Age of Strife


http://www.ageofstrife.com/blog/DaBoss/russian_mixed_tankovy_visits_newbury_colours_midwar_tournament_b-52_sid-af3de041b0dfb31ffe60a9f1dbc164b5.html

Author:  DaBoss [ Mon Sep 12, 2011 3:31 pm ]
Blog Subject:  Russian Mixed Tankovy visits Newbury Colours MidWar Tournament

So took my MidWar Soviet Mixed Tankovy Battalon along to Newbury Colours.
The organiser turned up late leaving 24 gamers catching the breeze.
We get going by 10am and my first game was Encounter verses a British 1st Army
Infantry Company

He had
3 x Rifle Platoons (1 with attached Piat)
1 x Churchill Tanks (3 tanks)
1 x Royal Artillery (8 Guns) Battery 25pdrs
1 x Medium Artillery (8 Guns) Battery 5.5"

He deployed his Artillery and one rifle platoon, I deployed my rocket launchers and the KV-1e tanks
He spent four turns failing to range or hurt my KVs, so I decided to steam forward and roll over his artillery - managed to kill 3 medium guns (didn't know they had 32" range!!!)
Then on his 5th turn he got his Churchills which stopped my attack on the objective, but he also dropped all his artillery on them and destroyed 3 and bailed 1 - I then failed my morale and lose the platoon, meanwhile his infantry have moved to assault my rocket launchers on the other objective.
My turn 5 I fail to bring on any reserves and so he wins the game 6 - 1

Then we break and return for game 2 which is No Retreat and I'm up against a Luftwaffe Feldkompanie consisting of
2 x Luftwaffe Feld Platoon (3 Squads)
2 x Luftwaffe Machine Gun Platoon (2 sections)
1 x Luftwaffe Mortar Platoon (2 sections)
1 x Luftwaffe Pionier Platoon (2 Squads)
2 x Luftwaffe AA guns Flak36 (2 guns)
1 x Hornisse (2 tanks)
1 x Light AA gun Platoon (2 guns)
1 x PaK40 Platoon (3 guns )
He placed his Flak36, PaK40, Hornisses, Pionier platoon and Feld Platoon with the other Flak36 guns in ambush

I placed my force down one side as far from the Flak36 and PaK40 guns - just had the Hornisses and Flak36 in ambush to deal with.

Unfortunately even needing 4+ to hit due to long range and concealment, he started killing my KV-1e and then my T-34s
I nearly killed one Flak36 platoon and the Hornisses but I had an epic fail.
The Russians broke and fled, I lost 6-1

So not a good day of battles, not sure that Fearless Conscript is going to cut it.

So after a refreshing night sleep - travelled over to Newbury ready for round 2.

Game 3 - Hasty Assault facing a German Greandierkompanie consisting of:
HQ - Command SMG + Puppchen Launcher
2 x Grenadier Platoons (3 Squads)
1 x Mittlere Panzer Platoon ( 2 x Panzer IV F2, 2 x Panzer III L)
1 x Assault Gun Platoon (3 x Stug F)
1 x Anti-Tank Platoon (3 x PaK36(r))
1 x Anti-Tank Platoon (2 x PaK38)
1 x Mortar Platoon (2 Sections)
Kampfgrouped 2iC with 2 teams of Grenadiers

I was attacking, so he deployed the PaK36(r), 2 x Grenadier Platoons and the Stug Platoon in immediate ambush
I deployed the KV-1e and T-34s, the table was a city ruin table with wide roads (which you can't Dig-In on) but it afforded me great blocking scenery from his PaK36(r).
Spent 4 turns moving 6" forward while blasting Grenadiers out of the buildings (opponent did not realise that you could target the building in which the troops were holed up, this allowed me to shoot all my tanks over each other.
Then he got his Panzer Platoon on and used them and the Stug's to fire on my tanks only succeeding in destroying 1 T-34 & 1 KV-1e.
I then destroyed his Stug's and his last infantry platoon and was on the objective
My opponent conceded the game - Win for me of 6-1

Game 4 - Free For All facing Russian Strelkovy Batalon comsisting of:
HQ - Command + Kommissar
3 x Strelkovy Companies (1 Platoon each)
1 x Anti-Tank Rifles Company (2 Platoons) allocated to Strelkovy Companies
1 x Sapper Company (1 Platoon)
1 x Rocket Launcher (4) with extra crew
1 x Heavy Mortar Platoon (2 sections)
1 x KV-1 Platoon (3 tanks)
1 x Anti-Tank Company (4 x 45mm guns)
1 x Tank Destruction Company (2 x ZIS-2 guns)

This was tricky game, table was covered in just woods, I did not want to go into them risking bogging (which always happens to me).
So I balanced my army across the table, my opponent did likewise placing his KV-1 centrally.
He got first turn and spent the next 5 turns trying to dig in his army while the KV-1 and ZIS-2 exchanged shots with my T-34s (lost just 2 in total), while we exchanged Rocket fire between the his and my Rocket Launchers.
The break came for me when I managed to kill his Mortars, Zis-2 guns and the Sappers with fire from my KV's and T-34s.
I then continued rolling towards the objective on his left flank.
It ended with my KV-1e tanks rolling over his Strelkovy Company supported by his KV-1's, after a protracted assault I killed the platoon and knocked him down to under half company strength.
He conceded the game as next turn I was going to be able to assault his HQ teams
(he only had the 3 KV-1 who could only bail my KV's)
But he had managed to destroy my Razvedki Platoon, so I win 5-2

So end result 2 wins and 2 losses - nowhere near the tournament winners score
but glad to have got some wins.

It feel the tournament really came down to the scenerio, scenery and your opponent.
Game 1 - I had no chance against all that Artillery and was surprised to have lasted to Turn 6.
Game 2 - Perfect game for my opponent having to drive directly into such big guns as the Hornesse and Flak36 guns.
Game 3 - He just did not have enough guns to stop my rolling advance and not enough platoons to go after my objective.
Game 4 - I just had too many MG's on my tanks for him to advance his Infantry and he lacked enough guns that could penetrate my armour (especially the KV-1's).

But guess thats the breaks and what keeps the game interesting.

Time zone: Europe/London

Powered by phpBB © 2002, 2006 phpBB Group
www.phpbb.com

Blogs powered by User Blog Mod © EXreaction
www.lithiumstudios.org