Sunday 21 June 2015

Flames of War - Son Bridge - After Action Report

Today we played the "Son Bridge", Flames of War game that we've had planned for a few weeks now.

This took place at the Sanctuary Gaming Centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield and we had 6 players on a 12ft x 4ft table with 4,500 points of British, 4,500 points of German and 2,600 points of US airborne.

The road XXX Corps would have to advance down from Eindhoven. Son in the forground.
The US troops started dug in around the Son Bridge, The paratroopers were on the north side of the river and the Glider Troops on the south side. They faced off against a German force of the 107th Panzer Brigade, consisting mainly of Panthers.

Son Bridge, the calm before the storm.


The British force was the lead part of XXX Corps, two companies of the 11th Armoured Recce and 1 Company of Irish Guards. These had to fight out of Eindhoven, through the Germans and on to support the US troops at Son. The Germans in the centre were two Companies of the 59th Infantry Division.

A strong force of British tanks initially have the German commanders very concerned

British tanks move slowly, worried that German troops could be anywhere

XXX Corps advance slowly through Eindhoven


Although not a completely  historically accurate scenario the whole situation worked well as a "What-If" engagement.

The British troops were hindered massively by tough German anti-tank assets in the countryside outside Eindhoven, many deployed in ambush. These were sufficient to break one of the three companies and render the other two all but useless. They never advanced far enough to assist the US troops at Son.

A pair of 88's await a something to shoot.

Artillery is forced into direct-fire anti-tank duty.

German artillery have all the roads out of Eindhoven covered.

XXX Corps take massive casualties on the way out of Eindhoven.

At Son, after initial success destroying a platoon of Panthers, the paras struggled to hold back the German assault. The glider troops managed far less well and lost several platoons to the German attempts to take the Bridge.

Glider troops during the last ditch defence of the bridge.

A US Sniper finds a vantage point on top of a tug on the canal.

Panthers advance down the road towards the bridge in the closing stages of the battle.

German pioneers and Panthers hold the south side of the bridge.
In the end the Germans were contesting the bridge, which was an objective worth 2 points and continued to hold both of the other objectives between Eindhoven and Son. This resulted in a significant German victory and a major set-back for Monty's plan to finish the war by Christmas 1944.



4 comments:

  1. Do you play Flames of War there often at all? I've been trying to get back into playing, but can never find anyone anywhere nearby who plays.

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    1. We mostly play at COGS in Chesterfield. There's often a game or two on a Monday night.

      http://www.c-o-g-s.org.uk/location.html

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    2. Ahh, OK. I'm coming from Nottingham so that's a fair bit of a slog up the Chesterfield. Might see if I can make it over sometime though, thanks.

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    3. Ok, well I'll try and remember to let you know when we have another game at Sanctuary. Nothing is planned for the time being though.

      I'm, afraid I don't know much about the FoW scene in Nottingham. There are quite a few clubs around there though.

      If you do come up to COGS make sure you contact me first so I can ensure you get a game.

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