Blitzkrieg Commander - German break-out at Bordelle-de-Roi

So, let's look at the latest in our Blitzkrieg Commander mini campaign.

After last week's game, I set-up the second scenario in the series with the beleaguered Germans trying to break-out of the pocket. A small American force deployed in the centre of the table, basically occupying a wood and fields near the village of Bordelle-de-Roi. On one side of the table was a small German force of armour and infantry (about half of the total German strength). On the other side was a German relief force, exclusively infantry, coming to help their comrades escape.

I reflected the minor victory for the Americans in the first game by giving them additional troops (the scenario in the rules recommends a ratio of 2:1 for the German player) and by causing the German player problems with fuel supply - on the grounds that they were caught in a pocket with little fuel available. To simulate this each of the 5 German armour pieces (a Panther, 2 Pz IV, a STuG 3 and a Puma) had to avoid rolling a 1 on a D6 each turn. Failure meant immobilisation for that vehicle.

I also gave the players four events each that they could play at any stage, and as it turned out these had a dramatic impact on the game.

How did the game go? Well, I won't give a blow-by-blow account but I think it was our most interesting BKC game yet. A huge scrap developed around a sunken road near the village with charge and counter-charge by both sides, with funny results. It resembled more a Roman-Barbarian slugging match than a WW2 firefight. In the end, the Americans drove off the Germans in the village, but I'm sure even Filip (our brave yankee hero), who played boldly and well, would acknowledge that Bart didn't have much luck with command rolls. For two turns the armour was stuck, the panther never got into action for example and the Pz IVs got blow-up by a Sherman. To cap it all, at a crucial moment Bart rolled three command blunders in two turns. Not good.

Here we can see the different positions, with the Germans in the village and the Americans in the nearby wood:

BKC bordelle de roi 010

And here we can see Germans have advanced to the sunken road to counter the sneaky American advance.

BKC bordelle de roi 013

One of the events that I gave to Filip was 'torrential rain' leading to poor visibility and difficulty to get hits (all attempts more difficult though a '6' was still always a hit). The rain could stop at any time but in the event lasted three turns and the Germans found it impossible to score hits on the enemy.

By game end, poor Bart was very despondent and we called it a day after six turns - a fine victory for the American player.

Conclusions? A fine tactical game, with Filip rewarded for bold play ( a clever assault on the village by his outnumbered troops, luring the Germans into counter-attack and eventual defeat). We played with fewer points this time, 1500 for the attacker. This means more room on the table and a more interesting game. Somehow it was more interesting to have two or three tanks per side than eight or nine. I think for the future we will reserve bigger games for multi player contests.

Desert War campaign - Blitzkrieg Commander

I have started a small scale desert war campaign, set in November 1941. It is centred around a fictional town on the coastal road, 'somewhere in North africa'. The Germans have orders to capture the town, the Brits to hold it all costs.

Here is the simple map, divided into 9 zones, each zone representing a tabletop battlefield.



After selecting initial forces (I cannot yet reveal all the details as the players may come and read this site), I asked each player to give orders. The British player, General Darcy Orion-Belt, a rising star in the 8th Army, dug troops in on the Coast and [deleted by the military ce nsor] inland. The Germans are led by Horst Von Schmukkelgrubber fresh from his miserable defeats in the Belgian campaign (another game, where Bart's Belgians heroically slaughtered a German expeditionary force, led by the young Horst). Herr Horst attacked along the coast, and meeting a blocking force at Al Vettah veered south over Wechta Ridge (in the north west part of zone E). There they found a British battalion and supporting armour dug in and waiting.

At this stage, the players deployed troops on table. The British basically in a horseshoe around the ridge very near the corner of the table. The Germans came on within 12 inches of them, so battle was quickly joined. In addition to the preset forces, I randomly allocated artillery and air support.

So we played two turns of the game, by then it was midnight so we decided to leave it until next week. Happily, our host Kurt has a huge unused living room, now occupied by Kurt's co;puter workshop and tables for wargaming so we can leave the troops set-up. He does have some clients coming to visit on Friday, for a demonstration of a remote controlled camera that Kurt has designed (he's a clever guy, Kurt) so he may have some explaining to do. Perhaps he will claim that he is inventing a computer wireless controlled toy set?

I'm afraid you'll have to wait for next week for photos and a game report. Suffice to say that Kurt has learnt about the futility of British armour faced with an 88mm gun. Bart has run into a minefield. The German artillery is pounding the British position. But nearly two companies of Germans have fallen casualty to fine British firepozer...