The next D&B latest game was the battle of Goch-Calcar Road in February of 1945. The battle took place at the beginning of the British Reichwald attacks launched to start of operation Veritable. I chose the scenario, as it would flip the tables and allow the Germans to attack during late war. I did not have must luck in seeing half track formations in the attack in the earlier games, so I hoped this would fix that. So I would not have to pull out other stuff, I chose to stick with the Canadians and Germans. So, I got to the shop a little late and rushed to set up the terrain.
I organized the forces before the game, starting with the Canadians. I had expected a couple of other players to show up with the Germans, but that did not happen. So, I did the best I could with the German forces with what I brought. I ended up using a battalion of trucks to represent a motorized Panzergrenadier battalion, but we do what we have to do!
I had four players, so that gave each side equal players. The Canadians had a late reserve, so I figured I would be covered if I had another late arriving player. That ended up being the case, but one of my original players had to go early, so I was able to plug him there.
The Canadian force represented reinforced elements of the 4th Lorried Brigade. It included three infantry battalions and support from part of the MG battalion. The formation was supported by three regiments of 25lb artillery. All the elements of the brigade started in the center and rear of the table. The force would receive a late arriving infantry tank battalion late in the game.
The German force would represent two kampfgruppe. The first was a Panzergrenadier Regiment of two battalions (both motorized). The second would include an understrength Panzer Battalion (I had to replace the Panthers with Tigers and the PzIVs with Stugs), and Gepanzert Panzergrenadier battalion (I had to replace the 251s with 250s) and an understrength motorized Panzergrenadier Battalion (truck force!). The Germans were supported by a battalion of 105s. The motorized KG started on the board, with the other elements arriving on turn two.
The Canadians started with two of the three towns in their possession. The winner would be the side that controlled the most towns (out of a total of three) at the end of turn 10. The first seven turns would be night turns and visibility would limed to engagement range (6″). Starting on turn eight, visibility would be extended to thirty inches to reflect he heavy overcast conditions.
The Canadians set up first. Two battalions had to set up forward in positions holding both towns. The remaining forces had to set up somewhere along the back table edge. This would allow the Canadian players to have some control over their reserve and how to employ it. All Canadian units started the game entrenched.
The Germans started with the infantry KG in the far corner. The panzer KG would then enter from the far corner. This would enable the Germans to grab one of the three towns early and then try to pincer the other two towns. However, this also meant that their forces were separated.
The game started with the Germans moving forward and securing the first town. They then continued to the center town. The Canadians decided that offense was the best defense and sent their reserve straight at the attacking German flank to try to trough back this force and then turn on the later arriving KG.
The initial Canadian assault went well, throwing the forward German battalion into disarray and causing it to withdraw back to safety to reorganize. However, the second battalion has enough juice to throw the Canadians back in turn (helped by some nice die rolling).
While this was all taking place, the panzer KG arrive and started its attack against the Canadians holding the two towns. The motor battalion moved into a jigsaw and was thrown back with heavy casualties (concentrated mass 25lb artillery fire was the main reason for this. However, the two mech forces made short work of the defending Canadians holding the rear town.
With things turning against them, both flanks of the Canadian brigade started to pull back against the advancing Germans. The reserve armor failed to arrive in time and it was clear the Germans had won the day and the Canadians threw in the towel.
Another solid play test! This was the first game we got to get a good test of the rally rules, with both players doing so. We also got to see what happens when a formation tried to regroup within attack range of the enemy (bad as one would expect). There is still something off on vulnerability of defenders that needs to be tweaked. I had hoped the defensive advantage of command points would offset this by allowing more fires, but this does not “quit” work. So, one more tweak!
- Manteuffel