One of those pub conversations following a club game had me thinking about Five men in Normandy (A really small Hollywood style game) and Five Men at Kursk (a section vs section game). The Honourable McGurk rated them highly, and I remember gaming with them last year and liking them a lot for solo play.
I had already dug out the 1/72 2nd Indianhead to revisit Sergeant "Rock" Hudson and his defence of Krinkat. Hudson's Bulge was to be a Chain of Command game, but Five Men at Normandy are in many ways radically different and worth a go for a solo game.
I was convinced enough to give it another go...
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| In a "Scurry" move Hudson and his boys begin their patrol at dusk. |
As each side begins their turn a d6 is rolled. Hudson rolls a 1, a scurry move, and his entire squad can make a full move from the table edge "redeploying." They can't be fired at, but have no line of sight to the Germans of Gefreiter Weissmueller's 990th Pz Grenadiers.
A 6 would have indicated a general firefight had broken out. Instead of two figures acting during the turn all figures can fire. I didn't get one of these all game!
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| Weissmueller's gets his Lmg team covering the road. His men are in good cover behind hedgerows and snowdrifts. |
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| Two of the Panzer Grenadiers use their turn to pop a peek over the hedge into the field beyond. Weissmueller is the figure on the left here. |
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| An American is spotted at the far end of the road. The LMG must take a displacement roll 1d6 inches in a random direction. |
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| The LMG randomly moves into a fairly good position, but PFC Ernie Borgnine makes a pretty convincing shot. A loader finches and is out of action. |
Most shooting rolls a kill dice (black here) and a shock dice. Ones and sixes give results. The kill dice is self explanatory, a 1 is a knock down, a 6 is an out of action. The shock dice is more radical. A 1 is a flinch, d6" out of position, or a bail, 12" towards your entry point. Different weapons roll different dice, but typically it's one of each.
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| Young Audie lobs a grenade, catching two Germans, who bail. Just out of shot is Weissmueller who chases them and rallies them back to the action. |
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| The German LMG gets a line of sight on Young Audie and his rifle grenades. He tries to bail but is knocked down. |
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| The GIs use fire and movement to assault the survivor of Young Audie's grenade. He should have run faster as his guard fire fails and he is put out of action |
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| Hudson moves his men to outflank the Pz Grenadiers left. |
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| And Ernie Borgnine and his mate get on the right flank. Ernie's fire causes yet another German to bail, one of the loaders, even though the kill dice are poor. |
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| But the LMG fire sees Hudson himself bail from the ruined house. Gee Whizz Sarge! |
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| Young Klinkerhofen lobs a potato masher at Ernie and his pal. Ernie's mate flinches away a full 6 inches. That's almost a bail! |
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| But Ernie earns his keep, with a bail and a knock down. That will teach them to cancel Airwolf! |
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| Gefreiter Johnny Weissmueller rolls a scurry. With the campaign in mind he takes his men back within three inches of the baseline, and off table. |
And after the game...
The 2nd "Indianhead" Infantry Division have lost one man killed, and two, including Young Audie are returned. Ernie Borgnine had only a scratch! Hudson has lost his men's faith and must regain it next game.
Private Klinkerhofen returns to duty for the 990th but the Germans lose two men killed and two wounded and missing next game.
In retrospect I used the American fire and movement well, aided by the automatic Garand rifle which allows the Americans to fire at any point in their movement. I nearly came unstuck when the BAR man was killed, and Young Audie didn't duck back before firing, since I left the "Peek" marker on him. That allowed him to be targeted. The right flank move by Ernie was the winner.
The Germans tried to defend a static position, but were exposed on both flanks. Weissmueller needed to attack at one point rather than a spread out and ineffectual defence.
But the campaign continues...
Weissmueller dices for the follow up game. It's a "Destroy" Scenario. The Americans have set up a machine gun nest in the ruined buildings on the Krinkat road. The 990th must wipe it out.
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| PFC Ernie Borgnine commanding the strong point during the night. He expects the Germans at dawn... |
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