A Mini-Campaign in the Ardennes, December 1944

[bigjackmac]

All,

Breakthrough
0745
17 December 1944

Kampfgruppe Peiper, a German SS Panzer formation, moved out as part of 'Wacht Am Rhein," AKA, "The Battle of the Bulge," in the evening of 16 December, reaching Losheim at approximately 2200.  Fighting through traffic as they pushed west on the 'rollbahns,' Peiper grabbed a battalion of German Fallschirmjaeger sitting idly by the road (setting the stage for the iconic photo of the German paratroopers riding atop King Tigers), and, continuing their push west, the kampfgruppe overran a column of retreating American troops at approximately 0600 on 17 December.  It is now 0745 on 17 December; the kampfgruppe has finally defeated a token platoon of Americans in Lanzerath, and is preparing to jump off to take Bullingen to the northwest, and then follow the road southwest to Ligneuville.  The Americans facing KG Peiper are a motley mix of troops, weapons, and vehicles from 2nd, 28th, and 99th Infantry Divisions, various Cavalry Squadrons, and several Engineer groups.

So, what's going on here, you ask?  Well, this is a mini-campaign, and an unplanned one, at that!  This is to keep up my end of a bargain I made online; my buddy Thuseld, over on The Wargames Website, has been working on getting 6mm WWII forces together for awhile, just like me.  He'd posted pics of his lovely troops and vehicles, lamenting that he wasn't sure when he'd ever get them on the table.  I replied that I, too, had been working on getting 6mm WWII forces ready, and I, too, was unsure when they'd actually see the table.  Then I made an off-hand comment that sealed my fate: I jokingly suggested he and I enter a pact, to ensure we got our 6mm WWII forces on the table ASAP.  Well, he not only accepted, he played some games and posted them that very next weekend!  So I'm already late, but late is better than never, so here I am, keeping up my end of the deal!  My plan is to play a three-game mini-campaign, and it's not just serving to get my 6mm WWII stuff on the table.  I'm also going to test out the Blitzkrieg Commander IV rules, and I'm also, for the first time ever, going to play some winter games.  So here we go!

Wanting to play some winter games and having late war German and US/UK kit, I began searching the internet for scenarios.  Twasn't long before I came across a free PDF from Battlefront, called "Peiper's Charge, Running the Gauntlet in the Ardennes, 16-25 December 1944."  It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn useful, and it was perfect for what I was trying to do: three fights in the snow between late-war US and German kit.  Sure it's built for Flames of War, revolving around platoon-sized units, but I just bumped each of those up to a company-sized unit, no problem.  In any case, the PDF outlines a mini-campaign with the Germans attacking across the three maps, ending with the Americans counterattacking on the third map.  Worked like a charm.


Overview, north is up.  The Germans will attack from the southeast corner using mobile deployment rules (except one unit already on the table).  There are serviceable roads running across the table, everything else is snow, which causes a movement penalty (I played the penalty in game 1, it was too much, so I knocked it off), and there is a river at bottom center/bottom left, which is not fordable.  There are three villages: in the southeast (bottom right) is Lanzerath; in the north (top center left) is Bullingen; and in the southwest (bottom left) is Ligneuville.  The hills, from top right, are: Hill 208, Hill 150 (far right), Hill 34 (bottom center), Hill 76 (far left), Hill 200 (top left), and Hill 102 (center).  Please note that the village names are real (and in their correct, approximate locations), while the Hills are made up (the maps in the PDF don't show any elevation at all, but I know that can't be correct in the Ardennes).

All German units start off table except the FJ Company, which is in Lanzerath (bottom right).  Meanwhile, the Americans have A Company in Bullingen (top center left) and B Company in Ligneuville (bottom left), with both tracked companies in reserve at top left.  The US plan is to try and have the infantry stay towns, plinking away at halftracks and panzers with their ATGs (and even with their mortars vs the halftracks), and bleed the Germans by making them come dig my infantry out.  I'll keep the tanks and tank destroyers back until I can see where the boy commits his whopping three companies of tanks, then rush in, no fear!


The opposing forces, Americans up top and Germans on the bottom.  This is done in 6mm, with all vehicles from Heroics and Ros, while the infantry and US anti-tank guns (ATGs) are from GHQ.

The US force: their CO is at far right (in a halftrack), all the M8 armored cars are HQs.  The Americans have two rifle companies (A Company and B Company), each with an HQ, four rifles, an MG, a mortar, and 76mm ATG with prime mover (should have probably been a 57mm ATG, but I need all the help I can get).  Then they have a tank company consisting of two M4 76s and four M4 75s, and a tank destroyer company consisting of six M-10 Wolverines.  No arty or air support.

The German commander is also at far right (in a Sdkfz 231 armored car), the Sdkfz 222 armored cars are their HQs.  The Germans have a company of Fallschirmjaegers (top left) and a company of Panzer Grenadiers, each with four rifles, an MG, and a mortar, the only difference being the PzGren have Skdfz 251/D halftracks and the FJ are foot mobile.  The Germans then have two companies of Panzer Mk V "Panthers" (1st Company and 2nd Company), a company of Pz Mk IV King Tigers, and a battery of four self-propelled 150mm howitzers.  I'm a bit different in that, when I play BKC, I prefer to have my arty on the table, rolling for them to act just like any other unit.  This helps keep things simple, which makes life easier for me 1) when I'm playing solo, and 2) when I'm playing with my boy (he's 10).

In this game I am playing the Americans and the boy is playing the Germans.


US mortars and anti-tank guns in Bullingen (bottom left, also joined by mortars from Ligneuville) engage the German panzergrenadiers (top right)...


And pound them mercilessly.


German self-propelled artillery was the MVP of the game.


Partly because, just like real life, the Germans are having problems with traffic jams.  The bogged down panzer grenadiers blocking the road force the King Tigers to move cross country.


The real showdown was in the south, where the US M-10 tank destroyers (bottom left) slugged it out with the Panthers of 1st Pz Co (top right).

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2019/09/charge-of-kg-peiper-1.html

In terms of the mini-campaign, Kampgruppe Peiper continues to march,  moving west to take Stavelot, La Gleize, and Trois Ponts, in order.  Coming right up!

**EDIT: Whew, I'm glad that worked!  I tried to post this to the BKC board three times, but kept getting told "Hacking Attempt."  What the heck?

V/R,
Jack

[Norm]

Jack, very good. A nice winterised look and the 6mm works so well.

Good have got the enthusiasm from a fellow gamer and to have your boys involved.

[mmcv]

Good game Jack, looking forward to seeing the rest of the campaign. Gave a good feel for what a BKC game is like too (I've never played).

[Steve J]

Great looking game and nice to play a campaign with a friend and your boys as well .

[Techno]

Excellent, Jack !

I'm impressed with the 'winter look', as well !

Cheers - Phil

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

That's a big fight. Nice one Jack

[petercooman]

Great stuff!

[paulr]

 

[bigjackmac]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the kind words, and I hope you liked it. 

We've played the second game, though I haven't started on the batrep yet, and the table is set for game #3, hope to knock it out this weekend.

The rules are really cool, lots of fun, my only complaint is how long they're taking.  That's not a knock on the rules, you have to keep in mind I'm usually knocking a game out in an hour, not three, and I play three or four in a weekend.  I got places to be!

V/R,
Jack

[petercooman]

once you are used to the rules, it goes a bit faster, but agreed, we usually struggle to finish a game in a 2 and a half hour session.

[bigjackmac]

Right, I figured, and certainly playing with little ones slows things down a bit.

I know it's heresy, but I'm really looking at hitting the mark between 60 and 90 minutes, not including setup/take down, though when I was doing the liberation of Cuba for Cuba Libre, I was getting those games in in about 75 minutes, including setup/take down!  I keep looking back at those as my golden age of wargaming

So, tell me this (and I mean not just Peter, anyone reading here): has anyone tried playing BKC where you don't have HQ, just a CO, and a stand basically 'self-orders,' i.e., is it's own HQ?  Everything else plays the same, but one stand of tanks is a platoon (as normal), but instead of grouping it with a bunch of other stands, it's by itself and you roll orders as normal.  I might post this on the BCK board, proper.

V/R,
Jack

[petercooman]

That could work, but you would be rolling a lot more command rolls, so that might slow the game down.


Also, when just using just one stand, you lose the negative modifier for things being more than 20 cm away from the command stand. I suggest just giving a -1 modifier to your command value when in difficult terrain, representing the platoon needing to spread out more.

[bigjackmac]

Peter,

Regarding a lot more command rolls, my plan would be to have only 5-9 units on the table, per side.  Rather than use a single stand/vehicle, I would do what I'm doing now, which is have a "unit" consist of maybe five tanks, but it uses (for both firing and being fired at) the stats for a single tank.  Think of it as a single base with five tanks on it, giving orders to itself (it's a unit, not just one tank), but using the stats for a single tank in the book (so rolling 4 firing dice, instead of 20, and able to take only four hits before being eliminated, not 20).

Losing the -1 modifier to troops 20cm or more away doesn't bother me, I'm already not doing that!  We've been letting the HQ move with the troops, as a means to help the game be quicker, and I figure, if you can keep making those command rolls from 8, all the way down to double ones, more power to ya!  

I'm with you on the rough terrain though, can keep that, as well as the -1 for moving into close assault, and any command blunder negative modifiers.

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

Kampfgruppe Peiper, a German SS Panzer formation, moved out as part of 'Wacht Am Rhein," AKA, "The Battle of the Bulge," in the evening of 16 December, reaching Losheim at approximately 2200.  Fighting through traffic as they pushed west on the 'rollbahns,' Peiper grabbed a battalion of German Fallschirmjaeger sitting idly by the road (setting the stage for the iconic photo of the German paratroopers riding atop King Tigers), and, continuing their push west, the kampfgruppe overran a column of retreating American troops at approximately 0600 on 17 December.  At approximately 0745 on 17 December the kampfgruppe, having finally defeated a token platoon of Americans that had held them up for hours, got on the move.  They pushed north towards Bullingen and west towards Ligneuville, running into some issues due splitting their forces, making the questionable decision to have a company of Panthers push through some hilly, heavily forested terrain, and their artillery having a hard time finding the range.  And while a both Panther companies and a Panzer Grenadier company suffered substantial casualties, the Germans were ultimately able to secure both villages and continue their push westwards.  It is now 1200 on 17 December and the push to the Meuse continues.  The Germans find themselves in severely constricted terrain, with rivers, urban areas, hills, and heavy forest every where the eye can see, not to mention a few companies of American infantry, and that pesky Tank Destroyer company from the previous fight.  The Germans are approaching the villages of Stavelot, Trois Ponts, and La Gleize, looking to take them quickly in order to secure their bridges and continue their advance.  The Americans facing KG Peiper are a motley mix of troops, weapons, and vehicles from 2nd, 28th, and 99th Infantry Divisions, various Cavalry Squadrons, and several Engineer groups.


Overview, north is up.  The Germans will attack from the southeast corner using mobile deployment rules (except one unit already on the table).  There are serviceable roads running across the table, everything else is snow, though I knocked off the movement penalty (we played it in game 1, it was too much for our limited attention spans), but there are rivers seemingly everywhere, with a total of four bridges, and the river is not fordable.  There are three villages: in the northeast (top center right) is Stavelot; in the northwest (top left) is La Gleize; and in the southwest (bottom left, though it's actually spread from left to bottom left in three little clumps of buildings, with some trees between them) is Trois Ponts.  The hills, from top right, are: Hill 198, Hill 53 (bottom right), Hill 55 (bottom center), Hill 68 (center), and Hill 43 (top left).  Please note that the village names are real (and in their correct, approximate locations), while the Hills are made up (the maps in the PDF don't show any elevation at all, but I know that can't be correct in the Ardennes).

The Germans don't start with any troops on the board, but will enter via the road at bottom right.  The US forces are as follows: the Engineer Company is in Stavelot (top center), the Rifle Company is manning a roadblock on the road in the south, between Hills 55 (bottom center) and 68 (center), the Armored Rifle Company is loaded up in its halftracks, in reserve, just west of the northern end of Trois Ponts (far left), and the Tank Destroyer Company is in reserve, just north of La Gleize (top left).


The opposing forces, Americans up top and Germans on the bottom.  This is done in 6mm, with all vehicles from Heroics and Ros, while the infantry and US anti-tank guns (ATGs) are from GHQ.

The Americans have a rifle company with an HQ, four rifles, an MG, a mortar, and 76mm ATG with prime mover (should have probably been a 57mm ATG, but I need all the help I can get), an engineer company with an HQ, four rifles, an MG, a mortar, and a 90mm AA gun pulling anti-tank duty (with prime mover), an armored rifle company with an HQ, four rifles, an MG, a mortar, six M3 halftracks, and two 76mm ATGs with prime movers, and then we have our lone holdover, the Tank Destroyer Company that did so well last fight, consisting of a HQ and six M-10 Wolverines (or GMCs, whichever makes you happier).  No arty or air support.

The Germans have two companies of Panzer Grenadiers (1st and 2nd), each with four rifles, an MG, and a mortar, and six Skdfz 251/D halftracks.  The Germans then have a company of Panzer Mk V "Panthers," a company of Pz Mk IV (with long 75mm guns), a company of Pz Mk VI King Tigers, and a battery of four self-propelled 150mm howitzers.


The US Rifle Company at the roadblock on the road to Trois Ponts.  This would prove to be 'the spot,' the action here was ferocious!


To whit, King Tigers roll up (center) and begin pounding the roadbloack (top left), as a Panzergrenadier Company rushes forward to the adjacent wood (top center).


Vicious close-quarters fighting breaks out in the woods.


The other German Panzergrenadier Company is having issues evicting the US Engineers from Stavelot (far left), so they hang tight for a moment in the cover of the forest atop Hill 198 (top left) as a company of Panzer IVs moves up in support (top center right, with German arty at top right), but the trusty US Tank Destroyer Company is able to get into position (bottom center left) catching the German tanks in the flank and giving them an absolute shellacking!


But not all is peachy for the Americans: the German Panther Company (top right) is able to push quickly up to the southern end of Trois Ponts, where they catch the US Armored Rifle Company (across the bottom, with quite a few of them suppressed by German artillery) still on the road, their infantry still mounted up and their anti-tank guns still limbered!

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2019/09/charge-of-kg-peiper-2.html

KG Peiper is rolling towards Stoumont, and the defenders, while threadbare, just gotta hold on until the 82nd Airborne Division gets there.

V/R,
Jack

[Techno]

Good one, Jack. 

To my untrained eyes that seemed very 'nip and tuck.'

Can't comment about the time taken.....I'm a complete numpty as regards rules.

Cheers - Phil.