Baneman

Yes, a lot of fire still and that end row is still lethal to anyone. I thought I'd pre-empt a new push on it by running the single survivor of the original quad-50 flak attack on Sturm's House, but he died without doing more than confirming there are still Americans in the cemetery. However, at the end of the turn, my left hand mortar track arrives in position.

Which put them into a surprisingly good position at the end of the turn... Projectile in flight, cliffhanger mode engaged...

However, before the Canister-M8 had been destroyed, I had crawled my schreck team out of their house to threaten it. It died before they were outside. Their orders then were to cross the street and go to the top of the tall building to get eyes on the right hand hillside.

Covered by the smoke, a halftrack moved up alongside the destroyed M8's and began pouring fire into the house behind which my flamethrower guys are cowering.

Once the 231 began to burn, the quad-50 turned its attention back to the town. It spotted and killed 2 of my Sturmgrenadiers. The "One in the Town" 222 can't see it It will area fire next turn along with a few other vehicles.

Nearer the town, the Armoured Car Platoon HQ drove down to the village, masking himself from the quad-50 to see up the far hillside. This was rewarded when he saw an M8 on the hill ( as they 231 was dying ). He fired and penetrated, but it reversed away while his crew frantically reloaded. They ended the turn about to fire. Will they get off another shot ???

On the far right, the 250/9 keeps up a harassing fire on the woods where the enemy infantry "Trouble" were seen. The 234/1 is area firing towards the still unseen enemy quad-50 HT. The 231 took multiple more hits and began to burn. 2 men got out.

News from the Front ! As mentioned previously, the Nameless Wood was filled with the sound of running feet. Ours, to the hedge, theirs, away. Many do not make it. ( the halftrack at top left was responsible for at least one of my own casualties as I closed up to the hedge. ) The group middle-left were all mown down by a burst of 20mm from the 251/17 - it was ugly.

Yes, it's strange how this hasn't come up much in the discussions of the "Soft" factors. Probably because it costs quite a few points to get Zombies and then they don't take orders well. ... "What's that ?" "only for the Beta testers' special Wolfenstein and surrounds maps ?" "Ah, right." "What do you mean, we mustn't tell anyone about those ? I already ... oh well, no one is paying attention ... "

Yes, there were quite a few. At least one bazooka-wielding maniac was killed this last ( not shown yet ) turn. The good thing really is that although he clearly decided he needed to pull back, my guys followed up closely enough so that he lost a good few (more) men doing it. Hopefully that will leave them even more fragile than they are. That doesn't mean he isn't still trying - I think there was still a bazooka-wielder seen trying to flank - possibly from an as-yet uncommitted squad. Yeah, that flank has been a bit of a quiet zone - until recently. These are the few reports on that area :

That's odd, BP. I've had ( in CMRT, I think ) a Tiger immobilised in woods and multiple enemy squads were hurling grenades at - aka close-assaulting - it. It, in turn, fired its close-defense system, killing several and eventually routing all the survivors away. Obviously, in this case, the infantry could not sit 30m away as LoS was dire in the woods and they paid.

Brief update - after confusing myself by discovering the Recon Company HQ alive and well I recheck and find that the victims of the canister were, in fact, 1 Platoon HQ. This is not such a heavy blow, since half of the platoon have fallen and the other half are out of contact anyway. Update Zombie-M8 got away again ! Even though the New Lynx gunner was "Firing" at the end of the last turn, he lost LoS milliseconds later and ... didn't fire ! Argh ! Grrrrr ! If that vehicle causes any more damage, he will be up on a charge. ( I wish there was a lost-los delay ie. if you lose LoS as you're firing, fire anyway, it can't have moved more than 30cm or so ). Up in the Nameless Woods, there was much American running-away. Many didn't make it

Finally, the quad-50 HT that was hosing down the village houses manages to spot my 231 One casualty and the crew has panicked - it is unlikely to get away More area fire is planned for the suspected location of this horror, but it will probably move soon, so all that area fire will be 15s only.

Also seen was a man with a tube ! He's a bit further back than I thought, but he does seem to be heading in the direction I suspected - trying to get up the road on my left.

A close up of the crew reveals expressions of stark terror ! Probably more due to having c3k as CinC than from any aspect of the battle. There are only 3 men in this M8, so I strongly suspect this is the Zombie-M8. If so, hopefully we can avenge Lt. Gruber's cravat !

Then, at the very end of the turn, New Lynx spots an M8 through the trees. As the turn ends, the gunner squeezes the firing handles...

All that area fire also went through the woods and - glimpsed momentarily - killed the gunner on a halftrack which then backed away out of sight.

Phew. The smoke they both popped may also help me in the long run as it screens the village from that gap. Up on the left, in the Nameless Woods, our brave recon soldier reaches the hedge and can see that the area-fire has eliminated Danger-Man ( or Men, since two bodies can be seen ).

Good news, everyone ! After the unpleasant previous turn which saw the Drilling fall to a gamey not-quite-dead M8 ... ... Things improved a bit. The area-fire with which we saturated the area of the Canister-M8 caused it to back away. The AC platoon HQ then saw it. Even the Battalion HQ got in on the act, finishing off a crewman from the first M8.

The casualty was taken just before that last hit ( yes, it does look high ), so probably as a continuation of the Lynx fire from the end of the last turn. I don't know which crewman was hit, but it was one of the 2 in the turret ( zooming into the vehicle I saw one of the front 2 guys relocate to the turret ). Didn't affect them enough though

Yes, spotting is done per set of eyeballs. So individual team members, crewmembers etc.

Not much damage ?! Lt. Gruber's silk cravat is ruined !

Yeah, they were meant to stay behind the house ( next to the 2 burning halftracks ), but when the first was hit, they ran to their position. That gap has been too dangerous to run them back. I should have crawled them closer to the house on their right, but I forgot about them Yeh, certainly this one, there's not a lot of subtlety on show. At least that solves the loss of the Company HQ command and control problem - there never was any

With the demise of the Company HQ ( to the canister ), the mortar mission is scrubbed ( one spotting round was fired ). Thus, I am now moving both up into Direct Fire positions. The one on the left will try to get into position to see into the cemetery which the Americans appear to be continuing to reinforce - its route should leave its left flank covered by a rise in the ground. The one on the right will move up the road to the Batt HQ's vehicle where the mortar will disembark and set up in the lee of the house - they should have LoS to the Nameless Wood which should help matters there.

To give a better overview, here's a shot from the backfield. The 251/17 took a hit last turn which damaged the gun. it backed away up the hill, through the hedge and found the large muddy area next to the road where it bogged.