Thursday, October 14, 2010

FoW: US Paras vs Panzer Company

Kent and I managed another game at TAG last night. He made up a list on the spot as I had misread the RoH book and had chosen a trained German SS list and not followed the diagrams
so modified it with the models he had bought along.

Kent's Panzers (1750 pts)
  • 2x Panzer IVs
  • 3x panzer IVs
  • 4x panthers
  • 3x nebelwerfers
  • 3x hummels

I decided to take:
US Paras (1750 pts- Hells Highway)
  • HQ + bazooka
  • 2x full strength para platoons
  • 3x Shermans (1x firefly)
  • 4x Shermans (2x fireflies)
  • Limited Thunderbolts

Mission:
We decided to try Hasty Assault so I got to defend. I deployed a 105 battery behind a hill a full para platoon defending the main objective and shermans + fireflies in immediate ambush- which came on to protect the para’s- and didn’t shoot!

Kent removed his objective near the para platoon and deployed his panthers, HW tanks and nebelwerfers.


As you can see my infantry are in the near wood and objective and 105s are in the distance.


And from Kent's side. He deployed out of LoS near the objective I had placed.

Game on!
The first few turns were pretty uneventful, I fired a few artillery barrages- when an observer had line of sight, but with little impact. Likewise several flights of thunderbolts roared in but either failed to spot and panthers in the open or else their bombs fell wide of the mark.

Yes, that is a flight of three thunderbolts failing to spot the panthers!


In reply the nebelwerfer's killed a para team.


On the second turn the panzer IVs arrived and started moving towards the objective thich was only protected by the 105 battery. Nervously I awaited reserves to help out but the firefly platoon was ordered to redeploy to assist.


The panzer IVs fan out.


The Shermans regroup and one is bailed by the nebelwerfers.



Those panzers are getting a bit close, where are our reserves?

Guys, I think the hummels have arrived! 3 Shermans are caught under a template but all roll 4s and are only bailed! Was I lucky, or Kent unlucky? A bit of both I guess!


Reserves at last! My small sherman platoon arrives in the nick of time and only manages to bail a single panzer IV!


Then loses its command tank! (the other Sherman passed its save)



The other shermans take up a hull down position vs the panthers! At long range this isn't going to be easy!


Rather than waste shots on the panthers the shermans knock out the company commander and 2iC panzer IVs!


A sherman smokes a panther and the para's assault and kill it- the surviving panther backs off.


The perfect assault! The following turn the 2x 105 batteries smoke 2 panthers and the paras charge in under the cover of smoke. However, I only manage to bail the panther that is in the clear. Kent attacks with a panther and a couple of observers and kills 3 teams, even with the company commander re-roll I retreat. The bailed panther then remounts! So much for the perfect assault!


The surviving paras are caught in the open- 9 hits, I fail 7 saves! Only the company commander (who was forced to attach) survives and he fails his morale test too and flees. I've now nothing that can contest! The game has just been turned on its head!


On the other flank my other para platoon assaults the panzers and kills one- the survivor stays put. I want a victory point damn it!


The sole surviving panzer IV destroys my last 2 shermans from the small platoon! Arrghhhhh!


In my next turn I assault the panzer (again) and it stays to fight a second round. In 2 rounds I managed 7 hits, including 2 from bazookas! Kent saved them all then retreated, having killed a couple of stands in DF and counter assault!


Yes that panther is contesting....just. My last firefly bails it and so saves the game. A turn or so later it is destroyed by a time on target barrage.


Now things get silly! I try every try every trick in the book to keep the game alive. My paras are maximising their command radius to jsut contest. 2 dead panthers, one bailed, one okay = no morale test! @##@$###@!!!!

[Edit: actually I think I am confusing my thoughts with an earlier situation where I had 2 bailed and one dead- probably after my failed assault and as I recall Kent did pass his motivation test- as required].


The last turn- I'm down to a handful of infantry (who pass their motivation to stay on he board) and Kent has a single panther over half way. The club was closing so we had to call it- after Kent failed to finish off my platoon. Game to the defenders- just!

Thoughts
What a crazy game! Beforehand neither of us thought too much of Kent's list but by the end of the game Kent was very happy with it. Those panthers were nasty. I should have taken 2 in my assault and probably won the game easily at that point but lady luck decided to favour Kent. From there it turned into an artillery duel.

Kent decided half way though (once I started dropping smoke on everything) that that's the role for his nebelwerfers too in future to close down threats to his panzer IVs- probably a good idea but I don't want to be on the receiving end. Those hummels were nasty they hit hard and killed 2 shermans, and nearly took out a whole a platoon- the only thing that saved me was eventually sniping one with a sherman so Kent was forced t re-roll hits!

MVP probably went to the artillery as it kept me in the game. I think I will take both tank platoons at full strength so to do that its either lose the air support or 3 infantry stands + bazooka. At this stage I think I'll lose the air support.

A fun game, it really swung one way then the other and both of us had our chances to clinch it.

Hasty Assault
We've played this a few times lately and it is growing on me. The attacker has to treat it a bit like cauldron- deploy with the thought of an immediate ambush (i.e. using cover as much as possible) and then on your frist turn organise your attack.

It has made for some close games with the defender stretched waiting for their reserves and the attacker also needing to take their time rather than bum rush an objective early-although that could also work in the right circumstances.

Craig

6 comments:

  1. 2 dead panthers, one bialed, one okay = no morale test! @##@$###@!!!!

    No way! That equals one big fat moral test. Two are dead and one is alive.

    Is that what passes for a base cloth a TAG - pink? ;)

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  2. Doh, my maths is off!

    That is a very good point- perhaps my memory is faulty and Kent passed his test, the last few rounds were a little hazy as it was getting a bit silly! I'll give him the benefit of the doubt :)

    Craig

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  3. re: the cloth. It's one of my desert ones-it's a light browny shade but looks a bit weird in the photos.

    My dark green cloth is still under a table full of bocage which I couldn't be naffed putting away, but will probably make the effort to for our rematch next week as it does look a little odd (or we'll use Kent's) :) Problem with gaming at the club- having to take your own gear, its much easier to game at home, or someone else's place as you don't need to waste time on set up, or have a time limit as to the end.

    Will make sure we have a more camera friendly cloth for the game next week.

    Craig

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  4. Hi Craig, I almost feel like you might miss that air - marginal though it is. It seems like the list is still pretty solid without the extra stuff in there?

    I like Kent's list. Is that what he is planning on bringing along to Conquest?

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  5. Marginal randomness isn't working for me and yes the core is pretty forgiving. A 4th firefly would add some robustness to the second tank platoon.

    re: Panzers. I think it might be Kent's Conquest list- it was literally made up on the fly but definitely grew on him.

    The hummels + nebs seemed to work well- hummels are too expensive to waste for smoke but can cause carnage with their high AT and FP (both as artillery or direct fire) and the nebs give a good cheap smoke option. Its weakness is the 3 strength platoon of panzer IVs but Kent intends to use the 2iC with them. It also is a list that needs to wear down an opponent so must be carefully managed. 4 panthers are hard to ignore on table!

    How did WoTR go last night?

    Craig

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  6. Report to follow today (this evening?). However, despite losing a lot of guys in some very deep Mumak prints, I pulled through in the end.

    They are a pretty cool model (both looks and ow they play), so it made for quite an enjoyable game .

    Kent's list is a pretty good antitode to mass allied tanks - even allied tank lists with Panthers!

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