It would seem that my hobby mojo is having a somewhat of a
backlash toward my intensive painting of fantasy LoTR stuff as I find myself
getting a tad obsessed with Flames of War. Many of you may think that’s a bad
thing however I’ve been enjoying my games of FoW recently, maybe its my
opponent, or maybe that I’m mellowing and aren’t that bothered about the
tournament nature of the game.
Anyhow enough of the navel gazing and on to business. I
recently got together with mate Ashley who had managed to drag himself away
from his rather intense job for a spot of dice rolling and panzer pushing. For
this game I was taking the role of the baddies, rolling into his gaming room
(garage!) with a Panzer company from Devils Charge (no Peiper though):
CiC & 2iC Panzer IVJ, 5 x Panther G, 1x Konigstiger, 4 x
Panzer IVJ, 4 x Panzer IVJ, 2 x Mobelwagen, Panzergrenadier platoon in sd,kfz
251
Yes I was taking a hellstorm of armour, big cats-a-mundo!
This was an excuse to take a ton of stupid armour and have fun, as well as
field my newly painted Panthers (painted over two night which is darn fast for
me). This force was fearless trained so probably wouldn’t be able to hit
anything but when the stuff hit the fan would stick around…..(hopefully)
So how did Ash counter this ton of dastardly axis armour?
Well let’s see shall we:
CiC (Jumbo), 2iC (76mm), Tank Platoon (2x Jumbo’s, 3x 76mm),
Tank Platoon (1x Jumbo, 2x 76mm), 3x Priests, 9 stand Infantry Platoon,
Priority Air.
Doesn’t look like a lot really does it, so let’s see how it
went down then shall we?
We rolled for missions and got free for all, which
considering how knackered we were after our respective working weeks was
probably a good idea. As the attacker I chose my board edge and we deployed out
troops alternately. As Ash had fewer platoons he finished deploying first, we
rolled for who went first with Ash winning the roll off. Unfortunately due to
the mission rules this meant that he couldn’t take advantage of his artillery
and air thereby losing a turn of fire from them both. Oh well (he he he!)
Turn 1
Ash stays put and just opens fire on my left flank, trying
to slow down my Panthers and PzIVJ’s however doesn’t manage to cause any
damage. He holds his centre while slowly advancing his infantry down my right.
With the aim of the game being to capture one of the two objectives placed in
each deployment zone this would seem to indicate that Ash is taking the
initiative…..Bugger!
So what did I do, well the King Tiger stayed put, fired
twice and managed to obliterate a flock of pigeons that were minding their own
business in a copse of woods about 4 miles away. The Panthers, not to be outdone
advanced forward and proceeded to obliterate the woods themselves, with the
PzIVJ’s joining in as it looked like a right good giggle! However on the right
my Panzergrens scooted forward and opened fire on the rather foolish US
Infantry command stand who was busy lecturing his troops on the finer points of
concealment in the open! Blamo, no
platoon command equals stuck US infantry. Ha!
Turn 2
Ok maybe I was a little premature with my “Ha” as turn 2
opens up with Ash obliterating 3 of my Panthers, I subsequently fluff the
platoon morale check and my left flank is toast! So much for 815pts (yes that’s
right, 2 fifths of my entire army in 1 platoon). Dummy!
Meanwhile Ashley scoots his company command over to the
stranded infantry and appoints a new platoon commander. So much for my
carefully executed delaying strategy. I pull back my Panzergrens but push
forward with my CiC, 2iC and 2nd PzIVJ platoon in the centre. Now if
I can only threaten the rear of the Jumbo/76mm platoon that was holding my left
flank armoured fist I can still pull this off. Oh and the King Tiger is still
offended by the pigeons and continues its bombardment. However I have managed
to advance it an exciting 4” using stormtrooper…..oh the excitement.
Turn 3
Ash’s air support kills another PzIVJ in my centre, again
weakening my armoured force even more. The Jumbo’s and 76mm trade shots with
the PzIVJ’s on my left toasting one, I manage to get a shot on the annoying
Priests, knocking one out ( I couldn’t get a line on the Jumbo’s this turn!).
As they say down here “its all turning to custard”. The US infantry get moving
and angle in towards the hedgerow bordering the village, I pull my Panzergrens
back again and disembark, awaiting the inevitable assault (lots of defensive
fire….).
Oh and the King Tiger finally realizes that the load noises
outside are coming from the pretty green tanks in front of it, opens fire and
manages to scratch the paintwork on one Jumbo….
Turn 4
The final turn (we ran out of time). Ash by now is within
about 8 inches of one of my objectives with his infantry, he’s advanced his CiC
Jumbo and 2iC 76mm in support and is slowly pummelling my armour to bits. I’m
pulling back like mad whilst the enormous King Tiger struggles to turn round
and go home for Brotwurst and schnapps. This has not been my day at all, my
armoured fist got negated after the Panthers were smashed, Jumbo’s lead the way
really stuffed the effectiveness of the PzIVJ’s as I couldn’t get the volume of
fire needed to harm the other tanks in the platoon. Its clear that with 2 more
turns Ashley would be on the objective and there’s nothing I can do to stop him
at this stage. Even worse I’m running out of guns big enough to hurt the
Jumbo’s
Conclusion
Another great game, Ashley was aggressive with his infantry
whilst holding with his armour. I got to run a full size Panther platoon which
always looks fun (I’ve just finished painting them too!) and lots of PzIVJ’s.
It was hard trying to get any effective shots off against veteran tanks in
concealment whilst my armour was pretty fragile. I was hoping that the sheer
volume of armour and fire would overwhelm Ashley however losing all my Panthers
in one round of shooting really put me on the back foot. Ouch.
So there was more learning, lots of dice rolling and a good
natter, therefore a good game overall irrespective of who won!
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