Gembloux Gap - Palm-Off at Perbais

With losses of tanks at Hannut heavy, 3 Panzer Division is keen to avoid further losses by attacking with the infantry of 3 Schützen Regiment whilst keeping its armour in reserve until the French position at Perbais has been overcome and the panzers may be unleashed to exploit the gap.

The French player deploys four Patrol Markers within 18” of his own table edge (ie, Columns A-C) and within 12” of at least one other friendly Patrol Marker. The Germans enters on a broad front anywhere on their table edge, Column M, with four Patrol Markers. 

The Germans rolled 1D6 before the Patrol Phase began to see how many "free" moves of patrol markers they get. Unsurprisingly they rolled high and got the maximum four moves. However, the French managed to get the upper hand in the patrol phase with the Germans being held at a distance.

However, the Germans managed a double phase and deployed on the railway line hoping to stop the French deploying from the northern deployment point.

The Germans rushed forward only to see a French section open fire from behind the hedge. Men went down and the advance ground to a halt with everyone trying to hide behind each other.

With this advance grinding to a halt the Germans instead deployed in the south and laid down an acurate mortar barrage onto the French section.

To counter this advance through the cornfield the French tried to deploy a section behind the nearby hedge but the Germans had a nasty surpise and a German officer in disguise sent the troops the wrong way. This was looking dicey for the French now as the Germans continued their advance through the cornfield.

The luck, for a change, was with the French as they managed to deploy a section and poured fire into the hapless Germans. Another attack was grinding to a halt.

The French slowly ground down the troops by the railway line and the troops in the cornfield. The Germans were going to have to pull something out of the bag with the section that was deployed on the road...

Steadily they advanced and got ready to charge the French...

"Der Angriff" was commanded, with many men shouting "Nein", but they went in anyway. The Germans threw hand grenades which were unsurprisingly effective and so the fight was on. The Germans rolled a few dice for two hits, whilst the French cheered as a bucket load of dice was rolled. What was left of the Germans retreated back through the cornfield, carrying their wounded officer with them. Moral of the story, don't charge French sections with two light machine guns when they are behind a hedge.

The Germans brought on their last section in the south and lined the hedge looking forlornly at their comrades stuck in the middle of the cornfield. The French managed to end the turn but the Germans kept their mortar barrage going. However, things weren't getting any better for the Germans as two of their leaders and what was left of their teams routed from the table. It was now a race to the bottom with the German morale on 2 and the French on 3.

The French finally broke the troops in the cornfield and to make matters worse they deployed their last section into the cornfield to the north of the railway line. A nasty surprise for the Germans as the two light machine guns opened up on them. This was the last straw as the German morale dropped to zero. Game over.

Operation Crusader - What a Tanker

So, our reporter fresh from his dressing down from the Middle East bureau chief for failing to file his story last week, hot footed it from the Levant to the sands of Libya in 1941, to watch the unfolding of Operation Crusader, the latest British attempt to relieve the beleaguered garrison of Tobruk. With Tony and Greg “missing in action” Phil, Chris and Malcolm took charge of a force of M3 “Honeys” and Crusader IIs against Rob and Dave’s DAK armoured units comprising PzIIs and IIIs.

The game saw the British roar down the table...

and the Germans cautiously advance, with the rear of one dune looking very much like a car park at one point. Desultory long-range gunnery had little effect on either side, a real problem for early war WAT games. However the British aggression did pin the Germans back into the last quarter of the table and finally the 2pdrs started to inflict some damage on the lightly armoured PzIIs. Not enough however for the elusive kills.

Eventually the Germans decided to act with the British well advanced and showing their flanks. One of Chris’ Crusaders exploded even though hiding in a palm grove,

and Phil saw one of his precious Honeys take a shot from a short 50mm in the rear which also proved fatal.

To the North Chris and Malcolm were determined to kill Rob’s PzIII. 

Unfortunately Chris managed to take a hit which forced him to reverse off the table and he was deemed lost, bogged-down in a Wadi. When Malcolm’s Crusader took a critical hit the British decided that discretion was the better part of valour and the last remaining Crusader and Honey raced back to their start line.

A crushing German victory, and one that rather accurately reflected the armour battles of 1941.

Next week our war reporter tries to find his Albanian phrase book. Rumour has it that the Italo-Normans are planning trouble in the Byzantine Empire. Normans poking their noses where they aren’t wanted. Wouldn’t happen here!

Capitaine Opless Strikes Again

Capitaine Opless had received information that a British Spy was operating in the area so he decided to scour the local countryside to find and arrest them.

The British learning of the spies predicament sent a force to retrieve them before the French did.

The French quickly advanced their entire force towards the buildings in which they hoped to find the spy, with the British only starting to deploy their advance guard.

The rest of the British arrived on scene but looked on as the French had stolen a march on them. All the luck was not with the French as the British rifles opened up on the dragoons, killing Lt. Horsenabout.

The French started to search the church and small building to the south but found nothing. Meanwhile the dragoons screeched to a halt by the stables and realised that their officer was missing, merde...

As the dragoons dismounted, the British rifles snuck into the rear of the stables, securing their agent. Luck was now turning away from the French.

Capitaine Opless ordered his troops forward to try and take the fight to the British.

The rifles having rescued the agent proceeded to withdraw from the stables.

Capitaine Opless ordered the voltigeurs to fire into the flank of the British line.

 
This was the final straw for the Britsh and they started to withdraw.

The British had managed to secure their agent, whilst only receiving a few casualties, compared to the many French dead.

Capitaine Opless once again living up to his name. What looked like an easy victory turned into a bloodbath, although the French line managed to push back the British in a fairly even firefight; very unusual.

Soviets try to outflank the Yanks

Today we played another game of Seven Days to the River Rhine; this time actually near the Rhine rather than the Nile.

The brief for the Canadians was "Soviet forces are pushing around the flank of the main US army forces to the South. A Canadian battle group has been detailed to prevent the Soviet forces turning the flank. Your objective is to either drive off the approaching Soviet forces or to hold the crossroads at the centre of the table".

Both sides deployed their recce forces and raced to capture the cross-roads.

The Canadians won the race and deployed infantry into the buildings surounding the cross-roads.

Things were looking dicey for the Canadians as a lot of Soviet armour were headed their way.

The Canadian Leos started to arrive but the dice gods were not kind.

The Soviet T72s tried to outflank the village...

but the Leos in the south soon stopped this but paid a heavy price.

The Soviet infantry started to clear the Canadians out of the village with support from the BMPs.

With the Canadians in the village under severe pressure one of the Leos in the north raced to the village to help out...

and managed to knock out one of the BMPs...

whilst his mate brewed a T64 that was advancing towards the village, with a nice flank shot.

The Soviets managed to clear the Canadian infantry out of the buildings but the Canadians were hanging on, just, with just the armour contesting the cross-roads.

Transatlantic To The Strongest

 To the Strongest Ancients has long been a Zoom staple wargame for us, but as time has gone on, the capabilities have matured. Simon put on another Crusades To The Strongest game last evening, Seljuks vs Crusaders. However, Crusader command was 4500 miles away, in Jamaica. 

The Seljuk Combat Command Centre was in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

While Simon runs the game with his nicely painted figures, the players direct and track activities via a PowerPoint map and counter set. Embedding the grid and terrain into the Slide Master, then allows the players to drag and turn the counters easily. Not quite Table Top Simulator, but easier for the semi-literate IT to manage! 

Luck was not with the Crusaders last night, however. The mighty Crusader Knights charged forth, intending to sweep all before them, only to be held up by a few peasants with pointy sticks! Then the Crusader 'shieldwall' appeared to have become strangely porous to Seljuk horse archer arrows?

However, the final ignominy came when a group of light infantry archers mugged the Crusader Commander's elite Knights by a flank charge! Some more pious prayer required from the Crusaders we think!

Rescue of Lt. Truppetpuffer by the "Duchess"

Lieutenant Truppetpuffer has been captured, while attempting to contact a spy in occupied Spain. He is being held, along with 6 other seamen, in the building at (2), within the compound in the North West corner of the map. Unbeknown to his French captors, the “Duchess” (mistress to Capitaine Opless, the local French commander), is actually the spy and she has contacted Truppetpuffer’s ship and a rescue is being mounted. She has also smuggled in a number of weapons to the group. The Duchess, Truppetpuffer and the seamen, are now holding-up in building (2). Their former guards (8 Regular French infantry and their Sergeant) start in Building (1) and have sent for reinforcements. The French relief column are on their way.

The British landing party use the Deployment Point at the red arrow (B), where the boats are located. Besides rescuing Lt. Truppetpuffer and the Duchess, these boats will need to be protected, for a successful withdrawal.

The French column arrives at the Deployment Point marked with the blue arrow marked (F).

Midshipman Ben Dover is a close friend of Truppetpuffer and has urged his seamen to row faster. Consequently, he and his group of 6 seamen skirmishers may make a two ‘free’ moves from the deployment point, before the scenario starts and he very quickly headed towards the compound.

Back at the boats the main British deployed in expectation of the imminent arrival of the relief column.

Ben Dover and his seamen attacked the French in the compound and with the help of the captives managed to push Sgt. Grandebulli and his men back...

with Lt. Truppetpuffer and the "Duchess" making good on their escape...

and attempting to hide in the nearby vineyard. However, a group of dragoons spotted them and charged in...

All did not go well for the French as they found the seamen to be tougher than they first thought.

Sgt. Grandebulli chased after the retreating seamen but even running as fast as they could the seamen always managed to stay ahead.

On the other flank the French troops were slowly getting into position, with the line troops showing extreme reluctance to close with the British.

After a swift firefight the French line didn't look much like a formation with someone muttering in the ranks as Capitaine Opless went down, "see what happens if you go toe to toe with those dastardly marines".

With Lt. Truppetpuffer and the marines back in the boats, the French looked on and the comment was made that Capitaine Opless had lived up to his name once again.