Mike205
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- Jul 7, 2017
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After licking my wounds and going through some therapy, we returned to Fontenay le Pisnel. Doug offered to let me take the SS child soldiers, but I declined- I had unfinished business with the defenders of Fontenay.
This time, the map length was slightly shortened:
Brit set up was along the line 44S7-44U8-10U6-10S7-44S8. My force of surviving Royal Scots consisted of 7 4-5-8s, 4 4-5-7s, & 2 2-2-7s led by a 9-1, 8-1, 7-0 armed with a MMG, captured MMG, 2 LMG, 2 Piats, 9 ? counters, and a captured 75 AT gun. These units would set up concealed rather than cloaked and thankfully, the British crews do not suffer captured use penalties. Although it looks decent on paper, this force was actually quite frail- reflecting the pasting they received last game when they suffered 75% casualties, these troops have an ELR of 2 and this is reduced each time a leader is lost. I thought this was a nice design detail- the scenario card mentions that a battalion involved in the battle essentially collapsed and lost discipline due to the strain of sustained combat. Montgomery would sack its commander.
Fortunately, this force received a boost on turn 1 with the arrival of 4 6-5-8 assault engineers, 2 FTs, 2 DCs led by a 9-2 and a 7-0 that enter on the north edge cloaked.
The Germans could set up on or south of 10v, 44v, and 19L.
Doug would have a weakened HJ force to work with: 4 6-5-8s, 4 4-4-7s, a 2-2-8 crew, a wounded 10-3 leader, a 9-1, 8-1, and a wounded hero armed with a HMG, 3 LMGs, and a PSK along with two foxholes to shelter in. An immobilized panther went into 10DD1, CA CC1/CC2, with no possibility of wall advantage. By SSR, he could designate two building hexes as fortified.
By SSR, the British also receive a Recon die roll which, lucky me, revealed two of Doug's fortified positions. Both sides have 6 FFP to strengthen their OB. I chose to arm a 6-5-8 with a Piat and buy a 4-5-8 an LMG, while Doug invested in another fortified hex so that he could completely bunker in the board 10 church in the center of Fontenay. He opted to place several 4-4-7s and an LMG toting 6-5-8 and 9-1 in those hexes, and placed another 6-5-8, HMG, crew , and 10-3 in the rubbled X6 to control the crossroads. A 4-4-7 went into reserve in AA7, another 4-4-7 with a psk in the rubbled W5 hex, in 44 CC9, he placed a 6-5-8, LMG, and 8-1 to guard his flank, the final LMG and 6-5-8 went into 10 W7. Given the British set up area, Doug correctly assumed that I'd avoid the 44 open ground in favor of grinding forward on board 10.
NVR was a 2 and wouldn't change throughout the scenario. VC required me to take both multi hex buildings on board 10 and eliminate the Panther or take all building locations on board 10 and at least have the Panther shocked/uk'ed. I'd have four and a half turns to accomplish the mission and avenge the slaughter of the Royal Scots earlier that day.
To that end, I placed some massive fire groups consiting of 2 piat toting squads, 2 LMGs, and both MMGs along with the 9-1 leader in the U5 houses along with the 75AT gun. I decided to skirt the village, sending a some 4-5-8s and a piat 6-5-8 east to deal with the Panther, with the idea that if I had time, some could double back and complete the encirclement of the church. The remaining 6-5-8s, and 9-2 leader, along with a couple of 4-5-8s, a 4-5-7, 7-0, and some dummies hooked to the west with the intention of outflanking the village and then launching a right hook that would take the school (as we called it) across the street from the church, setting things up nicely to spend a turn or two hammering Doug's fortress with heavy small arms fire, then prying it open with FTs and DCs.
I'm not a cartographer.
Things got off to a good start and my dice were hot- the 4-4-7 ELR'ed then broke again and died under the fire superiority of the Royal Scots and an awesome critical hit by the AT gun. The LMG in W5 also broke and routed back to the church, where it took two turns to rally. The only issue I had on turn 1 was having a 4-5-8 cas reduce, ELR, and pin in the open from fire on the east side of the church. The 10-3 did its job though and kept my fire groups engaged through turn 3 and the 8-1 on Doug's left caused some slow going through the woods on the eastern edge of town.
However, my big right hook was very effective, staying outside NVR to get into position to take the school. I was helped by Doug's poor freedom of movement rolls, which denied him reinforcements in that vital area of the board.
Turn three, the 4-4-7s guarding the school let loose a flurry of small arms fire was greeted with silence, then a jet of flame shot out of the darkness, breaking the squad.
Despite Doug sending a 6-5-8 in to counterattack, the engineers were in firm control of the school by the end of their turn. The 10-2 voluntarily broke to rout back to the church with his broken crew, which were killed by interdiction. Things were looking good.
Then things got nutty- literally. Rallying in his turn Doug's 9-1 went beserk and two out of three squads followed him into a melee in the school house. His cut off 6-5-8 would also sharpen its shovels and go into CC with a 4-5-7 which occuppied the rubble next to it.
Like a black jack player in a televised Las Vegas tournament, I doubled down in turn 4 and pitched a 6-4-8 and 9-2 leader into the fray, eliminating his men. He'd get a small consolation prize, wiping out the 4-5-7 next door.
To the east, I had trouble moving on the Panther. In turn 4 Doug launched a local counter attack with his 6-5-8 and 8-1. Although I repulsed them, he kept me busy and I wasn't able to leap frog forward. After blasting away fruitlessly for several turns, this tank also finally landed a hit, breaking a 6-4-8 that was lugging a DC towards it.
Still, things were going good- by turn 5 I had the school firmly in my posession and surrounded the church. I manuvered a massive fire group into position on its east side and two FTs on the west, breaking everyone in his Alamo. But... let's check those VC- I wasn't able to get the Panther and this was my undoing. IA managed to get a squad close enough to CC but they pinned and refused to attack it. My lads had seen enough carnage for one day.
Desite this narrow defeat, there were a lot of positives to take away. I'd been able to keep most of my momentum up and use NVR to manuever onto my objectives pretty well. For once, I also had FT and DC teams in the right position to do some real damage. This was a fun scenario and I especially enjoyed the two part nature of the Fontenay series. Night took the edge off of Doug's Hitler Youth- like all little boys, they were scared of the dark and his defense was largely static, minus two fairly successful small counter jabs. Recommended.
This time, the map length was slightly shortened:
Brit set up was along the line 44S7-44U8-10U6-10S7-44S8. My force of surviving Royal Scots consisted of 7 4-5-8s, 4 4-5-7s, & 2 2-2-7s led by a 9-1, 8-1, 7-0 armed with a MMG, captured MMG, 2 LMG, 2 Piats, 9 ? counters, and a captured 75 AT gun. These units would set up concealed rather than cloaked and thankfully, the British crews do not suffer captured use penalties. Although it looks decent on paper, this force was actually quite frail- reflecting the pasting they received last game when they suffered 75% casualties, these troops have an ELR of 2 and this is reduced each time a leader is lost. I thought this was a nice design detail- the scenario card mentions that a battalion involved in the battle essentially collapsed and lost discipline due to the strain of sustained combat. Montgomery would sack its commander.
Fortunately, this force received a boost on turn 1 with the arrival of 4 6-5-8 assault engineers, 2 FTs, 2 DCs led by a 9-2 and a 7-0 that enter on the north edge cloaked.
The Germans could set up on or south of 10v, 44v, and 19L.
Doug would have a weakened HJ force to work with: 4 6-5-8s, 4 4-4-7s, a 2-2-8 crew, a wounded 10-3 leader, a 9-1, 8-1, and a wounded hero armed with a HMG, 3 LMGs, and a PSK along with two foxholes to shelter in. An immobilized panther went into 10DD1, CA CC1/CC2, with no possibility of wall advantage. By SSR, he could designate two building hexes as fortified.
By SSR, the British also receive a Recon die roll which, lucky me, revealed two of Doug's fortified positions. Both sides have 6 FFP to strengthen their OB. I chose to arm a 6-5-8 with a Piat and buy a 4-5-8 an LMG, while Doug invested in another fortified hex so that he could completely bunker in the board 10 church in the center of Fontenay. He opted to place several 4-4-7s and an LMG toting 6-5-8 and 9-1 in those hexes, and placed another 6-5-8, HMG, crew , and 10-3 in the rubbled X6 to control the crossroads. A 4-4-7 went into reserve in AA7, another 4-4-7 with a psk in the rubbled W5 hex, in 44 CC9, he placed a 6-5-8, LMG, and 8-1 to guard his flank, the final LMG and 6-5-8 went into 10 W7. Given the British set up area, Doug correctly assumed that I'd avoid the 44 open ground in favor of grinding forward on board 10.
NVR was a 2 and wouldn't change throughout the scenario. VC required me to take both multi hex buildings on board 10 and eliminate the Panther or take all building locations on board 10 and at least have the Panther shocked/uk'ed. I'd have four and a half turns to accomplish the mission and avenge the slaughter of the Royal Scots earlier that day.
To that end, I placed some massive fire groups consiting of 2 piat toting squads, 2 LMGs, and both MMGs along with the 9-1 leader in the U5 houses along with the 75AT gun. I decided to skirt the village, sending a some 4-5-8s and a piat 6-5-8 east to deal with the Panther, with the idea that if I had time, some could double back and complete the encirclement of the church. The remaining 6-5-8s, and 9-2 leader, along with a couple of 4-5-8s, a 4-5-7, 7-0, and some dummies hooked to the west with the intention of outflanking the village and then launching a right hook that would take the school (as we called it) across the street from the church, setting things up nicely to spend a turn or two hammering Doug's fortress with heavy small arms fire, then prying it open with FTs and DCs.
I'm not a cartographer.
Things got off to a good start and my dice were hot- the 4-4-7 ELR'ed then broke again and died under the fire superiority of the Royal Scots and an awesome critical hit by the AT gun. The LMG in W5 also broke and routed back to the church, where it took two turns to rally. The only issue I had on turn 1 was having a 4-5-8 cas reduce, ELR, and pin in the open from fire on the east side of the church. The 10-3 did its job though and kept my fire groups engaged through turn 3 and the 8-1 on Doug's left caused some slow going through the woods on the eastern edge of town.
However, my big right hook was very effective, staying outside NVR to get into position to take the school. I was helped by Doug's poor freedom of movement rolls, which denied him reinforcements in that vital area of the board.
Turn three, the 4-4-7s guarding the school let loose a flurry of small arms fire was greeted with silence, then a jet of flame shot out of the darkness, breaking the squad.
Despite Doug sending a 6-5-8 in to counterattack, the engineers were in firm control of the school by the end of their turn. The 10-2 voluntarily broke to rout back to the church with his broken crew, which were killed by interdiction. Things were looking good.
Then things got nutty- literally. Rallying in his turn Doug's 9-1 went beserk and two out of three squads followed him into a melee in the school house. His cut off 6-5-8 would also sharpen its shovels and go into CC with a 4-5-7 which occuppied the rubble next to it.
Like a black jack player in a televised Las Vegas tournament, I doubled down in turn 4 and pitched a 6-4-8 and 9-2 leader into the fray, eliminating his men. He'd get a small consolation prize, wiping out the 4-5-7 next door.
To the east, I had trouble moving on the Panther. In turn 4 Doug launched a local counter attack with his 6-5-8 and 8-1. Although I repulsed them, he kept me busy and I wasn't able to leap frog forward. After blasting away fruitlessly for several turns, this tank also finally landed a hit, breaking a 6-4-8 that was lugging a DC towards it.
Still, things were going good- by turn 5 I had the school firmly in my posession and surrounded the church. I manuvered a massive fire group into position on its east side and two FTs on the west, breaking everyone in his Alamo. But... let's check those VC- I wasn't able to get the Panther and this was my undoing. IA managed to get a squad close enough to CC but they pinned and refused to attack it. My lads had seen enough carnage for one day.
Desite this narrow defeat, there were a lot of positives to take away. I'd been able to keep most of my momentum up and use NVR to manuever onto my objectives pretty well. For once, I also had FT and DC teams in the right position to do some real damage. This was a fun scenario and I especially enjoyed the two part nature of the Fontenay series. Night took the edge off of Doug's Hitler Youth- like all little boys, they were scared of the dark and his defense was largely static, minus two fairly successful small counter jabs. Recommended.
