The other day we played the second two-player game of our Very British Civil War Mersey Corridor campaign using the Too Fat Lardies' Chain of Command (and with individualised leader personalities and unit management through Platoon Forward by Joseph Legan).
Two days following the successful patrol at Barton Moss Aerodrome, 1st Lieutenant Lachlan Heath of the Blackshorts Legion, was ordered to take 14 Platoon on another patrol to attempt to find enemy forward positions near the Bittern Pits Wood somewhat northwest of The Grange. 14 Platoon found more than just an enemy OP, instead encountering a full platoon-strength column of the Sheffield Workers Militia and paying dearly for it.
The Probe scenario
As Blackshorts commander, I had to get a team in good order to the enemy board edge. Because the battlefield was bisected longways by the Bridgewater Canal along the northern edge, I had a brilliant plan to distract and pin the bulk of the Sheffield Workers Militia formation in place with 1 Section under CPL Blain, and then have a team, or perhaps the whole or part of 2 Section swim across the canal and make an end-run for the objective board edge.
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| Battlefield before deployment, with Britten Pits Wood represented by the trees and 'long grass' at northeast, and Botany Bay Wood represented by the forest floor tiles and trees southwest. Bridgewater Canal runs along the northern edge. |
The plan simply did not survive contact with the enemy, and sadly the spectacular manoeuvre did not eventuate. 1 Section was broken and drive off, and CPL Blain wounded before I could get the flanking manoeuvre working (although the Boys AT rifle team did manage to swim the near-freezing canal). My rolls on the Bad Things Happen table went high and with quite poor starting Force Morale, 14 Platoon quit the mission.
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| 1 Section advancing (Peter Pig miniatures). |
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| Lone surviving Bren team member under overwhelming fire. |
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| Shock piles on 1 Section. |
Eight Blackshorts were made casualties (mostly from 1 Section, but a further two from 2 Section, which did engage in a brief firefight with the enemy). About the same number of Sheffield Militiamen were seen to fall. Among the casualties were three killed (Chandler and Southgate from 1 Section and Brewster from 2 Section), one badly wounded, two wounded enough to be sent to the R.A.P. and two slightly wounded. 1LT Heath's reputation among the men is beginning to suffer.
One highlight was the 2" light mortar scoring a good first-round hit on the enemy, taking down two of their number. Those guys aren't so useless after all.
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| 2" mortar round lands among the Sheffield Militiamen. |
Hindsight
A key mistake was getting 1 Section far too close to the enemy, and being pummelled by fire from about 35 rifles and submachine guns (my other big mistake was neglecting to use the rules about lines of sight between firing models even in the same team, which would have reduced enemy fire considerably, perhaps to a manageable half. Still - I should have kept my distance or strung the enemy main force along a bit to by the necessary time to make the end run.
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| 1 Section's NCO, Blain, is left alone, wounded, to hold the woods with a Tommy gun. |
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| The 'Mario Brothers': Sheffield Workers Militia HQ with their Senior Leader and a Medic (which is a simple conversion of the same figure to remove the pistol) (Peter Pig miniatures Home Guard Officer, paper terrain from Wargames Vault). |
Immediate follow-up battle
While this battle was a little disappointing, it has generated a new scenario that follows on immediately from it. This next battle will represent 14 Section attempting a fighting withdrawal from Bittern Pits Wood in front of advancing superior enemy forces, while also attempting to prevent the main Blackshorts defensive line in Botany Bay Wood to the south from being outflanked. The scenario will be quite unusual, with no Patrol phase, but with 14 Platoon having to consolidate its scattered units with the Sheffield Workers Militia hot on their heels. I'll be fighting this next one solo using Platoon Forward, with blinds of randomised composition for the enemy.
I'll see if Heath can save his men and get back in their good books.
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