Ulster Wargames Society - Combat HQ game in 6mm

Club meeting today and I took part in a 6mm (been a while) WW2 game organized by Mike and Bryn using Combat HQ rules.

Game was British vs Huns in NW Europe but no specific scenario as such. 

Terrain was set up then sides and deployment areas diced for with Bryn and Mike taking Germans in defence and Simon and I the Brit attackers.

We had two full Battalions of Infantry (one Experienced) and an Armoured Brigade of 9 Shermans, 6 Cromwells and a couple of Achilles and two towed 17pdrs. A few armoured cars acted as Recce and we had support from two batteries of 25pdrs.

Germans had two PzGr Battalions a couple of Pak 40s and an 88mm Flak 36 some Sd222 and Pumas and an Armoured Regiment with several PzIV, Panthers and a Couple of Tigers. They also had a couple of Stugs and Hetzers. Their force was also rounded out with two artillery batteries of 105mm. 

Huns set up first (no Blinds used today) and then Simon placed an Infantry Bttn on table with rest of our forces in reserve.

Simon set up just to left of centre but unfortunately a full company got caught in forming up areas by a Hun barrage and were forced to retreat in suppression whilst rest advanced into a large wooded area.

We then decided to use half our staff orders to bring on our entire reserves in one fell swoop with the second infantry Bttn coming on on right under my command and our Armoured Brigade coming on in center making a massed charge forwards.

This bold move of course seen the Germans commit most of their reserves as well with a large tank battle taking place in middle of the table.

The superior range and firepower of the Panzers soon made itself felt.

I managed to get the two Achilles and half the Cromwells into a wood which offered some protection but failed with the 17pdrs to inflict much damage.

Mike on our left then pushed forward pinning Simons infantry whilst Bryn flooded the center and our right with Panzers and the Tigers and Panthers had a jolly old time pinging Shermans and the rest of Cromwell units.

My experienced Infantry advanced into wood and pushed up on right to a hedge line forcing commitment of last of PzGr Companies.

I did 'charge' with one company of Infantry weathering a deluge of fire to get within PIAT range and managed to dispatch a Stug Platoon.

Whilst this death or glory assault caused much consternation in Hun ranks (Panzers got shy of advancing) it ultimately cost my entire Company.

With our Tank force decimated and surviving Platoons scattered the chance of our advancing any further was gone and an attritional exchange of fire was all we could manage for rest of battle and we had to succumb to the inevitable, that plus Mikes wife was arriving to collect him :-)

Fun game with a playable set of rules (I find some stats a bit unexpected) with a nice dice based Orders system and really good to see 6mm toys in action.

View from German right

British Armoured Brigade advances to their doom in center as Panzers have rare old time (bottom)

Shermans at least gave it a go

Cromwells and Achilles hug cover

Brit Infantry form up on right

Thankfully they managed to advance unscathed across mostly open ground

Overview of the massed charge

These woods soon filled with British units

Shermans in uneven firefight

PzGr defend central town

The table at start from British right

Initial Hun deployment taking place

Several others games at club (think we had 20 players in action across 5 games) and as ever no idea as to how these progressed.

Phil put on another British vs German game in 20mm with own rules

Jeremy D had a Chain of Command 2 game going with again British taking on the nasty Nazis this time in 28mm

And another WW2 game in 15mm this time by Dave M set in Egypt with at least some Italians on display

And lastly but not leastly the two Daves had a FOGR game with Samurai against Chinese in 15mm

Combat HQ bash at Mikes

Game at Mikes using his favoured Combat HQ WWII rules and his 15mm kit.

An encounter type game set in 1944 with Mike and I as Germans (7 Inf Coys, 3 Stugs, 3 PzV, 1 Tiger, 2 Pak 40, 2 x 12cm Mortars, a Puma and off table support from 2 x 105mm Batteries) against an Allied force of British and Americans (8-9 (?) Inf Coys, 2 M5 Stuarts, 6 M4/76, an M10, 3 Cromwells, 1 Staghound, a 6pdr and support from a 105mm and a 25pdr Battery) commanded by Bryn and Simon.

Both sides set up with some infantry 'hidden' in towns and several blinds on table edge with several units in Reserve and then had at it.

Of course first few turns I managed a command failure gifting 'Wild' dice to enemy (1 roll of 5 dice saw 3 given away !) and indeed it looked like Yanks under Simon were going to easily crush my flank but he advanced some Shermans (after brewing my Stugs and the Tiger) well ahead of supporting foot sloggers and a reserve units of Grenadiers advanced from reserve using PzFausts to deal with this armour and a Panther also arrived and his advance was stymied.

It then became a long range attritional shooting match between us as as both weakened greatly.

On left Mike was having a more cat and mouse game with Bryns British initially but his Panthers dealt with Bryns armour and both side reserves came into play with a large field area being hotly contested.

Both sides had a morale pool (don't know levels) and our Pool was expended first ending the game but with Allies having a mere 2 Morale left themselves, so a very close run thing in the end.

A fun game in good company even if it was sauna like at times, as mini 'heatwave' here at present, despite the efforts of couple of air fans, but plenty of extra hot air to contend with from players not helping :-)

German left flank (Mike) note playing cards are blinds

Our right (yours truly)

Mikes Panthers in the ascendancy (before pulling back as targeted by artillery) 

A Pak40 bolsters my defence in town as Allied reserves appear

Panther also aids the defenders

Yank armour pushing ahead (note Shermans were all M4/76 types)

After crushing my Stug Coy in short order

Another view of Mikes flank (Bryns Cromwells died in wooded area on hill)

Ulster Wargames Society - Combat HQ game and several others

 

Very busy club meeting today (pretty close to capacity !) and Mike put on another very enjoyable WW2 game using Combat HQ rules.

Game was in 15mm (using Mike and Bryns excellent toys) and a scenario set on Eastern Front in 1941 with Bryn, Simon and Adam commanding Germans with Mike, Stephen and I as Russians.

Ivans where defending a couple of villages and river crossings against a larger and superior force (at least in terms of morale and orders) making hard for Ivans to realistically win but great fun delaying and harassing the Nazis it was.

I ended up facing Simon and Adam on our right wing with guts of a Regiment of infantry backed by couple of PzJager1 and a PzII along with a very nasty little 75mm Inf Gun. 

I had an Infantry Battalion with a 45mm ATG and 2 x T28C 'Land Battleships' and they sort of lived up to that name.

Stephen faced Bryn on our left who had bulk of Nazi armour (PzIII, Pz38T and StugB ?) with another Soviet Infantry Battalion and 3 x T26 'Coffins for 5 brothers' (of which 2 managed to survive game !) with support of a Company of Flamethrowers equipped Pioneers.

Mike as CinC held our reserve off-table being 2 xT34/40 and another Infantry Battalion along with Brigade artillery support (Battery of 76mm), the Nazis also had off table artillery and a couple of Stuka sorties.

At end Soviet morale was broken but we had defended the river crossing whilst losing the villages.

Great game with an interesting set of rules, some of the unit stats/abilities raise an odd eyebrow (the IG and the T28s seemed surprisingly powerful) but it works well overall within a playable framework.

Bridge and village I was trying to defend (the railway crossing was unusable) with village firmly in Hun hands by this stage

My T28s are just out of shot behind river and have forced Nazis to hide behind buildings and woods shy of the bridge

Some of Bryns Panzer force (playing cards are Blinds for unseen formations)

More Panzers in action

Overview from Ivan right 

Deluge of Nazi infantry assaulting my posistions

Mike has deployed Ivan reserve with T34s advancing to support Stephens last stand in village

Blaze of gunfire on left (yellow markers are Suppressions)

Germans obliterate Ivans in village

There were several other games ongoing at club and I only got very brief look at those during quick lunch break and as ever no idea how they turned out ?

I believe we had 27 people involved in playing games which is possibly a record ?. 

My pics mostly poor as rush job

A Middle Earth Battlegame with Keith, Tony and David S (burn the heretics !!) with very nice figures. Have not seen Keith in years so nice to catch up. 

A dark age/late Roman game using a variant of Dux Bellorum (or was it Dux Britannium ?) with super 28mm from Adam S and Dave P.

English Civil War game using Pike & Shotte run by Billy (who seems to have gotten sponsorship from Coca Cola) with Jeremy and Dave B & T

Seven Days to the Rhine game with 20mm kit and terrain from Chris (this had several players but I lost track of whom although Andy was certainly involved)

Also game with Phil and Leslie that I did not get not get any pics off (sorry chaps just too busy) but think was with Gangs Of Rome ?

Borrowed image of proceedings as tables being set up and not all players having arrived