By snatching a couple of points from Mike I was still near the top so had to play Paul Mounsey on the same table, in a hasty assault. Not a match up I was looking forward to as his tankovy forces have run me over in our last 2 meetings at NATCONs and this proved to be no different.
I ambushed with my Shermans, only deploying the fireflies on a hill so they could fire as the regular shermans were of no use vs front armour 9. I managed to kill 1 and bail another with the fireflies and typhoons and then in return fire from 5 KVs he scored a hit at long range and I rolled a 1. Half my only decent AT evaporated!
Next turn I bailed another couple of KVs, killed one but by now 8 KVs were at close range and my 2nd firefly bailed and refused to remount. Luckily though am airstrike bailed the company commander and killed another KV and the survivors form one platoon fled. Meanwhile the KV1S platoon had come on and double timed onto the board. Eventually I managed to kill 4 in an assault after my own 57mm At arrived behind them and with a bazooka. My assault killed all the bailed tanks and the commander retreated. I vainly tried to push the 57mm forward to finish it off but all future shots glanced off. Meanwhile 6 KVs slowly but surely ground my infantry into the dirt.
2-5 to Paul.
Man that was a tough force for infantry to face! Even with TA 3, vs TA 2 and rear MGs the task was nigh on impossible and with no terrain to hide in I as relying on typhoons and Sherman’s to have any chance. As it was the KVs got too close too quickly and my past couple airstrikes were vs his sappers who easily survived. I was not be be the last person that Paul ran over but was very close the snatching that 2nd point off him!I did managed to knock out 9 KVs though!
Paras destroy 3 bailed KVs in assault.
The end is nigh!
Game 5: Encounter vs Phil- 7th Armoured Div Rifles
A couple of people had moved ahead of me after that round but I was still not completely out of the running for a place but all I really wanted at this stage was to turn my luck around and get the 3rd win I hoped for for the weekend.
Phil ha a large reluctant trained British Rifle company
- 3x platoons
- HMGs
- Carriers
- 6 pdrs
- 17 pdrs
- Full 25 pdr battery.
- Limited typhoons.
We fought on the village table I had played Steve on. I deployed some paras, 105s and 57mm at guns, he deployed 2x rifle platoons, 15pdrs and HMG carriers.
I got to go first and made my way into the buildings. I didn’t want to push too far forward as I was war of his reserves. Phil sent his HMG carriers forward to MG my troops.
I eventually killed the HMGs when my shermans came on (took them 3 rounds as the reluctant HMGs refused to break) and Phils 17 pdrs came on where he didn’t want them!
I got lucky in that I had about 4 airstrikes, each time pining his artillery and some infantry, and he only got one flight in (which killed a firefly). I used artillery, 650mm mortars to pin his platoons and he found it difficult to move forward. With his 17 pdrs where he didn’t want them I was able to use my tanks to control things and pick off 25 pdrs and I slowly picked off platoons until he broke.
6-1 to the paras. I didn’t think it was going to end the way it did but by pinning his troops alot I really made it difficult for him to move forward and coordinate his attacks.
Here come the HMG carriers!
Paras start moving through the village.
Those are our tiffies, aren't they? No they aren't.
57mm AT and infantry prepare to defend the other objective- the British rifles are pinned by our artillery and refuse to move.
Phil tries to shoot my troops out of the woods.
Then tries one last assualt with his third platoon (which had managed to unpin)
Round 6 vs Bob (Welsh Guards rifles)- Fighting Withdrawal
I was a point or so behind Bede and Poochie who in turn were only a point or two behind Paul and Mike. In the final round Bede had to play Pau and P{oochie Mike and I got to play Bob who was about a point behind me so it was pretty tight at the top and anyone could still win it. I was very happy about playing Bob as I’d been looking forward to a game vs him all weekend as we’d never played before, I wasn't however looking forward to facing his Cromwell's.
Bob had a Welsh Guards infantry force with 2x Cromwell platoons and he rolled higher so got to attack me on the Italy table (a nightmare table for my force and the 3rd game on it- 2 losses on it so far could I avoid 3 losses from 3?)
- 2x guards rifles
- 2x Cromwell’s
- Carriers
- 2x 14.2” mortars
Bob used his comwells to switch the point of his attack (a lot). My ambush knocked out 3 cromwells (and forced lost of rifle teams to debuss for the loss of only 1 stand) and I got the final cormwell the next turn. His second Cromwell platoon had raced round the other flank and taken up position to roll me up.
From there things went a bit strange. I a managed to pin his infantry- and eventually my shermans killed his carriers but in sso doing had come within range of his other Cromwell platoon. 3x Challenger shots killed 3 of my Shermans! However, I managed to keep his infantry pinned, or more correctly bob kept failing to unpin which put paid to his infantry assaulting me off the objective for a couple of turns! By turn 6 I had 3x full strength infantry platoons on table while my Shermans, 57mm AT and artillery had all been withdrawn! In my last 3 turns I simply went to ground and tried to weather the coming storm. With time running out Bob launched his crowmells into the buildings trying to kill my guards infantry- who retreated to a cliff top and the last 3 teams refused to break.
In the final turn Bob launched 2x infantry assaults after pinning my platoon and I failed to stop either. My para platoons took a couple of casualties and the survivors retreated- so much for fearless vets, I simply gave ground to avoid losing a platoon.
6-1 to the paras.
A bit lucky, had Bob managed to unpin a round earlier and get those assaults in I would have been in big trouble- especially the way I failed to pin him when he did assault! A good game where playing possum worked! I was really impressed with how quickly he was able to switch the point of attack. In that game my 60mm mortars probably saved me by pining platoons at opportune times.
Intermixed infantry platoons.
The infantry are making use of their special debuss rules- which I learned how to use, thanks Bob!
The sherman ambush.
Shermans chase the carriers are about to fall into a trap! Rob S in the background looking engrossed in his own game!
Bob's carriers are named after his father and two uncles all of whom were carrier drivers. I'm happy to report in this battle the carrier driven by his father survived (although the platoon was forced to retreat), but his uncles' carriers weren't so lucky.
[note after this point things were too tense so I forgot to take more photos!]
Final Results
So after 6 games I had 27 pts vs 6 very, very good opponents. I was surprised to come 2nd, just pipping Mike Haycock (Surfboard) by a point and about 3 points behind “Mounsey” and his KV1 horde from hell which all infantry forces struggled to deal with and even Bede’s 4x panthers couldn’t stop in the final game (Bede- missing with 14 out of 16 shots not helping his chances if I recall correctly!). Bede was a point behind Surfboard, then Poochie and Bob were tied on 5th another point further back so the results in the last round were critical to the final placings.
Paul deserved his win, he played those tanks aggressively and well (as always) but going into the last round the comp was still wide open with 4-5 players potentially in the running so it was a very, very close comp.
I really enjoyed it and hope I can qualify next year.
Many thanks to Pete Dunn, Russell Briant and John Hutton for organising and running a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.
Craig
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