Same Table Different War

April 1945. Combat Command A, 45th Armored Division is driving into the collapsing Reich. A kampfgruppe of Fallschirmjaeger with attached antitank assets is trying to block the American capture of Isabelstadt, the capitol of the medieval Kingdom of Mantovia. The Germans make their stand at Altmarienmarkt.

Big Scott was free from the Forges of Isengard this weekend so we had a game. Leaving my Seven Days to the River Rhine table set up we played some WW2 using I Ain't Been Shot Mum, which was interesting as it's been a few years. But this got his Americans and my Fallschirmjaeger out of their boxes after a couple of years. 

His Americans are obnoxiously well equipped as is only fitting, and they should get artillery and air support too. So I thought to stand a modicum of a chance I'd take my elite paratroopers with lots of Pak40s and some StuGs. 

Scott had two Armored Rifle platoons, Company Weapons Platoon, Platoon of M5 light tanks, two platoons of Shermans, three M18 tank destroyers, a FO with a battery of 105s attached, and the chance of air support.

I had two rifle platoons, a MG platoon (4 teams), Company HQ with three 80mm mortars and two panzerschrek teams, a platoon of five StuGs, a platoon of three Pak40s and an infantry gun section of two recoilless rifles.

MG42 covering the center of town

Peter Pig FJ recoilless rifle, finally used in a game after 16 years!

US Armored Infantry platoons coming under fire. Two M3s get blown up before their squads dismount

M18 tank destroyers getting their revenge. The next StuG would be hit so much the crew abandoned it and the Pak40 will be eliminated by MG fire. This left that flank free for a platoon of Shermans to come around the woods

M18s providing a good base of fire

US Weapons Platoon

US infantry storm into the town eliminating one of my sections

Pak40 worried about Shermans coming down the street to the flank now

This platoon of Shermans are shooting across the ruins of the town to engage the three StuGs on my right flank, who are now caught between TWO platoons of Shermans

StuGs covering the right flank

A worried Pak40 way out on my right flank

Shermans doing what they do best; arrving in large quantities

Last card of the night, Scott's P47 finally arrives and brews up a StuG. The two survivors are now caught in the crossfire of 10 Shermans!

My antitank fire was pretty dismal when it came to rolling for penetration. I only knocked out one M5 and damaged another. But Scott maneuvered so a lot of my AT assets were out of position and he could put fire on my infantry instead. I did better shooting up his infantry, inflicting about 50% casualties on his rifle squads, but he also killed a lot of mine, driving my forward platoon back from the tree line and pushing in on the flank of the town, and eliminated two of my MG42 teams as well.

I Ain't Been Shot Mum is a very crunchy game considering. Maybe I'm always trying to put too many platoons on the table? If I played it more often I think I'd streamline tank damage and casualties.

But still fun. It's always nice getting old toys on the table for a roll of the dice.

The figures are a mix of Battlefront, Plastic Soldier Company, Peter Pig, Old Glory and some old random ones I cannot remember.

Clash at Altmarienmarkt

BBC Announcer: Violent clashes continue in the tiny Alpine country of Mantovia today as Communist backed Tartarian armoured forces drive towards the nation's capitol of Isabelstadt, best known for it's Cheese Festival. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has continued to have emergency meetings throughout the night to find an end to the crisis.

The Foreign Office released a statement today, reading...

I got a craving for some more action in my 1950s Imagine-Nation, and I wanted to field the new Comet tanks and Centaur AA tank that I'd painted last fall. I also wanted to try and see if  Seven Days to the River Rhine could handle a more infantry oriented battle.

A battle group of 2 companies from the 1st Fusiliers with a troop of Comets from the 2nd Dragoons is defending the town of Altmarienmarkt. The Fusiliers have attachments from the Weapons Company. The Tartarians are attacking with a battalion of Motor Rifles supported by a company of T54s.

Covering the left flank

Mantovian Forward Line of Resistance (they're dug into the tree line, but this was easier to manage)

Gebirsjaegern watching from the mountain

Ferrets watching the right flank

Forward Line of Resistance on the right

The Tartarians got the Divisional Artillery card and three sorties of the new MiG-15s.

Some artillery hits on the Mantovian left

MiGs! A Tartarian fighter bomber makes a strafing run, but misses everything. Mantovian air defenses are equally ineffective.

First kill! Recoilless Rifle from the Armour Defense Platoon knocks out the leading T54 advancing on the right flank. 

The Gebirsjaegern react to the following Motor Rifle platoon moving on and roll a '6'! 

Both BTRs are hit by Carl Gustav rounds. The infantry bail out and are then destroyed by the Mortar Platoon.

With the initiative seized, the rest of the column is knocked out by Comets firing from the flank.

View of destroyed column of Tartarian tanks and BTRs

On the opposite flank, a Mantovian J29 strafes the Tartarian column ineffectually. 

But a Comet lurking in the orchard brews up the lead T54 and causes the next to bail out. 

With nothing left to shoot at, the Mantovians surrender the initiative back to the Tartarians.

The next evening I returned to the game with the Tartarians down 14 Command Tokens. The PDRT renew their assault and bring on the other two sorties of MiGs.

A MiG blasts a Comet on the edge of town.

Second MiG is damaged by the Centaur, but it hits the armour defense section and a Comet during it's strafing run before returning to base trailing smoke.

No messing about now! The PDRT commander abandons his left and puts everything into the center. A 3rd platoon of T54s and 4 platoons of Motor Rifles move onto the table. The infantry quickly dismount before their BTRs get targeted.

3rd tank platoon has advanced on the treeline, but Carl Gustav rockets knock out two. (That is an armour defense section in the ruined house in the center firing into the flank.) The Motor Rifle platoon on PDRT right tries pushing forward through the grain field but gets cut up by small arms and GPMG fire from the town

Using the Za Rodina! card, five sections of Motor Rifles charge forward behind a mortar barrage on the tree line

A vicious firefight erupts. Only the entrenchments save the Fusiliers.

This T54 is incredibly lucky, getting hit multiple times by Carl G rockets and 77mm APDS rounds from the Comet, until the crew finally bailed out.

The PDRT Commander rolls on to reinforce the attack.

Comet inthe orchard reacts and kaboom!, the Command T54 blows sky high! The loss of Command Tokens at this moment keeps some Reserves from moving up.

Lots of small arms shoooting in the center, but the Motor Rifles are getting cut down.

The Ace Comet  crew engages a second T54 and brews it up as well.

Not to be outdone, the other survivng Comet advances to engage the BTRs and one of the remaining T54s. But it rolls terribly for penetration.

Ferrets on the right have done sterling work laying down MG fire into the flank of the Motor Rifles, eliminating three sections

At the end of turn 3 with the PDRT having lost 10 out of 12 T54s and 12 stands of infantry out of 27, it was time to call the game. 

I'm getting a better handle on infantry and support weapon stands. The humble Ferret armoured cars contributed to the victory, their machine gun fire was critical in stopping the PDRT infantry assault. The Comet tanks did very well. That crew in the orchard desrve a barrel of beer, accounting for 4 or 5 of the kills. But I keep forgetting to keep Command Tokens back for units that are off table. The initial wave of Tartarians had ALL the Command Tokens, even though most of the infantry and half the tanks were still off table until the second night, which was awkward.

The battle was big. It was messy. It was immensely satisfying. It was my FIFTH game for 2026. Fun was had, even though I didn't get Motor Rifles fighting house to house with Fusiliers. 

Maybe next week, the PDRT will bring on another wave.