AAR EW V4 Tankovy vs Lend Lease Tankovy

I headed down to the Panzer Angriff club at the Mega Games store in Penrith on Sunday a week or so back. Dave and I had another EW game planned. Unfortunately, that was all the pre-planning we had done prior to the day so we both turned up with a Tankovy. Fortunately they were different...

Dave had a T34 company with a unit of flame tanks, an I153, some scout tanks and some AA trucks. I had a Lend Lease company with Valentines, Matildas, T60s, Pioneers, a Sturmovik and some AT guns.

The mission was rear-guard and I defended.

Right Defense.

The objectives were spread widely forcing me to split my forces to cover both objectives. I dropped my three minefields in front of the left objective forcing Dave to choose between crossing the minefield and channeling his attack against my right objective. Dave chose the latter.

Battalion commander deployed.

I dropped my unit of Matildas on the left objective expecting to move them all or partially off depending on what Dave opposed this objective with. I set my pioneers on the right hand objective with the AT guns adjacent. The Valentines were in Ambush and the T60s were located centrally ready for a fire-fighting role.

The first of many successful raids by the I153

 The early turns were pretty uneventful with forces simply moving up. The flame tanks pushed down the right hand flank with the 5 T34s beside them. The AA also moved up against the unarmed pioneers in front of them. The Scout Tanks pushed up on the left to try to force my Matilda Company into staying there. The planes arrived and bagged an AT gun.

T60s

 I dashed my T60s to behind the forest on the right where my objective was. Thank you halftrack movement! The Matildas moved towards the right and were able to brew up a Scout vehicle.

Soviet Sentinel.

 Dave’s attack was developing. The flame tanks were still out of range and the AA and T34s couldn’t convert hits to casualties on the pioneers. The scout tanks skulked back to cover. The dreaded air arrived again and bagged another AT gun and bailed my commander.

Repositioning behind the minefield.

I withdrew my T60s early. Given the presence of T34s, their AT 5 wasn’t going to bring much to the fight and the other on-table units were needed. I dropped my Valentines from ambush behind the wood so they could shoot at the T26 flame and AA trucks tanks without being seen by the T34s. This worked, with 2 AA trucks dying to machine gun fire, 2 T26s succumbing to 2 pound fire and a further T26 being bailed out. Leaving a Matilda behind, the other 2 tanks moved further towards to the main fight on the right.

The dreaded biplane arrived three times from three in the early turns, it made short work of the AT platoon and kept the commander bailed as he remained in position to bolster the morale of the guns. The T34s redeployed and starting working on the Valentines. The remaining T26s moved up and delivered flaming death to more than a few pioneers.

Ruddy Biplane.

The game quickly developed into a stalemate on the left. The remaining Matilda couldn’t leave the objective and the scout tanks couldn’t leave their hiding hole for fear of losing another vehicle. The real action was all on the right. The pioneers spent turn after turn being whittled down and breaking off from assault from the flame tanks and the BT7s who had joined the fight. It was only their numbers that kept them in the fight. The T34s were table to fire with impunity easily bouncing shells from the Matildas and Valentines.

Valentine Ambush!

The game really heated up when one of the units the T34s boldly moved forward to take some side shots on the Matildas. They were unsuccessfully and eventually were lost to some knife fighting where some lucky 2 pound shots found weak points in the Soviet steel.

Brewed T34s

The fighting progressed in a circular motion around the wood with the pioneers in the thick of it and the BT7s and flamers chasing them. The objective, by now under severe pressure was reinforced with 2 Matildas who had finally arrived from the far flank and the commander Valentine. Sadly the unit of Valentines couldn’t continue to sustain turn after turn of T34 fire and were destroyed.

Destroyed Valentines

Rear-Guard is a timed mission with the defender winning in turn 9. The Lend Lease tanks were still barely alive at the end of the game. My forces had taken severe losses in what was a tightly contested game. The Valentines and AT guns were dead, the pioneers were down to 6 stands and the T60s and Sturmovik were withdrawn. Given that I didn’t have a huge unit count and taking fairly consist loses (AT guns, Valentines) I often picked up a counter rather than having to withdraw units. This kept me in the fight with my relatively robust units.

Time Gentlemen Please.

This was another good V4 game. Considered piece-meal, there are aspects of the game that stand out as different to V3. For example, the morale rules are certainly different and kept the pioneers in the game where they would have been testing earlier in V3. However the morale rules have also forced me to run Matildas in units of 3 rather than 2. This tied up a considerable amount of points in a single unit. Small units of 2 tanks can be testing after a single loss or bail in v4. Overall, I think that V4 is a fine game. Even with the old lists being used for the new version, the game is still fun.

I hope you enjoyed this article.

AAR - V4 MW Counter Attack

I had a great game against Trick at MOAB Last weekend. We played on day 2 at 80 points. The tournament - Baptism of Fire was v4 MW and was split into 3 different 1 day events. Days 1 and 2 were 80 points and day 3 was 100 points. Trick (TO for MOAB and Aussie ETC Captain) asked Battlefront to make available the soon to be released Italian M14/41 cards. The tournament also allowed build cards. Both of these measures were designed to provide as much variety as possible.

So it was to be all German affair as my DAK Tanks Company took on Trick's DAK Tanks.

Trick's list was:
HQ - 1 Panzer III
3 Panzer III short 5cm
2 Panzer IV short
3 Panzer II

HQ 1 x  Sd kfz 221 MG
2 x 222 and 2 x 221 2.8cm
2 x 222 and 2 x 221 2.8cm
2 x 222 and 2 x 221 2.8cm

2 x 222 and 1 x 221 2.8cm

2 x 8-rad

Support

1 x 88

3 x M14/41

4 x Marders

My List was:

My force. 1 Panzer 2 is camera shy.

HQ - 1 Panzer III
3 Panzer III short 5cm
3 Panzer III short 5cm
4 Panzer II

Support
4 x Marders
4 x Schleppers
4 x M14/41

Trick chose Maneuver and I choose Attack. We rolled up Counter Attack and because I chose the attack stance, I attacked. Trick chose a terrain dense quarter and I choose to make him move across the length of the table. Trick put him objective as close as possible to the quarter he would have to move to. I placed mine right in the back corner as far as possible.

I will refer to all directions from my left or right. Apologies, I didn't take a photo of deployment.

Deployment:
Trick placed all his Panzers except his Pz2s in reserve. The M14s and unit of 222/221 were left back on my left to keep me honest. Trick started with a spearhead of his armoured cars towards the right objective. This allowed him to reach out to just over 16" from the far objective. He deployed 2 units of armoured cars, 8-rads and the 88 just to the right of the central village. The panzer 2s and the 221 HQ were left loitering behind the buildings. The Marders were in ambush.

I also spearheaded with my PzIIs to just short of the railway line. This allowed me to setup my Marders hull down on the hill to the right of my deployment area. All the other units were able to deploy on or near the hill. Virtually all had a shot on the enemy.

Turn 1.
The PzIIs moved up with 2 having a bead on Trick's PzIIs. A unit of Panzer 3 moved to the right from behind the hill to get a shot. Ever one else stayed still. I started with dropping a 15 cm Schlepper barrage on most of the armoured cars and an 88 in the open. I didn't do much damage, bailing an armoured car from 2 different units. All the other units opened up. When the dust cleared, a unit of 4 armoured cars were reduced to 1, the 8 rads were down to one bailed vehicle and the PzIIs were down to 2. A pretty good start.

Trick remounted and passed the last stand on both the 8-rad and the remaining 222. These 2 would be a pain in the neck for the rest of the game. The Marders sprung from ambush in about the only available spot to my left. No reserves arrived.

The 8-rad and remaining 222 were moved to safety behind the wood in front of the right objective. The Italians and armoured cars from the deep left started the long trek to the right. A second PzII peeked out for a shot.

Ambushing Marders and redeploying M14s and ACs

The Marders picked at my left hand unit of PzIIIs, taking one down and bailing 2. Lucky for me. The 88 missed as did the armoured cars and PzIIs. Not a great round for Trick.

Turn 2.
I remounted the 2 PzIIIs. I moved up the M14s, the RH PzIIIs and PzIIs. I picked off another armoured car from the unit of 3. The LH PzIIIs and 1IC moved to the left to engage the Marders. I hit twice but only managed bails.

RH units advancing after the initial shooting

Trick rolled up a reserve and the PzIIIs arrived on the back RH corner behind my Marders. Crap! Thankfully for me, they got the memo about it being a training missing and missed! The 88 sniped a RH PzIII. The Marders bailed another PzIII after remounting.

Turn 3.
After a good start, things are changing quickly, the Marders are in a position to pick off vehicles from my back field, the 88 has a good arc of fire and my Schleppers cannot hit them. The reserves are starting to arrive and I am still some way from the objective. Trick is doing a great job of giving me lots of threats to deal with.

My Marders blitz and turn to face the PzIIIs, newly arrived from reserve. I roll pretty well and get 4 hits. I destroy 2 and bail the third. Time to move up. I move forward with my RH PzIIIs destroying another armoured car. My Italian tanks move up to engage the 88 but do no damage. The Schleppers range in on the Marders but do not damage either.

Panzer IVs arrive from reserve

The pesky 8-rad and 222 are still alive having made more 5+ last stand tests. They make a reappearance moving to engage my RH PzIIIs in the flank. The PzIVs arrive from reserve to join in against my RH PzIIIs and take one out from the flank. Trick's Marders disengage from the fire fight on my left to reinforce his center against my advance. The M14s, having arrived in the fight on my left bag a Schlepper. The remaining PzIIIs from reserve remounts and survives the last stand test to blitz and bag a Marder. The 88s and a armoured car destroy 2 of my M14s. The 221 HQ and a the 2 remaining armoured cars from the short platoon are now on the RH objective behind the hill.

Note the pesky armoured car on the right

Turn 4.
My LH PzIIIs remount to prevent a last man test. My Marders finish off the last PzIII on my right. My RH PzIII destroy a reserve PzIV. Despite loses, my PzIIs and M14s advance. They need to push on the objective if I am to stay in the game. My LH PzIIIs take out another M14. This is going to be close one.

You guessed it, the 222 and the 8-rad are still there and still running at my flanks. Thankfully they are not doing much damage either. The PzIV kills another of my PzIIIs and the platoon is finished off. The HQ PzIII arrives from reserves but is also on a training mission and does no damage. The 88 speaks again and kills another M14. My PzIIs are now exposed on their dash to the objective and one more dies. Trick's Marders are now at the back in position next to the 88 and shoot but cannot damage a PzIII.

Battlefield littered with armoured cars, my M14s and PzIIIs.

Turn 5.
My M14s fail their last stand. The Marders move out to the RH table edge to snipe at the 221 HQ stacking out at the back of the hill and manage to brew him up. The PzIIs, now in 4 inches of the RH objective hit but only bail one of the 2 armoured cars on the objective. If he doesn't remount, he will be taking a last stand. I manage to destroy the 8-rad and the 222 that have been holding firm all game. I throw everything at the remaining PzIV and nab it. The Panzer formation will auto-break next turn.

And....

The 222 doesn't remount..


And...


...

...

Fails it's last stand. That leaves just one platoon in the Armoured Car formation so they break too. No formations alive and the game is over 7-2. What a close one.

And the end. PzIIs and Marders (outside of pic) deal with the last of the ACs

A really close and enjoyable game that could have gone either way. I am really enjoying MW v4 and hope to play much more of it. I hope you enjoyed this AAR.

AAR: Romanian Infantry vs Gep. Panzergrenadiers (EW).

As I have been painting up my Romanian army, Mitch - one of my local gaming mates has been painting up his own. As I am yet to blood my new army, I asked him to share an AAR of his recent game against another local gaming mate - Ross. What follows is Mitch's pics and comments. I have only formatted the pics slightly and added the occasional unhelpful editors comments.  :)

The Guys played EW Romanian Infantry and Gep. Panzergrenadiers in Free for all.

thanks to Mitch and Ross for sharing!

The table at setup.

Ross' 1st roll for priority air. (Ed - They would be on in version 4).

Hunting for German recon, this engagement lasted several turns with the R2s finally knocking out the last German armoured car.

And Ross' 2nd roll for priority air

Ross prepares to assault my left flank.

It is starting to get tense as Ross cleaned out my infantry in the Forrest.

German air finally arrives only to miss it's target (Ed - The placement was so well measured. How could it miss?!?!)

The armoured cars and R2 tanks close in on Ross' objective. At this point I've also managed to range in on his infantry to keep them pinned down. (Ed - Note the objective precariously perched on the rail line).

On the other side, Ross has made it onto a Romanian objective (Ed - The Chaffee) but Romanian firepower manages to save the day and break the attacking platoon.

The Armour has cleared German resistance and have closed in on the objective.

Tanks move on the 2ic

Meanwhile the same fate meets the 1ic and the Germans are broken. 6-1 to the Romanians.

I hope you enjoyed this report.