Rückzug Battle 1: Delaying Action at the crossroads

The Battlefield

The terrain rolled was "4 - Crossroads or Significant Building". The scenario is Mission 4 Delaying Action from the main rulebook and the terrain rolled was "4 - Crossroads or Significant Building".

Patrol Phase

The British player enters the map along the road with three patrol markers and gets one free move before the Patrol Phase begins. The Germans start the game with Force Morale (FM) 9 and the British starts with FM 10. After a short Patrol Phase centred along the road coming from the British lines, the British managed to push one Jump Off Point (JOP) a little bit forward into the field on their left flank. The Germans places one JOP in the orchard next to the road and another one on their far-left flank. Finally, the Germans place their third JOP (and the objective of the scenario) in the two-story farm building centre-left on their front line. The British player starts the game with 3 Chain of Command (CoC) pips.

The British have the first phase, and two important things are immediately apparent: The British have a Red Dice, and there is a Pre-Game Bombardment in effect! They start the game with a flexible Command Dice roll of 113456. A Sherman tank enters the field on the British left flank and is placed on Overwatch. An infantry from the forward left JOP joins the Sherman and goes tactical in the field. 

The German player rolls 13356, getting his first CoC pip, but choses to bide his time and does nothing.

The British roll 123556, taking them to a full CoC Dice. The Sherman tank confidently rolls forward towards the hedge at the end of the field; the section follows but in a more careful Tactical manner. Another section deploys from the same forward left JOP and fires suppressive fire on the upper story of the farm building housing the mission objective.

The Germans roll 23334 and deploy a squad in the orchard, facing the British section along the hedge. The German squad is a full 10-man grenadier squad, and thus not part of the German core platoon but one of their three secret support units. They open fire on the British infantry, killing one man and causing 2 points of shock. 

Next roll for the British is 111245. The Sherman advances 1D6 to the hedge, in line with the infantry section, and fires HE on the Germans in the orchard. It scores 4 hits, killing the Junior Leader (JL) and causing 2 points of shock. German FM drops from 8 to 7. 

The British platoon sergeant deploys. He removes 2 points of shock from the infantry along the hedge and orders them to fire for effect. They score five hits, killing one man in the MG Team and causing 3 points of shock on the Rifle Team. A light mortar deploys in the field behind the infantry and fires HE with the infantry's JL spotting over/through the hedge, but all shots miss. 

The second infantry section in the open field repeats their suppressive fire on the farm building.

The Germans roll 66321, getting a double phase. They manage to deploy a PaK40 (through the ongoing Pre-Game Barrage) on the road. The British player spends his CoC-dice to interrupt and the Sherman fires on the PaK40, killing one crew. The PaK40 fires, needing an 8 but rolling a 7 and misses! 

Another German squad, this time from the core platoon, deploys in the orchard and fires on the British infantry behind the hedge, killing 1 and causing 2 points of shock. The MG team of the already deployed Squad is activated on a 1 and fire at the infantry, causing another 2 points of shock.

Next phase the German roll is 52211. The PaK40 fires again, this time hitting the Sherman but causing zero net hits, forcing the Sherman to halt and engage the Pak next phase. Another volley of fire from the German infantry kills two more British and causes 2 points of shock, pinning the now badly decimated section.

The British roll 611123. As obliged, the Sherman fires back at the PaK40, killing another crew and causing 1 point of shock. 

A third infantry section deploys at the end of the road and fires on the PaK40, causing 3 points of shock.

The section in the open field abandons their mission of suppressing the farm building and instead move Tactical towards the Sherman and the hedge. 

The light mortar successfully fires smoke on the newly arrived German squad.

The Germans roll another double phase but are unable to clear any shock from the PaK40. Needing a 12 to hit the Sherman, they instead fire a reduced amount of HE at the infantry section down the road but fail to cause any damage. The German squad not engulfed in smoke fires on the infantry behind the hedge, killing another man.

The German roll their command dice again, this time it's 63211. They manage to deploy their Senior Leader (SL) in the orchard, close to the PaK40. Between them, the SL and the PaK40 JL removes all 4 points of shock and lets of another shot at the Sherman, but misses…

Fire from the infantry in the orchard continues, this time they wipe out the Rifle Team and hits the British SL, knocking him down. British force morale drops from 10 to 8.

The British roll 122456. The Sherman, the section on the road and the Tactical section in the field (who uses a Reposition to take positions along the hedge next to the Sherman) all pour fire on the PaK40, killing all but the guns JL who prepares to make a heroic last stand. Finally, the Lieutenant himself deploys and orders the light mortar to fire on the PaK. His commanding authority obviously has effect, because the mortar men score 6 (!!) hits, four of them 6s, wrecking the PaK. Its JL and the attached SL in the orchard are however unscathed. German FM drops to 6. 

In the Germans phase they redeploy the ”unsmoked” squad in the orchard to be able to deploy another squad from the JOP in the orchard to fire on the fresh British section behind the hedge. But despite two attempts (and thus disclosing that the third German support unit is another squad…) the Pre-Game barrage prevents any German deployment. The SL moves down through the orchard and joins the repositioned squad, ordering their LMG to fire with ”Maschinengewehr”.

The combination of Storm of Steel and Bunched Target proves deadly for one of the British JL who is killed instantly, taking their FM to 7. 

The British roll 655211. The lonely BREN-team uses Reposition to move away from the hedge while the light mortar and the Section next to the Sherman pours fire on the visible squad in the orchard, taking them to 7 shock on seven men and just on the brink of becoming pinned. 

In the German phase they get an MMG through the barrage and deploy it in its entrenchment in front of the smoke-covered squad in the orchard. The MMG fires and wipes out the BREN-team of the section next to the Sherman, taking British FM to 6. The SL removes shock from the squad he has joined on the German right flank and starts moving the Squad deeper inside the orchard. The Germans fail to deploy another squad.

In the following phases the British fire at the Germans as they retreat with both squads and MMG and melts out of sight into the orchard. The German SL is wounded in the process, taking German FM to 5. The game now clearly enters a second phase. The first British attack has been blunted but the Germans have also taken losses and are down to 5 in FM. However, they only need to reduce British FM one more point to 5 before they can make an organized withdrawal… The British lay down a smoke screen across the road and cautiously advance their section on the road while the Sherman and what remains of the infantry along the hedge facing the kraut-infested orchard goes on Overwatch. 

The German deploy a Green infantry squad on the road behind the smoke as a blocking force against any British attempt to flank the orchard. 

Over these couple of phases the Germans manage to get a full CoC-dice and uses it to reduce British FM to 5, whereupon they proclaim a German voluntary withdrawal. All in all a very tense first game of the campaign, and one that could easily have tipped over in either a British victory or a German rout.

The Germans have exposed all their support units (PaK40, Regular infantry squad, Green infantry squad) and lost the PaK and half the Regular squad. The British have lost a Junior Leader and 4 men permanently, another two will be absent next battle. Both sides opinions are unchanged, and the Germans get 1 Victory Point. Next battle will be another Delaying Action, this time fought in a village! 

Leutnant Klangenberg starts getting his men mounted in their vehicles, but wait… where is that extra fuel can? And why does Pavel have two chickens strapped to his belt?!