The Assault on Villa Fontaine - Flames of War AAR

This was a recent game played by a friend of mine, Curt. We'll take this as a 'show the setup, show the end', as I'm still working on the whole batrep thing. Curt's Fallschirmjager force needed a bit of an addition to make it 1500 points, so we included a couple of Tigers (he loves them, and I love making them go *boom*) and a Grenadier platoon (from the new Open Fire boxset). As for myself, I knew I wanted to be the attacker in the scenario, so I went with a mechanized infantry company, only without the mechanized bits. And, yes, I wanted to toss in my American paratroops which were also in the Open Fire boxset. Was I ever in for a harsh lesson. We rolled up 'Surrounded' as the mission, and I was the attacker.

11th Armoured Division - Rifle Company

• Rifle Company HQ
• Rifle Platoon
• Rifle Platoon
• Carrier Platoon
• Armored Recce Platoon
• Armored Recce Platoon
• Parachute Rifle Platoon
• Field Battery, Royal Artillery
• Air Observation Post

Fallschirmjagerkompanie

• Fallschirmjagerkompanie HQ w/ Anti-tank section
• Fallschirmjager Platoon
• Fallschirmjager Platoon
• Fallschirmjager Anti-tank Gun Platoon
• Fallschirmjager Mortar Platoon
• Heavy Tank Platoon w/ 2 Tigers
• Grenadier Platoon

The table. Bocage and fields on one side of the road, and the other will some hills, forest, and a small estate with walls.

Curt's initial deployment.

Deployment on my left.

Deployment on my right.

The Germans had their Anti-tank Gun platoon appear in the villa, obviously thinking the Tigers would be enough of a deterrent in the hedges.

The attack begins!

...And ends.

See the above picture for the conclusion. It was a massacre - Curt went from believing his chances were slim to becoming the almighty-conqueror, laughing in the face of danger before showing it just how strong his pimp hand truly is. While I managed to do in the Tigers, everything else was a wash. With Curt keeping his troops Dug In, my artillery couldn't touch them. Every assault on both the hedges and the estate were rebuffed with lethal force. By the end, Curt broke my company after I lost all 3 infantry platoons, my carriers, an Armoured platoon and my company's headquarters. In exchange, he lost both Tigers, an observer platoon, and some infantry team in the villa. It was, however, still a fun game, even as I bemoaned my own losses. Not to worry, though - those Fallschirmjagers won't escape yet!