Operation Jupiter 16 - Trouble Near le Mesnil 20mm WW2 (Rapid Fire Reloaded)

Introduction

This is game 16 in replaying the scenarios from the Briton Publishers Operation Jupiter skirmish scenario book.  Game 15 was early 2017 so it has been a while!  I played this one on a 3'x3' table using 20mm, using some new rules (to me) Rapid Fire Reloaded.  And against my 12yo son. Links to previous games are on this blog page.

Rules used were Rapid Fire Reloaded

Previous scenarios were played using various modifications of my own rules, loosely based off a Rapid Fire clone called Take Cover!!   Rapid Fire Reloaded (RFR) has been out for a few months and arrived earlier this week. It seems simple and aligns to my style of play.  And it will be good to play with rules as written.  It does not really have the concept of suppression but can live without that…for now anyway.

Most of my 20mm WW2 terrain is in storage and I only have access to a 1mx1m (40”x40”) grass mat I bought on the weekend.  And that will fit on the dining table.  Due to the small table size, each rifleman figure on the table is really 2 RFR figures.  When down a casualty I am using a maker to indicate the loss of an RFR figure. Crew served weapons are 1 figure = 1 RFR figure.  Oh, and testing morale at the level of 10 or so figures (a platoon in this scenario) rather than the 30-40 in the rules.

Note: We did play the rules slightly wrong.  In the rules, almost all section infantry are 2 figures to a base.  And you need to score 2 casualties to a base before removing the base.  The way I played is to track all casualties.  This is a really important difference to the rules!  This would have not made a lot of difference in this game but can see that with more balanced force this is a really great rule and will pay this way in future.  This actually ties in really well with my 1 figure = 2 RFR figures.  The way the rues work will work very well with my small table 6mm games where I am planning 1 base = 2 RFR figures.

Scenario

British must capture the barn within 8 turns from the German defenders.

One small gap can be made available for the British tanks to enter.  British troops take one entire turn to cross the hedge (turn 1 move to hedge, turn 2 cross hedge, turn 3 move away from hedge)

The field of battle

View of the objective from the British side

Troops

British

British

1 Company HQ

    3 figures

3 Platoons

    1 platoon HQ (1 figure)

    3 Sections (3 figures each)

1 2” mortar

4 Universal Carriers

3 Churchill VII

British are all regular.

 

Germans

German

1 Kompanie

    1 Kompanie HQ (2 figures)

    1 Zug

            1 HQ

3 Gruppe (3 figures each)

1 MG42

1 Flak 36 ATG (Elite)

1 PzKpfw IV

Germans are all regular except the ATG.

 

Game scale is 3 figures =  1 section (8-12 soldiers); 1 support weapon = 1 support weapon 1 AFV = 1 AFV. Ground scale is not specified but would be about 1:300.

Deployment

German deploymenr

Tank as a reserve, ATGun covering everything.  Kompanie HQ and the Zug in the barn while the rest of the company in the hedge out front.

I told my son a bit about the rules and that he had 8 turns to take the barn.  All the tactics were his and he was quite aware that the focus was: Barn. 8 turns. 

Game

Firstly, a few things. I normally play on half a table tennis table.  This is a 1mx1m mat.  It is half the size while in my mind it was a little smaller.  So there are too many units on the British side.  They are over 3:1 compared to the Germans and with the rules this is overwhelming advantage to the attacking British.  I should have reduce the number.  Secondly, I made 1 20mm figure = 2 RFR figures.  While this worked, It did mean that I had a lot of actual dice I could roll for combat. Reducing the  British figure count would have helped here.

Lastly (and the best bit), I was setting it up at about 7:3pm0 ready to play it after the children went to bed and my 12yo son asked what am I doing and can he play?  Did not hesitate and so I played my first game of 20mm WW2 with my son for over 4 years (he was 8 last time).  The game lasted about 45 minutes and he had fun.  So need to play again!

When I was taking the first few pictures he did ask if they were for the blog. When I said yes he said he felt sorry for everyone that has to read through the boring blog post.  So supportive 😊

 

The British brought on the carriers with some lead units and the Churchills lined up to go through the gap.  The rest of the swarm, I mean company, lined up on the bocage to cross it.  You can see already there are too many British figures for the small width of the table.

British enter the field

The British lined up their Churchills to protect the troops as they cross the hedge. The rules only allow for 4 figures to be protected by AFVs but he seemed so happy with his plan I told him it was OK (as I had not mentioned the rule and unfair to inflict it on him in the first game!).  So they counted as being in soft cover.

My Panzer IV knocked out a Churchill with its first shot.  Return fire missed entirely

Churchills move to protect the troops but one is knocked out

 

The British infantry are over the bocage.

The British spot the three figure Gruppe at the corner of the hedge and wipe it out (there are a lot of British.

Where a Gruppe was.

The British swarm follows in the shadow of the tanks.

The lead carrier that is providing flank ability for the barn is down to one figure after being targeted by the Panzer iV.

Bren carrier is down some troops

The Churchill move forwards to protect the infantry advance.    They are close to the barn now – ready to launch an attack!

The British ,protected by the Churchills, continue to advance

The other platoon guarding the hedge is targeted with a close assault.  They are gone.  I use a rule from Take Cover! where the winner loses one figure as well.

 

The British close assault the defenders of the hedge – 3 out of action, the fourth retreats to the barn.

The Panzer’s and AT gun are targeting the infantry.  The Churchills continue to target the Panzer iV.  I said you need a 5 or 6.  Rolled a five and a six.  I then said you need to roll 3-4 to damage, 5-6 to destroyed.  Another 5 and a 6 sees the PanzerIV definitely KO.

Panzer IV finally knocked out

The British now assault the building.  I had 7 figures in there and houseruled that that was maximum occupancy so he could assault with 2 more.  I won with good dice rolling. And the British retreat. Next turn the British go in again.

British close assaulting the barn

I roll a 1, he rolls a 6.  I lose and will abandon the building and roll a 1 for army morale so pull back off the field of battle. The Brits win!  Note this was turn 7 of the 8 turn limit.

End game – These are all the remaining troops + 1 German AT gun off right.

Verdict

The rules worked well. And playing with my son a definite bonus.  He wants to play again.  The game is one sided to the British but the point is the time limit to ensure the battalion continues its push.

Need to work out some rules on building assaults (likely max occupancy and assaulting figures can be max occupancy+2.  Other than that is so reminded me of my post 2000 playing with Take Cover!!  I feel I need to add suppression still, mainly as 3 figures are a section and so a section suppression should be part of the game, probably not applicable with 1:10 figure ratio that the game is designed for.