Over the next few weeks I’ll be playing a mini-campaign featured in WSS magazine issue 74, based on the British Paras at Arnhem trying to break through from their landing zones and link up with the forces in Arnhem under Lt Col John Frost.
The games will be played with Chain of Command, using the campaign supplement At The Sharp End. It’s four linked games, with the British obliged to push hard along a main road and try to drive the defending Germans back. The British must win all four scenarios to claim a victory, but do have the advantage of having a second platoon available should their first one get too beaten up. The Germans have minimal reinforcements and can afford to give ground, so can afford to be choosy about whether they stand or fall back.
The Ground:
Four games follow the route of 3 Para eastwards along the road to Arnhem
The Paras are advancing from their landing zones along the Utrechtseweg road towards Arnhem, where they are attempting to link up with the friendlies holding the bridge. The terrain is flat, lightly wooded and verging on the suburbs of the town.
The Germans have identified the bridge at Arnhem as the key objective of the Paras, and have deployed Kampfgruppe Krafft, an SS training unit consisting of an understrength battalion, into a blocking position. The Germans must prevent the British from linking up. If they can achieve this the airborne forces can be defeated in detail.
The games
The four games will be:
The British must win through all four tables to succeed, so it’s an uphill slog. The Germans can play a wild card in game three or four, which turns that game into Attack/defend with them as the aggressors (for which they get enhanced support).
The forces
Germans
The German force consists of a platoon from an SS training unit. These are a mix of raw recruits and few veteran cadres.
Platoon CO:
Oberscharfuhrer Jan Strassensperre
Age: 25
Attitude: Secure
1 Section:
Unterscharfuhrer Helmut Lipp
Age: 19
MG Team: 4 men with MG42
Rifle team: 5 riflemen
2 Section:
Unterscharfuhrer Rudolf Dreyer
Age: 21
MG Team: 4 men with MG42
Rifle team: 5 riflemen
3 Section:
Unterscharfuhrer Heinz Beanz
Age: 19
MG Team: 4 men with MG42
Rifle team: 5 riflemen
The British
Platoon HQ:
Platoon CO: Lieutenant Jimmy Cleminson
Platoon Sergeant
PIAT team: 2 men
2″ mortar team: 2 men
Sniper
1 & 2 Sections:
MG team: 3 men with Bren Gun
Rifle team: 5 riflemen, 1 man with Sten gun
Weapon Section:
MG team: 3 men with Bren Gun, 1 man with Sten gun
MG team: 3 men with Bren Gun, 1 man with Sten gun
Sniper
9 Responses to Breaking Through to Frost at Arnhem: Campaign setup
dmchodge says:
We’re playing this one too. It’s a good campaign. The briefing in the magazine doesn’t actually say the British have to win every battle, just that they have to win on every table. So they can come back for a second shot if they lose a game, using their second platoon if necessary.
I think it would be very difficult for them to win without using this option.
Andy says:
Cheers Derek, let me know how you get on.
You’re right about the scenario just saying they have to take all four tables, I’d missed that. I wouldn’t give the Brits too many extra cracks at it though, they are against the clock after all.
dmchodge says:
We’ve got up to game three. The first platoon of British walked all over the Germas whilst taking very few causalties on tables one and two. They won scenario two (the Probe) taking no casualties at all and inflicting none on the German core force. They captured a German jump-off point after getting two consecutive moves right at the start of the game, then ran up the road under the cover of a mortar barrage.
The Germans took the counter-attack option on table three and attacked with 30 support points (they rolled a double six for supports). That didn’t go at all well for the British who have now brought up their second platoon for another go at table three.
Andy says:
30 points!? Wow. I thought the max for that scenario would be 28 though? 10 for force rating and 6+2d6 for the scenario? It’s not clear if that 2d6 for the wild card is on top of what they’d get normally, but I assumed it wasn’t, or else they’d be able to bring a whole division on.
We’re playing the probe mission this Wednesday, hopefully the Brits won’t romp through me so easily!
dmchodge says:
The text says the Germans “may select up to List 12” for games three and four, the counter attack option “allows him to add 6+2D6 points for that game only”.
If the 6 +2D6 wasn’t additional the Germans would be counter-attacking with an average of 13 points compared to the 12 they’d get for defending. And there would be a chance of just over 20% that they’d actually get fewer supports.
Andy says:
Are you using CoC Derek? Because those listed support levels are only if you’re using a different rule set. The text says that if you’re using CoC you roll for support as normal. We nearly made the exact same mistake.
dmchodge says:
Oops! using CoC and giving the Germans too many support points. They didn’t need them all anyway 🙂
dmchodge says:
Couldn’t use them all to tell the truth. Not enough Command dice.
Andy says:
You might have been giving them too little, too. Phil didn’t seem terribly impressed to learn I had 13 points in hand for the patrol game!