Encounter at Le Valtru, 10:00. ”Cat on the run”

This is the fourth battle in our Scottish Corridor campaign.

Having failed their first attempt to break through at Le Valtru, Kampfgruppe Weidinger decides to try bypassing the village. In game terms this means playing the game using the ”Probe” scenario rather than ”Encounter”. For the Germans this means giving up much of their hard earned benefits from winning Operation Martlet and leaving behind their additional third infantry platoon together with the mauled platoon that failed to fight its way through Le Valtru in campaign turn 2. 

On the up side, this decreases the risk of bogging down in Le Valtru and hopefully speeds up the linkup with the seemingly unstoppable Kampfgruppe Frey in the east.

Something new on the western front. At least if the Germans get their way.

The Germans are supported by a Panther, a flamethrower team, a second Senior Leader and an adjutant. Their plan is to speed the Panther along their left flank and off the table, hopefully without having engaged the infantry to avoid taking casualties. If that fails, the infantry will have to make a more traditional assault over the stream and into the fields beyond. A not very tempting option for the grenadiers. 

The British are supporter by a 75mm Sherman, a Sherman Firefly and an adjutant. They fully expect a Panther to make a run for it, and the plan/hope is to catch it in the open with a good shot from the Firefly. If that succeeds mopping up the remaining Germans should not be that difficult. The problem is that Panthers are very fast and the British have been notoriously bad at handling enemy armour…

Patrol Phase

Both players deploy their JOPs in a line shifted slightly to the south. The Germans have a -1 to their force morale (because of the -3 on mens opinion from turn 2) and are quite happy to end up with Force Morale 9. 

The British start the game with an impressive Force Morale of 11.

Jump Off Points on the map.

The doormat fields from last battle were unavailable this time. 

The wheat fields are instead marked by clumps of foliage.

Battle

The Germans get a very flexible first roll of the Command Dice and immediately deploy two squads, a Senior Leader with the squad on their right flank and the Panther tank. 

The British lay low, waiting to spring the trap at the right time. Over the coming phases the Panther hastily advances on the Germans extreme left flank while the grenadiers creep forward to be in better positions for a rush towards the British lines in case the Panther is stopped. With their campaign specific rating of ”Superior Regulars” the Germans count any single 6s on the Command Dice as a 5, quickly collecting their first Chain Of Command Dice.

Using concealment from orchards and walls, the German infantry carefully infiltrates the village while the Panther speeds around the left flank.

A third squad follows behind.

Still no sign of the British! With a few really high dice rolls for movement, it only takes the Panther a couple of phases to reach and cross the stream. With the Germans holding a full Chain of Command Dice while the British are one 5 away from a full dice, the Germans sees a chance to grab a quick and easy victory by playing an Interrupt and run the Panther to the table edge. 

Panthera ad portas!

45 tonnes of bad news heading for the British.

Meep Meep - Wrooom! The Panzerwaffe does it's best Bugs Bunny impression.
Hmm, is that exhaust fumes or smoke coming from the gear box...?

The Germans need to roll a total of 12 on three D6 for the Panther to move the 18” to the table edge. So it’s a bit less than a 50/50 chance. If successful, they win the game without any casualties at all, if they fail the Panther will end up with its side or even rear armour exposed to British units deploying along the road. If the Germans don’t act now, the British will get a chain of command dice and be able to ambush the Panther from behind whenever it tries to drive off. 

With his superiors expectations of boldness and aggressiveness heavy on his shoulders, the German commander decides to take the chance! As soon as the British Command Dice are rolled the Germans interrupt. The Panther rolls 3 dice for movement at full speed, but the young driver buckles under the pressure and struggles with the gearbox… a total of 5 is rolled, taking the Panther 11” and stoping just 7” from victory. 

"Kroink!" Oh, My, that definately was the gear box!

On the road behind a hedge a Firefly watches the Panthers slow and jerking forward movement as at lines itself up for a perfect side shot from the Firefly’s mighty 17pdr gun. 

What could possibly go wrong now?

The Firefly scores a hit, but only achieves zero net hits and fail to cause any effect on the Panther.

Next the British use their newly acquired Chain of Command Dice to ambush with a PIAT team. Despite being able to deploy 12” from the JOP they are unable to target the Panther’s rear armour.  Adding insult to injury they miss their shot… It looks like the Panther will get a second chance to win the day! 

”Bummer!”

The Germans now need to roll a single 3 (or a 1 and a 2) on their five command dice to win the game. They don’t. 

A flamethrower team is deployed with minimal enthusiasm as the Germans prepare themselves to lose the Panther to another side shot from the Firefly. With some luck, the Germans could at least avenge their tank by barbecuing a PIAT team. 

The British Command Dice let’s them activate both the Firefly and the PIAT. The Firefly fires again, easily hitting the Panther. Amazingly, the Firefly once again only roll four 4, 5 or 6s while the Panther answers with an insanely good roll of seven (!!) 5 and 6s on eleven dice. The shot bounces off harmlessly. 

Both the British an German commander have now been thrown between hope and despair so many times in such a short time span that a feeling of just being a fascinated bystander to events completely out of either players control arises as the British player activates the PIAT. This time it hits the Panther, but again the dice are not sympathetic with the British cause and the PIAT only delivers two dice rolls of 4 or more. The Panther rolls six 5 och 6s and is again unharmed.

In their next phase the Germans do roll a 3 on their Command Dice and the Panther makes it to the table edge, securing German victory.

Conclusion

What a crazy game! Few times have we during a single game seen so many lucky and unlucky rolls where the dice completely defies all statistics. Frustrating and entertaining, in that order. The British definitely had the most bad luck this time.

The Germans

The Germans bypass Le Valtru and now have three more rungs to take before they close the Scottish Corridor. This also menas that Kampfgruppe Weidinger continues on with just one platoon and will have to be careful with casualties form now on, since no reinforcements are available.

The German CO:s opinion goes from -1 to +1. The mens opinion is unchanged at -3 and the commander remains content.

The British

The British CO:s opinion drops to -3, giving them -1 Force Support next battle. The Men's opinion improve slightly from zero to +1.Worse yet, the platoon commander's own opinion worsens to Irritable, giving -1 die modifier to Force Morale next battle. This could be critical.