Bolt Action Battle Report - Defending Mersa Brega

My dad and I have been working for a while on a Bolt Action campaign set in the Western Desert in Africa. All of the scenarios for the campaign are contained in Warlord's Western Desert campaign book. 

We both bought some kits specifically for the desert campaign. My dad is playing the Germans and I'm playing the British. I got two boxes of British 8th Army infantry as well as several Matilda tanks, a 25-pounder field gun, a Vickers machine gun team, as well as several other pieces that I've been building and painting over time. My dad put together a very cool desert table, complete with stands of palm trees, ruined buildings, and even the El Alamein train station. 

Having finally found some time to get the campaign going, we decided to skip the first five scenarios in the book (Operation Compass) due to their involving mostly Italians on the Axis side. This was the point when Rommel's Afrika Korps had not yet established its presence in the region.

Thus, our first scenario is the assault on Mersa Brega (Operation Sonnenblume). In this scenario, the British are entrenched at Brega but heavily outnumbered by an assaulting German force. 

Per the scenario rules, the majority of British units begin the battle set up within the town, occupying buildings and making use of the dense cover available. 

The rest of the board is essentially wide open, with scattered desert terrain, ruined walls, rocky areas, and fields of razor ribbon. 

The Germans enter the board throughout the first turn, with remaining units held in reserve.

Turn One

Turn one was relatively uneventful, with the British mostly choosing to take Ambush orders while the Germans massed in the desert. 

Turn Two

Turn two saw the battle begin to heat up. The Germans began their advance on Brega, crossing the distance quickly with half tracks and tanks leading the way, while supporting weapons teams took their positions behind. 

The British took advantage of retained Ambush commands, firing in several instances at advancing German units. One of the German infantry units suffered casualties approaching the left side of Brega, and the Vickers machine gun team scored a surprise direct hit on the side armor of the German half track, immobilizing it.  However, the Germans responded in kind and the British machine gun team also suffered a casualty. 

Turn Three

Turn three saw the British Matilda tank attempting to score a hit on the approaching Panzer II but having no luck with the dice. 

Meanwhile, the Germans set their sights on the British sniper team hiding in the front building. Four shots from a medium machine gun, needing 6s to score hits on the protected location:

Four dice, four sixes. Needless to say, the unlucky sniper team was eliminated. Nonetheless, the British responded in kind, neutralizing a pesky German mortar team. 

The game paused at Turn Four, with no clear advantage for either side. Check back for the conclusion of the battle of Mersa Brega in a subsequent post.