Arnhem Bridge - Part 1

I've started work on recreating Arnhem Bridge and the surrounding area captured and defended by John Frost and the paras during operation Market Garden.

Overhead view. North at the top. Bridge just off picture in the centre off the southern edge

The buildings I'm using are what I had to hand from several different sets of brigademodels.co.uk buildings and are not exact replicas for the originals.

Aerial view. Bridge to left. Road running through the centre left to right

I intend to base the buildings separately from the terrain so I can use them elsewhere.

The area covered isn't actually that big but there are about 100 individual buildings here.

The bridge is scratch built and has taken about 5 hours so far. It's not my best work but I'm just doing it for kicks really.

I'll probably game the battle to recapture the bridgehead but its likely to be a one off. I don't think the fight will be particularly exciting. The Germans are going to win but they are going to get badly hurt in the process.

I'll post more once I've painted the buildings and created a base.

Keep gaming. Charles the Modeller

Heights and their effect on the battlefield

I’m working with some friends to produce a set of WWII war game rules and I've written about our approach to activation and actions before. We’ve now drafted some rules for hills, heights and depressions that we think reflect the impact that height and height differentials have in battle and we’re seeking feedback on the approach.

The game we have developed could work at any figure and unit scale but is primarily designed for use by smaller scale miniatures at 1 stand represents a platoon and using the battalion as a manoeuvre group. Ground scale is flexible but is in the 1” is 50 -100 yards range.

The rules we have drafted are as follows; 

High Ground

Height advantage in AHLL is based upon the difference in height between two the opposing units or formations. Each change in ground height is referred to as a tier. A battlefield is likely to have multiple hills or ridges, some of which may have multiple tiers. When applying the high ground advantages, it is the differential in unit height which is important, not the height of the hill.

1st Tier benefits

• Units can see 6” further providing that light and weather conditions allow.
• Direct fire does not suffer the long range to hit penalty (the penalty to hit infantry at long range still applies)
• Units benefit from cover when direct fire is targeted at them, even if they are in open ground.

2nd Tier benefits

• All the benefits of the 1st Tier
• Units can draw a line of sight over Linear Terrain features, such as hedges and walls
• Disguised/ Dummy formations are detected and removed if they move to within 24” of any unit or formation on the tier. Genuine formation counters still deploy at 12”
• Any FO or HQ calling in supporting indirect fire or aircraft rolls twice and selects the highest result.

3rd Tier or higher benefits

• All the benefits of the 1st and 2nd Tiers
• Units can draw a line of sight over Tall Area Terrain, such as woods and villages, providing the target is at least 6” beyond the furthest edge of that area terrain
• Indirect fire controlled by a FO or HQ unit gains a bonus to hit reflecting improved spotting and fire correction.

Depressions

Areas of terrain below the general height of the battlefield such as depressions or perhaps riverbanks and beaches below bluffs, limit sight in and out of the depression. Depressions no matter how deep have only 1 level.

Units within the depression cannot see units above them unless these units are on the edge of the depression, and vice versa. Units on the edge of the depression benefit from the 1st tier height advantages.

Blocking Line of Sight

Higher ground has a number of impacts on drawing a line of sight to units on a hill.

• Higher ground blocks line of sight.
• Units on the rear slope of the highest tier of a hill may be declared as hidden by the controlling player. Units forward of these units may not draw a line of sight to them, nor call in fire targeted on them, and vice versa.

Firing at Units on Higher Ground

• Units may fire at visible targets which are on higher terrain as long as their line of fire does not pass through another unit which is within 2” of that higher, target unit.

Heights Example

An American tank formation is on a low hill (tier 1) looking down a valley. Below the tanks a German mechanised formation is attacking a village held by American infantry. Beyond the village the ground rises sharply up a larger hill (tier 2). A formation of German tanks is deployed on this hill.

The American player measures the range and finds he is at medium range against the German infantry and long range against the tanks.

The American tanks have tier 1 advantage against the mechanised formation. In this case providing cover to the Americans against any direct fire from that formation.

Should he fire at the German tank formation, the Germans gain the benefits of tier 1, granting cover against the American tank fire which remains at long range.

The German tanks however have tier 2 advantages over the American infantry defending the village and tier 1 advantage against the American tanks. German tank fire at the American tanks would be treated as at medium range and the American tanks would not be regarded as in cover

Feedback please

What do you think?

Does this adequately reflect the impact of height?

Is it too complicated?

Have we missed anything?

Keep rolling those dice!

Charles the Modeller

Arnhem Second Lift - Battle Report

A short while ago, over two consecutive Friday nights, the AHLL group fought the battles around the dropzones at Arnhem on the 17th September 1944. The was a major play test of the rules system we’ve been designing and the chance for one of the group to filed figures he’d painted years ago but never fielded.

Here’s what happened!

Both sides got the following briefing.

Background
It is the second day of Operation Market Garden, September 1944. The first drop of British paratroops landed yesterday but things have not gone to plan. The north end of Arnhem road bridge has been captured but only a small force managed to reach the bridge. The rail bridge was blown by German defenders who are more numerous and better organised than expected. Urqhart is missing presumed dead or captured and the radios aren’t working so nobody knows what is going on and allied air support is uncontactable. Whilst the parachute brigade tries to battle towards the bridge to reinforce Frost’s command, the glider borne troops must hold the landing grounds to enable the 2nd lift due this morning to bring the division up to almost full strength. The Germans rush everything they can scramble and attack!

Arnhem 2nd Lift Map. North at the top. Each overlaid square is 12" by 12"

We got the table put together and organised the forces the night before. Before any figures went on the table it looked like this.

Looking north over the Neider Rhine with Renkum in the near ground and gliders from the first drop on LZ-X

1 inch on the tabletop represented 100 years and each turn about an hour.

The battle is pretty big with lots of formations on both sides. Some of the British battalions were very large and given the size were split into several formations to reflect the operational approach taken on the day. Some of the arriving troops were down scaled in size to support playability.

British Briefing
You must hold the three key landing grounds DZ-Y where paratroops will jump, LZ-X where two glider formations will land and LZ-S where another glider borne force is due. Out of nowhere German units have appeared and they are attacking! Fortunately they don’t seem to have too many armoured vehicles – but there are a lot of infantry!
Push the enemy back, destroy any AA units you see and hold the landing grounds!
Initial British Forces
4 formations infantry with armoured jeep support. Very limited artillery support off table.
2 are veteran, two are regular, jeeps adopt quality of unit they attach to.
British Reinforcements
The British player dices for the arrival time of the incoming troops starting at turn 5. Whilst all forces historically arrived together for the game they would be split. The supply drop by Stirling’s was excluded from the scenario.
Airlanding Turn 1
DZ-Y in the first turn the airlanding begins. 3 Bns parachute troops.
Airlanding Turn 2
Elements of air landing brigade, gliderborne, 1 bn on LZ-X
Airlanding Turn 3
Elements of air landing brigade, gliderborne, 1 bn on LZ-S
Airlanding Turn 4
Elements of air landing brigade, gliderborne, all land on LZ-X

German Briefing

Harry the enemy! Hit him and hit him again. The British are due to land more troops this morning. Your best chance is to hurt them before they can organise. Grab whatever you can get your hands on, anybody who can carry a gun and attack! If the enemy lands you must hold the line.
German Forces

7 infantry formations, 1 veteran, 3 inexperienced - two of which are badly officered. Some off table artillery and limited air support. The Germans also had a number of AFVs an AA units available to cross attach.

Game Duration and Victory Conditions
The game ends at the discretion of the German player as long as it is the end of a turn. It may finish no earlier than one turn after the arrival of the last British airborne forces.
At the end of the game points would be awarded for removing or killing ground units with Brits counting for more than Germans.

The Brits had to beat the German score.

The Game Itself
We had 4 players and so split 2 German and 2 Brits. I was one of the Germans and so this report will be heavily focussed on the German view of the battle.

The table all laid out looking south from the north table edge. Drop zone DZ-Y is the lighter patch on the near right

Initial placements saw the British place their troops in DZ-Y and LZ-X. The Germans came on from along the north and western table edges.
Pretty soon the Germans had begun skirmishing around DZ-Y. This would be the location of most and the bloodiest fights during the game. 

First Contact!

The Brits deployed to cover LZ-X but leave LZ-S virtually undefended!

The Germans pushed closer and closer!

DZ-Y comes under attack from the north.

The British rolled really badly for the arrival of their reinforcements. Whilst the Germans just kept on pushing.

German infantry pushing the Brits hard

The Germans attack at LZ-X!

The Germans begin to make inroads - British losses mount, the heaths begin to burn, flanks are turned.

Where oh where are those aircraft?

One part of the SS Wach Battalion has had enough. You can just see some of it disappearing on the left.

The British get stuck in at LZ-X. It turns out that half the British force on the table has been pinned in place by the SS Wach Battalion 3, a formation that could be argued is the worst unit fielded by the Germans on the western front. It doesn’t take long and they break and run. LZ-X is secured.

Here comes trouble! 3 battalions of paras!

Finally the airlift arrives. Bang on time historically, but maybe a bit late for the Brits?

The sky fills with parachute canopies

Watch out for the burning heath!

We call the other landing zones. Landings at LZ-X would be unopposed, whilst landings at LZ-S were clearly going to be very badly chewed up. The Paras landing at DZ-Y were going to have to fight!

And they fought very hard.

Very hard indeed.

And we called it - a German victory.

Aftermath

Looking back on it I think the British players should have done a few things differently. The placement of their troops was very conservative - understandable given the size of the enemy they were facing, but it didn't create any challenge for the Germans. Greater use should have been made of detachments further forward - vulnerable to be sure - but this was a game about holding ground to buy time. 

I don't think the Brits were aggressive enough, particularly at LZ-X. This allowed the Germans free rein over their concentrations on the battlefield and allowed us to attack with numbers where we wanted.

The Brits appalling dice rolls for the arrival of their reinforcements clearly didn’t help and given the historical situation it was very tough for the Brits to win. They did better on the day than the British players did and Arnhem was still lost. 

All very easy for me to say - most of my units (SS Wach I'm looking at you!) routed off the board.

However, the game played out very well, the rules stood up well to the playtest and both sides enjoyed it. The game looked amazing and we’d all be happy to give the scenario another shot.
Enjoy your gaming!

Charles the Modeller

French Village and Town

As I mentioned in my last blog post, on the various scales in use on the tabletop, I prefer to use buildings on a smaller scale than my figures. As I spend most of my time with 6mm or 1/300 figures I go for 2mm or 1/1000 scale buildings. I love the designs from Brigade Models who have a wide and growing range to choose from.

I am in the middle of painting and basing a scarily large number of buildings, including Russian villages, city blocks and a pick 'n' mix selection for Frost's defence of Arnhem bridge. I'll post on those another time.

I'll start with some shots of a Normandy/ French village and expand it to become a small town. The buildings come from a range of sets including the Normandy village, Railway and English village sets by brigade models. I placed some very confused Russians by Adler and GHQ, on 32mm by 32mm bases, in the photos to give you a sense of size.

I have based the models on plasticard that is cut to multiples of the base sizes we use in the AHLL rules we're designing. This way we know exactly how many units can benefit from cover and concealment in any given town or village. It also allows me to change the village configuration easily and means we are not fighting over the same village every time it comes out.

The walls are strips of 1x2mm plastic cut to size, the trees are scratch built using twisted copper wire and  coarse turf foam foliage. I cover the base with a very thin smattering of Basetex, dry brushed several times and finished with a brown inkwash.

By adding more models I turn a village into a town. I've included some terraced houses and the factory set, including the large power station from Brigades industrial buildings.

Again all the models are based on multiples of the miniatures base sizes.

Here's a view of a game, with the Germans trying to defend a town (very successfully actually) with models placed in and on the town.

I'm still finishing off more buildings which I'll use to expand the town further and upgrade it to a city. When I'm done I'll post more pics.

Happy gaming!

Charles the Modeller

In wargaming and terrain its all a question of scale

I’ve always had a thing about the size of buildings on my battlefields. About 20 years ago I built a scale model of the battlefield at Waterloo at a scale of 1”:100 yards. I was using 6mm Adler figures, with 12 of them representing an infantry battalion and 6 for a cavalry regiment. I’d used balsa wood strips to make the buildings, which were placed on the board at ground scale. It’s fair to say both La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont were small. 

One of the players had 1/300 scale models he’d built and painted of both buildings. He suggested we use those instead. But they were huge, compared to the battlefield. You could have fit a division inside Hougoumont and I vetoed the idea immediately. I’d built the board - my rules! I used a similar process building a board for Aspern-Essling - at least there the buildings and villages were significantly less important. 

But when you look at the tabletop there are so many different scales and compromises. 

The first is figure scale, 20mm, 15mm, 6mm, 28mm or 3mm and more besides. I generally go for 6mm as it balances detail with size and cost and allows my to field loads of them on a table top. 

But does that figure represent 1, 5, 10, 50 soldiers or tanks? 

Ground scale comes next, I’m helping with a WW2 game that has a flexible ground scale but is essentially designed around 1”:50 yards/ metres or 1”:100 yards/ metres. We’re using 1/300 or 6mm figures. That makes the infantry at least 36 feet high (11m) and some tanks more than 50 feet high (16m) according to the ground scale. Infantry on a stand represent a platoon, tanks between 3 and 5 vehicles.

The trees I have are about 4cm high but I use Hexon boards on my tabletop and the slopes and hills are between 1cm and 2cm high. Using ground scale the hill tiers are fine at between 60 and 120 feet (18 - 36m). But that makes my trees 240 to 480 feet tall (70 -140m)! Alternatively taking a tree height as 60 feet a tier would be 15 feet or 5 yards/ metres high - a change that wouldn’t really be noticeable on the average battlefield. 

Figures 6mm, ground 1":50 yards, trees 4cm high, hill tiers 1cm, buildings 1:1000

I’m considering moving from individuals trees to a woodland canopy approach. That way I can represent woods that are about 2cm high and in scale with my ground scale and hill tiers. If it works out I’ll put up a post on it. 

I prefer aircraft at a different scale. I prefer 1/600 rather than 1/300. It means I can raise then on a reasonably high stand and they blend in with the troops on the ground. Aircraft are huge compared with tanks and infantry.

1/600 planes from Heriocs & Ros bring much needed reinforcements at Arnhem for 1/300 Paras

Then there’s the building scale - which is where I’ve been heading all along - the 1/300 buildings just don’t work for me. They are just too big and I can’t really get onboard 1 large building represents a village. Sorry to all my friends who do.

A German infantry battalion defends two barns, ermm I mean a village.

Equally representing buildings at ground scale loses a lot of aesthetics. If I’m building a scale model (I am working on Arnhem around the bridge at the moment but more on that in another post) I’ll pay more attention to that, but for my large scale 6mm games I’ve gone with 1:1000 buildings. 

Russian village from Brigade models based and painted by CtM

They are small enough that I can represent a village, but large enough that I can get some detail and features. There are a number of manufacturers producing models at this scale although I tend to use Brigade models. I’m basing them on modular bases which allows me the flexibility to vary the size shape and look of each village or town in each game. I certainly find that using the terrain from a scale or two below my figure scale works very well for the kind of large scale games I tend to play. 

Russian and German forces battle for control of the city and its two (different scale) bridges

So in my scales I'm all over the place! At the end of the day though it’s a question of personal taste, and scale. 

Enjoy your games

Charles the Modeller