Combatants:
British: Hennie "The Dutch Devil" van der Salm
Germans:
Jacques "Official 5+2 Italian AL" Cuneo
The Crux of Calais is a fun scenario with the Germans crossing the board 23 canal with British resisting from the other side. The Germans get a great deal of firepower to get across with, including 17 squads, 5 PzIIIs and a PzIV. The British are equipped with menagerie of weapons, including two mortars(51 and 76mm), two AT guns, a Mk VIC, two Mk VIBs, and a Daimler Scout Car.
Since the bridge at BB5 doesn't exist, the Germans have the choice of attacking one(or maybe two) of the other three. I chose the bridge at X3 mainly for the routing routes available to the Germans that were sure to take heavy casualties crossing the bridge. In accordance, I set up about 2/3 of the force to take residence in the Z2 building and pound it with 30+4 shots until a crossing could be made. The other parts of the force were to come through at X1 and sprint across the bridge once the British were softened up. In addition, the HMG, MMG went up in 20Z7L2 and a MMG was put up in P9L2 to pick off moving British troops. Tanks were setup to have position to take out the British tanks and AT guns once their location became known. The PzIV was setup in bypass in 20Z9/Y9 to provide a smoke cover for the troops crossing the bridge.
The British had the unenviable task of covering all three bridges, not knowing which was the German target, although the bridge at P7 would have given the British too much time to regroup before a crossing. The Brits set up the AT guns in X6 and N9(HIP), the big mortar in E5 for some spotted fire, and the AFVs spread out to intercept charging German tanks. In addition, large forces were put in the X6 and F4 buildings. Another 3 squads or so were put in the middle to cover the P7 bridge.
The Game:
The Germans ran a PzIII across the bridge at X3 right off to find the location of an AT gun and hopefully get a flaming wreck on the bridge for some cover. The Germans found the AT gun and got a wreck. Fair enough. The rest of the German squads moved into position as mentioned above to hit the X6 building until a crossing could be made.
The British took the brunt of the first blow pretty well with the exception of managing to malf(and Recall) his Mk IVC on the first shot. The spotted mortar tried fruitlessly all game to knock out the MMG in 20P9L2, to no avail. He became so frustrated with it that he got a squad there to stop it; they annihilated each other in CC.
Meanwhile, the large FP attacks were taking their toll. The telling blows, however, came from the PzIV. It bellowed smoke all game long and managed to smoke out the X6 AT gun until it could be overwhelmed in CC and cover the bridge crossing with that wonderful smoke. Surprisingly, it never shot anything else but smoke the entire game. Other tanks weren't so blessed with good rolls, however. The Germans managed to malfunction 3 MAs(and the HMG), only to repair them in subsequent turns. Despite shots from the AT gun in N9, the Germans were able to make a foothold in X4 and force their way into the X6 building. The British melted away under the weight of a few NMCs(READ: gacked the rolls). Once the Germans had a rally point on the other side of the bridge, the fat lady began to sing.
The British tried desperately to keep the Germans off of the bridge, but the smoke hampered any efforts. A Mk IVB made a valiant stand at R5 and harrassed the Germans for a few turns but eventually succumbed in CC. The most effective British unit was actually the sniper. It managed to recall a tank and stun another. Not bad for a 3 SAN. By turn 6, the British were effectively neutralized. The last big weapons(the big mortar and AT gun in N9), went down to an overrun(I love overruns!) and a good shot from the Z7 kill stack as he tried to push it into better position. The Brits then conceded.
Comments:
Despite the even record, I think the Germans have a bunch of firepower to throw at the British. The Brits need some good rolls to keep the Germans from storming the bridge effectively. The German key is smoke from the PzIV. In this game, it was devastating. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable game with a lot of neat early war toys to play with. I would like to try the Brits in this one sometime.
Jacques Cuneo