Oh and hay, I usually don't say this any more but I kinda like some of these pics, so "right click, view image" to see it full-size.
For extra flavor, the objective models we used were in fact the guns from an 88mm AA battery, pointed skyward. They were not to fire in the game, but, "Secure the town and silence the guns," sounded to us like a very Paratrooper thing to do.
Ariel reconnaissance provided the following photographs before the battle:
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Local resistance fighters also supplied useful, ground-level views of the town (executed here with buildings from The Miniature Building Authority.)
Just before the opening rounds were fired, my Pathfinder was inserted at the proper position, referred to by the troops as "Corner 4." This man knows his job, too, as 100% of my force, and about half the enemy reserves, entered play via this corner. It got crowded.
As planes flew over head and angels fell from the sky, the Hun was quick to rally his troops and move them into position (they'd been fooled my counter-intelligence, and the removal of one objective.).
The first few turns went fast and furious, with all the action centered around Corner 4, with a battery of quad 2cm rolling in on Turn 1 and a Panzergrenadier platoon showing up in the same place on turn 3. This is what it all looked at by the end of my turn 4:
Leaving the guns to fend mostly for themselves, 2nd and 3rd platoons started moving into position, with 3rd making a flank move around the farm and 2nd moving past the bogs towards the objective.
2nd Platoon encountered light resistance:
But were soon in position to threaten the nearer of the two guns:
A few tanks threatened a counter attack, but were destroyed by combined artillery and close assault, forcing a failed moral check by the rest, who left the field. And with that, I had technically won the scenario.
But we didn't feel finished, we both still had a bunch of crap on the table, and hay, it was only 1:30 am, right? The solution was obvious: just keep playing, and fight over new objectives that made sense. There were a few loose teams that could have annoyed me on the way to the other 88mm, but they were clearly not going to stop me. So the Germans abandoned the town, and right then and there we started a second game: could Dildonic get out of the town? More importantly, could he blow the bridges before the Allies could get across? This was a very achievable goal, as I had the whole town and most of his force between my men and the river bridges.
And thus, the race was on. I made liberal use of Truscot Trot as my boys hauled ass around and through the town to get into position to stop Dildonic's demolitions attempt.
As 1st Platoon ran around the church they were intercepted by a platoon of Puma scout cars, of whom short work was made.
Aircraft (Skytrains subbing in for P-47s) made a constant, if irrelevant, showing in the fight.
In the end, it all came down to his attempts to blow the bridge -- the one bridge blown would, in our minds, win the game for him. After all, what goods a town if you can't advance an armored column through it? For this part of the game, we adapted the rules for blowing bridges from the Firestorm: Bagration campaign rules. Basically, you need a guy to pass a skill check at each corner of the bridge, then back up an make one more to blow the thing. One team failed the first check, leaving him hanging there for that one more turn I needed to sneak something up there.
The combat action ceased with my scout's acceptance of the German surrender on Turn 10.
And hay, it was only 5:30 am!
