Three weeks in the planning, we finally managed our Bolt Action game at the club yesterday (Stoke Wargames Group). I left all my Last Valley bocage and trees at home by mistake so we moved the action to somewhere in Italy...
OOB's
Germans; Sean and Keith (Veterans):
PHQ
3 squads
2 MMG's
1 PzSchrk team
1 Pak 40
1 JgdPanther
British; Barry and Jim (Regular):
PHQ
1 FAO
3 squads
1 MMG
1 medium mortar
1 PIAT team
1 Firefly
2 Shermans
Both the British and the German defenders put as many troops as possible into Reserve. The Germans wanted to avoid the Preparatory Bombardment and to be able to rapidly deploy to hotspots; the British planned to send their Shermans on deep outflanking moves as usual...
German Deployment and Turn 1
The Germans deployed one MMG in the bunker in front of the southern objective, the JagdPanther and Pak 40 in front of the central objective and one squad with the PHQ in the building complex covering the most northern objective.
Someone FUBAR'd and the Preparatory Bombardment never came! The first wave of British came on in fine style over the whole front; the PHQ and FAO, all 3 squads, the mortar/spotter and the MMG.
Turns 2 and 3
As all the tanks were outflanking the only British Reserve unit to come on was the PIAT. They advanced aggressively in the south but seemed to forget there was objectives to be accomplished in the north. The mortar spotter moved into the eastern-most building and started to look for likely targets.
The Germans waited until turn 3 to start their Reserve rolls to see how the action was developing. This led to the first shots being exchanged in the south between opposing infantry squads; the Germans coming off slightly worse.
Turn 4
The Firefly burst on to the scene in the south and wasted an awful lot of bullets on the nearest German squad to no effect (other than another Pin marker). The mortar spotter radioed in the location of the Pak 40 and it disappeared in a cloud of smoke; all four crew killed with the first shot.
The German MMG in the bunker opened up on a British squad emerging from behind the church, pinning them; they didn't manage to move again.
A German Reserve squad in the north took a burst from the British MMG who skillfully picked out the MG42 gunner at almost maximum range.
Turn 5
The first regular Sherman arrived in the north, and also demonstrated the inadequacies of British MG training. The mortar spotter worked his magic again and his buddies annihilated a freshly arrived German MMG with their next shot.
The bunker MMG kept the squad in front pinned but another squad outside of its arc of fire continued to advance agressively. The JagdPanther brashly emerged from cover, driving into the river to take a shot at the flank of the Firefly... missing.
Turn 6
The Sherman in the north took the nearest objective as it's twin arrived in support. In the south the Firefly eliminated the JagdPanther in fine style. AT weapons were fired left, right and centre to no effect by both sides. By the end of the turn the Germans had very little left that could hurt a Sherman but were still holding two objectives and therefore winning... At this point the FAO (who had done sweet FA) came out of his coma and coordinated a barrage for... Turn 7. If there wasn't a Turn 7 then it would never come and the Germans would have won. 1-3 game ends, 4-6 play another turn...
Turn 7
As the bunker was assaulted, destroying the last German MMG, the Firefly took the southern objective claiming a draw; there was no way of getting to the central objective so surely that was it? No, we remembered the barrage and decided to resolve it before calling the game. FUBAR! The barrage scattered onto the Sherman holding the northern objective, if it could be destroyed then the Germans could rush the objective and win. The dice gods decided to let the Sherman off with a couple of pin markers however and the game was drawn.
Three games in now and everyone still LOVES Bolt Action! More soon...
(More piccies from no particular turn...)
