"KG Klink, Poland, Game 12" Topic

All,

It's 1700, 17 Sept 1939, and the kampfgruppe has lost contact with the 4th Panzer Division's 35th Panzer Regiment on its right flank. LtCol Klink immediately dispatches a task group under 1st Lt Freitag, consisting of his 3rd and 4th Grenadier Platoons and a couple tanks from 2nd Panzer Platoon, to reestablish contact there. They are moving quickly in the failing light, hoping to meet friendly forces before the sun goes down. Unbeknownst to the Germans, the Poles have moved quickly to exploit the gap, and a small force of harried, exhausted Poles sit astride Lt Freitag's route. Unfortunately for the Polish defenders, one of its anti-tank riflemen is a bit overeager, and so a single 14.5mm shot rings out, alerting the now-veteran German troops to the pending danger.

The opposing forces: a small force of infantry supported by two tanks each. Aside from the Polish anti-tank rifles, neither side has any heavy weapons.

The Germans: CO, 1st Lt Freitag, Cpl Mayer and LCpl Otjen's Pz Mk II tanks, 2nd Lt Tausch's 3rd Plt (Sgt Schlessinger, Cpl Nader, and Cpl Hauer), and Office Cadet Vetter's 4th Plt (Sgt Mader, wearer of the Iron Cross 2nd Class, Sgt Lehmkuhl, and Cpl Imhofe). The Poles: CO, two Tankettes with 20mm anti-tank rifles, and five rifle squads, two with ATRs attached.

Overview, north is up, Germans are in column on the road from center to bottom right, Poles are still on blinds.

A helluva melee breaks out in the center, and Cpl Hauer's 3rd Squad (bottom left, practically atop a Polish casualty figure) is cleaning up.

For the full report, check the blog at
link

Another solid win for the Kampgruppe moving on. I've got two more fights to write up, but so far haven't found the discipline to sit down and do it ;)

V/R,
Jack

Awesome, thanks for sharing. Really enjoy reading your battle reports and great looking games too.

Thanks Rhys, I appreciate it.

If I recall correctly, you were working on 3mm WWII stuff a while back; how's that working out?

V/R,
Jack

I have to say I've really enjoyed this campaign. Not sure if its the setting itself, or the rule system you've been using, or the brand new carpet, but they have been really enjoyable. So thanks for the efforts.

Now enough of the $#^#@$ing polite niceties already….

"I've got two more fights to write up, but so far haven't found the discipline to sit down and do it ;)"

Just when I thought your wanton lazy ass disposition couldn't annoy me any more than it does you come out with that blinder! #^#^#$ me.

Let me sum this up so we're good and clear as crystal about this Jack. We don't want excuses Jack. We don't need false humility! And we con certainly don't tolerate contrived modestly! Get with the program Jack! (If your not familiar with the program here's a quick summary as a reminder: it basically consists of you writing an ass load of BatReps while I sit on mine and read them. Capisce? Now please quit reading this and get writing SOLDIER! Oh sorry about calling you a solider I forgot you're a marine biologist or something OH yeah ….Marine Biologist <sorry forgot the CAPS>

BTW…isn't the internet wonderful…you can chew up a Marine before breakfast and still enjoy the rest of the day with all limbs intact

Panda,

"I have to say I've really enjoyed this campaign."
It's the rules, of which I wrote you an essay on in response to your questions in my last batrep here on TMP (#11), which you probably haven't read, and certainly haven't responded to… Did you read the rules yet?

I'll try to stop being lazy and write up my stuff; how 'bout you, buddy? I see you're living vicariously (look it up John, it's real), but you need to contribute Sir. And I've got no humility, contrived or otherwise; what the hell are you talking about?

Marine biologist, capitalized, eh? I swear I'm gonna pound you someday ;)

"BTW…isn't the internet wonderful…you can chew up a Marine before breakfast and still enjoy the rest of the day with all limbs intact"
Would it be inappropriate for me to comment on you having Marine in your mouth?

V/R,
Jack

Vicarious? Me? I spent some years studying for the Catholic priesthood Jack so I'm familiar with the term :)

And yes, inappropriate :)

Panda: TMP link

Hi Jack, I agree Panda seems vicious and dangerous here. I think you can complain to the leader here. I have also attacked hi so it will be good to attack now.

Thanks for the war site. Good to see Poland killed.

Hi Rwanda Pa, how's the goat business?

Don't worry about the Panda, he's joking, and, being Canadian, he's harmless.

Thanks for looking and commenting, the games have been fun.

V/R,
Jack

Harmless, joking, Canadian!

I'm not sure which one I'm more offended by.

I thought you'd keep business and pleasure separate Jack but I see your goat contacts follow you wherever you go. Still you're probably his best customer :)

I presume you realize who he is at this stage :o

Anyway…thanks for the clarifications on the rules. I guess I'll reserve judgement when I've tried it out but there are some things that I'd probably review (there's not been a game made that I can't ruin with my house rules.)

I'm playing Bolt Action tonight and while there are some fairly fundamental issues I enjoy it's simplicity. To add to the confusion I downloaded Nathaniel's Sergeant'a War the other day and it has some very interesting tricks :)

"I'm not sure which one I'm more offended by."
Wouldn't hurt if t'weren't true, my diminutive friend ;)

"I thought you'd keep business and pleasure separate Jack but I see your goat contacts follow you wherever you go. Still you're probably his best customer"
It would indeed be a pleasure to be your goat distributor, at the rate you wear them out.

"I presume you realize who he is at this stage"
I have no idea what you mean ;)
But I really like him since he seems to agree Pandas are vile little vermin.

"thanks for the clarifications on the rules. I guess I'll reserve judgement when I've tried it out…"
Give them a shot, I absolutely love them. And like I said, they're robust, meaning if you're not a fan of something or think you've got a better idea, it's pretty easy to manipulate.

"I'm playing Bolt Action tonight and while there are some fairly fundamental issues I enjoy it's simplicity."
So we can expect some movement on the batrep front then?

"To add to the confusion I downloaded Nathaniel's Sergeant'a War the other day and it has some very interesting tricks."
Yeah, I saw those. I may pick them up at some point, I'm kind of a rules junkie, but I'm happy with what I got. I really enjoyed his 6mm batreps during his playtesting. But I've got more projects than I can stand between 5MIN, Company Command, and Brigade Command. I need Air, Sea, and Napoleonics now ;)

V/R,
Jack

"I have no idea what you mean ;)
But I really like him since he seems to agree Pandas are vile little vermin"

I thought the perfect anagram would give it away…. ;)

Anyhows :) back to 5core; what do you think about the limited activations? It's one aspect of Crossfire that grated with me. I mean the voluntary activation of only certain troops. Others could potentially turn into immobile statues. (And maybe that's realistic?) I'd imagine if this was the case with 5core it would be down to bad strategy?

I was hoping to make an AAR…I took photos and the game was very enjoyable. (I have to say it was one of the first times that taking photos felt like it was getting in the way of the game itself!

Keep your pentagrams to yourself, heathen!

I know what you mean about one side turning into a parking lot, but I go with the idea that the sense of time is fluid, not linear, and reflects command focus. That's the explanation, but the reason it works for me is it's the closest I've come with wargame rules to the concept of getting inside your opponent's OODA Loop.

You only get to move a little bit of troops each turn, so when I move here and cause stuff to happen, you either react (I'm dictating to you) or you go somewhere else, trying to dictate to me, and it goes back and forth until someone gains the advantage, and the opponent can do nothing but react and try to hold it together, which is the definition of seizing the initiative and dictating to the enemy.

I don't want to overload your small, rodent thinking apparatus, so I'll just say "I like the rules, they're cool." They got a good beat and you can dance to it ;)

V/R,
Jack

THe intention is that:

1: You can never do everything you want.

2: You can always do something.

A lot of "random activation" systems can result in situations where you are paralyzed which I never enjoy in games. So this is shooting more in the middle.

It IS intended to be pretty cinematic in a way. If both players keep fighting in the same area, then that's where the camera is zoomed in.
You can break that by going elsewhere but then your opponent has the choice of responding to that, as Jack says, or continuing to push where he already was.