BA- Tank Wars

Kent has been hankering for a game of Tank Wars for a while and last night we finally got round to a game.

I ran a Free French armoured platoon:

• 3x 75mm Shermans (Vets)
• 1x M10 (Reg)
• 1x Greyhound armoured car (Reg)
• 1x 57mm AT gun (Reg) + Jeep

Kent ran a stug platoon- ably assisted by Ming the Merciless (Nigel)

• 3x stugs (Reg)
• 1x panzer IV (reg)
• 1x marder
• 1x pak 40

We don't have the tank wars rules so simply used the Easy Army army lists and made up the rules as we went. We ran a simple free for all/ encounter to get the hang of the rules/game.

Turn 1. The 57mm AT gun has deployed in the lee of the building, the M10 nearby.

Kent and Nigel checking line of sight from the marder to the M10.

On the other flank the panzer IV advances towards the crossroads.

The M10 is kncoked out from the first shot from the marder.

 The French armour masses on my left flank in an attempt to overwhelm the Germans- something about concentrating firepower being a good idea.

The stugs respond by spreading out.

For the next few turns a gun dual developed with shots glancing off front armour, tanks catching fire and all sorts of silliness ensuing.

Kent checks range to the AT gun.

 One Sherman sneaks round the far side of the building to get a better shot.

The duel continues.

At the crossroads the greyhound paid the price for trying to score a cheap kill vs the stug beyond the hedgerow- it is knocked out by the panzer IV.

Other than that not much appears to have changed!

Turn 5 my command sherman is knocked out.

I then advance a sherman into the woods but fail to destroy the panzer IV. A stug then advances to help out the panzer IV.

At this point the game ended. I managed to knock out 2 stugs for the loss of 2x shermans and an armoured car so a minor German victory.

The game played fast and with a bit better dice rolling would have been even faster. Still not sure about the scale, FoW is probably better for tank battles but it was a lot of fun. I had reduced our table to 6ftx4ft last game but really feel we need a much bigger table- 5x6ft at a minimum or even 6x8ft to make more use of the ranges etc.

Still, both Kent and Nigel are keen for another game.

My force was a tad one dimensional and need to add units that can fire smoke to force the German tanks to move a bit more. I've an M8 Scott that should fit the bill nicely...

BA- Germans vs US Paras

Kent popped round tonight for a game of Bolt Action, his US vs my Germans.

I took:
Reg HQ & 4x vet squads (2 squads with 2x LMGs)
120mm mortar, STUG, 233 armoured car, MMG, hanomag, flak 38.

Kent ran:
Vet HQ, 3x squads, bazooka, Greyhound, vet sherman,. 57mm AT gun, 81mm mortar, sniper

We rolled up envelopment and Kent chose to attack.

My defence- infantry squads in a rather linear defence across the board. The preliminary bombardment put 2 pins on 4 units and killed a crewman on the flak 38.

Turn 1 my assault squad occupies a ruined building near the crossroads.

On my far right a 2x LMG squads and the MMG hold the line.

The US paras advance into the woods in the centre.

The flak 38 is targeted by the sherman, greyhound and 57mm AT gun.,

And from the US lines.

Beginning of turn 2. The US are advancing on their left and in the centre through the wooded area./

The stug appears and engages in a firefight with the sherman, hitting but failing to damage the US tank.

Turn 3 or 4. The Sherman continues to advance on the stug.

Paras break from cover.

German pioneers reinforce the crossroads.

The 57mm AT gun knocks out the stug- possibly its first ever tank kill!

My final squad breaks from cover to try to reinforce the centre, but too little too late.

The Americans switch the axis of advance ot the far left.

 The greyhound chimes in putting pins on the only German squad on the right flank.

The US juggernaut proves unstoppable.

The hanomag finishes off the para mortar squad but it is a hollow victory.

Turn 6 the 233 races forward and misses the Sherman- a last ditch attempt to stem the tide.

The Sherman, greyhound, sniper and a squad then occupy the German right flank and so have 4 units in the defenders zone, giving Kent an 11-4 victory!

Yikes, that didn't end well. Not enough units on my right flank unfortunately. The centre of the board was a bit of an open zone and I failed to reinforce it enough. Kent seized on this and switched his main attack and swamped the defence.

Well played Kent, a few lessons learned there for me

Craig