Went to Panssari museum in Parola last Sunday with my 2 oldest sons, and no other than Russ from the NorCal gaming circuits, Russ posted a nice AAR of a game we managed to play, instead of obstacles like morning flight, wife, work and so on. Do enjoy.
AAR Canadien IINO defends BBB FJ in Pincer
Here's the text and pics:
I managed to get in a game vs Mikko while in Finland. Both of us made a sacrifice to play-we ended 2 hours before I had to get up and catch my plane the next day and Mikko had to convince his wife that playing FOW late on a weeknight was somehow a good idea-after school and before work the next morning!
Anyways, Mikko played his FJ from market Garden and I played a Canadian list his friend had.
Mikko's List: HQ+ Heydte + 4 Trap teams + 3 mtrs + 3 schreks, 2 large FJ platoons, 3 StuH42s, 4 Pak40s, 2 88s, small mortar platoon and a small Recce platoon (3 stands). He combat attacked the schreks and a mortar each to his infantry platoons (12 and 13 stands each), and added the 3rd mortar to his small mtr platoon to make a 3 tube battery.
Russ's borrowed Canadian list: HQ, Full Rifle platoon with 3 De-Frocked Priests, Short Rifle platoon with 3 De-Frocked priests, 4 6 pdrs + Trans, Arm Recce pltn (2 Shermans, 2 FFs), 4 M-10Cs, 4 3" mtrs, 3 Carriers, 3 WASPs.
Scenario: Pincer. With my limited amount of infantry, heavy AT but not a lot of "digging out" power, I didn't opt for the night attack and hoped I would roll to be the defender-which I did.
I started with the full rifle platoon, mortars, 6 pdrs and the armored recce on the board (see picture 1 below). Mikko weighted his attack to my left and came at me with both infantry platoons supported by mortars, Paks and Stuh42s. The 88s were set up where they might get a shot in but he didn't have transport for them so they couldn't move.
As he came forward, I tried to trim his numbers with the mortars but didn't do much. His trap teams popped on his side and advanced towards my solo units (Observers and commanders) on my right flank while everything else went in on my left. I waited one turn too long to deploy my ambush, which resulted in my 6 pdrs having to ambush further back then I would have liked.
As Mikko came in he used his mortars (very effectively) to smoke off portions of my force while shooting with StuH42s, a Pak40 shot or two and his infantry to start to bring my infantry platoon down. Assaulting was tough at first because I had a lot of DF shots.
Finally, on turn 4, I received 2 reinforcements. I brought in my WASPs and M-10Cs. I hit his Recce platoon with 1 WASP, killing 2 and the 3rd ran away and blew up his StuH42s with my M-10Cs. (Picture 2) One of his infantry platoons had lost 5 or so teams but he was still very infantry strong. On his turn 5, with good use of smoke and careful assaults, he wiped out my infantry platoon and drove me off the objective. (Picture 3-probably taken just before I lost the infantry platoon)
On turn 5, I brought in my short rifle platoon and fired everything at his infantry (lots and lots of MG shots) but I didn't quite kill enough. My infantry assault went in and was counter-attacked back. I had to send my tanks in-because it was that or lose the game. After 1 round of assault and counter-assault, facing 2 Shreks and 2 Panzerfausts, my platoon was destroyed. (Picture 4).
So, a 3-4 loss for me. In retrospect, I could have been more aggressive with my tanks, should have put my ambush down on my turn 1 and a few other minor things. Nothing glaring. With Heydte giving him morale of 2+ (higher command so he can re-roll many checks), you really do have to kill the FJs to the man. It was a fun, close battle and it is obvious that Mikko really knows how to handle his FJ list.
For me, I would not build my Canadian Infantry list like his friend did-it was very strong AT but too strong in my opinion. I generally want more infantry and/or more firepower to dig troops out. I like the Carriers and the WASps of course, If I had run into Panzers from the Meuse or something I probably would have been happy to have all that AT I suppose (12 AT 15 shots per turn + 12 AT 11 shots per turn + 4 AT 10 shots per turn).
Anyways, good times and Mikko is a fun opponent to play. We both learned some things here and there. The Panzerfaust trap teams are quite useful even if you are attacking. You basically get a single team assault force that runs around and threatens individual units or tanks. I did kill 2 of them but who cares-they don't count towards anything. Anyone that plays FJ and doesn't bring Heydte and 4 trap teams is crazy. He never managed to raise anyone from the dead but it wasn't for lack of trying...
No comments:
Post a Comment