Jon and I got together for a game. We decided to play 1750 MW and unfortunately our wires were crossed on whether we were playing East or West Front. Jon thought East and I thought West so it wasn't the themed game we had originally intended. We went with a mildly open board with more open areas, but wheat fields and buildings to provide the majority of cover. The mission was Pincer and I was the defender.
Jon's List:
Luke's List:
I deployed the rear objective towards the center and of my objective deployment areas as we have talked about in several Know the Missions. Jon placed his about as far forward as he could.
I deployed one ARP on the table, Tank Destroyers and the Lee's were in ambush.
Jon comes streaming up in a two pronged attack to threaten both sides. My reserves would be coming in on my right flank.
I have grown to expect Jon aggressively using recon to shut down my optimal ambush sites.
Jon very quickly gets his force into position. He dismounts during his stormtrooper move on turn 1.
A lot of shots but no casualties for the Americans on the first round of German shooting.
I go all in on turn one revealing my Tank Destroyer and Lee's from ambush on my left flank in order to maximize my total number of shots to eliminate the most pressing threat, the captured T-34's.
Bailed 1 T-34 and killed 2, but he makes his motivation and the platoon stays. Lucky shots on the recon kills them both, even though they tried to disengage. I was also able to get a couple of kills on that advancing infantry.
Jon presses forward and goes into a dicey assault on the ARP. If he can push them back I will not be able to get the bulk of my force over in time to save the objective.
I kill 1 in defensive fire and he bogs two tanks. The ARP motivate to counter-assault and kill the remainder of the platoon.
This looks ugly on the right. It was a bold move, but just didn't pay off.
Jon pulls back his tanks on the left and moves the infantry into the cover of the woods. I roll some great saves against his artillery and now the TD's and Lee's move up in my turn 2.
I kill his command tank, but am unable to do any damage to the T-34.
On his turn he rains some artillery on my tanks and TD's. He ends up killing a TD and a Lee!
He starts to put a lot of shots into the ARP, but they are still holding strong.
I advance the armor and TD's and kill the last remaining T-34. No reserves for me.
Jon kills another ARP stand, but they are far from having to test. Unfortunately for Jon there is not much he can do at this point. His artillery was not effective this turn.
My turn four saw my recon come in which moved directly behind his SPAA. Lots of MG and .50 cal shots saw them destroyed.
Jon has to take a motivation test at the start of his round and with no CiC or 2iC the game goesto me 6-1.
Final thoughts.
Luke - Jon was going for more of a themed East Front list and I brought a mean American ARP. His list was a fun list and mine was much more aggressive and optimized. He did everything he could have done considering the circumstances. Unfortunately, it was not a matter of his skill or game play that caused the loss. Next time I will get the parameters of the game right and we can have a much more enjoyable game.
