Camp Cromwell 27/12/07

Mahrajah Preliminary Final #1


Jim's 7th Armoured v. Steve's SS Panzer (Wittman) in FFA
7th Armour: HQ=2 Crom+2CromCS+2AA, 3xtank, Stuarts, Mech Inf, Rifles (subbed for RE), Sextons
SS Panzer: Wittman, 2x 2 Tiger, Armoured Scout, AA, Neblewerfers (2 sections + Pak40)

The table featured a big DG hill in the middle, a diagonal road embankment & a lot of open ground.
The Brits sent Rifles & Honeys forward to the crest close to the RH objective while the main force of tanks + Motorised (on foot) moved to the left and charged the LH objective under as much smoke cover as they could put down.
The 2 Tigers on the German right danced in & out of the smoke picking away at the onrushing horde (rolling 5's to get Fireflys every time they hit). Not being able to hurt the Tigers until they were in close the whole horde picked on the Pak 40 as they dashed past. Somehow 12 tanks failed to kill it & it continued to whittle away at the Cromwells until the AA finally got it. Wittman had popped out of ambush on the German right & the Tigers from the left were moving across to help, but despite steady losses the Brits were now closing on the LH objective. The Tiger on the objective was bailed by the Sextons but the Infantry failed tank terror and missed their best opportunity for victory. But the Brits weren't done yet and they attacked both objectives at once in the next turn. On the left the Cromwells were behind the 2nd Tiger & killed it. With the other still bailed, they tested morale and failed giving the Brits control of the objective. On the other flank the Honeys & Rifles rushe dover the crest, drove the Scouts back & overan the other objective. The Brits had now taken both objectives, but it had cost them a lot of casualties & they had to hold them against counterattacks. On the right the Stuarts were blown away and the Tigers attacked the Rifles. The Piat killed one Tiger, but the other survived a Piat hit to dispute the objective & the Rifles then failed morale. On the left Wittamn shrugged off a bail to dispute the objective while the Scout's half tracks moved over and mowed down the Infantry on it. Wittman also popped the HQ Cromwell & the Brits failed Coy morale.
It was an exciting battle. The Germans looked outnumbered, but their few tanks were very powerful and were well handled to boot. The Brits probably did the right thing in making all-out attacks - they had their chances to win but didn't get the right dice at the right time.
So Steve goes into the Maharajah Grand Final against the winner of Nick & Mark.

Camp Cromwell 23/12/07

Jim's 7th Armour v. Byron's Panzer Lehr Panzergrenadiers

2000 pts FFA on 8x6 table (Maharajah SF2 table with part of river removed)
Byron's Coy was maxed up with antitank weapons - 2 Pak Platoons, 88s, & loads of panzershreks.
Jim's Coy had his Maharajah 7th Armour Coy.
Byron deployed with a Pak platoon covering each objective & 88s in the centre. One P/Grenadier was on the LHS objective in a field, the other was still in its half tracks in central reserve.
Jim put the Motor platoon & Stuarts on the right to protect that objective, Rifles & Sextons in the centre & the armour spread between the left flank & centre.
Jim attacked on his left with all his heavy armour while the infantry advanced in the centre and right. The Stuarts held back on the objective out of Pak range. The swarm of Cromwells manouvred around the German right, mowing down their Heavy Mortars en route. They then lined up and made a massed attack on the objective with 18 tanks. The P/grenadiers, even with all their Panzershreks and a Pak platoon in support just couldn't kill enough tanks and the objective was overrun (see pic).
In the centre Byron had counterattacked in the centre with the mounted P/grenadiers. This attack all but destroyed the Rifles and the survivors fell back, but the P/grenadiers were still far from an objective.

Camp Cromwell 27/12/07

Nick (Panthers) vs Byron (T34/85's)

Nick bought two armies. One - Panthers - to battle Jim's 7th armoured. And the other - Soviets - to battle Jim's Grenadiers. Jim was otherwise engaged, so Nick and Byron battled using the two armies. It turned out that the armies weren't well matched. The Panthers dominated, losing one while destroying most of the t-34's.

Camp Cromwell 18/12/07

Maharajah Semi Final #2:
Barrie's British Guards attacking SteveJ's Grenadiers in HTL (LW)

Barrie advanced slowly on a broad front with recon in front, his armour in the centre and infantry on the flanks. The Churchills then moved to the right to lead the main attack on the forward objective. This all took time and Steve was able to get his reserves on in time to take effect. The Churchills were the critical part of the British attack & Steve threw all he could at them. The He's missed, but the 105s got 1 and a Pak 40 got another leaving only the super Churchill with the 13 front armour contesting the objective. After exchanging artillery for a while the Churchill attacked the grenadiers disputing the objective with commandoes coming up behind. The Grendiers passed tank terror to counterattack & a panzerfaust got the Churchill. The commandoes were then gunned down leaving the Brits without a hope. SteveJ progresses to the 1st preliminary Final v. Jim.

Camp Cromwell 18/12/07

Maharajah Semi Final #1:
Mark's US Rifles attacking SteveP's Grenadiers in HTL (MW)

Mark attacked on a broad front - 3 Inf on the right towards the objective, Shermans & Honeys up the centre & lots of artillery support. The 88s were deployed on the forward objective. They got one Sherman and the rest moved over to the left where they faced off with Sturmgeschutz while the Honeys doubled to the rear objective. Steve failed to get reserves to secure the rear objective, but did unbail a Strurm & Stormtrooper it to contest it & keep the battle going. But on the other flank the Grenadiers couldn't stop the GIs who took the objective. The game was prolonged for a while as the Germans threw scaps forward to contest, but they ran out of scraps. Mark progresses to preliminary Final v. Nick.

Camp Cromwell 13/12/07

Byron's Carri v. Renfrey's Indians
1550 pts HTL Indians defending on the Afrika Semi Final #1 table

Renfrey deployed 2 Rifles side by side either side of the front objective (on his left) with 6pdrs & 25 pdrs in ambush & mortars, bugs, HMGs, Valentines & another Rifle in reserve. Byron had 3 M14 platoons spread across the front plus Semos in the centre & Guastaori where some scrub gave them some cover towards the objective. Of course he advanced all along the front. On turn 2 one Carri double moved forwards towards the rear objective. This provoked Renfrey into dropping his 25pdrs on that flank to protect his rear. Despite having 16 shots he killed just 1 M14. He also dropped the 6pdrs in the centre getting just one bailed Semo. The feared ambushes were a bit of a squib.

Byron now switched his left flank platoons towards the centre outflanking the 6pdrs, while the other tanks & Semos softened upthe infantry on the objective. (see pic 1). It didn't look good for the Indians now. Their 6pdrs were gone & only reserves were a Rifle Platoon brought on to cover the rear objective & even double moving a long way from the action. But Byron gave them a sniff by being too cautious on the right and the Valentines finally arrived and were doubling to the front followed by lots of bugs. The 25pdrs also made a contribution getting the odd tank & semo.

Bryon finally launched an all out assault on the objective with Carri & Guastatori. The Indians resisted subbornly, beating off Carri attacks & buying time for the Valentines. The Valentines got in range & with help from the 25pdrs took out the Semos with the loss of one bail. Now it looked like the Indians were going to win. (See pic 2). But the Guastatori were just close enough to assault the Valentines with 1 team. It bailed another tank, the Platoon failed morale & retreated leaving 2 bailed captured, then failed morale again to be a total loss. The Ities consolidated on the objective.

The Indians had one chance for victory. The 3rd Rifles were within assault range of the Guastatori & moved up with bugs & 25pdr support. The fire put the Guastatori below half. They failed morale. Byron used the CIC to rr-roll. A 1-3 meant losing the Gusatatori plus the CIC & being subject to Army Morale Test. The dice tottered on edge & fell 5! The Indian charge was stopped by the Guastatori & the tanks mixed in with them & the Ities won the narrowest of victories.

Camp Cromwell 11/11/07

Once again the Maharajah Semis had to be postponed due to daughters, dogs or bosses taking liberties. Only SteveJ, Nick & Jim were able to attend.

Jim v. SteveJ in HTL

Steve used his Maharajah Grenadiers to defend the Maharajah Semi #2 table.
Jim attacked using Mark's Maharajah US Rifles.
Jim put his objective on the right where there were woods to cover the advance of his GIs.
Steve deployed Grenadiers on the objective with artillery, mortars & rockets in support & Pak40s in ambush. Jim advanced with 2 Inf on the right with Shermans & Honeys, the other Inf & the Heavy Platoon advanced in the centre and had 2 105 batteries, heavy mortars & AA behind in support. Both sides had air, but it didn't do much.

The US advance came under heavy bombardment. The Heavy Platoon was wiped out, all 3 Inf platoons were delayed by pins, but got away with moderate losses. The Honeys rushed forward, drew the Pak ambush and lost 2 without gain. The survivor fell back behind the woods until the Shermans & Inf were in position & they all charged out of the woods at the objective while the mortars smoked the Paks. The Grenadiers were driven back and then destroyed by the Shermans.

Steve had had rotten luck with reserves, getting his first only after the Shermans had rushed the objective. But his 2nd Pak platoon fianally came on and bailed the Sherman on the objective to buy another turn. Then the Shermans all unbailed & over-ran the 1st Paks while the Inf consolidated on the objective to complete the win.

For a while it looked like the Germans had it in the bag as the US losses mounted steadily, but the US attack was relentless & they got lucky with smoke, unpins & unbails at the right time, while Steve's reserves rolls were huge handicap.

The 1st pic, taken from behind the US right, shows the Honeys going forward to draw the Paks out as the Shermans & GIs move up for the main attack.

The 2nd pic shows Steve's trying to halt the attack with a barrage. The big white patch is smoke on the Paks. The small puffs are burning Honeys.

Camp Cromwell 06/12/07

Renfrey's Brit Rifles v. Jim's Grenadiers

We used the table prepared for next week's Maharajah 1st Semi for a 1500 pts LW HTL, Germans defending.

The Germans chose to take the end with the big hill on the left & the Brits put their objective on that hill. The Germans put down 2 Grenadier Plats, each with 2HMGs attached - one on the hill to the left of the objective & one to the right extending through the fields. They had 3 Pak 40s in ambush with 4 Stugs, 2 37mm SPAA & a KT in reserve.

The Brits advanced with Bugs & Churchills on their far right, Inf & HMGs thru the farm right of centre, 2 Inf & 4M10s up the centre along & behind the central ridge. Their Sextons were firing bombardments from the rear. The Germans dropped the A/Tank ambush on the crestline & they engaged the Churchills & Bugs in an ineffectual duel that seemed to go on forever. This suited the Germans as it bought time to bring up the Stugs & later the AA & KT. The M10s came onto the ridge hull down & engaged the Stugs, but they were quickly destroyed for no loss. Renfrey then had to launch an infantry assault which was stopped by firepower and a Stug counterattack. The Pak40s were eventually destroyed & the 2 surviving Churchills finally resumed their advance, but it was too late - the KT finally reached the front line and with the Stugs following on the Brits were doomed.

The pic is taken from the German left. The smoke on the ridge is burning TDs. The Stugs have driven one Brit Inf back up the hill. The last Pak 40 is about to die. The Big Pussy is about to get into the action with the Stugs in support & finish the job.

Camp Cromwell 04/12/07

Jim's 7th Armour attacking Nick's Panzer Grenadiers in a HTL (Byron observing). Standard 1500 pts battle on 6x4 table.
It was not a very fair match as it turned out. The battle was decided on turn 2 when Nick's 5 MkIVs dropped out of ambush, scored one lousy bail then failed to stormtrooper back into the woods. The Panzers then evaporated as a dozen Cromwells & Fireflys returned fire with Jim's new 7th Armoured dice. The Grenadiers then didn't have a hope of stopping the tin horde and the objective was quickly over-run.