Sunday 4 March 2018

Attack on Buron - 1944

Counter-Attack at Buron - an Into Battle Scenario


Into Battle - WWII Tactical (The West '44 to '45) is the proposed west front 1944 - ‘45 expansion for my Into Battle - WWII Tactical hex based rules.





This small expansion includes a scenario covering the Canadian defence against a German counter-attack at the village of Buron. Todays post is going to follow an AAR of this action as an introduction to the module, which will soon be released as a free (for personal use) download.


please use the ‘read more’ tab for the rest of this post

The module introduces a new Shoot and Scoot rule to add to the Into Battle series rules, together with specific module rules to reflect the deteriorating situation for the Germans through the final phase of the war. These module rules can also be applied to any east front games that are set in the same time-frame.


At the time of release, the main Into Battle rules will also be updated. As always, amendments are gentle and players who have printed off the rules can just print off the relevant amended pages or make pencil notes. Some smaller anti-tank gun values have been changed as this module raised an issue with high velocity, small bore, but long calibre guns. Plus the Shoot and Scoot rule gets added to the series optional rules. All changes will be detailed in a subsequent post, which should be the subject of the next post.


Scenario background - 8th July, during the fighting around Caen, Canadian troops took the village of Buron (6km North West of Caen) in an attack starting at 0730 with generous artillery support. Having taken the village by 0830, they prepared for the inevitable German counter-attacks. 17 pounder armed M-10 Achilles were brought up, helping to hold against the attack and knocking out several Panzer IV’s and Panthers.



Setting up -  After initial terrain placement, two hexes are randomly converted to shell hole hexes (new terrain type) to reflect the earlier Canadian bombardment of the area. Then the German side select a hex on the table for pre-registered artillery fire. I am playing this scenario solo today, in preparation for a face-to-face with Mike on Friday, so I select five obvious target hexes and set that list aside for now.


The Canadians set up within the top four rows of the map. They place their HMG, a rifle section and the two 17 pdr Achilles in the village. Two sections go behind the hedge on the right of the map and one takes the woods on the left. Their two observers can be placed anywhere, so one goes into the single woods hex in the middle of the table and the other goes into the woods over on the left.



The German side then randomly select one of the 5 pre-registered artillery targets and execute the strike. This happens to be amongst the hedges on the right, but is not effective.





Please note that the AAR will use the terms ‘on the left’, ‘on the right’ in relation to the above map as viewed by the reader, rather than describing the ‘German left flank’ or ‘Canadian left flank’ etc.


Here is the Order of Battle for our scenario (edit, this has since been tweaked). All the terms relate to those used in the Into Battle rules.



Opening turn - 1000 hours
(Canadian Morale = 4  German Morale = 6).
The German side advance all of their units onto the table. Their plan is to infiltrate up on the right with a platoon of infantry and a half track and pin the defenders, while the main force gets into position to attack the village from the lower left. The Panthers advancing cautiously along side the road are spotted by the artillery observer in the woods ahead and accurate fire is called down onto the tanks. (Note the star symbols denote the two hexes converted to shell holes).


One of the tanks takes a direct hit and starts to burn causing a German morale drop to 5.





1005 hours - The remaining Panther picks out an M-10 amongst the village buildings, getting an unsurprising first shot kill, but then finding itself again under artillery fire again as the 2nd artillery mission hits its hex, stunning the tank.


On the right, the German 1st Platoon, together with a half track continue to infiltrate up through the woods, attracting machine gun fire from the village, pinning one of their rifle sections.


1011 Hours -
Canadian Morale =3, German Morale = 5
Out on the far left, the two German Pz IV’s move up to get clear of the woods and gain a partial view of the village. As the first sticks their nose forward, the remaining 17 pdr armed M10 fired and left the Pz IV burning.


The Germans take a further loss over on the right as the infantry reach the edge of the wood  taking fire from the village. A rifle section is removed from play. The two losses bring their morale down to 3, this is a worrying start.


1020 hours -
Canadian Morale = 3, German Morale = 3
The Pz IV finds its mark on the second M-10 and removes it from play, the defenders are now without effective anti-tank cover.  On the left, Panzer Grenadiers start to advance through the wheat field, with the lead section getting pinned by rifle fire from the woods up ahead.


1028 hours -
Canadian Morale = 2, German Morale = 3
The Germans lose their HMG (left) from effective HMG fire from the town and the attack loses its momentum (3 units go out of command and two refuse to unpin!). On a positive note for them, at last, the Panther recovers from the stun result, perhaps the crew suffered some minor concussion from the artillery fire.


1037 hours -
Canadian Morale = 2, German Morale = 2
Some local determined leadership gets the German attack moving again. The Pz IV and Panther, without enemy armour to worry about, start pumping H.E. shells into the village. Over on the far right, at the hedge, a Canadian rifle section is removed from play, causing a worrying morale loss ... now down to level 1. Canadian crossfires had been largely ineffective, but their presence has been enough to cause the Germans hesitation in stepping out to cross the open ground in front of the village.


1045 hours -
Canadian Morale = 1, German Morale = 2
With the pressure building, there was relief from the defenders when a M-10 rumbled up into position behind the woods on the left of the map. This vehicle had thrown a track an hour earlier and so had been delayed getting to Buron.

The German right put down devastating fire, firmed up my the machine gun on the half track (that had successfully negotiated the woods) removing the second rifle section and that Canadian flank position was now fully exposed. Only a single rifle section in the end building of the village was covering that end of the Canadians position. The arrival of the M-10 had put the Canadian morale up by 1, but the loss of the rifle section had brought it back down again, their position feeling somewhat perilous.


1051 hours -
Canadian Morale = 1, German Morale = 2
As the newly arrived M-10 skirts around the woods on the left, it spots the Pz IV ahead, it is facing the village, so presenting it’s side armour, not that that matters too much to the 17 pdr armed vehicle (see the panzer in the distance beyond the fields).

But the German tank is already swinging its turret to engage. Base To Hit is 6, +6 for gun value (12), -5 for M-10 frontal armour (7), -1 for the tank turret moving to engage give as final To Hit of 6, so a d10 is rolled, looking for equal to or less than 6. They roll a ‘6’ and then roll on the penetration table, getting a ‘stun’ result. The M-10 can not do anything at all until it recovers, perhaps the damage is minor, who knows?


1059 hours -
The advance of the game clock dice roll is doubles, so both sides get a Random Event. The German side get ‘Men of Action’ so something this turn will be able to move AND fire or vice-versa. The Canadians get Tank Fright! Units in cover this turn are not able to move out of cover.


On the left, German sections use smoke to leave the wheat field to assault the woods ahead (note the stunned M-10 ). The smoke has the unintended consequence of blinding the view between the M-10 and Pz IV, which uses the opportunity to move on towards the village, putting the woods between itself and the M-10. The lead Panzer Grenadier section takes a pin, but the Germans manage to retain its smoke capacity for now.


1106 hours -
Canadian Morale = 1, German Morale = 2
Both German tanks go out of command this turn. The Canadian rifle section covering the right of the town is pinned, it can either attempt to lose the pin or fire but only with 1D6. It chooses to test for recovery and succeeds.


1112 hours -
Canadian Morale = 1, German Morale = 2
On the right, the Germans use smoke to approach the end of the village (see below). On the left, Panzer Grenadiers enter the wood and engage in close combat with the Canadian rifle section. The action is so intense that both sections are removed from play. The loss crashes the Canadian morale to zero and each of their units must test for ‘fallback’. (Except the stunned M-10, which never acts while stunned). The rifle section holding the right side of the town fails and falls back to the church. Likewise the HMG fails and falls back to the café. The front edge of the village has now been abandoned.


1116 hours -
Canadian Morale = 0, German Morale = 2
The new position at the café seems to offer a better field of fire and the HMG starts to dominate the space in front of it, removing a Grenadier Section from play and bringing the German morale down to 1. The Canadian position is fraught and abandoning the village is a serious and perhaps sensible consideration, but the prospect of now stalling the German attack due to their low morale, keeps them holding on.


1125 hours -
Canadian Morale = 0, German Morale = 1
The village is now being pressed from both ends. The Pz IV shells the café, pinning the HMG and at the other end of town, at the church, the rifle section also becomes pinned. The defence is teetering on collapse. In the photo below, the cafe is the building in the rear to the far left.


1127 hours -
Again Random Events are generated. The German side can reveal a previously unknown minefield. They choose to have the hex immediately behind the church to show mines, no doubt part of their own defences from when they controlled the village. The Canadians get ‘Men of Action’.


The Germans enter the town and take two of the five buildings. The HMG finally succumbs to the shells of the Pz IV and is removed from play. Again the rifle section at the church must test for Fallback and they fail. With mines directly behind them, they are forced out into the wheat field, just managing to escape casualties from nearby rifle fire. The section has no choice but to retire to the safety of the rear. The M-10 is still immobile, with no sign of life and it is feared that crew did not survive the earlier attack.


1137 hours -
Panzer Grenadier sections push through the village, while as a final act, the half track on the right fires across the hedge at the escaping Canadians, who manage to leave the table without further harm.


1144 hours - The time has gone beyond 1140 hours, so the game ends.


Victory Points - The German side have inflicted 6 losses, so gain 6 VP’s. The Canadians likewise inflicted 6 losses, for 6 VP’s. So it comes down to control of the village and here the Germans have secured four of the five buildings, so the win goes to them.


Conclusions:
The scenario seems to be broadly working and is getting a replay on my Friday night session with Mike to stress it a bit further. I think for that game, I will drop one Canadian off-board fire mission and replace it with an extra rifle section and see how that goes.


The random nature of the arrival of the reinforcing 3rd M10 does bring some interest, especially as arrival is dependent upon losing their first M-10 and then the availability dice roll is related to the number of German tanks (i.e. threat) still in play a the time of testing.

Although historically, the German attack was halted with heavy vehicle losses, for the purposes of a workable wargaming scenario, the prospect of a German win needs to be real enough to keep interest for both sides. There were several moments in the game that became locally pivotal, which should bring enough dynamism to allow replayability, plus even though the Canadian situation looked dire, the Germans themselves were close to morale collapse and their securing of the village only really happened in the last moments.  


This scenario enjoys a slightly larger playing space than the usual 8 x 6 grid scenarios given in the base rules, but this was done deliberately to show the rules working in a bigger space, but still within the bounds of the ‘kitchen table’ type game.


The shoot and scoot rule is interesting and brings quite a bit of nuance for little rules overhead. It is obviously ideal for something that is vulnerable to enemy fire, but when it scoots, usually taking itself out of line of sight, it also loses its own line of sight to the enemy. It works well for dropping back to secondary ambush positions, so some thought is needed with initial placement. There didn’t seem much opportunity in this game to use it, but at least when needed, the tactic is there and viable. The rule is only available to tank destroyers / hunters with a frontal armour value of 6 or less.


(EDIT - in my game with Mike, I twice used Shoot and Scoot, the first time I 'scooted' to a stupid position that essentially locked the M-10 down for over half an hour and in the other, I pulled back directly into the line of sight of a Panther sat in the far corner of the board, that I hadn't noticed, with an obvious outcome .... Doh! I then moved the other M-10 into what looked like a great ambush spot, only to realise I had moved into the line of sight of a Pz IV, so some real bad management of my M-10’s in that game delivered another German win).


Note that going out of command in this system is simply a turn based temporary abstracted way of showing that unit awareness is not always at the level that gives the player an over emphasised level of control of what is going on - it stops micro management and makes the players make the best of the situation presented to them. The rule also allows automatic command at a chosen point, showing that the player typically has a command focus on the most important part of the battlefield at that particular moment in time - often a point of crisis.


The text for the new module is pretty much done and should be the subject of the next post and hopefully by then, the final tweaks to this scenario will round that out into a pretty useful package for anyone who dabbles with these rules.


Resources;
My COMMANDERS web space is more snippet based than here and supports my various rules.
LINK




An big AAR from the final playtesting of a East Front campaign system for these rules, showing design amendments along the way.
LINK (dropbox download)




The original Into Battle Rules can be downloaded via this post - but note the rules will have a March 2018 update shortly that will be fairly minimal, but never-the-less, if you print the rules, you may wish to wait.
LINK


31 comments:

  1. Great stuff, Norm. The rules seem very approachable and the results believable. Makes me want to finish up some more 6mm WWII figures and start playing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Aaron, I dabble with loads of WWII tactical, some of it feels complicated and hard to hold in my head, but this has become second nature. We did enjoy our face-to-face with it on Friday. If you have some forces, at least its a free set of rules just to throw some dice with.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very interesting scenario, Norm and and equally engaging BatRep. Makes me want to get my 15s out onto the gaming table. Sadly, my 15mm WWII is early war but this scenario could certainly travel back in time. I would need to come up with unit stats but that should not be insurmountable. Perhaps I should begin with an infantry only scenario as a trial run?

    Your game table looks terrific!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jonathan, I had in fact started my 1940 tables, but stopped to work on the '44 stuff and o course that will involve building up forces.

      A way you could go is simply to do the '44 scenario and proxy the 1940 vehicles as 1944 counter-parts (roughly), a bit like having a bath with your wellies on, but never-the-less an option. Another way is to use armourfast 15mm. they do cheap (but accurate and good looking) fast assembly two models per box 15mm vehicles. They do the Achilles, Pz IV and Panther.

      my infantry is quite generic really and things like Pz. Faust and PIAT and Commanders are dealt with by the system - though their figures can still be used to add variety to the bases. Another way is to use any counters you might have from a boardgame.

      I do like the French vehicles though.

      Delete
    2. Perhaps my try of these rules will not be too far off. I placed an order for 4 inches hexes.

      Delete
    3. A good step and investment, so much is going to spin out of having that versatility.

      Delete
  4. Nice report Norm, lovely figures, buildings and maps, and interesting explanations...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Phil, I have 10mm Germans and Russians, but think that the British figures are the nicest and Pendraken's resculpts of the their vehicles (only the M-10 in my pictures) are really nice.

    the buildings look nicer to the eye, digital flash is not kind and the two pre-paints look like they have been clumsily inked, but in the hand, they look really rustic and delightful.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Although historically, the German attack was halted with heavy vehicle losses, for the purposes of a workable wargaming scenario, the prospect of a German win needs to be real enough to keep interest for both sides."

    I think this is always a challenge when using historical actions as the basis for a scenario. However I think you have admirably achieved your aim. Well done.

    The game AAR was a great read and full of action, plus the table looked great as well. I loved the 'shoot and scoot' rule, as it reminds of the emphasis placed on finding several positions from which armour could fire during an engagement, able to move from one to another with relative ease.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Steve, for scenario design, I have always favoured trying to get an emotional connection for both players, so that (especially towards the end), they feel that winning is just out of reach and that the next turn will deliver! which it seldom does.

    I liked the Shoot and Scoot idea when I was writing it, but it was only when it went into practice that he sheer dynamics that fall from the potential of that rule are realised. Great fun and will only be for the smaller tank destroyers and Jagd's. Things like the JagdPanther were supposed to hang back at least 1500 metres behind the line and use their powerful guns from their and their armour being basically immune to allied firepower at that range. (but where is the fun in that true fact! we want to see JagdPanthers in our cartoon world of 300 metre engagements!) :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. A nicely balanced game and as usual comes with your descriptive write up. I like the idea of a shoot and scoot rule.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Peter, we both enjoy the same kind of tinkering.

      Delete
  9. Thanks for posting. Interesting to see how the complete scenario went. They look like a fun set of rules. I wonder how they would fare with a larger area and forces.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Ellis, the rules first started their life on a square grid and player got two activation markers, each to put down somewhere on the board and then everything within 3 squares (from memory) of each marker was active. I remember cutting it down to 1 marker for a smaller board, but that left so much stuff out of command that the tests came in.

    Anyway, with evolution, I think the rules as they stand now can really go to a larger table, say 6 x 4 (18 x 12 hex grid) with more forces without amendment. Bigger than that and I think the player would need to allow each side to have two command locations per turn.

    What they are not good at doing is putting a lot of forces in a small area, because the kill rate becomes too high with all the firepower and it brings about a premature crash in morale.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Outstanding batrep Norm. This is the supplement I've been waiting for! Looking forward to downloading this! Seems to have a good NW Europe flavor to it. Can't wait to get it on the table.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Excellent battle report

    Take care

    Andy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Andy, and played with things from those nice Pendraken people :-)

      Delete
  13. Hi Norm,
    I wrote a lenthy, detailed post and then my tablet gobbled it up! Outstanding BATREP that seems to capture the "feel" of NW Europe operations and I cannot wait to play TaC! I'm thrilled you've gotten it to playtesting.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks Steve, I have to smile because I have just done exactly the same on another blog - doh! Glad you enjoyed, it was your encouragement that got me into gear to get it done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There will be plenty more playing of both theaters with your "Tigers at" series over at Sound Officers Call. I planned on starting your Stalingrad games as soon as I can get a proper hexmat and some buildings.

      Written on a proper PC this time! :)

      Delete
  15. Really nice post and I especially enjoy the thoughts going into scenario design and objectives. The models look good and I like the barrage markers. 😀

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks Stew, it was interesting going from research to scenario building to play. The barrage markers are pipe cleaners hot glued to a coin and then 'dressed' with clump foliage hot glued to the pipe cleaners and then set with diluted PVA (2 coats) and sprayed black etc.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hello,
    I do not see a contact us or contact me section on your blog. I wonder if you could email me at frankeajs At gmaildotcom.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Andrew, I do have a contact me button at my Commanders site at this link (and also available at BoardGameGeek). Cheers Norm.
    https://commanders.simdif.com/

    ReplyDelete
  19. Interesting AAR, clear and it makes sense that the A10 is a bit vulnerable I think.
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks Iain, they certainly can't go head-to-head with a Panther, they have similar guns, but there is enough difference in their armour to make their life short unless they can use the terrain and positional awareness to their advantage

    ReplyDelete
  21. Really enjoyed this Norm.
    What footprint does this game take up?
    I am tempted....
    Cheers
    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks Dave, I am using 10mm figures on four inch (10cm) hexes. The basic rules have 6 scenarios and 5 of them use a 8 x 6 hex grid, one uses 10 x 7. The 8 x 6 fits within my large pin board, which is just under 3' x 2'. The new module I am doing has a single scenario and that is on a 10 x 9 grid, which will sit fine within a three and a half foot x less than three foot table. table.

    The rules were specifically written to work within small spaces, so things have low movement rates (typically 1 hex per turn), so that one side of the board does not easily influence the other flank. The game can also be played in a bigger space.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Very enjoyable read, Norm. When I was young I thought all German tanks were 88s and almost all were tigers and panthers. Even when I realised this was bunkum it still influenced my buying so that my 6mm German forces had massively more of these than reality. Rather than sell some off I started to buy and paint large numbers of various PzIIIs and PzIVs to dilute the monsters. Now if I could only master a rule set I could get them on the table.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks Kev, the big cats are very popular, but as you say, not representative of the day-to-day actions.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment