Storming the Hun II

[Storming the Hun II]

Signed up (1/50):

[EvilGinger]

This will be at Beer & Pretzels

2nd Lt Burton Joyce & his brave lads, following their success in Storming the Hun I,   are this time sent to take a larger more established Hun Strongpoint but are this time expected to hold it against a counter attack from their old enemy Albrecht Reiker can they do it?

& what surprises does the cunning Reiker have to throw at them?


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Some more developments

I now have the strong point more or less done it just needs some painting & finishing off

This will be held by  a Stalungs Zug (platoon) leads by Leutnant Herman Cole status II, a bugler & two runners, with four rifle groups of 8 men including two trained bombers lead by Gefreiter Ernst Weis Status I Gefreiter Walter Heart Status I Gefreiter Schmitt Status I & Gefreiter Paulus Status I respectively backed up by Victor Matus status I the platoon second in command with the platoons two maxim guns with eight crew.

2nd lieutenant Burton Joyce's lads will be as per Storming the Hun II & will be supported by the royal artillery and machine gun corps who will put a box around the objective on the firing of a flare by the lieutenant this will continue for ten minutes approximately to enable the defenders of the strong point to be subdued & 2nd lieutenant Burton Joyce to prepare for a possible counter attack.

The counter attack when it comes will be by Albrecht Reiker with his full counter attack platoon including his second in command the very able Gefreiter  Joseph status II & his lewis gun group. supporting fire will be provided by a battery of two grenatenwerfer off board who have been dropping practice rounds on the strong point from the main line trenches 250m to the rear and are more or less ranged in on any part of the place.


See what happens at Beer & Pretzels 22 14th & 15th of May


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Just to say that I am busy working away at the scenery for this & have come up with a cool idea for simulating barbed wire in 15mm without too much fiddly work, which I hope to post pictures off when I have done it I am also printing out Blinds for the game as my original set was a bit improvised & writing data cards of each big man and his command which I hope will make the game flow better especially as Storming the Hun II is a significantly bigger more involved game than was storming the Hun I


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

its 2am & I am up painting for Storming the Hun II dont tell me that I am mad I already know that.


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Second lieutenant Miles Burton Joyce's B platoon snook over the top just before dawn on a cold crisp October day in 1917 they worked their way stealthily across nearly five hundred yards of ruined farm land which constituted no man's land here abouts & took up positions about two hundred yards for the target designated the Parsons Nose a strong point consisting of a mess of trenches & a particularly large log and sand baged bunker dug into the crest of a low ridge, all about  three hundred yards in front  of the main German lines. Their job was to take this hold it once they had  & after last weeks small action the men's tails where up & they where going to storm the Hun again. Miles raised his very pistol and fired the red flare and he heard the distant patter of heavy rain as the Machine gun corps started to lay the box down soon it would be reinforced by the guns of the royal artillery forming a wall of death none would dare cross.


The forces

British

One platoon of infantry regular good morale owing to recent successes

German

One Stelungs Zug regular but with poor morale due to losing their best men to replace losses in the Eingreifstruppen Zug and being kept up repairing the wire every night for the last week or so.

One Eingreifstruppen Zug Regular reasonable morale as they are still integrating replacements after the pasting they took two weeks ago



The game

plays in two phases

1 the initial attack

Machine gun bombardment  box starts straight away with the first shells falling on the third turn of the blank card
Alerted by the start of the bombardment Lieutenant Cole gets one phone call off before the artillery cuts the land line The counter attack platoon takes up position to act as soon as the shelling stops.

Lieutenant Cole deploys his men who are of poor morale owing to losing all their best troops to the Counter attack troops after the loses in the last action & having been up most nights over the last week repairing the wire for the British to wreck it the following day with sporting fire
 
The Wire is mostly intact but check each section for gaps caused  by the harassing fire when spotted

Special rules
as the wire is likely to be fairly intact the British bomber section & rifle section have been issued with wire cutters allowing them to roll an extra d6 when clearing wire.

The Bombardment box will be held until the tenth turn of the blank card & Phase II will commence on the eleventh turn of the card

2 the counter attack & defence

Starts with the counter attack troops going over the top and the Grenatenwerfer battery opening up with The German counter attackers deploying in blinds on their table edge & continues until either the counter attack drives the British out of the Strong Point or the Germans give up the attempt

The HMG's deployed here under command of the platoon second in command are normal HMG's & dont get to use the HMG bonus fire card


Special rules
The Grenatenwerfer battery are practised at dropping rounds anywhere on the strong point so dont suffer a penalty in the first turn of fire but as they are of table they have a maximum range which doesn't extend past the strong point.

The HMG with the Eingreifstruppen Zug is a sharp shooter HMG & gains the HMG bonus fire card


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Scenery done figures done just need to finish off the cards & other bits and pieces & finish writing the scenario above & get it packed for Saturday. Hoping to be able to run on Saturday afternoon & Sunday & looking for players, who will be playing the British as the Germans are I am afraid the baddies in this one.

I think I am going to be hammering the Brown stuff with Caffeine in it again 


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Seems to be all done & I am taking advantage of a lull in the frenetic packing & the fact that the Brown Stuff with caffeine  in it is still working  to finish off the scenario & catch up with the burger bar which seems a little silent. I suspect because most of us are in some sort of frenetic preparation for Beer & Pretzels!!


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Ran two games on which I will provide more detail latter both of which ended with Burton Joyce's brave lads having cleared the Hun out of the Parsons Nose but pulling back when the barrage lifted because they felt they could not hold on to the position either due to casualties or being out of position.



 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

AAR

In both the games the British advanced under blind cautiously making best use of the areas of broken ground as the barrage picked up &  cut off the German defenders. Until they reached the first belt of wire where they stopped & checked the state of it as they advanced the German defenders of the Parsons nose peered groggily through tired eyes into the early morning but saw nothing, but the pater of the machine gun barrage & the increasing thunder as the guns joined it gave the lie to this.

At this point the two games diverged & I will describe them separately from now on

Game one

Checking the wire revealed three gaps in it one on each flank & on centrally but in the probable fire lane from the large bunker which dominated the right hand end of the strong point. Having advanced the platoon in two groups one under command of Sergeant Tutbury to the left & the larger one under the command of Lt Burton Joyce himself  to the right. A decision was made to avoid the gap probably covered by the bunkers fire lane and attack from the right and left through the gaps in the outer wire there

As they cross the wire the Right hand group are sported first the Lewis gun section who spot & exchange fire with the German.  section in the trench facing them. Then the larger party of Lt Burton Joyce his runner & corporal Tatenhill's riflemen where spotted as where the German section in the left hand trench fire continued to be exchanged with the British getting the worst of it with regard to shock but by causing more fatalities on the defenders than shock reducing the return fire that way. this went on for several turns whilst what turned out to be Corporal Doves rifle grenadiers moved up to the rear of the Lieutenants force & Sergeant Tutbury urged the Bombers under a blind forward through the gap in the wire on the left these the Germans in the bunker failed to spot and distracted the German section in the left hand trench from firing on the main group to the right. All the time no blinds card arrived & both sides failed to spot continually  for several turns as the German fire from a good defensive position drove the lewis section almost to the point of bottling out & severely shocked  corporal Tatenhill's riflemen as well as killing several of them.  Then what the Germans had hoped for & the British feared happened, the German blinds card came up & all the reaming Germans came off blind firing for all they where worth. A third rifle group in the bunker a fourth in the rear trench & worst of all the two maxim guns in the redoubt on top of it.

Bullets tore into the British & shredded the rifle section & the now spotted rifle grenadiers things looked very grim on the right but Burton Joyce lead well & his subordinates helped him hold things together. Attention shifted to the Maxim nest and methodically, ignoring the not inconsiderable volume of rifle fire coming from else where, it was reduced to the point where the remaining Maxim crew men lost their bottle & broke despite the  efforts of the defenders second in command & Leutnant  Cole  it only briefly returned to man its abandoned guns. The British then turned their combined fire on the depleted German sections in the two forward trenches & drove their remnants off though Leutnant Cole strove nightly to stem the rout it shook the group in the rear trench as the routers passed & holding things together proved too much for the tired officer. 

To Be Continued......

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

This left the Parsons nose held by one Group of eight tired man commanded by Gefreiter Walter Heart huddled in the bunker their rifles on the firing slits listening to the sound of the battle in which they had taken little part going wrong outside. There was a pause as  second lieutenant Burton Joyce & his subordinates pulled the frayed nerve of the right flank force together & prepared them to advance & urged on by Sergeant Tutbury the bombers approached the Bunker form the left in its blind spot. It was however taking too long Alf Rollaston's bombers stumbled forward as the lewis rattled off to the left keeping Leutnant Herman Cole's men running as the other men rallied. then the thunder of the barrage which had formed the backing track for the entire action stopped & it was horribly silent.


Every one stopped for a moment,  Alf Rollaston's bombers edged a little closer hugging the ground and avoiding the fields of fire afforded the Men huddled in the bunker then there was another sound the the distinctive wizzing sound of the German Grenaterwerfer bomb in flight & second Lieutenant Burton Joyce looked at his tired men & the holes in the ranks and fired a second flare signalling a general pull back & his brave lads fell back across no-man's land on the British lines leaving sixteen of their number behind.

Minutes latter Feldwebel Reiker & his men arrived to relive the frightened men in the bunker .....


Around the table every one shook hands & decided it was a draw but a good game

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

AAR Continued

Game two  
The British halted briefly & checked the state of the wire ahead this revealed several areas of damage & a distinct gap on each flank, given the possibility of there being a maxim gun fire lane  from the bunker the wire in the centre which might be covered by it was not checked as even if there was a gap it was too much of a risk to try to cross it under sustained Maxim fire.

The British having assesed the state of the wire



 Ginger