Cavendish Comes Through

I wasn't sure what was happening this week so being lazy I decided to pick up my Wings of War and take them along to the club, I then decided to get in touch with Rob and see what he had organised, he was doing another run through of Battlegroup Tobruk so I jumped in, the RFC could wait until next week.

Rob had worked on the previous scenario and it was similar but different, a British defence of a low ridge with the Frenchies (Foreign Legion) in the nearby fort, this time the Germans had to capture the road in order to continue their advance, but of course it meant moving the British and French from their positions. There were more Germans in this attack than the last one and the armoured Kampfgruppe Ankers had three Panzer III's along with the small Italian contingent. I was once again the British commander, John Cavendish, the very same gentleman now attacking Fontenoy in Normandy, Simon commanded the FFL on the right flank.

The British left.

The Legion

 The main axis of the German attack came at our left flank and was soon pinned under a hail of fire from the ridge, the same happened to a smaller attack against the fort, disappointment could be seen on the faces of the Afrika Corps commanders, this situation continued until Ankers turned up and all of a sudden there was new hope on the Axis side. This joy was swiftly taken away by a well aimed two pounder shell supervised by Cavendish himself as the leading Panzer brewed up, this caused the German armour to become wary of the guns on the ridge and they huddled behind their lines. Shortly after another Panzer struck a mine and the crew quickly abandoned the wreck. The Italian armour on the right now advanced at a charge hoping to repeat their success of the previous battle while the infantry still struggled forward taking shelter in a nearby wadi. The British confidence at holding this attack was shattered as the screaming sound of a Stuka was heard and all heads turned to the skies, luckily the bombs managed only a few casualties and the British recovered to once again man their foxholes as the enemy closed in.

The beginning of the end.

The supremely confident Italians had bitten off more then they bargained for this time as first one then the second little tank went up in flames, hurrah for the Boyes rifle team, who, despite guffaws from all in the room managed a kill, the left flank had been saved. Over on the right the British armour arrived to reinforce the fort and the German attack there now looked like it was over, one tank had been quickly despatched to the British left but had hit a mine on the way and became disabled, however it was in such a position that if the Italians had gotten around the flank the A13 was sitting waiting.

The Italians halted.

A last ditch effort by an Italian truck to run the gauntlet with its 20mm gun ended in a twisted wreck as a two pounder shell took it out, the enemy had run out of steam and victory was declared for Cavendish and his men, oh, and the Frenchies.

It has to be said the Axis, all three players, had terrible dice luck throughout the game and I have never seen so many ones thrown in such a short time. On the other hand I was on fire and made some superb rolls to hit and destroy the enemy, why do people try and make you feel guilty for throwing great dice (smiles). I was a bit shocked at the power of the air attack and although it did not do too much damage on that particular run the potential to completely turn a small  game was there. Simon was very impressed by the game and I think is going to look closer, I could very well be tempted but I would also like to try a Normandy game with Andy's collection of 20mm stuff rather than 15mm. I suspect there is more to the game and we are only just scratching the surface.

Elsewhere we had a huge Crusader Saga game which looked very impressive, Dave and Clive with their boardgame and another sci-fi boardgame in the corner, the Bloodbowl season must be over for the time being.