'Taking the Gembloux Gap' a pint-sized campaign.
Turn 7, Game 6, Scenario '3' the 'Counter-attack at Villeroux!'
The French, having won the last game (Link), now have the initiative and as they still hold Table 4 at, or beyond, the half-way point of the Chain of Command (CoC) campaign (duration 10 turns) are allowed to counter-attack. This will use the terrain for Scenario 3 ('Blitz on Villeroux'), see scenario map below.
But, for the French counter-attack, it is fought as an 'Attack & Defend' game (as per v1 of the Chain of Command rules). This changes the starting positions of the patrol markers to that shown in the photo of the table-top below, which also names key buildings and terrain that feature in the battle report; first from the French end ...
The Scenario
In this scenario, to win, either side must force their opponent to withdraw from the table (voluntarily or forced), before their own Force Morale falls below 3. If neither win, both must withdraw and the scenario becomes a 'No-man's land' between the two forces.
The French get 10 support points for their counter-attack, plus an extra point owing to the CO's high opinion of the platoon commander, Lt Victor Renard.
Unfortunately for me, the Germans get 18 points of support, and launching a counter-attack against that sort of firepower could make the Charge of the Light Brigade look like a sensible military exercise.
With my 11 points I decided to max out on armour plus a couple of bands of Franc-Tireurs who have proved so useful in previous games. Limited by the models available I opted for: two Renault R35 tanks (3 pt.s each); a Panhard 178 armoured car (3 pt.s); and, two bands of Francs-Tireurs (1 pt. each). I had wanted three R35s but John only has two, so instead I plumped for the Panhard armoured car (a/c), which has a very useful anti-tank capability. My plan is to rush the Germans JOPs with my armour and cause as much havoc as possible. Then when my armour is destroyed, as I expect it to be, my Force Morale should be low enough to allow me to withdraw[1] with my core platoon largely intact for the next fight.
With his 18 pt.s of support John covertly chose: a Panzer IV B-C with junior leader (5 pt.s) two leIG.18 7.5cm guns with five crew and a junior leader (4 pt.s each); an MG34 on tripod (MMG) and five crew (3 pt.s); a 'Shabby Nazi trick' (1 pt.); and, an Adjutant (1 pt.).
We then rolled for Force morale; I added +3 to my roll thanks to the men's high opinion of their platoon leader (Lt Victor Renard) and his growing self-confidence, but still only started with a Force Morale of 10. John's Germans, lacking this edge, started with a Force Morale of 9.
Due to losses in previous games, John had elected to withdraw the depleted platoon from the last game and replace it with a fresh, full-strength, platoon. My French platoon is down by three men (but has two more who will return to duty after this fight), and as a result the platoon was fielded as shown below.
No Stuka strike this time, (not allowed against the French counter-attack) so it was straight on to the patrol phase. The patrol markers were deployed as shown in the earlier photos above, and after one free move (diced for on a D3) I started the patrol phase proper. When the patrol phase ended the locked down patrol marker were as shown below.
This resulted in the placing of three jump-off points (JOPs) for the French ...
... and three for the Germans.
The final thing to sort before starting the game, was a D3 roll for the number of CoC points the French start with - I got two.
As the attacker, the French took the first phase.
1FR(1,2,3,3,5): a brilliant start enabling me to deploy all three of my armoured fighting vehicles!
Unfortunately John had brought the wrong vehicles with him so my Renault R35s had to be represented by what I believe to be a Renault AMC 35.
2GE(1,3,3,4,6): and John decided to pass until he had a better idea of how my attack was going to play out.
3FR(1,2,2,2,6): and immediately my armour comes to a grinding halt, or at least my tanks do as I combine a '1' and a '2' to get my Panhard a/c moving. This immediately revealed how rusty I had got since the last game as I realised I had been moving it as a standard vehicle (dice score plus 1" per die) instead of as a wheeled vehicle (double the dice score). Anyway, correcting my movement, the Panhard advanced clear of the outskirts of Villeroux, heading towards the Large Wood and laying suppressing fire on the German JOP there.
Also, I could've just used the '1' to activate the driver to go flat out and saved the '2' for something else - but luckily I didn't want to bring any of my infantry on at this point. So, this ended my phase.
4GE(1,2,2,2,6): interestingly an exact repeat of my command dice. John had clearly seen enough to realise he had to stop my armour, and quickly before he lost his JOPs. First, he deployed an leIG.18 7.5cm gun ...
... from his central JOP and opened fire on the Panhard. It was on target but only scored 1 penetration hit which the Panhard's armour duly saved (suffering no ill effects from the equal number of hits and saves).
Next, the German infantry section nr.I sought to deploy from the JOP near the Large Wood, but owing to the suppressive fire from the Panhard failed their hesitant deployment roll. This mishap was rectified by nr.II section who deployed in their place, successfully passing their hesitant deployment die roll. The wider aspect photo below shows nr.II section tactically deployed in the Large Wood in relation to the leIG.18 and Panhard[2].
I think I panicked a bit here, as I had just thrown two '6's so could've engaged the gun and withdrawn in the following phase (John had no CoC dice to interrupt my phases). I was kicking myself almost as soon as I had made the move, but this was to prove to be just one of several similar mistakes I made during this game - it really does pay to think before you act.
The 5th columnist was successful in misleading the sergeant and the intended deployment didn't happen.
... and the Germans failed to get through to the JOP.
He then tried to deploy his platoon's 5cm mortar team from the JOP by the Small Wood, but they were also thwarted by my plucky Francs-Tireurs.
10FR(1,2,2,4,6): and again not much my armour could do with these command dice. At least I could advance one R35, using the '1' to activate the driver to go flat out towards the road - I was hoping to go around the Small Wood to shut down the German JOP that was currently being denied by a valiant band of Francs-Tireurs.
An attempt to get No.3 section and the sergeant to deploy into the Boulangerie was again foiled by the 5th columnist.
