Camp Cromwell 23/03/10

FOW Russian Front Late War 2000 pts Free for All

Jim's Strelkovy v. Steve's Panzer Lehr

The battlefield was divided in two by a river & both sides put an objective on each side of it. 

On the German right a town & ridge divided the forces, Russian Strelk + A/tank guns v. Armoured Panzer Grenadiers & SPAA.  The Germans got into the town first, but the Russians were dug in & the front stalemated.

On the German left they stacked a large wood near the enemy objective with Armnoured Panzergrenadiers & Pak 40's with 3 Panthers behind.  The Russians advanced with 5 IS2s and a Strelk.

The Russians also had heavy mortars in the centre & a Gods battery on & behind their RH objective.  The Germans had a double Neblewerfer battery in rear plus more Paks & an 88 in & behind a wwod in the centre.  The artillery did a bit of damage on both sides but nothing very decisive.

The Russians tried to take the objective on their right.  The Strelk were stopped dead when the half tracks came up to the edge of the wood and hosed them with mg fire - 10 failed 3+ saves in 15 hits did for them.  But the IS2's were harder to stop.  The Panthers did a Marder shuffle at the edge of the wood scoring a bail for the loss of one.  The 88's long range sniping across the river was ineffective.  The Paks in the centre were eitehr too far away or popped by the mortars.  The IS2's took the objective, but it was disputed by 2 panzerschreks.  The IS2's assaulted & killed the panzerschreks, losing a tank doing so & took undisputed possession of the objective again.  The Paks got another IS2, the Panthers bailed one & with the the first one still bailed after 3 turns that was a morale check for the tankovy.  This they failed that too (fearless indeed!).  With that the Russians conceded.

Once again the Russians fail to find victory at Camp Cromwell - even with 5 of the fearsome IS2's.  No hen & chicks for the guard tanks, but they are still slow & the big gun, though powerful, only gets one shot & you can't kill wiley Krauts fast enough. Herr Jendrich is a tough nut to crack, it would be nice to have some dumb Krauts for a change.

Pic 1 is an overview from behind the Russian left.
Pic 2 is the German left.
Pic 3 is the Russian left.