MW AAR: 229th Sep Tank Reg vs Finns

Daniel and I played Roadblock last month.

Initially I wanted to play 1,500 pts, but Daniel would have none of that and wanted 1,750pts. I threw in 200pts of Sporadic Sturmies to bring my force up from 1,495 to 1,695. The night was getting late and I didn't want to bother with the other 55pts.

Here's my force:

229th Separate Tank Regiment
HQ Sherman
8x Shermans
8x Shermans
3x BA-10M's
2x SU-152's
Limited Sturmoviks

Daniel ran the tank Finn force.

By memory he had:

2x KV-1E's
4x T-28's
4x T-26's
1x Platoon of Pioneers
2x BT-42's
1x Platoon of mortars
2x Flak vehicles

I'm sure I am forgetting the rest of his force.

Onto the battle. Roadblock has the attacker select a platoon to ambush. Daniel pleaded and whined and finally I decided on the T-26's. The T-26 and T-28 had the same gun, so I went with the platoon with weaker armor to wipe them out.

The Shermans ambushed, while Daniel had the KV-1's escort the T-26's.


The Road

Mid-War AAR: 229th vs Mittlere PzKp

Paul invited me over to his place for a game of FOW. It took a couple of weeks for a weekend to free up, but we got a game in two weeks ago.

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!!!

SU-152 Assault Guns

Maus Haus III is coming up this Labor Day Weekend (Sep 4-5).

It's a 1,750pt Mid War tournament. In order to boost the 229th Separate Tank Regiment from 1,500 to 1,750, I've added two SU-152 assault guns. There is much debate on the usefulness of Conscript SU-152s. If its gun hits anything, it's dead. Even Tigers will need to give it respect. I plan on using the unit for overwatch and just to give an opponents armor something to worry about.

I used Model Master's spray can of Medium Green. My can of Army Painter dark shade "went bad", so I used Games Workshop's Badab Black for a wash. I hand painted (did a poor "K") the cyrillic. It roughly translates to "Bite Me", in honor of Bart Simpson.

229th vs Pete's Panzergrenadiers - Turns 6 and Conclusion

Only Pete's grenadiers stood in the way of the objective once the AT ambush was eliminated.

Pete was free to pull his Marders away from the removed objective and he did so last turn. The surviving Shermans of the Right Flank Platoon moved their 6", trying to get a clear LOS at the Marders between the small hill and the trees. Two tanks had good LOS. Amazingly one Marder was hit and destroyed.

Meanwhile, the Left Flank platoon moved up, managed 2 Main Gun hits and 2 MG hits on the dug in grenadiers. Pete made all his saves.

Assault phase.

I won't add any more pics. It was back and forth and back and forth.

1st round, I don't kill anything. Pete passes tank fear and charges.
2nd round, I kill 2 stands and Pete's Panzerknacker kills 1 M4.
3rd round, I kill 1 stand, Panzerknacker kills another M4.
4th round, I kill 1 and Pete kills 2 M4's. (this is getting ugly)
5th round, I miss and Pete's bails an M4.
6th round, I remount and kill 1 stand. Pete bails another M4.
7th round, I kill 1 stand and he bails. I fail motivation and break off.

I think Pete's CO with the Panzerknacker killed or bailed all the tanks except 1.

Conscript tanks need more than 6 tanks before assaulting dug in grenadiers.

Pete rolled extremely well, though, he admitted. It didn't seem that way to me. I thought Pete's dice rolling was right about average during the assault.

Left Platoon is wiped or captured. Right Platoon is in no condition to contest the far objective.

Game over.

Good game, Pete!

I do hope visitors enjoyed the AAR using Battle Chronicler. I'm sure some of you would have preferred the AAR all in one post. Perhaps in the future when my AAR skills improve. I took copious amounts of notes and pictures to build the maps and then to describe the turn by turn action.

I think Battle Chronicler is a great tool and I'll certainly try to do another AAR with it soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

229th vs Pete's Panzergrenadiers - Turns 4 and 5

229th Turn 4


After surviving the ambush relatively unscathed, the Left Flank Platoon advances (6", thank you very much Hen & Chick) to confront the AT gun ambush. I manage 2 hits with 75mm main guns and 3 hits with machine guns. It's enough to destroy two AT guns and pin the surviving gun.

The Right Flank platoon risk bogging to advance to the edge of the trees. They all make the short trip without bogging. The orphaned tank behind them fails his Skill Test and remains bogged. I can't get too aggressive with the three Marders lurking. However, I felt the threat of Right Flank Platoon might keep his Marders from shifting to help the grenadiers.

Pete's Grenadiers Turn 4


Pete pulls the objective on the right flank. Also, he begins moving his 2nd Grenadier platoon to assist their comrades manning the left flank.

In a very spiteful act, the surviving AT gun unpins, then unloads on the Left Flank Platoon, achieving 3 hits and killing the Platoon Leader and another Sherman. Ouch!!!


229th Turn 5


Left Flank Platoon removes the last AT gun after more of tanks move up. The command section of the AT guns fails motivation and leaves the board.

Right Flank Platoon sits tight because the Marders are still behind the hill.

Pete's Grenadiers Turn 5


Pete's 2nd grenadier platoon marches to help the other grenadiers. In the meantime, the Marders make their move. With no objective to defend, Pete leaves to go help out his threatened flank.


Next up...the climatic conclusion to the battle.

229th vs Pete's Panzergrenadiers - Turns 2 and 3

229th Turn 2


Left and right flanks advance, using trees to shield them.

Pete's Turn 2


Or so I thought. Pete's Marders advance around the trees and take out an M4A2, then stormtrooper towards the small hill. Nebelwerfers range in and manage to bail a Sherman.


229th Turn 3


Shermans on the left flank skirt the edge of the forest. The bailed crew thinks being outside a rocket bombardment is very bad and hop back into their tank.

On the right flank, the Shermans take the risky option of moving through the forest. All tanks make it except the Platoon Leader, who bogs. He promptly hops out of his tank and takes over another tank so the platoon can keep moving.

Pete's Turn 3


Pete springs his PaK38 50mm AT gun ambush. He gets 6 hits on 9 shots (ROF 3 for each gun) and bails 1 Sherman. I make 5 armor saves.

Pete also elects to withdraw the Nebels from the board. Marder III's move back behind the small hill.

229th vs Pete's Panzergrenadiers - Turn 1

Here's Turn 1 courtesy of Battle Chronicler. The "bending" movement arrows are a new feature of the Beta version.


229th Turn 1


On the left flank, the CiC led the other 7 M4's behind the trees by moving 12". Pete's nebels failed to range in on the group.

Switching to the right flank, the 6 M4's moved 12", using the hill as cover.


Panzergrenadiers Turn 1


Pete's nebels failed to range in on the left flank group of tanks. No other action on this side of the table. I knew the AT gun ambush is still out there and waiting for me.

The understrength platoon lost one of their number when the Marder III's popped from behind the small hill and killed one M4A2. The Marders them failed their Stormtrooper skill test, but it wouldn't matter because I wasn't going to stop moving 12" for a long range shot needing 5's to hit on my shooting phase next turn.

229th vs Pete's Panzergrenadiers - Deployment

The Realm was hopping on Wednesday. Several FOW people were there and were either painting, modeling or creating buildings. Daniel and Paul had a big Strelkovy vs Finns game scheduled for later, but Pete was game enough to give me a game. I had brought my daughter with me because she wanted to see what I do with all the models tanks in my collection. Before the game was set up, she noticed there was a beading store in the same strip mall and was out the door and spent the next 2 hours over there. Girls!

Pete and I decided on a 1,000pt game. I originally suggested 600pts, but Pete said it's easier for him to slap together a 1,000pt force.

229th Separate Tank Regiment

HQ - M4A2
Company 1 - 7x M4A2
Company 2 - 6x M4A2

Pete's Grenadiers

HQ
Grenaider Platoon - 7 stands
Grenaider Platoon - 7 stands
AT Platoon - 3xPak38 50cm ROF3 - in ambush
Nebelwerfers - 2 launchers
Tank Hunters - 3x Marder IIIM

We rolled up Fighting Withdrawal.

Pete put his objective in the center (can't be removed) and I placed my two objectives on the flank to spread out his forces.

I arrived at the Realm with camera and notepad. I wanted to takes notes and then put the notes and pics to good use and create an AAR using Battle Chronicler.

Below is an exported map of the Deployment. (click on picture for 100% version)




Turns 1 and 2 to follow soon.

ORCCON Tune Up

On Wednesday, I was at The Realm in Brea, CA. ORCCON 2010 was going to start in a few days at the LAX Radisson Hotel. One of the main events is a 2-man team Mid War tournament. Each member of the team brings a force of 1,000 points to square off against other teams in 5 battles over President's Day Weekend.