Nick in Launceston

Nick vs Nick. SS Panthers (Nick) vs British Armoured (Nick). The game started well for Nick, but then Nick got the advantage, getting behind the flank of the panthers and overwhelming them.

The pick is the club -- a fair turnout! The other pic is the doppleganger Nick!

Firestorm Campaign Turn 2 Battle 1: 28/04/09

Firestorm Campaign Turn 2, Battle 1

Russians attacking Mogilev from Bykhov

The Russians (Jim) attacked Mogilev from Bykhov with a Strelkovy + IS2 + Sappers.
SteveJ defended with his Sperrverband reduced to 1200 pts due to out of supply, but + Panzergrenadiers + Engineers.
The mission was No Retreat with the Germans defending using Festerplatz.

The Germans had infantry in 2 lines of entenchments protecting the forward objective, minefields & wire across the front, 105's in safe spot in rear, RSOs in woods on their right & 4 Paks in ambush. The Russians had an 8 gun battery behind a hill in rear, Strelk left & right, Sappers right of centre, 2 ISs, 5 SU85 & 3 KV85s left of centre. The Russians as always rushed forward. The RSOs did the Marder shuffle in their wood & the Paks were dropped just behind the objective. The Soviet tanks & took on the anti-tank while the PBI struggled forward up to the wire. For once the Russian artillery did something - they ranged in on the objective, did a lot of usefull pinning & eventually took out 2 Paks, an HMG & an infantry. The Russians got lucky when the RSOs failed to stormtrooper back. Every tank had a shot at them & they died. The Paks got a KV & 3 SU85s, but they too eventualy died. & 2 HMGs. but surely destroyed. On the left the Strelk cleared the wire, drove the Panzergrenadiers in the wood back & wheeled right to the objective. The Strelk on the right got pinned on the wire & wouldn't go on. The Sappers cleared a minefield then hid in a village waiting for armour support. With the anti-tank taken out, the Soviet armour resumed their advance. The Srerr platoon on the object failed morale under the Soviet fire & the Ivans took the objective. The Germans struck back with artillery & infantry counterattacks. The Russians were decomated , but they beat off the attacks & held on to win a narrow victory.

Russian casualties were horrendous. They held the position with 2 ISs, 2 SU85s (of 5) & 6 Sappers (of 16), the Commander, Kommisar & artillery also survived. The 2 Strelk & the KVs were destroyed. This made it a 4:3 victory. The Germans had no retreat & were all captured (2 Firestorm Troops). But the Russians lost both their Firestorm Troops making it a costly 40 victory - but they have 40 VPs on the board.

Pic 1: The Russians advance.

Pic 2: The Russains close on the objective.

Pic 3: The IS2's beat off the last counterattack - what you see is all that's lef tof the Soviets (apart from the artillery).

Nick's on Friday 24/04/09

Jim & Rich's Bersaliglieri v. Nick & Thomas's Desert Rats

1665 pts early Mid War in the desert - Encounter Mission.

Both sides deployed artillery, infantry & antitank guns at the start & dug to wait for reinforcements. The only movement apart from an artillery duel was an observer & the Bersaliglieri on the right which started to advance behind some hills, but were pinned down by an HMG bombardment.

The first reinforcements were the 2 Crusader Plats which both arrived on the Brit left. They advanced behind the hills and knocked off the forward Itie observer. The Semoventes arrived next - on the Itie right. They moved up to engage the Crusaders which were hull down behind the ridge. The got one each then the ities got lucky. Both M14 Platoons arrived on the right flank. The Carri rushed the Crusaders & quickly destroyed them.

The Carri then advanced to enagage & overwhelmed the 2pdrs. This left the Brit left in a hopeless position - the infantry had no chance against the massed Itie tanks.

Pic taken from behind Itie lines early in the battle.

Firestorm Campaign Turn 1 Battle 5

Battle at Bykhov


Jim's Motostrelkovy attacking Barrrie's Sperrband in No Retreat Mission.

The Russians had 1500 pts (HQ, 2 Motostrelk, 5T34/85+5T34/76, 155mm Howitzers) plus additional Firestorm Troops 2 IS2 & Sturmovicks.
The Germans were reduced to 1200 pts because they were out of supply & threw a 3, but also had Firestorm troops 2 Tigers & Panzergrenadiers.

The table had a wide river running about a foot in from the table edge on the German right (with 3 bridges), there were two villages & a wood down the German left hand side and it was open in the middle. The Germans put infantry (armed to the teeth with MGs HMGs, Panzerfausts & Paks) on both objectives, Paks in ambush & artillery in rear. The Russians put their T34s on their left over the river, infantry in centre & on the right, artillery in rear & IS2s on the right bank of the river.

The Russians advanced steadily while the Germans dropped their Pak ambush & prayed for their reserves to come up. The Paks got a couple of T34s but were destroyed by return fire, but they bought time for the SPAA & Tigers to come on. The centre Strelk charged & drove back the German Infantry & got within spitting distance of the objective. But their success was temporary as a storm of fire destroyed the Strelk in the German's next turn. The T34's then charged over the bridge & took the objective.

The Sturmoviks had been kept in reserve waiting for the Tigers, then didn't turn up until a turn later. One got past the AA, but failed to hit a Tiger. The Russian artillery had initial success in taking out the German 105's (already reduced to 2 by the supply rule), but didn't hit much else.

Now to hold the objective & win the battle, the T34s just had to survive the fire of 2 Tigers & a Pak & an assult by the Sperrband. The Pak got a bail, the Tiger got a bail & it just wasn't enough - the T34s didn't have to test morale & had enough tanks left to stop the assault with mg fire.

The Russians had lost 1 Strelkovy platoon so it was a 5:2 victory. There were no Firestorm Troop losses to either side. The pic was taken from behind the Russian left in the German's last turn.


Campaign Situation:

The Germans retreated Tigers & 1 Panzergrenadier into Zhoblin & a Panzer Grenadier into Mogilev.

The Russians entered Bykhov with their IS2's & Sturmoviks from Gorky, plus another IS & an Artillery from Dobryna (up to 4 can be moved up into taken areas from adjacent areas).

That is the end of Turn 1 of the campaign - see attached map.

There were 5 battles in Turn 1, the Germans won 3, the Russians 2. The Germans have won more battles & lost less casualties, but their position is precarious with 3 separate pockets - Vitebsk, Orsha & Zhlobin - all with 2 Firestorm Troops bottled up in them.

Firestorm Campaign Session 2

The Russians attacked both Mogilev & Vitebsk.

Mogilev

Rich's Strelkovy attacking Steve's Speverband in a Hold The Line.
Steve took Festerplatz & thus had some fortifications. On the other hand he was out of supply and threw a 1 so was down one morale step for all his troops. The Germans had a Pioneer Firestorm Troop, the Russians had a Shtraf and an IS2 Coy Firestorm Troop. The Russians advanced a wall of infantry down their right where there was a wood providing some cover to their aproach. The SU122s & IS2 were in the centre & artillery in rear. The Germans had a good defence set up & backed it up with good shooting. A Pak platoon destoryed the Russian armour. The German artillery did great execution on the infantry. The Sappers didn't even get to the wire. The infantry did, but were then mown down by machine gun fire. The Germans did lose a platoon so it was a 5:2 victory. Because the Germans used Festerplatz, the Russians retired to where they came from (Slavgorod) but less the IS2's - lost in the Firestorm roll.

Vitebsk

Byron's Tankovy attacking Richard's Sperverband in a No Retreat.
Richard took Festerplatz & got fortifications. This togther with a wide river across the table gave him a formidable position. On the other hand he was out of supply and had to reduce his force to 1200 pts. The Germans had 1 Firestorm troop - Pioneers, the Russians had 2 - Sappers & IS2's. Byron advanced with Strelkovy in the centre witht eh T34s & IS2s. The Sappers & Shermans crossed where the river curved back towards their rear and advanced on the right (with Stuarts behind in the queue). The Germans were fortunate in getting 1 reserve per turn, Stugs, Panzer IVs & Sperr to supprt 2 Pioneer Platoons on the two objectives & 88s in ambush. The 88s knocked out some Shermans, but made no impression on the IS2s. Then the Stugs joined in v. the Shermans & quickly finished them off (4 dead, 3 bails & failed morale). But the Strelk had crossed the river and attacked the flank of the Pioneers on the German left. They drove them back then took out the 88s, but next turn's fire reduced them to below half & they failed morale. The Sappers moved to the left to clear the Anti-tank ditch beyond the bridge only to realise that it would take some time to do so. Meanwhile the Stugs & MkIVs wiped out the Stuarts in one turn & the Sperr had come up. Many Sappers died under a hail of machine gun fire. They tried to attack out of trouble & finished off the 1st Pioneers but then failed morale leaving the Russians with 4 Coys routed & 2 left. They immediately failed Coy morale. The Germans had lost 2 platoons so it was a 4:3 victory. The Russians retreated back to Donryna where they came from losing their Sapper Firestorm Troop.

Campaign situation after these battles

The Russians have lost 3 battles & won only 1. They have also lost 5 Firestorm Troops to none. The Russian players are all showing their lack of experience with Russian armies, while the Germans are generally old hands at being Kraut. But the Russians are learning fast - they were unlucky to lose 1 of 2 on week 1 and this week we found out that the Festerplatz fortifications make a big difference - plus the terrain on the Vitebsk table was pretty bad for them. But even after their losses, the Russians remain in a good position strategically as Vitebsk, Orsha & Mogliev all remain cut off with a lot of Germans in the pocket & they'll get their losses replaced in the campaign turn next week.

Firestorm Campaign 14/04/09

This is the first week of Camp Cromwell's Firestorm campaign. Our intention is to take 2 weeks per turn playing the 4 turn version.

Battle 1:
Russians in Tolochin attacking Berezino.
No retreat Mission - Steve's German Sturm Coy + 1 Panzergrenadier Firestorm troop defending v. Rich's Strelk plus 2 T34/85 Firestorm troops. The Russians attack was glacially slow, but maybe that was a cunning tactic as the Gods of War had lots of time to whittle the Germans down. The Russians lost heavily, but in the end the Germans just ran out of troops. It was narrow 4:3 win for the Russians.

Battle 2:
Russians in Zhobin attacking Berezino.
Encounter Mission - Byron's Tankovy with 2 T34/85 Firestorm troops v. Barrie's Sperrverband with no Firestorm troops in Encounter Mission.
There was a large wood covering almost half the table on the German right. The rest of the table was flat with scattered villages & farms. The Strelk deployed in the woods with T34s & Honeys in the open. The Germans put Pak 40's & Artillery protecting the objective in the open, infantry on the left & only Marders in the woods. The odd thing about the battle was that both sides' reinforcements all came on on their left flank. While the Russians tanks traded blows with the German anti-tank, artillery & eventually Stugs, Barrie was having kittens as the Strelk & Shermans advanced steadily towards the objective he could only protect with 3 Marders in the woods. One Marder was popped by Shermans, another bailed by rifle fire - all the Strelk had to do was pass tank terror the game was won. But they threw a 1 and on the other flank the Stugs took their objective. Strangely, considering the battle was won by one bad die, it was a 6:1 victory for the Germans.

Aftermath of the 2 battles:
In the Steve v. Rich battle the Russians lost 1 T34/85 Firestorm troop even though they won.
The Germans have to retreat from Berezino - the Firestrom Panzergrenadier was retreated to Osipovich.
In the Byron v. Barrie battle, the Russians lost both their T34/85 troops in their defeat.
The Russians have to retreat from Zhlobin - 1 SU76 to Buda-Koshelevo, the remainder to Berezina.
The Russians have lost Zhlobin, but retain LOS to Berezina & Berezino.
The Germans have lost Berezino & have a lot of troops out of supply in a big pocket - Orsha/Bykhov/Mogilev/Zhlobin.

Next campaign battle:
The dice were cast & the Russians have the initiative for the next battle. It was hoped that Nick would fight this in Launceston on Thursday but it didn't happen. Instead it will be the first battle next Tuesday.

Nick in Launceston

Nicks first visit to the club. Played rob, who had not played FOW before. US 2nd div armoured vs Panthers. It was a hard ask -- the Panthers were designed to take apart a force such as the armoured co. But in the end, even though the Panthers won, there were only two of them left!

At Rich's Saturday 11/04/09

Firestorm Boardgame:

Rich played Russian v. Jim's Germans to get a handle on the strategic side of the upcome campaign. The game lasted aabout 1 1/2 hours including set-up. It's a bit dicey in this form - you dice for how many battles per turn & I think it's a big advantage to the Russians to get more, plus the battles are detemrined with 1 dice each with some modifiers. But It was good fun - easy to play & it rips along. The Germans retook Vitebsk in a counterattack, but that didn't make up for losing Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk & Minsk. Minsk with it's +/-80 VPs is the vital spot that makes a huge difference in the level of victory.

No Retreat Mission:

Rich's Tankovy (HQ Sherman + 5 Shermans + 10 T34 (5 85s) + 6 Stuarts + Strelk = 1500 pts + Firestorm Howitzer troop) attacking
v.
Jim's Panzer (2 HQ MkIV, 5 MkIV, 5 Stug, Panzer grenadiers, 3 Neblewerfers - no Firestorm troops) defending.

The Germans put their Panzer Grenadiers on the forward objective & Stugs in Ambush. The Russians put the Honeys on their right, Strelk & T34s in centre, Shermans on their left & Howitzers in rear. They advanced on the whole front. The Stug ambush was placed in a wood on the left and wiped out 5 of the Stuarts - the commander survived but retired to save a platoon loss. The MkIVs arrived early and moved to the right to engage the Shermans from a hull down position behind a ridge (while hidden from the T34s by anotehr ridge). With some help from the Stugs firing from the left flank they soon destroyed the Shermans. While all that was happening the Strelk had advanced within assault range of the Panzergrenadiers. The Panzergrenadiers fwere pinned by the Howitzers & fell back from the assault allowing the Strelk to take the objective. But the Nebelwerfers had arrived the turn before & the Strelk copped a rocket barrage, fire from the unpinned Panzergrenadiers (with MGs), then were assaulted by the Stugs. They were totally destroyed in one turn. Meanwhile the MkIVs had redeployed behind another ridge and were pounding the T34s. The T34 return fire was pretty ineffective & in the next turn the combined fire of the Stugs & MkIVs destroyed the T34 platoon plus the Russian HQ. The Russians failed Coy Morale. German losses were 1 Stug & 2 Infantry.

At Rich's Saturday 11/04/09

Firestorm Boardgame:

Rich played Russian v. Jim's Germans to get a handle on the strategic side of the upcome campaign. The game lasted aabout 1 1/2 hours including set-up. It's a bit dicey in this form - you dice for how many battles per turn & I think it's a big advantage to the Russians to get more, plus the battles are determined with 1 dice each with some modifiers. But it was good fun - easy to play & there is scope for skill. The Germans retook Vitebsk in a counterattack, but that didn't make up for losing Orsha, Mogilev, Bobruisk & Minsk. Minsk with it's +/-80 VPs is the vital spot that makes a huge difference in the level of victory.

No Retreat Mission:

Rich's Tankovy (HQ Sherman + 5 Shermans + 10 T34 (5 85s) + 6 Stuarts + Strelk = 1500 pts + Firestorm Howitzer troop) attacking
v.
Jim's Panzer (2 HQ MkIV, 5 MkIV, 5 Stug, Panzer grenadiers, 3 Neblewerfers - no Firestorm troops) defending.

The Germans put their Panzer Grenadiers on the forward objective & Stugs in Ambush. The Russians put the Honeys on their right, Strelk & T34s in centre, Shermans on their left & Howitzers in rear. They advanced on the whole front. The Stug ambush was placed in a wood on the left and wiped out 5 of the Stuarts - the commander survived but retired to save a platoon loss. The MkIVs arrived early and moved to the right to engage the Shermans from a hull down position behind a ridge (while hidden from the T34s by anotehr ridge). With some help from the Stugs firing from the left flank they soon destroyed the Shermans. While all that was happening the Strelk had advanced within assault range of the Panzergrenadiers. The Panzergrenadiers fwere pinned by the Howitzers & fell back from the assault allowing the Strelk to take the objective (see pic - the brown bits are woods). But the Nebelwerfers had arrived the turn before & the Strelk copped a rocket barrage, fire from the unpinned Panzergrenadiers (with MGs), then were assaulted by the Stugs. They were totally destroyed in one turn. Meanwhile the MkIVs had redeployed behind another ridge and were pounding the T34s. The T34 return fire was pretty ineffective & in the next turn the combined fire of the Stugs & MkIVs destroyed the T34 platoon plus the Russian HQ. The Russians failed Coy Morale. German losses were 1 Stug & 2 Infantry.

Camp Cromwell 07/04/09

We fought 2 practice battles for the upcoming Firestorm campaign - both River Crossing Missions (new Mission in the Firestorm book - another HTL variant - with a river across the centre). The battles were fought side by side on a big table, but separate.

Barrie's Grenadiers v. Rich's Strelkovy

Barrie attacked on his left with Grenadiers supported by Stugs & fire from 105s & Pak40s.
Rich defended with 1 Strelk + artillery. plus a lot of minefields, wire & entrenchments as allowed by the Mission rules & more Strelk, antitank & SU122s in reserve.

The German's made slow but steady progress. After crossing the river & minefields, knocking out the SU122's (with the Stugs) & whittling down the Strelk, their Stugs attacked the remaining Strelk with Grenadier support & it looked all over. But the Strelk fought to the last man, took out the Stugs & drove back the Grenadiers with high losses. But the Germans managed one last infantry attack & this time finished off the Strelk to gain the objective with no Russians able to dispute.

Jim's Tankovy v, Byron's Panzers

Byron deployed 1 MkIV platoon & a Grenadier on the table with the other MkIV Platoon & Neblewerfers in reserve. The Russians deployed a wall of T34s (5 76's + 5 85's) on the left, Motostrelk & Shermans (6) on the right & Honeys (6) behind. Byron put anti-tank ditches in front of the two bridges (on his left & centre). This meant that the Russian armour could only cross the river using the VD ford on the left. They put their wide tracked T34s there & the Strelk on the right to use the bridges (& river crossing rules).

The Russians started well, destroying all the MkIVs except the CIC tank by firing over the river while pushing the Strelk over the river on ther right. They were also lucky that the Germans reserves were slow to arrive. But their big problem was feeding the T34's over the river over a 15cm long VD ford. They were pretty lucky with bogging rolls (though the wide tracks helped), but with the slow feed over, plus the need to maintain a command chain meant that initially only 2 T34s reached the nearest objective - not enought to resist a Grenadier counterattack. There was a further delay as the CIC Sherman had to move over to take command when the T34 cmd tank was destroyed.

On the other flank the other MkIV platoon had arrived in the nick of time to stop the Strelk. Then they destroyed the Shermans in a firefight across the river. However more T34s had filtered forward, counterattacked the Grenadiers and retaken the objective. The MkIVs moved over to try & destroy enough T34s to save the day. But there were too many of them & they held on to win the battle.

Pic 1: Overview of the table from behind Byron's left.

Pic 2: Barrie's attack is under way.

Pic 3: The end of the tank battle - T34s hold the objective on the hill.

It was interesting that although the River Crossing Mission looked daunting for the attacker, the attackers narrowly won both battles.

Chez Barrrie's on Sunday

Firestorm practice battle - No Retreat Mission - Russians defending.

Barrie's Russians: 2x Strelk, Rockets, Flame tanks, HQ with 2 a/tank (1500 pts) + 2 IS2 (Firestorm platoon).
Jim's grenadiers: 3x Grenadier, 2 HMG, 3 Pak 40, 105's, 5 MkIVH, HQ with P/S (1500 pts) + 3 Stug (Firestorm platoon).

The No Retreat Mission is a modified HTL. The Germans advanced 1 Grenadier, HMGs & the MkIVs on their left directly at the closest objective. 2 Grenadier, HQ plus the Stugs advanced on the right. The Paks advanced to a position with a good field of fire & took out the Russian a/tank guns & the artillery blasted away from the rear. The Russians put a Strelk on the forward objective, Rockets behind & the flame tanks in ambush. The Russian ambush was used on their left. It popped a Stug & attacked the forward Grenadier. But the Grenadiers pushed them back & despite high losses counterattacked with the Stugs in support to destroy them. On the other flank the MkIVs attacked the Strelk. The Grenadiers & HMGs were stopped by Russian fire and the Panzers kept failing morale, but the Panzers had a charmed life with saves & kept going back in - whitling the Strelk away. The Russians had rotten luck with reserves - before they got them, the Stugs were threatening the left rear objective, while the other had been abandoned by the Strelk - which although they had beaten off the Panzers for the 3rd time were below half strength & failed morale. The 105s hit the reserve Strelk & pinned them. When they failed to unpin they couldn't dispute the objective giving the Germans a major victory.

Pic 1: From behind the Russian lines. The ambush is the white tanks on the left.

Pic 2: The end. The 2 Stugs hold the objective while the Strelk are pinned down by arillery. The other one has been abandoned by the Strelk but the MkIVs had retreated first & haven't advanced to take it.