Sunday, May 6, 2012

Huzzah May 5th Wrapup

Had the 1625 MW tournament at Huzzah yesterday, put on by the I-95 boys. Three rounds of wholesome goodness.

As usual, I started with the intention of taking lots of pictures. Round was one fine, round two I took pictures and notes of deployment and then forgot the rest of the game. And round three I didn't even take a single picture or note. So only one battle report for you today!

I won't go too much into round one, as you can read about it below. Round two was against a newer fellow playing Panzergrenadiers. Mission was No Retreat. My paras did pretty much what they were expected to do - sat dug-in until the Germans got close, and brutally slaughtered them in close combat. They even charged a 4-panzer squad and ravaged them. Go go gammon bombs I suppose. Ended up a 4-3 win for me, as I lost the Shermans and ATG.

Round three was a nailbiter to the end against Hungarian infantry. Mission was Breakthrough. I ended up attacking (using British Night Attack, of course). I keep shermans and one platoon of boots in reserve.  Two squads of boots attacked in the beginning - one got slaughtered and accomplished nothing, the other munched on some arty and kept some infantry occupied all game, but ultimately died. The reserves came on, and over a series of 3-4 swinging turns, managed to eek out holding the objective with one single pair of boots and one single tank alive. Great game. Another 4-3.

All in all, I was happy with my performance. My 6 pdrs did nothing the entire day, reinforcing my belief that gun teams are bad. They become worse and worse the more terrain on the board, and there was ample terrain yesterday (which is a good thing!). But I feel like I needed to take them to have a second ranged AT option. While the paras a close combat monsters, even against tanks, I do feel they need to soften the attacking waves a bit.

The event was great. Big thanks to Bill Dorais and the other I-95s that put the event on. And huge shoutout to Chris and Huzzah Hobbies for providing a great place to play. Props all around!

Huzzah 1625 MW May 5th FoW

Round One against Steve. He's playing Italian Carris. Lots of tracks, no boots. Mission is Free for All.


Scott's British Paras
  • HQ w/ 3 Piats
  • Full Boots Platoon
  • Full Boots Platoon
  • Full Boots Platoon
  • 4x 75mm Pack Howitzers
  • 4x 6pdrs
  • 3x New Zealand Shermans (CV)
Steve's Italian Carris
  • HQ Carri
  • 4x Carri Platoon
  • 4x Carri Platoon
  • 4x Carri Platoon
  • 4x PZ4 G Platoon
  • 3x AB41 Armored Cars
  • 4x 75 Cannons



SETUP AND DEPLOYMENT

Left side deployment

Right side deployment

This is what you look like before round one after driving 2 hours on little coffee at 0930.

UNITS IN RESERVE
Scott's British Paras
    Steve's Italian Carris


      DEPLOYMENT SUMMARY
      Scott's British Paras: Standard deployment. One platoon of boots on each objective with one in the middle. 6pdrs deploy in a way that they do not shoot all game, but they do close off a nice lane of fire in the center.
      Steve's Italian Carris: Pretty balanced central deployment. Everything rolls Veteran on the 8MB chart exect for the recon, which isn't too suprising since they are all Elite.

      TURN 1

      Shermans kill a Carri and the platoon gets its unknown hero

      COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY
      Scott's British Paras
        Steve's Italian Carris
        • 1x Carri


        TURN 1 SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras: Shermans kill a Carri on a lucky potshot. Carris find their unknown hero right off the bat.
        Steve's Italian Carris: Tracks move forward. Arty smoke some shermans.

        TURN 2

        Smoking carris!

        COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras
        Steve's Italian Carris
        • 1x Carri
        • 2x Carri from another platoon
        • 1x Cannon


        TURN 2 SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras: Shermans kill 2 Carris, pack howitzers kill a (not dug-in) cannon.
        Steve's Italian Carris: PZ4 fire fails in a spectacular fashion and only manages to bail a Sherman

        TURN 3

        Poor sherman.

        COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras
        • 1x Sherman
        Steve's Italian Carris
        • 1x Carri
        • 2x Carri from another platoon
        • 1x Cannon


        TURN 3 SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras: Shermans bounce shots of PZ4s.
        Steve's Italian Carris: Platoon with 2 carries remain starts to push the objective. Arty decides to start digging in, but fails. PZ4s kill off a sherman.

        TURN 4

        "No way we're going in there...that tank is SCARY"

        COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras
        • 1x Sherman
        • 2ic
        • Piat and 3 para rifle stands from one platoon
        Steve's Italian Carris
        • 1x Carri
        • 2x Carri from another platoon
        • 1x Cannon


        TURN 4 SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras: Shermans kill one carri, dropping them to one, but they pass morale. Even under the cover of smoke, paras get pinned down and the assault fails, losing one pair of boots in the process. (It wasn't great odds of a successful assault, the boots got tired of sitting there and wanted to have some fun)
        Steve's Italian Carris: Arty still dosn't want to dig in. Musta forgot their shovels. MG fire kills 2ic, piat, and 2 para rifle stands.

        TURN 5

        Shermans finish off the carris. Yay VP!

        Meanwhile on the other side of the world, some paras start to move up the flank to a seeminly unguarded objective.

        COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras
        • Sherman platoon
        • 2ic
        • Piat and 3 para rifle stands from one platoon
        Steve's Italian Carris
        • 1x Carri
        • 1x Carri platoon
        • 1x Cannon


        TURN 5 SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras: Shermans finish off the carri platoon, doing the work the boots could not! Pack howitzers bail a Pz4.
        Steve's Italian Carris: Arty finally digs in. Third try is the charm! PZ4s kill off the Shermans, and the last of my mobile AT assets.

        TURN 6

        Not many boots left on the objective. Mass carri MG fire finishes them off.

        COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras
        • Sherman platoon
        • 2ic
        • Para platoon
        Steve's Italian Carris
        • 1x Carri
        • 1x Carri platoon
        • 1x Cannon


        TURN 6 SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras: Arty kills a PZ4 (lol!)
        Steve's Italian Carris: MG fire kills off the remaining paras struggling to hold the objective, and tanks move into the objective.

        TURN 7

        COMBAT CASUALTY SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras
        • Sherman platoon
        • 2ic
        • Piat and 3 para rifle stands from one platoon
        Steve's Italian Carris
        • 1x Carri
        • 1x Carri platoon
        • 1x Cannon


        TURN 7 SUMMARY
        Scott's British Paras: Paras that were advancing the far left flank attempt an assault against some Carris that returned to defend it, but die miserably in a fire.
        Steve's Italian Carris:
        Fun and quick game. 7 turns done in about an hour. I love fast moving games. 5-2 to Steve. It was a rough matchup for the boots - a Fair Fight against a tank swarm, and my list didn't really have much in terms of mobile AT assets. There were some things I could have done better, such as moving the middle paras into the right objective sooner, and probably advancing with the left paras earlier than I did as well. My 6pdrs literally took no shots all game, but they did a good job of keeping the center of the table clear with a good line of fire. Well played game by Steve - he definatly knows how to manuever those Carris!




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