Campaign turn 4 game 2 has the Allied 1st Armoured division advancing against the Italian Ariete armoured division. This attack follows on from an earlier campaign attack, which saw an Allied armoured brigade failing to achieve sufficient objectives and ending in a stalemate.
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| Tabletop setup |
The Allied lead up to this attack has been hampered by Axis air interdiction and problems maintaining and repairing equipment (possibly due to the variety of equipment their engineers have to maintain). They have a somewhat depleted force of 8 units, which still contains a good contingent of Grant tanks and air support is available.
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| Objectives marked with triangles |
The Italian Ariete division is in good condition with 13 units. However 4 of their tank units have been delayed and will start the game off table. The objectives are all reasonable close together on the Italian left flank and will enable them to defend in depth.
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| Initial unit deployments and planned moves |
Fielding fewer units than expected the Allied plan is to focus on the centre hills, on of the objectives, and push a blocking force along the road to stop any advance by the Italians while also providing flanking attacks on the hills.
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| Allied tanks advance. |
The Allies quickly moved forward into their attacking positions. Their ill fortune continued as Italian shooting was accurate and they suffered losses. One bright spot however came with air support inflicting a number of hits, ended any threat from the town and armoured car units.
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| Allied air support proved very successful. |
The Allies were making slow progress, due to poor shooting, and Italian armour remained in control of the central hills. This delay allowed time for an Italian armoured reserve to prepare.
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| Italian armoured reserve join the defence of the central hills. |
When the Italian reserve armour joined the action it was all over for the Allies and they quickly withdrew. Not a good result for the Allies. Who now stand with a draw and loss in this campaign turn and have used their best attacking divisions. For the next game they will have a choice of: 1) attacking with a weakened armoured division or 2) full strength infantry division with supporting armour.
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| Allies retire after failing the take the hills. |
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| Final positions |
A really nicely balanced battlefield terrain wise. I thought the Italians were going to suffer by part of their force being off table and being up against Grants. Surprise is the sign of a good game.
ReplyDeleteThe Italians had a few Semoventes on the hills which proved very effective and stopped the attack getting any momentum. This round in the campaign has certainly thrown up some surprises.
DeleteOh dear!
ReplyDeleteHowever, Great pictures! I confess that I find the pictures give me a better idea of what's going on. (I'd claim it was grey cells dying off but I've never been great at visualzing based on maps.)
Thank you. I seem to be getting better at photographing 6mm models.
DeleteThe Italians are showing some backbone!
ReplyDeleteThey have certainly proved their worth in this campaign turn.
DeleteMore splendid map work Peter - once you've hand drawn the map is the rest done digitally?
ReplyDeleteThank you. Yes, I draw the map, take a picture and upload into Google's slides and add the symbols.
DeleteUnlike the prior action, this one played out about as anticipated!
ReplyDeleteI thought the Allies might have done better, but their poor dice rolling put pay to any thoughts of a possible success.
DeleteThis time I think the Allies got the short end of the stick but the Italians certainly made the most of the situation. Do the Allies have any other options than another attack - can instead just resupply and dig in?
ReplyDeleteThe supply options are restricted to the start of the campaign turn. In this game they were taking limited attack on the hill, but even that proved to be too much of a stretch.
DeleteSounds like the Die Gods had abandoned the Allies in this game, but good to see the Italians make a fight of it though. If I was the Brits I might go over to the defensive, given what they have available. As always looking forward to seeing what happens next.
ReplyDeleteThe dice rolling did not help, but it was a hard ask for the allies to start with. The Allies are taking an attacking posture during this campaign turn, and have the option of calling off the attacks and ending the campaign turn.
DeleteAn unhappy day for the Allies. Better luck next time.
ReplyDeleteI think the Allied counterattacks may come to the end.
DeleteAnother great fight, Peter, thanks for sharing! I swear the Roman Empire is resurgent! ;)
ReplyDeleteV/R,
Jack
The game was over very quickly, and yes, the Italians are proving dangerous opponents.
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