Hello all, Comrade James here with another Bolt Action AAR. This one was performed under top secret conditions, as Blair (Qman) was trying out his new list of US Rangers for the Warlord Games sponsored GT in Sydney. Sworn to secrecy, I have only just released this post on the very day the Rangers are unleashed on the unsuspecting GT participants...
The mission was Hold Until Relieved, and I was designated as the defender of the ammo dump in the centre of the table. I was allowed to deploy one infantry squad and one other (I chose my light howitzer...a poor choice upon reflection)
The attacking Rangers were allowed to deploy 18 inches from my forces anywhere on the table...in Bolt Action, US Rangers (besides being all veterans) are able to make a free run move before the game starts....so deploying 18 inches meant that before the first order dice was even pulled, they were only 6 inches from my forces.....
AT the end of Turn one, my howitzer was staring down an assaulting Ranger squad, and rolled a 1 to hit them at point blank.....well, miss...
As my gallant lone squad attempted to hold off the US horde, the rest of my force entered from my table edge, the infantry bolting for the ammo dump, and my Panzer II sweeping around the right flank. A lucky shot from the US Bazooka team stationed on a hill overlooking my right flank nailed the Panzer as it attempted to recce away behind some trees....
Meanwhile on my left flank, I decided the time had come to charge my flame throwing Pioneer team up the flank in their Horsch truck, to try and catch out the US squads before they could consolidate their newly won position...sadly, the US Flamethrower team had a similar idea, and by the grace of the dice bag, the US team got their dice first and managed to set the Horsch on fire, bailing my Pioneers with 5 pins.....
All was not disastrous however, as the US FAO called in the US air support, but the Rookie pilot mistook the US Command team for Germans and strafed up the platoon sergeant, and pinned the squads immediately around him....my heavy mortar also managed to range in on its first round onto a squad of Rangers about to seize the ammo dump, leaving 3 stunned survivors behind...as the sniper duel continued on my left flank , my heavy mortar switched targets to try and ruin the US Sniper team's day....
The US tried to reduce my mortar threat by sending the crackshot Bazooka team around my right flank to charge the Heavy Mortar team as it pumped round after round at the sniper team on the far side of the battlefield...2 SMG toting Rangers were no match for my Regular heavy mortar crew and their entrenching tools, and the US assault was stopped in its tracks.....
Despite my best efforts, the Rangers managed to clear the ammo dump of Germans, and began to establish a perimeter.A second attempt to call in US air support managed to bring in the classmate of the rookie pilot from before...this time, his rockets killed his own 2lt, causing no end of grief for the rapidly pinned down US forces attempting to move up....
As the game came to a critical close of Turn 5, my Heavy Mortars finally put a round right into the US Snipers position.....
Emboldened by the lack of incoming sniper fire, Hauptman Schnickelgruber, my Captain (+3 ld) raced forward to shoot up the US Flame thrower team threatening to BBQ my pinned Pioneer platoon....killing the attendant, Schnickelgruber was about to finish off the pinned flame team when two survivors of a mauled Ranger squad rushed down the hill and clubbed him to the ground..
At the same time, my Veteran squad armed to the teeth with assault rifles and SMGs over ran the closet US position and managed to get a toehold on the ammo dump at the end of Turn 6....
With victory snatched from them at the 11th hour, the US braced for one last final assault ....on a 4+ there would be a 7th and final turn....I rolled a 4....
With that, the US Engineer squad finally made it into action,flaming all but two of my Veteran squad out of their woods, and the US FAO, having moved up in shame of his previous two efforts, shot the second last man in the squad, forcing the NCO to take a morale test......and failed...
I would have to say that was one of the best games of BA I've played, in terms of excitement and building tension right up until the last dice...that FAO was literally Blair's last shot at my squad contesting the objective....
Despite my folly of losing my PzII in a reckless move and my Horsch over-enthusiasm, I managed to hang in by the skin of my teeth right to the end...helped in no small way by hideously unlucky die rolling by Blair for both his airstrikes....and 2 good hits with my heavy mortar.....the only support weapon in my army now with Close Combat Clasps....
