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.

Camp Cromwell 27/11/07

Late War HTL Grenadiers defending v. US Rifles

MarkO failed to show up for his Mahahrajah Semi-final v. SteveP, so JIm, Nick & Renfrey volunteered to give Steve a practice run. SteveJ & Byron signed on as German advisers.
Happy to command someone else's army, the US players attacked with reckless abandon.
The US Infantry got pinned down by German fire & never hade it over the centreline.
The USAF came often enough, but couldn't hit anything, and the masses of US artillery didn't do much better.
On the other hand the US armour did surprisingly well - the 88 ambush achieved zip before they were destroyed & the Shermans took on the Stugs & destroyed them. But the Shermans ran out of support & were destroyed by a Grenadier counterattack. This left no US over the centreline & a German victory.

Camp Cromwell 22/11/07

Jim's Panzer Grenadiers v. Renfrey's British Rifles

Late War HTL, Brits defending using the 8x6 table SteveJ & Nick used for their Maharajah last week.
Renfrey deployed 2 Infantry Platoons with 17pdrs & M10s in ambush. He had Sextons, HMG Bugs, Churchills & another Infantry in reserve, plus Limited Hurricanes.
Jim had 2 P/Grens, HMGs, Mauliers, Stugs, 37mm SPAA & a KT.
Despite a Nick-like burst of 11 fails in 12 consecutive infantry saves which all but annihilating the German infantry, the dastardly Germans cynically exploited the British inexperience to take the objective with their armour (see pic).

Maharajah 2007 2nd Qualifying Final

Nick's US Armour v. SteveJ's Panzer Lehr P/Grenadiers - LW Breakthrough

Steve's army had 2x3 Pak 40s, 3 small P/grens, Hvy Mortars, 2 lots of armoured AA, & 105s.
Nick had 2x3 Priests, 5M5, 3M8, Cav recn, 3 Arm Rifles, Hellcats & P/Air.
The Mission rules didn't help Steve forcing him to leave his halftracks off the table, makig them a waste of points. Despite have 2 Arm Inf + hellcats in the flanking force Nick seemed to have heaps of troops on the table. He worked his way forward around the German right flank avoiding the zones of death of the Pak 40s on the other flank. The US light armour took out the German AA & artillery while their artillery & air whittled away at the german defence. The 1st US reserves (Hellcats) arrived in time to get within 40cm of the objective before time and after 2 Infantry Platoons also arrived on flank it seemed only a matter of time before they drove the small Grenadier platoon from the objective. But the battle went on and on as Nick cautiously advanced. Eventually at 1am Steve conceded that he had no hope of stopping the US infantry swarm massing near the objective.

Mahrajah 2007 1st Qualifying Final

Jim's Fucilieri v. MarkO's US Rifles - MW FFA

(Started on Tuesday 15/11, with Renfrey as umpire, & finished on Tuesday 20/11).
The table featured a large rough hill at each end of no man's land, a fair bit of scattered cover in both sides rear & a big open space in the middle.
Both sides did their best to try & hide their batteries behind scrub patches & orchards but not entirely sucessfully. The US deployed infantry along the front stiffened with a/tank guns right of centre & HMGs left of centre. The Shermans were tucked behind the hill on their extreme right. The Ities put 2 Infantry on each flank with HMGs & Pak 40s covering the clear ground in the centre.
The battle started with the US digging in while the Ities rushed infantry forward on both flanks. But the Itie advance only went as far as the crests of the two hills and the battle settled down into an artillery duel. Both sides air came regulary. The USAF did bugger all at the start, but got a couple of 105s eventually. The Regio Aeronautica didn't do much either, but their constant attention on the Shermans encouraged them into leaving their hidey hole & this brought them under the template of the very 100 battery that got the KVs at Isdonisgrad (Fearless Vets they are now) - this time they got two Shermans in two salvoes. When the german 105s bailed another, the platoon failed morale to turn the battle decisively in the Itie's favour.
With both sides spead out to provide only one decent target per template it was slow going, but with 3 Vet batteries plus air & mortars, the Ities were clearly in no hurry.
After countless turns, the US had both 105 batteries & their a/tank reduced to 2 guns eachs & the Ities finally made their move. The Guastatori Avantied over the crest supported by Fucilieri & L6s on their right, and an artillery barrage. The US Infantry, battery & a/tank on the US right were overrun leaving the US position outflanked. Mark realised that there was nothing he could do to stop the L6s of doom supported by infantry and massed artillery from rolling up his line & conceded the battle.

At Barrie's 17/11/07

Jim's Falschirmjager v. Leigh's British Guards

LW 1500 pts Free For All on 6x6 table using hidden deployment & spotting
The platoons were initially represented on the table by counters with some dummies. These either had to be spotted or expose themselves by firing or moving before being put down on the table.
The Germans advanced Infantry on both flanks to sieze two woods on the centreline. They also had 3 Hummels, 4 heavy mortars & 4 Stugs behind a ridge in the centre.
The Brits dug in infantry on the objectives on each flank. A double 25pdr battery was behind their left & centre & a Sherman platoon supported their left. In the centre they advanced a Commando platoon though the central village with HMGs in carriers advancing on their left & 2M10s on the right.
The Stugs popped over the ridge and destroyed the HMGs. The Hummel's observer spotted the Firefly & the big guns promptly destroyed it. The 25pdrs failed dismally to hurt the Stugs which then turned on the Shermans & destroyed them as well.
With his Shermans & bugs destroyed, Leigh made a desperate charge out of the village towards the German's LH objective. The Falschirmjager on the left moved back from the wood to counter the attack while the Stugs rushed over from the right. The M10s lost one before breaking off from the FJs. The Commando attack on the FJs was stopped by firepower. The Stugs then finished off the M10s & the FJ counterattck destroyed the Commandos.
The Stugs & FJs advanced to attack the small Rifle Coy on the Brit's LH objective. The Brits took 3 Stugs out, but lost so many doing so that the FJs easily finished them off to take the objective & win the battle.
Barrie's draft rules needed a bit of tweeking, but in principle worked ok. It slows the game down & realistically favours the defence. It probably improves the scenario, but I'm not sure it improves the game. Nevertheless an interesting exercise - probably best used in historical scenarios rather than straight FOW Missions.