In Part 1 - I talked lists and models (insert link once earlier pieces are published)
In Part 2 - Alex Perry and I played out the holding force scenario from the Leo 1 rulebook
And now, in Part 3, my Full West German list for Historicon will get its first run through.
The list...My printer broke, so smart phone to the rescue
it all laid out.
Alex countered with these beauties
Alex...ready for battle. You can see in his eyes he is ready to liberate the people of West German from the tyranny and oppression of Capitalism and democracy.
The Board:
We used Battlefront's mission selector. Which we both like as a way to determine the attacker and the mission. I elected to Prepare an Attach, and Alex picked hasty attack. The result was me attacking in "Counter attack." While my camera angles will shift around a bit, I deployed in the upper right corner of this photo with my entire force. Alex deployed in the lower right corner. He kept half his platoons off table in immediate reserve. They would come in from the upper left corner. The two objectives (represented by Fliegerfaust Gruppen we didn't use, were located between the three buildings in the little industrial park, as well as in Alex's deployment area, right near the church.
Using the Spearhead rule, I moved the Luchs forward at dash speed, and in the bubble, deployed my marder formation commander, 2 platoons of Panzer grenadiers, and a platoon of Leo1s with their formation commander as well. In my main deployment area went 3 platoons of Leo1s, the LARS, and all Air and Anti air assets.
The last Marder Zug deployed with a clear field of fire into the church with their Milans, dug in and ready to wreck some tanks.
Alex deployed his motor company in the church, their BMPs behind the woods in the upper right of the picture above, and 1 T72 platoon behind the church. A second was held in ambush.
I started off with aggressive moves towards both objectives. Since I left some of my pile of Leo1s home, I had to proxy some hulls as well as some Leo 2s as Leo 1s, apologies to the purists out there.
On the right, my CO dashed to the building near the objective and prepared to get out, both marder platoons were fully mounted, and prepared to drop infantry off on the objective by turn 2.
But while my infanty were still trapped in the transports, the ambush of T72s dropped. and made short work of most of the marders. One platoon escaped to fight another day.
PAH Helicopters would take their toll, eliminating nearly 9 tanks before the game ended. With all his AA assets in reserve, (2 Shilkas and 2 SAM launchers (for which he proxied VADS) the Helicopters had free reign, taking shots with HOT missiles from 48" away
The Carnation battery came on from reserve and took a few potshots at the Leo1s in the woods, but would be quickly finished a turn later.
The left flank turned into a shooting gallery, as Milan missiles and HOT Helo shots wrecked several T72s. Shots from infantry in the building also destroyed multiple Leo1s. They popped out for shots and an assault, but found themselves with no active teams within 4" after all the explosions stopped.
The LARS proved worthless, as they failed to range in by rolling no 3's in 6 attempts over 2 turns. In the course of the game they would range in successfully twice. once dropping mines that didn't matter to the game, and another hitting one tank, and having him bounce the shot.
The LARS with some ones.
In came the Hinds who Alex was careful to start out of range of the Gepards and Fliegerfaust Gruppen
Then the following turn, I got the Gepards up, along with the Fliegerfausts (who would have to wait a turn to fire....and hit his Hinds 10 times. He saves all but two, and I failed the firepowers. Alex and me both laugh at my misfortune.
Almost nothing is left, and 3 Leo 1 platoons are dead, Alex fails his last stand for the lone tank remaining. all is quiet on the left flank. save for the clicking sound of the LARS loading its garbage and ineffective rockets.
AA comes on and shoots down a PAH.
But the Leo 1's in the woods have their vengence. I tried to kill them with the Luchs as an insult to their honor, but their junky 20mm gun couldn't pass a firepower.
Where the Gepards mostly failed, the Redeye teams come through, the Hind crashes into the nearby factory. the infantry that survived the death of the Marders high tail it into the red building in the foreground and preceed to pummel the T72s in the treeline with Milan Missiles.
Trapped by LARS and a Marder Zug, the Church stays quiet.
With all his reserves and helicopters dead, and only 3 MBT left with 2 nearly full strength Grenadier Zugs holding the objective, we call the game for me.
The Final situation
Lessons learned:
My advice to Alex:
I think he should have gone more aggressively after the infantry in the buildings earlier. his shots at the marders and Luchs were wasted. digging out the infantry should have been priority one. Also, the lack of AA assets in the list (both platoons were only 2 vehicles) and it being in reserve, allowed my PAH helicopters to wreak havoc on his armor.
My lessons:
The Leo 1s should have held back and waited for their chance to charge and get side shots, and not put themselves in needless risk. Gepards should be more centrally located on the board if possible to allow for better coverage of the board. Relying on artillery for anything in Team Yankee seems to be a waste. I would have been better off with the Hurricane Flight. They have a template, and some tank killing potential. They can also go hind hunting. And its almost the same points.
This was a great Game that taught me a lot about the rules. Alex was patient with us looking them up, since we both had limited experience with the ruleset. I had a blast running through the list and trying things out. I'm looking forward to playing through the Team Yankee Historicon Tournament! Hope to see you there!
Tom Mullane (aka Captainecho on the forums) is a social studies teacher in Brewster NY, who lives in Danbury CT. He plays with Ordo-Ineptus at Hobbytown in New Milford CT. Come by and get a game!
The list...My printer broke, so smart phone to the rescue
it all laid out.
Alex countered with these beauties
The Board:
We used Battlefront's mission selector. Which we both like as a way to determine the attacker and the mission. I elected to Prepare an Attach, and Alex picked hasty attack. The result was me attacking in "Counter attack." While my camera angles will shift around a bit, I deployed in the upper right corner of this photo with my entire force. Alex deployed in the lower right corner. He kept half his platoons off table in immediate reserve. They would come in from the upper left corner. The two objectives (represented by Fliegerfaust Gruppen we didn't use, were located between the three buildings in the little industrial park, as well as in Alex's deployment area, right near the church.
Using the Spearhead rule, I moved the Luchs forward at dash speed, and in the bubble, deployed my marder formation commander, 2 platoons of Panzer grenadiers, and a platoon of Leo1s with their formation commander as well. In my main deployment area went 3 platoons of Leo1s, the LARS, and all Air and Anti air assets.
Alex deployed his motor company in the church, their BMPs behind the woods in the upper right of the picture above, and 1 T72 platoon behind the church. A second was held in ambush.
I started off with aggressive moves towards both objectives. Since I left some of my pile of Leo1s home, I had to proxy some hulls as well as some Leo 2s as Leo 1s, apologies to the purists out there.
On the right, my CO dashed to the building near the objective and prepared to get out, both marder platoons were fully mounted, and prepared to drop infantry off on the objective by turn 2.
But while my infanty were still trapped in the transports, the ambush of T72s dropped. and made short work of most of the marders. One platoon escaped to fight another day.
On the left flank, my attack was slowed by terrain and a hail of T72 fire. The 10 tank platoon would prove to be a tough nut to crack. after killing the BMPS, the T72s wiped their first Leo1 platoon.
PAH Helicopters would take their toll, eliminating nearly 9 tanks before the game ended. With all his AA assets in reserve, (2 Shilkas and 2 SAM launchers (for which he proxied VADS) the Helicopters had free reign, taking shots with HOT missiles from 48" away
The Carnation battery came on from reserve and took a few potshots at the Leo1s in the woods, but would be quickly finished a turn later.
The left flank turned into a shooting gallery, as Milan missiles and HOT Helo shots wrecked several T72s. Shots from infantry in the building also destroyed multiple Leo1s. They popped out for shots and an assault, but found themselves with no active teams within 4" after all the explosions stopped.
The LARS proved worthless, as they failed to range in by rolling no 3's in 6 attempts over 2 turns. In the course of the game they would range in successfully twice. once dropping mines that didn't matter to the game, and another hitting one tank, and having him bounce the shot.
The LARS with some ones.
In came the Hinds who Alex was careful to start out of range of the Gepards and Fliegerfaust Gruppen
Then the following turn, I got the Gepards up, along with the Fliegerfausts (who would have to wait a turn to fire....and hit his Hinds 10 times. He saves all but two, and I failed the firepowers. Alex and me both laugh at my misfortune.
Almost nothing is left, and 3 Leo 1 platoons are dead, Alex fails his last stand for the lone tank remaining. all is quiet on the left flank. save for the clicking sound of the LARS loading its garbage and ineffective rockets.
AA comes on and shoots down a PAH.
But the Leo 1's in the woods have their vengence. I tried to kill them with the Luchs as an insult to their honor, but their junky 20mm gun couldn't pass a firepower.
3 Tanks remain of the original 10. The other platoon is gone.
Trapped by LARS and a Marder Zug, the Church stays quiet.
With all his reserves and helicopters dead, and only 3 MBT left with 2 nearly full strength Grenadier Zugs holding the objective, we call the game for me.
The Final situation
Lessons learned:
My advice to Alex:
I think he should have gone more aggressively after the infantry in the buildings earlier. his shots at the marders and Luchs were wasted. digging out the infantry should have been priority one. Also, the lack of AA assets in the list (both platoons were only 2 vehicles) and it being in reserve, allowed my PAH helicopters to wreak havoc on his armor.
My lessons:
The Leo 1s should have held back and waited for their chance to charge and get side shots, and not put themselves in needless risk. Gepards should be more centrally located on the board if possible to allow for better coverage of the board. Relying on artillery for anything in Team Yankee seems to be a waste. I would have been better off with the Hurricane Flight. They have a template, and some tank killing potential. They can also go hind hunting. And its almost the same points.
This was a great Game that taught me a lot about the rules. Alex was patient with us looking them up, since we both had limited experience with the ruleset. I had a blast running through the list and trying things out. I'm looking forward to playing through the Team Yankee Historicon Tournament! Hope to see you there!
Tom Mullane (aka Captainecho on the forums) is a social studies teacher in Brewster NY, who lives in Danbury CT. He plays with Ordo-Ineptus at Hobbytown in New Milford CT. Come by and get a game!
