Ranger Relief
Played 23/05/2004
Three American squads with
command,
scout team, and two attached Shermans, were to push inland to relieve a
Ranger force and exit 16 elements off the west board edge. Meanwhile
the Germans, several fire teams including LMGs and an MMG, were looking
to hold them off and exit their Recon force off the east board edge.
As you can see from the battlefield, there is a considerable amount of dense bocage, which lead to a lot of close range fire fights.
On this occasion I played hidden deployment for the Germans. The German Recon team would also move secretly until spotted.
The American tactics were
essentially to advance on a broad front, with two squads moving forward
in the southern two fields and one squad advancing through the northern
most field. The scout team entered via the southern edge into the
middle field to provide forward intelligence. 'Oddball' with his two
Sermans were to enter on game turn two through the southern most field
once the GIs had found out what was there. The Americans decided to
ignore the road.
The German tactics were to use their trench positions and cut the Americans down as they entered the field systems. The Recon force luckily planned to head east via the northern route. This meant that it missed the bulk of the enemy infantry and the tanks. It had a date with destiny against the north most American squad, which we will come to later.
The American attack began
and
immediately took fire. Concealed LMG positions to the North and South
of the battlefield opened up on the infantry and scout team
as
they advanced. Using WAV files of weapon fire, the American players
would suddenly get a blast of MG42 fire as 5D10 clattered on the table
as they started to take casualties.
Their morale held as they pushed forward, out of range of the off board
fire. The scout team went down to one wounded Sgt (Kazowski's brother -
see the Bluff scenario), and stayed in the ditch for the rest of the
game.
Towards the middle the American command element scout was killed while peering through the bocage. The untouched American squad next to them managed to avoid the minefield (again! - see Bluff) and lined up against the bocage that faced them and spotted the German unit in the field that had been keeping watch on the road and had opened up on the command element. The GIs fired on this German fire team, which collapsed, with a couple of surviving members managing to escape through the bocage into the road. They subsequently fled westward to safety.
Further south the Shermans
were
driving forward, managing to navigate the first bocage hedge and
heading for the second.
But let's not forget the
North.
The German recon team, skirting the northern bocage were racing north
eastward to infiltrate deep into American lines. Meanwhile the American
northern squad was racing eastward to some intervening bocage.
The Americans appeared at
the
bocage and were spotted by the German Recon team who were in the open
and almost at the very same bocage hedge. Reacting quickly the German
unit opened fire with their MP40 Schmeisers and rifles. Their fire was
devestating. The American squad took heavy casualties and were broken
without having the opportunity to retaliate. The recon team rolled them
over capturing several on the way and proceded to move off the eastern
board edge untouched. The German side had achieved their victory
conditions. The question that remained was: could the Americans achieve
theirs?
Let's head south and look at what happened when the tanks and southern American squad reached the house. Well, the answer is an almighty firefight. The Shermans levelled their 75mms and shot HE into the house. Clinging on, the defending German fire team returned fire with Panzerfaust, MG42, and Schmeiser fire. The American infantry took many casualties, including a sniper that had appeared to help them, courtesy of a random event.
The Shermans continued to pour fire into the house. The defending squad had fired their only Panzerfaust, briefly neutralising one of the Shermans. It was a heroic resistance, but doomed to failure. Eventually the defenders were broken and the American infantry, who had taken a mauling, pressed on and past the house to their objectives.
One of the Shermans, that
had been
hit by the Panzerfaust bogged completely on the bocage and would play
no further part in proceedings.
John W's resistance in the house was epic. At one point his sole
remaining infantryman, desparately firing his MP40 almost became a
'hero' with a TAC roll of 10 for morale under fire. In the end he
broke, but later self rallied to remain hidden in the house while the
americans filed by. He later sneaked back to his own lines to a
commendation and promotion.
Finally, let's go to the center of the battlefield. The American squad sent out a point man into the field and duly spotted a trench at the far end of the field. The German occupants had been waiting for the Americans to enter the field, but had now been spotted. The American squad opened fire, wounding the German machine gunner and other members of the team. When an MMG crew take 50% casualties (KIA, wounded or broken) then they must make a TAC roll to fire the MMG. I THINK this applied in this case. Ed continued to defy all the laws of probability and continued to fail his TAC roll. He had enough people to man the gun but they didn't make the roll.
As the Americans ran across
the
field, another German fire team that had been posted further North but
had moved to engage the enemy appeared to attack the squad as it moved
across the field. The American squad turned and fired at the Germans,
who promptly evapourated. The german fire team leader managed to get a
burst of fire before fleeing westward.
The MMG finally swung into
action. (it's possible that Ed should have had a couple more
shots with it than he eventually did have - much depends on the
casualties he received and whether they were 50% of the crew). His
wounded MMG team members managed to fire into the Amrican line before
they were overwhelmed in a messy close assault.
That was effectively the
end of
German resistance. The game was extended from 7 game turns to 10 by the
random roll. This
gave the Americans time to get off what was left of their force
(includng the two confused squad members from the north). They got off
just enough GIs to scratch a draw. They were lucky.
Well done to Simon for
getting the
Recon Team so superbly to their objective, and overwhelming the enemy
as he went. John W once more sat in a house and took lots of
punishment. This time he held on and managed to return effective fire
that held up the Americans. Ed's machne gun team almost swung the game.
Sara was unlucky to have to take fire from the American squad charging
across the field. The Americans were running
across the field to their target when a German unit appeared in
concealment in bocage to their flank. Nevertheless at these ranges the
Americans made their TAC roll, and on their next card obliterated the
German unit. If the cards had fallen the other way the Germans would
have fired first and could have won the scenario.
Good tactical play from John A again, Richard didn't panic, and Mark made an engaging Oddball (and also made lots of cups of tea). All in all highly entertaining. The sound effects of MG42s, tank fire, rifle fire, and the Kelly's Heroes soundtrack all added to the occasion.
Victory Points
The game was technically a
draw,
but a definite morale boost for the Germans.
American VPs = 15 German VPs = 19
The Americans spent 4 of their 6 attachment credits for the Shermans, which leaves them with 2 to play with for the next game.
I was amazed that the Americans managed to make their Unit morale tests so consistently. It was probably this factor more than any other that forced the game into a draw. The extra game turns to get forces off the board was the final piece of luck.