O Group- Crossing the Strait of Johore

Below is an O Group scenario I've come up based on the Japanese 25th army crossing the Strait of Johore onto Singapore Island on February 8th 1942. 

 Background

 On Dec 8^th 1941 the Japanese 15^th army invaded Malaya and over the next two months drove the British, Indian and Australian forces of General Percival back towards Singapore. Disaster after disaster followed and on the 30^th of January the last battalion, the 2^nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, led by their last remaining pipers marched across the causeway to “Fortress” Singapore.

The 22^nd Australian Brigade, 8^th Australian Division was responsible for defending the western coastline. Percival believed the Japanese would attack east of the causeway and his deployment reflected this. The 8^th division consisted of 6 weakened battalions  and each covered a front of “tidal mudflats and mangrove swaps intersected by stream and inlets, a defenders nightmare” (Thompson, 2005, p385). The three battalions of the 22^nd brigade covered a front of 16,000 yards, with the 2/20^th battalion holding 8,000 yards in front of the Kranji river and Sarimbun island.

On 1 February when Captain Gaven of A company 2/20^th arrived in their defensive positions on the position of the mangrove swamp he realised there were no fortifications or defences and no field of view of the enemy approach  (ibid, p389).

General Yamishita had outmanoeuvred  General Percival throughout the campaign and on the 8^th of February launched 16 battalions across the straits of Johore against the three battalions of the Australian 22^nd brigade on the Western side of the island.  At 8:15 in the evening 168 artillery pieces opened up on the Australian positions. The battle for Singapore had begun.

Mission:

Japanese: Destroy the Australian forces by inflicting 3 FUBARS (12 losses) on the defenders  or else get a platoon to successfully exit the table on the far side from the Straits of Johore.

Australians: Inflict 14 losses on the attacking Japanese forces will allow the Australians to withdraw in good order to positions further back in Singapore.

Deployment

The Australians are the defenders. The Japanese are the attackers.

It is assumed that platoons and combat patrols have landing craft and boats available but these can also be modelled if available.

 

Special Rules

Battalion dice: The Australians get 8 dice and the Japanese 9.

Defences: The Australians can deploy 3 units in trenches.

Night attack: The Japanese landed at about 8:45p. the entire game is played at night.

Johore strait: Units crossing the straits roll 2d6 and use the highest die (I assume the units have craft to cross the river, evne if not modelled on the table). 

Visibility: The maximum visibility for all units is 20”.

Australian Artillery Support: British communications broke down and although they had artillery support the British and Australian guns were not able to support the defending battalions. No artillery support is available for the Australians except for Battalion mortars.

Japanese artillery support: The Japanese get 2 artillery missions and no smoke missions.

Japanese Reserves: A full strength infantry company is available for turn 6 onwards on a 4+, check each turn till the company arrives).

Terrain

Mangrove swamps: Count as Rough terrain (RB p44) going. LoS can see a max of 1” into an area of mangrove. Likewise a unit in a mangrove swamp terrain feature can fire out of it if within 1” of the edge of the mangrove swamp.

Result

If the Australians win: They have blunted the initial attacks and delayed the Japanese advance enabling the battalion to withdraw in good order and are allowed 3 trenches and a hasty minefield in the next battle. 

Orders of Battalion

Australians

·       Worn battalion

·       2x MMGs

Japanese

·       Full strength Infantry battalion (confident)

·       1x MMG section

Japanese Reserves

·       1x Full strength infantry company (available on a 4+ turn 6 onwards, check each turn till the company arrives).

The Table

Historic Outcome

After intense fighting the forward positions of the three battalions of the 22nd brigade were overrun by the Japanese. Three companies of the 2/20^th battalion fell back to positions near Ama Keng village but the fourth company remained in its forward positions and was destroyed. The Japanese exploited the gaps in the thinly spread australain lines and by midnight the Japanese fired a sta shell to indicate they had secured their initial objectives. In confused fighting throughout the night the Australians were split into isolated parties and fell back across while the Japanese continued to drive inland. 

Night fighting rules

The following rules apply to fighting at night.

Spotting dice	Units are spotted on a following: 0-10”      4+ 10-20 “   5+
Max range	Units that did not fire can only be seen a maximum of 20” unless they fired in their previous turn.
Obscured	At night all targets count as obscured no matter if they are in cover/terrain or not and must use a spotting dice vs their target.
Direct fire to hit penalties	-1 FP to hit target at night with direct fire at ranges over 10”
Artillery HE penalties	-1d6 FP (represents not being able to see target accurately)

 

 Sources

·       Battalion diary: 2/20 Infantry Battalion Jan-June 1942 https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1366606

·       Thompson, P, (2005); The Battle for Singapore, Paitkus Books Ltd

·       Wikipedia: The Fall of Singapore 

O Group- British for the Far east

Yet another wee side project. I recently learned that Battlefront are about to re-release their ranges for the Far East and Pacific. I've been umming and ahhing about whether to do 20mm or 15mm (to a accompany my 28mm force of course). I love the 20mm AB ranges but would need both British and Japanese forces so in the end, with hearing that Battlefront are about to release their Japanese range again, I decided to stick to 15mm.

So in the past week I've rebased and tidied up some BF 8th army troops which will be fine for the Far East and New Guinea in 1941-42. I added a pack of the Australian troops that are now long out of production and will add a 3rd company (in O Group terms) soon.

Currently the force would count as a worn battalion in O Group and comprises of: 

• BATT HQ
• FOO
• 2x battalion mortars
• 3x 25prds
• 2x 2pdrs
• 9x Combat patrols
• 2x Rifle Companies 

I've no interest in getting the new Pacific book but the Japanese will make a good core for a Battalion in O Group.

The British are fine for 1943-45 but what were they thinking in the putting of this together. Why oh why do they incldue 6x 6pdrs! WTF? I know that FoW has become tanks of War in recent years but holy hell, that is a lot of anti-tank guns and looks to be pretty poor value for money  in terms of usefulness for that I need for later war in Burma. 

Craig
 

O Group Scenario- Crossing the Rapido

 36th Texan Division vs the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division

I've been working on some scenarios for O Group centred on battles in the Italian Campaign. The first one is base don the crossing the the Rapdio by the 36th Texan Divison in January 1944. 

Background

By January 1944 the US 5th Army under General Mark Clark had reached the German ‘Gustav-Line’ defences along the line of the Garigliano river.

In the stalemate which followed the Allies sought to establish a bridgehead on the north side of the river and force a way through the German defences. The Germans were in well prepared defensive positions on high ground overlooking the Americans and believed that they had an excellent opportunity of inflicting a telling blow upon the Allies.  

21 January 1944

On the night of the 20-21^st of January the 141^st and 143^rd regiments of the 36^th (Texas) division attempted to cross the Rapido river and establish a bridgehead on the northern bank near the town of San Angelo.

The attacks started with the 36th Infantry Division firing an artillery barrage of 31,000 rounds on German positions which resulted in only negligible damage. Feint attacks were conducted by the 34th Infantry Division were conducted further to the north near Monte Cassino to divert attention from the main advance. 

Mission

The Americans must establish a bridgehead across the Rapido river.  To do so they must have at least an infantry company firmly established on the northern side of the river at the end of the game of have inflicted 3 FUBARs on the Germans and forced them to retreat off the table.   

·       If the Americans capture both sections of San Angelo they automatically win the game.

·       Capture of each farm counts as 2 casualties towards breaking the German force.

The defender wins if they inflict 3 FUBARs or prevent the Americans from achieving their mission objectives.

The game ends after a maximum of 16 turns

Deployment

The Americans start on the southern bank of the Rapido. Armour and vehicles cannot cross the river.

Infantry are assumed to cross in assault boats (can use actual models if available in your model collection).

Initial US combat patrols and company HQs must start on the southern side of the river.

Once a company HQ is established on the northern bank of the Rapido combat patrols can be deployed within 18” of the company HQ as per normal rules.

My table 

Orders of Battle

American OOB

The Americans start with 23 point force based on a rifle battalion.  They can include vehicles and AFVs but these may not cross the Rapido River (tanks can offer fire support from the southern bank of the river).  The American’s can have a maximum of two Sherman and/or M10 platoons. US equipment chosen must be appropriate for January 1944.

German OOB

The Germans start with a 10 pt infantry or panzer grenadier battalion. The Germans may field a worn battalion and if they do so then they get 2 free hasty minefields.  

The only armour available to the Germans is a platoon of panzer IVs which are in reserve and can only arrive on table when dawn arrives on the battlefield (these are not included in the initial German force of 10 pts).

Special Rules

Battalion O Group dice: The Americans start the game with 9 O Group dice, the Germans start with 8.

Opening barrage: If running a worn battalion the Germans ignore any opening barrage casualties.

German Panzer Reserve: A panzer IV platoon is available from first light and must deploy/start the game in San Angelo.

Night Attack: The river initial American assault takes place at night.

At night all targets count as obscured no matter if they are in cover/terrain or not. Units that did not fire can only be seen a maximum of 20” unless they fired in their previous turn. 

Spotting dice	Units are spotted on a following: 0-10”      4+ 10-20 “   5+ 20”+       6+
Obscured	At night all targets count as obscured no matter if they are in cover/terrain or not.
Max range	Units that did not fire can only be seen a maximum of 20” unless they fired in their previous turn.
Direct fire to hit penalties	-1 to hit target at night with direct fire
Artillery HE penalties	-1d6 firing at night (represents not being able to see target accurately)

Dawn: From turn 6 onwards roll to see if dawn arrives. On a 4+ it has and normal visibility rules apply.

The Rapido River: The river is impassable to all vehicles and gun teams such as antitank guns. Ther is no penalty for infantry teams crossing the river (they are assumed to be sing assault boats).

Defences

The Germans can start with 1 platoon and 1 weapons team section dug in. These dug in positions cannot be placed within a BUA. If a dug in/entrenched platoon is placed in ambush the trench is also concealed.

The Germans also start with 2 hasty minefields the locations of which are noted by the German player. 

Artillery Missions

·       The Americans have 3 artillery missions

·       The Germans have 1 artillery mission.

Terrain

San Angelo is considered a two section BUA and is elevated.

Farms: The two farms are not considered elevated and count as single storey buildings only.

High ground: Units on the hill/ high ground count as in elevated terrain and is considered higher than woods or buildings below.  

Orchards: LOS passes through but not out of the far side. They are classed as cover.

Rapido River: Is impassable to vehicles and gun teams such as AT gun. Infantry crossing the river roll 2d6 for movement and take the highest dice roll.

Fields: The area consists of a number of fields which are classed as cover but do not block line of sight.

Walls and hedges: Offer cover to units behind them or against them. Vehicle against a wall or hedge can see through to shoot.

Fortifications

Trenches (p47)	-2d6 damage to troops in foxholes and trenches.
Hasty mines (p49)	4” x 1” Not placed on table but location noted by defender. When an enemy unit enters a hastily mined area roll 5d6 for shock. 1 shocker per 4+. Hasty mines only attack once and are removed.

Historic Outcome

143^rd Regiment

On the night of the 20^th of January the 143^rd regiment attacked north of San Angelo on a one battalion frontage and managed to get most of a battalion across the river by morning. However, the 1st  Battalion of the 143^rd regiment found itself in a pocket which was subject to interlocking German machine gun fire with the river to their backs. Enemy tanks began firing on the American positions from San Angelo so to escape being wiped out completely the battalion commander ordered his men back across the river.

A renewed attack on the night of 21^st/22^nd succeeded in getting two and a half companies of 2^nd battalion across the river and a couple of footbridges were established. The Texans were to endure ferocious fire during the 22^nd and tried to hold onto their shallow bridgehead across the river.

Sources

Ellis, J (1984), Cassino The Hollow Victory, Aurum Press

Plowman, J & Rowe, P; (2012); The Battles for Monte Cassino, then and now; Pen and Sword Books ltd

https://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/36division/archives/rapido/rapido2.htm

WW2 TV: Sacrifice on the Rapido https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxVaxRPT4d8

LW British infantry battalion for O Group

This week I've painted up a LW British infantry batalion for O Group using Battlefront miniatures. These are some of the first of the plastic BF mini's I've bought and though I quite like them was a tad disapponted by the level of detail of the equipment which seems a lot flatter/ less defined than their odlder metal ranges. Still they look pretty good once finished.

For O Group I am basing my forces on 3cm round bases with 3 figures per stand. A stand representing a section of infantry. 

So far I've painted by 3 companies of infantry (9 stands + HQ in each), 2x MMGs, 3x PIATs and Batttalion HQ. Tonight I also added 9x combat patrols which I use single figures on 2.5cm bases. 

Craig
 

More 20mm WW2 gaming

O Group

I have been geting a few WW2 games in of late. I’ve met up with a couple of local gamers who play O Group by Dave Brown. They are battalion level set rules so one stand equals a section of men and one tank represents 2. I’ve never and an issue with “bathtubbing” games, it has been around as long as the hobby has been and enables gamers to fight at a higher scale of game than they otherwise would. There are some interesting mechanics in the rules, such as the combat patrol mechanism, which keeps the fog of war aspect strong in the game. I’ve only had a couple of games so far but enjoyed them both, and hope to have another game tomorrow.

The local gamers here in Oamaru plays O group in 15mm. I have a very, very large collection of 15mm WW2 from my FoW days (or should that be decade) but I really struggle to get any enthusiasm either for painting miniatures in that scale or the armoured vehicles these days. Having spent the last decade or so concentrating on 28mm skirmish style WW2 (eg Bolt Action), I really don’t enjoy gaming in 15mm any more and cannot motivate myslef to want to paint anyhting in 15mm.

Luckily though, I have found an answer. Returning to “God’s true scale”, where it all began for me in the late 1970s. 20mm or 1/72 scale. I have surprised myself at how much I really do enjoy putting together plastic kits!  there is defnitely an aspect of nostalgia involved. Back in the day my friend Ian and I started gaming with Airfix and Matchbox kits and then later added Eski vehicles to our collections and so there was quite a discrepancy in the size of vehicles on the table- try putting an Airfix Panther (1:76) beside an Esci Panther- the Esci one dwarfs the Airfix model! 

Anyway, I have been doing a bit made painting up British and German forces mainly using Plastic Soldier Company kits. Their 1/72^nd stuff is nicely detailed and, unlike the Esci kits which were first and foremost designed for modellers and have lots of very fiddly parts, are easy to put together having only a couple of dozen parts at most. The kits tend to come with bits of stowage and options to make 2 or even 3 variants of the main model and so they are very, very good value for money. So I guess I am regressing to my childhood, spending much of my spare time building and painting kits for gaming.

Battlegroup

The other game I’ve been starting to play is Battlegroup. Battlegroup plays very differently to O Group, more of a platoon level game and a good excuse to get toys on table. Another gamer I’ve recently met, Richard, lives about an hour and a half away near Dunedin and has a sizeable collection in 20mm and this is his preferred gaming scale. Hence my new addiction to collecting 20mm WW2. He has a fantastic set up and have had a couple of really enjoyable days of gaming in his wargaming room and was the motivator for me getting a “small” 20mm collection underway myself- I much prefer to use my own armies than borrow someone elses. 

So far I’ve enjoyed the games of Battlegroup, I really enjoy the morale mechanic whereby you draw a chit each time you lose a unit (and occasionally for other things like losing and objective) and the chits have a number between 1-5 and a few other “events” that might happen. Each armies breakpoint is a secret but you add up the chits you draw and the game ends when you reach your armies breakpoint, so you can never be sure about who is closer to breaking. It definitely adds tension to the game, especially when nearing your breakpoint, as when you want to rally troops you need to draw a chit, so it can all go horribly wrong for you. It is a nice “for of war” mechanic.

So far my only complaint with the game of is that a couple of our games have been a bit static tank shoots. I’ve not sure if that is because of the rules, the lists, or simply lack of experience with the ruleset. I like infantry to have an important part in a game and to date infantry has been a  bit underwhelming in our games. However, I do like the fact that most artillery is “off table” and the game feels like I assume a WW2 battlefield would, with artillery playing an important role and being able to reach infantry from afar. Infantry feel vulnerable, sometimes I think they are too vulnerable, but I think that is me and not the rules, or at least I hope that is me. So I enjoy the feel, I just need to get better and figuring but how best to use infantry effectively, which I am sure is user error rather than the rules themselves.

 Youtubing

Finally, this blog has been a bit neglected for late and that is mainly because I’ve been doing most of my battle reports as videos and uploading them to by youtube channel: The Wargaming Den. 

20mm Fallschrimjager

Finally, I've been buiding up a force of Fallschrimjager in 20mm using the lovely AB Miniatures range. I cannot  recommend them highlyu enough, the AB scultps are the best on the market and wellw orth the price. 

My FJ force assembled for a solo game of Battlegroup yesterday. 

I added a couple of PSC panthers to the collection this week.

The Fallschimjager- I've based them so I can use them with both O GRoup, Battlegroup, or Rapid Fire Reloaded

Until next time.