Rommel 1940 British v German Scenario 5 'Recon in Force'

After succeeding in the 'Evacuation' scenario in the last game this one saw my 1940 British attempting a 'Recon in Force' against Andy's Germans.

In this scenario the Germans have to defend nine objectives, four of which are dummies. To win the British have to capture any three 'real' objectives. My force consisted of two infantry brigades and an armoured brigade well supported with artillery.

The British prepare to move. Unfortunately, I had brought along the only cloth I have that does not have a grid on it so we had to improvise with rather garish counters to mark the grid lines!

The first assault against a potential objective:

The first objective falls, unsurprisingly it is a dummy but the British press on deeper into the German lines:

A second objective falls, this isn't a dummy so two more to go:

The line of battle:

Resistance by the Germans is stiffening but a Matilda sneaks through their lines and takes another actual objective!

A third objective is taken in the town on the right. It's another dummy though:

The British drive forwards on their right:

A rare German counter-attack:

Progress on the left is slower though:

A breakthrough! If the objective behind the river is real (unlikely though that is) take that and the British will have a win:

It's a dummy unfortunately. The Germans have done an excellent job of drawing the British towards the fake objectives then pulling back to defend the remaining real ones in depth:

Attacks go in against the last objective the British might perhaps take, the wooded fields on the left:

They make no headway though and the Germans have plenty of reinforcements left to help hold on:

At this point I conceded defeat. With only a couple of turns left, few fresh infantry units to assault the terrain and Andy having numerous Op dice to defend his position I couldn't really see a way forward for the British.

Andy and I have played an awful lot of Rommel now (maybe around 20 games!) and, I think, have both become quite proficient at playing. One thing we have noticed is an increasing tendency for the defender in the scenarios to just sit back as, in general, there is little point in launching counter-attacks and shuffling troops between the objectives while maintaining your Ops dice is much more efficient. One solution might be to try some 'historical' scenarios though it is noticeable that these mostly consist of vast numbers of infantry and few 'toys' like tanks and artillery!