October 2018 Northern Conspiracy Game Day - Operation Avalanche - Allied Invasion of Italy at Salerno

Saturday, the Northern Conspiracy gathered for a game day centered around Operation Avalanche - the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno. To the left, club president Ed M. kicks things off with a rousing talk to the troops about logistics and the day.

Below are photographs of the four tables the hosts set up to accommodate the possible 20-24 attendees we've been seeing at recent game days. Turnout was very light at only 12 players, so instead of running all the tables under-staffed with players, we decided to run two tables at full capacity. This was a choice I think everyone found worked out well.

For the "Tobacco Factory" table we had German players of John, Byron and Guest Josh (not pictured). Opposed to them were Bob, Kevin and Phil as the Scott's guards.

Early in the game Bob deployed his 17 pounder AT gun to cover the open area on the river side of the complex. The Bren carrier which was towing the AT gun was immediately destroyed by fire from the German Stug III stranding the AT gun where it was. Later combined fire from two infantry squads and an SdKfz 222 armored car finished off the British AT gun.

As an effort to counter the 222 and avoid incoming Stug fire, the British 'Honey' Stuart withdrew to the river and took a pot shot at the 222. For the rest of the battle both the 222 and the Stuart broke for tea - their commanders focusing their efforts elsewhere.


With threats at the river countered the Stug took up a position on the far side of the complex. The British countered with their Sherman, which bounced first one, then four additional main rounds off the Stug, silencing it.


Kevin aggressively attacked the central most building of the complex, nicknamed the 'keystone' as it was the key to controlling the complex with each side having equal amounts of the complex controlled. Kevin's troops pressed the Germans well, eventually falling and being replaced by another British infantry unit.


The Germans also lost an infantry unit in the fray replacing it as well. As night began to fall (in game and in reality) a desperate situation arose and the fighting accellerated (GM put the assault into sudden death mode) with each unit giving the other their best. As the battle drew to a close, the German infantry commanded by guest Josh was just able to outlast Kevin's guards. The result, a marginal German victory with possession of the Tobacco Factory for another day - this was the historical result as well.










One last photo of Ralph's beautiful table. More great photographs of both battles can also be seen at club member Michael B's flicker page and Rob's Imgur page.