Friday April 4, 2014
Kevin Serafini and I met at Legions
Games for a 1750 point Flames of War dust-up (donnybrook, brouhaha, barnburner)
featuring his American 4th Armored Division Motorized Rifle Company
vs. my Fallschirmjaegerkompanie from 1Fallschirmjaeger somewhere in central
Italy, circa 1943.
My force consisted of 2 FJ platoons
with MG attachments, a mortar platoon, 2 PaK40’s, a battery of 105’s with a
staff team, and two allied platoons, one of Heer motorized grenadiers and the
other being 4 MkIV’s, both of lesser morale quality. I made a Kampfgruppe from the FJ platoons and added a
81mm mortar to each from the HQ company. I also added a Panzershreck to one of
the FJ platoons. The list definitely lacked in some areas (AA, Anti-tank for
the FJ) but I will discuss this later with some of the tweaks I have since
made. Still, with the MG and mortar attachments adding bulk to the platoons and
assuming (correctly) that they would start dug-in, I knew these Fearless
Veterans would be a tough nut to crack. The fact that their special rule states
they only fail Platoon and Company MC’s on a ‘1’ added to my confidence that
they would have some staying power. But, the fact that I’m pretty much a total
nube made the whole proposition pretty iffy. However, I knew there would be fun
to be had so it was up and at ‘em.
I am not sure of Kevin’s exact force
but he had 2 armored rifle platoons in half-tracks, a Sherman platoon with
a Jumbo, a Hellcat platoon, some AA Half-tracks and a Cessna spotting for some
Priests to bring on the bombardments. There may be more but that’s about what I
remember.
We diced for scenario and ended up with
‘Hold the Line’. Predictably, I was the dug in defender against his mobile
force, with Delayed reserves and two Ambushes. The board was 4x6 with our
set-up areas being on the short ends. The terrain was a wooded village with a
railroad line bisecting it short-wise. There were plenty of woods, some open
and enclosed fields, a factory and rail station, which would turn out to be a
key building. Kevin set his objective as far forward as possible outside the
rail station and I set mine up as far back as possible behind some woods. The
VC were that Kevin needed to take one objective uncontested by game end or I
could clear the defenders side of the board of all attackers.
A close up of my 105 battery.
Kevin’s left flank featuring the Sherman platoon
and armored rifle platoon number 2. You can also see his OP tank and
Hellcat spotters in the background. And, of course, there’s the Jumbo. I
had nothing that could penetrate it’s front armor, even my PaK40’s have a
AT rating of 12, the same as his front armor. I learned to really hate
that thing. (And immediately planned to get one for my American force.)
BTW, the dice in the halftracks are the mnemonic device for Kevin to
remember what teams are in what vehicle.
The view from my right flank looking down the
railway. Here you can clearly see the American objective and if you look
in the upper left corner you can also see the German objective. My lone
Panzershrek team is actually located *in* the building in the center. They
will quickly learn the value of why they should have stayed there.
Unfortunately it was posthumously. You can also make out the HMG team in
front of the same building.
As Kevin attempts to come down the west road, I
reveal my PaK40 Ambush much to the detriment of a halftrack and its two
teams that were passengers. Were. Unfortunately the terrain really
prevented me from putting both guns in the battery in good position. I
placed the other one toward the center to make the U.S. think twice about
a center drive but in the end the thing never fired a shot. I guess it’s
possible that it was in a good spot after all.
Another shot from behind the burning HT. The gun is down the road up against the railway embankment, hidden further by tall bushes. This is a cool shot, I think
But the determined and brave Americans soldier
on as they swing into position and dismount in preparation to give the
stalwart Germans the pointy end. You will notice a ‘Ranged In’ marker
under the lead team. Due to my forward observer (not pictured) and the
Staff team back with the 105’s we will automatically range in next turn. I
hope it isn’t too late. At this point Kevin was really pushing me on both
flanks and it would be at least another turn before I even had a 1 in 3
chance of getting a reinforcing platoon. I was thinking this was going to
be a short game.
The same thing was happening on the east flank
as the rifle company dismounted and entered the woods where the Schreck
had decided to go. Supported by the Shermans and Mr. Jumbo, I had the collywobbles
regarding this end of the battlefield as well. Note how my HMG has been
deftly and expertly made useless by Kevin’s crafty use of the terrain.
That goddamn plane! This time he does his job
and the U.S. Priest battery rains hell on the good guys. While only one
team is taken out, the platoon is Pinned for the upcoming Assault. Kevin
perfectly executed a textbook combined arms attack this turn to Pin, then
Assault my Dug-In troops. My Defensive Fire was halved and I’m pretty sure
we were firing cocktail weenies at the enemy anyway. Clearly this sector
is in bad shape as the U.S. can see the objective.
Hey! That guy looks familiar.
Back in the west sector, the results from the
U.S. successful assault on my front line positions. My HMG team in the
pine woods is gone, as well as several others, including the HMG team in
the road, taken out by AA halftracks in a (very) brief exchange of
gunfire. Kevin has turned my flank for all intents and purposes. The only
other platoon in the area is the Pak40’s and they aren’t exactly easy to
move. The rest of my platoon is Pinned by the Assault and, like the east
sector, essentially hoping for relief. Unfortunately, the max
reinforcements I can get next turn is 1 and that’s a 33% chance!
Yay! My ranged in artillery takes out another
halftrack and its remaining team. What’s worse for the Americans is that
the loss forces a platoon MC, which they fail! So, the gains they made
into our lines are for naught as the remaining teams feel the battle is
lost and flee the field or scatter under the bombardment to the point to
make them useless as a viable fighting unit. A really tough break for the
U.S. forces but I’m not crying for them as my right flank in the east
sector is still crumbling rapidly.
More good luck. On my first attempt I
successfully roll for a reinforcement platoon. It was a tough decision but
I opt for the Heer grenadiers over the MkIV’s because they are mounted MG
teams and can move at the double to quickly get into the fray. They must
enter on my board end and I double move them to get to the U.S. objective
as fast as possible. If you look through the trees in the upper left, you
can see the objective.
That goddamn plane! Once again, he comes through
and my grenadiers are pinned by the Priest bombardment. I have *got* to
get some AA! (FoW players note: the trucks are in the picture for visual
effect. In reality, they have been withdrawn to the rear.)
Great shot of the action. To the right you can
see my Pinned grenadiers. So close and yet so far! The previous turn, the
U.S. had nearly wiped out FJ 2nd platoon. There is only one
team left plus command. (Thank goodness for the pass MC’s on anything but
a ‘1’ rule for these guys.) The moved near the objective and dug in. You
can see them against the railway embankment. I also moved my CinC into the
rail station with the ides he would be more centrally located and be able
to bolster numerous platoons from that vantage point. Uh, he died. You can also see my
MkIV’s east of the factory heading up the board edge. My reinforcement rolls
were better than I deserved all night. Right now I am holding the objective
with one team! You can see the halftrack still burning in the west sector
and in the enclosed field I have brought up one of the artillery
observers, possibly to lay a Smoke Barrage and force Kevin to move instead
of shoot. The other observer team is in the woods next to the center pine
woods. As useless as teats on a he-dog, they will soon be in Valhalla.
MkIv’s know they’re cool.
Another shot of the lone team holding the objective
from hordes of U.S. armor. I really don’t like the Jumbo.
Finally, the grenadiers get into the action! I
have pulled the last FJ team back into the woods to keep that platoon
intact. We’re not Dug-In but how much damage can a few vehicle do, really?
We have the embankment to conceal us after all. Also note, the remnants of
the 1st FJ platoon moving down the railway to support the
inevitable armored tidal wave.
Yikes! Shermans aren’t so easy as they told us
in tank school!
Gone? GONE? The whole goddamn grenadier platoon
is gone! Six MG teams and they never fired a single shot! They were blown
off the objective like so much sawdust! Holy Shnikes, in case you’re
keeping score, we just got our asses kicked. The Shermans manage to Bail
another MkIV who in return fire do nothing. Man, I can’t complain about my
dice in any way, I just really wanted to kill something with a tank! You can see the last team from 2FJ hiding in the woods. They're para troopers, not stupid! Look
at that goddamn plane. The Americans didn’t even need it.
Turn 6 and I sleaze a win. The remnants of FJ1
occupy the rail station and deny the U.S control of the objective. Maybe.
The VC are pretty ambiguous. The U.S. definitely did not have control but
we didn’t set a time limit before we started. We generally play 6 turns
but never really specified beforehand. In a 6 turn game it ends up being a
5-2 German victory as Kevin lost one motorized platoon and I lost the Heer
grenadiers but contested the objective. If we continued it could have been
a 5-2 U.S. victory or maybe a 4-3 as I has a bead on the remaining AA halftrack with
a Pak40. I also had the Kampfgruppe and the mortar platoon just entering.
The latter would have been little help but the former is bad news and no
mistake. Who knows? It doesn’t matter to either of us, it was the most fun
I have had playing a game in quite some time. In fact, writing this up was
almost as much fun as playing. I’m just amazed at the quality of pictures
one can take with their phone. My list needs definite tweaking. The mortar
platoon is gone for good, I can replace them with an 88 with improved crew
for less points or two 88’s with inferior crews! Ba-bye mortars. I am
toying with exchanging the Pak40’s for Marder II’s. Same AT rating but a 3
ROF AA MG for that goddamn plane. Dunno. Had a blast.
