By "Dirty" Jon Baber
Tom and I had not played a game in quite a while, so we got together to play an Early War game with my Germans in preparation for the Williamsburg Muster 1500 point tournament. Tom graciously agreed to put together a list to face off against mine - thanks Tom!
With the new EW stuff out, I decided that my old Light Panzer Company just would not cut it. I figure that someone is going to bring some T-34s or other heavy tanks and I need to be able to deal with them. My solution is Air. I am not sure how that will work out, so I wanted to give it a shot.
We rolled randomly and got Fighting Withdrawal.
Jon's List:
Tom's List:
Tom has a platoon of infantry on each objective - 1 off-picture to the right with the Somuas. On the left, his AT guns. Panhards ready to run either way in the middle. Laffly's in Ambush (duh).
I have my light tank platoon off-screen to the left, the 8-rads, then the Pz 38ts with Rommel. I have Pz IIs in the middle.
The French are dug in and prepare for the German assault.
Tom's stuff always looks great.
The Panhards stay put during Recce moves, hiding behind the hill and trees.
The middle objective is solidly held.
Somuas and infantry on the far objective. Scary.
Infantry at the ready, backed up by tanks. I decide to skip this objective.
I can't stop taking pictures of Tom's top-notch French infantry. I bribe him at the end of the night to paint some miniatures for me.
The Pz IIs (late) ready to roll. I plan to swing these from the middle to the left objective. These will screen the French reinforcements should they choose to come out of their holes.
38ts with Rommel and the 2iC. These guys should do it vs. the Panhards, eh?
The light panzer platoon with the CiC. This is my assault force for the infantry on the objective. Those guns scare the crap out of me, though -- have to pin them.
I get Air on Turn 1 and go after the objective. Concentration of fire is something I have worked on lately. I am looking to pin both platoons and hopefully get lucky on a kill or fail to unpin.
I pin the guns, but not the infantry, having missed them completely. Nothing dead.
I wail away with MGs and get the pin. This platoon is great vs. infantry. If those guns unpin, though....this could be bad.
Fortunately, Tom fails to unpin the guns and misses with his shots. The infantry stays put and the Panhards move over to support.
I swing through the middle with the 38ts.
I take out one Panhard with the Pz IIs that are screening.
I get air again and take out a Panhard.
Tom smokes my light panzer platoon, but does no other damage. I roll up and get a miracle shot on a stand of infantry. The light panzers set up for an assault against the STILL PINNED guns. I am very lucky.
I lose one tank in the assaults and take out the guns and maul the infantry. This is not looking good for the French....
...so Tom spring his Laffly ambush and shoots....
...and completely vaporizes the 38t platoon.....
Rommel, the CiC and 2iC are the only 38ts left.
I press the assault on the infantry with the light panzer platoon, Rommel and the CiC.
This is a mess. Tom gets a shot with his Panhard and takes out a tank.
The screening PzIIs and the 2iC shoot at the Lafflys and take them out.
I get air AGAIN, and take out 2 of the Somuas, as they rush to the other objective.
The infantry are killed to one man and he fails his sole survivor check on Tom's turn.
Tom moves everything in toward the objective in a last-ditch effort to save the day. He kills the light panzer platoon, taking Rommel, the CiC and the 2iC with them. Ouch.
The Pz IIs kill off a Panhard, bail other, and....
...with nothing left to hold the objective, we call it. 4-3 to the Germans.
I bled VPs in this victory, for sure. The Lafly ambush is just WAY good - take'm every time. Tom had a hard time covering everything, and we decided that it would have been better to have the Somuas in the middle of the field, so they could more easily reinforce any objective. This would have been much, much closer if Tom would have unpinned his guns and if I didn't get so lucky with my air. I do like this list, and will play it at Muster.
