Nimitz: The Battle of Surigao Strait

On Thursday the Wollongong Wargamers played out the dramatic events in the Leyte Gulf 80 years ago:

Nearest the camera, the 1st Diversion Attack Force is on table with the two BBs and CA in Formation 1 (Column in line astern of the Guide) and an accompanying squadron of DDs. Waiting on the table edge in 'Delayed Reserve' is the 2nd Diversion Attack Force, of a couple more heavy cruisers, a light cruiser and lots more DDs. 

At the opposite table end Admiral Darren 'Steely' Holmesitz USN is conferring with Rear Admiral Daniel 'Dan the Man' deHalsey USN about the orders to give Desron 24 and 56...

The IJN's finest were represented by yours truly in the green tee, perturbed by the challenge of the mission I have given myself! Fortunately I have the able assistance of Vice Admiral Baron John 'Shogun' Nishi-Namura who had already half-divined the Yankee plans...

As for the Japanese plan, all we have to do is get a single BB or CA off the far table edge. 

How hard can that be?

The US Tin Cans lost no time in wedging the Jap Fast Battleships...

Both squadrons consisted of a mix of Fletchers and Bensons - the latter each carrying 8 torpedo launchers!

They take torpedo stations abeam of the lead Japanese BB - Hiei... (Yes, very few of the models represented here were in the actual battle - one day...)

The US kept the initiative for most of the game, so they were able to predict the Japanese moves pretty well...

However good secondary battery fire was able to disrupt the initial USN torpedo attack - at the cost of lighting up the entire Imperial navy! Given our mission parameters, we also opened up with our primary 14 inch rifles on the pesky US tin cans...

USS Walke was sunk and USS Blue remained barely afloat...steering failure saw her sail gamely on into the oncoming 2nd Diversion Attack Force, where she quickly met her fate.

However their sisters got their revenge - Hiei was hit by multiple torpedos and sunk!

By this time the US Battle Line was on table, kicking ass and taking names!

Buckling under the pressure, the Mogami threw a crazy ivan and retreated to protection of  the 2nd Diversion Attack force, leaving Krisihima to continue its high speed run out of the strait on its own!

Just as Krishima was approaching the table edge, another squadron of USN destroyers had surrounded her - one on each quarter, each packing a full load of torpedoes...

Bruised but not battered at this stage, Krishima was still capable of making full revolutions so the torpedo solution from each of the 4 DDs required a 5 on a D6...

The US team rolled: all four spreads missed! A hard fought and exciting game that went right down to the wire...I will admit I had doubts about the scenario but it worked well in practice and I would definitely revisit this one again - hopefully with accurate ship models!

Clash of Steel: Battle of Debrecen

Once again the Wollongong Wargamers used Clash of Steel rules outside their comfort zone (the post War period) to commemorate a large armoured battle of 80 years ago. Once again these rules provided an exciting and dynamic game - the sort of game where if for a moment you think you might have the situation under control, you are failing to understand the predicament you are in!

Feldherrnhalle's panzer backbone actually consisted of Panthers...

but I couldn't resist the urge to field a few other large cats - after all there were several Heavy Tank Companies in the vicinity, they weren't all in Budapest reminding the Hungarians where their loyalties lay! 

We were also able to beef up the Tiger 1 platoon with Richard's first attempt at spray painting. But we all know what happens to brand new vehicles on their first outing...

For the Soviets, reliance was placed as usual on lots (seriously, lots!) of trusty IS-2s...

Bolstered by various types of assault gun.

The random mission, #4 Frontal Attack, and associated mission rules #2, had us playing across the table over two objectives (for now) with the game length 7 turns (for now). 40% of our forces were to be in Immediate Reserve.

Darren and I took charge of the Soviet hordes. With a pessimistic view of our ability to frontally embarrass JagdTigers and King Tigers we agreed on an anvil attack - we would each favour a short table edge and press forward, coming to the flanking aid of whichever of us was in most grief! Richard later informed us that, facing seemingly endless hordes, he decided to make sure of one objective - the one opposite me! (I guess he is a shrewd judge of tactical ability!)

Richard made good use of his Spearhead  Puma recon section to get onto an objective in good time and started racking up the points. With a Jagdtiger in the offing, I was happy to cede the points...

Hanging back did have some advantages as Soviet 122mm guns are penalised for moving and shooting over and above their pathetic ROF...

Richard's shiny new Tiger 1? 

BOOM! Actually this wasn't just envy - the rest of the platoon wasn't far behind! There was no point in bouncing shells off the Jagdtiger's front armour and the Panthers were out of range, so the Tigers received all my attention.

In the meantime, after it was revealed that the game would now only last six turns, Darren had carefully worked his way up to the second objective without being too badly mauled by the Tiger IIs opposite, so we were starting to play catch up on points.

Then we got a lucky break and bagged the JagdTiger with a sideshot from a sneaky SU-100 working its way through the town! Personally at this point I was happy to concede the game - honour was served!

But having secured the central position, and beaten the Germans off Objective 1, we were now the only ones accruing points and were gradually catching up to Richards' early lead...

Richard's options were starting to narrow and he gave us a masterclass on how to use the Stormtrooper attribute to blitz from cover, deliver a volley, then scoot back into cover. It was impressive, but frustrating! 

I had lots of angry green metal all set up to spit 122mm lumps of molten steel at - nothing!

However by this point, with cardplay duelling moving the game turns back to 6 and then up to 7 once again, we had caught up to Richard's points and overtaken him by game end.

Debrecen was liberated!

As Darren said the Germans really struggled to kill the swarms of Soviet tanks and the old truism of quantity has a quality all of it's own really shone through. This really was an exciting cliffhanger of a game that had more twists and turns and ups and downs than a twisty turny up and downy thing!