Waiting for XXX Corps

Today saw another foray into World War II gaming in 15mm. Ken Kissling ran an Arnhem game at John Kennedy's Panzer Depot in Kirkland, WA. We started with the 2nd Para battalion (Johnny Frost and co.) in possession of Arnhem with the 1st and 3rd battalions of 1st Para Brigade coming through Oosterbeek to reinforce them. Ken, Mark Serafin and I were the Brits. John, Chris Craft, and Steve Puffenberger were the Germans.

The rules we used were Kampfgruppe Commander II (KGC, which could also stand for Kirkland Gamers Consensus because of the fluid nature of our adherence to them--although there is often little consensus). We've been playing these rules since the first edition of KGC came out in 2001 and I don't think we've used the same exact rules in any two games. We adopted these rules after playing a bit of Command Decision III because we liked the command/control aspects better, but there is lot of vagueness in the rules that gets compounded by our interpretations and house rules. There are many house rules and they are always changing, often in mid-game. So, a central tradition in our KGC games is the Obligatory Argument Phase (OAP), which precedes play and might recur at random points throughout the game.

I played Johnny Frost and the 2nd battalion in Arnhem. I had three companies of Paras, a recon company, an engineer company, a 3" mortar, a PIAT detachment, and a detachment of 6-pounder AT guns.


Johnny Frost and his hunting horn

Coming at me, commanded by Steve, was the 9th SS Panzer Recon battalion on the south side of the Rhine and, north of Arnhem, some companies of SS infantry supported by a company of Panzer IV tanks.


2nd battalion Paras in Arnhem

Steve started out with an cautious advance over the Arnhem bridge and an attack against the north end of the town. The bridge advance was beaten back with loss by the 6-pounders. The purpose of it was to flush out the defenders from ambush position, which it did, but the loss to the armored recon company that made the advance was never recovered. The attack on the north end of town was supported by the panzers, but after several turns of ineffective firing back and forth, the panzers were badly mauled by the British infantry PIAT detachment.


German attack on the north side of Arnhem

At this point--and after a prolonged OAP--Steve sent in the full force of the 9th SS Panzer Recon battalion, which ended as a spectacular failure, just as the historical attack was. By this time John's forces, more SS infantry, had come up to support Steve's attack. and were nibbling at the east side of Arnhem. However, the Paras held on and inflicted serious damage on two companies of John's battalion. The attack on Arnhem pretty much stalled. The 2nd battalion hadn't lost a single stand or asset and the Germans had wrecked most of three battalions in their attack.


9th SS Panzer Recon in flames on Arnhem bridge

To the west of Arnhem, the fighting around Oosterbeek was going in the Germans favor. Despite a qualitative edge, the Paras were having a hard time dislodging the Germans from their defensive positions that cut off Arnhem. New German forces advancing from the north were coming down to nip at the heels of the Brits as they tried to get into Arnhem.


1st and 3rd battalions Paras advancing through Oosterbeek

Ken, instead of proceeding to Arnhem or helping Mark break through, decided to disobey his own orders and turn up to make a fight for Oosterbeek against Chris' troops. Ultimately, it was a disaster. Chris managed to rout Ken out of the town in several turns of fighting. Meanwhile, Mark was bashing his head against John's other German force, which proved his undoing. There were heavy losses on both sides in the Oosterbeek fight, but the Germans were in position to bag the badly hurt Paras by the time we called the game. I don't think we called a winner and the successes and failures balanced out. Still, from an historical perspective, the 2nd battalion in Arnhem was better off, but XXX Corps was still screwing around in Eindhoven, so the Paras fate was sealed in any case.


The end in the woods outside Oosterbeek

The day's bickerings over rules failed to clarify anything for future reference, so the next KGC game will fight over the same ground, which, I guess, is part of the charm that keeps drawing us back.

The figures in all these pictures are all (or mostly) from Ken's collection.