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This was our first game of I Aint Been Shot, Mum designed to learn the game in preparation for playing a selection of scenarios (and hopefully mini campaigns) from The September War supplement in September because you don't get an 80th anniversary every year!

I'm not entirely new to Lardy games as I have experience with Through the Mud and Blood and I'm quite a fan of Chain of Command but this is my first dabbling with World War II at company level. I've even spent from March to July making two companies specifically for this project!

So with my armies made, a card deck prepared and the rules read over we began.

We picked situation #04 from the randomly generated scenario list in the IABSM v3 rule book, A Hasty Defence, as it seemed somewhat appropriate for the invasion of Poland.

The first few turns went by pretty quickly as everyone advanced under Blinds (and because the deck was only four cards strong at this stage). A few dummy Blinds kept things tense until eventually, and somewhat inevitably, advancing Germans in the corn fields spotted the Polish in their defensive trench.

Thus began a largely fruitless firefight that didn't quite resolve itself even by the end, but kept the participants honest and us entertained at getting to throw dice in anger.

Meanwhile on my right flank a platoon of eager Panzer I tanks found a platoon of TKS tankettes waiting to plug any gap that may appear.

A quick check of the tank rules revealed this was going to be a tough tank battle as everyone was solely armed with MGs. Nevertheless the Germans were so keen that their platoon card managed to come up again before the Polish armour could do anything!

So five minutes later...

The tankettes just about held on as the turns went by but the first volley resulted in SO MUCH Shock I can only assume that it took a moment for the crews to realise that they weren't actually being hurt by the fire. Still, it kept their Big Man occupied sorting them out while they tried to recreate the same terror in the Germans.

While that was going on the centre of the table became the real interest as the main German advance came off their Blinds and started to add fire on the trench and prepared to try and overrun it.

By the time this had started to look particularly threatening to the anchor point of the Polish defence, the first additional platoons began to arrive! Unfortunately they arrived and took quite a bit of fire as they were largely in the open that first turn. This was the point I learned to value keeping an Action back to take cover...

That lesson learnt, I still needed to get my MMG teams on the table. This was also where I learned that it will generally be better to get these teams in somewhere protected early on. Like, say, in a trench the scenario gives you before the game starts, and bring the mobile tanks on later… moving swiftly on!

The game was split quite evenly at this point with a couple of squads per side getting hammered but neither side looking too shaky.

Then the German armour made a bold move. They got some decent draws from the deck, including a bonus move (which we felt was a fair inclusion for this game before we started) and so swung around to lead a charge right into the heart of the Polish defence while their armoured counterparts tried to deal with their remaining Shock.

It was probably due to thinking that the Panzer I could stand up to more damage than it actually can but they charged hard straight into the middle of the Polish back line. Fortunately for the Polish defenders they had two AT rifles and three deployed MMGs ready!

From here the command tank was completely destroyed from a head-on shot, another had its weapons destroyed by the second AT rifle, and the MMGs had mixed results that also resulted in two further tanks’ weapons destroyed!

From here with the prospect of assaulting a position still so manned and time pressing on, my German opponent decided to call it and fall back.

Overall we were both pretty happy with the game and results and hope to get another game or two in before the September anniversary begins.

John Cooper

 
 

Postscript

Here are some other pictures of my Polish forces for “The September War”, all in 10mm:

 
 
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We tested the Peleliu game planned for The Other Partisan show last night and it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Using IABSM v3 and the theatre-specific rules from v2, we played our first stab at Peleliu.

Here are a few pics:

The vehicles shown are from:

  • LVT2 are Frontline Miniatures; BPM or diecasts

  • LVT 4(A) are Britannia, Die cast or home 3D

  • Shermans are Armourfast

  • DUKW are Frontline Miniatures (resin).

Figures are Britannia, Kelly’s, Stonewall with some Revell plastics.

We also put together some specific card decks for the game, including a couple of critical effect cards that will be crucial to how the game flows:

As for the scenery, it’s mainly scratch built with trees from eBay.

Japanese bunkers were constructed as follows: Barry Foster built the basic shape from a preformed craft box and covered it in Das clay. We then painted it with Sandtex paint and added some of our home made jungle floor mix.

Tim Whitworth and the Like A Stonewall Wargames Group

 
 
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Major Mick Dundee at Bardia, 1941 game 1

I`m part way through Robert Avery's Operation Compass scenario/campaign book, using the great "I Ain't Been Shot Mum" rules from Toofatlardies. The next three games cover the assault on Bardia, a coastal fortress held by the Italians. In the first game the 6th Australian Division attack a fortified position held by Italian Infantry and Artillery.

The battle is covered in Barrie Pitt's Crucible of War, as well as the Official Australian online history. Both make great reading. I made my Big men fictional characters: this was a battle with heroism and tragedy on both sides.

The paper wargames journal on the table in this photograph is as a result of my returning to bad habits! I`ve kept one of these on the go for years and I`m meant to be blogging this sort of thing. Now I`m back in Cyprus I`ll see how I get on, but I used the paper journal to plan these three games.

To create the Italian strongpoint I used light sand coloured felt to represent the trenches. This is the lighter coloured sand dug out and piled around the trenches. The anti-tank ditch is a darker brown colour to represent its depth, as are the dugouts. The main wire at the front of the emplacement was made using strips of cloth from an old ragged tea towel, and the wire perimeter of the outpost itself made from much thinner strips of a stone coloured felt, twisted and looped.

It works for me!

Major Mick Dundee of 22 Aus Inf Brigade has only a single platoon of Infantry, plus three Matilda II tanks. The good news is that he has outflanked the fortified position and is attacking the weaker Italian flank. The tanks went onto the table, being spotted almost immediately. The following Infantry remained on their blinds a little longer.

Tenente Alphonso Pachino of the 62nd Italian Infantry division, has two full platoons plus a reserve, as well as MMG and dug in artillery. His men are in trenches, and he has placed himself, with his reserve, in the rear dugout. Most of his forces were spotted automatically since the tanks were almost on top of his trench line. The tanks were also enfilading the trench line. After a "Hussar!" of a dice roll the machine guns from the tanks minced the Italian Infantry.

Major Dundee then lead his own Infantry forward, Australians, elite in close combat. The day was about to get a lot worse for Tenente Pachino.

With the Italians losing section after section of Infantry to the bayonets of the Aussies the Tenente lead out his reserve in a bid to stem the rout that seemed imminent.

I really like the Italian Officer figure in his pith helmet firing his Beretta pistol. This is a Minifigs 12mm figure, but it fits perfectly with my Pendraken 10mm. Style over substance... that`s my WW2 Italians all over!

The picture shows the Tenente leading out his reserve sections.He inspired his gunners to immobilise a Matilda, but its a tank that is quite rightly hard to kill.

Even so the immobilised tank still used its machine guns to spray the reserve as they charged to the rescue.

Pretty soon the Aussies came to grips with the Italian reserve, killing two and inflicting four more shock. The Tenente failed his survival roll and his men promptly ran away.

The fighting around the central Italian gun pits grew nasty as the Aussies closed in, although the Italians managed to kill one man and inflict two Shock. Not really enough since they lost four men and received four Shock points too.

At that point I called it job done. Mick Dundee had proved that he had a bigger knife than the Italians, although to be fair it was the Matilda Tanks of 7RTR that really won this. They focused on the Infantry, and especially on killing that Italian MMG, largely ignoring the danger of the Italian artillery. A risky strategy but it paid off.

Really nice to get back to IABSM. I`m looking forward to the next couple of games. Let's see how Capitane DeNiro does against Mick and his Aussies!

A Wargamer in Cyprus

 
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Dear Mummy,

I am back up in the blue with what’s left of my chaps from 11th Hussars. The regiment has gone back to Alex to refit but I am staying to find out about our new cars, the old Rollers having finally been killed off in Operation Compass. Troop Sergeant Reggie Quilp has joined me, and really a more clever fellow never set foot in Libya. He has the new cars working like Billy-ho, but these KDG Chaps are very new. Not veterans like us cherry bums!

We were sent out by the Colonel of KDG, (that’s the Kings Dragoon Guards Mummy dearest.) tasked with a recce out to the old fort at El Aghiela, off the via Balbia road beyond our line at Mersa Brega. The Troop Sergeant wanted some action, but it was a still night and these KDG chaps wanted to kip under their cars. I decided that I would take a nap. Sleeping in the Rolls was really a bother but in one of these new Herringtons I can just about manage, so we parked up in the rocks east of the fort.

The Colonel had told us that the rifles had a section of chaps under a corporal in the Fort. These are territorials, Tower Hamlets if you please, but they seem well trained. The Aussies had also sent a pair of portee 2pdr anti tank guns. I`m not sure what all this is for to be honest. Didn`t we see off the Italians a few weeks back at Beda Fomm?

In the middle of the night armoured cars approached from the west. Nobody had bothered to tell us that KDG had a second patrol out that night. As they turned off the track to come around east of the fort I counted eight wheels on the side of their cars. I turned to Troop Sergeant Quilp and said, “My God! Are those Germans?”

Having completed Operation Compass, I decided to get some of my Afrika Korps painted up and begin with Rommel's opening attack in February/March 1941.

Sources conflict on the exact occurrences at El Agheila fort, but it seems clear that an attack that the German's considered a probe, was seen as overwhelming force by the defenders. The Commonwealth had only a small garrison in the fort, but it was protected by mines.

This was something of a wasted opportunity, since the fact that the defenders fled told Rommel all he needed to know and prompted his subsequent early attack at the Mersa Brega position.

Since I followed the career of 2nd Lt Herbert Farthingdale for Operation Compass (Bumfluff to his friends after an incident in boarding school) I decided to do the same for the Benghazi handicap, or less politely rout, of the Commonwealth before the advancing Germans. Herbert, from the 11th Hussars, knows just about everyone, and can always tag along with a tank or armoured car formation whatever the unit. Herbert writes letters home to his mother, forming the basis of the narrative.

Actually there were Officers from 11th Hussars left with the KDG to learn about the new Marmon Herrington armoured cars, so Bumfluff is, for once, not being unhistorical... as such...

It`s been a while since I played I Ain't Been Shot Mum, but they are still a quality set of rules! I wanted to return to them with a smaller game before Bumfluff has to charge out against the Panzers in the Tower Hamlet's Rifles Bren Carriers at Mersa Brega. Still, in retrospect this was more a Chain of Command sized game.

The Germans:

  • A platoon of Infantry

  • A troop of 8-wheel armoured cars

  • A troop of five mixed armoured cars and light tanks.

  • Three Big Men

The Commonwealth

  • A troop of Armoured cars (I swapped one out as a Rolls Royce to denote Bumfluff`s car)

  • A single section of Infantry supported by an A/T rifle element

  • Two 2pdr A/T Portees

The Game

The terrain pre-deployment. I suspect that I placed the village on the wrong side of the road!

The German attack develops

An armoured car duel develops, which the KDG eventually lose. German Infantry debouch from their trucks and form up to assault. It`s only a matter of time for the defenders.

The Corporal and his Tower Hamlet`s rifles fight well, driving off the Recce Group, and actually knocking out a Panzer II with the Boys AT Rifle. They cannot stop the attacking German infantry, who destroy the Aussie portees.

And ultimately it is Bumfluff's car and the last surviving KDG that are forced to withdraw.

Next time...

Bumfluff is drafted into the Tower Hamlet's Rifles to assist their Carrier platoon in the defence of the sand dunes before the Mersa Brega Position. With the 5th Light Division of the Afrika Korps bearing down on him what could possibly go wrong?

 
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A refight of this Russian invasion of Poland game, taken from the second September War scenario pack.

The Russian attack focused on both flanks in a pincer attempt on the Polish held village. On the left flank a Russian Human Wave attack destroyed a Polish AT gun and accompanying section. Whilst on the Russian right flank a similar attempt, encouraged by the roving Commissar, failed miserably and resulted in a mass retreat.

Again the Russian air support failed to appear. Qwar, qwar, qwar....

Poles 2 games Russians 0.

Tim Whitworth

 
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July game of Vermont Historical Gamers group in South Burlington Vermont. Great scenario and game.

Played fairly true to history. US had no answer for the Panzers (several bazooka teams took some long range shots but they all missed). German infantry came on the board and things were looking grim.

However, with their three fire missions from 105mm battery, the Americans rolled three of three direct hits and completely decimated two German platoons. German right flank made a forlorn attempt to cross the creek but were driven back. See captions for some color commentary.

Dan Albrecht

 
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I just got back from France and Normandy so I was in the mood for a D-Day game. I also wanted something basic and that would allow for both sides to do some manoeuvring, so a straight out assault on dug in stationery troops was out. I came up with the move in from Asnelles by the B Company 2 Devons and the counterattack by the 916 Grenadier Regiment later in the day on June 6 1944.

The two German Grenadier companies had 2 3-section Zugs. I rated them as poor troops. This company had two attached MMG teams. The German orders were to get off the north edge of the table. A pair of StuG IIIs would show later.

For the Brits, B Company of the 2 Devons had all three platoons, but I also rated them as poor troops for this game. Between being seasick and inexperienced they were not fully up to their game. A troop from the Sherwood Rangers were assigned as support but were running late. Their orders were to advance south and get off the table.They began on the north board edge.

As was historical, the German's counterattack falters on the outskirts of Asnelles.

Overall loses for the Brits are two Shermans, one Platoon CO, and 21 men.

The 916th lost four men in 1 Kompanie and two in 2 Kompanie. But both StuGs are gone with one crew lost and now the British artillery will start to get established. But the Germans certainly gave the Devons a bloody nose.

Mark Luther

 
 
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Another IABSM Lite scenario, set in Italy '44 again. The British (Carl, Rod) are tasked with taking the farm of Santa Anna, a German (Colin) strongpoint. They have a troop of Churchill NA75s, a carrier section and two infantry platoon, as well as a Vickers. Ranged against them are two understrength German platoons, a couple of MG42s, a StuG, and their CO's new pride and joy, an SdKfz 251/10. Probably a hand-me-down from elsewhere :D

View from above the farm, looking South

The Germans went for a fairly agressively forward deployment, with an infantry section on the E/W road, the StuG in the vineyard and the half-track by the avenue of trees leading up to the farm.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it got a bit bloody when the first British platoon deployed off Blinds in the field, and then waded in to close assault one of the German sections. Result, 1-0 to the boys in khaki, as the survivors hightailed it to the farm.

The valley becomes rather a killing ground....

About that point, the two MG42s (one in the farm, one in the villa by the vineyard) as well as the Vickers which had deployed in the church tower, all opened up on the area of the field, and turned into something of a killing ground. It's fair to say none of the units involved in that scrap around the field did much useful for the rest of the game, not helped by the StuG popping up and dishing out HE and the inevitable pins. Meanwhile, over on the German right, the other platoon was dug in by the avenue, and the British sent the carriers and the other platoon that way, behind a heavy screen of 2" mortar smoke (I'll say this for Carl, he never fails to follow that bit of the British manual!)

After taking some fire from the carriers, that platoon fell back to the farm, and took up some carefully loopholed positions along the south wall.

The carriers and the Blind carrying the other platoon carried on with their sweep around the German right, while the Churchills deployed off Blinds, offloaded on the StuG twice each and to a man, missed. Wisely, Colin took this as a cue to be somewhere else, pulling it back onto the hill, and the British elected to deepen the smoke around that area anyway, causing the next few runs through the deck to result in quite a bit of 'no, can't see that for the smoke'. Bit of a two edged sword.

Reconnaissance in Force

The halftrack deployed, missed the Churchill it could see once and had a second bounce off the armour. The Churchill inexplicably chose not to return fire but advanced into the smoke with its troop-mates. After a couple more rounds of jockeying for position one Churchill pulled back and nailed the 251/10, causing the CO to have to bail and then dodge a fusillade of small arms fire from the remains of the platoon in the field.

About then we called it for time: pretty clear that one StuG was unlikely to take out all the Churchills (although in campaign history it's not been unknown!). At which point, the armour support can pound the farm till the occupants are pinned, and the flanking force can go in. Almost certainly a British victory.

Thanks as ever to my players Colin, Carl and Rod, and to Rich and Nick for an excellent set of rules.

Mike Whitaker

 
 
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Szack, Eastern Poland, 28th – 29th September 1939.

This game is taken from the TFL supplement: The September War Part Two.

Part of the narrative in the booklet is thus:

Soviet troops consisting of the 112th Infantry Regiment, some 13.000 soldiers supported by fifteen T-26 tanks and fifteen guns, arrived at the village of Szack on September 28th.
The Polish force near the village numbered 4.000 men of the Border Protection Corp, including General Wilhelm Orlik- Rückermann, and sixteen anti-tank guns.

Having taken the village, the Soviets then charged the Polish positions with infantry
supported by the T-26 tanks. The Poles waited until the Soviets were right on top of them before opening fire with their antitank guns, destroying eight tanks.

The Polish troops now launched an all-out counterattack: covered by their artillery, the soldiers of the Border Protection Corps charged at their enemies with bayonets fixed. By the afternoon the village was back in Polish hands.

The game, played last Friday, takes up the story from that point on. Charged with the task of retaking the village the Soviets again attacked in force. Dave again brought his Polish figures and was ably assisted by Barry whilst Steve brought his early Russian troops to be used by myself, Richard and Bruce. Steve and Archie elect to play umpire and tea masher.

A beautiful set of cards

As ever scale is 20 mm and we played on a 1.5 sized version of the scenario giving us a table width of six feet and a length of just over nine. Because of this increase in the grand scale we again adopted the use of the Lard; one lard being the equivalent of 11/2 inches.

The Russians all deployed on Blinds and had a couple of false Blinds available to them. The deployment area was the 1st foot and a half in across the entire southern base edge whilst the Polish were considered to be in the process of recovering the lost ground and so only 60% of their force was available to start the game under hidden Blinds with the other 40% being available upon the turn of the Polish Blinds card.

The terrain was mainly open vast areas of clear space for the Polish troops to sweep with their machine guns and anti-tank guns; the majority of the wooded area being around the two roads on the on the Russian baseline.

Having chosen their objectives play began and each side took things rather cautiously. The Russians had deployed tanks and a couple of Blinds on the two roads and made quick headway towards a village. The downside of that was that they became within auto spotting range, exposing the vehicles and disclosing the Blinds. Behind them and in the trees were their infantry and support weapons.

The Russians had the disadvantage of not having their vehicles netted into a radio net and in that respect every vehicle was its own unit waiting to be activated upon the turn of its individual card. This took a bit of getting used to at every game we've played so far have allowed AFVs to move by platoon but the Soviet play soon got used to it.

A couple of Tea Breaks later and the Soviets had brought out most of their infantry combat the mass of anti-tank guns that had set up around the Polish objective, the farm next to the church. Those guns had been pretty effective from the off, one gun disabling the forward T-26 on the left flank. It took the draw of an heroic Soviet leader card to have the local tank commander open up his turret, climb down off the tank with his magic spanner in hand and ‘repair ' the temporary fault preventing movement and thereby release the vehicle back into play. For it was certainly needed. It was looking bad for the Russians with all that open terrain to cross to get to their tormentors.

A Soviet T-26 takes damage

And then it happened as if by magic: Steve drew from the pack the Human Wave card enabling all the left hand flank Soviet infantry platoons to join together in one suicidal dash towards Polish defences. Whilst not making a particularly great movement throw a lead section did reach the walls of the farmyard and Polish anti-tank guns. They had support within distance and annihilated the gunners who put up minimal resistance against the organic onslaught. Soviets lost a couple of men in exchange for eliminating their worst threat. Technically at that point the Soviets had one having completed their mission of capturing one objective intact and having no hostile troops within close proximity however either by luck or judgement we continue to carry on.

The Soviet Human Wave attack is successful in clearing the farmyard of Polish anti-tank guns

The Soviet right flank showing the advance of the three T-26 tanks and the Polish infantry platoon defending the cemetery. The objective is indicated by the streetlamp adjacent to the cemetery entrance

Several opportunities for Soviet air support came and went as did chances for the Polish to obtain their off-board artillery, the forward observation officer frustrated at the time being taken to deliver the first ranging shot. That was disappointing as the table was festooned with Soviet infantry squads spread out in the open across a large area-a very tempting artillery target indeed but alas no reply from the battery.

On the right flank Soviet armour had advanced, probing towards the village with three T-26 light tanks cautiously approaching a previously located Polish infantry platoon in the buildings across the road from the church. Using a combination of move and fire techniques they advanced, spraying everything they could see with their machine guns but, given the amount of cover the Polish troops enjoyed, the results of that harvest were few and far between. Very rapidly one of the tanks was immobilised by fire.

The infantry on that flank had remained in the wards on the southern edge but cautiously advanced to give some belated fire support to their tanks; who were close to gaining the second objective. The Polish players so that dispatched a section of infantry across the road into the cemetery to contest the second objective in the churchyard. That infantry unit became the focus of firepower on that flank as it provided the only barrier to total success for the Soviets.

A view of the church and the cemetery with the adjacent objective number one. The Soviet T-26 tank is engaged in a firefight with the Polish infantry section to the top of the picture. They remained a thorn in the side for a significant period until defeated by weight of firepower from supporting Soviet armoured fighting vehicles .

Over on the left flank a Polish platoon had deployed in the north-westerly farmstead on the southern side of the road and they rapidly engaged the swarms of Soviet infantry who, following their mass attack, had remained milling about in the open without orders. The slaughter was relentless and every available gun was trained on the Polish threat in the farmyard. The firefight was significantly in favour of the Polish behind their cover and slowly Soviet losses in the centre and left increased to an almost critical level.

The first objective was located in the central farmstead south of the main road. This is where the battery of three Polish anti-tank guns had set up. They were subsequently overrun and destroyed by a Soviet Human Wave attack. The remnants of that attack are now seen in around the farmyard, with some precariously remaining in the open and taking heavy fire from the barns at the top of the photograph.

We had played for about 2 1/2 hours now with limited beverages being consumed: the game was that intense!

However looking at the board after the heroic Polish section had finally succumbed to the weight of firepower on the right flank and decided to bug out leaving the objective undefended it was agreed that the Russians had a achieved a complete victory albeit as some heavy cost. 'Uncle Joe' didn't mind as he had got millions more men ready to run into the maelstrom that would follow for the next four years.

Tim Whitworth

Soviet infantry sections in the south-east woods

 
 
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My second game at this year’s Operation Market Larden (the Evesham Lardy day) was a rather exciting game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum. The scenario, written and umpired by Mike Whitaker, involved a clash between British and German reconnaissance forces somewhere in Italy in around 1943.

The Morning Game: Noddy in Action

I had seen people having a good time playing the game in the day’s morning session, so was very much looking forward to getting stuck in. Friend Dave had been one of the three players, and although he wouldn’t give me any clues as to what the scenario involved, he did advise that I played the Germans: something to do with superior firepower!

So I played the commander of a British reconnaissance force who were responding to reports of lots of sudden German activity along the main road from A to B…I can’t remember the exact location! My mission was to investigate and see what was going on. At my disposal I had a strong platoon of reconnaissance infantry consisting of three sections and an HQ element that included one Vickers machine gun, all supported by a platoon of Universal Carriers.

The British end of the table

As can be seen in the pictures, the table featured a long straight road running between two small villages. Away in front of me to the north-east was a villa on an area of high ground; near the cross roads were some wheat fields (waist high crops) surrounded by a hedge and a stone wall; otherwise typical open Italian terrain.

The Game

My plan was simple. As I had no idea what the Germans were up to, the first thing to do was to find out. Under Blinds, my carriers shot forward straight down the road followed by a platoon of infantry. My rationale was that the carriers were quick enough to get out of there if they met anything too heavy, but could also provide a base of fire to allow a bit of ‘pin and manoeuvre’ with the following infantry. I also wanted to own the centre of the table as fast as possible rather than being forced to place catch up later on.

In response, the Germans moved a wave of Blinds onto the table from their end: one thrust being from the high ground by the villa, the other towards the far field surrounded by the stone wall.

The carriers quickly positioned themselves in the grove of trees just to the left of the crossroads, reporting that they could see something down the road on the other side of the junction. My platoon, still under a Blind, headed forward to investigate, rapidly coming across the downed wreckage of a small plane (probably a Storch). There were no bodies in the wreckage, however, but a trail of crushed corn leading into the far field towards the German baseline.

All became clear: downed plane, secret plans obviously on board, officers carrying plans escaping through the corn, go get the secret plans!

This was all very well, but those German Blinds were awfully close to the other end of the field.

Ah well, “in for a penny” and all that: my infantry platoon, still under a Blind, plunged into the cornfield and headed after the escaping secret plans.

Things now happened very, very fast indeed.

The picture above actually shows the situation after the clash that immediately took place. To summarise:

  • my platoon moved forward to stone wall and captured two German officers plus aforementioned secret plans

  • before I could do anything else, German Blinds revealed themselves as a small platoon of infantry (just two squads) but backed up by four SdKfz 250 half-tracks: three with 20mm autocannons, one command version with an MMG

  • After a horrendous round of autocannon fire, my platoon was Pinned then close assaulted by the Germans. A huge melee broke out (my 24 Pinned men versus 16 Jerries) ending up with my platoon being sent reeling backwards having lost both the fight and possession of the officers/secret plans

I hadn’t been able to destroy any halftracks during the melee, but had done them some damage and quite badly beaten up the German platoon

The observant amongst you will have noticed in the picture above that I have another of my Blinds approaching the wall. I was definitely “in for a pound” now, as this was another of my platoons, who immediately moved forward and close assaulted the Germans themselves.

Meanwhile, however, my HQ element had joined the carriers in the small grove by the crossroads, and set up the Vickers gun to protect my left flank.

Vickers plus company commander on the left flank

This proved a very sensible, may prescient, thing to do, as the Germans were sending infantry down from the villa towards the flank of the fight in the cornfield. The Vickers opened fire at the side of the German column at what was close range for the machine gun, and one German squad lost all interest in continuing the fight, retreating back to the villa leaving a line of grey-clad bodies behind it.

Meanwhile, my second platoon of infantry had begun their assault. Another horrendously costly close combat took place…but this time finishing in my favour with the wall, officers and secret plans all ending up in my possession.

Those pesky half-tracks were still there, however, and pouring fire into my men, now crouched behind the stone wall desperately waiting for the carrier I had brought up to move forward, pick up the prisoners and secret plans, and then all to bug out as fast as possible.

The combined fire of the half-tracks proved too much, however, and my platoon evaporated under cannon fire, leaving two downed German officers (clutching the secret plans) frantically calling upon their kamarades to cease fire for long enough for them to climb over the wall!

I had one more trick up my sleeve, however: PIAT teams.

Now the PIAT is not a very good anti-tank weapon. It has a short range, is difficult to load, and packs only a middling punch. I had, however, by now managed to get two of the three PIAT teams at my disposal (one from the infantry, one from the carriers) into a position from which I could shoot at the two lead half-tracks. It took three or four shots, but one went up in smoke and the other’s crew abandoned their severely damaged vehicle.

Meanwhile, my Vickers gun had managed to disperse the other German infantry platoon coming down from the hill…and my third infantry platoon had charged forward from its “back” position (two up, one back: always have a reserve!) and re-taken the wall, officers and secret plans.

Wall re-taken, two half-tracks down, PIAT team in the right foreground about to turn round and deal with a third

We paused for a second to assess the situation.

The British had possession of the wall and secret plans. They had about a platoon and half’s worth of men. In support, they still had the three Carriers and the Vickers. And two PIATs.

The Germans had two half-tracks (one in quite a vulnerable forward position) and…oh, no infantry left. Yes: all the German infantry had been removed from the table either as a result of the Vickers on the flank or the four close combats at the wall.

It was victory for the British. The officers and secret plans were bundled into a Carrier and whisked off to HQ whilst the two German half-tracks presumably beat a hasty retreat.

That had been a tough game. Okay, so I had the plans, but I had lost most of two platoons of infantry to get them: a costly exercise indeed.

My thanks to Mike for running what was an excellent game, and to my two opponents John and Bob: my usual apologies for my playing style!

Robert Avery

 
 
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Tonight’s game of Operation Sealion: scenario six, The Drive Inland.

It is Day S2 of the German invasion, and the reconnaissance battalion of the Wehrmacht 26 Infantry Division is heading towards the sleepy village of Herstmonceaux.

The reconnaissance unit is light in vehicles and most of the troops are mounted on bicycles ‘liberated’ from a sports shop in Pevensey.

So far British resistance has been patchy comprising of pockets of Home Guard and the occasional unit of regulars but the British are now frantically attempting to form a solid defensive line to the north of the landing beaches.

What will this day hold in store for Hauptmann Ralph Sturmer and his company?

The Game

The Germans entered the table not under Blinds as it was determined within the preamble that the British had full sight of the approach route with their FOO spotter in the village church tower.

Entering the north edge of the table with a maximum of two platoons per move the Germans initially brought on bicycle infantry and sought to establish a forward position within the church cemetery, surrounded by its stonewalls.

The second platoon made a concerted dash along the tree lined pathway towards the north east barn in attempt to outflank the village and arrive at the two farms adjacent to the targeted exit point on the eastern side of the table.

There was no response from the British at this point. However the German bicycle troops in the cemetery did locate a British pillbox at the entrance to the village.

Failing all their attempts to identify the contents of the pillbox, the Germans were surprised to receive fire from their flank from a section of Home Guard troops in the orchard near the church.

Turn 2 saw a further platoon of bicycle troops appear, along with some elements of support including a 50mm mortar and an anti-tank rifle.

The German outflanking attempt continued but just as they felt they were making headway the German cyclists encountered a full British Home Guard platoon taking cover behind the hedge row. This immediately brought them to close combat and they were routed back in the direction of the north east barn.

The next turn the Germans brought on the armoured cars and attempted to rush down the High Street to the centre of the village. However the British had got something waiting for them. An ace up their sleeve. The British brought out their Northover Projector into play and it promptly disabled the lead German armoured car.

The Germans took evasive action as a result of these two setbacks with little headway being made yet more bicycle riding platoons having been brought into the table along with company headquarters and the remaining support weapons.

It looked like the German advance may have been brought to an early standstill with them electing to sit on the high ground and set up the machine guns to cover the village.

It was not to be an easy life and the contents of the pillbox made themselves noticed by putting an anti-tank rifle round through the next armoured car!

As they scrambled to get a grip on the village they received fire from all quarters. The first armoured car had only been temporarily immobilised and it set off to drive through the village to deal with a British Vickers machine-gun that has set up with a clear line of fire able to sweep the German entry point. Indeed it caused great disruption and had to be dealt with accordingly.

Somewhat warily the armoured car car crew set off to deal with the Vickers however they were met with a blast of small arms fire at their open top vehicle from some British regulars at the rear of the village. This resulted in the armoured car racing off the table in reaction to the surprise and never to be seen again during the course of the game.

This is a scenario that calls for the British to set up kill zones and overlapping fields of fire with their limited resources to be able to have any effect on the German advance. However we were successful and after 2 1/2 hours playing time and several cups of tea the Germans had lost almost 50% of their number mainly as a result of the British off table artillery getting a bearing on their position and dropping a ferocious barrage upon them.

Nonetheless a wonderful evening was had by all and we look forward to playing it again.

Not going to give away any more of the secrets contained within this game and thereby won’t spoil it for anyone who wishes to purchase the scenario book and play it through for themselves!

Here are some more pictures:

Tim Whitworth

 
 
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Dawn breaks once again over Mike Whitaker's fantastic Omaha beach game at Posh Lard. Many thanks for a great day Mike ... although I think you were relishing those German MG Bonus cards a little too much!

James Tree

 
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Fellow Lardy Desmondo Darkin travelled abroad to play an impressive game of IABSM put on by Paul Spence.

The action represented the assault on Sword Beach on D-Day and, I think you’ll agree, looks amazing.

SWORD Beach..... East Yorkshire and 13/18th Hussars approach the beach.

The landing

We are ashore! Lost DD tanks on the way in but we have cleared a lane for the Funnies to move to the seawall. Andy has destroyed the bunkers in WN20. The Germans are about to open up with small arms.

Off the beach at last. Infantry pouring off in the follow up waves and heading for the streets of Ouistreham. Andy is further behind but destroyed the opposition in WN 20.

The East Yorkshire Regiment drive into the town. No.4 Commandos were sacrificed to keep the Germans from concentrating fire on my exit. Andy has no opposition, all Green Fields and Beyond for his boys!

Game by Paul Spence

Photos from Desmondo Darkin & Paul Spence

 
 
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Great game recreating night assault by Americans. Game was historically accurate with Americans making some initial progress but timely arrival of Panzergrenadiers in halftracks (plus some great dice rolling by two Panzer IVs!!!) forced the Americans to call retreat.

Americans lead by Brent Coulthard and Brett McLay. Germans by Steve Smith. Used "Sharpening up IABSM" Command Cards by Derek Hodge which were easy to use and very understandable. Kept overall random flavor of IABSM unit activation but allowed a little more leadership ability.

Dan Albrecht

 
 
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This year is the 75th anniversary of the successful assault on Pegasus Bridge by glider infantry of the 2nd Battalion, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, British 6th Airborne Division, commanded by Major John Howard. The successful taking of the bridges played an important role in limiting the effectiveness of a German counter-attack in the days and weeks following the Normandy invasion.

The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOFO) is putting on an exhibition to celebrate the anniversary, and it looks as if a few of us might be able to run a demo game of IABSM one weekend at the museum to help bring the event to life for the general public.

All the running for this is being done by friend Dave, so all I had to do recently was to take part in a playtest of the game to be run…

At this point we ran out of time (we had been dilly-dallying around playtesting things rather than playing hard) so the game was declared a draw. The Brits had the upper hand to the right, the Germans had the upper hand to the left, but time was ticking on and the first serious British reinforcements (Paras!) were apparently about to appear.

A good game, and lots of food for thought for the exhibition game.

Robert Avery

 
 
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Late War in Germany. I was trying to hold back the Red hordes the other night – we had a great time and feel like the rules are running more smoothly now we've played a few times.

It was a very close game, but it didn't look like it was going to be: the Germans were on the wire with only three regular platoons and one of Volksturm, four tank hunting team, two HMGs, and two PaK 40s…much of which disappeared in the initial bombardment (damn those Katyushas!) or was avoided by the positioning of the Russian advance and didn't get into play.

Meanwhile, the Ruskies were fielding three tank platoons, three infantry units (one of SMGs) and had two bombardments and a Katyusha strike (so able to cover all the main deployment areas). Note to Self: Don't deploy forward into combat areas at first if you have even the vaguest idea the Russians might have artillery...

Remarkably, I as the Germans managed to squeak a narrow victory by holding the buildings at the last :)

More info in the pic comments...

 
 
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Case White: the Assault on Sochaczew, 13 September 1939
Using TFLs ruleset I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum with a scenario by Rob Avery taken from the Lardies Summer Special 2017, Dave made a welcome return with his Polish and pitched them against my early war Germans. An interesting attack and defend scenario with a time limit so it’s Blitzkreig or bust for Gerry!

The Poles are all on hidden Blinds and the German force entered on Blinds.

Led by Richard Hudson in his ‘little tank’, Dale Askew and I could only watch in wonder as he speed full speed towards the town with his entourage of Panzer I tanks. In the town Dave and Barry Foster waited, anti tank guns and anti-tank rifles at the ready…

Tim Whitworth, with extra pics by Richard Hudson

 
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Today’s scenario was nice and straightforward, and would be used to test out Des’ suggested IABSM/CoC mash-up i.e. I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! rules, with the Chain of Command activation system. Andy and I had to take a small village somewhere in the Bocage country. Facing us was the all singing and dancing ‘Kamp Gruppe Bartram’ led by Daren.

We managed to set up a rather spiffing table with the club’s terrain and Des’ lovely ‘Empires at War’ Normandy buildings (the 15mm versions of the ones seen on this blog before). The main picture below shows our view of the battlefield, and we hit upon a nice simple plan. I would take two of our platoons of infantry and push through the orchard to the right of the road whilst sending our recce jeep along the right flank whilst Andy would take our Sherman platoon along the left supported by the remaining infantry platoon. The enemy would be pinned in place once discovered then destroyed.

Things started very well with all of us getting into the swing of the new activation system easily enough. We decided to push my attack through first and soon I had two platoons in the orchard and the jeep barreling around bocage as it headed for the lateral road on the right. Then the shit hit the fan! My lads in the orchard must have been fresh from England as they failed to spot the PanzerGrenadiers that lined the hedge at the far end of the orchard until they opened up a murderous fire on my Napoleonic looking column.

Pretty soon I was in all sorts of trouble as the German machine guns chewed through section after section and soon one of my platoons was pretty much out of action. My return fire was not the best but I did manage to cause some casualties assisted by the company mortars but I was forced to pull back out of sight to regroup and re-asses whilst the Germans slipped away to take up new positions in the village.

Just when I thought things were pretty bad, they got worse. My recce jeep bumped into something along the road and I actually felt my jaw drop when Daren gleefully put out two Tigers: indeed, both Daren and Des laughed at my reaction. I did have a go at one of the behemoths with my .30-cal before scooting back desperately trying to get into cover but both efforts were futile and one of the giant beasts pumped a HE shell into the plucky Jeep.

As the right flank was now well and truly shut down we decided that Andy best get forward on the left so he pushed his Shermans forward followed by the infantry.

However pretty soon the sharp crack of an 88 signalled the appearance of 2 more Tigers! The American tankers tried valiantly to take on the big cats but pretty soon their platoon commander and one other tank were burning. There was one small glimmer of hope though as the remaining infantry platoon managed to creep forwards whilst the tank duel was going on and soon a couple of bazooka teams were in position to get a flank shot at one of the Tigers. If they could get a successful shot away we might just be able to overpower the remaining one with the concentrated fire of the surviving tanks.

But it wasn’t to be, the GI’s manning the rocket launchers were just too jittery and their missiles either sailed harmlessly past the massive tank or glanced off the thick steel (how they missed is still puzzling me, just how do you miss a Tiger side on?!!). Darren then turned the Tiger’s turret on the hapless bazooka men who would have been blasted to atoms if they weren’t close assaulted by a fresh platoon of PanzerGrenadiers.

With this further defeat Andy and I decided that enough was enough, most of our infantry was knackered and our tanks had been well and truly assaulted by the Tigers so we decided to concede defeat. Strangely though the surviving tanks disappeared during the retreat, and even stranger when we tried to get them on the radio to ask where they were we received this message back: ‘Woof, woof’. Odd.

Despite the defeat it was a cracking game and we all agreed that the new activation system vastly improved things and even I said I’d love to have another game so hats off to Mr. Darkin for coming up with the rules, we did come up with a few tweaks here and there but nowt too much which shows how well they worked.

Apart from the rules more thanks to Des for putting the game on and for bringing his lovely village set, the figures and models were Daren’s but now in the collection of Andy which is great as we will still get to play with them as they are crackingly well done.

Iain Fuller

 
 
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I really should have posted a report on this game a lot earlier but was suffering from a bit of a fug at the time and hence now the details are a bit hazy which is a shame as it was good fun. Oh, and it had tons of motorcycles and sidecars.

The Germans (my side) were tasked with clearing a village of French types and had the following to do so: a platoon of Kradschutzen, a Platoon of Sdkfz 221/222’s, a PanzerGrenadier platoon, a platoon of 8-rads and a support platoon of Infantry gun, MG and Mortar sections.

Things were going quite well for ages with our infantry and Hells Angels bumping into defending Poilus and blatting them with fire from supporting armoured cars until they buggered off. It’s the second time that I’ve used these cars and both times the 20mm autocannons and MG’s they are armed with have made mincemeat of the opposition.

We did suffer a bit from some defensive infantry and AT gun fire and artillery stonkage, but we thought we were gaining the upper hand…and then the Somua’s turned up and ruined everything, trundling about nonchalantly with a Gaulois hanging out of their gobs shrugging off our feeble attempts to damage them whilst brassing up everything they could. We prudently decided to withdraw and let the Stukas take over.

Good fun was had though and we got to use Ian’s lovely early war kit.

Iain Fuller

 
 
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Club night at the South London Warlords tonight and we had another go at the St Aubin D-Day game, but with a bigger piece of coast, and a sandy beach instead of shingle. We used 15mm and I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! with an activation system taken from Chain of Command.

48 Commando landed a company on the left of the table, aiming to drive inland and take a command bunker. Two troops of the 1st Hussars and A Company of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles were to land at St Aubin and to the right of the sea defences.

48 Commando roared onto the beach with a double move, all three landing craft making it to shore safely, only to get set upon by two MG 42’s and an infantry section. It was a bloody affair and by the end of the game half the initial force was dead or wounded, but the seawall was taken and two sections were moving through St Aubin. The other two sections were preparing to move against the bunker.

In the centre, the assault wave was slow to arrive, with the currents causing some near misses amongst the LC and DD tanks. Eventually all of A Company made it to the seawall but also took heavy losses. The Germans did eventually break as all three DD tanks made it ashore and blasted HE at any German position that showed itself. My own troop had terrible luck. Two tanks sank in the deep water, the other lost power and drifted offshore.

A great game and Iain Fuller did an amazing job fighting to keep the three Allied players from breaking the Atlantic Wall. He was exhausted and later found he had his jackboots on the wrong feet.......😄

I am determined to do the next game as a “ next wave and supports” and will start the planning for that in the coming weeks

Desmondo Darkin