Blitzkrieg Holland 1944

Today Richard and I used Blitzkrieg Commander on a breakout scenario in Holland 1944.  I was the allies and my task was to capture the town, exit units or break the German morale. All models, terrain are Richard's.

 Things got off to a bad start when my right wing armour force suffered a command blunder.

This immediately put the Allies behind schedule.

(There are only 12 turns in this scenario)

 End of the first turn and and the second tank force and the infantry are still to make an entry,
due to the roadblock caused by the first tank force's blunder.
Imagined radio traffic: "Blue leader, after you"  "Red Leader, oh no, after you sir"
"Blue Leader, no I insist, age before beauty"

 But second turn things get moving with a vengeance,

 as the right wing armour gets to make a double move.

 Things get better when the Germans suffer a command blunder, going into a momentary retreat.

 End of the second turn and the left flank armour is advancing.

The off road area is plodder and not suitable for armour.

 The right flank has run into a dug in Pak 40.

 Call in the RAF which took out one enemy antitank nest.

 But oh dear, a second call resulted in a monumental blunder...

 Friendly fire takes out four allied units.

 End of the third turn and the left flank has advanced a bit further.

 But the right flank does nothing. 
It is in an understandable state of shock.
(Note: not the rules, just how the command rolls turned out)

 Fourth turn and the left flank has engaged the enemy, or rather vice a versa.

 While fourth turn on the right sees the allies trying to clear the Pak 40.

 The mortars prove useful.

 Pak 40 cleared, although the toll in armour has been very, very high.

 The cause of much of the allied armout loss.

However allied infantry in their halftracks have been able to speed past.

 But on the left things are bogged down.

 Another successful airstrike.

 Right wing troops still yet to exit.

 Germans still hold the town.

Left wing waiting for a miracle.

The allies had lost over half their strength, but passed their morale test.  The next turn the Germans had also dropped below their half strength mark, but failed their morale test.  Allied victory of sorts.

I must say this about every game Blitzkrieg Commander I play: the arbitrary and abstract nature seems odd, but it produces results that seem right.

Bridge at Remagen - Blitzkrieg Commander

Richard had devised an assault scenario based on the Bridge at Remagen.  I took the US forces.

First up I need to drive over these Volkstum manning the barricade

Oh dear they have panzerfausts!

I brought up the Pershings and blasted my way through.

End of turn 2.  Progress is slow and there are only eight turns.

A command blunder didn't help.

Hitler Youth.

And yes, with panzerfausts.

End of Turn 3.

Some progress.

Command Blunder sets me back.

This was the end of Turn 5.

But the tanks are through.

We approach the bridge.

The infantry are still stalled in the town.

The Germans needed a double six to blow the bridge...

The view from the other side.

My eighth and final turn ended with another command blunder (rolling a double six).  That made three.  I did have one really good run of luck when I got the tanks through the town and shot up the bridge defenders, but then the bridge blew.  I was too slow getting up the infantry.

Great little scenario.

Addendum

I forgot to acknowledge the source of the US forces.  Thanks Mark Woods for leaving your troops with Richard.  They did you proud.  

All the other kit and terrain is form Richard's collection, including the Pershings.

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Soviet Deliberate Attack to End the Great Patriotic War

Today Richard and I used his fabulous 15mm collection to stage Scenario #4 of Blitzkrieg Commander: Deliberate Attack.  I went the Soviets and had twelve turns to secure three objectives.

The Soviets massed for the attack.

My plan was for the assault engineers to go in first on the right.

The Nazi position looked sparse, but backed by some wunder weapons.

With the exception of the roads, all terrain was at least partial cover, if not hard cover.

We do have a house rule that units in hardcover that engage in fire, lose the cover's benefits.

My elite assault force failed its first activation.

The armour also stalled.

The CinC took over and ordered the armour forward.

Unsupported by infantry, this is what happened.

Next turn and still the assault engineers fail to activate.

On my left, where I had planned to go slow, I made good progress.

Unlike on the left which again failed to activate.

Turn Four was a litany of command failure.

But on the left flank, once contact was made, 

Soviet mortars made short work of the defenders.

Finally things get moving.

However a close assault in the centre is repulsed.

The left flank bog down again with commands just not getting through.

And then this...

A command blunder sees the Soviet armour pull back.

Where's the NKVD when you need them?

But in no time the tanks were back at the barricade.

And the assault engineers were doing their thing house to house.

But it was hard going.

Soviet armour at the barricade was held up by this monster for a good while.

The way was clear for the Soviet armour to rush the bridge,

sadly the order did not get through.

And on the right the Soviets almost reached the objective,

but were held back by the concentrated desperate fire of the Hitler Youth.

And so close on the left...

Two of the Nazi commands had broken, but without the Soviets reaching any of the objectives the game was a draw.

BKC is a funny abstract system, but it certainly works.

Thanks Richard for organising the game.  It's great to see all those fabulous minis on the table.