The Bloody Nose - An Introduction To Panzer Campaigns (Part One)

Lets play some "Panzer Campaigns - France '40" !
This should serve as a introduction into the system for people not familiar with the John Tiller games.
I play a 8 turn scenario called "The Bloody Nose" which acts as a tutorial scenario.
Im a beginner myself, not a veteran player. Please keep that in mind and comment if you spot mistakes !

 Chabrehez, Belgium, 10th May 1940: The waiting had finally come to an end and once again the panzers were moving. As they rushed through the Ardennes in the early hours, lead elements of Rommels 7th Panzer Division swept away barricades and obstructions hastily prepared by the retreating Belgians. However, later in the morning a short distance from there days goal, lead elements ran into stiff opposition as the Belgian 3rd Chasseurs d'Ardennes Regiment delivered a rare "Bloody Nose" on this first day of action. It was not going to be the last scare the Desert Fox would get before this campaign was over! 

The initial situation: Belgium 10 May 1940 0600 hours

The "Panzer Campaigns" games are operational level hex based wargames, the scale is 1 km hexes and 2 hour turns. There are numerous "Panzer Campaigns" titles covering almost every theater of World War 2. As a early war fanboy i naturally choose "France '40". The game designers took much inspiration from one of my favorite books about the second world war, "Blitzkrieg-Legend" by Colonel Karl-Heinz Frieser. Please note that i use a mix of modified artwork, most prominently Volcano Man's unit art and the great MapMod.
The stock artwork is, like in most John Tiller games, just awful and sometimes even flawed. Just recently they started to adopt better artwork which is featured in the "First World War Campaigns" and "Panzer Battles" titles.

As you can see the goal of this scenario is to push westward with units from the famous "Ghost Division", capturing several belgian villages alongside the road and exit at the map edges.
(Please ignore the german units in the south-east, they will not take part in the offensive.)
First, i send my three motorcycle company's forward, i will use them to scout the road. However they encounter a roadblock [1] west of Regne.
As you can see i dont move them in Travel Mode because i fear they could be ambushed.
Next i move two Schützen Bn's (mot), a MG coy (mot) and a tank coy of 15 PzII & Pz38(t) forward over a damaged bridge [2], this costs more movement points because my man have to ford the stream.
The MG Coy recives fire while approaching Lierneux [3] and takes one casualty.
I respond with artillery fire and call in "Stuka" Dive Bombers to soften them up, they take a few casualties but don't get disrupted.
"Disrupted" units fire less effective because they have been exposed to heavy fire and command and control suffered. In "Panzer Campaigns" you always try to disrupt, isolate or break enemy units before you assault them. I hope to eliminate this small belgian unit quickly.
Thats it for turn 1, i cant move most of my units because they are "Fixed", they will become available at 1200 hours.

A small belgian cavalry unit defends Lierneux

During the enemy's turn i received more fire from the cavalry unit in Lierneux, one of my motorcycle coy's spotted a large entrenched belgian infantry unit north-west of Fraiture and some minefields.
Time for turn number two. I keep harassing the belgians in Lierneux with artillery fire from one battery of field howitzers. Additionally i move one Schützen Bn between Rehaumont and Lierneux with the intention to isolate the belgian cavalry unit [1]. My three motorcycle coy's keep moving westward towards the crossroads at Baracke de Fraiture.
They spot another entrenched enemy infantry unit south of the crossroads [2], and identify them as elite Chasseurs Ardennais. I decide to send two motorcycle coy's northward into the forest in a attempt to find a way to bypass the belgian blocking positions [3].
I click the "Next Turn" Button and watch the enemy. Heavy firefights erupt in the vicinity of Lierneux and the isolated belgians took heavy losses [4], it should be no problem now to capture the village with my numerical superior forces.
Also, it looks like the enemy infantry at Fraiture moved westward [5], are they retreating ?

The situation at the beginning of turn 3: 10 May 1940 1000 hours

Stay tuned for part two, we will assault Lierneux and then try to capture the crossroads at Baracke de Fraiture as soon as my main tank forces will get unleashed at 1200 hours (turn 4).