DAK Action at Hammerhead

 Got a game in with Russ during Hammerhead Games' league day, the first Mid War game I've played in ages.  Thought I'd bring out the Tigers so I wouldn't have to bring much.

Tigers knock out the Lancia on Turn One, and are now free to engage the Italians as they see fit.

Russ' light tanks run circles around the Tigers, but my infantry can handle his easily.

The brave Italian tanks can only delay the inevitable.

I got lucky knocking out the only thing on the board that could hurt me before he got off a shot, and that was that. Fun time rolling out the Tigers!

Early War at Game Kastle

We had a small Early War event last week at Game Kastle here in Sacramento and decided on 1350 points.  I brought a Panzerschützen force from Hellfire and Back.

Game One I played against Hal and his Italian Fucilieri.  The Mission was Breakout.

I didn't have much to defend the objectives, and Hal had mostly terrible troops, but a whole bunch of them.  If he played aggressively I wouldn't last long.

Luckily for me, Hal did not send the bulk of his armor at my lightly defended objective.  An ambush by Panzerjäger Is  managed to knock-out one of his M14s and Bail Out the rest, but they stubbornly remained.  His L3 flamethrower tankettes skirted around my mines, but my PaK36s knocked a few out.  

Hal's Fucilieri made a push on the other side, but repeated strikes by my Stukas, and fire from the Schützen kept them back.  I finally assaulted them back far enough to secure the game.

If Hal had come forward early he would've won big, but he kept a unit of five tanks back to defend against my reserves, and never used his second infantry unit.  8-1 win for me.

In the second game I defended in Bridgehead against Russ and his British Infantry Tank Company of Matildas.

On turn one my Stukas came in and took out an 18/25 Pounder and a Matilda I.  They would come in every turn this game.

My Panzerjägers ambushed another group of Matildas, and knocked one out!

A unit of Matilda Is assaulted my position, driving off the infantry and reducing the PaKs to a single gun, but two of them were Bailed Out in the process.  This was my best chance, but it was no use.  They both got back in.  My Panzers could only park threateningly at them near the objective.

Once Russ' Matilda IIs arrived that was game.  2-7 loss for me!

It was nice to have an event in Sac again, even if it was the unsupported Early War.  Still was good to get together!

Pacificon 2018

We had ten players for an 80 point North Africa MidWar event at Pacificon this year in Santa Clara.  I brought German 90th Light Infantry, a formation with some interesting and rare support.  We would be using the Fog of War cards, which were provided by Battlefront for the event.

In the first round I would play Mason and his British Churchill Armored Squadron in Free For All.

I used my recon to get my infantry up a few inches, but Mason would go first.  He used a card to mark the 8-rads for death, and knocked them out, immediately scoring two points!

My Dianas would hold this side and Mason didn't want any part of them.

After a good bombardment knocked out two of Mason's 25 pounders, I used a card to target that position, hoping I'd earn some points if I took it.

Mason concentrated his Churchills in the center of town, and deployed a card which would be worth 2 points to whomever held it near the walled mosque.  I would get there first, but he could take it from me.  I used a card to make one of the buildings in town worth two points to me.

If Mason's heavy tanks took this position he would secure enough points to win.  I would need to hold on.

I moved my PaK36 (r)s to engage the Churchills and knocked one out.  I held on long enough for my other forces to secure enough points for the win!

I'd win this one 8-3, with my 25 pounders winning a gun battle with Mason's.

For round two, I'd be playing against Tim's German Afrika Rifles in Dust Up.

I held the corner pretty solidly, with artillery, PaKs, and two infantry units.  I would up playing pretty defensively until my reserves arrived.

When the Dianas came on they caught Tim's Marders from behind, knocking one out.  The other three would fall back behind cover.

My reserve infantry would advance, taking a card position and earning several points.  We would ultimately run out of time.

I still earned six points in this one, and had I pulled off an assault in the last round I might have broken Tim's formation.  6-2 draw.

I was matched up against Russ and his Italian Tank Company in Free For All in the final round.

Both of us would set up defensively, and didn't really want anything to do with the large open center.

Russ would commit six points worth of cards to the pass, and I knew it would be an easy victory for him if I let him take it.  My PaKs would hold the approaches, but once he got in there he could just sit and fire at whatever came near.

Meanwhile on the other side, my Dianas fought a duel with some M14/41s, one that they would eventually win.

I had several points worth of cards counting down towards victory and just had to make sure Russ couldn't push me off of the embankment.  He was able to destroy most of my guns with his Semoventes, but the Dianas just kept killing little tanks. 

I would win 8-2, as most of Russ' cards were tied up in the pass.  He would've won had he cleared it.

I would score 22 points for the day, good enough for second place and Best Axis (Brad's US Armored Rifles would score a perfect 24)  Thanks to Dave for hosting, and thanks to Battlefront for not only enough cards for everyone who attended, but for great prize support, too! (four copies of each of the new Eastern Front V4 books)

90th Light Afrika vs. Italians

Hal and I found time for a game to test out some 80 point lists for the upcoming MidWar event at Pacificon.  I built an infantry list using the 90th Light Afrika Rifle company so I could try out the 76.2 cm PaK36(r)s and Dianas.  I also took captured 25 pounders, as those were in the division, and a pair of Panzer IVs to sub in as the unit's pair of StuG Ds.  We played Free for All.

2 HQ 2x SMG

8 Rifle 4x MG34 1x 2.8cm ATR 1x HMG

8 Rifle 4x MG34 1x 2.8cm ATR 1x HMG

8 Rifle 4x MG34 1x 2.8cm ATR 1x HMG

15 ATG         3x 7.62 ATR

14 Artillery 4x 25 Pounder

10 Diana 3x Diana

12 Panzer 2x Panzer IV E

2 Scout 2x Sd Kfz 231

1 Brandenburgers card

Hal took an Italian armored list supported by 88mm AA and infantry.

I used my recon to push my deployment up a bit and gave my PaK 36(r)s some better shots.  My infantry move to occupy the buildings, while the guns knock out a tank at long range.

Unfortunately the Italian artillery ranged in on the first turn and immediately knocked one of the guns out.

My PaKs lose to the artillery, and my armored cars are forced to try and slow down the Italian tanks, but they fail.  They would immediately run for it.

The infantry and their anti-tank rifles would need to hold, and they do!

Support fire from the Dianas and several well-placed ATR shots would see the M14/41s all destroyed.  Time to advance!

My Panzer IVs aren't able to hold back a unit of Semoventes.

They would advance and try to capture the objective.

The formation commander's tank would hold long enough for the Semovente's to win out.

I think I did pretty decent against a large force of light armor, though I learned that four Semoventes are better than two Panzer IVs!  I also need to use my artillery earlier to disrupt opposing batteries.

Churchills vs. Panzers

Russ was in the neighborhood and we got a quick game in at Great Escape.  We played Free For All and Russ brought Churchills and Shermans against my Panzer IIIs.

Russ' Churchills and a battery of 25 Pounders hold this side of the board, so I use my Panzer IIs to increase my deployment a bit.

My Panzer IV Fs try to hold off the now advancing Churchills.

My Schleppers and the 25 Pounders trade shots, Russ losing two while I lost one.

I lost one Panzer, which caused them to break and run since they weren't in command.  Not really a fan of that new rule.

With only Panzer IIs to hold the Objective it was only a matter of time before the Churchills run them over.  My Panzer IIIs spent the game dueling some Shermans to no result.

Well, this game was quick!  Once the Panzer IVs ran it was over, but really it never looked good.  Un-upgraded Panzer IIIs have no chance vs. these newer tanks, even with some numerical superiority.  Panzer IVs are overpriced, but I really don't want to use Marders, either.  Not sure if this Panzer list will work after all against these new British heavies, and once the Soviets appear, they're probably toast.

Two Games with Sam

I had the opportunity to play a pair of MidWar games with Sam while he was passing through my part of California the other day.  We decided to try out some new lists for the upcoming 80 point event at Pacificon Labor Day weekend, Sam running British armor and DAK panzers for me.

In our first game we rolled for a Rearguard, with Sam defending.

Sam used his four minefields to defend his flank, but I sent a platoon of infantry to breach it ahead of a platoon of Panzer IIIs.  They knock out a Grant from behind early.  The 2.8cm ATR would hold this position all game.  

My Panzer His and Panzer IVs pushed against the other objective, which Sam would defend with a platoon of Universal Carriers and a platoon of Grants.

A gap in the minefield has been made, and the Panzers are free to exploit.  

The Carriers have been withdrawn under heavy fire from the panzers, and the Grants are destroyed by the Panzer IVs.

With panzers all around them, Sams tanks try to hold on, but they lose too many.  8-1 victory for Ze Germans!

In our second game we would switch sides and I'd be defending in Encounter.

Sam would push pretty hard here with Grants and Carriers, my Panzer IIIs and Lorraine Schleppers would counter.

Four Panzer IIIs are an even match to three Grants and they would stem the advance for now.

Stuarts arrived from reserve and quickly threatened my Schleppers, but my Panzer IVs were in a position to counter.  They would break and run.

The Carriers reversed all the way to the other side of the table and made an assault on my infantry.  Defensive fire would bail two and the third broke and ran.

Sam's Hurricanes only showed up twice in two games but they managed to bail an important tank.  Through a series of odd occurrences this would cause my formation commander and the Panzer III platoon to both be lost.  I'd eventually lose this one 2-7.

Some good practice and I think I'll take this in September.  I might try to squeeze one more tank in there somehow if I can.

MidWar at EndGame

NorCal hosted a small MidWar event last weekend at 65 points, and I brought a DAK Rifle Company- HQ, two Rifle Platoons, 5cm PaKs, Marders, Artillery, and an armored car platoon.

In the first round I would defend against Dave's British Churchill Squadron in No Retreat.

Dave drove all of his tanks and armored cars through this patch of woods, but I had placed my minefields to prevent them from easily coming out to shoot me.  His first tank made it through unscathed, but his formation commander hit a mine!

His lone Churchill assaulted me and pushed me back from the objective a bit, but his other Churchill hit another mine and the formation broke.

I narrowly won this one, only the minefields had any effect on the big tanks.  My Marders were able to destroy his Sherman platoon, leading to an 8-1 victory.

In round two I battled Sam's British Honey Squadron in Bridgehead.

Sam's Universal Carriers pushed his deployment down my flank pretty far, and the Honeys were able to overwhelm my objective early.  My Artillery and PaKs were quickly destroyed.

My reserve units came in and assaulted a pair of 17/25 Pounders, but couldn't do anything else.

A quick 1-8 loss to a quick and overwhelming attack by light tanks.  The Marders came in on the opposite side of my deployment area, and that was it.  Well played, Sam!

In the last round I faced Wyn and his US Stuart Company in Breakthrough.

I knocked out quite a few tanks early, from an ambush by the PaKs and a lucky artillery strike.

My PaKs held this scrub patch for way longer than they should have, and took out quite a few Stuarts, but ultimately were assaulted to death.  My infantry platoons did the opposite, and died super fast...

My formation broke once the second infantry unit broke and ran, but I was pretty close to breaking Wyn's army, too.  2-7 loss for me.

Fun event, looking forward to the next!