AAR Regina Rifles FOW Tournament

So this weekend I took off in the Sulaco for parts unknown, or Regina Saskatchewan, whichever came first.

I had never played my list before, but in a previous post I let other people pick it so that probably meant it was gonna go well, right? 

So I took the School of Hard Knocks as I call it, ie the bellow. 

Confident    Trained	Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 Replacement Heavy Tank Force	German Late-War
Tank Company

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 HQ  p.81	2	Ausbildungs Panther A or G	290
Combat Platoons
Panther Ausbildungs Platoon  p.78	3 3	Ausbildungs Panther A or G Assault Rifle Tank Escort	450
Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon  p.81	2	Ausbildungs Tiger I E	280
Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon  p.81	2	Ausbildungs Königstiger (Porsche)	445
Leichte Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon  p.81	4	Ausbildungs Panzer III L or M	180
Company Points:			1645

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Desperate Measures book

We assembled around 9am, talked about the tables, and Lance set us up with our pairings. 

The first table I played on was a Eastern front tribute, a few building set about the Russian forests.

My opponent hits me with as you can see, BLUE STEEL!

We set up and as the Objectives hit the table, we've halved it, with all four objectives being on the left side of the table. It looks like we both had the same idea though, using it as a feint to maneuver through the open ground.

He gets the first turn and digs in on the objectives with 2 pls of 2ID, some AT guns and 6 light 105s, while his recce, Chaffees and Hellcats push my right flank.

On my turn I start to move out but as he's vet and GTG I can't do diddly with the left flank.

On the right I burst around the corner with the PzIIIs,

Dropping one and bailing another... This may have been a bad idea. Lucky for me the return fire is a crazy number of bails, only felling one tank.

Panthers begin shooting up the 105s.

Less 105s.

The PzIIIs all remount and ROF 3 really does a number on the Chaffees seeing them leave the field, well the one that wasn't burning.

But retribution is to come, and his Tank Hunters pop out destroying the OC and his panther. He quickly climbs out of the wreckage and mounts the nearest Tiger.

He adds a second PzIII to his kill sheet.

This is really where the gun fight starts. And the last remaining PzIII remounts his vehicle hitting the Hellcats with all three shots.

While on the Left my Panthers continue to remove assets.

They remount whats left and see him off.

The tigers shift right and blow up the last of the cats.

Having destroyed the 105s and the 57mm guns, the Panthers and KTs begin working on the Infantry. It's a moot point now and seeing the end will be Nasty, Brutish and short, we call it. 5-2 to the School of Hard Knocks.

Serious face is serious.

ABOUT GETTING SOME BEERS!

And drinking some more.

Ordering another round.

And drinking it.

Grabbing few more.

And some food showed up! He had beerogies... Seriously. It was awesome.

Apple pork burger with the fixin's.

Not gonna lie. from here there are pics. and I remember some features of what happened but as the beer kicked in... Well...Lets just say after my tour the beer has had, somewhat more of an effect.

As you can see my photo taking was becoming not unlike my vision.

2nd Battle was Pincer with me attacking against Joe Vandeleur and the Welsh Guard. Lets face facts, from here photos were well spaced and sketchy. It's pretty much a photo dump from here.

6-1 for the School kids.

Last game was Breakthrough against a super nasty 2ID list. SUPER NASTY... It ended 4-3 for me on turn 12-15. We lost count. Everything after turn 9 was a blur. Everything in this list has teeth by the way. Bazooka-y killy teeth.

I don't know what happened but in the end I had the top score of the day and took a sweet little trophy home. It was a blast and the guy who puts it on, Lance is the man, and his main concern is that everyone has fun. ie best tournament organizer ever.

So fun was had and I picked up a puma and a Stuka, before sobering up, remounting and driving some 400km home.

It was a good time.

Until next time.

School yard Bullies.

So I've long had a love affair with German Heavy armour. I've written a King Tiger Tactica, I have another for Tiger 1Es that I'm still pushing my way through, and well, to be honest I think they look cool and love that people say they can't win. It gets me pretty fired up to do some damage with them.

But I have another love affair, with Junk German units. Back when German reluctant units bucked the curve, I was signing up to do business with them. And few things make me happier than pulling out my Sperrverband and having at someone with them.

So with Desperate Measures coming out I think I was more stunned than overjoyed when a junk German Heavy armour list came my way. It's like there was a block in my brain, not letting me even see the list somehow. The more I was having fun with Desperate Measures the harder my mind hid the list of blundering titans from me.

It wasn't until my friend Duncan basically berated me for it that I noticed the list and started putting pen to paper. He quite honestly repeated himself over and over again "dude why aren't you running that list? It's like all your favorite stuff all rolled up perfectly" Somehow I managed to miss it the first half dozen times but somewhere in there I took notice and have been playing around with some ideas.

So out of it I've come up with my two basic lists. I'm not quite sure which I'll start running, but I'm pretty pumped about the both of them.

List #1

Confident    Trained	Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 Replacement Heavy Tank Force	German Late-War
Tank Company

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 HQ  p.81	1	Ausbildungs Königstiger (Porsche)	235
Combat Platoons
Panther Ausbildungs Platoon  p.78	3	Ausbildungs Panther A or G	405
Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon  p.81	3	Ausbildungs Tiger I E	415
Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon  p.81	3	Ausbildungs Tiger I E	415
Leichte Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon  p.81	4	Ausbildungs Panzer III L or M	180
Company Points:			1650

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Desperate Measures book

List #2

Confident    Trained	Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 Replacement Heavy Tank Force	German Late-War
Tank Company

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 HQ  p.81	2	Ausbildungs Panther A or G	290
Combat Platoons
Panther Ausbildungs Platoon  p.78	3 3	Ausbildungs Panther A or G Assault Rifle Tank Escort	450
Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon  p.81	2	Ausbildungs Tiger I E	280
Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon  p.81	2	Ausbildungs Königstiger (Porsche)	445
Leichte Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon  p.81	4	Ausbildungs Panzer III L or M	180
Company Points:			1645

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Desperate Measures book

Alrighty then denizens of the internet, help me choose my list. Its in the poll at the top of the page. And leave some constructive criticisms cause I may be in way too deep on this one.

Until next time.

A really cool video, or two.

I found a couple of cool videos of vehicle painting that I thought I'd share. Sure they're for larger scales but many of the principles and techniques are the same.

I was pretty spellbound and watched them back to back. The wife was less amused.

Enjoy.

Until next time.

Desperate Measures Batrep 3.0

Our third round of games playing with desperate measures.

We're really liking the changes in how the forces play and match up. After a stint at the mess we decided to have a bit of a shoot up.

I wasn't really in the mind set to run a new list so I was running what I had before.

Confident  Trained

Panzer Kampfgruppe (Trained)

German Late-War

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Panzer Kampfgruppe HQ (Trained)  p.69	1 1	Panzer IV J Assault Rifle Tank Escort	85
Combat Platoons
Panzer Platoon (Trained)  p.70	4 4	Panzer IV J Assault Rifle Tank Escort	330
Panzer Platoon (Trained)  p.70	4	Panther G	575
Weapons Platoons
Panzer Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon (Trained)  p.71	2	Ostwind (3.7cm)	100
Support Platoons
Heavy Panzerspäh Platoon (Trained)  p.85	1 1	Sd Kfz 234/1 (2cm) Sd Kfz 234/4 (PaK40)	95
Grenadier Kampfgruppe Platoon (Trained)  p.87	1 2 2	Cmd Panzerfaust Rifle/MG team Panzerfaust Rifle/MG team Weapons team	140
Armoured Rocket Launcher Battery (Trained)  p.90	1 2 1 3	Cmd SMG team Kubelwagen Observer Rifle team Panzerwerfer 42 (5+ crew - counts double)	140
Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel  p.95	5	Hans-Ulrich Rudel in Ju 87G Stuka	175
Company Points:			1640

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Desperate Measures book

Duncan had changed things up a bit and is still trying to find his optimal DM Soviet list.

Confident  Trained

Motostrelkovy Batalon (Red Army)

Soviet Late-War

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Motostrelkovy Batalon HQ (Red Army)  p.13	2 1	Cmd Rifle team Komissar team	40
Combat Companies
Motostrelkovy Company (Red Army)  p.13	1 12 2	Cmd SMG team SMG team Panzerfaust SMG team	260
Motostrelkovy Company (Red Army)  p.13	1 6 1	Cmd SMG team SMG team Panzerfaust SMG team	140
Motorised Anti-tank Company (Red Army)  p.15	1 4 4	Cmd Rifle team 57mm ZIS-2 gun Truck	150
Weapons Companies
Tankovy Company (Red Army)  p.9	7 7	T-34 obr 1942 SMG Tank Escort	345
Support Companies
Guards Heavy Assault Gun Company  Fearless  Trained   p.25	5 5	ISU-122 with .50 cal AA MG SMG Tank Escort	650
Transporter Platoon (Red Army)  p.27	7	Truck	10
Anti-aircraft Platoon (Red Army)  p.11	3	DShK AA MG on truck	55
Company Points:			1650

The battlefield.

We rolled up Encounter. We hadn't played this one in a while and were actually thrilled to get to play it up. Having delayed and scattered reserves in a strait up fight makes for a quick fun game. 

We each had a central objective and then flanked each on the opposite side, this ensured we'd use the whole battlefield, instead of cutting it down to a 4x4 table. The clock timer was set to 1:15 a person and away we went. 

Duncan won the roll to attack and picked his side. He went with his 2 platoons of Infantry and set up his ISU-122s behind the hill in a reverse slope position.

I had placed my Panzerwerfers centrally first. It was predictable and flexible. Kinda a moot point. I placed my PzIVs next, I put them out in the open, though obscured by the buildings and terrain at range, I wanted to make them the bait that I hoped the 122s would go after. He had placed his 122s last behind the hill opposite them and I then placed the Panthers behind them ready to move and counter punch against them.

Duncan won the roll to go first having rolled a two to my one on both the attacking and first turn roll. 

As he turned to look at the table I then said "Oh here comes the predictable moves, dig in, dig in, move to shoot."

His response, "Really?" Actual quote.

At that Duncan rolled for both platoons to dig in, with the central platoon failing. His 122s swung around the hill and in a hull down position fired on the PzIVs, shots hit the building the field, the road, but not the tanks.  

Great position, poor rolls plagued the big beasts.

In my turn the PzIVs rolled to the left and the Panthers took up firing positions while Rudel swooped in from above.

The results saw two down (Thanks Rudel) two bailed, as I can't ever make a firepower roll and a single tank remaining. The Pl Comd went down in the attack but they made their morale with ease.

I stormtroopered away and got ready for the next turn.

Duncan remounted one of the 122s, the second platoon dug in and with that the firing began. The distance the cover made the 122s firing ineffective as the OC and the 2IC came to try and issue new orders, he was just out of reach this turn.

In my turn, the Panthers and Rudel finished off the 122s while the PzIVs continued to position against the Infantry. Panzerwerfers kept raining down and were slowly doing some real damage. Almost halving their strength, with the help of the PzIVs.

In Duncan's turn, the T-34s showed up. And not being in a location to his liking they booked it double time behind the hill. Not much in the way of shooting it went to me.

In my turn the PzIVs pulled back, a little gunshy of the mob of tanks. Rudel swooped in and dropped a couple. PzWerfers continued to rain down on the Inf but to no effect.

Duncan turn saw his reserves show up. The Zis-2s showed up with shots on the PzIVs, bailing one, while the T-34s doubled again to an attack position behind the hill.

In my turn I got Rudel again, he was really feeling showing up in this game. Panzerwerfers and the PzIVs eradicated the ZIS-2s and a couple PzIVs and Rudel did in all but one T-34.

At this point Ducan called it. Not seeing enough combat power to take out my armour we decided to avoid seeing how long it would take to push the infantry off the objective.

Our hot wash looked at army list cohesion and the use of forces. One thing we focused on was using Infantry offensively to help shape the enemy.

Can't wait until the next one.

Until next time.