First BKCII Unit

Having discovered 28 spare cavalry bases this afternoon I decided, as they were already painted as WW2 era Romanians, that I would make them the first unit I'd put together for BKCII. In BKC terms the unit consists of the following (I haven't had chance to upload any pictures yet):

1st Cavalry Brigade 1941:

1st Rosiori Regiment General Corp de Armata Alexandru Averescu:

1x CO (CV8)
Engineer Troop: 3x Engineer Unit (Pioneers), 3x Transport Unit (Horses, Cavalry)
MG Troop: 3x Support Unit (MG, ZB53), 3x Transport Unit (Horses, Cavalry)
1st Squadron: 
1x HQ (CV7)
1st Troop: 3x Infantry Units (Regulars), 3x Transport Unit (Horses, Cavalry)
2nd Troop: 3x Infantry Units (Regulars), 3x Transport Unit (Horses, Cavalry)
2nd Squadron: 
1x HQ (CV7)
3rd Troop: 3x Infantry Units (Regulars), 3x Transport Unit (Horses, Cavalry)
4th Troop: 3x Infantry Units (Regulars), 3x Transport Unit (Horses, Cavalry)

Each command unit consists of 2 mounted figures, each MMG consists of 1 cavalryman and 2 pack horses carrying the MMG's, and each infantry and engineer stand consists of 3 cavalrymen. All figures are mounted on 30mm square bases and are from Heroics and Ros (pack SR4 Soviet Cavalry).

The Brigade has 3 of these regiments, an Artillery Regiment and an assortment of motorised supporting Squadrons (Anti-tank, Recon, Mortar, Pioneer and MMG). This Brigade fought on the Eastern Front in 1941 taking part in the Battle of Odessa as part of the Romanian 5th Corps (15th Infantry Divison and 1st Armoured Division). 

Blitzkrieg Commander II

I decided to try a solo test game of Blitzkrieg Commander II (BKCII) the other night as the local wargames club in Chorley uses this for its WWII games and I thought it would be a good idea to see how it works before going along. 

I went for a 6mm game set in 1941 using a Russian motorised regiment from a Tank or Mechanised Division vs a Schutzen (Panzer Grenadier) Battalion. Both units were represented at 1 stand = 1 platoon/battery. True to form I managed to blunder on the very first Russian activation roll! Strangely the Russians activated far more than I'd of expected with a Command Value (or CV) of 7, it may have been something to do with the +1 CV for all doing the same thing rule given to armies classed as having Rigid Doctrine?

Rather stupidly I deployed the Schutzen Battalion over too wide a frontage and had trouble activating all of it in one go. Then on top of that  it failed to activate when I was planning to dismount the infantry from their trucks and then proceeded to lose two platoons to Russian fire when their trucks blew up!  

Unfortunately I didn't get time to finish the test game but thankfully I did get far enough in to the game to get the leading two Russian Battalions in to firing range of the Schutzen companies so I did get a couple of turns using the shooting rules. Both sides ended up losing quite a few platoons of infantry once I realised that it was far better to concentrate your fire on one target than hit multiple targets and then have the hits taken off at the end of the turn.

Overall the game played well and was easy to remember though taking the hits off is a little strange (there is an optional rules to leave them on at the end of the turn). I felt that there had been quite a bit of thought behind the mechanisms so that although they are easy to use (and remember) you still appeared to get a similar result to more complex rules sets. Also I felt that BKCII (and Cold War Commander) is very well supported via the online forums.

Having tried out the rules it got me thinking that this style of system might be adaptable to the Zulu War and possibly to the Ironclad era (1860-1885) - both are periods I have miniatures for but haven't yet found rules I'm happy with. I found with the Ironclads that most sets of rules are far too focused on the detail and can't be used for fleet actions without causing me headaches or RSI from throwing hundreds of dice to represent each and every gun firing!   

WW2 Wargame

This past weekend we played an early war Eastern Front clash between elements of the German 1^st Panzer Division and the 5^th Tank Regiment of the Russian 3^rd Tank Division of the 1^st Mechanised Corps. I based the scenario on an actual clash between the 6^th Panzer and the same Russia Division, details of which can be found here http://rkka.ru/drig/identif/Ostrov/ostrov_01.htm along with plenty of pictures of the knocked out Russian tanks (you will need to translate the page).

We used Marks Microrules set, he controlled the Germans and I tried to lead my newly painted Russians. Apart from the planes (not shown) all models are from my own collection. All models are Heroics and Ros.

The German Advance in Centre - having suffered multiple double 6 blunders they have multiple breakdowns!

German defensively deployed right flank complete with infantry Guns, 37mm PAK 35/36 and a platoon of Panzer IIIG (short 50mm)

BT-7 tanks advancing on my left flank, the leading platoon has just lost the 2nd tank in from the left and it's neighbour has just had it's tracks shot off! Unfortunately these tanks were trying to advance against a battery of infantry guns one of which mounted a 150mm howitzer (SIG 33/Pz I). 

The Russian advance in the centre, my infantry have just begun to occupy the village with my flame tanks (converted double turreted T-26A's) moving round in support, though some of them are already in flames!

The Russian gun line and right flank (more BT-7's). These 152mm howitzers did a good job of protecting my centre from the German left hook.

Another view of the centre and of the bridge which was the primary objective for both sides. 

The German right flank again, this time showing the results of an ammunition reload blunder (double 6 on 2D6 when attempting to activate)!!

The aftermath! Loads of burning, knocked out or abandoned vehicles plus a few of the German and Russian survivors (including the remnants of my T-28/KV-1/2 heavy battalion). Rather surprisingly I actually won this game simply because the Germans didn't complete the destruction of the various Russian units.

A second view of the centre

A third view - in the distance you can see the two German 10.5cm howitzers that kept hitting my tanks with HE throughout the game