FoW: Encounter

Last Friday saw me make a trip over to Dave's for a couple of FoW games. We'd decided to play at 1750pts so I took my LW Panzerkampfgruppe from the Panzer Divisions Ost PDF. My force comprised:

HQ - 2 Panther D's

Panther Platoon - 3 Panther D's

Panther Platoon - 3 Panther D's

Anti-tank Gun Platoon - 2 PaK 40s

Rocket Launcher Battery - 3 Nebelwerfers

Dave had a Recon Co comprising (I think)

HQ - 1 Sd Kfz 234/2 Puma

Panzerspah Plt - 3 Sd Kfz 234/2 Puma

Panzerspah Plt - 3 Sd Kfz 234/2 Puma

Panzerspah Plt - 3 Sd Kfz 234/2 Puma

Panzerspah Plt - 3 Sd Kfz 234/2 Puma

4 5cm PaK38

Heavy Tank Plt - 2 Tiger 1E

Assult Gun Plt - 2 StuH 42

AA Plt - 3 Sd Kfz 7/2 ??

Dave had forgotten to ask me to bring down some terrain so the board was pretty open. Which, unfortunately for Dave, favoured my Panthers.

 

My left flank at the start of the game.



Dave's centre at the start of the game.



Dave's left flank starting positions.


The Encounter mission is pretty straightforward but having to have half your army in delayed reserve really hurt Dave. I could field my Panthers with the CiC and 2iC which gave me 1500pts on table while Dave could barely manage 950pts. I massed 6 Panthers on my left as my main attack and left the CiC and 2iC on my right to cover the other objective. As you might expect my Panthers made short work of Dave's StuH's and Puma's. Dave wasn't helped by his Tigers getting bogged and remaining stuck until they got hit in the rear by my CiC's Panther. It was all over by turn 4 when Dave failed his company morale roll with half his army still off table.

Dave's StuH's burning early in the game

Followed soon after by his artillery.

As the first game had only lasted about an hour we decided to refight the same scenario. This time Dave had more success killing both my CiC and 2iC with his Pumas as well as one of my other Panthers. But I was able to clear out his Tigers that were guarding the objective and Dave had nothing nearby that could prevent the win. A couple of interesting fights but sadly Dave was hamstrung by having to have so much of his force in reserve.

I must say that I'm really enjoying the fast game you get with an all tank force and look forward to getting my DAK force of PZ II's, III's & IV's painted up.