Hold the Line was rolled for the mission and Paul "won" the dice roll to attack.
229th Separate Tank Regiment
HQ Sherman M4A2
8x Sherman M4A2 w/tankos
8x Sherman M4A2 w/tankos (reserve)
2x SU-152 (ambush)
3x BA-10M (reserve)
I'm not 100% solid on Paul's panzerkompanie.
Best guess -
Mittlere Panzerkompanie
HQ Pz IIIJ, Pz IVF2, Famo
3x Pz IVF1
4x Pz IIIJ
3x Pz IVF2
4x Pz 38(t)
2x SdKfz 7(20mm Flak)
The battleground with me defending the close table edge. Paul slapped his objective on the other side of the river bend. I thought I was screwed when he did that because the whole area was open. I considered if I made the right choice for table side to defend.
I place my objective in the trees. Paul painted the objective as a smoking Su-152; I hoped it wasn't a bad omen.
And away we go! Game starts. Paul starts by bogging 2 of this tanks in the forest. FAMO trundles over, avoids a bog, to help out.
Panzer III platoon says "Cya!" to the bogged tanks.
I doubled my Sherman platoon into the village, hiding behind buildings and seeking concealment. See the group of 3 tanks facing the building? Okay, now look at the middle tank. That boy didn't move the rest of the game for various reasons. It got crowded and there was no place to put him without putting him in the open and losing concealment for the rest of the platoon. That tank didn't shoot or move and the crew just picked their nose the whole game. =)
Pz 38(t)'s making a dash down Paul's right flank past the 2iC burning tank.
Paul second point of attack reaches the road. I manage to pick off a tank using the 32" range of the Sherman 75mm. It's a big difference versus a T-34's 76mm range of 24". Pauls Pz III's can't hurt me at 32".
Paul's cat, looking for belly rubs between turns.
At this point I realize I have nothing to contest an objective once Paul's tanks reach it. I send the dismounted tankos out into the open and racing towards the objective. They suffer heavily, but rally from pinning and proceed towards the objective.
Paul's F1's smoke a couple of my Shermans, while the Pz 38(t) go for the flank. This first platoon of Shermans did yeoman's work, scored good kills on Paul's forces.
It's been about 2 turns, no reserves for me and I'm holding onto my ambush.
Paul sneaking to the edge of the village. We try to snipe one another. Paul leaves a couple of tanks in the open, which means no concealment.
Reserves arrive. I form a gunline. This formation is bad news if artillery or airpower is present.
Tanko survivors hang onto the objective.
Paul's forces take a withering fire. Not shown in the screen is the decimated Pz III platoon with its lone survivor fleeing the board. Paul picked up the burning hulks because he knew the end was near.
What's not apparent in the photos is how close Paul is to winning. His AA flak platforms kept blowing apart the tankos. I had nothing to contest that objective. I waited too long to pop my ambush, otherwise the Su-152's would be in that forest.
The Pz 38(t)'s eventually sneak into the forest (I back 4 tanks into the forest - bogging 1 - after this photo to counter the flanking maneuver) and get side shots on the Shermans. He finds out that AT6 versus SA4, doesn't work too well. I make my saves and then rotate the turrets and blow apart the 38t's.
What slowed down the 38(t)'s were the BA-10's, who skirted around the other side of the forest to threaten them. It cost Paul a couple of turns to deal with them (making them Disengage twice).
I pop the Su-152's on Turn 4. They blow up the CiC with FP1+. Paul is down too many platoons and auto-fails.
Game to the 229th!
I'm getting used to the 229th. The trick is to make sure I am focusing all my fire on one platoon at a time. I want at least 5 tanks firing. When the platoon is stationary, I was rolling 10-14 dice at a time. Even if I need 6's, I'm going to get 1 or 2 and with FP 3+, there's a good chance a panzer is going to die.
Another thing I learned - the tankos aren't sacrificial lambs. I was close to morale checks with the 1st platoon. If Paul killed a couple more tankos, I ran the risk of the Sherman platoon failing morale and leaving even though they only lost 2 tanks.
The 2nd platoon's gunline was devastating. 16 dice of goodness roaring down range made short work of that flank and kept the objective from being claimed.
Paul also failed all of his platoon checks. A bit of bad luck there. There's also the matter of a couple of failed Stormtrooper rolls that left the F1 and IIIJ tank platoons in the open and exposed.
Paul's fun to play with and his fiance was gracious enough to cook a Thai meal. Yum!!!
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