Bloody Buron - Blitzkreig Commander AAR

They've been in storage long enough, these minis. It was high time they come out for a game. 

Ziggy and I pulled out Blitzkreig Commander on Saturday evening for a western front battle. It was an historical encounter between the Canadian 9th Brigade and elements of the 12th SS around Buron. I used the OOBs from the GHQ Micro Armor scenario which gives a wonderful breakdown of how things should be set up.

I ran the Canadians and Ziggy commanded the German attackers. 

The deployment was more or less historical, with a collection of various infantry and support weapons in the towns of Gruchy, Buron and Authie, and the 27th Armoured Regiment on the road between Buron and Authie. The Germans were in the eastern corner and had to capture two of those three towns.

It doesn't take long for my troops in Authie to come under fire. The 6lb gun is an early target and is suppressed and driven back.

And in no time, two Shermans are knocked out by Panzers crossing the fields.

German turn 1 ended predictably. Unfortunately I was not prepared for Candian turn 1 in which both the tank group and the Vanguard in Authie failed to activate. Quite literally everything other than dug-in infantry went into freak-out mode and sat still in a panic.

The Germans commenced turn two by just pounding my tanks on the road.

So now I was down to four tank stands in good order - three Sherman III and one Firefly. In Authie I had an M10, an unreliable 6lbr and an FO.

That small group did however give a good accounting of themselves and tore into one of the Panzer companies, getting a few back on the score sheet. The Vanguard in Authie again failed to activate!

A shot of the enemy.

By the end of turn three, my tanks were gone. I only had the command stand left in the center. The Wehrmacht troops prepared to assault Authie.

And here they come. My FO woke up and got one of the 105 batteries on the horn, raining down destruction on some of the incoming infantry. That put a bit of a damper on the SS party, but I feared it was too little, too late.

German tanks roll into Authie, my Vanguard was overrun without much fuss.

Ugh! Just look at that casualty pile!

German artillery finally wakes up and although Ziggy had to roll 4d6 for deviation, that turned out to be only 7 centimeters and the barrage still hit most of my defenders in Gruchy.

And in no time, the tank company which had overrun Authie was pushing through Gruchy.

For what really appears to be a very one-sided affair in favor of the Germans, I was actually one turn away from winning. Ziggy had to capture two of the three towns by the end of turn eight. He nabbed Gruchy at the start of turn 8. If I'd had held him up just a wee bit, victory could have been mine!

An enjoyable game for sure and one that I'd happily play again. Be well, and good gaming!