Caesar's Camp - Scenario 4, Take 2 - CoC AAR

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

The last game saw the British fail to take La Ferme de Caubert so, to progress further in this campaign they must try again.  Both the Germans and the British start this game with full-strength platoons, the British because they have committed their reserve, and the Germans because they took no casualties in the last game.  As this is the fifth game in the campaign, from now on, whenever the Germans win, they can choose to launch a counter-attack in the following game.

Scenario 4 - 'La Ferme de Caubert'

See the previous post for a description.

The rolls for Force Morale (FM) saw the Germans, again, start on 10, while the British threw worse than last time to start with an FM of only 8, and only one Chain of Command (CoC) point.

The Patrol Phase

Despite John's Brits d6 roll giving them 5 free moves, the patrol phase ended much the same as last time, with all markers fixed in the western half of the table.

However, this time being aware that the Brits were almost certain to be placing a vehicle entry point somewhere along their table-edge I had ensured I would be able to place a JOP at the eastern edge of the farm.  The resulting JOPs (the small national symbols) can be seen in the map below, the yellow outlined 'JOP' being a vehicle entry point.

After JOP placement, comes the selection of support units, and I, seeing how successful it had been last time stuck with my two leIG.18 7.5cm guns and a Pak36 anti-tank gun.  The Brits, benefitting from two additional support points for a second attempt at the scenario, had a total of 18pts.  They opted for: a Carrier section (3 x carriers); a 2" Mortar team; an entrenchment; an off-table Adjutant; and a 3" mortar barrage. 

The Game

The Brits, as the attackers, took the first phase, and, as in the previous game, immediately threw two '6's for a double-phase[1], and deployed a carrier from their vehicle entry point (VEP) and a 2" mortar team from the nearby JOP.

Rolling the command dice for their second phase, they got another two '6's for a second double-phase.  This time they deployed a senior leader (denoted by the red dot on the base; yellow for junior leaders) to coordinate the mortar and maximise its chance of being able to fire when required; possibly a wasteful use of a senior leader?

That was all they could do this phase as the other command dice were '5's giving him more CoC points; NB: I was also gaining a CoC point every time my opponent got a double-phase.

Then the John rolled his command dice for his third consecutive British phase, and rolled two '6's for another double-phase!  This was getting scary, and this time, again with limited actionable command dice, he deployed another 2" mortar team and advanced the carrier.

So now, on his fourth consecutive phase, John finally rolled only one '6' but did get a fairly useful, and CoC point laden: 2, 3, 5, 5, 6.  This saw the deployment of a second carrier and an infantry section.  

All in all, I got away quite lightly there, as despite having the first four consecutive phases the command dice did not provide lots opportunities for the British to do much.  OTOH John had now recovered from the poor die roll that only gave him one starting CoC point, as he now had a full CoC die and was well on his way to a second.

It was now my first phase and fairly strong response was called for.  What's more there was an ideal opportunity as John had overlooked a small part of the hedge, which otherwise shielded him from view, was only a minor obstacle (does not block LOS or provide cover unless in position behind it).  My command dice roll gave me all I wanted to deploy an leIG.18 7.5cm gun team (in an entrenchment) and an infantry section, with a senior commander to coordinate it all.  

I have no photos of this deployment, no doubt totally absorbed in the coming storm of steel I was about to visit on the British caught out in the open.  Storm of steel was the appropriate word as the MG34[2], with maschinengewehr enabled by the attached senior commander, delivered a blizzard of '6's overwhelming any benefit the Brits got from their tactical posture.

The net result of this, plus the HE delivered by the leIG.18, against which a tactical posture provides no benefit, saw the British section take four casualties[3], including the death of the junior leader, and four points of shock.

The immediate British response was, as ever, after deploying the final carrier, a smokescreen which can be seen neatly blocking the small length of 'minor' hedge that I could fire through (the rest of the, larger, hedge blocks line of sight (LOS). 

The British infantry section also moved across to the hedge to their left, but that happened after the smoke was laid and I failed to take a photo of it.

It was now the German's phase and they got a double-phase, and what's more I now had a CoC die largely thanks to the CoC points gained from all those British double-phases at the beginning of the game.  I'm usually very reluctant to use up my CoC dice, but this one was immediately expended on ending the turn to get rid of the smoke.  And in the current phase before the smoke disappeared, I deployed my Pak36 to take on the carriers, albeit only one was available as a target.

Much to my amazement I actually hit it, albeit only getting the minimum possible score for a hit.  Nonetheless this was huge leap forward in anti-tank capability as anyone who's followed the previous games will appreciate.  So, I rolled 5d6 to see how many penetrating hits the carrier would have to save - none!  And to rub salt into the wound the carrier shrugged off the attack without any ill-effect (even non-penetrating hits can inflict shock or wounds).  Oh well, "plus ça change".

But now onto the second half of my double-phase, and now the smoke had gone  the infantry were once again hit by my leIG.18 but this only managed to inflict some shock, which would at least keep the senior leader busy.  And to round off the phase, another attempt by the Pak36 to take out a carrier, and again a hit, but again only just (it would've missed if unable to claim the +1 for having hit the target in the previous phase).  This time I managed to get a penetrating hit, but the carrier's armour roll cancelled that out and again there was no effect.

The British in their phase, advanced the carrier engaged by the Pak36 out of the guns field of fire and up to hedge to engage the entrenched leIG.18, inflicting a point of shock.  At the same time, they attempted to lay more smoke on the length of 'minor' hedge but this time failed with both rounds landing in the same place 6" to their left.  And what's more I actually got round to taking a photo at this point.

This photo finally allows me to show the location of the two gun teams, the infantry section is in the barn to right of the leIG.18 entrenched in the gateway to the farm.  The Pak36 can be seen, bottom left, with no targets left after the leading Bren Carrier had advanced up to the hedge, from where it inflicted the point of shock seen on the leIG.18.  All three carriers can be seen to have ended up in a, widely-spaced, single-file column.  The British infantry section can be seen up against the hedge, trying to make itself look small (Tactical).  The British section can't cross the hedge to avoid the infantry gun as the other side of the hedge is covered by the MG34 in the barn which can't see them where they are, leaving them very much caught between a rock and a hard place.  Finally, right at the top of the photo are the two 2" mortar teams with markers indicating they have both expended all three of their smoke rounds, their last two rounds landing on top of each other on the road where it leaves the righthand side of the photo.

The British attack was now looking to have culminated into a deadly stalemate.  The le.IG18 continued to slowly whittle down the section while the senior leader tried to keep their shock down.

Looking to break the deadlock, the British deployed another section against the German right flank, advancing up to the hedge they had occupied in the last game.  

It didn't achieve anything then and didn't now; I had enough forces not yet deployed to comfortably block it if it came any closer.  This left only the carriers, which advanced to suppress the infantry gun, as posing any real threat over the next few phases. 

Bizarrely, the carriers, unperturbed by my Pak36, were repeatedly driven back by the MG34 in the barn that despite being unable to penetrate their armour inflicted shock and forced retreats.  The shock resulted in some failed activations which further diminished the effectiveness of this approach.

As will be seen from the photo above, one of these forced retreats saw a carrier just backed up far enough past the hedge to allow the Pak36 another shot.  And this time I threw a '6' and '4' for an easy hit, and the '6' gained them an extra die roll for penetrating hits.  With no armour save the carrier took two net penetrating hits which saw the vehicle take two shock and the commander wounded (bad things happen).

With the Brits desperate to attack elsewhere, they got another double-phase.  Unfortunately, the other command dice were unkind and they managed little more than recovering some shock, some ineffectual HE from their 2" mortars, and the deployment of their final section down the main road to support the other section as it left the shelter of the hedge, no doubt to force a German response.

And a response was duly delivered in Spades as the Germans also got a double-phase.  The infantry section that had just crossed the hedge was promptly decimated by the deployment and fire from a German infantry section and the second leIG.18.  In total they lost four casualties, again including the junior leader, and seven shock, leaving them pinned, exposed, and without a leader to recover them.

At the same time on the other flank, the British senior leader lost his battle managing the shock on the infantry section as they took another three casualties and became pinned. 

With their Force Morale now down to 4, reducing then to only four command dice the British accepted that their attack had failed and withdrew.

With so many pinned personnel this was never going to be easy.  The consequent dicing to determine who successfully withdrew and who was captured or dispersed, saw a senior leader and a rifleman dispersed (will miss the next game), and five more riflemen taken prisoner (permanent losses).

The Butcher's Bill

While the German's only casualty was single rifleman (I forget where[4]) who would return to duty the game after next.

The British by contrast had lost two junior leaders and twelve riflemen as casualties, not counting the five taken prisoner).  Of the riflemen, six would return to duty (RTD) in time for the next game, if required, 3 would RTD for the game after that and the remainder were permanently lost.

So, if required to refight this scenario in the next game the platoon would be reduced to:

• 2x Senior Leaders (a replacement covering for the dispersed snr ldr).
• 3x Junior Leaders (two being promoted from the ranks as inferior jnr ldrs).
• [with just one command initiative and a 3" command radius]
• 13x Riflemen to man the Bren guns or 2" mortar, or serve as riflemen.
• [13, and not 15, as 2 are promoted to replace the dead jnr ldrs]

If not required to fight until the game after next, the dispersed senior leader will take over from his replacement and a further three riflemen will RTD.

Post Mortem

As said after the previous playing of this scenario, this one is really hard for the British to win, but they didn't seem to change their approach much.  This made life easy for the Germans who could sum up the fight as "they came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way".     

The British did select a mortar barrage as one of their support options, but it never got used as they kept it in reserve for a more deserving target.  Picking the best moment to use a reserve is really important but to get defeated without ever employing it has got to be a mistake - as a paid for support asset it's a case of use it or lose it.  On the topic of mortars there was also no attempt to replenish the 2" mortars with smoke rounds from the nearby JOP.  It might not have yielded up any ammunition but was surely worth a try.

Another questionable action was continuing to press on with an attack when it had already stalled so badly.  Had they withdrawn sooner they would be in a much better situation with a less depleted platoon for another attempt - and a further two support points for a total of 20pts.

If anyone out there has won this scenario as the British, or has some ideas on how best to go about it, please do let me know in the comments section.

Next Scenario...

The next game will not be a repeat of this scenario as I, the Germans, having seized the initiative by winning this game have chosen to launch a counter attack against the British platoon from game 4 which is now in reserve at Villers.  I will have a fresh platoon and plenty of support, which could even include a Stuka strike.  We have this game scheduled for about two weeks hence.

Notes:

[1.]  Although I call them 'double-phases', it would be more accurate to describe them as securing the next phase, as John's three double-phases in a row only gave him four consecutive phases and not six. 

[2.]  It really was all about the MG34, as the barn only had apertures enough for the MG34 team and two riflemen.

[3.]  The apparent discrepancy in the number of figures, dead and alive, arises from not using a one-man Bren gunner to replace the two-figure base yet putting the correct number of upturned casualty figures in place for the photo.

[4.]  This AAR was written up the day after the game and my memory of what happened, and when, gets rather fuzzy by then.  It's not helped by my often forgetting to take photos when the action is at its most frenetic (just when you really need them).  I am constantly in awe of how 'The Tactical Painter' manages to put together the 'professional' AARs that he does.

Caesar's Camp - Scenario 4 - CoC AAR

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

After the first three scenarios we have come to the main German defence line so the fighting starts in earnest.  Both my Germans and John's British start this game with a fresh platoon, because I withdrew quite quickly from the last scenario from which neither of us took casualties to our core platoons.

Scenario 4 - 'La Ferme de Caubert'

In this scenario the British have to either break the morale of the German defenders or take two of the four buildings in the farm complex - see scenario map below (North is at the top of the Map).

The rolls for Force Morale (FM) saw the Germans starting on 10 and the British on 9, with an additional d6 roll giving the British 3 Chain of Command (CoC) points at the start of the game.

The Patrol Phase

Our initial Patrol marker deployment is shown below - we both had 4 patrol markers, I stacked two together in the middle and John stacked two at the bottom of the photo.

John rolled a '1' on a d6, getting only one free move before the Germans went first in the patrol phase as they had the higher Force Morale.  The completed patrol phase saw all the markers fixed in the western half of the table.

And consequently, the jump-off points (JOPs) were also confined to the western half.  One German JOP, marked by a black star, is inside a farm building; and the British JOP highlighted with a yellow arrow is not a JOP but a vehicle entry point as there are no roads on the British table-edge.

The placement of the vehicle entry point induced a degree of panic as, having not remembered there might be one, I had no JOPs to cover any approach from that direction.  Had I given more thought to my JOP placement I would've placed one at the eastern edge of the farm - too late to do anything now; hindsight's a wonderful thing but foresight would be better.

For my support options I went for maximum firepower and selected two leIG.18 7.5cm guns and a Pak36, despite the latter's terrible performance in the last game.  At 4pts each, these three items used up my entire allowance of 12 support points.  John chose, but did not reveal to me at this point, the following 16pts worth of support: a Carrier section (3 x carriers); a Vickers MMG, a 2" Mortar team; and, an off-table Adjutant. 

The Game

John as the attacker took the first phase and promptly two '6's for a double-phase - was this going to be an omen?

the Brits wasted no time and in the first of their phases brought on a Carrier with Boys Anti-Tank Rifle (ATR) and senior leader from the vehicle entry point ...

... and, simultaneously an infantry section and Vickers MMG from their forward JOP on the western table-edge.

British doubled down in their second phase, with the rest of the Carrier section deploying to join their senior leader[1] ...

... and the deployed infantry section doubling forward to the hedge with the Vickers placed on overwatch to cover them.

I was faced with threats from two directions, one of which, thanks to my poorly placed JOPs, I was unable to respond to.  So, deciding now was not the time to hold back I decided to focus on quickly defeating the threat I could counter.  And, thanks to an extremely handy command roll, I was able to deploy both 7.5cm infantry guns, an infantry section, and a senior commander to coordinate them ...

... to target the Vickers which seemed the greater threat.

This may seem like overkill, but overkill was what I was aiming for to try and crush these targets before the carriers could do too much on my other flank.  And, it worked a treat, with the Storm of Steel bonus for both guns firing HE and the deploying section's MG34 benefitting from maschinengewehr.  The Vickers, the target of all this firing took one casualty and seven shock which pinned it on the verge of breaking.

John immediately countered in his phase, first by firing his section behind the hedge at one of my guns, killing a gunner but inflicting no shock.  Then, he deployed a senior leader and both 2"mortar teams.  The former immediately rallied 3 shock off the Vickers team, while the latter heralded the arrival of an all too inevitable British smokescreen to block off my line of sight to the Vickers.

Frustrating as this was, it meant that with the British entirely focussed on saving these troops, they were unable to advance their carriers.

And then, in the next German phase, I got a double-phase!  With the Vickers being no longer available as a target I brought on another German section (with MG08 in place of MG34[2]) ...

... and fired everything I could (one leIG.18 and part of the other German section were not blocked by the smoke) at the British infantry lining the hedge in this phase and the next!  

The resulting spectacular firing dice rolls[3], inflicted 4 casualties, including killing the junior leader, and 13 shock!.  The section promptly broke, routing back to where the senior leader, busy trying to rally the Vickers team[4], was standing (he is why there appears to be too many figures compared to shock markers for a rout).

And in close up.

Annoyingly, I didn't track Force Morale during the game so I can't provide a countdown as the bad things happen tests chipped away at the British FM.

The response to this German double-phase, was a British double-phase!  I was surprised when the first thing John did was to deploy another section to advance past the fleeing one - this can't have been good for the men's morale.  Rallying off some shock used up their only other actionable command die.

The second part of the British double-phase saw lots happening.  First the new section advanced to the smaller hedge behind that previously occupied by the routing section.

Then, switching to the British right, the carriers advanced, and a CoC die was expended to advance a JOP and deploy a section alongside them.

Now, with a CoC die of my own, I was finally able to move one of my JOPs across to the eastern side of farm and deploy my Pak36 to engage the carriers.  

It was time to put the disgraceful shooting from the last fight behind us, I rolled the 2d6 to hit a carrier ... 

... and missed!

The next few phases passed fairly quickly with both sides being limited by 

some fairly unhelpful command dice rolls like this one.

To be honest, I got swept up in the game at this point (again!) and took few photos so I'll just give a broad outline of the end-game.  All the action revolved around the attack by the British right; their left being held in check by the infantry guns and a German section (one of the two German sections previously deployed against the British left was moved over to help occupy the farm).

As the British tried to press forward with their carriers and infantry, the Pak36 managed another two shots, both misses!  Luckily for me the return fire from the carriers was equally dismal as more British smoke appeared.  What broke the stalemate here was the deployment of the final German section and its MG34.

Not only did the MG34's maschinengewehr catch the British section in the open and wipe out their Bren team, but the Pak36 finally hit a carrier inflicting two shock and wounding the commander.  The resulting bad things happen test dragging down the British Force Morale.

With John forced to focus on removing shock to keep his troops in action there was little retaliation.  And then, m next phase saw the MG34 pull off another tour de force courtesy of Storm of Steel, ...

... the resultant pinning of the British section supporting the carriers saw John decide to cut his losses and withdraw.

Withdrawing can be tricky with pinned troop, and while the riflemen all got away their junior leader was taken prisoner.

The Butcher's Bill

While the German's had taken no casualties (apart from one gunner from an IG.18), the British had lost 10 men and a junior leader captured.  This means that as well as the junior leader 5 men are permanently lost, 3 more will miss the next game, 2 will return to duty (RTD) immediately.  

John decided to retire this platoon to his reserve in the town of Villers and use his fresh reserve platoon from there for his next attempt on La Ferme de Caubert.

Post Mortem

This is a hard scenario for the British to win, with much open ground to cross and the Germans able to field a lot of support weaponry.  That said, I felt there were at least two points where the British slipped up.

First, the deployment of the second British section to replace the first, after that had routed, posed little threat, achieved nothing other than reinforcing failure.  Why, without any additional support, could it be expected to do any better than the previous section?  Much better to throw it against the other flank away from the death-dealing 7.5cm infantry guns.

The carriers, that posed a significant threat, had an opportunity to shut down the JOP after the Pak36 had deployed but hung back.  Then two of the carriers took advantage of the smoke to avoid the Pak36 leaving one to take it one by itself.  This was a clear violation of the principle of concentration of force.  

Whether avoiding these mistakes would've been enough to overcome this strong defensive position is uncertain, but clearly didn't help. 

Next Scenario...

This will be a repeat of this scenario as the British, with a fresh platoon, must win the La Ferme de Caubert scenario before they can progress to the final scenario where they need to capture the chateau to win the campaign.  However, as a repeat attack, they will now be allowed two more support points for a total of 18pts.  

The German force will be unchanged as they took no casualties and will receive the same level of support (12pts).

We fought this next game immediately after completing the one described above but the AAR will have to await my next post.

Notes:

[1.]  This was an error as only one vehicle is allowed to deploy, per entry point, per phase.  But we both missed it.

[2.] Don't look too closely as, lacking an MG08 model, an MG34 is being used.

[3.] In the second phase this included the only two riflemen able to fire in one German section scoring two kills!  And this was when the British were in hard cover (pinned in soft cover).

[4.] Possible another error here as the senior leader appears, from the photo, to be in command range but not close enough to be attached to the Vickers so can't rally off shock.  But this wasn't noticed at the time and there's always the possibility that this photo wasn't taken exactly at this point in the game.

Caesar's Camp - Scenario 3 - CoC AAR

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

The two earlier scenarios in this campaign were flanking actions separate from the rest of the campaign which now starts in earnest with Scenario 3.  From now on any casualties will be carried forward, reducing the force available for the next scenario.  

Scenario 3 - 'Up the Route Nationale'

As a result of the earlier scenarios, the Germans start with a full CoC die for having achieved the objective in Scenario 1, but as they didn't actually win that scenario, they don't get the free off-table machinegun firing from the northern edge (actually French friendly fire).

The terrain for this game was shown in the last blog but for completeness, here it is again, viewed from the German, eastern, end.

The map for this scenario, oriented with north at the top and showing the start lines for the patrol phase, is shown below.

The British objective is to defeat or drive off the German outpost line from this table as quickly as possible so they can progress onto the next.  For the Germans (me), knowing this platoon has to carry on the fight in the next scenario, means it is important not to lose too many men here.  And, what makes this scenario so tricky, is the British ability to field several armoured vehicles while the Germans can only field one anti-tank weapon which will cost them 4 of their 6 support points.  This was going to be a tough one.

Initially the omens were good as the Germans continued to throw better than the British for Force Morale, starting on 10 to the Brit's 8.

The Patrol Phase

John's British rolled better for initial patrol moves before the start of the Patrol Phase proper, rolling a 6 to gain 3 free moves.  Despite this, I was fairly satisfied with how the patrol phase played out; the final, 'locked down', position of the patrol markers (3 British & 4 German) being as shown below.

Unfortunately, I goofed when placing my Jump-off Points (JOPs)[1], and ended up with all three in the Eastern Wood, as planned, but none where I wanted them; two ending up pretty close together. 

John's JOP placement was much better thought out, and he ended up with two well placed in the sunken road and one back where the Route Nationale entered on his edge of the table.

Following the Patrol phase, we both selected our support units.  For the Germans, I was convinced the British would turn up with plenty of light armour, so felt compelled to opt for a Pak 36 3.7cm anti-tank gun (ATG) costing 6 points.  With the remaining 2 points I selected an off-table machinegun firing from the southern table edge as there weren't any other very useful options for just 2pts.  John's Brits selected, undisclosed to me at this point in the game: 3x Bren Carriers with junior leaders and Bren teams[2] (3pts each = 9pts); 1x 2" mortar team[3] (2pts); and, 1x Adjutant (1pt), for a total of 12 support points.

Then, as per the campaign scenario description, the British took the first phase.

The Game

John promptly rolled a double phase to get the game started!  This was not critical, but it was frustrating, as I was also hoping to pick up a lot of CoC points[4] while John marshalled his forces to attack across the open ground to get at the Germans.

With their two phases the British deployed a section in the sunken road, from the more northerly of the two JOPs ...

... and another section and a carrier on the Route Nationale.

No doubt he would've deployed more if he'd been able to but he also threw quite a few '5's to get his CoC points total building up nicely.

My first phase predictably saw the Germans do nothing; patiently waiting for the British to expose themselves.  But, at the same I was a little disappointed not to get a single '5', but early days yet.

Over the next handful of phases, as the Germans kept their powder dry, the British methodically built up their forces as they prepared for a well-supported and coordinated push.  This included: a senior officer and 2" mortar team with the section already in the sunken road; ...

... and two more carriers to accompany the section and carrier deployed on the Route Nationale, who started to cautiously advance up the road towards the other section.

This included the senior leader commanding carriers in his the Boys ATR equipped carrier; boldly leading from the rear!

All this time, my hope, to accrue CoC points in the early phases were dashed, with only one '5' in my first five phases!  And, just to rub it in, John had been steadily rolling them, and had overtaken me despite my free CoC die head-start.

Now, as they were close to ready for their big push, the ubiquitous British smoke started to appear, albeit not where they intended; this was aimed at a point half way between the corner of the wheatfield and the point where the hedge meets the wood.

To reinforce the support for any advance to contact, their final section, complete with the second 2" mortar team and senior leader, deployed in the bend of the sunken road, south of the other section.

Here at last was smidgeon of opportunity!  In my next phase I deployed my off-table MMG at a point on the eastern bank of the sunken road where it crossed the southern table edge.  This allowed it to fire along the road, up to the bend, and target the section just deployed, who had gone 'Tactical'.  

John interjected to spend three points of his growing CoC pile for the mortar team to 'Hit the Dirt' to get them into soft cover.  And the net result from ten fire dice?  Just two points of shock; I had been hoping to kill the senior leader.

In their next phase the British doubled round the bend to avoid further fire and moved up their two leading carriers to the road junction.  The entire British force, less the carrier troop leader hanging back down the Route Nationale, can all be seen in this photo.

I felt it was still too early to deploy anything more as there were no good targeting opportunities on offer, the sunken road offering such good cover for the Tommies.  But they would have to come out sooner or later, wouldn't they?

And with their next two phases, courtesy of another a double phase, they did start to, but very cautiously; led of course by those accursed carriers.

The only opportunity here was for some very long-range fire by my off-table MMG against the section on the Route Nationale who were now only covered by well-maintained hedge lining it (minor obstacle / soft cover).   But again, John's handy CoC points saw them 'Hit the Dirt' and I failed to inflict even a single point of shock.  

The British, gaining in confidence, started to push forward their carrier section and the section on the road.

My inability to roll '5's with my command dice prevented activating the off-table MMG again, and my poorly placed JOPs didn't allow any deployment with a clear shot for my Pak 36, so there was no response from the Germans to all this.

So, as more smoke came down to shield them, the British carrier section pushed on as the prize of my unprotected JOPs, probably only a good flat-out move away from being shut down, beckoned.

It was now the last possible safe moment, so digging into my carefully hoarded CoC reserve, I played a CoC die to move the JOP nearest the carriers further away, and then used it to deploy the Pak 36 to take on the carriers approaching the wood.  

It fired; it missed!  Verdamt![5]

Needless to say, British retribution was swift in coming, with carriers and mortars engaging the Pak 36.  Despite 'Hitting the Dirt' and grovelling in the bottom of the gun pit (entrenchment) the Pak 36 suffered the loss of one gunner and two points of shock (the penny is the base of the dead crew member). 

John's carefully constructed, mutually supporting approach was paying dividends.

Nonetheless my junior leader stepped up to fill in for the lost gunner, remove a point of shock, and direct the gun to fire again.   

Another miss!  

I was pretty sure at this point that it was not going to be my day.

And, sure enough yet more pain was piled onto the hapless gun team as they again ate dirt.  And, they again lost another man and took another three shock leaving them on the brink of being pinned.

But the brave fellows hung on in, removed a point of shock, and tried what was probably going to be their last shot ... and you guessed it, they missed.

There was going to be no fourth chance as the British piled in everything they had to inflict another three shock and two dead.  This saw the team, well one man, and the junior leader, rout off the table.

The resulting 'Bad Things Happen' tests, for the team and junior leader routing off the table, saw my Force morale drop from10 to 7.  In my phase the off-table MMG firing again proved completely ineffective so in my following phase, I opted to withdraw from the table, albeit I had nothing on it at that point.  Forced to concede, and still in the first turn!

 

Post Mortem

There isn't too much to say on this one, as the Germans were always going to be up against it with only one anti-tank weapon against a swarm[6] of Bren Carriers.  Nonetheless, John had played a winning hand faultlessly.  He refused to get spooked by the absence of a German response, and his force deployment was a masterpiece of all-arms integration and co-operation.  Nothing was exposed unless absolutely necessary, and even then, only when his entire force was available in protected positions to provide overwhelming covering fire. 

After a string of wins, it seems I have finally had my come-uppance.

Notes:

[1.]  The mistake was in using the first patrol marker to place a JOP without considering where the other patrol markers would allow JOPs to be positioned.  The result being I used my most flexible patrol marker to place a JOP for which the others could've been used only to find they were very limited and didn't let me put them where desired.

[2.]  The third Bren carrier was equipped with a Boys anti-tank rifle (ATR) and came with a senior leader who could command the Carrier troop.

[3.]  As we had agreed that we would stick with the support lists in the campaign booklet, there were no replenishment points available, so this extra mortar was as much about having more ammunition on hand as being able to engage more targets.

 [4.]  I was hoping to build on my free CoC die (for achieving the objective in Scenario 1) and gain a significant CoC point advantage over my opponent.

[5.]  Double-verdamt, as I didn't realise at the time but I had forgotten to use the junior leader with the Pak 36 to increase the team's chance of a hit by using both his orders - something only available on deployment.  But my die throw was so low it wouldn't have helped against the small, low-profile, targets offered by the carriers. 

[6.]  Is that the correct collective noun for Bren Carriers?