Two more tanks for What A Tanker!

Here are two more recruits to my Afrika Korps tank force for the TwoFatLardies What A Tanker game. On the left is a Panzer III with the longer 5cm KwK 39 L/60 gun, which means that it is  a Panzer III Ausf. J, although the ones with the longer gun were later reclassified as Ausf. L variants. The smaller tank on the right is, of course a Panzer II, armed with the 2cm KwK 30 L/55 cannon. As it has five road wheels, it is an Ausf. F variant, produced in 1941/42, rather than the earlier Ausf. C, so ideal as a vehicle serving in the North African campaign.

Both of these are Battlefront 15mm resin models. Although I am a big fan of plastic tanks, I think that for WaT resin models make more sense to me, because I don't really need to buy a box of five PSC models if I am only going to need one or two. I quite like the extra weight of resin vehicles for WaT.

Of course, when I eventually do something about my CoC in the desert project, these will be perfect for that too.

A couple of Afrika Korps tanks for What A Tanker .....

...... and not only for WaT, either. 

I have plans for building up some forces for Chain of Command in the North African Campaign in the 1940-42 period, but those plans will probably have to wait now that the TooFatLardies have announced their Blitzkrieg handbook is available for pre-orders. The CoC priority now is going to be switched to BEF and German forces, with French to follow later.

Anyway, having bought some already painted 8th Army vehicles at the club's Tabletop Sale back in May, I always planned to get some German opposition. I'll look at getting a couple of Italian tanks later, which will also come in handy for Desert CoC.

For the first time, I looked away from PSC box sets and decided to get a couple of resin tanks. The ones I chose were Battlefront ones, a Panzer III H and a Panzer IV F1. I did want to get a Panzer II as well, but they were out of stock. I'll probably go back later to get one.

These were pretty straightforward to paint. They were given a base coat of Army Painter Desert Yellow spray and then the detailing was built up with drybrushing, first with some unmixed Vallejo Natural Steel (if you don't shake the bottle too much you get a graphite sort of colour with only a hint of metal) to show wear on the desert colour and then with Iraqi Sand, which is a massively useful colour for all sorts of things. I used black for the rubber rims on the wheels.

I think that they have turned out pretty well. Oddly enough, it was only after I'd bought these that I remembered that I have a couple of Zvezda kits of exactly the same tanks. I made them up and compared the two for size. The two Mk IIIs are an almost perfect match, but the Battlefront Mk IV is slightly longer. I'll paint them up one day and that will give me a couple more tanks. Of the two, I have to say that I prefer the Battlefront models, though.

Post Christmas big IABSM AAR

The club normally meets on Sunday afternoons, but over the Festive Season, we didn't meet up on either Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve. However, we did have a Thursday afternoon session on the 28th. I offered to put on and umpire a big game of I Ain't Been Shot Mum for two players a side. This would be a 1944 game, with the British forces pushing forwards into the Low Countries after the Liberation of France as part of the advance towards the Rhine.

What I wanted to do was put on a game with a lot of tanks but also have plenty of obstacles to aid the weaker side (in this case weak was relative). The field was laid out on four tables, creating a long battlefield with plenty of cover and dead ground. Here it is, seen from behind the German position.

The scenario was as follows;

After the end of the Battle of Normandy, Allied forces are pushing eastwards into the Low Countries. German resistance is stronger than expected but patchy in places. Defence in many cases depends on ad hoc formations made up from whatever troops are available to counter the advance of the Allied armour.

This scenario is one such encounter.

A British tank squadron and a company of motorised infantry have been tasked with taking a river crossing.

An ad hoc German Kampfgruppe is opposing the British advance.

 

The German force was:

1 weakened Kompanie of Panzergrenadiers (veterans)

Co HQ (with 3 Panzerschrecks) L3 BM (2 x SdKfz 251)

2 x Zugs each with L2 BM

1 section of 4 x MG42

1 improvised Rifle Kompanie (poor regulars)

HQ – 2 x tripod MG42, 2 x Panzerschrecks L2 BM L1 BM

1 rifle Zug L1 BM

1 Zug of Panzerknackers (2 x MG42 teams, 4 riflemen, 8 x Panzerfaust shooters) L2 BM

1 ad hoc Panzer Kompanie

HQ – 1 x Tiger I L3 BM (veteran crew)

1 x Panzer IVH (average crew)

Zug 1 – 3 x Panther G L2 BM (average crews)

Zug 2 – 4 x Panzer IVH L2 BM (green crews)

Anti-tank Zug

3 x Stug III (average crews)

The British force was:

1 squadron of Cromwell IV and Sherman Vc tanks (all average crews)

HQ – 3 Cromwells (1 with 95mm CS howitzer) and 1 Sherman Vc L3 BM

4 troops, each with 3 Cromwells and 1 Sherman Vc each with L2 BM

1 company of motorised infantry (the infantry are dismounted from their vehicles) all good regulars

Co HQ – 1 x 8 man rifle section L3 BM L1 BM (in a halftrack)

3 x rifle platoons each with L2 BM

1 carrier section – 4 x carriers with Vickers MMGs (can be mounted or dismounted)

1 flamethrower section (4 teams in a halftrack)

For this scenario, the following conditions were applied;

The Germans may defend in depth on both sides of the road. The Germans must defend a river crossing at their end of the table.

Some of their tanks have been recycled from battle-damaged vehicles and the German deck includes the Vehicle Breakdown chip. When this is drawn, roll 1D6 for each tank that has already been deployed (don’t roll for tanks under Blinds). Only roll once for each tank.

Any tank that rolls a 1 is broken down and will be immobilised for the rest of the game, but can continue to fire. Any shock against an immobilised vehicle will be doubled.

Any tank that rolls a 2 will suffer a failure of the turret traverse and will only be able to fire in a 90 degree forward arc.

The Panzerknacker Zug is split into two sections, each with 1 x MG42, 2 riflemen and 4 men with Panzerfausts. Once the Fausts have been fired, these troops revert to being ordinary riflemen.

The Germans have four pieces of field earthworks and one small pillbox.

The Germans can deploy hidden or under blinds, They have no dummy blinds.

The British will deploy under blinds and have two dummy blinds.

The 95mm CS howitzer fires smoke shells only, as do the 2” mortars in the British platoons.

The British are to advance along the road, which is hemmed in by trees on both sides to take the two bridges over a river defended by a German force. Only the larger bridge can support the weight of tanks, but smaller vehicles can cross both bridges. The terrain is undulating and visibility is broken up by the trees and hedges. The ground suits the defenders and is not prime tank country.

Intelligence reports that the bridges are well-defended.

I allowed the Germans to deploy up to halfway  along the length of the table, with the British being limited to a deployment zone that was one quarter of the table deep.

The Germans chose to deploy with everything hidden in their deployment zone. I didn't know where they had placed their units, but I assumed that the pillbox would play a role. The British deployed under blinds on both sides of the road but pretty soon they had had a number of elements spotted.

The 2" mortar of this platoon quickly started to lay down smoke to prevent the defenders from firing on them. On the British right, more tanks and infantry advanced towards a hill, spotting some German defenders, Panzerknackers and MG42 teams from the weak Landser Kompanie. These were quickly eliminated by mass machine gun fire from the tanks (well, the Cromwells actually, the Sherman Vc tanks not having hull MGs) and the Vickers-armed Carriers. The power of the machine guns was pretty much devastating.

The Germans were unwilling to show their hand at all and most of their troops remained unspotted and hidden, holding their fire and pretty much inviting the British to advance. The British managed to discover a Zug of Stug III tank destroyers behind a hedge.

Despite massed fire from the two British left flank tank troops, these Stug IIIs remained unharmed and soon caused havoc on the single Cromwell troop in front of them. The infantry platoon was also suffering from accurate fire from a tripod-mounted MG42 in an earthwork. The British advance appeared to be stalled on the right.

On the British left, the tanks were pretty much stuck in a traffic down in the unsuitable ground on this side of the road.

The platoon supporting these tanks, cleared away the German infantry screen  opposing them and started spotting more Germans. These were a tougher prospect than the Landsers - hull-down PZKfw IVs and the Tiger.

On the German left, the remaining tanks were revealed (a poor photo, unfortunately);

And the Germans also revealed a previously unseen Zug of Panzergrenadiers covering the central lake and road junction.

A different view of the German Panzerfront, a daunting sight for the British tanks.

At this point, the  clock was ticking and there was little time left to reach a conclusion. However, it didn't look too healthy from the point of view of a British tanker. Regretfully perhaps, the British commanders decided that discretion was the better part of valour. One tank troop was a set of burning wrecks and one infantry platoon had taken a lot of casualties from machine gun fire. The Germans remained in a solid defensive posture, with the only casualties being from the screen of Panzerknackers and MG42 teams.
   

So, an interesting game, the Germans playing a canny waiting game and the British being unwilling to advance too far into the unknown, even declining to use the Allied Armour Bonus chip whenever it emerged from the bag. Discussing this afterwards, the consensus was that after the attritional horrors of the Normandy campaign, the British regulars tended towards self-preservation rather than Tally Ho-style heroics. We agreed that once the location of the German tanks was known, the appeal of advancing towards those long 75mm guns (not forgetting the 88mm on the Tiger) was limited, to put it mildly, especially as they were adequately protected by those unharmed and fresh veteran Panzergrenadiers.

Attack Through The Bocage - an AAR for IABSM

This game was played out at Lincombe Barn on Sunday 2nd April. The Americans were commanded by Chris and I was leading the Germans.

The AAR covers a fictional scenario representing an action between American forces attempting to break out from the Cotentin peninsula and clear a path southwards towards St Lô and the German defenders attempting to contain them in the weeks immediately after the initial landings.

US briefing

Capt. Travis Perkins, commanding A Company has been ordered to secure the road south from Ste Eulalie-en-Bocage to allow the passage of armour and guns towards the main objective south-east towards St Lô. The company has suffered some casualties since the landings at Utah Beach but morale is good. The Weapons Platoon has been detached and is not available for this operation, however a single platoon of M4 tanks is available. These are fresh from training and have not seen combat previously. The armour has a morale level of 3 but from lack of combat experience have the potential to be cautious. To represent this the Hesitant card will be present in the game deck but will only affect the tanks on their next activation or on the next activation of the tank Big Man. The infantry will be unaffected by Hesitant.

All the American troops are rated as Regular.

The company consists of;

HQ - Capt. Travis Perkins (L3 Big Man)
Sgt Enrico Fermi (L2 Big Man)
2 .30mm MG teams (4 crew each)
1 M3 halftrack with .30 MG and 2 crew

Platoon One - Lt Ernie "Brick" Wall (L3 Big Man)
3 rifle squads (10 men each)
1 bazooka team (2 men)

Platoon Two - Lt Roscoe P. Coltrane (L2 Big Man)
3 rifle squads (10 men each)
1 bazooka team (2 men)

Platoon Three - Sgt Cooter Davenport (L2 Big Man)
3 rifle squads (10 men each)

Tank platoon - Lt Ricky Reeves (L2 Big Man)
5 x 75mm M4 Sherman tanks

The Americans have one dummy blind

Recce teams report that German troops are active in the area and that armour is likely to be present. The ground is flat but criss-crossed with bocage hedges. A shallow but wide drainage ditch runs alongside the main road for part of its length before turning off across a field which is muddy and counts as broken terrain. The ditch can be forded by infantry but should be counted as a major obstacle. There is a bridge over this ditch that is suitable for light vehicles only. Vehicles cannot cross the ditch. There are two lanes running at right angles from the main road. At the far end of the road there is a walled farm on some raised ground, with a couple of outbuildings, surrounded by an orchard enclosed by a fence. Northwards beyond the orchard is a field of corn.

The bocage hedges are a major obstacle and take one action for infantry to get through. Tanks will take one action to break through and count as broken terrain to cross once a breach has been made.

Capt. Perkins must secure the road by clearing any defenders from the area and take the farmhouse. However, the terrain is difficult and every hedge or obstacle should be treated as a potential hiding place for enemy troops.

German briefing

It is imperative that the American advance towards St Lô is halted. Reconnaissance has indicated that the Americans intend to push down along this road to outflank our troops to the north-west of the town. Although our resources are stretched, Oberleutnant Hans Knopfel has been sent to guard the road with a weakened company of Panzergrenadiers. These are rated as Regular.

Oberleutnant Knopfel has also been provided with some armour, but not much, few vehicles can be spared. They are, however, rated as Veteran. Their commander Leutnant Heinz Scribner is a Tank Ace.

His forces consist of;

HQ - Oberleutnant Hans Knopfel (L4 Big Man)
Obergefreiter Stefan Schtupp (L1 Big Man)
4 MG42 MG teams (2 men each)
2 Panzerschreck teams (2 men each)
1 SdKfz 250/9 with 2cm cannon and MG42
1 SdKfz 251 with MG42 and 2 crew

Zug One - Feldwebel Ewald Schmidt (L3 Big Man)
3 rifle squads (8 men each)
2 Panzerfausts

Zug Two - Unterfeldwebel Fritz Blick (L2 Big Man)
3 rifle squads (8 men each)
1 Panzerfaust

Panzer Zug -  Leutnant Heinz Scribner (L3 Big Man)
3 x Stug III Ausf. G 75mm
1 x PzKfw IV Ausf. H 75mm

The Germans have two dummy blinds

Oberleutnant Knopfel's orders are to prevent the Americans from advancing down the road and to cause maximum casualties.

The game opened with the Americans advancing through the bocage under blinds. Because of the nature of the terrain attempts at spotting were difficult. The non-arrival of the German Blinds chip didn't help matters much either.

Before long, American M4 tanks had crashed through the bocage (presumably aided by Culin Hedgecutters, and were confronted by a single Zug of Panzergrenadiers. Despite the explosion of one tank from a short range hit from a Panzerfaust, the M4s opened up with a devastating salvo of HE shells which soon caused significant casualties and much shock, suppressing the German troops and soon forcing the survivors to withdraw.

At the same time, US infantry began to advance across the ploughed fields, to be met with a devastating hail of fire from MG42s in the roof of the farmhouse and also closer along the fence around the orchard.

Unfortunately for the Germans, the German Blinds chip (also the chips for the German armour and second Panzergrenadier Zug) refused to emerge from the bag for a number of rounds. Only the endless rain of bullets from the MG42s was keeping the Americans pinned, together with the Hesitant chip preventing the tanks from advancing any further. Finally, in a bloody bout of close combat around the fence, the German defenders were eliminated. However, more MG42 fire from the farm forced the Americans to withdraw in shock with heavy losses. All this time Capt. Perkins and the third American platoon remained behind the bocage, seemingly unwilling to advance into the cauldron of fire.

Eventually though, the Germans to the west of the main road started to move and soon the accurate 75mm fire of the veteran Panzer troops started to knock out the US M4s.

The arrival of fresh German infantry and the loss of their supporting armour seemed to cause a weakening of resolve among the previously confident Amis.

With Panzerschreck teams making their way through the orchard and a devastating series of bursts of MG fire from both the farmhouse and the advancing PzKfw IV, the remaining Americans realised that the tide had turned and began to pull back, leaving many dead and three brewed-up tanks behind.

So, a pretty tense and exciting encounter. From a German perspective, the early stages of the battle were dismal, mainly because of the non-appearance of most German chips from the bag. In fact, the chip for the L4 Big Man, Oberleutnant Hans Knopfel didn't come out at all (neither did that for his US counterpart Capt. Travis Perkins either), but the German L1 Big Man, Obergefreiter Stefan Schtupp's chip emerged frequently enough for him to activate the MG42s in the farmhouse, which pretty much stopped the US advance until the Panzers and the second Zug of Panzergrenadiers finally got moving. From that point on, the balance shifted decisively towards the defenders and the Americans pretty much had to retreat.

More tanks!

It has been worrying me for a while that I haven't posted anything here. This has really been because I've had my mind on other things and not on those involved in wargaming.

Anyway, now we are in 2017, I need to start painting again so I can take part in the TooFatLardies painting challenge run by Robert Avery on his excellent Vis Lardica website.

I've had three boxes of PSC 15mm tanks sitting around for ages and, while stuck in the house with a chest infection decided to make these up and paint them. The results are below. These will be added to my IABSM forces.

First off are some American tanks (I've also got a load of PSC US infantry and heavy weapons to do). Here are five M4A2 75mm models;

 And here are some M5A1 37mm light tanks. There are different variants but will all play a role as Panzer cannon fodder a scout platoon for the Americans in Normandy and beyond.

 Now we come to the big cats, Panthers to be precise. These will be a lethal addition to my already formidable array of German armour.

I decided to festoon these with vegetation so as to better disguise them in the Norman bocage. I'd previously done the same last year with some Stug III assault guns, shown below;

So, I am finally back painting and I have a new project in the offing, which I will write about in a separate post later.