Read on for more!
ITALIAN BERSAGLIERI
HQ
2x Full Strength Bersaglieri Companies
(sans SOlothurns, but with Passaglia bombs)
5x M14/41s
Full Semovente 75 Platone
75mm Cannon Battery
2x Lancia 90mm Heavy AA Trucks
BRITISH HEAVY ARMOUR
HQ (2x Grant I)
3 Troops of 3 Grant I each
2 Crusader Troops of
2x Crusader III and 1 Crusader II ea
Scout Troop w/ .50 cals
Full Motor Infantry Platoon
Sporadic Hurricane IID
Sean rolled as the attacker.
Brushing up on my tactics to lead the glorious armies of Rome to victory.
THE SETUP: Sean started with a platoon of Grants, Crusaders, and his Scouts on the board. I started with my cannons (confident veteran), my Lancias (Confident Veteran), and my Bersaglieri (Confident Trained).
My objectives are in the bottom center, and on the right by the buildings. His are in the top center and the top right, both near the ridges.
Romulus deploys with a long view down the road on an objective.
The cannons cover the central objective.
An elefentino watches the horizon.
The Italian line.
Grants and the CiC cover the British left objective.
Crusaders and the 2iC cover the central objective.
The scouts make an aggressive recon move.
The Italians don't do much besides dig in and wait.
The Cannons prepare for the onslaught.
The Grants skirt the table edge, avoiding the Lancias.
Crusaders and scouts push forward.
2 Hurricane IIDs come screaming in over the battlefield, cannons blazing!
The scouts continue racing forward, now deep into Italian territory.
The Lancias shoot down both Hurricanes with ease.
British tanks nose their way into range of the Italian Cannons.
The Scouts make a wide flanking move and approach the Italian board edge.
The British 2iC opens fire on the cannons, and knocks one out!
The cannons fire on the Crusader troop, knocking out 1 Crusader III.
And immediately follow up by knocking out the 2iC.
The Italian flank
Three Hurricane IIDs swoop in! The Lancias can't shoot them all down!
Another cannon is knocked out by long range fire from a Grant Troop fresh from reserve!
COlumn, Advance!
Despite 2 Hurricanes being shot down, the last one presses home the attack and knocks out a Lancia!
The board.
The Germans send their Dachshund division, but she has no will to fight today.
6 Grants bear down on the weak Italian flank.
And a 3rd cannon is knocked out!
The battery is down to just one gun, but they valiantly man the gun in the face of heavy fire!
Finally Italian reserves arrive! The Semovente (Confident Trained) come racing on, but their shots are wild and they
only bail one Grant.
On the other flank Bersaglieri (Confident Trained) pour in from reserve and are immediately hounded by a single Hurricane.
Grants and scouts surround the Semoventes. .50 bullets pepper the Italian armor as 75mm and 37mm shells explode everywhere!
The Bersaglieri weather the storm fairly well, taking only moderate casualties.
One Semovente is knocked out, and one is bailed.
When suddenly the M14s come racing on!
The lone cannon bravely faces the Grants. They exchange shots for several turns!
The Bersaglieri advance!
The other Bersaglieri move out to contest the central objective in the face of overwhelming firepower being
concentrated on the cannons.
The Grants are knocked out!
British reserves arrive and prepare to dig in on the objective.
The ridge separates the advancing Bersaglieri and the freshly arrived Motor Infantry.
The left flank is a furball!
The British CiC peeks out and MGs an elefentino gun.
Crusaders and Grants finish off the Semovente.
The brave Italian artillery crew continue exchanging shots with the Grants!
The light elefentino guns get lucky and pop the British C/O!
Finally the last cannon is gunned down. Inspired by the crew's bravery, the platoon leader and staff team stick
around, vowing to hold the objective till the last.
Things are looking grim for the M14s!
The british pick apart the M14s. The remaining tanks promptly fail morale and flee.
In the same instant, 2 Hurricanes swoop in and destroy the last Lancia!
The Italians are now down the Semovente, the M14s, and the Lancias. The cannon platone is mission killed, but 2 teams hang in there. One more platoon and it's company break check time for the Italians! The British are down a platoon of Grants and the Scouts, but have no C/O.
The Italians move up and set up their gun teams to cover the British. The British elect to dig in.
Grants advance on the objective, but are peppered by fire from 2 elefentinos, bailing all 3 tanks!
HMG, elefentino, and rifle fire pin down the British defenders!
British tanks are on top of the objective!
The Bersaglieri move out, preparing to assault the lone British tank!
The Italians move up and prepare to assault! It's all or nothing for the Italians now!
Concentrated fire from the Elefentinos knock out the Grant platoon!
AVANTI!! The British score 4 hits in defensive fire, not enough to stop the legion!
The British miss EVERY SINGLE skill check in the counter attack (6), and the Italians punish them for it. At the end
of the assault the Italians are left well above half strength, but the British are down to 2 stands.
With 2 platoons of Grants, and the Scouts dead, losing this Motor platoon will put the company below half strength, with no C/O!
And with that the British break! 4-3 for the Italians.
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
WOW! Another really really close game. My Italians were hammered! I had some pretty crappy "8 Million Bayonets" rolls, but that's no excuse. I have to give it to Sean, he displayed the superior tactics. He loaded up on my weak flank, and was rolling me up. I spent the game trying to stop that advance. I wound up winning by sheer luck as my "hail mary" move of charging with the Bersaglieri had a slim chance of succeeding. I love when FOW games come down to the wire like this!
