Back again

D'oh! So I haven't updated for a while. As can be seen, I'm not very good at following things through. So I haven't got round to building Blitzkrieg Commander battlegroups for the invasion of France 1940, or finished (or even really started) building some early Anglo-Saxon and Romano-British armies for DBA in Dark Age Britannia. Never mind. New year, new start and all that.

So, a quick list of things I want to do this year, more for myself as a reminder to see them through...

• Explore the alternate history of 'A Very British Civil War', a fictional conflict arising from the refusal of Edward VIII to abdicate in 1936. This would be a good way to explore the history of my hometown, Middlesbrough. Whilst not much to look at now (trust me!) it was once an important industrial town in the North-East of England. From this heavy industry background we can easily imagine unions and Communist parties protesting when Oswald Mosley's government supplies General Franco's Fascist armies in Spain with Teesside steel. Blackshirt thugs and royalist army units are sent in to break the strikes, and the violence rapidly escalates... civil war comes to the North Riding of Yorkshire! This un-civil conflict will feature such imaginative fictional factions as the Communist rabble of the Popular People's Liberation Army of Teesside, the Fascist thugs of the North-Eastern Division of the BUF Blackshirts, along with royalist regular army units from the South rushed up to quell the insurrection. But help is at hand, for the dashing horsemen of the Tyne & Tees Yeomanry have declared for parliament and the people, and ride to their aid against the Fascist thuggery!
• After reading 'An Improvised War' by Michael Glover I have been inspired to brush away the dust from some more of the lesser-known and obscure corners of the Second World War. The campaign in East Africa of 1940-1941 has always been overshadowed by events in France, Greece and North Africa, but by all accounts it was a remarkable campaign featuring all manner of weird and wonderful colonial units and irregular forces. This book is without a doubt essential reading for this theatre, and would be a wonderful addition to any amateur historian's book collection.
• Start and finish a small collection of Dark Age Britannia miniatures to represent Anglo-Saxon and Romano-British armies for DBA. When time and money are stretched thin, it would make sense to get into a wargame that doesn't require many figures and takes less than an hour to play a game to a satisfying conclusion.

Journey into the Dark Ages

I've given in to impulse, and decided to dive into a new wargame and a new period. The wargame I've chosen is De Bellis Antiquititatis, a very well-known and popular ruleset for wargaming the ancient, classical and medieval periods of 3000 BC to 1485 AD. I have heard it to be a simple and fast playing game, which is one of the reasons I have allowed myself to be distracted by it. DBA armies are relatively small and inexpensive, as each army consists of 12 elements (an element being several figures fixed on a stand) and usually comprises about 50 figures. It also plays very fast, with a single game taking around 45-60 minutes. Coupled with a 2ft. square play area, this allows for quick pick-up-and-play coffee table games when I don't have the time or resources to set up a Blitzkrieg Commander scenario. It also gives me the opportunity to explore other period of history that I perhaps would not have looked at otherwise.

On a whim I've decided to focus on Dark Age Britannia at first. Post-Roman Britain was a turbulent time of invasion and uncertainty in the wake of the departing legions, with Britons, Saxons, Norse, and Picts claiming portions of the land as their own. It was a time of warfare and heroes such as the semi-mythological Arthur. Sounds interesting? Yeah, I thought so too!

Tying in with my WW2 theme of localism I looked to my hometown of York's own rich history. York was a significant fort and city under Roman Britain (known as Eboracum). After a decline when the Romans abandoned the isle, York was revived as the capital of the Kingdom of Northumbria, and then later occupied by the Vikings (as the city of Jorvik). York retained it's significance into the Middle Ages, becoming the ecclesiastical capital of the Church of England in the north.

The period that most interests me at the moment will be a few decades of the 7th century, focusing on the life of Oswald, king of Northumbria. Those of you reading this who know my middle name, may be interested to know it is to this king that I owe it. I think it helps to have a personal connection to a collection, to give you a driving motivation. Oswald was regarded as one of the most powerful warlords in Britain during his eight year rule, promoting the spread of Christianity in his kingdom and has come to be regarded as a saint. My initial DBA collection, as I imagine it, will consist of Oswald's Northumbrian host, the rival kingdom of Mercia, and the Britons of the Welsh kingdoms, by whom he was slain in battle.

SAXO03 Early Saxon Medium Infantry w/ Spears by Splintered Light Miniatures

To get my collection started I have ordered three packs of 15mm Early Saxon spearmen from Splintered Light Miniatures in the US. I am very impressed by the photographs on their site and the friendly and prompt responses from David, the owner of the business, to my queries. I am a little bit wary of starting this though, I haven't painted a miniature in over a decade! We'll see how that one goes when my new toy soldiers arrive...

AAR: Action at Otta

28th April 1940

The game has been played now, we didn't track the time it took us to finish it (about 2-3 hours I think) but we were quite pleased with the results! Unfortunately we didn't have a camera available and so you'll have to close your eyes and imagine the scene.

Most of the terrain was improvised at this point, simple blue, yellow and orange paper shapes arranged to represent rivers, roads and BUAs. The scene was a wooded river valley running North-South, with a road running each side of the river. The BUA representing the town of Otta was at the Northern end of the valley, by a fork in the river. The two branches ran to the South and East of Otta, and were each bridged where the road crossed them. The valley was lined with patchy forest and woodland, and we added a few small copses to the valley floor to break LoS and offer some cover for movement along the roads.

I played as the British defenders, and deployed one rifle company on each of the Eastern and Western walls of the valley, overlooking the two road approaches to the town. The third company was deployed at the Southern edge of Otta (one platoon in the BUA, two dug-in across the bridge), along with the 25mm guns. My CO was North of the town to my rear, with the 2IC in the town centre. My 3 Boys ATR upgrades were shared equally between my rifle companies.

The Germans approached in two columns on the road on either bank of the river. The Western column was the stronger of the two, with both an infantry formation (HQ, 3 Infantry, MG and light infantry gun units) and the armour company with the engineers. The Eastern column was commanded by the CO himself and comprised 4 Rifle and an MG platoon, accompanied by the FAO.

The first few turns were pretty uneventful for my side, as I waited for the attack to hit home. The Germans pushed the tanks up the West road at speed, followed by the engineers and infantry while the infantry gun set up behind a small wood to provide indirect fire support. The infantry on the East also moved up towards to the town as the FAO climbed the valley sides for a good vantage point. Two consecutive scheduled strikes from the German 105mm, and a Stuka attack caused no significant damage but kept the troops in the town occupied, while an attempt to move the Rifle Coy. on the Eastern spur into a better position to enfilade the advancing infantry column failed miserably, as my command units were too far away.

As the Germans approached the town the tanks and MG platoon provided covering fire at the infantry fanned out for an assault on the bridge and the engineers wheeled to push my Rifle Coy. from the high ground on their flank. In turn 3 the Pzkpfw VI Neubau was knocked out by concentrated AT fire (pretty historical) and as they moved within range the German infantry began to take casualties. Once they had moved into position however their superior firepower began to take it's toll; the Rifle Coy. on the Western spur eventually succumbed to close assaults from the determined engineers and were driven from their commanding position on the flank of the tanks' advance, and the Coy. on the Eastern spur engaged in a brief firefight with the Germans before being destroyed in a spectacular display of fire superiority. My line South of Otta took a beating and lost a platoon to cleverly concentrated fire from the indirect gun volleys, the tanks and MG fire, so I pulled the surviving forward platoon back into the town to cover the bridge approach.

The decisive moment of the battle came when my brother rolled snake eyes, and with the extra bonus action finished the Rifle Coy. in the woods on the Eastern heights and took the river crossing North-East of Otta, threatening my CO and rear. I had to detach a platoon from the South end of the town to hold off this outflanking attempt, weakening my defense of the bridge in the South and a Pzkpfw II and some infantry forced their way into Otta. As my defence collapsed I reached my breakpoint and withdrew from the field.

Technically the Germans didn't occupy the town but I had been decisively beaten, and looking at the situation would have had difficulties disengaging. 1st Battalion The Green Howards had ceased to exist as a cohesive unit, and Gruppe Pellangahr took control of Otta that evening.

Me and my brother played this game in a friendly manner, as this was the first head-to-head attempt with the Blitzkrieg Commander ruleset there were a couple of rule application that we forgot, or got wrong, or weren't clear on. We just came up with a common sense interpretation and got on with it.

Overall I am very pleased with my choice of rules, the game had a good flow to it and has left us itching for more. Much enjoyment was had today, and I hope you have enjoyed visualising the on-table events as much as we did when playing, although my incoherent ramblings must make it difficult! Perhaps next time I'll have a camera ready to give you some eye candy. My next steps will be to craft some more visually appealing terrain, some hedgerows and roads, and some counters to represent suppression and dug-in units. Not to mention expanding my miniatures collection to cover the 1940 campaign in France; I need Matildas, more Panzers, and most importantly some French... allez!

Prelude to action at Otta, 28th April 1940

So it's been a while since I've updated this! Sincere apologies to anyone who is vaguely interested in my ramblings, but I've been otherwise occupied and waiting for the right moment (and for an opponent!). But now my brother is on his way to York, my figures are painted and I'm happy with my research into the first action for the Green Howards. This will be my first 'proper' game of Blitzkrieg Commander, I've had a quick solo bash at it (phrasing!) and was pleased with the outcome, even if it was fairly inconclusive. I will alter the OoBs a bit to more accurately match the historical circumstances, and to make it a more exciting game.

The scenario takes place during the invasion of Norway in 1940. Our action takes place in the Gudbrandsdal valley, north of Lillehammer. Here the men of the 15th Infantry Brigade made their stand against the combined arms force of Gruppe Pellangahr, under complete German air superiority. By the time of the engagement with 15th Bde., Pellangahr had already all but destroyed the 148th Bde. over a few days of fighting in the region of Lake Mjosa. 148th Bde. comprising 1st/5th Royal Leicestershire Regiment and 1st/8th Sherwood Foresters had relieved Norwegian positions at Biri on the western shore of the lake, and were engaged by German units even as they moved into position, and were forced to retreat to Lillehammer and beyond by a series of outflanking moves by German infantry. Incessantly harassed by the Luftwaffe, they made their final stand at Tretten Gorge where they were shortly overrun, leaving 706 officers and men killed, missing or captured.

15th Brigade was detached from it's parent unit, 5th Infantry Division and embarked for Norway on 15th April. The brigade comprised 1st King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 1st York and Lancaster Regiment and 1st Green Howards. They were a regular army unit but were lacking in motor transport, artillery, and ammunition which had been aboard a cargo vessel sank en route to Norway. They did have one company of anti-tank guns, 25mm Hotchkiss guns from the French. Arriving in Andalsnes on 23rd April as 148th Bde. were being driven out of Tretten, they took up defensive positions at Kvam 55km south of Dombas. 1st KOYLI held out for two days against Pellangahr's tank, air and artillery attacks but after being threatened with encirclement they evacuated their positions and fell back through Kjorem, where the 1st Y&L had prepared the next defensive line. On 27th April this second position came under heavy attack, and after holding for a day the British were forced to withdraw once again. They fell back through Otta 20km to the north, where it fell to 1st Battalion Green Howards to make a determined stand on 28th April. Less one company who were at Dombas, the Green Howards none the less defended Otta tenaciously, inflicting heavy casualties on the advancing Germans including three tanks knocked out. So stubborn was their defence that when they retired that evening the Germans made no attempt to pursue.

Our scenario today concerns the action at Otta. I have been using the Osprey Campaign guide Denmark and Norway 1940: Hitler's boldest operation by Douglas C Dildy and the Hyperwar online resource, The Campaign in Norway by T K Derry, as my references for the historical background.

Map of the action from THE CAMPAIGN IN NORWAY by T K Derry

As I haven't found an exact order of battle for the day of the attack on Otta, I've somewhat improvised what seems accurate to me, and what I feel will provide a challenging first game. As the British lack artillery and anti-tank weapons except for one platoon of 25mm guns and Boys rifles, it will be a tough task for them to repel the German advance which is spearheaded by two early panzers and the fearsome 'land battleship' Panzer VI Neubau.

With the following OoBs, I have tried to list the forces in generic terms, should any other gamers wish to recreate this scenario with their own preferred set of rules. Following each entry I have also given the forces in Blitzkrieg Commander terms, which is the ruleset I will be gaming.

British Order of Battle

1st Battalion, The Green Howards

Battalion CO (CO Command Value 8)

Battalion 2IC (HQ Command Value 7)

3 x Rifle Coy. (9 x Regular Infantry stands, 3 ATR upgrades)

Bde. ATG platoon (1 x 25mm ATG stand with truck transport)

German Order of Battle

Gruppe Pellangahr, 196th Infantry Division

Gruppe CO (CO Command Value 10)

Recce Infantry (1 x Recce Infantry stand with bicycles)

Panzer Coy. (HQ Command Value 9, 1 x Pzkpfw VI Neubau stand, 1 x Pzkpfw II stand, 1 x Pzkpfw I stand)

Infantry Battalion (HQ Command Value 9, 9 x Heer stands, 2 x MG stands, 1 x le.IG-18 stand with draught horses)

Pioneer Coy. (3 x Assault Engineer stands)

Artillery Battery with FO team (FAO Command Value 7, 1 x 105mm artillery stand [off-board], 2 x pre-registered HE assets)

Air Support (1 x Ju-87b Stuka, 1 x ground attack asset)

1/144 Panzer VI Neubau

Look what came in the post today.

This is a 1/144 scale miniature of the experimental heavy tank, Panzerkampfwagen VI Neubaufahrzeug. Five of these multi-turreted 'land battleships' were deployed in the 1940 German invasion of Norway. Built for infantry support, they mounted a 75mm and a 37mm gun coaxially in the main turret along with two modified Panzer I machine gun turrets mounted fore and aft. This particular model has the Krupp turret with the two main guns side by side, whereas the Rheinmetall design utilised an over and under configuration.

The 1/144 scale appears ever so slightly larger than the 10mm Pendraken German tanks I have, although I don't have them to hand for a comparison. The Neubau will need to be mounted on a base to match the rest, but it measures just shy of 50mm long so I'll probably have to cut a base from the 50mm square ones (the rest of the Panzers are on 40mm by 30mm bases I think).

This miniature completes my German battlegroup, Gruppe Pellangahr. Hopefully the rest of the German infantry and support will arrive from the painter and I'll be able to get cracking at some wargames!

Hiatus

Just a quickie to remind myself my blog is still here! There haven't been any updates for some time because of financial obstacles, however the wire has now been breached and I have placed my Pendraken order for the miniatures for Gruppe Pellangahr.

So hopefully this blog will advance to contact soon and I'll have some after-action reports of tabletop battles in Norway 1940. Watch this space!

Gruppe Pellangahr

Gruppe Pellangahr is a German battlegroup for the Norwegian campaign of 1940, using the Blitzkrieg Commander ruleset. No pictures yet, but I am preparing a large Pendraken order to build this battlegroup ASAP, funds permitting! Thanks to input from the BKC forums, I am confident in the historical accuracy of the Gruppe, whilst also working within the points allowances and restrictions of the rulebook to give a balanced force.

Gruppe Pellangahr was made up of elements of the 196th Infantry Division and Panzer-Abteilung z.b.V.40 (z.b.V - zur besonderen Verwendung - for special utilisation). Pz.Abt.z.b.V.40 was a battalion sized unit formed from the 3rd, 4th and 5th Panzer Divisions comprising three light tank companies. Total strength amounted to 45-50 armoured vehicles, mostly of the Pzkpfw I type with a few Pzkpfw II. A unique element attached to the unit was Panzerzug Horstmann, comprised of three Pzkpfw VI Neubau prototype heavy tanks. Attached to 196th Infantry was one zug from 1.Kompanie under the command of Oberleutnant Preiss, with two Pzkpfw VI Neubau, three Pzkpfw II and three Pzkpfw I.

196th Infantry was a 7th wave infantry division, comprising 340th, 345th and 362nd Infantry Regiments with 233rd Artillery.

Gruppe Pellangahr

Norway 1940

Gruppe HQ: CO (CV10)

196th Infantry: HQ (CV9)

Recce Infantry with bicycles

9x Heer

2x MG

7.5cm Infantry Gun with horse limber

3x Assault Engineer

Pz. Abt. z.b.V.40: HQ (CV9)

Pzkpfw VI Neubau

Pzkpfw II

Pzkpfw I

222nd Artillery: FAO (CV7)

105mm Field Artillery

2x HE Assets

Air Support: Ju-87b Stuka

Ground Attack Asset

Playing at the scale of 1 unit=1 platoon this represents an infantry battalion from 196th Division with supporting units. The artillery and ground attack assets represent pre-registered strikes in a deliberate attack scenario. This battlegroup will be the opponent for my British infantry battalion, based on the blocking actions of the British 15th Infantry Brigade in Gudbrandsdalen, Norway 1940.