I fought this Flames of War battle on May 31st against my father Dave, but I am just now getting to writing it up.
Forces... highlighted platoons were put in reserve
Jordan:
German Late War Generic Tank Company, Confident Veteran
Command: 2 Panzer IVs
Combat: 3 Panzer IVs
3 Panthers
Support: 2 Panzergrenadier squads and a panzerfaust... the ones with the trucks, not the halftracks
1 Konigstiger
Dave:
Soviet Late War Guards Tank Battalion, Fearless Trained
Command: 1 T-34/85
Combat: 1 Company of 6 T-34/85s
1 Company of 6 T-34/85s
Support: 1 Company of 3 platoons of Soviet infantry and a Commissar
Mission
The mission was a Dustup, which has deployment zones in opposite corners and delayed reserves coming on in the other corners. We try to take the objectives. Nothing weird there.
Terrain
I did not have the opportunity to take any pictures of the terrain. You can still kind of see it in deployment, though.
Deployment
I set my infantry to guard my two objectives, noticing how little infantry I really had. The panthers and company HQ set up to attack the enemy.
Dave set his sprawling mass of infantry to cover both objectives and wait for reinforcements.
Turn 1
The Soviets dug in, but not before the Panthers inflicted 2 casualties.
Turn 2
My infantry actually digs in this time!
The tanks advance just to the Point of No Assault, or 4.25 inches. I don't want the infantry sneaking up on my expensive Panthers or anything like that! No casualties are inflicted.
The Soviets did exactly nothing for their turn. They're waiting for reinforcements, which happens often in this scenario. It's one of the downfalls of this scenario, I think. Nothing important happens until reserves show up.
Turn 3
Nothing happened in Turn 3.The tanks shot and missed and nobody else did anything.
Turn 4
I received no reserves. I inflicted exactly 1 casualty on the Soviet scum, even though I stopped moving. So much for being more accurate when stationary...
The Soviets actually got reserves, the lucky bastards! One company of armor and the battalion commander now grace the corner of our table...
And they promptly double time towards the objective. I'm doomed if I don't do anything about them.
Turn 5
I'm in luck in one way, though-- both of my reserve platoons showed up this turn, and hopefully they can turn the tide.
They moved to attack the infantry guarding my objectives, freeing up the Panthers to go do something about the menacing T-34s.
And now for a quick intermission with a message from the Slishians!
My father just finished painting them! I think they look pretty good.
The T-34s advance over the rise and the panther crews prepare to engage, but one is suddenly brewed up! What happened?!?
THAT happened. His second group of reserves showed up over the ridge and started shooting! Despite Hen and Chicks, they scored a hit and kill on my side armor.
The first group of T-34s assaulted me while I was Yellow Chikken, or pinned, not that the pin mattered. Their cowardly CinC remained hidden behind the hill.
They killed three teams, and then the remainder of the platoon ran off, leaving the objective in their hands with me unable to get at it! And my panzerfaust didn't even get to come out and fight!
Turn 6
Overall, the situation is pretty bleak at this point. My sole hope is to brew up four T-34s and hope the rest run away. Then we can fight for another turn.
Alas, I am doomed to lose, though, as I only nailed two of the T-34s, and I needed to get four of them.
That doesn't keep me from launching one assault, though. It's useless, and I lose it, but it makes me feel marginally better about my impending loss.
Soviet Victory!
And at the start of their 6th turn, the Soviet tanks hold their objective uncontested, meaning that they win the game.
Conclusions
The enemy won. I lost. Oh well, we can try again next week.
The tank list was somewhat of a departure for Dave, as he usually plays infantry. He did well with it anyway.
What could I have done better?
In list composition, I could have not taken the King Tiger, instead opting for more tanks and/or more bodies. Given Soviet numbers and my father's style of play, one tank just can't accomplish whole lot in the grander scheme of things, no matter how good it may be individually.
In deployment, I probably should have prepared to do something about the T-34s, because I knew they were coming and I was STILL scrambling to do something good about it. Perhaps I should have kept my Panthers in a more central location so they could respond better, or maybe I should have kept them back on my objectives. The latter would have meant a boring game but more chance of me winning, so there's a trade-off there. I also think that my list composition with the King Tiger and not enough tanks and such played in to that.
I'll work on that for my next game and see you in a week!
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