All American campaign: Last Ditch to Sainte-Mère-Église

After the US victory in the last game and my opponent winning the campaign as a result, we played the last All American scenario anyway.

Again, the Germans had to attack entrenched paratroopers. In order to win the Attack and Defend scenario, the enemy's force morale needed to be reduced to zero (or low enough for them to voluntarily retreat).

From the previous games, I knew this was going to be difficult for the Germans. Also the scenario offered little in the way of support (7 points for the Germans, 3 for the paratroopers).

I chose a Panzer, an adjudant and a medic as support options. The plan: entice the Americans to deploy their squads and then blast 'em with the panzer, hoping for some leader casualties and high bad things happen rolls.

patrol phase results

I deployed my panzer and 2 squads in the first phases of the game.

Soon the Americans responded by deploying their mortar team and second squad led by Sergeant "Bronco Bill" Walters.

Obergefreiter Graber's luck (he escaped a mortar barrage in one of the previous games) runs out when he is wounded, reducing his command intiative to 1.

Meanwhile the Americans deploy both their senior leaders, their first squad, led by sergeant Reno and start blazing away at Obergefreiter Graber's squad.

Panzer fire manages to wound the US lieutenant, but Graber's squad is losing men at an alarming rate (I should have pulled his squad back from the hedge to take them beyond LOS of the paratroopers).

Fortunately the German  medic is able to patch up Graber, But then he is wounded a second time (out of action for the remainder of the turn).

While his squad is dying around him, Graber recovers after being patched up again by the medic, only to be wounded a third time (again reducing his command initiative to 1) and a fourth time which proved to be fatal.

German force morale had taken a substantial hit, but the paratroopers were also losing men from the continuously firing panzer.

The blasts knock out sergeant Bronco Bill for the remainder of the turn.

With the US second squad in tatters and it's leader down I try to exploit the situation by deploying the final German squad under Obergefreiter Derrick and send them towards the US flank.

My opponent decides to withdraw his first squad from the entrenchments to put them out of LOS of the Germans. because of a low movement roll they are stuck in the open. An opportunity for the panzer to do some real damage!

But the dice gods have abandoned me for this one:

Obergefreiter Derrick and his squad succesfully dashed across the part of the field where they could be targeted by the paratroopers.

But Lieutenant Garret assembles the remnants of Bronco Bill's squad and the (now out of mortar ammo) mortar squad, and advances towards the Germans. Carrying the unconscious Bronco Bill with them!

The turn ends, Bronco Bill recovers and the paratroopers open fire at the Germans who are caught in the open. (We allowed the mortar men to fire their rifles. Don't know if this is allowed in the rules but it seemed fitting).

Derrick and his squad fire at the paratroopers, but to no avail. Derrick is wounded and shock is mounting for what remains of his squad.

The german medic rushes towards  Derrick and his men.

But it's too late: The squad breaks and my opponent uses one of his CoC dice to end the turn, removing the squad from the table.

His bazooka ambush with an other CoC dice fails to destroy my panzer, but with only one squad and the panzer left and a force morale of 3 I decide to withdraw. Victory for the Americans!

And so the campaign ends with an American victory. It was an exiting and tense campaign with the Germans having great difficulties to overcome the American defenses. I read on the ToofatLardies forum that in the current available version of this campaign the US paratroopers are rated as regulars instead of elites (I seem to have an old version). This would probably make the campaign more balanced. I found the paratroopers almost impossible to kill, even in the open (you need sixes to hit them). 

On the Leadadventure forum, CapnJim posted a link to a report of the real Battle for La Fière which contains a gripping description of the intensity of the fighting.

Project Star Wars part 11: Stormtroopers & other Imperials

Some things are fun when you are doing them, some things after you've done them. Painting dozens of stormtroopers belongs in the latter category for me. Fortunately there were also some other Imperials to paint to break up the white monotony.

The stormtroopers are a mix of Imperial Assault miniatures and Legion miniatures. 

I converted some Legion stormtroopers for a bit of variety, but the poses do not easily lend themselves to converting:

 A few Imperial Assault Stormtroopers had their arms repositioned. A headswap (warlord plastic US airborne) for the Scout trooper E-web gunner and an arm with a communicator (I think from an Ainsty starship crew figure) for the Imperial officer:

The Imperial officers and Darth Vader with a few Royal guardsmen borrowed from the Emperor:

The Stormtroopers are supported by two (Imperial Assault) AT-RT's:

The Scout troopers are missing their speeder bikes. They are still in the painting queue.

All American campaign: Battle for La Fière

 With a -2 on my force morale roll (men's opinion was -7, due to the casualties suffered in previous games), attacking across an exposed causeway, the Americans starting with 2 full Chain of Command dice and occupying hard cover buildings, this scenario was going to be challenging for the Germans to say the least.

Because of the mandatory 2 tank support requirement, the mortar barrage option was not available for the Germans. Trying to deny the Americans deployment with help of a preliminary barrage was also out (starting with 2 full Chain of Command dice meant my opponent could end the turn immediately, ending the preliminary barrage before it took place).

My plan was therefore to take an extra squad as support and try and advance the infantry while the tanks were blasting the Americans.

The patrol phase did provide the Germans with a foothold across the bridge which I used to deploy Obergefreiter Merkwürdig's support squad in overwatch

A slew of double phases allowed my opponent to deploy his 2 paratrooper squads and his support MMG.

Although they took some minor hits from the German overwatch fire, their return fire did more damage and wounded Obergefreiter Merkwürdig.

Not once, but twice! Knocking him out for the remainder of the turn.

It even got worse when the US mortar team deployed and started dropping mortar rounds on the German squad.

Lt Jesse James and Plt Sgt Henry McCarty directing fire

A bunch of useless German command dice rolls prevented deployment of support for Obergefreiter Merkwürdig's squad. Destruction was imminent.

Finally some decent command dice rolls! The Panzers arrive!

They start firing high explosive shells at the paratroopers, causing casualties and taking some pressure off the beleaguered German squad.

But of course my opponent uses his full Chain of Command dice to exploit the scenario ambush location under the bridge and a US bazooka team appears next to the Panzer!

And they miss!

Several times!

The Panzers move forward, but it is too late for Obergefreiter Merkwürdig's squad. They're gone and German morale is dropping.

The paratroopers now attempt to drive off the Panzers with machine gun fire. I deploy Obergefreiter Heines's squad behind the Panzer on the bridge, primarily to prevent another bazooka ambush.

Despite them taking cover behind the walls lining the bridge, accurate paratrooper fire quickly wounds Heines and destroys the squad to a man.

Inevitably a bazooka round finds its mark and destroys the Panzer.

We discussed the likelihood of the second Panzer being able to push the wreck of the first one off the bridge (I don't think it is in the rules), but decided to stop the attack. The Germans still had two full squads, but only 3 command dice left. Their chances of reaching the objective building on the other side of the table were slim.

This means that the Germans have lost the campaign (this was campaign turn 5; they had to win this game AND the next one to meet the campaign victory conditions). The US paratroopers have succesfully delayed them long enough. Post game bookkeeping saw the men's opinion on the German side drop to -12. Which means that Unterfeldwebel Kühn dies in mysterious circumstances...

In hindsight, my plan to have the Panzers advance across the bridge providing cover for infantry behind them was not the best option.

Using the foothold across the bridge to try and flank the paratroopers with the infantry while providing supporting fire with the Panzers from the causeway (forcing ambushers to fire at their front armour) would have perhaps worked better.