Well I've been wanting do to an AAR for a while so it's finally about time I got around to it, this battle has been part of a little mini-campaign which revolved capturing this little town somewhere in Normandy facing off a regular British platoon against a regular German platoon. It's been a way to keep it from being just a one off kind of battle, but also not a large commitment like a larger PSC may be.
Intelligence
Here is a aerial "reconnaissance" shot taken sometime before the battle:
The Germans had 6 support points available and chose to bring an Sdf Kfz 232, an 8 wheel reconnaissance vehicle with a 20mm autocannon, in addition to an adjutant. The vehicle will be used a mobile support platform to try force the British out of the buildings. Force moral: 11.
The British on the other hand had 4 support points at their disposal and opted to focus on funneling the German troops, taking 2 minefields and some barbed wire to try and prevent them from easily advancing towards the town. Force moral: 8.
AAR
German forces quickly deploy on overwatch on both the left and right flanks, trying to spread out the British defenders.
The British respond by deploying a squad of their own on the far right and fire down on the Germans in the field, concentrating the Bren fire on the LMG team, killing 1 crew man and inflicting 2 shock. The Germans on overwatch respond with deadly fire, killing 2 riflemen and wounding the Junior Leader.
A second section is deployed in a building on the right flank, along with a light mortar near the wall below. Their combined fire fails to do any damage to the Germans on the left, yet 1 rifleman perishes from the return overwatch fire.
A poor roll forces the German platoon sergeant to jump into the battle early, he removes the shock from the LMG team and directs the fire against the British in the house, 1 more rifleman dies and 2 shock is inflicted.
Poor roll on the British side forces both Senior Leaders to jump into the battle to unhinge things, some more concentrated fire kills one more LMG crew and inflicts 2 shock. Meanwhile on the left flank everything remains quite calm.
German double phase! Troops push up to the hedge to take advantage of the 2 smgs (JL + SL), Panzerschreck team is also deployed and ordered to fire at the house by the Senior Leader. The combined fire causes lots of British casualties, 3 dead riflemen. More importantly the Junior Leader perishes due to a second wound.
The German 232 also finally makes an appearance, taking position in the middle of the road on overwatch, covering both flanks.
The next two phases see both British and German platoons deploying an extra section on the right flank, the British manage to eliminate the LMG team from the first German section and cause 1 shock, the Germans respond by killing 1 more rifleman on the already heavily damaged British first section and pinning it (only the Senior leader and a 2 man Bren team are left). Things remain quiet on the left as the focus remains all on the right flank.
AMBUSH! The British use the Chain of Command dice they were saving up to try and take out the 232 with their PIAT team, while they manage to hit the armored car, the subsequent strike roll results in only 1 hit and the 232 rolls 1 save. The vehicle manages to make it out of the ambush unscathed.
On the right flank the Germans are finally able to kill off one more rifleman and force the British squad and the Senior leader to break. The 232 does some work on and manages to kill riflemen 3 men and inflict 2 shock on the other British section. Nevertheless, The British roll a double phase! The British fire back and finish off the Panzershreck team (the loader had previously died), and the German Senior Leader is lightly wounded. Minor skirmishing continues on the left flank with a few casualties exchanged.
The British double phase has completely flipped around the battle,the Platoon Lieutenant runs back and helps direct fire against the German squads. The weakened British squad heroically manages to knock down both of the Junior leaders. This is a disastrous result for the Germans, along with a lightly wounded Senior leader, and no CoC dice (it had been used for an interrupt early in the game), the Germans begin to grind to a halt on the right.
To make things even worse for the Germans the British Senior leader on the left flank combines the fire from the light mortar and the third section to continue to dent the German section, and even manages to knock out the 3rd Junior Leader.
In the next phase the Germans try and manage some shock and fire back against the British causing very minor damage. Without any of their Junior Leaders, and a wounded Senior Leader, it has become impossible for any real organised action, and they are unable to push forward.
On the other hand, the British continue their streak of good luck, and even though there are only 4 men and the SL left on the right flank, they manage to also knock out the German Senior Leader. The PIAT deploys and fires against the 232. This time the armored car gets hit hard, the commander gets wounded and 2 shock is inflicted.
The last three phases were disastrous for the Germans and phenomenal for the British, they managed to knock out 4 leaders and also wound the commander in the 232. All of this caused the force moral to drop from 11 all the way to 3 in a matter of a couple phases. With their moral at 3, no CoC dice, and no leaders able to rally the troops, the scenario has been deemed unwinnable and the German forces pull out of of the outskirts of the town.
A narrow British victory!
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Concluding thoughts
This battle displayed just how quickly the odds can dramatically swing in Chain of Command, the Germans seemed to be in complete control, yet a devastating British double phase with some great rolls managed to somehow knock out 3 German Junior leaders in a couple rounds of shooting. The battle was ultimately heroically won by a the 4 man section that held the house on the right, fighting off 2 German sections with only 1 rifleman and a 2 man bren team and their Junior Leader. The British Platoon Lieutenant will get commended for his heroics during the battle, after initially retreating as his troops faced overwhelming odds, he ran back and managed to keep the right flank alive.
The Germans on the other hand might have made a mistake in picking the 232, although it was able to inflict some serious damage it also didn't allow any flank to be stacked with more German troops. They also remained too static on the left flank, and too many resources were wasted on the right flank. Yet, had those 4 pesky Brits been unhinged from the house on the right then the Germans would have been able to surround the remaining British. I mean what were the odds of the British being able to knock out 4 leaders?
In any case next week I'll run the same scenario, this time the Germans will get some more support options!
Thanks for reading!
