I haven't posted anything here for a long time. Since my last post I've played one game of O Group but that was an intro game where I introduced the game to a friend using the Attack on Christo scenario from the rule book. A few other games have been cancelled for various reasons but last week I managed to get a game happening.
The battlefield was pretty bare. The Commonwealth forces were deployed amongst the ridge on the east and the DAK were attacking from the Shawaddywaddy Wadi to the west. In between was a small village. I played the British and, my opponent Michael, played the Germans.
The village was divided into three Build Up Areas (BUA). Each BUA could hold one platoon. The dice on the roof of the larger building determined when the sun would rise. The first two turns were in the pre-dawn. Maximum visibility was 18" and all targets were considered obscured. At the end of turn 2 the dice would be rolled. The sun would rise on a 6 for turn 2, a 5 for turn 3, etc... Until the sun rose.
The German start line was the Shawaddywaddy Wadi.
Still in darkness the German lead elements along with reconnaissance and scouts moved from their starting positions and advanced towards the village.
From the east my own scouts were attempting to get into the village in order to deploy troops. Unfortunately I lost that race.
While the pre-dawn darkness remained the lead DAK forces managed to get a toe hold in the village as British scouts managed to infiltrate the eastern parts.
The sun rose early (a 6 was rolled at the end of turn 2 - we decided that or the German attack must have been late getting off their mark). With fighting in the streets of the village both sides brought up armoured support. The German recon had the opportunity to either retreat or fight it out with the British armour. Foolishly they decided to try and shoot it out.
A mortar stonk now fell on the DAK troops in the western section of the village whilst my brave lads now took the 3rd BUA and poured fire onto a platoon of The Bosch approaching from the other side. The Crusader troop took aim at the German armoured cars and blew the entire platoon to pieces in the centre of the town.
They should have chosen the retreat option. The second Bosch platoon now tried an unsuccessful assault on the 3rd BUA and were repulsed. An attempt to rally them saw them fall back even further. The German assault was getting bogged down.
Hearing reports of DAK armour approaching the village from the west the men of 7th Armoured Div were directed to move out an take them on! The German armour, a troop of panzer III's opened fire on the Crusaders but to no effect as their shots went wide of their targets.
A German platoon advanced on low ridge in the centre of the table edge opposite the village. To counter them I deployed a platoon of infantry with a supporting Vickers machinegun section.
With supporting mortar fire, a fresh DAK platoon moved in and once again assaulted the 3rd BUA - This time with much greater success.
My brave chaps were thrown out of their positions with heavy losses (only one section remaining).
An artillery stonk came down on the Crusaders. The tanks were not damaged but were forced back to the road.
The Infantry in the town were also caught in the barrage, They were hit hard and they too were forced to retreat away from the barrage.
It was time for a counter attack. A troop of little Honey light tanks, supported by a platoon of infantry, advanced onto the field. They attempted to shoot up the panzer III's in the flank but were unsuccessful.
At the same time the Crusaders once again advanced and shelled the village. The platoon that was forced to retreat managed to rally and came in to support the tanks. A platoon and a second Vickers section also poured fire into the village.
Unfortunately, a second platoon of of Pz III's drove up and took up hull down positions on the lip of the wadi. They exchange fire with the Honey's with the result being one section destroyed and the other badly damaged. At the same time a second German artillery strike fell on the Crusader troop and their infantry support forcing them back again; this time with some damage.
With all the British armour now retreating or suppressed the German armour moved out of the cover of the wadi. Meanwhile the other Pz III troop sat back and poured HE into the troops on the ridge behind the village.
Mortars hit the British line forcing one of the crusader troops to abandon their vehicle (this isn't specified in the rules but they took damage and were destroyed. Mortars can't really destroy tanks so we thought they must have had enough shelling and decided to abandon their vehicles).
I had a couple of units waiting in ambush and they now came into play and took on the panzer III's coming out of the wadi. A pair of 2pdr anti-tank guns (one a portee and the other a static gun). Both guns scored direct hits on their targets but the superior German armour just shrugged off both hits.
At this time I forgot to keep taking photos. What happened?
The village was squarely in German hands. Michael consolidate his 3rd company in the village and set up an assault on the ridge behind. The troops there had been pounded by HE for a couple of turns and were in a bad way. The British C company came in as support and got hit with heavy casualties from the HE shelling.
The German armour in the centre continued to advance and my 2pdr guns shot them repeatedly and never once hit them again. My A company was almost completely wiped out and my B company did barely anything other than hold their positions.
By the time we finished I was almost up to 3 FUBAR's and Michael was on 1 FUBAR. My troops were in a bad way and the only option left for the British was to retreat.
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It was a good game after such a long time. I didn't get the win but it was good to lay out the table and put models on it again. This is the first time I've put my desert forces on the table since I rebased them for O Group. I think the overall set up looked good.
P.S: In case you're wondering... Here's a link to how I made my desert table mat:
Desert Mat
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