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).
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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!
2-G(11346): ditto.
3-B(12455): the Brits gain a full Coc die.
4-G(11456): no activations or deployments.
6-G(12566): a double-phase but 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
