Flames of war - Late Pacific war - Dust up

Forces 1500

Banzai - Japanese Hohei Chutai (FV)
HQ

Platoon
Platoon

2xHMGs

3x Ho -Ni tank hunters

3x Te-Ke 

2x 150 mm Howitzers 

Limited Zero air support

Gung Ho - Marine infantry (FV)

HQ 

Platoon (2 squads)

Platoon (2 squads)

2x Assault section (attached)

4x Lmg

4x 60mm mortar

2x 37mm at-gun w Bazooka

3xM4 Sherman 
4x M3 Stuart

2x M4 Priest

We roll for scenario and it results in a dust up. the Japanese wins the roll for deployment and choose to attack with a night-fight assault, as per the "Hell by day, paradise by night" Japanese special rule. Half of both players armies are deployed in delayed reserve.

Turn 1
The Japanese push forward concealed by the night. Their battle-plan is to win the battle before dawn. The artillery spotter see the hiding US infantry just 50 cm away, but the artillery fail to range in.

The Americans lay still, waiting for the perfect moment to open fire...

Turn 2
The Japanese don't care much for concealing terrain, their soft shoes will not betray their silent approach.

The American Stuarts spots the oncoming Japanese infantry and opens up with their machine guns. Two Japanese teams are killed.

Turn 3

No reserves arrive. Still not close enough to assault, the Japanese takes position further ahead for an later assault. The Ho-Ni open up at the Stuarts, but miss all shots.

No reserves arrive, neither is dawn coming, as the defender rolls a dice for daybreak. The Stuarts hide from the Ho-Ni behind the houses. the mortars fail to range in.

Turn 4

One japanese platoon of reserves arrive, but still no daybreak. the Infantry on both sides are now close enough to assault so both platoons attempt assaults. In the middle, the assault is prevented by tank terror (come on, 3+ with re-roll), but two Nikku hakku teams continues the assault, one getting killed by defensive fire, the other destroying two Stuarts before getting killed in the counter attack. The newly arrived platoon also launch an assault, but losing a team in defensive fire and only killing a single marine team.

The night is still on in defenders turn 4, even with 3 dices to see if day breaks. The Sherman platoon arrive from reserve. Both Marine platoons line up for counter assaults and pinned, with only rifles the Japanese have little hope of stopping the assaults. Both Japanese platoons are slaughtered, with only two teams left in the center.

Turn 5

Day breaks. The Zero air support finally arrive! Te-Ke and HMGs also reinforce the Japanese, but with only support platoons remaining things looks really bad for the Japanese. The Ho-Ni destroy a Sherman and another is lost to the Zero bombing run - but the fearless remaining tank still push on.

At-guns and Priest reinforce the battlefield. The Last Sherman double towards the objective in the Japanese corner. The Stuarts destroy two of the Ho-Ni forcing a morale for the last one. The platoon fails but instead of fleeing, the tank crew dismount as a rifle  The last two Japanese infantry is killed in assault and the Marines now hold the objective.

Turn 6

In Japanese manner, the dismounted vehicle crew launch an assault to retake the objective, They survive three hits in defensive fire and kills a marine in assault, forcing them to break off (!). The Zero kills another three infantry with MGs, but the marine platoon is still in good spirit enough as they pass their 3+ morale.

The Stuarts destroy one of the Te-Ke and then the marines assault the last remaining infantry team, resulting in nothing now left to prevent a US-victory.

US victory 6-1

Warhammer 40k - Apocalypse

THE SCENARIO

The "annual" warhammer 40k apocalypse battle was played this weekend at BKS, featuring six players and about 20 000 pts of models.

The game was played over 5 turns and about 10k pts on each side. To win each side has to get victory points by taking the objectives in the opponents table half. Each player also have the opportunity to score an extra objective by completing a side objective.

Minor adjustments to the rules were made to harmonize the Strenght D-weapon and to eliminate some of the vast differences in army- and formation lists.

The attacking side is composed of:

Sons of Horous + Warhound titan

Chaos Marines + Imperial Knight

Eldar Ulthwé + Scorpion & Cobra tanks

The defenders are an alliance of:

Iron warriors + Fell blade tank

Marines + Reaver titan

Orks + Stompa

TURN 1

The first turn both sides focus on bringing down the super heavies. The Reaver titan is reduced to 6 (from mighty 18) HP and the Scorpion is reduced to a single HP. But all GoW are suprisingly still at the table.

Attacker (0) - Defender (0)

TURN 2

Reserves arrive on 2+, witch means that most units are at the table. The badly damaged Reaver is destroyed by the Warhound titan, despite recharging 3 of its 4 shields. This results in a VP to the attackers. Deepstriking shadow spectres scores another point by seizing an objective. The Orks deffkoptas however destroy the scorpion tank and the stompa kills the cobra tank in a furious charge.

Attacker (2) - Defender (1)

TURN 3

The Eldar take revenge on the ork Stompa destroying it with a Nightwing.  Another point is gained by holding an objective. The defending side destroy the Warhound and almost score another victory point with a space marine dreadnought delivered by a Stormraven gunship but is just prevented by a nearby jetbike.

Attacker (4) - defender (2)

TURN 4

Only the Imperial knight and the Fellblade remain among the giants and both sides push their forces into the enemy deployment. The shadow spectres scores another victory point and a Vindicator bring down the mighty knight. The space marine captain, arriving with the dreadnought in the gunship, secure another objective for the defender.

Attacker (5) - defender (3)

TURN 5

After a full turn of shooting the Fellblade remain standing with a single HP left, making it the lone surviving GoW. The defender scores another VP, but the game is over and one point away from a draw.

Attacker (5) - defender (4)

In summary, it was very fun and among the most even games of Apocalypse I've played so far. 

Flames of war - Late war - Breakthrought

Forces - 1500 pts

German Gepanzere panzergren. (CV), Fortress Italy book

HQ +schrek

2x Full grenadier platoons in halftracks

1x Armoured mortar section

3x Panzer IV/70

2x Puma

4x 10,5 cm howitzers

Soviet infantry battalion (FT), Berlin book

HQ

Strelkovy, 2 plut (FV)

Strelkovy, 2 plut

4x 57 mm AT gun (FV)

4x 120 mm heavy mortars

2x SU-100

4xT-43 w/ tankriders

The Germans attack and take first turn but has to put one platoon in delayed reserve, arriving at the objective table quarter. The Soviets must hold one of the armored platoons in reserve as the scenario has mobile reserves.

Turn 1
The German infantry move forward under cover from the small forest to get into position for an coming assault. One puma reveals a team and the other one destroy one of the veteran at-guns. The panzer 4/70 hit all three shots at the su-100 but they save all the hits! The Artillery fail to range in.

No reserves arrive. The su-100 misses the panzer 4/70 but the at guns destroy one and bail one from afar. The mortars fail to range in.

Turn 2
The infantry disembark and prepare for an assault through the woods. The mortars bombard smoke at the AT-guns. The bailed panzer 4/70 remount and the platoon hit both of the su-100, bailing one and destroying the other. The infantry attempts an assault against 8 die in defensive fire - the assault is sadly stopped and kills 4 infantry team.

No reserves arrive. The AT-guns miss the panzer 4/70 but bail both pumas. The su-100 remount but miss the panzers. The mortars fail to range in.

Turn 3
Combined fire from arty and inf only manage to kill the 2iC who make a warrior save and replace a close by team. The su-100 saves the incoming fire from the panzers.

The reserve tanks now automatically arrive and instantly head for the objective. The AT-guns kill another panzer 4/70 and the last one flees the battle. The heavy mortars hit the armored mortars, killing the command half track, but the command team pass its passenger save.

Turn 4
The reserve infantry arrive and move into the woods preparing to seize the objective. The artillery hits the su-100 but it save the attack. The armored mortars direct fire at the AT guns, witch are hit and fails its save, but the FP-test is missed!

The t-34 moves closer to the objective. The AT-guns destroys the pumas with a well placed volley fire. The heavy mortars look for a target but fail to range in.

Turn 5The artillery fires at the tanks hitting one t-34 and a su-100. The t-34 save the attack but the su-100 is destroyed. The reinforcing platoon dig in. The armored mortars hits a veteran AT-gun again with direct fire, and once again the FP-test is failed!

The t-34 move to contest the objective, preventing a German victory by at the start of turn 6. The Heavy mortars still cant find a target in the field.

Turn 6
A last attempt to assault the dug in soviets are made. The artillery puts blinding smoke over the AT guns, but they still hit 2 half tracks, breaking the German assault and finally their fighting spirit.

Soviet 5-2 victory.

Sadly, a little bit one-sided battle, mostly due to bad rolling, many failed German FP test and lucky defensive fire. But it was also some time ago I posted on the blog, so this report will make a point. Still a very cinematic battle.

Flames of war - Late war mini tournament

After a series of battles capturing the Romanian spring offensive of 1944, both sides had reached a stalemate. The German and the Soviet forces both lost numbers though while the soviets had some success in taking territory, the Germans stubbornly held the line. Read more here and here.

To give the summer of battles a decisive result, we decided to throw down a mini-tournament over a day, with 8 players and 3 battles each. Points are 1350 and forces are limited to early 1944 technology.

Axis

Grenadiers (A)

Grenadiers (M)

SS-Panzergrenadierkampfgruppe 

Panzerspah 

Soviet

Heavy assault guns (ISUs)

Gavardyskiy Thazhelyy Tankovy 

Stelkovy

Rota Razvedki

First round

The first round of battles is a random meeting engagement scenario.

SS-Panzergrenadierkampfgruppe - Rota Razvedki

The Red army sends their forward detachment to prone the enemy lines. The resistance seems fierce and many soviet tanks are destroyed in the open field. A German victory.

Heavy assault gun - Grenadiers (A)
The Heavy ISU assault guns are slowly lumbering forward towards the German positions. The German grenadiers fails to penetrate their thick armor, resulting in only a couple of destroyed ISU:s. A solid soviet victory.

Panzerspah - Gavardyskiy Thazhelyy Tankovy 

The Soviets heavy tanks are cached with their pants down as the fast pumas swarms the objectives. The battle ends quickly in a German victory. 

Stelkovy - Grenadiers (M)
The soviets dig in to the forest while their close air support devastates the German lines, unit by unit. A brave attempt to end the game quick is made by my Panzer IV:s but their weak Armour and the raging aircraft ends their attempt quickly.

Result: Soviet (2) Axis (2)

Second round

The second round in the tournament is a random defensive battle.

Grenadiers (M) - Gavardyskiy Thazhelyy Tankovy 

My Grenadiers fair better in the defensive setup, where they defend against the Heavy IS-2 tanks. But the game is a close call, after 5 round of intense firefight with Nashorns and Flak 8.8 only 2 IS-2 are destroyed. While the Panzer IV:s are watching their rounds bounce of the heavy tanks armour, a brave infantry assault finally breaks the Heavy tanks for a German victory.

Rota Razvedki - Grenadiers (A)

The Soviet forward detachment fares better against the German grenadiers, where they quickly rush forward towards the objective. Stalin will be proud of this Soviet victory.

Heavy assault gun - SS-Panzergrenadierkampfgruppe 

The SS dig in to protect their objectives while their Panthers are massacring the ISU assault guns in a crossfire with the heavy Pak43:s. But the Assault guns sees an opportunity to seize a unprotected objective and miraculously scores a Soviet victory.

Panzerspah - Stelkovy

The Puma Aufklärung company continue their success with some aid of their HS-129 air support. The Strelkovy are blown apart, piece by piece, into a solid German victory.

Result: Soviet (4) Axis (4)

Third round

The last round of battles is played as a random mobile battle.

Grenadiers (M) - Heavy assault gun

My grenadiers once again face the Heavy armor of the red army. This time, with no ambushes and random reserves the ISU:s are free to line up and obliterate the grenadier positions. The Panzer IVs attempts a flanking maneuver but lose half their tanks in a failed attempt. It looks terribly bad for the Germans, but somehow, the soviet assault to push the infantry off the objective fails and the ISU:s ends up leaderless. A minor German victor

Gavardyskiy Thazhelyy Tankovy - Grenadiers (A)

The Heavy IS-2 tanks prove how hard it can be to penetrate their thick armor. After a close skirmish with the German grenadiers, the IS-2 tanks bring the Red army another victory.

Panzerspah - Rota Razvedki 

Two fast armies clash down the streets of a Romanian village. The better training of the Pumas and their ability to use the terrain for protection give the German side yet another victory.

Stelkovy - SS-Panzergrenadierkampfgruppe 

The SS grenadiers are facing off against the dug in soviet Strelkovy. With soviet reserves being able to flank the panthers while avoiding the immobile Pak43 guns return fire, the battle ends in a Soviet victory.

Result: Soviet (6) Axis (6)

So the final result of the tournament is a stunning draw with 6 victories on each side. But as this tournament was an extension of the campaign it was ruled out that in case of a draw the previous efforts of the Soviet side would give a Soviet victory. Still it was an even tournament, with only the Panzerspah remaining undefeated in all games.