The Kingston Bunker Rats ran their annual "campaign" this weekend - a series of games in 3 rounds of linked scenarios with several tables for typical battles between Normandy & Rhine.
Oakie & I played in one scenario in round 5. It was a two player a side scenario based loosely on the Falaise Gap. I had the Brits coming on the near side of the table, Oakie the Yanks coming on opposite. The Germans had some troops in the town, most on the road down the far end & some delayed reserves coming on from the left. The Germans gained VPs by getting troops off the LH edge. The Allies gained VPs by killing or trapping Germans.
Only half the Allies were on the table to start with, the rest in scattered reserve.
Things started badly for the Allies when the Germans dropped an ambush of 4 88's near the village & it was all down hill from there. The Allied air came often enough, but the Germans dripped with AA & they did little. The Allied reserves came as slowly as possible & usually in the wrong place. By the time the 88's had been dealt with there were 2 big pussies & a horde of MkIV's in position that far outnumbered the Allied armour. So the Germans outgunned the Allies from the start & picked off their reserves as they came on.
Smithy's army choice & skillful deployment of the 4 88's in ambush at the start had the game won before it started. The resemblance of the scenario to the real Falaise Gap situation was tenuous at best - it was really a turkey shoot for the Allies, not the Germans. Even if the Allied reserves had arrived sooner it's difficult to see how they could have won this unless the Germans played it badly w - which in this case they certainly did not. It's hard to love a scenario where you feel doomed from the start.
The Bunker Rat's tables were as always magnificent, though the FOW campaign system used is pretty ordinary - it's hardly a campaign if there's no strategic map & no overarching strategy. It is just a set of vaguely linked scenarios. The only strategy being some flexibility in allocating support units in each round.
This is a view of the Falaise Gap from the Allied ridge in 2011.
This is a Tiger still where it was abandoned when it ran out of juice facing the Canadians a few km north of Falaise.
2 comments:
Beautiful tab,es for sure!
Nice tables but agreed on your assessment. Falaise should be a hard slugfest for the Germans not a turkey shoot of the Allies. Allies should have firepower dominance especially artillery and airpower.
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