The Adventures of Kampfgruppe Klink

[paulr]

Bl&#dy Aucklanders, rush of blood to the head

Should have kept that infantry as reserve or deployed them between the weapons platoon and the 2pdrs

Counter-attacking into German machines guns, we learnt not to do that in the last war

[bigjackmac]

Paul,

"Bl&#dy Aucklanders, rush of blood to the head"
Yeah, they were a bit excitable, weren't they?

"Should have kept that infantry as reserve or deployed them between the weapons platoon and the 2pdrs"
Yeah, there were a few different options that may have turned out better, but...

"Counter-attacking into German machines guns, we learnt not to do that in the last war"
The counter to that is if their own mortars and MGs had been more effective, maybe even gotten a Chain of Command dice to call in some 25-pdr artillery, then perhaps the German MGs would have been neutralized, and if the Kiwi infantry got in they would have eliminated the German Weapons Platoon and both rifle platoons, winning the battle and eliminating BG Freitag from the entire campaign!  It didn't pay off, but it seemed like a risk worth taking, especially knowing it's still early in the campaign and there's still a lot of ground to give.

V/R,
Jack

[paulr]

In case you haven't guessed I've decided to lob gentle abuse in the direction of the Commonwealth commanders to keep me entertained during my current confinement

I'm enjoying the campaign

[bigjackmac]

Knock yourself out, they've got plenty of bad news for you

And I'm very glad to hear you're enjoying it.  Next fight will post Sunday night or Monday morning.  I'm off tomorrow (a three-day weekend), so I'm headed back upstairs to continue my Cuba Libre campaign.  I've already played 14 fights, so I'm hoping to finish off the campaign this weekend, but it's pretty big and there's room for at least another 14...

V/R,
Jack

[Ace of Spades]

Your AAR's are very entertaining! Please keep 'em coming...

Cheers,
Rob

[bigjackmac]

Thank you, Rob, will do, and the next one is coming right up!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

Morning, 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.  Now we have 1st Lt Ginter's 2nd Schutzen moving to secure a crossing over the D3 bridge, defended by the 27th MG Battalion.


The Germans quickly deploy (all long left-hand table edge), looking to force the bridge.


It quickly becomes a traffic jam, which the Kiwis begin pounding with mortars and small arms fire.


The Germans eventually manage to fling a platoon of infantrymen over the bridge, mostly owing to Lt Ginter's stellar leadership under fire, and they are soon joined by their tank platoon.


Though they (top left) promptly run into the New Zealanders' 2-pdr anti-tank guns (bottom right)!

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-in-greece-fight-3.html

And here are the Turn 4 map moves, for your perusal:
https://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2020/04/kg-klink-mini-campaign-in-greece-map_6.html

Next fight coming later this week, so stay tuned!

V/R,
Jack

[Sunray]

Counting the days Jack!  Thanks for posting and the link. 

Best wishes

James

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Quite a scrap! Well done.
The Kiwi's luck was awful! 

[bigjackmac]

My pleasure, James, and you're absolutely right, Lemmey!

It's a weird feeling playing these games; I don't want the Germans to win because they're the bad guys, but I do want the Germans to win because... I'm playing them.

The very interesting piece to this is that my playing out the entire war is not going to be one of those things where my 'team' wins every tabletop fight but the Germans still lose the war; just as the Germans suffered very few setback in 'real-life' prior to the Soviet winter counteroffensive in December 1941, the opposite is true from July/August 1943.  I can see KG Klink still winning its share of tabletop fights, but ultimately it will be losing as it will HAVE to lose the overall campaign, which will mean whole strings of ass-whoopings for the Germans.  The trick is going to be doing that without getting every single character killed.  Or is it?

V/R,
Jack

[pierre the shy]

My pleasure, James, and you're absolutely right, Lemmey!

It's a weird feeling playing these games; I don't want the Germans to win because they're the bad guys, but I do want the Germans to win because... I'm playing them.

The very interesting piece to this is that my playing out the entire war is not going to be one of those things where my 'team' wins every tabletop fight but the Germans still lose the war; just as the Germans suffered very few setback in 'real-life' prior to the Soviet winter counteroffensive in December 1941, the opposite is true from July/August 1943.  I can see KG Klink still winning its share of tabletop fights, but ultimately it will be losing as it will HAVE to lose the overall campaign, which will mean whole strings of ass-whoopings for the Germans.  The trick is going to be doing that without getting every single character killed.  Or is it?

V/R,
Jack

I think you are handling this aspect of things very intelligently Jack. Its not like we'll be seeing Kampfgruppe Klink invading the US homeland in 1947 equipped with Maus tanks and other fanboy might have been equipment.....

look forward to the remaining Greek battles 

[Techno]

Great fun read, as always, Jack. 

Cheers - Phil

[Westmarcher]

That was good, Jack. I'm not a Modern/WW2 wargamer/collector, so don't normally 'tune in' but it so happens I'm currently playing a solo computer game using Combat Mission and, in the mission I've been assigned, I'm commanding Kampfgruppe Karloff, so the subject matter grabbed my attention. Will try to 'tune in' again, in future. 

[FierceKitty]

The Kiwi's luck was awful! 

Well, if he goes into battle alone....

[bigjackmac]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it!  Well, except for Fierce Kitty's grammar attack

Glad my view makes sense, Pierre, and it's cool to bring you over, Westmarcher!

V/R,
Jack