O Group - Eastern Front scenario 'Operation Blau' played

Game with Stephen using O Group as we wanted to try the Soviets in game system as they seem rather hard done by in several ways (Poor AFVs, lack of Spotters, slower HQ Impetus accrual), so we decided to give the 'Operation Blau' scenario a try from Eastern Front supplement.

I had Germans attacking against Stephens Russian defenders and after our usual deluge of waffling about other projects/rules/board games etc we had at it.

Initial barrage saw Soviets lose 1 Platoon but their one and only (?) inherent benefit is that they can replace the lost Platoon with a Green Platoon.

We only managed 6 or 7 turns but this was enough to see arrival of 2 x PzIIIJ for Huns and a T34/76 for Soviets. These had a couple of exchanges of fire with a single Shock caused on a Panzer. The T34 has a more potent gun and better armour but is hampered by being Poor AFV so needs to roll a Spotting dice on every shot beyond 10", however the PzIIIs with 50mm L42 suffer a -1 to hit due to being classed as Low Velocity weapons so fairly even.

I had 2 x PZII Recon Panzers which failed to reveal any enemy after 7 rolls and one was ko'd by an ambushing gun, the other survived but was hit by Mortar fire causing Shock.

I lost a couple of stands (3 in total including PzII) but was due to lose a good deal more when I uncovered an entrenched Ambush position with an MMG attached to an infantry Platoon (6 D6 with 3 re-rolls). 

We ran out of time but was good to see Soviets in action with O Group and felt that they may work best as defenders and in early war.

Not many pics as not much to capture with so many Combat Patrols and hidden units

 

 

O Group - Counterattack at Grainville scenario

Game at Stephens and we played another O Group game with the Grainville scenario from Normandy supplement. This seemed inevitable as Stephen just back from trip to Normandy.

Of course discussion of his trip took up a 'bit' of time before we commenced game :-)

Thereby we failed to complete the game but still enjoyed it.

Opening deployment rolls were interesting with Stephen (German attacker) rolling 3 ones thereby losing me a Platoon, a Section and an HQ order. I then duly rolled 3 ones (4 actually) meaning 3 turns of interdiction. Essentially best opening an attacker can get ! 

Thankfully I also rolled 4 sixes allowing me to place 4 units in Ambush or things might have been disastrous. 

Also on first turn I rolled a further 3 ones making a Company Hesitant but this is not such a bind for defender and so early in a game.

As always with O Group pics not many toys to see on table in early turns

British right with B Coy CO showing Hesitant status (just behind BUA to right of church) 

Germans advancing (2 x PzIVh just visible in wood to rear)

Patrol phase still in full swing

 

O Group - Cristot scenario

Had another outing for O Group with Stephen using the scenario included in rules, Cristot.

I commanded British and Stephen the Germans.

We failed to finish but again both enjoyed the rules felling they are a nice balance of complexity and period flavour, offering more depth than something like Rapid Fire but of course at cost in complexity and playing time.

A nice fit for our 15mm kit.

Some bits are still tad opaque (mainly in relation to terrain and LOS) to us but nothing unsolvable.

View of table prior to start from British right

All the action was concentrated on British right around a farm

Whereas it was quiet on British left as I did not push forward in this half of field

Pak40 ambushed from hill top killing a Sherman and a Firefly despite being subject to lots of HE direct and indirect

Overview from active flank where my reserve company later arrived

Quick update

Been busy with 'stuff' last couple of weeks so blog well down lost of priorities but did manage to get in a couple of games with Stephen.

Yesterday we had an outing with O Group which we have not played for awhile. Therefore it took a bit to get back into flow/mindset of system. Nothing inherently difficult just some different concepts and a good deal to re-assimilate. Enjoyable and whet our appetites to play again.

Scenario was from Normandy supplement 'Assault towards Hill 192' with US attacking Fallschirmjager near St Lo.

As always with initial turns of O Group not that much to see on table in terms of figures. 

Last week another outing with Soldiers of Napoleon (glutton for punishment) and despite ditching intimidate and extended line it still lacked much for me beyond the card system. At a push (ie for quick 'we have no time to prepare' points type game) I would play this set but much better sets available even if they require bit more prep. Lasalle 2 fits this quick set up bill much better for me.

O Group - St Manvieu scenario (completed)

Managed an extra gaming session today with Stephen and we completed our O Group game of the St Manvieu scenario.

Certainly a lot more action this time as units deployed from Combat Patrols and fire was exchanged with our armour reserves also appearing and artillery stonks falling across the table.

As so often happens (in any game with any rules) game pretty much decided by a couple of turns wherein I had horrendous dice rolls whilst Stephen had correspondingly excellent rolls.

The Panzer Grenadier rule came to fore couple of times with extra hit for double 6s and from re-roll for spotted targets, which saw units inflict 4-6 hits which Brits only partially saved seeing Platoons decimated in short order.

My Churchills arrived and later took on the reinforcing Hun PzIV damaging it but they were whacked by a medium artillery barrage and that b*****d sniper (frustrating as hell as you have no method/ability to effect them in any way and can only hope it self-destructs) and were shocked and suppressed.

We quite like how AFVs do not really dominate proceedings in O Group (I personally feel it is and works best as an Infantry game, not really sure how fielding a full tank Bttn would work in practice?)

My Crocodile appeared but failed to get into flame-throwing range (6") before game ended.

Pretty tough for attackers when defenders are in built up areas (even heavy artillery struggles to do meaningful damage) and in ambush as generally they will get first dig which of course is not unexpected and today their fire was accurate and devastating. 

At start of session (beginning at turn 6) we had lost a single stand each but by end (turn 11) the Brits had been slaughtered losing a further 11 Infantry stands and hence 3 Fubars to end game (think Germans had lost a mere 2 stands).

Once Fubars mount and you start losing Order dice it is nigh impossible to maintain any momentum.

On one turn I had a mere 3 Coy orders and had to spend my entire HQ pool to conduct any meaningful activity.

During course of game I would estimate that Germans won Initiative on 7 out of 11 turns and mostly had more orders than attacking Brits, such is how the cookie crumbled.

We both used the Reactive Withdraw order a lot more than before that is for certain especially once the mortar rounds start arriving.

Also got some clarity on our queries ref objectives and consolidation points from the ever helpful author Dave Brown on TFL forum and we were glad to see that we had been playing it pretty much as intended (note I also highly rate his Panzer Grenadier Deluxe rules)

Great stuff overall and we both really like the rules once one accepts the inherent parameters, the Command dice and orders system is the heart of game with the combat being very easy to pick up with its minimal modifiers and overall simple D6 system.

A good deal more photos as bit more kit to see :-)

Brits from Reserve Coy consolidate in woods

As a Patrol uncovers a hidden German Platoon in buildings

Panzer IV takes damage 

Crocodile appears in support of B Coy and pushes forward but too late

B Coy trying to push around German left flank

A Coy came unstuck against Germans in centre and my left

This German Platoon proved deadly and impossible to dislodge in centre

Churchill Crocodile lumbers forward (they are slow.......)

The firing of this German platoon also put paid to British moves on my left

Stuck in woods for lack of orders but at least safe as out of sight

Churchills suffering shock and suppression from German artillery (and that Sniper !!)

Another consolidating Brit Platoon prior to being wiped out

Trying to avail of all the cover available but once 'heads poked out' its a deluge of fire 

Caught at close range and lucky to survive as long as they did (2 turns)

Lack of orders hurt as do I try to extract these or move other units ?

Hun Platoon advances (Peter Pig figs I think)

And Brits suffer (Skytrex and Peter Pig)

Brit mortars target them (and a couple of cows) to stem advance (they were pulled back after a stand loss)

'Beware The End Is Nigh' as Brits 1 stand from game ending 3 Fubars

O Group - St Manvieu scenario started (to be continued)

Game with Stephen and we tried O Group again having enjoyed last game.

I selected the St Manvieu scenario with my Brits in attack and Stephen therefore fielded the Hun defenders.

We managed to play 5 turns but spent a lot of time discussing (amidst usual waffle deluge) certain aspects of the rules in particular the concepts of Objectives and Phase Lines with Consolidation of Reserves and how one practically enacts this on table top especially with regard to re-drawing Company boundaries and not intermixing Companies.

Both unsure what can constitute an objective beyond the more obvious towns, hills, bridges such as can a crop fields be legitimate objectives ? can a phase line be a stream or a line of fields ? can a Company in reserve be deployed on any captured objective anywhere on table or must your battle plan include which sector of table this Company is to appear ? 

But again the core game is very enjoyable with so many key decisions as to how to use Combat Patrols and when to deploy from them or to reveal an Ambush. I still hate those Snipers !

We have left game in situ to complete next session.

Again with this being WW2 with hidden units/Combat Patrols, O Group maybe not the most photogenic especially in early stages but some pics included

The battlefield prior to deployments

Patrol 'phase' of game begins

Some British Platoons from A Company deploy in woods (at top left) 

First real encounter as Germans spring an ambush after British smoke screen failed.

Action on British left as A Company fully deployed and pushing forward through wooded areas.

O Group - 'Advance to Hill 192' Normandy scenario played

Game with Stephen today at mine using O Group and trying one of new Normandy scenarios 'Advance to Hill 192' set mid July 1944 in the American sector.

I picked this scenario as I wanted to give my Fallschirmjager an outing (not seen light of day for eons) and interested to see US troops in action.

Scenario has a worn FJR Bttn in defence with 2 FJR companies supported by usual mortars and artillery with an MG42 section a couple of PzShreks and a Stug III (in reserve), with an additional FJR platoon of 'Tank Hunters' and a not often seen Puppchen light gun. Germans could also avail of using 2 Predesignated Artillery Aim points (allows stonk on a terrain feature without having to have LOS)

Yanks have standard full Bttn of 3 companies with mortars and artillery supported by 2 x MMG sections a platoon of 2 x 60mm mortars and 2 Troops of M4 Shermans (in reserve arriving T3 & T6).

The advancing fire trait of the US infantry is pretty good (do not lose the -2 dice when firing on move at cost of reduced movement) and their 60mm on table mortars are decent extra support and combined with flexible reserves and another trait of having a Aircraft Spotter (allows one re-roll of a failed Artillery roll) they are a quite potent on attack.

The FJR count as PzGrenadiers (the Tank Hunter platoon as standard infantry but with a bonus in combat with AFVs) so usual extra hit on double 6 roll and re-roll of 1 miss if vs spotted target, has potential but subject to vagaries of dice whereas US moving fire is a constant.

Lots of decisions to be made regarding order usage and still not quite sure when is optimum point to deploy units onto Combat Patrols whether on attack or defence as once you are seen you soon draw lots of fire but you cannot do much with just patrols.

The shooting system is very slick and whilst pretty broad brush it suits this level of game.

We really enjoyed the game today and learnt/absorbed a good deal more of the O Group system and its nuances. And whilst we still feel O Group is a bit limited in its scope it certainly does work really well within those defined parameters ie 1 full Bttn plus support vs a reduced Bttn plus support.

I do however wish that the scenario maps showed exactly how many fields to include and their location rather than the standard 'the table should include several' as never sure of using too many or too few or just where they should be ?

Did not finish the game (too much waffle as ever) but FJR were getting worst of it with 1 Fubar and another on its way after several losses including the Stug with the US pretty much still intact (lots of shock but no actual losses).

Overview from FJR right at start (not many units on table but several Combat Patrols)

US Platoon occupies wood on their left

As another deploys of a Combat Patrol into farm

With 3rd Platoon of this Company taking some Shock from my mortars in a field

FJR MG42 opened up on them as well but did nothing before dying tout suite

FJR in ambush in trenches engage from orchard

Some more shock on US units (but FJR were taking actual casualties)

FJR Platoon on left reduced to 2 stands (lost 1 stand plus attached PzShk) and soon wiped out