AAR: Tower Games Feb. 7th, 2009 Tournament

After Action Report

Tower Games, Feb. 7^th, 2009

Over the past weekend I drove down to Atlanta for a big Flames of War tournament hosted by Kevin and the folks of Tower Games. This worked out really well for me personally cause I got see my brother Brian and his girlfriend Lindsey who live in Atlanta.

However, back to the action which your looking for. I brought along my trusted American Infantry Company. I changed the list up from my regular routine by not bringing any TDs or HMG attachments. Instead I spiced things up with some Priority Air Support and upgraded for some 155s. Here’s the list.

HQ w/ 2 bazookas

Full Strength Rifle Platoon

Full Strength Rifle Platoon

Half Strength Rifle Platoon

2 Section Mortar Platoon

Full ATG Platoon w/ 2 bazookas

Full A&P Platoon w/ 2 bazookas and supply truck

1 Section of Intelligence and Recon Platoon

5 Stuarts

Full 105 Battery

Full 155 Battery

L4 AOP

Priority Air Support

The plan was to bombard the junk out of anything that moved, otherwise it was the work of the infantry to do the dirty work. On we went, and with some last minute assembling we arrived in time for the tournament.

Game 1: Fighting Withdrawal vs. Radcliffe’s German Panzer Company

So great, I get to face off against some tanks, and there are all Panzers! Radcliffe was a great guy and he had an awesome looking army. He ran 8 Panzer IVs and 3 Stugs, along with some Hummels, a PanzerGrenadier platoon, and some mobile AA. Great… a lot of veteran German tanks to deal with. At least I’m defending!

The board was a pretty sweet deal, as seen here. The town in the middle provided some cover from long range fire and also split the road nicely. Using my pioneer’s and their truck to my fullest advantage I went ahead and planted a minefield on the only open stretch on my left flank, effectively plugging that gap. With the edges lining the right, I figured Radcliffe’s best route was for the center, which was also my objective. And that’s where the pioneer’s went, with the CO nearby (trading off with another rifle platoon). The other full rifle platoon went on the right obj, while the half rifle platoon and stuarts covered the right, protected the 155s. My ATGs were wisely in ambush, as my side had 3 wood sections nicely spaced out.

Radcliffe went almost all in the middle/left, but left 3 stugs to play with the stuarts on the right. Looks to be an interesting match! For me, it’ll be a matter of how many tanks I can bust before the inevitable charge comes in.

The first few turns were pretty slow for the most part. Radcliffe wisely went after my 105 battery with some artillery and guns while his tanks and troops slowly advanced, trying to thin the lines a bit before coming in. I made my saves but unfortunately was unable to knock out too many tanks with the artillery. My one early victory was that I nabbed his CO first turn! He took a 155 round right in the gut and failed the warrior roll to jump ship. That makes things a lot easier, particularly with a couple other tanks down, looking to maybe work the company morale?

My mortars smoke proved useful in controlling how his artillery worked, along with denying him full ROF a lot of the time. My stuarts on the other hand almost pulled off a great victory! They ran up the flank of the Stugs and he failed like 4 saves on side armor! Of course, I fail all the important FP checks and he’s left with a bunch of bailed out, but not dead tanks. The remounting next makes for an unpleasant situation, and the stuarts’ fate is sealed, though their destruction proved well in the end in stalling the Stugs to allow for the air support to do it’s job.

In the end, it came down to a brutal assault on the main obj by his 2iC one of his tank platoons. The other one was running behind but came in second. The pioneers performed quite well, destroying and bailing a tank, removing the platoon completely as he failed morale and fell back, His other platoon came in though and forced the pioneers away, they were badly battered but passed their morale check to stick around and still managed to contest the objective.

It was the bottom of turn 5 and having removed enough platoons and with this threat (plus his grens looking at the other obj.) It looked like I needed swift action. I had saved my ambush until the last possible second, and it paid off in the end! My ATGs knocked out the other panzer platoon, while my TOTs killed all but one of the pioneers. He passed that morale check and came back with a vengeance, assaulting my infantry who had moved up to support while he brought the AA guns to try to help out at long last.

In this 6^th turn I sealed the victory, with my planes pulling through and knocking out a second stug while my assault bailed the remaining half-track and forcing the 2iC to fall back, capturing and killing that platoon. He failed his morale check for the stugs, and it was game over. 5-2 Victory for me!

So the game went well for me, aside from my artillery not performing as well as I would have liked early on. I had several chances to land multiple tanks at once ( the terrain plus a couple of failed stormtrooper roles gave me a couple of chances, but overall I liked the big artillery and the planes, they did they’re job, all be it slowly.

Game 2: Encounter versus Larry’s German Grenadiers

So the first round went well, and it was nice to be on the winners end of the brackets. Encounter was a change of pace, but I was happy to see some German infantry, even if he was totting some Stugs and Jagpanthers.

Larry was running 2 full Grenadier platoons, a pioneer platoon, 3 Pak40s, 4 Stugs, and 2 JagPanthers. A small list, particularly as CV, but I guess the Jags were pretty expensive. Either way, I figured if I didn’t claim things early all that armor would give me problems.

The board was nice, lots of concealment bonuses but pretty far ranging lanes. Larry put out a grenadier platoon on his left objective in the woods, his pioneer platoon on the other right objective (I spread them out to make it harder to defend for his small force). His Pak40s were his other platoon, and they went with the Grenadiers, though on one side of the wood. I got a lucky 5 platoons to place, and due to the objectives deployment on my side I got my pioneers spread out to cover both objectives. Both batteries started on opposite sides, and I loaded the left flank with the stuarts on the far side and a full infantry platoon covering the middle. The goal was for the stuarts to advance quickly, using the woods to avoid the Pak40s and give the infantry a good sound beating while the infantry moved up to secure the objective.

And away we went! The Germans got the first turn and promptly dug everyone in, I guess he had no plans of attacking right away. I double timed my stuarts up and hide them nicely while the infantry double timed it into the village center, using the buildings as cover. My pioneers dug in and my artillery successfully ranged in on the left infantry/guns, knocking out an infantry stand and pinning them.

The next two turns is where things got interesting. He fired his 2 HQ mortars at my infantry and pinned them, but otherwise went GTG. In my turn I ran up my stuarts within assault distance, on the opposite side of the wood from the Paks. My artillery All Guns Repeated and repined the infantry again and while my infantry moved along the road once more to better position, the stuarts dared the assault. The stuarts only lost one tank in the counter assault (they are known for rolling 6s against those fausts) but my ability to happen to roll 3 1s in the bog phase to bog 3 other tanks. Thankfully though his grenadiers failed their morale role (with just the command stand left) and fell back, failing his morale and being destroyed.

Things were looking up! I had my stuarts still operational, and the Pak40s had only LOS to 1 bogged stuart, and only one could see it. If I unbogged one or two in the next turn, I could flank and overrun the 40s and secure the objective! Twas not to be, as of course he lands a hit and then a kill on my lovely bogged down start. This puts me at 2 tanks down, 1 tank up (the other 2 don’t count) so a morale check, which of course I promptly fail! So much for that 6-1 victory!

My second attempt comes quickly though. Neither one of us are getting reserves in right away, but my infantry are ready to rock and roll on just those Pak 40s. I’m in position to charge and Larry had his stugs come in, both on the other side of the table! They were no position to get there in time, but I knew I had to move quick otherwise his reserves would be plowing into my poor unsupported infantry. I overrun his Pak40s and force them to flee, but my artillery can’t finish off his stugs (range in ToT but fail to hit any of them) so there’s no morale check, but I’m on the obj. and ready to rock. His final reserves come in, the last grenadier platoon and the Jags and after a bloody assault down to the last teams on each side, our groups break off, with me failing morale and him passing. Now, with two attempts foiled, I’m stuck not in a real position to reassault, so now it’s up to bringing him to company morale.

The game continues into 10+ turns, basically consisting of me continuing to put the pressure on with my other large infantry platoon while shelling him into oblivion. I manage to knock out that beaten infantry platoon and slowly work my 155 and airplane magic on the Jags. Unfortunately the plane dice had run low and I was stuck dropping the 155s, which Larry made the exact rolls he needed to save his Jags for a few turns. In the end however my artillery nailed the coffins, plus a combined sudden effort from my ATGs on his stugs dropped both of those platoons, and he failed his second company morale check.

4-3 Victory for me, though it was a tough fight with the dice. Larry had a good list to deal with armor, but my amount of infantry combined with artillery gave him a tough time. Since I was on him from the beginning it was tough for him to try and knock out any of my guns without any air or artillery. A great battle and I’d play against Larry again anytime! Thanks for the great game!

Now I find out I’m the second top allied player going into the third round (yikes!) behind Charlie. I was about to experience all of the goodness that is Sturmgrenadiers.

Game 3: Fighting Withdrawal against Erin’s German Sturmgrenadiers

So Erin is an awesome guy and he a great looking army. I didn’t mind playing Fighting Withdrawal again, but I soon discovered how difficult it was going to be with this map. The woods and fields were area terrain which caused loads of problems with getting my artillery to bear. Not to mention the fact that he had all of those trench sections which allowed him to remain GTG and still move throughout the trench was gonna bring a tough day for me.

Erin had 2 big grenadier platoons with tons o’ attachments of HMGs and Pak 40s, a Pak 40 platoon, 3 Stugs with assault riders, a battery of 105s, and some mortars. He attached a single HMG into an 8^th platoon and set up in a nice big along the trenches, which covered the entire board (88’’ of trenches!)

Due to me attacking I had to plan for a double attack, though I had a wide front and what actually looked like a triple attack. I had the pioneers, small infantry platoon, and stuarts on my right flank and my 2 big infantry platoons on the middle/left to left flank. I had hoped to push through with the stuarts early on while the infantry advanced as quick as they could through the woods (a problem I was already seeing). To claim the right objective. When he shifted over to contest and control it, my other arms would strike out, but I needed to pin him to make it happen.

This was not going to be an easy battle by far. Part of my biggest problem was the fact that I always needed 6s to range in, and with the terrain I couldn’t get all of my batteries to bear at one location. To make things worse, whenever I did manage to range in, Erin was able to relocate everyone out of the template zone while still maintaining GTG due to the trenches. It was a tough fight to be certain.

I managed to break through on the right flank at last, though I did the assault order wrong and sent in the stuarts first. Erin was a dice rolling master in defensive fire and nailed 3 stuarts before I even to get in on it! However it paved the way for my infantry platoon to climb through and take out that platoon. At least this point I saw it in a not too good situation, because I couldn’t get any sort of pin on the infantry platoons in the middle, and I had claimed that objective with too many casualties to deal with.

Erin sprung his ambush and contested the objective, and even though I forced him off of it, I eventually lost the platoon trying to take on the artillery with the tanks too close. I tried again and again to throw my men at him and even tried to knock out his Pak 40s in the end to try to claim another point, but without pinning them down and not doing enough damage early on I was stuck taking a 5-2 loss.

It was a tough battle overall, and I think in that situation I needed to focus my attention on what the mission could do for me. He had several small platoons that were hanging out in the back. Had I focused my artillery on them first (like the 2 team HMG platoon or the 3 team mortars) and knocked those out. If I had done that, it hopefully would have forced him to pull off some more important platoons from the main line, and not simply call off the unimportant platoons. Other then that and the platoon assault order on the right flank, the dice odds were against me and Erin was rolling too good for defensive fire to give me a chance.

Either way, I had three great games and overall I finished 9^th out of 24^th, which isn’t shabby considering! I need to work on my history/painting a little bit more, I’m thinking about rebasing my models so I can earn a few more of those points.

Thanks again to Radcliffe, Larry, and Erin for three great games and giving me a great experience at Tower Games! Also to Kevin for running that smooth ship! Apparently I qualified for Nationals to boot!

1k Battle Brets vs. Empire, 1/24/09

Alright, here's the technical breakdown of the battle. If you'd like the fuffy-filled version, check out the Silver Dragon Square forums or the Traitor Legion forums (both Miami based gaming groups). Just google their names and the sites will pop up in the top 5 or so.

This was my first game with my Bretonnians and so I was pretty pumped. Even though I hadn't painted them all yet (only a few for that matter) I still wanted to get some gaming in to re motivate me to start painting (or making time to paint, for that matter). Ben was my opponent and we both agreed to fielding no mages (I don't own any and Ben doesn't like magic too much). However as you'll see, magic items were still around to some degree.


The Bretonnians:

1 Paladin w/ steed & barding, shield, morning star, and virtue of knightly temper.

1 Paladin w/ steed & barding, shield, BSB and virtue of duty.

8 Knights of the Realm w/ Full Command and Warbanner

8 Knights Errant w/ Full Command and Errantry Banner

12 Peasant Bowmen

14 Peasant Bowmen, skirmishing

5 Mounted Yeomen w/ shields

1 Trebuchet


My models were fielded mainly off of what I had so far, but as a base section of what some of my larger games were going to be. I took lots of archers because there ability to hit and wound in few numbers is so small (and they are so cheap!) that I felt the need to field a good portion of them to make it count.

The Empire looked like this:

1 Captain w/ plate, shield, and rod of command (yikes!)

1 Captain w/ plate, BSB

23 Swordsmen w/ full command
2 detachments of 5 crossbowmen

15 Greatswords
2 detachments of 5 handgunners

5 Knights w/ Champion and Musician

5 Knights w/ Champion and Musician

1 Great Cannon


The terrain looked as such:



Not exactly a dense board, but at least this time I had both flanks to work with (as Ben is prone to completely blocking one flank). Ben chose to deploy on the close side, which left me on the far side. Ben chose to deploy first (he won that roll off too) and began setting up his castle formation around the hill. I responded by loading my hill with my archers and treb, placing the skirmishers on the right of the hill to consider moving them up. His greatswords went on the left and his swordsmasters on the right (both in front of the hill) and each had a unit of knights with them. My knights errant w/ general went on the far left flank (out of range as I assumed I would not go first) and my knights of the realm w/ BSB went on the right flank.




















And the battle begins! I prayed so Ben surged his troops forward (minus the knights) and took some pot shots at me. His cannon misfired (aiming for the treb) but was a-ok and his crossbows were out of range for turn 1. My turn commenced by full speed ahead with the KOTR (left flank) using the hill as cover. The mounted yeomen moved into position to fire at a unit of handgunners and march block the greatswords. I thought I was in a position where if I fled from a charge I would be out of the impassable terrain, but apparently not (as you will see). The errants moved up to face the handgunners and force Ben to reposition his greatswords, buying my shooters more time.

My shooting phase was not as productive as I would have liked. I overshot my treb by an inch but landed an on target and knocked out 3 greatswords. My archers (whom I should have shot at the greatswords) did a light casualties to the swordsmen. My yeomen shot up his handgunners and forced them to flee, saving the knights for a round.

The next turns were manuerving and things weren't looking good for me. He charged my mounted yeomen, and as they fled into the impassable terrain (doh!). His cannon missed my knights but my treb, even though I was directly in the middle of his unit, promptly rolled a misfire and then a 1! So with my artillery and fast cav out, things didn't look positive for the remainder of the battle, which was sure to be bloody.

However, two things suddenly happened which helped turn the battle in my favor! By concentrating my fire on the small greatsword unit, I just managed to squeak through 3 kills, which was enough to cause a panic check! He failed and ran away from the bowmen and straight into my knights! This was a good turn of events, but more importantly was me out manuevering his charge block with his crossbowmen. I managed to get by them and charge one his knights units. The result was an overrun into his cannon crew!

However, while this was all good and things felt positive, I knew I was going to be trouble. My knights errant charged the last handgunner unit and wiped it out. However, he had his other knight unit in position to flank charge them afterwards, and I didn't roll high enough to get off the table, leaving me in position for a rear charge! To compound matters, the only place for my KOTR to move after returning to the table to not be in the way of the KE's overrun was right in front of his swordsmen.

The charges ensued, but the power of the lady prevailed! Thanks to the blessing I only lost by one from the rear charge (outnumbering and standard discounted the rear charge bonus and he only killed 1 knight!) and passed my ld. On the other front the combo of ranks, banners, and virtue of the ideal combined with a 2+ armor save kept my knights from dropping like flies.

We ended up stalemating in the middle for several turns. I forgot to move my hero to the back to fight his knights but with them only being str 3 after the first turn it stalemated between a 2+ and 1+ armor saves, with outnumber and banner canceling the rear bonus. For the swordmen unit my massive CR bonus helped me keep me first in the combat and winning. He used his rod of command in 2nd round, when he would have needed for ld 5 rerollable.

We called the game after turn 6 as a minor victory for me. It might have been more, but I didn't care and I had a good time!

FOW Tournament: PSC Gamefest 2008

Well here it goes, my AAR for the 1750 LW Tournament in Louisville!

It was my first time to Louisville and I had the joys of getting up at 4:30 am to make it on time (which I barely did). However, aside from not being able to see any of the wonderful Kentucky country-side, I did find my way to Pet Shop Comics.

I was amazed by the store! It's got 9000 square feet, half of which is dedicated to gaming! Aside the fact that the gaming space alone is over 4x my apartment size, it was fantastic to see a place where you could have an 18 man FOW tournament and still 3 other events going on at once!

Either way, I got there and quickly got through into the ringer. Here's my list:

American Rifles LW 1750

CiC, 2iC, and 2 bazookas

- Full Str Rifle Platoon

- Full Str Rifle Platoon

- Half Str Rifle Platoon (2 squads)

- Weapons Platoon with 3 M60 Mortars and 2 LMGs

- HMG Platoon with two HMGS

- Mortar Platoon with 4 M81 Mortars

- AT Gun Platoon with 3 57mm AT guns

- AT Gun Platoon with 3 57mm AT guns

- Full A & P Platoon with 2 bazookas

- AA Platoon with 2 M1 Bofors

- Full M10 TD Platoon

- Full Field Artillery Battery

- Full Field Artillery Battery

- L4 Grasshopper


I discovered after the tournament that the L4 has not been allowed yet in FE lists. I thought I had seen it in the PDF which contained the 155mm artillery options. Well, the L4 only made a big difference in my first game, but either way I apologize to Doug, Tony, and Scott for my use of an item that was not yet allowed. I guess the TO should have caught it, but the past is the past and no worries!


On to Round 1: Encounter vs. Doug's Fallschimagers


Round 1 I had the joy of playing Doug and his German paratroopers. We played on this lovely board which reminded me alot of Aix en Provence (French City in Southern France). Lots of buildings blocking all sorts of LOS with narrow streets inbetween. A couple of open fields dotted the long table edges but the middle was pretty much a city fight.

So awesome! A city fight with 2 infantry companies, this should be grand... With my massive 12 platoons I elected the closer table edge (from the picture) to place down my artillery platoons, mortars, AA, and 2 Rifle Platoons (1 full str and the 1 half-str). The full strength went on my right flank while my half str went on the left flank, both parked on objectives to start with. AA was in the middle with the mortars while the FABs were spread across the battlefield. My overall plan of attack was to push on the right flank with my big rifle platoon (CO attached) while the left one dug in and held off any attackers.

Doug's list had 7 platoons, with 2 FJ platoons, a pioneer platoon, 4 Stugs, some PAK 40s, some recoiless guns, and a small HMG platoon. He used that German special rule and made another infantry platoon. Oh, and some sporadic air support. He placed all four infantry platoons on the table, generally across the board, minus the far left side.

Doug won the first turn and advanced his infantry up the middle and left side while his FJ platoon on the far right dug in. I followed suit by digging in my infantry on far obj while advancing my big rifle platoon up to the buildings. My artillery opened up on his bunched up infantry and managed to knock out a few stands, but mainly pinning all three of his mobile infantry platoons.

On his turn he failed to unpin one of his infantry platoons though the others scamble into the buildings to take cover from the artillery onslaught. His planes continue to arrive but fail to do anything.

Turn 2 and 3 went by with a big bang. I advanced with my large infantry platoon to assault his pinned platoon. I ranged in again on his platoons within the buildings and did some minimal damage. In the assault I was pretty positive I had him. But disaster struck! Out of a total of 11 rolls I made (needing a 4+) I failed 10 of them! He consequently killed 2 stands and I failed my morale plus the CiC reroll! It was quite an embarassing moment for the 1st platoon to be sure. Thankfully however he failed to unpin again (surprising being fearless) and I managed to strike in on turn 3 and wipe out the platoon. With the assault move it brought me into position to threaten the objective, so things were looking postitive for me at least!

The next 2 turns were pretty much a stalemate. Neither one of us got any reserves in until turn 5 and with his infantry in the buildings or dug in and GTG I didn't stand a chance of ranging in any artillery to pin his FJs on the obj. Eventually our reserves starting rolling in and I was banking on having one of remaining infantry platoons arrive on the right side of the board to support the injured rifle platoon and help get the 5 hits needed to pin the FJ platoon.

Unfortunately this was not to be. After turn 5 both of our reserves were in and all of my infantry was on the other side of the board! His Stugs and recoiless guns arrived to support the FJ platoon on the obj while the other platoons were stuck on the other side in the stalemate. My TDs arrived on that side, but they don't have the weight of firepower needed to unlodge the FJs and instead went into a gun duel against the Stugs.

In the end I tried to make a mad push with 2 rifle platoons and the pioneers on the left flank to overwhelm his troops and go for a company command check but as I just couldn't come up with enough hits to pin his troops in the building I ran into trouble. I was finally able in the last turn to manuever out of the way of most of his fire and assault one of the infantry platoons in the building, dropping them to just the command stand who pulled off and passed his platoon check. With the breakthrough assault I was able to charge the HMG platoon (who got pinned earlier from the mortars) and destroy them though. The game ended as a draw 3-1.

Doug was a great opponent and we had a great time! I just couldn't get the hits neccessary to pull it off. What I really needed was a mobile support unit like some shermans or stuarts. My ATs didn't do anything and I think while I hoped my artillery would help pin him or even smoke him, I just couldn't get any artillery templates to drop (didn't range in once with 3 platoons of artillery for turns 4-6). Doug did quite well considering the situation and I felt pretty in control of the game at the beginning but couldn't bring it to bear by the end.

More pics of round 1:

Doug's aircraft were surprisingly annoying, taking an FAB down to half. I'm glad I brought AA otherwise it would have been worse.

The infantry platoon looking at the FJs and the objective. Unfortunately they were unable to claim what they worked so hard for.

So I went into round 2 knowing that I was on the bottom end of things. I was happy overall with how things yet, of course this was minus the fact that my dice rolling plagued me the second half of that game. But my tactics were pretty sound and I felt good about my army overall.


Round 2: Hold the Line against Tony's SS Tiger Company


While I thought it was ironic that I was playing Tony and his Tigers (they're grrrrrreat!) I did not like facing 5 loving kitties, whom are all fearless. He also had a scout squad and what seemed like a small panzergrenadier unit. Oh, did I mention that the CO happened to be Wittman? Awesome!

However, I was blessed with a very thick terrain board. This meant good things for me as I was defending and thus I place my pioneers in reserve, knowing that I would be able to grab that 4'' no defensive fire fun. I also put the TDs in reserve to have them pop out after he crossed into my lands, and an ATG unit, mainly for the halftracks. After much debate I placed both FABs on the table along with a big rifle platoon on the closer obj. My obj was placed farther back inside a building, so at least the kitties would have some trouble. Tony decided that all of those dug-in and GTG infantry weren't worth his time and stacked the other flank with the Tigers comming up the middle road and his halftracks along the opposite flank.

First turn he definetly took me by surprise as he double timed all of his halftracks and then double timed his front Tiger platoon. My assumption is he was hoping to be crazy aggressive and try to catch my infantry platoon scrambling to cover the other obj. while I had few reinforcements on the table. However, this lead him open to lots of ambushing fire (we played on a 4x4 so some of his stuff was already past the halfway point). In my turn I revealed my pioneers (right next to the front tiger platoon) and my ATGs in the building facing off the two halftrack platoons...

Needless to say things quite well this first turn. My artillery TOTed on the rear Tiger platoon and bailed two of them, leaving only Wittman operational. My ATGs on the far side wreaked havoc, with 1 knocking out 2 of the panzergrendiers platoon and causing a check (which of course he passed) and the other two completely destroying the entire scout platoon! In assault my pioneers proved more then worth as they passed the 2 tank terror checks and bailed both of the Tigers, wiping out the platoon as well! I was in position to breakthrough assault the other tank platoon, and with only Wittman operational all I needed was to bail him out and the game would be over! However I failed my tank terror to charge in, and falled back into the safety of the buildings, cursing my eventual luck of failing a motivation check.

"Jimmy, I don't think those are shermans out there..."

So, with the first turn looking like it was almost a 7-0 game, I turned my attention to dealing with the major threat. 3 still active Tigers. Both Tigers remount and begin their assault upon my poor pioneers, who decide that it's time to fail every test they need, including saves and tank terror tests to stay in the fight of the assault. Tony's infantry moved into the building opposite the obj. and that was that. The next turn was a bit daunting as I was unable again to rally my pinned pioneers and moved them back into more buildings while I advanced my 2 rifle platoons (the second one arrived from reserves) on to prepare an assault on the Germans in the buildings. I revealed my TDs in hopes to nail some side armor shots but nothing came of short of a bailed tiger.

Turn 4 was the end of it all. He shot at my ATGs and almost wiped them out (several nice 6s in there) and his shooting on my pioneers wiped out the platoon. I passed morale for my ATGs and brought my big rifle platoon into the buildings in an attempt to assault the Tigers in the same turn. My TDs failed to do anything again and because of this my infantry wasn't able to move in like I was hoping to close in the assault with the Tigers. However, positive things happened on the other end of the board. My artillery managed to range in on the infantry in the building, pinning them and paving the way for 3rd rifle platoon to assault and wipe them out. This lead to a morale check, which of course Tony promptly rolled a 1, ending the game 5-2 for me.

I went in a little worried, mainly due to the FV issue more so then the Tigers, but my TDs performed not nearly as well as I had hoped. That being said, I knew that eventually my infantry would be able to overwhelm them and even with those 3 Tigers rampaging around I knew that eventually I'd be able to catch a couple bailed out and get that assault in that I needed. Tony was a great opponent (he gave me time to eat!) and I would play against him or any of the other PSC guys again!

Couple more pics from Round 2:

My infantry after overrunning the Panzergrenadier platoon.

The turn after the inital carnage of smoking Tigers. Unfortunatly Wittman and company were completely unphased by all of this.

Round 3: FFA vs. Scott's SS Panzer Company


So I'm in the middle of the pack going into the third round and I'm feeling relatively confident about things. My tactics have been sound and aside from issues I hadn't thought about in advance, I was pleased with my Americans. Of course now I go to a mission which I dread, Free For All. Whats worse of course, is that I'm on a crazy open table against more FV Tanks! I was getting really tired of Fearless Veterans at this point, and just wanted some good old confident! Either way, I needed to get my game face on!

Scott told me that he was knew to the game, this may have been his 3rd or 4th game, I don't remember. Either way I knew this game wasn't going to go alot of turns as I assumed that there would be lots of explaining and decision making going on. His CO was a Panther and he had a Panther platoon, a Panzer IV platoon, a Panzergrenadier platoon, an FJ platoon, and an AA platoon. I more the tripled the number of stands on the board and decided that this would be worth putting to my advantage. Either way, I still planned to make my move and went with it accordingly. I placed my pioneers with some ATGs on the far flank obj. and then 1st rifle platoon with the other ATGs on the near obj. I stacked the near flank in efforts to push that side and overwhelm his FJ platoon. My artillery was spread out across the backside and my TDs were placed inbetween the 2 objs behind a wood.

The first few turns were quite interesting as I pushed my way up the near flank with 2 rifle platoons and my CO while his panthers danced around in front of my pioneers and ATGs. He seemed a bit worried about the TDs and didn't want to assault my pioneers even though that was the near objective. Despite my best efforts of course by using smoke to force his Panthers to move around and have reduced ROF, he managed to knock out all of the ATGs with the pioneers. They of course failed their morale test but that left him to deal with the dug-in and GTG pioneers. This helped me alot as it took me way to long to get into assaulting range of the FJs.

Turns 3 and 4 went along the same sort of way, me holding off on deploying the TDs and him worrying about them too much to assault my pioneers. I finally got my infantry into position to assault and drove out the FJs from the building and the objective. I had planned on reassaulting the FJs and the lone Panzer IV, hoping to bring the others into the assault but my bombardment killed the remaining FJ stands! I assaulted the lone Panzer IV (which was bailed out) and captured it, but now I was in a tough pickle. I still had 2 Panzer IVs and the CO Panther hanging out on the obj which my 2 rifle platoons were hanging out on. I was in the woods so I had concealment but it just wasn't enough as I tried the best I could to at least bail 1 of the bloody tanks but between my bazookas, 2 FABs and everything else I threw at it I couldn't get a bail and the game ended in a draw. He was beginning to bring up his panzergrenadiers to assault the obj. held by the pioneers and his Panthers were progressively wittling them down, but things weren't looking good as I couldn't get my infantry to assault those damn tanks.

I was frustrated though the game was a good one. My infantry just couldn't get it together to pull through, and my smoke was failing miserably. My initial plan was to smoke the Panther, moving my guys around to the far side of the Panzer IVs. I figured with only 2 tanks and maybe a possible bailing of another I would be able to accomplish my goal and assault the two of them. But alas, not enough time. I also need a mobile unit to be able to provide things like smoke or mobile AT. The ATGs did nothing but take damage and I think they are not gonna stay around too long.

Overall I had a great time and I learned where my weaknesses are really at, which are really in FFA and Encounter where it requires to be much more agressive, a difficult task for my army. I'm thinking that a platoon of stuarts might be a good addition to the group to make things worthwhile. The volume of MG fire would have helped in pinning those blasted FJs in the first round and they would have been able to bring the pressure on Scott's army as well, perhaps even knocked out a Panzer or two to make things a little easier for me.


Either way I hope you enjoyed it! Here are a few more pics of armies and boards from Gamefest 2008! Thanks to Charles, Rick, and Jennie for hosting the event and running the tournaments and thanks again to my great opponents Doug, Tony, and Scott!