WW2: Attack on a Railway Town

Playtesting of my adaption of the WRG 1973 rules for the 1925-1950 period continues. I recently developed a scenario to test the rules with some significant forces, and thought it might be of interest to readers to present the scenario as a generic WW2 game that you can adapt to your own rules and figures.

Scenario

The action involves an attack on a small town where a railway and road cross. The defenders can deploy anywhere in the top half of the table, whilst the attackers advance from their baseline at the bottom of the map on turn 1. Some armour reinforcements arrive for the defender on one of the first three turns via road 'X'. The attacker is tasked with taking the town, and also if possible controlling the road that leaves the table via 'X'. The defender is tasked with preventing this occurring.

The map shows a 6' x 4' table. North can be any direction you want.

Terrain

The wooded hills in the lower left corner are steep/difficult (whatever term your rules adopt) and the woods here are dense. These hills can only be crossed by infantry. The other woods are open, and all other hills are gentle. The hedged field in the centre is ploughed and will slow movement. The 'factory' can be any large building, or you can substitute a village of 2 or 3 houses.

Forces

These are given for rules adopting a 1:1 figure and model scale. Adapting them for a different scale should be no problem.

Attacker

Force HQ

Tank Company of 3 platoons, each of 4 tanks

Reduced Infantry Company of 2 platoons

Artillery Battery (off-table) of 4 guns in direct support (with AFO on-table)

Mortar Battery (off-table) of 6 weapons in direct support (with MFO on-table)

In my games the attacker also had a preparatory barrage available - I leave players to work out the details according to their own rules. For the infantry company, choose whatever support weapons you feel are appropriate - MMGs, light mortars, infantry guns, or perhaps even an SP gun of some kind to add spice.

Defender

Force HQ

Reduced Infantry Company of 2 platoons

Armoured Recce platoon (armoured cars or similar)

AA Section (defending the railway station - must deploy within 10" of the rail/road intersection)

Artillery Battery (off-table) of 4 guns in general support (with AFO on-table)

Mortar Battery (off-table) of 4 weapons in direct support (with MFO on-table)

Tank Platoon of 3-4 tanks, initially off-table. 

Defender rolls pre-game: 1,2 tanks arrive at 'X' on turn 1; 3,4 arrive turn 2; 5,6 arrive turn 3.

The defender's infantry company should have 2-3 anti-tank guns attached. The AA section should also have 2-3 weapons, with 1 or 2 of these being effective against tanks. The recce section might seem out of place in a defending force but their presence adds interest and assumes they have been thrown in to bolster the defence regardless of their normal role.

Notes

Depending on the period and forces chosen, it may be useful to rate the defenders a little lower for morale and skill than the attackers. I suggest that the reinforcing tanks should be of equivalent quality to the attackers. I leave the final balance to you. As for air support, I included a random air support factor, which meant that either side might get a section of ground attack aircraft over the table on any move, but adopting a fairly low chance of this happening.

Photos

Below are a small selection of photos from 2 games - the first set in Russia 1943 with the Russians as the attacker (held at Roy's house), the second set in Poland 1939 (against Paul at my house) with the Germans attacking. These are just snaps with an iphone so excuse the quality.

1943. No need for roads to be marked in the snow-covered terrain. Note the
'dummy counters' indicating where defending units might or might not be.

T-34s supported by a KV-2. A bit late in the war for the latter, but I couldn't resist the model.

German armour moves out to counter-attack. I was rather taken with Roy's
Litko 'flaming wreckage' markers and bought some for myself.

1939. An overview of the terrain

The German advance on the town.

More Germans attack via the wooded valley.

The factory under pressure.

As can be seen, the rules produced a bloody battle. Burning wrecks litter the battlefield.
Polish AA section seen in foreground behind the town.

The Rules

Both battles had numerous halts whilst rules issues were discussed. Many thanks to Roy and Paul for their tactful but honest input, and their patience. Suffice to say there is a long way to go with these rules - since these battles I have made further significant changes which now need playtesting.

Overall, it's great to be returning to face to face gaming and meeting friends once again over the wargames table. I know many gamers are feeling the same as 'normal life' resumes.

'Til next time!

EDIT 2nd May

A copy of the latest 1939 version of the rules is available HERE. The usual caveat applies - this is just the latest version of a distinctly under-tested rule set in its early stages. Also, this is for 1939 only, so only very basic stats - no armour above class E! Let me know of any problems accessing the file, which is stored on Google Drive.

EDIT 6th May

If anyone has been trying to access the rules and coming up against a permission problem, that should have now been solved. Anyone can now access the file.