The Hazzard County boys at the bridge

A smug looking fellow showing
off. Both forces fit into a 4inch
by 3 inch box

 My 99p for 100 figures Airfix WW2 1/72 guys have been squabbling again.  The Fivecore mission was "Secure the Bridge."  No additional support has been offered and there are SIX points of interest on the approach.  Its looking like a difficult job.

The "Good old Boys" Squad

Sergeant "Uncle" Jessie. M1 Carbine.  Steady
Pte Roscoe. BAR
Pte Cletus loader M1
Pte Enos P. M1 Garand
Pte Cooter M1 Garand
Pte J D Hawg M1 Garand
Pte Enos W. M1 Garand
Pte Coy  M1 Garand
Pte Long M1 Garand
Pte Lee M1 Garand
Pte Van M1 Garand
Pte/Scout Bo M1 Garand 
Pte/Scout Luke M1 Garand

The tactical elements are the  BAR group, rifle group and scouts. 

Sergeant Jessie Duke, Farmer, Moonshine runner, good old boy. Whether working the fields or digging trenches in them, there's always digging to be done.  He has family waiting back home and a duty to get back in one piece to make them proud.  His outlook is Accepting: Just a good old boy, never doin' no harm.

The Paras, "Wulf and the gang."

Stabsgefrieter Wulf. Mp40. Inspired Leader.
Gf. Hans Mp40
Jg.  Gunter Mg42
Jg.  Max Rifle
Jg.  Walt Rifle
Jg.  Jurgen Mg42

Jg.  Fritz Mp40

Jg.  Thom Rifle 

Tactical elements are based around those two Mg42 machine guns, the most common configuration will be two Lmgs and a small Mp40 counter attack group.

Force	Mobility	Fire Disp	Morale	Coordination
US 43+	1	4	3	3
German	2	3	3	3

Mission 1.

Seize the Bridge

Pass through the area and pick a fight with anything that moves.

My battle cloth demonstrating the 3D battle zone

Crow's eye view, showing the points of interest for possible contacts

The 30th Infantry Scouts, Bo and Luke tackle POI 1, and its harmless.   

But incoming fire from POI 2.  The 6 is on a different dice to determine what's at the Contact point.  The shock dice have no effect, but Bo and Luke are warned.

Jessie brings up his BAR team.  Contact right!  A second POI activates.  Again no effect (no 6 or 1 rolled on those shock dice)

J D Hawg, my senior Pte gets the rifle team onto a POI and the 1 means its nullified.  We have two down, two as contact and two unseen

Incoming Mg42 fire.  A Kill (Pte Enos) and a panic and run (Cooter)

Jurgen celebrates his success.  Good shooting Ja?

But the good old boys get in close and start clearing out the Germans, only to find two more contacts across the stream.

Jessie leads his boys across the bridge covered by suppression fire by the BAR team.  Jurgen and his mates keep their heads down.

The Germans bug out.  Only Fritz makes it.

And it all fits into a small plastic box recycled from curry sauce packaging.

After the fight the Germans dice for casualties.  Three dead, two wounded, taken prisoner and one unwounded taken prisoner. Two escaped with Fritz.

Good game.  I had to work out the approach and keep the German's heads down. Mission success.

The Hazzard boys of Old Hickory

Just the good old boys.  

Way back in 2019 I bought a 99p plastic soldier lot on ebay.  These were old airfix 1:72 figures, and I mean old.  There were around 100 figures mostly WW2, and mixed in with this were a set of WW2 American infantry, complete with that iconic rubber raft model, and some old school Fāllshirmjager from the German para set.  Some of the plastic was brittle with age, some of the poses were missing, but these are classics figures.

They went into a box to be forgotten.

Lockdown part two has seen some thinking about where my gaming is and where to take it to.  The newly introduced tax on post from the UK hasn`t helped and has had me looking in all of those old boxes, where I rediscovered the bag of 100 Airfix plastics. 

With the idea of returning to Five Men in Normandy, and the solo rules for the Fivecore system I had first built some Warlord 28 mm WW2 figures.  On trying some rules mechanisms with them I was unimpressed.  The figures looked too big, too fat faced stout bodied caricatured and the area they represented too small on my table.  Others may love this scale but for me I was so disgusted with the look that I abandoned it.

Back to the old Airfix 20mm guys.

They are more correctly proportioned, and based on 15mm washers they have a smaller footprint. I carefully selected prone, kneeling and crouching figures to make up US Infantry vs German para squads.  A few figures were left in standing upright poses, to be my Sergeant and the other figures I wanted to be notable, such as the Corpsman, but in the main I prefer the look of infantry figures keeping their heads down.

30th infantry were the US Division that stayed longest in the line during WW2.  "Old Hickory" was largely recruited in the south, and my guys are Hazard County's finest.  The division faced 15 Parachute Regiment, as well as 2nd SS Panzer during their early deployment in Normandy and the fighting over the Vire river and beyond.  I don't intend to make games using these figures and rules historically accurate beyond the broad brush strokes, but the setting will feed ideas into this narrative.

The "Good old Boys" Squad

Sergeant "Uncle" Jessie. M1 Carbine.  Steady
Pte Roscoe. BAR
Pte Cletus loader M1
Pte Enos M1 Garand
Pte Cooter M1 Garand
Pte J D Hawg M1 Garand
Pte Enos M1 Garand
Pte Coy  M1 Garand
Pte Long M1 Garand
Pte Lee M1 Garand
Pte Van M1 Garand
Pte/Scout Bo M1 Garand 
Pte/Scout Luke M1 Garand

That is 12 figures plus an attached Corpsman medic. It's far larger than the Enemy squad but they have an aggressive tactical stance.  The Germans called 30th Infantry "Roosevelt's SS" and in my games they will be the played force against a defensive Enemy.  The tactical elements are the  BAR group, rifle group and scouts. 

Jessie Duke, Farmer, Moonshine runner, good old boy. Whether working the fields or digging trenches in them, there's always digging to be done.  He has family waiting back home and a duty to get back in one piece to make them proud.  His outlook is Accepting: Worry about the things you can do anything about.

The Paras, "Wulf and the gang."

Stabsgefrieter Wulf. Mp40. Inspired Leader.
Gf. Hans Mp40
Jg.  Gunter Mg42
Jg.  Max Rifle
Jg.  Walt Rifle
Jg.  Jurgen Mg42

Jg.  Fritz Mp40

Jg.  Thom Rifle 

Smaller than the US squad the Fāllshirmjager are based around those two Mg42 machine guns.  They will have three tactical variants , but the most common configuration will be two static Lmgs and a small Mp40 counter attack group.

Force	Mobility	Fire Disp	Morale	Coordination
US 43+	1	4	3	3
German	2	3	3	3

Mission 1.

General combat patrol 

Pass through the area and pick a fight with anything that moves.

Contact markers

Reveal when LOS is achieved.  For this game deployed on points of intetest.

1  Marker is removed. 

2  The marker is moved 6” in a random direction. If this leaves it still in contact, roll again. 

3  Infantry fire team of 3 figures. 

4  Support team (Mmg, sniper etc.) 

5  Marker is removed. Place two new markers 6” behind and out of sight if possible. 

6  Infantry fire team of 3 figures. Place a new marker 6” behind and out of sight if possible.

The farm to the front of 30th Inf lines.

Five men at Kursk. J.D Hawg with Bo and Luke Duke have contact to a flank.  Sergeant "Uncle"Jessie will have to bring up the BAR team to root out these here Krauts.  Bo gets the roll of 1 and goes into scared.

Sergeant Jessie with Roscoe and Cletus, his BAR team.

Jessie brings up the BAR team.  They put down suppression fire and the Germans are revealed.

Günter's Mg42 team.  They lay down suppression fire to the front rolling 4 shock dice.

Hawg leads a rifle team around the flank

With Bo still scared, Luke gets a pair of good hits in on the Germans

One of the Germans is down, another scared

The flank team is hit by suppression fire from a new contact

The Germans hit back from POI 2.  

Enos and Van run

Meanwhile Jessie and the Bar team try to overpower the first conatct point 

Ogf Wulf brings in his reserve from point of interest 3.

Jessie finally breaks the Germans at the first point of interest.

New contact, and its Wulf with the main group

J D Hawg gets in distance to throw grenades

Whilst the Corpsman does a buddy check to bring back Enos and Van.

Hawg's second grenade is on target.

The Yanks go in a' shootin'

The Germans sensibly bug out.  Game over.

Really cheap figures, but they did the job.  Rather than Kursk I will be trying the Fivecore modern rules next, as Uncle Jessie and the Good Old Hickory boys try the Germans for a second time.

Ernie and the Battle of the Pig Pens

2nd Division 18th December 1944
Sergeant Parish's account, source "Bulge Bugle, " 2004

The afternoon of the 18th we were sent to the outer edge of Rocherath to an old barn and pig farm that was sitting on a hill.  We took up positions inside the farm facing southwest.  From this position we had a good view.  One of the men and I took a position, in the hayloft.  We could see over the hedge rows through the holes torn in the roof by artillery shells.  We soon found out why we were there.  After ten minutes after we took our positions tanks started firing incendiary shells into the barn.  The shells were hitting the other end of the barn where there was no hay.  If they had hit our end where the hay was we would have had a fire and probably would have been hit by fragments.

The attack came with half tracks and infantry.  They were two hundred yards out and were partially hid the hedgerows...

The 2nd Infantry Division have pulled back towards the twin towns.  With 12th SS and it's attached units  close behind in pursuit a rearguard must be mounted.  Newly promoted Sergeant Ernie Borgnine and the remains of his squad must hold for a day.   They have found a good, but pungent, position at a pig farm on the edge of Krinkelt-Rocherath, and have consolidated.  It is morning and the first battle of the pig pens is about to begin.

Ernie has ten men remaining from what used to be the entire platoon.  The Lieutenant hasn't been seen for days, mainly because he is acting company commander.  The former squad Sergeant "Rock" Hudson has been promoted to 1st Sergeant, despite running from combat three times.  He hasn't been seen since the Krinkelt road action yesterday and the boys hope for the worst.

One good piece of news for Ernie is that he has managed to attach a couple of privates from the weapons platoon, but they have a captured German MG42 as their weapon, rather than a good old Uncle Sam issue .30 Cal.  As a consequence they have limited ammo, and must try not to roll too many sixes.

The Germans are feeling more confident, despite three defeats. Feldwebel Heinz Schoup has two small sections under his command, with an additional half track and its Mortar team now also now attached.  Advancing through the Ardennes trees towards the twin towns he suddenly halts.  Something smells wrong about this.  Ah, a pig farm is marked on his excellent German map 200 yards to the front!  With his mortars ranging in on the barn its time for Heinz to attack...

Characters on the battlefield:

1. Group Captain "call me Dave" Cameron RAF, shot down and taking refuge in a sty.
2. Mayor Boris of Bűllingden, a bumbling blonde far right collaborator, and pig lover.
3. Jacob Reece-Himmler, SS-Sturmbannführer, in his half track hastening his men on.
4. 1st Sergeant Rock Hudson, avoiding the MPs. 
5. Lootenant Hank Toms, acting "E" Company Commander, with his HQ squad.
6. De Keizerin (the Walloon Empress) prizewinning sow.

Two battlefield events are scheduled for this game, occurring on the first and second roll of a double 6:

1.  Scavenged Loot
2.  Accident

Setup
2nd Division's squad sets up in the farm buildings on the Western side of the table.  Two scouts may be deployed as sentries, out to 18" from the western table edge entry point.  Historically Sergeant Parish and his buddy used the hayloft of the barn and this is an alternate scout deployment.

The 990th Pz Grenadiers are heading down the farm track towards the town.  Further north a Panzerjager company is advancing in support.  The Grenadiers have 2 Hannomag  half tracks, and are using these to cover the advance.

A snowstorm is imminent, limiting visibility to 18".   It will begin if more than three ones are rolled in any action dice roll.

The Game

Waiting for table space...

I leave the last word to Sergeant Parish. 

Some of the enemies wounded and dead were within ten feet of the barn when the attack was stopped.  One of the tanks raised a white flag and came to pick up the wounded.  We didn’t fire on it, while they loaded them and drove off.

Upgrading 5 Men in Normandy .30 Cal Edition

Having updated my copy of Five men in Normandy to the .30 Cal edition, after an excellent offer on Wargames Vault, I decided to set up my campaign properly.  The focus is on developing and following a small group of WW2 soldiets through a series of missions.

Play follows only a few figures each turn, almost simulating an action movie, until a firefight or scurry action involves the whole group for a turn.  The updated version has tweaked some of the mechanisms,  action dice have in increased, as well as done a general tidy up.

I enjoy the capacity for solo play in these rules and the update has had a solo play section added.  Five men in  Normandy follows a small group of soldiers, typically five.  In terms of play I prefer Five men at Kursk and the full section game, so I will be using the combat rules from that, and the campaign rules from this new edition.

When I get a spare hour I'll remove the spellchecker lines from this table. 

Some of the new rules

New Solo Mechanism 
When making the Action roll for the enemy, roll an Order die as well. 
On scores of 2-5, the turn is played as normal, taking whatever action is most sensible according to their mission.  On a 1 or 6:

1 - Halt!
Whether concerned about a recent development, 
a squad leader losing his nerve or trying to 
regroup the unit, the enemy will avoid 
advancing this turn. 
Stragglers far from the unit will try to rejoin it, 
otherwise figures will move to positions of 
better cover. They will fire on targets that 
present an immediate threat, otherwise duck 
down and try to avoid taking fire.

6 - Forward!
An overzealous squad leader, the right moment 
or excessive patriotism, it's time to take the fight 
to the enemy.
Figures will attempt to close the distance with 
the enemy, getting close enough to throw 
grenades or Brawl where possible. 
Weapons will be fired for maximum Shock to 
facilitate this.

Generating forces 

Roll 5 times on the following table. (2d6)
Troops received.

2  One figure with bolt action rifle
3  Two figures with bolt action rifles 
4  One figure with SMG
5  One figure with bolt action rifle
6  One figure with bolt action rifle, one with SMG
7  Two figures with bolt action rifles.
8  Three figures with bolt action rifles. 
9  Two figures with SMG
10 Three figures with bolt action rifles
11 One figure with MMG
12 One figure with sniper rifle

For each 8 men (or part thereof) trade a bolt action rifle for an LMG.  Each man has 2 grenades

Additional weapons d6
6.  Mortar 
5.  MMG
4   bag of 6 grenades
3.  No extras
2.  Extra smokes...
1.  Limited ammo.

Campaign Mechanisms

Dice for mission and location
Fight the mission
Dice after mission events
Dice Campaign Events
Replacements roll 
New Mission

Below is the sequence of events that 
occur after fighting a mission. 
• Determine fate of wounded and 
replacements
• Determine morale changes 
• Gain skills 
• Roll for character events 
• Carry out player actions 
• Determine follow up mission

Knocked down figures after the battle.
Roll Result
12.      Mental scar 
Made it out okay but has battle stress, nightmares or 
other mental issues.
Roll 1 negative morale die.
11.      Knocked out
Back in action.
10-9.   Dramatic scar
Big hit with the ladies but back in action.
8-7.     Light wound 
The soldier will be out of action for 2D6 days.
6.       Moderate wound
The soldier will be out of action for 3D6 days.
5.       Seriously wounded 
The soldier will be out of action for 5D6 days.
4 -2  
The war is over for this guy.


Campaign Events table
Roll Event

1.     Letter from home 
2.     Change of motivation
3.     Pick up new oddball private
4      Extra training
5.     Meet the boss 
6.     Bad News for our boys
7.     Promotion or commendation
8.     Delay 
9.     Quick recovery
10.   Milestone reached  
11.   Scavenged loot 
12.   Reassigned
13.   Leave
14.   Platoon R&R
15.   Bottle of booze 
16.   Sickness - random soldier 
17.   Accident
18.   Argument
19.   No break
20.   Where are the rations?

Replacements roll

6  Three figures with bolt action rifles
5  Two figures with bolt action rifles
4  One figure with bolt action rifle, 
3  One figure with SMG
2  One hard bargain
1  No men available.  Roll twice next time.

Ernie's strongpoint

Game 2 of Five Men in the Bulge

PFC Ernie Borgnine has been left to hold the Krinkat road.  In a ruined house hastily fortified Ernie and three of his boys await the dawn, and reinforcement by C Company.  

Squad Sergeant "Rock" Hudson is leading the rest of the section up in support, but has waited at the canteen for a good breakfast before setting out. 

Weissmueller's section move on table, but the MMG hammers away.  Two of them bail off table. 

Johnny is left with his section of 8 men

Ernie and his boys have just had coffee and are midway through a pack of Lucky Strikes... each.   The radio guy is just out of shot visiting the latrine.

 Hooray for our side, Hudson leads his reinforcements on table.

Weissmueller gets a scurry move.  They get into cover and deploy the Lmg.

A good shot causes the Yank MMG gunner to flinch.  He ducks behind cover, scared.  The radio guy returns from the latrine and gets on the net to the Major.

The Germans shooting is better.  A knock down hit on Ernie!  Just a scratch, but he slumps to the floor.

Hudson splits his men left and right.  Two of them risk a peek over the snowdrift hedgerows.

But Johnny Weissmueller has sent two of his own boys out to the flank. 

Young Klinkerhofen sprays away with the SMG.  The shock dice make the two GIs bail.  A grenade from Andi Merkell completes their rout.

Young Klinkerhofen gets a flinch as the Americans target him.  He ducks back into cover, scared.

But Klinkerhofen and Merkel use the position to lob grenades into the strongpoint.  One knockdown, lots of smoke.

The Germans rush up more men, but Ernie is back up and gets the MMG working.   One knockdown 

Close quarters and the Germans are struggling. 

Another potato masher across the hedgerow.   

But Ernie repositions the MMG in a scurry.  The Germans at the hedgerow are enfiladed. 

Bob Seger and Tommy Hanks arrive to relieve the bunker.  Any Lucky Strikes left Ernie?  NO?

Johnny leads his Panzer Grenadiers off table.  Hopefully the Yankees won't have an MMG next time.

But an on a minute.  Where in all of that was Sergeant Hudson?  Turns out he stayed at the back behind the furthest hedgerow.

The platoon Commander has requested Hudson be transferred to battalion.  That has since been accepted, as has Ernie Borgnine's promotion to temporary Squad Sergeant.