Dicemanrick's Little Guys Den

On Friday at Legions Hobbies we got together for Kurskgiving…huh?

The battle of Kursk was about the biggest armored battle on the East Front. In FoW terms it occurred during the Mid War period, so in our game you assemble a Mid War list of tanks only that totals 750 points. It was not restricted to East Front armies as we have many players who concentrate on other areas. This was to be a free-for-all battle on an 8 foot by 8 foot board. Players would choose a 1 foot wide setup area with order determined by drawing normal playing cards. The turn order for shooting was determined the same way each turn. The only restriction was that on the first turn only you could not target your nearest neighbor. You would accumulate the points spent on the tank you eliminated for the victory total. All normal nationality and special rules would apply for your choices, and each individual tank could be from any list.

Ferdy hides from his “friends”….

My list:

1 Ferdinand 390 points
1 Marder I 75 points
2 Hornisse 275 points
—————–
740 pts . All Confident Veterans.

The plan was that the near invulnerable Ferdinand (16 front armor, 8 side/rear armor) would keep me in the game long enough to get some points before I was taken out. The other three “tanks” have nice guns but paper thin armor. I hoped the ability to “stormtroop” would keep them alive. I had three of the magnificent long 88s with 40″ range. I hoped I could “reach out and touch” my friends before they could do the same to me.

This is a fun event with lots of suspense over turn order each turn and trying to keep up with the scoring.

Different strategies govern what people buy…Howard chose a horde of Russian light tanks…lots of shots with very little armor. Some took Panthers and Tigers. Shermans of course for the Americans.

We were happily surprised to have 20 players show up! This would be “down and dirty” pretty quick. My position was near the upper right corner in the picture above near a village. The biggest close threats were big Mark who had a Panther, and Stephen with some scary Russian SU85s and KVs. I made a “Ribbentrop and Molotov” non-aggression pact with Stephen and tried to hide from Mark.

My Hornisse whiffed on a long range shot at some Shermans and then promptly failed to stormtroop, so of course it was killed by Mark’s Panther. This was to be my luck pretty much for the whole game. Nobody could shoot (I did bail a lot of targets) or stormtroop. The other Hornisse was similarly killed a few turns later. The Marder went down a turn later.

But the Ferdy, lucky Ferdy, remained till the end. Along the way I shrugged off three ass-shots from Panthers/Mk IVs (sorry, Mark!) during the game, so I felt part of my strategy was valid.

Unfortunately the second part was the fail part..I couldn’t kill any big targets! For an example, over two turns with Ferdy I hit Howard’s paper tankettes four times, and rolled 1,1,1, and 2 for FOUR BAILS!

Several other turns I lined up for promising shots, but my targets were killed by the player going right before me. I was one of the last two players alive along with Jim N., who finished in second place.

After all the smoke cleared, Howard was the big winner with his Russian Horde and spent his winnings on more toys at the store.

Thanks all who played in this fun game, and special thanks to Tim and Ben who did the grunt work running the thing….

I met up with Stephen at Legions Hobbies for a “Market-Garden” game. Our group will start gaming this campaign soon, so we wanted to “fine-tune” our armies. Stephen had to write up his list as he only had 1500 pts ready. As it turned out, he chose one platoon he couldn’t actually buy. We didn’t realize it until the game was over. The unit (armored car recce) COULD have linked up with the Poles, so no big deal. The mission was to be Hasty Attack, and Stephen chose to defend the Northern half of the board.

My Germans:

Stephen surveys his possibilities for defense and uses:

This is the aerial view of the Dutch countryside taken by a reconnaissance plane. The Germans would be approaching from the top of the photo.

The German pioniers were at work early and placed three barbed wire obstacles to hopefully hinder the Poles. The Polish objective was placed near the center with two German objectives toward each end of the table. The other Polish objective was placed on a small hill to my left.

Stephen deployed two platoons of infantry and one platoon of mortars to his right and center. A platoon of Shermans with two Fireflies was held in immediate ambush.

I deployed the pioniers spread across the center with the two PaK 43’s. The infantry guns were to the right near the town and the Jagdpanzer IVs were to center and left. The pionier wagon is visible at bottom right, hiding in the woods. The right-most objective was removed.

Stephen popped his tanks on his left in and near the woods.

TURN ONE saw little German action. The pioniers grouped and moved slightly forward.

A barrage on the town by the 150’s did no damage as they failed to range in till the third attempt. Stephen kept his infantry and mortars quiet and moved the tanks a bit forward. Both sides were looking for reserves.

TURN TWO.

The Germans get lucky and a Jagdpanzer V arrives towards the right of the field, trying to counter the Shermans who have all hidden nicely.

The JpzIVs head to the left and a platoon of 8cm mortars also moved in from reserves and took up position on the hill near the Polish objective.

This looks great! Two reserve platoons on. The JgdPanther can see a Firefly, the artillery is ready…..

And the JgdPanther BAILS the Firefly while the artillery pummels the village hitting nothing. And to top it off, I fail ALL my Stormtruppen rolls!

The Poles fail to recover the Firefly and his companion Shermans moves to cover and tries a shot at the JgdPanther which misses.

The mortar platoon ranges in on the PaK43 but does no damage.

TURN THREE sees an infantry platoon arrive on my right. The pioniers and JpzIVs advance a bit. The mortars fail to dig in.

The artillery fails to hit the village and the “ace” JgdPanther completely misses the stationary, unconcealed, still-bailed-out Firefly! At least he covers his embarrassment by stormtrooping to cover. Nobody else can, though, as I throw a nice string of 1’s and 2’s.

The Polish mortars target the advancing pioniers and JpzIVs but do no damage. Help arrives for the Poles in the form of a platoon of Shermans which show up on his left. Seeing an opening, the Polish commander orders the tanks to attack the newly-arrived infantry which was not yet dug in.

The tanks hit the dug-in 2IC which is joined to the grenadiers. He hides well as the advancing tanks fail to shoot him or overrun him in the assault. The tanks pull back with no damage on either side. The placement of the wire helped a bit as it channeled the advance to the right.

TURN FOUR sees the arrival of a Luftwaffe FlaK battery which I post to the right. It fires at and misses the Shermans which had been repulsed in the close assault. The infantry digs in, ready for the tanks now. The Jgdpanther misses once more, but manages to stormtroop behind cover.

The 150s target a pair of Shermans trying to hide but the two-gun battery ranges in but fails to hit them.

My mortars do much better when they hit the Polish mortars—one tube obliterated along with the 2iC.

A fast-moving recce platoon enters on the Polish left and motor quickly toward the German mortars which never succeeded in digging in and wreck two of them.

One of the Jgdpanzer IVs is targeted at long range and concealed, but the British armor tags it twice (2 6’s) and the German vehicle explodes. The mortars then pin the pioniers with no other damage.

TURN FIVE welcomes the arrival of an infantry platoon which I post to the left to counter the recce.

One of the Jgdpanzer IVs move to the rear flank of the Brits and take out one of the armored cars. The rest of the turn is less memorable: the 150s can’t hit the town buildings, the mortars and 88s can’t dig in, and all the stormtrooper attempts FAIL.

The Poles get reinforced by a platoon of carriers and one of infantry who both arrive in the middle of the battlefield. The carriers race down the main road and the infantry takes up position in the town buildings. The barrage of MG fire from the carriers take out an infantry element. And then another Jgdpanzer IV falls on another die roll of a 6….aaccckkk!!! My inability to stormtroop is killing me!

TURN SIX. Finally I get everyone dug in and recover the pinned pioniers.

The mortars hit the carriers in the town but they all make saves. The 150s try to level some town building but miss again.

The Guards recce is destroyed after the last Jgdpanzer IV, who made his morale check last turn, kills one. The last Daimler (the platoon made its check) falls to an infantry assault. The Jgdpanther fails to stormtroop…cue the ominous music….

The Shermans all swing to the right into and around the town buildings and the Jgdpanther is hit three times and erupts in a ball of flame. Everything else misses.

TURN SEVEN. Things are looking grim as I’m down to one tank. One of the 150s is pushed forward and the other misses a building again. I’m starting to think these gunners have no idea what they are doing. The mortars range in on one of the Shermans and some close infantry and manage to bail the tank.

In the Polish phase Sherman remains bailed. The carriers and three tanks use guns and MGs against the German infantry hidden in some buildings but all miss.

His mortars range in on the PaK 43 but I actually manage a saving throw. The Poles charge the church led by a flamethrower who takes out one of the defenders.

Last Friday I met up with long-time friend Larry Chaban to have an Early War practice session. Somehow my 8th Army British Rifle Company ended up defending against the Finns in Counterattack. Who knew the Finnish Navy had the transports!! I chose the corner in the top right to defend while Larry chose the quarter of the board nearest him in the picture above. The terrain was typical for the North African desert….huh??? I guess my transports were active, too!

Anyway, I defended with a British Rifle company:

Larry’s J