A BKC game parrt of the SEELOWE campaign 

Somewhere in the South ‘ish, East ’ish of Britain, Winterford’s only importance in 1940 was that it lay on the easiest route off one of the possible (but not probable) invasion beaches. The RAF was regrouping in its new northern bases and the RN was getting the run around and a bit of a pasting from its airborne foe. Just in case the unthinkable happened a freshly raised couple of companies of infantry were sent to garrison the area and prepare it for defence.

Imagine Captain Carruthers horror then when news reached him that the unthinkable had happened and German forces were reported off those not too distant beaches. Paratroopers were reported likely everywhere! Carruthers deployed his forces and waited for help from the armoured reserve inland to the west.

 

 

Carruthers plan was not imaginative - he simply decided to hold the village and dig trenches - the latter task being very successful (I threw a 6 for the number of trenches prepared in the time - which covered all the bases available to the erstwhile Captain).

 

 

The countryside was quite densely wooded and enclosed save for an area to the south and west of the village.

The northern sector, looking east

The southern sector looking east

Winterford from the east

 

 

 

As the first gleam of pre-dawn showed in the east there was a wave of noise above and grey shapes could be seen coming down in the open land west of the village. (The German paratroops landed cleanly but strung out, with one platoon east of the river and the rest scattered to the west of the village - marked 'F' in the photo)

 

 

TURN 1

The Brits did nothing on turn 1 - save report the para drop and turn out all the defenders into their trenches.

Germans closest to the HQ advanced on the town, the a/t unit and the unit on the river however attracted opportunity fire from the now switched on defenders and were suppressed. The HQ failed to get the lagging FSJ infantry to close up.

 

TURN 2

British-This turn really surprised me - I normally lay out quite complicated ways of playing events solo - this time it was a very ad hoc affair as I snatched an opportunity to play at a moment's notice. So I just decided the armour had to throw a 1 on move 2 to turn up (2-6 was a no-show) and increase the score required each turn - so 1-2 turn 3, 1-3 turn 4 etc. So a 1 turns up straight off the bat! I admit I cheated and threw again - and threw another 1! Someone was trying to tell me something so I diced for which sector of the west edge the armour would enter - of course right where the isolated FSJ inf was wandering about.

Carruthers was truer to my normal form and threw a blunder for the village troops - but only had to move 3xd6 to the west which fortunately for him kept him in the village.

The armour however played a blinder, storming on to the table and massacring the isolated German unit in the open.

The British armour catch the isolated FSJ unit and annihilate it.

 

Germans - they diced for the arrival of their forces from the beach - a 5 so no show. The HQ then threw a 10 and everyone stopped where they were - not a good idea.

The Germans - not going anywhere.

 

TURN 3

Just for consistency poor old Carruthers in the village threw a 9 and failed to do anything

On the plus side the tank commander - who was obviously in a different league - threw a command bonus and stormed forward

The British armour - MkVI recce and A10s sweep into the attack.

Things were very bad for the Germans - convincing evidence that parachute assault is a doomed idea.

To gloss over the horror - the HQ threw another bonus and that more or less wiped out the FSJ apart from a rump of the a/t unit and the HQ

The remains of the FSJ lurk south of the village

The armour linked up with the ecstatic if static Carruthers

British armour links up with the defenders in the village.

 

Germans - there wasn't a lot for the Germans to do - I brought the advancing troops on anyway but what hope they had was probably long gone by this point. To show their heart wasn't in it the HQ promptly threw a 8 and failed his command throw! The CO kicked everybody and they rolled reluctantly forward. The FAO couldn't get a good sight of anyone  so the artillery (presuming it wasn't bogged down somewhere) couldn't help out either.

The German invaders reluctantly advance.

 

TURN4

British - Overwhelmed with relief at the arrival of the armour, Carruthers threw a 9 and did nothing - AGAIN!

Two of the A10 took on the Pz38T's which had inadvisedly raced into view around the woods to the south east of the village and knocked out one but had one A10 suppressed in turn by opportunity fire. A MkVI wiped out the remaining FSJ a/t unit.

The British FAO tried and failed to do something, at which point the CO tried to get things going with units that had not received orders yet and promptly failed his throw.

The Germans riposte was a slow advance by the infantry and the destruction of one A10. The FAO failed to get a good LOS on anyone.

TURN 5

British - Carruthers finally managed to get someone to move and the infantry began to re-deploy to face the new direction of threat. The A10 pulled back into the village and continued the duel with the Pz38t, killing another.

 

Germans - Advanced, but not quickly, but the FAO got sight of targets and tried (and failed to call in artillery) The river had proved disastrous to the Pz38t squadron which had tried to slug it out and got badly hurt. (If I had been playing break points the Germans would have been long gone I think).

 

 

TURN6

British - Command failures all round including the FAO

Germans - a sudden and rapid advance across the fields by the infantry, MG unit and command suggested Carruthers may have to fight after all.

 

TURN 7

British - until that is the Brit FAO got a bead on the advancing troops - who were far too closely bunched - and successfully called in his 25pdrs.

I've heard people worry about how powerful artillery can be before in BKCII and not recognised the problem. Here however the effect was devastating and virtually all the advancing infantry was destroyed - along with the FAO (too close for the deviation - dummy) and British infantry unit.

Germans - what Germans? The remaining armour fled and the mg unit and HQ surrendered.

Carruthers went back to bed.

Where did all the Germans go!?

 

WASHUP

Obviously desperately unbalanced.

The Germans threw as low as they could on their orbat dice pre-game and the landing zone  - although clear - left them desperately exposed if the Brits were lucky (and they were!).

I never get anything to arrive on the first opportunity so the armour was a great/nasty surprise depending how you look at it. It did mean that the Fallschirmjaeger threat evaporated almost at once.

A good job as Carruthers managed to fail an impressive number of command rolls. I should have gone for more initiative but somehow letting the characters develop felt right. The Armour guy just kept storming on.

Artillery - probably had too much on both sides for the forces (no probably about it) and the intervention when it came was massive and decisive. Admittedly poor German command throws and timidity on my part meant they were too bunched and lurking in fields out of sight (or so they thought) when the strike happened but even so - what a massacre!

Still- blighty lives to fight another day and Carruthers stock will no doubt rise - a fine piece of digging and steadiness under fire  - not like that flashy tank chap getting people killed unecessarily.

 

So the exit from the beachead remains closed for the moment. Time for a big build up and push as the coup de main didn't work.

 

FORCES

BRITISH

Winterford -

HQ - CV7

6x Inf - green (2x a/t upgrade)

1 x MG carrier

(+ 1 d6 trenches)

 

Relieving force

CO CV8

HQ CV8

FAO 6

2xMkVI

3xA10

 

2x25pdr (off table)

 

GERMAN

 

Fallschirmjaeger

HQ CV9

3xInf (+1 a/t upgrade)

Mg 34

Pak35 (I know, I know - but it didn't do anything anyway!)

 

Beach landing force

CO CV9

HQCV8

FAO 8

1 Recce inf

3x Regular inf

mg34

3xPz38t

2x105mm arty (off table)

 

The table was 3'x4' and the toys were Sytrex Action 200 - from c1990 and now being recycled for BKC (and Megablitz).