Black Friday - Time on Target 28
Neil Stevens came up for the day yesterday, and we used the opportunity to finish off our PBEM game of Black Friday.

The most important lesson we learnt was: Never abandon Prisoners, they may come back to haunt you.

For those who don't know this scenario, it sees Royal Marine Commandos with armour and OBA support against a rag-tag defensive formation of Hitler Youth and German Marines supported by an 88 and two Elefants with very low ammo. The Brits enter along the east edge (although half a dozen squads enter along the norh edge on GT2), and must have 10 squads within three hexes of 41Y6 to win - each AFV also counts as a squad.

The scenario uses hexrows R-GG of maps 41 (in the west) and 19 (in the east) with the railway embankments from ToT running from north to south on the latter.

My basic plan was to use a fallback defence in the east, and man the board edge to stop him dead along the north, and I set up accordingly. The German marines set up along the east, while the SS set up ready to move into positions along the north edge.

Things didn't start too good for him, as his first vehicle moved straight into a woods road hex the 88 had bore sighted. One Critical Hit later, the Achilles was a burning wreck, blocking the only road out of the woods.

Other than that though, the first few turns saw a steady British advance , while my units fired and moved back as planned. His OBA was totally ineffective, not managing to make one shot at any point in the game. Every attempt at placing SMOKE, either with the OBA or his tanks, also failed. On my side, my Elefants proved to be White Elefants, with both running out of ammo on their first shots - even worse, one immobilised as it started up on GT1. Neither was able to do anything to stop his tanks moving forward and despatching them. My infantry fire was more effective however, especially from the MMG in level 2 of the building in the south.

Meanwhile, in the north, the British commandos that entered on GT2 had been met with a hail of fire and suffered a couple of breaks. Things went from bad to worse, as one SS squad eventually took out 2 squads with a 9-1 leader in CC, and most other units were forced to rout.

As we started GT4, things were going as I had planned, especially in the north where his survivors had been pushed back and I had positioned my units ready to capture them for Failure to Rout. Indeed, at this point I was quitely confident of victory.

On GT4, the Brits woke up :-(

Crucially, Prep Fire Casualty Reduced the 88 crew, allowing the tanks free movement across the board. Further Prep broke several SS in the north. He was then able to overrun a SS HS in the north (although they found a PF, the shot missed), breaking all my units there. Further infantry movement allowed him to cut off their rout paths, thus completely reversing the surrender situation in the north :-( The Rout Phase saw two SS squads surrender, rather than 2 commando squads, and left the north wide open.

On GT5, British successes continued, as the first units entered the victory area. The few HS remaining in the centre of the board were captured, leaving me with just a marine 548 in the centre, a pair of SS HS along the north, and an SS squad with a LMG and 9-1 in a building covering the road into the victory area. He had also abandoned a Prisoner HS during his turn, and I had been able to recover a LMG with them during mine. As we started the last British GT, he had 13.5 squads-equivalents, so I had to kill or stop 4 squads to win. Things were looking grim.

One squad Prepped at me (he didn't need to move as he was adjacent to the victory area), a 12FP +0 attack. 2MC, passed with flying colours. His movement opened with a HS Assault Moving into a Foxhole. My LMG armed Prisoner HS fired, and broke him :-) 0.5 squads down, 3.5 to go. Further movement saw a leader and Fanatic squad Double Time forward to reach the victory area. As they reached the top of the hill, my 658 w/LMG and 9-1 fired. The K/2 reduced the squad, and Pinned the leader. Without his MF bonus the remaining HS cannot reach the victory area. 1.5 squads down, 2.5 to go.

He then Armoured Assaulted a three squad stack forward, stopping adjacent to the victory area. It is only later than we realise he should have moved the tank forward one more hex, as it is now stopped outside the victory area :-) 2.5 squads down, 1.5 to go.

He starts up his Achilles in the north, and moves forward, adjacent to my SS HS. The PF check dr is a 1, and the assorted TH DR mean I need a 5 or less to hit. The DR is 1c, 3w. With a TK of 31 vs an 8 AF death is automatic, but I roll anyway - 1c, 1w. Total disintegration :-) 3.5 squads down, 0.5 to go.

In my defensive fire, my 548 fires back at the commando who Prepped at him. The result Pins him, so he cannot advance into the victory area, and I have amazingly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat!

Overall, an excellant game. This is the second ToT scenario we have played (Tiger 222 being the first) and both have gone to the wire.

GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING: Don't play ToT scenarios if you are of a nervous disposition, as the tension on the last turn may be too much to bear :-)

Pete