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.
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.
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| 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...?
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...?
Now that was an entertaining AAR :) Basic rule of thumb always go for it so sending the Pumas in was all good. Another one of those oh so close games that isnt reflected accurately by the final score.
ReplyDeleteThanks John, its nice to know at least my efforts are in the right direction...
ReplyDeleteIn full agreement with John on this game! If you'd had another turn you could have closed it out, even with your usual bad luck at critical times. You have to go for it though, nothing ventured, nothing gained as the attacker. 6-1 is a harsh scoreline for your efforts.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul, yeah it felt a bit like clutching straws at very the end, so much a case of what might have been... Another positive 'learning experience' though ;-)
DeleteA lot turns on unlucky dice rolls - but for that command re-roll the outcome would have been very different at the end. Lets see what happens "tomorrow"!
ReplyDeleteVery much so... twice in one day now with that morale check Russell passed in the first game of the day... Ah yes, the suspense I can hardly wait! ;-)
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