Camp Cromwell Report 25/07/06

Tuesday 23/07/06 at Camp Cromwell

SteveP’s Russian Infantry v. Jim’s Fucilieri in a 1500 pts V2 Ostfront FFA on 6x4 table.

Steve rejected the Russian swarm theory and dug in on his left and centre while on his right he advanced infantry onto a flat topped hill where it was safe from artillery observation and waited for the Ities to attack. The Gods of War were behind the hill on the right, his SP guns in support of his left.
The Ities had a line of infantry across the front stiffened with HMGs in the centre & a/tank guns on the right. Behind that there was row of artillery & mortars. L6’s were in reserve in the centre.
The Ities took an early blow when the Sturmovics struck before the L6s had space to spread out and killed 2 of them plus 2 infantry. Soon after the Regio Aeuronautica took out an SP gun, but that was the end of the damage from the air. The Sturmovic’s came back regularly but just couldn’t hit anything, while the RegioA just never showed up again.
With the enemy either out of sight of observers, or well dug in, the Ities couldn’t use their superior artillery effectively so they attacked on their left. The L6’s and infantry drove the Russians off the hill and charged down the other side. The Gods of War stopped the L6s & the Itie infantry ran out of bodies before it could kill enough Russians to get to the objective.
The Ities now lacked the punch to renew the attack but their defence was still strong enough to deter any Russian advance.
A draw was agreed to after an entertaining four hour footslog.
The new air rules are a huge improvement, but they don’t address the problem of some player’s abilty to throw in excess of 12 dice & get just one 5+.

Wednesday 24/07/06 at Hillcrest HQ

Nick's US Infantry v. Jim's Carri in a 1500 pt Encounter Scenario on 6x4 table.

Nick deployed infantry on each objective with M10s in their left centre. Scouts, artillery & Honeys in reserve.
Jim deployed Bersaliglieri on the left objective, artillery on the right objective & 1st M14 platoon on the right. 2nd M14, Semos & L6s in reserve.
The Itie armour charged forward on the right where some small hills gave them cover to get close to the M10s. The M10s used their recon to bug out of the contest with the Carri then advanced on the Bersaliglieri. The 2nd Carri came on early and rushed forward in support of the 1st Carri which attacked the RHS objective. They drove the GIs off and took the objective, but the Honeys arrived in the nick of time to dispute it. 5 Honeys took on 11 M14s while more GIs rushed across to help under heavy artillery fire. The Honeys took out a platoon, but lost their leader. This allowed the surviving M14s to go over the hill and leave them standed (no command - no move now). On the other flank the Semos arrived to face the M10s. The Bersaglieri rose out of their foxholes & counterattacked in support. The Semos were destroyed for the loss of one M10 while the FV Bersaliglieri twice failed tank terror. Meanwhile the 3 surviving M14s destroyed the Scouts and finished off the 2nd GI platoon to clear the objective and win the battle.

Thursday 25/07/06 at Camp Cromwell

A good turn up: Jim, 2 Steves, 2 Marks, Pete & Maruisz.

SteveP's Russians Inf defending v. Mariusz's Polish Armour in 1500 pt Breakthrough on 6x4 table.

V2 has given the dreaded Poles even more tanks.
Steve's army still looked formidable, with its hordes of infantry, artillery & 3 KV.
It looked to be a tough ask for the Ivans to stop the horde of armour, but the KVs were a problem & in the end the Poles couldn't kill enough Russians in the time available. So the Russians won under the defender wins rule.

Mark's US Armour attacking Steve's FJ Pioneers in 1500 pt Cauldron on 6x4 table.

Steve had a nice rocky hill to deploy his infantry on and a plain to dominate with his 88s in ambush.
The US (Shermans, Honeys, Assault Guns, Mech Inf, air) concentrated their attack from the close terrain away from the 88s.
As the US manoevred for an attack, the FJ reserves came on and counterattacked the Shermans. The Germans died, but they took a few Sherman with them.
The last german reserves, Pak 40s finished off the Shermans, then chewed up the infantry.
There was no way the US could take the objective, so Mark conceded on the defender wins rule.

Our rate of play has slowed right down with V2, with much consulting of the new books going on.