Friday, May 16, 2008

Cromwells go to Kingston 15/05/08

2 x 2000 pts Encounter battle in the 12x6 Kingston bocage:


Grigsy & Smithy had Panzer Lehr - Panzergrenadiers & Panzers respectively.
SteveJ & Jim both took 7th Armoured - a very appropriate swarm of Cromwells.

Both sides had both their objectives close together on their left flanks. Steve & Smithy were opposed on the British left where both sides had high ground with a farly open valley between. Grigsy & Jim's flank was also relatively open except for an uncrossable river in the middle (with two bridges), but the centre was heavy bockage.

The Panzer Coy had 7 Panthers on the table at the start. The Brits decided that the Panthers could over-run Steve's Cromwells if left alone so plan A (a rush to take an objective themselves) was abandoned and Jim's Coy used a convenient road to move left to support Steve against the Panthers. The result was a furious tank battle with the Panthers backpedalling into the scrub as the Brits charged forward. The table was soon littered with burning Brit tanks. But eventually the Brit's low probabilty chances began to pay off - some Cromwells survived the ride to get effective side shots, one Panther got bogged, long range sniping by the Fireflys got one & finally the artillery had come on and got lucky as well. Suddenly there was only one Panther left (the HQ), the MkIVs from reserve had just been hammered by Steve's Cromwells and the German left was now a shambles. Grigsy hadn't fired a shot as his Coy struggled sideways through the bockage while Smithy fought most of the Brits on his own.

The Brits were now feeling pretty confident - they had lost an M10 plat & 2 Crom plats but that was a more than fair trade for most of a Panzer Coy. But it was near midnight and there was no quick route to an objective so a draw was agreed.
Pic 1: View from Brit right at start.
Pic 2: Panthers in the smoke.
Pic 3: Grigsy's Stugs on the move.
Pic 4: Close to out of time.

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