At Fort Floriet on Tuesday
Chris was away on an intelligence mission to New Zealand.
Jim's Fucilieri (Sicilian version) v. Nick's US infantry - 1500 pts Flames of War on a tournament sized table.
The dice decreed a Hold the Line. Nick chose to attack.
The Ities dug in infantry, 47mm guns, 100s, light AA & HQ, with Semo 90s in ambush, 2 inf, mgs, Semo 47s & mortars in reserve.
The US advanced their recon, 2 inf plats plus 57mm a/t, under a barrage of 2 105 batteries & a big mortar plat. Their armour was 5 M5 Stuarts & they had limited air support.
For the first few turns most of the luck was Italian. They won the artillery duel reducing both 105 batteries to 1 gun (1 battery v. 2, but it was dug in vets v. trained in the open). The USAF didn't show. The 47s & AA decimated the US a/t and stopped the infantry. The Stuarts got bogged down in the waddy.
On the other hand, the US did survive the Semo 90 ambush pretty well (1 Stuart only killed), they took out the 47mm guns, and their scouts made a secure foothold on the rocky hill just over the centreline.
Then things changed around for a while. The USAF came several turns in row causing significant damage & much disruption. The Stuarts finally got out of the wadi & wiped the Semo 90s. The 3rd Fucileri, sent to clean the recon off the hill, got pinned down by mortar fire & wouldn't unpin.
But the Italians were too far in front to lose, the Semo 47s finished off the Stuarts, the 100s knackered the US mortars and the 3rd Fucileri finally got going and cleared the hill to win the game (no US left over the centreline). A 4:3 win as the Ities lost their Semo 90s & 47/32 guns.
It was long battle (over 4 hours) with both sides having lots of artillery & tending to stand off and blast away. Nick was pleased to get some bad dice out of the way before the tournament. My new Sevo 90s look great, but they badly need target practice.
Nick's version is below
Camp Cromwell on Thursday
2 x 1500 pt Flames of War battles on the small tables. Jim, Muriusz & 2 Steves fighting, Mark MkII & Peter observing & umpiring.
Jim's Bersaliglieri v. Mariusz's BRAT Armour in a Hold the Line - Brits chose to attack.
The Ities drew first blood by blowing the Brat infantry away in it's trucks, but 7 Sherman III's, 1 Grant, 4 Honeys & 3 Bugs with air support were going to take some stopping, especially when no reserves showed up until turn 4.
The Honey attack on the front line infantry was stopped by the 47's but the Shermans ground down the supporting 100 hows & the Lancias before finishing off the defenders of the front objective.
The Semo 75's arrived in the nick of time to contest the objective, but could only manage bails before being wiped by the Shermans.
Meanwhile the Bugs had made a raid on the rear objective drawing off valuable reinforcements. But the destruction of the bugs put the Brits below half strength and they had to survive one company morale test before they won the game by holding the objective - Muriusz threw a 5 for his first win here.
Steve MkI's Grenadiers v. Steve MkII's Russian infantry in a Hold the Line - Russians chose to defend.
Your reporter was rather occupied elsewhere, but the general impression was that the Sturmoviks just kept on coming while the Luftwaffe just didn't. The Russians held the Germans off then counterattacked, eventually winning a long slog by driving off the only platoon over the centreline. Steve MkII's first win.
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