Congo Crisis - Force on Force

In preparation for our usual summer game weekend, Chas ran a warm up Congo Crisis scenario, to
"Force on Force" rules and the "Bush Wars" supplement.

Steve M and myself took charge of "Mad Mike Hoare", his mercenaries and Armee Nationale
Congolaise troops (ANC) approaching one side of Stanleyville, whilst Belgian paratroopers under
Andy and Chris advanced on the airport at the opposite end of town. The objective was to rescue
Belgian civilians being held hostage by the rebels

Chas, Nathan. Everett and Jason took the part of the Simba rebels and their ANC deserters, holding
the airport, town and environs.

On seeing a group of locals fording the river, "Mad Mike" barked the order and an M8 armoured car
and 50 cal armed jeep gave them the good news. Scratch one Simba unit (frankly they could have
been fishermen, but as mercenaries we didn't care).

Steve similarly roughly handled some Simba crouching in the jungle and things settled into a firefight
on that side of town.

Meanwhile the Belgian paras, with more stringent "hard target" rules of engagement, sent a point
man onto the runway. "It is OK, Valentin, we have your back" said Major Andy. At that moment a
hidden mob of Simba popped up to fire, Valentin dived for cover and the two para squads on
"Overwatch" brassed up the rebels something chronic.

The going was starting to get tough for the mercenaries, with a lot of fire coming from buildings over
the river. As mercenary infantry moving back into cover, the vehicles did the heavy lifting and
chewed up a lot of Simba, but a jeep was suppressed and all the crew hit. Seeing three men down, "Mad Mike", ordered a team of ANC into the open to patch up his guys. Which they did a treat, with the jeep and the lightly wounded crew, pulling back at speed. Nothing to see here.

By now anyone on this side of town was receiving a severe dose of "Overwatch" if they stuck their
heads out, but driving into the built up area was still not looking healthy.

Meanwhile the Belgians had taken the airport and were into the outskirts of Stanleyville. They were
ably hosing down any Simba or ANC deserters that showed their heads. Still, a couple of Simba units
charged into hand to hand combat. Several Belgians fell, before supporting fire cut the rebels down.

By now the writing was on the wall for Simba. They had lost a lot of men, for four mercenaries and four Belgians hit and we called it a day.

A good game, with the Belgians and "Mad Mike's" men having some good dice rolling to thank for
keeping casualties down. The magic water of the Simba rebels was clearly not working today. That
said, when it got up close and personal, it could easily have been a bad day in Brussels.

Many thanks to Chas for running the scenario and to the other players for taking it all in good part.
Note to self: Keep soft skin vehicles well back next time.

Vince

Battle in the Congo - Chain of Command

Just over a month ago, Bob brought to club his excellent WWI African collection of figures to host a WWI Chain of Command battle which caught mine and others eyes when we posted about the game here on the club blog.

Needless to say with my recent extracurricular activities centered around taking a 'deep-dive' into Chain of Command and the series of games we have been playing as part of the '29 Lets Go' WWII campaign I was really eager, and jumped at the chance, of seeing the rules used for a completely different campaign and era.

Belgian troops in WWI Africa

WWI land warfare is not a period or genre that generally excites my interest but the colour and lower level tactical options the war fought on the continent of Africa during that time has to offer, makes it a peculiarly different prospect and definitely more appealing for me.

That and getting to play with Bob's lovely collection of figures and terrain that captures the look as illustrated above only adds to that attraction.

The club has been expanding quite dramatically in recent months and the picture above gives an image of the happy hubble-bubble of conversation around our three games yesterday and we are now looking to run four games at our monthly meet ups to cater for our extra membership and so it was that we had Ken joining us yesterday, as a new member to the club for our game.

Our table with the Belgian advance guard making rapid progress on to the table

The game set up saw us dispensing with the WWII use of the patrol phase and jump of points and simply had the two forces coming on from opposite sides of the table through typical broken African scrub-land terrain that limited firing ranges to eighteen inches.

The Belgian column was on the march escorting a supply troop of African bearers but wary of reports of a likely attempt by German forces to try and ambush them en route. The mission was to escort the supplies off the opposite table edge whilst the Germans were attempting to prevent that happening.

A mixture of regular and irregular Belgian sections covered the approach march of the following bearer column

As the Belgian commanders, both John and I got some early luck on the dice with my force of Belgian Askaris, in their field drab, arriving on table with maximum force morale and with John's blue clad irregulars similarly high up the morale scores and with a series of three double sixes soon saw the Belgian column making early headway on pushing across the table.

We couldn't be sure exactly where the enemy was so overwatch was used to cover the advance of friends

First contact as German sections advance from either flank as the supply column bearers move up 

Of course with the Belgian command making such rapid progress towards the opposite table edge it meant that at least one of the German pincer groups had less further to travel before being able to open fire on the lead Belgian units, but the Belgian sections were well grouped and able to deliver multiple rounds of support fire that saw the Germans unable to assert any superiority.

The Belgian commander's eye view of the situation

Lead elements of the German Askaris, strung out from their rapid advance through the bush

While the battle was well under way on one flank the other German pincer was struggling to find a way through the bush towards the sound of gunfire and poor old Bob was finding it hard to string a good series of die rolls together to get everyone moving at the rapid pace required.

A strong Belgian fire line awaited the first German sections to come into sight

This inevitably meant that the first German sections arriving on the Belgian right flank turned up strung out and were met by some well laid rapid Belgian rifle fire that left the lead German unit hugging the dirt with halve its number dead or wounded and with a lot of shock to add to the casualties.

The Belgian supply column moves up in preparation for making a rapid advance for the base line

In addition to making good headway both John and I had managed to build a cushion of Chain of Command dice that allowed John to interrupt the German move twice in succession to launch our supply column on a run to the opposite board edge and potential victory.

The German regulars attempted to hold the Belgian advance up as their askaris closed in from the other flank

To make a game of it, or was it simply we didn't roll high enough to get the column off the table in two moves, I forget exactly which it was; the attempt to exit fell short and both Bob and Ken swung two sections, one from each side in the direction of the Belgian bearers managing to capture some of the supplies.

Immediately in the following turn both John and myself launched the nearest Belgian sections forward closing on the German troops and forcing them into a hand to hand combat on either side of the supply column.

The solid Belgian line allowed them to dominate the firing

The game had reached its perfect climax with a winner takes all situation generated as bayonets crossed and multiple dice were rolled.

The hand to hand battle to ensure the supply bearers pushed through

When the dust had settled and the shooting died down, both German sections had routed off the table, taking the senior German commander with them and leaving a dead junior German leader among the dead and wounded and the Belgian bearers back among Belgian troops with a clear route off table. The following series of 'bad things happen' die rolls simply confirmed the tabletop situation and the Belgian column had forced its way through.

The sudden rush by the Belgian supply column left many German troops out in the bush fighting their own individual battles

Game end with the Belgians finishing off the last German section attempting to bar the way as other supports move up

A really fun game with lots of drama and action right to the last dice throws and leaving me even more enthused about this very clever game system..

Thank you to Bob, John and Ken for a very fun and interesting game played with plenty of laughs, banter and chat.

WWII 28mm - Play Test using Rate of Fire, Crusader Publishing

These games were put on by Nick S to test the Rate of Fire rules by Crusader Publishing.

Rate of Fire WW2 Skirmish Rules - Crusader Publishing

The initial game was set up as a US Reconnaissance in force with the Germans defending,

Troop List
US
HQ Section
1 Lieutenant with pistol (Leader)
1 Sergeant with SMG (Leader)
2 Riflemen with SA-Rifle's
HMG Section
1 Gunner with HMG
2 Assistants Riflemen with SA-Rifle's
1 NCO with SMG
2 Squads with
1 Rifle Section
1 NCO with SMG
6 Riflemen with SA-Rifle's
1 LSW BAR Section
1 Gunner with BAR
2 Assistants Riflemen with SA-Rifle's
Plus
3x M3 Halftrack
1x M8 Greyhound
1x M4 Sherman
1x M24 Chaffee

German Defenders
HQ Section
1 Sergeant with SMG (Leader)
6 Riflemen with Rifle's
1 LSW MG42 Section
1 Gunner with MG42
1 Assistant Rifleman
1x Opel Blitz
1x Sd.Kfz. 234
German Relief Force (Coming on at turn 2)
HQ Section
1 Lieutenant with pistol (Leader)
1 Sergeant with SMG (Leader)
2 Riflemen
1 Rifle Section
1 NCO with SMG
6 Riflemen
1 LSW MG42 Section
1 Gunner with MG42
1 Assistant Rifleman
Plus
1x Sd.Kfz. 251
1x SdKfz. 222
1x Sig III

The Game
The Americans advanced on both flanks but unknown to them the Germans had deployed well in advance of the village. As the Sherman went to smash through a hedge on the left flank it was immobilised by a Panzerfaust. It was still able to fire but as it only had AP it was not really any help as infantry support.

On the right flank the Chaffee did its own little hedge dance only to meet a Puma hidden in the trees as it pushed into a field. Its 50mm soon destroyed the Chaffee before it had a chance to spot it. Nick has a very good line in smoke for destroyed vehicles.

In the centre the Greyhound pushed forward on the road with its accompanying infantry. All the American infantry debussed to move forward in the hunt for the German infantry. As they started to move they were able to push the scattered German infantry back support arrived in the form of a Stug III, SdKfz. 222, Sd.Kfz. 251 and infantry support.

At this point the Americans decided that discretion being the better part of valour, they would bug out and give the Germans the game.

The second game was reversal of roles but instead of going the length of the table we went across.
The Germans advanced on each flank.

Troop list 2nd Game

US Defending.
HQ Section
1 Lieutenant with pistol (Leader)
1 Sergeant with SMG (Leader)
2 Riflemen With SA-Rifle's
HMG Section
1 Gunner with HMG
2 Assistants Riflemen With SA-Rifle's
1 NCO with SMG
1 Squads with
1 Rifle Section
1 NCO with SMG
6 Riflemen With SA-Rifle's
1 LSW BAR Section
1 Gunner with BAR
2 Assistants Riflemen With SA-Rifle's
Plus
2x M3 Halftrack
1x M8 Greyhound
1x M18
1x 6 Pounder

German Attacking Force
HQ Section
1 Lieutenant with pistol (Leader)
2 Riflemen
2 Squads with
1 Rifle Section
1 NCO with SMG
6 Riflemen
1 LSW MG42 Section
1 Gunner with MG42
1 Assistant Riflemen
1 Squad with
1 Rifle Section
1 NCO with SMG
6 Riflemen
1 HMG Section
1 Gunner HMG
2 Assistant Riflemen
1 NCO with SMG
Plus
1x Sd.Kfz. 251
1x SdKfz. 222
1x Sd.Kfz. 234
1x Opel Blitz
1x StuG III
1x PzKpfw IV F2

As the Germans moved forward on the left they were assaulted but an M18 Hellcat, which was hull down across the road. One thing that these rules allow for is where a shot hits. If you take an aimed shot then the chances of hitting are increased. Anyway the lead German Panzer IV opened fire but the dice throw was against the hull. As the M18 was hull down the shot did no damage.

On the right two German Armoured Cars advanced with their infantry support and managed to destroy a Greyhound and moved forward with its, now deployed, infantry support.

The Americans once again decided to retire in reasonably good order the field belonged to the Germans.

One thing that we learned is that you either have to have very few Germans or lots more Americans.

The infantry are pretty closely matched but you really need more Sherman’s to take on the German
armour we have.

The rules are interesting and with the ability to be able to take aimed shots you can try to stop a bigger vehicle which you can’t destroy, i.e. take out tracks on a Panther with a 6 Pdr.

Your players were Si, Nathan and Steve L.