Teeth do have skin

 Big day arrived yesterday and despite the dreadful weather Fran, Simon and Ed turned up in time for my second Operation Chariot, the raid on St. Nazaire game, the original idea coming from Little Wars TV. I made a few tweaks to the rules after the first game, I lengthened the time from eight turns to ten so that the demolition teams could physically manage to get to the furthest away objectives, I also increased their movement from six to nine inches, again so that they could at least try to get to the far objectives.

Fran and Simon made their deployment rolls and succeeded in bringing on just over two thirds of their forces, so many in fact that they had trouble fitting them all in to the landing zones, with at least one unit remaining in their (fictional) boat due to lack of space. The harbour garrison then showed up, three patrols and one MMG on the eastern half of the harbour and one more with one patrol across the basin in the west. One MMG was put on the Pump House roof with the patrols spread around while the other was again put on the roof of a building covering LZ81 while the last patrol hunkered down in the Officers Quarters.

 As the raiders began to land everything seemed to go to plan, the Pump House MMG and one patrol were quickly put out of action, a squad ran for the shelter of the Winding Hut walls where the AA gun placed on the roof could not depress to hit them, it did fire across the basin at the troops disembarking at LZ81 but the fire was ineffective. Another patrol and the Harbour Commander took position in a large shed to await the British move on the Pump House. On the other side of the harbour the commandos were taking up positions near and around a large house near the Officers Quarters, while trying to keep out of the line of sight of the nearby 8.8cm gun, German defensive fire was failing to make any impact on the raiders.

The 8.8cm target.

Traffic jam at LZ81

As the second wave of British troops turned up so did trucks from the nearby German barracks, these men were regular troops and not the battle dodging, wine swilling part timers of the harbour defences, the trucks raced from west to east to set up a proper defense as the British now cautiously made a move on the remaining patrols ensconced behind their walls with overwhelming force. Meanwhile charges had been set at the Winding Hut and the demolition team was getting ready to clear the area.

Back at LZ81 Fran had whittled away at the MMG team but one man stubbornly refused to die and still covered the main road, the British sniper was targeting the 88 but the crew were only slowly succumbing as every other shot missed. Deciding to force the issue a squad was detailed to advance on the Officers Quarters only to be caught by the German gun and suffer horrendous casualties which put them out of action for a couple of turns while they regained their composure. The gun now turned on the troops in the house and again landed a devastating hit, the troops in the house failed throughout the rest of the game to recover their morale so were effectively lost. Fran now took on the Germans in the Officers Quarters and with their demise managed to get a demolition team into the building and set the explosive charges.

LZ81 and LZ82

The Winding Hut is taken

More troops arrive at LZ82

 Simon's men in the east having laid charges and blown up the Winding Hut now managed to wipe out the Harbour Commander and his small patrol in order to advance on the Pump House, the rest of his men moved forward to test Ed's defences which were ensconced in a large factory building protecting both the train and the AA objectives. In the west we had one squad in a building which could cover any attempt by Fran to move on the AA gun along the road and also if needed fire across the basin to defend the said gun, while I dismounted a second squad as our defences were a tad weak in the west. They got weaker as Fran made a move on the AA position, in preparation for his demolition team he picked away at the crew of the 88 until the last man dropped, but he still had to blow it up, the other AA objective had also lost its crew earlier and was sitting abandoned in the middle of the battlefield. Casualties mounted on both sides and every die roll counted, my boys took the heat thrown at them and at last the demolition team made their move, right into a hail of German fire, all three hit the dirt.

In the east the British were taking quite a few losses now that they had run up against Ed's factory and in a moment of madness three survivors assaulted the building while we got ready to chalk up another British unit removed from the game. The result was a draw, but the second strike would be overwhelming, nope, Ed failed to kill the one remaining Tommy and instead his men fled, needless to say this episode will go down in wargaming history in these here parts.

The 88 has reinforcements

The Officers Quarters go up

The Winding Hut explodes

 Everything now depended on the British getting a fourth objective and as three others burned furiously this only left the abandoned AA gun in the middle of the basin within reach of a British team. Simon sent a protection squad along with the last demolition team running for the gun. Fran helped by focusing fire on the German squad in the house on my side of the harbour which could fire across to anyone moving on the gun, the pins mounted up, Ed now opened up on the protection squad and in an effort to make amends he managed to cut down 50% of the men causing a morale check, with bated breath we all watched the dice, a pass, jubilation and curses bounced off the walls of the Post Office.

 The men in the house now managed to cut the demo squad down to two men but we had shot our bolt, we could not stop them getting to the gun, a last fusillade of shots failed to strike.

The 88's crew are shot down

The harbour in flames

The Tommy's get to the last objective

 Right on the tenth move the game ended, although the gun had not yet exploded the charges had been set so we ruled it was as good as dead. Although Ed still had two decent squads and a surviving harbour patrol left in the east in the west we had two beaten up squads and nothing else. As the clock struck Fran's men would be returning to their boats as would the survivors in the east but four objectives had been claimed. Although it did not matter we agreed that had their been more time Fran's men although having no more charges could have rigged an 88 shell to destroy the gun, something to bear in mind for another time.

How did the game go, well the British did very well on deployment with almost all their troops turning up, this meant the poor inexperienced and small harbour patrols hiding from the Eastern Front did not stand much of a chance although one at least went down fighting. It also did not help that the initial defensive fire was fairly underwhelming. It takes time for the Germans to build up their defences, they cannot possibly save the Pump House or the Winding Hut but the other objectives are a worry for both the attackers and defenders with the possible exception of the Ammo Train, which may be a train too far. The excitement generated in the last couple of turns as both sides fought over the AA gun objective was electric.

I play both Chain of Command and Bolt Action, they both have good and bad points, but with a game of this size you cannot beat Bolt Action for sheer excitement. This scenario may play well with Big Chain of Command but the normal rules I think would be struggling to contend with so many units. 

As I lay awake at 05.30 hrs this morning in the dark I eventually caught that elusive straw, in the to and fro of battle I had forgotten the important rule that if a German squad gets wiped out a replacement immediately enters the table, with three moves left since Ed's men had fled this would have meant that the last objective would have had a full squad to defend it. However it would be churlish not to let the brave Tommies have their win after all it was my own fault, but you and I know what really happened dear reader and I can now sleep easy.

A big thanks to Ed, Fran and Simon for taking the time to devote seven hours to a great days entertainment.