Defend the hill at all costs......

We returned to WW2 action at the weekend with a scenario from the BGO book called the Hill between a German Grenadier and American armoured force. The scenario is based around a large hill which is the main objective, the first force to break their opponents Break point would win the game.

                                                  The hill with German defences 

                  Civilians take to the roads as the American forces start to arrive

I took command of the Germans as the defender and picked a force of 500 pts. As the defender i was given access to a Trench line, HMG bunker and a minefield. the minefield i marked with three markers on the table top, two of these were dummy minefields, the trench line and HMG bunker i placed up on the hill. My force included a Panzer Grenadier platoon, HMG team, 80mm mortar with loading crew, Panzer IV platoon, 88mm with dugout, 2 x Snipers, Puma armoured vehicle and a HQ section. My dads attacking American force consisted of HQ, Platoon of Infantry in half tracks, 4 x M4 Sherman's, M10 tank hunter, Reece Jeep, A/T gun 6 pounder and a observer with 4.2 mortar battery of table with a target register point, which was placed bang on top of the hill in the centre of my defences. We allowed the Americans to have extra troops to the value of the German defences which was roughly 70 pts, so the American force was 570 pts approx.  before the game started we rolled a dice to see if the skies were clear but a roll of one meant that no air craft would be present in this game. Any air attack chits pulled would count as 1 in this game. (2 air attack chits were pulled during the game)

 

Grenadiers behind the hedgerow near one of the minefield markers.

American M3 Halftracks move up the road quickly to find the cover for their passengers to dismount and find cover in the ruined buildings.

Scanning for targets the dug in 88 awaits in ambush.

The hill takes a barrage from the Off field 4.2mm mortars who have a registered target point on the objective. Despite rolling a direct hit twice on the Platoon command squad, rolling 6 dice needing 4's to hit my Dad managed to miss both times!!.... 12 dice and no 4+ rolled....my command squad breathed a big sigh of relief. The HMG bunker also remained unpinned.

The American Artillery observer looks for targets from the ruined house, while the GI's dismount from their half tracks.

German troops and 88mm remained on standby fire, waiting for the right moment to strike.

The British truck (objective marker) brews the teas for the HMG crew.

This M3 Halftrack is a tiger tank in disguise! Not only does it manage in the course of the game to destroy a Grenadier squad, LMG team and sniper team with MG fire, it survives a direct hit from a 88mm AP round at point blank range. I only required to roll 4 or more on 2 dice to destroy the Halftrack so I managed to roll double 1 only immobilising it, the Halftrack returned fire and killed my 88mm crew, the 88mm was no more and it was now turn 4 and all the American armour was due to arrive. arghhh!!! 

A German 80mm mortar fires supporting fire to hassle the American advance, I deployed it a little to close to the action and my dad managed to mg the crew down later in the game, oops!

The hill was hammered all game by mortar fire and eventually my dad killed 3men from the HQ squad and managed to pin the Bunker as well on a couple of occasions. However the HMG bunker when not pinned proved to be a real thorn in the American advance, accounting for a lot of the American casualties. 

M4 Sherman's and the Wolverine take cover in the hedgerows and become involved with a fire fight with a Panzer IV which took a direct hit and became immobilised (Double one rolled again for armour penetration) despite been immobilised the Panzer IV makes no mistake in destroying the Wolverine.

Another Sherman rolls down the road cautious of a potential minefield,  in front of it the Tiger, erm I mean M3 Half track goes up in flames thanks to a second Panzer IV arriving from reserve and wasting no time in targeting it.REVENGE.

On the left flank the final two Sherman's get into a duel with 2 Panzer IV's, after both sides struggled to spot their targets the Sherman's draw first blood.

The result of the fire fight, after first becoming immobilised (yes the 3rd time this game a double 1 was rolled for AP result) the second round sets the panzer on fire.

Turn 8 sees a German programmed artillery barrage hit the terraced house, the Americans still had 2 squads in the building and outside and both suffered direct hits, destroying one of the squads.

The American A/T gun fires rounds of HE to try and pin the HMG bunker. A second half track takes a direct hit from a mortar round and is destroyed.

The immobilised Panzer IV crew busy trying to repair their tank which remains in a fire fight with a Sherman across the hedgerows.

The final picture of the battlefield at the end of our allotted time.

A really hard fought game had seen me go in to the last turn sitting on my break point of 31. My dad managed to cause a casualty on a HMG team putting it down to one man, however my morale throw saw me roll a 6 and a beyond the call of duty meaning I escaped having to draw a chit which most likely would have seen me pass my break point, I had just by the skin of my teeth managed to hold onto the objectives, however my dad was 8 away from his break point of 32 meaning the Americans gain a technical win. 

With the sky due to clear in the morning, Opening the way for the American Airforce to take to the skies the German force having sustained heavy losses during the fight holding the hill during the American attack were to withdraw during the night abandoning the hill to reinforce their numbers and hopefully repair some of those immobilised Panzers ready to fight again further down the line.