Well, it's been so long since we played this one, that I may have a hard time remembering what happened. Notes? HAHAHAHA. Ah. No. No notes. I DO have photographs to jog the memory.
Jim chose to use his rubbled building allotment to knock down some outlying buildings on the British approach. A logical move to eliminate some of the easier victory locations.
My pregame bombardment came down near the church. It rubbled the rear hex (both levels) and revealed the German AT gun in the forward hex.
Jim chose to use his rubbled building allotment to knock down some outlying buildings on the British approach. A logical move to eliminate some of the easier victory locations.
My pregame bombardment came down near the church. It rubbled the rear hex (both levels) and revealed the German AT gun in the forward hex.
There were basically two approaches I considered for the attack. The British left has the most cover. There are a lot of blind hexes created by the woods and bocage that deny LOS to even the steeple location. The down side is that it would be slow going.
I decided to forgo the cover, because I felt like by the time I got to the town via that path, it would likely be about turn 5, and German defense would have plenty of time to shift and meet me. So, I chose the faster, riskier up the middle route.
By the bottom of the second, things were not going well for the attackers.
Jim set up a skirmish line on my left to protect the covered approach. I saw an opportunity to cut those troops off and prevent their retreat. Jim saw an opportunity to burn two Shermans with panzerfausts.
Meanwhile my quick coup-de-main up the middle was being slowed down to a crawl by harassing fire called in by the German radio man. Though still concealed, he was obviously in the building in BFP C N8.
Top of third, things started to turn. A sniper took out the German 8-1. Then , the biggest shot of the game: an area fire Critical Hit on the radio man. The barrage lifted and the gates were open.
The bulk of my infantry moved through and around the now rubbled buildings in P2 and O3. Some more moved around now open German left. There was just too much infantry there for the Germans to check.
A Sherman with a malfed MA charged into the building in R3 and overran the German MG, breaking the crew. Then he slammed into the church, tying up the troops there.
The German reinforcements came on and put up a fight, but it was too late. The British just had too much bearing down on the Germans by that point. In the final turn, the multitude of British squads poured into the village capturing more than enough buildings for the win.
It should be said that I scored a few criticals in this game, and Jim had terrible luck with boxcars at all the wrong times. I feel like my strategy was pretty sound, and yet it was a dicing as well.
Because of the dice and the early exit of the German artillery, this didn;t feel as close as it might have. I think it is an interesting scenario and well worth playing.
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