British Yanks vs, American GIs

Welcome back! I'm running a tad late on creating this post. This is an encounter that took place two weeks ago and can be described as a War Game's Exercise: British Tank Company vs an American Rifle Company.

I painted several Cromwell/ Firefly platoons a year ago and was eager to play them. I'm not too versed on tank vs. infantry tactics and Stephen is good at using his infantry. I knew this would be fun.

This is the table. The British are set to charge on the right and the Americans have dug in on the left side.

Here's a detailed pic of how the table looks from the American right flank. Great table Stephen!

What makes this table so exciting and challenging is the town on the American right flank, the river in the middle and effectively dividing the flanks and the British right flank that seemed a dream-come-true for a tank charge!

Follow the pics if you can!


Here's a close-up of what the field of battle looked like from the British Right Flank: Tanks set to charge.... And folks... these a 'fast' tanks. 16 inches cross-country. that's a lot faster than the normal 12 inch or heavy tank 8 inch crawl...



Here's a better, bird's eye view:

Do you see the 3 tank platoons? Each has a Firefly Sherman to support the charge of 3 Cromwell fast tanks. With the artillery to pin the infantry I was hoping for some carnage to be had!

Here's the view from an American Sherman (the American left flank)


And yes... do you see that Damn-Pesky Observation plane!!?? Trust me, it didn't last long: Stephen left it exposed and in range of my Mobile Bofors 40mm AA guns. Thank you Stephen!

IN the pic below Stephen is moving his White Company up and into the hill in the middle of his line. Look carefully and you can see that they advanced.
I have started advancing with the Cromwells and took some shots at the Shermans... mostly missing them. Boo! And the trucks on the bottom are carrying a lone platoon of British infantry meant to hold my vulnerable left flank. I mean... what else can I expect them to do!!?? They can hunker down in bullet proof cover for 6 turns... can't they last that long? I just needed them to last 6 turns while my tanks SMASHED the Yankee left flank!

Well that was the plan. I'm going to drop a few pics here and because it's late and I want to get this out there tonight I'll skip most of the blow-by-blow and let the pics speak for themselves.
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Well looks like the Cromwells got there.... behind the Yank left flank! But not without taking a few casualties. That's OK, I just needed to get to the objective, clear it and I'm a winner!



Ahhhh .... musn't forget... the PBI, well they ditched the trucks and hunkered down behind the bocage: the buildings, woods and fields in front of them crawling with Yankee GIs. THey were in defensive mode! Just Hold the Line boys!




WTF! WTF!! I said, "Hold the Line Boys." WTF ..... who gave the order to advance!? Those damn British tommies advanced into the Yankee town after several successful assaults! They literally wiped out a platoon without taking any casualties.



Oh Dear God! How did they get further!? Not dug in and another American platoon is advancing toward them. I guess my left flank will fail, ......



Ummm ... OK, this is one of those , "Holy Shit" moments. How did the lone British Infantry Platoon get to within contested area of an objective BEFORE the 3 tank companies on the other flank? The three tank companies who also had Bofors 40mm AA and 25 Pndr Artillery support!?

How does that happen? Stephen was a good sport as he watched wave after wave of American GIs assault the British Tommie and die under a hail of English lead and steel. I wonder what is happening with the tanks!?


What's happened is that they are lined up behind Yank lines and .... bogged down at a river crossing! They can't do much... if they separate those left behind will get decimated by an infantry charge. If I stay I'll get shot. ouch.

Lesson learned ... NEVER move tank companies into enemy lines without some infantry support.
And yes, my Company Commander is in that mess... so close but so far. Like Operation Market Garden at the start.



Somehow my Desert Rats Veterans are still holding out close to the objective although they are really taking a pounding at this point from the machine guns and point blank artillery fire. It's just a matter of time before the breath their last, and the way this game went... it's not the infantry who will support a tank assault, but the tanks who will support an infantry assault!


At this point I had set up the Bofors 40mm AA guns to come in and wipe out that pesky Yank heavy arms team holding my boys down.

But.. after moving and rolling the dice: they didn't get the kills and were shot to pieces by the yanks: well, they are just trucks....



And this is where it ended...... my tanks made a mad dash (tank assault) to the artillery, smashed a few aside and were on top of the objective!

I had to leave my Tank Company Commander stuck, bogged down in the river but if I could just clear away a few yankees I would win the game.

Unfortunately you can se in the above pic that the yankee infantry were ranged in to assault my vulnerable tanks, and since one of them was the Company Commander... well, that is pretty much the game when you play Desert Rats.

Stephen, great game. Awesome table, too.

I was stoked to play those tanks. I think I can get a feel for them and play them a lot better, but that's going to take a few games. In the meantime I'll be painting up some more infantry. ; )

SGT!