We had a cracking game of Battlegroup Overlord last night. A 500 point attack/defend game with US Airborne trying to take control of a commanding hill position from a bunch of Fallschirmjager. Was a real tough fight, that could have gone either way and went right down to the wire… In fact it was so exciting I forgot to take many pics!
The US attack started off with the first wave all advancing through the fields on the left flank. The US recce fly off down the road and ran into a nebelwerfer barrage and was promptly blown to smithereens… The US took a slow advance, and dropped a bit of arty on to a registered target point than they that did little as the Fallschirmjager were well dug in among the bocage hedgerows.
As the US advanced they managed to get their lone Forward observer into a good position and he started to bring down some half-decent strikes, though well positioned they did little (Cyril managed to roll four 1's twice for artillery attacks in this game… With only four dice, once is impressive, but twice takes a true master of the 1). The FO was then threatened by a Fallschirmjager scouting patrol who had crept forward along the bocage ditches. Thankfully they failed to get a shot in at the observer. The Germans also pushed a few more men forward on the US right flank that was unoccupied.
Then the second wave of US Airborne arrived and all advanced onto the US right flank. They were able to advance towards the farmhouse and as they did so a German timed barrage crashed onto it, thankfully coming down before the US troops had occupied it. This luck was to be short lived. The US commander now occupied the ruined chateau with an MMG team in support and now had a commanding view of the battlefield. All looked ripe for a US victory.
As always things never go to plan. First another German timed barrage came in, this time pre-planned to hit the chateau, which it did with devastating effect, killing the US commander and his men, the MMG team and killing on of the bazooka team who were near the chateau stalking a StuG III. To add insult to injury, the Fallschirmjager scouts got closer to the FO, and using their FG42s to best effect cut-down the two-man OP team in a burst of fire. With no observers left for their artillery, it looked dicey for the US.
But all was not lost. The second wave of US troops pushed forward and laid down fire on the Germans opposing them, killing and despatching several. The US MMGs on this flank then opened up down the road and saw off the German scouts. Then the lone bazooka operator stepped out behind the StuG, and put a round right up its ass! That StuG didnt move again… The Germans now fell back from these forward positions, back to a second defence line in front of the hill as more German reinforcements arrived and began to occupy the hill defences.
Once more the US seemed to be on the offensive and with the RTP still allowing the arty to fire unobserved, they managed to gain a foothold in the fields opposite the main German line on the left, and the right flank raced forward unopposed to secure the first objective. The germans now on the back foot began to withdraw again, heading for the hedges around the flanks of the hill while the newly arrived troops waited in the trenches on the hill. But then the unbelievable happened… Out of the sky a lone FW190 zoomed in. Once more the US Airborne seemed to be having a bad day. The FW190 swooped in and promptly dropped his bombs on some of his own men, and a few US too! He then spent time strafing the US troops as they tried to edge their way forward under cover, while other US units chucked all the lead they could up into the sky.
Once more, things were set to change… A series of '6's from Cyril (yes… we nearly fainted too) saw the FW190 first hit, then hit again, and then hit and shotdown! The rookie Luftwaffe pilot must have been flying way too low and his plane came down trailing smoke. Now the US pushed on both flanks, and now able to see the hill began to mortar it in earnest while bringing guns to bear on any target they could see. With German losses mountig the US held off attacking the hill and consilidated their position, taking a second objective and then dealing with a few German units who had been bypassed, including one particuarly tenacious HMG team. Despite bags of fire this team just refused to be pinned down. With several US units having exposed themselves to get into a firing position, the HMG looked sure to wreak havoc when it opened fire. But all was not lost… That lone bazooka man appeared, and throwing himself forward, singlehandedly opened up on the German HMG… and pinned it down! Unable to fire it was then eliminated by a US airborne squad that flanked it while it was pinned down. Truly one man certainly helped the US to victory! With the Germans pinned down on the hill by mortar fire the defenders could do little in reply.
With that HMG crew dead, the Germans lost another two units in quick succession and as they US advanced, they shot down a fleeing Fallschimjager MG42 crew and in doing so tipped the Germans over their battle rating. The German defenders, having lost many brave troops, abandoned the hill… Victory went to the US Airborne, but it was a close affair!
's first experience with 1:4800 scale naval models.
unchewed out – for now!