Okay, that’s a little confusing for a title. But here’s the conclusion to the 2nd delaying action that Lucius and I played.

We left off with my forces pulled back, trying to get re-organized to make a final push on the objective. My left flank was stable, with my field gun slowly moving forward, and 1 section with the platoon 2IC (unteroffizier) holding the line. On my right, 3 Section bailed out from the Hanomag with the Commandoes to the front. Unfortunately, I had left my platoon commander out in the open (where he was trying to encourage the 3 section weapons team before they broke), and the pinned Commandoes shot him, luckily only dazing him for the turn. My 3 section opened up on the Commandoes, killing another one and making the remaining 4 break due to excess shock.

On the left, Lucius brought on the Vickers and rallied yet more shock off using his platoon commander (who was so inspirational that he was gazetted Captain based on his performance).

With my 1 section, I tried feinting right (pretending to want to go through the house) and then move back, but the Vickers was almost always active and able to face the direction of my attack. I’d have to get into hand to hand combat with the remains of the Canadian 1 section plus an MMG with 5 crew from the front after rolling 3 dice to charge in. Not good. It was time to pull back and let 3 section secure the flank to divide and conquer.

It took forever, but I managed to get 3 section up and moving (and rejoining with the scared remaining member of the wiped out weapon’s team). Lucius meanwhile managed to rally off shock and get the 4 commandoes back up to the fight.

I activated my field gun when I could, attempting to get 3 “6s” to blow up the building on the left flank (more for fun than for any tactical purpose, though I figured it would make my opponent guess). Meanwhile, it took a few phases to get my Panzerschreck on (as both my senior leaders were on the table).

The commandoes were guarding the wall ahead. So my 3 section moved right to take the JOP while my Panzerschreck team sprinted up towards the commandoes. I ended the turn on the most exposed JOP with a chain of command die, but Lucius played one of his and avoided the test. Drat. He then shook the Commandoes out towards the woods behind the house on the right and went on overwatch. I managed to get just outside the arcs and put a bit of hurt on him, but he returned the favour and wiped out an LMG and crew. Drat.

3 section pulled back but stayed close enough to threaten the last JOP on the right while the platoon commander made his way up. The Panzerschreck made it to the low wall where the commandoes were sheltering before. They were going to use their rifles to take a shot at the Canadian platoon leader but were engaged in close combat by the commandoes. I played an interrupt but the Kar98s missed. In close combat, well, once again everyone died. I rolled a 1 and avoided losing any morale but Lucius lost his JL killed and the section gone. Down to 1 morale and the JOP on the right flank was removed. Lucius was down to 2 dice but fought on.

I moved 2 section up to be ready to get into hand to hand combat, effectively fixing the Vickers to face me. Meanwhile, 3 section moved back up. The Canadian officer was exposed and was injured. Morale shot, the plucky North Novas left the field, unable to face an attack from both sides and with their beloved leader bleeding.

Conclusion

Quite the fight! The North Novas had forced me back twice before being finally overwhelmed, and a few chance dice rolls would have made things very different. Another close run thing and my first victory with this rules set (Lucius has won the other 3 or 4 games we’ve played).

Looking at “At the Sharp End” and the ending force morale, the FJs would have permanently lost 8, with 5 missing the next fight and 4 returning to fight immediately. The 34 man platoon would be down to 21 for the next fight. This would be only a full section plus HQ and a few extra men. Not a lot. Additionally, the Hanomag was a loss, and those were not always easy to replace. The delaying action fought by the North Novas cost the Germans!

The heroism of the North Novas was also expensive. 15 men were permanently lost, likely dead. 8 were out of the fight for the next battle, and 7 would limp into the lines ready for the next battle, leaving the newly promoted Captain to command 13 soldiers out of 36.

I think we’re happy with our knowledge now, and are going to do the Arnhem campaign in WSS 74 in October. Playing a full campaign will be fun and will add some complexity to the fights. Had this been a campaign game I would have likely conceded the field when I lost my Hanomag. Next time we’ll have to think about more than just the ground in front of us, and keep the overall mission in mind.

No more Chain of Command until next month. Priority now will be getting terrain ready!

After another RPG play report, I’ll be turning over the next WW2 post to Lucius and he’ll be showing his North Novas platoon.

BT