AAR - EW V4 Soviet Tankovy and Czech Panzer

Today I report on a V4 EW game and look at the new version. Is it best in show, a dead dog or somewhere in between? Lets find out.

I dropped down to the club for a game. I had been playing a lot of V4 MW so it was nice to play a game of EW 1650 points. The list I packed was:

Lists:
Czech Panzers from Barbarossa (CV)

HQ 2 Panzer 38T

4 Panzer 38T

3 Panzer 38T

1 Beute Panzer T34 (CT)

2 Nebs

1 88 with extra crew

2 8-Rads

6 Stands of Schutzen

Limited Stukas

Czech Panzers

David ran Tankovy (CC)

HQ T26

3 x 8 T26s (there was a total of 5 tanks in the 3 units that were upgraded to T26E but this didn’t really have a big impact on the game)

9 Flame tanks

4 45mm guns (FC)

3 AA Trucks

6 BT6

I153

AAR:
All side or flank reference will be from the point of view of my side of the table. 

We rolled up Free for all. We were not sure how to treat the plane as it isn’t listed on the new LFTF plane listing. Given that it was rocket armed and every rocket armed plane is listed as AT5, FP 3+, we went with that. Please shout out if we missed something here.

At the end of deployment I had my HQ section deployed centrally. My left objective was held by an 88 on a hill, Nebs behind the hill and the T34 loitering with intent. My right flank had the Schutzen platoon on the objective and my 2 units of 38Ts nearby. The 8 rads spearheaded to behind the central wood, ready to go either way as required.

David deployed with his flame tanks, AA trucks and 8 T26s on the right objective. The 45mm guns and 2 units of T26s with the HQ were on the left objective.

David seized the initiative and rolled high for first turn. All the T26s rumbled forward. The T26Es lagging slightly behind. Despite needing an 8 to hit, they scored a single hit on my 88 who saved.

Center Left T26s

Flame Tanks (L) and T26s (R) on the Right Flank.

Turn 1
The Stukas arrived first turn and settled on a nice clumped bunch of T26s. This was actually most of both platoons on that flank. The result from hitting 13 tanks was 2 bails. The 2 units of Czech Panzers moved up and destroyed another T26. My T34 moved up to the hill for a shot. The 1IC took a long range shot bagging a T26 from the platoon on the right of the Church. The 88 hit and destroyed a vehicle from the same platoon.

Right Flank Panzers engaging T26s and Flame Tanks

Turns 2 and 3
The next two turns followed a very similar pattern. The 4 units of tanks moved forward but could only knock out my 88 on the left hand side and a single 38T on the right. In exchange, the 38ts dished up 3 T26s on the right and 3 on the left.

Turn 4

Things started to change. The BT6s rumbled forward looking to add their weight to the fight but did no damage. The AA trucks moved forward hugging the village on my right. The T26 platoon on my far left flank had managed to move up virtually unmolested to striking distance of the objective. It was firing on the way but with concealed vets and Hens and Chicks, there was much happening. The 45mm gun crews dragged their guns out of their foxholes and forward. The central left unit of T26s was by now in a reasonable position to shoot but were suffering from poor remount dice and were not doing much. All the action was happening on the right. The flame tanks had moved up and 5 vehicles opened fire on a single unfortunate Schutzen squad. 11 dice of flame throwers was just enough to eliminate the stand!  J The unit of 4 38s were now down to just 2 hulls. The air arrived but wasn’t able to brew up a T34 or an HQ panzer.

Center Left T26s in trouble

Soviet forces probing the right flank.

The Stukas were back and lined up again on the 2 units on the RH side. The panzers were joined by the 8 rads who moved up to try to add some weight to the fight. The 2 remaining Panzers from the Zug of 4 moved over to contest the objective knowing that the Schuzen were under extreme pressure. After the smoke cleared, the T26s on the right were down to 5 and the flame tanks were down to 3. On the far left the T26s were down to 8 with just 2 tanks alive and 3 bailed on the central left. The nebs finally managed to do some damage taking out a 45mm gun. The Schutzen mowed down 2 AA trucks. They would be testing next turn. The Soviets were doing just what they needed to, they were bearing down on both objectives ready to deliver a killing blow.

Central Left T26s

8 Rads join the fray.

Left Objective

Turn 5.

Would the T26s wipe out the Germans? Could the panzers hold out?

On the far left, the T26s pushed just outside of 4 inches from the objective and launched an assault wiping out the nebs. The central left T26s were still suffering all sorts of command and control issues and were not able to remount anything. On the right, the flame tanks were now in a great position to flame the Schutzen and managed to destroy another team. The T26s ran to the flanks of the panzers but could only bail one. The I153s arrived again but did no damage.

Right Objective

T26s on the Left Objective

At this point we called it. We had spent quite a bit of time knocking off the rust and looking up rules. It had been a good game, but slow. No question the Soviet tanks had the better of the conditions and would likely have taken out the win on either of the flanks.

Learnings:

Yep, V4 is a very different game. We intentionally set out for this to be a learning game and we were more worried about the rules than the game. It still was fun though. I think armour on armour games are like that.

The air was wildly different. The I153 was a real potential threat with AT5 and FP3+. Contrast this with the Stuka which is only AT3 and FP 2+. The Stuka is just completely underpowered when compared to the biplane. I am not sure if the biplane has been missed or there is another update coming but this one needs a tweak.

Big platoons of tanks are tough to kill. I had my chances but couldn’t manage to get any T26 units to test. Likewise they couldn’t do any real damage to the panzers at long range concealed.

My list wasn’t ideal against the green swarm. I wanted to take a fun and varied list. However I would have been better off spending my points on more 38Ts rather than a T34 and the 88. I suspect I could have had roughly 4 or 5 more which might have made a difference.

David manoeuvred in the early turns looking for hits on my 88. In fairness, he was able to knock it out. I think it might have been interesting if he had dashed for the first 2 turns and made up the maximum possible ground early on.

Summary:
V4 provided a good game. The air wasn’t quite right but this didn’t play a big part in our game. Flamethrower tanks shot more than once. Again this didn’t heavily impact our game. What did impact the game was the tests for last stand. If this was V3, I would have had to test my unit of 4 panzers and Dave would have tested 3 of his T26 units. As it was, there were no last man tests at all. Others have found games finishing after just a few turns. I think this could have conceivably gone for a few more turns without a result. More games needed before I am comfortable with V4 EW but I suspect what is actually needed is a change of tactics and list design, not a change of rules.

Well that's it. I hope you enjoyed this AAR.