The Comment Commanders’ confidence in the abilities of their artillery spotter and off-map 25-pounder battery is a tad scary. With the finish line of this eight month-long co-op Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord marathon a mere two turns/minutes away, and victory seemingly assured, they choose to launch four rounds of British-made 88mm HE into the midst of a dinky German hamlet alive with Allied vehicles and men!

Apart from a couple of bursts of sketchy MP 40 fire in the first ten seconds of the turn, the flow of violence is all one way in Bounce the Bogen’s thirty-third instalment. As British and American forces surge towards the village, the handful of enemy units that haven’t surrendered or ceased to exist, scamper for the eastern map edge.

When the clock froze at the end of Turn 31, Captain Hood was in deep trouble. Alone, short of ammo, and battling – at close range – a remarkably feisty/deadly two-man platoon HQ, his chances of surviving Turn 32 seemed slim. Read on to find out if Robin perishes among the pine needles, or is saved by a frantic pincer attack mounted by Sergeant Venison and Corporal Moorehead.

If the Bogen bouncers finish this 35-turn scenario in possession of the castle, the village, and the bridges, then they will have ample reason to celebrate. However, if the situation in the woods south-east of the castle doesn’t improve PDQ, those celebrations may be somewhat muted.

In WEGO Combat Mission sometimes you need to watch a turn replay several times in order to catch every incident and nuance. Turn 30 was one of those turns. Unexpected encounters, narrow escapes, KOed vehicles, ricochets, near misses, routs, casualties… the following report has a bit of everything.