Day 1 of operation Epsom

Our first game of Spearhead was a success!

The rules played very well, and even though it was our first game and as a result missed some parts of the rules, the feeling and the outcome seemed spot on.

The British advance over the river Odon with the two bridges quickly became a bottle neck. The armoured reconnaissance advanced to the wood line and spotted entrenched German infantry and SPGs. Before they could radio in the recon was brewing up!

With the British infantry in the rear of the armoured column the armoured regiment engaged the entrenched infantry and SPGs which had effectively blunted the advance. In addition the German FO was calling in howitzer support which left the approaching British column confused and dazed.

Over on the right flank the German Panzer's started rolling, fortunately the British right had advanced with dismounted infantry and had enough time to deploy the attached 17lbs which now laid in waiting for the advancing panzer's. When they opened up, the lead units of Panzer's were quickly wrecked. As the Panzer commander couldn't pinpoint where this fire was coming from orders to fall back were issue and obeyed.

Back to the left the British infantry had been brought up and hard fighting follwed to try and dislodge the dug in engineers from the wood.

As darkness fell, the British forces had established a strong bridge head with further armour, infantry and supplies still  rumbling over the Odon late into the night

The Germans had blunted the British offensive with minimal losses, hopefully giving the time to mobilize the Panzer reserves for the British offensive on Hill 112 which will surely continue in the early hours of the morning.

Observations:
We used a lot of kit for the first game and perhaps bit off a bit too much.
Didn't use the indirect fire factors for artillery which would make them not as powerful
Infantry anti tank fire was wrong. Not the same as normal AT fire, so again a bit too keen.
Could be useful to have a crib sheet to record losses to easily assess break points for regiments (Nev's idea).
Vehicle who fire can only move at combat speed (1/2)

Roll on the next scuffle!