Title

Title
Tally Ho!

Sunday 17 March 2024

D Day Campaign - Turn 4 part 1; Benoville and Blainville

Both games this week were on the British axis of attack. The Brits are trying to outflank the Orne River Bridge by forcing a crossing at Blainville and 21st Panzer is counter attacking at Benoville. The US attack on St Come Du Mont was held over for more players being available. 



Blainville - British assault river crossing

For this battle the Brits received some additional equipment in the shape of two Churchill ARKs and extra smoke rounds to cover the attack.  


Churchill ARKs ready for action

Not being sighted on the British line of attack the Germans spread out across the rover bank with their main AT threats in the centre of the defences. 



The British staged their main assault in the east with smoke and Sherman fire being used to protect the precious ARKs. They also feinted on the small road bridge using Bren Carriers to draw enemy attention.  
 


The evening ended with about half the turns played and the Brits with some tanks across the river and the Germans trying to shell the ARKs to isolated those troops. 


Benoville - 21st Panzer counter attack

With plentiful light armour available, 21st Panzer spread about across the board looking to tie down the British whilst the heavier Panzer IVs attacked on the west side of the field. 




They advanced steadily in the east taking on then enemy infantry pushed forward to block the attack. In the east the Germans used their assault guns and artillery to attack Benoville but this proved relatively ineffective against the well dug-in Brits.  





With a few turns completed the British has lost their forward deployed units in the west be remained well entrenched around the village. 



The game ended well poised with the Germans in a good position in the west to capture one objective but the British sill having two Churchills intact to disrupt the attack. The game looked likely to turn on who used their tanks best in the next few turns. 



  

Sunday 10 March 2024

D Day Campaign - turn 3, part 2: Benoville

This week we managed to complete a couple of games, but the only scoring one was the British 7th Armoured attack on Benoville. The British massed their armour on the western flank and deployed a thin screen of AT units in the east, hoping to pick-off any German units redeploying. The Germans dug-in around the town with their limited armour mostly deployed forward to try and attack from range.   


The British attack quickly dealt with most of the Panzers but lost about a third of its own armour in the process. 



The Tommies push forward though and with massed Sherman fire were able to destroy the pioneers holding one of the two objectives,. They then advanced cautiously towards the village, attacking German positions as they revealed themselves. 



In the end the German morale cracked before the Brits could take the town but they still won the square. As the Germans hold the Orne River they will launch a counter attack next time using 21st Panzer.  
 

  

Sunday 3 March 2024

Its not easy being Green

This weekend I managed to squeeze in some Firefight scifi mass skirmish, despite the best efforts of the snow. The scenario involved trying to secure three High Value Individuals (HVIs), with progressive scoring meaning you got more points the longer you held them.

I was playing Space Orks Marauders vs Rats Veer-Myn. The rats are tunnelling theme with lots of mining gear while the Orks have lots of noisy shooty things but love getting stuck in.   

Veer Myn tunnellers


Marauder tank and Walker 

We  both contested only two of the three objectives, leaving the central ones as the main one to fight over. Sadly I basically lost the game by not understanding how the Scouting advanced movement rules and unit deployment worked. So first activation in turn 1 the central HVI was already 12" from the centre and disappearing into the mass of Rats, leaving me with only one I could grab and needing to attack the strongest part of the Rats army.    


I advanced as quickly as possible aiming to cause some damage and try-out the various units  as it was clear I'd be outscored in turn 1 to an extent that I could not catch up. The Tank and the Rainmakers with their Gatling guns caused plenty of damage but could nt really impact on the scenario scoring.   


Ork casualties were pretty light and I did lots of kills but ran out a long way behind on VPs due to the deployment error. 

Rainmakers

      

Saturday 2 March 2024

D Day Campaign - Turn 3 part 1, St Marie Eglise

 

Parachute memorial at St Marie Eglise

We fought two games this turn - the British reattacking Benoville and the US attacking St Marie Eglise. As we only completed the second of those I'll save Benoville until next week.

The St Marie Eglise battle saw 2nd Armoured fielding an armoured infantry battalion against the parachutists of 16th Fallschrimjager. 

FSJ-16 spread out across the field with their Marder's and StuGs in supporting positions.   




The US pushed most of their tanks and infantry up the flanks with recon elements screening the centre of the position.  

The Germans reposition some of their AT assets and waited for the US armour to come into sight before using their ambush fire. The Us were pretty lucky with only minimal damage taken, allowing them to hit back. The artillery proved especially effective, ripping into the German paras.   

LG40 moves position

Weight of numbers began to tell on the on the Germans who eventually fell back and left the table to the victorious 2nd Armoured. We mused afterwards that maybe the Germans should have grouped their armour more for a larger impact?


So with half the scoring games done the US advance to St Come Du Mont. Will the Brits mange to win their game and move to the Orne River?


      

Sunday 25 February 2024

D Day Campaign - Day 2, the beach head expands

This weeks report actually covers only a single turn but 2 weeks play. As 21st Panzer vs the 6th Airborne has gone into a third week that will appear in the next blog. Turn 2 saw the US 4th Infantry attacking 709th Infantry at Ravenville and UK 3rd Infantry attacking 716th Infantry at Benoville. 

Benoville

The British attacked in strength with armoured and air support against Germans using a canal to cover one flank. The Brits advanced steadily with their armour leading the way. Their cause was helped by taking out the Pak40s guarding one flank early on. 

Benoville



The British were able to apply steady pressure with their Stuarts especially effective at wedeling out the enemy.   Despite managing to take one of the objectives they were unable to take the second in time.   

Typhoon launches an attack 

So a draw for the British, who will need to attack again next turn. Special mention to the Stuarts who proved highly effective and even bagged a StuG III. 


  Ravenville

The US force was a pretty large one due to the  high proportion of infantry units. The Germans spread across the field whilst the US focused all the armour for an attack on one side with infantry looking to infiltrate the other - classic envelopment! 

Ravenville



The US armoured punch was successful in overwhelming the defenders on the eastern objective. They had a chance but fluffed their overwatch shooting and got swamped. In the west the US advance was slower but the artillery proved deadly to the Germans and blasted them off the objective there.   


With about half the turns used up the US held one objective but crucially had destroyed all the German AT weapons apart from hand-held.  With nothing to stop the US moving at will the Germans withdrew. 



So after 2 turns the US forces are advancing on St Marie Eglise whilst the British must reattack Benoville having stalled there. Orne River remains in German hands meaning 21st Panzer can operate north of there.