Op Martlet Battle 06: The Last Ditch At Ruaray

The final battle is for the village of Rauray, the final objective for the unit's part in Objective Martlet.  Both sides have relatively little support for this one but after the severe casualties in the last battles, both sides chose to bring in their replacement platoons.  For the British, I supplemented my platoon with a Sherman tank and a FOO with a 3" mortar battery,  My plan was to form a support section from all the platoon's Brens, with the 2" mortar and the FOO, to get the riflemen across the open ground.  From there, the troops would advance by supported sections and aim to defeat any Germans encountered in detail.

Usual game details: WRG 1925-1950 rules; GHQ, Heroics and Ros and Adler troops and vehicles; Total Battle Miniatures and Baccus scenery; Too Fat Lardies Op Martlet Campaign for the scenario and Miniature Wargames 373 for the solo Threat Generation System)

The Terrain:

The terrain.  The British will advance from the left.

The view from behind the German lines

 The Battle:

A few missing photos unfortunately, but basically the British managed to get across the field after neutralizing a German sniper.  The tommies then caught the German platoon commander in the open and he became a casualty.

Unfortunately for the Germans, their armour was activated next.  It did make the open ground at the top of the village a no-go area though.

The British take the house on the left by classic fire-and-movement, eliminating a group of German grenadiers inside.  The rest of the British are hugging the cover, slowly clearing the village.

Ambush!! A concealed German section opens fire on the rear section of the British.  The Mortar FOO and his team are killed in the buzzsaw of the MG42s.

Blimey!  The second German section turns up on the opposite flank; less well-concealed though, British infantry now inside the village are able to shoot at them...

and miss totally!  The Germans try to bring the Hanomag to bear on the trapped British rear section, but it is destroyed by the Sherman.  The 2" mortar fires smoke upon the British troops to try and give them the opportunity to extract

The British slowly advance through the village, whilst the survivors from the rear section have managed to get out of the crossfire and into cover

Another fire-and-movement attack - this time supported by tank gun fire - eliminates the Germans at the bottom of the village

 

Another small group of German infantry arrive (concealted top-left) and a small group of British infantry in the building at the top-centre are eliminated by concentated German fire.  Desultory fire continues with neither side willing to advance further

German morale collapses first and the surviving elements retreat.  Victory to the British!

Game Notes: A very interesting battle, initially the British seemed to be having a relatively easy time of it...and then the ambush was sprung!  The fighting which followed was extremely intense and it required a lot of concentration to figure out how to escape that ambush.  Both sides fought very hard, but the initial German losses told and they failed their reaction test first.  Literally neither side could have advanced, but the odds were slightly against the Germans holding on...and they didn't.

This has been a really enjoyable campaign.  The Threat Generation System genuinely gives a tense and interesting solitaire game which I had really struggled to find before now.  They have compared with the intensity I used to find playing the Ambush! series of games.  Although the Germans never quite won a game, a lot of that was luck and on another day...

I want to review the ruleset and the TGS to see if there are any minor modifications I want to make and then look to replay this campaign before too long or have a go at the next one: The Scottish Corridor