Chain of Command: Maltot Church (1) - Opening Rounds the "Patrol Phase"

The Final Scenario of the Maltot Normandy Campaign: 

The battlefield, Maltot village (church end), complete with evidence of the freshly churned craters courtesy of the "warm up" barrage from British 25 pdr Field Guns and 5.5 inch Howitzers. 

The Germans hold the top end, the British advance from the bottom 'straight down the road' (see below):

The objective, Maltot church which is believed to be a German Regimental HQ, but who ever believes the Intelligence Officer. What is for certain is that it is very 'hard cover' (see below):

The British patrol markers are set according to the scenario rules which mean that the British get a 'broad front' advance and the Germans 'hurry out to meet them asap' (see below)

The patrol markers pin each other about half-way (up/down, delete as applicable) the table (see below):

The British are keen to convert their 'patrol markers' into 'jump-off points' in 'hard cover', which generally seems to be a good plan. This means two solid positions in the town itself, very close to the church (see bottom of the picture below, the points with the white stars), and a flanking position on the British left (see top left of the picture below, this time a lone white star) with an ominous amount of open ground in front of it.

The British Commander was envisioning a vicious firefight in the village supported by flanking fire from the left, bags of smoke to obscure everything and then a flanking advance when everything German is dead or suppressed, but with line-of-sight blocked by smoke from two  two-inch mortar teams. It seemed to work well last time, but then the British player had Timmy the Churchill Tank to call on too.

The German line was known to be stretched thin. With the losses from the previous scenarios they could not defend everywhere. Two jump off points were sensibly placed in Maltot Church, then one on the German right flank in hard cover and the final one in soft cover, but hidden from line of sight on the German left flank (see below):

A close-up shot of the German hidden jump-off point, also very close to Maltot church (see below)

Woods can be a somewhat mixed blessing to defend. Great if you set yourself 'tactical' as it goes to hard cover, but as witnessed in the last scenario they can become a "killing zone" if you are caught by superior numbers. One German squad paid dearly for that mistake.

The "patrol phase" was complete and as it was a timed (as in until they throw us out of the club) game and both players were at least familiar with the Game System we briskly "set-to".

Next: Figures on table and the shooting starts