Rommel at Doulcon Woods, 1914. Rommel on the rocks?

 

I ran this game over two evening Zoom sessions last week.  Here is the man himself waving around his Mauser.

The field of battle - seen from the East.  The clear bit closest to the camera is er, clear. The piles of rocks are just that, the dark area strewn with packaging from a champagne bottle is impenetrable waist-high scrub.  Everything else is lightly wooded, with visibility reduced to 12 inches.  The table is approximately 72 by 39 inches.

Young Lt. Rommel was as ever played by Pete, with John A and Michael as his section leaders.  Russell was the French Sgt, assisted by Simon, with Diego in charge of the MG detachment.

The French taking potshots at Rommel's lads.

An early casualty was Sgt Schultz - which gave me an opportunity to use one of my dead dude figures.

The second German section takes position in the rocks...

...they were all wearing Jager shakos for easy identification.

The initial French advance wasn't an unqualified success - as they impatiently waited for the MG to relocate and set up.

Speaking of French machine guns, I rather liked this photo.  Some cracking facial hair in evidence.

The Germans skulked in the rocks and climbed atop the pile to snipe at the enemy - but not before another man fell.

The MG set up at last!  It did some damage to the Boche on the rocks.

The German fire continued to discourage the French riflemen - and was taking it's toll on the machine gunners.

Rommel then gave the order to fix bayonets and men rushed to follow his lead.  Sgt Russell is the Frenchman carrying the flag.

A trail of dead (the five-pointed red star markers) and wounded French marked the German advance.  Even the MG crew perished on the end of bendy plastic bayonets.  So another victory for young Rommel.  Even though he wasn't able to get his chaps off to the west, the 'dead differential' was very much in his favour.  I wonder how his career will develop.

Engineers at Mametz, August 1914

This was another of the Rommel in 1914 Skirmish Campaigns series - albeit this time without Lieutenant R himself.  I set up the table and ran it over Zoom using A Fistful of Lead rules.  Broadly a platoon of Germans had to pass along the road and the Frenchies had to prevent this.  

Martin, Russell and Simon were the wicked Germans.  John and Diego the French. 

The French had two sections deployed using woods and shell holes as cover. The shell holes are nice resin castings I picked up on eBay. The chaps were an assortment from my accumulation of 54mm metal figures. 

The field of battle.  The French sections were deployed in the shell holes to the left and in the centre of the woods. 

A German section - they came strolling on and then lay down for a rest. I did notice that some of the German figures are looking a bit tatty and might benefit from a repaint. 

The boche were soon under fire and some were shaken (the yellow marker) or dead, providing an opportunity to use my new Warbases skull markers. 

An original 1914 photo. 

The Germans were soon surging forward in an impressively orderly manner. 

Another genuine 1914 photo. 

Despite the German advance being interrupted….

….the french had sprung the trap too soon and their advanced section was suffering accordingly. 

The German penetration of the woods wasn’t a bloodless experience -  but most of the dead markers are French. 

The game ended as a German victory- but at this rate it may turn out to be a long war. 

Waltzing with Matilda?

 This was adapted from a Skirmish Campaigns scenario.  I’d used another from the same book a while ago - see the report here.  Mostly we used A Fistful of Lead.  

This time the Italians were dug in and asleep but expecting a possible British attack from the east. The wicked Brits spoiled it all by appearing from the west. Rotters. The attacking forces consisted of an infantry section (Jerry), a sapper detachment (Tim C) and a Matilda tank (John).  

The Italians had two rifle sections (Martin and Pete), platoon HQ and AT gun (Diego) and a tank platoon (Russell). They all started the game fast asleep in the tents. 

As the first Brits arrived one of the Italian sections woke up and while fire was exchanged Caporale Pete ran around shouting, trying to wake his comrades. Soon the gun crew turned out and ran to their weapon. 

Here, while the gun crew set up - and turn the gun to face west - Tenente Diego appears to be running off!

Some of Russell’s chaps made it to their tiny tanks (the L3s are about 1/56 scale, the crews hard plastic 1/35). 

The Matilda (a 1/48 plastic kit) clanks on from the NW, accompanied by the sappers. 

Cpl Pete and his MG crew engage the sappers from the dubious cover of the as yet uncrewed M13 (1/43 die cast/plastic model) . The MG fire soon did for the commander of the Matilda!  

And overview. The Brit infantry are in the SW corner. 

The tankettes are crewed and eventually the engines fire up!

While Cpl Martin’s section sneaks south behind the wall, the AT gunners engage the Matilda which shoots back….

…and grinds forward.  AT gunnery was of course resolved with a nerf gun and a block of Oasis. My gunnery was as usual pretty terrible. 

By now the British sappers have placed a charge on the M13….

…so the heroic Cpl Pete dashes forward to grab it. Sadly he then perished in a hail of fire. It’ll look damn good in the film though!

Russell’s tankettes we’re now on the move and merrily machine gunning the Brits. 

In other armoured action, the Matilda rather unsportingly ran over a tent, crushingly brave Lt Diego and one of his riflemen. 

The Matilda ground forward and crushed the AT gun. And got stuck in the gun pit. By now the crew was aboard the M13 but having failed to start it they bailed out!

Under fire from Italian MGs and tankettes, Jerry decided to sneak off. 

And finally - a loud bang brought the M13. - and the game - to an end. A points win for the Brits but their infantry have skulked off and the tank is stuck.  A bloody little game, the only players whose figures survived were Martin and Jerry - a 71% casualty rate!

Thanks again to all of the players for indulging such nonsense!

Rommel at Hill 325

Played as usual over Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, this was the second of the Rommel's Route to Verdun series (see the first one here) and was another recce mission.

The field of Mars.  Hill 325 is to the right (east).  The trees are open woods and the bits of old towels and doormat are fields of waist-high crops.  Rommel had to locate at least one French unit and exit 8+ men in good order from the West edge of the table.

Rommel leading his platoon HQ and 2 rifle sections.  Again, I had reduced the figure numbers in the book to make the game more manageable.  We used A Fistful Of Lead.  Pete was again Rommel, with Martin and Simon (the latter unavoidably absent on Tuesday) as the section leaders.

The figures were all metal castings, some of considerable antiquity.  I did notice that some of the German figures are looking rather tatty so maybe it's time for a repaint.

The French. A 7-man rifle section under Sgt. John and a detached 3-man patrol under Cpl. Jerry.

Jerry's guys were in the north...

...and the main section on the SW.  All were dug in and due to heavy fog no French troops were placed on the table until they were spotted or fired.  Visibility was a mere 10 inches!

The Germans surging heroically over the crest of Hill 325.

Martin's section in the distance on the right flank, Simon's closest to the camera.  Plt HQ in the middle.

The Germans were under pressure to move quickly and duly did so.  Soon a brisk firefight was underway between the French section and (mostly) Martin's section.  Meanwhile Jerry's chaps had cracked open the wine ration.

While Martin took on the French, Simon's section (led in his absence by Pete) pressed forward

Yellow markers are shaken, small red are wounds, large reds are KIA.  Oh dear.

Rommel directed the firefight in person...

...ensuring the safe exit of Simon's entire section.

Leaving Martin to deal with the French, Rommel and his HQ team rushed forward and successfully exited to the west.  A clear, is not inexpensive German victory.  “But what” I hear you ask, “about Jerry and his gallant 3-man patrol in the north?”  The final score there was: enemy spotted - nil.  Two men dead drunk and one dancing in front of the trench, underpants on head, singing lewd about the Kaiser.  It’s going to be a long war.  

Speaking of the horrors of war....