Achse & Avalanche

The game - Will's view

2009-07-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well Gauntlet is over for another year and all the attendees seem to have enjoyed themselves.

I only took pictures of the SOTCW game at the show other pictures will appear over on the Deeside Defenders site shortly

. I produced all the terrain with the exception of the excellent terraced hills by Richard Crawley. The bunker above Vietri was Richards as well, it is rather over sized, but it would have been a shame not to have used it.

The high point must have been the random event air strike that succeeded in taking out a Panzer IIIN. These random events could occur during the normal turn sequence, but a card could be drawn and played by a passer-by in return for a small donation to charity. Andrew paid for two cards and drew a pair of air strikes. The first was driven off, but the second dropped two bombs, both on target and both gave a destroyed result.

Little Time Left

2009-07-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Not long to go now. I have to get the hill above Vietri finished and I'm wrestling between the prospect of spending the evening applying sand and glue and consuming a large amount of cheap Californian red wine.

Think I'll put Millie to bed and see how I feel afterwards....

Pagani

2009-07-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

Just beyond the Chiunzi pass is the town of Pagani on the mail road to Vietri/Salerno

Dragonea

2009-07-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

More pre-game reconnaisance, this time the village of Dragonea

HG at Salerno

2009-06-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

Some extracts from Salerno— A Defender’s View By Winfried Heinemann Army History Spring 2008

..."While the major Allied force did indeed land along the plain south of Salerno, light troops attacked into the mountains west of Salerno. U.S. Rangers first captured the coastal village of Maiori, and British Commandos took Vietri. Both then qickly ascended the dorsal mountain rdge of the Sorrento Peninsula, wresting control of a section of the ridge from the Germans and seizing the heights overlooking the Naples-Salerno road, along which mechanized reinforcements would have to pass. The Germans had not anticipated any assault on these heights and had left the area virtually undefended. Part of their counterattack would now have to be diverted to regain control of the mountainous Sorrento Peninsula.

General Balck’s XIV Panzer Corps reacted by ordering its Hermann Göring Panzer Division to advance into the area, with its armored reconnaissance battalion sent in advance of the main body to operate under the 16th Panzer Division’s command until the headquarters of the Hermann Göring Division reached the area. In particular, the reconnaissance battalion was to stop the Allied advances from Maiori and Vietri. Now, this was no easy task for an armored unit, as the ridge rises steeply on both sides to heights of
over 1,000 meters (some 3,300 feet) above sea level, and the roads were narrow, winding, and difficult to negotiate—ideal terrain for Rangers and Commandos, but not for tanks, especially tanks hampered once again by fuel constraints.17

By about noon, the battalion’s advanced elements established contact with the 16th Panzer Division’s organic reconnaissance element, the 16th Reconnaissance Battalion,
north of the ridge at Nocera, about 13 kilometers (8 miles) northwest of Salerno, as the latter battalion had been pushed that far back during the morning. The Hermann Göring Division’s reconnaissance battalion then tried to dislodge the Rangers
from the ridge south of Nocera but throughout the entire day failed to do so. The push along the road toward the town of Salerno ended at Cava de Tirreni, four or five kilometers north of the objective.18 To reinforce this battalion, the XIV Panzer Corps tasked Col. Wilhelm Schmalz, the Hermann Göring Division’s deputy commander, with forming a regimental-size combat team to assist the 16th Panzer
Division.19 As this would leave the Hermann Göring sector weakened in the face of a possible subsequent Allied landing further north, the corps ordered the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division to send replacements from the Rome area.20"...

..."During the day, the main body of the Hermann Göring Panzer Division arrived in the area between Naples and Salerno, concentrating around Nocera. As the 16th Panzer
Division’s armored reconnaissance battalion was already fighting in that area, Vietinghoff placed it under the Hermann Göring Division’s operational control."...

..."Another change in German command arrangements was implemented on 12 September. The Hermann Göring Panzer Division was relieved of responsibility for the Gulf
of Naples and told to concentrate on winning the battle for the heights north of Maiori and Vietri. The division managed to take and hold the heights above Vietri despite murderous naval gunfire. The 16th Panzer Division’s reconnaissance
battalion, still operating as part of the Hermann Göring Division, pushed south to within two kilometers of Salerno, but it too encountered increasing Allied resistance during the afternoon.32"....

Maiori

2009-06-29T02:21:00.000-07:00

Recent reconnaissance flight over the town.

------------------------------------------------
I will now move on and base up the my remaining new buildings as Dragonea and Pagani. I'll just use my older ones for Nocera Inferiore and Superiore.

Vietri

2009-06-29T02:18:00.000-07:00

Recent reconnaisance flight over the town.

Cava de Tirreni

2009-06-29T02:12:00.000-07:00

Recent reconnaissance flight over the village

Herman Goering division mustering

2009-06-29T02:04:00.000-07:00

Allied intelligence sources have identified units of the Herman Goering FJ Panzer Division in the Naples plain to the north of the landing beaches.

Spotted are an Aufklarungs battalion (right) Panzer grenadier battalion (front) backed by two Panzer companies and panzer Jaeger company AA and an artillery battalion.

-----------------------------------------------------
If any members have any exact details of the HG organisation on this date please add a comment
----------------------------------------------------
Some input from Neil on the HG orbat for Salerno link

Interesting to see Panzer III's in the line up

2009-06-27T15:10:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics of the hills I've done for the game. To be honest they look better in real life than they do in the photos.

The first pic shows the full set of completed hills with sand texture added but before painting.

Next a few pictures of the completed hills with the Ranger Cannon Company for scale. You also get a chance the see the Crawley family's new hall carpet. You lucky people.

The dry-stone retaining walls of the terraces took ages to build. I'd be quite happy never to handle cat litter again!

The Allies are up to something!!

2009-06-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

Spotted on a reconnaissance flight over Sicily

Initial estimate is 3 x LCA; 2 x LCVP; 2 x DUKW and 8 x LCM

-----------------------------------

Hopefully enough for the game

Will

Buildings of Salerno

2009-06-25T00:56:00.000-07:00

Here are the buildings I've just finished for the game. Like most of my buildings they are built as modules each mostly 12cm x 6cm with a few 6cm square.

Construction is foamcore with Wills pantile tiles for the roofs. I started with the very basic rectangular buildings but I really prefer the second wave where I split the building 1:2 as they look far less monolithic

The next step is to try and create some scenic village bases to place these on. Typically I'll place 3/4 buildings in each location.

The Hills of Salerno

2009-06-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

Inspired by "Alcal"on The Guild wargamers' forum, I decided to have a go at building some Italian style hills with dry stone walled terraces. The plan is to have enough to do all of the hills we need for the game with the exception of the Chiunzi Pass feature that Will has already started.

The hills are built on hardboard bases. First I chamfer the edges and then glue on layers of expanded polystyrene using PVA glue.

Then the retaining walls are built up. These use large pieces of cat litter and gravel attached to a bed of "grab adhesive" (something like No More Nails brand).

Then the surface texture is added by gluing on sand with PVA. Painting and static grassing will follow.

As I say, this is enough hills for the game except that I'll need to add one more for the gun battery hill above Vietri.

Some more mortars

2009-06-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

Will has already built two nice models of US 4.2" Chemical Mortars but we need a grand total of four for the game. Here are a couple of very simple scratch-built ones I've produced to make up the numbers. They are very much in the style of the late John Sanders whose articles on modelling the 8th Army in Airfix Magazine played a large part in getting me in to wargaming in the first place.

They're just placeholders really, to show the location of our second Chemical Mortar Company. If they ever need to fight at close quarters we'll need to add a few more crew figures.

The figures are from the Hasegawa Willys jeep set and all of the rest is scratch-built on bases made from old mini CD-ROMs.

Buildings for the game

2009-05-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my progress to date on the buildings for the Gauntlet game, I still plan to add a number of others so suggestions are welcomed. I plan to use 2-3 for each of the villages.

They are all based on a 60mm x 120mm footprint and built with foamcore and the roofing is the Will's Finecast pantile roofing.

15 minutes in Maori

2009-05-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

OK, well I just managed to get to Maori, the US Rangers landing beach, from Sorrento. I would have liked to get to Vietri, but that would have been another hour there and at least that back again and combined with the road works I decided not to risk it.

First a couple of views from further along the coast at Ravello (above Amalfi)

It certainly gives a good impression of the terrain involved, very steep terraced slopes

And closer from the bus

Maori beach looking east

Looking inland, up the river, which is now covered over on most of the main street, up towards the Chiunzi pass

Looking west.

Compared to the other beaches/harbours further to the west this is large and seems to be more gently shelving with less rocks.

Most of the town centre was washed away in floods in the 1950's so the whole front has been rebuilt in 60's styling

Once you get away from the terracing the hills are mainly covered in beech woods or coppiced sweet chestnuts, which are quite dense/impenetrable. Higher again you get rock/scrub vegetation

Will

First DUKW

2009-04-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Allies' logistic train begins to take shape.

This is one of the old Airfix polythene DUKWs converted into a waterline model by the simple expedient of running a sharp knife around the hull.
I've added a driver (or is he a coxswain) and a tilt made from plastic card and tissue paper. So just the three more to do for now.

When to start?

2009-04-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned on the SOTCW Forum that we may have the possibility of more amphibious kit (more DUKWs) and that this brings the possibility of playing out the operation from the actual landing on the beaches. My original assumption had been that we would start with the Commandos and Rangers ashore having overcome light local resistance.

If we are to go from H-Hour itself we need to decide on things like:

How many troops can the Germans have on the beaches?
Is the Vietri coastal gun emplacement intact? - In reality there were no guns present
At what point can the allied naval forces begin to fire? - There was a ban on pre-landing bombardments as Clark wanted to preserve "tactical surprise".

What do you think? Is it worth the extra effort?

Modelling Chiunzi Pass (2)

2009-04-23T03:53:00.000-07:00

Well I got some wine boxes from Tesco and cut them cut to provide the zig-zag roads.

Once covered with a cloth you can see the intended effect. The would be more rough ground on top of the pass and more hills continuing along either side.

The main problem will be stopping the cloth slipping and I'll have to do this with a combination of methods including parcel tape, pinning and for the roads some double sided tape.

Ranger Cannon Company

2009-04-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Before mowing the lawn today I managed to get the Ranger Cannon Company half track completed. It had previously seen action in our Anzio try-out game but now it's been pin-washed, dry-brushed and fitted with its crew.

It's a Black Star models 75mm GMC M3 with the crew from Airfix and Matchbox. The Airfix figure lying on one side is prefect for the job, matching nicely an illustration in the Vanguard title on Allied Tank Destroyers.

British AOP

2009-04-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

Just completed the British Air Observation Post for the game

I've used the Auster mark6 Air Observation Post, it is a post war variant included in the Airfix Auster Antactica kit, however it's close enough to the wartime version.

Marine Commando by Raymond Mitchell

2009-04-07T03:47:00.001-07:00

Got this book from Cheshire Libraries when I was trawling through the book list for anything to do with Salerno. It's subtitled Sicily and Salerno 1943 with 41 Royal Marines Commando. It's a great account at an individual marine's level of the actions of the commando and gives a good feel of the terrain involved. At one point the commando is heavily attacked on Black Monday, but the sector he was on was quiet and Captain Stott the troop commander was killed when he led a counter attack when the Germans broke through to Dragonea.

Here's my commando unit that I'll be using in the game as 41 (RM) Commando

Modelling Chiunzi Pass (1)

2009-04-06T02:19:00.000-07:00

In attermpting to keep it simple, here is how I plan to model Chiunzi Pass, It is a cheap simple three box solution that will be covered by a green cloth. The boxes will be taped down to the table to prevent movement and then the cloth will be pinned in place (this is important for the roads)

I will also add more smaller boxes(hills) to the top of the pass (box 1) as well as a farmhouse (as used by Derby's rangers so that it is not a flat expanse. The ascent from the North (German) side (box3) should strictly be opposite, but keeping it on this side makes it a more robust construction and easier to play the game without reaching over.

Once I acquire some suitable boxes I'll post a picture

Will

Back in the Saddle

2009-04-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

Right! The SOTCW HOTT Royal Tournament is now out of the way. Well done to Rob Connolly of this parish for not coming last in his first tournament when playing his first ever HOTT games and with a borrowed army!

This means I should now be able to give an appropriate level of attention to getting this game moving forward again. It's weird how the brain works but within an hour of getting back I was drawn towards the drawer containing the DUKWs I need to complete for the Allied logistics train.

Vietri/Maori 1944

2009-04-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

A nice picture of Vietri found in the Army History magazine covering some of the action at Salerno (link)
It certainly seems that the Herman Goering Division was heavily involved against the Rangers and Commandos

This picture show Maori at the same time with presumably the Chiunzi pass in the distance

Will

Operation Avalanche - Hickey & Smith

2009-04-02T03:36:00.000-07:00

Just finished the book and was rather disappointed, the authors don't seem to understand some basic WW2 military terminology German Infantry are referred to as "Panzers" in a lot of place, they don't understand the differences between Panzer and Panzer-Grenadier Divisions or even at times the basic hierarchy between division/brigade-RCT/battalion.

All the Germans tanks seem to be Tigers and in places quoted as 72 ton, which is the weight of a Tiger II. I haven't read enough around the battle to be certain, but I don't think any Tigers were involved, certainly none of the Heavy Tank battalions were present.

It's very much a narrative account with some nice details covering the operations of the commandos and rangers, although at times the geography is confused.

For wargaming purposes, there is very little detail on what was happening on the German side. However for our game I had the impression that more space needs to be allocated to the La Molina/Dragonea area as this was the major area of fighting for the Commandos.

Terrain test - Vietri

2009-03-01T04:42:00.000-08:00

To get a feel for what is possble on the planned battlefield for the game I tried laying out what was possible based on the existing proposal from Counterpane

The sea was made from a single sheet of opaque plastic from Paperchase I painted the reverse with blue paint and I will dry brush some waves onto it. The two sticks mark the extent of the 4' x 2' table. I have left the main hills on top of the cloth to give a better idea of location.

The hill behind Vietri is slightly undersized , but it can be seen that with the size of Vietri village I have used it effectively fills the gap. From the map it looks like the side of the hill next to the Village is a cliff.

The are to the left of the village looks quite sparse, but I'll fill it up with walls, vineyards, small hills, etc. Te Italian coastal OP can be seen on the extreme left.

The buildings I'll create for the game will be similar to that on the left. The one displayed has the right footprint, but is to short as it is scaled for 15mm.

A copy of the map used.

Terrain thoughts

2009-02-20T04:52:00.000-08:00

Having got Sunday’s Andreivia game out of the way, I’m back in the saddle as far as thinking about Salerno is concerned.

I took delivery on Sunday of Stuart Adams’s rather splendid Ranger battalion so what with Will’s mortars (see below) we’re now sorted for Yanks. I’ll do some pics of Stuart’s models later.

The next issue requiring our attention is the terrain. My first thought is to make sure we can do the basic cloths over plastic trays terrain approach we used last year. Will has offered to build the villages (though I can do at least one if Will struggles) so the main features we need to present are Chiunzi Pass (windy road going up hill steeply), the beaches (Maiori and Vietri), and the German coastal battery above Vietri.

I noted with interest that the members of The Guild (http://www.guildwargamers.com/phpBB3/index.php) in planning their Big Game have standardised base colours for figures. Now this is probably a step too far for us (many of the figures are already done and need to fit in with our own collections) but it might be an idea for our terrain.

Games Workshop may produce some over-priced tat but their paints are generally good and they’re widely available. Even if we didn’t actually use them for painting our bases, they are at least an easy way of specifying colour information. I shall try some combinations of base colour and dry-brushed highlight and see if I can get a reasonable match to photos of the area.

Chemical Weapons (2)

2009-02-15T11:59:00.000-08:00

Just completed a pair of mortars that will form part of one Chemical Weapons company for the game. I still need to add an OP team to make a complete company, and I did wonder whether to add a supply detachment with a hand cart. An excellent set of WW2 figures from Reiver picked up at the Vapanartak show.

Chemical Mortars

2009-02-02T03:30:00.001-08:00

I bought 2 Chemical mortars from Reiver/Under the Bed yesterday at Vapnartak, I had hoped that this would be sufficient to represent C & D companies of the 83rd Chemical Mortar Bn that supported the Rangers.

Further checking today shows that upon entry in combat each of the mortar battalions was composed of 1,010 men: 36 officers, 1 warrant officer, and 973 enlisted men, 32 distributed among a headquarters, a headquarters company, a medical detachment, and four weapons companies. Each company had 2 platoons, each platoon had two sections, and each section had 3 squads. On the basis of one mortar per squad, the battalion complement of mortars was 48. Transportation of the battalion consisted of 88 2½-ton trucks and 36 vehicles of varying smaller sizes. Chemical mortar carts were present in case of rough terrain. Side arms for the battalion included 820 .45-caliber automatics.

Based on this a RF company should have two 4.2 mortars and 15 figures. Given quite a number of the men would be involved in ammo supply I'll stick with two mortars, with four crew each, CO and an OP team of two making a total of eleven.

Will

Cisterna Refight

2009-01-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

Knowing I needed a bit of a refresher with the Rapid fire! rules, I organised a game over the Christmas holidays. Adam and Simon Griffiths are regular RF players so I knew I could rely upon them to keep things moving and Andy Sangar is a relaxed opponent who knows his way round a WW2 tabletop battlefield so an enjoyable day was anticipated.

I thought it would be interesting to see how my new Ranger battalion handled under the RF rules so I set up a scenario based upon the Ranger attack at Cisterna in January 1944. This was the debacle that led to two Ranger battalions being completely wiped out.

Our refight was a little altered to take advantage of the forces I had available. One and a half Ranger battalions were deployed strung out along a road leading from the American front line to the town of Cisterna.

Cisterna town

They were accompanied by the Ranger Cannon Company (a single 75mm M3 GMC halftrack in RF terms).

Surrounding them were a German infantry battalion and a Fallschirmjaeger battalion reinforced by additional companies and a Panzer IV.

Both sides had attached artillery and the promise of tank reinforcements if the battle went on long enough.

The Americans had infiltrated through the German positions during the night and dawn found the two sides at point blank range in some cases.

The fighting was bloody and quick - I think in the end we got through four or five turns before both Ranger battalions threw a 1 on their morale rolls and routed or surrendered as conditions dictated.

An enjoyable game, then, and I think I've got a better a idea of how RF will play on the day.

1st Ranger Pics

2008-12-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

Here's my Ranger battalion. Odd that we've all got Rangers done early on in the process.

83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion

2008-12-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

A couple of items discovered on the web covering the actions of C & D companies of the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion in support of the Rangers and Commandos

link1

link2

Will

Ranger update

2008-12-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

I'm making good progress on my Ranger Battalion to, I should be able post some pictures soon.

The Fabulous Disappearing HQ

2008-12-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

I've more or less finished building 1st Ranger Battalion - pictures later.

Next was going to be the Ranger Force HQ. I say "was" because it now appears there wasn't such a thing. By the time of the Anzio landings a 6615th Ranger Force had been constituted but it now appears this was a response to the problems co-ordinating Ranger operations at Salerno.

Colonel William Darby was the father of the modern Rangers and was seen as their commander at the time but strictly speaking in September 1943 he was only commander of the 1st Battalion. He directed the Chiunzi pass battles without the benefit of a properly constituted brigade/regiment HQ.

What does this mean for the game? Not a lot, I suspect, but it does rather suggest that I need to add a specific Darby figure to 1st Bn's four figure HQ.

USS LCI (L) 35's role in the Invasion of Salerno on September 9th

2008-12-05T02:10:00.000-08:00

Interesting little snippet on one of the LCI(L)'s involved in the operation link

There is a useful map and panorama.

Rangers Lead the Way

2008-11-30T23:14:00.000-08:00

Richard Baber has sent some pics of his 4th Ranger battalion.

They're a mixture of Britannia, SHQ, Skytrex and Battlefield miniatures.

Below, I believe, is the battalion HQ.

Here is a .30" cal medium machinegun team.

And finally an 81mm mortar. These were held in store by the battalion to be doled out within the unit as required for an individual mission. I've proposed that we assume for our purposes that the Rangers have converted one "rifle" company to a heavy weapons role to operate the battalion's 60mm and 81mm mortars.

AOP 654

2008-11-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

I've now managed to confirm the details of a unit I'd come across references to in one of the accounts of the battle.

654 Air Observation Post Squadron RAF was attached to British X Corps at the time of the invasion. This unit, flying Taylorcraft Auster MkIII spotter planes at the time, directed naval and later shore based artillery fire in support of the infantry.

It's by no means necessary to have 654 AOP Sqn represented in the game but if anyone can find an Auster MkIII kit and wants to have a go, I ain't stopping them!

Latest Who's Doing What Posting

2008-11-25T05:16:00.000-08:00

Me (Richard C)
No.2 (Army) Commando
Ranger HQ
Ranger Cannon Company
1st Ranger Bn
Supply echelon DUKWs
Some terrain mats

Richard B
3rd Ranger Bn
I. Panzer Grenadier Bn
16. Aufklaerungsabteilung

Stuart A
4th Ranger Bn

Will McN
Some more terrain mats
41 (RM) Commando Will
654 AOP Sqn

2008-11-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update.

After discussing things with Richard; I`ll be bringing the elements of 16th Panzer Recce battalion, a lorried PG battalion and 3rd Ranger Battalion.

I`m limited to how much I can hump up by train so by doing all these units I save the closer guys (and those with transport) having to worry about them and concentrate on larger terrain/buildings, etc.

Stuart A

2008-11-19T13:10:00.000-08:00

Just to say hello!

I'm going to be helping out with a unit or two. I've volunteered to paint up the 4th Ranger Battalion for starters. I may be able to help out with more if needed.

Scenario thoughts

2008-11-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

We should think about how far we want to follow history in setting up our scenario.

In reality the Rangers got in land as far as Chiunzi Pass before they encountered serious opposition. The Commandos also got fairly far inland having faced only relatively light opposition. Most of their heavy fighting was after they had been transfered closer to Salerno itself.

On the other hand, if we allow the German players too much freedom of deployment we're in danger of spending all of Saturday just watching the Allies cling to the beaches. If we've spent ages building the rest of the terrain that'd be a shame.

On the third hand, I've said before that this northern part of the landings is rather like a bathtubbed version of the whole Salerno battle. The main landings really did spend days clinging to a relatively narrow bridgehead so perhaps we should simulate that?

Or should I keep it all to myself and leave the players in the dark as to what to expect?

My Turn to Sign In

2008-11-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know me I'm Pete Jones author of the freewargamesrules website and member of Deeside Defenders.

I only currently game in 20mm for Vietnam, Moderns and Boxer Rebellion.

I look forward to this years game and hopefully we can build on the success of last years game.

Will signing in

2008-11-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm in, don't forget that as I'm based at Deeside it's easy for me to provide stuff (all sorts figures, terrain, etc.)

Will

Hello all

2008-11-17T23:07:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say hi.

I have to admit to not knowing much about Salerno, but I am fully behind Richard`s project and will contribute forces as required and attend the event to assist.

Rob Connolly Signing In -

2008-11-17T15:30:00.000-08:00

Typical me, long on chat, short on 15mm figures/terrain/anything else.

Currently reading through Hugh Pond's "Salerno"*, after having read the relevant section in the "Firepower" chaps book - what's their name again? Ah! Shelford & Bidwell. History of the war in Italy; detailed on the Allied side, rather less so on the Axis, and thankfully avoids the "Teutonic Supermen with State Of the Art Weapons Only Defeated By - By - Er - The End" syndrome. Given lower interest rates in 2009, I confidently expect to be reading the other recommended volume in a couple of months.

*Terrific cover illustration for a 1961 Pan paperback; I recognise the style but don't know the artist's name.

Map of the Battlefield

2008-11-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

Our scenario covers the northern end of the landing beaches where the US Rangers and British Commandos landed to seize the vital Naples highway.

The map above is based on one in Operation Avalanche by Des Hickey and Gus Smith. Converted into wargames terrain we end up with something like the layout below (although most of the blank areas on the map should be hilly ground too).

Achse and Avalanche

2008-11-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

Hi! Welcome to the new blog that's designed to help set up SOTCW's participation game for Gauntlet 2009.

Our game this time takes its title from the code names of the two opposing operations. Achse (Axis) was the German plan in September 1943 to disarm their allies in the event of a unilateral Italian withdrawal from the war. Avalanche was the Allied plan to land a major force at Salerno in central Italy, capture Naples and advance quickly to Rome knocking the Italians out of the war.

As it happened, the Italians surrendered anyway, a fact that was announced to the troops as they approached the invasion beaches - with dire results for morale in some cases; the Germans were not about to allow a walkover.

We'll be using this blog to track the development of the game, to share research, and to make sure we have all the necessary toys available. You should also get to see some nice models as we go along.