Wednesday, 6 May 2020

Operation Hannibal. Yet again

Following on from the matrix games we played in the early weeks of lockdown, we have now also tried a few more 'conventional’ toy soldier games.  One such was a lightly re-treaded version of the Operation Hannibal game I ran 10(!) years ago.  The original posts are here and here.
I emailed players the relevant briefings a couple of days in advance, as I needed some deployment information from them.  The Brits had flexibility about where they deployed the AA troops, the Germans on their drop and landing zones.
Speaking of players, they were:
British Brigade HQ & NZ battalion - John
Greeks - Tim C
ANZACs - Richard
German Regt HQ & engineers - Martin
I/FJR 2 - Simon
II/FJR 2 - Jerry
This would be at least the fourth time I’d used the scenario and it’s been different every time!
The British AA gunners were rudely awakened by gliders landing in their positions. Both batteries were swiftly overrun by the FJR assault pioneers.  
North of the canal more FJR parachuted into drop zone ‘Freda’ (top of photo) while an ANZAC battalion came marching along the road. 
At drop zone ‘Karin’ the other FJR battalion began landing.  A bunch of carriers come to investigate while the brigadier woke up the Greek troops in Corinth. The engineers on the bridge began removing the demolition charges. 
Turn 2. The rest of the FJR btl arrived on DZ Karin, repelled the Greeks and shot up the carriers. (photo by Martin)
In the north the rocky ground at DZ Freda caused a few broken ankles while one of my 35 year old Stukas tried to discourage the ANZACs. 
Their morale clearly boosted by the arrival of a troop of light tanks and in went the assault! (Photo by Martin)
A bloody battle ensued, resulting eventually in the ANZACs being thrown back. (photo by Martin)
At this point the brigadier announced that a trip to the southern tip of Greece was a good idea and drove off leaving the canal bridge firmly in German hands. 
It was at this point that I mentioned to a surprised Martin that each turn there was a chance of the bridge blowing up anyway (it did historically)....
My thanks again to the players. 

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4 comments:

  1. Pete.7 May 2020 at 01:05

    Looks great Tim. A game with parachiutists or glider bourne troops always makes for a fun and varied experience.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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  2. Martin Rapier7 May 2020 at 07:34

    It was certainly a brisk action. I'm not quite sure what the odds are of both glider companies managing to land right on top of both Bofors positions when each side had hidden deployment, but it certainly added a degree of tension to the first turn!

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  3. John Armatys7 May 2020 at 10:25

    As the owner of the Bofors guns, and the one who carefully selected their positions, it wasn't tension I felt but despair....

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  4. Martin Rapier7 May 2020 at 11:21

    I never dreamt they'd be at each end of the bridge. When I was the British for this one in an earlier game I think I put them a couple of hexes out to give wider AA coverage.

    ReplyDelete