Rather than run a specific scenario I decided to do an encounter on a random terrain and drive the game with the Mission Objectives in the optional rules. I gave both sides a basic platoon: rifle squad, bomber squad, LMG squad, rifle grenade squad, officer and sergeant. I then rolled for objectives for both sides and allowed them to choose one additional squad for their force.
I created a random complication table as well. Roll a D6:
1 - It's foggy. Roll at the end of each player's turn. On a '6' the fog lifts. Until then, the maximum range for any firing is 12" and Firefights take place at 6" only*.
2 - It's muddy. Mud is covered in the rules.
3 - Artillery! There's an artillery barrage nearby and the battlefield is being hit by stray shells. Place a marker in the centre of the table at the start of the game. At the end of each player turn roll a red D6 and a white D6 on the table. The marker moves in a line equivalent to that from the red dice to the white dice and a distance in inches equal to twice the score of the white dice. The nearest unit within 3" of its new position takes 1D3 hits.
4 - Big Push. At the start of each player's turn roll a D6. On a '6' that player receives reinforcements starting from any point on their board edge. The first reinforcement will be a Rifle Squad. The second can be a Bomber Squad or LMG Squad. Subsequent reinforcements are Rifle Squads.
5 - Surprise Encounter - Neither side is prepared to meet the other. Both sides roll a single D6 for activations for the duration of the game.
6 - Roll Twice, treating further results of 6 as no complication.
As stated above the terrain is random. I divided the 2' x 2' board up into 6" squares and diced to see if each contained terrain and what type of terrain it was. I ended up with this; a line of hills down the centreline of the table, with one shell-hole filled gap. There were a couple of shattered woods and a ruined house on the German baseline.
The British had to inflict damage on the Germans, and destroy at least two of their units. They added an HMG to achieve this. The Germans had to inflict damage, and capture an objective in the British half of the field, holding it for one turn. The only viable option was the wood just on the others side of the ridge. They added an assault squad.
The Germans were stuck having to attack over a ridge, making it difficult to use support weapons. The British were stuck with limited cover on their side, but with objectives that just consisted of scoring casualties could wait for the Germans to come to them.
The random complication was stray shells from a nearby barrage.
British activations for the first two turns were terrible, leaving them pretty much immobile as the Germans organised for their attack. They pushed a bomber squad into the objective.
The Vickers MG kept up a steady and deadly fire on the German LMG squad, leaving it scrambling to reorganise for much of the early part of the game. The German grenade launchers couldn't suppress the British gun.
The Germans made a bold rush for the objective. Their bomber squad was driven off having achieved nothing, but the assault squad pushed the British out and seized the wood.
Unfortunately they had to hold it against the firepower of most of the British platoon. A rifle squad in the shell-holes provided what covering fire it could.
The German squad was eliminated, having failed to hold the objective for long enough. The bomber squad reorganised and moved into position for another go.
The German support was doing better. They quickly eliminated both the Vickers HMG and the British grenade-launchers. This would allow them to bring up the rest of their troops safely, but time was running out.
The British pushed their bomber squad back into the objective.
The German LMG moved up and eliminated the supporting rifle squad ...
And the bombers went in again. Each squad wiped out the other.
In the last turn the British LMG squad tried to stop the Germans moving onto the objective, but failed. Strictly, though, I'd said that the objective had to be held for a whole enemy turn, and the game ran out before that was achieved. So I gave the Germans half points for it.
The German grenade launchers finished off the British LMG.
This mean that, in practice, the British had won, having inflicted the damage they needed to, plus eliminating two enemy units. They lost all of their units though. I suppose really it was a bloody draw.
I have a few thoughts on minor rules changes, which I will cover in another post.
Update: I realise that I forgot to mention the barrage. This swung across the British lines, but missed their troops, before moving along the German back edge (if the barrage moved off the edge of the table I brought it back on at the equivalent point on the opposite edge). It did some minor damage to some of the German support troops, and probably delayed the recovery of their LMG squad for a turn. Finally it scored a hit on the British LMG squad on the last turn. So it was annoying, but not overly critical. Which is how it should be in a game like this.
*I am shifting to Squad Hammer Core ranges - 3" for Assaults and 9" for Firefights.
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