Miniature War Gaming

On March 28th, more of the Rochester Group decided to head over to Deaf Ear Records for the weekly Flames of War game. Prior we’d coordinated a 1910 point LW game. With some of the folks from Rochester being fairly new to Flames of War we decided to split into two tables. Chuck from La Crosse and Chuck from Rochester against me on one table and then Eric from the Rochester Group vs Bill from LaCrosse on the other.

On the far table Eric was going to be German and Bill playing a Russian force that Chuck from LaCrosse supplied. The closer table would be my battleground. Already it looked like a tough table with that river down the middle. Either a crossing action or the potential of having to split force to attack or defend. Tough choices ahead!

With the mission we ended up with me as the defender and the Russians attacking. It’s nice to have the length of the table to defend and give ground OTOH flowing forces back and forth wasn’t going to be an easy option. I’d need to start with just 2 platoons on table. Thankfully my company HQ was two Panthers.

I decided to start with a platoon of Jagdpanthers on ambush and then my artillery of 4 105s start on table. Not much but probably good enough for 3 turns and with air available I was hoping to dull the pain. My reserves would be entering from a long table edge so there was motivation from the part of the Russians to not complete stick their heads in it and suffer a flank attack.

With the deployment of all Russian forces, they put a platoon of T34s on my left flank backed by a straight legs. Over on my right flank on the opposite side of the river SU152s and JS2 line up with artillery in the back.

With Turn one the Russians flowed forward. On the bottom of turn one I sprung my ambush and called for air. With the fields of fire and the open terrain the T34s would get the most initial love and then I’d work my way over. I figured by turn 2 I’d probably be shooting across the table with maybe a few flank shots before I’d have to retreat back due to Russian infantry.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Luck was with me, hitting the T34s hard and they failed their motivation and decide they have better things to do. Likewise two brew ups in the middle, now it’s down to infantry on one flank and Russian tanks on the other.

Through turn 2, the Russian horde moved forward and I tried to keep them down with artillery and MG fire. While it landed it wasn’t quite enough to keep them from surging forward.

My air however couldn’t be protected from! Alas my bombs were fairly ineffective but these tankers were definitely slowing down a bit so as to maximize use of cover so as to not give me opportunities from the far hill. Likewise some of the AA assets protecting the artillery started to move forward to protect the tanks instead.

With turn 3 the advance continued. Hard luck on my part because I needed to keep on the objective to stave off a quick loss. With the bottom of turn 3 I really really needed reserves and quick. Unsurprisingly the Russians infantry close assaulted the Jagdpanthers. Luck just wasn’t with me having to fall back and unfortunately not being able to fall back far enough lead to two Jagdpanthers being destroyed. The platoon would make their motivation roll. At this point I was forced off the objective and there wasn’t much I could do without reinforcements.

With the bottom of turn 3, I made my roll and selected my Panzergrens in their half tracks. Time for a desperation close assault to push them off or at least get to a point where the objective was contested.

I came on with dismounted infantry. I shouldn’t have in retrospect. On the assault I took enough defensive fire that I couldn’t press home and that was that. No way to press the Russians off the objective.

Considering there just was no way the position was able to be held. All in All I think a historical type result with the Germans conceding the day to fall back and look for a counter attack.

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.

Chuck and I got together for a Monday post Easter game since we didn’t have a chance to game on Friday like we had originally planned. In my case I have a new company of Volksgrenadiers that I’ve been really wanting to give a try and in Chuck’s case he’s working up to some Arnhem themed battles.

We decided on 2000 points a piece.

Setting up the table, we set up a cross roads on a mostly flat terrain. We rolled up a fair fight meeting engagement. I’m the defender, starting on the near long edge in the picture and Chuck the attacker starting on the far side. We’d placed our objectives at this point. The panther body being one and the bright red AA squares Chucks. On the far side my objective is hidden by the church steeple.

On the setup with just 3 platoons to deploy and the other 3 in reserves, I choose to deploy my scout platoon, my sturm platoon and my Panthers. The Sturm in the light on the right and the scout the cluster on the left with the Panthers in support. Off table I had a platoon of HMGs, Hetzers and the Shutzen platoon. All my stuff was Conf Vet. Just didn’t want to try out Reluctant Trained even tho I’d been able to get another platoon or two!

Chuck with 8(!) platoons decided on Jacksons, his artillery of 105s and then two formations of airborne. Both Chuck and I had air, in his case dedicated P47s and in my case sporadic Me262s.

Turn 1 with Chuck starting, and no AA on my side his air came down and bailed a Panther. Alas I burned a die and tried to intercept but failed. Otherwise Chuck sprung his Jacksons and fired but missed. He also pushed his straight legs across the line and was easily able to start to get into the buildings. I figured at this point I’d have to hold and hope I received reinforcements or at least some good shooting so I could force a flank. I pretty much figured there was no reason to go through the town. Chuck also deployed a sniper you can just barely seem him by the wall on the near side of the buildings. Last Chuck also tried and failed to dig in his artillery saving me their affection this turn.

Bottom of turn 1, my Panthers brewed up both Jacksons which was great fortune on my part. They could now help out with this flank. I moved my scout platoon up so it could at least be able to engage instead of digging in. I did make my air roll but Chuck intercepted so that was that. My sturm platoon dug in and took a shot at the sniper. I put a hit on him, made the FP roll and made the roll to have him destroyed! Some good luck to start out.

With Turn 2 Chuck fully secured the church and the buildings in town, making it festooned with bazookas and LMGs. On my right flank a few stands pressed forward staying outside of my assault rifle range as well as out of line from were my MG teams could potentially bring to bear. Chuck made his air roll again but thankfully I also made my roll and thus intercepted the potential attack.

Beyond that we traded some small arms but otherwise mostly a turn of looking for position and cover.

With the bottom of turn 2 I adjusted my Panthers to help out as well dug in my scouts and fired where I could. Losses were pretty light at this point. I had lost one of my scout stands and Chuck from his formation on my left.

Top of turn 3, Chuck dug in successfully and ranged in with his artillery. He also made his air roll and I wasn’t able to intercept. But at least with the first turn for him rolling for reinforcements he failed the roll….

Again another turn of mostly ineffective fire but Chuck was able to pin my scouts. With his air he was just able to stay outside of the required 16″ of his own lines to be able to come down. Dern it!  He brewed up a Panther with bomb.

Bottom of turn 3, I continued to hold, with small arms and my Panthers firing trying to root out the dug in Americans. Stand here, stand here, little effect.

On to turn 4. Again Chuck got air, but this time I was able to intercept again. Whew! Don’t need more bombs! Chuck also failed the reinforcement roll this time. The situation stayed fairly static, with small arms and artillery for the most part accomplishing little saving me losing one more stand from my scout platoon. One more loss and they’d be testing.

Bottom of turn 4, I did get my first set of delayed reinforcements. Rolling for entry they would come in on my right flank. I hummed and hawed and decided to bring on my Hetzers. I figured they could help either flank and was lucky that it would be my right flank. Since it was pretty wide open over there.

I decided to get a little aggressive on the left flank too and moved up the Panthers. Still trying to take on dug in Americans, not an easy chore. Little damage but they like me were both wearing.

We moved on to Turn 5 where Chuck rolled his reinforcement but failed. Given 3 dice in use, he picked his 57mm ATGs and with their entry roll, ended up on the same side as my Hetzers.

At this point we called it as Chuck had a hard stop and we needed a little time to clean things up. Much appreciated that Deaf Ear would let us play on a Monday morning.

I didn’t expect my Volks to do as well as they did. I expected the Hetzers to be under strength and the lack of artillery really hurt. Tepid air didn’t help but I can’t complain all the times I was extremely luck to get air to intercept. Had the P47s arrived on table more, the lack of AA could have been deadly.

Super bowl Sunday here in the USA? Erm, let’s have a game instead, and have a super boom!

Ian and I setup a 1500 point early war action with the French vs the Germans. Ian wanted to be Germans and I played with my French. I knew Ian wanted to play with his recently completed Rommel hero so that pretty much meant tank formation on tank formation.

As the French it’s tough being a tanker at least for dealing damage. The 1 man turrets are killer and due to special rules like you’re not able to move and fire.

We rolled up a counter attack mission with Germans on the attack and French on the defense. How historical! With the counter attack the table is split into 4 boxes. There is one objective placed by the attacker in the box in the upper left of the picture below. The French get to setup in the box that is in the upper right in this picture. I placed my objective next to the house in the upper center of the picture. My reserves arrive from the box that in the near left of the picture and the German attacker sets up in the near box on the right.

For their force the Germans picked a Czech panzer company with 2 35ts in the HQ, 3 38t, 5 Pz IIC, Rommel in his 38t, a platoon of Panzergrenadiers in 251/1, a 4 gun battery of 105s and last limited air support.

On the French side, for my Tank company a R35 for the company HQ, with a platoon of Char 1bis, 3 R35s, another platoon of 3 R35s, 3 S35s, a platoon of infantry and that’s it.

For this scenario as French on the defensive I only get 1 motorized platoon on table to start and then non-motorized. For me that meant I could have 1 formation of tanks I choose the S35s and then my infantry, while the Germans get everything.

My reinforcement rolls were going to be critical.

Ian rolled forward with turn 1 bringing his 251/1 down the road and his Pz IICs forward through the field. He decided to pick on my S35s but with a frontal of 4 the antitank of 5 from the 20mm on the PzIICs isn’t going to do much.

Bottom of turn 1, I quickly realized I have a major tactical blunder on my hands. I had nothing to cover the objective on my right flank and I’d placed my S35s on my left flank, unless I received reserves pretty quick, I was in for a short game.

Reserve roll …… notta.  So I started to shift my S35s over. This is also when the joys of 1 man turrets also come out. Every time pretty much any French tank moves, you can’t fire because of this special rule.

Top of turn 2. Ian received his air and decided to pick on my dug in infantry and my company commander in his R35.

Ian decided to roll the rest of his tankers forward into the field and kept the 251/1 heading towards the objective.

With air and artillery aiming for my infantry I lucked out with a hit on my company command tank since the Stuka scored a hit on him, I failed my armor save and then Ian rolled for his 2+ firepower roll and got a 1. Whew!

Bailed out but no damage.

Bottom of turn 2, I again rolled for reinforcements…. and …. nothing. Gar!

I weighed a double move with the S35s but decided against it since that was a lot of armor that might gain free double hits. I figured that was a bad idea. Still with the S35 moving, again no ability to fire from them.

I recovered from my bailed out status with my company commander and promptly moved him towards my right flank and more out of the way but still reasonably close by the objective on the left flank.

Ian again made his roll for air and unsurprisingly went after the infantry again. He moved his armor up shifting the basis for attack to his 38t with their better guns.

Lots of shells bounced off my S35 or whizzed by but thankfully no effects.

Between the air and the artillery tho, they were able to eliminate two stands, one of which being the infantry platoon commander. as well as my VB team. Getting 3 planes and being able to reroll misses with no AA to contest is pretty effective. Thankfully I had moved my company commander the turn prior.

Bottom of turn 3 I rolled for reinforcements and o-rah! success, only one platoon but better than nothing. I decided on the Char platoon. Still, between the awkward layout for the main 75 and the 1 man turret for the 47mm gun, it means anytime the tank moves, no firing.

I moved as far as I could to counter the 251/1s heading for the undefended objective. Turn 4 would be pivotal as the Chars would have to take out as many 251/1 as possible to have a chance to keep them off the objective.

I decided to halt the S35s and take a few shots instead at the German armor.

Success! I brewed up a single 38t. A good start but I’m outnumbered. Not much else to do so on to turn 4.

Ian once again made his air roll. He decided to not move his tanks and take advance of the full rate of fire. Lots of shooting but only a bail out result for one of the S35s.

He moved his 251/1s up and onto the objective so my Char tanks would have to have some great shooting.

Another air attack but thankfully no further hits on my infantry and on to the bottom of Turn 4.

I rolled for reserves again and fail. I also fail to recover from the bail status on my S35. I fire my S35s at the 38t tanks with a bail result.

The Char tanks open up with their 75 and with their 47s at the 251/1 halftracks and ….

Two brews but not enough to cause a motivation roll and with nothing else to throw them off the objective it’s game with a German victory. They’ve successfully encircled the French and there’s nothing I can do about it.