Gottacon Flames of War Tournament AAR: Day 1

The weekend of February 28th I played in my first real Flames of War Tournament.  It was 1750 points Late War, with lists restricted to the Normandy, Eastern Front, and Italy Compilations.  This meant few big cats and less high AT allies.  We had ten players come out which was a bit lower than what was expected.  But major Warhammer, Warmachine, X-Wing and Malifaux events going on at the same time definitely drew off a few players.

The tournament was set up with a campaign element where your sides results in the last run would affect the mission you played and who would be attacking and defending.  We had 6 German players using Herman Goering Panzers (Me), Italy 26th Panzers, Panzer Lehr Armoured Panzer Grenadiers, a Fortified Grenadier Company, Schwere Panzers and Grey Wold Panzer Co. Facing off against them was 2 British: 3rd Royal Tank Regiment and British Paras, 1 American infantry and 1 Soviet Strelkovy. (The American player dropped out the second day and was replaced by a Soviet Tankovy).  My friend Cam, playing the Lehr Panzer Grens, got switched to the allied side to even things up.            

All's Quiet on the Western Front

Round One:

I faced off against Lachlan's British Para's in No Retreat. He had ten platoons, but half started in reserve, he had 6 pounders in ambush.  I used my recce aggressively early to push back his ambush from the most likely tree line.  He dropped them in the buildings though, which I did not anticipate, and routed my Pz III's.  My Stuh's were doing well blasting out his forward infantry platoon while I kept one unit of Panzers watching the far side of the table.  I then unnecessarily assaulted his unit of paras in the treeline and was soundly beaten.  With the infantry hanging on and the 6 pounders covering that whole flank I decided to switch my axis of attack.  

       

This would have worked well if I hadn't of forgotten about the 6 pounders in the buildings.  After moving my Stuh's out of their line of sight I then storm-troopered back into it, and was suitably punished by losing the unit.  My remaining Panzers went into assault the other objective and ground down a few units but were unable to secure the objective before time was called.  I destroyed a unit of 17 pounders and an infantry unit, but due to Lachlan having 10 platoons it was a 5-2 for him  

Doh! forgot about those 6Ilbers 

Assaulting dug in Paras across a stream

Things were looking ok for the Germans but too many British reinforcements were flooding in.  

Other games in the first round saw the German's sorely defeated, all other games were 6-1's for the allies but mine.

 Round Two: Encounter 

I faced Kip's 3rd RTR, 2 units of Shermans, a unit of 4 Fireflies, 4 Achilles, and two units of Recce. 

We traded shots from cover in the middle while units in the far right wood got embroiled in a knife fight.  My Dice got the better of Kip and he lost a unit of Shermans.  In the middle my Stuhs were having fun crashing into trees and decided to fail almost every bog check they were called on to make.  At one point the entire unit was either bogged or bailed.  His Recce came on, on my left, but were taken out by my Panzer IIIs arriving from reserve.   

Werfer command stand assaults a bailed out Stuart, pretty pleased with myself for setting that up. 

 Kip failed a string of firepower rolls with his fireflies and I was able to force a moral check.  With both command teams dead his company broke.  6-1 to me.

Too many 17lbers to go toe to toe with

 Other Games in Round Two  

 Round Three: Counterattack 

I faced Cam's beautifully painted Panzer Lehr Mercenaries check them out here! I think we messed up the rules for this mission and he only started with two units of Panzer grens in tracks on the board, nothing in ambush. My Panzer IV's went to set up a welcoming committee for his arriving reserves while the Stuh's, 8-rads and Pz III's went to try and whittle down his infantry.  The plan worked and I got a 6-1 although I had to do a pretty risky assault to get the objective in time.   

Those dang half tracks would survive all game despite some concentrated shooting. 

 

Cam tries to get his reserves out of the "killzone" to mixed effect 

Other Games in Round Three

At the end of the day I was the leading German player with 14 points, while strategically the allies were winning by a large margin.    

PSC StuH 42 Review- Assembly

I ordered a box of PSC Stug III assault guns through a local model store.  They cost $43 Canadian which means, even considering the bad exchange rate right now, it probably would have been cheaper to order from the states.  They still cost slightly less than the new BF plastic box though which is their closest competition.  The PSC gives you the same options as the BF except you cannot make a 10.5 gun with Saukopf mantlet, while the BF kit lets you.

You get 5 sprues with all the parts to make one Stug on one sprue. 

Assembly took me about half an hour on the first one, and was a bit fiddly.  The plastic seemed a bit softer or the pieces a bit thinner than other PSC kits, but were not unmanageable.  I got stuck on which way to orient the exhaust till finding the Spotting Round Block.  I think all the next ones I will make as late models, since I am worried about the MG breaking off and I think the remote control turret will prevent that somewhat.  

All the pieces for one Stug cut off the sprue.

All the main components assembled, the tracks are a bit of a pain but not too bad.  

I'm putting these together as StuH 42s to support a Herman Goering Panzer Company.  Since they shurzen in that briefing I am going to include it on  the models.  And I think it looks cool making them appear more boxy and intimidating.  Hopefully I will get the others assembled and painted soon, and I will try and do a side by side review with the other Stugs I have in the collection.    

           

Pumas

Being extremely busy with exams I obviously needed to take the time to re-format the blog and post some pictures that have been waiting in the wings.  I finished these pumas quite a while ago and have been waiting to matte varnish them so they'll stop chipping.  The weather has not been cooperating and they may have to wait for spring before they are fully protected.  You can see especially on the commanders' hats where the paint is chipping off. 

I tried to do more of a soft edge camo than I normally do.  Loosely following Dirty John's guide on WWPD, and I think it turned out quite nice, but did take a bit longer than my normal quick hard edge.  I have some Su-100's that I just need to finish the commander on and a Typhoon that is waiting for decals. In the more distant future I might try and go to a local tournament in February which means I will need to try and get a practice game or two in and try and remember the rules. Lists are restricted to early '44 so fewer German big cats and the allies will have less high AT.  I'm debating taking Germans, probably mechanized or Panzer Lehr, or going out on a limb and running a Soviet Forward Detachment. The soviets would need some significant effort put into them to get some supporting platoons purchased and painted up.           

Utilitarian Nebelwerfers

The title describes both their usefulness in the game and my paint job.  It took me a while to find a blister of these and then even longer to paint them up.  But they are now done pending a dry enough day to mat varnish them.

  

Pre-Desperate Measures AAR

Played another solo game between reluctant trained Panthers and Hero Tankovy at 1500points.

German's had 11 Panthers and 2 Armoured AA (should have been mobelwagons).  A very one dimensional list and probably the worst match up for the Hero Tankovy on an open table.

Soviets taken using the estimated costs from Desperate Measures
2 Platoons of 4 T-34-85's Heroes
4x BA 64s
3x IS-2s with Tankos
2 Katyushas with extra crew.

A more well rounded list than the German one  

Objectives were marked by the supply carrying Opel trucks.  In deployment I should have put the ISs behind cover, I am overconfident of how good their armour is, especially against Panthers.

Deployment

The freshly painted BA-64's trying to survive their first game.

Germans move up to firing positions and knock out an IS 

T-34's hide behind cover with a shot at the Panthers in the middle.

Flank Panthers move up.

ISs tried to duel the Panthers hull down behind the ridge with predictable results, this happened over a couple of turns.  

The Panthes on the flank are flanked themselves. 

Germans move forward putting the pressure on the Russians

The Panthers back up and combined with shooting from the middle would leave only one T-34 alive. 

Who pulls back himself and kills one of the Panthers on the ridge. 

T-34's kill the 2IC and another Panther. But would be gutted in return.  

The last T-34 would go down in flames as well. 

 AAR:  This was an ideal match up for the Germans.  The low number of Soviet tanks and my ineptitude trying to engage them at long range meant that they were able to cut apart the soviet tanks with minor losses. I managed to kill one Panthers from each platoon and the 2IC but because I failed to focus my fire the reluctant Germans never even had to take a motivation check.  The armoured cars and Katyushas, were not able to do anything against the all tank Germans.  The IS's are too much of a points sink at this level and are really not that good at killing things with their ROF 1.  I think the Hero Tankovy will be fun to play against more balanced opposition and with better list building.