The block of Union Jack wavers to the left of my commentary box lets out three mighty groans during the course of Turn 5. The first occurs at T+32 when the British Crusader sends a 57mm AP round sailing over the head of an unbuttoned armoured car commander. The second and third occur at T+41 and T+52 respectively.
The PSW 232 appears in the vicinity of F9 roughly mid-way through the turn. Moving steadily southward, it is quickly noticed and engaged by Team GB’s stationary cruiser tank. Judging by the fact that the German AFV keeps coming and doesn’t sprout a reciprocal targeting line after the unsuccessful attack, it has no idea it has just had a near death experience. Maybe the Crusader will get a second chance.
It does. At T+41, just as the 8×8 veers in the direction of the mosque, the Crusader spits another high-velocity hull holer. British fans grimace and groan as the round clips the top of the slope between the village and the target. Surely now the assailed must spot the assailer and respond in kind?
Nope. Amazingly, the PSW continues on its merry way affording the British tank one more go. Eight seconds before the clock stops, the Crusader gunner tries for a third time to hit his mark. Once again his aim is too low, and Tommy fans and orchestrators shake their heads in pained disbelief.
At T+60 the British Crusader still has eyes on the AC…
…unlike the ATR team, which held fire this turn possibly due to a shortish target arc. If the AC continues moving in a southerly or south-westerly direction and that arc is removed or extended, then LoS tests suggest the Boys boys could engage the AC if/when it reaches row 14.
Engine noises suggest there is a southbound enemy vehicle, probably (?) the halftrack, circa D8.
The HQ is out-of-contact with three of its squads/half-squads, and the majority of British infantry are beginning to puff and wheeze. Having had a cursory look around, the pilot is fairly confident his bolt-hole isn’t about to be rushed by Jerries.
To be frank, the Francophiles in the stadium didn’t have much to cheer about this turn, either.
In the French arena, the ATR team waited patiently for the PSW to trundle into view. Unhelpfully, it refused to, apparently halting while a fellow AFV (presumably the Panzer) advanced, effectively unobserved, along column F with infantry close at hand.
Could the ATR team get a shot at the Panzer in the opening seconds of Turn 6? Possibly, assuming the tank keeps rolling.
Here’s two somewhat safer predictions. Soon after the clock restarts jackboot wearers will take possession of the ‘L’ of palm trees SE of the mosque, and the building at G17 (The French pilot may have quit his hiding place in the nick of time!)
The most unexpected development in Turn 5 has to be the revival of the spooked French Bren Gun Carrier. Halfway into the turn, the dinky APC regains sufficient composure to execute the move order it abandoned when clobbered by the PSW.
The French situation at the start of Turn 6:
On the one hand, not my favorite turn. On the other: we know that hill slope will protect our advancing troops even if they come under some fire.
Hitting a target at 450m is pretty hard, so that leads me to think we should still be extra cautious about plinking the PSW with our AT rifle. Our gunner has 70 rounds left, so hopefully in the next 20-30 seconds we’ll stop having to worry about our agile little friend.
What really makes this a good turn is that none of our infantry have come under fire, indirect or otherwise. It’s a shame they are tiring, but clearly resting them this turn is necessary if they’re going to be able to rush forward in a couple minutes.
I do not love that our HQ isn’t in contact with the troops, so I’m going to be moving them forward soon.
@Tim: Can you give me more details on which troops are tired, and how much? I believe at Tired they can’t FAST anymore, which is pretty critical to the next few bounds.
Amongst your squads and half-squads, only the one about to dash across the north-south highway is ‘fit’. The rest are ‘tiring’ – one step away from ‘tired’.
Dreadful gunnery from the Crusader, but surely the man doing the aiming must be nearly dialed in. … fourth time lucky?
I don’t expect that the Krauts will continue to fail to notice the large armored fighting vehicle shooting at them for very much longer. Do you think the infantry will be beneath the hill this 60? If so, maybe I reposition the Crusader to keep the Germans from converging on it, and/or to provide a better angle to support the advance into the town.
There was some talk about moving the ATR team up with the infantry. Still want to bring them along for a bit of AT punch closer to the action? I’d feel much better about it if we can nail the armored car in the upcoming minute—then we’re very nearly even on material.
I wonder if the mortar team ought to scoot out from behind the building a bit? If the HQ is moving forward, indirect fire will almost certainly be a possibility once the infantry makes contact, but in the interim, it might be nice for the mortarmen to direct their own fire.
I’m going to run the troops from behind the house to the hill. They might not get there this 60, but definitely by 90 or so.
Everyone else in the platoon needs to stay put and potentially hide, except the hq which needs to get closer. They’re all tiring and they’ll need to be ready or rested to sprint their way across the open terrain.
Covering fire from the tank appreciated. We might want to work the mortar up closer too since I believe it only has a 400m range or so. But until we knock out that scout car we need to err on the side of staying in cover and being hidden. Our moment to surprise our foes at closer range is coming.
LA DISCUSSION FRANÇAISE:
I would say a good turn, all things considered! Very happy that our pilot made it out of his death box in time, and that our Bren took a glug of cognac and found a (VSOP) reserve of courage. With the infantry advancing and the Bren in place, I’d say it’s high time our unarmed friend dashed down the hill into the awaiting allied arms.
No target for the ATR was a bit annoying, but surely something has to pop out of the palmwork this turn. Possibly even two vehicles, which is a mild cause for concern if we have to engage both at once. I know Gobser will be staunchly against this idea, but I am tempted to bring the Crusader out for a shoot and scoot again. It wasn’t spotted on its first manouevre, so they don’t know it’s there. And this could be a golden opportunity to provide some cover for the ATR, split attention, and (again, possibly) have a chance to take out two of the rolling krauts.
Also I am reserving The Rolling Krauts as a name for my future electropunk band
If it okay, I will live the Carrier where it is for now to allow the gunner that is crewing it solo to recover a little bit.
I am a little bit attracted to the idea of redeploying the mortar to a place where it will be able to have its own LoS, but I will stay conservative for now
@Tim TURN ORDER FR Mortars and Bren Carrier.
Mortars and the Bren Carrier are to stay put. Hopefully a minute or so of rest will allow the Carrier Guy to collect himself even more
@Tim FRENCH F3 ORDER:
Both ATR and Crusader to maintain their target arc.
Crusader: SHOOT C24 and SCOOT C27, as on turn 4
ATR: Not sure if it listened to the hide order from last turn and is now prone, but if so, please return him to a position where he can see and fire over the wall. I’m not sure of the exact order required for this.
@Tim GB4 order here:
Pilot to evacuate house and hug the wall until at the south of the house, if time left and no enemies spotted, leg it as fast as possible south and use those trees at H21 and 22 as cover.
@Tim GREAT BRITAIN GB3 ORDER:
ATR: unhide while staying in the building, retaining a target arc of 180 degrees, north to H24.
Crusader: TARGET the armored car.
It’s getting risky parking in one place, but I really want to nail that 20mm-slinger before it can sling 20mm at the infantry.
@Tim BRITISH GB2 ORDER:
Please MOVE BREN BOYS about 6-7 metres North-East (to the outside South-East corner of M32) and then MOVE North, hugging along the Eastern side of the wall to the outside corner of M28, ultimately with the plan of ending up with the forward hull facing North, flush with the end of the wall to its left at M28 (they should get about half-way along the wall this turn but I don’t want to go at full speed yet). As for BALDRICK (mortar) – since the word is HQ is planning to advance to the hill – we will try to stay in-contact by running Balders off his Olympic starting blocks and sprinting FAST North, crashing through the Villa (knocking over tables, smashing hookah pipes and scattering papers as he goes) bursting and emerging outside again and finishing up at the Southerly side of the wall (in the Villa Demesne) to HIDE at K28 and set-up his own mortar-y “pipe shop” there behind the wall. Good luck everyone!
GB 1 ORDER
HQ FAST and HIDE to K28 along the wall
Half squad about to run to I25 and hide, carry on (let’s hope they don’t exhaust on the way)
Half squad about to run to F26 or so and hide, carry on
Squads advancing to the wall and hiding, carry on
Hiding squad behind the house at H33, face north and unhide
@Tim French pilot F4 order:
Would like to move south-east to that cluster of trees down the slope then hunker down, please.