Lite AAR and Painting Update

Got a game in last night (as usual for Wednesdays).

Since the LW Nats are done, we are switching gears to MW.  Our tournament is on October 8th at The Last Square.  ALL ARE INVITED!!!

Game AAR:

MW - 1,500 pts.

I decided to test a list I am calling "Plan B".  It is a US Armor Light Tank Company List from North Africa.  The list is basically:

HQ - 2 Stewarts
Platoon #1 - 4 Stuarts
Platoon #2 - 4 Stuarts
Platoon #3 - 4 Shermans (75mm)
Platoon #4 - Armored Rifles, with one rifle squad
Platoon #5 - Armored Mortars (3 tubes)
Platoon #6 - One battery of Priests
1,495 pts.

It is a "standard" build and I just need to finish painting 5 Stuarts to get this completed.  No problem.  I am still leaning towards Brit Paras and I am painting like a man possessed, but I need a Plan B.  Hence the name!  : - )

Played Ben, who is a good young player.  He did really well (won) our most recent tournament, but he can still make some mistakes.  He put down 2 German FJ / Pio platoons (full), 2 AA guns, a Tiger and a Pzr III and Priority Stukas.

We rolled Breakthrough and he was defender.

He decided to place all units on the board and had nothing in ambush.  While he started in prepared positions, he had to move to get to the objectives.  I decided to place 1 platoon of Stewies in delayed reserves.

Summary:

I was able to smoke the Tiger on the first turn.  I then pressed forward with my Stewies and Shermans.  My AAR did a loop on the board to get around a flank.  My Priests bascially could not range in to save their life for the enitire game.  I literally got one round of firing in over the 6 rounds of the game and finally gave up and moved them forward as a machine gun platoon.

Ben became obsessed with the Stukas and targeting my Shermans.  He knew the Sherms were the only unit that could touch his Tiger and he wanted them gone.  Unfortunately, I closed the gap on the infantry to within wave-off distance.  In a brain fart / poor decision, he decided to double the Pios to get out of range of the planes.  He did get out of range and the Stukas took out 1 Sherman.  But I decimated the platoon on the next turn and by turn 3, the platoon was gone from the table, along with the 1iC.  I will admit that Ben had bad rolling at bad times - like failing Fearless tests.  By turn 6, all he had was the Tiger (Pzr III was long gone) and a reduced platoon of FJ Pios.  Once the objectives went live, he could not be in both places at once and he called the game.  6-1 win.  I ended up losing 2 Shermans and a Stewie.

So I like the list and it plays well, but again it is fairly standard.  While I like the Priests, I miss the AOP.  I will need to think long and hard about the Priests and whether or not I can drop them completely or sub them for standard 105mm.  That will be a play test coming up.

BTW - Stukas are just mean.  If they hit and you fail the armor save (likely outcome), they kill.  Period.  But as with all aircraft, they are fickle.  You simply cannot count on the planes killing stuff.  But it does dictate movement!

Painting Update:

I am painting like my hair is on fire (which it is if I want to get them finished in time).  My Heavy AT Platoon is done.  I "just" need to base them up.  I will be modelling 2 for Arnhem and 2 for Pegasus Bridge.  I have dirt from both locations, so those will go on the bases.  For the tourney, I will use them as a proxy for the smaller AT guns.  I have 30 paras painted and ready for the camo part.  I have emailed with "Bengo" on the FoW forum.  He is the one who came up with the process I am using to paint my paras.  Good stuff and he really got me going.  He did the same thing - painted a gazillion in a relatively short period of time, so he can sympathize.  I hope to finish the 30 tonight and start the next 30.  I have just over 5 weeks to get everything completed.  If I don't, and that is a big possibility, I will either field the "Plan B" list or borrow paras from Joe.  If I borrow, I will take my units out of the painting competition since I did not paint them.  But I am hoping to get mine done in time!