'Taking the Gembloux Gap' a pint-sized campaign.
Turn 2, Game 2, Scenario 2 the 'The Culverts at Noirmont'
After the catastrophic French showing in the first game, my French now fielded a fresh platoon ...
... but this one was going to have serve throughout this scenario and the next two before another fresh platoon is available for scenario 5. Whereas John's German platoon is that used in the last game, it is only down by two men, one of whom would return to duty for the next game (game 3).
The Scenario
John's trademark terrain lay-down for this scenario is shown below, viewed from the German perspective).
John, with 12 points of support, covertly selected: 'surprise surprise' a Stuka Strike (4pts); a Motorcycle Mounted Reconnaissance Squad with Junior Leader (5pt.s); and, a Panzer I with Junior Leader (3pt.s).
The final pre-game prep were dice rolls to establish both sides' Force Morale; I rolled a '1' for a FM of 8, and John rolled a '5' with +1 for his men's opinion[2] which gave him a starting Force Morale of 11. John also rolled for starting CoC points and received 2.
Pre-Game Phases
Usually just the Patrol Phase, but as John had again called up a 'Stuka Strike' that came first. So, in swooped the gull-winged messengers of death, sirens screaming as they singled out one of their favourite targets - a group of nuns!
Luckily the nuns escaped unharmed ...
Then it was on to the Patrol Phase which ended with the German Patrol markers and jump-off points (JOPs - indicated by the red arrows) as shown below viewed from the German right (i.e. the Germans are attacking from left to right).
The French JOPs (red arrows) can be seen below, viewed from the French side.
From my perspective the was reasonably successful as two of my JOPs were close enough to the culverts to allow engineers to deploy into position to start work. The only down-side was that my left flank was not well covered.
The Game
As the attacker, with the initiative and the higher Force Morale, the Germans took the first phase.
1GE(2,5,6,6,6): a double-phase to start on, but, and it's a big BUT, three '6's for an End-of Turn after this phase. This means that all the effects of the Stuka raid will end before I even get my first phase, what luck!
With only one actionable command die, John deployed his nr.I section from his right-hand JOP near the hedge.
Either John had also spotted the weakness of my left flank, or the Boche were up to their usual dastardly tricks and targeting the nuns on the road ahead.
End of Turn 1 ...
... and the fire in the burning building went out and the UXB continued ticking, and with that, it was as if the Stuka strike had never happened.
2GE(1,2,2,2,4): and John, realising the French were now free to deploy without hindrance, stepped up the tempo. First, the German second in command, the Feldwebel (a senior leader) deployed alongside nr.I section and ordered them to advance at the run along the hedge (towards the nuns?), and he tagged along for the ride and removed the shock resulting from running.
Then the much-dreaded German armour made an appearance, but in the less than imposing shape of a Panzer I ...
The other two German infantry sections then deployed; first nr.II section from the German left flank JOP from where they put down suppressive fire down around the small culvert ...
... and then nr.III deployed into the cornfield and went tactical to avoid being caught in the open by any French response.
After all this activity, the situation looked like this.
3FR(3,5,5,6,6): and it's my turn for a double-phase, and not a moment too soon as the Germans are piling on the pressure. With only one actionable command die what should I prioritise? I decide that, despite it being a support option rather than part of John's core platoon, I do need to neutralise the panzer. So, I bring on my trusty 'soixante-quinze' ...
And it seems my anti-tank jinx only applies when I'm playing German, as I hit it first time (just!) despite it being a partially obscured, moving, small, low-profile target. I achieve just one penetrating hit, but the PzI fails to save and takes 1 shock and engine damage[3].
4FR(3,3,4,6,6): a treble-phase and with the boot (from the last game) now on the other foot, the Germans are starting to look concerned. I start by deploying No.1 section into the Café ...
... from where, with German suppressive fire no longer in effect, they open fire on the German nr.II section who are in the open and made to pay - suffering 1 kill and 4 points of shock (2 on each team) ...
... but more importantly the 'kill' is the section's obergefreiter (junior leader) who was killed outright (the dead figure at the back of the above photo). The Bad Things Happen test sees German Force Morale drop from 11 to 10.
Next the soixante-quinze takes another shot at the PzI, again hitting, although that's easier now as it hit with its last shot. And again it's on target, this time scoring two penetrating hots and the PzI rolls 'snake-eyes' to save neither but only takes two more points of shock.
Finally, I deploy my platoon (senior) leader, the Lieutenant, behind the Café from where he can both give orders to No.1 section in the Café and any engineers that might deign to turn up to demolish the small culvert (I've not yet had a '1' that I need to deploy an engineer team).
5FR(3,4,5,6,6): I still can't get any engineers on the table so I start with the '3' to try and finish off the PzI with the soixante-quinze.
And it seems I can't miss today, and again score two penetrating hits, and the PzI's armour continues to let everything through, wounding the commander and taking two points of shock.
The PzI's crew now abandon the vehicle[4] and leave the field, hopefully taking their wounded commander with them. The impact of this sees German Force Morale drop a point in response to both 'Bad Things' slipping from 10 down to 8.
The Lieutenant, behind the Café, now orders No.1 section to again target nr.II section in the open, this time inflicting 2 kills (one on each team) but no shock.
6FR(1,1,5,6,6): and things just get better, as I can now deploy an engineer team at each culvert where they start laying charges, at the small culvert (counting down from six on the die) ...
And that is all I can do this phase, but the 5 helps with building up my CoC points.
7FR(2,3,3,4,4): okay, so all good things come to an end. But, now I know what it feels like to be on the right side of a crazy bunch of dice - and it feels good. I have to admit that John is taking it all with great deal more grace than I managed in the last game.
Again, the Lieutenant, lurking behind the Café, orders the engineers to crack on, and they snap two and finish laying the charge.
He then orders the section in the Café to keep up the pressure the German nr.II section as I'm keen to destroy that and bring the German morale down even further. But this time they are only on target with three shots and all of those fail to hit anything.
I then deploy the V-B (rifle grenade) section near the soixante-quinze to take on the German section in the cornfield but without effect.
The nuns must be scared witless at this point as they are stuck in the middle of vicious firefight and unable to move[5].
Finally the soixante-quinze, having dealt with the panzer, now also turns its attention to the Germans in the cornfield, inflicting 2 points of shock (1 on each team).
8GE(2,3,4,4,5): and John's Germans finally get a chance for some long overdue pay-back. First, his Feldwebel with nr.1 section ...
... employs maschinengewehr against the 75mm gun, with supporting fire from the rifle group. They score a kill and 3 points of shock, but the nearby V-B section takes the lot and the kill wounds their caporal (junior leader), and so French Force Morale goes from 8 to 7.
The long-suffering nr.II section then fires back at the Café ...
... but the hard cover it provides restricts their impact to a single point of shock on No.1 section within.
The last activation sees nr.III section's Obergefreiter remove a point of shock and order his men to tactically advance (5") through the cornfield
9FR(1,1,3,5,6): and the first single '6' of the game allows the civilians to flee, the nuns finally getting behind the French firing-line ...
... and the group of refugees pulling off the road and into the farmyard where they should be less at risk.
With the '1's the engineer team by the large culvert continue laying charges and are joined by a third engineer team to assist them, albeit only rolling a '1' - this leaves 4 more needed on the dice to complete the task.
Then the Sergeant (junior leader) leading No.1 section removed a point of shock and directed his men to finish off the German nr.II section. His men let fly inflicting 1 kill (LMG team) and 3 shock (all on the rifle team). This leaves on 5 men in the German nr.II section with 7 points of shock so they are now PINNED.
Also of note, I now have a CoC die.
11GE(1,2,3,4,4): and the Feldwebel again doubles nr.I section forward towards the French JOP by the 75mm gun, and close enough to block it. The hedge is a medium obstacle and allows the Germans to decline close combat with the French on the other side.
The German platoon commander, the Leutnant, then deploys by the m/c recce section and directs maschinengewehr (and rifles) against the 75mm gun (and V-B team). The resulting 10 hits, kill 4 (2 V-B men, 1 gunner and gun's junior leader is wounded) and inflicts 2 points of shock on the gun team - and they are PINNED. The French firing-line is now in a sorry state but French Force Morale holds steady at 7 (obviously hadn't put the pin marker on when this was taken).
The section in the cornfield (nr.III) then runs forward in an attempt to put the small copse between them and the French section in the Café, but they only manage 5" and stay exposed.
The pinned nr.II section, with nothing to lose, fires at the Café but with only 3 fire dice at a target in hard cover they unsurprisingly achieve nothing.
13GE(1,1,2,2,4): and the Feldwebel with nr.1 section directs them to fire back at the newly arrived French No.2 section - how everyone keeps missing those nuns I'll never know. But, they only kill 1 rifleman and inflict 4 points of shock (at this point I'd run out of shock markers so we also started using the red counters).
Things then go a little screwy in my notes, as next the Leutnant removes 2 points of shock from nr.II section and instructs then to go tactical ... BUT he is nowhere near them being with the m/c recce section. Then the m/c recce section's junior leader directs them to move and fire at the French gun-line inflicting 1 point of shock on the V-B team.
... shortly followed by an even bigger explosion wrecking the large culvert.
16GE(1,3,4,4,5): and the Feldwebel removes 3 shock from nr.I platoon pinned in the road. The section's obergefreiter then orders them to fire back at the French section (No.2) that had pinned them. Being pinned they only manage 1 kill, but it stuns the French section leader and French Force Morale falls from 7 to 6.
The Leutnant then orders the m/c section to fire at the French gun line killing a gunner and putting another two points of shock on both teams.
As can be seen from the mess above, this should've routed both teams, but somehow, probably as we both knew the game was going to end there, we overlooked this.
Post-Game Correction: the Bad Things Happen for the routs that should've happened in Phase 16 were rolled for (1 & 5). French Force Morale was unfazed by the rout of the gun team but the V-B team's rout saw it drop from 6 to 5.
17FR(Withdrawal): and because of the error in the previous phase, we didn't roll to see whether the routing V-B team managed to withdraw safely.
A.N.Other Post-Game Correction: and a 6 was rolled for the surviving V-B team member, which saw withdraw successfully. The V-B caporal withdrew with him. So the corrections made no difference, but worth doing all the same.
The Aftermath
The French platoon, having only lost 5 men, has 1 return to duty (RTD) in Turn 3, and 2 more in the turn after that. The other 2 are permanently lost so. As the French won this scenario, it means there is no fight next turn while the Germans bridge the culverts so all three will be back for Game 3 in Turn 4.
The platoon's Lieutenant who was 'thoughtful' is now 'content' after a win. His CO and men are both impressed as both go from 0 to +1.
The Germans lost 7 men and an obergefreiter (junior leader). They have 2 men RTD immediately and 2 more in the turn after next, so for the next fight in Turn 4 all four will be back. This means the platoon will only be down by the 3 men, the 2 permanently lost in this game and 1 from the first game.
The Leutnant (platoon leader), having come so close to winning, is unfazed by the defeat and his outlook remain 'sociable'. His men's opinion is unchanged at +2, but his CO's opinion has fallen from +1 to 0, probably because he is getting flak about failing to secure the culverts undamaged.
Mistakes
Few in this game, until we let our concentration drop once the 'win' was in the bag for the French. Both sides forgot on occasions that pinned troops go up a level in cover. But more seriously the I had treated the V-B team and the 75mm gun as a group when they are not from the same unit. This would've changed the sequence of pinning and routs, but that will just have to be a lesson for next time.
Post Mortem
My support selections were critical, as I don't think my platoon could've held long enough for fewer engineers to complete the demolition tasks. The soixante-quinze, as ever proved its worth, but luck was key ingredient, both in the turn ending on the first (German) phase; a quintuple French phase; and, successful detonations of the demolition charges. If any of these hadn't happened, I suspect I would've lost.
Observations
Despite the French getting a run of 5 phases, the luck of the command dice was more evenly shared this time; both side getting 8 of the 16 phases played[6], compared with a 12-4 split in the first game.
The oddity in this game was that across all 16 phase there was only one where someone threw a 'wasteful' single '6' in their command dice!
Notes:
[1.] A partial demolition would deny any vehicle crossing and as this as all the French are seeking to prevent this would meet their objectives.
[2.] This was a mistake as the men's opinion was +2, and needs to be 3+ to add to the Force morale die roll. Luckily this had no impact on the game.
[3.] Engine damage means the PzI is now prohibited from driving flat out or moving and shooting in the same phase.
[4.] Crews will abandon their vehicle if the level of shock reaches 4 or more.
[5.] As per the last game, and just for a bit of fun, the fleeing nuns and refugees, are activated to run away every time someone throws a single '6', but at this point (Phase 7) no-one has.
[6.] Ignoring Phase 17 when the French withdrew before rolling the command dice.
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