Able Kompanie held a LW 1625pt. "Crossing the Rhine" Tournament at Sinclair Games in Carmel, Indiana on Saturday June 25, 2016. Generally we like to run themed Tournaments and felt that limiting the event to Market Garden, Bridge by Bridge, Nachtjager and Bridge at Remagen might bring out some interesting lists we had not seen in a tournament setting. We ended up with 6 Allied and 6 Axis Players. No one brought a list from Nachtjager but we did have a good variety of lists from the other books. The Germans tended to favor lists from Bridge by Bridge while the Americans chose Remagen and the British chose Market Garden. Sinclair Games has two different gaming areas in addition to a well stocked store so our tables were split between the two spaces. Several players brought terrain to augment the store's stock.
The Upstairs Room
The Back Room
Here's the Breakdown of the Players and their Lists
Allies
US Tank Company- 9th Armored - Remagen Scott Erny
British Armored Recce Squadron - Market Garden - Jim Markstone
US Light Tank Company- 9th Armored - Remagen - Scott Dyer
US Armored Rifle - 9th Armored (Dismounted) -Remagen- Jason Stubbs
US Armored Rifle - 9th Armored (Dismounted) - Remagen - Garrett Hunter
British Paratroops - Frost Perimeter Force - Market Garden - Andrew Hopson
Axis
Schwere Panzerkompanie (506.) - Remagen - Chris Novak
512. Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie - Remagen - Will Yankausky
Tank Company - Bridge by Bridge - Keith Goreham
StuG Batterie - Bridge by Bridge - Rozy Rozmarin
German Infantry - Bridge by Bridge - Ron Hanson
German Infantry - Bridge by Bridge - Mike Mansfield
We played three 2 1/2 hour Rounds. Missions were chosen randomly by Able Kompanie's "Spinning Wheel of Doom". The wheel keeps the mission choices random but allows the TO to somewhat restrict and balance the missions. All missions, except for Free For All, were possible for Round 1. Then Fighting Withdrawl (for time) & Encounter were removed and two of the defensive battle slices got a little larger. Finally the randomness was mostly restricted to Mobile Battles for Round 3.
As there has been much discussion of the "Meta" and how that might be affected by the type of terrain on the table. I have included photos of the tables for each matchup and the results of each mission to possibly help in that discussion.
At the end of this article I have included the full lists of the top six finishers as well.
The Spinning "Wheel of Doom"
showing the possible missions for Round 3
At the end of this article I have included the full lists of the top six finishers as well.
Round 1 was Encounter
TO's Observations: 1 Axis Win, 1 Allied Win and 4 Draws. Lots of match-ups where it was difficult for either side to attack. Heavy German Tanks with weak infantry or guns couldn't move forward while presenting a formidable defense against the Allied Tank Forces that needed to get to flanking positions to defeat those same heavy tanks. The only wins in this round were the Brit Tanks vs the German Infantry list that only had 2 Tiger 1e tanks vs. Cromwells and Challengers and a German Tank Company with 3 King Tigers that was able to advance and overwhelm a US Tank Company with one Super Pershing that was unable to get a side shot before being destroyed.
Andrew Hopson's Brit Paras vs Chris Novak's Schwere Panzerkompanie (506).
Result: 1-2 Draw
Will Yankausky's 512. Schwere Panzerjagerkompanie v s Jason Stubbs Dismounted Armored Rifles
Result: 2-2 Draw
Garrett Hunter's Dismounted Armored Rifles vs Rozy's StuG Batterie
Result: 1-2 Draw
Mike Mansfield's German Infantry vs Jim Markstone's British Armored Recce
Result: 6-1victory for Jim
Keith Goreham's German Tank Company vs. Scott Erny's US Tank Company
Result: 5-2 win for Keith
Ron Hanson's German Infantry vs Scott Dyer's US Light Tank Company
Result: 2-2 Draw
Standings after Round 1
Jim Markstone - Brit Tank 6
Keith Goreham - German Tank 5
Chris Novak - German Tank 2
Will Yankausky - German Tank 2
Scott Erny - US Tank 2
Scott Dyer - US Tank 2
Jason Stubbs - US Mech 2
Rozy Rozmarin - German Tank 2
Ron Hanson - German Infantry 2
Mike Mansfield - German Infantry 1
Andrew Hopson - Brit Para 1
Garrett Hunter - US Mech 1
Round 2 was Hold the Line
TO's Observations: 4 wins for the Axis side. Three King Tigers were able to overrun the defending Cromwells. StuGs with the KT were too much for the US Light Tanks. Dismounted Armored Rifle ran into the always defend German tanks on a fairly open LOS though concealed table. German Infantry could not budge lots of angry defending Brit Paras and Dismounted Armored Rifles were able to break through the infantry screen to get to the flanks of the Jadgtigers for the win.
Keith Goreham's German Tanks vs. Jim Markstone's Brit Tanks
Result: 5-2 win for Keith
Rozy's StuG Batterie vs Scott Dyer's US Light Tanks
Result: 5-2 win for Rozy
Jason Stubbs' Dismounted Armored Rifle vs Chris Novak's German Tanks
Result: 6-1 win for Novak
Ron Hanson's German Infantry vs. Scott Erny's US Tank
Result: 4-3 win for Ron
Andrew Hopson's Brit Paras vs. Mike Mansfield's German Infantry
Result: 6-1 win for Andrew
Garrett Hunter's Dismounted Armored Rifles vs. Will Yankausky's German Tanks
Result: 5-2 win for Garrett
Standing after Round 2
Keith Goreham - German Tank 10
Chris Novak - German Tank 8
Jim Markstone - Brit Tank 8
Andrew Hopson - Brit Para 7
Rozy Rozmarin - StuG Batterie 7
Garrett Hunter - US Mech 6
Ron Hanson - German Infantry 6
Scott Erny - US Tank 5
Scott Dyer - US Light Tank 4
Will Yankausky - German Tank 4
Jason Stubbs - US Mech 2
Mike Mansfield - German Infantry 2
Round 3 was Counterattack
TO Observations: 4 Axis Wins again. Brit Para 6pdrs were able to knock out the StuGs leaving the KTs and a small infantry force to unsuccessfully try to push the Paras off the Objective. Cromwells were unable to deal with the KTs and the six PaK40s. US Light Tanks unable to overcome the 3 Jadgtigers with only two TDs.
Andrew Hopson's Brit Paras vs Keith Goreham's German Tanks
Results: 6-1 win for Andrew
Chris Novak's German Tanks vs. Jim Markstone's Brit Tanks
Result: 4-3 win for Novak
Garrett Hunter's US Mech vs. Ron Hanson's German Infantry
Result: 5-2 win for Garrett
Will Yankausky's German Tanks vs Scott Dyer's US Light Tanks
Result: 5-2 win for Will
Scott Erny's US Tank vs. Rozy's StuG Batterie
Result: 5-2 win for Rozy
Jason Stubbs US Mech vs Mike Mansfield's German Infantry
Result: 6-1 win for Mike
and one Doughnut left.....mmmm
and one Doughnut left.....mmmm
Final Standings
1. Andrew Hopson - Brit Paras - Best Overall General - 13pts.
2. Chris Novak - German Tank - Best Axis General - 12pts.
3. Rozy Rozmarin - German Tank - 12pts.
4. Keith Goreham - German Tank - 11pts.
5. Garrett Hunter - US Mech - Best Allied General - 11pts.
6. Jim Markstone - British Tank - Favorite Army - 11pts.
7. Will Yankausky - German Tank - Best Sport - 9pts.
8. Mike Mansfield - German Infantry - 8pts.
9. Ron Hanson - German Infantry - 8pts.
10, Scott Erny - US Tank - 7pts.
11. Scott Dyer - US Light Tank - 6pts.
12. Jason Stubbs - US Mech - 4pts.
The Axis won 9 games and lost 9 games and the Allies won 5 games and lost 13 games (4 games were draws so were losses for both sides) but the top six players, three Allies and 3 Axis, were only separated by two points and all rounds were Red vs. Blue. We also had a different player in 1st place each round and switched between an Allied Leader after Rounds 1 & 3 and an Axis Leader in Round 2.
Jim Markstone's British Tanks - Favorite Army
Lists for Top Six Finishers
1. Andrew Hopson's List
1-2 loss in Encounter
6-1 win in Hold the Line
6-1 win in Counterattack
6-1 win in Hold the Line
6-1 win in Counterattack
2. Chris Novak's List
2-1 loss in Encounter
6-1 win in Hold the Line
4-3 win in Counterattack
3. Rozy Rozmarin's List
2-1 loss in Encounter
5-2 win in Hold the Line
5-2 win in Counterattack
4. Keith Goreham's List
5-2 win in Encounter
5-2 win in Hold the Line
1-6 loss in Counterattack
5. Garrett Hunter's List
1-2 loss in Encounter
5-2 win in Hold the Line
5-2 win in Counterattack
6. Jim Markstone's List
6-1 win in Encounter
2-5 loss in Hold the Line
3-4 loss in Counterattack
Thanks to Sinclair Games and Hite Sinclair for giving us the space for the Tournament. This was our first event at his store and we hope to have more there in the future. All the players made my job easy as a TO and allowed me time to take all these pictures. Thanks to Battlefront for great prize support.
Able Kompanie is a Flames of War Gaming Club based in Indianapolis, Indiana
Our members play at three FLGS in Indianapolis
Games 2 Die 4 - http://www.games2d4.com
Sinclair Games - https://www.facebook.com/SinclairGames/info/?tab=overview
Hobbytown South - https://www.hobbytown.com/indianapolis-s-in/l33
Able Kompanie runs Tournaments in the Indianapolis Area including 3 Tournaments each year at Gen Con Aug. 4-7, 2016 - more info on our Gen Con Events at http://www.gencon.com/
Able Kompanie runs Tournaments in the Indianapolis Area including 3 Tournaments each year at Gen Con Aug. 4-7, 2016 - more info on our Gen Con Events at http://www.gencon.com/
Chris ("USChris" on both the FOW and WWPD Forums) has been playing FOW since 2008 and is the longtime 1iC for Able Kompanie. He organizes Able Kompanie's Events at Gen Con each year in Indianapolis. Chris is also the creator and builder of the "Frettsbox" Tournament Display Organizer that is used by players at tournaments across the US.
