Lock N Load Heroes of the Blitzkrieg Phoney War Pt 2

See the first half of the battle report here.

Turn 4
Southwest: Sgt Olivier is again unable to rally his troops with the MG. More precious time lost. Their job was going to suppress the remaining Germans in the south copse of trees.  So, he directed the 2 squads north of him to suppress, thus stalling their movement.  Their fire works and they reduce one already shaken squad and shake the other.  The remain France Corps squads rush the forest and easily dispatch the Germans. This half of the battlefield is clear.  Now they can support their surrounded brothers in the house.

End of Turn 4

North: The Germans that had just jumped the wall and ran straight in for the French in the foxhole, easily dispatching them. Their peers entered the wire and worked their way slowly through.

Middle: Lt von Martial took his squads into the building to melee Mdl Julien, the weapons team and the shaken squad.  Basically they were only fighting the weapons team.  Well, they couldn't defeat the weapons team, very resilient. (Though I played this wrong. Weapon teams only defend in melee with a nominal FP of 1.  I used the units full firepower of 2 to calculate the odds. I didn't use them to counterattack in the melee, which is correct.)  I had the Germans use a fate point to buff up the roll, to no avail.

As this melee ensued, the French kitchen police, just returning from the rear lines and hearing the cries of battle, come rushing straight down the road toward the house to reinforce their beloved and artistically talented Mdl Julien.  And this is when they realized their mistake. Running straight down the road.  Before they heard the sounds of the Mg34, their comrades started falling all round them.  Even Adc Beaujolais was shaken.  They all hit the ground, though too late after both squads shaking.

And then from the...

South:  Lt Wurtz took a squad w mg into the building to reinforce the melee.  The French weapon team succumbed to the overwhelming firepower.

Turn 5

End of turn 5

Southwest (France Corps) - Sgt Julien reluctantly leaves the squad with mg.  They tried self rallying, but couldn't make it happen. He joined with 2 of the squads to work their way toward the building.  The other two squads, one at a time work their way toward the south part of the house. One is shaken, the other joins with them in the same hex.

North:
The French make the same mistake as their brothers and move downstairs to prepare for Melee.   I don't recall how, but the German squad waiting outside the north side of the house are shaken.  Their fellow squad that had been stuck in the wire join them by the house. 

South:
Some of the Germans fire into the newly arrived French kitchen troops. They reduce one to a half squad, the other stays shaken and the leader is wounded and shaken.

Turn 6:

Turn 6 Melee

I didn't get a photo of the whole board.  Here's what I recall: The French moved closer to the house.  And let's just say this - Lt von Martial grouped his two squads with mgs with some fate from the fatherland and rushed into the north part of the house to melee the 2 French squads sporting a mg.  The Germans were successful in taking out the French.  Unfortunately for the Germans, the French rolled an 11.  They only succeeded on a 10+.  So, even using the German's last fate point to subtract from their roll, it would've still succeeded.  Big loss. 

Yes, it gives the Germans their 4 vp for being in sole possession of the building. But it also gives the French 2.5 more vp.

Turn 7:

End Game - French Victory 7-4

The French weren't going to take the building. So all they needed to do was get one good order French unit next to the building.  Sgt Olivier rushed up and was shaken.  France Corps unit 1 rushed up, shaken.  France Corps 2 rush up...and shaken. 

But wait, what's this? The wounded and shaken Adc Beaujolais was able to roll a 2 during the rally phase and was in good order in order to ensure a French victory, 7-4.

After Report
A fun scenario and I learned a lot about the rules and strategy.

First, the rules to work on:

1. Fire groups - Take one squad at full firepower, then all other squads are taken as 1/2 firepower. Support weapons fire at full.  Weapon fire teams don't fire in fire groups.
2. Spot first, before firing.  I forgot a couple times with the Germans in the woods in the Southwest.  
3. Weapon Teams defend in melee at a nominal 1.  They can't attack in melee.
4. For this scenario - I could've used fate points to subtract as well as add. 
5. For this scenario - I forgot to begin lifting the fog for better visibility.

Strategies

1.  The France Corps come in after the Germans are set up.  Possibly, they could've come up on the North side and not necessarily the Southern portion.  The buildings, wheat fields and trees were tempting cover.
2. Another error entering the board, the French kitchen troops, coming down the road.  Again, the German was there, I could see it.  I should've come a little further north, with some, perhaps a little further from the action.
3. The French should've stayed upstairs.  The Victory Conditions state that the Germans could be the only ones with GO troops in the house.  By staying upstairs, it would've taken the Germans another turn to get up there to fight.
4. For the Germans, I probably should've kept one of the German leaders back to rally troops. As it was I had 2-3 units sitting most of the game.  Frankly, I'm lucky the Germans up North did as well as they did.
5. Similarly, Probably should've made to groups of attacks since I had two leaders and not three.