Nous avançons .. on y va!!

There was a chance. It was an outside chance, but it was still a chance. The Bosche had not yet reached the river. They could still be held. But Colonel Chandonnet had to reach the river. His brigade group had to get there, and get there fast. Division has even reinforced him with an extra battalion of infantry, and two tank squadrons, but he had to get there. He had even been given support from one of the division's battalions of 155mm guns to suppress the Bosche guns, But he had to get there. 'We are advancing... let's go!!

The second WW2 Spearhead outing in a week, again set in France in 1940. The battle was a mutual encounter, both sides using their defend lists. 

Keith had chosen a force of three dismounted motorised battalions and a reconnaissance battalion  (from a Panzer Division OOB) with a battalion of 105mm guns in support.

My French force was drawn from a Light Mechanised Division OOB, three infantry battalions reinforced with a fourth, a squadron each of H39s and S35s, a battalion of 105mm guns allocated to the right flank battalion, and one of 155s tasked for counter battery fire. 

The French plan of attack, advancing from the right of the picture

The French right, 1 Battalion advances supported by the squadron of Somua S35s centre of the photo

6th Cuirass manning the S35s

The German reconnaissance battalion raced ahead and grabbed the large town in the centre of the French advance. This was critical to the game, shaping the entire battle for the centre despite the relatively low combat effectiveness of individual stands. You can read some of Keith's pre game thoughts on the use of the Panzer Division recce battalion here.

The lead motorcycle elements of the recce battalion take the town

The heavier recce elements can be seen advancing towards the town, with the French advance woefully short of the objective at the bottom of the photo

French 2 Battalion to the right of the town in reserve, and 3 Battalion to the left. 3 Battalion has advanced to block the recce exit from the town.

The S35 squadron occupies its objective

1 Battalion advances, the plan to hook around onto the objective at the top of the photo, occupied now by German infantry platoons

The French H39s, held off table in reserve are committed to counter attack the German advance in the centre hoping to cut off the recce battalion in the town. 3 Battalion is preparing to counter attack into the town at the right edge of the photo. At this stage the battalion turns out to be green.

Something  of a 'buggers muddle' as the H39 Squadron advances through the deployed 47mm AT gun company

4 Battalion advances on the French left

Three platoons of 3 Battalion attack into the town, are suppressed by fire, and all eliminated. These are critical casualties for a green battalion.

The H 39s continue their advance, now through the AT gun line

1 Battalion on the French right puts pressure on the German left

German infantry cross the river and apply pressure on 3 Battalion in the centre

A change of orders is successfully rolled for 4 Battalion on the left, and they advance on the German right

The German left advances towards the French right 1 Battalion, a firefight develops. Fire support from the French 105mm artillery battalion helps

3 battalion in the centre takes casualties which force a morale check. They fail on a '2', and are removed from the table as being combat ineffective. This leaves the H39 squadron unsupported and left holding the centre

1 Battalion on the right is winning the firefight, and the German infantry starts to pull back.. German infantry casualties are mounting

The German recce emerges from the town to threaten the flank of 2 Battalion

H39s in the centre feeling lonely

4 Battalion is creating pressure on the German right. However its own right is threatened by the German centre, now freed up after the demise of French 2 Battalion

We had to call the game at that stage. My allocation of support to the infantry had created problems, but perhaps the silliest mistake I made lay with 2 Battalion. They had advance onto the board taking up a position in reserve in the wood. I had planned to be able to commit them left or right depending on where the greatest opportunity lay. However I stupidly fired with the battalion mortar on the advancing German  recce battalion, thereby putting the French battalion into a 'defend' stance. This removed my flexibility to commit them to the battle when and how I needed. While I had the Regimental commander with the battalion to increase the chance of rolling an order change, this was still tough. It meant that I ceded control of the battle for the centre to the Germans, a critical mistake.

However without doubt the most fascinating aspect of the game was Keith's use of the recce battalion. By grabbing the town (in a very recce Battalion style) Keith shaped the entire battle for the centre. It was a great illustration of one of the many strengths of Spearhead. The actual combat value of a recce battalion is low. As they say however, 'it ain't what you've got but the way that you use it'. My assault on the town was prompted by the fear that there might be a FAO with the battalion able to bring down German 105mm fire, which is very effective. As it turns out, there wasn't a FAO with the battalion. Just goes to show....

Another outstanding Spearhead game.

Les Boches, Les Boches.. ils sont arrivee

Textbook. Absolutely textbook. The instructors at St Cyr Academy would be proud. A textbook deployment in defence. High ground dominated. Interlocking fields of fire. Battalion reserves. Flanks protected. Ils ne passerant pas.,, the Bosches will not pass.

The setting is northern France, April 1940. Our first WW2 Spearhead in over a year, and the first outing for the new 6mm French army, fighting Keith's German army (both modelled from the Heroics & Ros range).

Keith's force was modelled form a Panzer Division (a panzer battalion, a recon battalion, a motorised battalion, and a mechanised battalion), while mine was from a French infantry division (three infantry battalions, an independent tank battalion equipped with FT17s, and artillery support).

The French plan was to hold positions behind the river, and support the open left flank with the independent tank battalion which was held back off table in reserve  and available for commitment on command. All of the French units are 'Random' morale, that is their morale is determined when they first come under fire.

The German plan was to hold on the left with the motorised battalion, and probe down the right flank with the recon. The Panzer battalion was held off table in reserve ready to commit down this flank dependent on the situation, while the Gepanzert battalion was held in reserve off table in the centre, and so available to commit dependent on the situation.

The battlefield looking from the south. The French positions are on the left facing east. The Germans attack from the right (the west).

The French right with refused flank

The German motorised battalion advances against the French right

The French left

German recon advances

The French independent tank battalion was deployed behind the French left in reserve awaiting orders to advance and protect the flank.

The German recon battalion pushes forward attempting to bypass the French positions

Recon advance

The German left (motorised battalion) advanced and took up a holding position in front of the French right

The French reserve is committed in order to hold the flank

The recon motorcycle platoon pushes forward, with the armoured car components of the recon battalion supporting.

The FT17s engage the advanced motorcycle platoon

The motorcycle platoon takes fire and is suppressed

German recon elements call down fire from a supporting battalion of 105mm guns. They suppress and kill two platoons of FT17s. The battalion turns out tom be Regular

The German artillery fire immediately drew counter battery fire from French 155mm guns tasked with CB support. One German battery was eliminated in the first turn of CB fore.

The motorcycle platoon is suppressed again

French 105mm guns suppress the SP artillery support on their right (the German left)

The German Panzer battalion is committed against the French left, the recon having established that the road was only held by the independent tank battalion of FT17s

The French FT17 battalion is reduced to below half strength and withdraws from the battlefield (fails its moral check)

With the French armour eliminated the German recon pushes forward again, in advance of the German armour

The French plan was fundamentally flawed from the outset. Leaving the left open with only the armour to counterattack from reserve was clearly NOT the best thing to do. In addition I had laboured under the (mistaken) belief that independent battalions could only change orders when they individually spotted enemy. This is clearly wrong, but memory is a damned unreliable thing, and that's a commentary on how long it is since we had played any Spearhead games. Had I got that right, I may have attempted to counterattack with one of the infantry battalions.

The choice of four artillery battalions supporting the infantry in the army list composition phase may (or may not) have been the right thing to do too. My rationale was that given the lower AI factors of French infantry, they need plenty of support if they are to hold against the German counterparts. I also rarely ever leave home without some sort of counter battery capability - I have suffered under the impact of German 105mm and 150mm artillery before - devastating!!That may have worked had my deployment and overall plan have been more robust.

However regardless, this was still a good game. It was great to flex the 'Spearhead muscle' again.

Indulging our creativity in our hobby

I would never really describe myself as creative. I have never developed my ability to draw, or sculpt, for example. That said, I played music in my younger days (the violin, and then the viola.. and I was quite reasonable at it), and of course I have painted miniatures since 'I were a yung laad'. I guess that counts.

On top of that, in my professional work as a school leader I have lead our kura to a school vision to be a centre of creative excellence, recognising the importance of creativity to our capacity to be human.

Our school vision, writ large at our main entrance.

That said, I love nothing more than the creative challenge of creating interesting things from rubbish. It is enriching, invigorating, and most of all challenging. When Lorraine presented me with the empty reals from some ribbon she had used in her own hobby craft work (she is an amazing and prolific knitter), I relished the challenge of what to do with it. I am not one of those creatives who conceptualises things , sketches them, and then creates. Rather, I will take 'bits', and literally 'play' with them, shuffle them, hold them against other interesting bits, play with them to see what I can come up with.

The ribbon reels 'au natural'

After lots of 'playing around, I added them to a few paper towel rolls/cardboard tubes. I could se was piece of wargames scenery, from one of those dismal dystopian worlds, a chemical complex making deeply noxious poisonous 'gloop'. This would be ideal for HotT (Hordes of the Things) games set in the Weird World War 1 concept.

The basic cardboard pieces

I wanted that 'industrial' or 'steampunk' look, which in my head means rivets. So I took some heavy paper, and punctures rivets into it. The idea was that if glued to  the 'towers' and vats with the indentations facing inwards, I could create the raised profile of rivets.

Black paper strips with the indentations created.

The first strip glued to a tower.. I often do this with a single piece as 'proof of concept'

I also rummaged though my spares box looking for 'bits' that I could use to create detail on the components of the industrial complex.

Include din the detailing was the use of old Bic biro ink tubes, and the plastic sprues from old kits, to create some pipe work.

Oh, and there was a ladder...

I painted the 'towers' before assembly. A red brown coat over a black undercoat, with steel grey 'stipple' over the top

In addition to the strips that were 'joiners' of the sections of the towers and vats, I also used the same 'rivet' technique on an irregular rectangle of card to look like a'patch' on one of the towers.

The pipework was given a pseudo industrial look

The open vats (the inner parts of those ribbon spools) were filled with 'No More Gaps' to create the 'goop' that filed them. I also added a piece of an aquarium plant. I wanted the idea of a mutant plant grown because of corruption from the chemical goop that was being produced at the plant.

The goop was painted in greens, layered up from dark to light green to add light back into the terrain piece.

The new inductrial complex placed alongside an earlier creation made again from 'rubbish' (a piece of packaging, and a ping pong ball

The finished piece, with steam/smoke rising from one of the vats

Goop leaking from one of the vats

A mutant plant growing form a large spill of goop from one of the open vats

The terrain piece with a couple of Weird World War 1 pieces, the left a behemoth tank created from another 'ribbon reel'

With some 40K orcs

And with 40K mutants

And with some HotT 20mm Orcs

So this is me indulging my creative urges.  find this absorbing and relaxing, engaging and immensely satisfying. I love this stuff.