Monday 16 May 2016

A small unit action in NW Europe using PBI rules.

US starting positions
Well I have had a little break from Blogging but now back! yesterday at the club I was faced with some POTENTIALLY terrible news in that the local council are looking at changing the rates to commercial rates on the hall. If this goes ahead in 15 months then as a club we will have to close but 15 months is a long way off and things at local government may change. Fingers crossed.

Still you do not want to know about that!

My troops on the right flank
Games wise 4 of us (Tim, Graham (playing Germans) and Matt and myself (Playing US Paratroops) had a game of PBI. We used the current version of the rules which I had not played before having always played the older version. ) The Germans Decided to attack (They had the choice and decided to attack and put us on the back foot. Paratroops in war are used to being surrounded and out numbered it kind of goes with the job. This time luck was with us and and we were defending with 2 whole platoons until we could get reinforced.  But we were in good solid cover, (for the most part and were all veterans (well apart from 0ne support rienforcements) who actually arrived on the very last turn of the game so perhaps not a huge loss!

German tank destroyers and infantry give Matt a hard time
Anyway here are some pics and a little dialogue of the game.

The game started very well for me and with Graham sitting opposite I really was not expecting an easy battle at all. The Germans attacking went first and by the end of the US first turn I had bought such concentrated fire on the Germans that 1/2 a Platoon was dead and the other half a platoon had to flee from the board. My right wing was not bothered again in the game. Both Graham and Tim decided that Mat on my left would face both of them.

The situation was such that if I moved I would leave an objective open so I had to give what little support I could yet stay in place and not open up the objective for the Germans to exploit.


Middle of the board, with me on the right and Mat in the centre and the right.

We did not have enough troops to hold 3 objectives. The Far left objective had the least cover so we hardly defended it as to do so would have made our few troops exposed and vulnerable. So Matt was mostly in the middle of the board.

US Reinforcements.
I suspect if Graham had been in charge of the German armour Matt would have looked at a "Tank Assualt" in  the first couple of turns but while Tim had played the rules before he was struggling to recal them so he hesitated and waited for reinforcements.  Graham who knows the rules the best of us all would have just ploughed in I think.

Us reienforcements plug the whole in the line the Germans had created
The Germans did manage to bring on another Platoon and then a Mortar platoon and yet another infantry platoon.  WE were also able to bring on another platoon and with a special rule (The Surprise Asset) were able to fly them to the front in double quick time and while the target area that Tim had been hammering away at was filled up by men again making as assault VERY risky.

I did overextend and go slightly far forward and with only 1 stand of infantry then became the focus for the tank and infantry assault. My stand was wiped out but considering there were 2 enemy tanks and 3 times as much infantry I was not surprised.

Overall a terrific game for the US troops in the whole game only loosing 5 stands (Approx 1/2 a platoon) yet dealing sufficient damage to the
Germans by forcing 1 platoon to route (due to casualties) and severly weakening 2 other platoons.



I loose the assault
And an Objective
As with so many wargames good and bad dice rolls did influence the game. The Germans did roll badly on several occasions and we (Matt and Myself) did roll well.

My first ever experience USING elite troops (But have fought against them) in Peter Pigs PBI and I must say the saving throws due to superior training and feildcraft really did make a difference when defending. And while we did make a few mistakes overall I think we played well and let the enemy make the most mistakes. Which is most unlike me I must say!




US  75mm Pack Howitzer support arrive on my last turn,
So do not actually take any active part in the game.

On the Last turn. The time runs out and the Germans
fail to make sufficient progress in
Capturing objectives and
A US Para Victory.



18 comments:

  1. I know nothing about PBI but it seems you enjoyed it and that's the main thing. Congrats on your victory, Clint.

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    1. Thank you Bryan. One simply cannot know every set of rules and these are not your specific field of interest so knowing them at all was always doubtful in your case. But they do give company sized games without being too tank heavy.

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  2. Sorry to hear that the council are likely to screw things up for you Clint, where do you guys meet? I hope you either come to an agreement with them or find alternative arrangements and stick two fingers up at them!!

    On the gaming front, like Bryan I don't know the ruleset you used, but it looks like you had some fun :-)

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    1. Thanks Gobbo, we meet in a community hall but the local council is talking about a commercial tariff, needless to say a community hall cannot afford a commercial tariff on rates!

      The rules do take a little getting used to but play quite well when you do.

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  3. Looks like fun Clint and here is hoping that your club gets a stay of execution.

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    1. Thanks Michael. Whatever happens with the club happens, not a lot I can do about it!
      yeah it is quite a fun game and winning does help a lot!

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  4. Looks like it was a good fun game and a win to boot!
    The whole hall thing is a bit of a bummer, our own council has more or less let many community fend for themselves ( to the detriment of many).

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    1. Thanks Joe. The club has been running for over 30 years so it would be a blow. But time will tell! If they were not to class us as a COMERCIAL venture which we have done up to now, we would be alright. But most if not all councils are tight for money so what do they care if we have to fold?

      As for the game the biggest win for me this year. (so far) But I have also in the past using the old rules lost on the very first turn Before I got to do anything!

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  5. Huzzah for the win Clint :-) I have read PBI several times as an alternative to Blitzkrieg Commander, but never settled down to play a game. Your AAR makes it sound like an enjoyable game so I guess I may have missed something by never playing it.

    Sorry to hear about the club news. But as you say 15 months is a long time and hopefully common sense will prevail.

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    1. Thanks Blax, what may or may not happen at the club is 15 months away and there are a few other local clubs as well so you never know it may be for the best in the end, and it may not, but only time will tell.

      As for PBI. The rules are OK but bear in mind that I did win so I may be bias on this one occasion. For me though I do like the company feel where you are not juggling too much but can play in some detail.

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  6. Bad news about the issues with your hall. Whenever I hear this I always suspect they are trying to reduce usage as the first step towards closing down a hall on the grounds of 'lack of interest'. Call me paranoid but the Council would make far more £££ by building cheap flats or houses on the land than they ever would in Rates on a hall.

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    1. Thanks Lee. Clearly they are up to something, it may be a storm in a tea cup and resole it self LONG before the 15 months warning that we have and it may not. Should I really worry about something I have little or no control over.

      As for shutting the hall the council last year or the year before added an extension to the hall (which was originally built by the Royal Engineer apprentices) so that would strike me as sheer folly, but local councils, what can you say!

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  7. Well, congratulations on your win! If we were to believe the tone of some of your past posts then this is an unusual event. I'm sure it's not as uncommon as you make out :-) .

    Sad news about the hall. If I understand you correctly then the council are considering whether to classify a war gaming club as a commercial enterprise? I really don't see how that stands up to logic and so I suspect (like others above) that there may be an ulterior motive involved...

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    1. Thank you C6. I will be fair and say I win an equal amount to other club members. But this was an unfamiliar deceive win as far as I am concerned against better players.

      To be clear the Community hall is now considered as a Commercial concern not the wargames club. The result is that if the hall charges us £30 per hour (as it does others) then as a club we will have no choice but to pack up. Up to this point the community hall is considered a charity hall and gets a MUCH lower rate or even a subsidy. But now the Council has changed the status of the hall to commercial, so all community groups that use the hall will have to pay a commercial rate. Well that is as far as I understand it.

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  8. Looks great Clint. Dice rolls sometimes have a major impact. A recent batman game an annoying lampost withstood far more damage than it should of due to unlucky dice rolls much to the annoyance of my opponent.

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    1. Thanks Simon, sometimes the dice are for you sometimes against. Whatever it is you cannot beat the dice.

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  9. Great pictures and battle report! Congrats on the win!

    Greetings
    Peter

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    1. Thank you Peter, sometimes the games just flows your way. Other times it is less comfortable then a Cactus Canoe.

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