I had two of my gaming mates over for another AVBCW game the other day. Colin defended with the Socialist Workers, whilst Henry and I attacked with the BUF/Royalist (aided by a German contingent).
NOVEMBER 1938
Elements of the Social Workers Army have been carrying out harassing raids against the British Union of Fascist and Government forces in this area.
One such raiding force has been tracked down to the village of Nether Wallop, and a two-pronged assault has been launched against them. Support by regular German Legion forces, the BUF militia have been ordered to clear the “Reds” out of the village.
Warned by local sympathisers of the coming assault the SWA column have sent out a desperate plea for help to their comrades and reinforcements is on its way.
The BUF and German Legion deploy along the Southern table edge within 40cm of the SW corner. The other Royalist militia deploy anywhere along the Western table edge.
The SWA reinforcements enter along the Northern table edge in turn 3.
The table viewed from the South. The Germans and BUF would enter from the SW corner and the rest of the Royalists along the West edge.
The view from the North. The Socialist reinforcements would enter along this side.
Socialist forces deployed in the village.
The Germans advance on the flank, led by their armour. Their job was to clear the hedgerows to the South of the village, then swing around behind the village whilst the Royal militia launched a frontal assault. I decided to play aggressively with these guys, assuming they were battle hardened veterans of the Spanish conflict. I rushed them up close using the armour to cover the infantry moving forward, until they were near enough to close assault in the next initiative phase. It was a bit of a gamble as I knew the Socialists had some anti-tank assault teams (nutters with bundles of dynamite), which would have made a mess of my puny Panzer Is and IIs, but luckily they were deployed in the village itself. To the right you can see the BUF militia who have just dismounted from their horses behind the hedge.
Royalist militia advancing, supported by a couple of Vickers Mk II tanks. The nearest unit is made up of police volunteers.
The Socialist reinforcements arrive and debus. They are supported by two horse-draw 75mm howitzers and two Vickers type E tanks, armed with 47mm cannon. Seeing some of the Royalist militia strung out in the open was too much for Colin, who stopped to try and catch them in the flank instead of pressing on to relieve the village.
Seeing the mass of Reds on their flank, the Royalist militia frantically try to get into cover behind the hedge.
Trying to block the advance of the Socialists the Royalist armoured cars allow the infantry to get too close and are charged in the flank. Now you see him.....
....and now you don't. Henry learned the hard way that armoured cars are not suited to taking infantry on at close quarters.
The Germans start to turn the flank. having taken out the militia immediately in front of them, the German infantry are about to jump the hedge and start to roll up the defenders. Just behind the tanks you can see the BUF who have moved up in support. Unfortunately I now failed to activate them for about 4 turns which allows them to be whittled away by flanking fire from the defenders in the village. Still while they were potting the Blackshirts they were not shooting at the Germans, who turned out to be the real threat.
Blunder! A Socialist machine gun and an infantry unit rush out into the open. Colin made the foolish comment that we hadn't had any blunders at lunchtime, he should know better. I think he proceeded to roll half a dozen during the afternoon!
The Germans press on, once they had taken out the last two stands the path was clear to get in position behind the village defenders. Most of the Socialists in the buildings were occupied fighting off a frontal attack by the Royalist militia so unable to respond to the Nazi threat.
In the meantime, the Reds reinforcements were effectively pinned down close to the Northern edge, engaged in ineffective long range sniping with the Royalist tanks and their supporting infantry.
The end is nigh! German infantry enter the village, storming the first house. The BUF had finally got going and just stormed the house immediately to the German's left. In the right of the picture you can see the front track of one of the Panzer IIs, who are about to swing around behind the church and pour fire into the defenders.
By the end of the next turn the Socialists were down to 1 stand left in the village and had exceeded their break point, so we called it a day with a Royalist victory. The two deciding factors were probably my aggressive use of the Germans with their light armour and Colin's decision to attack the flank of the Royalist line rather than pressing on to support the garrison in the village. It was very tempting when he caught Henry's militia in the open, but after inflicting a few casualties initially, they didn't play any significant role in the rest of the battle. Of course not helped by all the blunders Colin rolled in the later stages of the game!
