"KG Klink, France, Game 1" Topic

All,

Its 1600 on 13 May 1940, elements of 7th Panzer Division (to whom Kampgruppe Klink is attached for the campaign in France) is advancing west, descending on the Belgian town of Dinant, where it intends on crossing the Meuse River. The Commanding General, Rommel, dispatches elements of the 37th Reconnaissance Battalion slightly north towards the town of Houx, where it is to scout ahead of the 7th Infantry Regiment. KG Klink's Armored Reconnaissance Company, commanded by 1st Lieutenant Wehner (wearer of the Iron Cross 2nd Class), is on the far right (northern-most) flank of the division, and closes in on a small hamlet defended by a French force from the 39th Infantry Regiment, 5th Motorized Division (5 DIM), which today pushed into Belgium in an attempt to halt the Germans at the Meuse.

The Recon Company was moving west and, as it approached a small bridge, began receiving small arms fire. 2nd Motorcycle Platoon immediately dismounted (on the east side of the bridge; the river is really but a stream, a tributary of the Meuse, which is still two miles to the east), while two armored cars pushed across and two more darted right, searching out a covered position to ford the stream, while 1st Motorcycle Platoon escorted a single Panzer Mk III forward on the far right.

The opposing forces, French on the left, Germans on the right.

The German force:
CO – 1Lt Wehner (Iron Cross)
Armored Car Plt, Commander: 2Lt Weider (Sdkfz 222)
Vehicle 2 (Panzer II): Sgt Keck (Iron Cross)
Vehicle 3 (Sdkfz 232): Sgt Pichler (Iron Cross)
Vehicle 4 (Sdkfz 222): Cpl Dormund
Vehicle 5 (Sdkfz 222): Cpl Edst

1st Motorcycle Platoon, Commander: SSgt Gradl (Iron Cross)
1st Squad: SSgt Sachs
2nd Squad: Sgt Lowenstam
3rd Squad: Cpl Wilhelm
4th Squad: Cpl Visner

2nd Motorcyle Platoon, Commander: SSgt Behrendt (Iron Cross)
1st Squad: Sgt Eisen
2nd Squad: Cpl Obst
3rd Squad: Cpl Wallon
4th Squad: Cpl Pankau (Iron Cross)

Pz Mk III, Vehicle 4 3rd Platoon: Cpl Benten
MG34, Schwere Plt, Schutzen Co: Cpl Creuzburg

The French: Command stand, one H35 light tank, one .30 cal machine gun, and two infantry platoons of four squads each.

Overview of the map, east is up, Germans in the east and French in the west. The Germans were placed, then the French blinds were placed, then revealed.

If you're thinking this map looks familiar, well, I'm cheap and I'm lazy. This is the same map I just fought the Team Yankee deal on…

The French defense was formidable, and bloodied the German invaders substantially. The French were forced to withdraw, but caused significant casualties and safely withdrew quite a bit of their force.

To see the whole report, please visit the blog at:
link

The fight was about two hours, and a lot of fun, though more than a little frustrating: German marksmanship left a lot to be desired, while the French tank, in particular, was pretty efficient, and while both sides attempted a few close assaults, they didn't carry the day in their normally decisive manner. It was, simply put, hard fought and bloody. I love it and look forward to the next one!

V/R,
Jack

Excellent figures. I followed your posts showing the WIP of the force build up and the work definitely paid off with a great looking game. I don't comment much, but I enjoy your solo campaigns. Keep it up!

Great report, loved it!
Also I like how your miniatures contrast with the flock you're using.

Ethan – Thanks, glad to know you're out there ;) Next fight will be this weekend.

Javier – Thanks man. I'm looking forward to more of yours, too!

V/R,
Jack

Great stuff. Hats off to the French tankers who gave you such a rough time. I'm beginning to wonder if Klink will make it to the Russian Front after all. Klink's boys had a rough time in Poland and it looks like the new replacements need more gunnery table practice!

It isn't looking very pretty for him and Matilda is still waiting for her dance at Arras!

Great stuff! Keep it up!

As an aside: have you ever thought about going across the world to the Pacific? I think watching you play on Guadalcanal would be a blast. I'm doing Bataan myself.

TGunner,

Yeah man, I'm scared less of having a Matilda II and two Matilda Is, or three Char Bs on the table!

Man, I'm jealous as hell of your Philippines campaign! Where is it? Do you have a blog?

Why yes, of course I've thought about a Marine campaign. I was thinking of starting in PI with 4th Marines, but having my company/battalion miraculously evacuated so they could reform in Australia then join 1st/2nd Mar Divs for the Solomons, then probably go the 2nd Mar Div route (Tarawa, the Marianas, then Okinawa, having them go ashore from shipboard reserve).

Or maybe even have a made-up Southwestern Pacific campaign, you know, the Kukuforkokopuff Islands, or something ;)

I've been prodding Pendraken to put out some Marines for early war, both PI/Wake Island-style, and Guadalcanal-style. Their Marines are only good for 43 on I'd say, lots of carbines, bazookas, boonie covers (for gun/mortar crews), air-cooled .30 cals, etc…

I think I may use Minifigs Brits for the early early war stuff, maybe Minifigs USMC for Guadalcanal (I already have Minifigs late-war USMC: link

Thanks a bunch, and let me know if you've got a blog, I'd love to see your PI campaign.

V/R,
Jack

Just Jack:
An outstanding away game to open the 1940 blitzkrieg miniature season. Excellent reportage and very exciting to read. Beware the French armour for even with a short 37mm it can still punish the German not-so-panzerkampfwagens. Thanks for posting and looking forward to the next installment in the series.
Cheers and good gaming.
Rod Robertson

Yeah, I wish. This was a series of games that I played back in 2012 during the 70th of the campaign. I was using Axis and Allies miniatures for the rules. I snapped a few pics. I wished I blogged them… Here are a few more:

This was a clash between the Japanese 16th Recon Regiment and the US 26th Cavalry at Rosario, Luzon. It was a pretty nasty clash that turned into an urban slugging match. The Fil-Americans had an advantage in ranged combat, but the Japanese were hard core in assault combat.

I was gearing up for the 'canal, but I ran out of time! LOL! But I did get in the Battle of the Coral Sea and several clashes at Bataan. I'm going to collect more stuff and move over to Company Commander and team base my new stuff. But I'll pull over my M3 Lights and Scout Cars too. I'm going to try to build my 26th Cav up to full strength. Still have a ways to go there.

@Kyote- Thanks! I'll head over there for a look. Your uncle was a para-marine? Wow! He saw some stuff over there. Was he at Henderson/Bloody Ridge?

If you have single based figures, you can always do the "poor mans bases" and just cluster a few individual figures together :-)

We did that back when we played Striker, since none of us had team based scifi figures.

TGunner,

Someday I will get to the WWII USMC campaign; I'm kind of waiting on good air, naval, and boat rules to make it an air-land-sea campaign.

You may be surprised to know that, before I found Company Command, I was actually taking a long, hard look at Axis and Allies minis rules. There are some clever mechanisms in there.

V/R,
Jack

I've done the clustering and it works well enough. I like the team based better though. I have a number of figures who are ready to paint up and I'll base them on teams.

The infantry are all Eureka Wake Island Marines. The cavalry are also Eureka, and I have a few dismounted cavalry troops as well. You can tell them from the Marines because all of them have M1911 pistols in holsters. All of the AFVs are Axis and Allies Miniatures. They are okay, but not as good as QRF or Battlefront figures. The Japanese troops are also Eureka, but I have to say, the Battlefront figures are just as good! Better even because they are cheaper, look just as good, and they have the personal battleflags. A very nice touch.

This whole project was me wanting to play the period, but not invest a huge chunk of money in it. I like the Axis and Allies rules, but the 2D maps… not so much. I think Company Commander/Brigade Commander are much more to my taste. Nice looking miniature wise (team bases), 3D, and better rules.

I'm going to get my Team Yankee thing going first, then I'll go either to my Arnhem project or back to Bataan for Company Commander. I'll blog those efforts this time. Like a 15mm WWII blog.

Anyway, keep the cool stuff coming Jack!

Someday I will get to the WWII USMC campaign; I'm kind of waiting on good air, naval, and boat rules to make it an air-land-sea campaign.

Same here actually! I want to start small with Bataan, then get larger with Guadalcanal. I grabbed this book a while ago and am intrigued by some possibilities:

link

It covers the actions by the US Navy and the Corps during Bataan. They were pretty busy and there were some minor surface actions between American and Japanese coastal forces. There was also a US Marine led counter landing attack during Bataan. So lots of room for some interesting actions. Here's an interesting rules set for light surface actions… I'm going to try them out:

link

This guy sells the ships:

link

He even had the Mickey Mouse battleships! If I was a model builder I would build a couple of these for my skirmish games. Alas, they are 1/600. Great for 3mm, but too small for what I do.

You may be surprised to know that, before I found Company Command, I was actually taking a long, hard look at Axis and Allies minis rules. There are some clever mechanisms in there.

Indeed. I like them as a whole, but I never cared for the hex maps. I gotta have my 3d terrain and hexes on a table just doesn't work for me. But still, it's a fun game.

@kyote: Yeah, those Eureka figs cinched it for me- it's 15mm all the way. They are just such great figures and are a lot of fun to paint. The .30 teams are my favorites! I just wish that they had M1 Garands.

As for the 'canal… I'm sticking with Eureka. Their figs are probably too late to be truly accurate, but they look great and are close enough for me.

The A&A rules are pretty decent. There were a few things I remember irritated me, but they are quite playable and playing on a hex map is fun sometimes.
No fussing with rulers and you can put the figures where it makes sense.