Village Games' Blog

I’M BACK…

It has been a while since my last blog entry, but by no means was it due to a lack of gaming at the shop. There has just been a lot going on for me, both at the store and at home. In any event, I have a backlog of pictures for entries so I am going to attempt to catch up over the next few days.

BATTLES IN AN ITALIAN VILLAGE

The other day we had a 15mm WWII battle using the Combat Cards^©. The scenario was a central Italian village in mid-1944. The Germans, with their infantry company and depleted assault gun platoon, were racing to get into defensive positions before the Americans arrive. The Americans, a Combat Team with a reinforced infantry company and two platoons of M4 Shermans, were approaching the village from a bad angle relative to the German’s advance. They were tasked with securing the village and thus protecting the flanks of the general advance.

THE SET-UP

The terrain table we were using had a very cool layout. On the eastern end (to the American’s right) was the village – a dozen or so buildings, small gardens and fields, hedges, low walls and such. To the west of the village (the American’s right flank) were rolling hills and a few scattered copses of trees.

The Village

In terms of objectives, we tried a rather novel approach. Several terrain features were marked as objectives with there relative value to each side based on the objective’s distance form that sides' table edge. For example, one objective was 12” from the American table edge and was thus worth 12 Victory Points for the Allies. The same objective was 36” from the German table edge and thus worth 36 Victory Points for the Germans. In total there was about a dozen objectives scattered in and around the village.

THE BATTLE

The Germans got off to a quick start, moving rapidly to threaten the American right flank in the village. The Americans, on the other hand, were playing it for too cautiously in the village. They weren’t able, or willing, to advance too quickly. On the American left flank, however, the armor and infantry swept through the hills in rapid fashion capturing several objectives along the way.

The American Right Flank

Then the fighting in the village turned vicious. The Americans were able to call in some artillery support (pretty much the only time all game they were able to call it successfully) which inflicted fairly heavy casualties – including one of the two assault guns. Form there the fighting degenerated into hedge-to-hedge and wall-to-wall fighting, along with brutal fighting in and around some of the houses. One house in particular changed hands no less than four times in some costly floor-to-floor close assaults.

The Americans Sweep Through the Hills

THE ENDGAME

The German commander did a masterful job to confuse and stymie the American armor coming out of the hills. Despite having an overwhelming advantage, the Americans were held at the western end of the village until the end of the battle.

The Battle in the Village From the American Perspective

The Germans also made a determined, albeit desperate at times, effort to push the Americans back out of the village but unfortunately for them the American fire proved too accurate and deadly for them to succeed.

The Germans Desperately Try to Dislodge the Americans in the Village

In the end the Americans held the advantage, as well as the lead in Victory Points, in and around the village so the game was declared a victory for them.  All players agreed though, that they had a great time and that a rematch would definitely be in order. I must say the Combat Cards^© really do give a great game almost every time, no matter what the scope and scale of the game. I always am left looking forward to the next game!

Well, until next time, enjoy the pictures…

Cheers!

Dan