The Battle for Petham : Operation Sealion

This past weekend we revisited my Operation Sealion campaign.

The Germans are driving north towards Canterbury on day Two. With the Germans advancing in multiple directions the British defenders are spread thin, they have called out Home Guard units as well as any locals armed with weapons. It is hoped these advocates forces can slow the advance to allow the regular army to plug the gaps. As the Germans drive their Panzers north along the old Roman road towards Canterbury a reconnaissance force has been sent to the village of Petham to outflank and potential roadblocks on the main road.

In this scenario, the British Homeguard could be setup in advance together with two roadblocks and 4 sections of barbed wire anywhere up to half way across the battlefield. The Germans and regular British would arrive in three waves.

The germans advance towards Petham with German mountain troops released from their assault along the coast on day one. These are supported by several light armoured vehicles

..they are also supported by German air power !, this targets some of the homeguard caught out in the open

The defenders at the back of the village

Armoured vehicles and Motorbike machine gun teams

A unit of local miners have been left to hold the barricade on the main road !

The second wave of German infantry advances onto the table

The Gebirgsjager have pushed forward into the village while the armoured cars pour fire onto the defenders behind the barricade here

The British second wave includes some much needed armour…oh and the Beaverette !

British infantry move into the village from the north 

But moving up the main road the German Panzers arrive

German support attempts to knock out the Matilda with no luck

Some of the home guard have pulled back into the orchards north of the village

Yet more German infantry comes in on the main road

But the Matilda is a hard nut to crack and the Miners are holding on tenaciously

Little activity in the centre where the British have set out some of the barbed wire

The Germans are now pushing into the village

The germans using a side road to try and get past the British artillery in the orchard

Eventually the Matilda is immobilised and the leading German tank drives up to the barricade to crash through it, i should up to this point the British had been pretty unlucky with their dice rolling

And then a single Bren gunner managed to hit and destroy the Stuka 😢 

The Gebirgsjager rush the defenders of the post office, this was the second attempt to take the PO by storm, the British must have had a few good dice 

The Germans have now dismantled the barricade on the main road, and broken through the miners

They are also holding the village having secured the majority of the buildings except for the one beyond the Y junction

There were still plenty of defenders especially behind the village and in the orchard, but at this point we declared it as a minor victory for the Germans. As their objective was to break through.

A campaign that seems to keep on giving fun and entertaining battles, as long as we don’t focus too hard on the objectives. A great day gaming ……

During the week I also headed over to the NE for a Barbarossa game with Martin using rapid fire. Lots of fun and fairly simple rules to get your head around…..I’m wondering if they would work with my 15mm stuff ? We’ll see if I can pick up a copy sometime.

That’s it for now thanks for checking in, a return to Chain of command tomorrow and hopefully a big peninsular battle at the weekend.

Matt ❤️