Flames of War |
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Current Standings | Click here for Rules | 600 Point AARs | 1000 Point AARs | 1500 Point AARs |
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Flames of War |
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Current Standings | Click here for Rules | 600 Point AARs | 1000 Point AARs | 1500 Point AARs |
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600 Point After Action Reports (AARs) Since this battle was a draw I decided to let both players to do a AAR so we can get both angles...... Makes for some interesting reading....... Remember it's all in fun and do not take the wording to heart........ Some good old fashion taunting!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I would just go through Lee's rather slanted AAR and give my take on
things. Bill's Fearless Fallschirmjäger Company was not satisfied with their rout in the First Battle against Lee's "Big Gun" Grenadier Company. So they demanded a rematch (actually there was no one else to play, but it sounds good). The FJ were slated to Attack, but the Grenadiers got the first move. It wouldn't have mattered if we were the defender. Lee is to big a chicken to come out of hiding. But he's right, no one else was around for a game. At first, things went well Fallschirmjägers. Since no other weapons were in range (the Grenadiers 88mm Flak, a.k.a. The Big Gun, had no LOS due to high ground in the middle of the field), a pesky Grenadier Sniper started the action by opening up on the FJ's Mortar Platoon. No one was killed, but the Mortars were pinned and missed another turn of action while they sorted themselves out. Actually he killed one team. An FJ MG42 Team got a direct bead on the Sniper and dispatched the Team (dare I say "riddled" the Team?) with one well placed burst. Bye bye Sniper. A major Turn 1 loss for the Grenadiers. And you should have seen the look on Lee's face, it was priceless. Next the FJ sent their Combat Platoon down their right flank toward the Objective. They advanced in defilade using the center high ground to mask their advance from the array of Grenadier MGs, ATGs and The Big Gun. Holding that flank was the single Grenadier Combat Platoon and Company HQ, concealed in a patch of woods. The Grenadiers poured withering fire into the advancing FJ Platoon, but only managed to kill two Teams while pinning the Platoon. But being Fearless, the FJs shrugged off the pin, shot up the Grenadier Platoon and then launched a devastating Assault, cleverly supported by Smoke from the now unpinned Mortar Platoon. The FJs eliminated the Grenadiers, the 2iC and an independent PanzerSchreck Team, and consolidated at the far edge of the woods. So far so good. What he has failed to mention is that he ran his CIC as faraway as possible because he has no faith in his troops fighting ability. The Objective was in sight, the FJs were concealed at the edge of the woods, the Grenadiers Combat Platoon had been eliminated and all that stood between the FJ and Victory was the poor lonely Grenadier Company CO Team (and a full HMG platoon, and to say the CIC stood in between us and the objective takes some very creative map reading skills). But things quickly turned ugly. By re-grouping at the edge of the woods, the FJ exposed themselves to all of the remaining firepower of the Grenadiers, including an MG42 Platoon, 3 PaK 38 ATGs, and The Big Gun. A really stupid mistake on my part. Next time I'll go to the other side of the woods and move my HMGs the rest of the way up to pin the HMG on the objective before I assault them. Demonstrating more guts than good sense the Grenadier CO advanced and prepared to Assault while every gun the Grenadiers owned opened up at Point Blank Range (so he says). It was a slaughter even the Fearless Fallschirmjäger couldn't withstand. The remaining two FJ Teams ran screaming from the field and the Grenadiers with their Big Gun breathed a big sigh of relief. I take solace in the fact that they were alive to scream, unlike his understrength Grenadier platoon. Come to think of it have those Grenadiers survived any of your games Lee? With both side's Combat Platoons eliminated, the only option was for either side to try and drag their Gun Teams across the table to attack an Objective (meaning me , because he would never leave the safety of his possitions) . Not likely. By agreement the game ended in a Draw, Score 2-2. So, there you have my thoughts on his twisted view of things. Fallschirmjager are fearless and Grenadiers are cowards. It's as simple as that. FoW Escalation League - Battle Summary 600 Point - Free For All played on 04-28-07 Bill's Fearless Fallschirmjäger Company was not satisfied with their rout in the First Battle against Lee's "Big Gun" Grenadier Company. So they demanded a rematch (actually there was no one else to play, but it sounds good). The FJ were slated to Attack, but the Grenadiers got the first move. At first, things went well Fallschirmjägers. Since no other weapons were in range (the Grenadiers 88mm Flak, a.k.a. The Big Gun, had no LOS due to high ground in the middle of the field), a pesky Grenadier Sniper started the action by opening up on the FJ's Mortar Platoon. No one was killed, but the Mortars were pinned and missed another turn of action while they sorted themselves out. No problem. An FJ MG42 Team got a direct bead on the Sniper and dispatched the Team (dare I say "riddled" the Team?) with one well placed burst. Bye bye Sniper. A major Turn 1 loss for the Grenadiers. Next the FJ sent their Combat Platoon down their right flank toward the Objective. They advanced in defilade using the center high ground to mask their advance from the array of Grenadier MGs, ATGs and The Big Gun. Holding that flank was the single Grenadier Combat Platoon and Company HQ, concealed in a patch of woods. The Grenadiers poured withering fire into the advancing FJ Platoon, but only managed to kill two Teams while pinning the Platoon. But being Fearless, the FJs shrugged off the pin, shot up the Grenadier Platoon and then launched a devastating Assault, cleverly supported by Smoke from the now unpinned Mortar Platoon. The FJs eliminated the Grenadiers, the 2iC and an independent PanzerSchreck Team, and consolidated at the far edge of the woods. So far so good. The Objective was in sight, the FJs were concealed at the edge of the woods, the Grenadiers Combat Platoon had been eliminated and all that stood between the FJ and Victory was the poor lonely Grenadier Company CO Team. But things quickly turned ugly. By re-grouping at the edge of the woods, the FJ exposed themselves to all of the remaining firepower of the Grenadiers, including an MG42 Platoon, 3 PaK 38 ATGs, and The Big Gun. Demonstrating more guts than good sense the Grenadier CO advanced and prepared to Assault while every gun the Grenadiers owned opened up at Point Blank Range. It was a slaughter even the Fearless Fallschirmjäger couldn't withstand. The remaining two FJ Teams ran screaming from the field and the Grenadiers with their Big Gun breathed a big sigh of relief. With both side's Combat Platoons eliminated, the only option was for either side to try and drag their Gun Teams across the table to attack an Objective. Not likely. By agreement the game ended in a Draw, Score 2-2. Date: 4/1/2007 Forces: 600 point Gepanzerte Panzergrenadiere,
consisting of: Enemy: Soviet Tankovy Batalon. Composition believed to include a strong platoon of T-34/76 (approx. 8 tanks), company HQ (1 T-34) supported by medium mortars and SMG-equipped infantry desants. Mission: Free-for-All. Engage enemy forces and seize at least one of two objectives, while preventing enemy from doing same. Terrain: European village consisting of 1-2 story structures along a single unimproved road, flanked by walled fields at the far end. Near end of village lies across a stream (impassable), with two viable crossing points: a bridge (walled, blocks LOS) in the center, and a ford on the extreme right flank. Small medium density woods at the left flank, on our side of the stream. Tactics: Deploy AT guns in woods with LOS commanding the bridge and flanks of town. Deploy mortar HTs in best available cover and send observer forward to support infantry. Deploy CiC and attached PzSchreck team in local defense of the PaKs and mortars, with fields of fire covering the near objective. Send infantry platoon rapidly over the bridge into town and dismount. Advance through buildings using bounding overwatch. Use cover and limited engagement ranges to negate long range firepower of tanks while advancing toward the objectives. Use superior firepower to defeat enemy infantry. Force enemy tanks to either advance through the town risking close assault by infantry, or cross open fields exposed to PaK fire -- both bad options. Time: Two hours or to the last man. Execution: The infantry platoon in HTs, with 2iC attached, managed to cross the bridge and reach the first row of houses in the village. Unfortunately they were unable to dismount in the same movement phase, and the schweinhundt 2iC failed to instill the stormtrooper ethos effectively (in fact, he forgot to even try it.) The mortar crews of the Schwere platoon effectively laid a blanket of smoke around the nearest visible T-34 to cover the halftracks. The plan went awry immediately thereafter. The Bolshevik tankists drove their shoddy war tractors right out of the smoke and proceeded to shoot up the SPWs, which were still laden with panzergrenadiers. The PaK platoon discovered to their horror that the stone bridge nearby effectively shielded a wide arc of the otherwise open field on the right flank of the town, wherein the cowardly Ivans just happened to array themselves. This unforgivable error cost the lives of more than half of the panzergrenadier platoon, and sent the remainder fleeing in terror to the rear. Now, with our mobile striking force eliminated, we were reduced to a defensive bastion in the crowded woods, with a small wayward command team (armed only with their maschinenpistole and a single Panzerfaust) dug in at the bridge beside their smoldering halftrack. Against this brave remnant of elite professional soldiers came the horde of hungry peasants, spraying the dirt with their stuttering burp guns and shouting Marxist slogans as they came. The Ivans fell in droves, cut down in swathes by the machine guns mounted on our SPWs and blasted back into the river by our mortar tubes, now glowing red with fury. Several of their infernal armored deathtraps erupted like greasy volcanoes when they finally dared to enter the sights of our steely-eyed PaK gunners. Alas, valor was not enough to carry the day, for the surviving tanks clattered through the ford and overran their designated objectives, forcing us to concede the field. Rest assured that the heroes will be rewarded -- and the incompetents have been punished severely. Player Name: Bill Jenkins Opponent's Name: Allen Kaplen Mission: Free For All Terrain Description: Two sets of hills on one side of the table (one in each players start area) small swamp/marsh on the other side of table half way between both forces starting areas. Initial Plan: Last more than 10 minutes or three moves. Description of the Action: Everything was going splendid, until it was my turn to move. Then it went down hill rapidly. I sent my tanks the wrong way; I did not leave enough forces to protect the objective. I did not make the best use of my forces or deploy them properly. Lessons Learned: This was my first game and lost (as anticipated). The after game analysis proved to be almost more helpful than actually playing the game itself. Notes to Self:
So, the Fallschirmjager get schooled by the Wehrmacht yet again. PzGrenadier: Norm Lunde This training took place at 1600 on 21Apr07. PzGrenadiers: (caution is the name of the game) Fallschirmjager: (dying in droves again ) Mission: Free For All The table had an even spread of wooded hills all over it. There was a small village on the PzG half of the table. Once again I was the attacker. I set up my mortars as far forward as possible and in the center of the table. I protected my left flank with my Pak38s. I planned to advance up the right and use the mortars and HMGs to overwehlm the PzG left. This isn't going to be a blow by blow report as the game was called at the 2 hour mark per the rules ( we totally lost track of the number of turns actually played ). Norm moved his PzG platoon up on my right and spent most of the game pinned down by my Pak38s and mortars . My shooting was effective enough to deter him from making a move on the objective there. Both platoons were shot up to the point that there was only one stand left in each. Norm had to test 2 or 3 times for being below 50% with the PzG platoon and passed all of them . On the other side of the table my infantry platoon made it up to within assault range of the objective, but got the crap shot out of them, losing almost half the platoon. By the time I was able to coordinate another assault Norm had moved even more fire power into possition to wipe out the rest of the platoon except for the command stand. Being FV helped a lot . The platoon command stuck around and was able to move over to the other objective and contest it. After 3 or 4 turns though his luck ran out and he was killed too. At this point the game was called. As neither of us had captured an objective it was a draw with Norm getting the win (fair fight rule) killing one platoon and me not getting any. It was a gruelling and bloody game, but we both had a great time playing it out. Thanks to Rich for the timely advice and rules help. Lessons learned: It ain't over 'til it's over. Always keep the objectives (both of them) in mind. As Rich is always saying "PLAY THE RULES!". Bill
Terrain - River down the middle with woods the American side just a few hills. Fields enclosed with walls on the Polish side of the battlefield. A road leading to a bridge crossing the river. A Small town on both sides of the bridge. Snow covered the ground (difficult going) but the river was not frozen.
Wrong again! With 8 American LMGs my HMG carriers took a beating and once dismounted and not able to enter the buildings (pinned and can’t move towards the enemy) were cut to pieces.
Lessons Learned – HMG carries are still fraigle against 40 dice (8 LMGs)… Some are going to be 6s. And Mortars can’t be counted on for support alone. richj German Grenadier: Lee Sowers Training took place at around 1400 on Saturday 14Apr07. The Grenadier (we may be scared,but we have a REALY big gun): The Fallschirmjager ( we may be dying, but we look good doing it) The mission: Free For All The table was set up with small cospes of trees and small areas of rough terrain scatted through out. The dominating feature was a small village along the left hand side of the table surrounded by a stone wall. As the attacker, my intentions were to move up along the left throught the village to take the objective from the Pak38s. Lee's HMG were set up alomg a hill at the back of the table and his ifantry was set up across the whole table (they would be easy to take out in close assault) and his 88 was tucked behind a pile of rocks (it still had a commanding view of the table as will be seen by the very few surviors)but I figured to use the buildings and wall for cover. That didn't work out like I had hoped. As expected, Lee stayed right where he was. So to offer support I moved my HMGs and Mortars up to ensure they would have the range neccesary to start pinning his guys in turn two. After my first move my guns were in place and my infantry were on the move. And Lee proceeded to prove why the 88 was feared by the Allies. He set his sniper up in some rocks in the middle of the table and he proceeded to make a nussance of himself. He pinned a platoon every turn from then on. Lee opened up on my poor mortars with the 88 killing two. Things were looking grime already. The next turm I tried to dig in my last mortar and failed to and my HMG opened up on his infantry to no effect. My infantry continued their plod through the village. Now they were in range of his HMGs and Pak 38s, they took down one stand. His 88 finished off my last mortar and my 2IC became an indipendant team again. My HMGs fired on his infantry and managed to kill two of them. By now everything he had could fire on my infantry and did. I picked up four more stands. My last turn saw me finnally getting close enough to think I could take the objective. Then we heard the bowel loosening sound of the 88 and I picked up three more stands on infantry. The platoon commander promptly surrendered to save his sorry butt. At this point Lee's sniper got his only kill, a HMG. My 2ic figured he'd had enough and went after the sniper, the 88 got him first. All I had left was my CIC, my completely ineffective Pak38 platoon and one HMG so I surrendered the day to Lee. We would do much better against the Bolshivic plague know as Russia in our next game, but that is a tail for someone else to tell. Lessons learned: Never get in the sights of an 88. Those things will kill you but good! I think I'll set up differently too. It is imperative to get your mortars and HGMs dug in quickly and laying down a base of fire to protect the advancing infantry. Bill Richard Jarosz (Poles) Terrain - River down the middle with woods on the German side just a few hills. Fields enclosed with walls on the Polish side of the battlefield. A road leading to a bridge crossing the river. A small woods at the ford near the edge of the battlefield. Initial Plan – Use the dismounted HMG platoon to defend the objective on a hill with mortars setup in the field protected by the walls. Have the Infantry platoon push in the center to take the bridge. The Poles started to advance down the road but the Germans had the same idea and moved the Armored Infantry towards the bridge. Looking at each other in amazement my Infantry got pinned in front of Half-tracks. Instead of advancing to finish off my infantry the opened up again, again and yet again. Finally my Infantry Platoon took cover behind a hill after taking 50% causalities. While this was going in the Polish Mortars (6 guns) was losing against the German Mortars (only 2 guns). (I really hate this game!) With the center cleared the German Half-tracks crossed the bridge and advanced onto their objective. While the remaining members of my Infantry Platoon advanced on towards mine. I reached mine objective first but with only a few stands and could not take the objective. The Germans took theirs and held it against my meager counter attack and won the game. Lessons Learned – Make sure when the infantry get to the objective there are enough stands to take it!!! richj Karen Jarosz (Easy Company) Terrain - River down the middle with woods on Easy Company's side just a few hills. Fields enclosed with walls on the Polish side of the battlefield. A road leading to a bridge crossing the river. Initial Plan - Set up the HMG carriers to race down the road and seize my Objective. Covering fire provided by my Infantry Platoon on my right flank and the mortars set up in the field protected by the walls. But no plan survives contact with the enemy. Easy's mortars and Infantry platoon bailed out most of my HMG carriers then she close assaulting them forcing them to retreat leaving all the bailed out ones to be captured. This caused a morale test (fearless) that the poles failed. But being poles the rerolled and failed again. (I HATE THIS GAME!) Worrying about the HMG carriers I forgot about the woods on my right now full of LMGs that shot up my infantry platoon. They ran like hell behind the objective and hill to safety. The battle turned into a mortar duel (that the poles were losing) while Easy Company advanced toward their objective. With the poles hiding behind the hill Easy also advanced the LMG platoon across the river. I close assaulted the LMGs and won! But now in range of Easy's Mortar and Infantry Platoon they took a licking and were destroyed in the Assault Phase. I failed my Company Morale check.... (Fearless re-rolled) and surrendered the objectives to Easy. Lessons Learned - Both the HMG carriers and the LMG platoon were a lot more fragile then we both thought. richj |
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