WW2 D-Day+1 US Airborne run into trouble...(BKC) pic heavy!

[nikharwood]

Thought it was about time I had another solo game - and used my new mat for a small BKCII game this afternoon. The situation is this:

D-Day+1 and some dispersed elements of the 101st US Airborne are trying to link up with their comrades...they move towards a ruined village, unaware that it's defended by ze Germans.

Each battlegroup is around 1250 pts; the US have one third of their forces lagging behind who will arrive on / after Turn 3.

Germans [breakpoint 7]:
CO, HQ
9 Infantry
2 MG
1 PzIV 75mm Lang
2 StuG-IV 75mm Lang
1 ATG 88mm Flak-36
2 Trucks

US Airborne [breakpoint 6]:
CO, 3 HQ
9 Infantry + bazookas
3 MG
2 Mortars

Set-up: battlefield measures 3ft x 2ft & set-up lengthways with the village at one end, some tree cover and a railway line. US go first.

[nikharwood]

Turn 1:

The US take the opportunity of some good command rolls to move quickly towards the village:











They're getting a bit close for the Germans who decide to declare their presence & open up:









The US find themselves exposed and need to push on...

[nikharwood]

Turn 2:

The US bring their mortars into play and cause the first casualty, taking out a German infantry squad behind the barricade:



They continue to push forwards, knowing that they are outgunned and dangerously lacking cover:







The Germans return fire & adjust their positions a touch:

[nikharwood]

Turn 3:

The Paras continue to press for an advantage and to get their bazookas in range of the German armour...but this overstretches their command and leaves them vulnerable:





In returning fire the Germans are deadly...

[nikharwood]

Turn 4:

The US pass their breaktest and the straggler command turns up...but his men are still lagging:



Some more accurate small arms from the Paras and their mortar & MG support accounts for another German infantry squad which is destroyed, suppressing a couple of supporting squads in the process:



The Germans manoeuvre further, with the PzIV pressing into the open:

[nikharwood]

Turn 5:

The US again pass their breaktest (not quite so comfortably this time though...) and the remaining Para units arrive now and push quickly on towards the battle:





They gain the flank of the PzIV and ding a couple of bazooka rounds into it - but not enough to cause it any significant problems:



The Paras continue to pour fire & mortar rounds into the village:



The Germans, once more, are lethal in their response and obliterate the unfortunate paratroopers:









The US commanders have no option but to surrender:



The Germans dig in again, determined to make the Allies fight further for this part of Normandy:

[Arsenus]

That was so cool to read this Batrep!
Great fight!

I have juste owned the game "Blitzkrieg" (french game WWII). I will begin my german army soon! ^^

[Nosher]

Outstanding Nik

Nice to see some batreps appearing!

[Kiwidave]

I thought it was only jar-heads that charged into machine-gun fire...?

Nice right-up Nik. I have started reading Charles Grant's Programmed Wargames Scenarios (aimed at solo play), and it has some neat stuff. Sadly, I lack somewhere to actually play the games...

'bout time you moved back to civilisation, so I get a game or two!

[Steve J]

Nice game and report. Good to see small forces playing on a relatively small table. Games don't have to be big to be fun . KD, could you play a small game on the kitchen table, with most of it counting as BUA?

[Kiwidave]

Could do, but the table is round, but the time it takes to get everything put of storage, set up, play the game, put it all away again means a very late night

[Steve J]

Shame . Generally I'm only able to do it by setting up Friday afternoon, then once tea, washing up etc is out of the way, I can get a nice leisurely game in. Also I pack up on the Saturday morning and fortunately the kids leave things well alone before that!

Having said that, I had planned to get a solo CWC game in on Friday, but ran out of time and energy. Best laid plans and all that ... .

[nikharwood]

Set-up time:

1 min to garage, unlock door & turn on light
12 mins to rummage, stub toes, swear, drop stuff, swear, grab armies & terrain
1 min to lock garage & get stuff back to dining room
30 seconds to realise that I left tape measure in garage
1 min back to garage, unlock door & turn on light, grab tape measure
1 min to lock garage & get back to dining room
10 mins to set up cloth, terrain
5 mins to semi-randomly pick Wehrmacht forces & take most US forces out of box
10 mins to enter both forces into BKC Battlegroups & print

Set-up time: 41.5 mins

Game time: 55 mins

Pack-up time & return everything to garage etc: 15 mins

Howzat?

Oh - and another thing KD - I reckon your floor might be square...

[Kiwidave]

It might be square, but a 4' square area of the floor takes up 3% of our entire (i.e. the whole flat) floor space....

I did make a folding table to go on top of the dining table, but only used it twice - it wasn't very stable, and our table is normally  in a corner, so needs to be pulled out in the living area. So, a 4' square table actually takes up about 8' square = 12% of our floor area.....

Anyway, enough about my minuscule living space!

Nice game Nik - I hope the Paras learnt their lesson about charging dug-in troops over open ground...

[Leon]

Nice rep, thanks for posting!

12 mins to rummage, stub toes, swear, drop stuff, swear, grab armies & terrain