Hell's highway , a BKC II battle report

[petercooman]

Ok chaps, crammed togheter a quick solo scenario, did this in about 20 minutes from setting the table to picking forces.

Objective is to get your armour behind the last hedge by turn 8. Will be typing while i play.

Have fun , i know i will

setup:





turn 1

The game begins with the advance of the british left flank, who immediately comes under opportunity fire from the first line, pinning a honey and wrecking a carrier, while right flank immediately fails it's command roll and stays put (in every game i play, there is always one flank that bogs it first turn  )




CO however immeditely gets snake eyes!



First order is used to move second to fire and suppress the pak 40. After rolling a consecutive 3 a 3rd order finishes the pak 40 and hits the marder after wich turn ends




Germans turn:

First line of defence immediately rolls 9 

second line jumps in though and the jagdpanther destroys the daimler with a well placed shot


Not happy with that they put 3 hits on the leading right sherman with a second order



The co then rolls a double 6 on the first try resulting in one hit on an 88.

turn 2

With the first turn speeding through in no time, i decided to take it easy and mak a cup of earl grey, as the british seem to be getting a bit of a pummeling from the start. Maybe the smell of tea will help them 

As a taunt i placed it next to the german pak that became casualty last turn 



Right flank gets one order off and camps in the trees 



Left flank goes forth, and luckily escapes more casualties as the marder misses with its opportunity fire. One honey outflanks and gets a hit that pins the marder.



The co column has the front sherman severely damaged and pinned by the jagdpanthers OP fire, So the dozer had to remove the wrecked daimler in order for the advance to continue (houserule for this scenario, if you can't fit your base so it's entirely on the road, the wreck must be removed in order to advance)



After removal, the distant 88 OP's the second sherman that tries to advance, pinning it, and only failing to destroy it as it makes two saves.


Last action of the turn the firefly gets one one target, but it just bounces of the jagdpanther's sloped front.

german turn 2:

The infantry at the front runs but doesn't get to far while second line misses it's command roll



The co's 88's detroy the lead sherman



Turn 3

abndoning all hope on a battle honour, the infantry platoon extends it's camping time in the woods yet again...



However, The left flank goes in for the kill, but one of the honey's gets it first from the marders OP fire, after wich they loose heart and fail command rolls once again



I'll have to punish some orderlies after this game!!!

First order from the CO, the jagdpanther OP's the lead tank again, but he got away with All saves!! Future attempts of the firefly fail to even hit the JP




german turn:

kicking of the turn for the germans, the first co (who repositioned last turn) rolls a double one for the panzerschrek infantry lying in ammbush behind the building. grabbing the opportunity they dash forward to shoot the lead sherman with their 'shrek....



Only to be pinned by OP fire on their way in.


After this a command blunder sends the second line out of cover 


Only consolidation the jerry's have this turn is blowing up the lead sherman with an 88

turn 4

All of a sudden, in a flurry of succesfull rolls, right flank legs it towards the enemy (have they waited untill the enemy blew it's cover? or did they finally catch the scent of tea  ) OP fire destroys the recce unit.




Left flank stays put (they rolled 11)

The turn ends with the firefly again shooting the shrek infantry and the dozer clearing the road


german turn:

Everything failed it's command roll, except for the CO. With the 2 88's shooting at the dozer equipped sherman and destroying it, Victory goes to the germans, as there is no way to clear the road!!






Aftermath of this battle has the british forces lay back untill another dozer can be brought up from further up the column, costing them vital time to go relieve their comrades at the bridges!

I think i lost it because i was alone on the road without much flank support , and the pinpoint accuracy of the 88's


Now i'm off to burn some rubbish command dice....

[GordonY]

Nice batrep!

BKC is always good for a solo scrap.

[OldenBUA]

At least the Brits gave it their full 30%!!! 

[Albie Bach]

Good fun. I like the Scenario Rule for clearing the road.
Don't you just love those Command Blunders.

[petercooman]

At least the Brits gave it their full 30%!!! 

At least that's more than i give 

BKC is always fun for a solo game, as you see, with all those blunders and failed rolls, you can't plan ANYTHING 

About the scenario, i always liked the scene in a 'bridge too far' where they start the 30 corps advance, and meet stiff resistance right away. After the fight you see an armoured bulldozer push the wrecks off the road while the memorable words 'how on earth do they expect us to stay on schedule on a road like this' are spoken!

Alas the armoured bulldozer is still on the painting table, so i used a sherman dozer!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great report.

[ronan]

I like it.
Thanks for sharing Petercooman !

[petercooman]

Thanks!!

Oh and in case somebody was wondering, i use my version of 'hits stay on'. Once damaged you may remove 1 hit at the end of your turn, but a unit that has been damaged can never go back to 0 hits, 1 always remains. (representing that although a unit can recover/adapt over time, it can never go back to 100% as you cannot replace casulties)

[Fenton]

We use hits stay on as well...well you can move a certain amount of hits depending on the experience of the unit..elite remove 3 regular 2 green 1...and can never go back to 0

[ronan]

I have to test that.
( but these days I mostly play CoC )

[Fenton]

Still havent a chance to have a go at CoC yet..looks really good tough

[petercooman]

We use hits stay on as well...well you can move a certain amount of hits depending on the experience of the unit..elite remove 3 regular 2 green 1...and can never go back to 0

Good idea! I'll try that next time!

I tried random with dice rolls once, but that doesn't work all that well, units spring from almost dead to alive and kicking.


I must say, this is one of the first games i play with little terrain. It's true what they say, more terrain makes the game more interesting. This was a shooting range for the germans.

Off course, in real life, hell's highway was little more than a shooting gallery anyway, the troops on the road where to exposed to make fluent progress.

[jchaos79]

Really fun! thanks for sharing

[petercooman]

 

[Hertsblue]

A good scenario, Peter - but where was the British artillery? It was the the thing us Brits did best of anyone.