The Flank Attack: Scenario Five

Well this week Chain of Command time came around again. This time Dave prepared the flank attack scenario for us to play. We diced to see who would attack and who would defend. At this point the first question was could Dave beat my role of two? Not a bit of it he rolled a one. In the end I opted to command the defending British Expeditionary Force while Dave commanded the all-powerful Wehrmacht. 

Once we deployed our jump off points I felt very fenced in having only a quarter of the map to deploy in. It was quite clear that Dave was planning to push for the ruined house which offered a strong position to anchor a defensive position.

Once it came to deploying I opted to take a big gamble. To deploy an infantry section and a HMG team right on my jump off point behind the house in the hope I could secure it prior to Dave’s forces taking it, in the hope it would be too expensive to consider assaulting. Has I was placing the figures I realised this was a stupid thing to do. By the end of the next phase the building had been assaulted  my Vickers team were dead and the following phase the infantry team were left cowering behind the building before being dispatched by the Panzer 38(t) which supported the assault. At this point I accepted the loss of these units and worked to salvage the situation.

By now the only unit I had on the table were a sergeant, who was busy running away from the blood bath in the house and a nervous looking 2 pounder crew who had just witnessed their infantry screen obliterated.

At this point if I hoped to survive I'd need to dig in like a tick and make the Germans work hard to push me off the board. Thankfully in the following rounds I had sufficient dice to deploy my three remaining infantry squad. One of which deployed in the in the orchid, another dug in on the river bank to defend the flank against a developing flank attack. The third squad came up accompanied by a Lieutenant to support the 2 pounder.

Now all I needed to do was to keep shooting. By now the Germans had consolidated his gain of the house and were busy rolling off shock. This gave me an important breathing space to get the defensive positions in order. 

I noticed at this point that the house was occupied with the best part of two German squads. Using the 2 pounder and a couple of infantry squads I kept up sustained fire on these units slowly wearing them down until they became pinned. On the right my squad dug in along the river bank effectively despatched the German flanking probe with some very effective shooting. It was so effective I found myself apologising for rolling so well, has I would  routinely get four to six hits with each section that fired.

 At this juncture a StuG III appeared to add some extra pressure on my 2 pounder. The result of which was the 2 pounder being pinned. Seeing an opportunity to turn the tables Dave advanced with Panzer 38(t) in the centre. With all the luck and jamminess I could muster I rolled a three allowing me to deploy my Boys AT team, who scored a hit forcing the tank to reserve.

 At this point the Germans were losing their will to fight with two squads pinned and a third one destroyed. The British 2 pounder was pinned, they lost an infantry squad and a Vickers HMG.

At this point the game stumbled into sort of stale mate where neither side were willing or strong enough to push through to final victory, giving a draw. However, the victory conditions of the scenario required the British to be pushed off the board so I can claim a paper victory!