System Description
Our local informal wargaming group recently completed a 1944 Western Front campaign, played on a huge table with 1/285th models. Each player commanded at least one battalion, often two or three, with four or more players per side. Some of the biggest casualties occurred as some players made grand assaults across open terrain against concealed and protected German defenders ("Danke, sehr gut-Achtung! Feuer!"). Interestingly, the players who commanded a battalion-sized unit or smaller made more successful attacks and defenses.
This observation led me to think that for some players, having too many units to command may have led to carelessness, or a lack of fear for losing too many casualties. A comment was made at the time that some of these reckless players would probably act far more cautiously if they commanded only a couple of companies. (Personally, I felt it did recreate in some small way the historical actions of various Allied units in France, 1944.)
After the campaign, I was reviewing the collections of unpainted 1/285th models I had in storage, and these thoughts were running through my mind. I wanted to represent the small unit actions that occurred in the Huertgen Forest and Ardennes in late 1944. And then I obtained a book that triggered this article: Panzer GrenadierDivision Gross Deutschland. This fine work included the organizations and actions of two of Gross Deutschlands sibling units, the Fuhrer Grenadier and Fuhrer Begleit (Escort) Brigades. These elite regular army brigades were committed to action in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge. Their organizations differed in interesting ways from standard Panzer unit compositions: for example, a company of SS Panzer Grenadiers, a company of Jagdpanthers, heavy 88 flak units, panzer grenadiers in light cars, etc.
I wanted to model these units and commit them to action in games on a smaller table, but felt that an American player would be reluctant to face the full fury of Panthers and Jagdpanthers, Panzer Grenadiers and 88s. Suddenly, I realized that in my reading of the historical accounts, these units were actually committed somewhat piecemeal due to the constricting terrain down icy roads, jammed traffic and delaying actions of individual units.
The Americans, too, often combined their forces into "teams" and tried, with varying success or failure, to cover many approaches and avenues of attack. Also, many of the attacking Gennan units were composed of Volksgrenadiers or Fallschirmjager. This variability was what I was looking for ,and I soon arrived at the concept of random force commitment.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
The basic concept is simple. Force type, availability, reinforcement and mission are chosen randomly. You will need a six-sided die and eight troop type cards, four cards for each side. The four American cards are labeled Armored, Armored Infantry, Cavalry, and Infantry. The four German cards are labeled Fuhrer Grenadier, Fuhrer, Fallschirmjager and Volksgrenadier. Of course, you can tailor this arrangement to suit your fancy, but try to maintain a historical balance.
- Step One:
Separate cards by nationality and have each player draw one card from either the US or German deck. This determines the player's side and forces under his command. Players should not reveal the type of troops they are commanding to the other side.
Step Two:
Set up the terrain for the game, with each side talking alternate turns placing terrain pieces until they are both satisfied. Try to make it look at least a little like the Ardennes-get a book. Then flip a coin to decide who gets to choose the side they want to starton!
Step Three:
Each player rolls 1D6 to determine how many units he will start with-you know the general size of the enemy forces. If a player rolls a four, then he would have four rolls on the Initial Forces Table (Table 1). Initial forces are set up on the table.
The attacking side should be designated at this point. If the Germans are attacking, US forces set up on the half of the table adjacent to their board edge, while the attacking Germans get to set up on the 25% of the table adjacent to their board edge. If the Americans are the attacking side, then reverse the setup positions. If the terrain makes the forces too close, declare fog, snowfall or night! If one only gets one roll, ask your opponent if you can reroll--and let's be civilized!
Step Four:
After forces are set up, players secretly roll to determine their specific mission and record this for later verification. I set this action after step 3 because most commanders received orders and then had to rearrange their battleline--and try to keep the enemy from guessing what they were up to. (Actually, I love the chance to have recon units do their job!)
Step Five:
Play begins. At the beginning of the second turn, and every turn thereafter, each player rolls for reinforcements. On a 5 or 6, roll once on the Reinforcements Table for your force. If that unit has already arrived, roll again. For variation, if a player rolled low on the Initial Forces Table, allow him to roll on that table if he so wishes in place of the Reinforcements Table. In either case, once a unit has arrived, it cannot be rolled for again.
Play continues until victory conditions have been met. Additional reinforcements may or may not enter---consider using an additional force selection card for a reinforcing battlegroup.
Basically, that's it. My tables were made up with units I had on hand which matched the OBs I researched, so they are pretty representative. These are just some ideas to add some surprise to the game and present unusual challenges to small scenarios. I am certain that some of you will find it necessary to match the tables to your available forces, so have fun, and learn a little about the unpredictability of warfare.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Charles B. McDonald, A Time For Trumpets: the Untold
Story of the Battle of the Bulge (New York: William Morrow
and Company, Inc. 1985).
Horst Scheibert, Panzer Grenadier Division Gross
Deutschland (Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 1987).
Modular Bulge CD Scenario Generator for the Battle of the Bulge 1944
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© Copyright 1994 by Greg Novak.
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