WW2 campaign - the end is in sight

Three battles were played out in the closing few games of my WW2 campaign.

The first game was a German limited attack on the town of Anisy. The attack began at 8am with a strong showing or armoured units which swept around the flank of the town, quickly suppressing the defending units. Allied air support was effective and eliminated a unit of Panthers, the game swung in the favour of the Commonwealth forces as their reserves arrived. The second wave of German assaults then began on the town and were started to take a toll on the defenders and sucking up the Commonwealth reserves. By 7pm the town was captured by the Germans as the last few defending units were eliminated. A German victory.

Armoured units move around the town flank

Air Support helps stem the advancing tanks

The second attacking wave captures the town

The second game had the Commonwealth forces back on the attack in open country. The dice generated terrain favoured the attacking side. For victory the Commonwealth forces were going to have to take both hills. German forces had stacked one side of the table to defend one of the hills at all costs with the intent of denying the attacking forces a victory.

Commonwealth forces started their attack at 11am, a bit late in the day. This meant they were going have to push on quickly. Both sides were rolling poorly, which was to the advantage of the attacking Commonwealth forces as they could maintain the momentum of their advance. The hill was successfully taken by the Commonwealth infantry, while their artillery was proving the decisive factor as their armoured reserves were delayed. A Commonwealth victory.

Game set up with both hills needing to be captured

Commonwealth infantry quick move up against poor shooting by the Germans

Commonwealth tanks finally arrive after the hills are captured

The Germans use their last campaign supplies for one final limited attack in the third game. The terrain layout was for the most part in the defenders favour. They would have to hang on to both buildings to secure a victory, while the attacking Germans wound need to capture the building on the flank and also the hill it was nestled against.

The attack started well and that was about as good as it would be for the Germans. Their air support failed to achieve any hits and a second wave of attackers failed to materialise. Commonwealth forces bolstered by reserves were able to outnumber the attackers, never a good thing, and concentrate their fire eliminating the attackers one at a time.

There was one interesting moment where both sides had air support on the table at the same time. A dog-fight ensued allowing air units to attack each other using the same rules which are used against ground forces: 5 or 6 is a kill, 4 or 5 no outcome, and 1 or 2 attacking unit is disrupted. The dog-fight was ineffective and the German air unit later left the game soon after when rolling a second 1 in an attack on ground units.

So a victory for the defending Commonwealth forces.

The German attack pushes ahead expecting reserves to follow

Allied air support helped destroy the attacking units

After those battles the campaign situation has the Germans with no remaining supplies available to launch any attacks, and the Commonwealth forces with enough supplies to either launch one major attack or two limited attacks. Major attacks get access to more units determined by an extra average dice roll.

Germans forces hold 13 map zones and Commonwealth forces control 12 map zones. The winner will be the side which holds most map zones after all supplies are consumed by both sides. The question is whether to launch two limited attacks or one major attack to secure one more map zone and secure a victory for Commonwealth forces.

Front lines after the games

The next and final game of the campaign will be a major attack by the Commonwealth forces in an attempt to secure a campaign victory.