Mid war- Dak vs Armoured Squadron

I managed a couple of play test games vs Dale last night, using DAK vs his 8th army.

I took a DAK schutzen company based around Gazala- 1st Alamein and Dale his infamous Armoured Squadron. This force used to be 32 Stuarts in two companies and was a real pain to face with infantry forces- it ran over them game after game after game. These days its a single company with grants and 25pdrs for smoke.

DAK Shutzen

• Company HQ
• DAK schutzen + 2x pak 36rs
• DAK shutzen + 2x pak 38s
• 2x Bison
• 2x 88s
• 5x Carri
• 2x 231 ACS

I've never taken 88s or Bison and so am trying to squeeze both into the list. The question is, am I trying to do too much?

Dales Light Armoured Squadron

• 15 Stuarts
• 6 Grants
• 4x 25 pdrs

The first game was a Hasty Assault. Dale raced his Stuarts in for the kill but failed to pin my platoons and was decimated 6-1.

In the second game we played a FFA and he won 4-3. I managed to kill 3 platoons of Stuarts in the end Dale's Grants destroyed a platoon on the far objective and my 6x 88 shots + pak 36Rr all missed and so he grabbed victory.

Both games were fun but threw up a few issues with my force. Recon wwas a bit hit and miss in the second gamer- I missed, Dale hit, and we were wondering whether or not to take something else instead. The bisons, the whole reason for the list were again of limited use (being used just as artillery). Dale suggested adding some air support which wouldn't be a bad option and I might try to squeeze some in- probably at the expense of a pak 38 and the recon.

A few pictures

Hasty Assault deployment




88s ambiush and knock out a single grant (range + gone to ground)


Grants advance to the next cover.


When using 88s expect them to be smoked!


Here come the Stuarts!


Pak 36Rs start to whittle them down.





The final assaults- Dale failed to pin the defending platoons and was stuck in no-man's land with not option but to assualt. Defensive fire accounted for each one.

Note: Dale had misplaced a couple of his Stuarts so pressed gained some 231 ACs to make up the numbers.


Free For All

Deployment


Dale fortifies his troops- with ale.


Trying to releive the pressure the carrri advance- and manage to take out 2 platoons of Stuarts before being lost.


Stuarts poised to stike- there 16" move is a real pain when you are playing infantry as they cans switch the point of attack very, very rapidly.


That's what I call a tank duel- Stuarts vs carri. The Stuka is an objective.


Although we have held off the Stuarts on the other flank the grants advance. I failed to dig in on turn 1 and lost a pak 38 as a result. The Grants then closed and nibbled away at the PG platoon. Eventually assaulting it and the survivors broke.


They can't kill us all! Th grants take objective holding formation. I shot at them with 88s, pak 36r and bison- the bison got 3 hits, all saved and everyone else missed. Had I broken one platoon Dale was under half strength and therefore would have needed a morale check before claiming the objective.



4-3 to Dale

Another fun game- FFa is my worst nightmare vs so many zippy Stuarts. Again Dale used smoke to minimise the effectiveness of the 88s and the Stuarts were a real pain. I wasn't expecting the PG to collapse and rout so quickly though and that cost me dearly.

Not sure about a couple of things in the list:
Bison and 231s.

Dale has suggested airpower. Ideally I'd like to keep the bison for flavour and stick to the Gazala theme but it does lack a bit of ommph. The pak 36rs were very handy and I'm considering another two for my second infantry platoon but if I take air support this is unlikely to happen.

Craig