Thursday, January 19, 2017

Bolt Action Envelopment Scenario

Steve & Mitch's Germans (FJ) v. Jim & Chris' Brits
Both sides had 1,000pts plus a tank (MkIV & a Cromwell).  We played on half the 10'x6' table so 5'x6'.  To compensate for the larger table we made the defender's zone up to the centreline rather than 12" back.  All pics taken from behind the Brits.
The Brits leave the Cromwell, 6pdr, PIAT & transports in reserve.  The Germans put all their troops in the first wave.
The 6pdr was towed down the road, & deployed facing the MkIV, but was destroyed before it could fire.  The Cromwell came on and it and the MkIV exchanged ineffective fire for the duration. 
The Germans suffered a big setback when the British barrage threw 5 for radius, caught several units in the 11" circle & threw a couple of 6's.  This delayed their advance on their left & probably lost them the game.  With the German left hurt and delayed by the artillery, the Brits were able to deal with the German attack on their left first then counterattack in the centre.
The Germans got no units over the centreline for 2 VPs & lost 5 units to 2, so a big win for the Brits. 

It's an unfortunate feature of BA that the artillery can have a big effect on a battle either way by pure luck rather than skill.  We also decided to adopt a couple of v2 house rules:
1. Revert to our V1 house rule for woods - that is using the FOW rule for woods as default.  (The v2 change to allowing seeing into woods but not through them was a step in the right direction, but did not go far enough).
2. When using dice to decide no. of hits of HE on a building, cap the hits as the number of men in the building. (Otherwise small units more vulnerable to HE in a building than out in the open, which doesn't feel right).

1 comment:

Service Ration Distribution (Hobby) said...

Looks like a fun day all round.