Panzers to Flanks! 1500pts Late War Game: Tankovy vs Panzers in Breakout

Hey Folks,



Last night I played the new Breakout Mission from Das Book with a mate Andy and it was...interesting. This was the first run through with this mission for both of us and as we were both armoured companies we diced off and Andy got to attack. The two armies were:



Fortress Europe Tankovy - Mighty Armoured Fist of the Peasants and Workers Army

• Podpolkovnik in T-34/85


• 5 T-34/85's with 3 T-34/76's


• 10 M4A2 Sherman's


• 3 Guards SU-152 Heavy Assault Guns with Tankodesantniki


• Full Razvedki Platoon in M3 Scout Cars with .50 cals

Fortress Europe Panzerkompanie - Despicable Dirty Hun Fascist Invaders

• Command Panzer IV's


• 5 Panzer IV's


• 5 StuG's


• 2 Hornisse


• 2 8-Rads


• 3 Tube Nebelwerfers

Andy Kampfgrupped 2 Panzer IV's with the 2iC to get him to 6 Platoons.

The Battlefield: We went for something a bit more fun with a river with two bridges and ford down the far end. There is a trench line either side of the river and some random minefields and barbed wire.

Soviet Deployment: The Objectives are in the center. The T-34's deploy trying to hug cover as much as possible and deny flank shots while the Razvedki are deployed sans transports with an eye to running to the objective along a handy trench line.
German left flank (from the Soviet perspective) Hornisse and CO PzIV in the trees and Nebels behind.

Photo is wonky but this is the German Right Flank: StuG's lurking in good firing positions.
Right so Andy goes first and more Panzer IV's turn up...great. The and the StuG's knock out 1 T-34. I start to move up the Razvedki but decide to try and engage the Germans at range -to little effect.

This is my turn 2, Andy has knocked out 2 more T-34's and my CO T-34/85 when I foolishly moved it up through the trees to engage. He also has smoked 4 T-34's sitting at the back field so they are unable to do much. The Razvedki move up through the trenches, with the gung ho Lieutenant leading the way...

My first reserves show up in turn 2 as well, Sherman's move on slowly and engage the Hornisse with 9 shots...getting 2 hits...
Only to fail the firepower rolls (2 '2's). Good thing the Hornisse have protected ammo (not). Luckily one fails to remount in Andy's turn anyway, but its small mercy.
Andy lines up his StuG's and PzIV's and they manage to snipe out my flamer team I had running out front like a nOOb. Ruh Roh, no deterrence to the wall of medium armour now!
On the other flank (~turn 4)Andy's other reserves have turned up and engaged the Sherman's, costing me one. I get the bailed Hornisse but the other one gets out of the woods and starts to snipe. My SU-152's turn up and engage the PzIV's but are unable to hit the Krauts with our ROF1 guns on the move. Most of the Sherman's miss the PzIV's or have no targets

A dead Hornisse. Yay.

But his mates make me pay and get another Sherman as well as bailing all the SU-152's
On the other flank (~Turn 5) the StuG's and PzIV's have steadily been working over the remnants of the T-34's getting them down to 3 tanks, who thankfully pass Morale. Crucially the Razvedki get pinned turn 4 and cower in the trench for turn 5 so are unable to move up towards the objective...meaning they wont get there by turn 6 when the objectives go live.

The Sherman's decide to ignore the Krauts in the trees and redeploy over the ford and head towards the objectives. 2 SU-152's stay bailed ("fearless"...yeah right). The Command SU move up to shoot the Hornisse but of course misses.

The sadly depleted starting force pinned in their deployment zone.
The Cocky PzIV's move up and engage the Sherman's, but I get lucky and they miss.
Only for my SU-152's to finally remount and blow one to pieces with Volley Fire.
And as this was one of only 2 vehicles I managed to kill all game (!) I thought I would take another photo lol.

Endgame: The Sherman's move up but Andy's 8-Rads have come in from reserve and moved up to control and objective. The Razvedki cant get close enough for an Assault and the Sherman's miss them so game over and 6-1 to Andy.

Its an interesting mission and one I definitely want to play again. I think a defending Tank coy of any flavour is in for a hard time (roll on a Hammer and Sickle "always attacks" Tankovy for me lol) but an Infantry Coy could pull it off, esp Truscott Trotting Yanks. Still a mission I would prefer to Attack in I think!

Good game Andy, you played it really well while I played like a n00b. I should have broke right with the T-34's straight away and attempted to close with the StuG's and smash one Flank, though with the German reserves coming in right there it could be tricky...

Looking forward to a Rematch!