Eric Turner came down for a visit from Boston, and we decided to get in a little game of
Flames of War before
Historicon. We rolled up a Fair Fight Mission of Dust Up.
We are continuing our efforts to use a bit less terrain in our games - this board is no exception.
Eric's 7th Armoured Squadron
Jon's Whittmann Heavy SS Panzers
Eric hides the Cromwells from the long range of the Tigers.
Infantry cover one of the objectives.
Tigers set up to cover an objective and shoot at British armour.
Infantry sitting on an objective with halftracks ready to provide MG support.
TURN 1
The infantry digs in. That's about it for the Germans. Exciting.
Eric gets planes. This will be a recurring theme....
The Brit infantry double-times toward the town.
TDs move through the woods as the Cromwells cower. Note that German reinforcements arrive from the area just to the south of these tanks.
Tigers get hit, but only one Bailed Out.....this time.
TURN 2
Jon springs Whittmann, moves up and MGs the heck out of the Brit infantry, pinning them. The waiting game continues.
The infantry don't unpin.
Eric gets planes and bombs a Tiger. This is going to be a looooong day without any AAA.
TURN 3
Whittmann moves up and shoots the heck out of some Cromwells in the open.....
...killing two.
Planes rush in....again...
A Brit Armoured Troop rushes in from Reserves and gets some side-shots, bailing a Tiger.
...with one plane, Whittmann survives.
I roll a deuce, and the Tiger Platoon is off. Damn.
TURN 4
Infantry rushes out to kill the Tommy Tanks. Note, I have two Tank-Hunters in there, but am using Schreck stands as substitutes.
Whittmann swings around and shoots the heck out of some Tanks.
Eric has freakin' kid-luck in defensive fire - 4 hits, 4 kills. Really?
...and, of course I fail to counter-attack. Did I get the Reluctant troops by mistake?
"Brit Infantry in the town!"
SP AT assets just wait in the woods.
Surprise! The Tommys rule the skies! My Reserves get me 3 Panzer IVs, which move up into cover.
The M10s move out to challenge Panzer IVs.
TURN 5
Overview of the board.
Tigers roll in from Reserves. I consider trying to shoot the Cromwell/Firefly platoon to force a check, but instead opt to hit the high-AT assets with both platoons.
Let's hope the Panzer IVs hit....
Tigers move to engage the M10s at close range. Note: We are playing out of the old D-Day books, so AT 13 for the M10s.
On the German right, Whittmann engages the Firefly...
...with predictable results.
The infantry tries to recover to a decent defensive position. There are reports of Tommy Recon assets in the area....
With only one M10 knocked out, this return fire is sure to hurt.
But, Eric can't roll dice. Three bails!
An amazing trick of "leaner" by Eric.
TURN 6
I bog a Tiger, but one engages.
Stuarts run up and wipe out the infantry. Whittmann is all that is left on the German right.
TURN 6
Whittmann kills off the Stuart platoon.
Whittmann pulls back with a stormtrooper to cover both objectives. This is not looking good.
The M10s engage the Tiger platoon on the German left. This is probably going to be bad.
Brit planes wipe out the Panzer IVs.
TURN 7
The Tiger platoon fights on down one tank. The M10s are hurting.
Whittmann shoots up the newly arrived Brit infantry.
Somehow, Eric sneaks a 2iC around to the objective. There are now two platoons of infantry and the 2iC fighting Whittmann for two objectives.
TURN 8
The lone Tiger kills off the M10 platoon.
Whittmann bails the 2iC, saving the game...for now.
The last Tiger platoon is destroyed, leaving only Whittmann.
Whittmann fights on against amazing odds.
We finally call this game. Whittmann alone cannot win. 4-3 for the Brits.
Thoughts: These lists are "fun lists". Even in the old books, the Tiger just isn't all that in large numbers. I think the Tiger is much better in fairly low numbers as part of a combined force. Replacing one of the Tiger platoons with something else would make this list much better.
The planes really did perform well. This is partially due to the rather open terrain we played on by choice, and v3 rules. I prefer a little more terrain that this board, but this looks much closer to what I have seen used by Battlefront. The RV tanks worked even better than I thought.
