Von Bickle is down : Operation Sealion

As the Germans consolidate their gains from Day one and begin to push inland Gruppenfuhrer Von Bickle has been sent on a reconnaissance mission over the front line. Whether mechanical failure or a stray bullet, it isn’t known, but his Fieseler Storch has been forced to crash land in no mans land just to the south west of Brabourne near a small farm. Unfortunately Von Bickle was carrying with him a copy of the current operational orders. So despite this being a distraction from the main German advance a small force has been sent to rescue him. The British having seen the  plane go down have also sent a force to capture him hoping that a high value target may be useful in the future.

Setup for the scenario. Germans arriving from this side. 50% of each force must be deployed upto 8” on the table and are the only units which can activate on turn one. At the start of turn two the location of Von Bickle will be revealed at one of the 4 markers, neither side know his location at the start. Von Bickle must be captured and held till the end of turn six or a possible turn seven. The stream is only crossable on foot not by vehicle.

So onto the battle, not too many photos as I was trying to keep the Germans at bay !

The Brabourne Home Guard have been deployed as part of the British force

A Panzer I advances from the centre of the German line, but the cows seem uninterested

The British have an Armadillo truck armed with a Hodgkiss auto cannon to support their infantry

A squad of British infantry advance across the field, not sure yet where Von Bickle is hiding

Uninterested the cows continue to watch as the Germans advance towards the Storch

Turn 2 and Von Bickle shouts for help, turns out his was hiding near the blue delivery truck. The British rush on with two Bren Gun carriers

But now knowing the location of the Guppenfuhrer the Germans bring on their Pz II and more infantry

A British track mounted  oerlikon gun (we played this as an antitank rifle, but with more crew)

The carriers deploy need the Storch

British infantry move towards the farm, and one unit smashes their way into the farm building. But once in they draw a massive amount of German firepower pinning them down.

The Germans rush forward to rescue the gruppenfuhrer 

With time running out both forces concentrate on the area around the farm

The Germans rush to Von Bickle’s aid but then come under intense fire and he is abandoned again

Time is running out, but the British are struggling to make any headway out of the farm

Turn 6 and the only active German unit able to rescue Von Bickle is the commanding officer, they rush forward at the last moment, the British only have one chance, to activate the Brits in the farm building but they are heavily pinned down and fail to move. Lucky for the Germans there is no turn seven and Von Bickle is rescued. Another turn and they were outnumbered and would have struggled to hold. It has cost them dear but the Gruppenfuhrer is safe.

A good win for the Germans a scenario closely fought which went down to the last roll of the dice and would have been different (probably) if we had rolled for an extra turn. Jolly good fun and nice to get the Storch and the Oerlikon on the table for the first time 😀

Thanks for taking the time to look…more to come 

Matt