The Next Day Somewhere in Europe (One Hour Skirmish Wargames)

 "You boys did good. I 've got another assignment for you. A German officer was driving on a road a few miles from here and was shot up by one of our flyboys. He was traveling alone, no escort, and at a high rate of speed - that's raised some questions. Someone up top thinks he might have had plans or a codes or something of value and they want to take a look Gather up your stuff and head out. Find the wreck, search it and get back as fast as you can. We think the Jerry's are already on their way."

US approach from the bottom. Germans at the top. The smoking wreck on the bridge.

Jerry gets there first. Meanwhile the US sniper, Pvt. Leupold dropped the German LMG assistant.

Sarge runs to engage him and drops the German in his tracks. After rummaging around in the wreck, Sarge recovered a satchel with a code book and plans.  

Feldwebel Arnold wasn't about to let the Yanks get away unscathed. He burst out of the trees spraying bullets. Sarge tried to use the kubelwagen as cover, but to no avail.

Leupold silenced the German LMG, Cpl. Baker ordered the rest of the squad to advance. Pvt. Austin ran up to recover Sarge and the satchel.

The US BAR gunner crossed the river, flanked the Germans, but was killed before he could do any damage.

Another shootout on the bridge as Baker and Arnold exchange. This one goes in favor of the Yanks.

.

Arnold is only lightly wounded but recovers with just enough time to see the Americans fade into the trees.

"Well done, men. I know it was costly. Sarge was a good man. But that satchel you brought back is going to save hundreds, maybe thousands, of lives."

*****

The BAR gunner was killed outright - there's no coming back from close combat casualty. I drew a card for Sarge after the battle, and he came up red (red is dead).

Our little group just got a little smaller. They started the mission with seven men and finished with five.

Here they are so far

• Pvt Leupold - Deadshot(2), Sniper rifle, working class, political, inexperienced, 
• Pvt. Punch - Brawler(1), M1,straight out of school, joined up because it's a family tradition, 
• Pvt. Austin - Inspiring (redraw any 1 resolution card) M1, farm hand, looking for adventure
• BAR
• “Sarge”, Sgt. Vinny Sergente Pistol (rifle too), Motivator, Entertainer - the 2nd most famous Italian guitar player in South Philadelphia, patriotism, battle hardened, Leader (3)
• Pvt. - M1
• Sgt. Baker - (Leader 2), SMG, farm boy fighting for the folks back home (little brothers and mom's apple pie)
• M1

Pvt. Austin didn't have a name, but I needed one for the narrative, so he earned his. He got Austin because he's Stone Cold. 

Squads in Five Men in Normandy earn a new skill after each mission. I gave Austin the Inspiring trait from One Hour Skirmish Wargames since he recovered Sarge from the bridge.

The final unnamed Private will earn his name next mission.

For the record, the Germans had 6 men - 1 SMG, 3 Rifles, 1 LMG assistant, 1 LMG, and four of them were KIA.

This mission was generated using the campaign rules from Five Men in Normandy. Normally they'd have had time to rest, but the event they rolled was no rest and an immediate mission. The mission was randomly generated. It took me a bit to come up with something for them to retrieve. I think it had a suitably comic book / adventure movie theme.