Rittmeister Gideap von Dobbin gazed around, proud of his command as they cantered through the woods. The young cavalrymen proud and tall sat astride their mounts their bodies moving in synch with the horses. Von Dobbin's eyes lingered on the gleaming flanks and well shaped fetlocks, the proud mane adorned heads tossing in the morning air. Reluctantly he tore his gaze away, he was already on three cold showers a day and it didn't seem to be making a difference. A sudden spatter of rifle fire split the air and the elegant formation dissolved into something resembling a badly organised gymkhana. Not to another man in the world would von Dobbin admit that he had a signed photograph of the Earl of Cardigan in his wallet but the knowledge of its presence steadied him as he reorganised his men with the assistance of a couple of veteran NCOs who had the bad taste to find the whole thing funny. Above the sudden chaos he could hear a voice shouting in Dutch.
"What's he saying?" demanded von Dobbin.
"He's asking if we've got our passports," replied one of the troopers.
Yes we're going old, old school here. My regular opponent Dave dug this scenario out of some spider infested vault, blew off the dust and presented it for my delectation. This is Scenario G7 which pits some less than enthusiastic Dutch border guards against the horse fondlers of the German 1st Cavalry division. As the Germans my role is to break through the border post, loot the duty free shop and safely shepherd a bunch of wagons towing guns to the other side of the map. As the Dutch Dave's role is to grimly defend passport control to the death. To achieve my goal I have a dozen elite squads and four leaders the best of which is a none too shabby 9-1. Four light machine guns are my only support weapons. This entire force enters on horseback. Additionally five wagons towing guns plod slowly down the road. The guns can take no part in the battle, their presence is solely for the victory conditions. I win by exiting at least three of them off the west edge of the board. Thus Dave can win immediately by killing three wagons. Situated inconveniently between my forces and the exit are Dave's troops; eight first line squads, two officers and a single light machine gun. A pair of foxholes and eight wire counters allow Dave to thicken his defences although by special rule the wire can't be set up on roads.
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At start |
Above is the at start set up. The guns have to enter on the road and practically they have to stay on it as they don't have the time to exit if they don't. The cavalry can enter anywhere on the eastern edge of the map. I've chosen to send the bulk of my force (preceded by halfsquads) to flank him from the south and hopefully wrest control of the crossroads and exit before my guns arrive. A smaller force will attack in the centre largely on a fire drawing mission.
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End of German turn 1 |
The fire drawing mission in the centre was unpleasantly successful as a halfsquad was killed outright by Dutch fire but another hurled itself from its horses to plunge into close combat with a Dutch halfsquad in a foxhole. The rest of my force swung around from the south some of them heading towards the buildings the remainder dismounting to wriggle through the wire that protected the approaches. This had its own problems as my best leader and the lmg squad he was leading would spend the next two turns stuck on the wire. The guns clip clopped slowly forwards trying to get close enough to the exit for a last minute dash while simultaneously staying out of the firing line.
In his turn Dave raced to reinforce his threatened position with mixed success. A squad was broken but others pushed forward denying me a cheap triumph. A halfsquad, still foolishly on horseback was broken (but survived falling off its horse).
In the next turn the horses were abandoned and my troops surrounded the building which was his main centre of resistance (except for those still hung up on the wire). Close combat had actually been my friend for once and I had wiped out his foxhole dwellers. Of course this was "not without loss" as the propaganda rags delicately put it and a couple of units were cringing in wheatfields trying to find a horse to hide behind.
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Things are looking suspiciously good |
In his turn Dave started preparing for the future. He kept a stack of squads out of harms way, funneling them into the main building in just sufficient quantities to force me to keep attacking. Meanwhile he sent one unit, plus an officer, racing for the rear to take up a position where it could fire on my wagons as they lumbered past. For my part I finally managed to seize the stone building that had been holding me up and was at last able to concentrate some of my firepower against his remaining units (except for the guys still hung up on the wire). I was starting to get concerned, although things had been going well time was starting to run out and Dave's repositioning of some forces along the road made me tremble for the guns. Speaking of the guns they had been crawling slowly forward as my own forces advanced but there was still Dutch firepower between them and safety.
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End of German turn 3, the guns are creeping forward |
With time starting to get a little tight I felt obliged to bring my guns forward despite the fact that Dave had left a single squad as a stay behind force while the rest of his force took up new positions guarding the road. I paid the price as a wagon and gun was shot to pieces but the remainder made their way through the residual and nervously eyed the road ahead now lined with Dutch troops. In actual fact there weren't too many Dutch troops. Dave had sternly defended the village and had paid the price but you don't need a great deal of firepower to shoot up wagons and I would need to clear the remaining defenders before my wagons could get through. On the plus side my 9-1 and team had finally torn themselves free of the barbed wire and had dashed towards some horses, it was time to become cavalry again.
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I've lost a gun but cleared the village |
Mounting up my 9-1 and team galloped through the wheatfield to a location where they could menace his last defenders while other units pushed through the trees and behind hedges. Dave didn't dare fire, needing to keep his concealment counters in place in the hopes of surviving the last couple of turns and either destroy or scare my guns. The truth of this became apparent when I managed an advancing fire shot against one of his last units with results that were, shall we say, mixed. I broke the squad and made the accompanying leader heroic.
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Coming to the final showdown |
Dave tried his last, sending his newly heroic leader into close combat alone against a squad of mine. He died bravely to no result. The final turn rolled around. This wasn't the final turn of the game but the last turn in which my wagons had the movement to make it off the map, it was now or never. A single Dutch unit barred the way, I had four units within range to shoot at it. If one of them could break the Dutch unit the game was mine. As it so happened one of them did. With resistance eradicated the gun wagons rattled past for a victory in the nick of time.
It is amazing how well this old scenario stood up. Dave and I both thoroughly enjoyed playing this one. For once I was happy with my play and didn't make any appalling mistakes. Dave feels he made a mistake by not putting his foxholes in the south to cover that open flank thus allowing my guys to get up and personal on the first turn. I greeted my victory with the same good natured restraint that I greet my defeats until Dave threatened to throw something at me if I didn't get off the table.
Rittmeister von Dobbin watched as the guns rattled through. He eyed up the draft horses; solid, sturdy workers a mile removed from the elegant chargers he was used to but possessed of their own rough charm. Von Dobbin took a deep breath and dragged his eyes away. One of his troopers looked at him sympathetically.
"Wanna borrow my hair shirt?" asked the trooper.
"Maybe, yes" replied von Dobbin blushing slightly. The trooper passed him something. "What's this?"
"Your passport," replied the trooper, "our visas are valid for six months."
No horses were harmed in the playing of this scenario although Rittmeister von Dobbin's mount has lodged a formal complaint.