Club Night 12th March

After a week away I thought i would return to try something different...so Flames of War Africa it was again! This was going to be a big game using a scenario with me, Luke and two of the Steve's but real life interfered and it was reduced to me borrowing Luke's Italian and Steve D using his British in a normal point game. We rolled up a very empty table with only a couple of salt marshes breaking the otherwise flat desert. The British defended in a hod the line scenario with a battery of 25 pounders, a small motor rifle platoon and a troop of crusader hiding in ambush.
The Italians had an unfortunately defensive force to try and attack with, just 8 tanks including the CO, a Bersaglieri company and a mass or Artillery. I had bought a pair of Italian manned 88s, a battery of 75's and a Battery of 100mm howitzers to devastate the British.
And this is what the massed artillery proceeded to do. It quickly won the duel with the 25 pounders, leaving one remaining conducting desultory fire against the 88s. The guns then switched to the infantry and pinned them down and the Italian armour advanced, with the Bersaglieri crying Avanti! following them up. Then the Crusaders sprung their ambush and opened up on the Italian tanks destroying a number of them, combined with the fire from the British commanding officer and his 2-iC. But the ambush had been deployed in range of the 88s and they quickly destroyed the crusaders who had taken a toll on their armoured comrades.

The Italian infantry where by now preparing to assault the British infantry who were pinned down under a relentless artillery bombardment and beginning to take casualties. But they where not alone and two troops of Grants moved up and finished off the Italians tanks. This was a decisive moment, if the Bersaglieri could clear out their opposite numbers and dig in a round the objective it would be very hard for the British to dig them out with limited artillery and no more infantry. They launched their assault, but came under machine gun fire from some of the Grants and where pushed back. The American supplied armour then opened fire with its main guns and killed a number of the Italian infantry, including the company commander. With the Italian CO also dead there was no way the battered survivors, who stubbornly refused to flee, moving back to try again and so a hard fought victory went to the British.

We even had time for another game, this time Indian infantry backed by Kingforce Churchill tanks against Mike's DAK. With an free for all battle both sides set up on table with little time, or room, for subtlety. First blood quickly fell to the British as the 6 pounder fire from the infantry tanks destroyed the 88s, leaving Mike in a dangerously exposed position to try and hold back the British. However on my flank I had much more success. Using the Sturmtruppen movement I stormed forward against Scott commanding the British left. Although I lost two tanks to 6 pounder portee fire, I destroyed one and left the other with out its truck in return. The Schutzen platoon then assaulted and destroyed an Indian motor rifle platoon.

They continued to roll forward and the German CO attacked the remaining 6 pounder and the accompanying infantry captured the Indian 2-iC before occupying the objective. The British made a desperate last gasp to take their objectives but fell short, and the 25 pounder battery could only bring one gun to bear on the DAK troops on their flank and missed all its shots giving a dramatic and swift German victory.