Red Bear re-visited

So, the soviet pleas were heard by the BF, and now it seems the horde will be viable again.
For a German infantry player that is not necessarily such good news...

Anyway, as for tactics against the Russians, let's review the what used to work...

Smoke

Smoke them, make them move, Hen & Chicks means they can't hit you, except with MGs and there are quite a few of those in a 10 tank company...

Cats

Kt, Tiger, Panther used to be the poison versus russians, now the Su-100 might be the cure..

Infantry

Well, your German infantry stand costs more that Soviet LL tank, go power-armour, defending is defending, but in FFA, Dust-Up and the similar will be painful, plus the New Udarny seems to be something that puts the German infantry to a test as well.

NGFS

If only the Prinz Eugen could fire it's 8 guns like it's western counterparts...


This is not a whine, but I'm hoping to hear from you all about how the new changes effect the game, and let us review what used to work, especially when it comes to removing hordes :)

Looking for collaboration / Kiinnostaako Flames of War blogi yhteystyö?

Writing a Flames of war blog alone is something I like to do but if somebody wants to do posts here, I'd like to hear from you. Any ideas how to make the blog more interesting would be something I'd like to hear.

- Finnish language posts?
- AAR's
- Tactics
- Cartoons
- Painting stuff
- Another games

Please contact me at mikko.hellemaa(at)gmail.com

ETC 2013 - Team Tournament BBB-FJ

Team tournament - Winning is all

So, after the bad show on the ESC, felt like I should stay off the beer and have a better gaming day.

1st round we got to face off against Canada, I played the very nice Pole and his Canadien Infantry list.

The Scenario was Breakthrough and he had, those armored APCs, Land Mattresses, 6 pounders, UCs, Wasps, M10s and Infantry, he elected to do Night attack, which allowed me to move to defend the objectives under cover of darkness, his first Infantry platoon was destroyed pretty early, when he assaulted my short scouts, the next round I assaulted the remains and killed his CiC as well.

The M10s arrived from the reserves, and promptly killed my StuHs but got finished themselves also in the process, by trap teams, StuH and finally my CiC. The last rounds were mostly bloody assaults from both sides, leaving the Canucks no other option but break my co morale, which failed, his only effectives in the end were 3 6 pounders, so after his Mattress failed to range-in, we called it 4-3 for me.

The second game was against Spain and I faced Canadien Recon tanks in dust-up. I had the joy of downing an AOP in the game, the game itself was pretty uneventful, although my trap teams caused him all sorts of trouble, including a free kill with his left behind, bogged down 2iC in the woods. I almost stole the game with my StuHs and recon arriving from the reserves, but he realized the danger just in time to have his CiC tank with the huge artillery to delay me enough to not make it. 2-3 draw.

Third game was Fighting Withdrawal versus Hungarians and a US tank list with Shermans,Jumbos, Stuarts, Priests, Recon Jeeps, Infantry and stuff. I deployed my objectives to the left and center and he put his next to my center objective. I never had any real danger in this one and his arty kept trying to kill my 88s, once he managed to kill one gun, only to have VDH resurrect it...

I actually had my StuHs in ambush and never had to deploy them, the 88s fired a salvo at 5 Stuarts, hit 6 times and destroyed the platoon, needing 6s... There was a bit of assaulting in the end, but FJs are pretty good at that business, so no real worries there either, 6-1 for me.

This concluded the day, and spent the night grabbing just a couple beers and fine dining.

The Sunday started with lot less hangover... And we merrily headed to the Master Center again. First game was Surrounded against Serbian gameshop owner, and his US tanks, with Shermans, TDs, Sherman 105s, 2 Infantry platoons, Mortars and Recon, he had Abrams with the lot. I had been facing all sorts of artillery in the tourney, so promptly spread my troops, which wasn't such a great idea as he had only the mortars for indirect. In the end it didn't matter that much, he lost his 105s early by failed assault on my Fjs, 2iC Faust and 1 Schreck, both pinned, hit and maimed, rest of the Sherms were bogged so his best anti-infantry weapon down. After that, I cleared the infantry platoons in leisure by StuHs and FJs. He got the game to 4-3 by killing the 88s and one FJ platoon.

The Last game was Counterattack versus Slovakia and I got to defend against Aufklarungs, with Cannons, a KT, StuHs, Recon, Nebs and HT infantry. The HT infantry started by doubling to end of  a street where only my 88s could see them ;) I foolishly did not target the 2iC but maimed the platoon and it left the map. The 2iC almost took the Objective when I slept... StuHs were unkillable, I hit them with everything, 3 trap teams and so on. My StuHs cleaned the Cannon platoon and I started moving my FJs a bit late to defend the far objective, with my remaining 2 StuHs, lucky for me, he forgot to move his 2iC once, which was enough for me to get a StuH to contest, only had to survive a round of shooting from his StuHs to win...

And I save everything, 4-3 and a nice 4 wins 1 draw for me, Team Finland raised from last years position 1 place and us newbies for the team gained invaluable experience.

Thanks to the Organizers for the very well organized tournament! And thanks to all my opponents for tough games.

ETC experiences 2013 - ESC

So better late than never, I guess... I took my Fallschirmjägers to the Novi Sad, Serbia to fight friendly wargamers from all over the world.

I started my games very tired and thirsty in the singles tournament, had a cassino list and started by having to fight Cossacks in dust-up, I did my best to try to take the objective but just did not have enough umph to make dent in the soviet masses, in the end I did not have enough to hurt even the lowly Lees, whiffing all of my 3 schreks shots and stuff. Anyway, the best I could hope in this would have been a tie, so better to lose so at least somebody is happy :) 1-6

Next game was versus my team mate, very drunken now after loosing his first game as well, was defending against 30+ Beutepanzers in surrounded, happily survived the grumpy, drunken maneuvers to 6-1 win. Shame on the TO's for the match-up though, traveling to Serbia to fight a club mate is not too fun.

Last game I faced a Trained BBB Fj list in counterattack, had been drinking a lot at the time and when I got to defend, was over-confident... although maiming the opponent, his fearless Stugs stayed alive long enough to kill my CiC/2iC and 4 platoons... 3-4 and a good lecture on not drinking while gaming...

No heroes for tournaments?

Well, the title is something that many players agree, but the root here is as always, few lists and few heroes, Patton, Von Heydte, von Suck and so, well, with bbb fj list, you really want those pf  traps, you need Vdh to have them, no heroes, no traps, bad list.

No heroes, no Patton, the list is there still.

People say Fj are not good for tourneys, when somebody gets good games with them, it's because They have Vdh and traps, ffs, you win, OP, you lose, I said so... Can't win...

Happy hunting, everybody, and I would drop Vdh if could get the traps wo him, always, I don't like heroes,
really, but hey try kg kastner without Kastner....

EDIT. Bake without bake, I really think the problem is those heroes every list can have.

Guest from the West coast Canadien Infantry defending versus BBB Fallschrimjagers.

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...

ESC / ETC 2013 - Tournament up next week in Serbia!

So it begins, it's my first international competition and not too little at that. First on Friday, I'll be moving my Cassino Fallschirmjäger in Dust-Up, Counterattack and Surrounded.

Thanks for WWPD's Eric Riha for the concept.

There seems to be 47 players in the Singles tournament, so some action guaranteed.

After the ESC, there's the Dinner Party, guess will need to tone down on drinking a bit, there :)

The main event will be the ETC and it's 3 games on Sat, 2 on Sun.

Bridge by Bridge list for that, the emphasis here is winning more than not loosing platoons, so I have stuff I wouldn't normally use, like 3 tank platoon and trained 88's, although I'm gonna try the twin battery in near future.


I'll try to update the blog a bit from Novi Sad as well, but might not be able to.