Catching up on past games, especially those with pretty pictures. Chuck and I had played a game on March 22nd which featured some new LW Germans hardware vs some new LW Russian hardware. All of it expertly painted by Chuck!
In my case newly painted King Tigers and Jadgpanthers were just crying out for their table debut!
Once again it was at Deaf Ear Records in LaCrosse. Note you can just see in the picture below the “new” lockers which is just great for gamers not having to haul things around and be able to store things on site.
With 2200 points a side Chuck and I each had our respective lists ready to go. We rolled up a mobile counter attack mission. This is one of the missions I really enjoy for the challenge it presents. Knowing you have to cross to take an objective AND potentially have problems on both flanks really gets you to focus on what you have to do. Sitzkrieg just isn’t a path to success here.
For the game we put together a Russian country side a few woods with the road an the rail line to work around. Pretty historical situation as often as the Germans were falling back in 1944, they’d have to defend the main roadways. (Really recommend reading Tigers in the Mud by the way!)
Chuck as the defender set up first. Given his delayed reserves he had to make some tough choices for what to put on table first. He had a heap of 150s which you can see starting to be placed, a platoon of AA in the woods and last a formation of IS-2s. He picked up the IS2s which worked part of the Company command and decided to hold them in ambush. Chuck knows I like to buy air when I can. This time I didn’t spring for it tho so his AA was more deployed to keep my infantry in check. They’d have a nice fire lane to cover the road. (mumble!)
For my forces I picked 3 Jagdpanthers, 2 King Tigers, a battery of 105s, an HMG platoon, an AT platoon of 75s, and 2 straight legs platoon of panzergrens, one full strength and the other under. Last I had a sniper which given the vast area of no mans land gives lots of opportunity for placement.
With the deployment you can see Chuck has his box pretty well defended around one objective. The other objective is far off in the distance at the crossroads. It’ll be a tough dash but an undefended objective always calls.
I put my HMG platoon to cover my left flank and given the ability to start dug in and range bands hopefully I’d be able to take a few artillery guns out and at least keep things in check on this side as I fully planned to go for the far objective. I also put my 75 antitank guns in positions I hoped would provide a good lane for them to cover for tanks that my enter as reserves.
Strategically I figured both my King Tigers would cover the rush to the objective with the panzergrens flowing out far away from the AA guns. The Jagdpanthers would spend the first turn or two going after the AA and/or 150s. The less artillery my infantry would have to deal with the better.
You can see the start of turn 1, King Tigers starting to roll down the road and infantry double moving. This is where fate steps in… you know about fate right? Perhaps had a odd visit or two by fate? Um .. yeah.
So for my shooting step I’m able to take out an AA gun and harassed the 150s both with HMG fire and direct fire from tanks as well as artillery. Two 150s gone. 5 Left.
As expected Chuck sprung his IS2s ambush and promptly brews up my King Tigers. Sigh. Fate, battle plans, first contact with the enemy…. Well done Chuck!
Turn 2. Very unhappy Jadgpanthers go after the IS2 and give them lots of love. Not quite enough tho to drive them off but still a good show that left a mark! Other wise I continued the harassment of the artillery and committed my sniper to go after both the artillery and the AA guns. That one shot pin ability just can not be over looked. In this sort of situation too where with the deployment to be able to use a snipper to pin artillery is really nice!
My HMGs also continue to go after the Russian artillery from the other side. They’ll quickly run out of targets but this is a very good problem to have as that paves the way for the platoon to then setup in the woods.
With Turn 3 Chuck received his mobile reinforcements with JS2 coming on board. With my infantry running forward to the objective this really put me in a bad situation. All I have is effectively a close assault to go after the tanks. With the King Tigers gone, until the Jagdpathers can shake free, the panzergrens are left to their own. This is where lists with like the volks and their copious amounts of panzerfausts and panzershreaks would really be great. But not today! You fight with the army you brought.
With Turn 4, the last of the in range Artillery was taken care of. I moved up my Jagdpanthers to make use of cover. I also sent my other infantry forward directly down the road. Not much use against JS2s tho. Unfortunately my 75s just don’t have a lane to shoot.
With Turn 5 I move up my HMG platoon. Brewed up another JS2 but that platoon of stubborn Russians sticks around. Chuck pulls in his company command tank to go after the flank of my Jagdpanthers.
With the bail out results by Chucks good shooting the writing is pretty much on the wall. With turn 6 I fail my motivation test to get back in. Straight legs won’t be able to assault the Russian tanks off the objective so it’s just bad news all around and thus game.