Rückzug Battle 3: Attack and Defend at a Crossroads
After beating back the British forces last game, the Germans have taken up new positions around a farm by a crossroad. In the centre of their lines is a tin-roofed abandoned workshop. On both flanks are forests. South of the crossroad is a large manor house and to the north-west is a field enclosed by hedges. The Britts roll an 8 for FM and the Germans start at FM 9. The British player places one objective on the crossroad and a second objective inside the farm complex, by the building in the north-west corner.
The British are fielding a fresh platoon after having withdrawn the severely battered first platoon after the debacle last game.
Patrol Phase
In the patrol phase the Brits manage to flank right and get a JOP in the forest, another JOP along the main road and a third JOP in the field on their left flank. The Germans place one JOP in the forest opposite the field, one JOP behind the workshop and one JOP between the short side of the manor house and a hedge. The britts start the game with 2 CoC-pips. And with that the game is on!
The Battle
The Brits roll 651134, revealing that they have chosen a Red Dice as one of their support choices. A universal carrier with a recce team enters along the hedge lining the main road, while a section deploys Tactical in the forest on the British right flank.
The Germans roll 66432 and despite the ongoing bombardment manages to deploy a squad behind the manor house, facing the direction of the British section in the forest.
The Germans roll again, 54433. The newly deployed squad creeps forward 1” Tactical.
The Brits roll 63325 and a red 5. The carrier advances to the end of the hedge and another section deploys in the field on the left flank.
The Germans roll 44432 but the bombardment prevents them from deploying any units.
With a flexible 654321 the carrier is activated and makes a 22” dash towards the hedge in the centre of the table while the section in the field advances 6” Tactical and the section in the forest is put on Overwatch.
Next German rolls is 54211. An MMG team makes its way through the bombardment and deploys in the attic of the manor house. From here they have a good view of the British section in the field and open upp with 10 D6, but at long range and against an enemy in Tactical positions they only causes 1 point of shock.
The Brits roll a timely 664411, getting a double phase. The carrier positions itself along the hedge in the centre, ready to make another dash towards the German JOP in the forest opposite the field. A senior leader deploys with the section in the field and commands the forward another 5” Tactical.
The Brits roll again, this time 654211. The carrier speeds off towards the German JOP, covering 20” of open ground. It´s recce team uses Assault Deployment to disembark and move onto the German JOP in the forest, capturing it and positioning themselves more than 4” from the edge of the forest.
The section in the field uses Reposition to leave the field and cross the hedge into the forest and then moves another 8” towards the brave recce team.
As if this wasn’t enough bad news for the Germans, the Brits end their phase by deploying a Churchill Crocodile!
The Germans roll 65321. The MMG in the manor house now only sees the unmanned carrier and the terrifying Crocodile, so they wisely hold their fire. The squad behind the manor house moves forward one more inch Tactical. The bombardment stops the Germans from deploying another squad.
The Brits roll 65244 and a red 6. The section and the recce team continues forward to the edge of the wood.
The Germans roll 66341 but in both this and their next phase the Pre-Game Bombardment proves very effective and they only manage to deploy one squad in the entrance to the farm complex from the JOP behind the workshop.
Next British roll is 653334. The recce team moves Tactical back to the carrier and the section it had accompanied goes Tactical 1” back into the forest. The Crocodile slowly rumbles forward 6” on 3 D6.
The Germans roll 64433. Another squad is deployed on the road behind the workshop. It fires on the recce team in hard cover behind the carrier, but to no effect. The squad inside the farm complex moves towards the mission objective and the building in the north-west corner.
The Brits roll 654421. The recce team boards the carrier and the Crocodile mover forward 14” towards the centre hedge. The section by the captured German JOP shuffles tactically to change their direction 90 degrees towards the centre of the table.
The Germans roll 43332 and manages to deploy a JL with an LMG team in front of the short side of the workshop. They fire a Panzerfaust at the recce team in their carrier. They hit and the carrier explodes, but only one passenger is killed and the rest deploy 5” into the forest and out of reach from any further German aggression for now. British FM is unchanged. A surprisingly meagre result from a very successful shot. The squad behind the warehouse throws a smoke grenade in front of the heroic carrier-killers in a vain attempt to give them some form of protection from the sure to come revenge from the nearby Crocodile. They then go on Overwatch.
The Brits roll 655134. Predictably, the Crocodile rumbles forward with 1D6 and then fires on the heroic LMG team responsible for the destruction of the carrier. 9 hits are scored despite the smoke grenade. The LMG team is wiped out but their JL miraculously survives and heads to the rear. German FM drops from 9 to 8.
The recce team and the section in the forest forms a line and takes up Tactical positions out of view from German units outside the forest.
A light mortar is deployed in the open outside the field and fires smoke in front of the workshop in an attempt to give the Crocodile some protection from possible anti-tank units deploying from the JOP behind the workshop.
The Germans roll 64221. With the Brits currently at 5 CoC-pips, this might be the last option anytime soon to make an attempt at the Crocodile without the Brits having the possibility to interrupt… The Germans attempts to take that chance and luckily gets a Panzerfaust-team past the bombardment. It deploys in front of the workshop and fires three Pazerfausts through the smoke grenade smoke, needing 7s to hit. One of three Fausts hit, scoring one net hit. The Crocodile takes 1 shock and backs 3”.
The Brits roll 65442 and a red 6. Luckily (VERY luckily!!) for the Panzerfaust-team this menas no Crocodile activation, and a possibility to escape. The Brits spend this somewhat useless command dice roll to regroup the units in the forest on their left flank so that they are more than 4” from both the southern and eastern edge of the forest.
The Germans roll 64311 and successfully deploy a senior leader behind the manor house. The lucky Panzerfaust-team starts jogging towards the rear via the crossroad.
The battle has now reached somewhat of lull, the Brits spend their next phase shuffling around the units in the forest but doesn’t seem to be ready to commit to the next phase of their attack just yet…
That´s when the Germans roll 66632! The turn ends, the Brits remove the objective inside the farm complex and the captured JOP sends German FM from 8 to 7. The German SL joins the squad at the edge of the forest by the manor house in their stand off against the first British section that deployed from the JOP in the forest. Apart from that, the Germans sit back and awaits the Brits next move…
The Brits roll 65432 and a red 6. The Crocodile removes its shock and puts its cannon on Overwatch.
The Germans roll 65442. Finally at a full CoC-dice, and eager to cause the Brits some casualties and hopefully reduce their FM to 4 and withdraw in good order before the Crocodile horror hits them full on, the SL and the squad he accompanies cautiously move into the forest 3” Tactical, poised to launch an attack against the section in front of them.
The Brits roll 654311 and declares their intention to deploy another section from the JOP in the forest. The German player contemplates interrupting and charging the squad by the JOP before it is reinforced. A quick calculation gives 15 British dice against 17 German, given that the Germans roll 6 or more on 2 D6 to reach the Brits… They chose not to and instead interrupts and fires when the section is deployed. Together with the already deployed British section they constitute a bunched target and are hit on 3+. Between the two sections, 3 men are killed and 2 points of shock are inflicted.
The Brits open up with both sections, killing two men and wounding the JL, taking German FM to 6.
The Germans roll 65553. The squad in the forest fires back, killing 3 more Brits and causing 6 another points of shock.
The Brits roll another End Of Turn with 666433. They fire again on the German SL and squad in the forest. Despite desperately hitting the dirt, the fire over this and the next phase reduces the Germans in the forest to two teams of one man each, a wounded JL and the SL. To make matters worse they get pinned with 7 points of shock, AND the Crocodile starts making its way towards them….
The Germans make a last effort by moving the squad behind the workshop out into the open to target the light mortar in the open at long range. The mortar men survive and quickly shuts down the German squad by covering them with smoke.
Using a Reposition the remains of the German squad in the forest and the SL avoids imminent destruction but the situation is now deemed untenable and the Germans withdraw, ending the battle in a solid British victory.
After the Battle
The British platoon looses two men permanently and one misses the next battle. The mens opinion goes from -5 to -4 and their CO:s opinion moves from -1 to 0. The British company commander goes from cheerful to secure.
The Germans loose 7 men and 1 JL permanently (6 men KIA and 1 man and a JL captured).
5 men and the SL are dispersed and will miss next battle. The mens opinion falls from +2 to -1 and the German commander goes from merry to droll.
The Brits roll a 3 on the D3 for victory points, taking them to +1 against the Germans +2.
This loss for the Germans will likely se a substantial part of their force disintegrate and the campaign is once again a very very close fought thing… Next battle will be another ”crossroad or important building”, and the mission will be Flank Attack.
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