Ruckzug campaign page

 


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 the German player an advantage.

1st platoon

The platoon is lead by Lieutenant Algernon Balfour. Age 29 from London. Has an Oxford degree in classical languages and had a promising career in the civil service. He could have avoided the war but honour called.

Assisting him is Platoon Sergeant Ian Taylor, a 27 year old Rhodesian who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.

The 1st section is lead by Corporal Robert Brown. Age 23. He used to be a waiter at The Crowing Rooster in Edinburg. A weedy fellow who knows how to handle himself in a fight.

Corporal George Davis is in charge of the 2nd section. He is a quiet farm boy from Kent who is also 23 years old.

Finally, the 3rd section is lead by Corporal James Taylor, a mischievous aspiring artist from Soho. Coincidentally he is also 23 years old. 

Morale and opinion

  • CO’s opinion: 0
  • Men’s opinion: 0
  • Own opinion: Secure

Force diagram













German forces

The German platoon is a collection of stragglers. The basic force is known but it also starts with three random units unknown to the British player.

Platoon

The German platoon is led by  Leutnant Werner Klangenberg, 21. A model citizen of the new Germany and fresh out of officer school.

1st Squad is led by Unterfeldwebel Herbert Schörner, 50. As a young man he fought in the last war.

2nd Squad is led by Obergefreiter Pavel (last name unknown), 51. A devoted communist and dock worker from St Petersburg. The few phrases he learnt as a kid from his German grandmother made life as a POW a little easier and paved the way for a short career in an Ost-Battalion. In the chaos of the Falaise pocket he somehow got separated from his unit and ended up in charge of a regular Wehrmacht squad. Given the situation, his new unit won’t try to return a man with obvious leadership qualities, and Pavel rather enjoys his new existence as a leader of men…

Morale & opinion

  • Men’s opinion: 0
  • Own opinion: Cheerful

Force diagram

Random support table














The campaign battles

In this campaign the terrain is generated randomly and the scenario played is determined by how the previous battle went (first battle is Delaying Action).






Campaign Battles

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rückzug Battle 1: Delaying Action at the crossroads

Image
The terrain rolled was "4 - Crossroads or Significant Building". The scenario is Mission 4 Delaying Action from the main rulebook and the terrain rolled was "4 - Crossroads or Significant Building". Patrol Phase The British player enters the map along the road with three patrol markers and gets one free move before the Patrol Phase begins. The Germans start the game with Force Morale (FM) 9 and the British starts with FM 10. After a short Patrol Phase centred along the road coming from the British lines, the British managed to push one Jump Off Point (JOP) a little bit forward into the field on their left flank. The Germans places one JOP in the orchard next to the road and another one on their far-left flank. Finally, the Germans place their third JOP (and the objective of the scenario) in the two-story farm building centre-left on their front line. The British player starts the game with 3 Chain of Command (CoC) pips. The Battle The British have the first phase, a...
Read more

Rückzug Battle 2: Village Delaying Action

Image
Since our first battle, the Germans have made an orderly withdrawal and taken upp positions in a small village next to a stream. The main road running east to west bridges the mostly waist-deep stream. Further south along the stream there is a knee-deep ford next to an orchard. The village is dominated by a large hotel building with red brick roof and a bombed out industrial building, both just north of the main road.  (Experienced CoC players may recognise the map from the Scottish Corridor campaign...) Patrol Phase British FM starts at 9, the Germans start at FM 11. After some patrolling the Brits spread their JOPs across the front with one on their extreme right and two in the corn fields next to the road and further left towards the ford. The Germans have one JOP next to a hedge in a courtyard just south of the main road, and another in an orchard next to the hedge lining the hotels back garden. Finally the Germans place at third JOP, that is also the Mission Objective, in the ...
Read more