The game was a WW2 game set in the small village of Fearnley Whittingstall on the Dorset coast. A local Home Guard force plus a small contingent of Grenadier Guards who were in the area escorting a couple of 'boffins' from the Ministry were to come under a night attack from some glider borne Fallschirmjager.
The quiet Dorset village of Fearnley Whittingstall. The villagers asleep in their beds.
The village pub. The 'Boffins' from the Ministry are enjoying the village hospitality.
Rose Cottage and the Barn requisitioned by the Grenadier Guards during their visit as a CP and Barracks.
The Coast Road and in the distance the cliff top bunkers occupied by a small Home Guard patrol and a ROC spotting team.
The Home Guard transport parked outside the Church Hall.
A saloon requisitioned by the Grenadier Guards.
Guards transport parked outside the barn.
Home Guard occupy the two bunkers on the left of the picture with the ROC spotting team on the right.
It's been a quiet night until gliders begin to descend from the skies and land near the Coast Road. Glider 1 lands slightly off target and crashes into the Home Guard bunker immediately alerting them!
Glider 2 lands on target and the Fallschirmjager immediately disembark.
Meanwhile north of the village Glider 3 lands!
A firefight breaks out at the Home Guard bunker near the cliffs as the Paratroopers from the crashed glider try and disembark under rifle and Lewis gun fire.
The Grenadier Guards at Rose Cottage are alerted to the sound of gun fire from the direction of the Coast Road. To make matters worse a random event means that the heavens have opened and it's now pouring with rain reducing visibility even further.
The firefight continues on the cliff tops.
The Fallschirmjager take some casualties under the intense and accurate fire from the bunkers.
The ROC bunker, now alerted to the gilder assault, keep a watchful eye along the coast.
The paratroopers from Glider 2 head towards the village in search of their objective. The two British scientists.
Paratroopers from Glider 3 approach the Barn unaware of the Grenadier Guards within! Paratroopers from Glider 4 can be seen disembarking top right.
After finally getting through on the telephone to the coastal bunker, two members of the Home Guard leave the Church Hall and head for the Church to ring the bells to alert the rest of the village.
Paratroopers from Glider 2 head for cover on the edge of the village.
Paratroopers from Glider 3 come under fire from the Barn immediately losing two men and another wounded.
Cautiously the Fallschirmjager advance into the village as the Church Bells begin to ring out.
In the darkness the Paratroopers from Glider 2 head towards Rose Cottage but visibility is reduced due to the rain and they fail to spot the Grenadier Guards.
Taking more casualties the Paras from Glider 1 fall back to the Coast Road.
Paras from Glider 4 reach the northern outskirts of the village.
Overview of the village as the troops from Glider 3 come under continuous fire from the Barn and the troops from Glider 2 are pinned down in the front garden by the Guards at Rose Cottage.
Meanwhile the Paras from Glider 4 enter the garden at the rear of the Bungalow, trying to outflank the Guards in the Barn.
For their own protection the Home Guard escort the Scientists from the Village Pub to the safety of the Church Hall where the Home Guard have set up their HQ.
The Home Guard deploy their Northover Projector outside the Church Hall as the Boffins head for safety.
The Boffins just make it in time as Paras from Glider 3 begin to move past the pub towards the Church Hall.
The Home Guard truck providing great cover as the Paras reach the village square.
The Fallschirmjager come under fire from the Northover Projector as well as a squad of Home Guard hidden in the Church Hall. It does not go well for the Germans!
One of the remaining troops from Glider 3 desperately tries to assault the Church Hall to no avail.
A straggler from Glider 3 is captured by the Grenadier Guards.
Meanwhile down at the beach a new threat emerges from the waves in the form of a Land Wasser Schlepper accompanied by some engineers to clear the beach of mines.
An overall shot of the village, with troops from Glider 1 pinned down behind the hedge on the Coast Road and troops from Glider 2 still trying to push on into the village square.
Eventually Paras from Glider 1 reorganise themselves and begin an assault on the beach defences.
Something else for the plucky defenders of Fearnley Whittingstall to worry about. The Fallschirmjager from Glider 4 have taken the bungalow and are moving into the village. They attempted to start the saloon parked outside Rose Cottage without success.
Glider 2 troops still pinned down on the edge of the village. But with the arrival of reinforcements from Glider 4 they prepare to advance.
Two Home Guard riflemen climb the church steeple and open fire on the Paratroopers from Glider 4 as they advance across the square.
With additional fire from the Grenadier Guards in the front garden of Rose Cottage the Fallschirmjager take heavy casualties and their morale begins to falter.
Three members of the Home Guard begin to move round the back of the Church.
Down at the beach a trawler towing barges has arrived and the Germans begin to advance up the beach after finally silencing the Home Guard bunker on the cliff top.
After seeing what happened to the Paras from Glider 4 in the village square the troops from Glider 2 decide to stay put in the cover of the garden.
The remaining Fallschirmjager from Glider 4 try in vain to assault the Church and the Church Hall but the Home Guard have set up a strong defensive position.
At this point Richard C, our umpire, called time and announced a win to the British defenders as the Germans had failed in their mission to kidnap the two British Scientists.
The troops from Glider 2 were the only Fallschirmjager unit still in a position to fight as the troops from Glider 3 had all been killed in the assault on the Church Hall and the troops from Glider 4 had taken heavy casualties advancing across the village square. The Paras in Glider 1 never really recovered from the initial crash landing right on top of the Home Guard cliff top bunker.
The Grenadier Guards had taken heavy casualties but were still in control of Rose Cottage and the Barn. All the Home Guard in the cliff top bunkers had been lost along with the ROC team. However the Boffins were safe for now and the Home Guard were in a strong defensive position in the Church and Church Hall with good fields of fire all around.
Big thanks to Richard Crawley for organising another cracking Christmas Wargame. The table looked superb and the new cliff terrain looked amazing. Thanks to my fellow British players Jamie and Sam and also to Andy and Rob for playing the Fallschirmjager. Always nice to get a game of Arc of Fire which is a fun set of rules easily adaptable to scenario play.
Looking forward to my next trip over to Dungworth for Crisis Point 2020!
