Hillcrest HQ 19/03/2006

Steve vs Nick -- the long delayed Maharajah

It took a while, and it was supposed to happen last year, but we finally got together for our Maharajah game. The first one was a draw, characterised by Steve's Hs129b planes blowing the crap out of everything I had, while I had some lucky shooting rolls at critical moments that stopped Steve's attack.

After much thought, I tweaked my army list for the rematch. Steve did as well, and the game looked to be a tough battle.

Except for one thing -- the HS129's didnt arrive for Steve.

I had paid for maximum airpower (to stop the hienies), and bought an AA platoon. The airpower intercepted Steve's planes every time except once, and they managed to arrive once with no interception, taking out an 88. Steves planes killed two artillery guns, but that was it.

With no air support, Steve had to attack with his infantry. It was here that he discovered a slight tweaking of the US army. The addition of a weapons platon with 4 x LMG teams, plus Command Kelley, provided the US infantry with enough fire power to stop the attacking infantry. Eventually I dropped stuarts (with Reb Jackson) and AA half tracks out of ambush, and the combined firepower effectivly destroyed Steve's attack.

Forced to keep going, Steve managed some devilishly effective smoking. But in the end, a platoon reduced to 4 stands could not take the objective.

Final -- 5:2 to Nick.