Bolt Action

Jim's Reg Brits v. Steve's Vet Germans

1000 pts, scenario 2...maximum attrition.

Both sides are supposed to come on opposite edges, but as we were using an 8x6 table we instead had a turn 0 where we drew dice as normal to deploy squads within 12" of out table edge without any firing.  Then we did turn 1 as a normal turn.  The pic is taken after turn 2 - the Germans are on the far side.  They have taken up defensive positions in the town and in the wood in the left centre rear.

The Brits are advancing in echelon, right forward.  They opened up on the Germans in the wood from the centre while another infantry squad advanced down the far flank (in the village in the pic).  The plan had a hiccough when the Germans in the wood had a dice fit and suddenly killed half the supporting infantry squad, which failed morale and disappeared.

On the near flank, the British barrage initially pinned down most of the Germans in the village, but then it suddenly moved onto the Brit squad advancing up the centre.  The Brits got an order through to pull the barrage, but the Panzer unpinned, moved through the village and started mowing down the pinned down infantry.  The Brit command had moved them too far forward - not only under an artillery barrage, but they had deployed their anti-tank assets badly, leaving them defenseless v. the MkIV.

On the far flank we saw our first close action.  Despite losing the infantry support, there was firepower left to get enough pins on the Germans to charge them and take them out.

The battle ended as per scenario rules on turn 6 (the dice did not give an extra turn).  At this stage the Brits had lost 2 squads & the Germans 1.  The scenario rules made that a draw - you have to win by 2 to call it a decisive win.

In our second battle we were still groping a bit to find the right tactical moves, but we are getting there.  There's a lot to get your head around.  The off-table artillery rules don't impress - too much chance of friendly fire & as written no way of calling it off to stop friendly fire, or to allow you to go in and mop up.  Looks like there has been an oversight - we adopted a house rule allowing the observer to use a normal order to call a barrage off.

The book scenarios we have played seem a bit indecisive - not sure if that is because we don't know how to kill efficiently yet, or because our table's too big (though we tried to adjust for that).