The Snatch - AAR

The Game

I’d inveigled my two long distance wargaming colleagues to give me a hand with this game. I’d seen the scenario on TV some 10 years ago and thought it might be worth gaming. It’s loosely based on the Venloe Incident in 1939 although to be honest I didn’t know that. What was a bit disconcerting was when I laid out the scenario; both Dougers and Snappers independently said “Is this the Venloe Incident. Looking it up, I realised they knew far more than I about it than I did. Snapcase even had a newspaper cutting to hand, which he sent and I’ve subsequently lost.

Sometimes I feel like such a lightweight in their company, but don’t tell them that.

The Scenario for this game is the previous post.

The German Dutch border, the road to Berlin is to the left and Amsterdam to the right.

General Ernst Von Stroheim is going to defect to the Allies, he has the latest Operational Plan Aufmarschanweisung N°3, Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), which is the attack on the western front.

A meeting has been arranged between himself and the British and Dutch SIS to take place in this small hotel.

A little further into the Netherlands is a small, forward supply dump guarded by an unknown number of troops.

And finally an aerial recognisance photo of the area.

The Germans have found out about this plan and have decided to turn it to their advantage by capturing the British and Dutch SIS Operatives. They have sent a crack team of SS troopers to burst through the border control check point and drive pell-mell to the hotel where they will rush inside, relying on speed and surprise to achieve their objective.

In support they have a veteran squad of Wehrmacht infantry led by Horst Dankers, they have been moving quietly through the woodland and are now in place to support the SS when they arrive in their trucks.

As the sounds of heavy diesel motors grows louder the Dutch boarder guard steps out into the road to stop them. The man must be incredibly brave or totally stupid to carry out this action, but in the aftermath of the raid it’s hard to know because he’s dead. One of the Wehrmacht, Eckhard Unger has moved close to the sentry box and as the guard steps out into the open he opens fire with his sub machine gun. The guard is hit and falls.

Unfortunately he falls in the middle of the road and without compunction Michaela Stolz, driving the lead truck runs over him.

If he wasn’t dead before, he is now.

On the other side of the road is a small corrugated iron hut that the Border Guards are using to keep warm and out of the chill winter wind. The Wehrmacht have moved a light machine gun operated by Wolfgang Arnold forward to overlook this hut. Horst Dankers who is in immediate command of Arnold, as well as the rest of the Wehrmarcht squad, hears the trucks driving down the road, and orders Arnold to open fire.

Corrugated iron blocks line of sight but not bullets and one of the two border guards sheltering in the hut is killed in the opening burst. The other guard rushes outside and is cut down in a hail of lead from Danker’s sub machine gun.

The Wehrmacht don’t know it but they have killed all the Dutch Border Guards, however ignorance is bliss and they continue to fire into the sentry box and hut.

The German trucks blaze down the road, screeching to a halt in the parking lot in front of the hotel.

SS troopers debus or if you’re an American Un-Ass is the accepted term, or so I’m led to believe, and rush towards the hotel entrance. Their officer, Kamilla Altmann leads the way; they know speed is of the essence and these chapesses are no slouches.

Inside the hotel, Agent Snapcase of British SIS, swallows his Pink Gin with unseemly haste; as the barmaid points to the back door he nods his thanks and pushes Sally Brunn his Dutch counterpart towards it.

There are occasions when being an English gentleman has its advantages. Snapcase would never dream of going through a door before a lady and as he urges Sally to hurry, he opens the door and lets her go first. Stepping through she sees Horst Dankers, at the same time, he sees her. Horst is fast but she’s faster, lightning fast even and she fires first. Hitting Dankers in the arm…..his right arm and he drops his smg, grimacing in pain laced with chagrin, a deadly combination.

Then Arnold opens fire with the light machine gun, he’s caught off guard by Sally’s sudden appearance and rushes his shots, spraying the area around her, but miraculously misses his target.

She dives behind the wall opposite the door way, well who wouldn’t do that when faced with a burst of machine gun fire.

Inside the Hotel the SS troopers move swiftly, there are 3 internal doors facing them as they burst through the outer door. Erika Baeker is the first trooper through the Lounge door. The room is full of people but she’s a professional and experienced killer. Scanning the room swiftly she notes the man at the far door trying desperately to get through it and shouts, in German “Stop or I’ll shoot” raising her smg as she shouts the command.

Snapcase, who only speaks school boy German, is annoyed, she’s much younger than he is, and so should have addressed him more formally, his old school master would have had a fit, it’s only proper protocol in these circumstances and so he turns and opens fire.

His shot’s miss but Erika reacts to them by immediately ducking back through the door she’s just entered. That’s why she is an experienced and professional killer, she knows when to duck back fast. It’s the old story, good judgement is gained as a result of experience. Experience is gained as a result of bad judgement.

Having neutralised the initial threat and vented his anger Snapcase steps quickly through the door after Sally.

He sees her crouched behind the wall and ducks down beside her.

So when the next SS trooper, Ingrid Rockmeir steps much more carefully into the saloon bar, Snapcase has already left the building.

Some of the customers react as you would expect. Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum and Mrs Peacock sit still and put their hands in the air. The observant observer would realize this isn’t a new experience for any of them. Miss Scarlet the Barmaid hides something in a beer mug on the top shelf behind the bar, no one sees her do this. Mrs White the Cook, disappears through the back door and Mr Greenstreet moves to see what the noise is all about, then sees Gerda Nerlinger through the glass door and freezes.

The sight of Gerda makes most men freeze.

Meanwhile on the border the Wehrmacht are securing the area. Eckhard Unger runs forward and checks out the sentry box, it’s empty apart from one dead body.

The small guard detail at the forward supply base is still trying to decide what to do. Should they retreat and sound the alarm or rush forwards to defend the Dutch border.

Decisions, decisions!

They make the wrong one and decide to defend the border, they run into well placed German defenders and in a fierce exchange of gunfire two of them fall and the officer ducks back to hide behind a shed, where he re-considers his options.

The fire from the machine gun has slackened so Sally Brunn and Snapcase escape around the corner of the hotel, keeping low to avoid being shot in the back as they go.

They see the ample frame of Mrs White vault the stone wall like a member of the 1936 Dutch Olympic Pole Vault Team, she’s far more nimble than she looks.

This might explain how she’s survived for so long in the Intelligence Business, although as no one was briefed about her presence it’s all a bit of a mystery to Snapcase and Brunn.

Realising she seems to know where she’s going, and as it’s away from the deadly Germans, they follow in her wake as fast as possible. Snapcase is huffing and puffing by now, as memories of his old school 100yds race come to mind…….and he hopes he doesn’t come last again.

Do you remember Mr Greenstreet and Gerda Nerlinger, if not I’d worry about your short term memory, anyway Mr Greenstreet, having seen Gerda through the glass door decides that he probably didn’t want to be picked up by SS Stormtroopers and did a runner out of the back door.

If you look carefully you can see him in the background.

Ok, for the hard of sight, this is him emerging from the Hotel. Seeing Sally Brunn streaking away from the hotel, he starts to loose heart knowing he can’t match her pace, but he cheers up a little when he sees Snapcase ploughing along manfully by her side. He is of a similar stature to Snapcase and probably a similar speed, so he brightens up and prepares to climb the wall that Mrs White vaulted earlier.

The Storm Troopers are hard on the heels of Snapcase and burst out of the side door. They are lucky that Arnold recognises their uniform before opening fire, Arnold feels fairly lucky too. He knows that opening fire on the SS has a way of ending badly.

Rushing round the corner of the hotel they see Mr Greenstreet and command him to HALT, which being a sensible individual without a death, wish he does.

He is brought back to the trucks and ordered to climb in.

Difficult but the alternative is worse.

Kamilla Altmann briefs Meinhard Wenke of the Gestapo that his raid has been a failure. He wonders how he can spin this to deflect the blame but knowing who her father is, realizes he must pack some heavy winter clothing for his next assignment, somewhere on the Russian Front.

Horst Dankers ensures the border barrier is raised so that the strike force can retreat back across the border without delay, and Arnold prepares to provide covering fire but it’s not needed as the Storm troopers make a swift but orderly retreat back to the Homeland.

Greenstreet contemplates his future with a certain degree of pessimism.

As Snapcase contemplates his with a little more optimism.

Meinhard Wenke of the Gestapo wonders if he has a future to contemplate.

The Snatch - Scenario

Background

It’s February 1940, Poland has been invaded and conquered and the Low Countries and France are next. German planning for the invasion is well underway although the route and nature of the plan has been changed a number of times and would continue to evolve throughout Feb, Mar and April until the invasion actually started on 10th May 1940.

The planning had been set back when on 10 January 1940, a German aircraft, carrying a staff officer with the Luftwaffe plans for the offensive through central Belgium to the North Sea, force-landed near Mechelen in Belgium. The documents were captured but Allied intelligence doubted that they were genuine.

After the loss of the Luftwaffe plans, the Germans assumed that the Allied appreciation of German intentions would have been clarified, they did not know that the plans had been discounted, possibly as decoys. So on 30 January Operational Plan Aufmarschanweisung N°3, Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) was issued as an amendment to the existing N°2 version of the plan that had been captured by the Allies.

The German Scenario

You have the opportunity to make a decisive contribution to the planning currently being undertaken for the plan Fall Gelb. As a proficient member of the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) on the Dutch border you have discovered one of your leading generals, Ernst Von Stroheim is going to defect to the Allies. You have arrested him and under questioning, have discovered he has a full set of the current plans for operation Fall Gelb and intended to carry them over the border to Holland.

A meeting has been arranged with the Dutch and British Secret Services in a small hotel just across the border. They will be there from 10:00 and depart at 13:00. With the arrest of Von Stroheim you have stopped the transfer of this information which will be a feather in your cap. However you now have the opportunity to capture 2 high ranking Secret Service Officers, maybe even the head of British SIS, Dutch Section who will be at the meeting point.

At your disposal you have a small detachment of troops from the SS under the command of SS-Haupt Sturm Führer Kamilla Altmann (Pistol), SS-Rotten Führer Astrid Weisse (Pistol) SS-Schüze Ingrid Rockmeir, Erika Baeker (SMG) and Gerda Herlinger (Rifle) 1 Officer 1 NCO and 3 men. All speak German.

Half a section of troops from the Wehrmacht. Haupt Mann, Horst Dankers (SMG), Ober Gefreiter, Michaela Stoltz (SMG) and Schüze, Eckehard Unger, Dirk Ackermann both SMG and Schüze,Wolfgang Arnold (LMG)

1 Officer 1 NCO and 3 men. All speak German and are slightly unfocused.

There is you, Meinhard Wenke and your driver/bodyguard Eva Strum both with pistols. Wenke speaks German and English, Strum speaks German and Dutch. This is also a picture of the traitor Von Stroheim.

The SS won’t accept orders from the Wehrmacht and the Wehrmacht won’t accept orders from the SS. Both will accept orders from you.

You have a staff car driven by Eva Strum and 2 open back trucks to carry the troops, drivers for the trucks are the two NCO’s.

The Dutch border has a wire fence to protect it. The trees closest to the fence have been felled by the simple expedient of blowing them up. The local inhabitants have cleared the area of firewood, explaining why there are no tree branches.

There is a sentry box and hut containing a small detachment of Dutch troops, you estimate it’s probably only 3 or 4 soldiers. These structures will obstruct line of sight but are light weight things and bullets will penetrate easily enough, but you won’t see the occupants. The road is barred by a simple halt barrier and your trucks should plough through it easily enough, although there is a chance the driver might lose control you think it’s unlikely. Your staff car would not get through so easily and may be damaged in the process.

There is a small supply dump further on along the road, this will have troops guarding it but your estimate is again 2 or 3 men only. At both positions you would expect them to be border guards and so fairly low quality troops.

The guards will obviously be replaced at some form of regular interval but you’ve no idea what that might be, maybe meal times maybe just once a day.

Your objective is to capture and kidnap the 2 SIS officers, escaping with them back over the border. Your side of the border is shown on the left of the picture. You don’t want to precipitate the start of the war in the west so civilian casualties should be avoided but military casualties are going to be acceptable and indeed necessary. Theirs, not yours.

You can have any kit that you think will be easily obtainable for a small scale raid at short notice, e.g. wire cutters, grenades, but not more sophisticated items such as explosives that will require technical knowledge for setting fuses etc. I’m not really sure about portable radios at this stage of the war so I think you can have 3 of them but they might malfunction.

All I can tell you about the hotel is that it has 2 front doors, possibly leading to a reception desk and a bar or restaurant. 1 side door facing you and 1 back door, there are rooms up stairs and maybe a cellar.

There will be hotel staff and maybe diners as well as the 2 SIS officers. The house across the road is, as far as you are aware just a normal house, it may have occupants.

The buildings on your side of the fence are unoccupied.

General Ernst Von Stroheim maintained he didn’t know either of the 2 SIS officers, communications had been through a 3rd party who he didn’t expect to be at the meeting place. He and the SIS were to wear red carnations in their lapels as a recognition sign.

I think it’s safe to assume they have transport, and you are fairly sure they won’t have any idea of what is about to hit them.

The British Scenario

You (Presumably one of the Snapcase family serving King and Country in the British SIS during WW2) have been contacted by one of the leading German generals, Ernst Von Stroheim, he is offering to defect with a full set of the current plans for operation Fall Gelb and will bring them over the border to Holland.

A meeting has been arranged between you, an officer from the Dutch SIS (Sally Brunn) and Von Stroheim in a small hotel just on the Dutch side of the border.

As you drove to the meeting you saw that the Dutch border has a wire fence to protect it.

There is a sentry box and a hut that you assume contains Dutch border guards, the road is barred by a simple halt barrier and you passed a small supply dump on the way to the hotel which probably has troops guarding it. The house across the road is, as far as you are aware just a normal house, it may have occupants but you didn’t see them as you arrived.

Your objective is to meet General Ernst Von Stroheim in the hotel and then escort him back to Amsterdam along with his plans, either in your car or the Dutch van. He’s assured you that he has the relevant passes so he can cross the border without any problems and get to the hotel with the information for the meeting.

The only flaw, is that all communications have been through a 3rd party who will not be at the meeting place. The only way the General will know you is by the red carnations you will wear in your lapels. The General will wear one as well but you have a verbal description of him, 6’0” tall, blonde hair, wears a monocle and has a scar on his right cheek.

The hotel is the white building in the centre. The German border is to the left, the wire indicates the Dutch side of the border, the German wire is 100 yds to the west and out of sight.

Amsterdam is to the right and Berlin to the left.

Your view from the Dutch side of the border and looking towards the German side which is out of sight. You hope there are Dutch border guards in the sentry box but didn’t see them.

As an aside you comment to Sally Brunn that it’s damn sloppy having a sentry box painted black, it would stand out more if it was painted with stripes. She demurs.

You drove past this small supply dump on your way to the meeting but didn’t see anyone guarding it.

Your description of Von Stroheim, looks like this.

You have arrived at the hotel in the black car and the Dutch SIS Operative has driven the Blue van. You don’t know who the green van belongs to.

As you face the building, the restaurant doorway is just to the left of the one you can see. The one in the middle of the building, not the one on the right by the large window.

This shows the left side of the building oriented to the previous photograph.

Doors are red, windows light grey and walls black. You didn’t see the inside of the right of the building but did see some stairs in the Off Licence room going up to the bedrooms you supposed.

You are seated at the corner table. You have your back to the wall (South in the picture) and Sally Brunn the Dutch SIS has her back to the window, (west in the picture).

Both the other tables are occupied.

A white haired chap in a plum suit is sat by the door, and a distinguished couple are sat at the other table. In the distance, behind the bar in the far corner of the room is the Barmaid, a striking looking young woman with black hair.

She seemed to give Sally Brunn a speculative look when she delivered your drinks but ignored you other than to confirm you had ordered a Pink Gin.

In addition to the Barmaid you met the Hotel manager a Mr Greenstreet when you arrived, it’s only a small hotel, 2 or 3 bedrooms so there won’t be many other staff.

Having taken your first sip of Pink Gin you start to peruse the menu when there’s the sound of automatic weapon firing from the border post followed immediately by a loud crash and the revving of big diesel engines. You glance out of the window and see the barrier scattered over the road and a large covered truck pulling up onto the hotel forecourt. Straight away troops in black uniforms start to jump out of the back of the truck and head to the hotel.

You are armed with a 6 shot Webley service revolver but only load 5 shots for safety reasons, and you don’t know if the Dutch SIS are armed or not.

Sally starts to panic, “shouting oh my God it’s the Germans”.

What do you do, you have 1 turn before they will be at the door.

Note:- you still want to get hold of the plans carried by Von Stroheim but don’t want either yourself or Sally to get captured by the SS or and maybe more importantly you don’t want to end your career as a dead SIS Operative.

Neither of the participants were given this aerial photograph to help with their planning but it may help with your understanding of the action, or maybe not.

Snapcase and the Bloody Barrow

The 3rd and probably the final chapter in Sir Verney Snapcase's bid to get free ale at the Dog and Sprocket Tavern in Little Snoring.

The brilliant sunset has turned into a dark brooding night as Sir Verney Snapcase leads his small party towards the Bloody Barrow. Titus Fleming on his right is feeling distinctly nervous about proceedings. When he took the position as Sir Verney’s servant he expected an easy life, carrying wine, eating good left over food, not traipsing around the countryside in the dead of night to do God knows what.

Red Molly had some inkling of what the Bloody Barrow would be like, but it had been years since she had ventured near it. A childhood dare or was it a forfeit, she remembered there were two alternatives, kiss a toad or go and touch the Barrow. She’d kissed many a toad since then and they weren’t half as repulsive or scary as the Barrow.

She knew no one had visited the place in the last 10 years, every since Lucy was found on the sacrificial stone at the mouth of the Barrow.

Lucy was not harmed in any way but had lost her mind in some dark place that she was never able to find again.

Molly wondered if she should have told Sir Verney about Lucy but had decided to keep her own council. After all Lucy was her younger sister and she deserved an accounting with whoever or whatever had stolen her mind.

Molly hoped Snapcase would be that Accountant.

When she had last been there, the ground around the stone circle was difficult going, soft underfoot with undergrowth and brambles waiting to trip the unwary but she knew it would be even harder going now, so many years later.

As they approached she could see it was a tangle of brambles, thorn bushes and deformed, stunted trees surrounding the stone circle. The dark shape in the distance must be the Barrow but it was too dark to make it out clearly.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place” Snapcase asked Molly and she just nodded, her mouth was too dry to speak out loud.

“It all seems quiet” muttered Snapcase, “we’ll just move forward, slowly like, no noise until we can see the Barrow clearly”. “Try and keep low and take advantage of the cover” he added unnecessarily.

As they moved forward the Bloody Barrow came into view, a massive capstone on five upright pillars, what manner of beings had built it or for what purpose, no one knew….indeed no one in the party cared either.

Because the clouds parted and the moon shone brightly on an unearthly tableau.

Translucent wraiths floated around the stone circle, swooping high and low, they emitted a strange whistling sound, eerily like the wind on a bitter winter’s night, as it whistles through the gaps between door and jamb, with steams of cold air piercing the room, sending shivers down your cack and making the fire waver and dance in the draught.

The Wraiths were a shock but then they saw a young woman, tied to two posts in the mouth of the Barrow and another being, possibly a woman in a red shift moving slowly around her. Further away was something, vaguely human shaped, the moonlight reflected off a pallid corrupted creature they could not discern clearly.

“Mistress Pitt” stuttered Molly as she recognised the poor woman between the posts and Snapcase remembered the name as belonging to one of the villagers who had been carried off from Little Snoring at the start of the tale.

“I’ve had enough of this skulking about thought Sir Verney, “follow me he said and moved resolutely forward, that is until he entered the stone circle and felt the chill tremor of fear, he stopped as his nerve failed him. Red Molly went some distance into the circle before she too felt the fear and retreated to stand close to Snapcase, only Titus was able to push forward as the moon rose higher in the sky.

Abstractedly he noticed the Wraiths seemed to be moving in a random manner and hadn’t attacked him yet.

Of course this wasn’t uppermost on his mind because when the apparition in red turned and glared at him with a hypnotic gaze, he felt as if part of his very life force was being drained away.

For a time none of party were able to pluck up the courage and advance, Titus felt weaker the longer the hag in red held him in her hypnotic gaze, and the moon continued to rise.

The Wraiths continued to circle but didn’t attack them, Snapcase was still transfixed with fear on the edge of the ring of stone.

All was not lost though, Molly’s desire to revenge her sister overcame her fear and she slowly moved forward to support Titus.

I realised I’d made it too hard for the party to advance through the fear and slightly changed the criteria.

With a howl of anguish Titus threw off the feeling of lassitude and charged straight at the Hag, just as her protector, the pallid creature stepped in front of its mistress. It was horrific, dark sunken eyes and huge bony fists but Titus overcame his fear and attacked with his sword.

In a contest between bony fists, no matter how big and a sharp steel sword the swordsman will usually win. The creature took damage and a strange black blood dripped from its wounds.

Titus followed up his attack with a further sword thrust and the creature dropped to the ground too hurt to continue the fight.

Meanwhile Snapcase was still at the edge of the stone circle, unfortunately for him he was just inside the circle and was attacked by wraiths as they flew over him. A coldness overcame him and he felt significantly weaker, he slashed with his sword but it just went straight through the translucent Wraiths causing no discernible damage.

Maybe they can’t be killed he thought weakly.

Molly stood firm and hadn’t been affected by the creature’s horrific mien, and once he was down, she had a clear sight of the Hag and fired her pistol. Relief was one of the emotions when she saw her ball strike the Hag in the belly and blood started to pour from the wound. The creature could be hurt, maybe even killed.

The moon continued to rise.

With a scream of frustration the Hag transformed into the Red Woman, at the same time more horrific creatures erupt from the mouth of the Bloody Barrow.

The Hag’s frustration is the knowledge that she can only complete the sacrifice either as the Hag in semi human form or by using Agroth, her creature, as a proxy to perform the act. Once she is the ethereal Red Woman, a spirit being, she can not die but can not wield the knife necessary to perform the ritual killing of Mistress Pitt. The damage from the pistol ball almost killed the Hag and so she had no choice other than to transform.

Mistress Pitt is safe from sacrifice, at least until the astral planets align in the requisite manner, that is approximately 135 years in the future but can the Snapcase party survive the attack of the Pumpkin Heads?

Indeed if they can not hold out until the moon is full there is still a chance that the Red Woman can transition back into the Hag and finish the job.

Snapcase has escaped from the Wraith’s but along with Titus and Molly he fails his Horror test for sighting the Pumpkin Heads and they all draw a Horror Card.

Molly promptly faints and is unconscious for 5 turns, Titus is Transfixed by the Horror and remains so for 2 turns but finally Sir Verney shows his true mettle and attacks the nearest enemy, he will continue to do so until they are all dead.

Or of course, until he’s dead.

Sir Verney attacks his nearest enemy and loses the fight, then losses again and he’s down on the ground.

As he falls the moon turn from its normal colour to a blood red.

Having defeated the brave (finally) Sir Verney the monstrous Pumpkin Head turns towards the transfixed Titus as the Red Woman screams again in frustration knowing her dreams have crumbled into ashes.

The moon slowly turns from red back to its normal white light and her opportunity is gone.

With the changing of the moon the supernatural beings disappear as if they were never there.

Titus looks around bewildered, sees Snapcase on the ground, hurt but still breathing and goes to his aid. Molly wakes from her swoon and sees no danger, no Wraiths, no Red Woman and no Pumpkin Headed apparitions, she goes to cut Mistress Pitts bonds.

There is only the return journey across Snoring Moor to be undertaken and Snapcase can almost taste the next free pint of Buggers Bitter or even hopefully a small glass of the Black Pony Ale he left with Hellfire Demfore and Brigstock Jenkins - The Vagabond.

If indeed there is still a small glass left in the barrel.

Hope springs eternal. So they say.

Cheers