Having missed a round in the campaign the only game I could arrange for this round was against a fellow German player, Will. As a result I temporarily changed sides and took a British Line of Communication platoon while Will used his 7th Panzer Division force.
The LOC platoon is not a usual choice but as this round represented the German attack on Calais and the LOC formations fought there it seemed a different option that might be fun. Made up from assorted drivers, storemen and cooks etc the platoon has only three sections with one Bren gun between them and a single senior leader. It is also rated as 'green' giving it only four command dice. This results in a remarkable -10 force rating which gave me a huge 28 support points for the game!
Given that in this scenario the British can't use any support troops until turn two (and with only four command dice the prospects of ending the turn by throwing three sixes or accumulating a CoC dice are limited) the initial aim is to delay the Germans as long as possible especially as they have a lot of support points too and are liable to bring a lot of armour. As a result a lot of my support went on defences and a pre-game barrage with only a Matilda and an MMG as support units.
The outskirts of Calais:
The view from the German start line:
JoP's deployed, the Germans are stuck in the top right corner while the British place theirs well back:
The British deploy four sections of wire, two minefields and a road block considerably reducing German lines of approach when combined with the buildings. The Germans begin by deploying a Panzer IV, a Panzer II and an infantry section:
The Panzer IV moves along the road while the Panzer II moves off to the left. Until the Matilda arrives the British have nothing that can hurt the tanks so they really need the turn to end!
Fortunately the Germans roll a turn end and the Matilda is able to deploy. Facing three German tanks (a Panzer 38t had also arrived) the odds are not in it's favour but with cunning deployment and use of terrain it might be possible to pick off the Germans one by one as, individually, the Matilda is a much better tank:
The Germans cautiously continue to advance:
British smoke obscures the Panzer IV's ability to shoot:
The Panzer II starts to move forward to close down the British JoP in the fields:
It is almost close enough:
The British deploy an infantry section behind the hill:
The Sergeant attempts to join them but is delayed by a 5th Columnist:
The Germans advance a JoP and begin to deploy more infantry:
The Panzer II closes they JoP down! However, the Matilda has been waiting for it's chance on overwatch and opens fire killing the Panzer's gunner:
The Matilda follows up by putting another shell into the Panzer brewing it up:
With the Panzer II down the Panzer III decides to try it's luck:
The Matilda forces the Panzer IV crew to bail out! The German armour has failed so an infantry squad advances to take up the attack:
In response the British deploy another entrenched section on the hill with their lone Bren gun:
The support MMG also deploys by the burnt-out Panzer II
Caught in a cross-fire the German infantry break and the Germans withdraw:
An interesting game with the very different LoC platoon. My plan to delay the Germans with wire, mines and the roadblock worked well allowing me to survive until the first turn ended and I could bring on the Matilda, without that the German armour could have driven straight over my men!
I think I was also lucky with the Matilda, I managed to acquire enough CoC dice to interrupt at crucial points to allow the Matilda to fire before the Germans could and Will couldn't co-ordinate the three tanks he had allowing me to pick them off one at a time.
The next game will see me playing the same scenario again, this time as the Germans defending against the French. I anticipate having considerably less support points but the same issue with having nothing to face armour until the second turn so probably a different plan will be required!
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