Megablitz game system

I have been preparing both sides for the 1940 campaign intending to use the Megablitz rules and system to play through a number of battles to see if they accurately portray the chaos and lack of purpose amongst the French forces while giving a fair representation of the German forces abilities and capacities as well. 

Likely we will play what-if scenarios and battles since I find that it provides more options and freedom to the players than to make they once again be forced to refight scenarios that are forced by historical hindsight.

The scale and figures I chose to go with were the 10mm line by Pendraken miniatures and I coupled that with the decision to base all the basic units on 2" hexagons and play on a hex grid.  This for a number of reasons but chiefly because it removes the need for constant measurements and it also represents a 'square' kilometer of ground which is about the lowest a battalion would be expected to deploy in.

From previous playing in other scales and circumstances it became obvious that being able to identify what a unit was and what 'division' it was a sub unit to are critical to playing multi-divisional games on the tabletop.  When you have 12 infantry stands and 3-12 transport stands plus various guns/tanks/fuel trucks etc... per division it is easy to lose sight of where your guys are and whether they are in or out of command and supply and any moment.

As you can see I have amassed a few divisions per side:

Each division resides in its own bow and has its roster (including strength point rosters) in with them.  While I originally thought we would play using the SP formula as noted in the rules I am now more inclined to the Memoir 44 approach of having all infantry stands (battalions) have a similar strength (4 SP) so in large multi-player games you can tell at a glance how units are doing by checking the number of plastic rings placed over the figures to count losses.

Each divisions has all its subordinate units identified with a unique and color coded tag on the stand, you can tell your troops from your buddy's (and even from the opponent's) at a glance.  Stands that get 'lost' during a furious engagement eventually find their way to the home box.

Here is a French Division Legere Mechanique (mechanized division) by contrast.

And here are the stands used to represent Cirps and Army HQs.  In the French army this is where Army level reserves of Heavy Artillery, Independent tank battalions, Pioneers and Pontooners and assigned Air Force coordination was held.

Here we see a 'typical' French infantry division of three regiments (3 bns each) plus supporting stands deployed 2 up one back with the HQ securely protected in the rear.

Here the same with a few tiles from Memoir 44 to show they can be used out of the box in this scale.

And here is the DLM strung out on an approach march with recon elements to the fore and the rest of the division in column down the road behind them.

We have had a few familiarization games to brush up on how troops move, fight and fit on the table and are now ready to play out a real campaign.

More to follow.

The Nine Years War Campaign Part IV

The Nine Years War Campaign

Part IV – The Battle for Amsterdam and After

1693 – The Bourbons had made much progress in the previous year, advancing to Nijmegen in the Low Countries and threatening Madrid in the South.  As their first act in this year they fought a decisive battle to try and end the war by seizing Amsterdam and driving the Dutch Republic out of the war.

The battle field was flat and swampy and the Alliance determined to defend with a stronger army against the advancing Bourbon forces deploying to the right side of the field.

The Bourbon army was organized into two large ‘corps de battaile’ of 24 battalions and 24 squadrons each with a small reserve of troops form the Maison du Roi.

The Alliance had three roughly balanced Divisions of Anglo-Subsidy troops (24 Battalions, 12 squadrons) on their left, the Dutch with 22 battalions and 14 squadrons in the center and the Imperial troops with 18 battalions and 28 squadrons on the right flank.  Both wings of the Alliance force attempted to advance whilst the Dutch held fast the center.

As the full extent of the size of the armies was revealed the Bourbons enjoyed success on both flanks by pushing back the Alliance cavalry wings.

But the terrain slowed the advance of their infantry, particularly in the center.  The Anglo-Subsidy foot made a valiant attack to restore their field position but it ran into a wall of Bourbon foot and the Bourbon horse was moving behind their flank, perhaps to roll up the line.

The Imperials, reinforced with all the Dutch horse was making life very difficult for the Bourbon left wing, although one brigade of foot penetrated almost to the line to the stream before being halted.

The Alliance commanders:

The Bourbon Commanders:

The combat at its height:

As the Bavarian contingent advanced to the Dutch held village the fire seemed to go out of the Prince of the Royal Blood.  Realizing that his forces would be disordered crossing the stream and then have to fight through into a heavily defended village against troops that he had been unable to damage yet his resolution failed.  Marechal Catinat, likewise, on the left flank seemed to have a crisis of spirit (or perhaps just too many oatmeal raisin cookies) and the joint decision was made to pull back and reorganize the army.

The elated Alliance command group began plotting the retaking of the Low Countries and we moved back to the campaign map to run through the rest of the events of the year.  These can be summarized as follows:

1.      The Bourbons main army was forced out of the Low Countries, yielding Nijmegen, and Antwerp before they could recover their full order.

2.     Both sides launched ill-advised and costly attacks on each other outside of Madrid and in these the Bourbons came out the worse for losses and wear.  Marechal Lorges will undoubtedly be re-posted in the fall season.

3.     The Alliance completed the sieges to bring all Northern Italy under their sway and also to bring support up towards the Duke of Savoy as he was projecting incursions into France itself.

4.     The line of the mid Rhine is still held by the Alliance even though they were thwarted in their attempts to penetrate into France proper.

Our next session will pickup and make the end of year actions occur and the start of a new campaign year – 1694.