Bedecon game 5

Fighting withdrawal v Tom Leamy's FV Finns- snow (only 8" movement off road again)

Tom was running a nasty looking Finnish infantry force: Hero, 2x platoons, MGs, mortars, 105 artillery, 2x pak 40s + hero, more stolen T34/85s, 1x "borrowed" ISU152,  2x pak 40s. I was looking forward to this game as I've met Tom several times but don't think I've ever had the pleasure of giving him a game, with his force it wasn't going to be easy- Finns hate Soviets!

Once again I got to attack. At last there was some hills with a LoS for my SU 100s to go on overwatch. On turn 1 they bagged a 105 artilley piece at 39" range!

Turn 1- Tom ambushes my Zis 2 on my weaker right flnnk- I'd thrown my small motostrelk, SU76s and Zis 2s out there to force tom to at least defend the far objective- h ehad his assault platoon for hell dug in on it so there was no way I was seriously contemplating taking that one, Ijust wanted to stretch his defence as much as I could. What followed as one of the most woeful runs of dice rolling I've ever witnessed. The T34s killed one Zis 2 and his mortars claimed another.

 A view along the Finnish line.

 In return fire the (still pinned) Zis 2s knock out a T34 then th Sukas hit 3 times, killing one T34 and bailing the 3rd (2,1,2 for saves)

 Meanwhile the JS IIs had killed the ISU (after it KOed a valentine) and on turn 3 my JS 2s, infantry and Vals are already sweeping round on the other objective. Turn 3 it unpins and then bogs in the good to the left so the sU 76s finish it off! Go the Sukas!

 Turn 4: The JS 2s assault and drive the Finns back- and they don't unpin.

 Turn 5 the JS again assault forward but this time the paks get involved and one JS2 is bailed. The Vales are also thron in against the survivors and whittle down the infantry and guns. Finally some Finns with decent tank assault get involved and the Vale are forcefd back with 4 destroyed or bailed and the survivors break. However the infantry sweep though almost unopposed and take the objective and Tom concedes. 5-2 to the Finns.

The game as extremely one sided in the end, mainly thanks toTom's dice absolutely hating him- I'm not sure what he did to deserve that. The way he rolled there was nothing he could do about the game but he had the good humour to laugh at his illfortune all the way though. Bad luck Tom, the dice won (and lost) that one. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the T34/85 ambush had have worked- Tom could have quickly rolled up my flank and really changed the game, luckily for me though it wasn't to be.
MVPs: Vals and JS IIs

Final Placings
Much to my surprise I came 3rd behind Damian (Urdany) and Nick (Romanians) but there were 2 points separating about 10 of us so it was a very very tight comp and I really didn't expect to be anywere but the middle of the pack.

Post Comp changes?
Sukas: fun and when allowed to roam vs lighter stuff they did well but usually were 150 points not doing a lot, I enjoyed using them though. However, breakthrough gun armed SU 122s would have been a more useful option.

SU 100s: Not really effective, lots of bad going terrain + overloaded= sticking to roads a lot. Not many opportunities to put them on overwatch on the tables I played and used them too cautiously vs Bede- (probably to much experience with marders, not enough with FA 9 tank destroyers!). Most of the time I was wishing I had M10s of SU 85s instead.

JS 2s: Worked really well and would rather take 4 than the SU 100s in future and add tank riders too. Tom suggested KV 85s instead as assault monsters and they would be worth considering too.

Valentines: My most useful unit in 3 games. They can take the punishment vs lighter AT and have a reasonable gun, with snow on all tables they were no slower than any other tank and so I found them very, very handy and now swear by them.

A number of times I wished I had taken air support rather than the  SU 100s too.

So what would I change? 
Probably the SU 100s to get another JS 2 and possibly drop the SU 76s for some spetnez- that would allow for some M10s, SU 85s or air support with the change.

Final Comments
Another great weekend, well run as usual by Bede and I got to play vs players I don't usually get the opportunity to do so. Thanks for the lifts Alex, much appreciated. I am already looking forward to the 2013 comp! Now to think up an alternative force for Conquest in a fortnight- its Alaemin themed and I'm not sure I'm keen to run infantry again so soon.

Thanks for reading

Craig