The Wargamer

THE BATTLE

The battle began somewhat quietly.  None of my forces started in direct contact.  That's always a bonus as it lets you get into position without having to scramble to salvage plans scuttled because you just lost several teams.  That's fun, too.

First contact was made when my assaulting force from Zone 3 reached a two story building west of the center of town.  There were a few German soldiers setting up a machine gun behind a stone wall.  I'm guessing they were trying to cover the VL at the center of town.  My MG team scored a couple quick casualties preventing the MG team of ever really achieving their goal of ruining my day.  The first break!  I held those teams in that position until my covering fire force could get better position

Second contact came near the church.  The Germans realizing we'd landed on the church dispatched a Grenadier team to investigate the sightings of our chutes coming down around the church.  My command team quickly spotted them and called in that indirect mortar fire I was talking about earlier. 

BOOM!

The blast was close enough to scare the daylights out of the German team and they quickly began running for the nearest cover behind a stone wall surrounding the church.  In hopes of not letting them get away I ordered my command team to open fire while continuing the mortar fire.

BOOM!

Round two was a near miss as well.  The German team was all elbows and ... well let’s just say I've never seen a sprite run so fast.  My initial orders to the command team must not have been clear enough as they were still firing in the German’s general direction rather than shooting to kill.  Gonna have to talk to my team leader about that later. (FYI they tried claiming the mortar flashes were blinding them.  Likely story.)  With mortar fire corrected and my command team now understanding my orders properly there was one last chance to catch that Grenadier team before they made it safely behind the wall.

BOOM!

My command team leader said he saw one of the German’s sprites directly hit by that mortar round and he flew 3 feet in the air!  We later found out that the first hit was on the Grenadier team leader which would explain the ensuing confusion on the behalf of the Germans.  At that point they started scattering in all directions frantically looking for cover.  To completely eliminate the threat I redeployed my engineer team to the other side of the church for added fire power.  One by one in a very short period of time the rest of the Grenadier team was rendered ineffective or dead.  The last few started running at the church in an angry frenzy.  Maybe they were trying to surrender?  Couldn't take any chances.  Threat eliminated.

Meanwhile my main force was continuing their attack on the city center against a growing number of well hidden German teams.  My guys were making good progress but they needed a kick to keep the attack moving.

They were having so much trouble seeing the hidden Germans they'd called for an illumination round in the hopes of better seeing where the German positions were.  Up to this point they only had muzzle flashes to go on.  After the crack and sizzle of the illumination round our fears were confirmed.  Panzer!  Assault gun too!  Not quite sure why the German commander didn't bring the panzer’s firepower to bear on us but later we found out the driver in his haste to get better Line-of-sight on our attacking force tracked his tank on a stone wall he was trying to traverse.  Another break!

Upon moving my covering fire team up to the main street they encountered a German command team trying to move into the same house.   A brief firefight ensued and we incurred our first casualties.  We lost several guys from Sgt. Hall's .30cal MG team including Sgt. Hall himself.  Was a devastating blow to lose such a good leader.  Despite the significant loss we'd reached our position before the Germans could get entirely into the house and they tried reforming in buildings across the street after losing one guy in the melee.

Seeing that the situation at the church was under control I adjusted deployment of my covering fire team from Zone 3 to more closely support the attack on the center of town.  This turned out to be a good move as we were able to catch most of the rest of that German command team that Sgt. Hall's unit encountered which gave us temporary control of the street.

I needed to keep the assault north of the road moving and it seemed it needed my constant attention.  The attack was faltering so again, time to move.  I called in a few rounds of smoke to provide cover for the teams to move up without risking fire from down the street.  My covering fire teams were in decent position at this point but still reeling from the loss of Sgt. Hall.

Part of my assault force made it into position at the intersection at the center of town which would serve as a good anchor for the other assault teams to move up.  With most of the buildings north and east of the main road clear of German resistance I moved up the bazooka team hoping to get position on that panzer.

Suspecting the bulk of the German force was concentrated in town I decided to start moving up my troops from zone one.  If possible to secure most of the northwest part of town and to possibly support the attack on the center of town as well.  Almost immediately they came upon the German command post in a small church.  A rifle team was quickly dispatched to see if it was occupied while the command team took up positions in a tree line behind a stone fence 50m north of the church for covering fire.

Back at the center of town the assault force from Zone 3 was still advancing and trading small arms fire with the Germans.  A couple young German soldiers carrying an anti-tank weapon apparently froze in the middle of trying to cross the street and we had them pinned down.  The illumination flare called in earlier had burnt out so we were again having difficulty seeing the German positions but being closer we were able to spot them running from position to position and called in mortar support to try to keep them suppressed while our assault force finished deploying.

The buildings across the street from the covering fire team were cleared so time to move up the cover support again.  Best to place some smoke first.  Our assaulting force finally got good LOS on that panzerschreck team in the street as well as catching an MG42 team trying to cross the street.  Mortar fire was brought to bear as well and quickly reduce the threat.

The recon of the German command post went well and upon discovering the post had been abandoned all teams moved up and secured the church.  It went uncontested.

Meanwhile back at the center of town my covering fire team was beginning to look more like the assault team.  All the buildings across from their positions were cleared and we were beginning to occupy positions across the main road.  Time to take out that tank!   Some smoke rounds from my mortar team for cover.  Then quickly get the bazooka team close then sneak into position for the shot.

First bazooka shot.  BOOM!

The first round hit the engine compartment of the tank.  Gotta fire again!  Quick load another rocket!

SKADOOSH – BOOM! 

 

The explosion lit up the entire block.  The silhouettes of the crew could be seen against the flames coming out of the engine compartment.  I wouldn't want to be in there either when that ammo starts going off!  I'd take my chances against our rifle fire any day but that didn't fare much better.  The destruction of the tank spurred the German infantry into action.  I don't know if it was at the sight of losing a comrade or if it was for fear of being overrun.  Regardless it was time to get the zook team out of harm’s way.  Time to renew the attack.  We have to take that crossroads!

The team from Zone 1 had finished clearing the church and upon completion of that task decided to move on the German outpost nearby.  Again, send out a rifle team.  Quickly!  Time is running out!