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.

Desperate Measures Batrep 2.0

A quick text and a phone call was all of the arm wrenching I needed to be convinced to play another Desperate Measures game with my buddy Duncan. He had just got back into town and was itching to throw down with his Soviets. 

As per the norm I set up the battlefield prior his coming over and rolling for mission. Dice were thrown and it came up Counter Attack. 

A small town along the service road in the rolling hills. Farm fields and some forests. Nothing special but terrain rich enough for us.

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 1	Cmd SMG team SMG team Panzerfaust SMG team Maksim HMG team	285
Motostrelkovy Company (Red Army)  p.13	1 6 1	Cmd SMG team SMG team Panzerfaust SMG team	140
Support Companies
Guards Heavy Assault Gun Company  Fearless  Trained   p.25	4 4	ISU-122 with .50 cal AA MG SMG Tank Escort	520
Medium Assault Gun Company (Red Army)  p.21	4	SU-100	310
Transporter Platoon (Red Army)  p.27	7	Truck	10
Tank Destruction Company (Red Army)  p.26	1 4 4 1	Cmd Rifle team 45mm obr 1942 gun Truck PTRD anti-tank rifle	90
Anti-aircraft Platoon (Red Army)  p.11	3	DShK AA MG on truck	55
Air Support  p.31	5	Limited Air Support Il-2 Shturmovik	200
Company Points:			1650

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Desperate Measures book

Being a mobile reserves game Duncan had to chose what to keep on table, he picked the ISU-122s and dismounted the DShKs from the trucks, leaving his SU-100s in reserve. After the game we talked about that and had things been different he would have switched the 100s for the 122s but we'll get to that. The 45mm 1942s were in ambush.

My set up, and list.

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

The opening Recce move saw the 8 Rads use the road to go full out up table. The troops in the forest were out of line of sight and 8".

The Panzer horde(term used loosely) pushed forward. My Panthers aren't done and I apologize for their state but with the temps around here lately spraying them just isn't an option. I left the tracks off to try something new, so for this batrep I'm using German Grav tanks... Fear the Grav tank?

The opening salvo from the Panzerwerfers took out the Soviet Commisar, to which Duncan gleefully stated "And Soviet Morale rose sharply" and the game was on. Some Panther shots rang off hulls with one finding it's way home and destroying a 122.

Duncan Pulled back the 122s not wanting to get in a gun duel with the Panthers while outnumbered.  The Infantry shifted behind the forrest, in an attempt to be able to threaten the second objective while also opening up space for the Aircraft to come through. A single plane came down and with some good and bad luck respectively only managed to bail a single Panther. MAN ARE THEY TOUGH TO SHOOT DOWN! Even the Ostwinds only managed to scratch the paint.

Rude who failed to show up for the opening shots makes an appearance on turn two diving down onto the ISU-122s but a hail of DShK fire causes him to waive off. So much for that idea.

But where the plane failed, the Panthers succeeded. It took two turns and I lost a Panther in the process but in the end it worked.

My PzIVs had moved up to threaten the small Inf Pl, and well, with MG dice like this, it could be grim.

But a combination of Shurzen and tank riders makes for quick work of a small pl. The 5 tanks moped them up and then braced for what they assumed would be an ambush from the corner of the table. It was gonna hurt.

Rudel flies after the 100s but was chased off by the Soviet airforce.

End of the turn PzIVs circling around with Panthers and Ostwinds backing them.

Oh, yeah, apparently that's not where the guns were. They ambushed from the copse of woods I had passed, with rear shots on, well, everyone.

Two of the three Panthers go up in flames and the third is bailed. Enjoy the war kept him around but wow did that hurt.

In return the Panzers assaulted the Infantry and saw them off while the rest of the force tried to do in the guns, and well kinda failed. 

Let it never be said Duncan isn't a vengeful man. He knew he couldn't take the objective back, but he was going to make me hurt for it. Russian guns wiped out the Ostwinds,

Final positions

View from the starting line. 

Near the Obj, the OCs hoping he can get those tank hulls working again, and soon for the next soviet push.

It was a fun game and playing confident trained Germans is a ton of fun. Panthers still being a new thing, I'm still not really sure of how best to use them but maybe a few more games will help solve that.

We talked over the ambush and the choice of reserves in our personal AAR. The hotwash came up with two main things, one the SU-100s would have been a better choice to be on table with their ability to reroll at long range and their better AT value. Second, they should have been in Ambush, it would have allowed them to ensure the greatest amount of opening shots, and allowed the guns to start on table where they would have been valuable in taking out the Recce and the AAA.








Duncan's thinking of trying out a Hero Tankovy list next. I can't wait to see what they can do.

Until next time.

Desperate measures Batrep!

So I had my first game of Flames of War with my good buddy Duncan since we got back from Afghanistan and man oh man have I missed this game.

He had picked up Desperate Measures and we were both excited to create some Eastern Front lists. He's a die hard Soviet Player and I'm a die hard Eastern Front German dude, so it only made sense to throw down with the latest lists in our favorite theater.

Duncan brought a Red Army MotoStrelkovy list.

Confident    Trained	Motostrelkovy Batalon (Red Army) Motor Rifle Battalion	Soviet Late-War
Mechanised Company

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 2	Cmd SMG team SMG team Panzerfaust SMG team Maksim HMG team	310
Motostrelkovy Company (Red Army)  p.13	1 6 1 2	Cmd SMG team SMG team Panzerfaust SMG team Maksim HMG team	190
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	4 4	T-34 obr 1942 with Cupola T-34/85 obr 1944	430
Support Companies
Medium Assault Gun Company (Red Army)  p.21	5	SU-100	390
Transporter Platoon (Red Army)  p.27	7	Truck	10
Tank Destruction Company (Red Army)  p.26	1 4 4 1	Cmd Rifle team 45mm obr 1942 gun Truck PTRD anti-tank rifle	90
Company Points:			1610

Duncan had hand written his list out and after when we were doing our debrief and Easyarmying up the lists we found he had been 40pts short.

And I ran a Panzer list.

Confident  Trained

Panzer Kampfgruppe (Trained)

German Late-War

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Panzer Kampfgruppe HQ (Trained)  p.69	1	Panzer IV J	70
Combat Platoons
Panzer Platoon (Trained)  p.70	4 4	Panzer IV J Assault Rifle Tank Escort	330
Panzer Platoon (Trained)  p.70	4 4	Panzer IV J Assault Rifle Tank Escort	330
Panzer Platoon (Trained)  p.70	3	Panther G	430
Weapons Platoons
Panzer Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon (Trained)  p.71	2	Wirbelwind (Quad 2cm)	90
Support Platoons
Heavy Panzerspäh Platoon (Trained)  p.85	1 1	Sd Kfz 234/1 (2cm) Sd Kfz 234/4 (PaK40)	95
Armoured Rocket Launcher Battery (Trained)  p.90	1 2 1 3	Cmd SMG team Kubelwagen Observer Rifle team Panzerwerfer 42	125
Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel  p.95	5	Hans-Ulrich Rudel in Ju 87G Stuka	175
Company Points:			1645

This was our field of battle. It was pretty light with terrain for us normally, but this was our first game in a while, we'll do better next time.

A small town held up on the outskirts of a farming ville in the rolling hills.

Duncan rolled Dust up and winning the roll to attack he chose the upper right corner as you see it and I set up in the lower left.

 

Quick shot of my force, still WIP, the Ostwinds are standing in for Wirblewinds. 

 

Duncan's deployment bellow. He set up his Zis-2s covering the open ground with his Infantry and SU-100s ready behind the hill to strike. 

I set up in the shadow of the hill with my PzIVs, my PzWerfers sat back ready to support and my Panthers (first time I'm really using panthers so that was fun) stationed themselves covering my Obj in wait for the reserves.

Duncan won the roll to go first and surged over the hill with his SU-100s. My favorite thing ever was his trucks being called up and in true Soviet fashion his troops carried the transports quickly forward towards the fascists.

 

End of Soviet turn 1.

My Panzers repositioned but still stayed behind the hill and the Panthers actually backed up behind the forest to hide from the 100s and still lay in wait. The Panzerwerfers roared out and scored not only a kill, but bailed an SU-100 as well! Love the rockets. Then in swooped Rudel for the first time (today he's flying a Henschel) and he killed another cat killer and bailed a second.

 

Things were looking dire for the tank hunters but they passed their morale check and fought on. One of them remounted and the two remaining big guns pushed forward along with the Infantry. Again with no targets in line of sight they ended their turn marching toward Berlin.

 

My Panzers repositioning to knife fight with the Cat Killers, or you could call it hiding, either way.

Rudel doesn't come in but amazingly the Panzerwerfers kill a Zis and bag another Cat killer (the bailed one) they pass their morale test and continue on.

End of Turn 3.

 

Me hiding. 

I didn't get a pic of it but Duncans turn sees him pushing forward again without any targets. He received his other Infantry Pl which starts moving through the orchard toward the objective.

I start my turn with Rudel makes another appearance, swooping in on the backside of the SUs. Lunging forward with my panzers, one of them able to take a side armour shot on a SU-100 and the rest of the PzIVs mount the hill to at least act as a distraction while they shoot at point blank on the Tank hunters. The Panthers come out from behind the forest and line up some shots for the first time in the game. The Panzerwerfers roar to life starting the shooting phase smoking the guns on the hill, they scare the crap out of me and my trained panzers and this will at least mitigate their sting.

With everyone surrounding the SU-100s they go up in a blaze of glory With Rudel ending the last bailed vehicle.  My Panthers manage to reposition but nothing else does.

Again we forgot to photo the field in Duncan's turn. He received T-34s which swung around and with 85s blazing shot up a PzIV on the hill, destroying the COs vehicle but lucky for me the warrior lived on taking command of a local vehicle. The Infantry in the orchard pushed forward as did the Zis' in an attempt to take out a PzIVs destroying another.

In my turn I get both the Wirblewinds and my Panzers and seeing a gap in his rear armour with Duncan having pushed forward with his Zis' I drive behind his gunshields and MG them up, and destroying the pl. 

The Panthers engaged and killed a T-34/85, bailing another. 

 

The Panzerwerfers Dropped an Infantry stand while Rudel killed and bailed another tank. He was really wracking it up.

The Panzers assaulted into the position and took up a protective stance around the objective and thats kinda where we called it.

 

The Infantry was just out of reach of the objective and facing 4 PzIVs and 2 Wirblewinds to have to assault through.

6-1 to the Germans but both lists showed a lot more promise than you see here, they both are contenders and we're gearing up for another slug fest tomorrow.

I really love this game and playing it again has reinvigorated me, I'm chomping at the bit to play again and I just can't wait. (especially for MW lol, I don't even like LW! haha)


Until next time.