Hull Down

My next game was taking the forces of evil defending Hatten. One of the stand alone scenarios from the Hatten in Flames campaign module.  It is January 1945 and the Germans have launched Nordwind in the snow which really helped shorten the war in the Allies favour but equally ensured more Soviet dominance in Europe post-war. Meh, says a lot about Adolf’s mental processes either way. Anyway the Germans are currently occupying a quaint village with some of the 35th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division. The U.S 42nd ‘Rainbow’ Division are about to launch a small counterattack of their 242nd Infantry Regiment (C Company led by a Leiutenant Duffy) supported by B Company of the 827th Tank Destroyer Battalion (Lieutenant Jones) Conditions are not particularly pleasant for combat (when are they) as can be seen from this account of the initial German attack on Hatten by a member of the Regiment The Helmet: A miracle of survival Glenn E. Schmidt    Pfc.

Anyone fancy giving us a push? For my next game I started a fast and furious game of  O4 ‘Ain’t Running Away’. SS troops with multiple Panthers attacking Anti-tank heavy U.S defenders in the Bulge in 1944. Designed by the late, great Ian Daglish this has lots of nice toys and a very focused board. The game is also with a new opponent. We are playing this almost as a test game to see if it is worth moving onto campaigns with Hatten first then seeing where we can go… I received the SS Leibstandarte’s attackers and have a strong force. The U.S are defending a village and their main strengths are the terrain, firepower and their many HIP anti-tank options. I doubt I can just run the tanks through unscathed so will need to clear a path with the troops first Setup Easy for me as I only have three tanks coming on turn one. These will aim to take overwatch positions to support the primary infantry attack that arrives turn two. Now there are no less than four hidden AT-guns

The Japanese had a surprisingly large tank force and had the 5th most tanks in the world pre-ww2 (after Britain, Germany, France and the Soviet Union). But were unable to adequately leverage them, especially as the war drew on. Early Efforts Taking advantage of their ‘ally’ status after World War I the army had purchased several British and French Tanks to ‘study’ with a British Mark IV and several Whippets along with several French Renault FTs. The intention was to use these as the basis for a Japanese distinct design and this was a design philosophy that worked nicely to reduce R&D costs (they did much the same with their navy copying many British Ship variations and command structures). Copying a WWI tank was perhaps not the ideal way forward and nothing much came from the initial designs.  One noticeable Japanese design process was almost an extreme aversion to perceived initial shortcomings so, as an example, when in 1927 Vickers sold them a Model C prototype and th