"0-Group - Devon Wargames Group" Topic

A few of the chaps at the club have really got into O-Group in recent months since the launch of these battalion level rules and ran one of three games to feature at this month's club meeting to walk other members, unfamiliar with them, through the play.

If you would like to see how things went then just follow the link to the club blog.

link

JJ

Nice game report, giving a good feel of how it played. That was a big game to begin with. A few questions.
Did the attackers and defenders choose (get allocated) the same battalion boundaries, or did the players choose them?
I'm interested that players felt restricted in orders, given that there were 'extra' ones available from the battlegroup commanders.
Was it effectively two single battalion games, or were the battalion boundaries asymmetric?

Hi,
Thanks for the comment and I emailed the game organiser re your enquiry and have the following response below for you. If you want to get further clarification please post a comment on the club blog and it will be answered there.

Cheers
JJ

'We had a few people who wanted to try so this was a good time to try a Battle group game. I had played this scenario at home with four of us so had a reasonable idea of how it would play.
 
1. Each side decided on their own Battalion boundaries. Hence there was a slight difference. It also differed slightly from the game played at home.

2. What you have to remember is that once battle is joined you are not just ordering attacks but you are also trying to rally off shock and suppression. If you have three companies of infantry that is nine platoons to order, plus armour, plus mortars/artillery at two orders for each new target. Extra orders for "Company Command" orders.
Only eight or nine command dice losing all the ones and the sixes going to battalion orders (unless you already have the maximum of six). Now you see the problems.

3. Battle group commanders only accrue orders on a throw of 6 and can only have a maximum of six. The BG orders were distributed pretty rapidly once the game got going. The battalion commanders were using the company orders and their battalion orders at a prodigious rate. Each turn BG orders were only one or if you were lucky two so could not really affect very much.

4. With this type of game it does tend to be two separate battles and has to be because of friendly fire. However because the battalion boundaries are not necessarily the same for each side there will be overlaps.
 
This game was set up to show how the game played and when I talked to the guys afterwards the German commanders said that their plan was to tie up the British left and then attack their right with one company from the German right plus the full battalion from their left thus giving them an overload. Hesitant companies will slow down any attack. However as we all know a plan does not survive first contact. Armour was the decider in this game.'
 

Good stuff. I hadn't appreciated that the BG command dice only accumulated on a 6 – that is going to make it nice to have, but certainly not a game-changer.

Thanks again for the report, and the replies to my questions.

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It looks more platoon-level in the game visuals – that is, the deployed figure stands in relation to the terrain pieces, and then in relation to the frontages of the units across the board – the units look widely dispersed w/o regard to tying-in their flanks left or right.

Great-looking game, but somehow I'm not feeling companies in battalion battle order.