Pegasus Bridge

Played a PanzerKorps game of the June 7th battle for Pegasus Bridge. The game was umpired by the rules author, Manny Granillo. The British were deployed in the central part of the table. I deployed two battalions on the West side of the canals, three battalions in towns on the East side, one battalion in reserve near the North edge, and the artillery battalion near the center. An FO was placed with the battalion in the Southern town with the church. The Germans attacked with three different Kampfgruppes. One from the West, one from the South, and one from the North. Each KG had four combat battalions and an artillery battalion. KG1 attacking from the West ran into heavy defensive fire and was thrown back. One battalion fled the battlefield.
KG2 arrived a couple of turns later on the Easternmost road on the South edge. After advancing for a few turns, they came under bombardment from the artillery battalion and naval gunfire. The naval gunfire was the result of a random event die roll. Fortunately for the British the forward observer, who was the only one who could direct the fire had a clear view of KG2. All the artillery was on target. Due to each targeted battalion rolling a 1 while being fired upon, resulting, in maximum damage, and then rolling a 2 for morale, all three battalions broke.
Both KG1 and KG2 eventually recovered and advanced again. KG1 was reinforced by an additional battalion. KG3 finally arrived on the Northern edge and the lead battalion of the British forces from the beach also arrived. KG1 again came under heavy fire, with the British re-enforcements attacking them from their rear, and were thrown back a second time. KG3 made slow progress, pounding the Northern village. This finally resulted in the British battalion occupying the town surrendering. Fortunately, the battalion that we had kept in reserve happened to be deployed in the patch of woods next to the town and was able to re-occupy it while the Germans were rounding up the prisoners.
The game ended with a British victory as the Germans were not able to secure control of the bridges before the British relief columns would arrive. Both sub-ordinate commanders on the British side had extremely good luck with the die rolls. Our forces only took minimal damage from the German attacks and were able to regain full effectiveness each turn. The only time luck deserted us was the surrender of the one battalion on the North. This occurred after coming under fire from artillery and three German battalions.
In some ways the game reminded me of the battle of Antietam. Due to random arrival rolls the German KGs attacked one at a time instead of together. This allowed us to direct our artillery on each in turn and drive them back before the next KG was able to attack. Only KG3 was able to avoid receiving enough damage to be driven back
Manny provided the gliders, figures, and much of the scenery. I provided most of the villages, roads, woods and hills. James Poli brought the canals.