Fighting Ghosts

So named because I'm fighting Rommel's Ghost Division. I have a French motor rifle list, and I hope to use it to take down the Czech Panzers. We have pretty typical terrain, with a hill and town in the middle and fields and forests everywhere. I am fighting two battles here (they both had Dave's armor in them, which makes them go really fast). The first one is No Retreat, with me defending.

Lists:

 

French Motor Rifle

HQ

3 platoons of infantry

2 platoons of machine guns

4 mortars (we proxied Soviet mortars as the weather is too atrocious to prime anything to paint)

3 Somuas

5 Panhards

4 105mm artillery pieces

2 47mm anti tank guns

 

German Czech Panzers

HQ (2 Czech Panzers)

5 Panzer IIs

5 Czech Panzers

4 Panzer Is and another Panzer II

1 Infantry platoon

1 "88"

Air Support





Here we see the German Panzer Mob in action. They have the first turn, and they will spread out soon.

I have some infantry on both objectives, along with artillery on the back one, MGs on the front one, and anti-tank guns in ambush.

The Panzer Mob moves up and shoots, inflicting two casualties.

Two Panzers are killed in return.

I popped my AT guns in ambush.

The assault killed many of my infantry and forced the rest from their holes.

Some Stukas for whom we have no flying bases bombed my Panhards. Three went up in flames.

The other two ran away.

Reinforcements! Finally!

We are still tenaciously contesting the objective.

So much for that. We have been completely overrun.

Those Somuas are so far away.

Now they have formed a line of tanks that I can't get through to contest the objective. Game over.

The French have no integral AT. I needed to have more anti-tank guns, and they needed to be positioned better. I should have put the ones I had right behind my lines so they could survive longer, participate in defensive fire, and kill more.

 

For the second game, a Cauldron, I took two Panhards out so I could take four 25mm anti-tank guns instead.

The terrain has moved but is not too different.

Lots of farmland on this one.

I have deployed to cover the two objectives near the woods. This time, I have more anti-tank guns and  they are located slightly behind my lines.

The approach of the Germans.

They Stuka'd my artillery.

The Germans got reinforced.

I have had bad luck. After pouring a ridiculous number of shots into them, I kill only one tank.

They get close but do not assault.

Another kill, but they are coming too slowly for my liking.

That's a lot of tanks!

They assault, leaving me with just one team on the objective. this is probably it.

Yes, it was. Another assault on the next turn ends all hope of a French victory.

The Ghost Division is victorious.

I think it definitely improved the second time around. I had more AT guns, and I deployed them better. It was a hard fought battle, marred in part by my bad luck. I only made 5 or so firepower checks all game, and Dave's tanks brushed off my initial wave of shooting like it was nothing. The French are a unique army, and Dave has said that he would like a go with them. That's probably what you'll see here next in a couple of weeks. See you then!