On a snowy day in March I made my way to Livingston
for a one day tournament at Worlds at
War. Frank, who manages the store
runs 2 Flames of war tournaments a month and this one was 1750 points late
war. He likes to keep the events varied
with different points, axis vs allies or some other variation so you are never
quite sure of what you are going to face. This time we had a special scenario
for round one but more of that later.
This won’t be a surprise to anyone who has played me before
but I was running Fallschirmjager from Grey wolf. They were the first army I
played for FOW in version 1 and many years later I still enjoy playing
them. So here is my List for the day.
·
Company HQ with 2 Panzerfaust upgrades, 2
mortars and a Panzerschreck
·
Full FJ platoon with command SMG panzerfaust
·
Full FJ platoon with command SMG panzerfaust
·
Full FJ light gun platoon
·
FJ Mortar platoon with 2 mortars
·
Under strength FJ pioneer platoon with 2 squads
and a supply truck
·
FJ anti-tank gun platoon with 4 PAK 40
·
3 15cm Nebelwerfers
·
3 Marder II
·
Sporadic HS-129B3 air support
Round 1
This was a new scenario for us based on the Domination/Total
War system. Each player would place one
objective in each of the deployment zones plus a third one within 4” of the
centre line for a total of 6 objectives.
Once you claim an objective you get a point from it each turn until it
is contested or lost to the enemy.
Victory went to who ever had the most points.
The table was dominated by a series of ruined factories that
ran across the middle from one long edge to the other. The left flank had some hills and a swamp
with a patch of woods nearby. The right
had a couple of hills but was fairly open.
My first opponent was Greg and his Strelkovy which had a mixture of small (for strelkovy) infantry platoons, 45mm guns,
Zis-2 guns, 85mm AA, 3 Su-100, 4 IS-2 and a few more support units. My left flank was covered by one FJ platoon
and my Pak40s which were sitting on one objective behind a swamp. My Nebs sat
on the other objective in my deployment zone.
The second FJ platoon and light guns were set up to attack the 2 centre
objectives and the Pioneers and Marders were ready to attack the objective on
the right.
My left flank was the quiet one during this game with the FJ
and PAK 40s keeping their heads down while the 4 IS-2 rolled towards them. Luckily the IS-2s didn’t do enough damage
shooting and they did not commit to assaulting over a swamp. My centre FJ platoon rushed forward and
grabbed the centre objective and then swung to the right. At the same time the pioneers and Marders
advanced forward taking some fire from one of the 85mm guns and 3 Su-100. Lucky this didn’t go on for long as a strike
from my HS-129B3 destroyed two of the SU-100 and the other fled the table. This left the right hand objective being
defended by a 5 stand sapper platoon and 8 stands of infantry. My centre platoon weathered a blizzard of
shots from managed to link up with the pioneers and wipe out the two enemy
platoons in the first bloody assault of the day. The few remaining stands managed to keep
their heads down in the ruins for the rest of the game and the FJ won with 9-7
points which translates to a 4-3 victory.
Round 2
For the next round we moved back to the standard missions
and this time we had surrounded and I was defending against Norms US light tank
company consisting of HQ plus 3 platoons of 4 Chaffees, 3 priests, cavalry
recon platoon and 4 M10s.
The table had a town taking up most of the no man’s land on
the left of the table and a group of hills and woods covering the right
side. The centre of the table where I
would be defending had a large woods , clear in the centre and some crop fields
on the other side. The objectives were
placed in the crop fields and in the centre of the open area.
Due to the size of the deployment area most of my units were
mixed together. One platoon covered the
objective in the corn fields while my other FJ platoon and PAK40s held the
woods at the other side. The pioneers
covered the approach from the hilly side of the table and my other units were
dug in and hiding in whatever cover they could find. My Marders deployed in woods as the immediate
ambush.
We started with the Chaffees approaching as close as they
could without falling prey to my PAK 40s or Marders but this did cause them to
bunch up and my HS-129B3 managed to thin the numbers a little. This didn’t last long as when they were close
enough to move within 6” of the woods holding most of my AT assets they put the
foot down and rushed forward. Obviously
my gunners were startled by this charge and I failed to stop them before my
Marders and 2 PAK40s were gone.
On the other flank the M10s and Priests kept my other Fj
platoon pinned down. My Nebelwerfers
traded a few shots with the armoured artillery but they only managed to destroy
one.
The US
commander then decided that it was all or nothing and decided to charge in with
all 3 of his remaining armor platoons.
Rather than face a charge straight into the pioneers and remaining
PAK40s he assaulted through a woods containing one of my infantry platoons plus
this would let him hit the sides of the Pak40s. The first assault went in without any bails or
bogs but was close enough to draw about half of the pioneer platoon into the
assault. A PAK 40 was destroyed and the
other platoon lost a few stands but the counter assault killed one tank and
sent the other out the woods. The FJ and
pioneers were then hit by a second assault of 4 tanks. This time however they must have picked a
denser part of the woods to assault through as 3 out of 4 tanks bogged. The one tank that did make it into the
assault did hit the FJ and caused them to fall back.
Trying to grasp the initiative the remains of the FJ and
pioneers charged through the woods and got into a position to assault. The pioneers flame throwers shut down the
defensive fire on 2 Chaffess and the infantry platoon charged in killing
another and capturing the 3 that were still bogged. The remaining tanks tried to assault but didn’t have the numbers
to carry it off and were wiped out giving me
a 5-2 win.
Round 3
Round 3 saw me face off against my club mate Laurence who
had a 2iD list with 2 big platoons of infantry with attached HMGs, 57MM At guns,
4 M10s, 10.5cm artillery, 155mm artillery and SPAA. We were playing breakthrough and I rolled to
defend.
The table had a large town covering the centre. One of the defenders quarters had a group of
and the other was a collection of corn fields and woods. The attacker deployed in a quarter where a
ring of woods gave him a nice position for his artillery park and the objective
quarter was dominated with a large hill.
The objectives were placed on the slope of this hill which shields the
flank march area from fire. One infantry
platoon and the M10s were sent on the flank march but would find a line of
barbed wire about 4 inches in from the table edge.
Expecting a bloody battle I attached my 2 HQ mortars to my
2iC for a ninth platoon. The mortars,
Nebs, PAK40s were set up to shoot from the cornfields down the long edge of the
table with the pioneers forming a skirmish screen in front of them The Marders and one infantry platoon were set
up to make a dash for the objectives.
The other quarter had the second infantry platoon, light guns and the
2iC mortar platoon set up just outside the town.
The 2iD didn’t waste any time and the big infantry platoon
charged towards the town in the middle and the 57mm guns moved up to take a few
shots at the PAK 40s. The US
artillery and air opened up at an FJ platoon and PAK40s to try and keep them
pinned. The fearless FJ didn’t stay
pinned for long and both infantry platoons made a dash for the objectives but
the platoon deployed with the light guns left a few stands behind to discourage
s infantry from swinging round the back of the town. My air came in and strafed the US
artillery. This continued for the rest
of the game even though they did not kill any guns they did manage to pin them
several times which reduce the effects of the heavy guns. Over the next couple of turn my 2 infantry
platoons got onto the objectives and dug in, while the Marders AA MGs, nebs and
1 mortar platoon hammered the US infantry forcing them into the buildings. The PAK40s and one unit of mortars won the
gun duel and wiped out the 57mm guns.
At this point the US flank march arrived, infantry first and
the M10s the following turn. The Marders
moved from the town to take a shot at the M10s which they missed and were all
destroyed in the return. The US infantry
fired into the FJ who were still getting
hit from the other US infantry platoon and the artillery. They made it over the barbed wire and tried
to assault the pinned FJ but were repulsed with defensive fire. The M10s followed them in but lost one due to
defensive fire. They did manage to force
the FJ off one objective due to some abysmal morale checks but they had moved
into the line of site of the light guns
and 2 more were up in flames. As seems
to be the theme of the day, another brutal assault erupted over the objectives
as what was left of my infantry were thrown in against the last M10 and the US
troops. My nebs and mortars were able to
thin out the numbers first so my troops made it into the assault and after
heavy losses on both sides the US platoons broke and withdrew from the
table. With time running out and the FJ
still sitting on the objectives we decided to end the game with at 6-1 for the FJ.
Three fun games which all ended up in me sneaking victory in
some hard fought assaults. With some
games you wonder if fearless is worth the points but today I only managed to
hold on when I kept rolling 3 for my morale checks. Special mention must go to the PAK40 command
stand that passes its sole survivor check for 3 turns during game 2.
A great day where I managed to come in first with 15 points
closely followed by Norm and Greg.
I’d recommend the tournaments at Worlds at War to any gamer
in the area as they are always have a friendly atmosphere and will offer you
some challenging games.
Also Frank and the BF:UK crew are planning to run the first
Scottish nationals event later on this year.
Details to be released soon.
Gazza
NOTE: I did remember my army, list, dice and templates on
the day but I did forgot a camera. So
enjoy the pictures of some of the previous events at Franks
