So we had to have an inaugural game to see the new pad in.
The scene was set; a doubles contest pitching the dastardly Kraut against an alliance of the Yanks and Canadians in a MW setting, though it has to be said, since forces were selected from both North Africa for the Allies and Eastern Front for the Axis .. an interesting milieu developed...
Paul had pre set up the field of battle, and made the call that forces would 2200 pts per side, so 1100 points per command with 200 available for swapsies... The Mission was pre-determined as Free for All.
The Allies; Paul and Brett selected their forces - Brett taking a Yank Paratroop company, and Paul going with a Canadian Tank company.
The dastardly Krauts; Bob and Scott selected two infantry companies. Scott would go with the more defensive formation of Grenadiers, with priority Stukas, in support of the more attacking Pioneer formation of Bob, assisted by a Tiger IE, and a captured KV1...
I must apologise before hand as my picture taking was a little rushed, so many shots were a bit fuzzy, but hopefully you get the idea.
The battlefield was dominated by a central Luftwaffe Airfield, with wooded hills to one side, and a village on the other.
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| Brett just checking the first deployments of US chocolate, K-rations and prophylactics |
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| All set, ready for the off. |
In picture above, the Germans are on the right, the Allies to the left. Scott's grenadiers are spread along the base line defending both objectives, with PaK38s on the right flank hill over looking the village, and heavy mortars and light AAA in the centre. (The allies failed to bring planes so the AAA was a bit of a waste of time). Bob has loaded one flank with 2 hefty pioneer units assisted by the Tiger. The KV1 is behind the hill defended by the PaK38s.
The Allies have their 25 pdrs supporting main thrust of Yank Paratroops through village backed by some Canadian Shermans. Their centre has some Yank medium mortars and the woods holds more Yank infantry assisted by yet more Shermans.
IIRC , Allies got first turn and started digging stuff in where necessary for Free for All, except on the tarmac road, its jolly tricky getting a spade into asphalt! Not much else happened. The Germans responded by cunningly digging their troops in also, but made dashing moves with the pioneers on the left flank
The Yanks started pushing up their paras through the village, to be met with heavy Mortar fire from the Germans,... not pleasant. The first round of stukas had seen a great block of infantry just waiting for a pounding, but had failed to identify the Yank AAA infantry platoon - that came as a shock, but the plucky pilot managed to get his parachute to work!
The KV selects a shooting avenue to dissuade the approaching Allied Armour...
Its all go, Brett ponders what to do...
With the threat from the pioneers, Brett shifts the central Yank mortars over to assist the threatened objective in the woods, but not before landing a very nice mortar bombardment upon on the pioneer platoons heads killing several teams... However in subsequent turns the stukas now found this mortar platoon marching across the open a target too tempting to resist...
The Yanks continue their advance through the village but are paying a heavy toll from heavy mortar fire... the KV has also advanced to make its presence known.
The Tiger starts to get to work, knocking out a Sherman on the left flank... we tried to make things fair for the allies painting our Tiger in a bright white camo pattern for the sultry summer clime to aid their targeting , just to give them a sporting chance. We considered adding 'go-faster' stripes too, but thought this a step too far towards Essex boy fandom... my Tiger's better than your Sierra Cosworth any day! ;-)
The Shermans are not sure what to do... trying to avoid the gaze of the Tiger, trying to stay spread out and near woods because of the stuka... life is not a happy one for the commander of a 'Ronson'...
Meanwhile the Yanks keep pushing through the village waiting to see what happens between the Shermans and KV... the Yank Tank destroyer ambush jeeps are also steadily working inconspicuously into position...
KV ready to greet a Sherman... through the woods...
Tiger says hello to another a Sherman, the rest pull back behind the wood, covering the objective...
The sneaky Yanks spring the TD ambush, unleashing 2 M10s upon the much maligned KV, but only manage to bail it...
Meanwhile the Tiger continues on its prowl...
Oh dear, a bailed tank is not problem at all to assaulting infantry... no tank terror test required, insert explosive charge here... boom! Still the KV has tied up several platoons of Allies over several turns, its earned its points...
The Allies are still trying to force the issue on their left flank, but now the PaK38s are an issue for the Shermans ...
PaK38s bail the M10s... heavy mortars land as well but only annoy the infantry...
Pioneers get busy with the fizzy, and launch their move and assault into the Yanks in the woods, assisting the Tiger who has already squished a few...
Brett's return fire, needing 5's to hit veterans in the woods... er that will be none then...
A Sherman tries to get sneaky behind the hill, forcing the PaK38s to turn to fire...
But its all too little too late for the allies, who are left verged on the point of an assault if only they could silence the PaK38s...one had been summarily dispatched but the others stubbornly refused to die, either passing saves or surviving repeated failed firepower tests from the Shermans and M10s... I lost track of how many times they got 'bailed' ;-)
Wallop, its all over Yanks, go back to driving Miss Daisy coz you aint driving nothing here... Pioneers and Tigers do the business and it ends messy for the Allies with little left at all in the wooded objective, Tiger and pioneers rampant!
A thoroughly fun game, with much banter an carry on.
And some beers to see the new room in, with some pizza from Paul's good lady Tina - many thanks from all...
Looking forward to many more in Pauls fine establishment...
I believe the game ended 5-2 to the Germans.
Stay tuned for KapitiFowGamers next exploits...
Nicely summed up Scott. The Allied advance on our left was slowed down so much by failed fire powers and trying to keep in cover from the paks and KV that by the time we had cracked it open it was all too little too late. Our shooting on the other flank was miserable as well, only half as many pioneers should have made it across the table. A trained Sherman can't quite maraude about with impunity like a Tiger! Good aggressive play from the sausage-munchers :)
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