Wednesday 26 October 2022

1944 - Henri’s Farm



This is a quick throw down scenario on a 4’ x 3½’ table with 10 / 12mm figures, intending to test my own rules, in particular the indirect fire rules.


We again have a setting around Henri’s Farm, with its stables and workshop (these are my newly acquired Battlescale resin buildings, just rotated off the painting table yesterday) defended by a German platoon (3 rifle sections) and a medium machine gun.


To their rear in the small woods they have an 80mm mortar and to the right, a platoon of 3 panthers have just entered the scene, intending to move to the ploughed fields to dominate the open views their front!


Viewed from the British side.



This was coinciding with a British attack against the farm. Two infantry platoons from C Company have orders to infiltrate the woods and then assault the farm. They have a MMG for immediate support, plus a platoon of 4 Shermans (75mm) moving up the left flank for direct heavy fire support.


Both sides have one off-board artillery fire mission.


Henri’s Farm, stables are on the left. The MMG is in
the workshop on the right.



1100 hours - the assault goes in. The Panther crews can see a couple of the Sherman tanks, they fire and unbelievably both miss (rolling 10’s is an auto miss). The Shermans scurry to put the farm buildings between themselves and the Panthers and start to pump shells into the stables.


1120 hours (3 turns later) - the British infantry have got to the wood edge and their volume of fire, with Sherman support, causes 3 of the 4 German bases in the farm to become pinned.


The Panthers probe forwards threatening the
British infantry in front of the farm.



1128 hours - the German mortar takes out the British MMG.


1140 hours - an event is rolled and the British get an air strike, which they use against the Panthers, without success. They bring down an accurate off - table artillery strike onto the stables, which is very successful, removing one infantry section and pinning another. To add to the defender woes, the Sherman’s relentless fire on the stables removes the remaining pinned German infantry section in that building from play.


A rifle section and MMG are in the workshop and their fire takes another British section, both sides now have their morale levels sitting at just 2.


With the stables clear, 1st infantry platoon race forwards
to enter the farm and the Shermans move around the farm,
trying to engage the Panther tanks.



1146 hours - with the stables clear, the Shermans cautiously skirt the farm to get flanking positions on the Panthers, but the Shermans go momentarily out of command (bad roll) and it gives enough time for the Panthers to respond and hit 2 Shermans. One brews, the other is stunned!


The Shermans are roughly handled by
fire from the Panthers.



Subsequent fire from the Panthers destroy the remaining 2 Shermans and the British morale level plummets below zero, causing remaining units to test for retreat.


Enough bases fail and fall back, that the attack loses its entire momentum and at 1156 hours, the game is called.


The Germans remain in control of Henri’s farm and the British suffer a costly repulse.


Conclusion

Quite a fun and quick game, but I am left feeling that my ‘fix’ with the rules of having units activate by ‘group’ and the targeting of ‘groups’ by indirect fire, remains a little awkward to implement …. back to the drawing board!


Resource Section.


My sister webspace ‘COMMANDERS’ is being re-configured to showcase various figure and boardgame systems that I am enjoying and gives a flavour of where current ongoing projects are up to. Link.


https://commanders.simdif.com


24 comments:

  1. Nice looking tabletop setup and better luck next time with the rule modifications.

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    1. Hi Peter, like your good self, I am a constant tinkerer!

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  2. Outstanding little scrap, Norm. More please!

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  3. Thanks Steve, these little actions are the sort of thing I did as a teenager, without thought to balance or points etc - just generic situations which gave One Hour Wargames before OHW was conceived :-)

    They do get you to the table (mid-week game) when that might not otherwise happen.

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  4. Thanks Ray, with a bit of a tidy-up, I think this size of game is a good candidate for participation game at a show, as it fits that ‘that’s a quick project I could do that at home’ slot.

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  5. Norm, does the play seem much different between non-gridded and gridded versions? Handsome table. What are you using for a mat?

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  6. Thank Jonathan, the mat is from Geek Villain and is the September '39 pattern.

    For the most part, the game is feeling similar between the two versions. The thing I am trying to write in a clear way is that bases should be viewed as 'groups' to re-create that sense that a hex contains a 'group' of bases for the purposes of being in command and being a target of non-anti tank fire.

    The hexes certainly helped regulate this and artillery blast zones etc.

    The problem am having at the moment is that I will do something because that is what I want the system to do, but then realise the rule as written doesn't explain that 'thing' well enough. So it is a case of constantly checking that the rule is reflecting what I am doing.

    The hex version was so tight, that it feels like I have lost it a bit here, but further honing should bring it back on track. Some things may need to be smoothed out! such as the fact that I now have cautious and daring moving to reflect 1 hex or 2 hex movement, where one of the hexes were open terrain. If it moves too far away from fun, I will junk those bits that refuse to play ball!

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  7. You do love a tinker, don't you Norm, in the grail/rule quest? Nice idea for a small game there though and I like the look of Henri's ferme.

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    1. Thanks David, I was pushed for time, otherwise I would have kept the table set and tried another period in the same setting.

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  8. The Constant Tinkerer, I like that🙂 A nice little game to test your current tinkering, they appear to give a good result so perhaps only a little adjustment is in order? I do like the Battle scale buildings, I have a 20mm one they are very well crafted and good quality, no filling or filing needed.

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    1. Thanks Phil, yes, I agree, just minor adjustments. I too have some of their 20mm builds, heavy and solid, but perfectly cast without any air bubbles etc. They also keep the footprint nice and small

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  9. This looked like a very entertaining game Norm and your table and rather diminutive figures, buildings and vehicles look lovely - and it came up with a pretty believable outcome, too - three Panthers against four Shermans doesn't sound like fair sides to me!

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    1. Hi Ross, yep, I wouldn’t want to be facing the three Panthers. The infantry are small to look at and you have to look harder to see which base is the HMG compared to say the 20mm scale, but the advantages are that as you stand back, the terrain looks ‘right’ and the vehicles feel like they are shooting over greater ranges than say 20mm would …… however having said all of that, I do like the 20mm and if I had to choose …….. :-)

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  10. A perfect sized game for a quick mid-week bash when you don't have the time nor the energy for anything more complicated. It does remind me of those simple Airfix figures games we used to play as kids, with a few AFV's and a box of infantry:).

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  11. Hi Steve, exactly so, that is what I thought as I just dished the troops out. It might be interesting to dig out a set of point based rules and just see what the disparity is, I imagine that the British had a very under strength attack - I wanted to show that the panthers were turning up by chance, at the right time at the right place.

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  12. A nice game, Norm - as in so many fields, small can be beautiful. I think Steve J. sums it up pretty well.
    Some day soon, I need to have a nostaglic bash at Charles Grant's 'Action at Twin Farms'..

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  13. Thanks David, Set-up and take down times were very conducive to the mid-week game. It’s nice to see the Charles Grant scenarios getting mentioned regularly across blogs, I would love to see his teaser type scenarios making a regular appearance in our mags.

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  14. Great looking game, tough call for the Brits up against those Panthers! Always worth a bit of a tinker every now and again!
    Best Iain

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  15. Hi Iain, it didn’t help the Shermans that they went ‘out of command’ at the critical moment, if they had got their fire off and claimed flank shots, there might have been enough loss caused for the German morale to crash through the zero barrier, with potential retreats …… but the dice as always gives us the story that we have.

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  16. Fantastic looking game, AAR and lovely looking models. Thanks for sharing.

    Willz.

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  17. Thanks Bill, the simplicity has its own attraction.

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  18. That looks great and sounds like the rules are coming along for you. I'm trying to find a system for using my 12mm on club nights, when O Group is just too long a game. Will be trying Crossfire next week, but always on the lookout for other rules.

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  19. Hi, pleased to hear that you are still keeping your hand in with 12mm, a lot of your recent output has been 20mm related …… but I am also working with 20mm AB, so fully appreciate the draw of both scales, though really I have been fighting for a while to get down to just a single terrain scale across my entire collection and so at some point, I will need to make my own decision on which way to jump and then dedicate my time and storage space to that one scale type.

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