I’ve been lucky to get a couple of games of Battlegroup played recently. Stiu, based in Scotland, hadn’t played before, I set up a Zoom game. Given the time of year, we decided to play a Battle of the Bulge game. There’s a nice scenario based on the Roadblock at the Antoniush of Farm scenario in the Wacht am Rhein supplement.
Stiu started on two objectives. I drew big numbers so certainly felt up against it as my reinforcements trickled in under the cover of a smoke barrage. There was scrap for an objective on the road, but the schwerpunkt never appeared for the Germans – their firepower caused some American infantry to flee and the armour on both sides took a lot of damage as the mists rose. Ultimately the German attack stalled in the open ground in front of the farmhouse and they fell back.
The second game was with Ciarán. He’s played before, but it was a while ago. We picked 400pt forces and played a meeting engagement scenario. He was much more aggressive than me in the early stages, making good use of his road access to get on objectives quickly. I pushed aggressively down my left flank and swung in to hit him hard. There was a big fight across the hedgerows, with some great courage being shown by my panzerfaust teams. In the end, Ciarán’s early aggression proved decisive and my force was forced to retire as the attrition mounted.
Battlegroup is my preferred platoon to company combined arms game. It gets so many elements right while still being a fun gaming experience. Both Stiu and Ciarán have little experience with the game, but they had no difficulty getting their heads around how it plays. The battle counters, when combined with the pinning mechanics, are a key part of how the game plays. So too are the historicity of the lists. This game ‘feels’ right and is fun. What more could you ask for?
Until next time,
Owen