So the day after the event - Corrivalry 2012 in Northamptonshire.
72 Players attended with a good mix of the Axis and Allies - some interesting armies, good mix of Tank/Mechanised/Infantry lists.
I was taking my Soviet Guards Heavy Tank Regiment which contained 17 KV-1e's (great armour, rubbish gun) and not very fast. We could take 2 lists and had to decide before the game started which one to take as some of the tables were specialised (Trench Fight, City Fight, River crossing and Fortifications - so people could tailor their force for these missions).
As it turned out, the decision on which list to used depended on if they were Tank or Infantry opponents.
For Tanks out came the Priority Shturmoviks and Sappers, whereas for Infantry it was Strelkovy and Devastating Bombardment Katyushas.
So Game 1 - faced the 17th
SS Panzergrenadierkompanie with Flak36 guns (88) and Stug supports defening against me in 'Witches Cauldron' from Early War Hellfire book (now in v3 as a standard mission).
My random force deployment placed my KV-1e tanks facing the 88's as far away as they could get, meanwhile my Strelkovy was on the opposite side and the Katyushas in the back field.
I decided to ignore the Flak36 guns with the help of a nice blocking Orchard and all my reserves flowed on the opposite side to face Pak40 guns. The Strelkovy broke over his Panzergrenadiers but got cutdown by defensive fire (even with them being pinned due to devastating bombardment!!!).
So I followed up with my KV platoons killing the dugin Pak40's fire MG fire and was sitting on the objective by turn 5 with nothing other than a CinC with Panzerfaust that could attack me.
Win 5-2NOTE: 88's were on the otherside of the Church, so my attack came from otherside.
Game 2 - German PanzerSpah in Roadblock
So as I was Tank vs Mechanised, the Germans were Ambuscading my advance which he choose a KV platoon and doing the ambush was 3 Jagdpanthers in a Wood!!! Glad I took my 'B' List
He killed 2 KV tanks and the retreated to a nearby Wood, meanwhile my CinC and a Platoon moved on from the road and got a sneaky side shot at extreme range on his Tanks, I roll a 6 he fails his armour and bang does a Big Cat. Next turn he tries to exist the wood to come get me (as my positioning meant that my previous attack could only see 1 of his), as he comes out 1 Jagdpanther bogs, the other tries to free him but fails.
My next turn a 3 strong Sthurmovik flight comes in and rockets the Jadgpanthers destroying 1 and bailing the bogged one - he did have
AA Halftracks but with the re-roll due to Flying Tanks failed his
FP rolls.
Now this leaves him 2 platoons of Pumas and a platoon of 4 Stugs to take on the might of 15 KV tanks.
I loose 2 more tanks for the loss of his Stugs, turn 5 there is no Germans within 16" of an objective - game over.
Win 5-2 (i lost the Sapper platoon to Bogworts following the Stugs, they were nasty in v2, luckily corrected in v3)
Game 3 - GrenadierKompanie in No Retreat
So out comes 'A' list with the Katyushas, I should have plenty of Infantry to bombard and then rollup with my KV's.
But then things go wrong, the table is really busy with terrain - it's a special made board representing a Normandy Port. One side has hedges and a river, while the otherside has a railway embankment crossing over the river, which puts my deployment line right through Very Difficult terrain (given that my troops are Trained and going to have to take 4+ tests with each tank as they move).
Then it's time for him to deploy his army and out comes Pioneers with 2 Flamethrowers and a Minefield which goes over the only road access to his deployment zone, then backing up this route is 3 Nashorn Tank Hunters AT16 guns but Front Armour 1 and then to top it all off a King Tiger!!!
Wish I'd taken 'B' List and gone Tiger hunting...
So start moving off and manage to fail half my rolls, leaving 6 tanks stranded on the embankment. This continues to happen even when I get off the rails and towards the wood, I still fail my tests.
The Nashorns and the King Tiger start taking a toll on my tanks.
I finally assault his lines but manage to roll 3 '1' in a row to bog my tanks right in front of his Pioneers who then destroy them. Game gets no better as I end up feeding my troops in piecemeal, had to try and at least kill one of his platoons but fail.
Loss 6-1Thats the End of Day 1 - so 2 wins and 1 big loss, not too bad.