British Commando (Beaches)(C3rd) vs. 21. Panzerkompanie

March 16, 2015

Flames of War, Late War, 1695 points

I met the inestimable Rich Baier for a game at Legions Hobbies and Games in Pittsburgh. They have a tourney coming up and I offered to let Rich use me as a punching bag and practice against a historical opponent. Rich is one of the best gamers around and games with him are always fun. He has a lot of experience and shares easily. I was looking forward to it but had to trim my force down from 1900 points. I know Rich is playing lots of Brits lately and with all their cheaty rules, I had to figure it would be a night attack. So I dumped the Quad AA platoon and the mobile artillery and ended up with six platoons total and an even 1695 points.

 CiC and 2iC in MkIV's, 2 platoons of 3 MkIV's, one with a captured Sherman and the other with a captured Firefly, 2 Tigers, a rolling wreck, I mean recce, platoon, a single 88 and a panzergrenadier platoon of 6 MG teams. That's it. All Confidant Veterans. I am notoriously poor at building lists and when I looked at them on the table, I felt this was no exception.

As projected, we diced and ended up with a night attack, me defending the objectives in 'Fighting Withdrawal'. The three objectives are set up in an 8" band through the middle of the defenders set-up zone; attacker placing two, defender one. Typically they were evenly split: one in the middle and one at each end. Rich placed the two end ones in woods and mine was placed hard against a large church. Rich came at me with three platoons of Commando's, two of which were rifle/MG teams and the third an HMG platoon with three guns. He had a platoon of Shermans with a Firefly (more on *that* guy later), 2 M10's, another Assault platoon of Commando's, 2 rolling Bofors, a Priest 105 battery AND naval artillery! He also had some special guy who was Monty's nephew or something; I figured he could explain his special rules as I was buggered with them.

We chose this board: (Though you will notice we swapped out the onion dome church for a western Europe style church before the game began.)

I set up with the PG's dug in around the church objective, and a platoon of MkIV's at each end objective. Thinking I would hold the Tigers in Ambush and probably use them on the right side (it just looked like a better avenue of attack), I placed the 88 on the left behind some fields for concealment and the left MkIV platoon got the Firefly so there was decent AT capability there. The recce unit hung tight in the center. I planned on the 2iC joining the MkIV platoon that looked like it would need the numbers and hid the chicken CiC behind the church. My company is fragile; I couldn't afford to have him in the open. It looked like this:

 The left objective:

The right objective:

 The brave CiC:

Rich set up 8" in from his edge. I assumed his guys would have their sneakers on and be ready to run. Hi *did* set up the 105's and the Shermans on his left as I thought he might, so that's where my 2iC attached. His MG's were in the center and the M10's also were there, taking cover behind a building until he knew where the Big Cats were.

Turn one started innocently enough: Rich moved everyone except the M10's forward across the line. The Commando's crossed the street into some houses and rubble, the MG's moved into position and the spotters found their hides. 'Here we go', I thought, I figured it would be an early supper for me.
My turn, I bring on the Tigers right in front of the Sherman platoon. I've seen all the movies, I know Tigers kill Shermans, unless Brad Pitt is in command. I move up with the support of the right MkIV platoon. Well, almost all the platoon; one schmuck bogs in the woods before he starts. Anyway, I line those puny Shermans only to roll a '2' on night vision and can't see them! I fire off a few MG rounds and one of the MkIV's hits a Sherman but he shrugs it off like a politician at a press conference when asked about his mistress.

Turn 2 sees the Commandos slow their advance in the center and push on both ends. The 105's rain down on the right MkIV's bailing one, the Bofor's take out an 222 who couldn't run because they shot first turn and the Firefly gets two dice and hits both Tigers! So far my save on the bailed MkIV was a '1'. The save on the 222 was a '1'. The first save on the Tigers: yep, a '1', then a miracle happened and I passed the other with a '3'. 2 shots = one dead Tiger, one bailed. Luckily all Rich's Sherman's miss. Whew!
My turn two and the Tiger remounts and misses all three shots. Booo! But both MkIV platoons have some success and start whacking Commando stands. Yay! The 88 can't see far enough, neither can the CiC. Every platoon fails their Storm Trooper move and we sit in the open, butt puckered, ready for Rich's Turn 3.

Yay, the Tiger survives the bombardment!

 Oops!

Turn 3 and the Firefly knocks out the other Tiger. (Um, that sucks.) However the brave recce platoon shrugs off 5 HMG hits, saving them all. Too weird. Luckily the 105's don't range in and the naval spotter is still getting into position (or waiting for dawn.) The Brits move inexorably closer, especially on their left, my right, under cover of a couple burning 60 ton wrecks. I try to get away from the 105's but that same tank bogs for the third consecutive turn! What the hell did they park on? On our left we have a little more success, whittling down the commandos as they cross the fields.

Shouldn't all that flame light those guys up?

 Asshole.

Like I said, shouldn't the flames illuminate the area? Jeezus, I missed with a whole platoon's worth of vehicular mg's!

We soldier on. Turn 4 remains night and the naval bombardment arrives, killing the Firefly on a re-roll! Mine wasn't quite the hero Rich's was. Rich advances hard on the left taking out a MkIV in close combat in the woods. I kill a couple stands coming in but fail the countercharge roll and get the heck out of there. Luckily I can keep one tank with 4" of the objective so he doesn't have complete control yet. His attack on his right grounds to a halt and those tanks and 88 at knocking off a stand or so a turn. He's bogged down in the center as night vision has prevented him from getting any kind of decent shots. My PZ are dug in so even if he could see them, he needs 6's to hit and would expose his own troops in doing so. Smartly, he keeps plinking at the recce guys who somehow manage to keep saving and staying alive. In my half of the turn, dawn comes and my 88 withdraws. Luckily we've stalled the attack on that side, especially after the MkIv's take out a few more stands and there is no attack left on that side!

Hey, we're recce, not stupid!

 I hate naval guns.

I say, apply that gammon bomb, what?

Damn, luckily they could only reach one! Who needs a 2iC anyway?

This was our defensive fire. Sigh.

Turn 5 sees Rich continue to plug away at those MkIV's holding the objective. My offensive firs does some real damage and they are down to 2 stands, including the commander. The other one is rightly hunkered down behind a burning Tiger.

In fact this goes on for three straight turns as Rich tries repeatedly to kill one more tank and make the platoon check morale. I'm sure he knows how many misses he had but I lost count. And my saves for that matter. The only one he could knock out was the captured Sherman with, you guessed it, that damned Firefly! But that was it. I lost another recce vehicle when the M10's came out to play but they made their moral check, leaving them on the table so I could withdraw the lone survivor and not lose much. I was also able to remove the right most objective.

Raining 105's.

Oh yeah. Did I mention I hate naval guns? Now there are only two left in this platoon, making them one away from checking morale as well.

Wah!

Turn 7 and I pull the sleaze move. I remove the center objective leaving only the left one on the table and park my two MkIV's behind the woods like the big pussy I am. I realized he simply did not have the movement to threaten the last objective from where he was. I withdraw the heroes, the other MkIV platoon, before Rich can kill one and force a company MC. I leave it in the hands of the PBI's to face the wrath of the Brits He needs then naval guns, then tank fire and MG's. When the smoke clears only one stand has been lost but it was the one that would have allowed Rich to Close Assault! (It was the only one he had a LOS to.) What a game!

The one stand visible to the Commandos.

Stay in your holes boys!

Ah, naval guns aren't that bad.

The final positions.

It was  a nail biter down to the bitter end. A few things must be said: for starters, my dice sucked but Rich's were worse! It looks like there's nothing but barrages every turn but he failed to range in as many times as he did manage to. He has THREE turns to kill a MkIv and force a MC and couldn't do it. I had the same amount of time to kill one more infantry stand in the same sector and also couldn't do it. And it absolutely must go into the record that on Turn 7 Rich advised me I had moved a MkIV from the platoon he was trying to whack into the LOS of the Firefly. He allowed me to move it elsewhere, which epitomizes why Rich is a great guy to play. 

I felt I played well overall though, despite the dice issues at times. (I also made some crucial rolls, it has to be mentioned.) But... I feel I made a lot of right choices. I shot when I needed to and hid other times. I didn't rush about and stayed calm. I really felt I made good decisions about keeping guys alive to withdraw them without hurting me and also taking up the right objectives at the right times. It was clear Rich's tactic was to break the army but I still had to play smart and I felt that, overall, I did a decent job.

It was all in fun and we laughed all night, especially when we talked about Larry. Thanks for a Great game Rich.

U.S. 4th Armored vs. 1Fallschirmjaeger, Flames of War style

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 4^th 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.

 Here you see my forward set-up. With only 4 of 8 platoons on board at start I had a lot of ground to cover. I chose the 2 FJ platoons, the PaK40’s in Ambush and my 105’s. I was able to start the game with 2 units in Ambush but was so excited I deployed the first three without thinking. The building in the right center is the railway station. The FJ platoons are on either side. The ones closest are 1^st platoon and beyond, 2^nd. Just beyond the rail station you can see Kevin’s objective of a fuel depot. My guys are dug in. The team on the left in the street; the forward one in the center pine woods and on the far side, behind the wall, are my three on-board HMG’s. The 4^th will arrive with my KG. I also forgot to take pictures of Kevin’s set-up. This is after he moved on Turn 1. You can see his armored rifle platoon on the left and in the center and the scouts for his Hellcats lurking in the center. In my Turn 1, my HMG in the woods took out that jeep observer who thought he was behind a building! The two teams behind the rail embankment are both 81mm mortars. I bought them specifically for the Smoke capability. Spoiler alert: neither one got off a single round of Smoke the entire game.

 The 105 battery, command team and staff team dug in behind the factory. (Note there is terrain behind them (the cliff) but they were on the playable board edge because we played a 6 foot game on an 8 foot table.) In the foreground is that goddamn spotter plane that you will see in just about every picture of this game as it flew with impunity over my Paratroopers. Ironic, isn’t it? This showed me what a gaping hole in my list I had with no AA support. Luckily, Kevin started a trend this first turn that would run pretty much through the whole game: his artillery failed to range in on my guns in three tries! It’s always better to be lucky than good.

 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 2^nd 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 1^st 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.

Flames of War Infantry Aces 500 point battle: FJ vs. Maori! The Campaign begins.

 Started my first ever FoW campaign February 21st at Legions Hobbies. In fact, this would be only my second game of FoW in about 8 or 9 years. It was my Fallschirmjaeger Platoon (and I do mean platoon) vs. Rich "The Diceman" Baier's Maori Company. The scenario diced for left me with only one platoon on board to cover a 4 foot board and protect two objectives. I had to stretch across the board and begin Dug In. I knew the forward objective would be the key. Here's a shot of the objective in the Italian village.

Here's my left flank anchored in the ruins of a church. All my teams, excepting the two mortars were rifle/MG teams so even though I had few troops they promised to pack a wallop. And being Dug In, they were going to be extremely difficult to root out.

 Here's a shot looking down my extended line, right to left. You can see the objective I placed, as far back as the rules allowed!

 The Maori set-up. They also had two mortar tubes but of the slightly larger variety. Damn but Fearless veterans are expensive! This NZ platoon had 11 teams! It would prove one too many.

 Rich's right platoon crosses the stream and occupies my left, forcing us to 'stay at home' lest he do something sneaky. Our right side can see those bastards but need to shoot elsewhere with the dug in FJ's seen here.

 Why don't they just whack that cocky Ami tagging in the streets? What the fuck?

 After some uneventful shooting, Rich's platoon crosses the stream and gives my observation post the pointy end. Our anchor has lost it's mooring.

 Rich continues to put pressure on my center and driving on my right. My mortars continue to fire wieners at his troops. I should have used smoke here. Even with two 81mm tubes I coulda laid a template of smoke on his 120's. Rich consolidates in the woods and immediately un-pins after the assault. Unfortunately I do not.

 Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

 The Maori's get some payback. Even though we're still pinned, defensive fire whacks two teams and Rich loses the assault. Unfortunately for the second turn in a row, I roll a '1' to counterattack and sit there with my thumb up my ass. The Maori's didn't even need to do their 'hokey-pokey' dance to scare us away; we were plenty scared as it was.

 Turn three and on the first chance available, my other platoon arrives! But Rich has LOS and it'd be stupid to try to double-time under that firepower. Then they fail their Stormtrooper move, leaving them too far away to assault the objective. I just need to hold on one more turn. Rich's platoon has taken 5 losses! (Goddamn 11 team platoon!) I just need one more to force a MC and potentially overrun them.

 I'm forced to bring up my CinC and 2inC just to add some firepower. Oops, then they immediately pin by attaching to the platoon and only get one die apiece.

 Up and at 'em. With three dice I get three hits! All Rich has to do is fail one save and I force a MC and probably win! Even if he passes, he'll be pinned after the assault and my reinforcing platoon is going to munch his ass!

He made them all... Sigh... they don't call him 'The Diceman' for nothing.

 Game over man, in case you were keeping score, we just got our asses kicked.

Yeah, just sit back there, you douchebags.