Biazza Ridge - with 'Up the Blue'

I squeezed in another WWII game, as I have been very keen to try out Alex's 'Up the Blue' rules again, and I have been remiss in my recent games and not been testing and playing them.

These are developed from some of the mechanisms in the One Hour Wargame style, though have developed into something which flies completely by itself, and Alex has designed in many innovative features.

• Units can be 'ready' and thus pre-empt the firing of 'tactically' moving units.
• That tactical movement is slow (adopting cover), but by not doing it, you end up in deep trouble from sustained fire (I judged this as moving 'in flat' terrain Alex - i.e. an extra dice to firer.
• Veteran troops (the Paras here) have real advantages vs troops of poor calibre. They can fire better, recover quicker etc. without being supermen. This works very well. (Paras are +1 Vets in quality tests).

• A number of models or bases make up the platoon 'unit'. I always tinkered with this when I read/played the rules before, but it works. I had two Tigers operating as a platoon here, and the infantry basing naturally lends itself to it.
• While MGs and integrated platoon firepower can be designed out in terms of mechanisms, mortars are designed back in. This makes sense considering how they are/were used, but you don't see this in other rules - well you do, but not done seamlessly without another damned table.

•  You're rolling a basic 3d6 for firing with added/subtracted dice for: tactical target, quality vs enemy, cover, number of permanent hits you've taken etc. Hits a 3+, 4+, 5+ etc. depending on circumstance and firer/target.
• You can take 6 hits, with target removed at 7+ - take 3 in one attack and it's a permanent. This has deleterious effects on everything you do after that.
• It's a great method of adjudicating suppression, wearing down of the unit, rallying back some hits where possible and trying to keep your command effective. It's a nice mechanism.  As commander, I don't want to know how many tanks are effective or how many guys are down, I want to know if the 'unit' is combat-effective. It's that simple.
• Respites in combat are built into the system. We all read about these 'lulls in combat', especially so in WWII where dedicated training was in its infancy (see S.L.A. Marshall's work) but there are few rules that handle them well. There's a nice initiative system that allows a natural respite here. 
• You get +2 to next roll for initiative if you had initiative last turn, which helps - but it is so easily lost on a simple d6 roll - which makes things very exciting.
• These would also work very well for Vietnam and WWIII.
• Interestingly, I thought with a little tinkering, they could easily 'scale' up one level with units as companies, and make for larger scale 'Fulda Gap' rules.

(Alex - I will have more comments and questions - but a fine playtest so far I thought).

The scenario is roughly based on Jim Gavin's famous defence against 'Tigers' at Biazza Ridge in Sicily in 1943.
The scenario is taken from David Hall's 'Blood & Guts' wargames rules/scenarios.

 Setting up - in daylight. Why, I had more 1943 US Paras than I thought (though there are still a few Market Garden era guys in there).

 The 'Wall 'o' 20mm Vehicles. You can see why I didn't make the change to 15mm WWII. Some of these are from the 1970s.

 A platoon lies in wait by the road. Units have a basic anti-armour effect. I was going to improve this in light of Gavin's Bazookas on the day, but to be honest, the system worked fine with close range shots.

 The 105mm Pack Howitzer operated over open sights. So I used the requisite number of dice and the same call in procedure. Worked fine.

Hard to beat the Cigar Box Battlemats when building a ridge underneath it.

 Tiger platoon makes it way along the road.

'Wait for it'. So this unit is classed as concealed. I hadn't made them 'ready' in first turn. They did that themselves after winning initiative in first turn.

 

 Two hits. If this had been 4, it would have been a permanent hit, which makes everything more difficult (need to ask you about rallying Alex).

 Good cover for the Paras as German units attack over the open ground - some of them are careful to use tactical movement.

 Some open sights discipline required.

(He's gonna hit that telegraph post...)
As in the actual battle, the Tigers were not a veteran unit, and so suffered quite readily from bazooka fire. There were occasions when they simply couldn't do much. When you have 4 hits, you have to roll quality die to activate, which makes even taking an action difficult. You can tactical move and fire - though this was getting beyond the Tiger unit at times.

 Rally actions :  remove one hit if unit concealed or tank then roll for a 2nd based on quality. But the dice colour will indicate permanent hit - and you can't rally below 2 in this instance, or 3 if 2xPHs.

 Respite - and the German platoon digs in with a view to pouring covering fire on the walls.

 Tigers stopped again.

 ...they pull back to rally. They really had very little impact on the game...and had a tendency not to wait for their infantry.

 ..which was having considerable success on the flanks.

 Some German success on the flanks, but with other German units suffering, they're finding it difficult to make a break through the US lines, and US armour is about to turn up, and take on a Tiger unit that is in disarray.

 

 ...and some US shooting is fairly decent too...

 All in all, a great set of rules that models the degradation of units well. You have to control your resources and literally rally in the face of enemy fire in order to keep units active, always with the threat that they might simply melt away at the wrong time.

A lot of possibilities here. Great rules Alex.

Ardennes Classic (not the bike race)

And, we’re back…

Been busy of late with some work travel, though can't stand in the way of a game...

Steve’s mate Alex has sent me the excellent ‘Up the Blue’ WWII rules. Now these are based on the precepts set out in the ‘One Hour Wargames’ stable, but with so much more (and these guys know what they are talking about).

Highlights

• As with the OHW standard, a unit has a number of hits – though some are permanent and some can be rallied off in this case dependent on the severity of initial hits (this is very subtle in gameplay and can reduce attack dice). The gamble is trading permanent (which ‘stick’) against what you think you can rally, bringing out unique resource management nightmares. A slight tweak of a +1 rally makes elite units very good at hugging terrain – and we had a really good version of elite 101^st Airborne in the Ardennes, who simply would not give ground.
• It’s fast, and it’s d6. Now people argue (that’d be me) that you get more flexibility with multi-sided dice. In this instance Alex has got around it neatly by slimming the mechanism to a number of dice (2-4, but usually 3) with a few modifiers, while making the turn sequence do the work.
• Initiative…mortars…action phase 1…enemy interrupts (if ‘ready’)…action phase 2
• 
  
  Most play is based on what you see above and it’s relatively seamless, so the key is to worry about getting the drop on the enemy by keeping ‘ready’ units and not getting ‘panzer-bushed’, and where there are tactical issues (armour, superior gun, elite troops) you add a dice or a modifier. Unlike more GW-centric systems (‘Slack Chowder’ for instance) there isn’t the need for masses of unit characteristics.

• Initiative is also very subtle, If you had it, it's easier to keep - but unit losses put pressure on that, and an unlucky initiative roll can lose it and really give you a headache. I found this remarkably easy to judge during gameplay.

• Very neat  mechanics indeed. I thought that I might have to add something for Panthers, but it’s all there (e.g. heavy gun - +1d6, Heavy Armor -1d6 to the firer).
• Units are platoons made up from the individual elements – so three bases is a ‘unit’ with sensible spacing.
• ‘Dug in’ units always seem to make life complicated in other rules.  Not so here – it’s a simple modifier.
• KEY TAKE-AWAY…these rules appear to give me the same results that I see from more complicated sets. IN FACT…the gameplay is more exciting as the to and fro of initiative and managing the battle makes you focus on commanding troops as opposed to complex differences between a Panther and a Sherman. All I need to know is that the Sherman is going to lose in a straight up firefight, not the difference between a bunch of numbers.
• Combined arms work. We had a steep learning curve in the game, but mortars are very effective, armour needs supported, and can in turn support infantry assaults, and readily use the 'ready' (reserve fire) rule to stop counterattack in the enemy action phase.

As you maintain momentum and gain the initiative bonus, while destroying enemy units, you can keep control of the game, but it only takes the attacker to seize that a few times and really mess things up.

A great game – so we have a company of the 101^st with some deadly (if fragile) anti tank hardware, vs a deliberate German attack with a couple of supported companies.  Watch out for those Panthers!

Germans advancing against prepared US positions.

 Using 'march' advances up the road, though the infantry will be short of cover, bar a few rises in the ground.

US armour moves up.

A natural fold/gully in the approach, while the Panthers try to flank.

A horrible run in for the attackers.

Early tank duels.

The M36 takes out a Panther over two actions - good shooting.

But with 'soft' armour, it doesn't take long to get shot up itself.

German platoons reach the outer buildings, but at great cost.

Panzer IV takes out the second M36, leaving troops exposed, though they are well ensconced.

 ...and have their own offensive capability.

The Germans leave themselves dangerously open during the final assault.

...and end up getting caught in crossfires, which dents their hopes of taking the town.

A very nice set of rules, and we could see how minimal tweaking would make them work for modern and Vietnam.