A couple of playtests

Tony has just finished the King and Kerr buildings I got for the club- he has done an outstanding job on them!
 
 

Dale and I managed a couple of playtests tonight.

Dale ran:
2x full FJ platoonss
2x pak 38s
2x trained 88s
1x tiger
Priority HS 129s.


Game 1: Hasty Assualt
I lost 3 stuarts to the HS 129s on turn 1 but the polikarpovs paid for themselves in spades on turn 2. A single plane dodged some 88 fire and knocked out the tiger! Shermans and stuarts then charged the 88s MGing them to death with a MG fire and from there it was one way traffic. 6-1.

The Germans deploy.

Polikarpovs for the win!

 

 A classic pincer move on the 88s.

Game 2: Pincer
Ambushing 88s so I drove my recce as far forward as I could. The 88s, tiger and HS 129s took care of 6 Shermans on turn 1 but on turn 2 the SU 122s moved forward and rolled 2x 6s, knocking out both 88s. The razvedki and stuarts zipped around being annoying and the SU 122s operated in conjunction with the armoured cars: volleyfire + breakthrough gun= 7 hit FJ teams and 6 dead. Dale threw his reserves  in and defensive fire from the last sherman & BA 64s drove them back (5 hits- just enough to pin) and the next turn, M3A1 scout cars, Stuarts and volleyfiring SU 122s destroyed all Dales infantry and company commander. 6-1 again.

 This could be bad!

 

 Prepare to volleyfire!

The fallschrimjager reserves arrive. Where did the infantry round the objective go?

 The Soviet swing right to decimate the reserves- if in doubt ignore a tiger!

 It has been a long, long time since I've managed a 6-1 vs Dale, let alone 2 of them in a row so that bodes well for the weekend ahead. Shermans with 50 cals can chuck out a lot of dice (I am sold on that particular combo)  as can the the stuarts (MGs) and razvedki (50 cals). Breakthough gun is nasty when used with volleyfire and armoured cars to lift GtG (the comp will be using breakthough gun rule for 122s apparently).

We will see how the force fares this weekend, if I can mass it properly it can take a hell of a lot of slowing down (3 units move at 16" crosscountry so it has mobility to burn!) but of course the wrong match on the wrong table and it can quite easily go down in flames (as I thought was about to happen in game 2). 

Craig

Southcon Conscript Tankovy

I've finally settled on my force for next weekend's Southcon. list is submitted an we are good to go- i'm jsut waiting for a Stuart to turn up for my battalion commander.

	Soviet Tankovy- Fearless Conscripts
1x	M3A1 Stuart	40
8x	M3A1 Stuarts	265
8x	M4A2 Shermans	525
	6x 50 cal AA MGs	30
4x	SU 122	245
9x	Razvedki in M3A1s- SMGs (FT)	230
3x	BA 64- 1x AT rifle (FT)	75
	Sporadic I-153s	90
		1500

It was a tough call between 10 Shermans and the armoured cars but in the end I felt that armoured cars lifting GtG for the SU 122s could work well. The Su 122s have been a staple in my razvedki, strelkovy and tank forces for many uyears annd find that they usually perform well. This has pretty much reverted to my standard tankovy except that I've swapped T70s for Stuarts and T34s for Shermans. We will soon know how it fares but I think it should do okay.

 I've got to say how impresssed I am with the PSC plastics I've bought (Shermans and panzer IVs)- very well sculpted and for a fraction of the price of BF resins. I've plenty of BF resins but the reality is these plastics are both good quality and value for money and so, like many people, I can't see me getting BF models for larger forces where PSC have alternatives these days.

The razvedki- between the Shermans and M3A1 scout cars i have a lot of 50cal mgs to dig out any dug in infantry/gun teams.

 The I-153- a great wee model.

 Stuarts- these were part of Dale's crazy Hoeny horde (32 honeys!) he used to run but slowly we've managed to swap/buy half of them off him and so breathe a sigh of relief in desert games- 32 honeys were a pain to face.

 The mighty SU 122- pants in an anti-tank role in real life but pretty sweet under FoW.

Craig

FoW: Mid War Counter Attack

My apathy towards painting continues- 2 weeks hardly painted a thing. However a couple of boxes of PSC Shermans turned up today so that should change things as Southcon is next weekend and I am still short 3 Shermans. Dale and I got together for a game tonight to test out my alterative Sherman list for Southcon.

	Soviet Tanks- Conscript
1x	Sherman	75
7x	Shermans	480
8x	Shermans	525
9x	Razvedki (FT)	230
4x	BA 64	100
	Sporadic I 153s	90
		1500

Dale was running an auflakrung and forgot his stugs so we eyeballed in 3x marder II and 3x pak 40s- and as it tutrned out we were probably about 50 pts over but what as he left his half tracks off table probably worked out about right!

He ran approximately:

	Dale's Aufklarung (Approx)
	Armoured HQ	75
1st	Armoured Zug	255
2nd	Armoured Zug	255
	AT Zug (2x pak 38s)	80
	At Zug (3x pak 40s)	220
	Heavy AA (2x 88s)	255
	Tank hunters (3x marder II)	270
	Limited Stukas	135
		1545

We decided ot do a counter attack as we'd never tried it and so I got to attack.

So somewhere in the Ukraine in the Autumn of 1943 an aufkalrung company assembles to drive off yet another Soviet attack as the german retreat towards the Dneiper River. The Gerrmans manage to get everythng on table, ambushing with the pak 40s. Dale deploys in the top right corner.

 I deploy opposite him- BA 64s leading the way.

Another view of Dale's main bastion.

 Turn 1 the M3A1s full of Razvedki advance on the woods.

Only to be ambushed by pak 40s- 3 vehicles are destroyed and 1 bailed. 4 teams are killed. A couple of shermans are knocked out by the first of many airstrikes.

Turn 2 the razvedki assault the panzergreandeirs, killing two teams. The surviving Germans pull back.

 Shermsn use shooting too successful to consolidate into the woods and minimise pak 40 shots.

 A view from the German lines- the tiger is our objective.

 Finally the Crop dusters of Doom show up- only to be shot down by the two 88s. Has noone told the pilot about the new true LoS rules?

 The marders swing across to contest and strengthen Dale's right flank. I bet he wishes the tiger was not there only for show.

Pak 40s knowck out two armoured cars- one of whcih had been bailed for two turns directly in front of them!

 Yet another airstrike- this one kills the last of the razvedki, but all the Shermans are missed!

 Hmm- how the hell do we deal with this AND using the new hens & chicks rules?

 Simple- head for the other objective- the 88s made moving anywhere near the centre of the board very, very difficult! Dale's infantry have just arrived on the objective in the top right corner.

 My Shermans swing out and kill a Marder but I lose two Shermans to the 88s.

 Meanwhile Dale's infantry fail to dig in twice in a row so my other Sherman company close in for the kill.

A pak 38 kills a Sherman but we have managed to whittle this platoon down a bit too.

 Meanwhile the marders move forward to contest.

 How the hell do we deal with this when conscript? Assault?

 Dale takes knocking out his marders seriously- a bit of battle damage and no superglue to fix it- my Shermans missed two turns in a row which is not that surprising needings 5s, but Dale missed too, needing 3s!

 The final assualt- Dale charged the shermans. killing one and bailing another, the last Shermna fought off the Germans killing 2 teams (over two rounds) and then the surviving Germans retreated and broke!

Game 4-3 to the Soviets.

A fun game- air power really hurt early on but got pretty lucky with saves vs the stukas- my planes only managed to kill a a pak 40 (and a single infantry team to finish off the frist panzer grenadeir platoon). I mangaged to lose my battalion commander somewhere in the middle, and airstrike finished off my armoured cars in the penultimate turn, and I was down to total of 4 working tanks aat the end with no battalion commander! I was never really in control of the game and was damn lucky in the end to come away with a win in a tough but fun game.

As for the Southcon list I like both versions. Dale (and Pooch) prefer the Churchill list for fun factor and so I rolled a D6 after the game (1-3 Churchill version, 4-6 the Shermans). I rolled a 2, so it looks like the Lend Lease Stuarts, Shermans, Churchills and M3A1s will be fielded for Southcon- hopefully Kent and I can get a final practice game in next week.

Craig

Operation Cobra- a fly over

A small video we made using my camera flying over the US advance.

A blast from the past.

Back in 2006 we ran a Cobra breakout game- with about 40 Shermans, 15 priests and a single 105 battery (I was running US rifles- we also had 2x armoured companies and some armoured rifles). The table was 16ft x 6 and my 105s had to redpeloy to get back in range of the enemy twice!

The battle raged all afternoon but the Germans just won after 6-8 hours thanks to Dale managing to avoid the temptation (and pleadings of his co-commanders) and saved his ambush until the death and so prevent the US Stuarts grabbing the last objective. It was probably the most entertaining multi-player game we have played with 4 player per side and about 12000pts of stuff all up. 

As the first overview shows our attack came unstuck just short of the objective.


The bridges across the river are our final objectives.


That is a lot of stuff- even on a 6ft wide table!


Hummls wait in the wooded hills (12 ft back!)


My fifles lead the advance- no boccage rules back then, all hedges were very difficult going.




Conjestion following the advannce.



The ridge line proved a formiddable obstacle. Panzers lurk in them thar hills. My infantry are still on point.


With 5 or so time on target possibliites we managed ot destory the few anthers silly enough to shoe theselves as thhey attempted an early counter attack.


The Germans taking a toll on our shermans.


Send in the infantry!




We near the objective after seveal hours of hard fighting.



Dale's reserves finally show themselves- and halt the advance.


Craig