FoW: Fair Fight

Monday night saw a clash of armour between my Panzerkampfgruppe and Ben's Irish Guards.

My force was:

HQ - 2 Panthers

Panther Platoon - 3 Panthers

Panther Platoon - 3 Panthers

Anti-tank Gun Platoon - 2 PaK 40's

Rocket Launcher Battery - 3 Nebelwerfers

I don't have the OOB for Ben's force but iirc he had three Platoons of Shermans and Fireflys, three Universal Carriers, priority air support with Typhoons and Joe Vandeleur.

I set up first and my forces were spread out over the board while Ben concentrated his forces on the flanks. Ben had the first move and was mainly concerned with not giving my Panthers an easy target so moved into better cover. On my turn I moved up into better firing positions and in the shooting phase some good dice saw me knock out 2 Shermans, including the 2iC, and a Universal Carrier.

The situation at the end of turn 1 is shown in the two photos below.



The Tigers in all pics are objective markers only.



Left flank end of Turn 1

Turn 2 saw the Typhoons sweep in and bail one of my tanks in the centre. While the rest of Ben's forces sought cover and on the left flank looked to get flank shots on my isolated 2iC but to no effect. In my turn the bailed tank remounted, the 2iC knocked out a Sherman and then stormtroopered back. My centre Panthers sat and used their RoF 2 to knock out two more Shermans on my left flank. My right flank Panthers moved up and knocked out another Sherman and my Nebelwerfers knocked out a Sherman behind the woods to my right. Ben made his morale rolls and the battle continued. Things were looking good for me with my superior armour backed by great dice. But this was about to change.


Ben had to proxy some PzIII's and Cruisers for Shermans



Take a good look at my Panthers before they disappear!

Turn three saw Ben's Shermans again fail to hurt the 2iC despite flank shots and the rest of his tank fire was equally ineffective. The same could not be said for his Typhoons. They swooped in on my right flank Panthers who had bunched up to get round the wood. Two hits and bad rolls saw two kills and a failed morale roll saw the survivor run for home. My 2iC bailed one of the left flank Shermans and stormtroopered back again. The rest of my fire was ineffective.


Left flank end of turn 3.

 

My right flank only has the CiC and the Nebelwerfers left.

On turn 4 Ben took a chance and headed into the wood to get flank shots on my 2iC but both were ineffective. As was the duel in the centre. But a lucky long range shot from a Firefly took out my CiC leaving my right flank in big trouble. My 2iC got the hell out of Dodge and moved round the wood to escape the flanking shots and threaten the rear of the centre Shermans. My centre platoon moved up to get a better position and threaten the centre objective My Nebelwerfers got revenge on the Firefly and a failed morale roll later the platoon routed.


Left flank end of turn 4.



Ben then made a move on my PaK 40's but gun shields and good rolls saved them. Lots of manoeuvring in the centre for flank shots was stymied by bad dice. But the Universal Carriers, taking advantage of the open right flank, raced forward to threaten my Nebelwerfers. Ben then decided to assault the PaK 40's which was a bad moved as one was knocked out and the other bailed. But his morale roll was again good. In my turn I manoeuvred in the centre to protect my flanks but all my shooting was ineffective as was the PaK 40's.

Right flank end of turn 5.



The UC's advance unopposed.

Ben's UC's advanced again and opened up on the Nebelwerfers killing one and the command element. In the centre a flank shot finally got through and a Panther brewed up. The bailed Sherman on my left flank remounted and moved to flank the Pak 40's and killed one with MG fire, But the survivor hung on and got 2 hits Ben needed 2 sixes to save his tanks and of course thats what he got!.

The UC's contest the objective.

Curse those British dice!

Things were coming to a head. Ben's Typhoon swooped in and killed my 2iC, the UC's MG'd my Nebelwerfers killing one and I failed the morale test and his tanks MG's killed my last PaK 40. Three of four platoons gone no command left game over.

A real fun game that swung both ways. My initial successes dried up and the MVP, the Typhoons, dealt the killer blows. This was my first tank game and it was different and fun. A bit more luck late on could have seen me win but the dice were against me. Thanks for the game Ben.