All,
Following last week's runout of One Hour Skirmish Wargames, the boys lined it up to give the Battle of Biazza Ridge another go, and it was a helluva fight! It's July 11, 1943, on the island of Sicily, where American paratroopers are facing off against tanks and troops of the Hermann Goering Panzergrenadier Division. The paratroopers have landed inland to screen the beaches as infantry come ashore, and they're being put to the test at a place called Biazza Ridge as the Germans mount a counterattack, advancing towards Gela in order to push the Yanks back into the sea.
Last week we played and had a good time, but the scenario (a great scenario, from Steve over at "Sound Officer's Call!" blog) starts with a very small amount of forces on the table and feeds in quite a bit of reinforcements, but the rules don't handle reinforcements very well (in my humble opinion, or at least we didn't handle how the rules handle reinforcements very well). Ultimately there was a fierce firefight and a daring close assault, but the Americans broke when their reinforcements arrived en masse and were caught bunched up by German mortars, which pounded them unmercifully.
So we had a lot of fun, but were convinced the scenario and rules together could give us even more fun if we tweaked a few things, so that's what we did, and it worked like a champ.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiisxdvNxN0WDH-lNLMLQFBvMZAqL5106NXtz3g8FzXD31NdeDDdiBtvyUnhZfCr4cuTu_gze2envKmZzDa_hZrp0rMXo63txy9Rak2yGjHYCF85ExTPYT_ptEwjhls7h5uZcke5eNqbmwQz6BUL83ej8CkLprbparZaZJJMPFK1Kt7sEE9CvRL3wJ1/w400-h300/IMG_7242.JPG)
The US paratroopers push towards the South Spur, with their FO managing to get up top (top left).
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEtNLfbPlDaHweKIh--xuH_JNCgRiO3ePhf52xIWt6oeGURZiFQVQ03WVZ6PzM6ErmkMYIqlh-iK4DKWPaA_e2EOQjHL2BZrnQTQI4_rVu57_F5KA7LMBjCkn4h4RU8yUQZdY6j--HXLUwmVC4kOw_AAdATxVmZam8O7P4VBXHomferLx6BgI0Ucv2/w400-h300/50E481ED-2C20-4FD1-8518-914B7A96A037.jpeg)
The FO takes a good look around...
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggVFiwOOG-VcbmEs3vM_FzhhYP136X1NLqmnJuC2Y0254jc305jB8ru4xJUf3VV54PFrCtHC_zfkt0FsqF4A5A65cEqHmYW24KP0vkwh1LPskwnIN8-mDpnvVoFE5cBFgAsGmRIkJPZKs2SqXOpG0rWl3pBI52OCIrAslwVvLzHtKSmh0E9TZRhKWk/w400-h300/99775BAB-AA73-4722-9A3C-C1C879F7D1F2.jpeg)
And holy guacamole, look what he (bottom center) sees! He immediately gets on the radio and calls in a fire mission!
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9q-kddSUAaUUHI5sNsro2uPFnP-ww2klKr9Hr2I_q36quHhVIzTBVr9S3qUSQcRTfaFtvvXn07zn4KQx_f3CgNFZJgr0WTedExoZI7kzh8hQyhgv46M6Qh4YqfdN7I7GHlu3fKzXNYSrVU1o3w3sWshyoUqeTMUKxk3EJbj4vGx8-_6d2dKx-pbdm/w400-h300/CC0CEF1C-5334-47C3-A9DF-C9E5F60C7902.jpeg)
Both 75mm pack howitzers go to work!
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5vZ9WMvZDr8ElnqnTTZjexnfMVcAYX75A3eTFPaMRHOLSxx4WlJ6A70f_k5ZFVyA71KJVKQp0vojPeU6jfH3baI2N_zDtWQJWp9pV8cAK71r0AkwLzWiaHDIzGvanXpkzO7vgLSZJg_8PdRBCBXGKOdopWmnmngn2IAmigM88yu8OCu5ZdyJrMMH/w400-h300/1B1AF2E0-0AEC-4F48-AF79-0801FE735A8D.jpeg)
The Tigers are untouched, but all three squads of the German 2nd Platoon are suppressed!
And that's just the tip of the iceberg! To see how the fight turned out, please check the blog at:
https://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-battle-of-biazza-ridge-ii.html
Wow, what a fight, I'm exhausted. I can't complain about the action at all. The rules worked much better without having to deal with reinforcements, but the fight still took two and a half hours, which is a bit of a challenge still for the youngsters (I did have to threaten the little one's life a couple times). I haven't discussed it with the boys yet, but I'm actually thinking about playing it again, with a different set of rules (something homegrown, super simple), in the hopes of getting the game time down to 60-90 minutes. I don't really like playing the same fight over and over again, but it has been fun, it's already set up, and it has proven to be a good test bed, I think. But it is playing the same fight three times...
So, if anyone has a cool, similarly-sized scenario we should try out, let me know and I might just give it a shot, rather than do a 'Biazza Ridge III.' But it needs to be mid- to late-war, I don't have early war stuff in 15mm (yet), hopefully something on the Eastern Front.
More to follow as we look to keep the gaming ball rolling.
V/R,
Jack
:-bd =D> :-bd
Great read!
I'm inspired to get back to WWII.
Great work there Jack 8) .
Thanks guys!
V/R,
Jack
Looking good
Thanks Kermie!
V/R,
Jack
Rivet Rivet
Shouldn't that be "ribbet, ribbet"? ;)
V/R,
Jack
Quote from: bigjackmac on 31 March 2022, 02:28:26 PMShouldn't that be "ribbet, ribbet"? ;)
V/R,
Jack
:P :P :P :P :P
:D :D :D