Forum wargame. WW2 action. Interest?

Name: Lt Benedict Fairfax
Place of birth: Royal Free Hospital, Camden, London

Lt Benedict Fairfax comes from a family of brick layers and has known nothing but hard work growing up. He has come this far through grit alone and expects his troops to suffer through almost anything to get the job done. He is very much "one of the lads", leads by example and bravado and can be seen as reckless and overconfident.
 
Name: Lt Arthur Stokesworth
Place of birth: Durham

Lt Stokesworth comes from a proud line of military men going back to the Crimean War. And this is the hour of his generation to prove their worth, do their bit for King and country. He is ready, well trained and determined. But war is a terrible business and a cool head is needed, most of all on the officers. One cannot let ones emotions take control.
 
Sorry! Seems like my notifications are a bit off. I'm guessing that I'll play the captain then! Will return with a short bio later today.
 
Major Reginald Harrow, born 1896. As a young lieutenant in 1918, he earned the Military Cross for gallantry on the Western Front, getting wounded by shrapnel. His leadership, forged in the trenches, inspires unwavering loyalty in his men. "Reggie" to his fellow officers of that generation, but never to the men or the younger generation.
 
Captain Arthur James Whitmore
Place of Birth: Leeds

Level-headed and pragmatic, cpt Whitmore is respected by his men for his ability to make tough decisions without losing his head. Not given to long speeches, but his dry humor and steady presence often lifts the morale in the field.
 
Awesome, great characters folks. I will finish up the initial briefing and a brief overview of how the game will work this afternoon then (US time, so you lads will see it late tonight or tomorrow morning over kaffe)
 
I felt pretty bad today from not sleeping, so I will post the briefing tomorrow but here is the report on the company you have available and the state it is currently in.

Military realism note
The Norwegian campaign was, to put it lightly, a mess. Units were often landed from one boat while another boat carried their support weapons..possibly bound for another landing site altogether, heavy weapons were chronically short for the entire affair and a lack of anti tank guns would plague the British for their stay in Norway.

No British armour was available for the campaign and air cover was extremely limited for much of it.
The company below is fictional (though the parent unit is not) but is typical of the sort of situation a company commander could find himself in.

Manpower
Each platoon has 3 sections of 8 men, along with a 6 man headquarters section (you, a sergeant, 2 mortar gunners and 2 orderlies.
The company has its own headquarters with a total of 2 officers and 10 men.
(Historical note here: Pre-war establishing was 8 man sections, later they are increased to 10 but Im pretty sure that had not happened by the Norway campaign, in any event, you get 8)

Armaments

The infantry sections are armed with SMLE (Lee Enfield) bolt action rifles and grenades. Each section has a Bren light machine gun, firing from a 30 round box magazine on top of the weapon.

Each platoon has a 2” mortar as well, which has a handful of high explosive rounds and a decent supply of smoke bombs.

You were supposed to be deployed with some of the kit from the Battalion weapons company, but most of that was loaded on the wrong ship. Consequently all you have for support is a pair of Boys anti-tank rifles: Heavy rifles that can damage armoured vehicles within 100 metres or so.
There is no dedicated crew for these, so they will have to be assigned 2 men each to man them.

You also have a single Vickers belt-fed machine gun. This thing will keep spitting out bullets as long as you supply cooling water, but the weight makes it difficult to redeploy quickly, particularly in the snow. It does come with its own crew.

Each section also has a few rifle launched grenades which could damage a vehicle, but the range is not much better than 150 metres and accuracy is quite low.

Troop quality

The company received good marks in training and the officers and NCO’s have a good rapport with them. Few disciplinary problems have been encountered. However they are quite inexperienced and training was perhaps not as extensive as you might have hoped.

Morale on the other hand feels a little fragile. The company spent longer in the troop ships than anticipated, the trip itself was rather rough (not to mention the creeping fear of German “U-Booten”)
And now you have been unloaded in a bitterly cold, snow covered country and sent down the line to see what the Germans are up to.
But at least the men are complaining and as the Battalion CO always says “Its only when the complaining stops, that you have to worry”.
 
The most British thing I ever heard about was the WW1 Vickers crew that emptied the boiling water out of the cooling system after a battle and brewed tea with it.
 
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Just a quick update, deadlines are fucking me a bit so we will kick off Friday. Though I will have some mood photos to share this week.
 
A bit of a timeline to set the mood:

September 1 1939: Germany attacks Poland after a prolonged period of tension, but with no formal declaration of war.
September 3: Britain and France deliver ultimatums to Germany, the British demanding a 2 hour response. None is given.
September 7: Scattered French raids into German territory.
September 8: British reintroduce convoy system.
September 9: British Expeditionary Force embark for France.
September 10: Canada declares war on Germany.
September 12: French operations against Germany mostly cease.
September 17: USSR enters Poland.
September 19: Red army and German troops join up at Brest-Litovsk.
September 27: Warsaw surrenders.
October 5: Latvia signs a "mutual" assistance treaty with USSR.
October 10: Lithuania signs a treaty with USSR.
October 11: France rejects Hitlers peace proposals
October 14: German Uboat enters Scapa Flow and sinks the Royal Oak.
October 16: First German air attack on British territory.
October 27: Belgium declares neutrality.
November 26: As the Finnish government has refused to cede territory, the Soviets demand withdrawal of FInnish troops from the border.
November 28: Soviet government renounces treaties under claims that Finland has fired on Soviet troops.
November 30: Soviet invasion of Finland.
December 28: Meat is rationed in Britain.
January 13: Planned German attack in the west is postponed.
January 15: Belgium refuses access to French and British troops.
January 16: Allies plan to intervene in Scandinavia.
January 27: Hitler orders plans for attack on Norway and Denmark.
February 5: A plan for intervention in Finland is announced, intended to comprise at least 3 divisions.
February 11: Soviets breach the Mannerheim line.
February 23: Soviets extend final details for peace agreement to Finns. Sweden declares that it will not intervene, nor allow Allied troops to cross its territory.
February 28: Second defensive line starts to collapse in Finland.
March 2: French intelligence services verify German plans for Scandinavia.
March 9: Mannerheim advises Finnish government that the army cannot hold.
March 12: Peace treaty is signed.
March 28: Allies decide to mine Norwegian waters and occupy western Norwegian ports in the near future.
April 2: Hitler orders Operation Weserubung against Norway and Denmark.
April 5: Allied expeditionary force to Norway is delayed.
April 7: First German ships sail for Norway.
April 8: Norwegian government informed of British mine laying plans.
April 9: German invasion of Denmark and Norway.
April 15: First allied contingents land near Narvik
 
Screenshot 2025-09-22 at 20.30.22.png

April 20 -
Your brigade has established its headquarters at Lillehammer with the goal of providing all possible assistance to the Norwegian forces.

Two companies of the Sherwood Foresters have been sent forward to help protect the flank of the Norwegian forces in the area. You have had a hard march down the west bank of the Mjösa lake to Biri, slightly south of Lillehammer.

Your platoon has arrived at 2 AM, with the headquarters set up in an old church building. Battalion command lets you know that unfortunately while everyone is cold, west and exhausted, your platoon has been picked to establish a picket line at the outskirts of the town itself.

In the dark, much of the Norwegian country side looks interchangeable: Snow covered fields lined by natural hedges. A road runs from the south along the lake and into town.

<We are starting off with a bit of chance to roleplay and establish your characters personality. Give me a post of the orders issued to your men, any motivational details and what instructions you give them for setting up night time positions. >

Screenshot 2025-09-22 at 20.30.49.png

<GM note: I am not an idiot. Towns did not look the same in 1940, but we are gonna work with what we got :) Battalion HQ is by Biri Kirkegård. your platoon is sent out to cover the area overlooking the southern road by the lake.>
 
Should we assume that reality looks like this map, then, with these buildings and roads?

Not looking to put extra work on you, but you can often find period maps if you make an archive or library dive (and much more easily for WW2 than Napoleonic).
 
JohanL said:
Should we assume that reality looks like this map, then, with these buildings and roads?

Not looking to put extra work on you, but you can often find period maps if you make an archive or library dive (and much more easily for WW2 than Napoleonic).
Click to expand...
I have some local maps for later, from the official history, but since this part is just stage setting and a chance for a bit of RP elements, the modern map will do. Assume as is.
 
GM Questions

What's our intelligence about the closest German presence?

Can we use any Norwegian houses for lodging?

What kind of artillery support does the higher organization have available?

Is up north on the map? What's the scale?

Do we have all our expected materiel (especially tents), or did something get lost in the naval transport shuffle? I assume we have some kind of heating for our tents (paraffin or ethanol burner, "Tommy Cooker"?)?

Do we have mines? What types and numbers?

When is sunrise and sunset?

Do we have anything that can launch illumination in the company? If not, in the battalion artillery?

Would it be possible to get a map with elevations? I presume the marked overlook point is high up.
 
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Ivan NWG said:
View attachment 25792

April 20 -
Your brigade has established its headquarters at Lillehammer with the goal of providing all possible assistance to the Norwegian forces.

Two companies of the Sherwood Foresters have been sent forward to help protect the flank of the Norwegian forces in the area. You have had a hard march down the west bank of the Mjösa lake to Biri, slightly south of Lillehammer.

Your platoon has arrived at 2 AM, with the headquarters set up in an old church building. Battalion command lets you know that unfortunately while everyone is cold, west and exhausted, your platoon has been picked to establish a picket line at the outskirts of the town itself.

In the dark, much of the Norwegian country side looks interchangeable: Snow covered fields lined by natural hedges. A road runs from the south along the lake and into town.

<We are starting off with a bit of chance to roleplay and establish your characters personality. Give me a post of the orders issued to your men, any motivational details and what instructions you give them for setting up night time positions. >

View attachment 25793

<GM note: I am not an idiot. Towns did not look the same in 1940, but we are gonna work with what we got :) Battalion HQ is by Biri Kirkegård. your platoon is sent out to cover the area overlooking the southern road by the lake.>
Click to expand...
You keep talking about our platoon. You mean our company, correct?
 
So huddle with my platoon commanders.

Clearly we want to hold that ridge, and the map even tells us where a good spotting position is. The ridge completely dominates the main road by the side of the lake. Once we get things sorted, we can hold that against three times our numbers. But we also can't really find good positions in the darkness, so we will have to improvise tonight, and then sort things out tomorrow.

1st Platoon, establish a spotting and firing position at and around the overlook point, making sure you have eyes on the road. I will join you there with the company HQ, so we will have the additional weapons there, including the Vickers and the AT rifles. With any luck, there's an actual path up to that overlook point, maybe even signs. We will set up the Vickers to point at the road with a good field of fire in general.

2nd Platoon, establish a picket line that covers both smaller roads coming up from the south. Deploy sentries ahead of your positions. Don't be afraid of falling back if the enemy runs into you in numbers. We'll have to get a better look on this tomorrow.

3rd Platoon, establish a reserve between and behind 1st and 2nd Platoons' positions. Make sure you know a path up to the overlook position. Let your men have some sleep, just the regular sentries.

You can be relaxed about light discipline while you find your positions - I don't want any broken legs here - but start maintaining it once you're there. No-one smokes while on watch!

1st and 2nd, let everyone have a little sleep at least - make it two watches until dawn. Tea to help keep the men warm and up.

If it becomes necessary, the fallback and rally point is up on the ridge.

We'll have a new look at this in the morning. Questions?
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