8th Army: Operation Crusader, The Winter Battles for Tobruk 1941, Game Designers’ Workshop on Vassal

 

You have to be of a certain age to remember first encountering a new game that was published in 1984, but I have an original copy of this game in hard copy format and both Steve and I were captivated by the novel blind play that the game offers by using two copies of the same map, one for each player, when we first had a go playing Operation Crusader from GDW back last century!

The Empire Map set up with the British armoured brigades out on the left flank and Indian, South African and New Zealand infantry brigades linking them to coast in front of Bardia on the Egypt-Libya border. The Tobruk garrison is waiting to be relieved ready to launch a breakout to link up and behind the line of German crosses lurks Rommel and his Italo-German Afrika Korps.

Needless to say, when I saw there was a Vassal module for the game I was really keen to see how well it translates to the age of computer moderation, ideally suited for facilitating blind play; and so about six weeks ago Steve and I brought our computers together in the same room as lockdown restrictions started to ease and set about seeing if it was as good as remembered.

The 'nerve centre' of the game, seen here at the conclusion of the second turn, with a record of time gone, supply consumption, reinforcements, replacements and rebuilt units, air support availability and combat resolution, when units in a battle hex on the map are set up on the combat display, the only time enemy units are visible to the opposing player. Note the supply situation at the start of the offensive with the Empire forces seen here with 17 points in reserve and a replenishment point every day for the first eight days of the offensive, reducing to one every other day and compare that to the Axis tracker.

The premise behind the game Operation Crusader is to recreate the eighteen day battle that started on November 19th 1941 when in the real attack, that came after months of build up by 8th Army as Rommel was focused on the problem of removing the garrison of Tobruk sat on his lines of communication (LOC), the British 4th, 7th and 22nd Armoured brigades supported by two Army Tank Brigades in support of Empire Infantry began the offensive, catching the 'Desert Fox' unprepared and definitely unconvinced that such an offensive was happening.

The game map at turn 2 with arrows indicating my (Empire) plan of attack aiming to knock out German airfields at Sidi Rezegh and Sidi Azeiz, thus reducing Axis air support, whilst 'crumbling attacks' by Empire Infantry and Army Tank Brigades push the enemy back along the coast, cutting off any defenders in Bardia (Note that the display shows my units faded out letting me know that they are hidden to Steve. When at full resolution they are visible to both players.)

Thus the victory conditions for the game are relatively straight forward in that both commanders are comparing their result with that achieved by their historical predecessors, with the Empire commander looking to have a link with a held Tobruk perimeter by Turn 18,  and for a decisive victory, six Axis units destroyed, twice the combat strength in Empire armoured units to Axis and three times the strength of Empire infantry to Axis, or for a tactical victory, the historical outcome, Tobruk relieved but a failure to achieve the other conditions, with any other result leading to a drawn game.

The 'actual situation' map for turn 2 with all forces 'uncloaked' and revealing the Axis defenders, with a thin screen of Italian infantry (light grey) surrounding Tobruk, Panzers opposing my armoured brigades in front of Sidi Rezegh, and no Axis garrison in Bardia and thin line of Italians on the coast in retreat before my South African (blue) and New Zealand (dark brown) infantry brigades. Note Steve's placement of Axis supply units across his line within five hexes of his forward units, allowing him to launch counter assaults as required.

Our game pretty much followed the historical offensive and both Steve and I revelled in the hidden display that for us really captured the vast nature of war in the Western Desert in WWII with units seemingly appearing out of 'the blue' and just as quickly disappearing back into it.

A very straight forward terrain effects table, easily memorised for fast game play

The nature of the fighting is beautifully captured with supply units (the box truck on wheels counter) within five hexes needed to support a full out assault in any one hex, where defenders can either retreat to lessen combat hits but where assaulters take all hits recieved and probing attacks that don't require supply but allow a hex to be investigated by the probing unit and for the both sides units to withdraw if it takes casualties, thus reducing them by one level,  but to press the probe into a reconnaissance in force should the defender prove to be weak and fail to cause any casualties with defensive fire.

As supply is used up the little truck counters are first revealed to the enemy player so that he can confirm it is range of where the assault is taking place, then removed and put in the 'Supply Units' box on the game tracker; available to come back on to the map as a supply point from the pool is spent, thus allowing it to drive up a road track or open desert from its friendly map edge using its five movement point allowance to get it to where it needs to be to support future assaults.

A likewise straight forward Combat Results Table, with ratio between attacker and defender strength points establishing the basic column to be modified by aspects such as terrain or air support, but with infantry generally halving their attack factor vs armour unless anti-tank capable. Note the effects are generous with even 1:1 assaults only missing on a 1 allowing infantry to prepare the crumbling attacks favoured by Monty.

The Turn Record Track shows on which days new supply points are received and the appropriate player records his total reserve supply accordingly, from which he replenishes his used truck counters.

A very simple but clever system that restricts the players freedom to throw in assaults here, there and everywhere without a thought for the days ahead in a very long eighteen day offensive operation.

Supporting operations on the ground are the respective air forces which can be prepositioned over a hex to offer offensive or defensive air support, effectively shifting the combat result column left or right, with opposing air units generally cancelling each other out and the opportunity for ground forces to use the anti-aircraft defences to drive off supporting enemy air, before the combat resolution.

The ‘Honey’ equipped 4th Armoured Brigade composed of the 8th Hussars, 5th Royal Tanks Regt. and 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, with an anti-tank capable red dot, top left and factors along the bottom (attack-defence-movement) 

Pressing forward with my armoured brigades at the start of the offensive I managed to make rapid progress advancing on Sidi Rezgh, with Steve throwing in occasional counter attacks but, as he later recounted, making the mistake of not hitting back harder with more powerful groups and thus burning valuable supply and losing units for little tangible gain 

Turn 4 - 22nd November 1941 and 4th and 22nd Armoured brigades have punched their way into Axis lines and are sitting astride the airfield at Sidi Rezegh among wrecked Luftwaffe and Italian aircraft and only four hexes (sixteen miles) from Tobruk, but the armoured brigades need to halt having consumed a lot of supply in their offensive and with the cruiser tanks of 2nd Hussars, 22nd Armoured brigade written off in the fighting (British tank unit bottom left forming my 'dead stack') supported by the 4th Indian Infantry Division (white counters) to their right.

However my early armoured offensive burned up a lot of Empire supply points and the loss of the 7th Hussars cruiser tanks and most of the Panzers had still not been encountered in battle leaving me rather concerned that Steve was preparing a counter attack to drive me back to my start line.

The Panzer Regiments 8th and 5th in two battalion groups forming the punch in the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions of Afrika Korps (Note the attack and defence factors compared to the British 4th Armoured Brigade above)

As I feared, Steve had been conserving his supply and armour after his infantry and antitank gun screen had absorbed the brunt of my armoured assault by conducting a pincer offensive to cut off the head of my attack at Sidi Rezegh setting up the rather tragic and historical battle by Brigadier General Jock Campbell and his 7th Support Group on the airfield in the historical battle.

Knocked out tanks litter the airfield at Sidi Rezegh in the Crusader battles of 1941

Thus by turn seven, November 25th the situation had changed on the armoured sector of the battlefield as the Panzers rolled on to Sidi Rezegh airfield and pushed back Empire armour and infantry as they surrounded the defenders and crushed the last remaining units of honey tanks bravely resisting to the last.

Turn 7 - 25th November and the British armoured assault to Sidi Rezegh has been halted and cut off with the battered 5th Royal Tank Regt. soon to join their comrades, written off the Empire order of battle as I prepare to shift the weight of the Empire offensive to the coast and send in the infantry.

The desert war is all about supply and the game really captures the importance of it to enable assaults to take place, the most effective way of taking ground. My armoured thrust had left me needing to hold the ground taken, with my air force put on to patrolling defensively over forward ground units as I spent the next few days rearranging my line and husbanding supply ready to initiate the infantry battle to come.

Veterans from the Battle of Crete in May 1941, the three brigades (4th 5th and 6th New Zealand Infantry) and the 28th Maori battalion that composed my 2nd New Zealand assault division. Empire infantry have powerful attack and, importantly for holding ground, defensive factors, and the New Zealanders are the best, great for making probing attacks as well as offensives with army tank Matildas and Valentines in support.

However the respite of the next few days where both sides drew breath was not a quiet period at all as I was quite keen to launch probing attacks along the front line to keep a clear picture of Axis units opposing my forward line and to expose areas vacated by retreating Italian infantry near the coast and the possibility of inflicting casualties that would eat in to the much limited Axis replacement pool, referred to as 'dominating the ground' in British training manuals.

Turn 11 - November 29th and the Axis have destroyed any remaining resistance around Sidi Rezegh as the Empire rebuild their supply base but conduct aggressive combat patrols on the right front with the New Zealand and South African infantry supported by army tank brigades and armoured care regiments cutting of Bardia and driving along the metalled coast road as they turn the Axis flank as I prepare to drive on to Gambut airfield which would allow a possible breakout offensive by the Tobruk garrison.

The next big push by the Empire forces would likely decide the game as, with the need for a breakthrough using the last remains of Empire supply and a small reserve to press a link up with Tobruk, faced by Steve's clever but stingy use of Axis supply to allow any required last ditch counterattacks to break any such link up, I set myself the goal of reaching Gambut airfield in force by turn fourteen, December 2nd and then to reassess my chances from there.

Luftwaffe air support with the deadly Stukas and their +2 column combat shift only countered by Empire antiaircraft fire hitting on 4+ which really made a difference in the later combats.

Well as the saying goes 'time spent on reconnaissance is not wasted time' and as the game reached its closing stages on turn eleven, November 29th, my South African and New Zealand Infantry had elbowed their way forward past Bardia and set up a jumping off point to press on to Gambut; through a series of probing attacks that revealed a hotchpotch of Italian and Germain infantry and reconnaissance battalions, thinly spread and trying desperately to hold key nodes to block rapid approach to either the airfield or Tobruk, along the main coast road.

Boston medium bombers of 12th and 21st South African squadrons part of
the Empire air support, that defended gains and supported attacks.

With my supply restored, my remaining armour replenished and my infantry set up on their jump off points before Bardia and Sidi Azeiz airfield the big push kicked off with mixed results with the New Zealanders encountering stiff resistance and dogged attacks from the Luftwaffe that kept them pinned back around Sidi Azeiz but the South African 1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions able to turn the Axis flank through the rough terrain between the coast and the coast road with armoured car patrols pushing the line up to just north of Gambut airfield.

Turn 14 - December 2nd and the Empire high water mark has been reached with a stolid Axis defence of the coast road preventing the New Zealand and South African Infantry closing on Gambut Airfield and no realistic chance of linking up with Tobruk and holding a link up until Turn 18, December 6th. 

However just to get to that position had burnt up the last offensive reserve of Empire supply leaving just a small amount to cover emergency counter-attacks and with the Axis very unlikely to be able to break the Tobruk perimeter we called our game a draw but effectively a win for Steve as he had out generalled Rommel who faced with an Empire tactical victory withdrew from Tobruk, setting up his successful offensive in May 1942 at Gazala.

This game is a hidden gem in the catalogue of Desert Campaign games, and the unique double-blind map moving only made easier with computer moderation is amazing at capturing the uncertainty that the real life generals had to contend with whilst gazing at their situation maps trying to assess their chances by pressing forward in any particular area.

Turn 14 - December 2nd and with the cloaking removed, the real situation is revealed at the end of the game with a solid line of Axis resistance blocking any further Empire advance along the coast road, backed up by both Panzer Divisions ready to deal with any break through and plenty of Axis supply to allow counterattacks.  The South African armoured car patrols were pushed back from Gambut in the last Axis move. Note the stacks of destroyed Empire (extreme bottom left) and destroyed Axis units (top right, in the sea).

The final map above revealed the truth of the situation and confirmed my decision to concede early with a solid Axis blocking line between Tobruk and Bardia with the likelihood of significant losses in Empire infantry had I persisted in pressing the offensive to the point of no supply in reserve.

The empty areas marked by each others national symbol shows the bluffing ability the game offers with areas we both suspected to be vacant but never checked out thoroughly, based on the fact that surrounded areas cut off from supply could not conduct assaults, only probes, and time spent mopping up distracted from the offensive operations that had moved past such areas.

The game chart display at the close of our game with both sides carrying multiple units in their 'Remnants Boxes' , top and bottom right and with Steve sitting on six supply points (Supply and Replacement Track) to just two Empire with just another two to come (two supply markers on the Empire Turn Record Track).

In addition the Empire left flank is hanging out 'in the blue' based on the fact that I was content for the Axis to throw units out there, away from where I wanted to attack, and supply them if he wished, but Steve was too canny for that, and as can be seen both forces contracted their line closer to the sea as units were written off the order of battle and remaining forces had to focus on control of key roads and tracks.

The only downside with this game is that the Vassal module is an old one and given the relatively low rating (6.8) given to the game on Boardgame Geek (BGG) probably explains why it hasn't been updated to remove a few glitches on units wandering to different areas of the map occasionally. Not a huge problem and it didn't affect our play or enjoyment.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6814/8th-army-operation-crusader-winter-battles-tobruk

The other aspect, more to do with our play rostering, is that leaving the game each week to play the next, often meant that the picture of the enemy front line garnered from previous play had dimmed, requiring further probing to re-establish it, but again seemed to add to the 'fog of war' and further embellish the situation.

We still rate Rommel in the Desert as our favourite Desert Campaign Game, but the unique hidden movement in 8th Army puts the game up there with it as a 'Very Happy to Play' game, and more than repaid our six week investment to play it, so don't always follow what the folks on BGG think, this is a much better game than the rating portrays and it is well worth checking out.

Next up; Let's Build a Sloop, a post on exactly how to construct the flush-deck, ship-rigged sloop from an excess of Warlord 1:700th Brig models and with a video tutorial to help illustrate the process

Hannibal, Rome vs Carthage on Vassal Part Two

Picking up from my post in March

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2021/03/hannibal-rome-vs-carthage-on-vassal.html

Steve and I carried on with eventually two games of Hannibal at the end of which we both felt we had a good feel for the game mechanics and best play, given that the beauty of Card Driven Games (CDG's) is that you can never really come up with specific game strategies and approaches because the games can be quite different one to another based on the cards you end up getting to play.

This post report was certainly more of a challenge than previous ones because this Vassal module rather uniquely doesn't have a screen capture button to allow a record of play to be easily grabbed, so I ended up resigning myself to manually taking screen captures from saved game stages to try and illustrate how our two games ended up.

So to summarise:

Below is the map of our first game that ended up with a crushing victory to Steve playing Carthage ending with 13 provinces controlled to Rome's 5.

 

The end of Game One with Hannibal and others in control in Italy and Scipio winning in North Africa but not quickly enough. A Carthage win 13 -8

Steve played a canny game, storming into Italy with Hannibal and managing to bring most of his army plus two elephants and capitalising on P.Scipio's disastrous early attempt to invade Spain as I fumbled my way through the early moves trying to work out how this game worked.

The Italian front at the end of Game 1 with Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago dominating Italy and Varo and Fabius cooped up in Rome

Once Hannibal was established in the northern provinces of Italy he contented himself just to being a force in being, tying down Roman forces and generals whilst revolts broke out in Syracuse, Sicily and Corsica, which required Roman expeditions to crush and deposit the odd garrison to prevent further trouble and incursions from other Carthaginian generals.

Rome managed a brief resurgence in the middle years prior to Scipio Africanus turning up but Carthage managed to maintain its lead and then with Scipio A making heavy weather of progress in North Africa proceeded to support Hannibal with other forces that started to eat in to Italy.

Scipio A managed to beat up the Carthaginians in North Africa and get before an empty Carthage in the last year of the war but didn't have the cards or time to successfully lay siege and take the place to offset the lead that Carthage had grabbed in captured provinces. 

 

The North African front with about three more card plays to end the game. Scipio has beaten off the Carthaginians who have retreated back to Utica, and he made a dash for Carthage to try and take the city and win the war but ran out of time and cards!

Soundly chastened by my thrashing, Steve and I changed sides and I took Carthage for our second game which given the lessons learnt meant both of us were playing a better game and now just needed the right cards at the right time to put that learning to good use.

Thus Steve immediately rushed garrisons up to the passes in the Italian Alps to block Hannibal looking to do a similar job as in the first game. The plan worked and as Hannibal cautiously working his way through Liguria, Steve whacked him with several cards that saw half his army dead and all the elephants gone before he had to turn and face a Roman landing force in his rear that defeated the remnants of his army and saw Hannibal fleeing to Spain.

End of Game Two, and only one province separating the two sides with Eastern Numidia left uncontrolled winning the war for Rome

Carthage came back though, defeating two Roman ten point armies in Massilia and in Cisalpine Gaul as Hannibal regrouped and came charging back towards the Alps, this time penetrating into Italy.

Rome then turned its attentions to Sicily, or more precisely Syracuse which revolted and saw a large Roman army before its walls that spent a year laying siege to no avail and ending up decimated as Carthaginian cards repelled siege points and wore down the Roman force.

The Italian front in stalemate as Hannibal with his ten strong army and a siege train faces off Marcellus with a similar sized force but secure in Rome with plenty of allies.

The final game was a close run thing with very rarely more than two provinces in it and with Scipio A making his move against North Africa all to play for in the final years of the war as Hannibal tied down Rome's forces in Italy with a large army and siege train threatening Rome.

In the end Rome came out on top with one province in it, as Carthage reduced Scipio to just control of Western Numidia but not enough cards left to reoccupy Eastern Numidia.

The North African front as Carthage commits troops and generals to fend off Scipio A, but not quite able to keep him at bay whilst keeping control of the provinces.

So Steve came out on top in both games. Well played mate. 

We both really enjoyed Hannibal and this game is up there with our other top CDG's such as Mr Maddison's War which both of us would play at the drop of a hat. The cards really challenge the players to make the best of the situation they face, never being fully in control as 'events, dear boy, events', to quote a famous British prime minister, keep cropping up and need to be dealt with as you try to win a war - great stuff!

This Vassal module played ok but if the designer feels inclined, the addition of a screen grab button would be a useful update.

Next up, Steve and I are back in WWII North Africa as we reacquaint ourselves with an old favourite with a rather unique hidden movement system, the 1984 game from Frank Chadwick and Games Design Workshop, 8th Army: Operation Crusader, more anon.

Before that though I will be taking a look at the Trafalgar game planning, following up on my previous post that looked at terrain and storage. Then I hope to have some pictures and a post of my first trip away since the second lockdown as Carolyn and I take a break up to Shrewsbury and North Wales and enjoy our new found freedoms!

Hannibal, Rome vs Carthage on Vassal

 

I was expecting to be well into reporting our most recent Vassal adventure, namely the Vae Victrix magazine game by Fred Bey, Eylau 1807, sadly that was not to be as after two nights of struggling with a very clumsy module, not to mention a very ill-defined rules translation, we gave up and decided to play another Avalon Hill classic, Hannibal, Rome vs Carthage which came out way back when, soon after the release of its precursor, We the People.

These first card driven games really revolutionised the way we played boardgames back in the late eighties and early nineties, bringing as they did a great way of combining the historical context and events that characterised a particular theme in the cards that could also be used to generate movement.

To a modern audience card driven games (CDG's) probably seem so normal but I remember them being very much a new and rather strange way of playing an historical war-board game and the idea was not universally greeted with enthusiasm in all quarters, we however loved them and continue to do so.

Having not picked up Hannibal on its release, it was a gap in my collection that I was keen to fill and at Xmas, Carolyn got me a first edition copy which I am looking forward to playing face to face, but in the meantime Steve and I decided to try out the Vassal module and got started this week.

The game has gone through some changes since its launch but its basic layout and appearance has remained constant with the classic components of political control markers, military combat unit counters and key generals being the principal components seen displayed on a lovely point-to-point map with of course some classic artwork adorning the cards that players use to generate play.

A gorgeous map from our Vassal game of Hannibal shows off well the cockpit of war in the Western Mediterranean between Carthage and Rome in the Second Punic War, with the positions midway through turn two or 217 BC, with the game set to progress through hopefully to 202 BC captured in nine turns of play with variable card hands starting at seven per player and ending up with nine as the war escalates.

Being very familiar with We the People and Washington's War the learning curve for both Steve and me getting to grips with Hannibal wasn't quite so steep as it is with other less familiar games and so we both got into happily removing and replacing political control markers from the map as revolts broke out in Celtiberia, Corsica and Sardinia, whilst we also started to build up our forces, whilst getting our heads around slightly more unfamiliar game concepts such as the use of elephants in battle and the difficulties of siege operations, as Hannibal tromped off towards the Alps and I (being Rome) had to deal with a revolt in Syracuse, which is proving rather difficult to suppress.

Proconsul Publius Scipio has just landed on the Iberian coast at Malaca (bottom left of map) with his 5SP Proconsular Roman army, but Hasdrubal with his standing force of two Carthaginian strength points up the road at Novo Carthago (New Carthage) is planning a reception committee!

However the Romans do at least have something in common with the British in Washington's War, namely a good control of the seas and so after being made Proconsul at the end of turn one, 216 BC, Publius Scipio promptly took ship with a five point Roman army to land in the Punic recruiting heartland of Iberia at the pretty coastal town of Malaca, hoping to cause a bit of mischief in the process.

This while Hannibal was busy losing elephants and men to attrition has he forced marched off through the Alps bound for mainland Italy, easily skirting around the garrison Scipio had left at Massilia (modern day French Riviera) before his setting off to Spain.

In anticipation of a possible Hannibalic incursion into Italy the Senate handily went and voted for Fabius Maximus to take up a Consular position in 217 BC and he now commands the home army at Rome of 8 Strength Points and given his undoubted abilities at running away, may well find himself taking up the vacancy of Proconsul.

Oh dear, how sad, never mind, as a famous old drill sergeant used to say!
Publius Scipio and his army is no more and Hannibal with his 5SP army is in Gallia ready to advance into mainland Italy. Well now we'll see what these Romans are made of.

Oh yes, did I not mention that there was a vacancy going for the role of Roman Proconsul, ever since Proconsul Publius Scipio's excursion to Spain never got past the ports at Malaca as his Proconsular army got stomped on by Hasdrubal who promptly raised an army of four strength points to match that of the Roman's 5 SP but also brought three extra strength points of Spanish allies together with his undoubted military skills, (3 strategy rating vs 2 for Scipio) and despite losing the initiative after the first round of battle and not getting it back, dismissively dealt with every one of the seven strategy cards Scipio threw at him to win the battle, losing two SP to the Roman's one but cutting the remaining four down in the resultant rout back to the beaches.

The Battle of Malaca 217 BC Hasdrubal beats Proconsul Scipio
despite losing more troops in the fighting causes the Roman army
to break and run back to boats, cutting them down to a man

So, we are very much enjoying our excursion to the Punic Wars with all the fun that card driven games offer in terms of the unexpected and with the feeling that you are never really in control of events, no matter how well things seem to be going.

All to play for and with about four card plays still remaining in turn 2, we'll see how well Steve's Carthaginian offensive proceeds in the next report.

Ardennes'44 The Battle of the Bulge on Vassal - Part Three and Final Day (18th December)

 

Ardennes'44, Battle of the Bulge on Vassal - Part One

Ardennes'44, Battle of the Bulge on Vassal - Part Two

A week ago, Steve M and I concluded our game of Ardennes'44 from GMT Games using Vassal to refight the first critical three days of the German offensive of December 1944 as the German 7th Army and the 5th and 6th Panzer Armies fought to take advantage of the surprise they had managed to achieve on the American defenders along the Belgian-German border.

The first turns of our game can be followed in the links above, but this final post shows the last day of combat on the 18th December, turns five and six, as my German forces strove to take the next five victory locations, mainly key towns along the limited roads, crossing the difficult river strewn, forested and hilly terrain with bleak winter weather and limited fuel stocks and ammunition to contend with as well as determined American defenders with fresh reserves arriving daily to impede further advance and hopefully take back key objectives.

With two full daylight turns to each day of play together with a limited phase of play modelling night action, reinforcements are timed to arrive  on the daily turns thus turns five and six shows the reinforcements for the 18th of December, with the 82nd and 101st US Airborne arriving on the top left of the map on turn five, historically destined to help in the relief of Bastogne.

With just five victory hexes taken in the first two days of the offensive there seemed still a lot to do when play resumed on the morning phase, turn 5, of our game to take the remaining five hexes minimum to get to the end of the day having achieved the required terrain gains to meet the definition of a good start.

Day Three AM 18th December,7th Army Front

With the three key locations of Echternach, Diekirch and Ettlebruck taken in the first two days by 7th Army, the objective on this front was to go firm and fight hard to hold what had been taken, with the first US offensive against Ettlebruck repulsed by 5th FJ Division and their attached StuG brigade

The morning of the 18th December was primarily spent by both the Germans and Americans in moving forces in preparation for the big push that was coming in the afternoon and hours of darkness as the Germans made plans to take the remaining towns needed and the Americans to have forces close enough to help in the defence and to launch counterattacks to regain others.

Day Three AM 18th December, 5th Panzer Army Front

With dramatic progress made on the 16th December 5th Panzer Army had been able to exploit forward with a rapid advance on Bastogne and St Vith with the morning of the 18th used to set up large attacks against both towns and hopefully others nearby in the afternoon.

The primary action of the morning focussed on 7th Army front as the lead elements of US 10th Armoured Division attacked into the town of Ettlebruck and were only just held by the 5th Fallschirmjager supported by their attached StuG brigade, but leaving the German garrison in a desperate state with little hope of relief.

Day Three AM 18th December, 6th Panzer Army Front

Now somewhat stymied by a stolid US defence making best use of the difficult terrain, 6th Panzer Army spent the morning of the 18th December bringing forward key SS units together with four batteries of guns and nebelwerfers to support their bid in the afternoon to take the two key towns of Monschau and Elsenborn

Meanwhile as the lead elements of the two US airborne divisions arrived in their trucks ready to drive to the relief of Bastogne, the heavy tanks of Panzer Lehr moved up to prepare their assault on the town with elements of 2nd Panzer Division ready to support or to shift their axis towards Houffalize on the right flank, whilst to their south 116th Panzer finally managed to bring its full force to bear on St Vith finally cutting the town off from relief as it prepared its attack plans.

On the 6th Panzer Army front, the last defenders of the Elsenborn ridge were driven back through the forested terrain between 1st SS and 12th SS Panzer Divisions as those units prepared to assault Monschau and Elsenborn in the afternoon as the guns of the Army had been pulled forward and husbanded with ready supplies of ammunition ready for the big attack.

Day Three PM 18th December,7th Army Front

The positions held on the close of the 18th December shows the results of the hard battle fought between US 10th Armoured Division and 5th FJ Division as the US assault took back the town of Ettelbruck but were brought up short by a desperate defence by the German Paratroops holding Diekirch during the follow up US night offensive into the town.

German End result 2VP areas held

So as we sat down to play the last day turn and remaining night turn of the 18th December it was very much all to play for with the Germans still needing five more areas taken which would be pushed back to six later in the turn as the US 10th Armoured Division retook Ettelbruch and moved on Diekirch with forces held in reserve for a final night attack to take back the other town.

Day Three PM 18th December, 5th Panzer Army Front

The advance of 5th Panzer Army continued on with an all out offensive to grab key features in the final turn of play with Bastogne, Houffalize, St Vith and the crossroads north of the town falling to their attacks, but with US troops repulsing the attack on Martelange. The first truck markers indicating the progress of the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions can be seen at the top of the map.

German End result 7VP areas held

However the offensive on the 5th Panzer Army front couldn't have got off to a better start with attacks by Panzer Lehr on Bastogne quickly driving off the battered American garrison with US airborne forces at least another day's drive away before closing in on the key town.

The success of the Lehr attack allowed 2nd Panzer Division to take the back roads to work their way around US 9th Armoured Division CCR in front of Houffalize pinned by the Panzer IV regiment and panzer-grenadiers from the division as other panzer grenadiers from the division together with the Panther regiments from Lehr and 2nd Panzer moved around their flank to take the town behind them.

Fallschirmjager troops had a key role in the German order of battle, with a formidable reputation for hard fighting more than replicated by the battle fought around Ettelbruch and Diekirch by 5th FJ Division

Likewise the attacks on a surrounded St Vith by 116th Panzer division not only took the town but opened up the nearby countryside to exploitation allowing the key crossroads on the road to Houffalize to be taken securing yet another objective and the key road linking 116th Panzer to 2nd Panzer further forward.

Day Three PM 18th December, 6th Panzer Army Front

Finally the SS Panzer Divisions made their presence felt as both Elsenborn and Monschau fell to both attacks in the face of determined US resistance supported my artillery and tanks. Broken US defenders have fallen back along the roads leading to the towns and all four German artillery markers are flipped to their fired side further indicating the aftermath of the SS battle to secure the two towns.

German End result 2VP areas held

The icing on the German cake proved to be on 6th Panzer Army front where success seemed likely to prove more elusive, but in the end not so as the heavy SS tanks supported by copious German artillery, certainly by Battle of the Bulge standards, finally proved irresistible as the two towns were taken, giving a little more breathing space with just the night attack by US 10th Armoured Division to come which they duly won but were held by the 5th FJ opting to roll for a 'desperate defence' which they achieved, keeping Diekirch in German hands at the end of the day.

Phew what a dramatic and climactic end to our game played over six Tuesday evenings through January and February and with the Germans clinching victory with, in the end, eleven locations taken and with Steve and me on the edge of our seats as those final die rolls went in to settle the game and both of us agreeing that the game certainly rewarded the effort put in to play it with that final turn of play.

I still think given the choice Steve and I will still turn to 'Tigers in the Mist' to get our Bulge itch scratched when face to face gaming can be resumed but I am so pleased to have finally played Ardennes'44 which is a very good game and given its size and scope, indicated by the time we took to complete just three days of battle that forms the short campaign scenario, it plays really well on Vassal and I think would be my preferred way of playing it again rather than the rather laborious setting up and putting away of my hard copy version.

Next up: The next six ships set to join the Trafalgar Collection are nearing completion with just one now needing sails and rigging, so I hope to show some pictures at the weekend.

Ardennes'44 The Battle of the Bulge on Vassal - Part Two (17th December)

 

The situation in our Ardennes'44 game on the the second day (December 17th) opened up with great promise for the resumption of my German offensive plan following a very successful opening particularly on the 5th Panzer Army front in the centre where avenues opened up to allow rapid progress towards St Vith and Bastogne in the next twenty-four hours.

Ardennes'44 Battle of the Bulge on Vassal Part One

However a quick glance at the Appearance Card below for Turn 3, the 17th December, shows the large number of US reinforcements set to arrive in response to the offensive, with likely rapid reinforcement of the troops facing the 6th Panzer Army on the German right flank spearheaded by 1st and 12th SS Panzer Division with German reinforcements principally limited to a few army battalions, the balance of 3rd FJ Division and a von der Heydte Fallschirmjager drop in the area, but not much else.

Turn 3 (17th December) Order of Appearance, shows the arrival of the powerful US 7th Armoured Division on the 6th Panzer Army front (Arrival Points H indicated top right of each counter). German Reinforcements for the Germans are minimal, including von der Heydte parachutists, but the Greif Commando traffic blocks should help to slow the US troops reaching the front line.

As expected and in reality the ill-trained FJ parachute drop came to nothing with them being dispersed and captured and the fighting on the front around Elsenborn and Monchau proving difficult for the SS units to make much progress.

The front on December 17th AM as my three German Armies attempt to consolidate their gains and press forward to other target areas, circled red and with two behind German lines, to ensure the ten needed to ensure victory by the close of the battle on the 18th. The arrows indicate the principle attacks made in each area and the red boundary lines indicating the army areas.

The area facing the 6th Panzer Army offers a tantalizing opportunity for the SS units to break through past the US defenders on the Elsenborn Ridge to take the towns of Elsenborn and hopefully Monchau before pressing on to the next key line of Malmedy, the fuel dump on the Malmedy Road and Eupen beyond. However the US units on this front present a tough opponent with rapid reinforcement should a breakthrough fail to materialize and despite my best efforts using SS Kampfgruppe Peiper and the 12th SS to open up the main road on their respective fronts, which with Peiper was managed, the fighting to do it left no opportunity to move other units forward to secure key points.

Day Two AM - 17th December, 6th Panzer Army Front
US troops make a fighting withdrawal off the Elsenborn Ridge with the units under the blue '1' counter in the first stage of surrender checks, but doing a great job holding up rearward German troops as 1st SS Peiper struggle to clear the road to Malmedy and 12th SS are held up in front of Monschau by strong US forces backed by tanks and artillery.

The 12th SS attempted to break the line around Monschau with a 5:1 attack on the weakest part of the line only to have their attack aborted by a Time on Target US artillery strike on their forming up positions that completely unhinged and stopped the attack, (US artillery on the defence most commonly lowers the attack ratio by one or two levels but has to be treated with caution, as with a '1' rolled, as Steve managed, they can get a TOT barrage) whilst Peiper on the road with 1st SS failed to clear US blocking units, forcing me to throw in Panzer Brigade 150 with their disguised US armour to help the attack.

Day Two AM - 17th December, 5th Panzer Army Front 
A much more successful picture for the German 5th Panzer Army able to capitalise on the success of the opening attacks which drove back or destroyed most of the US units defending forward on this front, with survivors seen here under disrupt markers. The attack allowed  spearhead units from Panzer Lehr to take Clervaux and press forward on Bastogne and Houffalize and for 116th Panzer Division to advance on St Vith although delayed by some US rear-guard bridge-blowing that forced units to move up via Manarch. Infantry units have pushed out on the left to threaten Wiltz and consolidate the bulge.

The success of the attack through the centre of the US lines could be gauged by the stacks of 'Disrupted' US troops driven back from their positions on the River Our and retreating to Bastogne via Clervaux alowing Panzer Lehr and 2nd Panzer Division to press forward in their wake with the 26th Volksgrenadier Division moving out to the army boundary line with 7th Army to press their attack towards Wilz.

More resistance was encountered by 116th Panzer Division as their attempt to push on through the bottleneck on the road to St Vith was stymied by US bridge blowing that forced follow up units to divert to other crossings close to Manarch before turning right for the key town which will likely offset its fall for another day.

Day Two AM - 17th December, 7th Army Front 
The 7th German Army is an Infantry Army composed of infantry and volksgrenadier divisions stiffened by the inclusion of the 5th Fallschirmjager and their attached StuG brigade. These chaps don't move that quick and their general lack of armour and limited artillery resources convinced me to be conservative on the gains I might hope to make on their front with the importance of taking the key towns of Echternach, Diekirch and hopefully Ettelbruck before going firm on those key points and protecting their gains and the left flank of 5th Panzer Army driving to Bastogne.

With the limited mobility and armour resources of 7th Army I contented myself on this front of securing my forward river line defence around Echternach, repairing bridges to my rear, bringing forward my guns in support of the line and limiting further attacks to 5th FJ Division which they pressed well threatening to take Diekirch and hopefully Ettelbruck later that day before the arrival of strong US reinforcements on the 18th.

So with a good consolidation of ground made on the morning of the 17th December, but with worrying issues on the German right flank, could further progress be made to secure key targets in the afternoon of the 17th?

The front on December 17th PM showing principle German attacks across the front with three key towns falling to German troops to go with the two taken on the 16th and with Bastogne and St Vith now invested by German troops with the US defenders grimly holding out. However the offensive on the right is struggling and two groups of 12th SS on the extreme right are overextended and find themselves out of supply (red out of supply markers above the grey offensive arrow) as they try to batter their way into Monschau.

The afternoon of the 17th saw US troops pushing forward engineer battalions into key towns just behind the front line as their comrades further forward sought out blocking positions in forests close to main roads to force follow up German units to deal with them before pressing on to their key targets.

Day Two PM - 17th December, 7th Army Front
With their more limited resources in terms of armoured and mobile assets 7th Army continued to aid the German offensive taking the towns of Diekirch and Ettlebruck to add to Echternach taken on the 16th and securing three out of the five possible victory zones on their front. Their task on the 18th would be to go firm and hold their gains.

Despite the US efforts to slow the German advance three more victory centres fell in the afternoon fighting and another three came under attack as the US front continued to fall back under the attacks on 7th Army and 5th Panzer Army fronts, with five of the ten German objectives taken by the end of the day leaving another five to be captured and held on the 18th.

Day Two PM - 17th December, 5th Panzer Army Front
The Army Panzer Divisions of Lehr, 2nd and 116th Panzer continue their offensive with support from the 26th Volksgrenadier Division as Wilz falls to the latter and Bastogne holds just to Lehr and 2nd Panzer whilst 116th Panzer close in on St Vith.

However US resistance on the German right flank threatened to undo the gains made else where with the critical towns of Elsenborn and Monschau vital to securing the ten areas needed to secure the progress made on the first three days.

Day Two PM - 17th December, 6th Panzer Army Front
The US defenders on the 6th Panzer Army front continue to resist stoutly under the attacks of SS Panzers and Tiger II battalions, with their stiff artillery fire in the morning being stiffened as US troops cut off the supply route to the forward troops of 12th SS as they attempted to batter their way into Monschau. Note the three grey Greif Commando road blocks in US rear areas designed to slow down US off map reinforcements from Eupen and Limbourg marching to the area. The arrival of 7th Armoured Division puts the objectives of Malmedy and Eupen beyond the reach of 6th Panzer Army.

So with half the German objectives achieved in the first two days of Operation Wacht am Rhein and with the first truck loads of US Airborne troops arriving from Paris it would be all to play for on the 18th December to grab the other five key areas and hold on to them as US reinforcements are rushed forward.

In the third part of this series of posts Steve and I will conclude our game focussed on the first three days of the Battle of the Bulge with a climactic ending that had us both on the edge of our seats as our digital-cardboard warriors fought hard in the closing phases of play.

Next up I have a book review and work progresses on the next six models to join the Trafalgar Collection.