Bolt Action: Meeting Engagement!

I finally completed my Warlord Games Tiger II these holidays and wanted to give her a run-out. 



The Wollongong Wargamers are planning to kick off our multi-scale & ruleset linked campaign later in the year: D-Day to the Bulge, with an initial focus on Normandy. So picking that context to get some ideas, one is largely confined to the antics of schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503. 



This unit ran a mixture of Tiger I's and II's during that campaign from 11th July. The 14 King Tigers were in the 1st Kompanie. The Battalion as a whole was principally attached in support of the 21st Panzer Div, and had a total of 40 operational Tiger I's and II's at its peak on the 16th July. By early August total runners were down to less than a dozen of both models, so I suspect the company organisation was somewhat relaxed to whatever was available and was nearest the startline for any required tasking... 



GROUND: Normandy, France, 9 August 1944, the farm of Chante-Pie in the vicinity of Mont Pincon. A low ridge carries a pavee road that dominates the ground between Le Tremblay and Crepigny.

The area is dominated with bocage hedgerows and small copses. (My model hedgerows are far to short for 1/56 scale use, so the greenery is taken to represent the rock and earth base, and the actual herbiage is deemed to extend upwards from the base. The physically present hedge, as bank, is therefore hard cover, the invisible upwards extending hedge is soft cover.)

SITUATION: Operation BLUECOAT. At the start of 9 August 1944, the British (probably 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, definitely 7th Armoured Division) continued their attack and headed in the direction of Crepigny. During the afternoon, the Tigers and several assault guns moved out to conduct a counterattack between Le Tremblay and Crepigny...After one and half hours of heavy fighting, the British advance was brought to a standstill. [Tigers in Normandy, Wolfgang Schneider, Pen & Sword 2011, p. 224]

German Forces: (All Veteran) Recon elements: 1 x Puma, 1 x SPW. 



Armour: 1 Tiger II, 2 x Tiger 1. Total 1874 points.



British Forces: (All Regular) 'A' Squadron RIDG: 2 Troops, each 1 Firefly, 2 x Sherman V

HQ Battery 65th (Norfolk Yeomanry) AT Regt. Royal Artillery: 2 x M10 SPAT. Total = 1990.



MISSION: Advance to the ridge in bounding overwatch and pin and neutralise enemy armoured forces using shock and firepower.

EXECUTION: Under cover of the M10s with Ambush orders from a nearby copse, A squadron moved out by troops, one to each track leading to the ridge. 

Once at the first line of cover they would halt and suppress any armour seen on the ridgeline.

Similarly, with recce elements in the lead...

the Tigers advanced up both sides of the farmhouse, the King Tiger on one side, the 2 Tiger I's on the other...

Advancing more boldly than the Dragoons, confident in their armour, they got to the ridge first and spied a target rich environment...

Despite getting in the first shots from ambush, the M10s failed to score any hits at long range and at targets in heavy cover.

The 2 troops of Shermans scattered for cover!

The Germans also failed to get any first shot hits, so cover was reached. 

However the Germans started to find the range...

And got a kill with their third salvo - one of the 2 Fireflys!

The gunners of the Norfolk Yeomanry realised they weren't doing any good at long range and broke from cover roaring up to the next copse...

But without their support, the left flanking King Tiger was able to score another kill...

The one remaining Dragoon's Firefly managed a side shot on a Tiger I, evening the odds a little!

However by this time the right hand Troop was no more...at least the M10s had made it safely to cover.... 

and were able to stalk and immobilise the King Tiger at effective range.

Similarly on the Dragoon's left flank that Troop had worked its way forward into cover... 

and was making life awkward for the remaining Tiger I, eventually starting a fire which caused the crew to abandon it...

Attention now focussed on the remaining Tiger II, which had in the meantime KO'd one M10 and forced the crew to abandon the other. This remaining Sherman Troop would have to do it all on its own, initially at long range... 

But some great shooting from the Firefly caused a second immobilising hit on the Konigstiger..

Forcing the crew to abandon - game over!

Bolt Action: The other side of the hill...

My mate Ian at the Wollongong Wargamers is promising to run a Bolt Action campaign early next year set in France 1940, so I thought a small game running out my newly minted Char Bs and Panhard armoured car was in order to get used to their foibles...

GROUND: Belgium, 15th May 1940. Rolling high country between the Flavion and Meuse Rivers. An MSR runs along the ridge commanding views over both valleys. The area is lightly populated with large farms and boasts plenty of cover from small copses, hedgerows and dry stone walls. The objective is placed 18" down on the Meuse side of the ridge on the track leading to one of the crossing sites, which can all be observed from there.

SITUATION: Belgium, 15th May 1940. The 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions have forced a crossing over the Meuse near Dinant. The 2eme Division Cuirassier has finally arrived at Ermeton Sur Biert 12km from the crossing sites. Whilst the main body awaits a resupply of fuel, the other pressing need is to gather information on the extent and state of the German bridgehead, which will involve a reconnasance in force over the intervening high ground...



German Orbat: Panzer Regt 31 - 2 Pz III with 37mm gun with Veteran crew (324);



 1 x 8.8cm FLaK 37 with veteran crew (192), for a German total of 516 points.

French Orbat: 37eme Bataillon de Chars de Combat - 2 x Char B1 bis with Regular crews (490), support a single AMD Panhard 178 with Regular crew (115) for a French total of 605.

MISSION: A French unit is to end a turn at the objective and then retire back over the ridge line to communicate its findings. The Germans are to prevent this happening.

EXECUTION: The Germans deployed within a foot of their table edge, sighting their 88 with a reasonable field of fire of the entire ridge. The Panzer IIIs were dotted along the rest of the base edge, making as much use of cover as possible.

The French force, formed up on the track leading to the ridge, in order to enjoy double the Char B's less than impressive turn of speed, moved up to the ridge, the Panhard cautiously and making good use of the dead ground of the reverse slope, the Char B's somewhat more confident in their thick armour...

The German Panzers applied full throtle to try to make the cover of a dry stone wall closer to the objective, whilst the 88 waiting patiently in 'Ambush' to take a pop at anything that dared to pop up on the ridge line...

The Panzers made the cover before the lumbering Chars could get them in sight...

So that several turns were spent in a furious firefight. The French tank crews were busier than one armed paper hangers, their priority to engage the 88's crew with indirect howitzer fire from their hull mounted light howitzers (an intervening hedge prevented direct HE fire) and then peppering the Panzer IIIs with fire from their turret mounted 37mm. Whilst the Pz IIIs gave back as good as they got, neither side managed to penetrate the other's armour with their direct fire shooting...



The indirect HE fire was more effective against the 88's crew however, steadily whittling it down to the minimum effective crew. But the game's real shocker was the complete inability of the 88, even when fully crewed, to score a single hit on a Char. Not one - not throughout the entire game! Bloody Luftwaffe!

Despairing of the 88's ability to take out the mighty Char Bs, one of the Pz IIIs decided to brave the odds and charge the armoured car, which was the only French unit threatening the objective...

It scored a hit and immobilised the Panhard..

This effectively ended the game as dusk was falling and it would take too long for the Char Bs to waddle over to the objective from the ridge...No doubt some Poor Bloody Infantry would be detailed off to conduct a Recce patrol overnight to get the necessary info...Bonne Chance, les Poilus!

SERVICE SUPPORT: Chars, Panhard, and 88 from Warlord Games, Pz IIIs from Rubicon.