Craig H and Colin came over to my place, to play the Sweep and Clear scenario, using the excellent 15mm Flytrap Miniatures, and on terrain from Gamecraft Miniatures .
This was the first time playing 15mm for Colin and Craig, and it went pretty well. Colin took charge of the Grey Pashmina and his forces, while Craig and I took a squad of Panzergrenadiers each, as well as their Fuchs armoured vehicles.
Looking down the German lines of advance, the table looked like this:
The Taliban were in defensive positions, waiting for the German arrival.
My Germans took the left hand flank, while Craig's squad advanced up the right hand flank.
My Fuchs rolled on, and quickly the infantry dismounted into cover:
Once my Germans dismounted, they immediately came under small arms fire from the rooftops
Luckily, the grenadier returned fire with his AG36, dropping a 40mm directly on the firing point!
Scratch one Taliban, first blood to the Germans!
Meanwhile, Craig was taking his Fuchs on a merry ride through the village
He dismounted his grenadiers, and began to search the mosque for the Grey Pashmina.
This was about the point where our advance all went wrong.
The Taliban began to swarm out of their hidey holes
And as Craig's Fuchs rounded the corner, it immediately got an RPG round straight through the front, completely destroying the vehicle!
The destruction of the Fuchs immediately pinned Craig's advance (it didn't help him that his morale rolls completely deserted him)
Seizing the advantage, the Taliban surged forward, trying to push the Germans back and catch them in a crossfire along both flanks
My squad was bogged down too, pinned in place by PKM fire. The Fuchs drove up to act as a blocker between the PKM and the Germans. Unfortunately, the plan went awry when the PKM put holes in the front of my Fuchs, destroying it!
The Taliban then started to swarm out of other bolt holes, effectively pinning both German squads in place. My forces took to the poppy fields for cover, engaging the Taliban.
Craig's MG gunner sought the high ground, trying to hunt the Taliban on the rooftops. Craig's dice had deserted him by this point, requiring THREE turns to hit the Taliban on a 90%. At that point, you know you are not having a good day with dice...
My attempt at getting to the high ground resulted in my Obergefreiter killing one Taliban, and getting shot and killed in return.
And at the end of the second combat turn, it was a clear Taliban victory, and time to call it a day.
The net result? The Germans lost two Fuchs and three soldiers killed. The Taliban lost 10 of their fighters, but crucially the Grey Pashmina escaped. Colin played the game well, as we have come to expect from him!
And as for the Germans, we really paid the price for not bringing in the Show of Force. Remember kids, if you have an asset to use in the game, never save it for a rainy day. We needed to use the show of force early, so that the Taliban heads were down, and were unable to snap fire on our advance. That way we would have gotten further up the table, before getting caught in the fire from the Taliban. It might have even kept our two Fuchs alive!
So all up, an interesting and challenging game. Now I know we are months behind with playing our free scenarios, so we are already planning the next game.
Oh and I had better get writing the next free scenario!
Chris
