Battlegroup Overlord AAR

This is a report of a game Dan A., Phil D. and I played on November 3.   A 500 point match-up between a British Armored force and a German Panzer Division force.

(I apologize in advance for some blurry photos and the funkiness of blogger).

Dan brought his beautifully painted British models and I provided the Germans.  1/72 (20mm) models from various manufacturers.

Here's a sample of Dan's work:





The scenario was Recce Screen from the BGO book.  We used a 6 x 4 space.

The Germans fielded:

Senior Officer in Pz IVH
Panther Platoon (actually, 2 Panthers and a Pz IVH)
Panzer Grenadier Platoon, veterans, on foot
Panzerschreck Team
HMG Team
Sdkfz 234/2 Puma

The British force consisted of:

Senior Officer (in a Daimler Dingo?  Can't keep all those Brit armored vehicles straight!)
Infantry Platoon
Piat Team
Mortar Team
Vickers HMG Team
Sniper Team
Tank Troop (2 Cromwells and a Firefly)
Achilles
Supply Vehicle (Lloyd Carrier)

Here's a map of the battlefield shortly after the start of the game, with only the recon forces on the table.

And photos of the layout:

Germans entering the battle from their table edge:

Both sides rushed armor to the scene of the action and a tank duel developed in the center:

A Cromwell and the Achilles outflanked the Panther, side shots hitting, but only managing to pin (that Panther's crew would eventually abandon the tank when I rolled a 1 on a morale test):  

But the two British tanks are in turn  knocked out by the German Commander and another Panther trailing the lead German tank: 

A Pz IVH takes advantage of the confusion in the center by swinging onto the German left flank, bringing a Cromwell covering the British right under fire and knocking it out.  

This map shows the movements:

That German tank then flanked the Firefly in the center, the only British tank left, and unleashed a salvo into its side armor.  Two Misses!  (rolled snake eyes).   The Firefly made the most of its luck and avenged the Cromwell,  knocking out the Pz IVH in its turn:

This left only the Firefly and a Panther operational. The remaining Panther moved around the German right, trying to bring the Fireflly under fire.   But the German crew didn't count on a PIAT Team lurking in the woods.   One shot into the Panther's flank, one kill!

 Meanwhile, an infantry fight had been raging in the wooded hill in the center of the table to see who could control the central objective:

British mortar providing fire support:

This infantry fight turned into a real meat grinder with engagement ranges of 6" or less.   The British employed fire and maneuver tactics, with the Bren teams using area fire to try to pin the enemy after which the Rifle Team would Close Combat.  Using these methods the British eliminated one German MG34 team.   

The Germans opted for brute force, using direct fire instead and trusting to pass the observation rolls for obscured infantry.   The Germans luck held out and the British took heavy casualties.  One German Rifle Team (with an MG34) singlehandedly eliminated 3 British infantry units and passed two Beyond the Call of Duty tests in a row.   Iron Crosses for them!

I should also mention that luck also favored the Germans in the BR counter department. I pulled no fewer than 4 event counters meaning that four of the pulls not only did bad things to the British, but didn't deplete the German BR. 

Ultimately the losses were just too great for the British and they reached their BR first, giving the Germans a victory.

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