Counter-Counter Attack at Mortain Part III

To this point the Americans have been on a roll and the green German troops have been steadily falling back. The third battle in the campaign is an attack and defend scenario in the town of Bousentier. 

The Americans take a mortar barrage and an M4 Sherman for their support while the Germans take a Panther, a 5cm Mortar, and a Minefield. 

This is the board looking from the American side.

The GI's push scouts forward toward a German JOP.

A German section deploys...

 

And the surviving scout scurries back to cover

Another scout team looks to advance on the left

The Yanks deploy a section 

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And push up into the town...the Americans advance their JOP on a CoC die

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The Americans call in the mortar barrage, unfortunately it has little impact on the German defense..

 

And the Germans counter by bring on their Panther

A firefight opens up in the wood

The American bazooka team tries unsuccessfully to drive off the German Armor

 

The Germans commit their last reserves and begin to win the firefight in the woods

The Yank armor comes on board to try and save the day...

but is quickly dispatched by the superior German tank.

The Americans are now flanked and in a very bad position and Cpl Jackson is killed in Action

Lt. Morning decides that discretion is the better part of valor and the Americans withdraw from the field. 

The Americans lost 4 KIA, and 2 WIA as well as Cpl Jackson and the Sherman, and the Germans lost 2 KIA and 1 WIA. A very bad day for the Americans!

Counter-Counter Attack at Mortain Part II: A CoC/AtSE AAR

The second battle in Lt. Morning's campaign is the "probe" scenario from the CoC rule book. To win the American forces need only get a team to within 12" of the German board edge. The American forces took few casualties in the first battle, while the Germans are a bit shot up. 

The Americans start with a force morale of 10 and the green Germans have an 8. 

The Americans take a M4 Sherman in support and the Germans take a Hetzer and a 50mm mortar team. 

The Campaign map.

Map for the "probe" scenario

This is the board looking from the German side. The Germans did very poorly in the patrol phase and all of their JOP's are on the board edge.

This is looking from the American side and the Yanks are off to a great start.

Sgt. O'Malley pushes up with a scout team, trying to get a quick win. 

The Germans deploy a squad to counter. The Americans need only get to the corner of the house with the two windows for a win.

The Germans roll two phases in a row and bring the Hetzer onto the board.

The German armor tries to catch an American squad sneaking around the houses looking to take the Germans in the flank.

The Germans make the house and yard putting the machine gun team (on the second floor of the house in the top right) on overwatch.

The GIs hunker down out of sight of the deadly MG42.

The Americans bring on the Sherman

The Hetzer moves to counter the American armor, while the German panzerschreck sneaks around to get a flank shot on the Sherman.

Shots are traded to no effect on either side. 

A GI bazooka team attempts to take out the Hetzer, but consistantly misses until they exhaust their ammo.

The American squad finally manages to take out the first German squad with a few well placed grenades and a short but fierce close combat that wipes the first German squad out to a man. The Germans try to counter attack...

...but it goes badly, the Germans lose most of another squad and a JOP, things are looking grim.

The Sherman tries to maneuver around to a better firing position, but the Hetzer counters.

The German 'schreck is now in position...

Scratch one Sherman!

Good shot Fritz!

But it is too little too late and the Americans advance to a winning position.

The board at game end.

The Germans really got shot up badly in this one, They lost 7 KIA and 4 WIA while the Americans did not have a single serious injury (except the Sherman). Lt. Morning's approval with his CO and Men both improve by 2! 

The Sherman is Armourfast/ HaT and the Hetzer is from Best Paper Models. The houses are paper from Battlelands 15 "Normandy:1944 Collection"

Will the Germans stiffen their defense or will the Yanks roll to victory again? Stay tuned for the next battle!

Counter-Counter Attack at Mortain: A Chain of Command/ At the Sharp End solo campaign AAR

This is the first in a series of AAR's using Too Fat Lardies Chain of Command rules with their excellent campaign add-on "At the Sharp End." I chose the American counter attack after the battle of Mortain for the campaign setting. Using a period map I found on the inter-webs I set up the "half-ladder."

I am using a regular US Platoon to led by Lt. Isiah Morning.

I will be facing a green German platoon. I chose to use green troops mostly because I wanted the Germans to get lots of neat support not because of any historical precedent. 

The first battle in the campaign is a patrol scenario just outside Barenton, France. 

The scenario map from the overall campaign map.

The Americans roll 9 for morale and the Germans are at 7. American support is a 3 and the choose a 60mm mortar. The German support is a 9 so they choose a sniper and a Pz III. 

The table after the initial American phase. Cpl Lance Henderson deploys at the crossroads and the 60 mm mortar sets up in the woods (I know, unpainted mini's on the board!)

Cpl Henderson sends a scout team ahead towards the German Jump off Point (JOP)

The Germans deploy a squad and promptly break the scout section and inflict enormous losses on Henderson's squad eventually breaking them and then they use a Chain of Command (CoC) die to remove the squad. The American morale drops by 2. 

Cpl Billy Ford's squad move toward the bocage, hoping to take the German flank.

The German sniper deploys

Cpl Ford's squad finds another German squad and a fierce firefight erupts!

The Germans bring out the heavy metal...

A Yank bazooka wounds the panzer leader and the tank is effectively neutralized.

With a little help from Cpl Jackson's squad, Cpl Ford forces the German squad to retreat and captures the German JOP ending the game with an American victory. 

The Americans ended up taking 5 casualties 2 KIA, 2 wounded, and 1 returning for the next battle. The Germans took 9 casualties 4 KIA, 3 wounded, and 2 returning for the next battle. Lt. Morning's Co's opinion rose to 1 and the men's opinion of him jumped to 2. 

The badly painted figures are a mix of Plastic Soldier Co., Italeri, Caesar, Esci, and the mortar is Fantassin. The Tank is a paper model from bestpapermodels.com Most of the terrain is scratch built with a few store bought trees and the Dave Graffam crop tiles.

Part II to follow...