Second World War, Disposable Heroes, 28mm

Inspired by the big Normandy game last month, we decided to try out Disposable Heroes for ourselves. We decided on a platoon-sized action, with Polish Paratroops occupying a village, while the Germans – all Fallschirmjagers – attacked it from two sides- the south-east and south-west corners. In other words we were having some Para-on-Para action.A Sherman Mk. V sat in the centre of the village, but unbeknownst to the German players it was immobilised and crewless. As you can see, the village itself was a rambling collection of buildings, dominated on its eastern side by a large bombed-out ruin on one side of it. A reinforced section of Paras defended it, another began the game billeted in the centre of the village, while a third group were coming off patrol and appeared from the northern table edge.Well, the Germans conducted a skilled advance on both sides of the village. In the east they took a few casualties, but forced the defenders back into the ruin, and were raking it with automatic weapons fire when the game ended – and were preparing to storm the ruin. On the other side the Germans had a tougher time of it, as they had to deploy up a hedgerow-lined lane in the face of Polish fire.A Vickers team kept the German left flank pinned down, but the rest of the unit managed to infiltrate the village in its south-eastern corner, and another brisk firefight developed between the Germans and the Poles, both sides hiding in buildings.Despite having a handy playsheet we never managed to bring the game to a conclusion. frankly, Disposable Heroes is a bit slow. There was simply too much going on, and we kept on having to look up rules covering things like 2″ mortars, firing out of buildings, and rallying. That said, I think the rules worked pretty well, and we’ll certainly give them another go – although probably with a less cluttered table and fewer troops – at least until we figure out what on earth we’re doing! The Fallschirmjagers were supplied by Dougie Trail and Colin Jack, while the Poles were my own British figures.

Tags: Disposable Heroes