Vallée des Champs, 2: La Réponse

As promised, I have reused this table setup for a sort of refight or if you like, follow up counter attack by the Germans after their very quick rebuff.

Dispositions & Movements

It's not completely identical as I realised I hadn't put any hedges down in the other game and there had been only the implied 'long grass' around the edges of the fields.

The Allies started with the previous games as yet unused reinforcements on-table this time (French motorised infantry & 3" mortar troop) plus a Division Légère de Cavalrie tank squadron scrambled into the area from the rear somewhere and the original understrength units (where applicable) from the first battle:

• understrength Char B troop
• H39, S35 & Panhard 178 DLC squadron
• French cycle & motorised infantry
• 75mm field gun battery
• Scout platoon
• MkVIB light tank troops
• a few 25mm AT guns

The Germans transferred in replacements and injected some much needed armour from elsewhere:

• Kradschützen & Schützen platoons
• StuG III & SiG33 SPG batteries
• SdKfz 232 troop
• Pz II/Pz 38(t)/Pz IVD squadron (from 8th Panzer Division, possibly)
• extra Pz IVD troop
• off-table 105mm battery

In the spirit of the period, I toyed with the idea of the Allies falling back before the start of the game, to some arbitrary line "to be held at all costs" but with the much stronger Axis forces this time I left the front line as it was.

Highly mobile German armour roared away from the junction, SPGs & infantry hoping to drive a way through the fields.

Dust clouds from the East

Scout cars & light tanks flee the wood; Belgian House still smoulders after the previous engagement/game.

An artillery duel ensues between the ancient yet serviceable French 75mms and the German SPGs.

The French cavalry fans out in the vallies and the mortar spotter in the high woods zeroes his tubes on the flanking Czech based tanks.

The devastating mortar fire scuppers the Panzer 38 flanking move. On the other side of this front, the Hotchkiss tanks trundle on down the lane.

Fast moving recce forces have been ordered to find a weak spot to exploit...

...but Boys & 25mm AT weapons pull them up sharp.

French cavalry peer over the crest of the hill.

By some twist of fate (an 01 was rolled which triggered drawing the 5♠ wildcard) the French motorised infantry beyond the wood having checked into HQ for orders, has misread the map and is heading for the wrong field.

There's nowt wrong with French armour when not used in 'penny packets', especially with shooting like that! (05)

The 150mm SPGs find their mark...

...and then turn their stubby barrels on the Char Bs.

The Schützen are already 250m away in the next field by the time their supporting Pz IVs finally get their "Vorwärts!" orders.

The diminutive H39s round the corner and force the startled Pz IIs to rethink.

More corking 37mm shots mean the German light tanks must retreat. (Subsequent losses will see them cowering at the back of the woods unable to rally, even from a modestly low score of 30).

Earth clods flying, the Panzer IVs charge into the blizzard of deadly steel (and probably tungsten as well).

The Panzer IIs reverse pell mell into the wood. On the other side of the battlefield a Char B manages to catch a StuG in the side.

The Schützen pick their way forward in the hedges & ditches, supported by 105mm barrages.

Back at the junction, as the Panzer IVs attempt to regroup, the 8-Rads begin a daring charge.

Fixated on their main opponents (one effect of their one-man turrets in my rules), the French cavalry tanks fail to notice the armoured cars slipping past.

With a Gallic shrug the French infantry start getting comfortable in a quiet meadow, somewhere in France.

"Je ne sais pas, toi?"

A shot from a Hotchkiss finds another vision block on a Panzer IV on a more or less critical hit of 01.

Then a "00" roll for the Allies draws the Q♣, a free air strike, even though 100 is the worst hit roll possible.

(The AASF must've forgotten to inform the land forces about the Fairey Battles they had tasked, which a quick look in the box reminded me that they were the only Allied ground attack planes I had which were even remotely painted).

Should get some decals on soon...

The 105 battery walks a barrage up & down the powerless Allied front line.

Cat & Mouse: a deadly game for 2 to 2 million players when using real tanks in a proper war

The 8-rads circle around the evading mortar battery, snaffling one of them like the prey that they have become.

extreme flankage!!

Back in the fields, on one side there is a bit of stand-off with both combatants on alert (my term for 'overwatch'). The Schützen, on their flank, probe forwards down the ditch & hedgerow.

The off table 105s plaster the French field gun position in the wood and the StuGs & SiG33 SPGs eventually wear down the last remaining Char B, HE proving to be the most effective form of attack on the thickly armoured beast.

The now lone Somua has had enough for now and legs it towards cover. The Panzers pop smoke to reorganize and the 8-rads are moving fast now into the British rear.

German SPGs are closing the range on the Allied front line when the 25mm AT guns finally open fire at 375m into the flank of an unsuspecting assault gun.

Now rallied, the French cavalry tank returns to the battle and the Kradschützen emerge from the undergrowth of the woods to grenade the H39s from behind. 

 

In the fields to the South, the French line is beaten back by the oncoming tanks, armoured cars & SPGs although a Panzer IV does fall to a Boys AT rifle, its third kill in the game.

more Balkankreuzen!

The slow Hotchkiss can barely keep ahead of the German infantry snapping like hyenas at its heels and when it slows to take the hedge it finally succumbs to the lobbed grenades. With the death of the last S35, the armour battle here is over.

H39 in a pickle

The German armoured spearhead has been severely blunted in order to gain this particular victory, losing a squadron of tanks, a platoon of infantry and two assault SPGs.

from the South

The Allies have lost a 75mm battery, a squadron of cavalry tanks, the remainder of the Char B troop and some MkVI light tanks but have clearly held up the advance in this sector due to some stout pluck and good tank shooting.

from the North West

Aside from a possible dice test (I had at least 6 wildcard draws triggered by '00's and '99's) the game was remarkably well balanced in spite of the accustomed casual and cavalier selection of forces.