75th Anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino and Northern Italy (Gaming The Battles)

Turn 7 Allies:

Green Platoon unpin however Red don’t and remain stuck on the edge of the tree line. Orange Platoon advance into the barn and the Engineer’s move up behind the barn in support.

The Sherman Crabs advance across the field with the MG team and the Universal Carriers move up the centre. Green Platoon advances toward the ruined farm house. 

Tank Platoon 3 look to move out of the trees and the command tank manges to advance up the side however the second tank gets bogged down, unable to move. 

The Universal Carriers open up with their .50 Cal guns and this proves too much for the paper thin armour of the Marder, with the shells ripping through and hitting the ammunition. Orange Platoon is able to remove the last teams from Grenadier 1, destroying the platoon.

At the end of the Allied penultimate turn, reaching the objective is looking increasingly challenging and unlikely.

Turn 7 German:

The last deployment is revealed and this is the final STuG hiding in the ruined buildings next to the objective. This is going to make the Allied victory condition even harder to obtain, with both the MG team and a STuG holding the position.

The newly discovered STuG fires upon the Command Tank from Tank Platoon 3 but fails to score a hit – we can only assume that the Sherman was going to fast up the flank for the STuG crew to get a good shot at!

The Mortar team fires on Green Platoon again but fails to cause any hits at all. The same for the MG teams who are not able to score hits against Red Platoon.

Grenadier 2 remain in position but out of range of the Engineers and Orange Platoon this turn.

Turn 8 Allies:

Red Platoon once again fail to unpin and remain stuck in the trees. As this is the last turn, the Allies could really have done with this infantry platoon supporting the tanks as they advance on the objective!

The bogged down tank of Tank Platoon 3 fails to get going and remains stuck in the trees, it can however lend some supporting fire to its platoon command tank that advances right up to the MG teams in the ruined buildings.

The Sherman Crab platoon crosses the hedge and moves up to the farm house as do the Universal carriers and Green Platoon. The Engineers and the MG team take up positions behind the hedge. 

Despite moving, the Sherman Crabs are able to draw a line to the STuG in the ruined building and hit! Given the range, the fact that the Shermans moved and the concealed nature of the target, this was one hell of a shot. The lucky shot penetrates and destroys the STuG, leaving just the MG team defending the objective. The rest of the Allied shooting is not as good with everything missing, including the command tank’s shots against the MG teams.

With nothing left to lose, the command tank from Tank Platoon 3 launches an assault against the MG Teams, crashing through the garden wall that they are hiding behind. The initial assault kills one of the MG teams and the other counter attacks hitting but failing to cause any damage against the tank. The tank attacks again and is able to destroy the last MG Team. The command tank is able to make a consolidation move and, passing its bogging check to cross into the ruined building, rolls up to the objective. The Germans don’t have any defenders within 4” and this final ditch tank charge, is enough to secure the objective and the victory for the Allies!

Wrap Up:

This was another tight game, coming down to the last dice roll to see whether the Allies could take the objective. It was bloody as well, with the Allies taking heavy losses as they moved up from the river banks – exactly as it was like in the actual battle. Once again the deployment markers and being randomly allocated made for an interesting game, with the Allied player not able to plan a route forward without knowing what lay in store.