Kursk! Another game of Battlegroup

 Last night I went to the club again for a game of Battlegroup. We are sort of just figuring things out, doing assorted games from the scenarios in the books. This time it was a Soviet attack from the Kursk book. 

Situation: 6 T34s were going to smash up some German armoured cars and beat up a platoon, then some T70s would come on, then 2 platoons of infantry. Germans would get some StuGs and another platoon of Panzergrenadiers as reinforcements later also.

I have only played Russians the one time. I did not use their special rules much. This battle lent itself to using the Stahl Stahl! rule - spend 1 order, roll 1D6 and move that many tanks a double move then have a free suppressing shot at the end. We didn't do that at first. We sat in the woods with six T34s and just took pot shots across the open. On turns 2 and 3 our six T70s (represented by other models) entered the table and charged up the table edge, risking off table 88mm shots in an attempt to take the village, which was an objective, and had been taken by some German armoured cars. 

We also charged some of the T34s across the ground, while leaving one troop on ambush fire in the woods to smash the StuGs when the arrived. Our mortar fire was constant on the Pak 40s and we managed to kill one and maintain solid suppression on the other. 

We also pulled two air strikes which didn't do much.

This was the troop of T34s who sat on the edge of the woods the entire game. They killed an armoured car first thing though.

This were the rough positions at the end of the battle. The two burning soviet tanks were actually knocked out by the Sdkfz 251 armed with a 37mm cannon hitting side armour. The StuG at the bottom ended up getting taken out also. 

These two armoured cars were destroyed also and we took the objective. In the end the Germans had suffered more casualties and were closer to their breaking point and we called it a night. The next move was to lumber our 2 platoons of infantry onto the table and slowly advance them across the table to be shot to pieces. 

It ended a marginal Soviet victory. I think we had armies that were too big for an evening game like that. 300-500 points is probably the sweet spot. 

This was one objective marker. A cool little diorama. 

So I am still convinced that 15mm is the way and I will be working towards building some armies over the coming year. 

Oh no! Or, making previous blog posts redundant...

 Last week at the club (yes I actually went) I had the absolute pleasure of playing Battlegroup with a group of people. They let me roll some dice, even though I wasn't actually involved in the planning. I was happy to just rock up and be there, watching. A few of the guys recognised me, I made a point of going over and saying hi. One of them even commented about how I had managed to get permission and day release. Classic. I cracked wise about how I would come for a few weeks and then disappear again for another year. 

The "Oh no!" from the title boils down to this. The game of Battlegroup was played in 15mm AND I LOVED IT. The miniatures looked good, the terrain looked good. The asthetic of miniature size and table size worked really well. I messaged my brother of The Players' Aid fame and he commented about how 15mm is the sweet spot in terms of how it looks on the table, what you can fit on the table, and still being fun to build and paint. 

Last year he sent me some assorted 15mm spares that have sat in the bottom of my storage area. Well, I opened them up this weekend, looked at possible basing methods, spent the entire weekend umming and ahing about buying a box of 15mm Brits. I will try and get for my birthday. 

Here are some poor images from the game. 

We played a scenario from Italy that was historically a poorly planned British attack across open ground that resulted in high casualties and a retreat. Well...this time art imitated history. It was a bloodbath. The Brits gained most of their successed from pulling two air attack counters, and the pre-timed barrage. British started bottom right, off the photo. Germans deployed all across the rear, with some in the farm, the Pantherturm in the woods, along with a squad of Germans, and some more overlooking the burning vehicle objective in foxholes. 

As Brits we were going to charge up the right, get into the woods and try to roll up the flank. But while charging across the open, they just got totally bogged down and shredded. The 2nd British platoon came on on turn 3 and tried to sneak along the bottom edge of the table and enter the woods (you can just see the feld edge). But once in the woods, they 

I am happy to not purchase BG Italy yet though. Oh, it was a print on demand copy and the paper quality was definitely worse, but I will just have to accept that when I get around to buying it.

The Shermans basically all got knocked out where you see them here. 

Pantherturm at the back there was the MVP. Killed two of the Shermans. One died to a Panzerfaust and the other died to a mine strike.

Conclusion - I am clearing out and sorting my hobby area to make room for 15mm figures and terrain. I am also consolidating my 20mm collection down. I have a bunch of pre-loved vehicles I was going to restore...14 years ago, infantry I haven't really touched either. I think I will get rid of a bunch of them. Last summer I bought a bunch of 20mm MDF ruins and started building them. They take up space and I'm not even sure I will really use them now! Turns out 20mm is not my thing anymore. Maybe for Chain of Command, but I plan on basing my 15mm figures to be playable for both Battlegroup and Chain of Command. 

Can I play Battlegroup in 20mm?

 Well, I might have the chance to actually play Battlegroup in 20mm (never done it, even though it was the original plan back in 2014). So I dusted off my figures and BG Overlord to find out what I have. 

Turns out, I can put together a British platoon plus some change. Every other nation is a little lacking and I might take steps over the year to fill in heavy weapon crews and paint some more figures. I can field a platoon of Germans, but the LMG teams are moving, rather than set up...okay in a pinch I guess. 

I will look to perhaps marking the edges of bases to identify which figure belongs to which section/squad.

They are a mix of PSC and Revell figures. The Revell figures stand taller, but at a glance you can get away with it. Or, I can at least.

The games will get a little repetitive though, with just a platoon and an extra section. I will look at my armour at some point, not sure I can field entire troops, but can do individual tanks.