US
US Right wing manage to enter the table and get their single Infantry company to move once up the table, Left wing fail and their tank company and infantry company dont want to
play, the CO manages to get his tanks onto the table on the road but there was insufficient room to get his lorried infantry company on.
German
Because of the extreme range the only thing the German CO could do was get a single shot off with his mortars at the lead tank, all rounds missed of course.
Comment : as this is an 8 turn scenario, Billy Yank had better get the lead out of his pants.
Turn 2
US
US Right wing manages a double move up the table but the village is still in the distance for the GIs, the left wing manages to find their "bottle" and make a single move onto
the table, but the CO manages some fantastic dice rolling and his command manages to get up the table and through the exit of the bocage/wall barrier and the lead tank in close
range of the village defenders. Unluckily as these guys havent fired yet and are hidden behind a wall they couldnt fire on them.
German
The HQ commanding the StuGs, manages to get them to move them up to the wall, then propmtly, rolls a double one, no prizes for guessing what they were used for, FIRE!!, FIRE!!,
end result, 2 dead Shermans. The CO can see a nice juicy soft target about to exit the road and calls in his mortars again, but alas only 1 hit and no suppression.
Turn 3
US
The US Right wing failed to do anything, the FAO with them was having a bad day as he had the village in sight but he couldnt get the damn radio to work. The US Left did manage
to get his tanks and infantry to move up the table. In the centre the CO was having kittens about his vunerable infantry still in their trucks so they were tucked away in the
shelter of the woods and dismounted. The single Sherman tried to exact revenge for his buddies but the gunner was nervous and all shots smacked straight into the wall protecting
the StuGs.
German
Everyone named Hans, Shmitt, and Fritz must have decided just to keep their heads down as both the HQ and the CO failed their rolls.
US
Both flanks failed to activate and the FAO was still having trouble with his radio, the CO however managed to withdraw his remaining Sherman outside the StuGs range and get his
infantry forward to the edge of the woods.
German
The HQ activated the StuGs plus the infantry facing the woods and poured a storm of fire into the GIs milling about there destroying a single platoon, the CO called in his
mortars onto a platoon he could see on a hilltop, dishing out 2 hits and suppressing them.
US
Finally the FAO gets his radio to work and the mighty Priests open up but fail to inflict any hits on the target. The right wing HQ gets his GIs moving but because of
suppression theyre becoming a little strung out. The left wing HQ gets his tanks moving and his infantrys as well. In the centre the CO decides to pull his infantry back into
the woods to prevent a bloodbath, he needs more there before trying an assault.
German
While theyre still outnumbered and outgunned, things have been going well so far, so as he has no targets apart from dropping some mortar rounds (and missing with all of them)
the CO decides to just sit tight and wait it out.
Turn 6
US
The right flank HQ rolls well and gets his GIs up to the edge of the woods but fails to get them shooting, the FAO manages to actually hit something this turn but only does 1
hit, the left flank HQ fumbles his dice yet again. The CO in frustration has his lonely Sherman start firing HE at the troops in the church with no effect.
German
The HQ once again yells FIRE!! to his troops who once again obliterate a single platoon and decide that thats enough for just now. The CO call in mortar fire yet again and does
3 hits and suppresses a single platoon.
Comment
With only 2 turns remaining the US team will need to do something spectacular sometime very soon.
US
Both HQs are showing signs of fatigue now, their rolls were nothing short of abysmal. The FAO managed to call in the arty again, this time slap on top of the German CO, but only
inflicted 3 hits and no suppression, so effectivly no effect. The CO, by this time I imagine frothing at the mouth with frustration, issued multiple orders to his remaining
Sherman to get the Krauts in the church, 6 salvoes later and only 2 hits with no suppression.
German
Again the HQ only got 1 order off, but it did put 5 hits on one platoon and suppressed it. The CO once again used his mortars to good effect, inflicting 2 hits and suppression
to an infantry platoon.
US
The high point of the game for the US was they managed to assault the MG unit and destroy it and managed to get a single platoon over the wall and into the village outskirts,
the bad point of this was it exposed this platoon to a hail of fire from all the infantry packed into the buildings, yep you guessed died to a man. On the other flank the
Shermans finally got into firing position and laid into the MG unit on that flank, couple of hits on the MG but nothing serious. The arty wandered off and managed another couple
of hits on the MG. The CO once again had that Sherman pound the church to little effect.
German
as mentioned above, pretty much all the German response to the US activity was using initiative fire to blow away the impudednt platoon that crossed the wall.
Once again BKC provides a quite satisfying game, given that the German "player" was outnumbered, out-tanked, and outgunned, under most rulesets, it would have been a walkover
for the US player. If not for the simple and elegant command system, that consistently buggered-up the US plans to split up the StuGs and go for a gunfight then it still might
have been. But thats the joy of BKC, even playing solo, I could play that one again and it would be different next time, the Arty might drop every turn and do some damage, the
Tanks might actually arrive before the last turn, etc, etc.
The result if anyone is interested was a minor victory to the Germans, they inflicted 25% casualties to the US player for the loss of a single MG unit.
