I randomised the terrain, and generated the following objectives:
British - Destroy a German unit by assault and kill a leader.
German - Destroy two British units and hold the ruined house at the end of the game.
Both sides added an additional bomber squad - the British because of their requirement to score a kill through assault and the Germans because they had to capture a defended building.
As with the previous game I rolled a random barrage as a complication.
Here's the setup from behind the German position. They had a tough task ahead of them, with an advance across mostly open ground to the objective, whilst the British had shellholes, buildings and woods as cover.
With no secure positions from which to launch softening up fire, the German plan had to be a simple, rapid attack. A bomber squad led by a sergeant went straight for the ruined farmhouse, whilst a second squad approached it through a wood. Their LMG squad covered them from a hill (out of shot).
The British were covering their squad in the farmhouse with a Lewis gun squad in a wood. This took fire, and was soon looking weak, so the Germans switched their attack to clear them instead. It meant that once the farmhouse was captured it could be more easily held. The British squad was quickly eliminated.
Meanwhile the German rifle-grenadiers managed to eliminate the farmhouse defenders, leaving the objective completely open.
The British were having a tough time of it at this stage. Their activation roll after the Germans made their first move was abysmal and, to make matters worse, the random barrage was hitting their units hard. The Germans needed a lot of luck, and they got it.
On the other flank the British were moving up bomber squads to assault the German rifle squad covering that side of the field, and achieve their assault objective. The artillery barrage saw them pinned down in some shell-holes instead. More bad luck for the British.
The German squad in the woods had cleared that flank, but was weakened so badly that the British platoon commander was able to drive them off with his revolver.
With the objective cleared of British troops, though, the Germans moved up to occupy it. The bomber squad in the woods regrouped and recovered, whilst the LMG squad advanced to provide covering fire.
The Germans occupied the objective. The British had one chance to oust them, and launched an assault with one of the bomber squads on the other flank, covered by rifle-grenade fire. This saw the German squad destroyed, giving the British the first of their victory conditions.
It was now the final turn. The Germans had to retake the farmhouse to avoid a draw, and not lose a leader to avoid a loss. They assaulted the ruins with the LMG squad, riskily throwing in the leader to improve their chances. They failed, and the squad was destroyed ...
... but against the odds the platoon commander managed to escape to cover under heavy fire.
The end. The Germans had destroyed two British squads, but failed to hold the objective. The British scored a kill via assault, but both German leaders survived. The fight was a draw.
Given the poor German starting position, a draw was pretty good going for them. Bad luck early on for the British, both in terms of activation rolls and from random artillery fire, saw the Germans able to quickly seize the initiative, and almost pull off a win. Only that final bold assault on, and steadfast defence of, the objective by the British bomber squad staved off defeat.
I ran the game with the rules changes outlined HERE. Specifically I used the change to the way assault damage is run, with the side scoring the most damage inflicting the full number of hits, whilst the losing side only scores half hits. This helped prevent mutual destruction situations, although winners were still generally too battered to consolidate their position for long. Still, it generally felt better. I want to try a game with some assault squads next and see if I can balance them up a little better.
No comments:
Post a Comment