The Adventures of Kampfgruppe Klink

[paulr]

Bl%^dy hell that went badly

Given the battalion was raised and initially trained at Burnham near where I grew up I expected much better from them

"The battalion's field training was carried out under canvas at Cave in South Canterbury", a very small town where I spent time as a lad under canvas

[Ace of Spades]

That was a pretty good day for the Krauts; let's see how long their luck will last!

Cheers,
Rob

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it!

Paul - Yeah, pretty rough, failure to capitalize.  This using historical units stuff is weird for me: on the one hand, it's really cool that you've got a personal stake/experience with units that are on the tabletop.  On the other hand, when it doesn't go well it feels kinda... icky.  I certainly mean no disrespect, and that's exactly the reason why I generally game with units that I've made up, whether it's KG Klink, the VMF-343 'Dirt Divers,' or even just the entire made-up world of my Cuba Libre blog. 

I don't suspect it will be an issue when KG Klink gets to the Eastern Front, but the Germans will be facing a lot of the western Allies: North Africa (probably, not 100% sure about that yet), Italy, Normandy (around Caen), Market-Garden, the Bulge.

Rob - Their luck is going to last until about December of 1941   Just kidding, obviously they can lose tabletop fights between now and then, just that, in the overall scheme of things, fights will be going their way for a bit still.

V/R,
Jack

[paulr]

Jack, historic stuff IS "kinda... icky" and it is important we remember that

It is obvious that no disrespect is intended and I really enjoy your detailed AARs

[bigjackmac]

Paul,

Certainly, and I appreciate your perspective.  I just worry about it because sometimes I do silly stuff to make the tabletop game (or the batrep narrative) more fun, and I would never want any of that reflecting poorly on real-life men that fought.  For instance, early on in KG Klink's campaign in Poland one of the units was suppressed and had bad dice, just could not rally during the game, even ended up running off the table, so I wrote it up that he was summarily shot by Colonel Klink for cowardice.  I've done similar things in other games, where guys were shot in the ass while running away (failing rally rolls and falling back); I think I even had a guy get shot once trying to surrender because the only white clothing he had was his underwear, so he stripped buck naked, tied his drawers to a stick, and tried to surrender, but got shot because he had soiled them and thus they were no longer white  

That's why it's better to play with make believe units

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

Afternoon, 11 April 1941

Here we are, continuing Kampfgruppe Klink's campaign in Greece.  The first battle saw Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen Battlegroup take a key mountain crossroads manned by members of the British Royal Engineers supported by Armored Cavalry from New Zealand.  The fight saw the Germans infantry nearly eliminate the Commonwealth battlegroup, which fell back in disarray.  Captain Freitag pressed his advantage, immediately pursuing south down, where it ran into defensive positions manned by the remnants of the New Zealand 21st Infantry Battalion.  1st Schutzen then evicted the NZ 21st Inf Bn from its positions, forcing them to fall back.  The third fight saw 1st Lt Ginter's 2nd Schutzen moving secure a crossing over the D3 bridge, forcing the 27th MG Battalion back.  Now we have Major Bohm's 2nd Recce Battlegroup pressing forward against remnants of the Australian 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment.


Heavy fighting breaks out as a German tank-infantry team works to clear the Diggers off of Hill 256.


German armored reconnaissance attempts to pull a 'Hussar trick' and fling itself into the village before the Australians can mount a defense, but are ambushed by Vickers machine guns on Hill 327.


The attack on Hill 256 is floundering as the German infantry are being roughly handled.


The defender (top left) aren't looking much better, but their spirits are lifted when the Aussie Carrier Platoon arrives (top right, with German armored cars at bottom center)!

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-in-greece-fight-4.html

Next up, Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen is defending the B3 bridge from the Brit Rangers/9KRRC and Royal Engineers/New Zealand Cavalry battlegroups.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Tough fight

[paulr]

Those armoured cars certainly put the Ozzies on the back foot

Another interesting AAR

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys!

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

(I 'done it', again  .......Hit the preview button, instead of 'post'.)

Like I said yesterday. Nice one, Jack.

(Now hit the right button, this time !)

Cheers - Phil

[Ace of Spades]

A bright spot in an otherwise pretty boring day at the office... tough fight, well played!

Cheers,
Rob

[bigjackmac]

No sweat, Phil

And thanks guys.  You've got a couple days to relax now, will post the next one Sunday evening or Monday morning.

I'm happy everyone seems to be enjoying the campaign; four fights down, six to go!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

Afternoon, 11 April 1941

Here we are, continuing Kampfgruppe Klink's campaign in Greece.  The first battle saw Captain Freitag's 1st Schutzen Battlegroup take a key mountain crossroads manned by members of the British Royal Engineers supported by Armored Cavalry from New Zealand.  The fight saw the Germans infantry nearly eliminate the Commonwealth battlegroup, which fell back in disarray.  Captain Freitag pressed his advantage, immediately pursuing south down, where it ran into defensive positions manned by the remnants of the New Zealand 21st Infantry Battalion.  1st Schutzen then evicted the NZ 21st Inf Bn from its positions, forcing them to fall back.  The third fight saw 1st Lt Ginter's 2nd Schutzen moving secure a crossing over the D3 bridge, forcing the 27th MG Battalion back.  The fourth fight saw Major Bohm's 2nd Recce Battlegroup push back the Australian 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment after some fierce fighting.  Now we return to Captain Freitag's beleaguered 1st Schutzen Battlegroup, which is defending the B3 bridgehead against attacks by two Allied battlegroups: the British Rangers/9th King's Royal Rifle Corps, and the Royal Engineers/New Zealand Cavalry.


And the Allied counterattack kicks off, with Kiwi armored cars leading the way, followed up by British tanks and infantry.


The New Zealand cavalry storms ahead and secures Hill 227, in the heart of the German deployment area!


The slow tanks and infantry reach the bridge, struggling to keep up.


And then all hell breaks loose as the Stugs come in (bottom right) on the Allies' left flank and begin chewing into their bridgehead.

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-in-greece-fight-5.html

And things are progressing rapidly now, so here are the next two Campaign map moves:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-mini-campaign-in-greece-map_12.html

Stay tuned, Fight #6 coming up later this week!

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

That turned out a bit one-sided......Boo...Hiss. 

Cheers - Phil

[paulr]

Seconded