It’s the beginning of March 1943 and the Axis forces in Tunisia are perilously close to being
surrounded, the US
expanding the Torch landings to the west and the Eighth Army advancing along
the coast in the east.
The scene is set as the 90th Light Africa Division conduct a
series of raids to try and disrupt British supply and capture vital
intelligence that may shed some light onto their inexplicable ability to
pre-empt Axis plans.
This AAR pits my small DAK
infantry platoon against an equally small British platoon. The mission was
demolition, both sides need to destroy an objective in either deployment zone.
This time I was up against Ian as the Allied player as Andy apparently had the
Plague (although he did turn up later to heckle!).
Me
Veteran Leutnant (Kubelwagen with MMG)
6 x Veteran Rifles with LMG
6 x Veteran Rifles with LMG
8 x Veteran Pioneers with 6 SMG’s & 2 rifles (Truck)
10 x Regular Rifles with LMG
Anti tank Rifle
Ian
1st Lieutentant with 2x regulars (SMG’s)
Free Artillery Spotter
10 x Regular Rifles (SMG and LMG)
10 x Regular Rifles (SMG and LMG)
MMG
Medium Mortar with Spotter
PIAT team
Deployment
We both placed our objectives behind hills in our deployment
zone. A road bisected the board diagonally with a T junction half way along
that then created a triangle on my half of the board. This road would become
the linchpin to the entire game (wait and see!)
Ian deployed half his force with his mortar near his
objective, behind a hill, spotter on the hill with his artillery observer, MMG
to the right of the hill covering my right flank and a rifle section on my left
behind the woods waiting to advance.
I then placed my two small veteran sections (my fire
teams!), one in the centre behind my hill and one on my right, my AT rifle team
also in the centre and my large regular rifle section on the left of my
objective in a hay field. These would form my base of fire against the rifle
section that I expected down my left flank. Everything else would be in reserve
for both of us.
Turn 1
Ian advanced his infantry on my left up to the woods, fired
on my regular squad in the hay field with his mortar, causing a pin and killing
3. He also placed his artillery marker on the same unit, so I really needed to
move them next turn as both his mortar and artillery would be ranging in.
Meanwhile I moved my centre squad to my right towards the small wood and my
other team on my right over the hill towards the hay field, hopefully to get
them into cover to provide some enfilading fire. My AT rifle decided to have a
pot shot at the mortar spotter as they moved towards the cover of the trees on
the right but missed brilliantly, possibly obliterating a pigeon in the
process. Ian then shot back with his MMG, no casualties but they now had a pin.
 |
| Unit on the right move up |
 |
| Regulars on the left take a pasting |
 |
| Unit in the centre redeploy to get into the woods |
Ian’s artillery barrage turned up however failed to cause
any damage other than another pin on the already pinned unit on my left. Then
to add insult to injury he got the first dice, his mortar fired and hit causing
another pin on the same unit. Looks like they’re stuck in the field then as
they now have three pins and subsequently failed their order test and therefore
hit the dirt. Not much to oppose Ian’s advance on the left now as his Tommies
moved through the small wood and fired at the pinned unit causing another pin
(that’s 4 now and them effectively out of the game as on Morale 9 they now need
a 5 to pass an order).
So what did I do? Moved my infantry on the right into the
hay field and fired on the MMG, missing completely. The other squad moved into
the trees adjacent whilst the AT rifle failed his orders test and hit the dirt
in the open!
Ian then brought his HQ, Humber and remaining infantry on,
both Humber and infantry coming on the board
on the far right and opening up on the squad in the hay field, killing 2 and
causing two pins. His HQ meanwhile guarding the objective with the mortar team
and his artillery observer advanced bravely (foolishly) down the centre to
threaten my objective. I meanwhile failed to bring any reserves on.
 |
| Advance through the woods to get into firing position |
 |
| The Humber and PIAT deal some pain out! |
Turn 3
Bad to worse, Ian fires on my pinned unit on the right with
his tommies, killing 2 more leaving the brave NCO to load the LMG gunner. His
Tommies on the left fire on the pinned unit but fail spectacularly, ooh things
are looking up I think, but no, I fail to pass an order and they hit the dirt
again.
However my AT rifle passes his order and moves into cover in
the woods, firing on the Humber which promptly
recce’s away, I hit but can’t manage to roll the 6 damage. Meanwhile my other
intact infantry team move up to the edge of the woods, getting into position to
fire on the MMG next turn.
Once more the artillery observer demonstrated his bravery by
sprinting up and over the hill to within spitting distance of my objective. The
end of turn three looks bad.
Turn 4
I manage to get some dice early and bring on my HQ in his
Kubelwagen who, assessing the situation rushes into action and guns down the
impertinent British Artillery Officer threatening to capture the top secret
plans stashed in the damaged truck! (my objective) On the left flank not much
happens as the mortar misses, the Tommies miss and my pinned infantry hug the
dirt and think of home. However my squad in the woods open fire on the MMG and
with some rather nice marksmanship destroy the weapon itself. Things are
looking up!
Oh no they’re not as the Humber
and infantry gun down the NCO loading the LMG. However the lone LMG gunner
passes his morale check and soldiers on. My AT rifle misses again. Arghhh
So the last two dice are mine and my devious and most clever
plan alluded to at the start of this report comes into play, I pass the reserve
roll for my truck and my Veteran Pioneers zoom onto the board, 40” up the road
(vehicles get double move on roads!) to position them in a threatening position
for Ian’s objective that lately was defended by his MMG!
So it all hinges on the next two turns.
 |
| The Humber devastates my poor rifle section |
 |
| Pinned to oblivion and yet the Tommies hold back! |
Turn 5
Woohoo, I get the first dice and promptly manoeuvre my truck
off road to within striking distance of the objective. Can I get the next dice
or will Ian gun down the truck with all his available fire thereby pinning my
passengers and dooming me to defeat.
 |
| Pioneers arrive. Yayyyyy |
Blam, I get the next dice and dismount my Veterans and move
into contact with the objective. If they can end the turn in contact and Ian
doesn’t manage to get into contact with my objective then I win. Seeing as
Ian’s nearest infantry are at least 3 run moves away it’s all on this turn now
and accordingly Ian piles both his HQ and Mortar crew into assault. However
German Veteran Pioneers bristling with SMG’s are tough little devils and
although taking 2 casualties they wipe out both units in assault. Ian tries to
get his Humber into range but can’t quite make
the shot.
 |
| The end is nigh! |
Game to me!
Review
That’s my first win with my DAK and was primarily down to
using dismounted troops to tie up the enemy whilst controlling the approach
route to the objective. Ian’s main forces were on either flank but didn’t make
much headway towards the objective whilst, although taking heavy casualties I
managed to extend my area of control closer and closer to my objective. Now if
I hadn’t gotten the first dice in turn 5 things may have gone a little wrong
however as I reduced the amount of dice that Ian had in the bag the odds were
more favourable that I’d get that all important first die.
All in all a good game, I shall persevere with transports,
however I think I’ll add in some solid footslogging bases of fire and see how
well I can time the delivery of my mounted troops.
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