Set up 45 minutes
Game time 30 minutes
Historical Background:
Operation Ladbroke, 9th July 1943. At 18:00, a total of 144 gliders with 2075 men of the British 1st Airlanding Brigade, South Staffordshire Regiment, depart Tunisia. Their mission is to capture the Ponte Grande Bridge and knock out a coastal battery. Instead of the recommended 200 hours training, the flight crew had only 5. Due to the inexperienced crew, 56 gliders crashed that night at sea and 252 men drowned before the real action took place. Most navigators lost their orientation, so only 12 gliders reached the landing zones. During the night, the Staffords gathered a total of 87 men. They surprised the garrison and captured the bridge. The next morning the Italians were ready for a counterattack on the Ponte Grande
Briefing:
Allies 6, move first. Axis 5 cards.
Conditions of Victory:
6 medals
Special Rules:
Airpower card for the allied player: 1d per hex (instead of 2d).
BCF Command rules (Nations 5) to all Allied units.
Italian Royal Army rules (Nations 6) to all Axis units. Italian High Command rules do NOT apply.
Combat Engineers rules (Troops 4) for the Allied unit with an engineer’s badge.
Mortar - late war rules (SWA 6) for the units with a mortar badge.
Machine gun - late war rules (SWA 7) for the unit with a machine gun badge.
Field bunkers (Terrain 22) for all bunkers.
Scenario link
I have no idea where I go this from!
I will upload a map soon.
Report
Brits attacked R flank. Losses on both sides, but battery taken. 1-0 (2-0). Mortar held off Italian attack. 2-0 Brit Behind Enemy Lines attack on RH bunker. Ital counter attack on mortar – no effect. Brit played Finest Hour, but only two units! Poor dice and poor cards for both sides. The town changed hands five times! Finally 3-0. Italians had terrible cards. Brits came down mountain to finish off an Italian unit 4-0 =2 for the temp objectives = a whitewash. But, Brits had 3 units with only 1 man left and 2 with 2. The Axis just couldn’t get the dice to finish them off. Basically 10 moves each and it was over.
It was a quick fun fight, but a lot of set up for so little game time.
Sorry, I forgot to take a photo at the end of the game…