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!

4th FOW League Game: Culdron vs Ricks Panzergrenadiers

Hey Folks,

This was my fourth Flames of War League game, this time I took on Rick's very nicely painted Panzergrenadiers. Rick had IIRC:

• Command + 2 2/3 strength Motorised Panzergrens
• Allied SS Wiking (FT) Panzergrens
• 3 Nebelwerfers
• 2 Tigers!

We rolled up a Cauldron and as we both hadn't played this we though we would give it a bash. He was defending of course and opted to deploy his SS Panzergrens on the hill with the Stab.Zug while one of his smaller Moto Panzergrens was lurking in ambush somewhere. I deployed the Carrier Rota, Command and M10's while the Half track Rota, Panthers and BA-64's where in reserve.

I deployed my Carrier Rota behind the big hill (and out of Immediate Ambush range/ LOS) with the Company Command

Meanwhile my M10's ended up on the other flank (his table side) deployed in the fields and next to building to deny it as an ambush point. There is an objective in the town and another one at the base of the hill that the SS boys are camped on.

Ricks Immediate Ambush: There are Panzergrens in them thar trees! Thankfully they have no LOS but are positioned to flank my main force and disrupt my reserves.
Ricks lads can see anything so the Soviet stream over the hill and start to MG the Trained SS to death (slowly). The M10's add to the fire with 50'cals and the one tank at range lobbing 75mm HE.

Of course they are Fearless so they stick around. We MG them for another turn and not pictured but two Tigers turn up and manage to miss my FA0 Carriers. Eager to escape the death trap the UC Rota disembark and move up to SMG and assault. I decide to not use the flamethrower though in case the Tigers come over to party...bad move. My assault is pinned down with defensive fire due to daisy chaining IC's. I dont suffer many casulties (yet) but below is Ricks counter attack. The Moto Panzergrens storm out and combined with the SS Panzergrens my poor rota are decimated by a hail of fire. The assault then chews them up some what terrible and the three surviving teams break off rather then die futilely. The pass their morale though.
Right. My reserves roll on, the Half Track Rota. I disembark half the platoon and they walk on from the board edge. The combined fire with the IC's M3's 50cals and the assault manage to destroy the small Panzergren platoon and the German CO has to make a Warrior save to survive. We are now contesting the objective.
Meanwhile on Ricks side of the table the M10's have been taking pot shots at the Tigers, losing one for their troubles. Ricks reserves have also arrived and a small Panzergren starts to chase my M10's away from the fields trying to carefull not get 50'cal-ed to death. One M10 sits on the road and manages to get a Tiger while the other 2 swing north of the Village and 50'cal the Nebelwerfers that have just turned up. Poor Rick only got one bombardment off with them before they died and managed to miss horribly.
Meanwhile down by the blood stained hill I continue to work on the SS troops but an assault by the HT Rota is bloodily repulsed with only their command team left to fall back over the hill.

In this shot my Sneaky M10's have managed to Flank the Tiger, but alas can only Bail it.

In the last shot of the game my Panthers have finally moved in from reserve. The ignore the Tigers and move over the hill to MG and assault the remnants of the SS to death and claim the objective. Hurrah!

So after are hard fought and bloody game the Rota emerge Victorious again! The 6-1 is a bit misleading as he managed to completely gut both my Rota platoons and they were lucky to stay on table.

Thanks for the Game Rick, it was super fun.

Cheers

Jason

FOW German Sperrverband - First Painted Platoon + Extras

Hey Folks,

This is the start off my new Late War Germans for Flames of War. This will be my second such army as I regretfully sold my previous rather large collection. I have always wanted to do a Grenadier list and recently picked up the Sperrverband box set for Christmas. I love the Sperrverband models - they are the ragged veterans of the once mighty Wehrmacht and it shows in the models with mixed uniforms, bandages and scrounged and captured equipment.

I'm still tinkering with the right model placement for my Sperr/ Grenadier/ Pioneer platoons as I want to get the most flexibility out of the infantry that I can. Ideally I plan to be able to do any of the above lists by swapping the units around.

I therefore started with some support options, namely a short 8cm Mortar Platoon, two Panzerschrek teams and a Sniper. I may never field the Sniper (last time I used him I forgot about him, deployed him and then promptly forgot about him again!) but he is a nice model

Mortars -Close ups above and they are the row of teams at the back below.
The Kompanie so far - A long way to go yet!

Panzerschreks. Note that the stray static grass has been blown off the models now so they are not "Hairy"

Painting is spray undercoat black, then base paint all colours with Vallejo. Wash with GW Gryphon Sepia then Black Line with Mica pen. The I painted the Zeltbahn (Sp?) Heer Camo and dry brushed it with a mix of Middlestone/ Iraqi Sand. The rest was pretty much standard except of have gone grey/black instead of actual Metallics. I'm still not sure how I like this but it seems to work for 15mm scale models.

I plan to get some Silfor grass tufts for these boys soon too.

Thoughts and Comments most appreciated.

Cheers

Jason

3rd FOW 1k League Game: Fighting Withdrawal vs Stephens Canucks

Hey Folks,

Here is my third Flames of War League Game, this time against Stephen's Canadian Rifles in a Fighting Withdrawal.

I split my forces (which was a bad idea in hindsight) and this is the right flank. Half Track Rota, 2iC and M10's face off against a Rifle Platoon off to the left and a scout carrier patrol.
Left Flank Deployment: Panthers and the Universal Carrier Rota with the BA-64s against another Rifle Platoon dug into the hill. Centrally Stephen has some Medium and Heavy Mortars and somewhere there is a Sherman platoon in Ambush.
On the left I use my Decoy Infiltration + Recce Move to run the Panthers up a flank and the BA-64's and UC Rota through the town. This photo is after my first move where I have moved up and started to MG the dug in Rifles, to little effect. The BA-64's MG the 3" Morter platoon and pin them down, and they then fail to unpin.

On the Right Flank I move up and the Canuck Heavy Mortars (4.2") claim an M10.
Not to muck around I move up and debus the UC Rota and prepare to SMG, BBQ the rifles with the Flamethrower team and assault...except the Flamethrower fails epically and doesn't hit anyone. I pin the platoon down but decide not to assault as I had hoped on there being a dirty great hole in the defences and Stephen is still throwing 10ish dice for Defensive Fire.

On the Right Flank I move up and the M10's get the Scout Patrol with 50cals after they fail to disengage. The HT Rota sneak up to contest the objective.

On the Left flank the rifles fail to unpin but I still get punished by multiple mortar bombardments and rifle fire...the survivors hang on just.

After this for some reason Stephen dosnt Ambush with his Sherman's on the Right Flank and drive out to contest the objective, or even deploy them to shoot me off it. Therefore I win at the start of my turn 4 as the HT Rota are still contesting the objective.

6-1 to the mighty Razvedki

I did ask Stephen why he through in the towel, and he wasn't really sure. I guess we can have a rematch sometime. Thanks for the game though!

Commission Work: WHFB Nurgle Chaos Maruaders

Some Commission Work: Nurgle Chaos Marauders for my mate Isaac's Warhammer Chaos Army. These are actually the 4th lot of Ten Marauders I have painted (among other things). This gives him enough painted to field a Horde Unit of 40 :)

Roman Ballista Scratch Build

I have been sick the last few days and in between Nana naps have managed to get my last war machine for my Roman/Remans built, a Ballista. The Ballista was a torsion powered catapult that the Romans acquired from the Greeks. It came in a variety of sizes with small bolt shooting types known as scorpions (like an oversize crossbow) and large stone throwing types. From records of ancient sieges it has been found that the larger stone throwers could hurl round stones as heavy as 45kg. I have built one of the larger types, and I think its entirely appropriate to use it as a cannon in my WHFB Reman Army:

Its made from balsa, plasticard, wire and some sculpted grey stuff. I based it on the one you can buy form Warlord Games seen here: http://shop.warlordgames.co.uk/roman-ballista-274-p.asp
It probably only took me a few hours so it was a good way to save 18 pounds :P By far the longest and most annoying part was doing the "riveting" I hate riveting, I really do. What you have to do is cut small circles from a 1mm styrene rod and then individually glue them on with a pin. At least its done now!

I also finished of the detail ling on my two Onagar/ Mortars so my artillery park is all good to go.