Battle of Sangro River (Rommel in 3mm)

A long time ago I built a British mid- to late-war army in 3mm Pico Armour (from Odzial Osmy/Magister Militum), intended for Rommel (the Sam Mustafa/Honor game) but based to be used for Rommel or Spearhead (if I can ever find a copy of the rules). As this army has been sitting in a tray for several years, it was time they headed out for their first ever battle.

The 1st Caledonian Mechanised Division

The army depicts an 'Imagi-Nation' I came up with over a decade ago, before I even knew the term. I created the nation as the background for my first Flames of War 3rd Edition British army and represented them variously with lists from 1st Polish Armoured, British Guards, 15th Scottish and 51st Highland, and Canadian Divisions depending on campaign settings and to test different tactics.

Caledonia (I tried out a few different names, but Caledonia seemed the most realistic) is a relatively sparsely populated country in the southern part of South America. It was a secondary colony settled in the late 17th century by survivors from the failed Scottish Darien Gap enterprise looking for somewhere with a less deadly environment further from contemporary Spanish and English colonial interests. Centuries later, the country was able to raise a division-sized force to fight in Europe and North Africa in World War 2. This was the 1st Caledonian Mechanised Division (1CMD).

The Battle of Sangro River

We selected the Sangro River (Italy 1943) scenario from a large compendium of fan-made scenarios available on the internet, converted it to hexes and adapted the lists to our 3mm collections. According to the scenario, historically the battle was fought by British and Indian brigades.

The opening moves of the .
(We converted Rommel to use hexes rather than squares just because it feels like there are more manoeuvre options).

The Battle Plan

My basic operational plan, as drawn on a the scenario map (squares).

Italy, 1943. The 1st Caledonian Mechanised Division (1CMD) and the independent 6th Airborne Brigade was ordered to take a number of towns and key points on a range of hills overlooking the Sangro River. They had three basic infantry brigades and divisional assets comprising four companies of Shermans, two companies of mechanised infantry in armoured half-tracks and three battalions of 25 pounders, one attached to the Airborne Brigade.

The Airborne on the left with an idea to surround the nearest town to draw away enemy forces, while the 2nd Infantry Brigade, deployed across the river, together with the divisional armoured assets and accompanied by the 3rd Infantry Brigade, would take the central hills and objective, and move through the gap between the viticultural land (the yellowish areas with plants in rows) and woods to take the furthest town. Then whatever units were still strong enough would swing around and then take the left flank towns from both sides in concert with the Airborne Brigade. It was an ambitious plan, not very inspired, but it was the best I could come up with quickly and with shaky rules familiarity.

The Opening Moves

The opening moves went mostly according to plan, with 2nd Brigade able to surround and destroy an isolated German infantry unit with dug-in anti-tank guns and get up on the hills and the Airborne Brigade moving into position.

2nd Brigade, making good use of 37th Assault Pioneer Company, clear away enemy from entrenched positions.

However, a hasty attack by the 10th Marine Infantry Battalion, 3rd Brigade against the other dug in German infantry and AT guns was beaten back, and a German armoured counterattack on the right flank against 20th Infantry Battalion inflicted heavy casualties, causing me to have to spend quite a few OP dice to sort the situation out.

10th Marine makes a reckless attack with limited preparation and before the arrival of armoured support, and is beaten back, starting a chain of events that would hamper the plan.

A powerful Command Post Event available to the mid-war Allies is 'Jabos!' and I used it to cause hits on a column of German motorised infantry behind the lines. This air attack was just something nasty I for psychological effect and might come in handy later in my overall plan by reducing enemy forces behind the hills. Unfortunately (for me) it ultimately had no impact on the game other than inflicting casualties.

A Caledonian Air Force de Havilland Mosquito fighter-bomber attacks an enemy motorised column.

The Right Flank Attack Bogs Down

Attacks and counterattacks by 3rd Brigade on the right flank went in the Germans' favour and I was forced to pull back with the battered 20th Battalion, shuffle fresh units forward and eventually Dig In all along the line (Dig In is another Allied Command Post Event). At this point my opponent and onlookers remarked that I was "supposed to be on the attack." Yep 😒

The back-and-forth was hard on 3rd Brigade.
A forward platoon radio operator shouted to Bn HQ: "They're right on top of us!" (Literally, as you can see there at top left).

The divisional armoured units took the hill objective and began preparing to break through east of their objective town, while 3rd Brigade's 12th (Reserve) Infantry Battalion finally managed to destroy the German infantry and their AT guns and 6th Armoured Battalion managed to drive off (but not destroy) a Panzer II company (which can use 'Recon' ability to withdraw from combat, annoyingly).

12th (Reserve) Infantry Battalion finally destroys the isolated German infantry (the Panzer IIs survived but retreated from the 6th Armoured Battalion coming down from the hills.

A Really Reckless and Bad Idea Finally Ruins the Plan

At this point with my right mostly stabilised, I thought I saw an opportunity to finally destroy the Panzer II, take out a regiment of German 10.5cm artillery and outflank the objective town by racing 6th Armoured Battalion and a company from 1st Mechanised Infantry through the clear area east of the town. This proved a reckless folly, and I wasted about five OP dice chasing after the Panzer IIs (the 'Parthian IIs' as I called them, as they managed to 'Recon' their way out every time. I did at least destroy the 10.5cms.

However, two companies from the 2nd Infantry, 2nd Brigade that I'd moved up behind 6th Armoured to hold the spearhead open were completely destroyed in a pincer attack against which I had no answer (having wasted all my OPs dice in the pursuit). The 6th Armoured was now cut off and had to extract itself, the commander not looking forward to his inevitable reprimand (yes, I'm blaming him!)

With time running out and the plan in serious trouble and I had to move 2nd Brigade across the hills to assault the town. However there simply were not enough OPs Dice and not enough turns, and the well-timed arrival of a German 'Replacement Battalion' Event reinforced the depleted units in the town to the extent where it was impossible for me to destroy them and take the objective, regardless of how much support I poured in and how well I rolled.

The final positions on the Allied right flank. One objective taken, but our forces were too weak to finally take the town. (The 'f/s' markers I was using to indicate units with a 'tipped' (disordered) status, but on the river they indicate bridges, which we forgot to bring).

On the left I had mostly been neglecting the Airborne Brigade. I was supposed to switch the focus of my OPs to this formation upon taking the town on the right, but the general failure of that axis and need to spend OPs to prevent disaster meant I was not ready to attack on the left. With just a few turns to go, I realised I had to get the Airborne moving, and so they commenced their assault. It was also too late, though, to drive the Germans out of this town. The disappointing performance of the Airborne in the attack, despite full support and having the Germans surrounded, combined with the late start doomed my efforts on this axis as well.

6th Airborne Brigade took moderate losses but performed below expected standard in attacking the left-hand town. With superior German forces appearing, they would have to hold fast and abandon offensive operations.

Results

1CMD suffered a 1-3 defeat against the German defenders, having only taken the hill objective and ending their last turn with no hope of capturing any of the towns. Casualties had been heavy, especially in 3rd Brigade. The Germans had taken probably 1,000 to 1,250 casualties, including a couple of companies and an artillery battery destroyed. I estimate 1CMD lost just over 2,000 men:

2nd Brigade

• 2nd Infantry Bn - A and B Coys shattered
• 9th Infantry Bn - losses in A Coy
• 3th (Reserve) Infantry Bn - losses in B Coy.

3rd Brigade (around 60% casualties)

• 12th Infantry Bn - A Coy shattered. Heavy losses in B and C Coys
• 10th Marine Bn - heavy losses in A Coy. Losses in B Coy
• 20th (Reserve) Inf Bn - heavy losses in all three Coys.

6th Airborne Brigade

• 18th Mountain Bn - heavy losses in C Coy
• 17th Rifle Bn - losses in A and B Coys and their 83rd Airborne Assault Pioneer Coy (formerly C Coy).

Divisional assets

• 6th Armoured Bn - losses in A Coy
• 1st Mechanised Infantry Bn - losses in A Coy.

Thoughts on the Rommel Rules

After waiting years to play the game properly (not solo), I can say Rommel did not disappoint and I look forward to my next game (hopefully be soon). The game was very engaging and interesting, despite my unforced errors and consequent defeat. My opponent enjoyed the game also, despite having fewer decisions to make and units to move as a defender.

The Command Post and OPs dice provide an interesting resource-management and planning challenge actually similar to SAGA and rewards smart decisions and attention to detail. The combat system (usually attritional, occasionally brutal) and operational/grand tactical scope are unsurprisingly similar to Blucher by the same author. The scale also means battles feel decisive and consequential so that, just like for Blucher, you could fight all the decisive battles of an entire war (maybe a small one) in one manageable campaign.

Again in the style of Blucher, units usually stick around a while and have enough 'identity' so you want to preserve and not waste them. However, the high-level of command and management of competing priorities against the clock compel you to make tough decisions.

Lessons Learned

A single battle might be too little on which to base 'lessons.' Nevertheless, this is what I think I might have learned:

1. To win, you must focus at the outset on achieving your objectives. Talk about 'against the clock'! Turns in Rommel go by fast. While this was an 18 turn battle, turn numbers alternate, meaning I actually had only nine turns to take at least three strongly-defended objectives.

1. You will almost never have enough OPs dice to do everything you want and Events and Tactics are 'rare-ish,' so be efficient with OPs, Events and Tactics. Do not waste them inflicting some random damage to the enemy that might help at some stage and it goes without saying definitely don't get into obsessive sunk-cost pursuit like 'Captain Ahab' of the 6th Armoured.

1. Your forces will take losses unfortunately. You'll have to accept that some of your units will probably be shattered whether or not you take your objectives. This might not matter to most gamers, but I tend to fight most battles these days as though I'm running a force in a campaign: I name my units and don't want to lose them. But these are 'war-games', or just 'war-games' if you know what I mean, so, y'know...