Dyle Crossing 14/15 May. The Infiltration Phase

Having successfully captured all four of the patrol tables on the higher ground across from the bridge the Germans now have the option of infiltrating troops forwards into the La Motte and Paper Mill positions. 

The Germans chose not to infiltrate at La Motte, but committed a platoon and an additional section into a night attack at the paper mill.  The COC Probe scenario was used for this game.

2DLI used platoons to protect both locations. 

La Motte can be accessed from Les Monts or Les Ples while the Paper Mill is accessed from Gastuche or Bois-Vallee only. 
At any time, the German commander may attack directly the Dyle Bridge but he’ll find it easier going by first hitting the flanks.
Colonel Quilp of 2DLI gave the orders for the deployment of the British

Oberst von Weißmehr commanded the deployment, and crucially the follow on attacks, of the 31st infantry.

All games are played solo following these deployments, using Chain of Command.

The Paper Mill position.
British and German jump points.

The stream is counted as a railway embankment for this game,  and the road passes under it through a tunnel.

The British occupy the Paper Mill and from its upper stories thier section can engage across the embankment, but must fire Very lights to see the advancing Germans. 

A German LMG and rifle section pour a devastating fire on the British section just over the e man mentioned,  killing them all including their Platoon Sergeant.

The Germans capture the jump point,  driving out the British, but they lose a section doing it.

German fire now focuses on the Paper mill itself

Flanked by the Germans the defenders of the Mill hold out.

The fight in the woods.  The Pendraken 10mm are perfect for these games, but I had to red dot the British and Blue dot the Germans for the sake of my eyes.
Here the remaining Corporal and the last Brits outside the Mill.

A win for the 31st Division, but they lose 2 sections.
2DLI withdraw thier remaining men, the Platoon at half strength.

Dyle Crossing Game 2: Gastuche

Gastuche lies just before the Dyle Bridge.  The BEF had demolished the bridge, however the Germans wished to capture the position, and in fact were able to repair the bridge to sufficiently to effect a crossing.

The Germans load their troops into this patrol, including more of those damn Sdkfz222.

The opening moves.  An excellent roll for the Germans.  Infantry Sections and Armoured Cars appear.

The BEF get an Infantry section onto the hill behind the small copse.  An excellent position dominating the field.

2DLI hammer the Germans with small arms fire.

Across the small stream the british occupy the churchyard.  The 31st Division have infiltrated into the village.

The British Sergeant leads a section from the copse to the hedgeline near the wheat field.  

Another great roll for the Germans.  The Armoured Cars target the British Sergeant and his section, as do the German mg34 crew in the farmyard.

The British are shocked into a withdrawal.

The Germans assault the churchyard, throwing the BEF out.  They can enfilade the hill from this location.  They also capture a British Jump off Point.

The remains of a British section are assaulted by a German section supported by two of the Armoured cars.
This is tenuous since both Armoured cars were firing and strictly speaking (after looking at the photograph) one was masked.  Still those Brits were pretty much doomed.

A DLI attack from the hill struck the German Armoured car as it tried to cross the stream.

Pretty much the end game as the Germans take the hill, capturing the second JOP.  I even captured their Chain of Command dice.  not sure if that's a legal move either!

The end game saw the BEF rolled out of the village.  With the capture of Gastuche the Germans have the options to:

• Infiltrate during the night of the 14/15th

• Attack and secure the flank positions

• Assault the Bridge.

The Dyle Crossing 14 May 1940: Game 1

With the advance of the German armies into the Low Countries in May 1940, the BEF took up  positions in Northern France to defend the Dyle-Breda Line.  Whilst it is technically a river, the Dyle is in parts little more than a steam, and it fell to the 2nd battalion Durham Light Infantry to defend a salient created by an eastward bend in the river just north of Wavre.  
Here the forces of the German 31st Infantry Division would attempt to cross. 

My thanks for these games to the TooFatLardies 2014 Summer Special.  I redrew the maps and tweaked the game to allow the use of my terrain board.  These games inspired me to collect the forces for 1940 in 10mm.

Colonel Quilp of 2DLI game the orders for the deployment of the British
Oberst von Weißmehr commanded the deployment of the 31st infantry.
All games are played solo following these deployments, using Chain of Command.

The Durham Light Infantry patrol out to Les Pres, table 2 and Gastuche table 3.

They choose not to patrol Les Monts or Bois Vallee, surrendering these to German control.

Game 1  Les Pres

The map superimposed on my textured battle board.  I added some buildings to this scattered down the main road.

The terrain has a few woods added centrally, since these appear on the 1:25000 map of the area.

The Germans support their platoon with three Sdkfz 222 Armoured cars.  

The 20mm cannon are deadly even against the DLI within the stone walls of the farm.

Not sure what a roll of five fives is called under Chain of command but this was one!

Note that the COC Dice goes to 5!  The DLI Mortar under the Sergeant has deployed, but didn`t get the chance to fire.

German LMGs smash the BEF flank attack.  (I had thought I was being clever)  

Turns out that the 20mm cannon are deadly against troops in the open too!

The defensive position in the farm is slowly destroyed.
Time for a withdrawal.

German Armoured cars dominated the terrain, taking this Jump off Point.  Only the Platoon Sergeant of the DLI can be seen at that second JOP.  Pretty much game over.

The End Game.  A German section advances to assault the remaining 2DLI Jump off point.  

With the capture of Les Pres the Germans are well sited to dominate the high ground above the bridge.  It also affords 31st Division the opportunity to infiltrate forward into La Motte durng the night.
A welcome return to WW2 and Chain of Command for me.

RFC Squadron Forward

The first 663 Squadron RFC volunteers from the North Durham University Boisterous Student's Society are:

"Jacko" Black  Society President
"The Badger" Brown
Bumfluff Farthingdale
Bertie Farthingdale
Sticky Lyle
Whizzer Wilson
Gubber Gosling
Drippy Dawson Tate
All Officers posted to No18 Flight School Pelton Aerodrome, with the iniendition being 5 days 5 hours of flight logged.
Then No 7 School of Air Fighting, Darlington Aerodrome.
For a minimum 15 hours total

"Jacko" 15 hours.
Bumfluff  16 hours and a prang.  unhurt.
Bertie 15 hours
Whizzer  Killed in a Farnham Shorthorn crash.
The Badger. Flunked out 
Sticky  18 hours.  Hospitalised after a prang.
Drippy 20 hours
Gubber 19 hours

"A" Flight St Mont, France 1916
(all Sprogs)

Flt/Lt Black
F.O B. U. Farthingdale
F.O B.T. Farthingdale
F.O Lyle
F.O Gosling
F.O Dawson-Tate

Patrol

Over the lines.  German balloon and a single German Albatross guarding it.

Jacko, Bumfluff and Gubber cross the lines and head for the balloon.

Leo Pumpernickel in his Albatross, high at level 8

Bumfluff goes in head to head and gets some shots in. 
Jacko goes wide before a hard turn.

Gubber goes for the balloon.

Jacko hard turns left.

The fight goes lower.  Jacko on the tail. 
Leo fails his own hard turn.

Leo loses his engine, but glides down.  A flight win
their first encounter.  The bad news for them is
that I`ve just finished painting the Fokkers...

My version of a Valley Campaign

With my Napoleonic forces taking place in 6mm I decided to do more work on the battle board, as well as planning a mini campaign.  Basically the battle board is turned four times to give the advancing force a different tabletop for four different engagements.

The game is designed for a Blue Force advancing from the bottom of the table map to the top in four steps.  Equally it would work as a Red Force advancing down the map against a Blue occupying Force.

Both sides are a strong Division, with a Cavalry Brigade.

I intend to use these games to test some options for Napoleonic rules.   Table 1 will be General d`Àrmee.  Table 2 will be Polemos 6mm.  Table 3 will be an old favourite, Shako.  Table 4 will be Black Powder.

The Crown Principality of Cinnabaria, "Das Rot."

Crown Prince Rudolph, the Red nosed (The Gentleman has a bottle!)
Ferdinand, the Red Duke  (Inspired Leader)
Margrave Flatulenz  (Steady)
Kolin Halkett of the Guards Brigade  (Coward) (2 Large battalions)
"Hoots" Drummond of the Scotch Brigade (This Gentleman also has a bottle) (2 battalions)
Alten, 2nd Brigade  (3 battalions)
Kohl, 3rd Brigade  (3 battalions)
Schröder, 4th Brigade  (3 Militia battalions)
von Deckchair, Electorate of the Grun Jäger Brigade
von Merkel, Heavy Cavalry Brigade


The Grand Duchy of the Blau

Grand Duke Ferdinand (Bald as a Coot)
Maximillian, the Blue Count  (Cad)
Baron von Pumphosen (The Gentleman has an Apricot Pie)
Van Tromp   The "Alte Guards" Brigade (Blusterer) (two large elite battalions)
Van Pompe   2nd Brigade (3 Line, 1 Light Battalions)
Van Stomp   3rd Brigade (3 Line, 1 Light Battalions)
Van Dompe   4th Brigade (3 Line, 1 Light Battalions)
Van Krompe  5th (Militia) Brigade (Four Militia battalions)
Van Bompe    Dragoon Cavalry Brigade

Blue vs Red, the Victory

The first Red vs Blue battle has been raging on my table all weekend.  A large factor in this length of time is the fact that I am using new rules, General D'Armee by the Toofatlardies.  These have 90 pages of rules before the optional rules begin.  Having become used to Dan Mersey's rules style this year I am finding it difficult to step back to "Complicated."

The Red have been having trouble with the guards brigade, two large elite battalions,  (B1) but as the guards advanced they were forced into square.  A charge by the Blue dragoons was seen off in fine style, although the guards suffered from casualties inflicted by the horse artillery cannister fire.

 In the centre the blue 3rd Brigade attacked the garrisoned BUA with a supported column.   

 The Red Guards stand off the Blue dragoons.

 The Red advance on the left, with the cavalry brigade coming into line beside the advancing Guards.

 The shock of the battle is the revelation that the Blue have a second Dragoon brigade on their blinds.  These are revealed and immediately assault the advancing Red Brigade five. 

With the Blue Dragoon Brigadier leading his charging first regiment the small Red battalion on this flank are unable to stand. The square breaks. 

  

 The Blue bring up their horse artillery on their left flank, as a second regiment charges.

I had to face the fact that the Blue had lost this flank.

 The Red Guards cause the massed column to retreat.  Clearly the red have won on their right.  Those elite troops were just far too tough to handle like this.

 The Red Third brigade are roughly handled and begin to falter.  The green troops are holding the garrisoned farm, but the Red have lost the centre too.

At the end of the game the Red have three brigades faltering or destroyed, the Blue have lost one with a second Faltering.  With large parts of the red Army dispersing the Red Duke withdraws, swearing vengeance.  

Max, the Blue Count, probably has a date with Sophia Loren somewhere.

A good game, but I`m still getting on top of these rules. 

The Red vs Blue games... structure

The Crown Principality of Cinnabaria, "Das Rot."
Crown Prince Rudolph, the Red nosed (The Gentleman has a bottle!)
Ferdinand, the Red Duke  (Inspired Leader)
Margrave Flatulenz  (Steady)
Kolin Halkett of the Guards Brigade  (Coward)
"Hoots" Drummond of the Scotch Brigade (This Gentleman also has a bottle)
Alten, 2nd Brigade
Kohl, 3rd Brigade

Schröder, 4th Brigade

von Deckchair, Electorate of the Grun Jäger Brigade
von Merkel, Cavalry Brigade

The Grand Duchy of the Blau
Grand Duke Ferdinand (Bald as a Coot)
Maximillian, the Blue Count  (Cad)
Baron von Pumphosen (The Gentleman has an Apricot Pie)
Von Tromp  The "Alte Guards" Brigade (Blusterer) (two large elite battalions)
Von Pompe   2nd Brigade (3 Line, 1 Light Battalions)
Von Stomp   3rd Brigade (3 Line, 1 Light Battalions)
Von Dompe  4th Brigade (3 Line, 1 Light Battalions)
Von Krompe 5th (Militia) Brigade (Four Militia battalions)
Von Bomp    Dragoon Cavalry Brigade

Maximillian, the Blue Count  forms a massed column,
 as the Red Guards finally move.

Von Pompe's 2nd Brigade moves against the farmhouse,
 whilst Alten's 2nd Brigade crowd their flank.  
Meanwhile the Blue has a Brigade in an On Table 
Reserve behind the woods on the hill to the right.