"KG Klink, France, Game 10" Topic
8 Posts
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Just Jack | 14 Aug 2019 4:53 p.m. PST |
All, Ambush at Abbeville, #3 0630 28 May 1940 Following the fighting in and around Flavion, KG Klink was briefly pulled out of the line to rest, refit, perform maintenance on their weapons, machines, and equipment, and bring in a few replacements. They were actually parked outside the Dunkirk perimeter when they were called back to action; further south, German forces had forced a crossing on the Somme. At 0600 27 on May, the Allies counterattacked the German bridgehead, striking the German 57th Infantry Division southwest of Abbeville, in an attempt to reach the encircled Allied troops at Dunkirk. Unbeknownst to the Germans, the French French 4e DCr (or 4th Division Cuirassee, 4th Armored Division) arrived in the battle area that evening. The French force, heavily armed with Char B1, Somua S-35, and Hotchkiss light tanks, immediately set about reorganizing, preparing to attack on the morning of 28 May. But KG Klink moved all through the night in order to reach the battle area. arriving at approximately 0500 on 28 May. The plan was for KG Klink to counterattack down the Blangy-Abbevile Road, hoping to flank the French 2e DLC (2nd Cavalry Division), maybe even cut all the way across and in behind the British 51st Highland Division, cutting off the British 1st Armored Division. With that, KG Klink set off, passing through the German 217th Infantry Regiment, launching its attack down the Blangy-Abbeville Road. KG Klink passed through Villers sur Mareuil, then Huppy, and were moving towards St Maxent en Vimeu, when they encountered trouble near the three (fictional) villages, Dujour, Deture, and Toujour, on the River Bleu. The first fight saw Colonel Klink lead the 1st Grenadier Platoon, supported by Stugs, in the attack on Dujours. Repulsed, they were reinforced by the 4th Grenadier Platoon and drove the French force back onto Hill 44. The second fight saw 1st Lt Tausch, lead his 3rd Grenadier Platoon into the assault on Hill 34. The attack stalled in several locations, but the Lieutenant's skillful leadership maneuvered his troops until they were able to unhinge the enemy's defensive line. The third fight sees the Reconnaissance Company Commander, 1Lt Wehner, lead his men forward to seize the bridge over the River Bleu at Deture.
The overall area of operations, and that stupid north-seeking arrow at top right is incorrect, north is to far left… The three villages are, from left to right: Dujour, Deture, and Toujour, and the hills are, from left to right: Hill 34, Hill 44, and Hill 54. The River Bleu runs east-west down the center of the table. My intent is to play a series of battles on a 6' x 4' layout, using small pieces, maybe 2' x 2' with 10mm troops. I've gone back to my old standby, Ivan's "5Core Company Command." The red arrow showing the axis of attack.
The Reconnaissance Company elements move south towards Deture, past the farmhouse on the right, and with Major Schultz leading 4th Grenadier Platoon up on the left.
The French CO (center right) looks on as one of his 25mm anti-tank guns (bottom right) opens fire on LCpl Fasbender's armored car!
And the other French ATG (bottom right) quickly joins in.
The German motorcycle troops attempt to force their way across the bridge, under fire.
Not their best plan…
Sgt Keck's Panzer II catches the French in the open, trying to reinforce their front-line positions. This was a straight-up street brawl! To see how the fight went, please check the blog at: link At this point all attention shifted back to the north, where Colonel Klink was busy scratching together a force to go and take Hill 44, securing the eastern flank of his penetration towards Toujour. V/R, Jack |
MiniPatton | 14 Aug 2019 8:55 p.m. PST |
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Frederick | 15 Aug 2019 5:28 a.m. PST |
Great AAR! Thanks for sharing |
Just Jack | 15 Aug 2019 6:43 a.m. PST |
Thanks fellas, my pleasure, and I appreciate the kind words. V/R, Jack |
BuckeyeBob | 15 Aug 2019 10:19 a.m. PST |
Exciting AAR. 5core company commander gives a good game. Interesting that the bridge did not become a bottleneck holding up the advance. Goes to show that a good defensive position is not guaranteed to be such. I enjoy playing my variation of 5core company commander. Curious about the ratings you give your armor and ATG versus each other. Versus the frontal armor at normal ranges, I rate the 25LL and 37 short versus the 222 and Pz2 as kill and vs the Pz3 as unlikely. The 47 is overkill and vs the pz3 is unlikely. The 20mm vs the H35 S35, and B1bis as Threatening and the 37mm as unlikely vs H35-S35 and threatening vs b1bis. (At close range all ratings are 1 level higher.) |
Just Jack | 15 Aug 2019 7:08 p.m. PST |
Buckeye Bob, The bridge was definitely a choke point, the French simply weren't able to take advantage! They started the ambush when German vehicles were on the bridge, with shots by two different ATGs, and didn't accomplish anything! And being an ambush, at a choke point, at relatively close range (one on a flank), I think I gave each 2K 3S, but nothing was knocked out or even immobilized. If that had happened, the bridge would have been blocked to vehicle traffic, meaning the German tank and remaining armored cars would have had to reverse off the bridge, then find a place to support by fire from the north bank. Then, when the Germans only had a vehicle or two across the bridge, the French tried to close assault and failed again (a total of three times during the game, if I recall correctly)! So the Germans got a toehold on the south bank and made a daring move to fling their infantry across by shoving them forward while still mounted on their motorcycles. Again the French had a tremendous opportunity to stymie the assault (they did knock out one squad and suppress another), but again they failed. Nothing I can do about terrible dice rolling ;) Please forgive me, I don't really think of AT fire in terms of the ratings, just Kill and Shock dice, which I modify on the fly by tactical situation and quality of shot. For example, a Pz III vs a Char B1 will never have Kill dice from the front. At normal/close range it will be firing with 0K 1S, get to point blank range and get 0K 2S. Get on a flank at normal range and get 0K 1S, close 0K 2S, point blank gets 2K 2S. The Pz III and R35/H39 get 1K 1S from front at normal range, add to those as they get closer/get on flank. The way I play, nothing the Germans have can knock out a Char B1 from the front except the PzJgr I (close range=1K 2S) and Pz IV (point blank range 1K 2S). I'm pretty fast and loose with the dice, relying a lot on the tactical situation, I.e., he can penetrate that, but he moved a long way (high speed), through a lot of smoke, dust, and debris, but he's now at close range and it's a veteran crew, so… 1K 2S. That should give you an idea of how I'm doing it, but if you've got any questions, just let me know. Do you have any 5Core Company Command batreps posted anywhere? I'd love t see how you're doing it. V/R, Jack |
BuckeyeBob | 16 Aug 2019 11:13 a.m. PST |
Just Jack, No I don't have a blog to post my AAR's. I have a large early war east front game going on my basement table now. Since page 38 of the rules was a very sketchy "how to" on ranking guns and armor for various vehicles I wondered how others may have ranked certain vehicles. We are very close in how we ranked shot vs armor but I think I am just a bit more generous on Pz3e vs B1bis and less so on the JgPz1. However, I require the firer to pass a to hit roll before rolling any K or S dice which is where modifiers for movement, troop quality etc would be. Just a bit more complex than what you are doing, but I like to be consistent without having to remember what I did last time in a situation. I find it's simple enough yet does not slow down the game play. I also did up a chart for each country's vehicle armor and shot rating from 39-45 so I would be consistent in applying the K and S dice. Last winter I acquired a beautiful game mat from Coresec Engr. before they went out of business and it's marked off in 4" hexes. I was tired of always measuring distances for movement and firing, so I converted 5Core (and a few other rulesets I use) to a hex system. That way multiple inf stands in a hex could be affected by fire into a hex and not just a single stand. Easier to just count a few hexes for movement and firing than measuring. I could write a book here…but I'd be happy to send you what I did…they are word docs. Shoot me an email if interested…glenmwilli at msn dot com. |
Just Jack | 17 Aug 2019 12:15 p.m. PST |
Buckeye, Well dammit, man, you need a blog, ASAP! People, myself included, would love to see your East Front AARs!!! C'mon, it's easy, and the fact I'm doing it is proof! ;) Sounds good on the stats, and glad to hear we're not too far off, makes me feel like I most be at least close to the right track. The mat sounds cool, would love to see it on your upcoming blog ;) Previously I'd done everything on hexes (I'd bought a couple 6' x 4' mats from Hotz, really beautiful), but got away from it, not sure why. I don't mind measuring now, but I'm not much of a stickler for exact measurements. Good thing I play solo. I'll send you an email, would love to see what you've got. V/R, Jack |
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