Winterschlacht-13

This was our first Total War battle for Flames of War at the club and it was a an exciting game.

We started planning the game back in October, to inspire everyone to get ready and paint up their forces.

Due to some illness, the game had to be moved so it actually took place in 2014 instead of 2013 but who cares?

The Forces

We were running 5000 points per side, with the players on each deciding if the wanted to push points from one company to the other.

Operation: Overlord - Saint-Lô - Final fight

Taking up their final stand around the church in Saint-Lô, the Fallschirmjägers will fight until the bitter end.

The lists are like before:
1st ID: 
Compulsory Rifle Company HQ - 1x CinC Carbine, 1x 2iC Carbine
- Bazooka - 2x Bazooka

Compulsory Rifle Platoon - 1x Command Rifle, 1x Bazooka, 9x Rifle
Compulsory Rifle Platoon - 1x Command Rifle, 1x Bazooka, 9x Rifle

Mortar Platoon - 1x Command Carbine, 4x M1 81mm Mortar
- Bazookas - 2x Bazooka
Independent Tank Platoon - 1x Command M4 or M4A1 Sherman, 2x M4 or M4A1 Sherman
Field Artillery Battery - 1x Command Carbine, 1x Staff, 1x Observer Carbine, 4x M2A1 105mm Howitzer

995 Points, 5 Platoons

6th FJ:
Compulsory Fallschirmjager Company HQ - 1x CinC SMG, 1x 2iC SMG

Compulsory Fallschirmjager Platoon - 1x Command Rifle/MG, 9x Rifle/MG
Compulsory Fallschirmjager Platoon - 1x Command Rifle/MG, 9x Rifle/MG

Fallschirmjager Machine-gun Platoon - 1x Command SMG, 4x MG42 HMG 
Grenadier Assault Gun Platoon - 1x Command StuG G, 1x StuG G
Luftwaffe Anti-Aircraft Assault Platoon - 1x Command SMG, 2x 8.8cm FlaK36 gun
- Extra Crew - 2x Extra Crew

995 Points, 5 Platoons

Added some more houses to the table, turning it into a smaller city.

In the cover of the houses, the Americans manage to push up towards the church, with a lucky ToT from the 105s one FJ platoon is almost wiped out and leaves the table. Not having the full force on the table from the start and a better route with more cover for the Americans in this last battle, made them move quicker over the table without suffering any casualties. The last FJ platoon made a good last stand in the church but it was not enough to win the game. No platoons wiped out on the American side, 6-1 victory. Hopefully enough for the Allies to win the Overlord-campaign.

Operation: Overlord - Saint-Lô - US Rifle vs retreating Fallschirmjägers

Even though the Fallschirmjaegers repelled the attack from the Americans, they will not be able to hold on for much longer and plan for a withdrawal to improve the defenses in other sectors.

Operation: Overlord - Saint-Lô - German FJ vs US Rifle

Finally, the goal for the operation is in sight: Saint-Lô!
The church tower making for the skies in the distance with the rest of the city spreading out around it. The Big Red One has taken up positions outside the city and are making ready to go in to take a foot hold in the outskirts.

One objective is placed near a small square on the US right flank and another behind a house on the left. The Germans deploy one FJ platoon and two 88s in ambush, leaving the Americans to guess where to attack. In reserves are two Stugs and another FJ platoon. Both FJ platoons get two HMGs attached to them.
On the American side, the commander let a battery of 105s dig in, put a the first rifle platoon on the left flank and the second on the right and a tank platoon of three Shermans in the middle. A support platoon of four 81mm mortars find a nice spot behind a small hill to assist the grunts with some smoke, they dig in just like the 105s.

Operation: Overlord - Tank engagement

After the Allies having made a great inland from the landing zones a small force of British Churchills find them self face to face with two platoons of Panzer IVs on the fields outside Conteville.

The area has a few smaller hills, a couple of fields and a three way cross road with two ends on the German side and one end on the British side. At the intersection are two smaller houses.

After making contact the two forces slow down and spread out with a platoon of tanks on each flank, the Germans having their stronger five tank platoon on their left and a weaker three tank platoon on the right. To avoid getting flanked, the British put a tank platoon on each side and the commanders in the middle, protecting the 25 pounders at the start.
With their weaker armor but better training, the Germans decide to hold off and try to pick off some targets before moving on. The plan might have been sound but the execution did not go so well, the right hand platoon is quickly decimated by the determined British tankers. Two Panzers are destroyed while only one Churchill is set aflame.
On the left flank the Germans hang on and manage to survive through an air strike a few rounds of artillery bombardment but are forced to pull back when the company commander is struck and catches fire. With only one tank lost the British score a great victory and gains even more ground.

Operation: Overlord - Fallschirmjägers defending versus 1st ID

The Big Red One has gotten off from Omaha beach and started their push inland. Reports have come in about a Fallschirmjäger company defending a road junction which is needed to secure the supply transports for further progress inland. Initial recon confirm two anti tank bunkers and a platoon of Green Devils having set up defences around a farm just outside town.

Two platoons of GIs with artillery support and a few light tanks begin their advance through the fields. 

FJ vs American RP - 1500p FFA

In the weekend me and Lasse got together to have a game of FoW, 1500 points, Free for all.
He had gotten some new terrain features since last time; a city piece with five buildings and some wooden areas. He also had a lake piece coming up but it was in the drying state. Good that at least one of us is building some terrain.


The board of the day looked something like this.

The Americans brought the following
1 x HQ with 2 bazookas
2 x Full rifle platoons (Command, bazooka and nine teams )
1 x Weapons platoon (Four LMG and three mortars)
1 x Towed Anti Tank Platoon (Command, three jeeps, four 3" guns, four bazookas)
1 x A&P platoon (Command, four teams and two bazookas)
1 x 5 Stuarts
1 x Artillery platoon (Command, observer, staff team and four 105mm howitzers)
1 x AOP


The Germans brought something like this (from the top of my head).
1 x HQ
3 x FJ with panzer faust or panzer schreck
1 x Four heavy mortars
1 x Two Tigers
1 x Stukas air support


I placed my AT guns and 60mm mortars in the middle and the arty in the right hand corner. On the left flank I put one rifle platoon and the Stuarts, for the left flank I put the other rifle platoon and my pioneers. My plan was to lure the Tigers over to the left flank with my little Stuarts and then zip over with the on the other flank to support a thrust on the objective. Unfortunately everything did not go as planned.

3" guns looking for targets

My Stuarts pushed forward but did not even manage to pin the FJ-platoon in place. At the same time, his air support whittled down my howitzers so I was not able to reliably hit anything with them during the game (when they were allowed to shoot from not being pinned).
My 60mm mortars lost their command, while being out of range for anything, so my 2IC had to run over to appoint them a new commander.

Howitzers, ready for some more punishment

After a few turns, the Stuarts had been relocated to the right flank and were supposed to push forward to nail his mortars but a combined strike from the Stukas and a few shots from the Tigers (big mistake in looking at the fire lanes from me) they were left as burning wrecks.

Successful air strike

  In the end, I did a bum rush for the objective on the right flank which left me with just the A&P platoon left but the Germans lost their FJ platoon on that side as well. Since it was getting late and we were running out of beer we shook hands and called it a draw. Another joyful game!
In a bit of retrospect, we should probably not play Free-For-All with two infantry forces, it makes for quite a drawn out game of no one wanting to really get out of their fox holes. Next time, we will probably try something new.

One on One

Today it was time for me and Lasse to try out and hopefully learn some Flames of War, our first battle!
We decided to keep it small, so we just involved an HQ and a platoon each. This would let us try out moving and shooting.

Lasse's Fallschirmjägers, a six squad strong force.

From Miniature gaming

My US Rifle Platoon, had to fill it out with some guys in Terminator-camouflage since they are only CV.

From Miniature gaming

The table, a 4x2 to keep it small and simple. We put some woods, some fields and a church with stonewalls to hide behind. Since it was our first game, we skipped objectives, no turn limit, just slugging it out to try to figure out moving, shooting and assaulting. Since we didn't use any turns, I have not really kept track of the turns in the battle, just the general outlines of what happened.

From Miniature gaming

The Fallschirmjäger platoon was split in to two smaller groups, which was a good move to distract my attention, one starting in the corner with the wheat field and the other in the small forest.

From Miniature gaming

The US Rifles hid in a wheat field, I guess this was a lazy deployment from my side, they were unpacked in that spot.

From Miniature gaming

My US forces and Germans in the forest exchanged some fire, while the half-platoon lead by the CiC moved up. They wanted to get in to position behind the stone wall for maximum cover. Two of my squads got shot down and I decided to dig in, let him come to me!

From Miniature gaming

The Germans moved out of the forest to assault me in my fox holes, just let him come.

From Miniature gaming

The Captain yelled (while standing back): Get 'em boys!
GIs rushed up, and assaulted the germans.

From Miniature gaming

The Germans failed to kill any Americans in their defensive fire, lost a squad in the fight and then failed their morale making them run away! What a victory!

From Miniature gaming

The Americans, confident after beating up some elite Fallschirmjägers, decided to move up behind the hedges instead of chasing after them. Don't ask me why, their Captain must be fresh from West Point.

From Miniature gaming

So the Germans by the church, lined up their sights and mowed down the poor US soldiers, only leaving the Captain and Lieutenant who quickly surrendered.

From Miniature gaming

So, from this small skirmish, what did we learn?

• Infantry in cover, are very hard to kill. Veteran infantry in cover is almost impossible to kill: 6+ to hit, 3+ save, then a 6+ firepower test.
• Assault is where things happen when it comes to infantry fighting infantry.
• We move our platoons as if they were squads in 40K, very close and tight. This will probably not be a good habit when we bring templates to the table.
• Use cover.
• Morale is important.
• I need to get some more units for my army. For the next battle I need at least two rifle platoons.
  

Next step in our learning process will probably be to bring in some more foot soldiers and some mortars.

Death Company, a Rhino chassi and a Bat Rep

Had a game a few weeks ago so I needed to paint up my Death Company for that.
They are just primed and base coated with a simple wash of Payne's Grey, so quite a basic painting so far.

From Miniature gaming

One of my Razorbacks got some base coating done and an assault cannon mounted. I bought the Dark Angels Ravenwing box, a really nice buy for any marine player. Lots and lots of bitz!

From Miniature gaming

The list I used versus my friend's ork horde was as follows:
1000p
HQ
Reclusiarch 130p

Elites
Sanguinary Priest 50p
Sanguinary Priest 50p

Furioso Dread 150p
Heavy Flamer
Frag Cannon
Extra Armor

Troops
5 man Death Company 195p
3 Bolters
1 PW
1 PF
Razorback

10 man Tactical 265p
Melta Bombs
Flamer + ML
Razorback + TL Assault Cannon

5 man Assault Squad 155p
Melta Gun
PF
Razorback

My friend had one blob of sluggas (with Mad Dok), one blob of shootas, two deff dreads, 3 deffkoptas and a bunch of lootas (11 or something). Of course, I forgot to bring my camera so no photos from the game.

We rolled for the mission and came up with Dawn of War, annihilation, with the orks going first. The orks started with the two blobs up the middle, ready to charge me.
I put my tacticals behind their Razorback ready to shoot the oncoming green skins and my assault squad deployed in their Razorback in the other end of the table, ready to zoom away.

My memory is a bit clouded in some parts but the battle went something like this.

Turn 1
As predicted, the orks ran towards my lines in their turn.
In my turn, I rolled up the assault squad in cover to be able to shoot the heavy bolter on the orks. We forgot to apply the night fighting rules and I fired away with everything on the orks. The tacticals managed to down zero orks, alot thanks to FNP, while the assault cannon on the Razorback chewed away two hooligans (if my memory serves me correct).

Turn 2
In the next turn, the lootas entered the playing field, running for some ruins up on a hill in the orks right side of the table. The shootas and sluggas rushed closer to me and assaulted the Razorback belonging to the tactical squad (closest target for them and that is the way we interpreted the rage rule). They punched the Razorback in the front so it became a nice terrain piece.
In my turn the dread came on to the table, so I put him behind the Razorback, facing the shoota boys who were coming close to the tactical squad.
The DC-squad and the assault squad stayed in their Razorbacks, the assault squad popping smoke to get some
cover from the lootas who would probably start firing next turn.
In my shooting, it was time to try out the frag cannon and heavy flamer! The dread managed to kill about 10 orks in the shooting and then prepared to assault the shoota blob.
The tactical squad assaulted the sluggas, but didnt manage to kill that many thanks to the Dok's feel no pain. Damn they are hard to kill! In the counter assault, the tactical squad lost seven guys (I think) and fled the field.
The dread rushed into the shootas and killed off a few, the remaining orks panicked and got smashed up.

Turn 3
His deff dread entered the board, walking and running towards me. The deff koptas came in on his left flank and fired on my dreadnought, doing nothing.
The Razorback with the assault squad got immobilized from loota-fire in the middle of the field. The assault squad jumped out in cover, waiting for the deff dread...
My DC-Razorback drove towards the deff koptas and unloaded its payload of very, very angry marines. They shot at the deff koptas, taking off one wound on one of them.
I don't remember the order of things with the sluggas and my Furioso, but they ended up in close combat, with my dread killing their Dok (no more FNP!).

Turn 4
The orks got the second deff dread on the table, walking towards my immobilized Razorback in the middle.
Now the ork player made a grave misstake: standing still with the koptas, firing their rokkits instead of running away! They killed one death company marine, but the yummy target for the DC-squad is still there.
Lootas fired from the ruins, doing nothing to the Razorback. The bunch of sluggas and my Furioso pretty much danced the night away, with the orks just glancing the dreads AV13 and the dread killing a maximum of two orks per round of close combat. *yawn*
In my turn, the assault squad ran towards the deff dred, time to smash up some metal! They fired their melta gun, but no effect and then prepared to assault.
My black bunch of anger rushed up to the deff koptas, to put some hurt on them. They killed two koptas and the last one retreated. It was still the closest target, so the death company ran after them.

Turn 5
The lootas and the deff dread fired on the assault squad in the open, killing one brave marine.
The deff koptas ran off the table, scratching up one KP for me and making the DC squad turn around towards the bunch of sluggas.
I took some pot shots with the DC Razorback and the assault squad moved towards the deff dread but the game ended here.

4-2 in KP for me if we calculated it correct. He lost his Dok, one squad of shootas, one formation of deff koptas and one dread. I lost one squad of tacticals and one Sanguinary priest. I am not sure if the dedicated transport counts as one KP, then it would be 4-3 instead.

Lessons learned:
Don't stand to close to the table edge, even marines can wet their pants and run off the table.
Be more aggressive! Put those assault squads in close combat, especially versus things like lootas.
Use the fast army I have at my disposal, they can move from one end to the other very quickly.
Templates versus blobs of non armored targets are very nice.