At the last minute I found that I was free to attend the BHGS Challenge 2013, it was MW 1625pts and so i decided to jump on board. Sadly there were only 8 players that attended, but it was a really nice venue, and great all round fun as usual.
I chose to take my MW Russians, as i'm still working on other MW armies at the minute. I took Strelkovy with Shtraf and scouts to get that auto attacking, infiltrating goodness.
Round 1 - Ben Allen - German Grenadiers - Fighting Withdrawl
Standard set up really for the Germans, dug in Infantry on every objective, with the Halftracks whizzing around MG'ing everything. I chose to have a huge blob on each flank, and then just charge them forward until they hit the lines.
After my left flank blob had infiltrated forwards they got spotted, and so the first turn went to the defender. don't really want to talk to much about this game, as some how it timed out after just 4 turns each. I kept urging the defender along, but i suppose every minute mm of spacing between Halftracks is a must every movement and stormtrooper. I suppose i should have called foul after it took 10 minutes to decide to withdrawal the 2 Panthers at the start of turn 3 (utterly useless against 70 infantry).
So the game timed out at the end of my turn 4, thus meaning defender won even though i was all over an objective like a wet flannel. Booooo :(
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| Infiltration moves on my left flank get spotted. |
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| Start of Turn 1 |
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| Turn 2 -Soviets just keep pushing forwards |
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| Turn 2 - Right Flank |
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| End of my Turn 4 |
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| Right flank objective |
Round 2 - Chris Smith - Italian Paras - Cauldron
Second round I faced Chris Smith with his Italian Paratroopers. I chose to start with both Infantry companies on the board, and planned to just smash into the objective on my left flank, whilst i kept a platoon of his tied up in a building. I forgot to keep taking pictures after turn 3.
His Germans that were on the left flank had whittled me down due to mortar and nebs fire, so i had to start moving my other platoon across who finally managed to get into assault with his integral AT guns on the hill. In the end forcing him to take a platoon motivation which he sadly failed, thus leaving my other platoon holding the objective.
Chris was a great guy, and a pleasure to play against, i feel he was really unlucky in this game to lose 1-6, as he forced lots of morale checks on one of my companies. Their Commissar has his work cut out, killing 4 of his own company just to keep them in the game :)
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| End of turn 3, and then i forgot to take more pics :-/ |
Round 3 - Brendon Cummins - German Infantry - Free for All
What a great way to end day 1, Bren is a very polite young man, and he has an extremely good grasp on the rules and tactics of FoW. Being FFA I decided to spread out along the line, and advance forward. I knew if Bren could sneak his tigers passed my advancing Infantry then i'd be hard pressed to budge them from my objective.
Sadly his infantry on my right were very spread out, and this then made it easier for me to dodge defensive fire, and squeeze my way onto his objective. However, his Tigers roared into action and immediately went on the offensive trying to reclaim the objective their brothers had just lost. He had his CO in command of the Tigers, urging them on, but after the 8th round (and 11 dead Russians) they finally failed the motivation to counter attack, leaving the objective in the hands of the now very sorry looking Russians.
This is one to watch out for people, his Dad has obviously decided to start training him up at a young age, so maybe Bren can be the one to challenge Lord C? ;-)
Round 4 - Dave M - Panzer Company - Pincer
Obviously don't want to spoil the surprise, but wow, Dave whooped me sideways here people lol.
I decided that infiltrating to just beyond 8" was the best thing to do, automatically giving him Turn 1, but at least I managed to get lots of teams into a position to better assault onto the objective. Sadly, Dave's Mk4's had other ideas, and proceeded to bombard the Hell out of my infantry.
I had to keep pushing forwards though to try to get into the building with the objective before his reserves arrived, if that happened before i closed the gap it would all be over. My artillery was less than useless, failing to range in repeatedly, even though i only needed 4's.
Once i managed to get to within striking distance, failing some key dice rolls sealed the deal, as my infantry decided not to dig in and failing a tank terror test. It was then a matter of a couple of turns whilst Davee just kept forcing tests on my infantry, awaiting the inevitable.
Dave was a gentleman, and at the end of the game let me have my last couple of Arty strikes to see if i could claim a platoon. However, even after seeing a second Panzer 2 explode, the platoon commander knew it was worth sticking around for sour cabbage and medals.
Round 5 - Paul Cumming - US Armoured Rifles - Encounter
First and foremost I would like to apologise to Paul. I hate encounter, as it means i can't attack with this force until everything is on table, so defending against Halftracks was the only option.
Again I forgot to take pics at the start and end of this game. (what a mong)
Paul started with both armoured rifles and a platoon of mortars on the table. These began dismounted and advanced to within striking distance of my lines. Somehow though, I managed to whittle both rifle platoons down to 7 stands each and removing his tracks, basically stalling his attack.
His Turn 4 and his Stuart finally turned up, and began assaulting at the nearest opportunity. Sadly after he broke off, my 2nd infantry company showed up as reserves right infront of the poor Stuarts and managed to hold tight as the Stuarts came in again.
Later in the game his M10's decided that all was not lost, and charged into the now very depleted looking Soviet lines, after a brief exchange of combat they decided to break off, awaiting the chance to strike again. My 122's however, had a different idea, and manged to destroy and bail 1. The remaining 2 TD's fell to grenades and Molotovs.
The game was all but over, but if the Americans could keep forcing Morale checks on the Soviets, then sooner or later they would get some points. Pauls last throws of the game saw him break a platoon, but then sadly fail his own Company check next turn.
What an epic game, and Kudos for assaulting dude. 5-2
Overall it was a very pleasant tournament, with only one game leaving a sour taste. Chuffed to have come 2nd, and a very well done to Dave and Paul who came 1st and 3rd respectively. Also a big thank you to everyone that turned up and to all my opponents.
Cheers Manny
PS, on a side note, Dave wins the Stalin award with 70 infantry kills :) (I really need to get a trophy made up)
