And we are back at the ring contour south of Bas Ranville, as Jasper's Para platoon counterattacks Arvid's PanzerGrenadiers in the 3rd game of the Von Luck Pint sized campaign. After the dramatic ending of last game, can the Germans regain initiative?
The Paras will have 10 support points for a counter attack as per the PSC, and a few more teams from the core Para platoon have turned up as well
while the Germans will have 6 points.
The Paras manage to turn the PzGren left flank during the patrol phase.
But it always turns out slightly different when placing jump off points...
On the first turn, a squad of Paras deploys in overwatch on each flank.
The Germans keep very still
Turn 2: Jasper strengthens his right flank with a sniper and a 2" mortar which starts laying smoke... on the left center. The squad on the left crawls forward, inspired by the platoon sergeant
Turn 3: the fire base on the Para right flank is strengthened with a Vickers MG.
More smoke lands on the left flank. Germans keep stumm
Turn 4 gets a double phase for the paras, who make their move towards the German jump off points on both flanks. More smoke dropped
On the 2nd phase the paras push on, denying the Germans the use of a jump off point and getting close to the objective
This finally sparks a German response. An MMG opens up between the smoke
(inspired by a senior leader), but the damage is light. Then an LMG
ambushes but again the paras come away with some shock
Turn 5: the para sniper hits back at the LMG,
But the main course is the paras on the right charging the MMG!
It ends with the MMG taken out, as well as the German senior leader wounded. 3 paras killed and the senior leader wounded. German force morale -4, British -1. And worse: the paras have now closed down the jump off point/objective!
More response from the Germans: a squad deploys and fires on the para team on the jump off point on the right. ( team is pinned)
They in turn get shot at by the Vickers on overwatch
Another PzGr squad takes aim at the paras in the smoke, who lose the Bren team (no effect on morale though)
Turn 6: a double phase in which initially the weakened paras on the left lose some shock and the MMG does light damage on the right
On the 2nd phase the para squad on the left moves in the flank of the PzGren LMG team.
That's 3 stens and 2 grenades from the junior leader. Almost wipes out the team
More flank maneouvre on the right, but the bren team isn't very effective
The Germans have a double phase and shoot at the MMG. Not much effect though
Double 6s continue and the PzGren shoot some more, inspired by another senior leader. Target is bren team on the right. That's repeated on the next phase, wounding the junior leader ( no loss of morale)
Turn 7: paras charge the remaining LMG in the flank on the left. The LMG routs off table (but no morale effect!).
On the right a bren team retreats to a safer distance.
MMG inflicts more casualties. And is joined by a new squad
Double phase for the PzGren: a team deploys but misses the para team on the left.
A sole team on the right also receives a salvo and breaks. -1 force morale
Another double phase! Germans shoot up the para squad on the left (-1 force moral) junior and senior leader survive. Shots on right flank miss
On the last 'double' phase, the PzGren manage to rout the forward para squad on the right, including the junior leader as they run off the table. For a total of -3 force morale. Germans now on 4, Brits on 5. Close!
Turn 8: Every para along the hedges blasts towards the PzGren inflicting some shock.
The two leaders on the left move behind the smoke, dodging a few bullets (interupt)
Germans blast back towards the hedge, with minimal effect. This now has turned into a firefight, but at least the Germans have cleared their jump off points of enemies
Turn 9: again everyting from the hedge lets go at the PzGren. Multiple hits incl senior leader (force morale drops to 3)
At which point the PzGren withdraw intact. This means the paras retain the initiative.
The Paras have lost 9 men of which 2 are ignored because of the morale difference. Nevertheless, these losses make the platoon commander slightly less beloved by his men (drops from 5 to 4). His boss is very pleased however, opinion improves from 2 to 4. His own outlook changes from affable to confident.
The mood is not that good on the German side. The men start losing confidence because of continued lack of success and losses (-2 to -4). The boss is also not as happy (0 to -1). Arvid himself flows from content to sad.
Going through the victory conditions for the campaign we came to the conclusion that a German win was now impossible, even discounting the British option to call on naval support (which holds up a German attack for a turn). But given the work Jasper has put into the terrain and the new support options, we felt we'd start the campaign anew. So next game will be on the Ring Contour again!
See you then.