Home Forums WWII KG Peiper's Charge Mini-Campaign

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  • #122377
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    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!

    V/R,
    Jack

    #122382
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    It’s a lot to take in…not Pacific, not fake Vietnam… The Ardennes in 6 mm with BKC, and square-based trees just to confuse me into thinking they are units.  Otherwise, I do like it. I’m glad your 10-year-old likes playing with Dad.

    #122428
    Avatar photoDeleted User
    Member

    I got to copy those buildings.
    Germans command seemed unrealisticly bad.

    #122439
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    Good stuff!  Many moons ago I wrote a KGP scenario book for THWs “NUTS!”, skirmish based.  Great to see it with many more troops.  Lets all hope the Allies can blunt the advance before they reach that fuel depot.

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #122444
    Avatar photoWhirlwind
    Participant

    Good report, many thanks.  It was interesting to see how it went.  I think the odds were always on the Germans given the preponderance of kit but the command rolls and weather led to it being quite a slog for them.

    Is the campaign entirely narrative or is there a carry over of forces as well?

     

    #122445
    Avatar photoWhirlwind
    Participant

    Many moons ago I wrote a KGP scenario book for THWs “NUTS!”, skirmish based.

    Did you publish it anywhere?  I’m a keen Nuts! player.

    #122449
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    Did you publish it anywhere?  I’m a keen Nuts! player.

    Ya, THW put it out, called “Peiper at the gates”.  Looks like Ed may have put it into The Vault as it was written for 1st edition.   I bet if you write him you can get a copy.  Just don’t cringe due to the maps, they were hand drawn.  (The ones I did for “The Big Hurt” and “Blood Upon the Risers” are much better!)

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #122486
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    After thinking about it, you should let the boy roll some dice to find the lucky ones for him to use…

    #122491
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Kyote John – Well, you’re always confused about something 😉

    Thomaston – I’m sorry about the German command rolls. I’ll speak to the boy about rolling better, you old curmudgeon 😉

    Darby – You don’t say?   I’ve actually got Peiper at the Gates lying around here somewhere.  If the Germans reach the fuel depot we’ll just cut the barrels open and roll them down the hill 😉

    Whirlwind John – I think it’s a pretty balanced scenario, my only concern being that the German artillery (once used properly) seemed a bit too powerful, but we’ll see.  The campaign doesn’t carry over losses, which was fine with me, it just keeps pushing on.  It’s available here:
    https://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/Documents/Scenarios/Peipers-Charge-Scenario.pdf

    Oh, and please check your Palembang post over on TMP, I wrote you a couple lengthy responses!

    V/R,
    Jack

     

    #122492
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    That is a good little mini-campaign, I still say you need lucky dice for the boy though.

     

    #122493
    Avatar photoWhirlwind
    Participant

    Oh, and please check your Palembang post over on TMP, I wrote you a couple lengthy responses!

    I have replied to one on the “Palembang” post (please let me know if I have missed another one).  I don’t go to TMP much at the moment: the Editor-in-Chief and one of the other Editors seem to have a strong desire to ban me (I am already banned from “TMP Talk”, which is weird since I hardly ever posted on there anyway, but it is where the Editors post their new rules and suchlike).   So I am still posting AARs and stuff on there but trying not to participate too much until the situation rights itself or I do get thrown out.  It is much better to chat with me on TWW or directly on the blog at the minute (although I will respond on TMP at some point, of course).

    #122574
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Kyote-John: It is, and no I don’t.  If you weren’t paying attention, he won, so I think his dice were plenty lucky.

    Whirlwind-John: I’ll go take a look, and my humble apologies, I had no idea!  Though I am familiar with the concept.  In any case, I’ll keep an eye open over here, in the future.  Which reminds me: quit messing around and get back to those 15mm WWII games you were playing! 😉

    V/R,
    Jack

    #122578
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    The boy may have won but lost way too much doing it. Looking forward towards the next fight.

    #122587
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Hey, I’m no slouch! 😉

    I’m going to try and work on the batrep for fight #2 tomorrow night, though my plan is still to post Coral Sea fight #3.

    V/R,

    Jack

    #122588
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    Oh!!! I’d take either one!!!!

    #122601
    Avatar photoWhirlwind
    Participant

    Hi Jack,

    No sweat, no reason you should know.  I am hoping that it will all blow over at some point anyway.  15mm WW2 is coming up, probably in the second half  of October, although 6mm WW2 may happen sooner.

    #122602
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    Let us know when you do Whirlwind!!!!

     

    #122654
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Kyote John – You bet your sweet ass you will 😉

    Whirlwind John – Sounds good man, I can’t wait to see them.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #122998
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    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

    #123001
    Avatar photoWhirlwind
    Participant

    Great stuff.  I think the US were always going to be in for a hard time, but the performance of the Armoured Infantry Coy commander was…unfortunate.

    Interesting points about the rules.  That is a very long time to handle a relatively small number of sub-units.  I don’t have a recommendation unfortunately, this is one of those command levels that I have wanted to play for a really long time because there are a ton of decent-looking scenarios out there but I have never gotten in gear to sort out appropriate rules and basing and so on.

     

    #123003
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    I know Kids can get bored but 4 hours doesn’t seem that long of a game.

    #123052
    Avatar photoDeleted User
    Member

    Anyone else captivated by that tray of beads?

    That road network looks really nice. Disapointed by the performance of the King Tigers.

    #123064
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Whirlwind John -Regarding the US Armored Rifle Company, that’s a big part of what’s bringing me back to BKC; what other rules do you see that sort of thing happen (hint: 5Core can do it with ‘scurries,’ but that’s all I know of).

    I finally have the gear and the scenarios, hope to have the rules squared away soon.

    Kyote John – I’ve told you man, I don’t mind playing for four hours, but I better have got 3-4 games in.

    Thomaston – Just you, buddy!

    I think the road network looks okay overall, but they’re way too large and thick for 6mm, I need to order some appropriate roads (from Fat Frank again, they’re awesome!).

    Yeah, the King Tigers’ performance left a lot to be desired.  Getting piece-mealed into the fight against the US tank destroyers was not optimal, but after the Pz IV company got whacked, I understand why he did it.  I talked to him about maneuver warfare concepts, particularly “we do not reinforce failure,” that if he’d have just used the King Tigers to keep pounding (and easily destroy) the US roadblock, his Panther Company would have arrived in Trois Ponts even sooner, either compelling the US forces on the north to fall back or be cut off and destroyed.

    He won anyway…

    V/R,

    Jack

    #123069
    Avatar photoWhirlwind
    Participant

    I finally have the gear and the scenarios, hope to have the rules squared away soon.

    This is one of the areas that have always fell through the gaps for me.  There are plenty of skirmish sets I like.  I still love WRG 1925-1950 for reinforced platoons to reinforced companys.  Spearhead is great for brigades and Megablitz (and now Rommel) are fun for Divisions and more.  But I have never bought a set really aimed at a battalion with maybe an attached company or two.  Command Decision and Blitzkrieg Commander are the main ones I have heard about but I have never taken the plunge.  I could do with sorting out my 6mm WW2 forces too and keep the stuff I use for different levels separate, so I can make some nice sub-unit bases for the stuff I use as platoons, companies and battalions rather than 1:1 games.

    #123081
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    I typically like a single 4-hour war game.  Set up 30 minutes, terrain and BSing. 3 hours of play and then 30 minutes of packing up and talking about what went right or wrong.

    #123082
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Whirlwind John – Part of why I leave my 6mm stuff unbased is so that I can have it be whatever I want it to be (individual, platoon, or company), though sometimes I do still get the urge to multi-base some vehicles.  It’s funny that leaving them unbased makes me get lots of vehicles because grouping two of them together just doesn’t look like a platoon/company, so I need more, but if I base them two to a base, that looks like a platoon or company, but then I need more because having them based makes them less versatile (i.e., need desert, temperate, and winter, for example).

    Kyote John – Sounds reasonable, just too long for me.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #123456
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    All,

    On to the Meuse!
    0900
    19 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.  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 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.  Then, at 0600 on 18 December, the Germans found themselves in severely constricted terrain, with rivers, urban areas, hills, and heavy forest everywhere the eye could see, not to mention a few companies of American infantry, and that pesky Tank Destroyer company from the previous fight, as they attempted to blitzkrieg their way through the villages of Stavelot, Trois Ponts, and La Gleize.  Again the fighting was heavy, with American infantry putting up a desperate defense at a heavily wooded roadblock, though finally the Germans were able to break through.  Charging through the broken US defensive in the south, the German panzers rushed to La Gleize where they quickly overran a US mechanized company still mounted in their halftracks!  This collapsed the American right flank, forcing the remainder of the Yanks in the area to fall back.

    It is now 0900 on 19 December and the push to the Meuse continues.  The Germans find themselves facing the Americans’ last line of defense anchored on a quartet of villages: Stoumont, Cheneaux, Targnon, and Habiemont.  This line consists of a company of US infantry manning a roadblock, a company of Engineers, and, once again, that pesky company of Tank Destroyers.  But the Germans are hard pressed; they’ve lost their heavy King Tigers, and their infantry have taken heavy casualties, with only half of the remainder still mechanized.  Aside from that, they must strike fast as the US commanders have finally responded to the German thrust and reinforcements in the form of an armored combat command and infantry from the 82nd Airborne Division are on the way.  Oh, and the skies are beginning to clear, which means those pesky Jabos will soon be about.

    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.


    Incredibly ferocious fighting breaks out in and around Stoumont.


    While in the south, German Panzergrenadiers move up to forcefully evict a company of the 82nd Airborne from Hill 63.


    And after they see them off, they begin pounding a nearby column of Shermans with their anti-tank guns!


    Which is great, until the Jugs appear.

    To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
    https://hakunamatatawars.blogspot.com/2019/09/charge-of-kg-peiper-3.html

    Wow, what a fight!  What a series of fights!  It’s true that I was a bit unhappy with how long the first two games were taking, but make no mistake, they were still fun, and this one was an absolute blast!  I think I’ve found my BKC mojo, the changes we made fit our way of gaming pretty damn well, and I can see us (and me, solo) using these quite a bit with our 6mm stuff.  The only issue is, now that I’m using ‘battlegroups’ as single entities, it really feels like I should re-base my 6mm stuff.  Again.  Actually, it would be the fourth time some of these bad boys have been based/re-based…

    And the mini-campaign concept worked like a champ, gave us everything we needed for a great set of games.  Even though I managed to go a perfect 0 for 3!  It was well worth it 😉

    So, lots to do, too many projects going on (as usual), but gotta pack this winter stuff up and get back to finishing up my Coral Sea dogfights and my “Platoon” (the movie) fights, then we’ll see where we stand.  As always, more to come.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #123457
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    Woo Hoo the Paras held !!! Back to the Pacific and Fake Vietnam.

    #123498
    Avatar photoWhirlwind
    Participant

    Yes, very enjoyable.  Obviously your changes speeded things up massively – did you feel that you had lost anything by doing so?

     

     

    #123505
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Kyote John – Yeah man, it all worked out!  I played the fifth Coral Sea dogfight on Sunday, still have two more to go, then back to Platoon.  Hope to get some of both in next weekend.

    Whirlwind John – They did, worked like a champ!  Negative, I didn’t feel like I lost anything; matter of fact, I’m thinking I should rebase my troops, three vehicles on a 60mm x 30mm base (will be a company), so they’ll take up less space (and be easier to move), and then I can get another couple/three units on the table without slowing things down.

    V/R,

    Jack

    #123638
    Avatar photovtsaogames
    Participant

    Would you prefer to run this campaign with 5 Core?

    It's never too late to have a happy childhood

    #123647
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Vtsao,

     

    Do you mean using 5Core Brigade Commander?  That is an intriguing idea, I need to pull that out, dust it off, and take a look.  Having said that, I think I’ve got BKC just where I want it; where were you after games 1 and 2!!! 😉

    V/R,

    Jack

    #123652
    Avatar photovtsaogames
    Participant

    Just got back from France, visited Omaha Beach among other places.

     

    I guess 5Core Company commander isn’t right for this campaign. Just read some of “A Time for Trumpets” about KG Peiper. They missed bagging Marlene Dietrich by one day. She showed up at Honsfeld to perform for the troops and was sent packing since the offensive had started. Peiper’s lead elements drove into town on the tail of a retreating column overnight, executing a bunch of US prisoners and some Belgian civilians. Nice guys.

    It's never too late to have a happy childhood

    #123737
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    Yeah, 5Core Company Command doesn’t handle this level of combat, though Brigade Commander is built for it.

    Man, that must have been awesome!  Someday I’ll walk those battlefields.

    Didn’t know that about Marlene Dietrich, thanks!

    V/R,

    Jack

    #123745
    Avatar photovtsaogames
    Participant

    Didn’t know that about Marlene Dietrich, thanks! V/R, Jack

     

    She made a point of performing as close to the front lines as she could. Didn’t care for the Nazis.

     

    Omaha Beach was a humbling place, a pretty beach with German pillboxes that enfilade the beach at the Vierville draw. On the US right flank, where I stood would have been enfiladed by three dug-in MGs and an 88, not to mention positions on the bluffs or in the draw. The sand contains minute particles of shrapnel.

    It's never too late to have a happy childhood

    #123747
    Avatar photoJust Jack
    Participant

    “She made a point of performing as close to the front lines as she could. Didn’t care for the Nazis.”
    Well, that makes plenty of us! 😉

    Regarding Omaha, like I said, someday I’ll walk it.  I’ve stood on the invasion beaches at Iwo Jima, and walked all the way up to the to top of Suribachi, it’s incredible.


    Here’s a group of us screwing around, with the invasion beaches at bottom right.  I’ve been a place or two and done a thing or two in my lifetime, but I’m still in awe of what those Marines accomplished there, and damn near impossible.

    V/R,
    Jack

    #123750
    Avatar photokyoteblue
    Participant

    Uncle Carl saw it in 1945.

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