Monday 20 January 2020

France 1940 Blitzkrieg

Those of you that follow Martin’s Blog will know he has recently completed an early WW2 French Army, his report of our weekend adventure can be found here http://28mmheroes.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-fall-of-france-bolt-action-aar.html

Rather than our usual single big battle we decided to play three linked battles each of roughly 10-12 units per side. I created a table which could accommodate three different games (with some overlap), the French had already formed up a different list for the first two battles and would take anything that survived into the third. Each battle was to have a different objective and I wanted to make each German force representative of the different type of battle.

The three different scenarios were a Breakthrough mission, classic Blitzkrieg style for the Germans, a reconnaissance battle where both forces would probe the enemy to capture a central objective and a final assault on a small village/town. I don’t have any French specific buildings (and wasn’t planning to get any in 28 mm) so I printed some new shop signs and posters to give the French feel and used what I had at hand.


The three separate battlefields are outlined on the overview above, the coloured arrows showing the route of advance or attack for the Germans, each time the French would come on directly opposite them. The three scenarios were as follows:

1: BREAKTHROUGH - the Germans moving on rapidly would need to break through the quickly created barbed wire defences and if possible breakthrough to the road, the blue hatched area is the French deployment zone.
2: RECONNAISSANCE - here both forces would attempt to capture a central objective, represented by the Red Cross Kubelwagon which was placed at the orange dot on the picture above, the French would start this battle from just outside the town.
3: ASSAULT - hopefully having been driven back the French would make a last stand in the town, the Germans bringing in their heavy armour would attempt to simply break into the town.

All three scenario were limited to 6+1 turns so this applied pressure. We didn’t total up points so played in the correct spirit amending rules where necessary. Not surprisingly this post is a little picture heavy 🤭

BREAKTHROUGH

The rumble of a Pz 38(t) with German infantry ready to jump out
The Stuka made an appearance providing an initial barrage pinning but not destroying anything
The French were mainly dug in, on the hills, in the orchard or held back at the road
A lovely opportunity (too rare) to get the German cavalry out galloping forward past a Pz35(t) more infantry in armoured carriers and Panzerjäger but the cavalry are hit by mortar fire and forced to dismount ☹️ I had been thinking about a charge of the light brigade event !
The German troops start to dismount to assault the woods on the hills
Unopposed the Pz 38(t) cuts off the road
Local French lady watching the German advance
The French manage to knock a tread off the 35(t) immediately causing a road block, this wasn’t supposed to happen
The 35(t) heads uphill to capture the right hand hill
Plenty of French dug in here who have barely fired, keeping their heads down
The German commander is in the Panzer I and he foolishly advances too far, infantry can be seen in the middle ground attempting to unblock the road
Time for the French to either dig in deeper or run ?
Crossing the path of the French howitzer which we thought was being withdrawn the commanders tank is immobilised!
It falls to the kradschutzen to remove the road block, more German infantry can be seen moving onto the hill where they have dislodged the defenders, there is  still a strong force in the orchard
The final thin green line !
But the 35(t) has rolled through the infantry and over the hill crashing directly into the howitzer as the French were attempting to pull it off the front line
The Panzer pushes Ona manages to get a direct hit on the French tank on the road
Road block removed the way is open but it has taken an extra turn to get this minor victory

RECONNAISSANCE 

The German force for the second battle is highly mobile a full unit of kradschutzen supported by an 8 Rad sweep down the right flank
An Sd Kfz 222 Armoured car moves towards the objective with a Panzer II and another unit of cavalry moving down the left flank, the antitank gun has set up with a view down the road with trucks delivering more infantry looking to capture and hold the orchard
The French force consists of Senegalese Infantry and heavy French tanks, they line up on the road for the charge but seem reluctant
The Germans are already deploying close to the orchard
Kradschutzen moving towards the small farm
But the French tanks have focussed all their effort on knocking out the German antitank gun and seem reluctant to move forward, one is then immobilised, the Senegalese infantry final gets moving towards the farm buildings
But come under fire from the 8 Rad
Germans digging in in the orchard close to the objective
Finally they show their metal the Senegalese are fearsome in combat and overwhelms the kradschutzen they then dip into the barn
But come under heavy fire and ultimately there are too few and they are wiped out when the barn is assaulted, and close run battle but the Germans have squeezed a victory again

ASSAULT 

With two remain Senegalese Regiments pulling back into the town they are supported by remaining French infantry from battle one and a collection of the remaining armour, the German objective is simply to force a way into the town at which point we agree the French would surrender or run
But they do have some of those heavily armoured tanks
For the final battle the German have brought in the big guns, we played special rules for this 105mm Howitzer the French killed their spotter early on so we randomised what it might hit, it blew up one tank which was enough so it stopped firing when the Germans got close to the town.
Ooooh a Panzer IV advancing on the right
A Panzer III down the middle (very powerful at this point in the war) and a Stug  III in the distance, the Germans have also thrown a unit of elite fallschrimjager into the assault
Not surprisingly the German infantry takes a battering from the French who are dug in in the on the left
The fallschrimjager assault and knock out a field gun in the wrecked building but then get pinned down receiving heavy fire
The German commander realises this isn’t going to be a walk over and sends the heavily armoured PzIII forward
On the right the Germans secret weapon a flamethrower, a dangerous and unpredictable weapon it immediately wipes out the Senegalese infantry who were dug in, in the little park area
The PzIII has broken into the town but can knock out the remaining heavy French tank
Finding he has fuel left the flamethrower turns he attention to the smaller French tank which also bursts into flames
Things are now looking bad for the French although there are limited turns remaining
The PzIV is sent off on a wild goose chase after an antitank rifle crew !
The remaining French infantry prepare to make a stand
But the PzIII turns its attention towards them and opens up with its machine guns across the square.....this is too much and in the distance more German infantry can be seen entering the square, the town is lost !

A very fun time, all three battle felt close although the Germans had the upper hand, but hey that is history. What did we learn, French tanks are tough but don’t move around much, I have a lot of Germans as this isn’t all of my early Germans. The French May have been a little obsessed about blowing my antitank gun up rather than capturing the objective. Flamethrowers are awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading this far 👍

29 comments:

  1. Matt, your games are always such a visual treat! Sometimes I look at your setups and then mine and think, "why do I bother!"

    Hard to believe the PZIII could not take out the French tank at point blank range.

    Super photography.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan, sometimes I look at your set ups and think I need to be more focussed ! I would love to play one of your historical battles! As for the PzIII it’s powerful gun brings a +5 bonus the French tanks have a serious all round 9+armour, however you still have to hit and my dice rolling failed when needed. As for the photos they are just on my phone, I then resize and edit them before loading to the blog a fairly quick process. Nothing fancy but I know people prefer photos close up !

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  2. Most splendid, poetry in pictures👍

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  3. Matt, what a great idea and a lovely post. From the initial concept you had the terrain layout / density and troop numbers spot on to give a tight game and of course once started the action has its own surprising narrative such as that early road block!

    Thanks for taking the time to put all of that together, it is clear that a lot of attention is given to the photography, which I appreciate - I am going back in for another look now :-)

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    1. Thanks Norm, the longest process was setting up the table which can be slightly laborious. As to the photos they are just taken on my phone normally at the end of each turn, importantly for me I don’t like to spend to much time as it distracts from the game flow, when taken I do resize each photo when I go through them at the end and am putting the post together, the resizing to a standard size also helps give a sense of professionalism but in reality they are just snaps on my phone. I do try and take quite f ew close ups as I know people like to see the action in detail.🙂

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    2. Ps I am still frustrated by the colour of the photos as google photos adjusts them making them darker, but I haven’t found an easy fix for this the actual photos on my machine are much clearer !

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  4. Another great battle Matt, that flamethrower was deadly!

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    1. Three battles in fact.......flamethrower certainly came into his own 👍 the French tried to shoot him but missed phew.........

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  5. (to continue the conversation from my blog...) You should definitely look at Chain of Command. The Blitzkrieg supplement and Sharp End campaign would be ideal for linked games like this.
    No slight intended to BA, but CoC is built for this kind of campaign.

    Looks brilliant by the way.

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    1. Thanks....perhaps one day I will pul my finger out and try the rules ?

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  6. I do have an AT gun focus. This results in me advancing piecemeal. Also french tanks very dodgy on the move. Really good day though

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    1. Yep good day.....already thinking about the next one 🙂

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  7. Great looking set up, and nice to see some of the French colonial forces on the table.

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  8. Super idea for three linked games! As always such picturesque portrayal perpetrated by the photographer!

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    1. Thanks David all the battles were close which was good, German early War armour is very photogenic in my view 🙂

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  9. A splendid looking set of games Matt ...
    And a very enjoyable report...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly....if just few people enjoy reading or looking at our game then sharing it was worth it 🙂

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  10. Wonderful series of games/AARs.
    Your friends French army complements your Jerry one nicely.
    Great stuff!
    How are you handling the French VB armed troops? I am surprised they haven't made an impact in any of the three games, if used wisely they can help pinning down advancing foot troops. (I am play testing my French 1940 platoon using CoC and find them an interesting alternative to a unit light mortar).

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    1. Thanks.....certainly the French had at least one Grenade launcher per unit. But the majority of the French infantry including the yes a very defensive role this may account for the grenades not really having a big impact. Unfortunately I can’t rememebr the actual details of how they were being scored etc.....

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  11. Flamethrowers are indeed, awesome. My fav pic. Was this all played in one sitting? Great job on this post. Well done! 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew........it was a good days gaming battle one before lunch then a full afternoon with of course some british tea breaks.......each game was five or take 2 hours

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  12. Wonderful looking games! It might take a long time to set up but it's a great spectacle! Sounds like pretty close games really and I guess you got a historical result!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain, all three games really felt close, even if the Germans had the advantage.

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  13. Now that looks like a great days gaming. The French always seem surprisingly tough on table top encounters, which makes for a fun encounter.

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    1. Thanks Stuart yes a fun day and yes the French tanks are remarkable hard to knock out!

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