions after two dead) is too much for the battered German squads and they start to take lots of Shock and with few leaders they can't remove it. Their few remaining troops start to break and run.
 

Lessons Learnt

Close range fire is really deadly even across bocage hedges from units firing with 3/4 actions!

MMGs are lethal at close range (although I did beef the German MMG up a little) with good leaders.

To suppress a well placed MMG you need artillery or tanks or just try and go around it.

Without lots of leaders, squads just can't recover Shock and are ground down.

I still struggle with the use of Blinds: early days

Rule Variations

A few rule variations that I'm trying:

Fire from higher elevation gets an additional dice (so the MMG got 5D6 plus +3 for the Company Commander). Even versus a target in bocage or a stone building, it's deadly. Not sure if its OTT? How much cover would a bocage hedge give to an MMG fired from a hill at 150m? Especially if it has the company command over-seeing firing? Thoughts?

Also artillery gets a one column shift if it lands behind a linear obstacle, like a hedge or bocage.

I have played with the ranges, so using 1/500 (20mm = 10m) (my table is only 2' x 3') and will try 1/400 (I think 1" = 10m) next time which works. I find the IABSM default 12" = 80yds very odd. My quick ref sheet has everything in meters. Movement is still 1 pip per cm. Cross a bocage hedge is -3D6.

Also, I might add some markers to the table to assist understanding in batreps...or do too many markers 'spoil' the report? I know Mark Luther's masterpieces use toned down markers.

No close assaults ... firepower did all the damage. I'm still not sure how to sequence them, given that jumping out from behind a bocage hedge, crossing a road and over another hedge puts you at a massive disadvantage in CC.

Didn't think about it, but does IABSM have smoke grenades? Might have helped.

James Tree

 

 
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Off to Edinburgh for a week to visit daughter #1 at university, and to play a game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! with Mr Hodge down at the South East Scotland Wargames Club. The scenario chosen was  Derek's adaptation of a scenario that I wrote for the Xmas 2005 TwoFatLardies Christmas Special: Moiste Cabbage and a Quick Cognac.

The scenario is set in France in May 1940 amongst the cabbage patches that border the Moiste river. A German probe has discovered a previously unknown ford across the river is unguarded, and has dug-in to protect the crossing whilst reinforcements are summoned. The French have spotted what is going on, and dispatch Captain Cognac and his men to re-capture the ford as soon as possible.

The picture belows show the battlefield. The Germans, led by Derek and a fellow club member, would begin the game dug-in around the ford by the woods on the left. They consisted of a platoon of infantry support by a squad of engineers with a flamethrower; two anti-tank guns; and a single medium machine gun. They could also expect two lots of reinforcements to arrive at some point in the game: the first, a zug of two Panzer IV tanks; the second, another platoon of infantry, this time in half-tracks, supported by a couple of medium mortars.

I was playing the French, who would start the game around the farm to the right hand side of the picture, and had at their disposal two large platoons of infantry, each of three squads, and three Somua tanks. They could also expect two lots of reinforcements: the first, a single Char B-1 bis tank; the second, another platoon of infantry.

Those of you used to reading my battle reports might notice that the scale of things in the pictures above looks a bit different from usual. That's because the game used Derek's 10mm figures rather than my normal 15mm models. Nothing wrong with that, I hasten to add, as the ground scale of IABSM is much closer to 10mm than 15mm, but it all looked very small to me. In fact, my entire force fitted easily on the top of a chair:

Luckily I'm short- rather than long-sighted!

As a final note, Derek was using the command card modification to the basic IABSM rules that were the subject of his article in the 2017 Summer Special. This meant that both sides could draw chits that allowed units or Big Men to be activated out of the normal run of cards drawn i.e. if two French command cards appeared before the Tea Break, then I could immediately use them to activate a unit that had not yet had its card drawn. Interesting...

The Battle

Knowing Derek to be a wily player who would be seeking to delay my advance hedgerow by hedgerow, I decided to place my entire infantry force on the left hand side of the table, with the tanks in support on the road.

The idea was that half the infantry would pin half the German force (as the Bosche had to defend their entire front) whilst the rest of les gens braves charged forward to hook around the left flank of the German line. Meanwhile, the tanks would advance slowly: waiting until the infantry had spotted any anti-tank guns before deciding the best way forward.

The French 1st Platoon duly advanced forward quickly, and occupied the hedgerow overlooking the road (see picture, above). It soon became apparent that the Germans were lining the hedgerow on the other side of the road, as a hail of fire came my way. The two German squads were ten-strong good troops, each with an extra squad support weapon, and were therefore firing with five dice!

This was very bad, and despite worming their way into whatever cover was available, 1st Platoon began taking heavy casualties, not helped by a run of German cards and command chits. 

As one French squad disintegrated, something needed to be done, especially as the German line was still too strong to hit with my left hook of the other French platoon and Company HQ squad. Luckily my Somuas were ready, willing and able to intervene, so No.2 Tank moved up to the corner of the road and began pumping HE shells into the German line.

The Germans did have an anti-tank rifle, but I wasn't too bothered: Somuas have good armour, and anti-tank rifles are fairly poop. This turned out to be a bad mistake, as the second shot from the damned thing must have found a weak spot in No.2 tank's armour, got inside, and taken out the entire crew!

This was getting to be just too much, but fortunately the tank had had time to Pin enough Germans for my surviving riflemen to weaken the enemy enough for my hook to go in: so the French 2nd Platoon, still under a Blind, hopped the hedge in front of them and charged forward into close combat with the battered German squad in front of them.

The Germans broke backwards, with their other squad retreating backwards from their hedgerow as well rather than staying to face two platoons of Frenchies on their own.

I couldn't let the Germans regain their balance, so French 2nd Platoon lined the hedgerow they had just attacked and poured fire at the German line as the Company HQ squad, led by Captain Cognac himself, sprinted down the side of the battlefield towards the last hedgerow by the river, where more German infantry had appeared.

Almost without stopping, Cognac led his men around the corner of the hedge and assaulted the flank of the nearest German squad. Although Cognac's squad lost three men, almost a third of its strength, the German squad broke and ran for the ford, quickly followed by the other squad, who fell back onto the other side of the river in a more orderly fashion. Bravo to Captain Cognac!

Cognac's HQ Squad drive back the right hand German squad

Meanwhile, the other two Somuas had spotted that the small house by the ford contained a German machine gun. This they pounded remorselessly until a combination of casualties and accumulated Shock forced the MMG team to retreat. 

In reply, the Germans had revealed an anti-tank gun, which began shooting at the Somuas, but this was quickly masked by their own infantry as they fled back across the ford.

At this point, some German reinforcements turned up: two Panzer IVs. Fortunately, these were the early war models with a not-bad gun, but appalling armour: one was quickly taken out by the combined fire of the Somuas who, in exchange, only received a couple of points of Shock.

Retreating German troops mask their own anti-tank gun. The men closest, with all the Shock markers, are about to do the same for their tanks.

Things were definitely going my way now: I had largely driven the Germans back across the ford and taken out half their armour. When another round of fire from the Somuas took out the main gun on the surviving German tank, Derek declared that the Bosche had had enough and would retreat from the field. Victory was mine!

Commentary

A great game that was played in good spirits, with both sides taking their reverses on the chin! I was pleased that my plan had worked, despite the hard going early on, but recognised that I got lucky in the endgame when the dice certainly seemed to turn in my favour.

It was very interesting to play the game in 10mm rather than 15mm. The first thing that strikes one is the emptiness of the battlefield: using the larger figures sometimes means one feels a bit resentful that what look like dense targets don't seem to take much damage ever. Using the smaller figures, you can understand why.

Using figures that match the ground scale also means that all the distances in the game feel, well, righter somehow. It's not something I can put my finger on, but the game definitely felt better in 10mm.

On the other hand, and the reason why I'm not going to convert from my 15's, the 10mm figures are very small. I just didn't like them as much and had real difficulty quickly seeing such things as which tank was which, how many figures remaining in a squad etc. Derek's toys are lovely, but I prefer the extra characterisation and detail of 15mm figures. I guess I just prefer the aesthetics of a 15mm game. It was the same with the Franco-Prussian 6mm games I played last year: lovely, but just too small.

What I certainly won't do, however, is ever turn my nose up at a 10mm game of IABSM, and might even have a think about whether I have room to play 15mm games using a 15mm groundscale. The mathematicians amongst you will be able to help me out here, but I'm assuming that that means multiplying every measurement in the rules by 1.5. Not a total pain, but probably enough of an annoyance to put me off actually doing so!

So, in conclusion, 10mm figures felt very right...but I prefer my 15's!

Whichever, many thanks to Mr Hodge and friend for a great game and their hospitality. I might even have to visit my daughter more often: that will please her!

Robert Avery

 
 
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A 6mm IABSM game played at Giga-bites Café Spring, 2017, this scenario is the action that took place on the outskirts of Kolonie on the Belgium-Dutch border on the morning of September 14, 1944. The Allied bridgehead was held by the 5th Coldstream Guards (11 Armoured Division) with C Squadron of the 15/19 Hussars just down the road.

The German units coming down the road straight for the canal consisted of 6 Luftwaffe BewahrungsBatalillon zur besondere Verwendung (a Luftwaffe penal unit) and Sturmgeschutze from 2/559 schwere Heeres Panzerjager Abteilung.

At the end, the mediocre Luftwaffe troops and the StuGs pull back. The Germans lost four full sections and several others: a total of 46 men and a StuG.

The Brits had much fewer infantry casualties:  11 men and one Platoon Leader, a PIAT team, and two Cromwells.

Historically, the German attack also petered out. Sergeant Hollis received a Military Medal, and Roderick the Military Cross. The appearance of the Hussars was the turning point in the game and in actuality.

Mark Luther

 
 
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As I said in an earlier post, I’ve started to get into modeling mainly as a spinoff of my miniatures wargaming habit. Well, that habit continues, and every now and again I have an opportunity to play a wargame or two – thanks to a very patient wife (wargaming opponents have been hard to come by here in Khabarovsk). We recently tested out a new set of rules, called “I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!” Lots of fun. Here’s the after-action report.

For the test scenario, we ran a simple hypothetical meeting engagement with two platoons of German Infantry with light mortar support against two platoons of Soviet Infantry with HMG support. The overarching objective for both sides was control of the bridges in the town.

IABSM uses some interesting mechanisms, which add to the unpredictability of the game, and I think add to the interest as well. Firstly, it uses a system of blind movement, whereby units are represented by “blinds,” until those units are spotted or open fire. A blind may be an actual unit (platoon, in this case), or it may be a small recon squad of a few men (basically a “dummy” blind – no combat potential, but able to spot and move). This means you don’t really know what you’re facing, sometimes until you’re right on top of a unit (like in real warfare). In this photo, the Russians advance on the town, using the cover of the buildings and forest to advance practically unnoticed. The dice are used for movement, firing, and spotting, and as your unit loses men, it loses dice, thus reducing it’s effectiveness.

Here, a German platoon with light artillery support is revealed early on, as they advance in the open. Each squad can then move on it’s own, but usually with reduced effectiveness. Blinds receive four initiative dice, but each regular Wermacht squad receives only three. Nte that the squads are represented by four figures for ease of play, and due to the lack of figures in sufficient numbers, especially on the Soviet side. Need to do some more painting!

The Germans advance on the town. The dice next to the unit are it’s reserved dice, which can be used for firing or spotting at any point in the turn.

Here a Soviet platoon takes cover in a ruined building. Note the Maxim HMG in support. The AT rifles are actually substituting for light MGs – again, need to do some more painting – I only had enough LMGs for one platoon! Another interesting feature of IABSM is the use of a card-based initiative system. Cards representing every unit (as well as some special characteristic cards) are placed in a deck and shuffled. Then they are turned over one at a time, to indicate when those units are activated. There is also a “Tea Break” card, which indicates the end of a turn, when all unit cards are reshuffled. What this means is that unit order is not fixed, and it is possible (even likely) that not every unit will activate every turn! In fact, this HMG unit, after taking up it’s position in the building, never once activated the entire game! Obviously new recruits lacking appropriate supervision.

Here we see the deleterious effects of combat. This German platoon has made it to the bridge – but it was unfortunately as far as they ever got. They tried to advance in the open and received withering fire from the Soviets behind hard cover in the buildings of the town. The white counters represent “wounds,” which reduce the squads’ effectiveness. The black counters represent actual casualties. One more casualty on this squad on the foreground, and they will be down to one figure, or zero initiative dice (I used the number of figures to represent how many dice the squad had +1, since even if a squad has no dice, it still has the potential of action, albeit this action more often than not would be to seek out cover – which the two squads with attached platoon leader in the background have already done).

RUMBLE! Close assault usually proves devastating and decisive, and this was no exception. The assault ended with the two squads of Germans in full retreat. This left the Germans with a squad with Platoon commander in the church, and the second platoon taking cover by the bridge on their left flank. However, they had by this point sustained too many casualties to offer effective resistance, and left the field of battle, regrouping for a counterattack on another day.

Overall, the game was really fun, and while it was unpredictable, this added to the “feel” of the game. The ranges in this game seem rather “short,” meaning lots of ineffective fire until you really get close. Artillery was a mixed bag. In this game, there was no forward observer, but IABSM allows for “blind firing” of light and medium on-table artillery. What happened was the German mortars ended up sitting way back on the table without line of sight to anything, and just fired off of map coordinates. Usually, the fire scattered, but occasionally it was dead on, and there didn’t seem to be any difference in accuracy if the mortar unit could see the impact point or not – perhaps I’m reading the rules wrong, and if so, feel free to correct me. This was a bit of a sticking point for me, but all in all, the mortars did not have an overwhelming effect on the game. Overall, the rules are worth a look-see. Check them out at www.toofatlardies.co.uk.

Randy Stoda

 
 
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The setting is spring of 1940. A small town in Belgium, where a railroad, a highway and a canal all meet. The Third Reich wants this important road network. The Belgians and the British are desperate to hold it from the German blitzkrieg, but are woefully undermanned and virtually without effective anti-tank weapons. Thankfully, the British have managed to send a company of Scots and a few tanks (Matilda Is and Mk VIs).

Belgian Marines hold the Town

The photos are from a game of "I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!" played on April 17th 2010. We played at UH-Clear Lake, our usual third Saturday of the month.

I wish I had taken photos of the Stugs shelling the buildings of the town and driving the Belgians out by collapsing the stone houses on top of them. I think if the German player had continued to do that, shelling the village, he could have turned that entire flank. As it was, he split the Stugs off to deal with some British infantry.

The German player had some astonishing luck with his divebomber. Three times he hit right on target. Blew the heart out of an entire platoon of Scots, and slowed the only real anti-tank weapon (a 25-pdr) to a crawl.

A Stuka divebomber prepares to strike British infantry

This flank is now safe from the Stuka, with all those Bren guns pointing skywards. But the damage was done. The platoon pounded by the Stuka was half dead, and all discouraged. Other than the Boys AT Rifle team (which banged away gamely at the Stugs), the platoon was done for the day.

British Motorized Platoon pulls up to defend the Canal

Miraculously, at the end of the alloted game time, the German player had not reached the village. I think this was more due to a few tactical mistakes on his part than any particular genius on the defenders' parts. You do not want to leave your infantry out in the open in front of a weapons platoon's worth of medium machine guns! Very bloody.

Also, the card driven system, with random turn ends did not help. Finally, I got a bit of luck with my aircover as well, with the Rare As Fairies showing up twice to strafe the German ATG crews. I have experienced a great deal of frustration while trying to get an attack under way using this system myself, so I can empathize with the German commander.

IABSM! is not my favorite set of rules, though it is pretty simple once you get used to it. My biggest gripe is that random turn end (the Tea Break card). You have to be super careful to get that deck of cards well shuffled so that the Tea Break doesn't happen too early in the turn every time. It is incredibly frustrating when you move the same unit over and over and the rest of your troops are glued in place.

The Scattergun Gamer

 
 
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A small game set on the Eastern Front:  Soviets versus Germans.

Hardly had the game begun when both sides advanced rapidly forward in to firing range and began to take casualties.

The Germans, more motorised than their opponents, are able to act more strategically: taking advantage of the hills and forests, and using their armour to cover the advance of their infantry.

The German tanks opened fire on the Soviet armour without stopping to think about it.

But the Russians, not being in the business of pulling back (it is what the commissars to the rear are for), advance using their KO'd armor as cover.

The Soviets go through the woods.

The artillery deployed strategically.

On this occasion, the Germans are a little less aggressive:  all their troops take cover.

With their forward observers in the best position possible.

Soon the tables are turned, and it's the German armour that are taking hits.

Although they want to conserve their troops, they are here to fight and win the battle...which is why, in the end, the Germans decide to advance.

Which is what the Soviets have been doing since the battle began. 

So the gap between the two front lines is shrinking.

And in the end, close combat becomes inevitable.

Because of their excessive caution, the Germans are in a worse position than the Soviets, and are soon getting the worst of it.

In the end, as always happens to us, the game ends in a draw as time has beaten us, and we have to clear things away.

A great afternoon among friends with lots of laughs and fun.

Burt Minorrot.

 
 
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Played scenario 10 from the All American 82nd Airborne scenario pack tonight at the SLW club. My Germans took on Ian’s farm boys and tried a double envelopment. Ian was a clever so and so, allowing me to observe certain areas then, once I thought them clear, move up to them. I walked into these and many a tear was wept back in Dusseldorf after the casualty list came in.

My armour could not hit a barn door (rolled a '1' on almost every HE round I fired). The FOO did a great job calling in support, but the Tea Break card kept turning up before any of my support cards! I did have some luck with the second flank attack and actually reached the village, only for a platoon of reinforcements to arrive!

A very good game and will try it again in two weeks, but I will umpire this time.

Here are some photos.

Desmondo Darkin