BGO Platoon Action - The Farm

[V]

Been back playing little platoon sized games lately with Battlegroup Overlord and tonight I had a 375 point game with Cyril, his US Airborne taking on my Panzer Ersatz forces. 375 is a nice points value to play on a 6 x 4 and gives a good game for a couple hours (unless things go wrong as they nearly did for me...).

The tabletop...






The forces...




My forces were based around a Panzergrenadier platoon, with some (dubious) tanks in support, plus a couple of 'funnies' from the 21st Panzer vehicles. Its a good list to play at this point level as its lack of heavy hitting items isnt too much of a hinderance, especially so when facing US Airborne. We rolled randomly for scenario and got 'Recce Screen'... A scenario that really punishes those silly enough not to take any recce. Cyril was well equipped on this front with two M8 Greyhounds and a Para recce patrol on foot. As we rolled for 4 turns to be played with recce only, he was firmly in control... as I had only the one recce option - a single foot patrol. On a small table, this lack of recce troops could - and should - have been fatal, but a combination of Cyril's poor shooting and my jammy cover saves saw me through! Basically for the first four turns I hide in the ruined Church while Cyril threw all he could at me, and in the process managed to get his recce foot patrol shot to ribbons... Somehow, and Im still not sure how, I managed to hold on till turn 5.

The German recce patrol peer out of the Church...












Cyril of course went and rolled a six for his re-inforcements and the US Airborne streamed onto the table. I of course in my turn rolled a one... a lone Panzer III showed up to help out! To be fair to it, it did put one of the Greyhounds out of service! In the following turn Cyril again rolled high and from turn 6 onwards had his entire army on the table. I still couldnt roll high and my army slowly dragged itself on to the table piece by piece.










Due to this lack of impetus from my Germans I began to carve a defensive position out based around the Church and the surrounding fields. Cyril was having to move his men around the centre of the table as I had placed a Registered Target Point on the farm and he didnt want to risk the incoming mortar fire if he strayed too close. This extra distance gave me time to get men on the table and into position while my little Hotchkiss H38s did sterling work holding up the US advance, till I lost the Panzer III to a bazooka round in the flank and an H38 to a lucky mortar round that put it out of action. Even so, my right flank held firm thanks to a half-track mounted 20mm flak that proceeded to chew up anything that stuck its head out! This stalled the US attack on my right and they changed and headed to the centre, direct for the Church but by this time my sMG42 was set-up covering the road junction with its Loader Team frantically cracking open boxes of ammunition! Thus too was supported by an MG and rifle team from one of the grenadier sections and also the platoon HQ in the Church itself.










This made the centre too tough a nut to crack an dthe US paratroopers took some heavy losses and became pinned down. They tried a smaller attack against the German left flank with another squad of men supported by a couple of MGs, but this was broken up with mortar fire and the remaining H38 who bravely (stupidly?) stuck around to trade fire with the US paras as they advanced... By luck he managed to pin them down! As the game progressed the US losses mounted and the Germans seemed to take few casualties. With the loss of the US platoon HQ the US Airborne went over their break rating and the game ended with a hard fought German victory... Cyril had managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!

[Goosegog]

Nice game. I really like WW2 games that are not 'panzer heavy'. Very nice terrain and figures.

[Happy Wanderer]

Great looking game...very atmospheric. The photos support the narrative very well.

Good job!

Cheers

Happy Wanderer

[Phil Robinson]

Nice report and some super photo's which really get you into the action.

Inspiring stuff as usual Piers.

[Calimero]

Inspiring stuff as usual Piers.

Yes it is… in fact V and wayswatcher posts have inspired me to get into 20mm WWII. I’ve just started collecting and painting some stuff and I have some questions.

Do you have a rule of thumbs for basing vehicles and tanks? Do you just base them with whichever base size look best?

In your opinion, which 20mm figures would go best alongside Britannia Miniatures?

Cheers!

[Gibby]

Man, it's stuff like this that may have me end up doing WW2 in three different scales! Perhaps a different scale for each theatre of the war . Lovely pictures!

[majorsmith]

im up for 20mm 

[Phil Robinson]

Yes it is… in fact V and wayswatcher posts have inspired me to get into 20mm WWII. I’ve just started collecting and painting some stuff and I have some questions.

Do you have a rule of thumbs for basing vehicles and tanks? Do you just base them with whichever base size look best?

In your opinion, which 20mm figures would go best alongside Britannia Miniatures?
Cheers!

I have Brittannia, FAA, SHQ, AB, CP and Battlefield, oddly enough although they are all different styles they all seem to gel nicely in 20mm.

[Gunbird]

Yes it is… in fact V and wayswatcher posts have inspired me to get into 20mm WWII. I’ve just started collecting and painting some stuff and I have some questions.

Oww, <blush> 

Do you have a rule of thumbs for basing vehicles and tanks? Do you just base them with whichever base size look best?

In your opinion, which 20mm figures would go best alongside Britannia Miniatures?

Cheers!

What Phil said. Just don't get those Valiant plastics, they tower above everything.

Regarding basing, I try and leave a 5mm rim all around the vehicle but not much more, cause I feel that looks best (opinions may vary on this one). Artillery and AT tends to get based on V or T shaped bases with room for crew, like so:
T-Base

(Gun under tow always on a square base)

V-Base

With crew removed

[Gibby]

im up for 20mm 

To Newark's model shop!

[Captain Blood]

Great looking game. Nice report 

[Calimero]

Regarding basing, I try and leave a 5mm rim all around the vehicle but not much more, cause I feel that looks best (opinions may vary on this one). Artillery and AT tends to get based on V or T shaped bases with room for crew... (Gun under tow always on a square base)

Thanks a lot for the reply. And for the pictures too! (Yet more inspiration )

Oddly enough, a 5mm ring was what I thought about doing. You just help me decide what to do!

Now I have two Sherman Firefly, 1 King Tiger, 1 Tiger I and a Hanomag w/ short 75mm gun to base

Cheers!

[V]

Thanks a lot for the reply. And for the pictures too! (Yet more inspiration )

Oddly enough, a 5mm ring was what I thought about doing. You just help me decide what to do!

Now I have two Sherman Firefly, 1 King Tiger, 1 Tiger I and a Hanomag w/ short 75mm gun to base

Cheers!

Basing... I just go with whatever looks about right!  

Sometimes I go a little OTT...



Generally I try and keep most 'medium' tanks to the same width and length as it makes for easier storage in my trays.


As for what goes with Britannia... Try Grubby Tanks 'Kellys Heroes' range, Battlefield/Blits will work ok too.

In fact this pic below shows a Britannia gun team with Kellys Heroes US Airborne around it...



 

Though like Phil I have around 14 different makes of figure among my armies. One of the delights with 20mm is that if you mix enough, with the same paintjob, they seem to blend together easier.

[Calimero]

... Though like Phil I have around 14 different makes of figure among my armies. One of the delights with 20mm is that if you mix enough, with the same paintjob, they seem to blend together easier.

You see, that’s one of the thing I like about 20mm figures. You can create very nice vignette and they don’t take that much place on the tabletop. Plus the figures scale seems to be more consistent within the different ranges than the “28mm” figures are…