Dabulamanzi
Recruit
This is my first attempt at writing an AAR so apologies in advance for......oh you'll see.
I started CG I of PB about 3 months ago with my regular gaming partner after a gap of several years having babies and related things (I didn't personally have the babies....er.....never mind).
I was to play the British and my friend the Germans - this was also going to be a re-learning experience for the 2 of us to see how much of the RB we had forgotten (Not as much as we thought but more than we would of liked).
We've been playing a game every fortnight or so and have just finished the Day I scenario.
Night I
Most Germans were set up on the west side of the bridge with some dummy counters on the East to keep me honest.
The landing was reasonably sucessful - all 3 gliders at least landed !
I had intended a coup-de-main with Howard and his glider by dropping them almost on the bridge but of course it scattered - into wire -
and Howard failed his morale check when the glider was damaged. An omen ?
Swiftly clearing the East side of the bridge with out British loss I then prepared to storm the bridge and drive on Berlin.
Of course my opponent had trenches in the grain on the hill and wire surrounding the z15 building and put down a hail of fire as my
well crafted attack went into action (I charged single squads across the bridge one at a time while shouting 'Please don't kill me')
Apart from a few cowardly Paras who didn't seem to like my plan, I managed to get a toehold in the Cafe Gondree and the other building south of the road but couldn't get into the wire covered cafe on the north side. Luckily no one died (At least on the British side) but the scenario ended early and I could get no further.
Oh well - I held the Bridge and had 5 squads and a leader on the west bank.
Actually they were isolated for the next scenario which we forgot when time came to play it -
It didn't affect much as I set up 5 squads there for the next game , we just forgot the ammo shortage rule.
Night II
Strange game this - it turns out that my opponent was down to about 1 and 1/2 squads from the last game and even with his reinforcements from Le Port was worried about a British breakout and so set up to defend.
I on the other hand was worried about 12 fresh squads and 4 tanks overrunning my weak toe-hold on the west bank and then coming over the bridge so I set up to defend as well.
The first 4 turns consisted of British and German troops exchanging fire at a 2 hex range to little effect. Every time he would break one or more of the British guys on the west bank they would be rallied from under dm by the 9-2 or 8- leaders that were there or he would break the leader and the squads would remain to prevent any sort of german charge.
On turn 5 things changed slightly when a sniper took out his 9-1 leader in the Z15 cafe. The next German attack generated a hero in
the Cafe Gondree (Sgt Swagger Thorton of course) who proceeded to grab a piat, flame a tank 80 yards up the main road
and then get a crit on another tank sitting on the hill - kapowee.
No movement at all this scenario but the Brits come out on top with no casualties whilst the Krauts lose a leader
and 2 tanks (Cheap French rubbish to be sure - but a tank is a tank)
One interesting tactic by my opponent was to place 2 MMGs + 9-1 leader on the roof of the sanitorium. When ever a starsheel would go up
and illuminate the British positions they would open fire from nearly 20 hexex away. Didn't do a lot but the LOS that they would
have in the daylight looked worrying.
No changes in positions for this scenario.
Night III
British reinforcements arrive but the Germans from Benouville are free to move so I figured that I would have to pour across the bridge
before they joined the action.
A Queue of British troops were set up on the bridge and they charged across from turn 1.
Luckily the Germans couldn't get any starshells to drop nor the bridge or his MG stack on the sanitorium roof could of caused some problems.
As it is the Brits fight there way slowly up the line of buildings on the North side of the bridge road and onto the trench line on the hill.
Once again the German commander is fairly cautious (he says that he was in this for the long haul and didn't want to jepordise everything my being to aggressive early in the campaign - pah what a wimp
).
Even though he says he was being cautious he still makes me fight for every building up the side of the road and both sides take casualties.
British casualties are probably heavier as I suddenly find that I can't make a morale check to save my life and a few double breaks later.....
The scenario ends with the Brits in charge of all the roadside buildings and the trenches on the hill.
My initial attack on the schoolhouse is repulsed (how many 11's are on my dice?) and the game ends before I can mount a second one.
The good news is that I have split the German forces - most of them are in the Benouville area whilst one half squad is on the Le Port side.
Dawn
Again the German commander plays a cautious game and refuses to launch an attack, prefering to build up his troops for later in the CG.
Actually this could be a good move as there are several scenarios without Brit reinforcements and he may get time to build up an overwhelming superiority in numbers.
I take advantage of the split troops and send about 6 squads and a leader to take all of Le Port by scenario end.
I also managed to grab the Schoolhouse and related buildings when I realise that he only has dummies defending it.
The Germans purchase an Infantry company (the machine guns are sent up to the sanitorium roof to add to his death star that he is building there) and a few AA trucks. One of these is lost to British fire late in the game but otherwise casualties are light on both sides. I don't have the strength to attack Benouville and he figures he doesn't have the strength to attack dug in British paras so little combat occurs.
Day I
As the sun comes up completely the German commander decides that now is the time to attack. He has purchases another Infantry company, 3 MKIVs and a couple of those 150mm SPG jobs (I found out about all this later).
I also had the problem that I had a large perimiter to defend and could be facing a flank attack through Le Port as well as from Benouville.
During my planning I decide that knowing my opponent (and how cautious he can be) and the fact that he has had a killer stack on the roof of the sanitorium roof every scenario so far it is most likely that he will max out on purchases, use the death star to kill everything on the hill and then move in to take the unoccupied ground.
With this in mind I defend Le Port only very lightly (2 half squads with piats) and defend against a push from the South.
Although I guessed that this was the direction he would attack from, actually doing anything about it would be another thing altogether.
Most of my troops were therefore in the buildings (Z12-Z14 ?) and the road giving me defilade from the German MGs on the roof.
I did defend the School House and Town house but I figured that with a central setup I could react better to any thrust he might make.
Well, I guessed right , and I also was right about not being able to stop it.
The 2 150mm SPG went up-slope in the South-West area of the map which enabled him to shell the schoolhouse over the grainfield in front. As well as this the 3 MkIVs worked their way forward until 5 hexes from my setup area (to avoid piats - I told you he was cautious)
and began shelling.
These attacks combined with the killer stack on the sanitorium ( by this stage he had deployed all of the squads and had 2 HMGS and 3 or so MMG all firing from the same hex) eventually forced me back to the north most building only (the Townhall ?) and had cleared out the few guys I had in the trenches in the grain.
Cautious as ever it wasn't until turn 5 (it may of been turn 6 - I forget) that he then pushed forward a couple of tanks and some infantry towards the trenches and also into the Schoolhouse.
Now was my moment - 2 hip half squads with piats that had been waiting all game for this moment appeard in the grain and targeted the lead tank (one guy was adjacent to the tank).
The first shot came up a .....12......damn. Up to the adjacent guy now. He fires......a hit......a 7 TK and I roll.........an 8. Arse.
The shock of HIP piat troops appearing around him in the grain slowed him down and he spent the next turn firing at them and not moving forward.
The unit with the broken piat died instantly but the other half squad shrugged off morale check after morale check from infantry, MGs from the sanitorium and point blank 75mm fire from the MkIV.
While this was going on he did manage to advance a half squad into the Townhall in an attempt to take out my last troops there. Little did he realise that this was Major Howard and a squad with an lmg. Unfortunately for me the CC was ineffective and I was held in melee.
On my turn I fired my brave half squad at the MKIV sitting next to it. A 9 to hit......and I roll.......a 10. Double arse.
Major Howard and is crack squad once again fail to take out the german half squad and so we go into what would turn out to be the last turn of the scenario.
The Germans decide to fire everything into the melee (apart from the MKIV which blows away the adjacent half squad). this ends up with the German half squad and the British full squad breaking but Major Howard is only pinned. In the melee Major Howard guns down the fleeing Krauts but is left on his own at the end of the scenario.
At game end I have lost 6 or 7 squads and the Germans only 2 or so.
One of those rules funnies then occurred because we were a bit out of practice with it all.
We had failed to read the full rules on setup areas/escape etc. It seems that although there were no British troops on the hill (apart from Major Howard) the Germans ended the game adjacent to my trenches but not in them. This placed them in no-mans land and they had to make an escape roll.
Of course 3 1/2 squads died in those rolls - more than they had lost in the battle. My opponent howled at the fact that his troops could die retreating from empty trenches. Me - I simply pointed out that Major Howard was a crack shot with his pistol and had taken them all out as they pulled back (150 yards with a 45 - easy shot!)
And that’s where it currently stands - on Day II I get Lord Lovatt and his mob arriving from the North but the Germans are in a strong position and likely to get stronger with fresh purchases.
He currently has 20+ squads (1st line as well) 2 MKIVs (possibly 3 if he fixes the bust gun on one of them), 1 150mm SPG (2 if he fixes the gun on the other one), 4 crappy French tanks (he bought these to round his points off but they are so slow they never got into the battle) and a 20m AA truck.
With the additional points he gets he could add 12 more squads and another 3 MKIVs. It looks like its only going to get tougher for the Ox and Bucks.
We are due to play Day II on Saturday so hopefully I will get that written up for next week if any one is interested.
I've just seen how long this AAR is. Is this a problem or should I have broken it down into several sections ?
I started CG I of PB about 3 months ago with my regular gaming partner after a gap of several years having babies and related things (I didn't personally have the babies....er.....never mind).
I was to play the British and my friend the Germans - this was also going to be a re-learning experience for the 2 of us to see how much of the RB we had forgotten (Not as much as we thought but more than we would of liked).
We've been playing a game every fortnight or so and have just finished the Day I scenario.
Night I
Most Germans were set up on the west side of the bridge with some dummy counters on the East to keep me honest.
The landing was reasonably sucessful - all 3 gliders at least landed !
I had intended a coup-de-main with Howard and his glider by dropping them almost on the bridge but of course it scattered - into wire -
and Howard failed his morale check when the glider was damaged. An omen ?
Swiftly clearing the East side of the bridge with out British loss I then prepared to storm the bridge and drive on Berlin.
Of course my opponent had trenches in the grain on the hill and wire surrounding the z15 building and put down a hail of fire as my
well crafted attack went into action (I charged single squads across the bridge one at a time while shouting 'Please don't kill me')
Apart from a few cowardly Paras who didn't seem to like my plan, I managed to get a toehold in the Cafe Gondree and the other building south of the road but couldn't get into the wire covered cafe on the north side. Luckily no one died (At least on the British side) but the scenario ended early and I could get no further.
Oh well - I held the Bridge and had 5 squads and a leader on the west bank.
Actually they were isolated for the next scenario which we forgot when time came to play it -
It didn't affect much as I set up 5 squads there for the next game , we just forgot the ammo shortage rule.
Night II
Strange game this - it turns out that my opponent was down to about 1 and 1/2 squads from the last game and even with his reinforcements from Le Port was worried about a British breakout and so set up to defend.
I on the other hand was worried about 12 fresh squads and 4 tanks overrunning my weak toe-hold on the west bank and then coming over the bridge so I set up to defend as well.
The first 4 turns consisted of British and German troops exchanging fire at a 2 hex range to little effect. Every time he would break one or more of the British guys on the west bank they would be rallied from under dm by the 9-2 or 8- leaders that were there or he would break the leader and the squads would remain to prevent any sort of german charge.
On turn 5 things changed slightly when a sniper took out his 9-1 leader in the Z15 cafe. The next German attack generated a hero in
the Cafe Gondree (Sgt Swagger Thorton of course) who proceeded to grab a piat, flame a tank 80 yards up the main road
and then get a crit on another tank sitting on the hill - kapowee.
No movement at all this scenario but the Brits come out on top with no casualties whilst the Krauts lose a leader
and 2 tanks (Cheap French rubbish to be sure - but a tank is a tank)
One interesting tactic by my opponent was to place 2 MMGs + 9-1 leader on the roof of the sanitorium. When ever a starsheel would go up
and illuminate the British positions they would open fire from nearly 20 hexex away. Didn't do a lot but the LOS that they would
have in the daylight looked worrying.
No changes in positions for this scenario.
Night III
British reinforcements arrive but the Germans from Benouville are free to move so I figured that I would have to pour across the bridge
before they joined the action.
A Queue of British troops were set up on the bridge and they charged across from turn 1.
Luckily the Germans couldn't get any starshells to drop nor the bridge or his MG stack on the sanitorium roof could of caused some problems.
As it is the Brits fight there way slowly up the line of buildings on the North side of the bridge road and onto the trench line on the hill.
Once again the German commander is fairly cautious (he says that he was in this for the long haul and didn't want to jepordise everything my being to aggressive early in the campaign - pah what a wimp
).Even though he says he was being cautious he still makes me fight for every building up the side of the road and both sides take casualties.
British casualties are probably heavier as I suddenly find that I can't make a morale check to save my life and a few double breaks later.....
The scenario ends with the Brits in charge of all the roadside buildings and the trenches on the hill.
My initial attack on the schoolhouse is repulsed (how many 11's are on my dice?) and the game ends before I can mount a second one.
The good news is that I have split the German forces - most of them are in the Benouville area whilst one half squad is on the Le Port side.
Dawn
Again the German commander plays a cautious game and refuses to launch an attack, prefering to build up his troops for later in the CG.
Actually this could be a good move as there are several scenarios without Brit reinforcements and he may get time to build up an overwhelming superiority in numbers.
I take advantage of the split troops and send about 6 squads and a leader to take all of Le Port by scenario end.
I also managed to grab the Schoolhouse and related buildings when I realise that he only has dummies defending it.
The Germans purchase an Infantry company (the machine guns are sent up to the sanitorium roof to add to his death star that he is building there) and a few AA trucks. One of these is lost to British fire late in the game but otherwise casualties are light on both sides. I don't have the strength to attack Benouville and he figures he doesn't have the strength to attack dug in British paras so little combat occurs.
Day I
As the sun comes up completely the German commander decides that now is the time to attack. He has purchases another Infantry company, 3 MKIVs and a couple of those 150mm SPG jobs (I found out about all this later).
I also had the problem that I had a large perimiter to defend and could be facing a flank attack through Le Port as well as from Benouville.
During my planning I decide that knowing my opponent (and how cautious he can be) and the fact that he has had a killer stack on the roof of the sanitorium roof every scenario so far it is most likely that he will max out on purchases, use the death star to kill everything on the hill and then move in to take the unoccupied ground.
With this in mind I defend Le Port only very lightly (2 half squads with piats) and defend against a push from the South.
Although I guessed that this was the direction he would attack from, actually doing anything about it would be another thing altogether.
Most of my troops were therefore in the buildings (Z12-Z14 ?) and the road giving me defilade from the German MGs on the roof.
I did defend the School House and Town house but I figured that with a central setup I could react better to any thrust he might make.
Well, I guessed right , and I also was right about not being able to stop it.
The 2 150mm SPG went up-slope in the South-West area of the map which enabled him to shell the schoolhouse over the grainfield in front. As well as this the 3 MkIVs worked their way forward until 5 hexes from my setup area (to avoid piats - I told you he was cautious)
and began shelling.
These attacks combined with the killer stack on the sanitorium ( by this stage he had deployed all of the squads and had 2 HMGS and 3 or so MMG all firing from the same hex) eventually forced me back to the north most building only (the Townhall ?) and had cleared out the few guys I had in the trenches in the grain.
Cautious as ever it wasn't until turn 5 (it may of been turn 6 - I forget) that he then pushed forward a couple of tanks and some infantry towards the trenches and also into the Schoolhouse.
Now was my moment - 2 hip half squads with piats that had been waiting all game for this moment appeard in the grain and targeted the lead tank (one guy was adjacent to the tank).
The first shot came up a .....12......damn. Up to the adjacent guy now. He fires......a hit......a 7 TK and I roll.........an 8. Arse.
The shock of HIP piat troops appearing around him in the grain slowed him down and he spent the next turn firing at them and not moving forward.
The unit with the broken piat died instantly but the other half squad shrugged off morale check after morale check from infantry, MGs from the sanitorium and point blank 75mm fire from the MkIV.
While this was going on he did manage to advance a half squad into the Townhall in an attempt to take out my last troops there. Little did he realise that this was Major Howard and a squad with an lmg. Unfortunately for me the CC was ineffective and I was held in melee.
On my turn I fired my brave half squad at the MKIV sitting next to it. A 9 to hit......and I roll.......a 10. Double arse.
Major Howard and is crack squad once again fail to take out the german half squad and so we go into what would turn out to be the last turn of the scenario.
The Germans decide to fire everything into the melee (apart from the MKIV which blows away the adjacent half squad). this ends up with the German half squad and the British full squad breaking but Major Howard is only pinned. In the melee Major Howard guns down the fleeing Krauts but is left on his own at the end of the scenario.
At game end I have lost 6 or 7 squads and the Germans only 2 or so.
One of those rules funnies then occurred because we were a bit out of practice with it all.
We had failed to read the full rules on setup areas/escape etc. It seems that although there were no British troops on the hill (apart from Major Howard) the Germans ended the game adjacent to my trenches but not in them. This placed them in no-mans land and they had to make an escape roll.
Of course 3 1/2 squads died in those rolls - more than they had lost in the battle. My opponent howled at the fact that his troops could die retreating from empty trenches. Me - I simply pointed out that Major Howard was a crack shot with his pistol and had taken them all out as they pulled back (150 yards with a 45 - easy shot!)
And that’s where it currently stands - on Day II I get Lord Lovatt and his mob arriving from the North but the Germans are in a strong position and likely to get stronger with fresh purchases.
He currently has 20+ squads (1st line as well) 2 MKIVs (possibly 3 if he fixes the bust gun on one of them), 1 150mm SPG (2 if he fixes the gun on the other one), 4 crappy French tanks (he bought these to round his points off but they are so slow they never got into the battle) and a 20m AA truck.
With the additional points he gets he could add 12 more squads and another 3 MKIVs. It looks like its only going to get tougher for the Ox and Bucks.
We are due to play Day II on Saturday so hopefully I will get that written up for next week if any one is interested.
I've just seen how long this AAR is. Is this a problem or should I have broken it down into several sections ?
