“Pegasus Bridge” (LNLT)

[Whiterook]

A classic… WWII British Paratroops landing in Horsa Gliders on June 6, 1944 — D-Day! The road crossing over the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy was a critical objective for the Allies, and a sneak attack in all its glory! Again, another of four scenario’s in the Lock in Load Tactical system played with my buddy, Tim, at the Compass Games Expo, November Edition. I commanded said Brits’ Ox and Bucks, and though I’ve commanded both sides through several different systems, this battle never gets old… and is no push over!

As usual, not a lot of time to get ‘er done, with about 7 turns allotted. I had to pick three landing spots (hexes) for the Horsa Gliders; they had to all face the same direction hex side, however, and this actually complicates the decision process. My allotted OOB of troopers would exit the rear, within 3 hexes of the back, so I had to decide not only which side of the river to land, but where I wanted to skid to a halt. And of course, there is a mechanic to decide if hat chosen hex ended up being the spot, or if I drifted… I can’t remember how it worked out but I think I only had one that went off course a tad, but I was all in pretty much the areas I wanted them to be.

Note that terrain-wise, the hedgerows and such on the left side of the river do not exist and are in fact, clear terrain.

There was no time to dilly dally! My troops exited and started forming up quickly during the first couple turns! The first lads…



…followed by the others…



…noticed the Germans heard something and sent some squads to the bridge house at the center of the bridge’s south side! On the right side of the map, Germans area, there’s a house at the bottom serving as snoozing area (and cover) for the German troops, as well as a foxhole area; and at top, there’s a bunker that has an arc of fire of G2, G1, and F1 (basically, diagonally to the right and down, and the to each hex side conically out); I was actually surprised at this arc angle, but as I recall it was predetermined for the German player…I guess, backs to the bridge and river, but I certainly exploited that with my troopers staying out of that arc of fire. Of course, to take it, I had to sneak in back and on top and probably grenade the occupants!

[Whiterook]

The Germans luckily, only threw a half squad in the bridge house, so I was able to start moving on the bridge.




…the troopers furthest north had a farther distance to cover, and were prime targets for the Germans waking up on the other side of the upper river. Note the Occupation Event Marker A in the right/bottom…you basically have to move into it to see what happens in the scenario book, and usually assumed to be nothing good for you! …which is why it’s placed by the scenario designer in a nice juicy building where it is assumed you may need cover when things go hot (or, hotter). There was one on the building on the upper right of the bridge, where Capt. McCloud is, and unfortunately was indeed a bad thing!

[Whiterook]

As I mentioned, there was an Occupation Event Marker B, back where Capt McCloud and his men were, but I needed to take cover from fire, and damned if it didn’t activate a tank platoon back to the east edge of the map… well it didn’t take that tank long to swoop in and cause shit by the river, hindering the squads in the upper right heavy woods. They got pinned at one point, but rallied back…but that damned tank was a problem.

Meanwhile, the other troopers swarmed the bridge and took out the German MG34 hidden in that bridge house!!! …plus, I got to capture the weapon for use by my lads. The boys in the now taken bridge house were able to take out some Germans in A foxhole in J3, but SPOILER ALERT, I was never able to get in there and grab it ‘cause of that pesky blockhouse.



So but his point, I needed to deal with that damned German panzer; I needed to keep it busy so as not to swing onto that bridge and shoot my guys in the ass! And on the bridge, all those troopers needed to get across and kill those Germans, but that blockhouse had the very end of that bridge in their crosshairs, as well as the squads in foxholes above. I was about to be running out of time, time, and needed to get gitchy… I moved one squad with a Bren, out onto the bridge and they got whomped! …not killed or wounded, but pinned down.

[Whiterook]

The Bridge House Boys, as I affectionately names them, moved out to cross over the rest of the bridge, and they headed straight for the blockhouse! …another squad was pinned at the end of the bridge and the pother pinned squad now behind it was pinned, so that was two full squads out of action at this juncture. The rest of the laddies made it atop the blockhouse, but decided to Assault it in hand-to-hand bayonet action, instead of battling it out with bullets and grenades…and they took the position, and another MG34!



…meanwhile, I was able to get that panzer to pull back down the road away from the bridge… I had luckily decided to pack my Brits with some Piat’s, so we are a fearsome lot! Now to keep him backing away, and handling that German squad with an MG34 that fired on my boys as they entered the blockhouse!

[Whiterook]

Sgt. Livingston and his Piat-weilding Devils drove that dang pussycat back down the road! Some lads on the bridge recovered (Rallied) and manned the bridge house, just in case the panzer had any bold Kamakazi ideas. The Blockhouse Boys killed the Germans by assaulting the foxhole (the pictured counters are actually dead bodies at that point, that we threw to a passing back of carnivorous weasels …actually, my opponent forgot to remove them off the board when I snapped the pic).



The Ox and Bucks took the day, leaving all Germans deader than week old Wiener Schnitzel. 

Always a great scenario to play out in any game system… I’ve played it a ton in Memoir ‘44, for instance. I must say, I never had that good a result, though!