"All Americans, Part 12 (Near Arnone, 8 Oct 1943)" Topic

All,

So, the regiment is on its way to Arnone, and has been in heavy fighting, though so far 1st Battalion has been in reserve. The regiment has broken through the roadblock and now 1st Battalion has assumed the point, with 1st Platoon leading the way up the road, when contact is made with an enemy patrol sort of loitering about the area. The Plt Sgt, SSgt Ford, is with Sgt Glenn's 3rd Squad at the head of the column, and surges into action.

The table, 2' x 2' in 10mm (Pendraken) once again. Initial dispositions. The Germans are all North of the East-West road, with three East and one West of the North-South road. The US troops are moving up the North-South road. The US forces: SSgt Ford, Sgt Glenn, Cpl Timmons (w/BAR), then riflemen Pvt Johnson, PFC Leshore, and Pvt Anders. The German (once again somehow) have a Lt, a SMG gunner, and two riflemen.

I let the Germans go first this time, and they promptly roll a '1' (scurry). This pic is looking West to East, where the far left German rifleman (bottom right) sprinted across the road to flank the US troops on the North-South road. The German officer also moved up (far left) to peer around the building.

This pic looks East to West, where the far right German rifleman moved across the road and the SMG gunner crossed the North-South road and took up position behind the wall at far right.

This pic is looking East to West; Johnson moved left off the road to engage the flanking German rifleman, firing and causing the German to hit the deck (green bead).

SSgt Ford dashed ahead, jumped in a crater, and fired at the SMG gunner behind the wall, suppressing him (red bead), while Cpl Timmons joined him, firing at the German rifleman at far right, to no effect.

This game went quick, less than 30 minutes to set up, play, and take down. To see how it turned out, please check the blog at:
link

V/R,
Jack

Love the bat rep and I actually dig that you point out on each picture who is who. Goes with the smaller figures I suppose :)

I've been thinking about your morale situation btw :)
So from what I am gathering, you want something where it takes a bit longer to fall back but also takes a bit longer to get back in the fight?

BTW, do you use any skills for the leaders or no?

I think I missed an episode? Nice AAR Jack. I'm enjoying your rule tweaking/discussion as much as the bat rep (thats not a criticism of the bat rep…

But for some reason I don't feel as familiar with the individual troops as I did with the Nam AARs…but maybe thats just me…

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with vehicles …I saw that Weasel has some armour rules out (not sure if that name lends itself to encouraging business but I presume ts not his real name ;)

Thanks again Jack

BTW gave you an honourable mention on this thread Jack:

TMP link

Kyote – No sweat man.

Ivan – "…you want something where it takes a bit longer to fall back but also takes a bit longer to get back in the fight?" Yes, but without disturbing your beautifully simple '1 and 6' mechanism. I'm simple, I like simple! It's for that reason that I haven't used any of the 'skills.' Though I do own the "Rifleman's Guide," and have been perusing the command rules a bit. Now I suppose I have to buy the vehicle rules, too. I think you wrote/published them this week because you saw I was going to make up my own this weekend! ;)

Panda – You're racking up quite a tab, Panda, you'd better hope we never run into each other in real life ;)

"I think I missed an episode?" They're numbered Panda, they're numbered.

I agree, there's not the same attachment with the troops, either. I'm curious as to how it's going to shake out, I wonder if I'm trying something too grand in scope. I don't want to be tied to the individual troops, but at least the leaders, but with 9 squad leaders, 3 platoon leaders, 3 platoon sergeants, and a company commander, I'm wondering if getting attached to them will be possible? You figure in each battle there will only be two 'characters': there will always be a squad leader, then most games will have one of the senior NCOs/officers.

If you're not aware, all the names I'm going to use are users on the TMP, Pendraken, and/or Blitzkrieg Commander forums, so I have a bit of tie-in via that. And to make it of further interest, I intend on this being very "Hollywood," that is, I plan on being very aggressive with the characters in the games, so your little 10mm namesake will either cover himself in glory, or die trying!

There will be no sitting back, taking cover for the little Keepers and Dillon, they will be leading the charge, from the front. I need to figure out British battlefield awards.

V/R,
Jack

I might recommend rolling up the background and motivation for the leaders so flesh them out a bit :) You can always do a "spotlight", developing one character after each mission.

And hah :) THe vehicle rules had been cooking for a while, but you did inspire me to get off my ***. Though I'm always keen on seeing another take. I took a pretty radical approach (no armour values or indeed, stats)