Mark and I returned to Operation Dauntless after our Operation Mercury scenario, with the first wholly historical scenario of the set. It’s the next day (from scenario 1), and the Germans are more than willing to contest the Parc de Boislonde, which forms the focus of the scenario. We took our usual roles with Mark taking the Germans, while I took the Brits.
The set up is complicated, with three different German forces with different setup areas, plus another two groups that inactive, and can only be activated by spending ‘reinforcement points’ on them (instead of the normal rules where they’ll go active if someone gets too close to them). Worse, one company can’t go more than a little ways west, which Mark kept tripping over (I assume they’re actually part of a battalion mostly assigned to the east of the map, but all we can see here is that they’re part of the 12th SS like everyone else).
The British have an easier time of it, and the game starts with a bombardment exactly like the previous day’s, reducing line of sight, slowing both side’s movement, and British artillery is already committed. The Germans can win by eliminating three British infantry companies; otherwise the Germans need at least 10 more VP than the Brits, with casualties counting for their normal amount, and the Germans getting 1 VP for each of three hexes (the Parc, and Point 102) each turn they hold them. Obviously the British need to take these, the earlier the better, and not take too many casualties in the process for five turns.
This called for another rush to assault and dig out the German positions before the barrage lifted, and I found myself locked out from advancing like last time. Unfortunately, I found it very difficult to get where I was going, and spent quite a bit of time rejecting all possible plans because I just couldn’t get where I needed to be (a slightly better setup would have helped; notably using the non-Firefly-enhanced Shermans in front with their slightly better speed; but…).
So I had just one assault against 1207, with AAA tactical advantage letting me take out a 251/10 platoon, and a 0/4 result at 3:1 odds forcing him to lose a MG section while the remaining platoon retreated out. I set up for an attack on 1308 by sending the carrier platoon to get a concentric attack. I think we’d temporarily thought the carriers were immune to friction fire, as there wasn’t any to stop them. My one combat focused on 1308, with some of the on-board mortars in support, and the units in 1309 providing defensive support. None of it had an effect, and the combat ended up on the 5:1 column (actually at 6:1 after all shifts) for a 0/3, with Mark losing a mortar section (too slow), and a platoon to retreating through my ZOC.
Note that British units cannot move below row xx08, and German units cannot move above row xx06.
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