One Hour Wargames: Scenario 11 Surprise Attack

Today's wargaming jaunt was back to c1918 with a British v German encounter using scenario 11 in the OHW book. It's a tough one for the defender as they are heavily outnumbered at the start of the game. The German Major only had a company of infantry and battery of artillery to face off against an on-slaught of four infantry companies, a horse battery and troop of brand new Mk IV tanks. These lumbering behemoths avoided any breakdowns and made a speedy advance using the road bonus to overwhelm the battery, which despite making a tactical withdrawl was finally caught at the crossroads, the scenario objective.

The German re-enforcements began to arrive on turn 3 but already the British advance was gaining the upper hand. The German Major arriving on the scene tried to rally the battery and give it a bit of an edge against the tank assault but was lost with the demise of that unit on the next turn. 

I've added a close assault rule which allows a unit with less hits to force a morale check on the defender if they advance to within "assault" range. I've adapted this for other period rulesets where there is no explicit hand-to-hand for infantry interpreting this as column assaults, bayonet charges or shock tactics depending on sub-period. Not exactly melee rules but an indulgence to a need to get to short range to inflict psychological aswell as physical damage. It also feels right as units that fail the check must retreat which can mean being forced to relinquish terrain or be pushed off table. It works a bit like flags in M'44 in pushing forces back and disrupting the battleline. 

Anyway the British were trying to force the latter outcome on the two recently arrived German companies but these were stubborn troops that withstood the attack. Despite this the final German re-enforcement wave would not be until Turn 9. By turn 7 the German units on table had been lost so the British were in a strong place to adjust their forces to face the likely attack direction which I ruled they had anticipated correctly as being from the West. Despite a formidable German attack of two companies, one of which was Heavy Infantry, the superiority of firepower was overwhelming and when the Heavy Infantry were blown away the trailing second company decided that discretion better than valour and quietly slipped back off the table.

Observations of the game. A real tough proposition for the Germans. They weren't helped by some poor card event draws at the start that resulted in two turns of ammunition shortages! If I was playing again I might have given the defender some edge in terms of quality units. My elite rule allows these units to roll two dice and select the better score when fighting. It works nicely to give these units a consitently better performance in battle. 

The game stretched to turn 10 with a complete British victory. Despite appearing rather one-sided it still contained a surprising amount of variety and was an enjoyable WWI jaunt. I love playing the tank! 

One Hour Wargames: Scenario 24 Bottleneck

I played another scenario from the OHW Book. This time I used my Napoleonic figures with a Russian force as the attacker fielding 6 units against a French defending army of 4 units. The initial moves by the Russians got their units into favourable positions, however, the French had a couple of elite units, one of these some voltigeurs in a large wood (which was deemed impenetrable to the Russian player) and both of these units proved to be very effective during the game.

The armies were fully engaged by Turn 3. The opposing Cavalry squared up to each other and performed several charges and counter-charges while the infantry clashed where the bottleneck (caused by the wood and lake) restricted deployment.

By Turn 8 it was clear the French were having the better of the fight and managed to eliminate several Russian units including the Dragoons which gave them an edge in movement to threaten the remaining Russian infantry units and artillery.

By Turn 9 the Russians were reduced to one conscript Infantry unit so it was clear the game was over and I deemed the contest ended with a complete French victory. 

Special rules used in addition to the core mechanics were attached generals, Command Events (Random Event Cards), a Column Assault rule where I allow infantry that have more hit points to move to close range and trigger a morale check for the defending unit, firing ranges and unit gradings. None interfered with the game play and integrated nicely. I've played several games now using these modifications and they really add to the game experience with no real overhead.

 

One Hour Wargames: Scenario 19 Blow From the Rear

I played scenario 19 in the One Hour Wargames book, this time with my 6mm WWII Tank miniatures using a modified Tank War version of the Second World War Rules. This maintained all the rules mechanics of that set with some minor amendments to differentiate tank types and inject some subtle variations.

US Forces were Red and they were to stop the Germans from holding two river crossings - one ford and a bridge. While part of the defending force was still in reserve until Turn 7, half of the Red forces would make a surprise assault from the western flank on Turn 6.

Initially the US commander tried to head for the reserve and knock them out before they became activated but this was intercepted by a couple of Pz IV medium tanks that blunted their assault and took out their force commander in the Firefly. The Red reinforcements came on too late to influence the result and depleted themselves on the stationary Tiger holding the ford itself commanded by a Tank Ace leader. I introduced rules for commanders that could rally surrounding tanks or provide motivational leadership in combat results.

The battle ended on Turn 11 with a complete US defeat and no German losses. The Germans had better equipment and these advantages became evident, however, despite this it was still a fun game with a lot of cross the board activity. The Command Event cards also worked well so overall I was very pleased with how the rules play tested. I only had a few enhancements and refinements to make so a success in my book.