LW Fighting Withdrawal

Poochie came down so we had a couple of games both trying to attack in a Fighting Withdrawal using our Masters forces vs a panzer grenadiers form the new Stalin's Onslaught book. The whole purpose of the German list was to be able to field a full armoured pioneers platoon!

HQ + shrek
2x PGs
3x pak 40s
3x hummels
7x armoured PGs

Final selection: Chris took sporadic stukas, I took 3x armoured cars (and less panzerfausts).

Game 1: My US paras attacked.
I tried to use the tank rider rules of the infantry but failed and lost 3 teams, including the commander which left the grenadiers stuck. A couple of fireflies fell the the hummels. My two infantry platoons advanced supported by the 57mm at guns but in the end the panzer grenadiers wore them own. i got one platoon below half strength but then the ambushing armoured pioneers appeared (turn 5 ish) and ripped through my force.

6-1 to Poochie.

The guards infantry are riding on the Shermans.


The paras reach cover.


We capture an objective.


One platoon has just been massacred by the armoured pioneers, the other tries to take on the panzer grenadiers but is beaten back in defensive fire.


The PGs counter attack.


Game 2
We reloaded and this time Poochie's US rifles (3rd Infantry- CV) attacked and the result was similar. Poochie decided to leave his company commander wth his 2 artillery batteries and this was to prove disastrous. As he advanced I ambushed (turn 2) with the pioneers (why waste eh half tracks), killing 6 teams and pinning a platoon. 2 of my teams died n defensive fire and 2 US teams fell and the platoon retreated and broke. The other platoon failed to unpin (it had ben hit by my MG teams) but managed to kill 2x armorued pioneers and break the platoon- there goes my fun half tracks. However the rest of my force concentrated on his remaining platoon and it too was destroyed. The m10s had fallen to my hummels and so Pooch was left with nothing on my side.


The massed US artillery finally knocked out the last hummel to break the platoon on turn 5 and so grab a 2nd VP for a 4-3 to me.

Thoughts & lessons learned
What can I say, ambushing armoured pioneers are nasty!

We both made mistakes and learned some valuable lessons- for me it was to support my paras with the tanks and concentrate my forces (a lesson I seem to regularly relearn!) and for Poochie it was to use the company commander to motivate your combat platoons, not your artillery!

Finally, we both really liked the Germans list! Armoured pioneers are one of my favourite units and this force makes them very viable!

A few pictures
The US rifle company prepares to attack.


Hummels range in on M10s- the next round Poochie doesn't move and two more are knocked out.


The Americans are making progress. Time to Ambush!


They were fun while they last4ed- which wasn't very long. Artillery + small arms fire forced the survivors to retreat.


The last few survivors are slowly whittled down.


Hill 213
After we'd finished we ran the Hill 213 scenario from Monty's Meatgrinder. a Squadron of bailed Cromwells ambushed by Witmans platoon. The cromwell;s fdfomr the City of London Yeaomanry (reluctant vets) have to remount and then deeast the tigers- not an easy task.

The game was fought on a 4x4ft bocage table.


In game 1 I knocked out 9 cromwell's and fireflies in 3 turns (all my tanks had re-roll misses) to win the game.

Game 2: It took Chris about 5-6 turns but he managed to kill 10 cromwells and break the company for the loss of no tigers (although I had failed to knock out 2 with firelfes when I failed my FP tests).

So all up 19 cromwells knocked out for the loss of one tiger!

It was fun 30 minute game that I will definitely repeat and might use at the club to try and get some interest in FoW as it is always fun rocking round in a tiger!

Craig

Fow: Guards infantry + Kradshutzen

Last night I repainted my Guards infantry for the masters- they were a bit old and tired and I wanted to rebase them to match the US paras they'll be supporting. Most of the figures are the British Rifles (Italy) Infantry as I don't have the uards rifles.





And the Kradschutzen. I wasn't happy with them- the Grey was too dark so I have simply drybrushed field grey over their paint job and am happy with the final look.





I can't wait to get these guys on table supporting my shutzen infantry.

Craig

FoW US Paras

I'm still working on my Paras having decided to take them to the masters. Last night I finally finished the bases- as well as painting up 4x 105 para howitzers (without gunsheilds).

This is the first time I've experimented with using Static Grass (yes, I'm bit slow on the uptake!). I'v seen some great looking results and I've seen some bases that look like the figures were mugged by a tennis ball so wasn't sure if I'd like the result or not. I mixed the bright green (which I hate) with some of the autumnal one and also added a bit of woods scenics medium turf for good measure. Am fairly happy with the result.


Still, this isn't helping to get my French started!





I also think I've settled on the para force for the Masters.

1x	Para HQ + 2x bazooka	70
9x	Paras	255
9x	Paras	255
3x	57mm AT guns + jeep	125
3x	105mm Artillery (CT)	90
7x	Guards infantry	145
4x	Shermans (2x fireflies)	390
	Limited Typhoons	170
		1500

The main change is swapping the glider infantry (155 pts) for 7x Guards infantry, the main reason for this being that the guards are veteran so harder to hit- not sure if this is the right way to go but want to at least try this version out. The infantry can be justified as a platoon sent to protect the Shermans.

Other Stuff
I also hope to get a game of Impetus in vs Kent soon- its been delayed a couple of times- such as for the game with Steve last week. The guys at the club are playing Rapid Fire in 1/300th tomorrow so might turn up for a look see.

Kent has ordered a truck load of 28mm Western figures and has a few figures for my own posse so it looks like we will be dabbling in yet another era/ruleset.

Other news- we are starting to plan for next years Day of Days event and its looking like we'll run Firestorm Market garden. Numbers are already looking very promising.

Craig

FoW Early War- let the madness begin!

At Conquest I picked up the French tank boxed set. Not sure why, I don't enjoy running tank armies! However, I do have a company of French Infantry (3/4 finished) that has literally been lying round for years. I even found 4 unopened boxes, the old square BF boxes (circa 2002-2003?) with three Char Bs and a HMG platoon, and 4x old BF 75mm guns.

So between the two I'll be able to make a reasonable Escadron de Fusiliers Portes (truck borne fusilier squadron) . However, I've decided I want to run an armoured car squadron so aim for that to be my first project- the panhards are being released later this month and so that settled it!

I hope to go to Valleycon in Wellington in January so need a EW force for that. This is what I'm thinking so far:

	French Deep Recon
1x	Panhard HQ	35
4x	Panhards	135
4x	Panhards	135
3x	Panhards	135
4x	S35 Somuas	415
1x	M/C Platoon	165
1x	M/C Platoon	165
4x	75 (1897) artillery	290
	Air Inteceptors	25
		1500

The motorcycles are there as I like the idea of lots of motorcycles (and really like the rules they've got early war- at last motorcycles are viable!) but until released I'll just use the truck borne infantry which are the same price.

Germans aren't a problem. My main interest is the Ostfront '41-'42 so most of my Germans armies are in panzer grey but rarely get fielded as all my local opponents run mid '43 onwards Italian or Eastern Front forces so I don't get to use them (I like to match the correct theatre for my opponent). The only thing I'm lacking are the SiG 133s and panzerjagers- both of which I need to get to round off my forces- as I like the look of the models. There is a site in the US which is breaking up the boxed sets and selling parts separately so I've ordered through them- I don't see the point in buying a $320 boxed set for 6 models! But come on BF hurry up and get the EW blisters released!

My company will be (picked purely as I like the models, have no idea how it will preform on table) as follows:

	Schutzen Company
	HQ	45
1st	Platoon- ATR	200
2nd	Platoon	180
2x	7.5cm IG	65
8x	Motorcycle (MG)	275
2x	SP sIG 33	135
4x	Chech 38ts	350
4x	Panzerjager I	250
		1500

Last night I started the force by repainting some motorcycle combs- I've still 2 stands (4 combos) to go- and I realised this morning I need to paint the gloves- bare hands on a motorcycle is maybe a bit hard core!





The uniforms are painted a dark grey rather than fieldgrau because the rest of my 41-42 infantry are painted dark grey so don't want to repaint the whole army!

NZ Masters
Next month the NZ are being held in Wellington. Its an invite only event and the top players in the country have been invited. This year the South Island has only had 2 comps (down from our usual 3-4- I don't count our own Day of Days as it has changed from a comp to a weekend campaign/event to get away from the standard tourney format), and a 1 day, 1000pt comp in CHCh. Neither to the 2 day comps sent results in to the FoW ranking so the only comp that has counted for places has been NATCON where I got 2nd equal in MW and so to ensure that the South Island is represented I have been granted a wild card entry. It is my understanding that Poochie has done the same as he also scored well at NATCON.

As a result we will both be there and am looking forward to gaming vs some of the guys I rarely get to play. I think that to get more game time I might have to start to attend 2 Wellington comps per year rather than one, but tickets from rural South Canterbury to Wellington (or further afield) are never cheap!

I've decided to take the US paras to that, I need to shrink the list down to 1500 pts and have a couple of ideas of how to do it. We are having a 2vs 2 game tomorrow night as a guy dale works with is down to work with him form Auckland this week and will be bringing down an army so it will give me a chance to test a couple of ideas out.

This is what I'm thinking of running:

1	US Paras Hell's Highway
1x	Para HQ + 1x bazooka	50
9x	Paras- SMG	260
9x	Paras- SMG	260
3x	57mm AT guns + jeep	125
11x	Glider Infantry	155
3x	105mm Artillery (CT)	90
4x	Shermans (2x fireflies)	390
	Limited Typhoons	170
		1500

Craig

FoW: US Paras vs Panzers- FW

Kent and my final play test tonight before Conquest this weekend. I've been mulling over ideas and thought I'd try the following out:

1x	Para HQ + 3x bazooka	90
12x	Paras	345
9x	Paras	255
3x	57mm AT Guns + jeeps	125
3x	105mm Artillery (CT)	90
3x	Shermans (1x Firefly)	285
4x	Shermans (2x fireflies)	390
	Limited Typhoons	170
		1750

The main change was dropping the second battery or 105s for some AT guns, my thoughts being that if coming on from reserve I'd rather have the gun shields of the 57mm AT guns than 105s without gun shields. I was also toying with the idea of a full 105 battery but thought I'd test this version out and was happy with it. If I did the full 6 gun battery of 105s but I'd lose my bazookas and feel that the bazookas should come in handy. The main weakness is the small sherman platoon- I will need to be careful with that!

Kent took a very similar list to last week but had worked out the points better so got the panzerewerfers:

• 2x panzer IVs
• 3x panzer IVs
• 4x panthers
• 3x hummels
• 3x panzerwerfers with extra crew.

We decided to do a fighting withdrawal as that's the last of the defensive missions Kent hasn't tried lately. If we had time we were also going to try an FFA but ran out of time for that.

Deployment
My objective was in front of the central crops, Kent placed his near the top wood and the other near the Sherman in the bottom right corner. I placed my artillery and infantry covering the two far objectives, the small sherman platoon and 57mms covering the other. As you can see Kent deployed in the far corner.


My small para platoon dug in behind the objective. The objective marker is a goliath- best thing to use them for :)


Panzers prepare to advance!


Here they come!


My small sherman platoon tries to make a diversion.


Kent looking nervous as the panthers close in on the objective.

With good reason! I smoked a panther and ambushed two others with the Shermans. I KOed 2x panthers but the smoke template meant I managed to not hit the side armour of a third due to being outside 6"! 2 bazookas and an infantry team assault and all hit the panther which passes all saves, then its motivation test and breaks off! Uh oh!

Kent's new smoke templates. I wonder if being Vets in the woods (5+ to hit) will save me?

No it won't. 2 dead, 1 bailed and the unflappable survivors flapped off (again!)


On the other flank 2 Shermans get behind the Germans- the third had fallen to a hummel barrage. I managed to bail a panzerwerfer which failed to remount for 3 or 4 turns :)


Time on target- 6s to range in and then hit- the panther failed its save and is destroyed but the last panther stayed!


The hummels get the firefly but the commander stays.


The last panther falls to an infanty assault.


Running out of time the panzer IVs decide to take on the paras!


The first assualt goes well for Kent- both my platoons fail motivation and retreat. In my turn I withdraw the 105s and the two infantry platoons rally and assault the panzers- destroying them all.


Charge!


So at this point its about game over, right? Wrong. Kent sends forward the hummels so my infantry move out to take them on! A hair brained scheme but hey, they are hummels! What's that noise...panzerwerfers! (Kent's new smoke/artillery markers are pretty cool!)


The 2iC and Shermna continue to trade shots- well the panzer dies, the sherman is shooting at the panzerwerfers and finally kills another one.


And it goes horriby wrong. Charging forward my imptuous infanty get mowed down by hummels and pinned (5 hits!). Turn 7 and then turn 8 Kent nails both platoons killing all my teams and forcing me to take a morale test (company commander and the sherman being the only teams on table) to save the game! I rolled a 5!


Result: 4-3 to the paras.

Notes
The game should have been a walk in the park for my list and Kent's worst nightmare! 4 panthers are tough, you need to kill them all to force them away- or so it seems. My biggest mistake was charging the hummels, I should have hunkered down and won the game the easy way but 4 bazookas in the two platoons, what could go wrong?

Ah well, at least I'm getting my crazy ideas out of my blood now (I hope). I liked the balance of this version and was glad I had the 57mm AT, even though all they did was miss the HQ panzer IV and then retreat off the board. The extra bazooka teams were handy and between Kent passing far to many top armour saves vs bazookas and total failure of my typhoons to spot or hit anything, I'm now expecting big things from both troop types as the dice gods now owe me big time!

Bring on the weekend

Craig

FoW: US Paras vs Panzer Company

Kent and I managed another game at TAG last night. He made up a list on the spot as I had misread the RoH book and had chosen a trained German SS list and not followed the diagrams
so modified it with the models he had bought along.

Kent's Panzers (1750 pts)

• 2x Panzer IVs
• 3x panzer IVs
• 4x panthers
• 3x nebelwerfers
• 3x hummels

I decided to take:
US Paras (1750 pts- Hells Highway)

• HQ + bazooka
• 2x full strength para platoons
• 3x Shermans (1x firefly)
• 4x Shermans (2x fireflies)
• Limited Thunderbolts

Mission:
We decided to try Hasty Assault so I got to defend. I deployed a 105 battery behind a hill a full para platoon defending the main objective and shermans + fireflies in immediate ambush- which came on to protect the para’s- and didn’t shoot!

Kent removed his objective near the para platoon and deployed his panthers, HW tanks and nebelwerfers.


As you can see my infantry are in the near wood and objective and 105s are in the distance.


And from Kent's side. He deployed out of LoS near the objective I had placed.

Game on!
The first few turns were pretty uneventful, I fired a few artillery barrages- when an observer had line of sight, but with little impact. Likewise several flights of thunderbolts roared in but either failed to spot and panthers in the open or else their bombs fell wide of the mark.

Yes, that is a flight of three thunderbolts failing to spot the panthers!


In reply the nebelwerfer's killed a para team.


On the second turn the panzer IVs arrived and started moving towards the objective thich was only protected by the 105 battery. Nervously I awaited reserves to help out but the firefly platoon was ordered to redeploy to assist.


The panzer IVs fan out.


The Shermans regroup and one is bailed by the nebelwerfers.



Those panzers are getting a bit close, where are our reserves?

Guys, I think the hummels have arrived! 3 Shermans are caught under a template but all roll 4s and are only bailed! Was I lucky, or Kent unlucky? A bit of both I guess!


Reserves at last! My small sherman platoon arrives in the nick of time and only manages to bail a single panzer IV!


Then loses its command tank! (the other Sherman passed its save)



The other shermans take up a hull down position vs the panthers! At long range this isn't going to be easy!


Rather than waste shots on the panthers the shermans knock out the company commander and 2iC panzer IVs!


A sherman smokes a panther and the para's assault and kill it- the surviving panther backs off.


The perfect assault! The following turn the 2x 105 batteries smoke 2 panthers and the paras charge in under the cover of smoke. However, I only manage to bail the panther that is in the clear. Kent attacks with a panther and a couple of observers and kills 3 teams, even with the company commander re-roll I retreat. The bailed panther then remounts! So much for the perfect assault!


The surviving paras are caught in the open- 9 hits, I fail 7 saves! Only the company commander (who was forced to attach) survives and he fails his morale test too and flees. I've now nothing that can contest! The game has just been turned on its head!


On the other flank my other para platoon assaults the panzers and kills one- the survivor stays put. I want a victory point damn it!


The sole surviving panzer IV destroys my last 2 shermans from the small platoon! Arrghhhhh!


In my next turn I assault the panzer (again) and it stays to fight a second round. In 2 rounds I managed 7 hits, including 2 from bazookas! Kent saved them all then retreated, having killed a couple of stands in DF and counter assault!


Yes that panther is contesting....just. My last firefly bails it and so saves the game. A turn or so later it is destroyed by a time on target barrage.


Now things get silly! I try every try every trick in the book to keep the game alive. My paras are maximising their command radius to jsut contest. 2 dead panthers, one bailed, one okay = no morale test! @##@$###@!!!!

[Edit: actually I think I am confusing my thoughts with an earlier situation where I had 2 bailed and one dead- probably after my failed assault and as I recall Kent did pass his motivation test- as required].


The last turn- I'm down to a handful of infantry (who pass their motivation to stay on he board) and Kent has a single panther over half way. The club was closing so we had to call it- after Kent failed to finish off my platoon. Game to the defenders- just!

Thoughts
What a crazy game! Beforehand neither of us thought too much of Kent's list but by the end of the game Kent was very happy with it. Those panthers were nasty. I should have taken 2 in my assault and probably won the game easily at that point but lady luck decided to favour Kent. From there it turned into an artillery duel.

Kent decided half way though (once I started dropping smoke on everything) that that's the role for his nebelwerfers too in future to close down threats to his panzer IVs- probably a good idea but I don't want to be on the receiving end. Those hummels were nasty they hit hard and killed 2 shermans, and nearly took out a whole a platoon- the only thing that saved me was eventually sniping one with a sherman so Kent was forced t re-roll hits!

MVP probably went to the artillery as it kept me in the game. I think I will take both tank platoons at full strength so to do that its either lose the air support or 3 infantry stands + bazooka. At this stage I think I'll lose the air support.

A fun game, it really swung one way then the other and both of us had our chances to clinch it.

Hasty Assault
We've played this a few times lately and it is growing on me. The attacker has to treat it a bit like cauldron- deploy with the thought of an immediate ambush (i.e. using cover as much as possible) and then on your frist turn organise your attack.

It has made for some close games with the defender stretched waiting for their reserves and the attacker also needing to take their time rather than bum rush an objective early-although that could also work in the right circumstances.

Craig