First tabletop action for WW2 campaign

The first action of the mini-WW2 campaign reaches the tabletop. A Guards reconnaissance company supported its a tank troop has been moved forward to the Sunken Road bridge with orders are to hold up and delay any advancing Panzer Grenadier units.

A One Hour Wargames WW2 rule variant is being used to play the games. I will post the variations in a later post, but the most significant change is with the sequence of play where each unit is assigned a playing card and are then activated to move or shoot in card order. Activating highest value card to lowest value.

Each unit is represented by two stands. One stand is eliminated on the seventh hit, that way units take 14 hits to be totally eliminated. In the campaign units that are not eliminated return to full strength. So unless necessary units will consider falling back after one stand is lost.

Guard forces: Tank troop, Armoured Car unit, and Armoured Infantry unit.

Panzer Grenadier forces: 3 Armoured Infantry units, 1 Assault gun unit, 1 Mortar  unit, and 1 AA Gun unit.

As there will be a number of small actions in this campaign my battle reports will kept fairly simple. Otherwise the time I take to write and post the battle report will be more than it does to play the games themselves.

Turn 1 - The Guards take up position along the river bank around the only bridge. In the distance Germans can be seen advancing.

Turn 2 - German units advance towards the river and soon come under fire. 

Turn 3 - Armoured units on both sides were bearing the brunt of the attack. While supporting German mortar fire and off-table British artillery fire was proving an important factor.  

Turn 4 - The Germans were throwing everything into the attack including the AA unit.

Turn 5 - The Guards delayed falling back a tad too long and their tank troop was destroyed. A blow which may have ramifications as the campaign progresses.

Turn 6 - Guard units fallback. Gaining control of the bridge did come at a cost for the Germans. They lost two armoured infantry units from their company, but did keep the assault gun unit intact.

A quick and enjoyable 6 turn game. The campaign context certainly adds to games as retaining units is important, particularly for the Guards.