Game 4 - Pont de Mouette - Defenders hit back

Yesterday saw the second half of the Pont de Mouette game. Prior to the start I made a request to Ted that Squad Member CA7 (who was at the bottom of the cliff) could equip himself with two of the satchel charges formerly carried by my SBS boss ' Blondie' Hassler who was out, injured. I was told that I could, but he reminded me that the relevant part of the special rules in place for their use started with the sentence. 'Use of Satchel Charges by untrained personnel is  NOT a good idea !'

However as I was down to two satchel charge equipped troops and had not even reached the bunker doors, I had little real choice.

At the start of the game Ted started playing an MP 3 of the 'Panzerleid' on his mobile phone (the song sung at the beginning of the film 'Battle of the Bulge'). This gave warning that the German Elite troops in the Underground barracks were now roused and could be deployed.

The Allied game plan was to scale the cliffs and assault the bunker whilst the support troops and Maquis assisted by rushing to our aid from across the Ford.

Here the Maquis and the motorised column approach the now undefended Ford.

The British Commandos and Airbourne  Units jumped into the trench sections around the bunker and the Para PIAT team fire at the inland facing blast door. Although the door was damaged the PIAT' s were not able to create a viable entry point.

More Commandos reach the Cliff.

At this moment a Tobruk pit at the end of the barracks complex activated and a hail of MG42  fire was brought to bear on the immediate para unit. This unit took losses and further further pins were added by the MG in the bunker. This caused the to take a morale test and retreat away from the bunker. A fluke response from the Para Unit at the other end of the barracks put paid to the gunner who collapsed back into the Tobruk pit.

The Commandos and Paras now encircled the bunker and the occupants were reduced to tossing grenades out of the weapon slits. The remaining Royal MarInes were by now swarming up the ropes along the cliff edge.

The HQ section made their way to the seaward door equipped with satchel charges under cover of darkness.

Typical! A roll of 1 meant that (according to our house rules)  the charge had not been correctly set and the result would be determined the following turn.

Meanwhile the arriving MarInes attracted the unwanted attention of a flame thrower that was housed inside the bunker. This obliterated the figures on the Cliff and gave what was left of the section 5 pins.  Immediately this attracted the attention of all remaining units in view who generated Fire orders in an attempt to suppress the units inside.

Unbelievable, a further roll of a 1 ( in effect a double 1) meant that the figures surrounding the blast door were located to the casualty tray as the errant sapphire fumbled his satchel charge and blew himself and his colleagues into the afterlife. This left my untrained  squadrons and a frame charge team (who were still at the bottom of the cliff) as the remaining teams with charges that could open the bunker doors.

Craig had, by now, started firing smoke shells to the barracks side of the bunker This enabled him to rally his decimated Paras and also gave cover to the second section who were securing the AA gun. The motorised column had also driven towards the complex from the Ford and was adding to the fire laid at the bunker.

Jo destroyed a second Commando Unit who had been hiding in the mortar pit and had thenn made an ill timed and careless move along the trench towards the bunker. In an attempt to Rally the troops Lord Lovat used his command skills as well as MP3 audio of 'Blue Bonnets over the Border' played by Piper Millen to rally the troops. ( On the Unit Roster 'bagpipes' was shown under 'Weapon' for Millen). The squirl/cacophony of the pipes only encouraged a further rendition of ' Panzerleid' from Ted and several Hunting Horn MP 3 tones from Craig !

We were only put out of our misery when Millen strayed too close to an aperture and paid the price fir his carelessness.

Here You can see the smoke rounds as they are blown towards the camera. Craig was lucky with the wind direction as it made maximum use of the smoke and impeded Jo's troops in the bunker.

Commando CA7 arrives at the door and, notwithstanding the strong advice NOT to use untrained individuals sets the charge. By some miracle he then passes the tests allowing the charge to detonate correctly the following turn.

A unit of American Special Forces dismounted from their transport and made straight for the ventilation intakes on top of the barracks.At the same time a flame throwing unit enters the trench section by the barracks.

The last turn saw the flame thrower fire into the aperture in the trench section killing the troops under the Tobruk pit.

At the same time the US Social Forces ked by All American Running Back 'Jim Brown' made his dash along the roof of the barracks dropping canisters into each of the air intakes. Jo was powerless. The barracks complex was blocked at both ends and the elite troops inside met a speedy demise as the canisters contained Hydrodgen Cyanide.

At this point we ended the game. The Allies had met their primary victory condition in not allowing the barracks troops to exit and leave the table. Although Jo still had troops in the bunker a breach had been made and it was only a matter of time before the garrison inside were overwhelmed.

The game was closer than it appeared. The troops in and around the bunker took a severe mauling. The problem for Jo was that his best soldiers were in the barracks and he either couldn't or didn't get them out. The smoke was a factor and the wind direction was certainly in favour of the allies. If it had been in any other direction then the units on the barrack roof would have been far more exposed to MG fire.

We all thought that the Bolt Action rules played well. They have variety and generate uncertainty. By using different die colours for the French, British Commando, British Airbourne and US you can place some constraints without compromising the feel of the game. Pinning is effective so much so that some units were laying down suppression on one MG post in order to inflict pins and reduce the effectiveness of the MG.

The next game will probably be the assault on the Chateau which takes place simultaneously to this game.

Back to painting

We had intended to continue with the Pont de Mouette game last Friday but unfortunately work has got in the way of enjoyment and the game has been postponed by a week. As a consequence I was able to 'lay down' some acrylic paint and reduce my lead mountain to something more like a small hillock.

I have been quite responsible in the recent past and have tended not to buy and 'store' figures  on a whim. That is, of course if you exclude my 10mm Pendraken Austrian army I bought at Salute !

As a result I am now down to my final batch of 'Armed Civilians' that I can use for Maquis, VBCW, ACE or Weird War depending on the circumstances. We are now using Bolt Action rules and I can be confident of fielding the following platoon sized unit in the very near future.

3 x Sections each containing a LMG, SMG and 8 Rifles
1 x Command Unit of 4 figures (plus VBCW flag bearers if needed)
1 x Anti Tank Section with Boys Rifle
1x Demolition/Sabateur Section of 4 figures with explosives

I am working on the basis that the Demolition Section effectively replaces a Support Section found in a more conventional Platoon/ Zug. The only thing I will be short on is vehicles so I suppose I will be trawling eBay for Lledo trucks next month.

This weekend I have managed to get 80% of the last section finished. On top of that I found a few 'spare' Artizan figures that I have painted. These include a couple of 'Naval' types one armed and one unarmed as well as the Artizan Priest and Cprl Millar figures. The sailors may get used in the next 'big' game when we play that in the early part of next year

If these aren't' t finished by Friday then they will be pretty close to it. At least the end is in sight and I am getting the satisfaction that I suspect most people feel when they finally ' finish' a unit.

I have started putting the occasional non combatant figure in the painting mix as well. These figures add life and spice to the table and can occasionally be a gaming distraction but the variety they provide whilst painting rank and file gives encouragement to finish the task.

I had been contemplating where to go next figure wise, but I think my arm may have been forced. One of the guys at work is in the process of clearing out his loft prior to moving and has ' found' what he describes as 'hundreds' of figures. From what he has said it looks like I will be heading to the Crimea with a load of Foundry figures in tow.

Still that may be the excuse I need to buy Black Powder even if I find it more difficult to justify the Vickers Mk CO Light Tank and BEF support.

Game 4 - Pont de Mouette - The Assault Commences

Whilst the Royal Marine Commandos start to scale the cliffs, the first unit of Paratroops is dropped from above, albeit a turn or two late. The first such 'stick' is grouped bang on target with the exception of the weapons canister which lands in a mined area covered in barbed wire. As can be seen below a Roll of 1 meant that both the canister and the unfortunate Para who had been volunteered to pluck it from the wire were removed from play.

More Commandos disembark from the landing craft. Further and repeated rolls of 1 indicated that the supposedly agile Commandos had fallen whilst scaling the cliffs. Jo's defenders were simultaneously cutting the ropes from the grapples at the top of the cliff adding to the injury count. Surviving soldiers are evacuated to the LCA.

More units of Paratroops land and head towards the barracks complex (foreground).
In the distance the British 3" mortars are now firing smoke to try to disrupt the activities of the 'Heer' troops in the bunker.

I would point out that Communications between the Para Commander (Craig) and myself had to be routed through the Umpire (Ted) using a notebook, as the Mk 38  Radio Sets we were using for communications within the game were deemed unreliable. A plethora of 1's (despite changing colours of D6 on several occasions)  meant that the only radio transmissions that were decipherable amounted to the ever helpful ' Climb the B***** cliff Nige ! and the response of  ' I can't, I keep falling off !'

After a second support canister was lost to a minefield a Para unit emerged at the far end of the Bunker and put paid to the mortar unit that had set up in the weapons pit. Finally Commandos started to reach the summit of the Cliff and localised superiority forced the few remaining German troops back into the bunker.

The terrain looks as awesome close up as it does from a distance.

The Paras started to take casualties from the MG nests in the bunker and sought cover in the dead ground at the bottom of the wall.

As dawn breaks the Paras are on top of the barracks complex and Commando and Paratroops have cleared the area around the bunker. In the distance the gliderbourne support troops have finally made it to the table with their Maquis guides.

The next game is planned for a week tomorrow. This was our first outing using Bolt Action rules and I think we were all happy with them. The predictability of IgoUgo has been broken and there is a clear advantage in keeping units in game, if only to maximise the order dice you have available.

Game 4 - Pont de Mouette - Opening moves

We are using the Bolt Action Rules with additional house rules introduced for the early stages of the game. These apply to things like Sentry awareness, spotting, paradrops, mine clearing and the  beach landing. This is the first time we have used Bolt Action and as there are three player (plus umpire) we have order dice 'in the bag' representing British, British Para, German and a solitary French die. As the French are partizans the fact that they are 'irregular' is reflected by the sole die restricting when they can be activated. I thought that was a good idea.

Mixed blessings for the Allies at the start of the night. For once the weather gods were in our favour and the SBS Kayaks had no problems with either wind or tide in making their way to the landing beach both on time and unharmed.

 

 Kayaks are scratch built by Ted.

It took only one turn for things to start going horribly wrong. Firstly the glider units landed safely (off table) but they were then incapable of meeting up with their Maquis Guides. The Allied heavy weapon support was therefore delayed for another 5 turns.
Secondly, the supposedly elite 'Expo' of the second SBS Kayak unfortunately detonated one of the mines attached to the beach defence he was trying to quietly defuse. The fact that he was also carrying two Satchel charges whilst he was doing this only enhanced the noise generated and alerted the otherwise comatose German sentries.

 

 The power of the explosion was sufficient to vibrate the tripod of this long range photograph! Attempts by Maj Hasler the SBS Commander to pass all of this off as the activities of an errant Seagull fail dismally.

 

 German troops slowly emerge from the bunker to investigate the unexpected noise. As they do so a landing craft emerges from the gloom and starts to disembark the Royal Marine Commandos equipped with Grappling Mortars

As the Royal MarInes disembark the first grapples are fired and the defending units emerge from the bunker.

Game 4 - Pont de Mouette RAF Raid

These are the results of the planned RAF raid to soften up the defences. In 1940's terminology I think the effects amount to 'naff all'!

Game 4 - Pont de Mouette, Recce Photos

Here are some of the pre game photos that Ted has sent. He has spent a fair amount of time building up the playing surface. The cliffs are 9in high.

This is the view of the Table  from the sea.  The bunker is on the right as you look and the barracks are to the left. the wooded area at the far end is where the Glider troops will come from.

Here is a closer view of the bunker complex as approached from the sea

In the foreground we have the barracks  and the bunker is to the rear

Another view of the bunker. The complex must extend underground. Craig and I have divided up the responsibility for dealing with these

Our plan has been formulated, probability of everything going to plan ? 1% if that

Game 4 -,Pont de Mouette

A lengthy period has elapsed since my last blog. Lets just call it real life !
The next game is called Pont de Mouette and it is scheduled for this coming Friday. The last few days have seen frantic exchanges of emails and new information being disseminated piecemeal by Ted.
I will post pictures of the new gaming table that Ted has built (which includes a 9 inch cliff face) as soon as I wrest the iPad from my daughter Ver 1.3  Impressive is an understatement, but more of that anon.
In terms of date and time Pont de Mouette is to be gamed simultaneously with Game 4 which is a covert mission into a Chateau.
For practical reasons we cant obviously run both games at once but this scenario has the ability to influence the Chateau game.
Situation
Whilst agents and Commando's infiltrate the Chateau a plan has been created by Allied Command  to neutralise the Bunker Complex on top of the cliffs at the Pont de Mouette.
The bunker complex sits close to the cliff face with seaward facing defences. Inland a smaller bunker protects access to he complex via a road that passes through a ford.
Information on numbers disposition and troop quality of the defenders are limited at this time (My Maquis spies have not yet returned).
Intention
It is intended to hold the Defenders within the confines of the bunker complex and to prevent them from reinforcing the Chateau.
Method
This will be a Combined Operation using Air, Land and Sea.
1) A Glider force including some heavier equipment will land, meet their Maquis guides and then travel overland to intercept any units leaving the Bunker and support the assault.
2) A seabourne  assault led by Kayaks from the Royal Marine Boom Patrol Detachment (RMBPD) will land on the beach at the bottom of the cliffs seaward of the bunker, clear the beach and facilitate a strike team of RM Commandos who will then scale the cliffs and assault the bunker.
3) Concurrently a force of paratroops will be dropped on top of the bunker and will assault it in conjunction with their RM comrades.
Three operations all timed to concide with a 4am start time - what could go wrong ..... Clearly the chief planning officer is in line for Chairmanship of the Guild of Village Idiots!
That being said Craig has the Para's , I have the Royal Marines and Jo has the Germans.
Cue feverish planning.....
This scenario is Bruneval meets Eben Emael meets Op Frankton meets The Dirty Dozen. I only hope that Ted misses the Tiger Tanks from Kellys Heroes