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!

Liberating Bazookastan

Remember those fearless Bazookastani halftrack drivers? Now, the US, under Dave's command, is assisting in liberating Bazookastan from the evil Germans, under my command. Besides, you can only refight similar battles so many  times before it becomes hard to come up with names.
I had 1750 points of German infantry, while my father had 1750 points of American armor.
The mission was Pincer. Two objectives were placed for me to defend. I have delayed reserves coming in on my flanks, hence the moniker "Pincer".
Here are the pictures.

Deployment. The Americans are in two main  groups, one for each objective. I am set up the same way.

After they advanced, I killed one tank with  my own tanks, who promptly Stormtroopered back into position.

The Americans advance into Bazookastan.

My tank positions. They are well-hidden behind the terrain.

The motor rifle gets close to the objective.

A successful assault overruns most of my positions on the right flank.

The tanks on  the other side of the battle kill a single stand. They don't assault due to my fearsome anti-tank weaponry.

Here we see the Bazookastani drivers proudly helping to recapture their homeland. The MGs in the halftracks are what kept me  from assaulting.

They got a panther!

I only have one team contesting the objective, and it's looking grim for him.

The Americans on the other flank have circled around, also bringing death to my Panther.

I have to do something in  the next turn to avoid the capture of my fuel dump...

Nothing but a small infantry platoon and two bailed-out tanks stand between Dave and victory.

After causing large-scale carnage, my forces are beaten back.

One of my panthers stayed bailed, while the other went to shoot Shermans off the objective. It wasn't enough.

A view from the other side. A narrow victory to the Americans.

 

           What I learned from this one is that infantry lists at 1750 get BIG (lots of stuff never made it on  the table), and also that balanced lists don't often win. If I could have had more on the table, including mortars and artillery, I would have been able to take back the objective.

           Also, US armor is finally viable with the book Blood, Guts, and Glory. We had 20 or 30 Shermans that never got used because they were bad. Now, with Jumbos and Easy Eights, they are a force to reckon with. Jumbos keep the tanks alive, and Easy Eights shoot very well, moving and firing without penalty. Both were proxied this game, sadly. We have had bad weather lately, so we can't get outside to prime the tanks for painting.

          Happy holidays, and see you again soon.

Veterans' Wars at the Local Club

Every November, my (relatively--it's still an hour away) local club runs a three day mini convention called Veterans' Wars, in honor of those who served. I went down on Saturday this year and played in a couple of games-- I tried to storm the American trenches in World War I, then I tried to attack Rorke's Drift as the Zulus. Both games were a lot of fun. Here are the pictures!

The Germans move up on the trenches after a deadly gas barrage.



In the next couple of turns, we will be in the trenches, hopefully.



On the other flank, tanks line up on either side of the trenches.



In the center, the assault on the MG bunker does not go well.

Now, the Americans have brought down artillery, on their men as well as ours. More detonated harmlessly on the hill behind us.

I have taken the trenches.

There is still plenty of hard fighting still to come.

At this point the battle is hard to call.

The Germans have made slight gains, but there is much still to do.

Now the Germans take the trenches on the other flank as well.

they have made two breaches in the line.

We attacked,  but we were beaten off.

The bunker still will not fall, no matter how much force we throw at it.

At this point the afternoon games were beginning, so we called it in favor of the Americans.

More time and we could have done it, I think. We were close.

Now, I take the Zulus and assault Rorke's Drift in the British Colonial era. The game is based on the movie Zulu!, and it is a fun and fast playing game designed by my father.

The Zulus first hit the compound. Only a couple fall.

We wounded a Brit and set the building on fire.

Now, we begin to circle around.

The British strip whole segments of the line.

We line up for hand to hand action on the rocky slope.

A view of the hospital. Some of those men will be in for a long time!

The British fall back in the face of the second wave.

Zulus converge on the kraal, then fall back.

We gear up for the third and final wave of Zulus.

Wounded men finally serve on the line.

The Zulus have been beaten back.

None left, and they are very likely to fail morale.

Both sides have been  greatly reduced in number. 34 British and untold numbers of Zulus have perished. The British have persevered, but not for the Zulus' want of trying. One more wave would hve done it.

 

These were a couple of good games. I may have lost both of them, but it's more fun to attack anyway.

I shall have a report or three up next month, but none more this month as I am headed to California for Thanksgiving!