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.

Flames of War AAR - Fighting Withdrawal

Wonna and I played a game the other weekend, but I unfortunately forgot my camera. We got in another game though this weekend and decided to play something different. We ended up rolling up a fighting withdrawal with my Germans as the attackers since they're a mechanised company.

Wonna won the roll for choosing sides and so opted for the natural defences of the stream. He placed his objective in the middle whilst I placed the one near and in the picture and the other is covered under a mob of Russians. I deployed one unit on my right flank to hold the big mob in place whilst my other platoon deployed along with the Panzer III's. My 8 rads deployed near the centre to keep the platoon of ten T70's at bay.

My 8rad's moved forward using their recce move to get ahead to protect the rest of the force and push back the inevitable ambush.

My units moved forward to engage the soviet forces. The platoon on the left moved up and sprayed bullets ineffectually into the dug in Strelkovy. The 8Rads moved up behind a house to shield them from the anti tank guns on the other flank and get ready to remove gone to ground next turn. Meanwhile on my right flank, the half tracks took cover behind a hedge whilst the Panzers rolled forward and destroyed an anti tank gun.

Wonna shoots at me with little effect in his turn with hi large mob of Strelkovy and the anti tank gun fails to hurt a Panzer. In return I have the platoon on my right get out of their tracks to bring their fire power to bear. The tanks blow away the other anti tank gun clearing the way for the half tracks who shoot at the dug in platoon but are mostly ineffective with their machine guns.

Wonna springs his ambush but is pushed back by near the forest. His tanks move through the woods and stream and thanks to their wide tracks only a single tank bogs down. They shoot at my half tracks and manage to bail one out.

The infantry get out and move towards the river to engage the dug in platoon whilst the half tracks that can pull back out of sight of the T70's. The Panzers engage the T70's at range but to little effect. My forces on the right pepper the Soviets but fail to do much.


The tanks pop away at each other without much effect as my infantry try to cross the gap. They are whittled down until just below half strength and then promptly flee the field of battle!

The Panzers try to whittle down the T70's before they are withdrawn hoping to make them flee but they take the shots in their stride.

In a last ditch attempt I assault the large company hoping to push them back off the centre objective but it doesn't work out. The Germans are pushed back and the Soviets make good their getaway.

This was a great game and still came close to the wire. We picked up a few more rules (like the fact the the 2IC doesn't grant you a reroll on morale which was why my PzGrens fled) and learnt a new scenario. The river was a major factor in Wonna's defence so we're trying games without it as it really hinders my PzGrens.

This is long overdue as I've been both busy and lazy. I'll get pics of the Gladstone tournament shortly along with COWCON updates and a few other things.

Eltnot.

Flames of War AAR

I've been out of town so am getting this up later then I'd hoped to. Wonna and I played our first 1000 point game of FoW the other weekend. I'm writing this partially to learn from my mistakes but also so that others can pick up errors in what we did. Unfortunately, I'm writing this a week and a half after the event so the exact details are a little more fuzzy now. Wonna took:
Headquarters

Battalion HQ (95)
Battalion HQ
Anti-Tank Platoon (2 45mm obr 1942)

Combat Companies

Strelkovy Company (280)
2 Rifle Platoons
Komissar Team

Strelkovy Company (280)
2 Rifle Platoons
Komissar Team

Weapons Companies

Strelkovy Anti-Tank Company (120)
4 45mm obr 1942

Corps Support Companies

Light Tankovy Company (215)
5 T-70 obr 1943

Total: 990 points.

Our deployments.

The terrain is made up from my 40k collection with paper houses and card roads and stream added in until I have time to make something better. The houses are a bit on the small side (around 10mm scale or something similar), but I still have quite a few more to make so I should have a better sized village by our next game. Wonna placed a battalion on each objective in his zone with his AT guns on his left and his T70's on his right. I placed a single platoon on my left opposite his T70's with the 8rads and a platoon on my right and the Panzer III's central but slightly to the right.

Scout moves.

I moved the 8rads up my right flank hoping to scoot them around the corner next turn. Wonna then proceeded to win the roll for first turn.

Wonna's Soviets rush forward.

He moves both blobs of infantry forward using the trees for extra cover. The AT guns roll up behind a wood whilst the T70's move up to the outskirts of the village.

The Germans move up to intercept.

I move the 8rads around the corner whilst the platoon moves up to push through the gap in the hedge next turn. The Panzer III's advance slightly and take pot shots at Wonna's AT guns attached to the platoon in front of them. My platoon on the left digs in. My shooting is ineffective and then the 8rads fail to storm trooper meaning they are still within assault range of the Soviets.

The 8rads go up in flames as the Soviets assault them.

Wonna moved his battalion over and assaulted my 8rads destroying them whilst his other platoon pushed through the woods and the T70's crept into the village. The AT guns advanced into the wood in front of them to try and get to grips with the Panzer III's.

The Germans pull back.

I pulled my platoon on my right flank back to keep them out of assault and sniped some teams through the gap in the hedges. The Panzer III's knocked out two AT guns in the centre. My halftracks from my platoon on the left flank swung around the wood away from the T70's and opened up into the blob of infantry in front of them. They killed quite a few teams but not enough to run.

The Soviets prepare to assault.

Wonna's platoons and AT guns unpinned. The T70's and the infantry moved up. The T70's went in first and fought a long combat with the Panzergrenadiers. Finally with only one infantry base left my platoon broke off. they were then charged by the infantry blob. The halftracks killed several teams before I failed a morale check after losing two halftracks and broke off again. Wonna's remaining two T70's consolidated onto one of the objectives.

The conclusion.

In my turn I failed to unpin my platoon on the left flank and without having anything else in range of contesting, Wonna won.

I made several mistakes during our game. I didn't push forward on my right flank hard enough. I should have pushed up with the tanks and halftracks and kept the 8rads back to slip around onto the objective. The T70's could have intercepted them but that would have allowed my other platoon to chew through Wonna's infantry blob on the other flank. Previous experience have shown that the T70's are fragile but this is the first time I've allowed them to make combat before. I'll try no to let that happen again in the future.