Saturday 31 August 2019

WW2 Campaign action on the road to Stalaff

The action on the Stalaff Road has a cobbled together Guards force attacking the second of the Panzer Grenadier advance forces. The composition of this force was unknown, but was soon found to be a very strong.

Campaign map showing the Guards attack.
Tabletop setup.
The German force has:

  • 1 x Armoured Company (3 x Platoons)
  • 1 x AT section
  • 1 x Mobile Artillery
  • 1 x Armoured Car troop
  • 1 x Mortar section
The British Guards has:
  • 1 x Infantry Company (3 x Platoons)
  • 1 x Engineer Platoon
  • 1 x AA section
  • 1 x Tank troop

Panzer Grenadiers forces
Guards
The action has the Guards advancing from the East edge and Panzer Grenadiers are positioned on the West edge.
Turn 1 - units take up position
Turn 2 - Panzer Grenadier units move froward on each flank with artillery and mortar support
Turn 3 - Casualties are taken on both sides. The Guards tank troop hold the centre and Panzer Grenadiers move forward an AT section to counter the threat.
Turn 4 and 5 - The artillery and mortar support was telling and the Guards units were quickly eliminated.
This was a bad result for the Guards who lost their engineer company and tank troop. The Panzer Grenadier force was well balanced with both artillery and AT support and able to easily deal with the Guard force.

The Guards are now in a very sticky position with no more space to continue their fighting withdrawal approach and in the next round of games will have to hold their ground.

10 comments:

  1. The worst moment to get a bad result!

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    1. Yes, the Guards are in a bit of a pickle and every thing is heading South, quite literally.

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  2. Very bloody result! Losing engineers and tanks will hurt.

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    1. The losses are a real blow and the Guards will be relying on more air support.

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  3. Ouch! Do you have a plan? Is there help on the way?

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    1. Another plan? Hmmm, no. I think the risk of losing this campaign has increased somewhat.

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  4. Woo... Iron crosses all round, methinks. That looked to me like a very good result for the Germans on this occasion, however costly in vehicles.

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    1. An excellent result indeed. The units which are not eliminated in a game return to full strength for the campaign, so the loss of vehicles will not be an issue.

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  5. That last comment made me wonder whether the Germans (wheels coming off the Reich) would be able to replace their losses in stark contrast to the Allies (awash with equipment at this time).
    It's a classic ploy and one no doubt well known to the Guards i.e. if the game is in doubt, move the goalposts!

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    Replies
    1. The Guards have air support, but other help is too far away (or occupied) for this campaign which represents a 3 to 4 day time period. While a breakthrough appears likely, will the remaining forces be enough to capitalise.

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