Flames of War AAR - Free for All

I still have to write up a report of QM III, but I'll try and sort that out in the coming days.  Meanwhile, Wonna and I haven't played a game of Flames in over two months with Cowcon and QM III keeping us both busy so we were itching for a game.  Today was also the first time that either of us had played 1500 points, so a bit of a shake up in our forces.

Germans
Company HQ                80 points
2 Command Panzerknacker SMG

Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoon    235 points
3 Squads
Command Panzerknacker SMG

Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoon    235 points
3 Squads
Command Panzerknacker SMG

Gepanzerte Heavy Platoon        205 points
Gun Section
Mortar Section

Mittlere Panzer Platoon            360 points
3 Panzer III L with shurzen

Heavy Panzerspah Patrol            85 points
2 Sd Kfz 231

Assault Gun Platoon            280 points
2 StuG F

Total                    1480 points

Soviets
Command with two AT guns
3 Platoon Company with Commissar
3 Platoon Company with Commissar
Flamethrowers (two each attached to the Companies)
Heavy Mortar Platoon.
Limited Air Support - IL2's

We setup the table and then rolled up a mission.  We first got Cauldron, but as we read it, we realised that Wonna wouldn't start with any platoons, only the single platoon in ambush.  This would mean that I could start holding both objectives and keep his ambushing platoon away with my 8rads.  We both decided this wouldn't work well and decided on a different mission, and Wonna noted down to take at least four platoons in future.

Our second try rolled up Free for All so we went with it.  It's been played the most between us but would be a bit different to play now that we both had larger forces.  I won the roll for attacker and chose the board side that would let me deploy my mortars in a suitable spot behind some trees and allow my forces to advance into the village easily.

I forgot to take a photo straight up so Wonna has started moving one of his Strelkovy Guard companies forward in this photo.  Wonna's companies are deployed protecting each of the objectives.  His mortars are located on his far right flank behind the hill.  He attached his anti tank guns to the Company on his right flank.

I deployed my mortars behind the wood just left of my centre.  One platoon supported them intending to move into the woods to protect and hold that flank.  My 8 rads and a platoon deployed on my left flank ready to push up towards the objective located there.  The StuG's and Panzer III's deployed fairly centrally, mainly ready to support the thrust on my left flank towards Wonna's mortars by moving into the village, but also handy to redploy to the other flank.

Wonna started by advancing with both companies, his planes tried to come in but failed.  His planes never actually killed anything and only came on twice during the game.  His mortars fired on the platoon of PzGrens on my right flank near the mortars and blew up the 251/9C attached to the platoon.

During my turn, I moved forward also, the right PzGren platoon jumped out and moved into the woods.  Two of the halftracks bogged down trying to enter the woods also, but the platoon got into a reasonable defensive position.  On my left flank, the 8rads had scooted forward with their recce move and now moved again to pummel the heavy mortars, they killed three of the teams there.  The PzGren platoon moved forward and put off some shots at the company there.  The StuG's tried to hit the AT guns, but failed to do anything to them this turn as they would continue to try all game.  The Panzer III's moved into the village as planned and fired on the company with the AT guns as this was were I intended to overwhelm his lines.  My mortars also had a crack at the AT guns but only killed a nearby infantry stand.

Wonna dug in his right hand platoon to hold off my attacking forces there.  His left hand platoon kept moving forwards towards my mortars, and the two objectives either side of them.  The return fire from his mortars was ineffectual from memory.

I didn't feel that the PzGren platoon on my right flank in front of the mortars could hold off the horde coming their way, so I shifted the Panzer III's over to their flank, moving them close so that they could integrate their defense when assaulted.  The PzGren platoon moved up to bring more men to fire and together both platoons fired as the horde in front of them whittling them down.  The 8rads on my left flank snuck around the wood and continued shooting up the mortars who proceeded to run away after being reduced below 50% and losing their commissar to enemy fire.  My PzGren platoon moved forward to get close to the enemy to stop the enemy aircraft from targeting them or make it difficult due to their close proximity to the trees.

Over the next two turns Wonna tried to push home an assault with his Strelkovy Guard Company.  The first time one of his flamers bailed out a Panzer III.  His second attempt blew up two of my halftracks, pinning the PzGren platoon but they continued to hit enough times when combined with Panzer to throw the enemy back.  over these two turns they whittled the enemy down to just over 50%.

I decided to push home the advantage and moved up with the PzGrens and Panzers.  The mortars smoked the back half of his platoon to reduce incoming fire before the inevitable assault.  This also meant that my machine gun fire could only hit his more forward squads again thinning his numbers.  The PzGrens assaulted and brutally cut down the Soviets, but not without losses.  My platoon commander broke off and fell back to the three remaining half tracks that was all that was left of his platoon.  The three remaining stands of infantry however didn't do so well when the follow up assault of the Panzer III's crashed into them.  They broke off and ran, and without his Company commander and his force below 50% strength, Wonna lost at the start of his next turn.

We both enjoyed this battle as it had a lot more flow back and forth than our previous engagements.  This was also our first major use of aircraft and artillery in our games, so we stopped and started a bit as we worked out the rules for these exactly.  We also had a late start as when we were deploying, I realised that I'd left my two StuG's at home so had to race back to grab them.  We're planning on organising a bit of a FoW day soon with a couple of the other club members who have fledgling armies to get some games in so hopefully I'll have some batreps that aren't just Germans vs Soviets.

Edit - Missed out the aircraft from Wonna's list so have added them in.

Eltnot.