J36 – THE BRIDGE OF VERDALSÖRA
JP attacking as the Germans
Legion defending as the Allies
Setup
The 1st and most obvious point is to get across the bridge, that being said, the hills on the rivers edge on his side of the board make it difficult to get some suppressing fire going. I have decided to have a strong firegroup and use my Mortars to keep his head down while 7 squads make the main attack. My turn 2 replacements will attack where needed.
I have 3 squads, an MMG, 2 LMG’s and a 7-0 with radio in level 2 J2 as it seems to be one of only 2 hexes that have good LOS to the town. My 81mm MTR is in I2 to put smoke and HE on the guys behind the roadblock (20Y9) and my other 2 50mm Mortars are in K5 and N3 to put acquisitions on the forest hexes (8H10 and 8J10) to convince him not to try and get too close to the bridge exit.
He has a very well placed stack in 20DD9 which can put fire on the I4 bridge entry hex but my J2 firegroup also has LOS to that hex. I started with 2 squads and an 8-1 in I4 as this group does not have LOS to I5 and so they can be out of his LOS in one MP. [Legion’s Comment: This is the best thing about seeing both sides of a game… I did not see this LOS at all, if I did I would have used it! Trust JP to see the tricky shots!]
The Game
TURN 1
I smoked 20Y10 but ran out of SMOKE, however I had ROF so then put an acquisition on the stack in 20Y9. My 2 50mm Mortars put acquisitions on their assigned hexes and my J2 firegroup fired at 20DD9 for no effect. I ran a squad down the bridge which promptly got a K/ result from the firelane at 20Y9 down the bridge (I had to know whether it was a dummy or not..). I moved the remaining 8-1 and squad out of 8I4 and into the nearby buildings ready for the moment when they could get across.
In his turn the Brits arrived and he skulked everyone out of my LOS – most importantly, he did not advance back the 20DD9 guys so I can now cross the bridge but will still be under fire at the exit. My defensive broke a concealed squad in U8 which he thought was out of my LOS.
TURN 2
I took the opportunity to run three squads and a leader onto the bridge while his 20DD9 stack was hiding and am now near the bridge exit.
My oncoming forces from the north edge took a chance and searched the T3 hex and eliminated his dummies there while the other squad and leader went past as fast as they could to put pressure on the Brits so they could not re-enforce the bridge exit. The entire northern edge of his board is now wide open although he has stacks in 20AA1 and 20AA6 which can put firelanes down the roads so I will be hard pressed to re-enforce laterally. I also ran an 8-1 and 2 squads with DM MMG along the gully and under the bridges at 20T8 and 20U9 with a view to taking out the bridge exit defenders as well as sending a single squad along the rivers edge as support. The remaining 2squads, LMG and 9-1 went straight up the middle into the 20U7 block with a view to getting into a position where I can CC his broken squad by using the Rowhouse advance. He kept as many of his guys hidden from me in his turn and got 2 Brit squads closer to the bridge exit.
TURN 3
My Prep was non-existent due to his skulking but of course, that means I am able to move more freely too. I tried to exit the bridge and lost a squad from his return fire, he still has men in the 20Z9 building which has LOS to the exit. I moved a squad into level 2 20T3 where it has LOS down the road Y6-DD8 and I recommend that any attacking German does likewise as this spot has great LOS and cuts his forces into two – a MMG, squad and leader can make it in 1 turn if you go CX. My advancing fire was brilliant!! A 1,1 from a 2fp +1 shot ELR’ed both the leader and squad in AA1 and a SAN broke the squad manning the MMG in AA6. I also advanced from 20W7 to 20X6 and killed his broken squad.
His turn 3 was very quiet except for my X6 squad rolling 6,6 on a MC ( it rolled another 6,6 on the rally attempt…). He had elected to keep the AA6 squad in place and I fired to keep him DM. He pulled back his bridge guys to the AA9/AA10 hexes and left one concealed counter in Z9 to cover the bridge.
TURN 4
I set my guys in X9 and X8 on Opp Fire for when (or if) his Z9 man fires and started infiltrating guys off the bridge, by the time I had over half across I was confident that it was a dummy counter and I started to get more aggressive. I also moved my J2 firegroup into 8F3 level 2 in order to isolate his guys in AA9/10 and moved my 7-0 and radio into K3 where it has LOS to a pesky unit of his in Z4. In my advance phase I put about 4-5 squads adjacent to his AA9/10 guys and hoped for the best in his Prep.
Naturally Legion failed with his 2 16FP shots from the Norwegians (3 squads and a MMG at point blank! – if you ever play Legion, do not be afraid of his 16FP shots, in our last 5-6 games he has produced maybe one or two MC’s out of them!) and elected to not fire the other (British) stack obviously to pull it back and keep a defence going. I got a SR going to threaten the centre of his board and broke 2 of his Norwegian squads. He advanced the other back a hex toBB9 adjacent the Brits in BB8 while the broken ones went into the Rowhouses CC9 and DD9.
TURN 5
My 8F3 firegroup broke the remaining Norwegian and with only 2 Brit squads in GO I decided it was time to pick up a few prisoners. I sent about 7 squads into the tiny area and surrounded his broken guys and the Brits while only suffering a broken squad and leader and a pinned squad – all good so far!! I had also broken the guy in Z4 and sent 2 squads out to take him prisoner too. I also sent 2 squads into CC against the Brits – both eventually died for no loss to him. My game plan had been about exiting the board but now that he has 4 broken squads near me it is all about taking prisoners. Hey, you got to be flexible… He counter attacked with his few remaining squads and took some of my guys prisoner in Z3 while also killing the squad guarding prisoners in DD9 – this gave him the important 12 CVP (not counting prisoners) that would ensure he could not lose the game.
The Germans have conceded more than 11 CVP.
ALLIED VICTORY
Conclusion
A good, tight little game which I should have won as I rolled a 1,1 in CC and could have withdrawn. Re-taking my men that he had prisoner to keep him under 12CVP would have been easy as he did not deploy upon taking them and so he would not have had any decent firepower to protect himself with, I was cursing myself all night about getting too emotional about the game and going for the kill instead of being more aware of how close I was to victory.