Meuse 1940: Scenario 2 - Chaumont

Because Scenario 1 - No Man's Land was so short, Michael and I decided to carry on and set up for Scenario 2 the same night. This saw the German recce kampfgruppe probing farther from the Meuse bridgehead toward Chaumont. This game used The Probe scenario from the main Chain of Command rule-book.

As a refresher...

Leutnant Alex Geiger  commands a platoon of Kampfgruppe Geiger, a recce force made up of elements of 90. Aufklärungs-Bataillon, itself part of 10. Panzer  Division. This includes three armoured cars (two Sdkfz 222s and one Sdkfz 232 6-rad), a command car for himself and his platoon 2iC, Wachtmeister Otto Burg, and a recon infantry section mounted on motorcycle combos. 

Facing Geiger is 2e Peleton, 1er Compagnie, 2e Battalion, 213e Régiment d’Infanterie (part of 55e Division), a standard French infantry platoon under the command of Lieutenant Gerard Authier. 

As the French player, I chose to defend the short table edge (to the left in the picture above). This was especially important, given that the German force is highly mobile (and the French...umm...not!).Knowing the German vehicles would need to enter on the road in the top right of the picture and map, I tried to position my JoPs to try and cover this entry point. I also chose a 47mm AT gun as my support, hopping to do as much damage as possible before the inevitable German successful run to my baseline.  I had no other AT weapons and realized that the German armoured cars would see my AT guns and choose another route down the table. Thus, I hoped to get at least a few shots in on the way by.

German armour begins to debouch from the woods, supported by a Pzkpfw IV. Yikes! But I do see the more vulnerable motorcycle skulking behind it.

The French deploy their AT gun and an infantry section on the right flank to look for targets of opportunity. I was able to do some damage to the motorcycle section but the PzIV and armoured cars remained out of reach because of the surrounding contours (not very noticeable in the photos).

Another shot of the PzIV and German motorcycles facing off against the French right flank.

It quickly became apparent that I would not be able to stop the armoured cars from making an end run down the German right flank. A few more shots from the French infantry and it was decided to voluntarily withdraw...again...sigh.

So, on to Scenario 3, an attack/defend scenario. Time to pull out the French Armoured Counter-Attack wildcard!