Staffan's Hobby Corner

  Ruckzug campaign New fall semester, new campaign! We didn’t manage to do any battle reports for the Bloody Bucket campaign. It was great fun and thrilling till the end but real life didn’t leave enough time to do proper reports unfortunately. We’ll see how we manage this time, at least we’ll make an attempt at a summary after each battle. Campaign background We are playing the Ruckzug campaign by David Hiscocks from the Lardie Magazine 2021. It is different from most PSCs in that the German forces are partially determined by chance to represent stragglers picked up during the retreat. For the German player the campaign isn’t about ”winning” but to do an orderly retreat. British forces The British force is a Motor platoon from the 11th Armoured Division (Black Bull) pursuing scattered Germans towards the Low Countries after the Falaise Gap. Should the platoon suffer losses so that it's no longer viable it can be switched out for a fresh platoon, but this will cause delays giving t...

After some inactivity it’s time to kick off another campaign - this time Bloody Bucket!   Detailed battle reports are a bit too much effort so this is going to be more of an online campaign diary/notebook… House Rules As usual we re making some modifications to the rules to suit our preferences. Modifications to the Bloody Bucket campaign rules German platoons We have rolled up all the platoons in advance and just randomise which one appears in Area A at the start of each turn from 2 onwards. Platoon 1 the starting platoon on turn 1. Modifications to the Chain of Command rules 4.3.1 Deploying from Jump-Off Points Vehicles that are forced to deploy off road (no road or road blocked) need to roll +4 to deploy. 9.2 Hand grenades Hand grenades against trenches.  If the total rolled is greater than the range in inches, the target unit takes 2 hits as if in Light Cover. If it's still greater after subtracting 4, the target instead takes 3 hits with no cover. Rifle grenades The US ha...

This is the fourth battle in our Scottish Corridor campaign. Having failed their first attempt to break through at Le Valtru, Kampfgruppe Weidinger decides to try bypassing the village. In game terms this means playing the game using the ”Probe” scenario rather than ”Encounter”. For the Germans this means giving up much of their hard earned benefits from winning Operation Martlet and leaving behind their additional third infantry platoon together with the mauled platoon that failed to fight its way through Le Valtru in campaign turn 2.  On the up side, this decreases the risk of bogging down in Le Valtru and hopefully speeds up the linkup with the seemingly unstoppable Kampfgruppe Frey in the east. Something new on the western front. At least if the Germans get their way. The Germans are supported by a Panther, a flamethrower team, a second Senior Leader and an adjutant. Their plan is to speed the Panther along their left flank and off the table, hopefully without having engaged t...

This is the third battle in our playing of the  Scottish Corridor  campaign.  Kampfgruppe Frey attacks with a fresh platoon led by Obersturmführer Ostendorf. They are supported by a Tiger tank, an infantry gun and an adjutant for a total of 15 support points. The German plan is to press forward with the Tiger, and potentially start rolling over and taking the British Jump Off Points one by one. Meanwhile, the grenadiers will advance on the left flank, using the hedge lines as fire bases. If the British infantry decides to engage in a fire fight the leiG.18 can be brought up to tip the scale in favour of the germans.  The British have an extra rifle section and an extra PIAT in support. The odds are not in their favour, and the Tiger is basically invulnerable, so the plan is to try an aggressive move vs the Jump Off Points and if that does not work try and cause maximum casualties. The Germans keep pushing on the eastern flank. Patrol Phase The British deploy their JO...