David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Tuesday 1 January 2019

Rapid Fire resurgent!

I keep threatening Phil and Jon with a WWII Rapid Fire game, but somehow always put it off at the last minute! So, as one year ends and another begins not one but two games of Rapid Fire here in GHQ in the same week! Although the tabletop battlefield remains substantially the same for both games, the battles themselves are quite different. It means that, with the exception of my D Day  landings specific items and one of two planes, the whole of my 20mm WWII collection has been out on the table! Anyhow, enough blathering from me, here are some photos of the action from the first game played with Phil on New Year's eve starting with the rival commanders ~
General Lord Rawnsley organises the plan of attack!

Von Bikkel considers his increasingly limited options!

Germans dig in around Le Grand Bain
German 120m mortar battery awaits the call to fire!

The Germans reinforce their left acting on intelligence from
the 120mm Artillery Battery spotters in Le Ferme Blanc.

What the spotter saw! The Irish Guards supported by Churchill
tanks on the Allied right and Cromwells with a Sherman Firefly
driving for the centre.

While laying down smoke on the Allied centre, the artillery
spotter missed the dash on the Allied left by the Rifles

An Allied Cromwell is halted by German anti tank fire! But
elements of the Irish Guards flush the German spotters out of the
farm ruins!

I really should have paid more attention to these chaps!
With the action hotting up on the German left, a Company of
Panzer IVs drive forward to engage the enemy armour!
Meanwhile, the Firefly trades shots with the emplaced 88mm
Battery and emerges the winner. A serious loss in the German
centre!

To make matters worse, an Allied bombing raid succeeds in
halting the Panzers in their tracks!

Two tanks destroyed and the third routed! Ominous signs for
von Bikkel!

However, its not all bleak news for the Germans, as the Stugs
knock out two Churchills!
And at last the German Reserves enter the battle, although 
not where they are most needed I have to say!

The commander of the Tigers immediately attacks the Allied
Firefly, trading shots to little effect. He really should have paid
more attention to the PIAT group on his left!

The Stugs and the remaining Tiger all fail the Morale Test and
rout! That takes German losses over the Army Morale
threshold and the whole army is 'Pinned'!

With that result, von Bikkel's attempt to shore up his right
flank is thwarted...

...allowing the Rifles to get one company behind the German
defenders!
Its all coming unstitched for von Bikkel now as a Typhoon
attack ads to the Germans' woe!

A shot from the rear of the 25lb Battery. Phil rolled so many
1's for failed radio contact that they hardly fired a shot in anger
for eleven turns!

With the German's pinned for two turns the Allies are free to
rush more of the Irish Guards into action against the weakened
enemy centre!

Allied infantry begin to roll up the German right flank. Its all
up for them now, with four consecutive Morale Tests and a 
dice roll of 1! The army routes or surrenders at the end of
Turn 11.
The busiest man in the German army that day!
A splendid game we both felt in the end. Before the Germans' first Army Morale test the Alies just scrapped through one of their own with a Pinned result. Another day they might have routed then! What we did realise though was how rusty we were with the rule nuances! A natural combination of aging memory and playing too many periods on my part I fear! Still, the second runout tomorrow hopefully when Brigadier Bykleigh's Glider borne coup de main will be assaulted by Kampfgruppe Whytt. Pop back at the end of the week to see how it went...

14 comments:

  1. Wonderful looking table David packed full of WWII goodies!

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks for your encouragement Christopher.

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  2. Excellent stuff David. Very attractive armies.

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    1. Many thanks Colin! Hope to see you out and about over the year.

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  3. A stupendous game which could easily have gone the other way, it was as well that my knack for rolling one did not extend to the morale checks. To be fair most of the rules we had to look up were ones that are not used regularly.

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    1. 1’s, you never roll them when I want you too!

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  4. As always David... a splendid looking game...
    And the good guys (and Phil) won...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly. Like your latest WSS unit by the way!

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  5. Beautiful, I sometimes regret not going 20mm with my WWII. Phil should have given me a shout, I was very, very good at Naval Gunfire Support, in fact they wanted me as a spotter but as they had 24 hr life expectancy and turned you into a Royal Machine I didn't bother.

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    1. He needed little help in the end to see me off sadly!

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  6. Lovely looking game,nice tanks and shock,horror Phil won!
    Best Iain

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  7. What a splendid table, love this terrain! Great looking game David with beautiful unots...and the hospital is a gem!

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