The Commander Series Forum

I set this up after my last game, and it has been tempting me all week long. It is a continuation centered around the same bridge/town area, but moved north a bit after the Americans finished with control of the area. I was going to have pictures, but my camera batteries were dead. So you all will have to use your imaginations.

Germans are counter attacking to try and retake the bridge. The force from the last game is reinforced up to 890 points, and has the following forces;

CO
2 HQ
FAO
9 Infantry (6 Sd 251/1, 3 Opel Trucks)
1 Sd 251/10
1 Sd 251/2
1 Pz IV
2 105mm IG (2 Trucks)

The forces were split with two companies on the left flank, and one company on the right (the reinforcing company).

The Americans were defending the town with;
1 CO
2 HQ
1 Recon Jeep
3 Infantry (3 M3 Halfracks)
3 M4 Sherman 75mm

Reinforcements coming up the road;
1 M4 76mm
1 M16 Quad AA

The infantry started in the buildings at the north end of town, with the halftracks hidden around the area. The Shermans were held in the southern end of the town.

The Germans attacked down each flank, with two companies on the East side, and one on the West side. Artillery provided some support, but the FAO was not as reliable as he could have been. The first German company on the right was engaging the Americans who had moved a force to the flank to defend that side...when the German HQ on that side blundered and withdrew off the table edge with his force of halftracks. The CO had to move in and take command of the rest of that group, and tried moving the attack in. The Pz IV made it around the flank and shot up the American reinforcements, KO'ing both the Sherman 76mm and the Quad AA Halftrack as they crossed the bridge. The Panzer was knocked out by a Sherman held in reserve inside the town. The attack on the other side never really got going, and the attack on the right ended up being caught out by some poor luck - waited three turns for smoke to storm a small hill...finally got it and only rolled one command that turn leaving the company just short of cover. After the threat was removed on the East side, the two M4 Sherman 75mm moved up the road and flanked the other company, catching it behind it's cover and basically cutting it off. The Germans did not fail their break, but decided to withdraw the remainder of the force. The early command blunder kind of put the writing on the wall for the Germans, and the dice really seemed to not favor the Hun today.

I think I might continue with this little series of fights, but I might have my British boys take the offensive while the Amis pull back for some rest (meaning I have more of them painted and ready to fight). I'm trying to keep the battles on the smallish side, so I can fight them in a small period of time where I can break away. I am really enjoying the game play with lots of space and tactical movements being key.

Good man

I enjoy these small games as well. Often, they seem to have a bit more character than larger battles, maybe because you are focusing much more on a smaller area.

Excellent report, I will look forward to the next installment. At the moment we are planning an infantry/artillery only battle with 750 points. This will be set in a forested area (Hurtgen/Battle of the Bulge) and there is no FAO only pre-registered artillery assets. Will let you know how it played. These small games seem to be more satisfying than some 'big battles' we've played.

Nice repor tand nice idea.

I have recemntly converted our gaming group to BKC and we have been tending to put on large battles with lots of whiz bangs and armour and the like. It might be fun to pare it down to a mainly infantry battle in complex terrain. Maybe with some half tracks at most and no tanks.

Thanks guys - lots of room on a 4' by 6' with these smaller units. I'm playing a campaign scenario this weekend, so probably will move on with this sometime next week. I'll try and remember to charge the camera batteries.

Thanks Ben. Just shows how flexible the BKC system is. One could have the same number of COs and HQs but each commanding a battalion, and it would still be a good game.

I've said it before & I'll say it again...smaller battles are great: can be much more tactically challenging - and without all the whizz-bangs can make you work harder...Dean & KD found this at Legionary playing SCW with 750 pt battlegroups

I agree that I have found some smaller games to be very fun.

Although there is nothing like a nice big scenario with lots of action.

Although Last time I over did it on the air power to make up points.....big mistake. Especially when the allied player hardly failed to bring the aircraft down in multiples time and again.