A Rumble in the Desert - Battlegroup Tobruk

It’s not unusual to have ‘Steve’ put on a game in the club, but this month it was a rare sight as my
WW2 desert armies made an appearance!

I've built up fair amount of 8th Army, DAK and Italians over the years, and they have appeared
previously on these pages, but my ‘go to’ set of rules has always been FoW. These are not particularly favoured within the club, so the figures have not seen the light of day for probably a couple of years and I've not even considered version 4!

The release of Battlegroup Tobruk by Iron fist publishing, made me think that maybe I could redress
that, so I purchased the rules a few months ago, had a play around with a bit of a solo game and
committed to putting on a club game.

I’ll not go into a ‘rules review’, just give an overview of the game and some thoughts.

I wanted to get a mixture of ‘toys’ onto the table, to see how the rules handled things, so didn't go
for an historical scenario or forces. Love them or hate them, Battlegroup uses a ‘points’ system, so I
put together forces of company strength, equal to just under 900 points, based on an armoured battlegroup.

For the 8th Army this consisted of;
Forward HQ in a M3 Honey
Forward signals unit (gives a re- roll when calling in artillery)
2 x platoons of 3 x M3 ‘Honeys’
1 platoon of 3 x Crusader II’s
An infantry platoon, with an HMG, medium mortar and towed 2pdr a/tank gun
A recce platoon of 3 x Vickers Mk IVB’s
A carrier section of 3 bren carriers
1 x Valentine
1 x 2prd a/tank portee
A Forward Observation Officer (FOO) with 2 x 25Pdrs & 2 x 3’’ mortars off table

Additional fire support consisted of a timed 4.5’’ barrage and a timed 6’’ howitzer barrage, which
have to be pre registered on the table, and a turn of arrival declared. There was also a ‘counter
battery’ fire mission available.

For the DAK;
Forward HQ in a Panzer III G
Forward signals unit
Platoon of 3 x Panzer II’s
Platoon of 4 x Panzer IIIG’s
1 x Panzer IVD
Infantry platoon, with HMG, medium mortar and towed 37mm a/tank gun
A recce platoon of 2 x Sdkfz 222’s
A Panzerjager platoon of 2 x towed 50mm a/tank guns
Platoon of 3 x Italian M13/14’s (25% of a DAK battlegroup can be Italian)
FOO with 2 x 105mm howitzers off table

Additional fire support of 2 x timed 150mm barrages and a ‘counter battery’ fire mission.

The scenario was the ‘Attack/counter attack’ scenario taken from the main rulebook, with Nathan &
Jason taking the DAK, and Si and Chris the 8th Army.

The DAK deployed their Panzer II’s, III’s & IV on their left flank, while the Brits deployed the Honey’s to counter. On the DAK right, the 50mm anti-tank guns came on and deployed at long range, soon to be supported by the M13/14’s and the infantry platoon with supports. On the British right, both 2 pdr anti-tank guns and the Valentine tried to keep out of sight behind the hills, while the Crusaders deployed in the centre, followed in the later stages by the infantry.

The main combat took place between the Panzers and the Honeys, with the Honey’s generally getting
the worst of the encounter. On the other flank, the 50mm took long range shots at anything in range, while the Crusaders took long range pots at the M13/14’s. Consequently not a lot of damage was done.

The German timed barrages were effective, taking out the FOO and the carrier officer who was also
able to call in mortar support. Unfortunately the 8th Army were not quite so lucky!

Force cohesion is based on the total ‘battle rating’ (BR) of each force, with each unit contributing its
own BR to that total. Reduction of that BR is based on drawing a ‘chit’ each time a unit, or objective
is lost. Each chit is numbered 1-5 and when one is drawn, it reduces the Force BR by the associated
number. When a Force is reduced to 0 it is adjudged to have lost its battle effectiveness. There are
also ‘special’ chits which may cause an enemy unit to breakdown or run out of ammunition, or a
friendly unit to carry out an ‘heroic act’. We had some of the former, but none of the later.

Because I wasn't keeping detailed notes, exact details of what took place are a bit hazy, but by the
time we called it a day, each Force’s BR was only down by about 50%, so maybe a company level
game is too big for a club day? Although both sides were doing a lot of long range shooting!

I enjoyed putting on the game, but didn't know the rules as well as I thought! The basic mechanics
are simple enough, calling in and firing artillery appeared quite involved, and against armour took a
bit of working out.

Once everyone got familiar with the basics, turns flowed quite quickly. Spotting every turn before firing takes some getting used to, and we weren't sure if some of the factors were totally effective.

There’s no ‘automatic’ spotting of infantry, even if you’re right on top of them and no ‘tank assault’. This was one of my bug bears for a desert game, as I like to think I'm quite well read on this period. The rules even make comment on infantry vulnerability in this theatre.

Nathan did think there was a ‘gun shield save’ when shooting at a/tank guns, but we couldn't find it in the rules and I think that’s from FoW.

Overall, I’d give them another go, not a perfect set of rules in my opinion, but maybe a few ‘home
grown’ amendments in the future?

Thanks to Nathan, Jason, Si & Chris for playing in the spirit, and putting up with me spending most of the time with my nose in the rulebook! It was good to get the desert stuff on the table again. Most
of the armour is Battlefront, with a smattering of Skytrex, mostly pained by JJ. The anti tanks guns
are all Battlefront, again by JJ. The infantry are a mixture of Battlefront, Skytex and Peter Pig, mainly
by yours truly – Steve M

Battle of Dushak 1918

I knew I should have been suspicious when Chas invited me to join him on a slow train to Dushak (in modern day Turkmenistan). He told me that it would be a pleasant journey to Transcaspia, where we would meet a cosmopolitan mix of people from all over the world. He neglected to mention that the train was armoured, mounted a 75 mm field piece and three HMG's and that the people we were going to meet were Sikhs and Turcomans of the British Malleson Mission.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleson_mission

We deployed towards a line of trenches defending Dushak, I led my Cheka force into a wood on our left, supported by Bolshevik cavalry, Bolshevik infantry lined the trenches, whilst railway workers deployed in the town supported by HMGs and field batteries. Naturally Commissar Chas remained on the train with three of his Red Army companies.

At dawn the British attacked the trenches. A battalion from the 19th Punjabi regiment led the advance. They were supported by three batteries of artillery and an HMG on a hill to their right. A troop of the 28th Light Cavalry was on the same flank, with Turcoman infantry and cavalry, supported by White infantry and guns on the left.

The battle opened with the Punjabis making short work of a company of Bolsheviks in the trenches and engaging their supporting 75mm battery at close range. The 28th Light horse routed their Bolshevik opposite numbers, whilst the Turcoman and White infantry advanced on the other end of the trenches.

As the Punjabis pressed on, they came under effective fire from the red field pieces and HMGs on high ground, leading to them seeking cover in the woods. On the other side of the field, entrenched Bolshevik infantry were attacked by White infantry and Turcoman cavalry. 

Encountering a force of Cheka in the woods, the Punjabis soon saw them off, but their own casualties to red heavy weapons were starting to mount. Similarly the 28th cavalry were forced to dismount and seek cover in the trenches, as 75 mm shells burst amongst them. British guns attempted to relieve pressure on the Punjabis, by firing on the Bolshevik guns and succeeded in driving one battery off the hill.

With the armoured train 'beasting' the Punjabis with fire and three platoons of Red army infantry supporting the right hand trench, the Turcoman and White attack was driven off and the Punjabi infantry's advance slowed.

Fire from the train and red units in the town had forced the Punjabis to go to ground and neither side looked capable of sustaining a sensible attack. The commanders agreed a local truce and both sides withdrew from the field.

As usual Chas provided an entertaining and obscure battle for the scenario (who has ever heard of Dushak?), which was played to "Setting the East Ablaze - Back of Beyond Rules" in 28mm. The rules gave a fast paced game, with some simplifications that are needed in such a large game.

Setting the East Ablaze

Historically the British force drove off the Bolsheviks, inflicting over a 1000 casualties, whilst taking a quarter of that figure themselves. Most of the fighting fell to the Punjabi battalion, with the local Turcoman forces proving next to useless, only joining in when the day was won.

All in all a good day out and Chas's "croupier rake" was much in evidence to clear up the casualties.

Many thanks to Chas and Steve H for providing the figures and running the game.

Vince

Dux Bellorum - Arthurian Wargaming 367 -793 AD

One of four games played this month was a very large game of Dux Bellorum fought using the lovely figure collection of Nick who offered to run the game following a conversation had about these rules for use in Dark Age battles.

Several of us in the club have collections of Dark Age figures and we have played various rule sets for this period including Dux Britanniarum and Hail Caesar amongst others, and with a few of us having these rules but not having played them it was a great opportunity to see how they translated to a game on the table.

A standard game of Dux Bel. is based around an army design of thirty-two points with a number of units of figures from anywhere from half a dozen elite quality troops to about ten or twelve units in an average force of cavalry and infantry.

There are eight army lists in the rules that cover Late Roman, Romano-British, Welsh, Saxon, Pictish, Irish, Land Raiders and Sea Raiders with other options to be seen designed by players on the Dux Bel Forum.

Dux-Bellorum Forum

As with many modern rule-sets, the units can be stylised around your own bases with any number of figures with the proviso that opposing armies are based the same and that units have the same width or as close as, with movement and ranges worked to the chosen base width.

There are various troop types defined, based around how they fought, with both cavalry and infantry characterised as either formed troops (warriors and riders) or open order types (foot and mounted skirmishers). The warriors and riders are further defined as to quality and commitment, with the both either defined as ordinary, noble or companions. To the formed infantry types can be added a further classification identifying their preferred fighting style of fast moving, hard hitting warriors or more deliberate and stoic but no less fearsome shield-wall types.

For yesterday's game we fielded four typical Dux Bel armies, two Saxon and two Romano-British which in 28mm presents a compelling spectacle of a game when both lines of figures face off across the table.

Each of the armies was commanded by a player with two of us on each side commanding our own groups looking to coordinate our activities against the common enemy and was fought as a simple line em up and fight scenario looking to break the other side first, just to see what the rules produced as a game.

The structure of the game is based around identifying who is the 'Aggressor' and who is the 'Repeller', Attacker and Defender in English, either determined by a specific scenario outlined in the rule book or by adding an army specific 'aggressor' rating to a die roll to see which is which.

This determination directs the deployment stage of the game with the Aggressor starting the process of phases which sees the putting of troops on the table, first with foot skirmishers, then mounted skirmishers followed by the non-skirmish types, with each phase seeing the Aggressor place first followed by the Repeller, being placed as per the scenario or between three to five base-widths from the table centre line.

Units of the same type can be deployed and moved as individual units or together in groups, which enables a quick deployment  to positions bar terrain getting in the way, that can break up groups; but also facilitates mixing better quality units in with lower types to enable the formers willingness to advance on the enemy to influence the group as a whole to advance.



Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the design is the use of Leadership Points (LPs) that represent the ability of the Commanding General to impose his will on his army to move, fight and defend and is described as representing those sub-commanders within a given army who work to make the commanders plan a reality during the battle.

In the pictures of our game you will see white/red (Romano-British) and yellow/blue (Saxon) discs placed behind various units representing the deployment of these LPs with a maximum of three being able to be placed against one unit and with each of our player commanders having eight such LPs at the start of the game.

The LPs use was up to the player to announce at a given time but commonly were used to negate casualties inflicted in combat or to add dice when throwing to cause casualties, but could also be used to make it easier to move or grab the initiative in a phase of play.

The LP's are however, the kernel to this set of rules, in that with each unit destroyed in play an LP would be removed from that armies pool and thus the difference in ability to fight the battle between forces with dramatically different LP pools became more and more obvious as the game progressed; giving the player with a lot more LP resource the ability to deploy them in numbers to affect particularly important areas of the battlefield.

In addition with games finished without a clear victory established, the difference in remaining LP serve as a ready indicator of the victor in any close run fight.

Thus as our game progressed the placement of LP became a game in itself as both sets of players tried to gain an advantage in a particular fight within the larger battle or to guess where a fight was likely to occur in the upcoming round and to make sure key units were suitably provisioned with added benefit.

Th other aspect of Dux Bel that struck me, was the modelling of skirmish units, with some armies such as the Picts for example having large numbers of this troop type.

Skirmishers are quite fragile in their ability to take casualties, usually no more than two, leading to their removal. They do not find it that easy to get out of the way of formed troops and thus simply sticking them out forward of your line is a good way of getting them written off for very little payback.

Not only that but their loss contributes to loss of LP so choosing where and when to use your light troops becomes an art in itself.

The strength of the skirmish elements are to support your formed chaps by getting them in behind the enemy once gaps have opened in the line. They can then support combats with attacks from the flank or rear and shoot up enemy formed troops busy facing off against their enemy opposites.

Not only that but a well placed skirmish base might cause an enemy formed unit to become uncontrolled seeing them barrel forward unsupported only to be taken out by your nearby multiple groups of formed troops supporting your skirmishers.

The other thing to mention is that although loss of skirmish elements reduces LP they do not count as units lost for the 'test army morale' thresholds of 50% and 75%, but the LP effects demand using them thoughtfully.

The turn sequence is pretty straight forward with the Repeller starting the process of laying LP followed by each side firing and moving, followed by close combat and morale checks.

The movement sequence is further segmented into the Aggressor moving first followed by the Repeller with the sequence of skirmishers, mounted and then foot troops.

I think, for me, this was perhaps the least satisfying aspect of the game in that movement became a bit gamey with a thought process of trying to assess the likely response to the various move options given that you knew that that would be the sequence. This was slightly  relieved by the fact that LP could be spent to alter that with a particular unit buying the right to move first always providing that the other side didn't out bid the bidder, with a simple die roll being the decider once both sides had thrown three LP's at the problem.

I think I would prefer a more random sequence of move activation similar to Augustus to Aurelian, with all the factors of better command ability built in and I think that would be something to look at.

That said I really enjoyed my first outing with Dux Bel and we soon had the rules rocking along with LP play becoming a very interesting game within the game of bluff and counter-bluff.

Our two lines went at it and after a lot of fighting, gaps started to appear among the units and between the amounts of LP held by each of the four commanders.

These gaps offered opportunities to exploit with sudden envelopments of key parts of the lines coupled with multiple LP used to add more combat dice rather than to defend against a weakened enemy.

Eventually forces were reduced to 50% of the units they started with causing morale checks on those still on the field with failure causing their removal and with a 75% loss deeming the whole army breaking.

For those interested in who won, the Saxons grabbed the day but not without a major fight and many casualties going up against a lot of British cavalry and infantry shield-walls.

Dux Bellorum gives a good game with plenty of fun and characterful options that make a Saxon army quite different from a British, Irish or Pict force and also produces a big battle look on the tabletop.

Many thanks to Nick who set up the game and provided the two armies and to David, Jack and Mr Steve for a very entertaining game of Dux Bellorum.