Peninsular War - Spanish Mules and Oxen

Just a quick post to show off my Spanish Peninsular draught animals to get 'The Gun' to Ávila while avoiding the French.  It's not their first appearance as they did get a walk on part in my first ever post.

First, an overview of the whole baggage train.

The ox-carts.

The mules.

The postillions on the mules, like this figure ...

... were all fairly straight-forward conversions of the Jacklex Colonial figures inspired by Suhr's contemporary illustrations of Romana's Spanish Division in Hamburg, 1807-08. 

And the reason for it all, The Gun, complete with Cary Grant, Sophia Loren and Frank Sinatra.

Yes, the gun is ridiculously over-scale being a Warhammer Great Cannon, but the Hollywood version is even further over the top.

In C S Forester's 'The Gun' it's only an 18-pounder, and in the historical event on which the story is based it's a 12-pounder.  

The Combat of Dva Mosta

[Pre-Cabinette Archives c.2017]

I had been hoping to round off this month's posts with a final Chain of Command (CoC) AAR wrapping up the Caesar's Camp campaign.  Unfortunately, John, my opponent, has had to postpone the final showdown while he fights off a bout of 'the Lurgy'.  

So instead, I've dug out, what I think is the last of the pieces I wrote for the short-lived Wargamer's Notes Quarterly (an e-magazine), and here it is from back in 2017:

The Combat of Dva Mosta

Ignoring parental warnings about the dangers of meeting up with ‘e-friends’ I took the plunge and invited a fellow Spencer Smith Miniatures (SSMs) fancier over for a game with my collection.  Iain and I had met up online and corresponded courtesy of Henry Hyde after I spotted Iain’s figures in an issue of Miniature Wargames and asked Henry (the editor) to pass on my compliments.   

With a game looming, I cast about for a table-top teaser not wanting to present Iain (of Gateway Alliance and General E Pickled fame) with a ‘fair fight’.  Scrabbling through my bookshelves I came across my copy of Bruce Quarrie’s Napoleonic Wargaming.  

Like many rules this contains a short description of a game to illustrate the rules ‘in action’, albeit the game is not played to a conclusion.  I had always thought that the scenario was unbalanced, which was just what I was looking for.  Perhaps I should explain my philosophy: one, war is seldom fair, so why should wargames be any different; and two, imbalanced games can help keep the level of competitiveness in check, not a bad thing with an untried opponent.  Surprisingly, Iain, when offered the choice, opted for the challenge of trying to cross the river crossing; an impulsive act of bravado that was later regretted.

The Scenario: involves a Russian force attempting to cross a river in the face of strong French opposition posted behind the two bridges from which this battle takes its name.  The book does not list the orders of battle so, going from the various photos, like that below, I substituted CHARGE units (infantry battalions, light companies, cavalry squadrons and artillery batteries) for the units in the book. 

Order of Battle (OOB): owing to the, MUCH, larger unit sizes in CHARGE this resulted in fair sized game involving about two thirds of my infantry and artillery and a third of my cavalry.   The OOBs are as follows.

Russian – General E Mal'chik 

1. 3 sqn.s Rostovski Dragoons (30 fig.s)

2. 1 sqn. Grouzinski Hussars (10 fig.s)

3. Novyy Rossiya Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

4. Shveytsarskiyh Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

5. 1st Bavarskiy Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

6. 2nd Bavarskiy Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

7. Khorvat Pandour coy. (15 fig.s)

8. Zheltyy Freikorps coy. (15 fig.s)

9. 2 Artillery batteries, (4 x 6 pdrs)

Mal'chik and the 2nd Bavarskiy Inf. Regt.

French – Comte de Grasse

A. 1 sqn. Gendarmerie du Roi (16 fig.s)

B. 3 sqn.s Condé Cuirassiers (30 fig.s)

C. 1 sqn. Berry Horse (10 fig.s)

D. Converged Grenadier Bn. (60 fig.s)

E. D’Eu Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

F. Soissonnais Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

G. Los Rios Inf. Regt. (60 fig.s)

H. 2 coy.s Arquebusiers de Grassin (30 fig.s)

I. 2 Artillery batteries, (4 x 6 pdrs)

The French force has an edge in the quality of their cavalry and a slight numerical advantage from the large Gendarmerie squadron.  As the Russians have to force a river crossing in the face of such odds, I upgraded the morale (but not firepower) of all their infantry to ‘grenadier’ status, i.e. units become ‘defeated’ when reduced below third-strength (as opposed to below half-strength).

Deployment (see map): was based on starting positions from the original game, or at least as far as they could be inferred from the available photographs. 

The units on the map are labelled as per the orders of battle and the location of the opposing generals is shown by a star.  As can be seen from the map (which I think is more squashed toward the right than it was in the game), the French (mostly Austrian figures) under de Grasse heavily favoured their right while General Mal’chik had more evenly spread his Russians between the two bridges.  Here's the reality (back in the day before I got my cabin).

The Game: started with the Russians pouring across the bridges and ford as rapidly as possible while the French advanced to deny them space to deploy. 

While most of the opening moves were aggressive, an element of caution generated some confusion, and curses, amongst one company of Grassins.  Their orders were to advance to the river to bring the enemy artillery under effective fire however, they were also tasked to maintain a safe distance from any enemy cavalry.  Like some bizarre form of the game ‘Twister’, these conflicting requirements saw the Grassins squashed like the jam in a Russian cavalry sandwich.  

Mal’chik’s amused grin was soon wiped from his face as both sides artillery fired their opening rounds.  The Russian fire was largely ineffective but the French dismounted a gun with their first shot.

The inevitable charge declaration by the Grouzinski Hussars against the Grassins saw the Arquebusiers dismayed to find their ‘safe distance’ ineffective against cavalry that can move 30” (having none, the French had overlooked the fact the Russians had Light cavalry)!  

Charge declarations were rounded off with the leading squadron of Condé Cuirassiers charging the Rostovski Dragoons as they emerged from the ford.  Nearby, the Novvy Rossiya infantry having crossed the western bridge reformed for the inevitable confrontation with the white-coated Los Rios infantry awaiting them on the ridge ahead.  With the artillery supporting the Austrian infantry already inflicting losses it was clear the Novvy Rossiya were in for a rough time.

The Condé Cuirassiers attack on the Rostovski Dragoons proved indecisive, a second round of combat being required to determine the victor.  The Languedoc Dragoons did better, thrashing the Rostovski squadron that had crossed the eastern bridge.  To complete a trio of unexpected results, the Arquebusiers de Grassin rolled a splendid set of dice to hold the Grouzinski Hussars to a draw despite odds of two to one!  A further die roll then forced the hussars to rally back and reconsider their options[1].  The end result of all these shenanigans can be seen in the photo below of the table after two moves, with Mal’chik frantically scribbling orders for turn three.

The game continued with the Russian left and French right glowering at each other across the eastern bridge, but neither prepared to risk crossing under fire.  On the Russian right, the advancing Novyy Rossiya took heavy losses from artillery fire while the Shveytsarskiyh Regiment crossed to form up behind them in support. 

Mal’chik, disinclined to force the eastern bridge, decided to double-down on the western crossing and ordered the 2nd Bavarskiy infantry across to reinforce his right flank (they can be seen in the distance below marching from right to left).  

In the centre, the Grassins rallied in place after unfairly escaping the attentions of the Russian hussars and the Languedoc Dragoons rallied back in readiness to charge again.  The Condé Cuirassiers and Rostovski Dragoons both rallied back after another drawn mêlée opening the way for their supporting squadrons to get to grips with each other.  The resulting combat between these squadrons was overshadowed by the bloodbath resulting from the Russian infantry advancing to exchange volleys with the Los Rios regiment on the ridge.  

This resolved the infantry contest on the western ridge as both sides went understrength[2] and were consequently forced to retire for two turns.  This result reflected more credit on Mal’chik than de Grasse as the latter had failed to hold his nerve and withdrawn his artillery from the ridge in response to an imagined threat.   

Mal’chik also managed another bloody draw in the nearby cavalry mêlée thanks to an adroit move allowing the Russian infantry to assist their dragoons with a timely salvo.  The 3rd squadron of the Condé cuirassier promptly charged the infantry responsible and wreaked a terrible revenge courtesy of some exceptional combat dice.

There was now lull in the action as both sides rallied in western half of the field and brought over more troops from the east.  These manoeuvres effectively saw the Russians abandon any attempt to cross the eastern bridge as the last of their infantry marched off to reinforce the western bridgehead, here being held by eth recently arrived 2nd Bavarskiy infantry.  

As the strengthened Russian right flank prepared for another attack Mal’chik realised that the French had responded in kind.  Surveying the field, he realised he was facing odds of two to three in infantry, two to one in artillery, and while nearly at parity in cavalry his surviving dragoons were close to their defeat threshold while the elite French Gendarmerie were as yet untouched.  

Against these odds and with his army dangerously close to its break-point (50% losses) Mal’chik conceded and yielded the field to de Grasse.

The Victorious Comte de Grasse

Digging out this old account has made me realise my SSMs don't get much play these days; I really must squeeze in some more games.

Notes:

[1.]  This was mistake: cavalry only dice to determine if a second of mêlée is allowed when fighting cavalry.

[2.]  The CHARGE rules are exceptionally bloody, and I do now use a modified set which, while still pretty deadly, means units do hang around a bit longer.

4th Hussars on Parade

Decided I couldn't wait to get them out to the cabin so as it wasn't raining as had been forecast, I nipped out and got them on the table.  The table was still set up from my last Chain of Command game as we're shortly fighting the same scenario again.  

So, they rode out into the field for their first parade.

Then, once Lasalle had placed himself at their head, they were reviewed by the Emperor and his extensive entourage.

His majesty was pleased to see that at last one of his cavalry regiments had managed to field more men than he had generals.  The 4th Hussars are bigger than my standard 12-figure units as I didn't have enough for two units and didn't want to leave any of them unused.  Also, the 4th Hussars, along with the 13th Cuirassiers, seem to have kept up their strength better than most.  Out of the 28 Nafziger OOBs that list the 4th in Spain they are 600+strong in 20 of them and in two of those they are more than 900-strong.

4th Hussars WiP now Complete

While at times it seemed these guys were doomed to be a perpetual work in progress (WiP) they are finally finished.  So, here's a quick lightbox session to show how they turned out.

Not the flashiest of the French hussar units when their red pelisses are not in view, but from some angles they're pretty enough.

As always, the command group and elite company are the showiest (is that a word?): as can be seen from the front ...

... the right profile ...

... the rear view ...

... and the left profile.

The trumpeter is a conversion of an elite company hussar resting his carbine on his thigh.  The modifications included a head swap (from a Garrison French hussar) and a hand grasping a trumpet from Newline Designs trumpeter (I forget exactly what type of cavalry figure).

The officer figure was also made from same figure as the trumpeter but he kept his colpack, just having the carbine removed from his right hand which was raised as though giving an order.

In my first WiP post on these guys I said I was going to fix a trooper's broken sword.  In the end I decided I'd use a spare elite trooper and just do a head swap.  This showed that the elite figure is a better casting and not identical to the line figure.  The main difference is the carbine.  As can be seen in the photo below, the carbine is longer and better modelled and rests under his arm (he's the figure on the left of the photo. 

I am pleased with these but it will be a while before I paint more hussars, something a bit simpler being in preparation for my next unit.

The 4th Hussars will be reporting for duty in another post to follow.

======ADDENDUM======

I thought I should own up that the number '4' on the sabretaches is a home-made decal.  I had several attempts at painting it on and they were all rather disappointing. 

'La Ferme de Caubert' - Will it be Third Time Lucky?

Capturing Caesar's Camp, 3rd June 1940 - a pint-sized campaign 

This is the third attempt by the British to capture the farm, and their platoon is now badly understrength, consisting of: 

• 2x Senior Leaders.
• 3x Junior Leaders (two being promoted from the ranks as inferior jnr-ldrs).
• [with just one command initiative and a 3" command radius]
• 16x Riflemen to man the Bren guns and 2" mortar, or serve as riflemen.

However, as the British gain two additional support point for every repeat attempt to win this scenario, they now have 20 points of support available.

My German platoon is still at full strength and has 12 support points but gains 2 free defences, one for each attack beaten off.

Scenario 4 - 'La Ferme de Caubert'

Not much new I can say about this one - see scenario map below (North is at the top of the Map).

The terrain lay-down has been altered slightly from the previous two games as the line of trees (outlined in yellow above) is now an open line of trees that doesn't affect visibility or provide any cover.  Previously we had mistakenly read this on the map as a thick hedge blocking line of sight (LOS) and providing hard cover.  This will only make things harder for the Brits.  The resulting table-top terrain, pretty close to what we used before, looked like this.

Another mistake we corrected this time, was to select our support options before the Patrol Phase.  Previously I had been following the scenario description which always describes the patrol phase before detailing how much support each side gets.

With my 12 points, I selected two 7.5cm light Infantry Guns (leIG.18) at 4pt.s each, a flamethrower team (3pt.s) and an extra entrenchment (1pt.), plus entrenchments as my two free defences.

John, unknown to me, spent his 20 points on: two infantry sections (4pt.s each); a Vickers MMG (4pt.s); a Bren carrier and LMG team (3pt.s); a Sniper team (2pt.s); a 2" Mortar Team (2pt.s); and, an Adjutant (1pt.)

The rolls for Force Morale (FM) saw my Germans roll well, a '6', to start on 11, and the Brits did nearly as well rolling a '4' for a Force Morale of 10.

The Patrol Phase

The Germans, with the higher force morale start the patrol phase proper, but the Brits get D6 free moves before the start.  They rolled a '6', which enabled them to lock down two of my patrol markers before I had a chance to move.  The resulting locked down position of the patrol markers can be seen below (The two German markers, side-by-side just ahead of the farm being those that never moved).

This saw me pretty much penned in to the farm complex, although I managed to place one jump-off point (JOP) to the east (left) of the farm see below (the one on the roof of La Haye Barn is actually inside the barn).

The three British JOPs can be seen half-way down the eastern edge (top-left), at the south-east corner (far corner) and behind a thicket near their table-edge.  Also marked with a red arrow is the British vehicle entry point, although, spoiler alert, this didn't feature in the game.

The Game[1]

The British as the attackers, start with 3 Chain of Command (CoC) points and take the first phase, but nothing happened for the first seven phases!

1-B(23356): no activations or deployments.
2-G(11346): ditto.
3-B(12455): the Brits gain a full Coc die.
4-G(11456): no activations or deployments.

5-B(33344): ditto.
6-G(12566): a double-phase but no activations or deployments.

7-G(11345): no activations or deployments.

By now I was really puzzling what this inactivity by the attacking Brits foretold - did they have some fiendish plan?  Surely they didn't expect me to deploy first?

8-B(11246): at last the British started the ball rolling by deploying a senior leader (snr-ldr) and an entrenched Vickers MMG ...

... which immediately laid down suppressing fire on the hedge running south from the Big Barn.

This was new, we had hardly ever, if at all, used suppressive fire in our previous games.  John was clearly trying a different approach.

9-G(22334): I felt it was a bit early to respond so I decided to wait and see what the Brits would do next.

10-B(45566): a double-phase!  Was I going to pay for my inactivity?  Well not this phase as with only a '4' that was actionable the Vickers was directed to refresh the suppressive fire[2].

11-B(22234): the Vickers MMG again re-laid the suppressive fire.  But this time John also deployed one of his support infantry sections (no.3) from the JOP behind the thicket, adopting a Tactical stance for protection.

12-G(11256): not wanting to let John set up too many mutually supporting units before I acted, I deployed an entrenched 7.5cm leIG.18 gun (henceforth IG#1) in the hedgerow and opened fire on the Vickers MMG.  It only inflicted 1 point of shock thanks to its entrenchment (hard cover) albeit h.e. reduces cover by one level.  Oh well, early days.

The entrenchment is actually embedded within the hedge and capable of firing through and along it.

13-B(25666): a double-phase and end-of-turn (EoT)!  But with no smoke or pinned or broken units, this had little effect other than removing the Tactical marker from no.3 section.  With only a '2' to activate on, the Brits deployed the only full section (no.1) from their core platoon between the Vickers and the hedge.

14-B(23336): the newly arrived no.1 section cautiously (tactically) advanced along the hedge towards the farm.

Then no.3 section advanced from the thicket to the hedge facing the Big Barn.

An overview of this two-pronged advance is shown below.

15-G(24556): which gave me my first CoC die.  With the '4' I deployed a senior leader into the Big Barn to bolster the IG#1 and direct it to fire at the MMG, inflicting another point of shock.

16-B(23456): the senior leader activated and removed both shock from the Vickers and directed it to lay down suppressive fire against IG#1.  At the same time no.1 section advanced along the hedge and threw a grenade at IG#1, it fell short (the rather awkward angle of the photo is down to me me leaning across to take the picture).

No.3 section then fell-back (tactically) from the hedge facing the Big Barn, no doubt fearing the imminent appearance of something nasty therein.  No photo I'm afraid as the game now entered a photo blackout for several phases - and I had been doing so well up to now.

17-G(24556): the German III section deployed into the first floor of the Farmhouse and together with IG#1, both targeted no.1 section behind the hedge.  The net result 2 shock, one each on the Bren and Rifle teams.

18-B(22446): the British senior leader removed both shock from no.1 section and directed the Vickers to continue suppressing IG#1.  Strangely that was all they did in this phase.

19-G(11366): a double-phase, and in this phase, a repeat of phase 17, with III section and IG#1 targeting no.1 section inflicting 1 kill and 2 shock (all on the Rifle team).

20-G(12345): and more of the same against no.1 section for 2 shock (one on each team).

21-B(33456): the senior leader removed a point of shock from no.1 section (mistake? - see phase 25) and directed the Vickers to suppress III section who were firing from the Farmhouse.  No.1 section's junior leader removed another point of shock and directed his men to throw a smoke grenade towards IG#1.  This landed successfully meaning IG#1 would now fire on -1 for firing through the smoke (smoke from grenades impede firing but do not block LOS).

22-G(2444'5/6'[3]): IG#1 and III section again inflicted 1 shock on each team within no.1 section.  Now they were suitably softened up, I spent a CoC die and sprang an ambush against no.1 section with my flamethrower team - which reminded me to start taking photos again!

The effects were devastating; two men killed and 10 points of shock which left the section pinned (8 figures with 14 points of shock). 

The ambush team withdrew unhindered at the end of the phase.

23-B(23456): the senior leader removed 2 shock from no.1 section (mistake? - see phase 25) and kept the Vickers supressing the German III section in the Farmhouse.  

No.1 section's junior leader also removed 2 shock from his men.

Was my masterstroke going to be for nothing?

24-G(34556): III section pulled off some impressive shooting dice in this phase managing, despite the suppressive fire and the hard cover, to stun their junior leader, kill a rifleman and inflict 1 shock on the Rifle team.  The Bad Things happen test for the stunned leader saw British Force morale drop from 10 to 9.

Now wishing I hadn't withdrawn the flamethrower team I spent another CoC die to repeat their ambush of no.1 section.  This time they only killed one man, wiping out the Bren team and inflicting 8 points of shock.  The British morale survived unscathed from the loss of the Bren team and as they were carrying a lot of shock the remaining 6 men just missed breaking (6 figures with 10 shock).  

The observant reader will no doubt spot another mistake here, as the 6 figures in question include the stunned junior leader (stunned leaders are not counted for sharing shock) so the section should have broken.

This time I decided to leave the flamethrower team on the table.

25-B(22456): the first thing that happened was the senior leader removing 2 shock from no.1 section.  It was only now that we realised he was not 'attached' (within 4") to the section and thus couldn't, and shouldn't have, rallied off any shock from them.  So, while he limited himself to keeping III section in the Farmhouse suppressed by the Vickers, a second senior leader deployed close enough to no.1 section to remove 3 shock.  Then John spent a CoC die to spring his own ambush with a Bren team and junior leader[4] appearing alongside the recently arrived senior leader.  

They naturally fired at the flamethrower team, but their firing proved completely ineffective; they also departed at the end of the phase.

26-G(22356): the senior leader left the Big Barn to get within command range of the flamethrower team and directed them to fire the last of their fuel at no.1 section - see photo (the smoke is from the smoke grenade thrown by no.1 section in phase 21).

Unfortunately the flamethrower seemed to suffering from the law of diminishing returns, only inflicting 6 points of shock which was not enough [sic] to break no.1 section.  

To try and tip them over the edge, III section also fired at no.1 section but without effect.

27-B(34556): the senior leader now took another 3 points of shock off no.1 section and the second support infantry (no.2) deployed.

The Bren team from no.2 section, bottom left of the above photo, had a LOS to the flamethrower team and promptly opened fire.  They killed one man and inflicted 2 points of shock, just failing to pin them.

28-G(22445): my senior leader instructed the flamethrower team to move to the JOP away from enemy fire and hopefully to resupply; they just made it.  On reaching the JOP a D6 was rolled and they successfully replaced the empty tanks with full ones for another three bursts of flame. 

Elsewhere, IG#1 fired at section no.2 without effect, and III section managed to inflict a point of shock on no.1 section.

29-B(33366): both support sections, no.s 2 and 3, advanced tactically, up to the hedges near them.  In the photo below, no.3 section is front and centre, while no.2 section is at the top right behind the pinned no.1 section.

30-B(11156): and finally the British got a '1' allowing them to deploy a 2" mortar team from their forward JOP to immediately deploy smoke to block the fire from III section in the Farmhouse.

Also deploying in this phase was a sniper in a thicket from which he engaged IG#1 and killing one of the gunners.

The smoke blocking III section in the farmhouse and the dead IG#1 gunner can be seen in the wider area photo below.

But John wasn't finished yet, spending another CoC die to repeat his Bren team ambush, this time deploying it the same side of the hedge as its target, the flamethrower team.  

Despite the change of position, and for some reason leaving the junior leader behind in the dressing room, the result was the same as the previous ambush - a complete waste of ammunition!  At the end of the phase they retired suitably embarrassed.

31-G(14566): I started my double-phase by activating my senior leader to move towards the flamethrower team to take them under command.  But, before I could move him, John once again used a CoC for a third 'ambush' by the Bren team, this time with their junior leader.  

For them it was case of third time's the charm as they killed one and inflicted 3 points of shock.

This was enough for the sole surviving member of the flamethrower team to rout back into the farm.

This rout caused the German Force Morale to drop from 11 to 10.  The senior leader, stopped in his tracks now the team he was going to sort out were no longer there, used his remaining initiative to order IG#1 to fire at the survivors of the British no.1 section.

This enforced change of intent turned out to be very fortunate, as IG#1 threw some impressive dice to inflict 1 kill and 2 points of shock which broke no.1 section[5] and they routed off the table leaving their stunned section leader behind.  The Bad Things Happen test saw British Force Morale drop from 9 to 8.

32-G(11336): with the departure of the British no.1 section, I figured I could spare my senior leader to go and rally the flamethrower operator.  Unfortunately, after directing IG#1 to fire, he didn't manage to catch up with the flamethrower in this phase, only getting as far as the JOP in the farmyard.  Was this a mistake?

Maybe not as IG#1 switched to a new target, inflicting 1 kill and 1 point of shock on the 2" mortar deployed near the Vickers MMG.   Also, starting to scent victory I deployed my second 7.5cm leIG.18 gun (IG#2), also entrenched.  This immediately placed 2 points of shock on no.2 section at the hedge.  The two infantry guns and the senior leader en-route to the flamethrower can all be seen in the photo below.

33-B(11245): the British now engaged the newly deployed IG#2 getting the nearby rifle team to fire 5 Rounds Rapid (the stunned, and abandoned, leader of no.1 section can also be seen nearby).

This well-directed fire wounded the junior leader of IG#2 and inflicted 3 points of shock.  The wounding of IG#2's leader caused German force Morale to drop from 10 to 9.  The British sniper then targeted IG#1 and missed, but IG#1 did take a point of shock from h.e. fired by the British 2" mortar.  The state of the two gun crews can be seen below.

34-G(23445): in this phase the German senior leader caught up with his flamethrower and rallied off 2 points of shock.  

IG#1, firing at the 2" mortar managed to wound the junior leader[6], at the top of the photo below, which, thanks to one of John's signature morale die rolls, caused British Force Morale to drop from 8 to 6.  

35-B(22355): the British senior leader got the rifle team to repeat the dose of 5 Rounds Rapid against IG#2 inflicting 2 more points of shock.  The junior leader joined in with the Bren team but didn't add anything.  Nonetheless the IG#2 gun team was perilously close to being pinned and my senior leader was still away rallying the flamethrower operator.

36-G(34556): using the only two actionable dice, the German senior leader rallied off the last of the flamethrower's shock; and German II section deployed into the Big Barn.

II section opened fire at the British no.3 section to keep it tied-up, but only inflicted 1 point of shock.

37-B(14556): the senior leader again directed another 5 Rounds Rapid at IG#2 to inflict 2 points of shock, just one short of pinning them.  But before I could breathe a sigh of relief the 2" mortar chipped in with an h.e. round and stunned their junior leader leaving them pinned and German Force Morale was sank from 9 to 8.

38-G(13466): the senior leader left the, now restored, flamethrower 'team' and ran off to join II section in Big Barn, where, together with their junior leader, they focused the section's fire on no.3 section.  All this expert direction only delivered 2 points of shock.  IG#1 fired at what was left of the British 2" mortar team, and succeeded in wiping it out, but John sacrificed a CoC die to avoid taking the Bad Things Happen morale test.

39-G(22345): being fairly happy with way things were trending, I just kept on firing at everything I could.  IG#1's junior leader removed a point of shock and fired at the section leader of the now defunct mortar team and killed him!  Even better, John again suffered from poor morale dice and British Force Morale dropped from 6 to 4 reducing them to 4 command dice.  The excellent shooting continued with II section delivering 6 shock on no.3 section, who were starting to look shaky.

40-B(1356): limited by the command dice, the sniper engaged IG#1 and missed, and no.3 section's leader rallied 2 points of shock off his men.

41-G(35566): a double-phase; it seemed nothing was going to go the British way.  Again, II section in the Big Barn fired at no.3 section and put back the 2 shock their junior leader had just removed. 

42-G(33356): first, IG#1 fired at the Vickers but failed to inflict any harm.  Then, II section inflicted yet another 2 points of shock on no.3 section - their plight was starting to look desperate.  

43-B(5666): a turn end, just what the British didn't want.  With no actionable command dice, nothing happened in the phase but at the end, all the smoke was removed opening up more German lines of fire.  Also, the end of the turn saw the stunned leaders of the British no.1 section and the German IG#2 recover, and the unpinning of the German flamethrower, leaving the table looking like this.

44-B(2556): all the British could manage was to advance no.2 section along the hedge towards IG#1.

45-G(22345): with clearer fields of fire there was lots I could do with these dice.  First, II section, courtesy of maschinengewehr, managed 14 hits on no.3 section, albeit these only translated into 1 kill and 1 point of shock.  IG#1, fired at the now recovered, isolated, and exposed junior leader left behind by no.1 section, and killed him.  

British Force Morale dropped from 4 to 3.  Finally, III section fired at the Vickers but without effect.

46-B(2244): at the cost of a CoC die, John repositioned no.3 section back from the hedge denying them as a target to the German II section in the Big Barn.

Then, the Vickers MMG laid down suppressive fire against III section in the Farmhouse.  And finally, in a last-ditch attempt to turn the tide of battle, the senior leader with no.2 section advanced them along the hedge and directed them to throw 2 grenades at IG#1.

Both fell short of the required 9".

47-G(23566): another double-phase, this was so jammy.  Despite being suppressed, III section in the Farmhouse managed to kill a rifleman in no.2 section; and IG#1 inflicted 2 points of shock on them.

48-G(11124): IG#1 and III section continued to target no.2 section adding 3 more points shock to the pile.

49-B(2456): the senior leader with no.2 section rallied off 2 points of shock and ordered them to throw their last grenade at IG#1, and as before, it fell short.  No.2 section then fired at III section in the Farmhouse and put 1 point of shock on their MG08 team.

50-G(45556): not a particularly useful set of command dice; CoC points are always handy but I already had a whole die, plus a few points, in hand.  This CoC die was undoubtedly why the British weren't bothering to finish off IG#2 as I could use it to avoid the morale test.  Anyway, using the '4' to activate my senior leader, he ordered IG#1 to fire on no.2 section.  And, in another demonstration of how much the dice were loving the Germans, as, despite the hard cover, they killed 1 rifleman and 1 Bren gunner as well as inflicting 1 point of shock.  I'm not sure why the accompanying photo only shows one kill.

51-B(1145): a better roll for the Brits allowed them to deploy another of their support assets, a 2" mortar, which took up position near the Vickers MMG.

It immediately attempted to lay smoke to block the LOS of III section in the farmhouse, but the smoke round went astray and landed off-table.  The British sniper fired at IG#1, failing to hit their leader but killing one of the gunners.  The phase was rounded off by the senior leader rallying 2 shock off no.2 section and getting them to throw their only smoke grenade at IG#1 - which successfully impeded its field of fire.  All these outcomes can be seen below.

52-G(12335): IG#1 and section III kept on firing at no.2 section, killing another rifleman and inflicting 2 more points of shock.  It was starting to look like no.2 section was going to go the same as no.1.

Almost as an afterthought, the junior leader of IG#2 removed a point of shock from his gun team.

53-B(2346): the leader of no.2 section removed 2 points of shock from what was left of his section.

Then, the 2" mortar fired h.e. at IG#1 and, even though they hit the dirt, the gun team lost another gunner leaving only three crew, including the leader.

54-G(23346): the leader of IG#2 removed another point of shock, before III section's MG08, using maschinengewehr, inflicted 1 point of shock on no.2 section but more importantly, also hit and wounded their junior leader.  This saw British Force Morale drop from 3 to 2, losing them another command die.

55-B(): at this point, acknowledging the writing on the wall, the British ceded the win and withdrew from the field of battle.

The Butcher's Bill

The German casualties were all among their support teams, the two leIG.18's lost 4 gunners between them and the flamethrower team lost two of their three men.  A total of 6 casualties.

The British also lost several from their support units, with 5 casualties among the two supporting infantry sections.  More importantly, their core platoon suffered a total of 9 casualties including the death of their only effective junior leader.  This means, that for the next game, which will be the last in the campaign, the British platoon will consist of:

• 2x Senior Leaders.
• 3x Junior Leaders.  
• One being newly promoted from the ranks after this game as an inferior jnr-ldr [with just one command initiative and a 3" command radius].
• The other two inferior jnr-ldrs will dice to see if they are now accepted as fully functioning jnr-ldrs by their men (i.e. on a D6 roll 3+).
• 9x Riflemen to man the Bren guns and 2" mortar, or serve as riflemen.

Post Mortem

This felt a much closer fight than the two earlier attacks on 'La Ferme de Caubert', but the end result was pretty much the same and this scenario is still looking unwinnable for the Brits.  Unless of course the Germans make some bad mistakes.

We did make several mistakes in terms of game-play.  I had set up the British morale track incorrectly so they lost their command dice a little later than they should have, but that would have made no difference to the outcome.  Also, as mentioned in the report, we forgot for most of the game that stunned leaders are not counted towards the total number of figures when sharing out shock to determine whether pinned or broken.  This would've seen the British no.1 section rout much sooner than it did, so really only prolonged their agony.

In terms of tactics, the British made very good use of suppressive fire and smoke grenades but perhaps should've pressed on to close assault the guns.  They also had a carrier as a support option which was not fielded, but then the Germans never deployed their last section either, so they probably cancelled each other out.

In my opinion, the Brits are at a BIG disadvantage due to the lack of any decent support weapons that can fire effective h.e. rounds, unlike the Germans with their leIG.18.  When there is so much hard cover available, the ability of h.e. to reduce cover by one level, and have everything on the table within short range, makes such weapons invaluable.

The Next Game

Will be the final game in the campaign with the British playing for pride, and the chance to reduce the Germans from a Major Victory to a Minor one.

Notes:

[1.]  Each phase is annotated with the phase number, the active force (B = British, G = German), and the command dice scores; thus 12-G(11256): is 12th phase in the game and the Germans have rolled 1,1,2,5,6 on their five command dice.

[2.]  This was pointless as suppressive fire only lasts until the end of the next phase, and with this being a Brit double-phase the next phase was theirs as well.  

[3.]  My notes here are illegible making it unclear whether the last die was a '5' or a '6'. 

[4.]  We weren't sure whether the junior leader should go with the team but as his depleted section only consisted of a Bren team; we decided it made sense for him to go with them.  If anyone knows different do get in touch.

[5.]  We counted it as 5 figures with 12 points of shock, as we were still mistakenly counting the stunned leader for the purposes of sharing out shock.

[6.]  I should've have explained at the start that the core British platoon was heavily reorganised on account of the losses it had suffered in the campaign.  Its new order of battle was one full strength section plus a Bren, and 2" mortar team, each under the command of one of the newly promoted section leaders.