CTA 2013 - Mechanised Mayhem and Misadventure - Game 5 - Fighting Withdrawal - "What might have been..."

So day two had got under way in a positive fashion, with a few more points on the board, though I am under no illusions at this point,  I am probably in serious contention for the wooden spoon ...

My final game of the weekend was a 'blue on blue' encounter drawn against John Murrie, a fellow blogger of Stumpy Heaven fame. John was running a Fallshirmjäger Company.

Johns force was...

Fallschirmjägerkompanie
Fallschirmjägerkompanie HQ	120
Add Panzerfaust SMG
Add Sniper
Fallschirmjäger Platoon - 3 Squads	265
Add Panzerfaust SMG
Fallschirmjäger Platoon - 3 Squads	265
Add Panzerfaust SMG
Heavy Tank Platoon - 2 Tiger IE	430
Fallschirmjäger Tank-Hunter Platoon - 4 StuG G	440
Rocket Launcher Battery - 3 15cm NW41	125
Fallschirmjäger Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon - 3 2cm Flak38 gun	105

The final mission of the day was Fighting Withdrawal, and as I have said in the past, its always a mission I have stuffed up, whether attacking or defending. I invariably bollox up the key timing of the late stages of the game...

A glance at Johns force and I thought I was up against an armoured force, seeing the Tigers and Stugs, but John corrected me his was an Infantry company so my Mechanised would be the attacker.

John, being the defender, chose a side to defend and put down his objective marker, at back of the woods by the river. To spread out his forces I placed my two; one centrally, the other to my far right.

The key difference in this mission being the fact that generally the defenders objective will be placed slightly further back than the attackers two, so the attackers ones are thus fractionally closer and thus seem easier to go for, but these last two are also the ones that the defender can withdraw towards to the end of the game.

When I have attacked this mission in the past I have usually gone all out for my end placed objective, only to have it whipped from under feet as I am about to capture it...

So this time I decided to go full steam ahead for Johns objective, meaning I would have a full 8 turns to try and capture it. Shit or bust as they say!

John had deployed an infantry platoon defending each objective, with Stugs also covering my right side objective, and his AA guns covering the other two, with Tigers in ambush.

I loaded my left side, looking for a quick approach, covered by the recce advance to push back any ambush, then stormtrooper out ready for the assault. Tanks would move up in support to deal with the Tigers where ever they showed up. The Paks I placed centrally, their job being to move up and stop the Stugs having an easy journey across the board, to reinforce the main objective. The Nebs concealed themselves in the corn.

We're ready to rock and roll...

Immediately the Pumas pushed forward in to the village, with their recce move, and regular move, getting into good position to push back the Tiger Ambush, and all able to lift GTG on the AA guns and a viable position to stop Johns central FJ moving across easily to reinforce the main objective I was going for...

The two GPGs also moved up into the villages either side of the river. Paks advanced through the corn heading for the small tree line to take shots at the StuGs as they would inevitably have to cross the board to reinforce the threatened objective...

The KTs moved up to support, and some lucky fire knocked out the AA gun in front of them. More fire knocked out the AA gun in the open.

In Johns turn he started withdrawing the AA guns to preserve the platoon. A sniper popped up and started taking pot shots at the Pak40 crews, whilst the Tigers also made their presence known appearing in the back of the woods behind the objective.

The StuGs started their move towards the far objective but were wary of the Paks...

My turn two and things started to hot up, both GPG advanced MGing the FJ infantry in the wood to little effect and the GPG infantry storm troopered out of their half tracks. The central GPG getting right in Johns face in the tree line, and flank GPG infantry getting part way across the river... in my mind I was playing this as a stream, though later the vulnerability of troops crossing a river was exposed. The Paks continued their progress to the tree line and the KTs started moving to try and get in a position to either face off against the Tigers or StuGs...

At this point it all looked pretty good, with Johns single FJ platoon looking surrounded and cut off, other than for the Tiger support.

I am going to start generalizing, as its now ~6 days since the game, and I have not got a pictorial reference to prompt me further...

In Johns turn, feeling the pressure of the impending attack, he withdrew the FJ further into the wood... which I was a little surprised at, as he had given up his Gone to Ground status and bullet proof cover, and the half tracks would be able to swarm his position from all sides. However, a crucial hit on my troops was a strike on the central Grens in the tree line from Johns nebs, which after some crap saves, killed three teams and pinned them down.

The Paks and Stugs were busy trading shots on the other flank with the sniper still trying his hand against the Paks too.

My turn 3, and it was all on, or would have been had the central Grens unpinned, which they did not despite a CO reroll. However sensing a real chance to close out the FJ this turn I lined everything up, the flank Grens moved up to get into assault positions and the haltracks all advanced to shoot up the FJ in the woods since they had lost their foxholes by moving, even the neb observor could see a target there.

Seeing a big blob of FJ infantry under my neb template I fired that first, getting a hit and scoring several kills... but crafty John removed teams from the perimeter, the ones that the surrounding half tracks could only just see into the woods, thus robbing me of those extra potential kills, curses! Perhaps I should have fired the half tracks first...

No matter, this pinned the FJ, and the concealment of the woods would hopefully mean defensive fire would be minimal, except of course for the Tigers... and I needed a tank terror test too... passed! Defensive firing caused some damage but the assault still went in...

The panzerfausts hit both the Tigers, yay! But both only suffered bailed results! Boo! Not the best but, they were out of the fight and if I could force the FJ to break off they'd be captured and destroyed.

The fight went down to the wire, with a few typically missed crucial hits. Eventually the Grens were sadly beaten off, but the FJ were down to two teams, one of which was their CO. Mine had gone down with the fight, but I still had VonSauken (VS) around for morale.

A gripping turn, but John held on by the skin of his teeth.

The worst bit for me though was Johns following turn seeing both Tigers remount (groan)... I was still in with a shout though, I still had half a GPG ready to attack again with VS, once they unpinned,... the Paks were holding off the Stugs and my KTs were still looking to get towards the Tigers and deal with them...

John continued a holding action, managing his Tigers well...but the Stugs were now in a crossfire from the Paks and KTs...

My next turn would hopefully see it to conclusion, but the central Grens again failed to motivate, despite the reroll from VS... Argh! I couldn't move to assault those two measly teams, who had by now dug in again... and so my MG fire at them was of little effect...

I had thrown just about everything forward by now, half tracks, pumas, the works, trying desperately to kill those last two teams but they just wouldn't die or run away... and steadily John was knocking out these light vehicles with Tigers, Stugs and other fire...

Eventually my last Grens unpin and make it forward, but they still cannot close out the deal and are themselves beaten off again... I cant believe it! In desperation, and time running short, I assault through the woods with the King Tigers, its all I have left to do the job... they pass their bog checks, make it through the defensive fire of the panzerfausts, and then miss their attacks! Argh! I only needed to roll two 3+'s and they would have killed the last remaining infantry here, and I probably would have hung on afterwards in the Tiger vs King Tiger duel on the objective... John passed tank terror with his FJ, assaulted the KTs and destroyed one and bailed the other... and that was it... boo hoo!

I'd tried everything and pushed relentlessly, to no avail. I couldn't even kill off a platoon, John skillfully withdrew damaged platoons at key times. The AA guns to start. Three blazing Stugs and another bailed, that last bugger still got away from me... net result for all this carnage? 1-6 against...

Johns excellent report of the game can be viewed here. Always interesting to see it from your opponents perspective.

I was left again clutching at thin air... and shaking my head at what might have been,... should have been... and left pondering the ifs, buts and maybes...

My Grens suffering from the nebs strike, and then not unpinning for 2 turns... the Tigers only suffering bailed results from the panzerfausts... bugger bugger bugger!

It wasnt until after the game I realised I had completely ignored the centre objective, maybe I could have pressured that too? At least my close proximity to it,  was keeping the FJ platoon there tied up defending it.

So I claim another single point for a game, bringing my 5 game total up to 9 points, out of a possible 30... I didn't even break double figures...

Still, this last game against John was a real exciting nail biter, and I really felt I was always in with a chance... and for that reason despite losing it 1-6, I scored it my favorite game of the weekend and thus gave John, my 'sportsmanship' vote... a little unusual in a game you lose, these things normally go against the folks in the games you win, and I thought about giving it to Russell in my first game, but despite getting better points in that game, I felt I'd had a more proactive and thus enjoyable final game, so scored it that way.

My final standing in the tournament? Of 20 players I came equal 18th, tied with John Hutton who only played 4 games...

The weekend was its usual heady mix of gaming emotion, punctuated by the roller coaster ride the dice rolls give you... one minute you're up, the next, down... such is the game...  funnily enough, on chatting about how we felt about the gaming weekend beforehand, I mentioned that the best way I can describe how I feel about these events, is akin to exam nerves during my university days... and yet I still do this for fun! Of course, Paul quipped, "...yeah, and some people cut themselves with razorblades for fun too..." Does that put it into perspective, I dunno... not that I'd I recommend the "razorblade hobby"! ;-)

But no doubt I'll be back again next year, for another dose of humility!

I'll offer some post-tournament thoughts in a subsequent post.

Thanks for reading, hope you found the reports interesting, and sorry again for the lack of pictures - it seems not taking many, didn't help my performance much!

Thanks again to Paul for the lift to the event each day, much appreciated and it gives someone to vent your frustrations to after the event!

And of course, thanks again to John H for running the show.

CTA 2013 - Mechanised Mayhem and Misadventure - Game 4 - Free for All - "Machineguns in the snow"

Day two of  Call to Arms got under way on Sunday with the traditional 'Beauty Pageant' of all armies put out on display. I was going to do a picture dump of all the armies that featured but its already been done by other bloggers - nicely here from John at Stumpy Heaven.

Once all the armies had been admired, judged and photographed, it was on with the fun! I was looking to put the woes of the previous day behind me, and 'Keep Calm and Carry on!'... ;-)

My first game of the day I was drawn against Robert Higgins, a relatively new arrival in Wellington, from Dunedin, and fairly new player to FoW. He had brought with him an extensive Soviet infantry force.

Roberts force was;

Red Army Strelkovy Batalon (Red Bear)
Strelkovy Batalon HQ	30
Add 2 Sniper teams	100
Add sapper platoon	85
Add Pioneer Supply Wagon	20
Strelkovy Company - 2 Platoons	240
Add Maxim HMG	25
Strelkovy Company - 2 Platoons	240
Add Maxim HMG	25
Upgrade to SMG teams
Add Komissar	15
Strelkovy MG Company - 2 MG Platoons	150
Strelkovy Mortar Company - 2 Mortar Platoons	95
Add observer Rifle Team	15
Tank Destruction Company - 4 57mm ZIS-2	155
Guards Heavy Assault Gun Company - 3 ISU-122	345
Air Support - Limited Il-2 Shturmovik	200

The mission for this first game of the day, was Free for All.

Bearing in mind my more mobile force against Roberts foot slogging infantry, who would have to try and defend my objectives and risk a foot slog across the board to attack his, I was confident of carrying the initiative through the game.

Objectives went down in their typically spread to flanks fashion and alternating deployment commenced....

Free for All vs Robert Higgins Soviets (my halftracks are loaded up, the infantry are just on board to be easy to grab when needed)

I put the Paks on a hill overlooking the board from my left, supporting Nebs to their right, to hold the left objective. Recce went in the middle early with a view to heading in either direction depending on final dispositions, one GPG down right flank,and the second centrally, again to go either way, and finally KTs ended up supporting the right flank attack. I held these till last hoping to angle them towards Roberts ISUs, but these were tucked up behind the central woods and all the cluttered central terrain would make marking them as targets difficult..

Robert had put a Strelk on each flank objective, with mortars to far his  right behind a hill, Zis guns behind central woods beside the ISUs. HMGs were centrally positioned behind the woods.

I got first turn, and headed off trying to get some MG fire at the Strelk before they dug in. Pumas swung left going for a position to shoot up the mortars, assisted by the 2iC halftrack. The central halftracks negotiated the terrain, to make it to the central road area, supported by CO. The flank GPGs zipped forward with Von Sauken(VS) nearby to assist stormtrooper moves towards terrain, as I was wary of getting caught in the open with the Shturmoviks circling overhead... The KTs followed the GPGs looking to angle to get some shots on the Zis Guns if they turned towards my halftracks...
My observer looked to get into the church steeple, but found the door frozen shut...

I started putting some hurt on the right side Strelk with the GPG Mgs...

In return Robert dug in his Strelk, but not the mortars preferring to fire these. His Zis guns turned to fire at the distant GPGs... one gun concealed by woods had no shots, so three shots on a 5, I was not overly concerned... 3 hits! Darn , two wrecked, one bailed... luckily I managed some infantry saves, only losing a couple of teams... GPGs fail motivation for their halftracks who depart..., leaving the infantry feeling rather exposed... at least they have KTs behind them...

The planes tried to hit the KTs, but they had kept near the woods and the planes missed... Robert advanced his HMGs through the woods to fire on the central half tracks to little effect... Robert also advanced the ISUs up through the wood in support of the HMGs again to fire on the GPGs but missed...

In my turn, the central GPG paused, and took the opportunity to shoot up the Soviet HMG teams, killing several, as did the CO and Pumas... the HMGs were destroyed...

I brought back up the halftracks on the right flank to support the exposed infantry there.

The exact sequence of event now gets a bit muddled but the gist of what happens next, included the Right side GPGs continuing to shoot up the flank Strelkovy, whilst the KTs tried to shoot up the Zis guns. The remaining infantry there and soviets went head to head in assaults battering both sides, leaving the strelk greatly reduced and Germans down to one lone isolated team and a few half tracks, backed up by the KTs... I think we may have got the Soviet 'quality of quantity' rule wrong here, in Roberts favour, but it wasn't a biggie, and I wasn't going to worry over it... just something to double check later on...

I did make a mistake here at one point, trying to get out of LOS of the Zis guns and wary of planes I pushed forward to the woods the strelk were in, knowing I still had enough MG fire if they came running out at me... and of course crucially forgot the sneak up on tanks rule - doh! As it turned out I dodged a bullet here as the soviet assault achieved little, top armour saves being made, and I broke off... close shave though...

That was the right flank fought out and just left the KTs sniping the Zis guns...

Had I been desperate here I could have assaulted with the KTs through the wood into the remnants of the strelk, to capture the objective behind them, but there were still some engineer teams alive and knowing me I would bog down in the woods (KTs bog on a 1-2), so I called that flank quits...

Back to the centre, and an airstrike by the Russian planes hit the GPG there... I gleefully got ready to fire my passenger fired AA guns from the half tracks which I don't often get to use, only to be informed the plane was classed as a 'flying tank', and my AA MGs couldn't hurt it... curses! Half tracks were hit including the CO who died... the GPG failed their morale check and half tracks bugged out leaving the grenadiers on the road behind a wall.

The Paks now saw a chance to shoot up the ISUs, but they either missed or the ISUs passed front armour saves. With the soviet HMGs dealt with, the dismounted central GPGs decided to go for glory on foot and assaulted the ISUs in front of them in wood, knowing there would be no defensive from these behemoths, and with them, being in the woods there was also a chance they'd bog if they moved. I just needed to pass tank terror on a 4+... passed! In we went but the Panzerfaust hit was saved. However the ISUs failed to motivate, broke off back through the wood with the command tank bogging and being captured and destroyed... this left the two remaining ISUs stuck behind the wood unable to move further...

On my left the pumas and 2iC skirted the left side hill and started shooting up the soviet mortars who had not dug in, eventually destroying them, but the strelkovy there had dug in and were a tougher proposition to shoot up, and an assault against their numbers seemed unwise, so a stalemate occurred there... and that was about it...

The game ending as 3-1 in my favour as I had destroyed the HMGs and Mortars for no lost platoons. Not brilliant but not bad , and at least I scored some points...

Robert was a very likable chap, keen as mustard on FOW, and I think we'll be seeing a lot more of him on FoW scene...

So 4 games played and I am up to 8 points, one game to go, can I break double figures...?

CTA 2013 - Mechanised Mayhem and Misadventure - Game 3 - Breakthrough - "The race is on..."

After a frustrating game against Cameron, I was hoping for something better in my next game, but this was the one mission of the weekend I was not looking forward to.

The Breakthrough mission can be a tough one to defend for a mobile force, due to the mobile reserves rule. As it turned out I got drawn to play mate Brett, who was fielding the only other Mechanised force of the weekend, his Armoured American Rifle company...

Bretts force was:

Armored Rifle Company (4th Division)
Armored Rifle Company HQ	50
Armored Rifle Platoon - 3 Sections (5 Bazooka)	295
Armored Rifle Platoon - 2 Sections (3 Bazooka)	235
Armored Anti-tank Platoon - 2 57mm AT guns (late), 1 Bazooka	105
Recon Platoon - 1 Rifle Team	65
Armored Machine-gun Platoon - 4 HMG teams, 2 Bazooka	195
Armored Mortar Platoon - M4 81mm MMC	110
Light Tank Platoon - 4 M5A1 Stuart	210
Field Artillery Battery (155mm) (Veteran) - 4 M1 155mm howitzer	275
Armored Field Artillery Battery (Trained) - 3 Priest	170
Air Observation Post	40

Brett and I chatted the mission through, and rolled off to see who would attack. I won the roll and would attack. Brett groaned as he realised he'd only be able to deploy 2 platoons of his force due to the Mobile Reserves rule...

We chatted this through again, and agreed Brett would better off deploying his infantry dismounted from their half tracks. He would lose all his beloved half track 50cals for the game but would at least get 4 platoons on the board and be able to set up a decent defence to start.

So Brett set up his force as per picture below; Priests to top left, 155mm Howitzers to bottom right and a blocking formation of infantry through the centre and another about to hot foot it to the objective.

Breakthrough vs Brett, just after my Puma recce move...

Knowing I needed a strong force to come on from reserve to attack the objectives, and how inappropriate my other platoons were for the job, and thinking it would take 'forever' for a heavy tank to make it across the board, even if it could, against all Bretts bazookas as I'd be exposing flanks all the way over... that was a none starter.

So I deployed Nebs, Paks and Pumas, and my attacking reserve would be the 2 GPGs and the KTs.

At deployment, I noticed a chance to knock Bretts Howitzers out of the game early... the road led directly to them, and with no infantry protecting them, my Pumas rolled out in their recce moved then pushed up for a first turn assault. The CO and Von Sauken(VS) followed the pumas though trailing somewhat due to the puma recce move, but hoped to join up once the Howitzers were dealt with and could then start moving up behind Bretts infantry heading for the objectives...

My 2iC was left defending the Nebs against Bretts lurking Sherman OP tank...

So the pumas got up close and managed to shoot down one gun team on the way in to the assault. Brett typically removed the only gun I could reach, so I assaulted empty positions, took no defensive fire, and consolidated into the cornfield, pushing back the Staff team. I'd be ready to finish off the howitzers next turn as I reckoned I'd be OK even if he turns the artillery to shoot, it would be 3 shots on a six to hit, I'll take those odds...

The CO and VS decided to storm trooper out of their halftracks, into the cover of the cornfield as Brett had AT guns lurking in the middle woods that would make a mess of my haftracks. The Neb observer who had accompanied their jaunt followed suit, leaping from his kubelwagon. But in a change of mind, I instead left VS behind as I realised if he left his transport it would leave the field leaving him exposed.

My nebs had fired at the howitzers too but failed to hit anything.

Looks OK so far...?

Bretts first turn, one dice for reserves and he gets them rolling a 5. Four Stuarts turn up behind my pumas at point blank range.... groan... 4 main guns and a hail of MG fire into the pumas left one destroyed and 2 bailed, though they passed morale to stay there...

Bretts infantry scampered towards the objectives whilst his HMGs fired at my paks to no effect. His OP Sherman moved up to shoot my nebs but failed to hit.

My CO was hit as was his half track, though luckily I passed my warrior save and he swapped out for the neb observer.

My turn 2 start was not looking too clever now... my pumas both failed to remount... groan again... the only good thing they were doing was tying up Bretts Stuarts away from the objectives. My CO was stranded so dug in in the cornfield. My 2iC decided to put an end to the attention of the sherman OP tank and decided to go for an Iron Cross with his Panzerfaust... hopefully he'd have some help if I could move my Paks over to get a shot and at least bail it first.

To move the paks I had to have one gun cross the stream, so the end gun could keep in command, which required a bog test, sure enough a 1... bogged gun in the stream... The 2iC was feeling a little exposed now... ah well, he was committed now, the sherman would get 3 defensive fire shots hitting on 4s, I then get saves on a 3+, so I knew I couldnt be pinned, and figured I had a fair chance of surviving that... then I just need to hit with my Tank assault 6 Panzerfaust...needing a 3... oh but the small matter of a tank terror test first, needing a 4... failed... poo! With knees knocking the 2ic squirmed back down into the grass, looking for a hole to swallow him up...

Well that was a naff turn 2...

Bretts turn 2 and he tried all he could to finish off the pumas with the stuarts and 155s, but now they were gone to ground in the corn as they hadn't moved so needed 6s to hit... I survived another turn...

Bretts armoured mortars had showed up trying to knock out my paks and MG-ing my CO, who withstood a blaze of fire from the 50cals in his foxhole.

The yank infantry continued their scamper to the objectives and got themselves in position...

Oh and the OP sherman killed the 2ic as he deserved...

More HMG fire at the paks was withstood.

Turn three, and I get reserves... no I don't !...even with VS's reroll nothing showed up... damn!

My Pumas still fail to motivate...

My CO is still stuck in the cornfield, VS is just staying alive keeping his reroll active for next turn... but all my command is no where near the objectives where their motivation rerolls will be needed...

My Paks fire at the HMGs and kill a couple...

Turn three, and Bretts digs in on the objective, and the Pumas are finally dealt to...

Turn 4 I get reserves, one GPG turning up... it quickly moves up, MGs the defenders to no real effect and storm troopers the infantry into the wood ready for an assault next turn.

Brett fires artillery at the newly arrived GPGs causing some consternation, but keeps his infantry quiet preserving their gone to ground in the woods.

Turn 5, I get both reserves; 2nd GPG and KTs. Great, but I am up against it now, a huge line of dug in yank infantry on the objectives, festooned with LMGs and bazookas...But I have little time left... I use the newly arrived mounted GPGs to make a tank escort assault against the end of the yank line in the woods, killing one team, who tuned out to be part of the two element recce platoon, but Brett fails motivation and breaks off this end of the line allowing me to consolidate out of the half tracks pushing him further back.
I now assault with the other dismounted GPGs and they get stuck in and again force Brett back and consolidate forward. I now hold the objective and Brett cannot move to contest it!

Game time is minutes away from finishing and we realise, we simply have to determine whether Brett would be able to knock me back in any way to stop me starting my next turn on the objective uncontested... First the Yank infantry has to unpin, which they fail (German hearts soar!), but the Yank CO looks at them sternly and reaches for his pearl handled pistols, and they pass (Germans hearts fall!)... more artillery falls causing more mayhem, allowing the yanks to assault and just push back the Germans... enough to get a yank team contesting the objective...

Time runs out...game over... after all that frantic last minute effort, its all for nothing... 1-6 against...

I 'cry into my beer' and head home, though even Brett is feeling rather frazzled by it all too! It helped having mate Paul, who had already finished his game, come by for that last turn to oversee we did it right...

Post game thoughts - my main command elements were entirely wasted and did nothing all game - I should have sent at least the CO or VS, or even both with the reserves as they would have given motivation rerolls to keep the assault going, and get troops unpinned from combat...

And was I too bold with the pumas? If Brett hadn't got reserves on the first turn, that part of the plan would have worked... Brett had a one in three chance to get reserves... the odds were in my favour, but were not to be...

So the first day ends and despite heaps of effort... out of three games, I have 5 points, from a maximum possible 18... its all rather deflating... oh well, my luck can only get better next day, right...?

CTA 2013 - Mechanised Mayhem and Misadventure - Game 2 - No Retreat - "Whats in the nest?"

After a reasonably positive start to the tournament scoring 3 points in my first game, I was drawn against Cameron Wansborough, with his Nisei Infantry, in game 2.

Camerons force was:

Rifle Company (Nisei) (Fearless Vets)
Rifle Company HQ + Bazooka	40
Warrior Lt. Daniel Inouye	15
Rifle Platoon - 3 Sections + Bazooka	265
Rifle Platoon - 2 Sections + Bazooka	200
Rifle Platoon - 2 Sections + Bazooka	200
Anti-tank Platoon - 3 M1 57mm gun, 2 Bazooka	155
Anti-tank Platoon - 3 M1 57mm gun, 2 Bazooka	155
Field Artillery Battery - 4 M2A1 105mm howitzer	185
Field Artillery Battery (155mm) - 4 M1 155mm howitzer	275
Anti-aircraft Artillery Platoon - 1 Bofors gun, 1 M2 .50cal	45
2 HMG Nests	80
2 HMG Nests	80
10 Gun Pits	50

Being an Infantry Company, Cameron would defend the No Retreat scenario, against my mechanised attack.

Cameron chose his table end, and placed his objective in some woods at the rear of his area. I placed mine traditionally about as far away from, and far forward of this first one, as possible.

Cameron defending then placed his HMGs nests in a line across the front, apologizing that they should have actually gone down before objectives were placed, and I could change my objective placement now if I wished. I adjusted mine slightly, placing it behind his HMG nest. The HMG nests were supported by one stretched line of infantry. The two artillery batteries went down towards the rear, and some AT guns were in ambush.

(Thinking back, I should have just left my objective where I had placed it. I had moved it behind the HMG nest thinking to get past the nest onto the objective and be out of its field of fire. I really wasn't to sure how to deal with the nests not having played or attacked them much... all I did was move the objective further away from me...)

I then had to decide how to play it. I considered the long 'at the double' run towards the rear objective, trying to weigh up in my mind the chances of success, bearing in mind the chance of mitigating the ambush with my Pumas, whether I could get there and attack successfully in time to hold it before reserves showed up, to knock me off...

In the end I went for the more typical all out attack against the front objective. Hoping to swamp it with numbers...

No retreat vs Cameron Wansborough

The game got under way, I rocked up with the pumas getting them positioned well to force back any ambush. The halftracks followed up, some staying loaded up the others stormtroopering out in to cover of the woods.

My tanks hoped to move up and gradually snipe some of the artillery pieces in sight but I scored no hits... (what I should have done with them was try and knock out the nests...)

My artillery neb fire was ineffective...

Cameron popped his ambush at range and still manage to knock out a puma who failed to disengage...

Artillery ranged in on the half tracks and things started to go down hill for me...

I then suffered my typical attack of indecision in the face of dice not doing what I needed, and facing HMG nests which threatened to pin down any assaults in their direction.

Over the course of the next couple of turns things got a little niggly. I need to smoke the HMG nest to at least reduce its effectiveness but Cameron said I couldn't use it as a target to centre a bombardment on, so I tried ranging in on the GTG Vet infantry near it needing a six, and failed. I should have used my puma to lift GTG but forgot to in the messy confusion of my front line, instead trying to shoot back at the AT guns, and failing to be effective...

(I checked this later and found yes you can range in smoke on a bunker/nest... they count as trained troops)

My halftracks were MGing away for all they were worth at the infantry front line, but needing 6s to hit and even then if a save was failed, I'd need a 6 for FP,... they were spraying lead everywhere and hitting nothing.
I did try a mounted assault at one end of the line but this was shot back with defensive fire...

So with nothing going very well, I was stuck in the woods, not fancying charging the HMG nests, and with the artillery raining down on me... I was steadily losing teams no matter what I did, either to artillery strikes or HMG fire from the cross-firing nests...

Another point of consternation was a double bailed halftrack that failed morale, and was thus destroyed. I had always played this as the passengers dismount under fire as it was my own side 'scuttling' the armoured transport, but Cameron said it counted as destroyed and so they'd need a 5+ passenger save first... it didn't seem right to me , but he seemed a more experienced player, so I rolled the dice and lost the two passenger teams...

( still not sure on this one - I have posted to forum and have had one response which seems to agree with my thinking; they would simply dismount under fire .... UPDATE forum thread resolved here, sadly looks like I was wrong.)

With time running out, and with nothing to lose I had to start attacking... I got in with one infantry platoon, but typically missed my swing at the Nest, and was beaten back... with nothing much to lose I went in with the KTs, and finally for all my efforts, killed one infantry team... there then followed a discussion over whether the assault was won or not... In the 8' 'bubble', Cameron had the Nest, and a couple of infantry teams, but they couldn't physically reach the KT by making a 4" move into contact, and obviously the Nest couldn't move... so this caused more discussion; was the assault won, or not...? Thankfully an experienced Mr McBeth was found close by who found the solution for us, the assault was won, but I couldn't consolidate closer than 2" to the Nest...

So I was now contesting, but time was out... not good enough, sadly for me, 1-6 against.

I have to say a frustrating game, ... had I got some smoke to cover my assault, and then hit my swing at the nest, needing a single 3+, it would have been different... but it just didn't go my way, and the rules niggles were an annoyance...so in the end I just wanted to put the game behind me and move on to the next...

What irks the most is its one mission where I feel my mechanised force should be able to do well, attacking against infantry... as they can get up quickly into position, and should be able to get pins easily with all the mechanised fire and then be in the face of the infantry and on the objective before reserves arrive. I simply must practice this to get it sorted so it becomes second nature... had I had a more anti-infantry force rather than anti-tank force, I would have had more assets to achieve this, but those two KTs soaked up a lot of points...

After the event, this game provoked me to read up more on dealing with bunkers and nests, so I know how to deal with them in the future...

Two Games played, now - 4 points in total.

CTA 2013 - Mechanised Mayhem and Misadventure... Game 1 - Encounter - "Sharpen your 'Can' openers"

Well, after all the excitement, build up, list creating and practice game, the weekend of Wellington Warlords Call to Arms has been, and gone...

I went with a mechanised German force, as previously detailed;

Gepanzerte Panzergrenadierkompanie (Grey Wolf)

Gepanzerte Panzergrenadierkompanie HQ
Add Panzershreck team	125
Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoon - 3 sections
Command Panzerfaust SMG team	230
Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoon - 3 sections
Command Panzerfaust SMG team	230
Schwere Panzer Platoon - Königstiger (Henschel)	690
Anti-tank Gun Platoon - 3 7.5cm PaK40 guns	155
Puma Panzerspäh Platoon - 3 Sd Kfz 234/2 (Puma)	150
Rocket Launcher Battery - 3 15cm NW41	105
Warrior Dietrich von Saucken	65

The 2 King Tigers were a huge points investment, but I had expected to see more lists being more tank heavy on the Allied side, taking advantage of the new Arsenal to come out of Market Garden... thus my mechanised force was more defensive in nature, expecting to be fending off Allied Armour...

I could not have been more wrong... there were very few Allied tanks lists, and against infantry my super heavy tank becomes an expensive pair of machine guns...

Here's a picture of my force from the beauty pageant:

I only took a starting dispositions photo of each of my games, as I really wanted to try and concentrate on the game play, so I apologize for the lack of pretty pictures....

Game 1

The first game, I got drawn against Russell Briant, with one of the few Allied Tank lists featuring a mass of Soviet armour. I had played Russell in last years event, both of us using very similar forces this time around, and had hung on tenaciously for a narrow margin win, back then,  so I think Russell may have been after a little payback this time around, in a gentlemanly fashion...

Russells Force was:

Gvardeyskyi Tankovy Batalon (Red Bear)
Gvardeyskiy Tankovy Batalon HQ - 1 T-34/85 obr 1943 with Cupola	85
Gvardeyskiy Tankovy Company - 10 T-34/85 obr 1943 with Cupola	645
Gvardeyskiy Tankovy Company - 5 T-34/85 obr 1943 with Cupola	400
Tank Killer Company - 4 SU-100	310
Assault Gun Company - 4 SU-122 (with tank escorts)	210
Spetsnaz Platoon (FV) - Cmd and 2 SMG teams in captured  Sd Kfz 251 half-tracks	100

The first mission was Encounter.

Being the attacker, Russell chose his side, and I got the other. Objectives went down with us both placing our own centrally to our rear areas, with the opponent placing theirs out towards the flanks. Mine went on the back side of a hill on Russell's right flank. The idea here being the possibility of a speedy thrust out there with fast moving reserves, should the chance arise. Russell placed his just out on the far side of the woods on my right.

Encounter vs Russell Briant (click pic for bigger view)

I deployed one GPG dismounted across my centre in a defensive line, hoping to get dug in and gone to ground as quick as possible. I knew Russell had some breakthrough guns that could dig me out, so these where my priority target, if they came into view. My PaKs were in the woods on right overlooking the objective there. Lastly my King Tigers surveyed the scene from behind the infantry. This left my Pumas, Nebs and last GPG in reserve.

With 5 platoons, Russell could only deploy two; one lot of 5 T34/85 heading towards the objective on my right, and the other of 10 T34/85s massing centrally.

The table was very terrain heavy with high hedges, woods and buildings, making any long range LOS out of the question. This didn't suit my game plan, but allowed Russell get close, relatively unmolested by the KTs. So Russell moved up, his platoon of 5 T34s continuing their movement towards the wood on my flank, whilst the platoon of 10 T34s skirted the other flank protected by the high hedges, looking to try and turn the KTs, I think, to try for a flank shot. I dug in the infantry and Paks and slightly adjusted the KTs...

I did manage a early lucky hit, and knocked out a T34 in the town, and it  wasn't until about a turn later Russell realized it was his CO that had just been destroyed!

This slight cat and mouse scenario continued for a little while on my left, between the 10 T34s and the 2 KTs, whilst Russell saw an opportunity and went hard out for an attack against my PaKs on my right... sadly Russells dice were not the best, and I managed to get some gun saves. The ensuing assault saw the T34s repulsed, leaving several flaming wrecks...

About this time Russells breakthrough guns showed up and moved forward , as my Pumas arrived opposite them, but lots of intervening terrain gave both sides cover.

To cut a long story short, the platoon of 10 T34s started getting sniped by the KTs, and moved back to centre of town for a bold thrust through the centre of my position looking for a point blank flank shot on my KTs. His breakthrough assault guns went for a bold assault across the hedges and into the woods after my PaKs, but some bogged, or were knocked out in defensive fire.

Russell's Tank Killers had also arrived but too far from the action. The Nebs and 2nd GPG arrived and entered the wood backing up the PaKs, though a couple of Nebs went down trying get into cover, Russell looking for an easy point by killing them off. But one survived, and made it into the cover of the woods.

A combination of  action now started to take its toll on Russell's last remaining main T34 platoon, seeing tanks going down to more PaKs fire who were now moving around in the woods, and KT fire. Even my infantry sensed blood, and started scampering about, moving Panzerschreks up for shots, and the infantry in the woods now looking to assault bailed out tanks...

Russell continued trying to get a point and if I recall correctly, finished off the Nebs, MG-ing them with his tanks, into the wood.

Eventually, at end of game, with 9 tanks destroyed out 10 for the T34s, and with his CO tank having been knocked out very early on to a KT shot into the town, and both the small T34 platoon and assault gun platoons destroyed, Russell need to pass a platoon morale test or break... He passed the roll! But the game was effectively over.

I had lost one platoon, and had taken out 2 of Russell's. This scored the game 3 - 2  to the Germans. Had Russell failed that last dice roll, it would have been a 5-2.

Russell played hard out after a cautious start, and I can't fault him in any way.

I was pleased with how I held on in the face of the tank attack, and was happy to come away with 19 enemy tanks destroyed and 3-2 score.

The howl of the Wolf...

It's a year later, and 'Call to Arms' will shortly be upon us again... another two days of frantic wargaming fun in Wellington, courtesy of the Warlords.

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it this year as my boss is away that weekend and I would have had to work, but a bit of sweet talking the missus, and she'll cover for me, though no doubt I'll owe her big time!

So, what force to take...

Last year I ran Lehr Gepanzerte PanzerGrenadiers (GPGs)  from Earth and Steel. I didn't do too bad for a first proper go at a tournament; won a couple, lost a couple...

I like running the Mechanised half track force... it's always... 'interesting'!

Mechanised

I don't think I am patient enough to be an Infantry commander, frequently being stuck defending, and if having to attack, then  having to footslog your way across the board...

Infantry

Nor am I sure I am bold enough to be a Tank commander, and when I do run them I am frequently either a little too rash, or conversely, scared to get the paint scratched...

Panzers

No, I think I am indecisive enough to be a Mechanised force commander!

A mechanised force is a little bit of a jack of all trades (yet master of none?!), and its this versatility, which seems to mean you are always in with a chance regardless of mission or foes. Note I did say 'chance', and not certainty!

The thing with a mechanised force is that in a defensive battle, you will be defending against Tanks, and attacking against Infantry, and its a toss up against other mobile infantry forces... So you have to tailor your force to handle all these possibilities, and factor in how you will handle such a force when required to split it for reserves; whether these are rushing on to save the day in a defensive situation, or they've been tasked with the flank attack route...

So there's an awful lot to think about to get this force balance just right. There is also the risk that if you tailor the force to specifically work through a combination of these elements, and one of those elements fails or is destroyed, then your plan might have just gone out the window..., so factoring in a little redundancy can help, in other words platoons that can achieve more than one thing...

So there are a great many pros and cons to running these forces...

Having tried the Lehr list from E&S last year, I thought I would try a variant from the Eastern Front this time, and opened up Grey Wolf...

Running GPGs from Grey wolf, comes in two flavours; Heer or SS. Whilst I love the Fearless morale rating of the SS troops, they do come at a points premium, and so I will put my faith in regular Heer of the Wehrmacht, which should hopefully give me some extra points availability for useful supporting platoon options.

Some folks seem to deride Grey Wolf for its flavourless forces, but I do like the variety of support platoons available to your core force. You really get the feeling you could take on anything... if only you knew beforehand what the 'anything' was!

So here is what I have come up with, and why...

HQ (Confident Veteran)

2 x Cmd SMG / Panzerfaust & 2 x SdKfz 251/1   

Add in the optional Panzershrek team and its SdKfz 251/1                                                            
125pts

The HQ is clearly a must have, and upgrading to Panzerfausts and adding in the Panzershrek team

gives you a big deterrent to a tank force assaulting your dismounted  grenadiers in a defensive position.

Warrior

Von Sauken; Higher Cmd SMG team with SdKfz 250/1                                                                  
65pts

Von Sauken

Having an extra Higher Command team along rated Fearless Veteran, will no doubt be useful, especially with allowing a re-roll of storm trooper tests and to receive reserves. No doubt he will always be where needed most. He's no "Remer", but is the best I can add to my force.
Being Higher Command and Fearless gives me a 3+ Company Morale check too.

Combat Platoons

Cmd SMG / Panzerfaust, 6 MG teams & 4 SdKfz 251/1                                                              
 230pts

Cmd SMG / Panzerfaust, 6 MG teams & 4 SdKfz 251/1                                                                
230pts

The core of the force, doing the 'heavy lifting'...  they'll be dismounted defending against tanks, 

or mounted up attacking against infantry, and if  able to operate against enemy infantry

 caught moving in the open they'll have a wonderful time machine gunning them.

Also able to perform a Mounted Assault, making them a potentially fast and hard hitting  force.

Mortar Platoon
Cmd SMG with SdKfz 251/1, Observor Rifle team with Kubelwagon, 2 x SdKfz 251/2 (8cm)          
90pts

The intention for this small platoon, is manifold;  to support the assault of the GPGs, 

typically with a either a smoke bombardment, or direct fire smoke. Or direct fire against gun teams. 

There is also the option of a pinning strike, but I would hope the GPGs can achieve a pin with their massed MG fire. Hopefully combined with the recce, who will have lifted Gone to Ground.

There is also the defensive ability of direct fire smoke against enemy armour.

The  half track mounts still have their mobile MG utility against infantry, and can dismount the mortars, being portee, if they need digging in, sending half tracks to rear.

Recce
Half Tracked PanzerSpah; 1 x SdKfz 250/1 & 2 x SdKfz 250/9 (2cm)                                          
115pts

This is my main cheap choice for recce. Used in the typical recce role, both for pushing back enemy ambushes, and using Eyes&Ears for lifting Gone to Ground on enemy defenders. 

Other abilities are harassment of infantry and gun teams, especially if a break into the 'backfield' is possible against artillery parks.

Luftwaffe Heavy Anti-Aircraft Gun Platoon (allied platoon Reluctant Trained)

Cmd SMG team with Kfz15 field car, 2 x 8.8cm Flak36 gun (8 crew), 2 x SdKfz 7                        
115pts

This is an extremely cheap way to achieve 6, high AT, long range shots per turn against attacking enemy armour, which may dominate the battle field if well positioned, or deny approach to part of the field.

If attacking, can be deployed , constantly shelling the enemy, and acting as a deterrant  to approaching enemy armoured reserves.

It could of course, also be used in the AAA role, though against fast ground attack aircraft, 

this is not its best ability, only getting one shot per gun, but at a range of 48" and with a FP of 3+.

Panzer Support

3 x Panther A                                                                                                                                
560pts

A  'medium' tank, in the long range tank killer role, which if supported by the  88's should make  most enemy armour wary. My only concern for the Panther will be its new susceptibility to  upgunned  fireflies, and 'teleporting' US Tank destroyers.  It may be a case of live and die by the 'storm trooper', if you can't see me, you can't shoot me, so good use of terrain will be vital.

Rocket Artillery

Cmd SMG team, Observor rifle team with kubelwagon, 3 x 15cm NW41 Rocket Launchers          
105pts

Cheap artillery, to smoke bombard and pin, either way aiding the assault of the GPGs. Or hit assaulting infantry if defending, or smoke blinding enemy armour.

Armoured Flame-thrower platoon

2 x SdKfz 251/16 (Flamm)                                                                                                            
105pts

Another platoon to aid the main assault of the GPGs, able to instantly pin and kill defending infantry and gun teams,  and even blind enemy armour aiding an infantry assault against them.

TOTAL   1740pts



Some things I did not take for this force:

Air support - In Late War the Germans only get Sporadic air support, which to me seems to rely too much on luck to show up and be effective. 100pts for sporadic stukas? Hmmm, sounds a bargain but they may only get one decent chance of showing up and then could whiff it!

AAA defence. I thought about adding some mobile AAA to defend the tanks, but I have found in the past that a cany opponent will just motor up his tanks, blow apart your AAA guns then his air is effective, and the loss of the AAA is an easy point for your opponent.


This force is however, massively adjustable.

Some variables I came up with;

1) Drop the Nebs to 2, and increase Recce to Pumas. It would mean re-rolling hits with the nebs, but that would always be on 3's, and the Pumas are more of a threat to medium armour.

2) Drop the Nebs to 2, drop the flamm half tracks, and change out the 3 Panthers, for 2 King Tigers. Flamm half tracks are a nice extra if you can afford to add them to the force but I don't think they are essential. In the face of up gunned fireflies, the King Tigers may offer more resiliance..., and have Tiger Ace skills.

King Tiger

3) Drop the Panthers, and Flamm half tracks, increase recce to Pumas, and add 4 Panzer IVs, and 3 StuG Gs. This is the 'panzer horde' approach. If you can kill my panthers anyway, why not just go for more return fire...

Well that's a few variables to mull over...I wouldn't mind some time to trial these lists, but most likely wont have much opportunity before the event. The King Tigers, whilst desirable, are also not present in my armoury, though have been ordered. It would depend if they arrive in time and are painted in time...

Comments and discussion are welcome...