There are Many Rivers to Cross-Turn 3

 

After 2 turns

Platoon 1: Germans 3 dead, 2 man missing the next turn, JL#3 at 1 CI.

Platoon 1: Belgians 15 dead, 5 men missing the next turn.

Campaign Tracker

Germans

Commander's Opinion+2

Men's Opinion +1

Platoon Leaders's Outlook: Droll

Belgians

Commander's Opinion-1

Men's Opinion -6 (-2FM, Sl 6" command range)

Platoon Leaders's Outlook: Sad

TURN 3

Table 4 from the campaign book, it is based on Going with a Bang scenario for the 1940 Blitzkreig source book. The Germans are entering from the right at either the upper orlower point depending on a dice roll. The Belgians have to blow up 2 of the 4 culverts seen on the map. The 2 culverts in the centre are small and require a task roll of 6 to set the charge while the 2 culverts to the left are large and require a task roll of 12 to set the charges.

Chasseur Ardennais 1 Platoon (FM 10)

Core (-20 men)

SL

GdC 1 (-3 riflemen)
Demolition Team

DBT Lance Grenade Section

CoC Dice

Supports (9)
AAMG
Demolition Team
Medic
Franc Tireurs
GdC

Schützen 2 Platoon (FM 11)

Core

SLx2

5cm Mortar Team

Squad 1

Squad 2

Squad 3

Supports (22)
Shabby Nazi Trick Nuns with Guns, 
Sniper
Red Dice
Off-Table MMG
MMG Team
le.IG 18 IG

The table, the Germans enter from the left

Greg really got the jump on me with the Patrol Phase as you can see. The JOP's are circled.

So on with some photos.

Greg rapidly deployed all his troops. The Stuka bombardment had no effect on the houses and he decided to very quickly end the turn with his CoC die. At the same time his Franc Tireurs prevented me from quickly getting off my most forward JOP, he advanced his first demo team to take out the minor culvert in the bottom right. Initially Iwas not in the best position to put pressureon them but my Civilians rapidly advanced up the east-west road, revealed themselves as a German LMG team on a double phase took some pot shots at the CdG behind the hedge and then ran back and occupied the house in the centre. Greg put his DBT team to good use by dropping smoke rounds to protect the CdG squad and the demo team and they started to do set their charges.........

  

The CdG team took a lot of fire, they are one shock from being pinned and their JL is down to 1 CI.

The Belgian DBT team with the SL giving support. They were well hidden but without direct LOS they were unable to lay down really accurate smoke. By the end of the game they had fired 8 of their 9 available smoke rounds.

As usuall my MMG team got beat up and pinned before they could get much fire off. I had to send in a SL to keep them going and to get the shock off......

.......fortunatley he was within range of my le.IG18 so they were able to rain HE on the CdG team with the support of another rifle squad. By now the Germans were fully deployed.

The Belgian demo team took a lot of fire from the LMG team in the house as well as another German squad behind the stone wall. They broke and had to retreat without completing their mission. A 2nd demo team was now attempting to blow the large culvert to the above left but I deployed my Off-Table MMG to put fire on them at long range. I then threw a triple6 on my CI lifting all the smoke. Greg's options were now quite limited so he withdrew. Not many dead as can see from above. The Germans advance to table 5.

The Summing Up

The ending force morale was 11 for the Germans and 8 for the Belgians. The Germans lost 1 support MMG gun crew and 1 rifleman while the Belgians lost 7 support riflemen. So once we apply the post campaign process and the losses from turn 2 we have the following:

After 3 turns

German Platoon 1: 3 dead. 1JL down 1CI (3" command range)
German Platoon 2: Intact

Belgian Platoon 1: 15 dead.

Campaign Tracker

Germans

Commander's Opinion+3 (+1FM)

Men's Opinion +2

Platoon Leaders's Outlook: Droll

Belgians

Commander's Opinion-1

Men's Opinion -4 (-1FM)

Platoon Leaders's Outlook: Sad

It was an interesting game as the scenario is a challenge. I was surprised that Greg did not take a new platoon but when I thought about this, I realised it was a good decision as victory was not dependent on firepower but more on maneuver.

I think the diceing was about equal and we both got the appropriate number of double phases, but I was lucky to get the triple 6 when I did has it lifted all Greg's smoke at a critical time in the game. Without the smoke he was wide open and was forced to withdraw.

The next game is going to be a challenge for the Germans as their advance has been a little too quick and although the Belgians failed to blow the roads, the Germans mobile support still has not caught up to them (this does not happen until after turn 4). The next table is based on the Blitzkreig scenario from the 1940 sourcebook, it is going to be hard to exit troops off the other end of the table without any wheels!