Gepanzerte-Schule, Teil Zwei...

... OK, getting clever with google-translate ;-)

Armoured School - Part Two...

After my previous post where my German mechanised force, had a reasonably successful go at having a crack at some damned dug in Paras, who were trying to steal back a portion of the greater Reich... it was now time to see how the same force would now fare against an Armoured Company...

My plan with my Mechanised force in this example being for the most part to 'hang on'..., but to still hopefully project some force, to blunt the attacking platoons. Tanks are big nasty scary things when they are rumbling towards your troops, but infantry can survive a lot of attention being dug in and gone to ground, and any half decent volley from the panthers can blunt one of these armoured prongs. Combine that with heavy artillery fire from the Hummels, and its possible to knock out a platoon at a time with this double tag team...

This still leaves the heavy platoon stummels and mortars to deal with the lighter armoured vehicles and recce and even the 37mm cannon on the platoon command half tracks can be pressed into service against these lighter armoured vehicles.

Last time we had played, Paul had discussed using his Soviet Forward detachment, a nasty mix of Tanks, Assault breakthrough guns and an Infantry horde... but a last minute change of mind had Paul bring his Canuks... His Canadian Armoured squadron from Market Garden.

So, once again my force was:

CHQ; 2 x SMG/P'faust + P'Schrek & 3 x 251 Halftracks
Full CBT, w/ SMG/P'Faust, 37mm Cmd Halftrack, plus 3 x  251's
Full CBT, w/ SMG/P'Faust, 37mm Cmd Halftrack, plus 3 x  251's
Heavy Platoon; Cmd 251 + 2 x Stummel + 2 x 8cm armoured mortars w/ obs
Recce; 1 x 250/1 + 2 x 250/9 Halftracks
Panzers; 3 x Panther
Artillery; 3 x Hummels w/ PzIII obs.

Whilst Paul brought:

CHQ – 2x Sherman V’s and a Sherman ARV

2 Armoured Platoons, each with 2x Sherman V and 2x Fireflys (Fireflys w/ .50 cal AA MG’s)

4x M10 3”

2 Universal Carrier patrols, each with 3x carriers

Rifle Platoon with 2 Squads and 3x Ram Kangaroo APC’s w/ .50cal AA MG’s

The Canadians bring with them upgunned 17pdr Fireflies @ AT15, which scares my Panthers. They're Confident Veterans, and have 'Woodsman' and 'Mission Tactics', but don't get British Bulldog...

The one thing I like about them is its all kill-able stuff - nothing greater than front armour 6. So my Panthers, Hummels and even Stummels are capable of 'having some fun' against this force...

So my ideal match-ups are going to be Panthers and Hummels to kill the Shermans, and Stummels can try taking out UCs & M10s, my Recce and 37mm halftracks can also target the UCs... Armoured mortars are mostly for smoke or infantry killing... That's my very general approach here...

So on to the mission, the dice roll and we get... Cauldron... no ones favourite mission... neither of us are keen so we re-roll... Fighting Withdrawal... not my favourite but it often comes up in tournies, and is good in that it has a finite conclusion fixed at 8 turns. Also there's no messing about with reserves... but the defender has to deal with Strategic Withdrawals...

On to deployment; I pick the side with the most general cover yet also decent LOS for shooting up Pauls tanks as he comes towards me.

I deploy a GPG on each flank objective, with halftracks also deployed, as I want them to shoot up Pauls infantry if they advance on me, and I want the 37mms available too. Hummels are central, recce behind small wood to my centre right, and heavy platoon with the mortars with the hummels, and stummels with the recce. Panthers... surprise surprise, are the ambush...

Paul decided to apply 'duckbills' to his tanks, giving them widetracks but also making them slow. He then deployed a Sherman platoon in his central and right flank woods. M10s and recce were in and beside the town, and infantry behind right flank woods. His 2ic Sherman was alone far on his left flank...

Deployment pic: sorry I couldnt find usual camera so these are crappy Ipod pics...

I moved my Recce across towards my centre sensing the bulk of Pauls attack to happen towards my centre and left. Paul pushed up his recce, fanning out towards my centre and left obviously looking to push back my Panther ambush... but as the bulk of my force was concealed at range and gone to ground he had no shooting...

My turn, and now the 'phoney war' begins...

Panther ambush... where to place it... I was sorely tempted to put it down on my right flank, knock out Pauls 2ic Sherman, and then to start rolling the flank, but was concerned at the distance my Panthers would then have to travel to get back into the action which was the mainly on the other side of the board... So instead I decided to place it where his recce had not been effective, my extreme left... I could pop it within 16" of Pauls right flank Sherman platoon... The hummels could also see this platoon and could get 4 tanks under the template and catch 2 infantry teams...

Recce would shoot up the UCs, Stummels moved to shoot up the m10s, Mortars would drop smoke on the centre Sherman platoon...

Smoke first, hit, great, that reduces their effectiveness, only one Sherman can still see the right side of board.

Panthers... 6 shots needing a 5, nothing... Hummels, three chances to range in on a 5, nothing... stummels 3 shots on a 6, nothing... recce shoot up the recce who failed to disengage, but I still could achieve little... and this appeared to set the tone for my shooting for most of the game, I couldn't hit a barn door...

Paul now started to gradually apply pressure... he returned fire at the Panthers but he too missed, or the one hit I got I saved. But I lost 2 hummels in the centre as Paul started to find his dice rhythm and the sixes started to tumble across the felt... I even suffered the ignominy of  that 1 in 36 chance kill; a UC vehicle MG hit the side of my recce command half track, I rolled a 1 for a save and Paul a 6 to kill it... mutter mutter mutter...

For the next several turns things continued this way, the Panthers and Sherman platoon exchanging foul language but that was about all... I withdrew my lone hummel into cover to try and preserve it. Paul decided to try a bold thrust with a lone m10 through towards the panthers flank but missed. The m10 being subsequently caught in a cross fire from a 'faust, 'shreck, and 37mm... the 37mm claiming the scalp and my first kill of the game...

Time came to withdraw my first platoon, and I had picked up a sneaky tip from seeing other German players; kampfgrupping a lone infantry stand with my 2ic, so these two teams quit the field leaving me still quite well positioned, no gaps yet...

By this time, Paul had started snaking his 2 UC patrols to my right to threaten that end objective, teaming up with the 2ic Sherman and other shermans who had started to edge out from the centre woods.

I had got a little bold previously with my right flank infantry... sensing a possible assault against a UC patrol, as it took a load of fire, if I could simply get 3 bails and or a kill here or there, they would be easy meat... one thing to remember for beginning players, if all the tanks you are assaulting are bailed out, then there is no tank terror test and no defensive fire. I thought I saw a chance but it wasn't to be, I bailed only two of the three UCs and then failed tank terror. I had now scampered infantry out of their foxholes so they were ripe for MGing, which Paul duly started... and teams started falling on my right...

Paul also knocked out 2 Panthers on my left over the next couple of turns, for the loss of a further m10..., the rot had set in and I was starting to crumble... The centre recce took another hit and the remaining 2cm halftrack quite the field...

The hummels were withdrawn next... making the centre looking more vulnerable too. So I managed to get my CO across from my left to the centre farmhouse, to keep the centre objective covered. The sensation of 'hanging on by ones fingers nails' had certainly commenced.

The stummels and Pltn Cmd were sent to reinforce the crumbling right ... the air was sporadically turning blue, as I continued to fail to be able to kill anything, and then kept failing infantry saves...

However, the one thing my dice were doing, despite letting me steadily die, was that I kept passing 4+ platoon morale checks, and the Panthers had hung on for quite some time with some decent armour saves, although as previously noted, had eventually been reduced to one tank... under weight of fire...

I hung on just long enough on my right, contesting with the Stummels, to whip that objective away... Paul started pressuring the left flank, now that I was down to 1 Panther, and since the centre was looking thin I had had to start moving the left side Grens over to the centre, everything was getting perilously thin... Paul also pushed up on the centre too, with Shermans and m10s..

Another platoon, had to be withdrawn, and I withdrew the shattered remnant of my right flank infantry, passing a skill test to do so... Sensing it was getting close to the point that all I had to do was stay alive, I backed my last panther off into the woods to keep it out of LOS and alive.

Paul now realised it was now or never... too late to grab the left objective, this got pulled too... so it boiled down to could he kill enough of my teams/platoons that were remaining, to force me to take a company morale check and quit the field.

Paul massed all the fire he could; sent 4 tanks into the wood to kill the last panther, positioned enough tanks to shoot up the remnants of the heavy platoon... and tried to get some shots on my CO in the farmhouse...

One Firefly got a hit on the Panther, but only bailed it, and I passed morale! I lost two more heavy platoon vehicles, but they passed morale... and shooting at the CO was ineffective... and that was it... game over, I had hung on, with a final score of 5-2, as I had lost the halftrack recce platoon mid game, to give Paul a point for his efforts.

A win, but it really didn't feel like it, and was another of those pressure cooker games, that has one pondering... and I do this for fun!?...

I had managed to destroy 2 m10s and 2 UCs and that was it. I had lost 2 hummels, 2 panthers, the 3 recce halftracks, an armoured mortar, stummel and their pltn cmd, and several infantry teams. My efforts felt rather pathetic. If I had managed at least a little better dice earlier and some effective co-ordination between the panthers and hummels, reducing Pauls Sherman platoons, I could have put him on the back foot... but it wasn't to be and thus a slow grinding capitulation ensues, that was quite literally saved by the bell and some lucky platoon morale checks...

A tough game for Paul to lose, be he continued to keep the pressure on throughout, and was so close to victory at several times.

Despite failing to kill much, I think my troops performed, or at least had the potential to perform, adequately, had I managed to hit some targets,... so I feel its has rather proved the point that this overall force has the potential to be effective in a 'take on all comers' tournament...

Gepanzerte-Schule!

In an ongoing attempt to find a balanced German mechanised force, with enough options to attack and defend against a variety of opponents, and how well to tactically play, I have begun a learning curve, with a bit of a back to basics approach.

 I have played this force, both in Mid-war and Late-war incarnations for over two years now, with just about a game a week, but with few victories to show for it... but being stubborn and pig headed I have not given up - largely because I have put a shit load of resources, both money for buying the models, and time to paint them up, to give up on them.

So I am going to find a way to make them 'work'. However I admit I have certainly 'spat the dummy' at differing times, or just declared I needed a break to rest my jangled thoughts...

 So, in an attempt to salvage thoughts from the ashes, I suggested to Paul, a chance to play a sort of 'doubles solo game'; we'd play the same arse of a mission for the GPGs; attacking the Brit Paras in a No Retreat scenario - but the difference being we'd both discuss how we thought mission objective placement and deployment should go, and then discuss each turn as we played it, from both sides point of view...

 This would develop a more global view of the game from start to finish...

We also agreed that if something didn't work, during a turns activity, we would try a reset, at that point and try something else...

 This led to a lengthy game, but many lessons were learned from mutual discussion... some from more past experiences being echo-ed, and others from Pauls insights from the defenders point of view, and how he thought an attack should best proceed...

The force I have chosen to use is a Heer force from Grey Wolf;

HQ; 2 x SMG/P'faust + P'Schrek
Full CBT, w/ SMG/P'Faust
Full CBT, w/ SMG/P'Faust
Heavy Platoon; Cmd 251 + 2 x Stummel + 2 x 8cm armoured mortars w/ obs
Recce; 1 x 250/1 + 2 x 250/9
Panzers; 3 x Panther
Artillery; 3 x Hummels w/ PzIII obs.

The thinking being I have two solid Mechanised Infantry platoons to handle the attack, Recce to mitigate ambushes and lift GTG, Heavy Arty to get ranged in and pound targets (I want to kill what I hit!), Panthers - the ubiquitous Tank killer and infantry support, and the Heavy platoon is my 'versatile' option, being able to support the infantry with direct fire and smoke.

On to the game, Paul took his same Para force as last game, chose an end to defend and placed his objective centre rear of his position. The German objective went down in woods to front left of the German position, the idea being an advance to this position would be screened through hedges and woods and much of the defenders defensive fire in this area would be blocked by the wood and building. The other flank was more open and would allow for the potential of a quicker thrust to the rear...

As predicted Paul then deployed the Brits strongly covering the front objective, with a thinner force on the German right, and howitzers at the back. A fairly typical defense. Since Paul had engineers, he also placed 3 sections of barbed wire covering the approach to the front objective.

As I didn't have pioneers, the wire would be a problem. Not insurmountable, but it slows you down, catching teams in the open, so this wasn't the place to attack... So it was decided to attack down the German right flank, the idea being to push into the central wood and right side corn, and then look which way to go from there with potential to push on to the rear objective, or swing left in to the front flank objective, depending on how the game developed.

Deployment as below, with German mascot well placed...

Deployment and overseer.

It was decided to advance the infantry on foot through the terrain... This went against the grain for me somewhat as I can't help the feeling that I have paid the points for the half tracks so I want them on the board doing something... but so often in the past I have found they have invariably got caught up in terrain, either slowed by it or blogging down on it, or simply given away an easy range in point for artillery, that their use often leads to problems before the game gets properly underway, ham-stringing any German attack later... The half tracks would remain available to be called up later at a more opportune time...

The early stages of the game saw the Germans cautiously advancing into position, and being particularly aware of the LOS from the Para Arty observer. This was blocked by smoke from the mortars allowing the infantry to advance unmolested. Recce had already pushed up to throw back any immediate ambush, forcing Paul to hold his 17pdrs till later.

Paul ranged arty fire on the exposed Panther which hit but bounced but this forced the Panther to move, as I didn't fancy the medium arty support getting called in on top of it, subsequently...

As turns continued, the Germans had got in to position to assault the para engineer pickets. A small mistake by Paul had left them just too far from their supporting main line, so they were taken out without any possible reply from the paras. The 17pdrs did however deploy knocking out one Panther. The remaining two hid behind the wood, till these guns were dealt with.

Boom goes a panther, but infantry are pushing up well...

In the face of the German assault, Paul started pulling back towards an 'Alamo-like' line joining the two objectives...

This allowed the Recce, Heavy platoon stummels and by now the called up half tracks to start swinging round the flank, and MGing Pauls reserves as they were coming on to the board. The paras were admittedly now feeling under pressure.. The hummels had ranged in and taken out two 17 pdrs by this point.. allowing the Panthers to get back into the game with main gun and MG fire, at the paras, keeping the ones on the front objective tied up in place, whilst the rest of the German force were gradually pushing back and compressing the paras onto the rear objective. This was in turn providing groups of targets under templates for the Hummels and Mortars to keep chipping away at, and with more direct fire from the Stummels and Recce too.

The Germans had at one point, tried an assault through the middle, as there was a chance to capture the 17pdrs and deal to more paras... we weighed it up, checked the Def fire, and went for it. Def fire just got 5 hits, but we played on as if only 4 had occurred, took the saves and attacked. I didn't get the best round dice and the Paras motivated and had enough teams to destroy the attacking platoon. So we reset and instead had the German platoon mount up their half tracks and drive back out the way of the ranged in Arty (that had triggered their assault; a 'do or die' moment), thus preserving the platoon. This just reinforced that you can only really hope to attack a weakened position and win, otherwise you are going to get beaten off taking severe losses..., especially where a defense is in depth...

This was about how we called it, through time more than anything. Paul had lost his small platoon of mortars that had come on from reserve, and got shot up, his 17pdrs were down to one gun, the engineers were severely battered,  and the CO had got MG-ed, but Paul still had his 2iC and Urquart, and the rest of his troops bunch up, waiting to get pounded... it was just a matter of time...

The Germans had lost a couple of infantry teams and one panther...

So the lessons learned in the main were...

1. Let the game develop, don't rush in
2. Preserve the infantry, moving through terrain and smoke cover. Watch for observer lines of sight.
3. Leave half tracks off until needed, when they can be effective, then call them up (as per Ambush deployment rules), but bear in mind the turn the arrive they cannot shoot or assault so you need to be thinking a turn ahead...
4. Get artillery ranged in and keep pounding targets that can hurt you; AT guns, howitzers etc...
5. Wait till the opportune moment to attack and do so against weakened positions, with greater force than the defender can withstand.

It all sounds straight forward, but keeping a cool calm head and sticking to the plan, during the game, will be the key to future successes...

Many thanks to Paul for his patience and working though this scenario, is has giving some hope to my mechanised cause!