Dale won the dice roll and so got to choose the side with the bigger hill to defend- and also grabbed the end with more terrain. Luckily (as always) our hills were difficult going so he couldn't simply roar over them with his half tracks.
When facing kingtigers- don't give them anything worth shooting at is my motto! I deployed an infantry platoon & 6 pdrs behind a hill and also my recce carriers. Kill us all I dare ya!
Dale's kingtigers, flak nests and auflakrung deploy on, or behind the large hill- which was bogging tests and we forgot his tigers were overloaded for the first couple of turns- it's been awhile since we've played king tigers:)
My turn 1- I dug in my guns and infantry and my recce moved- I forgot about the planes though!
The aufklarung double time. The tiger knocked out the only visible 6 pdr (rolled a 6 to hit) and the HS 129s managed to miss 2 carriers and only killed 1- bloody lucky really as they need 2s to hit! Not a good start for me.
Sometimes going through the woods is safer, especially when there are HS 129s about...
Dale's kingtiger commander advances towards the objectives... not sure what he'll do by hgmslef though as he can't contest :)
At least he can support the aufklarung.
My first reserves arrive and double time towards the woods- forgetting that I can come on within 16" of the corner- this oversight lulled Dale into a false sense of security...
Dales infantry and company commander kingtiger converge on my objective. It is about now that Dale realises that his flak nests can't contest objectives I'm going for and so the kingtiger is a bit exposed...
Turn 6 (turns are fast when you only have to move carriers!) and all my reserves turn up- priests, cromwells (Sextons pretending to be tanks- and a Churchill pretending to be firefly- how embarassing!)) and M10s. I also remembered to move on from 2ithin 16" of the corner so was able to get some side shots on the king tiger. Unfortunately they all missed except one cromwell hit that was easily saved!).
Bet you can't kill us all...
I had it under control, nothing could stop us except...Now the HS 129s decide to turn up. Oh crap! Runaway! Dale's tiger retreated far enough to allow the airstrike to hit A LOT of my tanks.
That could have been worse- 4 dead priests (3 from one platoon, one from another) and another two bailed as well as 2 bailed M10s?! The priests passed their morale test. The tiger also missed.
The tiger had retreated enough for most of my tanks to not get side shots- but it could not move any further as it was only just contesting.
The two "Cromtons" missed the side armour of the tiger (again).
Dale had given up attacking the other objectives and the aufklarung roared back to assist- as did his company commander.
The panzerwerfers were now also on table and fire- bailing two priests, killing another and bailing 2 M10s. The tiger missed the M10s again.
He's got to die this time right? Penetrated- bailed, double bailed...finally an M10 shot went through the side armour and killed the behemoth. All I need to do now is hang on for a turn...
Dales last throw of the dice- his aufklarung fan out to attack. I had deployed my carriers to shoot up his infantry (but I should have stayed in the treeline). This only gave him a juicy target-the only 2 mobile priests dropped smoke on the kingtiger commander. Semi use of tactics by me at last!
Dale bailed both carriers and they fled but he failed to pass his motivation test to assualt the priest (and infantry).
5-2 T&T boys.
A great game, Dale was always going to have to stretch to defend and attack but those king tigers are damn hard to knock out. I should not have tried to slow down the aufklarung with my carriers, that gave away an easy VP.
I loved the balance of the T&T list- used aggressively it had a lot of firepower and I managed to test out my latest theory which is that priests make excellent stop gap bunker busters (skill test followed by 2x 2+ firepower tests= lots of dead flak nests) , add 50 Cals and they are very very handy.
I am now seriously tempted to take them to Conquest instead of the FJ...
Craig
Looks like a great game Craig. Nice photos.
ReplyDeleteI won't forget that reserves can come in 16" from the corner after I left one infantry stand 9.5" from the reserve entry point and got assaulted by a strelk from reserve.
ReplyDeleteThe KT list has problems in half on half off missions as the flak nests count as a platoon for deployment.
HQ KT
Platoon 1 - KT
Platoon 2 - KT
Platoon 3 - Aufklarung
Platoon 4 - Panzerwerfers
Platoon 5 - Flak nests
Air support
There should have only been one platoon deployed in addition to the flak nests with 3 platoons in reserve.
Bunkers will die easily in Dust up. Do ROF 1 weapons even need a +1 to hit since it is a skill check. ie 4 Brummbars move and shoot. Will the bunkers die on a 3+?
Good point! Must remember that next week when I test it vs a Cromwell company.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am aware there are no modifications to skill tests to hit bunkers- so Brummbars only need to get in range and roll their 3+.
Craig
Take them! I still haven't decided on my list so you might as well waver a bit too lol!
ReplyDeleteDustup is a cool mission and I like the way it gives attacking infantry lists a real go.
It is definitely an unmodified skill check. Brummbars/SU-152s are deadly vs Bunkers but then they are also a very deadly reserve vs tanks. I've learned that to my costs vs Brumms and SU-152s add range to the equation.
Dave D and I have arrangd a grudge match round one and that is the only thing that is holding me back as he is Urdany so I'd rather play him with something German bt ho knows!
ReplyDeleteI think with bunkers being more common people will be better able to count them as they'll have played them mroe frequently- which makes deploying them effectively harder
Craig
In Dales list the bunkers do not count as a platoon did deployment. It's from River of Heroes I think. Bunker deployment changed with the Normandy big boys books. They are not retroactive so you use the rules in the book you made your list from.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nick- so many similar rules in different books its hard to keep track of what applies when!
ReplyDeleteThat's good about the flak nests. It would have been a major disadvantage otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't use your Cassino list then could I borrow your marders? :)
http://sospill.blogspot.com/2011/10/does-anyone-have-8-spare-marders.html
I'd say go with T&T boys, but then I am biased, thats where I'm from! ;-)
ReplyDeleteNice repot.
If I ever get back to playing FoW, I'll be building this force myself.
regards
Scott
Sorry Chris- I'm taking the FJ.
ReplyDeleteHowever my Dak have 8x DAK Marder IIIs and I have 4x grey marder 1s and also Marder IIIMs.
Hi Scott, I really liked the feel of the T&T list- I used an artillery heavy version a couple of years ago(8x Sextons & 8x 5.5s) and it was never defeated. The priests in the new version are reasonably dear but pretty flexible for what you get.
I am looking forward to using it in December and repainted some US M10s for it last night (rather than using the M10cs).
Craig