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...