We continued our Sicily theme by playing a small scenario based on the Battle for Centuripe, which was a good size for the three players that we had. Some background to the battle, as well as the scenario that we adopted for our game, can be found at this link:
Scenario and AAR : Centuripe, Sicily. 2 August 1943 – Trying the Front Door
The original scenario was originally written for the Battlegroup rule system, so we had to adjust it for the Flames of War V.4 rules that we use. The main adjustment was to the orders of battle. Battlegroup uses sections/squads and individual weapons teams as the basic maneuver elements, while FOW uses platoons, so we had to enlarge the units in our scenario. We also enlarged the playing surface by expanding the table a few feet to the south and east.
Objectives: The British are trying to complete the capture of the town of Centuripe by pushing out the remaining German defenders. The Germans are trying to regain total control of the town by pushing the British out of their foothold in the town.
Orders of Battle:
British — Elements of the 6th Inniskilling Fusiliers (Confident Veteran)
A Company:HQS: 2 command teams, with PIAT team, 2″ mortar team, and HMG team (to attach to any platoons)Platoon 1: 7 rifle/mg teams with satchel charges (see below)Platoon 2: SamePlatoon 3: Same
B Company: Same as A Company (in delayed reserve)
Recon Platoon: 7 rifle/mg teams
Independent Teams: 1 sniper team and 2 forward observer teams
2 X 25-pdr Artillery Batteries (off table)
2 X 3″ Mortar Batteries (off table)
German — Elements of Kampfgruppe von Carnap (Fearless Veteran)
Fallschirmjager (FJ) Company HQS: 2 SMG command teams
Independent Teams: 2 sniper teams and 2 forward observer teams
FJ Platoon 1: 9 rifle/mg teams
FJ Platoon 2: 9 rifle/mg teams (in delayed reserve)
FJ Recon Platoon: 7 rifle/mg teams
Tank Platoon: 2 Pz. III(J) tanks (in delayed reserve)
12.0 cm Mortar Battery (off-table)
8.0 cm Mortar Battery (off-table)
Fortifications: 2 HMG bunkers (see below), 2 fortified houses (see below), 1 boobytrapped house (see below)
Special Rules:
Satchel Charges: When a platoon has satchel charges, one team that is assaulting a bunker or a building may make a satchel charge assault instead of a normal assault. That team receives a +1 to-hit bonus in the assault. Satchel charges may also be used to make a breach in a wall between adjacent buildings, using the normal rules for breaching obstacles by pioneers.
HMG Bunkers: For this scenario, we modified the normal bunker rules. HMG bunkers in this scenario are hit on a 4+ roll.
Fortified Houses: The ground floors of any two houses are fortified. Any unsaved hits from ranged attacks against teams in the fortified portions of the houses must re-roll successful firepower tests.
Boobytrapped House: One house is boobytrapped, with the effect of a minefield. The British will not know which house this is until they enter it.
Terrain: We played on a 8’X5′ table with the long axis running east-west. The town of Centuripe occupies the table’s center, with a few houses extending along the road to the east. A large church is situated just outside the NW corner of the town. The town sits atop a ridge with a very steep southern slope that separates the middle parts of the table from the southern part of the table. Except for a few places where the slope is more gentle, infantry units can only climb this slope at half their normal movement rate. In the photos, the steep parts of the slope are indicated with pieces of brush that have no other effect in the game. This very steep slope also creates an area of dead ground below its rim that can only be observed from above by units that are on the edge of the rim looking down. The slope on the northern side of the ridge is more gentle and is no impediment to movement, but it is steep enough to create dead ground below its rim. Several open vineyards and orchards, and a tree line along the road near the church, complete the terrain. Finally, vehicles have to pass a Cross Check in order to move off-road.
Deployment: The deployment zones for the two forces were marked out according to the scenario map.
The German deployment zone extended across most of the western and northern parts of the table. This area included the large church, but no other buildings. German reserves could enter from any table edge in their zone.
The British deployment zone extended across most of the southern and eastern parts of the table, and included all of the houses along the southern rim of the town. British reserves could enter from any table edge in their zone.
Most of the town’s buildings were in a neutral zone between the two deployment zones. The Germans were allowed to place any of their fortifications in this zone and to occupy them. The German recon platoon and any observers could also be deployed anywhere in the neutral zone. After the Germans set up, the British recon platoon and any observers could then be placed in the neutral zone.
All of the German units were able to deploy at the start of the game, except for one FJ platoon and the Pz III platoon which were in Delayed Reserve (rolling to enter starting on Turn 3). The Germans deployed the recon platoon, one observer, and one HMG bunker in and around two buildings in the neutral zone on the eastern end of town. Five FJ teams deployed in the church and the other four teams of the platoon set up across the road from the church, occupying two adjacent fortified buildings in the neutral zone. The FJ company HQs teams and one observer team were in foxholes in the center of the German deployment zone (just outside the northern side of the town) along with one HMG bunker. A vacant house where the road entered the town from the east was secretly designated as the boobytrapped house. The two sniper teams were held off-table until needed, and the two mortar batteries were also off-table.
One British rifle company was in Delayed Reserve. The other British units were available at the start. The British recon platoon occupied two houses in the neutral zone on the western side of town. One observer team was in a two-story house on the southern side of town. The HQS teams of A Company, along with an observer team and one rifle platoon (with attached PIAT, 2″ mortar, and HMG) occupied two houses on the eastern end of town. The other two rifle platoons deployed in the fields to the southwest of town, at the bottom of the steep slope. The British artillery and mortars were off-table.
Opening Moves:
The British began the game by ranging in their artillery on the FJ teams in the church and on the recon platoon and bunker on the east end of the town, which pinned both targets. The British sniper deployed in the center of town and fired on the FJ teams in the fortified houses with no effect. All of the Germans then unpinned in their part of the turn, and the FJ teams in the front of the church moved to the back of the building to avoid the British artillery. The Germans failed to range in their mortars, and otherwise stayed gone to ground.
With the FJ platoon now split between the rear of the church and the fortified houses, the British recon platoon attempted to assault the four FJ teams in the fortified houses. Unfortunately, the British sniper missed, so the FJ were unpinned, and had 8 shots in defensive fire. Five of those shots hit, which repulsed the British assault with the loss of one team.
On the same turn, the British rifle platoon in the east assaulted the German recon platoon and HMG bunker. The recon teams were pinned by a repeat bombardment, but the Germans could still muster 13 shots of defensive fire (with 6 coming from the HMG in the bunker). The Germans scored 10 hits, but the British saved all but one of them. The British assault was repulsed, and the British were lucky not to have taken heavier losses.
After those two failed assaults, the British commander decided to let his artillery and mortars soften up the Germans before going forward again. Those indirect fire assets did their job, eliminating the HMG bunker in the center and taking a toll of the recon platoon in the east. The FJ in and around the church were less affected by the bombardment, as the teams in the church could keep shifting their positions, and the teams in the fortified houses were well protected.
The German mortars concentrated their fire on the British rifle platoon in the east, which lost a few teams to the bombardments.
The British Attack Resumes in the East:
On Turn 4, the British received their first unit from delayed reserve and brought a rifle platoon from B Company onto the eastern edge of the table. A successful “Follow Me” command moved this platoon to within assault range of the flank of the weakened German recon platoon, outside of the HMG bunker’s arc of fire. This assault went in and easily eliminated the Germans in the easternmost house. On the following turn, the British pressed the attack, until only two German recon teams remained. Those two teams then failed their morale check and excused themselves from the battle. The German observer team rapidly moved away from the advancing British and eventually found a new position in a foxhole near the church.
This left the HMG crew in the bunker as the only remaining German defenders in the east. This bunker was eventually taken out by an assault from A Company using a satchel charge. The assault move was conducted under the cover of smoke from the 2″ mortar, but that did not prevent one rifle team from being lost to defensive fire before the assault went in.
On Turn 5, a second British rifle platoon arrived from reserve, carrying B Company’s PIAT and 2″ mortar. It entered on the eastern edge and moved toward the recently captured houses in the east.
The Ordeal of a British Platoon in the West:
At about the same time, one of the British platoons in the west climbed up the ridge and moved across the road into the tree line and orchard to the west of the church. This platoon threatened the FJ in the church, but was itself exposed to German countermoves.
The first of those countermoves arrived the following turn in the form of two Pz. III tanks that entered the table on the western edge. These tanks drove down the road and machine gunned the British riflemen in the tree line. At the same time, small arms fire from the church, along with sniper fire, hit the British platoon. The British lost two teams and were pinned down.
On the following turn, the beleaguered British platoon failed to unpin, and could only dig in, go to ground, and pray for salvation. Those prayers went unanswered when the reserve FJ platoon appeared on the northern edge, and advanced through the orchard to threaten that flank of the cauldron. The fire from the panzers, the sniper, and the FJ teams was joined by a mortar barrage. British losses were becoming severe.
On the following turn, the British passed their morale check to unpin, and the three surviving teams then bravely ran for their lives, dashing back across the road and down the slope, into the dead ground below the ridge.
A Shift to the Center:
Rather strangely, up to this point of the game, almost all of the action had been on the flanks of the town, with very few units engaged in the center of town. This changed when the Company B HQS and the last British rifle platoon (with attached HMG) arrived from reserve and began climbing the southern face of the ridge. This climb would eventually bring them into the center of the town. At the same time, the two platoons from B Company — that had entered from the east — began moving through the vineyards along the northern slope of the ridge, toward the church and the northern side of the town. The A company platoon that started in the east was down to only the command team, one rifle team, and the attached PIAT, 2″ mortar, and HMG teams, and those teams moved into two houses closer to the center of town.
British artillery concentrated on the FJ in and around the church, while German mortars hit one of the British platoons in the vineyards to the north, and also hit the British recon platoon on the west side of town. These bombardments caused losses to both sides. The FJ teams in the fortified houses then seized the opportunity to assault three British recon teams that were pinned down and somewhat isolated in the center of town. Most of the British defensive fire was blocked by houses, so the assault went in. Unfortunately for the Germans, the assault itself did not go so well, and both sides lost teams in the ensuing close combat before it was resolved. A follow up German assault the next turn, which included the FJ company commander, was more successful, and the two surviving British recon teams pulled back and then left the table. The few surviving teams of the victorious FJ then consolidated back to the center of town. Finally, the two Pz. IIIs moved into the western side of the town via the road.
The British then committed a fresh platoon from A Company that had spent the entire game waiting at the foot of the ridge, near the western side of town. This platoon climbed up the ridge and assaulted the Pz. IIIs. Although the assault had no effect, the German tanks were forced to pull back, moving out of town to the west.
Conclusion:
At this point, the German commander could see superior British forces pressing in from all sides, and he was acutely aware that all of the British artillery would soon be focused on his remaining defenders. Although his reserve FJ platoon was still fresh and was now dug in on the reverse slope of the ridge near the church, he determined that the British were too strong for one platoon to defeat. He ordered the survivors of his force to break off to the NW and live to fight another day, with the retreat covered by the snipers and the fire of the mortars. Thus the town was left for the British to occupy, producing a British victory!
This was an interesting scenario, and our results closely mirrored those of the historical battle. The artillery and mortar fire of both sides played a significant role in the game, which was typical of many battles of WW2. In retrospect, game balance would have been improved if the Germans had been given one more FJ platoon to offset the British numbers — something to consider for next time.
The historical battle for Centuripe involved three battalions of the Irish Brigade advancing along three different axes of attack. The larger historical battle looks like it could be a good game for a large group of players. We may revisit Centuripe in the future.
- TJ