Keeping Score - December end of the year

Well thats it the year is over. Not a bad effort I was hoping to reduce the lead mountain at least by a little bit but instead I got most of next years figure already. So hopefully I will not be getting to much more next year. 


Finished

• 1x Leonardo Tank
• 3x AB-41 Armoured Cars
• 2x italian mc
• 8x british war of 1812 
• 1x PzIV 
• 2x M11-39

Purchased

• 13x vehicles World War 2
• 25x 15mm World War 2
• 106 15mm war of 1812

Scores so far

• Models purchased 52
• Models completed 57

Score -5

• 15mm purchased 531
• 15mm completed 262

Score 269

Keeping score - November

Well November is over and progress is still being made

Finished

• 1xStug
• 2x Su-100 
• 1x King Tiger
• 8x 15mm war of 1812 Americans
• 16x 15mm war of 1812 British 
• 4x 15mm war of 1812 American cavalry

Purchased

• 5x Plastic Panthers/Jagdpanthers

Scores so far

• Models purchased 39
• Models completed 49

Score -10

• 15mm purchased 400
• 15mm completed 252

Score 148

Keeping Score October

Beware of friends cleaning out their lead mountains. A friend has given me a pile of old 15mm Renaissance figures to add to my pile. There are so many that I have not even counted them all and the figure provided is short by nice margin but is how many I am planning to paint at the moment. Not cheating just being selective :-)


Finished

• 1x Su-100
• 1x Hummel
• 40x War of 1812 Americans 
• 15x War of 1812 Canadians 
• 8x War of 1812 Americans 
• 12x Mongol Cavalry

Purchased/Procured

• 3x 15mm Leonardo tanks
• 2x Leonardo da Vinci
• 123x 15mm Renaissance

Scores so far

• Models purchased 34
• Models completed 45

Score -11

• 15mm purchased 400
• 15mm completed 224

Score 176

keepin score september

Well a few extra figures added  to the pile. Perhaps a momentary lapse of reason. Almost delayed this post for a few more days as I am close to finishing several units which would have made this figures look a bit better but they can wait for the October update.

Added

85 blue moon war of 1812 figures
48 misc ab and eureka figures to expand my war of 1812 units

Models completed

1x Il-2m
1x Hs-129
12x Gendarmes
1x Pz IV
1x su-100

• Models purchased 31
• Models completed 43

Score -12

• 15mm purchased 275
• 15mm completed 159

Score 116

Kaiserschlacht 1918 - German Assault Regiment

Okay the clock has turned full circle and its time to return to older projects. In this case the great war but we now moving onto the 1918 and the peace offensive. This reverses the roles at Cambrai with the Germans now on the offensive and the British defending

There has been some more thought on how to represent the subunits in the German Infantry Company and its evolution since I last posted on Cambrai.

To summarize as the war developed the Germans added more weapons to each company.  In May 1917, 2 MG08/15 Machine Guns are added  rising to 4 in September and 6 in February 1918. This represents at most a third of all squads are armed with machine guns.In August 1917, 2 Granatwerfer are added to each company by breaking up the battalions Granatwerfer group.

How to represent these developments. Part of this is due to the fact that the Germans do run a large platoon structure. Almost everybody runs a base 250 company usually divided into 4 platoons each of 60 men whereas the Germans run three platoons of 80. So that these additions are lost within these units being outnumbered by riflemen .  With a platoon level game such as command decision the Germans are at a disadvantage. The solution, is the creation of a weapons platoon as a repository of these special weapons. They will appears from May 1917 with the RoF improving as more weapons are being added.

This will also keeps the platoons as pure rifle armed units with a Rof of 1while stationary or close assaulting. This helps to highlight the development of Germans tactics into platoon sized stoss groups. While showing that they are lacking the resources to provide the number of  LMGs to create modern infantry tactics. Remember that veteran and elite troops also get a +1 to their RoF so can move and shoot also some stoss troops maybe armed as SMG stands.

So the battalion looks so

1x Command Stand
1x Minenwerfer
4x Infantry Companies

• 1x Command Rifle Stand
• 2x Rifle Stands
• 1x Weapons Stand

1x MG Company

• 3x MMG stands

Now how does this affect the trench garrison described earlier. Well the two will exist side by side for a while. Primarily this organization will apply only to attack divisions in 1918. Some units will probably be using this 1917 notably in big German attacks such as at Cambrai, Riga and Caporetto.

There thats it for the moment. This might be a good enough excuse to get some figures to do some testing.

Keeeping score - August

Here is a  question I bough 5 battlefront su-100 planning to paint 4. Should I count it as 4 or 5. Maybe as a tie breaker. Not trying to cheat or anything :-)

Also picked up some cheap Italians expected to get only 40 odd, got over a hundred. A big accidental hit to the completed list and looks like I may have to get some Italians to finish them off properly.


Finished
2x T-34s
1x PzIv
2x 122mm howitzers
1 Pak 43

8x15mm Soviet artillery crew
3x 15mm German artillery crew

Purchased
5x Su-100
103 x 15mm italians

• Models purchased31
• Models completed 39

Score -8

• 15mm purchased 142
• 15mm completed 147

Score -5

Keeping Score July

A quiet month with all the 15mm being finished today just so I could something done.

Finished
2x trucks
20x Polish Haiduk
13x Gebirgsjaeger

Purchased
1x King Tiger
1x Hs 129

• Models purchased 26
• Models completed 33

• 15mm purchased 39
• 15mm completed 136

• Scores are -7 plus -97 for the 15mm

Back to bases

In this article we will be discussing some of the various issues in representing the War of 1812 and battles of a similar scale on the tabletop. In particular we are looking at the battle of Chippawa. Lets start with a picture of the army outlined in the earlier article we I looked at the American OOB for the battle.

The above picture shows almost the entire American army for the battle of Chippawa with 30cm ruler behind it to give an indication of how much terrain it covers. The bases shown here in the picture are the one introduced for the Napoleons battles rules and are 20cms wide.While it is not clear the area covered by the American army covers a distance of about 40 cms. This means the battle can be fought on a small table such as a coffee table.While there is some appeal in this idea. I have a bigger table that I wish to use. So we need to look at unit sizes or unit representation.

This works out into two options that I can see. Bigger bases or more bases, not to mention a mixture of the two.Both options involve more figures but not more units. For me this should not be hassle as the units shown are only part of what I have painted. Though rebasing is always a pain. The number of bases may be an issue of ergonomics as reducing the number of bases makes it easier to handle the units as indeed these bases can be fiddly.The current fashion here is the Napoleonic field of glory is a 4cm base with 8 figures on on it. Which is two of the NB bases. Rebasing opens up the ability to fit in other players and their rules sets. It also has the ease that everything is on the same sized bases.

Recommendation: Rebase to 4cm bases.

So what are we representing with these bases. The basic unit of infantry we are representing is the battalion of foot. A battalion can be further divided into a number of subunits. Using the British as as an example you have wings or half battalions. Each wing divides into two divisions and each division into two platoons and so on. Each subunit being comprised same number of files or at least as equal it can be.The smallest possible subunit is the section of five files and three sections a platoon, giving the smallest battalion a strength of 120 files or 240 rank and file.

Now that is what the drill book has to say. Reality is a completely different thing. The first is that smaller units are often combined into larger units. At Chippewa the American 9th and 22nd infantry are combined into a single battalion. This is a nice clean example of what can happen. Other examples during the war are less clear, you have both sides run brigades of multiple battalions that are smaller than the TOE of single battalion. Are these grouped together into a single battalion. Then there are the various adhoc taskforces that are created both on the battlefield and in the wider campaigning area.

From this there are three conclusions that can be drawn.

Conclusion: The platoon is nice but impractical
Conclusion: An even number of stands
Conclusion: There a minimum unit size.

Dealing with the last two together it  it would appear that the smallest possible unit consists of two stands. One advantage of the war of 1812 is that you can pretty much track down the unit size for all the battle.

125	14th infantry	Crysler's Farm
144	89th foot	Crysler's Farm
150	1st infantry	Lundy's Lane
150	light	Crysler's Farm
171	1st foot	Lundy's Lane
184	advance	Crysler's Farm
200	2nd lincoln	Chippawa
200	9th infantry	Lundy's Lane
200	11th infantry	Lundy's Lane
225	12th infantry	Crysler's Farm
225	13th infantry	Crysler's Farm
225	16th infantry	Crysler's Farm
240	89th foot	Crysler's Farm
246	5th Pen	Lundy's Lane
250	bn 10th infantry	Chateauguay
250	ny militia	Lundy's Lane
275	8th foot	Lundy's Lane
300	22nd infantry	Lundy's Lane
300	23rd infantry	Lundy's Lane
300	9th infantry	Crysler's Farm
300	11 infantry	Crysler's Farm
304	49th foot	Crysler's Farm
321	33RD INFANTRY	Chateauguay
336	inc militia	Lundy's Lane
341	24rd infantry	Chippawa
350	light infantry corp us	Chateauguay
354	25th infantry	Chippawa
375	25th infantry	Crysler's Farm
376	glengarry	Lundy's Lane
380	25th infantry	Lundy's Lane
400	8th foot	Chippawa
400	1st foot	Lundy's Lane
415	maine and new hampshire vol	Chateauguay
416	11 infantry	Chippawa
425	89th foot	Lundy's Lane
425	21st infantry	Crysler's Farm
432	21st infantry	Lundy's Lane
460	100th foot	Chippawa
500	1st foot	Chippawa
541	5th Pen	Chippawa
549	9/22 infantry	Chippawa
591	4th infantry	Chateauguay
635	103rd Foot	Lundy's Lane
651	22st infantry	Chippawa
700	31/31st infantry	Chateauguay
762	11/29th infantry	Chateauguay

Well I haven't done them all yet but a quick peruse of three books bu Donald Graves( Fields of Glory, Where right and glory lead and Red coats Greyjackets) has given me a list of 46 to discuss. The list is somewhat arbitrary and not fully representative except of those battle covered. But hopefully we can learn something from them. So lets look at the largest and smallest.

The largest is the 762 men of the combined 11th and 29th infantry at Chateauguay. This is close to being a full strength unit but is still short of that mark.As such while you should be able to field this as your largest normal unit you may need to go larger.

At the other extreme is the smallest the 125 men of the 14th infantry at Crysler's farm. Fortunately we have the opportunity to dismiss it from our list as a unit. Graves describes it as moving as part of a column with the 11th infantry. This allows us to create  the 11th/14th infantry with a strength of 425 men.  Its possible that this is so.

Moving up the list the next is not so east to dismiss. Its the 144 men of the 89th foot under Captain Barnes also at Chysler's Farm. Its role in the battle was to provide supports to Lt.Col Pearson,s advance guard of light troops. So by rights they should be counted as part of his command and eventually raising the possibility of forming a battalion under his command. But Pearson is wounded and his command retires away from Barnes command. Leaving them independent for the rest of the battle.

There are also a number of units only a little bit bigger than Barnes command. So to keep the math simple 150 men smallest to 750 men largest or five times greater.

Conclusion: If your smallest unit is two stands your largest will be ten stands with the possibility of being larger

150 men for your smallest unit equates to 75 men per stand or about 35-40 files.This slightly smaller than the original Black powder cold steel. Now how does this translate into the other arms of cavalry and artillery, A cavalry file is allocated approximately 50% more frontage than an infantry file which roughly equates to a meter. So a cavalry stand has 24-26 files or 50 horse.An artillery section of two guns also fits neatly onto a base with a frontage of about 25 meters.

So the basics are done.Of course the hardest part is making a plan and sticking to it.

keeping score - june update

Well it is almost the mid point in they year. While the painting continues the writing has slowed down. Hopefully there will be some updates published soon.

Bought
1 x Shturmovik
1x M-2 Half track

Finished
10 15mm Russian artillery crew
12 15mm Mongol cavalry
24 x 15mm landsckeckts
1 x Pz iv
2 x Komsomoleyts

• Models purchased 24
• Models completed 31
• 15mm purchased 39
• 15mm completed 103
• Scores are -7 plus -64 for the 15mm

keeping score - little wars special

Well Little Wars has just occurred here in and in preparation I got a few more figures done just in case I went mad and bought some more lead. As it was I was disciplined well not really there was not much to tempt me this year. It was not a bad effort considering I had a slump in at the start of the month.

1x t-34
1x 234/1
2x Stalinets
1 x251/9
2 x Soviet artillery pieces

• Models purchased 22
• Models completed 28
• 15mm purchased 39
• 15mm completed 57
• Scores are -6 plus -18 for the 15mm

Decion at Kasserine - Day 1 3rd Battle

As a result of the second battle the Americans have the ability to react to react to the German advance. Historically they chose to hold their positions leading to the two battalions of the 168th infantry becoming pocketed by the advance of the Germans. Well after careful consideration of their options the American High Command dice opt to pull back their outposts into a more defensible perimeter( a 1in three chance ) as opposed to staying in their current positions.

Rather than just pack up and run the Americans allocate some tanks and recce to  move up from Sidi Bou Zid to provide support if required to the infantry. This all takes some to time to organize. Meanwhile the Germans continue their advance around the Djebel Lessoouda and threatening to surround the 2nd battalion of the 168th. The game will have the 2/168th at one end of the table moving at foot speed. Coming from the other side are the tanks from I company 1st Armoured and a company from the 81st Reconnaissance battalion. The Germans will be arriving after a short delay in the two corners next where the American infantry start.

Finally the Americans get everybody moving and they have one free move before the Germans arrive. Turn 2 brings Kampgruppe Reimann with the Tiger onto the battlefield while the Americans move towards safety. The first shots are exchanged in turn 3 as the recce advance towards their infantry. No damage is done but rolling a ten for morale, pin the recce. This will delay the link up between the two groups but will allow the tanks to catch up with the recce.

Turn 4 brings Kampgruppe Gerhardt onto the table. The American infantry are in a sack with the mouth held open by the tanks and recce. Both sides are now in range to start shooting with the Americans loosing a tank from the 1st Armoured and a jeep from the 81st. Now for the moral tests. A German tank company becomes pinned. Now for the American morale, both the 1st Armoured and the 81st Reconnaissance roll tens and both fall back. Suddenly safety for the 168th is a lot further away.

The game is now over though it still has to be fought to its conclusion.Now with no hope of escape the 2nd battalion of the 168th is pocketed and crushed by the two German kampfgruppes that have caught it in the open. It takes several turns for the battle to be concluded. The American armour briefly rallies and tries again to break through but once again fails morale and reties this time for good.

After the battle the 2/168th is reduced to size of a small company.

Well that was a bit of a surprise. You do not often see three dice rolls literally cause a game to fall apart. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as the campaign unfolds.

keeping score - A late may day update

Well I have resisted temptation for two whole weeks so no new purchases to add to the list

I have also finished 2x French 75mm with 6 crew, a SdKfz 234/2 armoured car and another T-34.

• Models purchased 22
• Models completed 21
• 15mm purchased 39
• 15mm completed 57
• Scores are +1 plus -18 for the 15mm

Keeping score - Going to sales night

Sometimes it just does not pay to go out. The local club Nunawadding war games association had their local sales night. Now I am the proud owner of a hummel an Italian truck mounted 90mm cannon and 39 Soviet SMG armed inafantry. Though I have finished a t-34, a sdkfz 250 and two BA-64s.

Oh and tiger II from ebay has arrived.

• Models purchased 22
• Models completed 17
• 15mm purchased 39
• 15mm completed 51
• Scores are +5 plus -12 for the 15mm

Keeping score - treading water

Well a visit to milsims resulted in 2x SdKfz 234/2 pumas added to the painting pile. Fortunately a T-34 and a SdKfz 251/7 have been finished  so all is even. Oh and two 250/9 given a touch up.

• Models purchased 19
• Models completed 13
• 15mm completed 51
• Scores are +6 plus -51 for the 15mm

Decion at Kasserine - Day 1 2nd Battle

With the air strike over it was time for the panzers to roll. Holding position just outside the Faid pass is a solitary company of American tanks on outpost duty.  A sand storm provides cover for the German advance. This meant that both sides would first observe each other at  close rang and that the Americans would not get any opportunity fire. Comparing the stats of the Germans Panzer III versus the Americans Shermans this was good news for the Germans. So as a result the battle was over two turns. Ending in the complete destruction of he Americans while the Germans lost only a single tank.

Overall a historical result, but it did take an hour. Thereby giving the Americans a chance to react. What would they do?

Decion at Kasserine - Day1 1st Battle

An now we get to the first battle. In this case it is an air raid. The Luftwaffe launched a raid on Sidi bou Zid with the FW 190 of SKG-10 at the very start of the campaign. Something that I will also recreate.

The game will be played using command decision. An unusual choice for a game that involves only aircraft and flak but I have never used this part of the rules. So it will be a good training exercise.

SKG-10 comprises 3 staffel each of three aircraft. Each staffel will arrive from a random direction to allow for some differences in navigation. They will then bomb the town then strafe units they pass on the way back to base.

The defenders are two 40mm bofors from A battery 443rd Coastal Artillery Battalion with the rest of Combat Command A acting as targets.

Now as to what happened from the various airstikes.  
1^st Staffel no effect
2^nd Staffel lost one aircraft but hit 2/17th artillery battalion on it strafing run causing losses of one light truck and two medium trucks
3^rd Staffel lost one aircraft no effect

Well that was interesting. The  airstikes were a complete failure against the town being able to do only morale tests. Of the strafing runs the 2/17 was especially hard hit and probably rendered inoperative for the rest of the command has it has almost no mobility left and the panzers are coming. The loss of two planes for the luftwaffe may have longer term consequences as the campaign unfolds.

Overall it was an interesting introduction to aircarft and they interact with ground operations. I think that there will be some thoughts on this later.

Allied positions around Sidi bou Zid

21st Panzer Division in Tunisia

Okay let us look at the 21st Panzer Division as at the start of the Kasserine battle


The division arrived in Tunisia as part of the withdrawal of the Afrika Korps from Libya after their defeat at the battle of El Alamein. Losses both during the battle and the retreat had reduced the division to shadow of its former self.

Fifth Panzer Army, War Diary (Extract), 24 January 1943

Upon its arrival it began the process of being rebuilt with 5th Panzer Army allocating these three battalions to the division. Panzer battalion 190 was intended to be part of the 90th Light division but had been diverted to Tunisia as part of the build up and had served as an independent battalion. It will eventually be re-badged as the II battalion of the 5th Panzer Regiment.

21st Panzer Division, Division Order for the Cap-
ture of the Faid Strongpoint, 26 January 1943

21st Panzer Division, Division Order for the Cap-
ture of the Faid Strongpoint, 26 January 1943

A brief sidebar it does eventually appear that the T2 battalion is absorbed into the 21st Panzer Division but I sa yet do not know if it ever returned to the Italian Brigade Imeriali .

After a brief respite, the division was given its first orders for an operation in Tunisia. An attack om the Faid pass. It also received some attachments from the Italian army. The above documents also show the task organization of those elements of the division involved in the battle.

The centre group is given an unidentified battalion  of the 104th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. So soon after the allocation of two march battalions to the division is indicative that the 21st is still absorbing replacements and as yet does not know which battalions are ready for action. There are two observations that can be made from this.  The first is that there is a third group within the division made up of either non-combat ready units or those detached from the divisions control. This can be seen later on as other units appear on the divisions roster. The second is that the 1st battalion of the 104th as the only combat ready battalion of the panzer grenadiers is composed of survivors of the retreat from Libya.

Fifth Panzer Army, Operation FRUELINGSWIND, 8 February 1943

Fifth Panzer Army, Operation FRUELINGSWIND, 8 February 1943

At the conclusion of the Faid pass battle new orders are issued in preparation for the the next battle. The reference to the static elements should be read as Kampfgruppe Pfeiffer which is placed under the control of 10th Panzer Division for at least the start of the attack.

21st Panzer Division, Division order for the attack on Sidi Bou Zid, 12 February 1943

21st Panzer Division, Division order for the attack on Sidi Bou Zid, 12 February 1943

We now get orders creating two kampfgruppes for the opening stages of the Kasserine battles. These are not the only elements of the division there are others that are not assigned to the three Kampfgruppes that we know of. They are the 580th Reconnaissance battalions, 609th Flak battalion. 220th Panzer Engineer battalion and the 155th Artillery Regiment.


The war diary of the 21st Panzer provides a comprehensive history of what the division was doing the campaign. Yet there are problems that exist within it.

The first is that it makes extensive use of the various unit titles such as 5th Panzer Regiment interchangeably with the various kampfgruppe title such as Stenkoff who is the Panzer Regiments commander. If you know who commands what and when this will be no problem but it certainly can be confusing at times.

The second is that it follows pretty much all units within the division. In this case it is Kampfgruppe Pfeiffer which starts the battle detached to the 10th Panzer Division. At some stage it returns to the 21st Panzer's control as on the sixteenth it is again attached to the 10th Panzer and does not return to the division until the eighteenth of February. There is also a reference to the kampfgruppe is now composed of a grenadier battalion an armoured battalion and two light batteries.

21st Panzer Division War Diary 14-23 February 1943

Third there are many references to the 104th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, many of these are followed by an A or B. It would appear that while there were for a while four battalions in the regiment they were operating in two separate half regiments.Of course they don't tell which battalions are assigned to each.

21st Panzer Division War Diary 14-23 February 1943

Now while there is no reference to the 104B leaving the divisions control it is recorded as returning. It is probable that it is somehow tied to Kampfgruppe Pfeiffer but there is no evidence of that.

21st Panzer Division War Diary 14-23 February 1943

Well that appears to cover the divisions changes upto the end of the Kasserine battle. I would like to say it is comprehensive and accurate but there are still a few more documents to be checked.

Hopefully there will be some covering the divisions history in the later battles.

Keeping score - one step foward, twelve back

Well a large package arrived with some new toys for my 15mm Soviets. The headline should have been the Russians are coming but I am claiming a stug III finished as well. Hmm, Russian hordes versus one solitary German a metaphor for the great patriotic war perhaps.

• Models purchased 17
• Models completed 11
• 15mm completed 51
• Scores are +6 plus -51 for the 15mm

Keeping score

Three bren carriers and 4 elephant crew

Models purchased 5
Models completed 10
15mm completed 51

Scores are -5 plus -51 for the 15mm 

Decision at Kasserine - plans

So if I am running a campaign what am I planning to do. Well to be correct what are the  Germans going to do? The starting point will be looking at what they wanted to do historically.
Overall the whole campaign in Tunisia, from the axis point of view has been one of reaction to Allied moves. Since the Allied landings in November the Germans and their Italian allies have gathered together a hodge podge of troops to build an army. With that army they have managed to stop the Allies from occupying at least part of French North Africa and from there driving into the rear of PanzerArmee Afrika completing its destruction.
The problem now lies in that the current front line offers little or no strategic depth. The Tunisia position really is a bridgehead with nowhere to hide. So the Germans have been launching a number of big and small attacks in order to improve their position. Immediately prior to this attack they have captured the Faid pass from the Allies.
Further 21st Panzer division from Panzerarmee Afrika has also completed a hasty refit. This gives the Germans two complete panzer divisions plus elements of two others.  This is the strongest force the Germans have had in Tunisia and will the strongest they will ever get.

So there is a strong temptation to strike but at what and where? This was the problem the Germans had and that I am also faced with. Where has been solved as I am recreating this battle. What has two basic options. The first is the narrow hook which will break through the allied line turn right and roll up the allied line until the sea is reached. The second is deeper bypassing the main allied force and striking deep into the Allies rear.
The debate about which plan to adopt caused quite a debate amongst the various axis headquarters. With everybody putting foward their opinion of what was best. Of course nobody was in agreement. Interestingly there does not appear any voice counseling caution among the axis and building up a larger force, everybody seems to favour some form of attack.
Even as the attack began the debate waged causing orders and objectives to change several times during the campaign. So after all this I will be essentially making it up as I go along at least once I take Sbeitla.The Germans will be tempted to pursue any opportunity that presents itself possibly leading to a loss of purpose and perhaps the eventual loss of the campaign.

Some referances on the Tunisian Campaign

Here is a list of some of the references being used. This list is definitely not definitive except of the limits of my knowledge and references. Nor are they presented in any particular order. It will also be updated occasionally.

Rommel' Lost Battalions by Douglas E Nash Army History No. 84 Summer 2012. A history of the various March battalions that formed the basis of musch of the Germans initial response.

CSI Battlebook 4-d  The Battle of Sidi Bou Zid. This is a student paper (albeit by a group of middle ranking officers) that comes with the following warning

CSI BATTLEBOOKS contain information compiled by CGSC student officers as a requirement of the regular course. The contents have not been edited or checked in detail for factual veracity. The views expressed in CSI BATTLEBOOKS are those of the authors and not necessarily those of CSI, CGSC. the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense.

So you have been warned. Some of the facts do look definitely dodgy but the analysis looks quite interesting.

Italian Army in Tunisian Theatre Found this file on an unremembered website a while ago and my google-fu has failed me in finding it again. So I cannot vouch for its provenance but I seem to recall it was good.

Some miscellaneous websites

• http://dak.webseiten.cc/
• http://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=532
• http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bob_mackenzie/Sidi%20Bou%20Zid.htm

From the Nafizger collection are these OOBs

• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943UEAA.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GMXA.pdf
• 5th Panzer Army, 4 March 1943
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GCMB.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GCMA.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GCDA.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GAMB.pdf
• http://www.cgsc.edu/CARL/nafziger/943GAAF.pdf

The next links point to the various supporting materials for US Army'S staff ride on the battle.  These are almost the perfect resource containing many important documents about the battle


Background Material

• Volume 1 Part 1
• Volume 1 Part2

Lesson Learned

• http://www.history.army.mil/books/Staff-Rides/kasserine/Vol-II-Part_1.pdf
•  Volume II Part 2
•  Volume 2 Part 3
• Volume 2 Part 4

Maps

http://www.history.army.mil/books/Staff-Rides/kasserine/Maps_Sketches.pdf

Another useful site is the sturmpanazer.com which posts a lot of orginal documents

• T78398_H1_43.pdf. A collection of various documents. So far the highlights are various organizational diagrams and feldpost numbers are 
• T78R406_H1_95_Part1.pdf. More of the above
• NARA_FMS_D174.pdf. A discusion about the commitment of 10th Panzer division to Tunisia

Keeping Score - giving in to temptation

Well the decision to walk into a store that I had not visited for a while resulted in the purchase of two models. Though they are now finished so the balance remains.

Models purchased 5
Models completed 7
15mm completed 47

Scores are -2 plus -47 for the 15mm

Keeping Score

Well two more models have arrived a sdkfz 251/7 and a sdkfz 251/9 both in 15mm.


Models purchased 3
Models completed 5
15mm completed 47

Scores are -2 plus -47 for the 15mm

Decision at Kaserine

The time has come to regale you with another solo campaign. In this case it will the German offensive in Tunisia, it will be based upon the old wargamer magazine game Decision at Kasserine and will be run using Command Decision.

I have been wanting to do some Tunisian battles oh for a long time. Originally I wanted to do with Duel in the Desert the planned late desert book for the latest edition of Command Decision. But one day the armies were ready but the book was not. So what was I to do, give up hope. One day it will appear, I have faith, but in the meantime I am doing this.

So here is our battleground. in all its glory while below are the various orders of battles. There will be more to this story as the campaign unfolds

 

keeping score

Well some units done.

Another t-34 and an elephant done. Also a battalion of Falschirmjaeger, though technically started last year but finally finished now


Models purchased 1
Models completed 5
15mm completed 47

Scores are -4

The Battle of Chippawa

Okay now that I have posted Black Powder Cold Steel. Lets look at a particular battle. In this case the battle of Chippawa. This battle has the advantage of being not to big and both forces being relatively equal in size.

For sources I will use Donald Graves Red Coats Grey Jackets

American Order of battle

First Brigade

Ninth/Twenty Second Infantry -549 Men/5 stands
Eleventh Infantry- 416 Men / 4 stands
Twenty Fifth Infantry - 354 Men/ 4 stands

Second Brigade

Twenty First Infantry - 651 Men/ 7 Stands
Twenty Third Infantry - 341 men/ 3 Stands

Third Brigade

5th Pennsylvania Regiment- 540 Men/ 5 stands
Native Warriors - 386 Men / ? Stands

Artillery Battalion
Biddles Company - 3x 12pdr
Ritchies Company - 2x 6pdr 1x 5.5in Howitzer
Towson's Company - As above
Williams Company - 3x 18pdr

Harris's Troop of Dragoons - 70 men

Now lets look at some questions and issues about translating this OOB into the rules.

The first thing to note is that apart from a few troops the Second brigade along with Biddles and Williams's companies did not participate in the battle. They are included for completeness. There maybe more questions about the accuracy of this OOB that can be discussed later. This is instead about translating an OOB into BPCS.

It is also assumed that the infantry fight in two ranks. There is some dispute if the Americans fought in two or three ranks. Though most source agree on two ranks there is at least some evidence for some units being in three. This is a question to be looked at later.

Next is the issue of scale. The first brigade has a total of 13 stands of foot only one more than a game of DBA. Is it enough or should the scale be increased? An important issue that will need to addressed sooner than later.

While I have listed an OOB translation for the infantry. There are none for the cavalry, artillery or natives. Here again the issue of scale appears and some design decisions have to made.So lets put this issue to one side for the moment and look at game scale in a later post.

Keeping score

Well it is time to announce the completion of two models. A Stug III and an elephant for the ancient Arabs. One problem with this is that it may highlight how slowly I paint.

Models purchased 1
Models completed 3

Scores are -2

First Model

Well it had to happen. I have finished my first model a battlefront T-34. Only seven more to paint and three more to get. This does lead to the though that I should track the growth of my plans.

No that may be a bit to depressing. There is just not enough time to paint everything that i want to paint. Now while I believe that one cannot die until one has finished all of their lead mountain. I think that there should also be a light at the end of the tunnel so as to encourage more painting. You don't want to many nor to few.

Models purchased 1
Models completed 1

Scores are even

First purchase

One thing that is happening out in the wider world is that people are keeping track of the number of figures purchased and or painted. I suppose the idea is maintain some control over the lead mountain by showing that you are painting more than you are buying.

I suspect that like many others there is a gap between the theory and practice. It also has the significant disadvantage that people opposed to wasting money may discover this list. Leading questions in the house about waste and extravagance.

Though I do like the idea of a having a challenge. So here we go with the first purchase. A flames of war 88L71 antitank guns.

Models purchased 1
Models completed 0

Black Powder Cold Steel

You might have noticed one thing about me is that I have a fondness for Command Decision. Included in the second edition was this little variation that took the basic mechanic and transposed them into the horse and musket period.

Now I have never played these rules but they have had some interesting ideas that have always intrigued me. The most interesting of these was the basing and figure system which allows for a more detailed representation of a unit but without necessarily increasing the complexity. The traditional game uses a fixed ratio of representing figures to men such as 1;20 1:60 and so on. In this case you have a fixed representation of a units frontage of 50 men while the depth varies according to the number of ranks you have. So a battalion in two ranks has three time the frontage of one in six. It is such an elegant solution that I am surprised it has not re-appeared in any other set of rules.

But such is the fate of many ideas. But here I am again thinking that I want a good set of rules that will enable to play the War of 1812 as well as the the Latin American Wars of Independence. So maybe it is time to start again with looking at all these rules and seeing if they work. First looking at creating some lists for the War of 1812. Secondly some consideration should be made into updating them to the CDIV standard. But first I'll present the original rules as published for your information.

Enjoy