Home Brew Bulge Theatre Selector

Intro  

     So this post is an update on my home brew Battle of the Bulge US Cavalry Group theatre selector (I need to work on a snappier title than that). I have been drawing heavily on the Osprey Publishing book World War II US Cavalry Groups (European Theater) which has been a joy to read and has given me lots of inspiration for creating the theatre selector and also for gaming especially as we, Rich and I, hope to come up with a suitable mini campaign to play out, something along the lines of the Too Fat Lardies Pint Sized Campaigns that they produce for Chain of Command. 

     

     Seeing a window of opportunity last week we struck, seized and grasped the opportunity and made a sketchy plan to fit in a Bulge themed game. 

    We took a scenario from the Market Garden campaign book, Holding The Road At Logtenburg and transposed it to the Ardennes. The premise being that Troop B of 144th Cavalry Squadron are holding part of the line when Operation Wacht Am Rhien starts. The troop have to hold the road under pressure from both ends of the road and to slow down the German advance before attempting to withdraw as many of their men and vehicles that they can from the small farm they are defending. Points wise the attackers have a 3:2 superiority which worked out at 1500 points for the Germans v 1000 points for the US Cavalry Group. This is what my 1000 points got me.

The men and their mounts of Troop B, 144th Cavalry Squadron. The jeeps counted
as transports only for this game.

     Basing Troop B on a Regular US Tank Platoon force selector I took the following for the first try out;

M5 Stuart with pintle mount MMG (1)

M5 Stuart with pintle mount MMG

M8 Scout Car with pintle mount HMG

Second Lt plus runner

1st Squad:  5 men with rifles (2)

2nd Squad: 5 men with rifles

3rd Squad:  5 men with rifles

Bazooka team

Bazooka team

MMG

HMG

Jeep (3)

Jeep

Notes:

1. One rule change I am pondering is giving the recce troop vehicles, M5 Stuarts, Jeeps and M3 Half Tracks the Recce rule to represent the fact that recce is their main role and that they drive along with their eyes open, constantly on the alert for the enemy. Obviously this will be costed as per other vehicles with the recce rule. 

2.Historically US Cavalry Groups weren't issued BARs so these aren't an option for the squads. Also, as the Cavalry Group man power strength wasn't as numerous as the infantry I've gone for a minimum of 5 men in the squad. I think the option for an additional 2 men per squad is probably a good idea to further represent the lack of man power. And, as the Cavalry Group also historically conducted dismounted assaults the option to take a .30 Cal LMG might also be an option. However that might be conditional on them having a full 7 man squad to start with and would also be specific to the Cavalry Group being the attacker in the scenario.

3. I have half an idea of allowing MMG teams to mount transport jeeps and fit their MMGs to those jeeps during the game. How that would work out I am still figuring out. Certainly it did nothing for this game but that's because the one time I tried it the MMG team failed their leadership test.

4. Not involved in this game were dedicated MMG totting jeeps. The Cavalry Group had jeeps with multiple pintle mounted MMGs and MMGs fitted on the passenger side of the dashboard and I think it wouldn't be a game breaker to have the option to add a dash board mounted MMG with a forward firing arc to the Cavalry Group's Recce Jeeps. I'm not sure if a jeep with only a forward facing MMG is a good choice unless I was to make the forward facing MMG count as an LMG instead. As per the US Army book, these would come under the Armoured Car selections however as this force is based on a Tank Platoon it shouldn't be too difficult to fit one into the list. And, similar to the Market Garden and Western Desert campaign books, the idea of playing a game with a platoon based on a core two or three of these bad boys might be fun...might.

Forward firing dash board mounted MMG. 

Cavalry Group Jeep with two MMGs fitted

     I have rough draft WIP theatre selector that looks something like this

Command Vehicle; M5 Stuart, M8 Scoutcar, M20 Scoutcar*, Recce Jeep

Vehicle; two vehicles from M5 Stuart, M8 Greyhound, Recce Jeep

Vehicle: 0-1 M10 Tank Destroyer, M8 Scott

Infantry. 0-3 Squads Dismounted Cavalry squads

Officer: First or Second Lieutenant (including the option of taking an Intelligence Officer as an upgrade as per the Battle of the Bulge campaign book) 

Higher Officer; Captain or Major

Medic

Forward Observer

0-2 MMG

0-2 HMG

0-2 Light Mortar

0-2 Bazooka

Transports; Jeep and M3 Halftrack

* As M20s were auxiliary vehicles that were often used as command vehicles then the only way to take one is as the command vehicle.

       So how did they fare on the table top? I hear you ask. Bloody awful but it's early days yet. We rather rushed the scenario planning missing out all of the special rules from the Bulge campaign book that give it that Ardennes 44 flavour; the rules for Snow, Fog, Frostbite for a start as well as the defenders having bunkers, minefields etc. My only excuse for these omissions was that I was distracted at the time with painting some Foundry Miniatures 95th Riflemen!

Dashed distracting these Riflemen. Yet another campaign in
the offing

     However, none of that would have changed my abysmal dice rolling so, after losing 11 units out of 13 to Rich's SS we decided to call it a draw......NOT! It was a well deserved victory for the Germans who lost one unit, the flamethrower team who ran out of fuel after failing to hit a very tempting looking jeep so I can't even claim that small crumb of Pyrrhic victory flavoured biscuit. 

     Nonetheless it was an educational game and as the old military maxim states; time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted. Most of what I took away from the game has been noted above in the appendices to the force list and will be mulled over for the next week or so. The US Cavalry Group, like all forces have their weaknesses; lack of boots on the ground, lack of medium or heavy anti armour as well as their strengths; lots of firepower and mobility. They were, historically, cast in many different roles; recce (both armoured and on foot. Some of those smaller sized missions from Market Garden book will be getting adapted), defence and assault. My main concern is not to create a Death Star; I'm much more interested in creating a historically themed force and putting a good show on in the game and the campaign.

      After the game and despite my six of the best, trousers down thrashing at the hands of Richie's SS force I am even more enthused about this home brew theatre selector. 

     Once we have agreed on the Cavalry Group special rules then it'll be time to get the mini campaign organised.

      All that aside, the table looked damned tasty indeed I think you'll agree from the following photos

  

The farm astride the road where Troop B were based

As we got drummed into us in the Army "Prior planning and
preparation prevent a piss poor performance" The scenario from
Market Garden states that at least one of the defenders units must
be placed between 12" and 18" from both table edges. Unfortunately
there wasn't much cover in these areas. If I had paid some more
attention, I would have factored this and the other Battle of the Bulge
themed rules into the game. 

Point to note; Don't have your defending armour with it's
backside against a wall; where's your flexibility?

M8 Scout Car; more armour again with a blocked rear!

the M8 in the attack

The SS in the assault

Pinched out!! Assaulted from both sides and with their
maneuverability severely hhampered, Troop B paid a h
price

The dismounted cavalry troopers attempt to withdraw

The net closes and it's ersatz bread and coffee for the men
of Troop B whilst the SS enjoy their new US rations, footwear
(they'll regret taking those boots) and lots more booty beside

     And that's it for the moment,

pip pip,

Jimbob