Ouch! Comment Commander Colonel_K might want to pour himself a stiff Bovril and take a seat before reading the following turn report. In the 25th minute of this nailbiting play-by-comment CMBO contest, the AI-controlled Germans positively savage the small human-orchestrated Tommy infantry force that’s approaching the gates of Nottingheim Castle from the south.
The British push is stymied by the unexpected appearance/involvement of two relatively potent enemy units. Circa T+8, a nine-man kraut security squad emerges from the greenery on the far side of the castle’s approach road. Their aggressive attitude and extra firepower (5 x Kar98k, 3 x MP 40, 1 x MG 42 LMG) quickly tip the skirmish scales in favour of the squareheads. First, Lieutenant Merry is felled by a flurry of incoming.
Later, Forester’s B team lose a man.
The situation deteriorates further when the 250/1 halftrack from the village, which has hurried to join the fun after losing sight of Corporal Whitehand, spots Englanders amongst the trees. By the time the clock hands halt, all of the British infantry units in the vicinity, with the exception of Captain Hood’s six-strong HQ, have been reduced to just two men.
Remarkably, the American component of Arrow Force gets through Turn 25 totally unscathed. Possibly because the enraged feline in the above screenshot can’t depress its gun low enough to target him properly, scared-stiff bazooka man, Corporal Lincoln, survives two point-blank shots.
Fellow tank hunter Corporal Whitehand also gets pummeled by a Panzer and lives to tell the tale. Before dashing downstairs, the airman with the pilfered Panzerschreck can’t resist a parting shot.
Disappointingly, the rocket detonates on the ground beneath the Pz IVJ.
Scouring the turn’s minute-long action movie for other notable events, I see…
…Sergeant Sherwood’s B team reducing the risk of wildfires with a volley of Bren and Lee-Enfield fire.
…the two halves of Sergeant Greenwood’s squad rendezvousing in the cramped, brass-strewn interior of Fletcher’s eager-to-be-on-its-way halftrack.
…Costner breaking contact with the King Tiger while said behemoth turns 180 degrees and begins to tortoise eastward.
…Sergeant Pyle’s Sherman short hunting expedition come to naught.
…Carlson crossing paths with a retreating remnant.
…and, in the final seconds of the sixty, ‘friendly’ 25-pounder rounds exploding close to Allied units and the Panzer IV (The above image is a composite).
The situation at the start of Turn 26:
