Bolt Action Patrol Scenario - Rescue the General!

My second BA game this week was at our usual club/pub night, trying out a smaller 500 point Patrol scenario from OP SEALION (with a few adjustments).  After James’s Germans captured my Para General on Monday night (here), it was time to free him from his dreaded Gestapo interrogators!  And this time the Red Devils would face the Lions of Carentan; Vets on Vets…

Herr Flick and Helga interrogate the captured General Urquhart 

500 points gave a really different game to the larger games I am used to, and perfect for a more narrative focused club night.  I took a Lt, 3 x 6 man squads (each with a Bren and 4 SMGs, noting the smaller board), a Mdm Mortar and the free FO. 6 dice total.

So what happened in the game? Well…

Corporal “Spider” Webb quickly moved his team up into a commanding position behind a hedge near the captured General – one that he would hold throughout the game, soaking up a lot of enemy attention (and fire).  

Corporal Webb's team move up with verve and vigour

Then my forward observer muffed up his call for fire and my artillery dropped short, putting pins on most of my forward units (but no direct hits thank goodness) More happily, my Medium mortar ranged in quickly, crippling the enemy infantry squad. One of my Para infantry teams closed in to eliminate the remnants, only to be wiped out to a man when they failed all their attack rolls.  Oh dear!

This Red Devil assault did not end well for our heroes...

On my right flank Corporal “Tommy” Atkins got his team into an uneven fire fight against a larger Fallshirmjaeger squad and stood up to a hail of fire to keep a major portion of the enemy busy.  

Corporal "Squizzy" Taylor and his men  get stuck into the Bosche

When the Jerries got bored with that they went for the decisive action – charging the stubborn Corporal Webb’s position in the centre.  The Germans took some fire on the way in and were ultimately eliminated in the resulting close combat.

The Green Devils charge Corporal Webb's position and pay dearly

At this point my 1LT decided the time to win medals was upon him – with a hearty bellow of “Follow me Lads, its time to take Jerry a cup of tea” he leapt forward to save the General.  Unfortunately for him, Corporal Webb’s team FUBARed, mistook the movement on their left as the enemy, and poured a devastating volley of fire into the young officer.  Oops.

"Right Lads - up and at 'em!"

FUBAR! "Sorry Sir, we thought you was a Jerry..."

At this point the red faced Forward Observer decided he should do something and leapt forward  to secure the General.  However, he did so alone as both infantry teams next to him failed their activation rolls and decided instead to yell encouraging words as they brewed up behind the hedge.  Happily, the provision of hot tea went a long way to restoring the General’s morale once he was freed from Herr Flick. A British Victory and thanks Marty for a very enjoyable game!

"No thanks Sir, me and the lads are staying put!"

I really enjoyed the smaller Patrol game style as a change of pace. Apart from its speed (2 unhurried hours, including adult beverage breaks), the smaller game (on a 4 x 4 table) felt much more personal – every decision counted, every casualty hurt and each dice draw was important.  I really want to explore this more and am thinking of adapting some of the 40k “Kill Team” missions for this purpose.  With some specific formation requirements (eg no Heavy Tanks, no Heavy artillery etc) I think this has some legs. 

One final observation is that in a smaller game, the effects of good and bad die rolls are far more pronounced – the artillery dropping short, the mortar ranging in etc – that doesn’t just impact one of your squads, it cripples 1/3 to half of your units.  So you can blame Lady Luck with far more justification when the SNAFUs happen!