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A teaching game of BKC IV in the Western Desert

 Phillip and Martyn at the Leighton Buzzard club have been observing my games with Stephen Mark, Dave & David closely over the last few months, and when I asked Phillip whether he wanted a Napoleonics game, he said he really wanted to try BKC (and Martyn was invited to join in too, as he used to play back in the day with v.II), so we arranged a date. I put out two 1500 point combined forces lists and we played an encounter game so that they could enjoy learning the basic rules. We used the 'hits stay on' varient, and discussed the 'spread hits' system, but decided to keep fire at platoon for this game.

They chose to join together and play against me, using the Germans (better command stats, therefore easier to use), terrain was closed on one side, more open on the other. Both armoured groups headed to the open flank, while infantry headed through cover on the closer left. apart from a small selection of British infantry that wasn't keen on moving off that base line!


The infantry on both sides decided the best course of action was to take what limited shelter there was from the palm thickets, and Colonel Antrobus use HMGs and Mortars (or in the German case HMG and PaK36s) over the oasis to wear each other down.


In the middle, the German CinC takes over the Panzer IVDs and supporting infantry, while the British central infantry refuses to move. "The tea urn was not sufficently warmed. Until that pot is made properly, we are not leaving this spot!"


On the right, the German armour tears through the British, even though tthey were classed as being hull down. The British armoured second line refused to move, making our superiority in numbers pointless as the front line evaporated.


The middle British infantry finally moves, but blunders and drops their command staus by one, permenantly! He will soon be retired...
Meanwhile, Antrobus sent the two carrier platoons out wide to provide covering fire on the Germans in the scrub, reinforcing the support weapon's fire (as the Vickers guns were taking repeated hits from the German support weapons).


But all this cunning was not helping the armour, which, when it did move up into line, found a line of burned out hulks. The inferior numbered German tanks had systematically chewed through their line. A13s and Crusaders all perished, while only taking out a single platoon in return.


In the end, an emphatic German victory, while the British could not even claim a minor victory. Phillip and Martyn really enjoyed their games, and spent a long time talking through extra rules with me and future forces. Phillip has ordered an army, Martyn has dug out his long unpainted troops and they are setting up forces for 'Operation Crusader', looks like the Western Desert will be busy for a while.

I'm glad we kept the 'concentrated hits' rule, as I have a feeling my tanks would have died even quicker than they did!!!  =O

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