| Tom was also looking to get an East Front game in, and was especially excited with the price drop in Panzergrenadiers. So I ran the list Joe used against me in our previous game, while he opted to try some Panzergrenadiers. After the board was laid out- we rolled The Big Push! Tom is a softie and knowing the river gave him a massive advantage he A) Decided to make the river a bog check only (normally we run it as Very Difficult) and B) did not put mines/tank traps on the one bridge across the river. His forces were holding and waiting for friendly forces to cross before blowing the bridge- but the soviets advanced far more quickly! Now- this won't have the usual turn breakdown. Frankly, I was way too exhausted to keep up with pictures after a very long day! So the pictures will tell the story! |
Steven's Forward Detachment
| Tom's Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiers
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| The board. Tom decided to keep all of his halftracks on the board- a decision which paid off in spades! |
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| The men hold the bridge, waiting for their comrades. |
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| Panzergrenadiers are ready to mount up and pull back at a moment's notice. |
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| Pak 40s keep a watchful eye on the bridge. |
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| But the Soviet advance is going better than expected! The Forward Detachment comes to ahalt as it nears the river, calling in corps artillery to soften up the enemy. |
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| Freshly captured Stugs are brought forward in an attempt to infiltrate the enemy position. |
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| T-34/85s cram down the road, ready to slam themselves across the bridge. |
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| The tank escorts hop on after a few shots of vodka for courage! |
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| The infantry is able to sneak up and infiltrate the enemy positions! |
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| The Germans weather the preliminary bombardment in relatively good shape. |
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| With a Shout, the men race forward! SU-152s are brought up to clear the Pillboxes. |
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| T-34s form a phalanxe and gun it for the bridge. |
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| 2 HS-129B3s swoop in! It doesn't look good for the soviets! |
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| But only a single tank goes up in flames!! |
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| The Soviet advance. The HMG pillboxes and remounted halftracks tear into the soviet infantry as they attempt to cross the river. |
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| T-34s cross the bridge 2 by 2! |
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| Soviets assault across the wire, driving panzergrenadiers back after knocking out a halftrack! |
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| T-34s crash into the position. |
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| A single HS129 fires MGs on the soviet troops, but cause no casualties! |
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| The Pnzergrenadiers fall back into their secondary trench. Pak 40s tear open another T-34. |
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| The situation is grim as no German reserves arrive. |
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| A flurry of action occurs as Decoy Stugs slam into the Panzergrenadiers, but are annihilated in a counter attack! |
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| Over the trenches! |
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| T-34s again slam into enemy positions, this time breaking a unit and driving the others back. |
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| At this point, Tom rolls for reserves- gets none and decides he can't possibly retake the objective held by the tanks. |
| Had Tom put a tank trap or mines on the bridge he probably would've won, to be honest. I thought my tanks had no chance of assaulting that position, but when they knocked out the Pak 40s, I knew they had to go for it! Pretty fun mission, though I do apologize for the bottleneck of the road (between difficult plowed fields) and the bridge forcing me to run my T-34s like a Roman shield wall. The halftracks were pretty awesome! very few were lost in the actual combat, but they kept my tank escorts from swinging very reliably! |
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