FOW Mission critical; Champs 1944

Champs 25^th December 1944

Design notes;

Adapted to FOW from the Rapid Fire Battle of the Bugle expansion.

Introduction;

Desperate to break the Bastogne salient before in can be relieved the 26^th Volksgrenadiers regiment has been reinforced by the depleted 115^th panzer grenadier 1^st battalion and kampfgruppe Maucke and ordered to attack Bastogne from the west. Opposing them is elements from the 101^st airborne paratroop and glider regiments.

Terrain; 

The battle is set-up as per the map.

The woods are impassable to vehicles but infantry treat them as open terrain.

Open ground and hills are difficult terrain to vehicles but infantry treat them as open terrain.

Roads are open terrain for all units.

Battle of champs map

Deployment;

The American forces deploy first. The parachute rifle company must deploy within unit coherence of Champs.  The glider rifle platoon must be deployed within unit coherence of Hemroulle.  The command section must be deployed within Unit coherence of Chateau Rolley. All remaining American platoons must deploy east of the Champ/Hemroulle road. All the platoons can opted to dig in before the start of the game.  The Sherman in delayed reserves arrives on the southern road.

The 26^th Volksgrenadier moves on from the western table edge on turn one.  The 115^th Panzer Grenadier battalion and Kampfgruppe Maucke enter from of the western road.

 

Glider platoon sets-up defending Hemroulle.

The forces

Defender; 101^st Airborne

Company HQ with one attached bazooka

Parachute rifle platoon with three squads

Glider rifle platoon with three squads

Parachute Machine-gun platoon with two sections

Parachute mortar platoon with two sections

Parachute field artillery battery with two sections

Glider field artillery (105s) with one section

Tank destroyer platoon with one section (two M18s)

 

The defenders of Hemrouille were hard pressed by marauding Hetzers 

 The Hetzers breached the defences but timely arrival of the Sherman platoon clears the village

Delayed reserves

Sherman platoon with four shermans

Attacker; 26^th Volksgrenadiers*

Company HQ with attached anti-tank section

Grenadier platoon with three sections and command SMG/panzerfaust

Grenadier platoon with three sections and command SMG/panzerfaust

Grenadier platoon with three sections and command SMG/panzerfaust

Grenadier infantry gun platoon with two sections

Grenadier mortar platoon with three sections

Grenadier mortar platoon (120mm) with two sections

Grenadier machine gun platoon with two sections

Veteran tank hunter platoon (Two hetzers)

Reserves

115^th Panzer Grenadier battalion/Kampfgruppe Maucke

Panzer platoon with two PiV

Panzer platoon with two Stug III

Grenadier platoon with three teams, command SMG/panzerfaust and attached panzershreik

Grenadier platoon with three teams, command SMG/panzerfaust and attached panzershreiks

Each grenadier platoon arrives riding on one of the tank platoons. Roll for each tank platoon as normal if they arrive then so does their attached grenadier platoon.

 

At Champs Volksgrenadiers infiltrated through the woods towards the village.

Special rules;

The platoons in the 26^th Volksgrenadiers company count as trained.

The battle starts before dawn; starting from turn two onwards roll for day break as if it was a unit in reserve.

The US artillery is very low on ammunition and can only make one attempt to range in. Mortars platoon can still re-roll their first attempt as normal.

The tank destroyers were lost going toe to toe against newly arrived PiVs

With Hemorulle secured, the glider platoon pushed on to hill 106 to clear it of artillery observers who were becoming a pain in the ass. 

Victory conditions;

The Germans win if they capture Champs and there are no American units contesting the Champs/Hemroulle road. Or if the the American company breaks before the end of the game.  The Americans win if hold Champs and there are no German units contesting the Champs/Hemroulle road by the end of the game or if the 26^th Volksgrenadiers break before the end of the game.  The game last for 18 turns.

The defenders of Champs were reduced to a single section before the Sherman's came to the rescue

FOW (PIP); Russian artillery and German half tracks

Fed up with constantly begin hit by Kampfgruppe Donnell's artillery the Russian have finally got some of the their own.

Nothing new in the painting techniques but I did get to test out the Vallejo smoke wash. I think it is like the GW devlan mud wash but without the 50% mark-up. I like it.  Also for the bases the rocks were made from Kitty litter dyed with chocolate brown clothes dye. It did not go as planned and the rocks were painted grey instead.

 

 Command section with first and second platoons

 First platoon

 Second platoon

 Staff team, command section and observer team

Not to be out done the Germans are starting to get their 250/1 company ready.  The mortar section and first platoon are nearly ready just need decals and anti varnish. Still to do the rest of the heavy weapons platoon and the two remaining combat platoons.

 German mortar section

 Half track platoon

Family shot

WiP (40K); Dark Eldar

Now for something evil,

 

 Warriors and Wytches on Lava bases

 

 Counts as a venom?

FOW Mission critical; Valsoft 1944

Background;

Eastern front mid 1944 The Russian operation Bagration is going into effect the town of Valsoft and its road junction have been identified as a key strategic target. An exploitation force has been dispatched to try an turn the flank of the defence while a shock assault force is on route to capture the town.  The area in defended by elements of the 14^th regiment of the 78^th division they lack mobility but are well equipped.

The terrain;

as per map.  The main features are the town of Valsoft and the river on its right.  The river is impassable except at certain points (see special rules).  The town is defended by minefields and barded wire.

Terrain viewed from the north

 

Russian view of Valsoft

Deployment;

The defender deploys force. Before setting up the defending force must be divided into three groups, the town garrison, the river defenders and the reserve  platoons must be split evenly between the groups.. After determining the river crossing, in the special rules the defender must then deploy the town garrison any where with unit coherence of a town building and the river force deploys within coherence of a river section. The reserve stay in reserve until the Russian assault force arrive after which roll for reserves as normal. The reserves arrive on the western road.   The Russian exploitation force arrives on turn one at the eastern road. The assault force arrives from reserve as a single force and starts rolling for reserves on turn six. The assault force arrives on the eastern road.

 

 German Garrison preparing for an assault.

 

While the river defenders provide flanking cover

Russian exploitation force arrives

German force;

• 3^rd Sturmkompanie 1^st battalion, 14^th regiment
• Company HQ with two attached Panzershreik sections
• 1st platoon three grenadier sections with command smg/panzerfaust
• 2nd platoon three grenadier sections with command smg/panzerfaust
• 3rd platoon three grenadier sections with command smg/panzerfaustC
• 4th platoon command with smg/panzerfaust, HMG section, mortar section with observer
• 5th platoon 2 anti-guns, command with smg/panzerfaust
• Heavy mortar platoon with two sections
• Artillery battery with three guns
• Heavy tank company, I tiger
• Veteran antitank platoon, two guns on RSOs
• Stug platoon, 3 stugs

 

Exploitation forces starts taking casualties approaching the river.

T

Unsurprisingly the armoured car platoon did not do well against the tiger.

Russian force

The Russian force in broken into two main groups a exploitation force and a shock assault force

Exploitation force;  3^rd company 4^th cavalry regiment

• Company HQ with attached anti-aircraft platoon
• 1^st platoon with four rifle squads
• 2^nd platoon with four rifle squads
• Light armoured car platoon with seven BA-64
• Tank company with five Shermans

Taking heavy casualties the exploitation force crosses the first river

 

And begin to knock out German observer teams.

 

Assault force; 1^st battalion 12^th Guards rifle regiment

• Battalion HQ with attached anti-tank platoon, sapper platoon and anti-tank rifle platoon
• 1st Udarny strelkovy company with Komissar and HMG
• 2nd Udarny strelkovy company with Komissar and HMG
• Udarny mortar company with two platoons
• Udarny heavy mortar company with two platoons
• Udarny SMG company
• Guards heavy assault gun company with five ISU-122

Even at long range the Tiger has no problems destroying Sherman tanks.

Special rules;

River crossings;

Before deploying any models the defender secretly rolls D6 for each 6” section of river if  six is rolled for that section then the river is crossable and counts as very difficult terrain. If a Russian models with coherence distance of a section of river they must take a skill check in the shooting phase instead of shooting. If they pass the Defender must reveal if the river section if fordable. Bridges can be crossed as normal.

The Russian assault force arrives and begins to put pressure on the defenders

 The assault force makes it to the village but not without losing all the shermans in the process.

Victory conditions;

The game last for 20 turns.  The Russian win if they capture an objective within 20 turns or the German defenders break and other results is German win.