In a recently FTX I got to take my Greek army for a spin for the first time. Played a couple of games and managed to snap pictures of one of them. It was a great learning experienced since the Greeks play differently than the Russian and German armies I am used to fielding. The Greeks have limited options for unit selections, which is mostly of dudes with rifles and artillery. Lucky for me a good infantry force and artillery is never a bad option.
For terrain I wanted to go for a Northern Greece look. Much of the fighting that took place in Greece occurred in the winter and early spring. It also occurred in the mountainous north of the country. The battlefield had a small bombed out village by stone walls, with some limited tree cover, a vineyard, olive grove, and lots of tall rocky hills and ridges. For those wondering were I got the rocky outcroppings and stone formations, they came from the woods and the wild areas near my house.
Hellenic (Greek) Land Army:
1 x Regular 1st Lieutenant + Staff
1 x Regular 2nd Lieutenant + Staff
Inexperienced Light Mortar
Inexperienced Medium Mortar
Regular Heavy Howitzer
Regular Medium Howitzer
3 x Mountain Troops (8men, VB, LMG)
2 x Inexperienced Squads (10 men, LMG)
Regular Sniper
Regular FT-17
German Army:
Regular 1st Lieutenant
Regular Mortar with spotter
Veteran Infantry Squad (LMG, SMG, 3 Fausts)
Veteran Infantry Squad (LMG, 2 SMG)
Veteran Infantry (LMG, SMG)
Regular Infantry (LMG, SMG)
2 Regular Trucks
Panzer II Veteran
SdKfz 222 Regular
Regular Quad 2cm
I should note that before the game me and Nemesis A agreed that LMGs would 5pts each like Judson and Danno discussed in the last Speakeasy.
We decided to use the mission found in the Tank War book and rolled up four objectives.
Greek sniper takes up position in a bombed out house.
Inexperience Greek recruits move to secure the vineyard.
Greek solider prepare their artillery positions.
Greek regulars advance toward the enemy.
German troops secure the olive grove.
The quad deploys its guns.
German armor advances across the creek.
The Greek recruits move to oppose the invaders.
Hits from the quad cut down three crew from the heavy howitzer.
Greeks and Germans exchange fire.
More Germans advance into the village.
German armor moves up the road and toward the Greeks on the hill.
Greek artillery knocks out the quad.
Fearing the Panzer IIs auto cannon the recruits take up position behind an outcropping of rocks.
Greek soldiers oppose the German advance.
The FT-17 moves in and spays the Germans with gun fire.
Combined fire from the German armor is concentrated on the Greek recruits.
German mortar fire eliminates the Greek mortar.
Very little remains.
A squad of regular Greeks moves in to secure the hill as German infantry move up to support their armor.
Greek reinforcements pound the German position with support from their artillery.
Fighting around the vineyard continues.
The Greek heavy and medium howitzers start walking in rounds on the German in the olive grove.
For several turns they attempt to pound the position.
More Germans troops arrive from reserve to reinforce the olive grove.
The Greek recruits fall back after taking several casualties.
Greek artillery finally wrecks some Germans.
The Greek recruits barely hold onto the objective.
Greek troops in the middle continue to exchange fire with the Germans.
FT-17 rolls up and MGs the German mortar crew.
A truck full of Greeks tries to jump on the objective, but get knocked out by small arms fire.
German troops blast the FT-17 apart.
The Greeks launch a series of disasterous assaults.
Losing two units back to back.
Greek officer moves into secure the cross road.
While the Germans secure the vineyard.
On turn five the Greeks jumped on a third objective, but quickly the tables turned on them. In a single turn the Germans elimated two squads of Greeks in assaults and blew up a truck with another squad which failed its moral test. This left the objective in the vineyard wide open. In the end the score was two objective to two objective, but the Greeks lost far more units than the Germans. The Germans lost 4 units and the Greeks lost 9. We gave it to the Germans, but the Greeks almost pulled it off. Greeks are a lot of fun to play, but definately have limitations. Im glad my opponent was kind enough to bring a semi historical German list with the PZ II and SdKfz 222. After this we played another undocumented game of Hold Until Relieve with the Greeks attacking and Germans defending and the Greeks pulled off the win. Can't wait to get them on the table again and fill out the rest of the force.
We also really liked only having to spend 5 points on LMGs. This will definately be something we do in our games in the future.
