XR - Allied Assault - Tactics II Campaign.

The allied offensive continues and with a concentration of amour and infantry they continue to push the defenders at all the weak spots. This engagement is no exception as the Vichy defenders dig in and await the allied push.

The random terrain generator fell well for the Vichy with a village flanked by a dry river bed, the only challenge was the objective of the allies was to secure the wadi crossing.

Doing what they could, the French had put an emplacement covering the wadi hoping to stem the allied advance. But facing down the slow but heavily protected Matilda's would be a challenge.

The French threw what they could at the advancing armour, who countered with HE fire into the village.

The centre edged forward but progress was slow as artillery rained down on the advancing Brits.

However sweeping in from the left was a flying column of light tanks and bren carriers that looked to take out the artillery that had been plaguing the frontal assault.

The bren carriers and their supporting infantry pushed forwards sending the French defenders backwards and over running the artillery.

With the loss of the artillery support the main battle tanks pushed forwards, but are countered by a brave H35 which lasted for a few moments before it was brewed by a well placed AP round.

Time was running out for the defenders.... Vickers light tanks pursued the retreating infantry as Indian infantry charged the dug out.

Victory was complete for the allies.

Yet another win for the allies but the losses are mounting,

Allied Armour losses -200 Points, Infantry -325 Points - Vichy Losses -875 Points.

The war continues....

Battle in the valley - The allied push continues...

Continuing with the Tactics II campaign.

All out war across the entire front with the Allied forces pushing hard against the Axis & Vichy defenders. 

After a slow push through the mountains, like Hannibal in ancient times. The British Armoured regiment burst out of what thought to be impassable terrain. Another though ask of the German defenders.

Another outing flipping the rule system to Xenos Rampant whilst ironing out some of the kinks to in unit stats to better reflect the troops in theatre.

Allied - 1425 BA - 57 Points plus free spotter - XR

Axis - 1000 BA - 40 Points XR

The Germans hold the pass with an Infantry company and single light AT Gun facing off against a mobile column of Armour Infantry and Tanks.

Nestled amongst the rocks and dunes the Germans await the allied assault. 

The terrain was not the best for tanks, so as the AFV's pushed through the main road, the Infantry swept left by the oasis looking to assault the high ground. The Bren carriers moved quickly as Infantry filled the compound.

In the centre the armour pushed forwards, their advance slowed by off table artillery from the German rear area. The allies returned fire looking to supress the AT gun and AT Team.

Finding it tough going to the front the allies continued to probe the left flank, a Vickers light tank pouring fire into the Germans on the ridge line.

The Bren carriers assaulted the ridge line. The Germans (heavy Infantry with the Heavy weapon trait) pushed back the first assault but were picking up wounds.

In the centre the second Vickers Light Tank was a wreak having taken a number of hits from the defenders. This only served to drive on the British advance they can neutralised the AT team and were pushing into the pass supported by off table artillery.

The damn bursts. The Cruiser Mk III crashed into the AT gun driving the crew off, the allied Infantry seized the high ground as the surviving defenders were beaten back, who were then attacked by the flanking light tank.

An allied victory but at quite the costs.

Xenos Rampant makes for a fun game, the difference between the Allied Light Infantry & the German Heavy Infantry was telling, trying to wheedle the Germans out of heavy cover was hard work, next time they really need some additional heavy weapons to break them the Axis line.

A couple of additional tweaks to consider, company/squadron commands/activations given the games are larger than 24 points as stated in the book. - An armour deduction for flanks?

Overall pretty slick and fast moving for an evenings game.

Tactics II Campaign - Xenos Rampant - Go big or go home.

Campaigns.... I can't be the only one to run into the continuous problem, people lose interest or the games gravitate to huge battles beyond the scope of single evenings.

The Tactics II campaign has resulted in some great games mostly one formation a side, In the centre of the map the battlefield has been in deadlock as multiple units formed up to block one another...

Until now, with the Allies launching a push across the river.

Over the months we have tried Chain of Command, great for smaller games, Bolt Action for the scale up Company games, we have been playing a lot of 'rampant' games recently and a conversation turned to see if they would be suitable for fast play WW2... Let's see.

Taking the point values of a Bolt Action platoon V2 and comparing to Xenos Rampant gives a point value of 25 BA to 1 point in XR.

On with the game.

A combined Allied Armour and Veteran Infantry force attempt to breakthrough the German defences. Using the Platoon Forward for the terrain layout and scenario the already battle ravaged Germans need to defend the listening post.

The Germans had a platoon of Infantry and an 88mm AT gun against a range of Allied armour.

The Germans classed as heavy infantry opened up on the advancing British forces, inflicting casualties on the advancing infantry who were pinned and damage to the Matilda.

Looking to swamp the German lines a squadron of Vickers rushed forwards providing them with multiple targets.

The Allies cleared the wadi advancing on the entrenchments slowly chipping away at the defenders who put up a solid defence with the heavy weapon bonus representing the increased rate of fire for the MG34.

To the front of the village a section of Bren Carriers broke cover and headed for the village only to be countered by off table artillery that pinned the infantry rushing forwards in the open.

On the left flank the Axis AT rifle that had been chipping away at the slow moving armour finally ran out of luck showered with HE and then assaulted by charging infantry.

The Infantry screen was broken, a Bren fell victim to the 88.

However multiple MMG's from the Vickers and remaining Bren's caused the crew to abandon the gun. The German's remaining forces fall back.

A cracking game, Xenos Rampant played really well in WW2 setting, a couple of tweaks are needed to some units to make them better reflect their natural style of play on the tabletop. Game play was slick and we had a proper result in 3 hours... 

On the campaign map the Germans are pushed back from the river line with the shattered defenders down to 345 BA points or 14 XR points.

The allies lost a similar number of points but they had out numbered the Germans by around 3:1

A hole had started to open up in the German lines which would be need to be plugged but where from as they where under pressure across the line.

Looking forward to the next game and more rampant.

Tactics II - German Counter Attack - Chain of Command 2

Another game of Chain of Command weaved into the Tactics II campaign, a roll on the scenario table and Allies are having to conduct a delaying action against the might of the German Army.

Located at the T junction to win the game players need to hold this point at the end of game.

The prize is the port city in the Tactic II campaign, where the allies has recently conducted a punchy move racing down the coast road to seize elements of the town. A win tonight would see the British Commonwealth force hold off an Axis counter attack.

Both forces started with a core platoon the allies concentrated in three sections, with the Germans in 4 but only 8 men to a section (yes I tweaked my sections so not the same as in the CoC book). Both players spent their support points having considered the table and mission.

Turn one and the Germans secured a position in a drainage ditch that flanked the outskirts of the town, they were unsure of the allies position but these gave a good jump off point for the push into town.

The Brits has spent their points on a 2 Pdr covering the approaches into town, positioned behind a stone wall they felt pretty good about this position.

The sneaky German player pushes a sniper team up the wadi and can see a number of allied defensive positions. Instead of firing they call in artillery fire on the static gun team.

As HE lands around the 2Pdr the Germans call forward their support option a Pz III they were serious about wanting this dusty outpost back. A 2 Pdr shell bounces off it's frontal armour as it rubbles into cover.

Committing a section of Infantry the allies rushed the last known position of the sniper to clear it away, but caught in the open the MG34's of the German's on overwatched killed and pinned a number of assault team. They sheltered behind the dune to get themselves back into some short of order.

Having stripped the centre of some of the defenders the Germans pushed forward, infantry grabbed the courtyard as the armour and supporting APC pushed up the road machine guns supressing the remaining crew members of the AT gun.

Indian defenders hung on to the low stone wall exchanging fire with the attackers. But they could not stop the German Pz III and 251 from rushing on to the T junction.

A hard fought encounter, with both sides edging forward to try and get to a perfect position, before the armoured punch in the final turns with what some might say a lucky double turns :-)

The Allies are forced back on the map.

Rough losses converted to Bolt Action for the Tactics II campaign. 

Axis forces.

German Sniper Team - 50 Points

Half a section KIA - 50 Points

Allied Forces.

AT gun - 50 Points

Boyes AT - 30 Points

Infantry Sections 1&half 5 - 180 Points

Tactics II - Campaign Allied Battle 3 - "Dust up in the Wadi"

Continuation of the Tactics II campaign and a useful way of joining up the odd games. Several months ago the British launched their assault which resulted in 3 games, finally the last game of the set.

On the battle map the allied forces had the choice of Allied Armour as their selection with supports from a veteran Mountain Unit, Up against a German Axis Armoured unit selection.

Using Platoon Forward the scenario was a Point Recon Battle - Not quite the clash of armour I was expecting. 

The random force roll gave the Allies 2 Vickers Light Tanks, an MMG plus a Mortar Barrage not a bad haul but it did give the Axis forces plenty of blinds to position across the front.

The table presented an interesting predicament for the allies on the far left was a string of minefields and wire, with a wadi running through the remainder of the table, plenty of places to hide multiple German units. The main objective was the wadi crossing.

None of the options looked great for the Commonwealth forces so with limited options they decided to go straight down the middle. Under the cover of a Mortar Barrage which pinned a German section.

This allowed the allies to push on to the through the limited greenery still unsure on what they were facing.

They found their way blocked by a fixed MMG which ripped through the Infantry who dived for cover, it took the arrival of a Vickers Light tank to supress the MMG.

The Indians itching to get into the action fixed bayonets and rushed the gun position over running the crew and getting into the wadi.

The Germans had one last roll of the dice a 'C' Class blind in the hope it will be the long awaiting German armour - bad news it was a flaming lorry :-(

Game over.

A short but fun game, easing my opponent into Chain of Command.

The loss of a section and an MMG team for the German's who were forced to fall back on the map, with limited losses for the Allies.

Let's see what the Axis initiative will bring.