Having painted up the Greeks and with George coming to the dungeon for a game it was a chance to give the Greek/Italian 1940 project its first run out. The plan was to create some terrain which gave the feel of the rather desolate and often snowy Greek mountains in the winter of 1940. I wanted a theatre that felt and looked different to our games in Sicily, Norway or NW Europe. I’m also attracted by the limited impact of the Italian Armour. We’ll see how this develops as we go along.
For this first game the Greeks are all mountain troops so playing as Elite, they are outnumbered by the Italians who are supported by their characteristic 1940 Armour ! But the Italians of course suffer from some poor leadership which will make them hard to activate if they get pinned or lose any squad leaders.
In this battle the Greeks have set up a defensive position protecting a key road junction they are dug in on the surrounding hills with some strong defensive artillery. The Italians must break through to capture the road junction.
The Italians are supported by the Regina Aeronautica
But having dropped a single bomb in the first turn the Greeks are lucky to hit it early in the second turn !
Both sides now bring their infantry on
Italian infantry use the dry river bed as cover, whilst their armour ‘hide’ around the buildings ?
A second Italian tankette can be seen just beyond the infantry in the ditch
The Italians are slowly developing their attack and focus on knocking out the two Greek AT guns
With support from their mortar and their flamethrower tankette they achieve this, suddenly the way to the objective is open.
The flame tank leads the way, alThough each turn it has to roll to see it it’s fuel has run out it seems to have an inexhaustible supply ! It causes a lot of problems for the defenders.
As the battle develops the Italians drive forward with their infantry but with poor leadership they are held back by defensive fire, the tankettes though have broken through
The last Greek infantry has to regroup and make a desperate charge to assault the leading tankette they manage to get a grenade into the tank and it blows up, but them they are wiped out by the flame tank !
Both sides are now desperate to grasp the objective, both sides throw their commanders into the fray but the Greeks win the contest.
In the final turn the Greek antitank rifle knocks out the armoured car. More Italians rush for the objective and although they have the numbers they don’t quite have enough to claim a clear win.
In the end a fun and very close game despite the differences the forces balanced quite well. The look is getting there although I’m thinking I might need a different base cloth ? I do have some more rocky terrain to get painted up. Certainly great fun to get the Greeks out on the table.
Thanks as always for passing through the blog
Matt ❤️
A great first outing for the Greeks there Matt. Gotta love those little tankettes, perhaps I should get a couple for Spanish Civil War games?
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil , the tankettes provide a lot of fun, I might have played the flamer slightly overpowered as the bolt action rules are really set for a 1944 crocodile !
DeleteGreat game Matt. Nice to see this theatre and period on the table. And those little flamethrower tanks - tiny in real life too! There's one at Bovington - would be horrible to be one of the crew.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris, I’ve seen some footage of the tankettes and it’s hard to believe people actually fitted inside, certainly no space to move about, never mind one attached to a flamethrower !
DeleteThat was a great looking game Matt and nice to see the Italians holding their own in a WW2 game for a change....they very nearly did it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith, and yes part of the project was to give the Italians somebody to fight other than the Americans who always seem to overpower them, I do plan for some Italian Alpine troops to give them. Boost and some Greek regulars to balance things off
DeleteSuper looking game and a very enjoyable report, I had thought that the Italians were going to do it but great resolve from the Greeks, a fine outing for them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie I think you’ll find the Italian commander also thought he had it in the bag but then the Greeks fought back in the final turn 🙂
DeleteA different game to the WWII norm, so added interest from the off. The terrain is effective in evoking Greece in my opinion. The tankettes bring back memories of my Italians in North Africa back in the day!
ReplyDeleteThanks David, from my ‘limited’ reading so far the Italians chose not to send their better tanks partly due to the terrain and partly because they thought they wouldn’t be needed against the Greeks, so it appears it was mainly little tankettes mainly !
DeleteTerrific looking game!
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Many thanks Alan 👍
DeleteFlame tanks are terrifying. Cool game
ReplyDeleteThanks Martin, I might have over rated it slightly due to the rules and it wouldn’t run out of fuel until the last turn, it does suffer a minus one when hit though so might explode !
DeleteAlways good to see a different theatre. Like Phil I like tankettes. Nice plane too. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteStephen
Thanks Stephen always happy to share my bumbling gaming hobby 👍
DeleteAnother cracking looking game Matt. I love the look of the set up, can't really suggest much more, olive groves perhaps?
ReplyDeleteThanks Michael, I have been checking out google for pictures of the mountains in Greece, especially what they look like in the winter months, desolate is the best description. Some battle took place in significant snow so we will see that at some stage. I have planned to make a few more olive trees. I also need to paint up these extra rocky outcrops I have. I need to do a bit more reading around the conflict as well to understand the geography 👍
DeleteSounds like a plan. Did you ever see the work of Pat Smith over at Wargaming with the Silver Whistle. I loved his terrain and found his posts inspirational. The books are well worth it, but there is so much to glean from the blog itself. https://wargamingwithsilverwhistle.blogspot.com/2019/06/mediterranean-update-11-big-one.html
ReplyDeleteThanks Michael yes I was aware and think I’m following Pat’s blog , I’ll go back and check the blog. I certainly used some of his ideas for my Sicily terrain 👍
DeleteGreat looking game as always Matt!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal 👍
DeleteExcellent outing for your new recruits, Matt! This is a part of the war that I have rarely seen on the miniatures table. I have fought this campaign using boardgames (hex and counter variety) but never in miniature. Usually, we see the action on Crete but not so much on the mainland. Good stuff! Keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jon great to get something different on the table, as always it is a learning curve as I understand more about the campaigns in 40/41. Crete is an option as of course I have a lot of Fallschirmjager and if I ever do any Brits for Sicily I’m sure we might see them fighting in Crete. But really I was keen to see the Italians get some more table time, hence Greece.
DeleteReaders will have to wait a day or so for the real story 😉 Joking apart another thrilling game in the Dungeon on a lovely table.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing what those Italians thought 👍
DeleteMatt, this was a very well done representation of a what-if conflict during that Italian invasion. And the flow of the battle and it's outcome were pretty historical in my opinion. The greeks not only won due to their fierce determined defenses and the piss-poor Italian commanders, but also because the poor Italians were so ill-prepared for the horribly frigid Greek Winter. (One story I read of Italian troops butchering their mules just so they could scoop out the poor beasts' brains and place them under their helmets so that they could stay warm!) But the Italians at the man-level were very brave and tenacious soldiers and made the Greeks earn every victory.
ReplyDeleteFor the flame tankette, perhaps make them unreliable (for Bolt Action)? The older version of this rule was better I think whereby if the tank would take a pin for whatever reason, then double the amount of pins taken to account for lack of ammo, bad terrain, mechanical issues, etc. Might help make the little terror less effective and also be more historical - small bits I've read say the L3/33 Lanciafiamme tankettes had a really tough time trying to get about in the Northern Greek mountains and were not that effective.
Thanks Dai for your detail thoughts. I manage the Italians in BA by reducing their leadership but keeping their other statistics the same as regular troops. In this game as the Greeks were Evzones they were classed as elite which seems fair but obviously there were less of them than the Italians. I’m not sure I can model the donkey brain option though 😀 as for the flamer it did provide a lot of fun, in my 1st edition rules it runs out of fuel on a roll of a 1, this didn’t happen until turn seven I think. I think I mentioned the stats appear to be for later 1944 flame tanks so the range and impact is probably too much but it was fun, next time I might reduce the range slightly and potentially increase the chance of it running out of fuel. Of course if I’m playing Italians I may delay implementing these changes 😀
DeleteHa! (Would love to see your take on the donkey brain thing tho, just saying LOL)
DeleteAnd of course, if my waffling in your comments section is at all annoying, please for cripes sake let me know and I'll stay schtum. I just get excited sometimes when I read posts on topics I'm enthused about. :)
Your thoughts are very welcome Dai nice that you have a real knowledge and enthusiasm for the Greek/italian conflict 👍
DeleteHi Matt, nice to see your Greeks move straight from the painting table into action. The high ground gave some interesting restricted lanes of fire and movement.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norm, I think of it as difficult mountainous terrain cut by ravines and such like ?
DeleteThat's a brilliant looking game Matt. The troops and terrain really look the part.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray 👍
DeleteGreat looking game and figures of a rather neglected theater. I have a gaming buddy whose Greek ancestry father fought in the Korean War. He actually said his dad was more wary of the Turks than the N. Koreans.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean, I guess the Korean War is a whole other project waiting to be gamed ? By somebody at least
DeleteA great game and a good first outing for the Greeks
ReplyDeleteThanks Neil 👍
DeleteLovely looking game, unusual phrase ,the tankettes have broken through! Spanish civil war is tempting!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain lol I guess the Italian tankettes have some advantage as the Greeks don’t have any armour. Luckily we played the Greeks with antitank grenades/rifle grenades so they were able to knock at least one out.
DeleteAn interesting game and theatre. Very lucky on the part of the Greek forces to down the Italian plane in only the second turn.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lawrence ….a lucky shot indeed, needing. 6 to hit me a 6 to bring it down !
DeleteMarvellous as always Matt. Taking out the plane (Fiat CR.42 Falco?) early on was a boost for the Greeks!
ReplyDeleteThe look of the game is excellent indeed. I'd be happy with the look, but since you are 'searching', would a white mat/sheet with dry brushed grey/brown areas produce the snow and mud effect you are after?
Best wishes, James
Thanks James yes a lucky hit on the aircraft, and yes you spotted it right a Falco CR 42. Certainly I think a new mat would just bring a little extra , I’m on the look out for something which would work ?
DeleteNice to see the Greeks getting an outing... wonderful stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks Stu 👍
DeleteSplendid game there Matt and nice to see the Greeks and Italians in action:)! From memory the tankettes struggles with the terrain, frequently breaking down and frankly not suited to action in the mountains. Still, we all love to get them on the table as they look so cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve , I have read the Greeks certainly captured quite a few but yes they are so cute they will probably get quite a bit of table time in these battles 🤔
Delete