KGN AAR - A Stug gets stuck...

G'day, my mate the Rajah & I had another Kampfgruppe Normandy game last Sunday, and this time we got the line of sight stuff correct, we did however take a while to figure out the niceties of artillery stonks.
The Rajah placed the terrain while I worked out the approximate points & morale values of the forces. The terrain he placed appears below:

Germans started this end.

British at this end.

We diced for which end we would deploy from and placed two objective markers each- mostly near the bridge area (have to be 12" apart though). I think I wound up with the better end, but war is not usually equally balanced or fair- the German infantry had much further to travel on foot (still waiting for full compliment of halftracks). The Germans did however have a much greater Recce force & some useful armour. The game was an escalation one, with more stuff coming on each turn. We both had some off table artillery we could call on, plus I had made sure I had a FO and a registered target point on the German end of the bridge.

Germans massing for battle

German forces are from a variety of plastics, some Caesar pre-paints, & some metal figures- SHQ I think.

Mostly Caesar British with a PSC bloke in there, preparing for action.

The Rajah quickly took positions by the river with his recce units which included a schwimwagen, a halftrack & a Puma. He followed this up quickly with his Stug III & a captured Sherman (boo hiss). the Stug went straight up the road and onto my RTP, however the British stonk only managed to supress it.

Rajah's classic die-cast Schwimwagen recce unit.

British recce section moves up to hide in bocage.

The Germans have a long way to walk...

Stug on the RTP

Platoon HQ on a handy spot for observation, requests arty support

Churchill & supporting infantry trundle up the village street

German recce unit in position.

German armour scans the river bank and village for a clear shot.

The Stug shrugged of its supression (& took a morale chit), and proceeded to trundle over the bridge and towards the oncoming Churchill. The Churchill had already managed to shrug off one potshot from the Stug, and the British infantry had ducked behind a nearby building, but....

Near dusk, the Churchill cops it...

"Leg it lads" shouts Nobby Clarke the tanks commander, "the old girl's bought a packet!"
First kill for the Stug which sat blocking the end of the bridge. I attempted to have at him with my Achilles from around the backs of the houses, and brought up my 17 pdr, the Achilles failed to take down the Stug, exposing the Achilles to potential doom, but....

Corporal Duggan and Stumpy Stalbridge take out the Stug!

My PIAT team had had cunningly positioned itself behind the hedge outside the church and struck a blow for Dorset against the Stug's more vulnerable side armour- "Well done my brave lads!".
Unfortunately the bridge was now blocked by the burning hulk of the Stug, and neither of us had a bulldozer. Infantry could still get accross but I wasn't too keen on moving into a hail of lead from Rajah's MGs which were preparing to set up. Fortunately for me I had a couple of excellent observation points from a hillock and the church belltower and began to radio in for some devastating stonks from my off table battery of three 25 Pdrs.

Achilles & 17 Pdr get in position.

It was some well aimed stonks which did for the Jerries on this occassion, losing a couple of recce units in quick succession, followed by their HQ in a heavy car, which precipitated a quick withdrawl.

We had great fun, learnt some more about the game, and are looking forward to our next encounter.

Cheers,
Jacksarge.