by Craig Baxter
The crew at the WWPD Northern Research Station is gearing up for their annual fall tournament. To prep for the tournament we dusted off our figures after a summer of camping and fishing and had a Flame of War games day in my garage. I busted out the always reliable Panzer Grenadiers and faced off against my buddy Kyle's Cossacks in surrounded.
My German List
Kyle's Cossacks
Kyle lined up his entire army, except his ZiS-3s, on one half of the board.
Cossacks ready for the charge
76mm guns prepare for the attack...
...while my Germans hunker down around the villa
Ready to move out at a moments notice, a trio of Panzer III Js and my captured KV-1 - otherwise known as Katharine the Great - prepare to counter the Russian assault.
Grenadiers in the church dig in
Suddenly, a might shout and blow of a Cossack's ram's horn starts the battle. Cossacks come screaming at the Germans, full gallop.
Their war cry is supported by the rumbling of T-34s and more Cossacks on foot
The Russians score their first kill of the game and knock out a self propelled Quad 2cm...
...however badly needed artillery fails to find its mark, it's shells falling short of their target
The German artillery is much more successful. My 75mm infantry guns range in on the charging Cossacks and manage to knock out five stands, including their command team.
Panzer IIIs and Katharine, supported by 88s begin shredding the Soviet armor.
The Soviets force their way into my defenses
Finally, the Soviet artillery hits my Pak 38s. They fail to kill anything, but pin the German guns.
More Soviet tanks explode as the German armor stomps them like a jack boot to a mouse.
Katharine the Great faces down a sizable Soviet force without fear.
The 75mm infantry guns find their mark again and send more Soviets to their grave.
Burning T-34s illuminate the battlefield.
Cossacks on foot burst from the vineyard and run into a wall of MG-42 fire.
While the battle rages, my sole surviving Quad 2cm sneaks up on the Soviet artillery, knocking out three guns in a single round of shooting.
The Soviet armor assault fails to materialize.
Soviet bodies pile high and the Grenadiers pour on the fire.
Brave Grenadiers assault bailed T-34s and come out victorious.
The few remaining Cossacks make a dash for the objective, but the CiC and 2iC are killed in the process
The last Soviet T-34 drives recklessly into the Germans, but is knocked out before his can reach the objective.
The game was a blood bath for the Soviets. Poor Kyle suffered from what I call the course of the red dice. His Soviet dice could not roll hits or saves all night. Meanwhile, my German dice were hotter than Buffalo Wings on game day. Kyle only managed to kill one infantry team and one Quad 2cm. Meanwhile all that remained of his army was two stands of Cossacks and a single artillery gun.
6-1 Victory Germans.
The game was still a lot of fun and I was able to give Kyle a little feed back on his list. I recommended he better use cover to protect this cavalry on his approach, instead of running head long into a German force dug in and hedge hogged like Sonic.
“Craig Baxter is the Director of the WWPD Northern Research center in Anchorage, AK. When he’s not contributing to WWPD.net and Boltaction.net, he is busy blogging, painting, modeling and rolling dice."
