Well, the big day arrived and we had a really long, but great day. I will admit to there being a little damper on one of the games as a rules discussion got a bit heated. And by heated, I mean my opponent was kind of yelling at me for basically daring to disagree with him. That did not sit well with me. When I am ready, I will share the details. I believe in the end we were both correct. It is just while I was willing to admit that he had a point, he was not willing to do the same. Joe did intervene and by the end of the game, we shook hands. After the game, my opponent did apologize, but the damage had been done.
Thank you for the couch, doctor. Is our hour up now??
Back to the AAR -
I brought my Brit Para list. To refresh, here it is:
HQ + 3 PIATS (spread among the platoons)
3 Para Platoons
1 Para HMG Platoon
1 Para AT Gun Platoon (6 pdr)
1 8 Gun Arty Battery (25 pdrs)
1,495 points
I felt good about the list, but I wish I had a few more games under my belt before I went into the tourney.
The tournament was 3 rounds, with missions being Encounter, No Retreat and a random draw between Fighting Withdrawl or Free For All.
Round 1 - Encounter:
I played a gentleman named Lysander. He brought US Armored Rifles (ah, a man after my own heart). I don't recall his full list, but I think he had 2 ARP, 3 M8 Scots, 105mm in halftracks, a SPAA (2) platoon and a Hero. He might have had more, but they never hit the board. We rolled and he was "attacker".
Here is the board, which was an "Italy" board:
Lysander put the Scots to my left and his arty in the back left. One ARP was in the middle and another was placed far right (picture was taken during deployment). I went with one para platoon left, one right and my 8 gun battery right. I held HMG, one para platoon and AT guns in reserve.
In order to save the boring details, we swapped arty shots, the Scots moved up the left and killed a few stands. My paras on the left (with my CiC) were able to assault following a smoke bombardment. 2 Scots killed, but the Scots didn't run. Lysander pulled the last Scot back to the rear and the left became a stalemate. On the right, he moved up the ARP (out of the half tracks) and was able to get reserves on turn 3. They came on the right and he placed the SPAA. The right became WW1. I never got reserves and as you can see by the board, I really couldn't move up. I did start moving the platoon on the left up the flank, but time ran out. 1-1. Ouch.
This basically killed my tourney. Due to the scoring of the tourney (extra 2 points for 6-1, 1.5 for 5-2 and 1 for 4-3), I found myself way behind the leaders. The only good news is that there were a ton of us with 1-1. Too bad 6 guys had 6-1.
My feelings on this match are tough. There was nothing I could do to be aggressive. I had 3 platoons on the table and only 2 could move. He had 3 Scots, 2 ARPs, arty in halftracks and he got SPAA on the board. Mech vs. infantry. When mech isn't aggressive, not much to do. I do not blame Lysander at all. He asked me at the end why I didn't come to him. I laughed and said "with what?" He was so worried about Fearless Vets and worried about his Confident Trained guys gettign shot. I mentioned that I thought it was a mistake to keep both ARP out of the tracks. He could have swarmed one objective and held the other with the arty (they had machine guns on the tracks). If I had reserves come on over on the left, I could have done something. But 6" movement doesn't cover a lot of terrain (not like 12" or 16" halftracks).
Round 2: No Retreat.
I played Carley, who came down from Superior with her husband Patrick. Both were very nice. She brought 3 platoons of German Flaschirmjaeger (however you spell it!!) and even had some pios mixed in (they had flame throwers). He had a Pak 40 platoon and a Tiger.
Here is the board after Turn 1:
All directional references will be based on the picture - I defended the top edge.
Carley put the platoon with flame throwers on the right (she marked them with the red), the Pak 40s on the right. She had a HMG platoon in the middle and the 2 other FJ platoons on the left. Kitty is middle right. I put the 8 gun arty on the back right - just at the top of the picture. The right objective (she placed) is on the road on the right side. I placed a para platoon with 2 piats there. I placed the AT guns in ambush. My obbjective was back left in the trees.
Note about the terrain. This was a "Finland" board. All the white is snow. If you had wide-tracks, you were good. Otherwise they were suppossed to be bog checks. Turns out not many people read the terrain sheet that Joe handed out, so this was scrapped because no one did it. However, no double timing on the board.
On turn 1, I got reserves (yeah!) and brought a para platoon on the left side. This was very fortunate as she had put two platoons on that side and I needed something to secure my objective. She moved up slowly and was very conservative with the Kitty. She knew she had to close the distances since concealed, GtG vets are mighty tough to hit. I also started her death by arty in turn 1. I ranged in on the Pak 40s and got one right away (Yeah British Special Rules!).
On turn 2, I got 2 more reserves and that made everything on the table for me. In the end, this is what got her. I was able to move HMGs up the left and another para platoon up the right. On turn 2, her Pak 40s were destroyed (ran). On turn 3, my arty got the Kitty. That was luck and put the nail in the game. Then it became her mission to kill a platoon. She tried her best and almost pulled it off. We entered into an assault. With 5 Fearless Vet para stands, here was my role for hitting in the assault:
Yes friends, a two, another two, another another two, a one and another one. We both took pictures of that roll!
I was able to break her company and that was the game. 6-1. But with special scoring, I got 8 points total. That put me to 9 and in the upper middle / lower top.
Round 3 - FFA
Joe had to roll FFA. Then I got placed with an Armored opponent. And I rolled to be "attacker". And Dan rolled to go first. But I am getting ahead of myself. Here is the board:
This is just after deployment. Objectives for him are far left / just peeking above my Diet Root Beer. The other objective was on the right - just right of the little building behind the line of trees. I had the 8 gun arty on the left, with a para platoon and the HMGs intermixed. I had the AT guns and a second para platoon in the middle and a para platoon on the right. My thinking was to have the para platoon in the middle to act as a reserve to move either way. The AT guns created a bubble in the middle.
Dan had Panzer IIIs and IVs and a hero. He also had 2 8-Rads. He moved on platoon of PIII towards the right objective. He doubled the IVs, the hero and the Rads behind the trees to get to the left side (in between the trees and the river in the upper left corner). He then moved another platoon of PIIIs up the middle near the church. Oh, my objectives were at the top. Like I was going to atatck! Oh, yeah, I WAS the attacker. RRRIIIGGHHHTTT.
The summary of this game was my slow death. We got in 8 turns. I survived a Company Morale check (thanks to the mulligan die we got for getting our lists in) and held on to my objectives. 1-3 Fair fight rules (I think). I did assault him when he closed on the left objective. If not for a darn Warrior save, I would have nailed his hero, who was also the CiC. That would have been 2 points (special scoring rules). Oh well. We timed out after the 8th turn. Had we gone one more, I am not sure I would have hung on. But I did not "turtle up" and even assaulted him in turn 8. He did appreciate that.
So, I ended with 10 points. We don't have the final results, but I think that will put me in the middle.
The event was won by Sean and Myles. Sean also won best painted with his museum quality painting.
Here are a few random pictures:
The winners!
Joe did another great job!! Nice picture!
Carley and Patrick. She tied for Best Sportsmanship!! Most deserved by the way!!
Sean's Alpini. I cannot tell you how good these are. They are simply the best painted army I have ever seen. He custom made the different plumes that go on the helmets. He can paint, he can play and he is really nice. The Triple Threat!!
Now we get ready for Rock-Con with 2 FoW tournaments. One will be LW 1,350 with Domination missions. The Saturday will be 1,750 LW traditional. Do I go Paras or head back to USA, USA!!!???
