The Germans clustered the pillboxes against the pond in the center so there was no approach outside of any CA. The Canadian MTR and captured AT gun failed to get smoke on the first turn, making any approach hazardous. The attack was pressed on one side with the defenders having good luck. However, a few Canadians managed to get through the residual and FL so they could enter CC at favorable odds. Once one pillbox was breached, the remaining pillboxes had little recourse. We made a few mistakes on pillbox rules which may have swayed the result. Overall, well played by both sides. A fun short, albeit somewhat one sided scenario.
The Canadians depleted smoke on both the 51 MTR and captured 75L AT Gun in their first shots and initially bungled their close approach to the German's tight-knit bunker system, but eventually pushed through to engage in CC with each of the bunker occupants without having to cross the bunker CAs. The Germans severely bruised the Canadians with an effective fire lane and other residual and, although the Canadians prevailed in all CCs, several were achieved through a mutual misinterpretation of ambush rules in the Canadians favor, so a draw best captures this neat little scrap. A good primer on Pillboxes.
The Canadians missed the victory by a turn. The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry eliminated all but one German squad, but was only controlling one Pillbox at the end of turn 4. The Pak 40 performed poorly being broken on turn 2 (B#10 and TH Red numbers and +2 TH DRM for a capured Ordnance) The Canucks were unable to repair the PAK 40 the squad manning it broked and had to rout. Fortunately the 51 mm Mortar layed some SMOKE to cover the attack. The Canadians were lucky with 3 SAN resulting ine three broken squads that were easily defeated in CC thereafter and they also rolled 2 Heat of Battle resulting in a Hero Creation and a Berserk squad that eliminated a 8-0 and a squad in CC. With another movement phase the Canadians would have controlled 4 Pillboxes but instead they only were controlling one Pillbox at game's end resulting in a German Win.
Canadians were able to RoF smoke between the gun and the MTR to mask all the pillbox approaches on the first turn. Germans could not do anything for two turns. Perhaps if the Canadians did not have the option to move in behind the pillboxes from offboard to the east/west it would be easier to have more opportunities to defend as the Germans by not having to cover so many approaches.
This one seems to hinge entirely on how successful the Canadians are with smoke on the early turns.
This one seems to hinge entirely on how successful the Canadians are with smoke on the early turns.