Pegasus Bridge

Ok, it's been a while.......

It was a standing joke in our house for many years that all I wanted from Santa at Christmas was the Pegasus Bridge Battle Set from Warlord Games.

Every year it would go on the list and every year - nothing, rien, nada, nichts, niente - you get the idea.

Then in 2017 for my birthday, which incidentally is just a few weeks before Xmas, I got this -

Oh how we chuckled!

But I was resigned to the fact that was about as close as I was going to get to the fabled set. So you could have knocked me down with the proverbial feather when 11 days later under Xmas Tree was -

I was gobsmacked (and if truth be told there was a wee tear in my eye - but don't tell Mrs kingsleypark that!!).

Apparently she had got so fed up of me going on about it that she caved in and bought it for me (see  psychological warfare does work - wear down your opponent with repeated propaganda).

Wow, now I could recreate that famous battle as depicted in the classic film, "The Longest Day" with Richard Todd repeating to himself "Hold until relieved!".

So, of course, I got the box cracked open eager to start. Heck, there were a lot of bits in this box (bloody heavy it was too). The enthusiasm started to wane somewhat.

I got the bunker built -

And had a bash at the Cafe Gondree

But the bridge was looking a beast and I kept putting it off and off. Soon Christmas 2018 was coming round a sense of guilt got hold and I decided to take the plunge and go for it and surprisingly it wasn't too long before this -

became this -

Sorry to all of you who were expecting a "How to build a Pegasus Bridge" blogpost. My fingers were too covered in pva glue to risk sticking the keys of my laptop down.....

Then the ever useful coffee stirrers (courtesy of far too many coffee shops to give credit too) were used to create planking for the bridge -

Several layers of paint and dry brushing later and viola - she was done!

One thing that became apparent once she was built (is it PC to call a bridge "she"?) is the size of the bloody thing - it's over 2 foot long so storage is an issue. The model does break down into smaller parts but to be honest that's a pfaff so space was cleared from the top of my bookcases and there it was to sit.

But no! All that blood, toil, sweat and tears (to misquote Churchill) putting the damned thing together wasn't just going to result in PB sitting gathering dust on top of the bookcases. And so it was that a few weeks ago trying to get the THAGG (that's the "The Honourable Arbroath Gamers Guild") guys organised for our weekly game that it turned out that only myself, Stevo  and Neil, were going to be available. None of us had played Bolt Action for a while (at least a year anyway) but this was the moment that PB would hit the tabletop and so it was we gathered in the cabin to refight the daring attempt of Major Howard and his gallant chappies to capture the bridge over the Orne.

Ok the scenario played was from the Booklet that came with the Pegasus Bridge Battle Set. As such, the units involved were smaller than your normal Bolt Action forces, but given it had been a while since any of us had played BA it was probably not a bad thing.

The German Garrison are troops from the 716th Infantry Division. These were poor quality troops, relegated to performing guard duties in what was thought to be a “safe area”. As such they are classed as inexperienced and also start the game with a pin marker on each unit. Not much of a handicap you would think but actually given the poor morale rolling of the German player (Stevo), it proved to be a major issue in getting units activated.

The Brits were members of the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Battalion led by Major Howard (giving the Brit forces a massive +4 on any morale rolls within command radius). The Brits are also classed as experienced and tough fighters which is a major plus in any close combat rolls.

A couple of problems were encountered on setting up -

Firstly, the scenario shows the table layout in classic Bolt Action 6 x 4 style. However, the model Pegasus Bridge is over 2ft long. I could have just set up the end section of the bridge but having taking this long to get the damned thing built it had to be on the table in all it’s glory so I went for a narrower width and deeper table as shown in the photograph. This would mean that combat would be joined a lot sooner, again no bad thing given the scenario would only last 6 (maybe 7) turns.

The second problem came when deploying the Brits from the Glider. “Where’s the Glider?” asks Neil.

”Use your F**&**g imagination!!” says I. As it had taken over a year to get the bridge built and painted so I wasn't going to start worrying about such niceties as representing a glider landing without a glider.....

So Neil picks a spot for the “Glider” to land and Stevo had a roll to adjust it’s position then the first turn started with the Brits rolling to see how many squads would get out of the Glider - only 2 squads (Major Howard was still supping on his tea inside - actually that’s not fair - if you see the glider landing in the The Longest Day you would realise that supping tea was definitely not an option!).

The Germans, however, were slow to react and only the AT Gun in the emplacement was able to get off a wild inaccurate shot.

The turns that followed saw the brave Brits trying to close in on the Bridge whilst the sleepy headed Germans finally started to rouse themselves and react to the danger -

Although the Brits did reach the Bridge and a firefight ensued which saw the scenario go in to a 7th turn, there were too many Germans left on the bridge so they were declared the winners.

Given it had been ages since we had played, I think we were able to pick up the basics pretty quickly and after a few searches of the rule book on a couple of points I think we are able to keep the game moving.

So keen to do some more Bolt Action. Kev is planning his Japanese and Ruaridh has started putting together his Finns and I have a pile of early war French to tackle so plenty of options available to us.

And oh Neil.........

(Thanks to Neil for providing most of the battle pictures in this thread. Must remember to get in the habit of taking more in our games if I'm going to get back in to this blogging lark!!!)