The Bridges of Blastoff County

Well one bridge really.

In an effort to further test Hammer of Democracy, I set out a classic scenario layout. Some cover was added - after all, this is the age of the automatic machine gun. 

Both sides have a platoon with an MG in support and I would be using the Support rules this time to try them out. Basically, it's a 2nd die, rolled when you roll for your command points that turn. The Support die gives you points you can spend to fire support options in either in an offensive or defensive capacity, based on what's going on with friendly units within 12".

The US is on the bottom edge of the picture. The Germans would enter as blinds - 5 for infantry (2 blanks) and 2 for the MG (1 blank). 

The Allies are the attacker in scenarios set in the late war, so the US went first. They rolled poorly for their command roll and just two units entered the table.

The river is from Pegasus Models. I've seen it used by others and like the look of it. Due to the banks, it's a little too wide for the Airfix bridge, so some of my old balsa river runs under the bridge.

Here they are again, just because I like how it looked.

The US sends two squads across the river, while one advances, intent on reaching the house. Not shown, the MG opened fire on the house as the Germans had a blind in there. It turned out the MG team was firing at shadows.

A view on the opposite side of the river.

An actual German squad reached the farm house, and the US squad moved up to the stone wall to engage them in a firefight - planning to assault the building once the enemy was softened up. The MG provided effective support fire.

 On the other side of the river, the a blind in the woods turns out to be a German MG. It viciously poured fire into the lead American squad. That was followed by fire from a German squad which took the hill.

e

Both the Germans in the farm house and the US squad by the wall were suffering losses of morale and men, but then the final German squad appeared and caught the Americans in a crossfire. They were done for.

Meanwhile, the German machine gunners had a field day mowing down US troops on their side of the river.

 

 

With two squads down, the US platoon leader ordered the remaining squad and MG to fall back. It was a decisive German victory.

I am quite pleased with the look of the thing. Except the bridge. After many years in its natural plastic state, I finally feel like maybe I should give it a paint job. So that's next on the to do list.

******

The support rules are interesting and worked quite well to make the MG feel like I was using it as a support weapon. Next time, I'll use the support points for calling in off-table mortars as well. Maybe I'll give the US a mortar on table, too, just for variety.

Like many solo gamers, I've used blinds before. In this particular instance, the blinds worked great. 

Indeed, the fact that they Germans essentially held a squad back in reserve (unbeknownst to me) was a better approach (randomly determined though it was) than my own. Because I didn't know what each blind was (real or blank), I was aggressive with their squads, while I was perhaps too concerned about preserving my squads before committing them to any assault.

The end result was that I hesitated to try and take the hill because the Germans had moved up two blinds to the opposite side. In the end, those blinds would turn out to be blanks, and I had lost the opportunity to capture the hill.