Bunker Busting on Nunshigum Ridge Scenario 4: The Northern Bump

We reach the final map and the main Japanese position in our Nunshigum Ridge campaign, a feature the British referred to as the 'Northern Bump'. It was here that the Japanese had built a network of bunkers and were determined to hold their ground. 

The difficulty in evicting them was the principal reason the 3rd Carabiniers had gone to such lengths to bring their Lee tanks up onto the ridge itself. It was now the task of the Dogra Regiment to work in tandem with the armour and break the Japanese position.

As I've said in the earlier posts on this campaign, this is a play test of a draft campaign and a trial of the new bunker rules that feature in the Chain of Command Far East Handbook. As such there is a double learning curve for us. First, to ensure we end up with an enjoyable campaign that gives both players a reasonable chance of achieving their objectives. Second, to learn how the bunker rules play out in practice so that we can achieve that first aim.

The Japanese have two platoons and must assign them across the three maps before the campaign begins. Dave has decided this is the key position and assigned an entire platoon to hold it. That alone may make this a tough proposition for the British. This final scenario is based on 'Fight for the Chaung' in the Far East Handbook and the Japanese defenders benefit from two squad prepared positions, one MMG ambush bunker and four support points. 

The British have a fresh platoon and automatically receive one Lee tank and a pre-game barrage. They can also choose supports up to ten points. Their objective for this scenario is to knock out two of the three bunkers.

The Japanese have the numbers and several strong defensive positions but the one thing they don't have is much in the way of anti-tank weapons. They must rely on tank hunter teams. The British are able to add a second tank to their force should they choose and it would appear on the surface that this gives them a very strong advantage. 

However, before the tanks can deal with the bunkers the infantry will have to find them. The question is, can they do so without taking excessive casualties? 

The patrol phase is fairly straightforward and the Japanese are positioned to cover all sides of the main hill. While the British also have deployment options across the table this is a position that will prove difficult to outflank.

As the British I decide to take an extra tank. Having two tanks and a full platoon presents a few command challenges and so I will add a Red Dice to the command dice pool. Lastly I will take an engineer demolition team, they might be able to help with the destruction of the bunkers.

Force morale begins with the Japanese at ten and the British at nine. With that we start. The British are quick to arrive and a Lee takes up position in the centre and the gunner is placed on overwatch. 

The Japanese elect to remain hidden and so in the next phase the Lee moves flat out towards their central jump-off-point.  

It's joined by a rifle section and the Naik puts both teams on overwatch.

 

The second Lee arrives and the gunner is placed on overwatch (I know, I know, that's not a model of a Lee. A Grant will serve in that role today. I trust we can all agree it's close enough).

The Japanese then have a run of phases, initially Dave decides to remain hidden, but as the run continues he begins to rue not trying to deploy and deal with the British. Hindsight is a wonderful thing! When the run of five phases comes to an end he has nothing to show for it but a single CoC point.

When the British phase arrives the gunner in the Lee in the centre is placed back on overwatch.

On the right flank the Havildar (a senior leader and the platoon's second in command) arrives with one of the sections and he places the men on overwatch. 

That establishes a fairly strong base of fire that will hopefully allow the British to approach the hill.

Once more the Japanese choose to remain hidden and so in the British phase I decide to move one of the tanks to the right to support a push around this flank. The Lee goes flat out to join the section.

The Japanese continue watching. The commander of the Lee puts the gunner on overwatch.

In the centre the platoon's 2” mortar team deploys. 

With tanks and infantry in place I decide now is the time to try to probe forward to the hill and search out the Japanese bunkers. The Naik on the right flank assigns three men to form a scout team. 

Two of them are armed with sten guns which may come in handy if they are surprised by any Japanese. Nonetheless they are cautious and move forward tactically.

There is not a lot of protection as they approach the hill. The open ground does offer light cover, but only if they are stationary. 

The Havildar moves to the rear of the Lee. From there he can use a command initiative to operate the tank telephone and direct the fire of the gunner. I'm hoping that gives me as many options as possible should the Japanese suddenly show themselves.

The movement of the scout team provokes an immediate Japanese response. A sniper fires from a concealed position on the British right.

He targets the scout team, but they survive unscathed. 

Their section is on overwatch and attempt to identify where the shots have come from but they fail to spot the sniper. 

In the British phase the 2” mortar team fires smoke towards the hill to cover the advance of the scouts. 

It lands on target.

The scouts then move swiftly to gain its cover.

The Lee in the centre makes its way forward in support.

I don't want to leave the scout team too isolated. With the smoke as cover the Naik leads his section out of the woods.

They move fairly quickly and will hopefully find some cover advancing behind the smoke.

That provokes a further response from the Japanese. One of their rifle squads deploys successfully through the barrage into an entrenched position.  

While they don't have a line of sight to the British the Gocho puts the men on overwatch in anticipation.

The sniper can no longer see the scout team and so he shifts his attention to the rest of the section following them. 

This time his aim is true. A rifleman is hit and killed. 

The following British command roll is 66533(3) providing a double phase and quite a few command options. The Lee on the right move flat out so that it can gain a line of sight around the smoke to the recently arrived Japanese.

The Lee in the centre moves more slowly to the base of the hill. 

Despite approaching close to their jump-off-points the Japanese are yet to reveal any of their bunkers.

The Naik then leads his section toward the cover of the smoke. 

That move is violently interrupted by a sudden and unexpected burst of fire from a hidden MMG ambush bunker on the hill.

It catches the section moving in the open. Two of the rifle team are cut down and the Bren team suffers two points of shock. The infantry may have succeeded in locating a bunker, but this is an expensive way to do it!

In the subsequent British phase the Lee in the centre targets the bunker with a round of HE from its 75mm gun. Unfortunately it's not on target.

The Jemadar, the platoon commander, deploys in the centre and orders the section to fire at the bunker.  

Despite five hits the solid construction of the bunker means the crew survive unharmed.

He then orders the 2” mortar team to fire smoke but they fail to hit the target. In hindsight it would have been far more useful to have the section lay covering fire on the bunker. It may not harm the crew but would limit their effectiveness.

The section at the base of the hill move tactically toward the smoke and much needed cover. Despite carrying a couple of points of shock they all make it there successfully. 

In the Japanese phase the Gunso fails to deploy through the barrage but a second squad does succeed. They appear in a prepared position with an LMG bunker and spider holes for the rifle team. 

The whole squad opens fire at the British section in the centre.

The Jemadar is hit. He's wounded and out of action for the rest of the turn. That's a blow to British morale which drops to seven.  

The teams also suffer a point of shock each.

Another Japanese squad deploys successfully and once again they are in a prepared position. 

That brings three bunkers into play and makes for a very formidable looking stronghold.

At this point Dave has spotted an opportunity and he's about to punish me for making an absolute 101 newbie error. In my haste to have the Lee support the section on the right it set off and left the Havildar out in the open. He makes for a very attractive target and it's no surprise to see the newly deployed squad pour all their fire in his direction. 

I'm fortunate he escapes with only a wound, but it's enough to see British morale fall to six. 

The Chui, the Japanese platoon leader, deploys at the rear of the bunkers. 

That puts all three within his command range.

He's not about to let this opportunity to hit the Havildar pass by and he orders the MMG to open fire. 

Somehow the Havildar manages to survive but he is wounded again. That takes his command initiative down to one and drops British morale to five. 

The wounding of the Jemadar was unlucky and just one of the fortunes of war. However the wounding of the Havildar in these circumstances and the blow to the platoon's morale can only be put down to my incompetence. The wounding of both senior leaders has hit the platoon hard. 

In the British phase the Lee at the base of the hill fires a round of canister into the nearby spider holes. 

The riflemen suffer two points of shock. 

The gunner then fires a round of HE at the MMG bunker. 

This time his aim is good and the round hits. It's enough to suppress the MMG and kill two of the crew. That's what the tanks are here to try and do, but can British force morale hold up for long enough? 

Before he becomes a complete liability the Havildar moves into the cover of the woods and out of line of sight of the Japanese. 

The Lee on the right moves ahead slowly. 

The gunner fires a round of HE at the entrenched squad. 

Unfortunately it has little effect other than to inflict a point of shock.

As if to show disdain for the nearby Lee the Gocho rallies shock off the moment the Japanese phase arrives. 

The Chui now shifts all the fire from the squad prepared positions to the British section in the centre. 

They may be short of anti-tank weapons to deal with the Lees but if they can make their smalls arms firepower tell against the British infantry it may be enough to drive them off.

The Jemadar is hit once again. It's not a good day to be a junior officer or NCO in this platoon. This time it's a light wound that reduces his command initiative. Unsurprisingly the wounding of a senior leader is another blow to British morale which drops to three.  

The Bren and Rifle teams also suffer more shock.

Not everything is going the way of the Japanese and their grenade discharger squad fails to deploy through the barrage.

In the British phase the Lee in the centre continues to target the MMG bunker with its 75mm gun but fails to hit the aperture. In hindsight I can already identify a tactic that I have been failing to exploit and it's a major omission. While it may be difficult for machine gun and small arms fire to inflict casualties or shock on the occupants of the bunkers there is absolutely no good reason why I shouldn't be using both the tank bow machine guns and the infantry sections to put down covering fire. 

I think the suppressive effect could severely limit how damaging their return fire can be. Rather than bog down in a firefight I should be taking advantage of that suppressive effect to move on the bunkers and look to eliminate them with grenades, close combat or with the engineer demolition team. Definitely a lesson learned from the experience of this game.

The Lee to the right of the hill moves slowly around the smoke. 

Once the commander has a line of sight to the MMG bunker he orders the gunner to fire, but he too fails to hit the target.

In the Japanese phase the Chui has both squads fire again from their prepared positions. 

The fire doesn't inflict any casualties but the shock is starting to mount. 

At the second attempt the grenade discharger squad manages to deploy through the barrage successfully. 

They too target the section in the centre. The Bren team take another casualty and that reduces the crew to a single man. 

The British are reduced to three command dice and a roll of 651 illustrates how difficult any cohesive command and control has now become. The 2” mortar team fire a round of smoke and manage to screen off one of the bunkers and the grenade discharger squad.

It proves a worthless exercise. Before he rolls his command dice Dave uses a CoC die to end the turn. All the smoke is removed. 

If there's any upside for the British it's that the Jemadar is back up on his feet. 

In the Japanese phase the Chui has the men in the prepared positions continue to pour fire at the section in the centre.

The shock continues to mount and the section is on the brink of pinning down. 

A round of fire from the grenade discharger squad proves enough to push them over the edge. The rifle team lose a man and that see the section pinned down. To add to British woes the 2” mortar team suffer a casualty and are only saved from breaking by the close proximity of the Jemadar.

With the smoke gone the entrenched squad can target the section near the Lee. 

The rifle team lose a man and the Bren team suffer more shock. 

 

The MMG bunker targets the same section. 

The British use a CoC die to interrupt and the Lee tries to fire another round of 75mm HE at the bunker. Yet again it fails to hit the aperture. 

The MMG then pours fire at the section. 

It's deadly. The Bren team lose a man and the section suffers a further four points of shock. While that's enough to see them pinned the real blow comes when the Naik is one of those hit. He is killed and that's enough to see British morale slump to one.

I think we've both seen this coming for a while but I was determined to play on to see if the Lees could proved more effective against the bunkers. Alas, other than the one round of 75mm HE that hit the target, they were unable to do anywhere near enough damage. 

Well, that may have been a defeat, but it was one rich with lessons. While the multiple wounding of senior leaders was a key factor in driving down British morale I don't want to dwell on that as the cause for failure. Obviously the mistake of leaving the Havildar exposed as a target is one that doesn't need much discussion, the sooner I put that behind me the better! On the other hand the Jemadar's wounds can best be put down to the misfortunes of war and something we need to live with if we want our senior leaders doing their jobs.

In terms of the scenario design it's apparent that we may need to look at the two forces. At the moment it looks like it could possibly favour the Japanese. Giving the British more force seems less like the solution. A bigger force is only likely to stretch their ability to command effectively. If anything, reducing the Japanese force is probably a more viable alternative. Dealing with three bunker positions presents quite a challenge in itself, is the third Japanese rifle squad and the grenade discharger squad too much? Or does that swing the advantage too favourably toward the British? We are not sure about either solution at this stage.

Then again, have we let the slightly unusual circumstance of so many wounds to senior leaders warp our evaluation? Which brings us to consider what the British might have done better tactically to break the Japanese defence.

While the campaign was designed to try out the bunker busting rules, I suspect I've put too much weight on that task being performed primarily by the tanks when in practice it was more a combined arms operation. Applying the rules in the FE Handbook then the likelihood of armour hitting the bunkers with their main armament is about 17% or 1 in 6. Not great when you consider your chance of success may come only once in every six activations. That's a lot of command dice used up for little effect. However, if the commander spends an additional command initiative to lay the gun the odds improve quite substantially to 28%, almost 1 in 3. 

Now, if an infantry leader uses the tank telephone then they too can direct the gunner. This costs a single command initiative and gives the same benefit as the tank commander laying the gun. This was the reason I moved the Havildar to the Lee during the game. This ability to activate a tank without the use of a command dice and to simultaneously improve the likelihood of a hit is considerable. That greatly increases tactical flexibility because it still leaves the leader with command initiatives to use. For example, a junior leader using a tank telephone could activate the tank gunner to fire with one CI. If the HE fire doesn't have the desired effect he can then use his second CI to have his section lay down covering fire on the bunker. Alternatively if the bunker is suppressed he's free to use that second CI to have the section move. All this from a single command dice roll of 3. 

While the Far East Handbook makes reference to Shermans having telephones there is also evidence of the Lees at Imphal having them. During the battle 'B' Squadron, 3rd Carabiniers were sent to support a large supply and engineering depot on the Kohima Road which was coming under increasing pressure from the Japanese. This anecdote is enlightening:

"A Corporal from 864 [Engineer] Company received a few choice words from a tank commander when he climbed onto one of the tanks and banged on the hatch cover to attract his attention. The Corporal was left in no doubt that if he needed to talk to the tank commander he should use the telephone at the back of the tank!"

Evidence it would appear that at least some of the Lees had telephones - even if the men from the Engineer Company had no idea of their intended use.

There also appears to be photographic evidence. Pictured below are two Lees in Burma from 1944/45 and both appear to have a TIP (tank infantry telephone) situated at the left hand rear of the tank. This is something you don't see in images of these tanks earlier in the war, which would support the view that these are later additions.

The rear box attachment certainly bears a strong resemblance to the one in the picture below situated on the rear of a Sherman on Okinawa. This is most definitely a TIP and an infantryman can be seen using it.

Nonetheless even with a 28% chance of a hit, it's quite clear that the outcome of a bunker assault cannot be dependent on the success of the armour. So, what else can be done? 

A full British section engaging the occupants of a Japanese LMG bunker in close combat should have a distinct advantage. The Japanese may benefit from hard cover but as any close combat attack must be made via the bunker's rear door their LMG won't contribute to the defence. That means three to four Japanese riflemen and a junior leader (9 dice) will have trouble holding off an Indian army section composed of seven riflemen, two men with submachine guns and an SMG armed junior leader (17 dice). Assuming average dice the British should expect to inflict 5-6 kills while the Japanese can do only 3 in return. In most cases we can expect a full section to wipe out the occupants in a single round of close combat.

Alternatively there is the option to approach the aperture from outside the firing arc and move into position to post grenades. The British grenade always uses 3D6 and if successfully posted the number of kills is doubled. The section's full complement of three grenades can expect to kill six occupants on average dice. Another resounding case for allowing infantry to finish off the destruction of a bunker.

Of course the key to success in either of these situations is to create the conditions where the infantry can actually move close enough to carry this out. That's certainly never as easy as it sounds.

That brings us to look at ways of suppressing the bunkers rather than killing the occupants. If the infantry will deliver the coup de grace how do we get them there safely? Covering fire is certainly something I neglected to use in this game and I can see now that it's something that needs to be used much more. 

Given how difficult it is for infantry fire to inflict casualties or shock on a Japanese fortification it seems that engaging in a firefight with one seems like a fool's errand. During this game the fire on my section in the centre from the bunkers and spider holes was at effective range. Had the Japanese been under covering fire their chance of a hit would have gone from 1 in 3 to 1 in 6. That's a substantial difference. Both the infantry sections and the tank bow or coaxial machine guns can perform this suppressive role and I think it's key to finding a solution.

The other very useful tool is the 2" mortar and its smoke rounds. It may not be effective in suppressing or causing casualties but the ability to blind a bunker or screen one can't be overstated.

 

If it is going to be difficult to neutralise the bunkers with firepower alone then ideally all of the elements above should combine to create the circumstances whereby infantry can close with them. Once out of their firing arcs the infantry have a much better chance of eliminating the occupants. I'm no longer seeing the solution here as the armour busting the bunkers, rather I'm seeing the infantry doing the actual busting and the armour providing the suppressive fire that lets them reach the target. If the armour can inflict damage in the process, so much the better, but it shouldn't be dependent on their success.

With that all said we've decided to give this one a replay without making any further changes. Let's see if the British can do better with improved tactics and without the slightly unusual impact of so many wounds to senior leaders to drop their force morale. You can see if they manage to be more successful in this post.

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Making a Ruined City table

One of the benefits of keeping a blog is that it becomes a record of your gaming life. Now that I'm in the eighth year of blogging I can begin to go back to some of my earliest posts and see how far things have progressed (or not!). This was all brought home to me when I met up with Rob, someone who regularly comments on the posts here. We were talking about terrain and he mentioned how my early game reports were a reminder of how much my tables have come on over the years. He is absolutely right and I was reminded again of that recently when running The Road To Bremen campaign for a second time.

The final game is set in the ruins of Bremen itself and makes for a great setting. I really enjoyed putting the table together for this one and felt it was quite an improvement over my initial attempt more than six years ago.

That initial game was part of the third campaign that I had recorded for the blog and was just two years after I returned to miniature gaming. I'd been very busy making terrain during those two years and while the tables looked fine they lacked many of the small details that really make for a more immersive experience. 

Knowing what I do now, this was one table that I've always wanted to do again. When I put it together the first time I certainly had plenty of buildings, but that wasn't enough to quite capture the right look and feel. Looking at it now there's something a little sterile, even toy-like about its appearance.

Crossfire was the rule set that brought me back to miniature gaming and it’s a rule set that lends itself well to urban fighting. It needs a lot of terrain and for that I had scratch built quite a number of ruined buildings using foamcore. There's a blog post with more detail on how I made those here.

I had given some thought to rubble and how best to represent it. The one element I've stuck with has been modular pieces of rubble that can be positioned around the buildings. 

Admittedly they are slightly abstracted in form, but I’ve found them a simple solution to breaking the boundary between a building and the terrain it sits on. As you can see below they make for a quick but quite effective transformation.

Their versatility allows for variations.

While the bulk of my Second World War gaming these days is using Chain of Command it doesn't follow that those buildings are redundant. Far from it. Now they simply see action in more settings. I recently gave my Crossfire figures a complete refresh and did the same with many of the buildings. They still see use playing Crossfire, in fact we've had something of a revival of interest in the rules at the club and I've been running games like the one pictured below.

You can probably spot a few of the small details I've added to those buildings when compared with the picture from our original Bremen game below.

The foamcore buildings made up the bulk of structures for the ruins of Bremen and I recall at the time being very pleased with the table. That said, I wasn't quite as happy with the mat we used. It didn't really suit an urban setting and now I find it jarring to look at. The buildings don't sit comfortably and look very much like they were plonked down. 

If there's one thing I've learned over the last few years it's how well a good mat or base can tie all the different terrain elements together and create a more seamless piece of terrain. Take the image below. It's from an earlier game in our original Bremen campaign. The mat works well enough in a more rural setting and it makes for a perfectly acceptable table.

Now compare a few of the exact same terrain pieces arranged on the flocked mat in a similar rural setting. I think there is a notable difference.

While my original mat served me well, when I transitioned to a flocked mat the difference was obvious and immediate. Now the terrain pieces looked like they belong in their setting. 

I've been teaching a new player Chain of Command and we've been working our way through The Road to Bremen campaign. The good thing about this campaign is the high re-playability. The number of variables and options means it's extremely unlikely to ever play the same way twice. When it came time to playing on the last map which is set in Bremen itself I was eager to see if I could make a better job of the table at a second attempt.

As mentioned, I've carried out a little more work on the buildings. The main emphasis was on making sure they all work to the same colour palette. At the same time I wanted to add more texture and small piles of rubble. In all honesty you can never really have enough rubble but I've always wanted to strike a balance between form and function. 

If period photographs of Bremen in 1945 are anything to go by I'd need considerably more to capture the real look.

Ultimately the buildings have to be playable and the figures need to be able to work in the terrain, so there is always going to be an element of compromise.

The next thing to address was a suitable mat. I looked at those available commercially but in the end decided to make my own. The main reason was to ensure consistency with the building colour palette. For this mat I repurposed a piece of fleece fabric.

I had originally painted it for use as arid/desert terrain for games set in Afghanistan. I’ve since made a different one using canvas and caulk that I much prefer and so the fleece version had become redundant. 

It was a simple enough job to overpaint it using similar colours to my buildings.

The final missing element was scatter material, specifically more rubble. Looking at the original table from 2018 the one thing that strikes me is how neat it looks. While I have made detachable rubble pieces that help to break up the uniform shape of the building bases it wasn't enough. The simplest solution was to make up my own batch of rubble and scatter it once the building were in place.

I made this using cork floor tiles, the same way I've made the pieces of rubble that are set in place within the building models. In addition I painted up strips of broken balsa wood and threw in a generous amount of cat litter to make a custom rubble mix.

The loose rubble combines well with the modular rubble pieces and allows for endless variation.

Pulling all these elements together I felt I'd done a much better job of creating a table where the terrain appears more seamless. There's no doubt that the right mat combined with the scattered rubble are key components of the transformation. 

The scattered rubble does a very effective job breaking the sharp lines between the building bases and the mat. Could there be more rubble? Well, I think the answer is always going to be yes, there can never be enough. That said, I'm pleased with the way a relatively small amount can create an excellent impression of a rubble strewn landscape.

On another note, when we first played the campaign I didn't have a collection of Fallschirmjager and so we substituted my Waffen SS. This time I've had the added bonus of using my recently painted Fallschirmjager. 

All up it's been very satisfying to see all the various elements come together like this. It's certainly scratched my itch to do this table again and do it better.