On 15th May, 1940, the 1ère Division Légère Mécanique, then deployed in the Netherlands, with little success, received the order to rush to the Sambre to stop the panzers advance from the Meuse. General Picard, commanding the 1ère DLM, arrived to find a “fine mess”. His leading elements obtained contact early in the morning of 17th, however the Somua S35, his strongest tanks, were unable to get into action providing little results by the end of the day. However, Picard planned a large counterattack for the day after, mustering both task forces of his division, each with a tank regiment. The 18ème Dragons under Colonel de Beauchesnes initiated a reconnaissance toward the Sambre with part of Capitaine d’Ussel’s squadron and some motorcyclists. The captain received the order “not to rush in, but to reconnoitre” and to bring his tanks back for the counterattack... Formerly released as VV75 "Un Beau Petrin..."
Attacker: French (Elements 4th RDP & 18th RDP, 1st DLM)
Defender: German (Elements 6th Schutzen Regt & 25th Panzer Regt, 7th Panzer Division)
Played the French in this one. The setup of my opponent was rather up front and he made some daring moves to shift some troops - and paid for it. I malfed the MA of one of the Soumas, but it was this tank who caused most damage nevertheless: Driving through (but not overrunning) an AT-Gun position and getting behind the central building atop the hill, it re-DM'ed broken Germans and forced them to rout out of place. And that's what it kept doing trundling after the retreating Germans. As a consequence, the Germans were lacking some Good Order boots where it mattered.
When I could assault the hill in force, taking various prisoners, one ATG crew captured, the unpossessed Gun to be captured in CC and subsequently to be destoyed, the other ATG about to be engaged in 2:1 CC, etc. pp., all French tanks still up, my opponent conceded.
2023-11-03
(A) Will Willow
vs
Christian Herde
A
French win
Grenadier 2023
2023-10-30
(A) Richard Jenulis
vs
Dennis Hess
French win
A close game that came down to the last turn when a Shocked AFV came back and took out his Pz38 nemesis for the game winning point on the German half of turn six. The French ended the game with 2 VP of prisoners, 3 VP buildings, 1 VP AT Gun and 1 VP vehicle. The outcome was uncertain until the end.
2023-10-14
(A) Eric Partizan Eric
vs
French win
2023-10-07
(A) Will Willow
vs
Fred Schwarz
French win
ASLOK
2022-06-01
(A) Eric Partizan Eric
vs
Osman
German win
2022-03-26
(A) Pascal Boileau
vs
Philippe Briaux
German win
A challenging scenario for the French side. With 2 Somuas immobilized and one destroyed at mid-game it was even more challenging.. Philippe with the German side mastered the playing from the first to the last turn. Thanks to him for this instructive game for me !
2021-11-13
(D) Will Willow
vs
R. Reinesch
German win
A dicing NTSO
2021-11-06
(D) Rich Weiley
vs
Dave Wilson
German win
Paddington Bearz - November meeting, peculiar scenario given the victory conditions, still not sure what to make of it. Lumped most of the German infantry and the ATGs in the woods on the tight of the Level 1 hill. Seemed the safest way as any sort of forward defence risked isolation and destruction in detail, handing the French easy victory points. The Somua's were almost impossible to deal with as expected. I was incredibly lucky and managed to shock one with ATG, which was then KO'ed on the subsequent Shock resolution rolls. The other ATG and the light mortar each managed to immobilise a tank . Unfortunately in positions which still allowed them to play a major part in the battle, particularly in preventing my tanks to get into his backfield.
What to do with the German tanks was the most frustrating part of this puzzle. I finally decided to drive two onto board 14 to distract his remaining mobile armour and the third went up the right to help defend the two victory buildings at the foot of the hill. This worked too well as I figured having broken up the French AFV platoons the remaining two mobile tanks would have to fail a non-platoon movement task check at some stage, Well they didn't and they eventually managed to hunt down and kill one 38t.
Final result was the German fell short by one point, taking three buildings , capturing 1 halfsquad and destroying 2 tanks (the second falling to a pointblank LMG shot through the front (snakes required). Very lucky to get away this in retrospect as at one stage I had a malfunctioned ATG which I rolled to repair several times(eventually successfully) but disabling it would have given him the seventh point he needed for victory!
As an aside this was by first Face to Face game since June, following Sydney's latest COVID lockdown, It was great to get back to Paddo RSL, roll some real dice, fumble around in counter trays, knock back a couple of pale ales and see some familiar (and new) faces.
2020-12-12
(A) Ric Hammond
vs
Fen Yan
Draw
2020-10-09
(D) Jason Wert
vs
Rich Jenulis
German win
vASLOK 2020
2020-10-08
(A) Richard Jenulis
vs
Jason Wert
German win
vASLOK 2020 open play
2020-04-17
(D) Paul Works
vs
Nathan Wegener
French win
Nathan moved his tanks independently to crack my defensive line. I had some of my troops too far out front where they could not rout effectively, especially with five S35s roaming around to block those routes and that hurt me. Good play by him! My 37L AT Guns got a lot of hits, but none in hull - so I always had a 3 final To Kill number. I just never got one. I drove all my Pz38s on to try to kill one of his tanks, but again could not get a hull hit to get a decent TK #. I did end up destroying two tanks in CC, and had a chance for a third kill to win the game with another CC attack. I needed a 5 to get the tank... and did not get it.
2020-04-17
(A) nathan wegener
vs
Paul Works
French win
Steady assault aided by the Germans dicing themselves early on meant the French had plenty of VP. One German squad pegged a couple tanks over the course of 3 turns so it was down to keeping the last 3 Suomas alive. One lost its MA and mg and was immob by a turn 5 CC but the offending Kraut squad was driven off by a sudden surge of leadership (7-0) in a self rally squad which charged over and busted him. The second Suoma took out the last Pz38 (with functioning MA) and the 3rd Suoma (also with busted MA) managed to survive 2 last 1/2 turn CC attacks by the charging Germans. Tight game good fun with swirling attacks.
2020-04-02
(D) X von Marwitz
vs
Lars-Peder Jensen
German win
1940 Western front action that pits German defenders vs 5 French S-45 Souma tanks supported by infantry. The Germans initially have 2x Pak 35/36, a 50mm MTR and 2x ATR to fend them off. Later, 3x Pz38(t)A arrive. The stuggle against these tanks is one of the main excitements of this scenario. As the German you know, that your chances are slim to affect them - but you have to keep trying. As there is a 'sudden death' victory condition if 3 of the French tanks die, this will keep the French on their toes. Fun to play!
In the end, my Germans managed to win by knocking out 3 French tanks. The last of these moved up to a Pz38(t)A and parked there at double point blank range with his frontal AF6 and 47Gun (TK12 at that range) against my frontal AF3 and 37L gun (TK10 at that range). My tankers went white with fear, but fired as hell, keeping ROF two times and getting Multiple hits on the third shot. They hit every time, the shells bouncing off. The Multiple Hit did the trick finally killed the tank...
2020-03-20
(A) Dave Mareske
vs
Dan Plachta
German win
A steady French attack achieved the necessary victory points, but lost my third tank on the last turn. Want to try this one again.
2020-02-01
(D) David Yllanes
vs
Ray V.
German win
I gambled with an aggressive placement of my AT guns and it worked out. The French lost two tanks early and my Germans were able to mount a very solid defence of tbe hill.
2020-01-24
(D) Paolo Cariolato
vs
Federico Corso
German win
My opponente broke 2 somua MA at the First shots, then both disabled and recalled. Then boldly advanced adiacent to my GUN MG and Mortar. It almost paid off because of impenetrabile armor.
2019-12-05
(D) Michael Rodgers
vs
Chris Meyer
German win
The French player was overly cautious.
2019-08-02
(D) Richard Jenulis
vs
Bill Owen
French win
The tides turned often in this scenario. I liked that this scenario challenges the way players usually approach the game. Instead of looking for ways to eliminate for failure to rout, the French need to set capture traps. Came down to the last CC phase. Definitely would play this scenario again.