Having painted all the Belgian armour from bayonetsandbrushes.com, I was keen to get them onto the table, so set up a scenario where elements of the German 3rd Panzer Division would attempt to force the crossing of a canal “somewhere in Belgian” around 11th-12th May 1940.
As the game began, German blinds poured onto the table. The reconnaissance element heading for the foot bridge over the canal was spotted almost immediately, and took some fire from a squad of dug-in Belgian infantry.
Meanwhile, a platoon of German anti-tank guns decloaked on the hill overlooking the town, hoping to deny any movement to any Belgian armour present.
At this point the Belgians blew up the footbridge, not quite with the German recon platoon on it, but it was a near run thing!
In other news, German engineers tried to sneak over the canal in their rubber dingies.
Realising that the only way over the canal was a direct thrust over the main bridge, the 1st Platoon of the German medium panzer company (the Panzer Is) tried to storm over the bridge in an attempt at armed reconnaissance.
This worked very well: too well, in fact, as Belgian tank was hidden behind one of the townhouses and blew the lead Panzer I to bits. Belgian T-13 tank destroyers were also lurking on the other side of the town square.
A cautious approach wasn’t going to work, so the company commander ordered the 81mm mortars that had just arrived to lay down smoke in the town square, then sent three blinds across the bridge as fast as they could go.
Next followed a sequence of very short turns when the Tea Break card made a rapid appearance. This caused the German 3rd Platoon to get spotted then cut to pieces by infantry in the townhouses around the square: effectively ceasing to exist!
RIP 3rd Platoon!
Automatic spotting also ensured that the other two German blinds and more Belgian troops were revealed: the townhouses were packed with infantry and machine guns, and a massive traffic jam emerged on the bridge.
The German Panzer IVs opened fire on the townhouses around the square, and with an incredibly lucky series of dice rolls, set both sides ablaze (well, the summer of 1940 was very, very hot), forcing the Belgian infantry to abandon their positions or face being roasted alive!
Unfortunately for the Germans, the smoke had now cleared, and one Panzer IV was lost to fire from a T-13, although the other T-13 broke down as it changed position.
Meanwhile, both Belgian ACG-1 tanks to the left of the bridge had been neutralised: one blown up by fire from the Panzers, one whose crew abandoned after being hit by cannon fire from the German recon armoured car.
At this point the plucky Belgians decided that their pluck had run out and retreated off the table, ceding the canal crossing to the Germans.
A win for the Germans, but at quite a heavy cost: one platoon of infantry hors de combat, and three to four tanks destroyed. Also, although the engineers had managed to cross the canal, the Belgians had managed to get a T-15 light tank over to face them and they were going nowhere.
Here’s a few final shots from the Belgian side of the table:
A great game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum!