Bizory 4th Jan 1945- 20mm Rapid Fire rules

Jan 2019 BGS saw Dave and I played a scenario from Rapid Fire's Battle of the Bulge book. All American forces are from my collection, and the Germans are from Dave Barnes' collection


A divisional sized game with each figure representing approx 45 men and each vehicle representing 5.
Spotting was reduced to 36" throughout the game due to the bad December weather in 1944, and there was no long range for small arms (max firing would be 24")
The Germans had 3 turns worth of pre-bombardment of the area with 2 batteries of 105mm and 2 turns from a Nebelwerfer (Rockets), they did not hit anything.
The Table 8' x 6' the Germans can advance from anywhere along the far table edge, Americans had hidden deployment and all the infantry were dug in (except the company of Engineers that I forgot about)



The American force


CCB (Combat Command B)


501st Airborne Regt - Elite


Task Force Davall


Task Force Wall


Task Force Kennedy


Artillery Support. One of the Batteries was only available for three turns


REINFORCEMENTS, due on turn 11
Task Force O'Hara


The German Force


SS Panzer Grenadier Regt - Elite


SS Panzer Tank Division - Elite


Volksgrenadier Divison- Poor


Turn 1
King Tiger appears, along with a general advance along the German lines. American spots it and successfully calls the off table Artillery

Boom, first blood!


Turn 2. The American successfully call army HQ and get the use of a Regt of 155mm Long Toms for 3 turns (General Fire Support). but fail to call the 2 regt of artillery in DSF (Direct Fire Support)
The SS Armoured Grenadiers got hit by some US units in reserve fire (ambush). A lead halftrack and a towed AT gun are destroyed. But a Jagdpanzer takes out a US Sherman 76mm


The Lead US units on one of the ridges opens fire on a lorried Grenadier unit and destroys the lorry an 2 men in reserve fire and then the US 30cal is taken out. The 50Cal kills another 4 men from the unit.


The Volksgrenadiers advance


End of turn 2


Turn 3
The American artillery Destroys a Jagdpanzer and a Panther (with some lucky dice rolls) Sherman causes heavy damages the German start to take casualties as the dug in US units start to lay fire down and the Shermans start to take damage, A Jackson moves out and misses its target


HD to the HQ Halftrack and a destroyed Drilling (Bit blurred, due to incoming).


Turn 4
Taking heavy casualties the Germans try and break into Bizory but a 76mm Sherman is Waiting over the hill and takes out the Jagdpanther (lucky rolls again)


More successful US Arty


The US casualties are building




Meanwhile the Volkgrenadiers are having a hard time of it trying to dig the US paras out, making their advance almost impossible


Turn 5
This is a do or die for the Germans, having lost almost all their armour and bang, a road block!


The US armour now advance and attacks the Panzers in the centre.




The Volksgrenadiers are finding the going tough, the Airborne are not moving without a fight


Turn 6
Germans are losing more armour to artillery and the Sherman 76's and losing infantry to the Sherman 75's and MG's and small arms from along the front.




The Hetzer supporting the Volks takes a out a Sherman after about 3 turns of firing at each other and missing


Turn 7
3 more Shermans burst over a ridge in the centre and finish the battle for the Germans did not have enough armour to take their objectives




At this point, as in reality, the German commander decided to pull what forces he had left as they would be needed for the defence of the Fatherland!