BRITISH MOTOR INFANTRY
HQ + sticky Bombs
Full Motor Platoon + Sticky Bombs
Full Motor Platoon + Sticky Bombs
HMG Platoon
Scout Patrol
Kingforce Armored Platoon
8 Gun RHA Battery
PANZERPIONEERS
HQ
Full Panzerpioneer Platoon + Supply Truck
Full Panzerpioneer Platoon + Supply Truck
Full Panzerpioneer Platoon
3x Panzer III N
2x Stug F/8
Light Panzerspah Patrol
I knew off the bat that I was lacking artillery- I plan to try dropping the panzerspah patrol for some nebelwerfers, I just don't have any painted for the desert :) Conversely, Sean knew he was heavily investing in his artillery. Without further ado- the battle report!
The board as seen from the German board edge. 2x Panzerpioneers occupy the town and the oasis area. Objectives are just to the left of the fork in the road, and just to the right of the oasis. Panzer III Ns are in immediate ambush. Sean deploys his RHA Battery in the top right, churchills in the olive grove in the top center, and a Motor Platoon behind the ridge to the left (offscreen). Both supply trucks are traded in to get 1 minefield and 3 barbed wire obstacles.
The Motor infantry deep in the German deployment area. They are backed up by the British HQ.
The ever reliable RHA digs in.
Churchills crash through an olive grove.
Panzerpioneers hold the oasis.
Another panzerpioneer platoon holds the supply depot.
Panzer III Ns spring their immediate ambush in the town.
And move out under the watchful eye of an RHA observer.
Immediately British reserves arrive- another motor platoon moves towards the olive grove occupied by the churchills.
On the German left, Motor infantry moves out!
The RHA fires a murder on the defenders, knocking out a stand!
Panzer IIIs swing around behind the sneaky motor infantry.
A lucky shot knocks out the RHA observer.
The RHA continues to hammer the panzerpioneers' position.
The Motor infantry turns to face the Panzers.
But the Panzers greedily surround the British with MGs blazing!
More reserves arrive. Scouts come racing up the road.
The British charge the panzers!
A combined attack force finally trundles forward to the wire.
RHA fire continues to fall on the panzerpioneers, but no further damage is done.
The British are repulsed by defensive fire.
Achtung! Englanders!
The first German reserves arrive. Stugs take position in the town.
The Panzers continue to chew into the British infantry.
Churchills crush the barbed wire clearing the way for the infantry!
The panzerpioneers retreat! A combined wave of shells, tanks, and infantry approach like a tidal wave!
The British win an assault against one platoon of panzerpioneers, killing 2 stands before the panzerpioneers fall back.
On the left, the british platoon is ground down and destroyed though the company commander remains.
The Germans enact a bloody counter assault! Unfortunately, Sean's Churchills were a little too close (within 4" of enemy troops in terrain) and received no defensive fire! Combined fire from 4 SMG teams + panzerpioneers and stugs pinned down the British defenders. The assault goes back and forth for several turns with heavy losses on both side. In the end it came down to one panzerpioneer platoon leader vs a motor infantry platoon leader!
And the Germans are victorious! One panzerpioneer platoon is mauled to just above half strength. The other is knocked down to a single stand. The British motor infantry is wiped out and the churchills lose 2 tanks.
The remaining churchill fails motivation and runs away. The lone panzerpioneer team passes his sole survivor check later and is pulled from the board.
More German reserves arrive, and overwhelm an RHA observer.
Sean contests an objective with his scouts, but the Stugs are plenty close enough to get into range of it.
A stug moves down the road.
The Panzer IIIs, having dispatched of the motor infantry, double times forward to push into British territory.
Panzerpioneers approach the RHA from another flank.
A stug moves up to contest, and swiftly knocks out a carrier.
RHA fires a stonk on the Stugs, but to no avail.
Panzerpioneers move forward, ready to assault the RHA!
Panzer IIIs move forward to pick at the RHA from cover.
But just following that, the stugs knock out another carrier, and the platoon fails motivation. This puts Sean below half with no company commander and his company breaks.
6-1 to the Germans.
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
I really like the panzerpioneer list. Small, elite, and very hard hitting. I never even got the armored cars from reserve, but they may be useful. It would be nice to have some smoke or artillery though. Not sure how I feel about the stugs either- for 340 points they are a pricey investment. But they can deal with just about any allied armor short of churchills.
Sean decided his HMG platoon is going to be cut, and the RHA is going to be scaled back to make room for a Sherman platoon.
