FoW: Operation Sea Lion - Pincer

Ben made the trip down from Warminster last Friday for another Operation Sea Lion game. This time it was a rematch between my Soviets and his Hungarians. Last time his Zrinyi were no match for my KV-85's and I got an easy win. I was expecting a much tougher battle this time as I reckoned Ben would draft in more heavy armour to counter my advantage and so it proved.

The battle was fought in Worcestershire and we rolled Pincer as the mission with me as the attacker. I took my usual:

Guards Heavy Tank Regiment - Fearless Trained
Gvardeyskiy Tyazhelyy Tankovy Polk HQ - 1 KV-85
Gvardeyskiy Tyazhelyy Tankovy Company - 5 KV-85
Gvardeyskiy Tyazhelyy Tankovy Company - 5 KV-85
Priority Air Support - Il-2 Shturmovik

While Ben took:

Harckocsizó Század (Tank Company) - Confident Veteran

HQ - 1 Tiger 1 E

Harckocsizó Platoon - 2 Tiger 1 E

Harckocsizó Platoon - 3 Panther A

Assault Pioneers - 9 Stands

Rocket Launcher Battery - 3 Nebelwerfers

Ben set up one of the objectives in the woods top right and I placed the other between the road and the plowed field. Ben deployed first and set up his Assault Pioneers in the plowed field and his CiC in the Tiger in the wood just behind them. He kept his Panthers in ambush.

I split my force either side of the river and made a general advance in my first turn. I was worried about the Tiger so took a risk and tried to call in my Sturmis on to it but they couldn't range in because of the trees.

Ben decided to pop his ambush and placed his Panthers in the wooded hill by the T-junction but kept everyone else stationary. His fire from the Panthers managed to bail my CiC on the road north of the river.

The Soviet advance begins.

Next turn I remount the CiC and again try to call in the Sturmis onto his Tiger and again fail to range in. The general advance continues and my long range shooting bounces off his tanks.

Ben again stays where he is and shoots. This time his Panthers knock out one KV and bail another north of the river.

My knocked out KV

The view from Ben's position

The Assault Pioneers wait patiently for the coming onslaught

Having given up on my Sturmi's knocking out his tanks I switch them to the pioneers. The northernmost KV's continue their advance to wards the village and their shooting again bounces off the Panthers. The KV's by the river halt and try to blast the Tiger with nine shots, all of which fail to damage him. The Sturmis do manage to kill a couple of stands of the Pioneers though.

Ben still sits tight to maximise his shooting and his Tiger at last gets it's reward knocking out one of the KV's near the riverbank. His Panthers continue to wear down the other platoon knocking out their second KV.

The process of softening up the Pioneers begins.

Sitting back trading shots wasn't getting me anywhere so I do a general advance. The Sturmis continue their success knocking out another stand of Pioneers but the rest of my shooting is ineffectual again.

The KV's push on towards the objective,
but not yet close enough to assault the Pioneers.

A successful roll for reserves sees two more Tigers arrive to support the Pioneers. Ben's sit and shoot pays dividends again knocking out two more KV's with his Panthers who fail their motivation roll and leave the field. His three Tigers shoot and bail two of the KV's.

The remains of my other KV platoon after the
Panthers have finished with them.

Things now look bleak for the Soviets

I manage to remount the two bailed KV's and decided to sit and shoot in the hope of taking out the Tigers before they finish me off. But again fail to damage them. Their return fire knocks out two KV's forcing a motivation check which I fail and its game over. A crushing 6-1 win to Ben and he gets his revenge.

As with our last game heavy tanks in cover proved too much for the attacker. Some smoke would have been handy but as that's not an option for Soviets I don't see what else I could have done besides roll better dice :-)