Ready!

Last night was the last tune up prior to Adepticon.  Mike was there to give a final test of his Mid-War Nationals list and I was there to test out my Mid-Ware list for the "non" nationals folks.  Joe chipped in and gave me a game, while Mike was on another table playing Ben (who I played in the last tourney).

Mike is ready.  He has a good list, but he is still questioning decisions.  I don't envy his position.  He wants to make a good showing in the Natl. tournament and is second, third and forth guessing his list.  I like the list.  I think he does too, but he just needs the reassurance.  I think he will do well!

I am pleasantly surprised by my list.  I like it.  Joe put down a German Grenadier list, with a pioneer platoon, 81mm mortars (4) and a Tiger-E.  4 Platoons against my 4.  We played Encounter. I was attacker, but Joe rolled to go first.  He put on the board his Tiger and Pioneers (they could have been Grenadiers - but it was whichever platoon did NOT have the two flamethrowers).  I put down my Stewarts and Armored Rifles.  He moved his Pioneers forward, as well as his Tiger.  He got off a long range shot on my Stewart and bailed him (failed firepower).  On my turn, the Stewart stayed bailed (this single tank would spend half the game bailed, on two separate shots from the same darn Tiger!).  I was able to quickly close the gap with the remaining Stewarts on the Pioneers and quickly stopped their progress.  I also swung over my CiC in the halftrack to add to the firepower.  On the other side of the board, I used trees to block my ARP's advance and was able to threaten the other objective.  This forced Joe to move the Tiger back on his next turn and now he was in full defensive mode.  The next few turns were me advancing, shooting Pioneers and getting ARP in position.  Unfortunately, two things happened:

On Turn 4 (after no reserves for either of us in turn 3), Joe rolled a 5 and 6 for reserves.  Bad news for him - mortars had to come in right on top of my ARP (still in HT).  Bad news for me - so did the Grenadiers.  Combined with the Tiger, the slaughter started.  I actually survived the first round of the massacre and got stupid.  I did not dismount.  After the game, Joe pointed out that I should have dismounted one turn earlier.  In hindsight, I agree.  But in my blaze of glory (literally because Joe flamed me with flamethrowers), I took out a mortar team and the platoon commander.  Next turn - bye bye ARP.  Oh, no reserves for me.

Turn 5 saw all my reserves come in and that really helped.  Armored mortars moved forward and the Shermans moved towards the open position where the ARP was located.  On the other side, my Stewarts had contested the other objective, which forced Joe to move his Pioneers back.  That was fateful.  I rolled very, very well at this point and it turned the game around.  Pinning the Pioneers, Joe had to move the Tiger to contest the objective.  That gave room for my Shermans to move ahead and take out the Grenadiers.  Now we are both down a platoon.  I killed enough Pioneers to force a platoon morale check and they ran.  In the area was the CiC, who needed to hang around and let the Grenadiers run.  The next turn I took care of him.  The Shermans finished up the mortars, forcing a company morale check.  No CiC, autofail and the game is over in turn 7.  Score - 5-2 Victory.

After the game, Joe and I talked over some strategy and tactics.

1) American mobility - I did use this to my advantage.  I was able to move teams into position and my Stewarts were the stars again.

2) Avoid the Tiger - I did not get sucked into a battle with the "big kitty".  Now it helps that my Stewarts couldn't do squat against the Tiger.  But the Stewies did exactly what I needed them to do - keep the enemy infantry engaged an dtake advantage of the 16" movement.  Against the list I faced, the Stewarts become a MG platform.

3) I did not use my CiC to the fullest.  I should have swung him around to help the bailed Stewart from the 1st turn.  He stayed bailed until turn 3 or 4, then moved forward and got bailed again.  On the other hand, the 3 shots of .50cal from the CiC's halftrack did help out!

4) Stayed in the halftracks too long - I should have pulled at least half the troops out.  That would leave a passenger to fire the halftrack MGs and have ground troops to prevent the slaughter from the assaults.  I would rather learn that lesson on Wednesday, than on Saturday during the tournament.

So off we go to Chicago.

My son finished up his 40k list and his team is ready to go in the 40k Team Tournament.  I wish them well!!

AAR - FoW Mid War Tournament - The Last Square, Madison, WI

Just finished up my second tournament ever and make a good showing.

So let me set the stage:

Mid war - 1,500 points, split into 3 task groups.  White is 1,000 points and must be a legal build.  Red and Blue are 250 points each.  No splitting of points across each task group.  3 games, random missions chosen from Encounter, Free for All, Fighting Withdrawl and one other that we didn't use and I don't remember.

I brought American armor, which is CT.

White:
2 75mm Shermans (CiC and 2iC)
4 75mm Shermans
4 M5 Stuarts
1 Recon Section (Tank), which is 2 rifle teams, command carbine, M2 Half track and 2 unarmed jeeps)

Blue:
1 Recon Section (Tank) mirrored exactly like above
1 Armored Field Artillery Battery - 3 M7 Priests

Red:
1 Armored Rifle Platoon - normal with 3 rifle teams and bazooka swapping out for 37mm gun
1 Sporadic air from Warhawks (I proxied my P-47s)


Round One:

Played Ben, who is a young player in our normal league.  He fielded a german grenadier company.  The mission was Encounter.  Ugg.  But we had all 1,500 points on the table.  I was defender, he was attacker.  He could only bring in 2 platoons and I could field 3.  He ended up putting down a platoon of 3 Marders, a Tiger e and grenadier platoon (Tiger was the CiC).  I put down armored rifle, Stuarts and Shermans.  Recons (both) and Priests were in reserve.  From my view, he went Marders on the left objective, grenadiers in the middle protecting the other objective and the Tiger on a slope with a line right down the road.  I didn't realize it then, but Tiger had a shot on my Shermans.  I had placed an objective on my end behind a river and put the armored rifles on it.  Stewies were on the other side of the river and the Shermans were in the middle.  Picture below shows the end.

Turn 1:

He moved his Marders up on a hill and killed a Stewie.  Uh oh.  His Tiger had a shot at a Sherman due to poor placement (recurring theme) and killed it.  Stormtroopered his Marders back, but due to an aggressive first move, he could only get one below the hill.

On my turn, I rolled for air and got 2 planes.  I rushed the Marders with the Stewies and I was able to get a shot in.  My CiC came along for the ride too.  I ended up bailing one of the Marders.  I moved the Shermans into the village and hid from the "big kitty."  Planes came in and...  wiped out the Marders.  Literally.  That was pivotal because the whole left side was empty.  Now it was a race to the objective and the Tiger had to pivot over.  Could I get there before reserves on 3?

Turn 2:

Race is on.  Tiger moved over.  Somewhere, he bailed my CiC from a Tiger shot by missing FP to kill.

On my turn I double timed the Stewies to contest.  I then had to aggressively move the Shermans towards the Tiger, including putting my 2iC 1 inch away.

Turn 3:

Big roll - his reserves.  No!  He took the shots at the Stewies and only managed one hit.  Bye bye Stewie.  But he could not get to the objective and he could not get enough hits on the Stewies to force a morale check.

My turn 3, I have an objective and the game is over.

6-1 Victory, but I only killed one platoon and lost zero.




End of the game



Round 2:

Up against Dave from Chicago playing Finns.  I can't tell you the specifics, but he had nasty troops with super deadly Anti-Tank rating, 2 mortar platoons (122 and 80 somethings) and 2 KV-1 or 2s.  Can't remember.

Mission was Fighting Withdrawl and we could field White group and either Red or Blue.  I went with Priest / Recon task force and kept the planes and the armored rifle platoon out of the game.  I was the attacker.

I spread out the objectives as much as possible.  He decided to place all of his infantry in the woods.  He had his nasty anti-tank infantry on my left and his KVs on my right.  What was key to this game is that he decided to defend the table length that we had placed our stuff on while getting ready.  Afterward we both agreed that he should have switched sides with me.  His second mistake was that due to terrain, I actually had a path to the KVs that limited his vision.




Start - after Recon


I don't remember the details of the game too much, but I did an "American Sherman Bull Rush" up the right flank and sent the Stewies up the middle to keep his infantry in the woods.  After two turns, I was able to close in on the KVs.  Untimely rolls (good for me) on his armor saves and by turn 4, I had both KVs destroyed.  He tried a last ditch assault, but the Sherman's and Stewie's machine guns were just too much and the resulting pin ended the game.

Another 6-1 Victory, but I only killed 1 platoon and zero lost

I do have to say that Dave was one of the nicest, most sporting people I have played against.  He made the game a pleasure.



End of Game - pinned on the assault, we did not move them back



Round 3:

Mission was Free for All and only used the White (1,000) group.  I drew Caleb from MN.  He was the best of the 7-7 group.  Since I had killed 2 platoons and lost 0 in 2 games, I was in 3rd.  Two other players were 12-2, but they had killed more platoons.  Joe made a comment that I was "too efficient in winning."  Darn!

Caleb had 2 platoons of german pioneers and a platoon of various Panzer IIIs.  By the way, how do you German players keep up with the 267 different types of tanks!!

Turned out to be a great game, but I made two massively stupid mistakes and I wish we could go again.  I had to play for the 6-1 win to stand any chance of getting the tourney win and qualify for USA Nationals.

Mistake 1:  I placed my Stewies where the Panzers could see on a long range shot.  Dorkus that I am hung my Platoon Leader out on the edge.  Gone.  Destroyed.  Now I can't move them.

Mistake 2: I am an idiot and did not remember the rule about CiC or 2iC "choosing" a new platoon leader.

So because of those two mistakes, my Stewies are pill boxes.  My Shermans made a game of it and caught 3 of the 4 panzers in the open with side shots.  All 3 gone.  Caleb failed the Platoon morale check, but the darn Company Commander saved him.  I was unable to get the last panzer.  Since I was playing for the win, I had to get aggressive with the tanks.  His pioneers were sitting on the objectives and dug in.  I got too close and learned how nasty flame throwers can be.  3 Shermans gone in the assault, but the Platoon Leader passed the Platoon morale check.  I lost the 2iC earlier in the game and by Turn 8, he was shifting the pioneer teams across the board to get his objective and along the way took out my last Shermans.  With stationary Stewies, we shook hands.

1-6 Loss.

I did not get a picture of the last game.

So, 13-8 after being at 12-2.  But not bad for my second tourney.

On a related note, I did win best painted army!!

I want to thank Joe for setting up the tourney and for Bev & Karl at The Last Square for hosting the event.

Here are a few pictures!



Mike (right) who did qualify for USA Nationals this past Fall.



Joe (center right) - Thanks for being the host and ref!!



Best painted.  Explosion markers will be on the post tomorrow!