El Alamein railway station skirmish game - Bolt Action

Covid restrictions have been limiting the amount of games we've been playing lately, and this game had been planned before Christmas but the local authorities here ramped up the restrictions on people from different households from meeting up and so we had to cancel. 

Now restrictions have been eased up slightly here on a regional level, and so four of us were able to get together again for this game. This was a skirmish scenario put together by my gaming buddy Carlos, German forces attacking with British and Commonwealth forces defending

We used Bolt Action rules. The game was played on a 1.60 x 1.20m sand table 

The British and Commonwealth forces were made up of a HQ, 2 x infantry squads, a Vickers MMG, 1 x 25 pounder, 1 x Matilda and a Boys AT rifle team. 

Attacking German forces consisted of a HQ + medic + FO in an Sd.Kfz. 250 hafl-track, 4 x motorised infantry squads transported in 2 x Opel Blitz & 2 x Sd.Kfz 251s + 1 off table mortar and a pre-attack bombardment. 

The Commonwealth troops started the game dug-in hidden, their positions noted down by the allied players. Allies also had hidden minefields covering the ground in front of the railtrack. 

German objective, cross the railway line and neutralise allied defensive positions

 

Germans group before beginning their advance towards the objective

 

Artillery shells fall

  

 

 

 A Matilda crosses the tracks, takes aim and shoots at the leading half-track.

  

 The first casualties are taken and the remaining troops dismount and hunker down.

 

 Indian troops with a Boys AT rifle shoot but miss miserably, and reveal their position in cover behind concrete filled oil drums.

 

 Another hit from the 25lb gun. this time on a lorry trying to ferry troops to the front along the left flank

 

 

 Aussies manning a Vickers open fire on the dismounted infantry.

 

 More British and Commonwealth troops start revealing their positions as they open fire on the advancing German infantry

 

 The Germans continue their advance and a half-track crosses the railway line, revealing a hidden group of British troops who are quickly mown down with fire from the vehicle MGs.

 

The half-track now supported by a Panzer III also having crossed the railway track, dismount and charge into the railway station and in bloody hand-to-hand combat overcome the allied troops inside

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 More Germans arrive and the the Commonwealth players decide that enough is enough and concede victory to the Germans.

   

 The game played out well, it was well balanced and the Commonwealth players were hindered by adverse weather conditions, a haze in this case, the result of an unfortunate die throw, which reduced visibility considerably and allowed the Germans to advance without suffering too many casualties.

1/72 Scale German Panzer Crews – Airfix Figure Conversions

Some photos below of an attempt made a few years back at to get a set of “fighting” bailed-out Panzer Crewmen.



Figures are a mixture of Airfix Luftwaffe Ground Crew, USAAF Personnel and Afrika Korps with new arms sliced off figures from other German 20mm sets.

The uniforms don’t stand up to close inspection, but on the table they look the part and hopefully make them identifiable as Panzer Crewmen.

Belgium Partisans - Figure Conversions

These are figures for the first scenario in our Ardennes campaign, "Retreat Through The Mons Pocket" from the Osprey Bolt Action Battle of the Bulge campaign book,

This scenario involves Belgium partisans and retreating Germans with a truckload of looted art.

The Belgium partisan figures are a mixture of Orion, Caesar, Esci, Italeri and Pegasus.

There are a couple of simple conversions, the guy with the Panzerschreck is a Caesar figure who's had his Sten-Gun replaced and the second and third figures from the right with greatcoats are Italeri Germans with new heads. 

Hope you like the pictures and any input or suggestions are always appreciated.

On the workbench

Some pictures of things currently on the workbench at present, all US Ardennes campaign related stuff.

A few old Shermans for repair + various Esci / Italeri / Revell sprues that have been sitting in a box for years waiting to be assembled. Even an old set of resin sandbag protections that have been added to an Armourfast Sherman.

Final flocking on the bases of some new US troops. Vintage Matchox, old Revell and some new Italeri.

An armoured Jeep. This is an S-Models kit. I don't really like photo-etch, I thought this kit came with the shield made out of plastic so I was disappointed that it came in flimsy brass. My mate Carlos offered to make it for me however, (good stuff Carlos)

The Stuart is another S-Models kit and the Greyhound next to it is a die-cast that needs weathering.

Finally, a last photo showing the size differences between an old Matchbox 1/76 figure compared to Revel and Italeri G.I.s 

The Italeri fellas are heculean in comparison.

Game Report - Battle of the Bulge - Bolt Action Wargame in 1/72 Scale

We finally got around to starting our Ardennes campaign last week with our first practice game and in the process baptised our new "sand" table

When were looking around for ideas for a Battle of the Bulge campaign last year, we bought a Battlegroup rules downloadable pdf supplement called "Wacht am Rhein" by Warwick Kinrade for gaming the Ardennes from the plasticsolder.co.uk website.

We used a scenario taken from this supplement called "Ambush at Ligneuville".

It's based on events that took place on December 17th, when Peiper's spearhead encountered their first serious American resistance as they raced into the village of Ligneuville to secure the small stone bridge over the river Amblève.

In the scenario, the Amblève crosses the width of the table east to west across the board with the bridge in the centre. The river is lined with dense bushes, scrub and trees, with various buildings on either side of the bridge.

The scenario we used is part of the larger campaign from the book, so a previous game, and this scenario's result are geared to points later in the scenario book's campaign itself.

This was just a one-off game, so we kept the scenario's main German objective to secure the Bridge by turn 5.

Another of the objectives was to stop the American Brigadier-General "Timberlake" from escaping off the table.

The Americans had to delay the Germans from taking their objective by turn number 5, and in the process either get the Brigadier-General off the table or avoid his capture or elimination.

Over the years our group has gamed with various rulesets, all of which have their pros and cons, but we decided that for this new Ardennes campaign we'll be using the Bolt Action rules by Warlord Games which we've found are ok for fast-action skirmish scenarios like this.

All the vehicles and troops used in the game are as per the published "Ambush at Ligneuvile" scenario, and even though the scenario is geared to the Battlegroup rules, it migrated well for use with Bolt Action.

The game was played on a 1.60 x 1.20m table, and we got to use our new sand table and used four or five bags of cheap table salt sprinkled over the surface to represent snow on the ground (see previous post HERE)

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GENERAL VIEW OF THE TABLE



The road leading into the village is the German entry point, top centre is the small stone bridge over the river, and to the left, the large building represents the hotel where the US commander is staying.

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TURN 1

The German spearhead thunders into town via the main road, led by "Obersturmführer" Werner Sternebeck in his Panzer IV passing by parked up transports of the American HQ.



Following close behind is a second Panzer IV + two SS Pioneer squads, each in a SdKfz 251.

Brigadier-General Timberlake's jeep was parked out in view of the oncoming Panzer IV so he decides to make haste with his two aides out the back door of the hotel and try and escape on foot.



The rest of the Americans are some 20 odd rear-echelon troops divided into small rifle and BAR teams, a .30 cal MMG and an M4 Sherman.

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TURN 2

A bazooka team try and take out Sternebeck's Panzer IV. These are green inexperienced troops and miss miserably (also due to a terrible dice throw). The M4 Sherman also makes a brave attempt to take out the leading Pz IV but misses too.



SS pioneers dismount from the leading Sd.Kfz 251 and head away from the road towards the bridge from behind the cover of the building where the bazooka team are lurking.



The second group of SS pioneers dismount and take out the Sherman with a well-aimed panzerfaust.



Sternebeck's Pz IV blasts at the hidden bazooka team and makes mincemeat of them.

A Panther tank rumbles onto the table from the road and heads toward the bridge following behind the leading tanks.

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TURN 3

Reinforcements arrive in the form of two Shermans and an M10 Wolverine coming in from the road on the US side of the river.

Firefights break out between US troops and the SS pioneers heading on foot toward the bridge.





Timberlake meanwhile makes his way through the bushes and rough ground along the riverbank. The Germans spray him with machine-gun fire and his two aides fall, leaving him alone.



Another German half-track appears on the table on the road toward the village, carrying Peiper himself.

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TURN 4

As Sternebeck crosses the bridge he meets a Sherman waiting in the middle of the road on the other side.



Both tanks exchange fire, the Sherman hits but fails to penetrate. The Panzer IV returns fire, hits and completely destroys the tank.



Back on the other side of the river, Timberlake is still pinned in the brush on the riverbank and miraculously escapes unscathed from numerous volleys of shots from the Germans.

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TURN 5

Sternebeck rumbles into town past the burning Sherman. The small groups of green rear-echelon US troops in the surrounding buildings are powerless to stop him.



The remaining Sherman and the M10 Wolverine both make a vain attempt to take out Sternebeck's Panzer IV, but the "Dice God" intervenes again and both miss the target completely.



The Pioneers secure the bridge while the Panther gives covering fire from the riverbank.



At this point the bridge is now secured and Timberlake, still pinned and unable to escape, finally falls under a hail of fire.

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CONCLUSION

Victory for the Germans and a crushing defeat for the US defenders (until the next time that is .... )

Sternebeck and Timberlake discuss the finer points of the rules 

The game played out well, the Germans took the bridge, as they did in reality.

Timberlake didn't escape, though in reality he drove off in his jeep when he heard the German tanks approaching and escaped, The fact that he tried to make it off the table on foot was a big mistake.

The Americans had the disadvantage of being classed as "green" and the Germans had the positive modifiers associated with SS troops and it was going to be difficult for the Americans to win a decisive victory.

That said, the Americans could have at least done a little better, but on this occasion the dice throws meant they didn't have the ability to hit a barn door.

Even though we gamed on a heavily snow covered table, when this skirmish took place on 17th December 1944, from all accounts it wasn't snowing at that point in time.

The scenario was well written and it plays out well. It was easy to use "as is" using all the vehicles and figures mentioned in the scenario, and adapts well to the Bolt Action rules. It would be nice to play again maybe with some other ruleset.

All in all, a very enjoyable time with two of my regular gaming mates Alex and Carlos who aptly played the winning Germans.