Russian Front 30/10/10

Jim's Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers
v.
Rich's Strelkovy

1750 pts Breakthrough on 8x6, Germans attacking.  Midwar from EF book.

The Russians had 2 large Strelk, Gods of War, 3 KV's.

The Germans put 2 Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers in flank attack.  The deployed their HMGs & Panthers on a scrubby hill overlooking the Gods of War position & their 105's in an exposed position.

The Russians sent one Strelk to cover the objectives.  The KVs & 1 Strelk advanced on the exposed 105s.  This was just what the Germans wanted.  It left the HMGs & Panthers free to pound the Gods to destruction and left just the one Strelk defending the objectives.

On turn 5 the Germans got a big stroke of luck - both Gerpanz PG platoons in reserve came on together.  The Strelk on the objective had failed to dig in on the previous turn & 8 halftracks opened up on them.  An assault cleared the objective of the few survivors and the Russians had no way of taking it back.

The pic is taken at the end from behind the German starting quarter.  The Panthers & HMGs deployed on the scrubby hill in the foreground overlooking the Gods battery which was in the corner on the right.  The wall of half tracks in the far corner has taken the objective.

Market Garden 24/10/10

Firestorm Market Garden Boardgame at Rich's

As the Allies Jim, made heavy work of it in the early moves, getting bogged down on Hells Highway.  But the Allies did make progress their plan, setting up for a late rush at Arhnem & Nimingen.  In the last turn the paras cut the main German force's supply and the Allies made a last minute rush for victory.  In the end the Allies got just 48 more VP's - 2 short of enough to claim a minor victory.  So it was an honourable draw, but a great game.

Strategika 26/10/10

Jim as Seleucis v. Joe as Antigonus

Same armies as last Saturday, but Jim on other side.  In the pic Seleucis is on the right.

Seleucis did the usual throw the grotties at the enemy to weaken them trick.  The pigs on the right took out some heavy cavalry & mauled two hoplite units while the Galacian foot in the centre got a few casualties on the phalanxes in the centre - not a bad result.

In the foreground teh Galacian cavalry stood on the hill & watched the light cavalry skirmish until Antionus lost patience & came forward.

There was a weak point in the Selucid line left of centre between the phalanx & the cavalry, but the inexperienced Antigonus allowed the Agema & some light infantry to neutralise his potential advantage. 

The cavalry fight when it finally started up turned into win some & lose some for both sides, but the battle was decided when Seleucis attacked right of centre with Argaraspids & fresh phalanxes v. weakened opposition.  A bif win for Seleucis with no lost critical units.

Strategika 23/10/10

Mark as Seleucis v. Jim as Antigonus

Seleucis is on the right.  Phalanx in centre with Elephants in front.  Galacian foot on the right, Galacian Horse on the left.

Antigonus has a little cavalry on his left, then mercenary hoplites, peltasts in the centre going forward to meet the elephants, phalanx right of centre & most of his cavalry on his right.

Both sides held back their phalanxes.  Seleucis did so to allow his elphants space to weaken the enemy.  Antigonus to give his peltasts time to deal with the elephants.  Antigonus's placing of the peltasts in the centre was just right.  They not only protected the heavy infantry from the pigs, but caused the pigs to make a mess of the Selucid light infantry as well.  By the time the centre was cleared Seleucis was left without any light roops at all.

The cavalry fight in the foreground went on for the whole battle, basically ending in a draw.  On the other flank, the Galacian foot were pin-cushioned by light cavalry & achieved nothing.

While all this was going on Antigonus' phalanx was being ponderously re-aligned & eventually set off diagonally towards the Seleucid centre.   Finally the hoplites were also ordered to advance making a covergent attack. 

By the time the phalanxes closed the Seleucid centre had been severely weakened by unopposed skirmisher fire and with the Galacians neutalised, the hoplites gave Antiginus superiority of numbers at the critical point.  Seleucis' centre soon collapsed & the battle was over.

This was a slow & ponderous sort of battle, with Seleucis on the defensive and Antigonus being systematic.  But it ripped along pretty well (a bit over 2 hours for a pretty big battle).  There were a couple of rules issues we worked on fine tuning as we went -  the rules are working well, but still improving.

FOW Fighting Withdrawal

Steve's 21st Panzer (MM) v. Jim's US Armour (Cobra)
in 2000 pts Fighting Withdrawal, US defending.

The Germans advanced on their RH objective with 2 KTs and on the other two with mounted Panzer Grenadiers supported by artillery & SP guns.

The US sat & waited with 5 Shermans in ambush plus 4M10's TDs hidden.  Their armoured rifles dismounted the HT's HMGs & dug in across the two RH objectives.

The Germans made steady progress with their attacks wheel the US waited, withdrawing artillery when required.  They counterattacked in the centre with the depoyed Shermans to help out the GI's, but the centre objective in a wood fell anyway.  The Sherman ambush counterattacked, retook the objective, then lost it again.  But the Panzergrenadiers failed morale to save the US from defeat. 

The KT's finally got to their objective, but too late, it was pulled up.  When the Panzergrenadiers on the other flank failed morale it was all over for the Germans.

A close run thing - ended up decided on one 50/50 morale test.

Bagration Board Game 12/10/10

Jim (German) v. Rich (Russian)

We had intended to do Market Garden, but couldn't find the rule book (eventually found deep in a midden 2 days later), so we settled for Bagration.

The Germans played a defensive game, slowly giving ground to prevent encirclements.  It didn't quite work - the Russians took the 3 vulnerable cities & scrounged a few more points from the captured garisons & critical areas to win a narrow victory.

At Nick's 08/10/10

Jim's Carri v. Rich's Ozzie Inf
1500 pts Breakthrough, Ities attacking

Rich made three mistakes which were ruthlessly exploited by the Ities.  First he deployed half his artillery in the open where hills prevented the other half supporting them.  The Ities immediately swarmed the exposed battery with tanks & destroyed it.  Second he double moved 2 rifle platoons while too close to the Itie tanks.  The Carri changed direction to move into range & Rich found out all about the Carri's mg's.  Third he put his Matildas in reserve.  This was compounded by poor reserve dice & the Ities tanks were able to run amok before they finally arrived.

In pic 1 the 2 rifles on the left have just double moved towards the objective in the centre.  The Carri moved left away from the 1st rifles (who are dug in) to mow the other others down.

In pic 2 the Carri have returned to finish off the 1st rifles having destroyed the 2nd & half the 3rd.  The Matildas have finally arrived & are just off the bottom of the pic, but after the immediate destruction of the 1st rifles & attached Coy command, the Ozzies failed army morale & the Matildas couldn't do anything beyond the of bailing one L6 on the previous turn.

Nick & Joe in Field of Glory Ancients

The FOW battle was over & packed up before the FOG on the other table got beyond the set up stage.  The battle then processed at glacial pace with much duelling of rulebooks.  Your correspondant became exhausted & went home to bed before first contact.

Camp Cromwell 05/10/10

Jim's US Armour v. Joe's Panzer
1750 pts Breakthrough, US Attacking.

We had two apologies due to illness from BP fans so we did a FOW using Oakie's armies from Operation Cromwell.  Byron umpired until he had to go.

Joe had to keep most of his force in reserve being armoured & deployed what he could in one quadrant.

The Yanks used a Sherman platoon as the flanking force and immediately attacked thru the central wood with their infantry while the tanks skulked behind it.  The US artillery took out the Tiger & the GI's cleaned up the 2IC & HQ Panzers plus the 88's before a Panzergren counterattack took them out. 

The Germans had an early success with the Neblewerfers taking out a tank, but after that were always on the back foot.  The US flanking force came on early and hurt the Werfers before the Stugs could come up.  The Panzergrens stipped the GI's but artillery pinned & eventualy destroyed them.

On turn 5 the Germans had to rush forward their remaining armour to dispute objectives.  It was forlorn hope even v. the Shermans, but a TD ambush from the wood made it total suicide. 

Operation Cromwell 2-3 Oct 2010

Flames of War Tournament

We had 13 players involved from 3 gaming clubs - Camp Cromwell, Kingston Bunker Rats & the Launceston Gaming Club.  Not all could play every round due to other commitments, but we had 8 tables and a flexible rostering program that could accomodate varying player numbers.  3 of the tables were designed & supplied by the DAK Bunker Rats.  St George's Church Hall was  a great venue - centrally located, close to Jackman & McRoss, Da Angelo's & the POW (for watching the Grand Final Replay between rounds 2 & 3), plus lots of trestles & plenty of space.
Round 1...Breakthrough:

Nick Bowler (US Arm) d. Richard Taylor (Fin Arm)...4:3
Jim Gandy (Brit Guard Arm Rec) d. James (Panzer)...5:2
Leigh Watson (Stug) d. Patrick Roxborough (US Airborne)...6:1
Steve Jendrich (PanzerLehr Mech) d. Rusty (Polish)...6:1
Nick Ridge (Brit Rifles) d James Oakes (Grenadiers)...5:2
Mark Oakford (US Arm) d. Tristan Goodwin (FJs)...6:1

Round 2...Cauldron or Encounter:

Jim Gandy (Panzer) d. Nick Ridge...6:1 (Cauldron)
Richard Taylor d. Rusty...6:1 (Encounter)
Mark Oakford d. Leigh Watson...6:1 (Cauldron)
Patrick Roxborough tied with Tristan Goodwin 2:2 (Encounter)
Steve Jendrich d. Nick Bowler...5:2 (Cauldron)
James Oakes d. James...6:1 (Encounter)

Round 3...No Retreat:

Patrick Roxborough d. Joe (Panzer)...5:2
Rusty d. Nick Bowler (Panzer)...4:3
Jim Gandy (Brit Arm Recon) d. James Oakes...6:1
Tristan Goodwin d. Richard Taylor...6:1
Steve Jendrich d. Mark Oakford..6:1
Nick Ridge d. Leigh Watson...4:3

Round 4...Roadbloack or No Retreat:

Leigh Watson d. Rusty...6:1 (FW)
Tristan Goodwin tied Joe Dexter...3:1 (RB)
Steve Jendrich d. Patrick Roxborough...5:2 (FW)
Richard Taylor d. Jim Gandy...4:3 (FW)
Nick Ridge d. Mark Oakford (Panzer)...6:1 (RB)

Round 5...Free For All:

Mark Oakford tied Patrick Roxborough...3:1
Steve Jendrich tied Nick Ridge...1:2
Richard Taylor d. Joe Dexter...5:2
Jim Gandy d. Leigh Watson...4:3
Tristan Goodwin d. Rusty 6:1

Final Results:

1. Steve Jendrich 4 wins. 1 tie
2. Jim Gandy 4 wins 1 loss
3. Nick Ridge 3 wins 1loss 1 tie
4. Richard Taylor 3 wins 2 losses
5. Tristan Goodwin 2 wins, 2 ties, 1 loss
6. Mark Oakford 2 wins 1 tie 1 losses
7. Leigh Watson 2 wins 3 losses
8. Patrick Roxborough 1 win 2 ties 2 losses
9. Nick Bowler 1 win 2 losses
10. James Oakes 1 win 2 losses
11. Rusty 1 win 4 losses
12. Joe Dexter 1 tie 2 loses
13. James 2 losses

Prizes:

Von Manstein Award for best General: Steve Jendrich
Young Turk Award for best Gen-Y General: Richard Taylor
Champs Elyse Award for best army parade: Nick Ridge
Dunkirk Award for being Valiant in Defeat: Joe Dexter
Sergeant Wilson Award for sportsmanship: Awarded to everyone - there was no way of selecting a winner when everyone was  pleasure to play against.

We thank Area 52 & Battlefront for their assistance in providing prizes & publicity.