The airborne landings on the map had placed some of Major Stenzler's 2nd Battalion (1st Sturm Regiment) in the valley south of the coastal village of Platanias, unfortunately, on top of an outpost from the NZ Maori battalion billeted at the village and within distance of reserves reaching them from the village. So, this fight would be another Airlanding scenario, with my elite FJ hitting the ground to face veteran Maori infantry, reinforced by a Matilda (one of two hidden somewhere on the map), and local Cretan partisans, now out in force hunting down the invaders. From GoogleEarth, we could see it was very green, heavily olive-groved, and the stream (irrigation channel) was heavily overgrown with bamboo(-like) reeds. We set the game at 400 points, both with some reserves to move on in later turns after the landings (we judge this from the campaign map).
After the defenders had deployed, with not many units, but it did include a FO team on the hillside, talking back to the battery in the hills above them, and a Maori patrol on ambush fire (after watching the JU-52s stream overhead), we placed objectives (drop canisters) and the FJ could begin to jump on to the table. First in, the platoon HQ, which was immediately lost, wiped out to the man before hitting the ground, and thus result in me losing my 1(1) officer and pulling a 5 BR counter (terrible start!). So 0 officers now, and a D6 command points, this would be wild!
The other squads landed, lost a few men and were all pinned - scrambling for their weapon canisters and ammo. Turn 1 for the defenders. Well, with 3 orders, they just radio'd up their guns and fired into the olive groves, resulting in a direct hit wiping out an MG-34 team... the counters were mounting fast for the Germans. Terrible start continued.
Turn 2, and more FJ drifted down, one squad landing perfectly and quickly getting the Maori patrol under fire and pinned in the reeds by the stream. One MG-34 had landed almost on an objective and thus claimed it. First counter to the defenders. Turn 2 for the defenders was the same as 1, more off-table artillery fire, which didn't do much damage, but the Maoris got unpinned.
Turn 2 saw the first reserves arrive, an extra FJ squad moved on from the east, with a sniper team and the MG-34 schwere-MG team and their loaders. Again, orders were very limited (2) so not much got done, a bit more rifle fire and the sMG team got into place. The rifle fire pinned the Maori patrol again.
Turn 3, and first few of the defender's reserves arrived, Cretan locals, out for blood, but the rest of the Maori platoon had either got lost, or got caught up fighting other paratroopers closeby. The FJ final rolled well for orders (a 5 - wow!), and scurried about, got to some objectives and got other units on ambush fire (the HMG mainly). As the resrves trickled in, one Maori squad walked right into the HMG team. Spliting off their Bren team, which tried to get the HMG pinned, the others went for a bold close assault. That involved rushing a HMG and loader team on ambush fire - crazy! Well, it got messy. The HMG ambush fire failed it first spot to see the maoris coming through the undergrowth (they were in an area of broken ground), but then saw them and the ensuing bursts killed 5. 2 men made the assault, and killed 3 FJ (lost the loader team) and only another 1 was lost in the close fighting as grenades were thrown and bayonet's fixed. Savage stuff. 1 Maori was left, but passed his morale test - nutter. The HMG team was pinned... eek! Meanwhile, the Cretan partisans had found another MG team and took it out too... it was getting messy.
Following this, a timed Bf-109 strike swooped down to bomb the bridge but failed to have any impact (beyond 'under air attack' giving them a counter), and the first Maori patrol, now unpinned, moved out to claim an objective canister. They would play for that, as MG and rifle fire cut them down next turn, leaving just their Bren team to return fire (it had split off earlier). Behind them, the rumble of a tank engine approached as the Matilda rolled in, down the slope towards the stream bridge.
Desperate times for the FJ, whose excellent BR (elite) was keeping them going. The sniper pinned Cretan partisans with suppressing fire, as they tried to close assault another rifle team,who opened up an PB range and wiped the locals out... revenge. This was feeling like jungle fighting against banzai-Cretans and Maoris. The Matilda used its sole co-ax to no good result, but was then hit by a 37mm AP round, again from ambush. It pinned the very surprised crew.
Then and fight with the HMG crew and single Maori resumed, as he assaulted again, tossed his grenades and wiped them out - a hero! Another Cretan squad had moved up and assulted another rfile squad, which had been prone and pinned most of the game, the resulting fight was a draw, 3 losses each, but both were elite troops and re-rolled their morale, so no pins, and try again next turn. As Brens roared and MG-34s (the few left) returned fire, it was these Cretan mad-men that won the day, another close assault saw them take-out the rifle squad and with that, the FJ BR was broken. The landings here had been defeated, and the survivors would have to pullback (on the map) to regroup in the hills. There would no quick rush to Platanias... or to overrun the artillery battery in the hills above (just off this tabletop).
Much fun, it was a jungle-fight, but weirdly, with an airborne landing at the same time! These games are so random and so much fun, who knows what will happen? It's wild, with very random orders... but this ends our Campaign Turn 2, so on to Turn 3, (around midday on Day 1 of the landings). I need to mount a serious attack on the airfield and Hill 107, because without taking them, the operation is doomed. That will be my focus, all out effort on those two, the action at Platanias is a distraction (literally).
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| NZ Maori patrol, in the reeds, getting pinned. |
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| MG-34 team set-up after their landing, crawling through the olive trees, to try to get a LoS. |
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| Bf-109 buzzes in low and bombs the stream, but misses... |
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| FJ reserves move on and take cover behind a stone wall. They can grab the drop canister objective, but lack of orders leaves them stuck in place. |
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| Last to arrive, AT support with kettenkrad tow, up the lane. Work cut-out with a Matilda to counter. |
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| Cretan partisans assault an MG team and wipe it out. Crazy locals, it's like a jungle fight, with banzai-cretans. |
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| Matilda arrives up the lane from Platanias, but that footbridge bridge won't hold it. We said it could ford the stream instead, as difficult ground. |
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| PaK-34 set-up and a long range suppressing shot scores a hit, surprising the hell out of the Matilda crew - clang! |
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| Pinned
it... as it crossed the stream. It got a bit stuck, but not much of
loss, with a single co-ax MG to use, and 2 pdr AP ammo! Still, first
tank-action of the campaign. |
As it stands on the campaign map (blue are FJ, red are the Creforce units so far revealed, pink the battlefields so far).
