Italy 1944 - South of Rome

SCALING UP

Doug and I recently played a game of Blitzkrieg Commander in 15mm. He wanted to try a game with more emphasis on the infantry action, and I hadn’t broken my 15’s out in a long time.

I was the Americans, and Doug was the Germans; the scenario was set south of Rome in the late spring of ’44. The Americans had reached a small village which they need to quickly pass through to open the road to Rome. The Germans are fighting a delaying rearguard action.

The game started out fine with both sides opting to rapidly close with each other. The German’s seized the best ground first and set-up their positions. The Americans, despite their sluggish mobility, did mange to make some headway into the German positions.

The wheels came off the German wagon. Rolls started going against the German commander on every part of the front – troops would move, could find targets or would set their pizza down apparently!



It was looking very bad for the Germans, when they started to finally turn things around. Artillery started raining down on the American infantry creating havoc. The German tanks (Panthers) and tank hunters (Hetzers) were effectively keep the US armor at bay. And the German infantry began taking key terrain features to stall the American advance.

Unfortunately it was a little too little, a little too late. The Americans were eventually able to break the German force and make them retire to new positions farther north. All in all, it wasn’t a bad game. I would definitely be up for another in 15mm again soon!

Until next time…

Cheers!

Dan