Operation Overlord AAR #2

Game #2 was with lists made from the new books, again, 1780 points limit.

Again, I experimented with something new to me - a 15th Rifle Company Confident Trained list. This was mainly due to the fact though, that I managed to fit 12 (!!!) platoons in 1780! Crazy stuff and something I'm sorely tempted to try out in a tournament. (Though I'll have to up my play-speed as it takes a lot longer to move about that many platoons than my typical 6 or 8 platoon list.)

Rifle HQ with Bagpiper
3 full Platoons of Rifle/MG infantry,
Warrior teams Stan Hollis and Capt. Treleavan (Effectively making two of the platoons roll Motivation tests as fearless.)
2 Universal Carrier patrols with a PIAT launcher each
4 6pdr guns with Loyd Carriers to cart them around
Platoon of 4 3" mortars
Full HMG platoon
Platoon of 4 Heavy 4.2" Mortars
Platoon of 3 x Sherman tanks + 1 x Firefly
4 M10's with 17pdrs
25pdr Artillery battery with 4 guns

This time Densmol ran a Gerpanzert Grenadier infantry list (I think....). Confident Veteran Germans. (Have to say, it's nice having a pal who having got into this, decided straight away to choose the opposite faction to my own and so we have no blue-on-blue games. There'll be a small campaign in the future I think.)
He ran:
HQ SMG teams with extra Panzerschreck team
Full MG infantry Platoon in 1/2 tracks with SMG and Panzerfaust for Platoon Commander
Full MG infantry Platoon, NO 1/2 tracks with SMG and Panzerfaust for Platoon Commander
2 x sd Kfz 251/9 - 1/2 tracks with anti-tank guns
Platoon of 2 Pak40 AT guns
2 dreaded Tiger 1's
Platoon of 3 Jagdpanzers
Battery of 3 Hummel self propelled artillery with a Panzer III observer tank

The game was started late and we ended up playing until 2:30am, stopping then cos we both had to be at work at 8am.....
 We rolled for mission and got Encounter with Densmol as the attacker. It ended up a 1 - 1 draw and even then could have gone either way, though Densmol's Tigers were still about at the end and my own heavy AT options were dwindling fast.....
 [I'll not write a turn-by-turn  account as we were well into the 10th or 11th turn prior to calling it quits, so here are some pictures and captions to hopefully allow you to get the idea of how it all went. Excuse the brown hills, they are not chocolate as my 8-year-old had hoped and are since been appropriately and crappily flocked green.]

Set up looked like this:

(Densmol wondering how he's going to get through 12 platoons of Brits.)

 I started off with Shermans on the left with the Capt.Treleavan and the 1st Infantry Platoon camped on the objective in the woods (Behind the large chocolate hill.). 25pdr battery left of middle behind the wheat field and Heavy Mortars in center behind a wall. Stan Hollis and 2nd Infantry Platoon camped about the right most objective with 1 patrol of Universal Carriers in there somewhere.

Densmol had a platoon of infantry in the wheatfield opposite my shermans with the OP PanzerIII, Pak40 AT guns in the other wheatfield and Hummels in his left most corner hidden behind trees.

Shermans moving out

German Infantry dash to take advantage of the buildings on their right flank the better to protect against the advancing Shermans!

 

Sneaky carriers have a cunning plan....

That apparently wasn't so cunning afterall.

What else can we pop?

Not the reserve roll I was looking for....

Dear Hummels, you should not be able to shoot so damn far. Love and kisses, The Shermans.

Shermans retaliate and blast the Hummels' Observer PanzerIII.

With their observer dead, the Hummels decide to try direct fire at my poor infantry instead.

I needed a six.... Just one stinking 6! :(

I finally get reserves! M10's on the wrong end of the table..... *facepalm*

6pdrs though, are a timely arrival indeed.

My 3rd Infantry Platoon trod up the field in the face of scary big guns... Jagdpanzer and a Hummel though are dead!

Captain Treleavan orders a push towards the left side objective!

Jagdpanzers dead or run away. HMG's arrive and pour fire into the Hummels.

Getting nasty on the left flank. If you look really hard, close to Densmol's  left leg, bloody Tigers.....

Mortars reinforce the left flank and start laying down pinning fire and smoke to protect the infantry.

Right flank is taken, with the 2nd Carrier patrol motoring up to take on those pesky 1/2tracks stuffed full of more stinking German MG teams!

And...... it's 2:30am. Stupid idea to play such a big game on a work night. Fun though. :)

Operation Overlord AAR #1

Was hoping I'd see more of this.... drat.

Densmol and I got in late on the WWPD.net Operation Overlord campaign and thus far have only managed to get in 2 games to add to the overall scoresheet.

This first game was played prior to the delivery of the new D-Day compilation and so our lists came from the old books. Sadly I didn't have my camera on hand so no pics, but that's probably for the best as we used books as hills, etc and almost my entire force was unpainted so it wasn't a pretty game in the least.

We played 1780 point lists, mine from the 7th Armoured Desert Rats Company, my first try at fielding a Reluctant Veteran list.

HQ - 2 Cromwells
2 Platoons of 3 Cromwells + 1 Firefly
1 Recce Platoon of 3 Stuart V's
1 Platoon of 4 M10's
1 full Platoon of Lorried Rifle Infantry
Confident Trained Corps 25pdr 8-gun artillery
Confident Trained Limited Typhoon air support

Densmol played a Mechanised Infantry German list that I can't remember entirely -

Infantry HQ
2 Grenadier Platoons in 1/2 tracks
1 4-gun 15cm Artillery platoon
3 Stugs that he kept in ambush

He had some Warrior in a tank, (Barkmann?) who sat on a flank and maybe something else?

Table was set out with hills and woods on one end and village and ruins on the other. Densmol set up in the village and ruins and I tried to keep my armoured teams as hidden as I possibly could from his nasty heavy artillery.

My Recce move had my Stuarts right up in his grill from turn one and on my 1^st turn I made sure to pour as much firepower into his dug in big guns as possible killing two right off the bat. My armour moved up trying to stay out of line of sight as they advanced on the objective. My airpower went about killing the odd stand and killed another 15cm gun, until I rolled a solitary plane on the 4^th or 5^th turn which was promptly shot down by ½ track AA guns and refused to return. (I guess planes suffer from morale too!)
In the end, the game came down to me not jumping the objective quickly and offering Densmol chance to get reserves in place to camp the buildings next to the objectives. And also my Reluctant troops refusing to get back in their tanks and ending with a company command roll that was swiftly failed…..

Needless to say, this will be the last time I play a Reluctant list ever again….. 5-2 win to Densmol.(And his 1st win versus me! Damn, my record is tarnished!)