Camp Cromwell Thursday 02/11/06

SteveJ's Grenadiers v. Jim's Strelkovy in 2000 pts FFA.

Jim turned up for battle well primed with Mansfield Builder's beer. As a result he was well placed to command Russians.
Russians: 2 Strelkovy (3 plats), HMG, A/Tank, 5 T34, 4 SU122, 3 KVs, Sturmos.
Germans: 3 Grenadiers, 105s, 75 IG, 2 Hornisse, 3 SPAA, HMGs, Stukas.
Strelkovy charged forward on both flanks while the tanks engaged the anti-tank guns in the centre. The T34's died, but so did the Pak40s while 3 SU122s & the 3 KVs survived. But before the Russian armour could do much more, the Infantry decided the battle. On the left the Ivans were stopped by a storm of fire. But on the right, the other Strelkovy platoon had better support from A/tank guns & HMGs (and bad digging in dice) and took the objective. The Hornisse's weren't game to counterattack & the Ivans survived artillery fire & a weak infantry counterattack to hold the objective & win the battle. It seems beer works as well as Vodka.
In Jim's hands the Sturmovics were useless - either they didn't come or they got shot down. The Stukas did a bit more, but didn't come when they were really needed.