Wednesday 11 September 2024

Operation Sealion : Crossing the Great Stour

Taking a break from our Konigsberg Campaign George came to the dungeon for a battle so a chance to update the Sealion campaign. As we march through Day 2 the Germans have landed Paratroopers to capture a key river bridge over the Great Stour at Wye. The force has been dispersed  with only a small force capturing the bridge. As reinforcement from the main German army drive towards the bridge to relieve the force other Paratroopers are also marching towards the bridge to support their comrades. The British need to capture the bridge to slow the German advance.

The Bridge over the Stour, the green hatched area the drop zone for the Fallschirmjager on the racecourse
The battlefield, as to be expected I threw in some scenario specifics to make it interesting. Firstly the Paratroopers at the bridge would have 4 units. A 5th unit would arrive to the battlefield randomly, having missed their drop zone for the bridge. In the worst case for the British they may arrive from behind the British lines. The British hold the North side of the river which is marked by the railway line. The British infantry can set up anywhere more than 18” from the bridge or arrive from their baseline. The German reserves must enter from one half of their baseline chosen at the start. The river can only be crossed on foot and the bridge would provide cover for any troops actually on the bridge itself.
The German paratroopers can be seen on the bridge, the British infantry are now in place and will attack the bridge from a number of directions
German relief forces starts to arrive, including a 38T in support
More Germans advance along the road from Wye
The British use the abandoned bus and the garage to use cover to get closer before open up on the bridge defenders, but they can’t leave it too long they must strike fast to try and capture the bridge before the rest of the Germans arrive.
Arrghhh turns out the second unit of German paratroopers had dropped to the NE and they now arrive behind the railway station, they immediately knock out a British antitank rifle team which was targeting the 38T
Unusually the British light mortar team hits the machine gun team on the bridge, and while the German infantry approaches the bridge a unit of British sailors exit the Pub to exchange fire with them.
In desperation the British commander has to rely on the local homeguard to lend support, surely they won’t be asked to take the bridge against German Fallschirmjager ?
No first assault on the bridge is by British regulars who knock out the machine gun
But then they are in turn wiped out, the British have a Cruiser tank which using the buildings as cover lays down machine gun fire on the bridge
Seeking to outflank the position the Germans cross the river
Continued fire is wearing down the defenders on the bridge so the Germans bring up more manpower, the sailors are pinned down by the picket fence but at least they are drawing fire 
A second unit of British infantry makes a dash for the bridge knocking out another defending unit
Desperate stuff the bridge is again cleared by the Germans and the British have few troops left to gain a win, the only option is to send in the homeguard.
With shotguns and old hunting rifles they brutally take down the remaining Fallschirmjager , so shocked are the defending Germans on the bridge that they fail their activation frozen to the spot in horror. The British have reached the bridge, are contesting the objective and it is the end of turn six. Surely a draw ? 
Noooooo the Germans roll for an extra turn and get it, despite one unit fleeing to loot the houses down the road the final unit which had advanced across the river is able to charge the Homeguard in the rear ! 
The Germans are able to consolidate their position on the bridge, and final attempt to charge the bridge fails when the unit fails its activation despite the British officer in support.
The Germans have won a hard fought battle, the remaining British no longer have the strength to contest and will have to withdraw north. The lost Paratroopers can be seen heading towards the bridge from the station. Once again a good battle, the Germans had the upper hand at the start with some very poor British shooting, but for a couple of turns it suddenly turned around and was very close in the end. In terms of the campaign as the British still hold the high ground to the North East of Wye we might see a counterattack next time ?

The start of the week saw a school friend of mine over from New Zealand. As the only nice day was Monday I took him out into the lakes. It turned out to be a corker ! With magnificent views.
Looking west towards Swirl How
Looking North towards Scafell the highest point in England in the distance
The memorial on Swirl How to the Halifax Bomber which crashed here in 1944
With the loss of the whole crew

Well that’s it for now, not much painting although I might just finish some late Roman Cavalry this evening, then I’m back down to London for a couple of days meeting up with some school friends. No games planned till later next week.

Thanks as always for your support

Matt


38 comments:

  1. Another excellent looking game Matt! Are you using 2nd Ed Bolt Action? I prefer Chain of Command myself. As for the British AT Rifle team getting taken out...What else could I say but "Oh Boys!"

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    1. Thanks Terry…..a bit old school here, I still happily use First edition, if it ain’t broken don’t fix it. The only change we use is when you lose more than half the unit from firing you can test to stay. I have been playing CoC for campaigns against George, our experience would show that only about 1 in 5 games are close and they frequently create very static battles. BA on the other hand 4 out of 5 games are close and frequently give fun and cinematic encounters. I enjoy both though in their own way.

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  2. Verily one is spoiled two of my favourite continuing run of games in the space of two days, a see saw of a game and no mistake, great stuff. Topped with more super outdoor photos too.

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    1. Thanks Phil they were played a week apart just the way blogging catches up. Glad you enjoyed 👍

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  3. How I love battle tables from your games!
    Looking amazing!

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  4. That was a superb looking game and a very tense encounter. I thought the home guard had won it for the Brits, but not to be

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    1. Thanks Neil it was a draw till the extra turn was rolled and then it all went to poo…..😂

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  5. I always enjoy your Sealion games Matt. Yes, it must be about time for a British counterattack.

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    1. I feel the Germans could be advancing and the British carry out a lightening flank attack to cut the German column ?

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  6. A splendid game, marvellous table and troops! But all topped by the landscape around you.

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    1. Thanks David 👍 a pleasure to play and share

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  7. Fantastic battle, good old home guard

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    1. Thanks Martin……old home guard…..dead homeguard 🙁

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  8. Lovely stuff Matt, your Seelowe games are always entertaining....the whole thing sounded very plausible too, I think we would have been hard put to defeat the Germans if they had won the Battle of Britain and been in a position to launch an invasion of this sort!
    In a nice juxtaposition, in a couple of weeks, a school friend of mine and his wife will arrive in NZ to spend three weeks holiday with us!

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    1. Thanks Keith……clearly my campaign is far from historical, if you are interested in the campaign Robert Forczyk has an interesting book which analyses the campaign

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  9. Another great Operation Sealion game there Matt, with so much eye candy to behold! Great to see the weather being kind for the visit of your old school friend too:).

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    1. Thanks Steve……I do like a bit of candy, although as people know it does have to be a real battle as well 👍, if you can pick your day the Lakes are lovely

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  10. A cracking looking and sounding game Matt…
    A knock about fight indeed…It was good to see the Home Guard getting some glory… however short lived.
    Beautiful scenic pictures as always.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly the home guard gave it their best shot 🙁

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  11. Great looking table and it seems like it was a cracker of a game, and the scenery is stunning, never tire of seeing them.

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    1. Thanks Donnie hopefully the weather will be nice next week as well ?

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  12. Wonderful game and real interesting photos of the landscape. Good balance to your activities.

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  13. Stunning table and equally stunning landscapes!

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    1. Thanks Jon , it was a good fight right up to the last turn 👍

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  14. Close encounter of the exciting kind Matt, great game.

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    1. Thanks George fun to play plenty more Sealion battles in the bank 🤔

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  15. Splendid looking game and sounds like fun, great looking landscape of course!
    Best Iain caveadsum1471

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    1. Thanks Iain plenty more of both to come 👍

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  16. Splendid game, Matt! Figures and terrain are lovely; as for rules, I still favor Bolt Action over others - for it's relative simplicity and fast-play.

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  17. Nice to see the campaign moving on Matt a hard fought battle for both sides. Damned unlucky for the LDV chaps.

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    1. Thanks Stu……..it would have been such a heroic move by the homeguard but it wasn’t to be 🙁

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  18. Great to see someone else using OS maps! - I’ve been doing the same: Here’s an image of the front around Folkestone at the early stage of a recent campaign: Red are British units, Blue German, plus a green counter, lower left denotes the 6th Falshirmjaeger near Lympne. Specific encounters for the tabletop are selected at random (unless it’s a significant engagement like over the airfield there) and then forces deployed on the relevant map square. How does your campaign work?
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/1QrXWRSHkoULezVt6

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    1. Thanks Alistair. Unfortunately I can’t see your photo ? Yes the map I have is I think from just after the war around 1948/50. I have tried to get slightly earlier but not has much luck (at a reasonable cost) in terms of campaign it is very fluid as I do not play it competitively rather an ongoing narrative approach. I have broadly mapped out the location of forces inline with the original Sealion plan. When I want to play the next battle I look at the map and identify a suitable narrative battle point eg bridge as in this point or cross roads or what ever. I then devise a balance scenario around that location with again some narrative content to the forces for example a recon force or in this case a coup de main force seeking rescue. The outcome of the battle doesn’t have any impact on the large campaign development. We are currently well into day 2 and at last count we have played in the region of 35 battles in the campaign. I have in my head a huge range of options and alternative scenarios and direction to take the campaign, I certainly don’t see it ending. I also have two linked but completely separate parallel campaigns which I haven’t even started, but they are for another day. I do have a number of different progress maps etc and one day……..I planned to write these up but I never seem to have the right moment. If you haven’t seen it then on my Utube site there is a day 1 summary video as a bit of fun, you may enjoy it ? Thanks anyway for checking in

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  19. Where are those British shotgun infantry from?

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    1. Thanks….i assume you mean the Homeguard figures ? A mix of Woodbine (from Gripping Beast) Footsore and a couple of others in there possibly ironclad I think.

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