Spearhead - A Patchwork Of Panzertruppen scenario

Played a micro-armour game today using the ever excellent Spearhead rules.
Unbelievably we last played these in 2011 !!!!!!!!!
Good grief how time flies.....................................

I set up a scenario from the East Front scenario supplement entitled 'A Patchwork Of Panzertruppen' set in November 1943 on the Nogay steppe.

I took the Fascists and Stephen the Reds.
Germans have a Panzerjager Abteilung with a Company of Stugs and 2 of Marders, with a an Armoured PzGren Bttns, 2 Motorizsed PzGren Battns and an Infantry Bttn with off-table support from a 105mm Regt.
Three of my Bttns were Veteran the other 2 Regulars

The Ivans had 2 Tank Brigades with T34/76 and T70 and associated Mech Bttn and another Mech Brigade of 2 Motorized Infantry Bttns.
Ivans had a Battery of 76mm attached (which Stephen chose to bring on-table) and from mid-game he could roll for air support from Sturmoviks.
Ivans were a mix of Green and Regulars.

Scenario is a sort of meeting engagement with both sides advancing onto the table and both able to use flank marches and reserves.

Game was excellent with the short shooting/spotting ranges in SH meaning units can maneuver much more than in most WW2 sets (only FOB is similar) constrained only by their orders (same system of 'arrows' with Attack and Defend orders as Shako - same author of course)  .
I out flanked with my Armd PzGr on my right on turn 3 and forced Ivans to commit a Tank Brigade from Reserve.
The Grenadiers however had no answer to the tanks and were forced to Break Off but survived.
The Ivans as it turned out had 2 Bttns outflanking on my left and both arrived on same turn enmass (one had been delayed 2 turns) and my left flank reinforced PzGr Bttn was soon overwhelmed and broken.
My PzJager stoutly refused to change orders (anything but a 1 for Germans !!) for 2 turns and this saw the Ivans therefore achieve victory by exiting 10 mobile Platoons of my rear edge.
Ivans did have an Mech Inf Bttn routed in center.
In fact losses were pretty even but the Russian flank moves proved successful turning the game in their favour despite Stephen constantly telling me how much better the Germans are in SH, even stating this is the set Hitler would want to use as I was removing destroyed Germans :-)
Only 1 Sturmovik appeared but did destroy 2 Inf Plts with its rockets.

I have always loved SH as a great set of WW2 rules especially for 6mm kit.
Lots of abstraction with focus firmly away from technical aspects such as armour thickness etc but it just 'feels' right doing 'just what it says it does'.
Hard to believe we have neglected this so long just so much choice so little time............




Terrain set up from German side

The German force

Opening moves on my left

German Infantry Bttn arrives in center

Armoured PzGr faced by reserve Tank Brigade

Battle develops

Infantry Bttn moves to its left

PzGr breaking off trying to pull Russians onto Marder gun line

Stugs dominate central hill but refused to obey orders to march to left later

Huge Ivan force arrives on my left

German Infantry tries to intervene

Action in center

But Ivans are breaking out and PzGr Bttn evaporates

Russian Tank Brigade is routed on my right

But its too late as Ivans have achieved objective elsewhere

Field Of Battle WW2 - Op Totalize II

Big multi-player (well 2 a side) game today as last game of the year at chez Steiner.

After some badgering by Mr Pollock I decided to do a WW2 game and went with a 6mm game using Field Of Battle WW2.
I played an amended version of a scenario from Canadians In Europe rules entitle Totalize II simulating the second phase attacks by II Canadian Corps on the road to Falaise around 9th-10th August 1944.

This generated the assault portions of two Armoured Divisions for the Allies, the 4th Canadian and 1st Polish up against a reduced  12th SS Hitler Jugend Panzer Division in hasty defence.

Scenario was fairly easy to convert with only a few tweaks to Airpower and Artillery support for both sides.
Main change I made (to make game more playable) was only fielding Brigade/Regiment and higher HQs ie leaving out the respective Battalion HQs as this would have added some 20 HQ elements which I felt would be too ponderous for scenario overall.
I let these HQs use HW modifiers as if Bttn level and the rolled for Commander Risk on a 1 on D20 rather than normal D12 (no Commanders were lost as it turned out).

Messrs Pollock and Brittain controlled the SS (sort of apt as both forenamed Stephen) and Richard and Darren the Allies.
I umpired although I confess to having thoroughly enjoyed selecting the scenario and reading up about the action.

Germans deployed in a sort of semi-circle of defence around the Allied objective of the Falaise Road table exit point.
They spent 5 of their precious 6 Assets to stick 5 units into 'Bunkers' (Fortifications/Dug In) which proved fortuitous choice in the end.

Allies deployed essentially on both side of the Caen-Falaise road with Canadians (Richard) on right and Polish (Darren) on left.

Allies were basically Average in troop quality and stats whereas the HJ were Veterans with high troop stats.
The HJ had a Superior Deck to Allied Average.
Allies placed 4 Airpower cards into deck (using a mere 4 Assets from their huge 20 stockpile).
They also had an extra Barrage card with the HJ having a Superior Firepower card (which allowed their Infantry an extra re-load).
HJ deck also had two special event cards which I used to signify the start/stop of light rain showers (Down 1 dice type to all direct fire)
The Allies had Air Support of 4 Spitfire and 2 Typhoon Squadrons each day and also on initial Airpower card had an option to use a Medium Bomber attack.
For Morale the Allies had a massive 60 chits to HJ 30.
I had morning finish on 2nd tied roll, afternoon and night finished on 1st tied roll of course a turn finished as usual if a deck was used up.

Initially the Allies struggled to get Move cards or more than a single segment move on the cards they did get however this kept them out of range of bulk of German guns.
They did however get Airpower with their Bombers attack a Panther Bttn in a large wooded area but doing no significant damage (they did crater the area making it slower to move through).
Their Typhoons and Spits also failed to make any impact especially when effected by HJ Flak.

On first day only real action occurred in central wood area and with HJ Artillery causing some losses to Canadian Infantry.

Upon nightfall the Allies were lucky enough to get a couple of move cards allowing them to shift the bulk of their units to almost engagement range.

Dawn on second day then saw a titanic Polish struggle for the wood and a firm Canadian attack on the large hill.
Lots of action with multiple salvos of firing and close assaults (any combat with Close Assault range not just contact) but the HJ were lucky to get successive firepower cards allowing them to decimate the Allies and supercede their superior numbers.
The superior stats of the HJ told once push came to shove and the Allied morale dwindled quickly.
Allies also suffered by not getting any Command cards to attempt Rallies on so had numerous units Suppressed and Damaged.
Losses were such that the Allies decided to yield despite having made a in road on the hill where they had obliterated to HJ flank units, but they felt they were too weak to exploit this ie they had sunk to zero Morale and were in fact giving chits to HJ)

A good game with a great set of rules that really work for such a large scale game not often one gets to field 3 Divisions and fight a 2 day action on the one table in a WW2 game !
Hopefully the chaps had a good time and enjoyed the table top conflict despite the 'compliant' from SS about not having enough measuring sticks (I had used half ranges etc from standard rules measurements and had made up some templates to assist).



HJ set up on hill top with PAK dug-in

HJ defence around central wood

Canadians advance with Polish in distance

The Poles advance

Sluggish progress

HJ awaits

Overview on afternoon of first day

HJ still await..............

Canadians forming up

HJ spotting round on Falaise road with some damaged Canadian Infantry Companies

Wood left cratered after bombers struck 

Poles redeploy during night

HJ in fortified line protecting their right (PzIV Bttn in wood)

The struggle for the central wood ensues !

With Canada in support

Suppressed (Yellow puffs) Allied units abound

Poles continue assault on wood

Losses mount

Canadians assault the hill and are rebuffed

More death and destruction at wood

Canadian high water mark as they (just out of pic on lower right) they push onto hill

Field Of Battle WW2 game with Le Duc

Managed a game this evening (in lieu of not being able to participate in Celtic Cup this year) with Le Duc using, at his request, Field Of Battle WW2.

Been absolute ages since I used these but with the core systems being Field Of Battle they were very easy to get into.
Also been a long time since my 6mm kit has seen action.

I used a Spearhead map and OOB (although from 2 different scenarios) to set up a 1945 clash between SS and Ivan Guards.

Ivans had elements of 2 Guard Infantry Regiments (of 2 Battns each) with two Tank Brigades (each 2 Bttns of T34/76 and 1 of T34/85 and a Motorized Infantry Bttn), backed up by a JSII Regt and off board support from a 76mm Battery.
Rolling for usual FOB stats yielded 6 Assets (used to bring in Aircraft, continue Barrages and such like) a morale level of 28 with a D12 CinC and D10 Leaders.

The Nazis had elements of 2 SS Pz regts both an amalgam of single PZIVh and Panthers with one adding a Coy of StugIVs. they had two weak PzGr Regts in a mix of trucks and SD251s.
Support was a Bttn of Tiger IIs (to which I attached an Armoured Engineer Coy), a PzJager Bttn of Marder IIs and Pak43 Atgs with off board support of 2 Regts of 170mm and 105mm Guns.
Their Cin C was also a D12 with D12 Leaders but lower morale of only 23 and only 3 Assets.

With both sides being Experienced/Veteran level troops the Combat dice were all pretty high (D10 being lowest) but German Infantry had poor defence rolls yielding quite a few D6 defence compared to the D8/D10 of Ivans.
However the Nazis ended up with a poor sequence deck whilst Mother Russia managed to roll up a Superior version.
Ivan Tank Brigades operated as single formations despite being comprised of 3 Bttns of tanks.

As the game was just to showcase the system to Le Duc I simply set it up as a simple encounter with Le Duc having pick of sides,
He plumbed for the Ivan juggernaut and we both simply deployed 12" in from respective long table edges.

Then began a a really fast flowing game (as Le Duc commented just as a mobile WW2 game should be) utilising fully the FOB card deck system.
I flung my 2 PzGr Regts forward with 3 move segments onto some central hills but this proved a mistake as they were simply blown to bits then flatten by the Ivans !
We were both cagey on my left flank as Tiger IIs faced JS IIs although one JS Coy was forced back with some hits (later rallied off).
The losses on the PzGr plus hits on my Panzer units soon saw my Morale expire and I was giving Morale Points to the Ivans.
Of course I then turned a Morale Card forcing a Force Morale check which I promptly failed ending the encounter.
All in all we played game to completion in just under 4 hours which is excellent considering both fairly new to rules, the FOB system is so straightforward to learn and play.

I had forgotten just how good FOB WW2 is for a large game (we had something like 55 Coys all told on the table).
In such a large game the abstraction of Heavy Weapons support, Flak, Engineering and Assest system simply works.

Lots of plans afoot for further use of these rules by us both whether they come to fruition is entirely another matter !!

A mix bunch of pics as the lighting changed from evening sunlight to artificial lighting, note i used 2 Spearhead stands per Company.


Ivan Tank Brigade

And its mate

Weak Pz Regt with PzGrs in support

Royal Tigers Bttn (2 Coys)

Overview of initial set up

PzGr wiped out on this hill

Sister Regt in trouble on adjacent hill.............

Royalty holds the flank as Pz Regt moves up

The disaster unfolds in the centre for the PzGr Regts

Ivan Airpower fails to damage the Kings

Panzers getting worst of exchange with Tank Brigade with Pak43s lending a hand

Royal Tigers and Josef Stalins go at it

Quantity has a quality all of its own...............................

And yet more quantity on show

Ivans retake hill from hapless PzGr

Support from Panzer Regt is insufficient to stem the tide

And so it went for other Panzer Regt.