Flames of War Nationals AAR

FOW Nationals was a blast. Here's a very brief AAR of my 7 games.

Also check out me and Lydia's blog: Mac Fam.

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I had a great time at Nationals! I got home exhausted and fried, but here is a brief batrep. I wound up 14th overall. I won 4 of my 7 games, so I am quite happy. All 7 of my opponents were great guys, not a single "bad" game in the lot (even game 7 was enjoyable for sheer WTF value).

My List:
US 2nd Armored Division Armored Rifles
HQ with extra bazooka
3 full AR Platoons
Mortars (2 tubes)
4 Shermans
5 Stuarts

GAME ONE- HOLD THE LINE VS MIKE MCMANN'S PIONEERS
Mike was running German Pioneers with 2 platoons (1 understrength), Fallschirmjaeger, 4 Brummbars, 2 King Tigers, HQ mortars & HMGs, self propelled AA.

Mike did an excellent job doing a retrograde withdrawal, bloodying my nose and backing up while still contesting the objective. Neither one of us actually lost any platoons, but the clock did run out and though I had him compartmentalized, his platoons were expertly interlaced and mine were now spread too thin to really make a good showing of it. Excellent opponent, and he deserved to go on to win the whole shebang. 1 - 6 for me.

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GAME TWO- ENCOUNTER VS STEPHAN CALLAHAN'S ARMORED RIFLES
blue on blue already? After a very bumpy start, I was eager to make a comeback. Evidently after my bad performance the brass decided the 2nd Armored Div needed some additional training, so I went up against Steve's 2nd Armored Division Armored Rifles.

His list was similar to mine, except he dropped the 3rd ARP for M10 TDs, and dropped the Stuarts for recon and airplanes.

Basically I ran up his left flank with Stuarts, and ran an ARP. His M10s and Shermans combined knocked out the Stuarts, but by that time my Shermans, plus 2 ARPs were swarming his objective and eventually pushed him off. As was usual for the tournament Steve was a great opponent, and despite the crummy blue on blue match up, the game wound up being pretty fun. 5 - 2 for me.

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GAME THREE- BREAKOUT VS KIM SKOV'S PANZERREGIMENT BAKE
Kim's list consisted of Bake in his panther, 3 panthers, 3 Tigers, an infantry platoon, and a panzerspah patrol.
Kim made a much better showing of this battle than I expected. Panthers just don't last against 3 full armored rifle platoons. I was able to quickly take the center, and then it was just a matter of holding it. Kim crippled 2 of my 3 armored rifles and kept me on my toes, but eventually the mass of bazookas brought down the majority of his list. 6 - 1.

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GAME FOUR- FIGHTING WITHDRAWAL VS ???'S STURMKOMPANIE
(Sorry, can't remember a name. I think it was Mike?)
His Sturm list consisted of 2 platoons, HMGs, 2 platoons of 2 pak 40s, 15cm artillery, pioneers, and 3x stugs.

My Stuarts really were the stars of this show. They single handedly knocked out his 15cm artillery, a platoon of pak 40s, a strum platoon, and the majority of his pioneers. In the end an aggressive push up the right flank and a slow push up the left saw me capturing an objective. 6 - 1.

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GAME FIVE- FREE FOR ALL VS ????'S PANZER LEHR PANZERGRENADIERS
Again I can't remember a name, I was fried by this point. His lehr panzegrenadier list was phenomenal: HQ, 2 full platoons, Pumas, 3 Panthers, nebelwerfers, and SPAA. My Armored Rifles made an aggressive push along both sides after my Stuarts charged forward on turn one and knocked out his nebelwerfers. Though i did lose the stuarts to the panthers and Pumas, getting rid of those nebelwerfers was great- those things always chew me up. Pumas fell to mass bazookas, and in the end the panthers also fell to bazooka fire after a failed storm trooper. I can't remember if I captured an objective or not, but his company was below half. I lost my Stuarts and mortar carriers to a lucky volley from the panthers. 4-3.

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GAME SIX- BREAKTHROUGH VS JOE BIASCO'S PIONEERS
This was a phenomenal game, and Joe is a great opponent. Joe's list was 2 pioneer platoons, 4 brummbars, 2 King Tigers, and SPAA. I almost had him wrapped up, and given 2 more turns I would have. Joe was definitely saved by the clock, although we did get in a lot of turns and he certainly wasn't stalling. Moral of this story: Goliaths are mean. 3 - 4.

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GAME SEVEN- HASTY ASAULT VS NED MERRICK'S STUGS
Ugh, this game was terrible. Ned was a great opponent, but his list was also the kryptonite to my armored rifles. Not only that but the terrain was blobbly and patchy, allowing no way for my armored rifles to maneuver effectively. My dice also went south, though I really had no effective strategy either. Game ended 1 - 6.

In all, I wound up in 14th place overall. Not too bad. I started day 3 in the top 10 easily, but crashed and burned on the exhausting day 3.

Though there are some grumblings about the blue on blue and generally low density/quality of the terrain, I had 7 great games and zero regrets. Looking forward to next year!