The Long Road North - Part 2

Saturday started with George manning the Post Office whilst I set up the terrain for game 2.  Business in the PO was quite brisk and I enjoyed having a chat with the locals.  At one point George loudly asked me to stop being so friendly with them as they'd only expect it in the future! :-D Later, Evelyn kindly took over from George so that we could set to.

Having held off the attack in game 1 the Germans were alerted and, in the absence of clear orders from OKW, they moved towards the nearby bridge in case the Paras sought to capture it and secure a route inland.  The local German commander had previously received orders to rig the bridge for demolition in case of attack.  So it would be a race... could the Paras de-activate the explosives in time or would Jerry blow them all to pieces?

George's win in game 1 meant that he would have the advantage of an extra MG42 entrenched within 12" of the objective.  The crew had been alerted and dragged from their beds to cover the bridge!

Game 2 - The Bridge at Warton-St-Claire
The bridge had four explosive charges on it, as denoted by the black skull markers.  The Paras needed to get on to the bridge, get in contact with each demolition charge and be issued a Down order (passing an order test) to disarm it. Simples huh? ;o)  At the end of the game any remaining explosives would be triggered and, on a D6 roll of 4+, would explode.  Two successful blasts are required to blow the bridge.  The scenario is inspired by the Bridgehead scenario in Duel in the Sun which I played with Orange Dave some time back during our Sicily/Italy campaign.

Here's the table, mostly George's beautiful countryside with a few of my buildings.

Both sides advance on the bridge

The view along the river

Here, the lead Para section makes a dash for the nearest pack of explosives.  If I can get the first dice out of the bag in turn 2 then it will be an early success for the Allies!  Take that, eh Jerry?!

Run lads!

The rest of the turn was pretty quiet as very few troops were visible and mostly we were manoeuvring for better advantage next turn.

Thankfully the first dice out of the bag was a much needed Allied dice!  Even though the section had no pins they still had to take a command test to defuse the explosives, which they passed in style. So that's one down and three to go.

Well done lads!

George told me that he would be bringing armour to the party, but in keeping with the scenario and background, I just brought a PIAT.

Uh oh! Jerry doesn't play fair and brings in some heavy support!

Uh oh! George rolls more great dice to zero his mortar in on the bridge. Ouch!

The turn concluded with both sides bringing as many troops forwards as possible towards the hotly contested bridge, as can be seen here.

The rush for the bridge

The view from George's side

Turn 3 and the Paras push forward on to the bridge as yet another mortar round lands on target.  But the next section is in contact with the second lot of explosives.  The Germans pour everything they have on to the bridge... both MMGs from the Panzer IV, an MMG from the 250 and the squad LMG plus a heap of rifles.  The Paras take some casualties but the stone bridge provides excellent cover.

Dakka dakka dakka!

Turn 4 and the Paras are looking thin on the ground!  But thankfully this is the turn when I can start rolling for my reserves.  The gradual arrival of more troops makes this a tough game for the Allies as they storm the objective.  George has brought one of his squads forward to contest the bridge but the Red Berets have defused another explosive.

That's another one defused, Sir!

Below, the lead Para stumbles through the smoke to be cut down by a veritable hail of bullets from the German CO and a squad.

More typical George dice rolling ... ;o)

The bridge is more or less clear of Paras at this point as most of my first wave were killed or wounded, but two lots of the explosives had been dealt with.

Germans almost hold the bridge

Now my reserves were about to get in on the action.

Wait ... here come more brave Paras!

Another section goes for the bridge, ably supported by their medic.

Troops mass for a second contest on the bridge

George decided to take the fight to the Paras... his CO bravely leads a section on to the bridge followed closely by the armoured beast.

George makes a grab for the bridge

The next pic actually covers quite a bit of action... George had a sudden rush of blood to the head and ordered his Grenadiers to push the Paras off the bridge at the point of a bayonet!!  The (turbo nutter) Paras were having none of this and tore the Germans to shreds.  I was astonished that George had ordered his regulars to attack ... and delighted with the result.  Also, my light mortar neatly dropped a round into the open topped 251 blowing it to smithereens.  However my brave PIAT team merely annoyed the Panzer commander...and I had intoned the appropiate "boing" as it shot! Humpf!

A lot has happened here!

Now... this is a moment that will live on in gaming infamy.  Gamers will gather, and in hushed tones, discuss this ghastly event... My Para medic had been doing a fine job of patching up my wounded and keeping them in the fight.  So George ordered his sniper to take him out... Bang! Headshot! My medic was dead before he hit the floor.  Oh those dastardly Hun!

What about the Geneva Convention eh Reg?

The closing turn of the game saw George park his tank on the bridge and with that bold move went any chance that the Paras could tackle the last two lots of explosives.

So... it was time to roll for the two remaining demolition charges.  George rolled a dice and it came up a 4 ... BANG!  He rolled the second... it spun... and came up a 5 ... BANG!  With a groan the ancient stones collapsed in to the water.  You can just see my Para CO at the bottom of the pic pointing at the ruined bridge in dismay.

BOOM!

Another fantastic game of Bolt Action with a superb opponent on a beautiful table.  After an exciting battle, it came down to the very last dice roll.  You cannot ask for more from a wargame.

Again, you can find more blatantly biased German propaganda here http://musingswargameslife.blogspot.com/2018/08/normandy-over-weekend.html :-D

With that done we tidied up a bit, prepared for the next game and then headed for the pub!