AAR - MW 1,625 Fighting Withdrawal

Ok.  I think my browser issue is under control, so I can now put up a posting without it looking like a ransom note.

In preparation for a tournament that is upcoming this weekend, we ran a 1,625 MW mission during the regular Wednesday night games.  With 7 players in attendance, we rolled off to see who would fight each other.  I got Joe...  Ouch.  Great player.  With a Soviet Lee Horde list.  Ugh.

I ran US Rifles for the first time in a really, really long time.  So a first in V3 for me!

My list:

Confident Trained USA Infantry
HQ - 2 Command Carbine Teams.
Platoon 1: Rifle Platoon with zook
Platoon 2: Rifle Platoon with zook
Platoon 3: MG Platoon that was combat attached to the Rifle Platoons, resulting in a 13 stand platoon!
Platoon 4: AT Platoon with 3 57mm AT Guns and 2 zooks
Platoon 5: 4 Shermans
Platoon 6: TD Platoon with 4 M10s (CAN'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT TDS NOW!!!)
Platoon 7: 4 Gun Arty Battery of 105mm guns

Joe's list:

Fearless Conscript Soviet Tankovy
HQ - Battalion commander in a Lee
Company 1: 10 Lees with AT 10 (long barrel)
Company 2: 10 Lees with AT 10 (long barrel)
Company 3: 10 Stuarts (M3)
Platoon 4: 3 BT 64 or something like that

Ok, no pictures.  I need to take more with my phone, but I just forget to do so!!  And folks want pictures!!

I defended and placed my objective off center.  Joe went with his objectives on each flank.  The terrain was heavy, but there was a natural alley for Joe to move down each flank.  In addition, I could not see across my deployment zone, so each flank would be isolated.  Think of it this way - the middle could only see the middle and the ends could only see the ends.  This could be bad...

I attached the HMGs into the Rifles and put one platoon one each flank objective.  Since Joe did not have any templates, I bunched them tightly together in order to maximize Defensive Fire shots and bring more stands in the Counter Assault.  One the far left, I placed the 105mm and put the commander and staff team out of LoS in woods.  Shermans were dead middle and the TD Security Section was also dead middle.  I put the AT guns in ambush.

Joe massed everything and I mean everything for a rush on the far right objective.  Recce moves saw me move the Sec Section into an area for TD deployment.  Joe’s recce moved forward to 16.1” from the Rifle platoon.  I put my 1ic and 2ic in the platoon of Rifles on the far right objective and the observer in the open (dug-in) that had clear LoS all the way up his alley.

Turn 1:

Bullrush.  His recce spread out to prevent my TD ambush from popping in woods near him.  Lees and Stewies blast forward.  Few shots, nothing killed or pinned.

I move the Sherms to the right flank.  I double time the Rifles from the left – but still in a position that I can run back if he decides to switch up.  This is unlikely as he is only a few inches from the far right board edge.  I popped the TDs feeling that I had to do so or I would risk letting him get in a position that would really prevent me from getting the TDs out.  I also popped the AT gun ambush because I wanted the Recce gone.  I moved the M10s into woods and positioned myself where my 6” range for LoS would get his Recce only.  After shooting, all recce teams are gone as he could not disengage due to shooting them at the Rifles.  One platoon down.  I did range in the 105s on the first roll, so ToT!  I have 11 tanks under the template, but only bailed 1 and killed 1.  Oh, the AT guns never fired because the TDs wiped them out.  Oh, well – better to have them and not need than to need and not have…

Turn 2 / 3 / 4 / 5:

Got to be a blur.  Joe did kill the TDs, but it took him 2 or 3 turns to do so.  He also wiped out the Shermans, but that took until turn 4 or 5.  He assaulted the Rifles, we traded two rounds, then I pulled back.  Rifles did not dig back in for 3 turns, but survived all firing.  I ranged in from the 105s in turn 2, got ToT again and only bailed one tank! Ouch again!

But the hero platoon of the game were the AT guns!!  RoF3 at Conscript tanks is just ridiculous.  I wiped the Stewies down to the flippin’ commander and Joe hid him after that.  I gutted the Lees to a Company of 1 tank (no Commander) and a Company of 4 tanks (with Commander).  Battalion (ok, Batalon) Commander was still around, but he was over with the lone Stewart.  I pulled the 105s in Turn 3 as I had 6 platoons on the board at the time.  At the end (time / store closing), Joe did a suicide Assault on the remnants of the Rifle platoon.  I killed both the 1iC and the Stewie commander.  My other Rifle platoon was able to get to the middle objective, dig-in and even get some ‘zook shots off on a Lee Company.  In the end, 4-3 USA.

Ending Thoughts:

By Turn 5, Joe was playing for the Company Morale roll.  It was a bloody mess and there were something like 30 buring hulks of Soviet and US tanks on the table.  Conscript is tough to play with - they simply get hit a zillion times.  Yes, they get a crap ton of attack dice, but assaulting with Conscripts is tough to pull off - especially with integrated AT and AT in support.  Once the Rifles were close enough to drag the AT guns into Defensive Fire, that platoon was safe from assaults.  So the last turn move of Joe assaulting was a desperate move based more on time than any tactical mistake on his part.

Fun, bloody, 4-3 that could have gone a different way with a few roles.

My kind of game!

TDC / TFA

As the discussion continues to wage regarding the Tank Destroyer Company / Fask Force A, I thought I would share a few thoughts on possible "enhancements" to the rules / forces that might mitigate problem.  The current "nasty" version of the TDC has two M18 platoons, a towed platoon, armored rifles and Patton.  I don't have the specifics right in front of me, but at 1,750 you can get 6 platoons.

In my view, there are three groups of people that are forming when we discuss TDC / TFA.  While I understand some frustration over the rules governing a single platoon (I still remember the look of cornishkeebler's face when I pulled TFA out for the first time in V3), the big issues arise when you have three.

So here are the three groups:

1) Those that think there is a problem with the TDC / TFA.

2) Those that do not think there is a problem with the TDC / TFA.

3) Those advocating more data.

I have no issue at all with whatever group folks fall into.  I have my view and it continues to evolve.  I happen to fall into #1, but I do not believe TDC / TFA is wacked out like the BAR.  So a gentle hand may be all that is needed to "fix" the issue.  If - and that is a BIG IF - Battlefront does something, I hope it is after time / testing and that the changes represent "tweaks."  Some suggestions (most are other folk's thoughts):

1) Remove recon ability

2) Reduce RoF when the ambush pops

3) Do something to make the Sec Section "count"

4) Remove the ability to "suicide" the Sec Section by moving at the double

5) Remove the recon ability from the TDs themselves

6) Do not give the Sec Section a recon move

7) Do not allow the "jumping" of terrain, obstacles, etc. when the TDs pop.  Something like the TDs cannot be closer to an enemy team than the Sec Section...

8) Do not give the "non-TD" teams recon ability (command carbine and bazookas from the towed platoon)

9) Do not allow the lifting of GtG the turn that the TDs pop

10) Force the TDs to be IN terrain or completely out of LoS when they pop

11) The ever-popular increasing of points

12) Do not allow the TDC to take Patton

13) Do nothing - that is always a choice...

It goes without saying that doing all 11 would be nuts.  But if anything is done, it has to be a gentle change because I do think the list is not invincible by any stretch.

Nerf US TDs!?!?!?!

And so it begins...

The "long awaited" Nerf US TD thread was started.  Feel free to check it out on the FoW forums.  I will wait for a bit before I expand even further on my post.

Having said that, this is not the BAR.  That was a whole different level of wackiness!!

TFA wins Best Overall (Wilcox) and Best American (me!)

TFA IS IN THE HOUSE!!!

Bill Wilcox did it again, but this time with TFA.

At my first US Nats, I ended up with Best American since Bill's win takes him out of the running for that award.

So TFA goes 1 and 2 for American lists.  Not too shabby amigos!

I will post a longer LW Nats article as it was a blast!  I met a bunch of people and reconnected with others.  I was even able to meet folks that I have been following on blogs or reading their posts over at the FoW Forums.

It is now beer time!!

Expected Value Charts

All -

If you have not been following the posts by Eric Riha, you really need to do so.  They can be found at http://www.wwpd.net/.  I strongly encourage folks to read this stuff.  Yes, it is math.  But if you choose to ignore probabilites in this game, you will never get better.  Of course some people play enough that they simply learn the probabilites over time.

Based on Eric's posts and discussion of Expected Value (EV), I created a series of charts which identify the EV for various combinations of Armor Rating, Anti-Armor Rating - all with a Firepower of 3+ (the most common for tanks).  Feel free to copy!

Task Froce A to LW Nats!

Let's get this straight - I am not that good at FoW!  I have just over two years under my belt, but my first "real" tournament was almost one year ago.  So I consider myself still to be new to the competitive scene!

But I do know how to build a list and how to run numbers.  And I know the rules.  And my very personal view is that V3 is the great equalizer right now.  People are still adjusting to the new rules, so there is an opportunity for newer players to make great strides in the game.

With that in mind, I long decided that I was going to take Task Force A to LW Nats.  If you have read my earlier posts on TFA, it shouldn't be a big surprise.  I have quite a few games under my belt and I can say that I really like playing with the list.  I can also say that my opponents start the game a bit off-guard because they just haven't seen the list before.

So, I have been practicing the list against Mike for a number of weeks.  We have run different missions and he has run a few different lists.  I have also played my "normal" games on Wednesday with US ARP, but really focused on the play of the TDs.  So while my game with the ARP may have been "poor", I was really concentrating on how the TDs performed.  And how Shermans performed with them.  This strategy goes back to my competitive golf days.  I used to go on the putting green and let people see me leaving my putts short.  This made them think I was "weaker" than I really was because I was purposefully leaving the putts short.  Same here.  In this game, it really helps if you can bluff your opponent into thinking you don't know how to play the game.  Ever see "White Men Can't Jump"?  Same idea.  Then about turn two or three, BAM!  They don't see it coming.  I like doing that.

Now this weekend is a "warm-up" tournament that Joe will be running in Madison.  After some thought and discussion, TFA will be there.  I figure more practice can't hurt or more to the point, the benefit of getting more games under my belt offsets any benefit to others in playing against TFA.

So without further ado, here is the list:

HQ - 2 M8 Greyhounds
Platoon #1 - Armored Cavalry (M8, recon jeep, mortar jeep)
Platoon #2 - Armored Cavalry (M8, recon jeep, mortar jeep)
Platoon #3 - Tank Destroyers (4 M18 Hellcats)
Platoon #4 - Tank Destroyers (4 M18 Hellcats)
Platoon #5 - Combat Engineers (Pios, 4 bazookas, pio supply truck and a Dozer Sherman)
Platoon #6 - Medium Tank Platoon (5 Shermans plus Pool)
AOP

1,570 points.

I tried several variations of the list, including bringing Priests, planes, Stuarts and Armored Rifles.  But I settled on the list above.  Now we can debate the ARP and Engineers (yes, Igor and others!!), but this list just comes out feeling "right."  More importantly, it plays "right."  My biggest concern will be dug-in infantry.  But I have been figuring out some tactics and listening to other players for advice.  We will see if it helps!

So there you go - my list.  Now we will see how it does this weekend!

or not.

Happy Easter to all!

Tank Destroyer Company

For those of you who have yet to see the updates at flamesofwar.com, here is a picture of what I consider to be very, very exciting news:

Yes, now we can see the force diagram that will be available in Blood, Guts and Glory.

I will say that I believe this will be a very popular list.  My first impressions:

1) Every list will have 3 TD platoons, with the Corps support being "Trained."
2) With AT now moved up to 13 on the M10 and M18, that first volley will be completely deadly.
3) The Jackson will be the 3rd TD platoon, trained but with AT 14.  A hit on a Panther results in a 50/50 kill ratio??  wow.
4) Depending on points, you could get Vet ARP as support.  wow again.

and most importantly...

5) IT IS NOT ALWAYS ATTACKS!!!  Think about this.  You are defender.  Put the Security Section in cover.  Let long range crazy shots come in - who cares!  When the enemy closes the range, pop goes the TDs.

And that last point in 5 above is the key - TDs should ALWAYS get an opening salvo / "alpha strike" into an enemy platoon with full RoF.  Everytime.  So for $64,000 and control of the board, name another platoon that can do this in FoW? Anyone??

Exactly my point.

Now multiply by three.  Imagine 12 TDs popping at the same time and concentrating that fire.  Crazy good.

Of course, it all depends on points...  ;-)