WWII Divisional Battles Using Squares : Take 2

 Unwilling to let sleeping dogs lie, I did some digging into a variety of free rules, and found most all of what I was looking for in the PZ8 WW2 Divisional Level Wargame Rules (you have to page through a bit to find them).

Like many of hobbyists, I download a lot of free wargame related things, and it turns out I already had a copy of this document from several years ago! Oh well, better late than never.

To meet my needs, I converted it to squares - because I want to use squares. The exact measurements for movement, artillery, spotting, etc. are up in the air yet as I tweak it, so I'll hold off on my exact conversions until they are settled. That said, one square = 1 km.

On a break today, I set up the same scenario as the other night, with each side getting a divisional HQ as well, and gave it a go.

The first and second turn started with the German retreat, per the scenario setup - with one battalion of infantry stuck south of the river (I ignored the scenario rules calling for the destruction of any red army unit south of the river after turn 2 because the Germans had 5 units this time, instead of 4.).

On the second half of turn two, the three battalions of US infantry, supported by two battalions of tanks and an artillery battalion?regiment? arrived on their base line (squares determined by die roll).

The US tank battalion on the left quickly made contact with the stranded German infantry, driving them back, while on the US right, the German infantry on the north side of the river destroyed a US battalion (pushed it back two squares, right off the table).

A few turns in, the US is down one battalion already.

Word to the wise, be careful of putting units behind other units, as you risk blocking a push back result and losing your unit.

After struggling to get across - and losing another infantry battalion in the process - it looked like the US left had a foothold north of the river, with the tanks barreling onward to overrun German artillery positions.

You would be forgiven for thinking the tanks would win this fight.

 Unfortunately, the tanks were trapped at the waters edge and decimated with brutal precision.

On the right things picked up and tanks and infantry made it across the river, but it was too little too late. Despite eliminating one German battalion, the German Divisional HQ was far more efficient with their resupply and kept the remaining units in good order, while giving their artillery many more fire missions than the four allotted at the start.

Moments after this was taken, the US infantry in the woods to the top right were forced to fall back (again, off the table). With 50% of US combat units gone, I called the game.

Impressions:

THIS is what I was looking for the other night.

Despite being a small game (a regiment vs an under-strength regiment) the rules worked well and it felt "right". The game had a Little Wars quality to it, as infantry / tanks don't distance fire, they have to move into contact (adjacent grid spaces), and only artillery "shoots".

I really like the resupply rule (obviously you can do that with other rules) - it's simple and I used it as written, once I remembered to use it.

Being pushed back is devastating - need to pay attention to who is where before an attack.

Some options to consider  - supported attacks, attached companies, unit stacking?

The Pz8  rules say they are based on the KISS Rommel rules, and I've downloaded them to mine for ideas. Similarly, I found De Belli Mundi Secundus (a DBA variant for the same scale game) and they too look to have some bits and bobs I want to make use of.