I lost Wittmann's original unit to an Air Power on turn 4, and l...
I lost Wittmann's original unit to an Air Power on turn 4, and lost him, along with his second armored unit, on turn 6. Four Allied center and right armors were eliminated after 7 turns, and the fifth was a single figure flagged to the back half of Villers-Bocage, but I was down, 5-4.
The Allies played a DHQ on turn 10, threatening to take ground against my infantry that was on the medal hex, but a flag rolled against it by a distant attack eliminated that possibility. Hanging on by the skin of my teeth, and needing 4 medals, I counter-attacked -- whiffing on a 1-figure tank with nine lives and no retreats, but finishing off two infantries. That was not sufficient to prevent the Allies from taking the medal hex on the next turn.
And if I had protected the medal hex, the Allies had an Armor Assault that was virtually guaranteed to wipe out my own 1-figure tank on the other flank.
A tough battle -- which seems to be typical for this scenario!
On the first turn, Wittmann's armored unit scored one hit and fo...
On the first turn, Wittmann's armored unit scored one hit and forced a retreat, overran for a second hit, and was promptly surrounded by two tanks and an infantry, and wiped off the board.
I didn't have the cards to create an offensive on the left, so Wittmann's second unit never went more than one hex beyond his hill. Meanwhile, I saw my early 3-1 lead turn into a 4-6 loss, as the Allies counter-attacked an Assault Center, followed by TFH, Pincer, Armor Assault, and DHQ.
Great battle. The action stated immediately, and didn't let up....
Great battle. The action stated immediately, and didn't let up.
I was fortunate in the card department.
Opening with a Center-All allowed me to get a lot of units into position. After the second turn, my two draws were 1-1-1 and Armor Assault, which I used on my next two turns, with each of those cards killing two units. Meanwhile, the Germans had destroyed one of my center tanks, and then sprang an Ambush that hurt, but didn't kill.
On turn 5, a German Left-All killed off two of my tanks. But I responded with a 2-2-2, ganging up three tanks and an artillery against Wittmann's 3-figure tank. After one hit, he retreated into the woods, where my artillery rolled a pair of hits. The "hero roll" came up a star, for the 6th and final medal.
Allies win, 6-3, in 5 turns. Figures killed: 19-13.
Great battle. I definitely would play this one again.
My ini...
Great battle. I definitely would play this one again.
My initial hand included Center-All, DHQ, 1-1-1, and one card for each flank, so I tried to move a couple of extra units into the middle to set up the Center-All and DHQ.
Plans were a bit "derailed" when Wittmann scored 5 hits on Allied Right tanks the first turn, so he stayed on that flank to finish off the second tank on the second turn.
Allies came forward with an Armor Assault on turn 4 -- some hits, but no kills -- and that's when I sprank my Center All, which reduced two Allied armors to singletons and killed a weakened Allied Right infantry.
The Allies responded with a 1-1-1 that shaved Wittmann down to 2 figures, but didn't kill anybody. So, my 5th turn was the DHQ, with 3 tank kills, bringing the score to 6-0. An Allied Attack in the Center killed Wittmann along with his tank. I finished the game with a BEL against a 1-figure tank in St. Louet.
3-tank rolls by Wittmann on the first turn, and against a 3-figure tank on the DHQ caused this round to go heavily in my favor.
It was interesting having a tank that could ignore a flag.
Surprisingly Wittmann's opening attack was not as effective as h...
Surprisingly Wittmann's opening attack was not as effective as he'd hoped, taking out only one tank. It was left to the Das Reich unit to clear the hill. Wittmann pressed on recklessly and began destroying the allied column. However his advance took him too close to Villers-Bocage and he was attacked by allied infantry and armour. Despite allowing flag retreats his unit was destroyed and a star meant that his career was over!
The allies then took the initiative and advanced on their left flank, crossing the river bridge and closing on the Panzer Lehr who had yet to get going. However the Germans, having secureed Hill 213 against an allied attack (unlikely as they were holding Villers-Bocage) began to move units to support their right flank.
A tight game ended when a Fire Fight card resulted in a destroying an allied infantry unit pinned back against the river.
Things started slow as Whitmann knocked out the forward most tan...
Things started slow as Whitmann knocked out the forward most tank platoon in the column. The remaining British units could not get out of the way fast enough and with support from other units the Germans pushed back towards Villers-Bocage. Whitmann's tank was finally silenced by mobile artillery, but the heroic leader joined with another infantry unit who went behind enemy lines. That extra die really caused the Brits to suffer.
I heard in a former comment that this was just too easy for the German's, but I like the historical accuracy.
L'attaque de Whitman ne fut pas aussi spectaculaire que prévu !
...
L'attaque de Whitman ne fut pas aussi spectaculaire que prévu !
Ma première unité blindée ne fut pas anéantie et put se replier.
L'adversaire se retrouvait sur mon flanc droit face à une forte concentration de troupe dans Villers Bocage. Ses deux unités blindées (l'infanterie restant à l'arrière) furent décimées.
Il tenta de percer sur mon flanc gauche à travers la Seulles. Mais, mes blindés à couvert dans les bois eurent raison des siens !
La différence importante sur le score est du à la mal chance de l'adversaire aux dés.
After Wittman's strike, the allied left wing try to balance the ...
After Wittman's strike, the allied left wing try to balance the situation, but invain. The tanks of Panzer Lehr trespass the river and Wittman lead axis troops to the victory after a hard fighting around Villers-Bocage.
After this game, I finally concede that the British need some op...
After this game, I finally concede that the British need some open play on the left wing to balance things a little more. Hence the hedges are gone and there's a gap in the woods.
I had all the great cards, and Jaspar had bad luck in the opening, but still the Brits couldn't win. Having said that, an armoured assault by the British followed by a Direct from HQ had less impact than it should thanks to lousy dice.
Remember, historically the Brits got a pasting, so I'm ok with it slightly favouring the Germans. It's a lot better balanced than Omaha! The open British left wing should give them more options now.
Brummbar's luck was woeful in the opening, with Wittmann scoring...
Brummbar's luck was woeful in the opening, with Wittmann scoring only one figure killed over two turns. This lulled the Allies into a false sense of security... they took Hill 213 but took losses in doing so. At one point they were on 4 medals, and the Axis had a lone tank figure lurking in the woods on their baseline... The Brits even took out Wittmann's Tigers, but he just jumped into a Hanomag and continued the battle from there, leading the panzer-grenadiers. It got tactical mid-game, the British having no command capability on the right, and so consolidating their position. Play then switched to the British centre and left. The Brits had been over-confident there too, and also took losses and had to back-pedal. Then the coup-de-grace: Wittmann operating behind enemy lines with his panzer-grenadiers caught a weak Allied infantry unit and obliterated it. Game over. Malcolm feels the scenario is too easy for the Germans, but I'm not convinced yet... More AARs!
02/22/2006 Have bumped up the medal total for victory to 6. I think a little more time is all the British need...
I played Axis against myself after hearing and reading about the...
I played Axis against myself after hearing and reading about the try event that caught the British off guard. As the Axis, I had a good start and destroyed a lot of the enemy units, but in the end I was still out numbered and slowly lost the battle. The battle was fought to the last man, which was Wittman himself, after getting his tank unit destroyed and joining an infantry unit.
Wittmann's initial onslaught wasn't great, then his unit got sur...
Wittmann's initial onslaught wasn't great, then his unit got surrounded and eliminated, and he didn't survive. We battled to exhaustion on the Allied right, with weak Allied infantry retaining Villers-Bocage, and not enough strong German units to assault them. A Behind Enemy Lines saw the Allies roll 4 dice to try to kill 1 German infantry figure for victory, but AG only scored 2 flags! The Germans ended the game with 3 units on only 1 figure.
