AAR Wednesday 20thMarch 2019
The Set up
Battle 3 was a full on German assault using the attack and defend scenario. The map was set up with a central road crossing the battlefield, fields, farmland wooded areas and hedges. Along with a three building hamlet on the German Right flank.
Support Options were chosen.
The Germans with 25 Points
The British with 10 Points (plus their defensive FM difference of 3Points to be used on lists 1-3)
Ivan on the German side chose:
1 StuH 42
Sdkfz. 250 & recon team
Panzershreck team
Flamethrower team
Senior Leader
Sniper
Medic
Colin with the British chose:
1x 17 Pounder ATG
Pre-game barrage
4x Minefields
3x Entrenchments
Allies also had 1x Piat team from last game and an Adjutant
The Germans brought a S/L and attempted to bring another STuH 42 but it didn’t turn up
After suffering losses to his 1stplatoon Colin decided to field a fresh platoon from his pool and as this was to be a Big Chain of Command game each side chose to bring their Armoured platoon.
British Armoured Platoon
1x Firefly
3x M4 Sherman
German Armoured Platoon
1x Panther
3x Panzer IVH
The patrol phase started with the Germans as attackers gaining 4 free moves. They raced down the middle of the board. The patrol phase ended with both players markers spread out along the middle of the map, the resulting JOPs positions meant the British had 2 in buildings and one on their right flank within a field. The Germans had one behind a large building and the other two behind cover, one to the left and one in the centre..
The minefields Colin brought where deployed on the British right flank in the centre of the map denying passage to the German armour on their left flank.
The Germans first phase saw them deploying an infantry section into one of the buildings and bringing on the Panther from the armoured platoon. The British deployed two infantry sections into the other two buildings and brought on their Firefly and an M4 on their left flank, immediately firing HE into the building housing the German platoon, causing a multiple shock as the Germans were caught unawares.
At this point it very much looked like the allies were up for an aggressive fight, however, the next German phase allowed a panzershreck team to pop off a shot onto the firefly causing 2 shock and giving the British something to think about.
The next few phases saw both sides deploying although the Germans were very restricted with the pregame barrage. The British seemed to get a good defensive position up and running.
The stunned German platoon in the building legged it into the next room out of sight of the British armour whilst trying to steady their nerves. The panzershreck team, perhaps celebrating too early, forgot there was two tanks and the brits shot back breaking the team. With more shock then they could handle they ran for their lives giving the real impression the brits had the upper hand.
The game got very tactical with the British deploying their 17 pound ATG in the centre by the buildings, behind an emplacement and using the smoke to their advantage. The British caused a lot of line of sight problems for the Germans and all each commander could do was put more and more units on overwatch.
More shots from the tanks at the building caused shock and one German rifleman dead. The Germans sent up their 2nd Panzershreck team and took out a pesky M4 Sherman as well as forcing the British firefly off the table as the commander reversed off the map panicking.
With all the smoke and overwatch it was crying out for a turn ending roll but this was not to be. Instead Ivan using the CoC dice effectively ordered 2 flamethrower ambushes (different phases) both against the 17 pounder and a PIAT team causing significant damage and shock breaking the PIAT team and killing 2 of the 17 pounder crew.
With time getting on, the British commander in the spirit of the charge of the light brigade, ordered his whole infantry platoon to assault the German position in the building. However, unlike the charge of the light brigade I don’t believe this will go down in history! As not only did they assault a hard cover position but the Germans where only too glad to trip all their overwatch, causing 2 dead and 5 shock to the British before the close combat action took place. This was the first all 3 section v 3 section close combat attack and resulted in the Germans getting a whopping 79 dice verses the British 53 (later we found out the British shouldn’t have had 8d ice for LMG teams as they weren’t the defender)
The dice roll took ages to complete but in the end as the smoke cleared. Out of 28 British troops, 27 lay dead with the Germans only losing 15 out of their 27 men.
The resulting bad things happening meant the British Force moral plummeted to 0 and them losing the game.
To Sum up
The game was very finely balanced with everyone locked into position. The suicidal British assault was the only reason they lost. However, the German forces would have had time to wear the British down as the British only had one tank left and the Germans hadn’t lost any.
The next game sees the Germans as the attacker and the British attempting to blow up two culverts in “Going with a bang” scenario out of the 1940 Blitzkrieg book.
Williton Gamers 