Scottish Nationals (16th - 17th May 2015)

Our first two day event

 Back we go to Common Ground Games, quickly becoming the home of Flames of War in Scotland. This time we're here for the first two-day event we've run in a long time. We've had a nationals before, away back in 2013. That day was a resounding success, and I was hopeful we'd be able to emulate it just a little.

 We were supposed to be running an Early War tournament with 1550pts, but were worried that the era and points would have meant a poor turn out (Early War is still a little less played up here. See my previous report). So, after quite a lot of negotiating and compromising, we were granted leave to run a Late War 1750pts tournament, with openings for Early War should any player be interested enough to play.

The Players and their forces

 On the day we had twelve players enter, myself included. This doesn't sound much in the grand scheme of things, but we were proud of the turn out for our first attempt. In no particular order, here are the players and the forces they were using.

Greg Fyfe - Engineer Sapper Battalion (w/ Red Army Support) - Red Bear (Revised)

HQ - Inzhererno-Saperniy Batalon HQ - w/ Komissar Team - 60

 Combat - Inzhererno-Saperniy Company - w/ Warrior Recce Pioneer Lt. Ivan Zablotny - 450

                 Inzhererno-Saperniy Company - w/ Pioneer Supply Truck - 405

Support - Tankovy Company - 8 T-34 obr. 1942 w/ coupla - 310

               Tank Killer Company - 4 SU-100 - 310

               Artillery Battalion - 4 122mm obr. 1938 howitzer - 155

              Anti-Aircraft Machine-gun Platoon - 3 DShK AA on trucks - 55

1745

Greg's Inzhererno-Saperniy Batalon with added barbed wire and minefields

 Richard Hardy - Light Self-propelled Artillery Regiment (Guards) - Red bear (Revised)

 HQ - Samokhodno-Artillyeriyskiy HQ - T-70 - 25

Combat - Assault Gun Company - 4 SU-122 - 170

Assault Gun Company - 4 SU-122 - 170

Assault Gun Company - 4 SU-122 - 170

Assault Gun Company - 4 SU-122 - 170

Weapons - Assault Gun Reconnaissance Platoon (Red Army) - 195

Assault Gun Sapper Company (Red Army) - w/ Pioneer Supply Truck - 125

Anti-Aircraft Platoon - 3 DShK AA on trucks - 55

Support - Flame Tank Company - 3 KV-8s - 180

Tank Destruction Company (Guards) - 4 57mm ZIS-2 w/ 1 PTRD anti-tank rifle - 175

Guards Rocket Mortar Battalion - 2 BM-1-12 Katyusha w/ 5+ crew w/ 2 37mm obr 1939 gun - 155

Air Support - Limited Il-2 Shturmovik - 200

1750

Richard's Legkiy Samokhodno-Artillyeriyskiy Polk (Guards)

Alistar Grant - Medium Self-propelled Artillery Regiment (Regular) - Desperate Measures

HQ - Sredniy Samokhodno-Artillyeriyskiy HQ - T-34/5 obr. 1944 - 70

Combat - Medium Assault Gun Company - 5 SU-85M - 365

Medium Assault Gun Company - 5 SU-100 - 390

Weapons - Anti-aircraft Platoon - 3 DShK AA on trucks - 55

Tankovy Company - 9 T-34/85 obr. 1944 - 535

Motostrelkovy Company - w/ 2 Maxim HMG - 180

Heavy Mortar Company - 6 120-PM-38 Mortars w/ Observer -155

1750

Alistair's Sredniy Samokhodno-Artillyeriyskiy Polk

 Phil Dalbeck - HG Panzerkompanie - Fortress Italy

HQ - Hermann Göring Panzerkompanie HQ - 2 Panzer III N - 130

Combat - HG Panzer Platoon - 2 Panzer III M, 2 Panzer III N - 280

HG Panzer Platoon - 2 Panzer III M, 2 Panzer III N - 280

HG Panzer Platoon - 2 Panzer III M, 2 Panzer III N - 280

HG Panzer Platoon - 1 Panzer III M, 3 Panzer IV H - 350

Support - Schwere Panzer Platoon - 2 Tiger I E - 430

1750

Phil's Hermann Göring Panzerkompanie

Keith Martin-Smith - Panzerkompanie - Blood, Guts & Glory

HQ - Panzerkompanie HQ - 2 Panther G - 260

Combat - Panzer Platoon - 3 Panther G - 385

Panzer Platoon - 3 Panther G - 385

Weapons - Assault Gun Platoon - 3 StuG G - 195

Assault Gun Platoon - 3 StuG G - 195

Support - Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon - 4 Wirbelwind - 150

Aufklarüngs Platoon - 180

1750

Keith's Panzerkompanie

William Burns - Kampfgruppe Hummel - Bridge by Bridge

HQ - Kampfgruppe Hummel HQ - 2 Tiger I E - 290

Combat - Hummel Schwere Panzer Platoon - 3 Tiger I E - 435

Hummel Schwere Panzer Platoon - 2 Tiger I E - 290

Support - Schwere Panzer Platoon - 1 Königstiger - 345

SS-Rocket Launcher Battery - 3 15cm NW 41 - 120

Pioner Platoon - 180

Luftwaffe Flak Platoon - 1 88cm FlaK 36, 2 2cm Flakvierling - 90

1750

William's Kampfgruppe Hummel

Michael Byrne - Tank Company (3rd Armored Division) - Bridge at Remagen

HQ - Tank Company HQ - 1 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 265

Combat - Tank Platoon - 1 M4A3 Sherman (Late), 2 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 495

Heavy Tank Platoon - 2 M26 Pershing - 400

Weapons - Sherman Assault Gun Platoon - 2 M4A3 (105mm) Sherman - 125

Light Tank Platoon - 4 M5A1 Stuart - 185

Support - Armored Recon Platoon - 2 M8 Armoured Car, 1 Recon Jeep, 1 Mortar Jeep - 115

Battleworn Rifle Platoon - w/ 2 replaced bazooka - 165

1750

Michael's 3rd Armoured Division

Chris Walsh - Tank Company (7th Armored Division) - Blood, Guts & Glory

HQ - Tank Company HQ - 1 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 235

Combat - Tank Platoon - 1 M4A1 Sherman, 2 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 415

Tank Platoon - 1 M4A1 Sherman, 2 M4A3E8 Easy Eight, 1 M4A3E2 Jumbo - 415

Weapons - Sherman Assault Gun Platoon - 3 M4 (105mm) Sherman - 155

Support -Cavalry Recon Platoon - 1 M8 Armored Car, Mortar Jeep, Recon Jeep - 90

Armored Rifle Platoon - 225

Armored Field Artillery Battery - 3 M7 Priest HMC, 1 M4 Sherman OP - 175

Air Observation Post - L4 Grasshopper AOP - 40

1750

Chris' 7th Armoured Division

Laurence Kettle - Rifle Company (2nd Infantry Division) - Devils Charge

HQ - Rifle Company HQ - 15

Combat - Rifle Platoon - 210
Rifle Platoon - 210

Weapons - Machine-gun Platoon - 4 M1917 HMG - 130

Mortar Platoon - 4 M1 81mm Mortar - 110

Ammunition & Pioneer Platoon - 185

Support - Intelligence & Recon Platoon - 1 .50 cal Recon Jeep, 3 Recon Jeep - 85

Anti-tank Platoon - 3 M1 57mm Gun (Late) - 100

Towed Tank Destroyer Platoon - 4 M5 3" Gun (Late) - 195

Towed Tank Destroyer Platoon - 4 M5 3" Gun (Late) - 195

Field Artillery Battery (155mm) - 4 M1 155mm Howitzer - 275

Air Observation Post - L4 Grasshopper AOP - 40

1750

Laurence's 2nd Infantry Division

David Cuthbert - Airlanding Company - Market Garden

HQ - Airlanding Company HQ - w/ Bagpiper Team, w/ 2 PIAT - 110

Combat - Airlanding Platoon - 220

Airlanding Platoon - 220

Weapons - Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon - 4 OQF 6pdr Gun (Late) -  165

Airlanding Mortar Platoon - 2 ML 3" Mk II Mortar - 75

Support - Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon, Royal Artillery - 4 OQF 6pdr Gun (Late) -  165

Airlanding Anti-tank Platoon, Royal Artillery - 4 OQF 6pdr Gun (Late) -  165

Airlanding Field Platoon - w/ Pioneer Supply Jeep and Trailer - 450

Airlanding Light Artillery Battery, RA - 4 M1A1 75mm Pack Howitzer, Medium Battery -  180

1750

David's Airlanding Company

Bil Sheil - 6th Armoured Division - Road to Rome

HQ - Armoured Squadron HQ - 1 Sherman IB (105mm) - 130

Combat - Armoured Platoon - 2 Sherman III, 1 Sherman III, 1 Sherman IIA (76mm) - 370

76mm Armoured Platoon - 4 Sherman IIA (76mm) w/ .50 cal AA MG - 495

Weapons - Recce Patrol - 3 Stuart V w/ AA MG - 160

Support - Rifle Platoon (Indian) - 3 Sherman Kangaroo APC, Ghurkas - 275

Field Battery (SP), Royal Artillery - 4 M7 Priest HMC - 295

Air Observation Post - Auster AOP - 25

1750

Bill's 6th Armoured Division

Mark Nisbet (Me) - Rifle Company - Nachtjäger 

HQ - Rifle Company HQ - 30

Combat - Rifle Platoon - 180

Rifle Platoon - 180

Weapons - Anti-Tank Platoon - 4 OQF 6pdr Gun (Late) -140

Mortar Platoon - 4 ML 3" Mk II Mortar - 120

Pioneer Platoon - 85

Support - Machine-gun Platoon - 4 Vickers HMG - 140

Tank Platoon - 1 Churchill VI, 1 Churchill VII, 1 Churchill IV (Late) w/ Applique - 360

Tank Platoon - 1 Churchill VI with Applique, 1 Churchill VII, 1 Churchill IV (Late) w/ Applique - 360

Infantry Anti-tank Platoon (SP), Royal Artiller - 2 Archer - 140

1745

Mark's British Rifle Company

Round One - Dust Up (Saturday: 1000 - 1230) 

 A classic, a little like Marmite to some, to begin with. Dust Up always has it's critics and those that love it, due to the way the game begins a little unsteadily because of the Delayed Reserves, but once things start arriving, it begins to get tense as platoons rout, new ones arrive and positions are fought for over the various objectives.

 Due to the imbalance of Axis to Allied players, the idea of Red on Blue was scrapped for the weekend and any opponent was fair game. So with twelve players and no seeding available anyone could play anyone first round. And the draw was as follows:

• Greg Fyfe - Laurence Kettle
• William Burns - Chris Walsh
• Keith Martin-Smith - Phil Dalbeck
• David Cuthbert - Bill Sheil
• Richard Hardy - Michael Byrne
• Alistair Grant - Mark Nisbet

 These battle reports will be incredibly spotty as, naturally, I was playing in my own game and had only cursory glances at the other tables, and pauses to take pictures on passing. So instead, enjoy some pictures of some of the first round match ups.

In the dim light of morning (and poor lighting) the players begin their games

I will comment that Phil is a newcomer to the game, and that his first round pairing was probably the most difficult he could have faced, the baptism of fire against Keith, reputed to be a rather skilled player. And that was reflected in the result and time taken to complete the game.

Phil's Panzers fall one by one as the Red on Red battle swings heavily one way

 My own game was a little more balanced, both Alistair and myself are on about equal footing in terms of the game.It came down to a few lucky dice rolls and some poor planning on my part for the game to result in a draw. In a turn, Churchills assaulted into his heavy mortars, pushed them off the objective with what seemed like no possible way to be ejected. Unfortunately for me, Alistair had luck on his side, as he rolled his SU-100s round, requiring 6's to hit on the Churchills and managing to knock two out. The platoon commander in his Churchill VII deemed the situation too dangerous and fled the field, denying me a win.

After seeing what happened to the other platoon, these Churchills decide the cover of the buildings to be safe

Results from Round One:

• Greg Fyfe 1-1 Laurence Kettle
• William Burns 4-3 Chris Walsh
• Keith Martin-Smith 6-1 Phil Dalbeck
• David Cuthbert 3-2 Bill Sheil
• Richard Hardy 5-2 Michael Byrne
• Alistair Grant 2-3 Mark Nisbet

 The most surprising result from Round One would have to be the 1-1 draw between Greg and Laurence. With Greg playing such an offensive attacking force against a defensive gun line, the casual bystander would have assumed heavy casualties on one side or the other.

Lunch Break (Saturday 1230 - 1330)

Lunch time on the Front Lines

Round Two - Hold the Line (Saturday 1330 - 1600)

  After the results of Round One, the field was split a little more with a few players racking up good points while others languished on one. Using the Battlefront Nationals Rules, it was an impossibility to roll another Fair Fight mission, so with Dust Up, Encounter and Free-For-All removed from the missions list this round, it came up as Hold the Line as the next mission to be played.
 From experience, Hold the Line can be over very quickly, or it can slog on for a long time. It's a mission with very little middle ground. The attacker can either take advantage of the defender's diminished force, or they can dither, allowing the defender to reinforce and hold them back. So with that in mind, this was the draw for Round Two:

• Phil - Greg
• Laurence - Michael
• Bill - Alistair
• David - William
• Richard - Keith
• Chris - Mark

Phil's Panzers assault the hill in an attempt to dig out the Sappers

 So, it came to be that I had a tough task of defending against a heavily armoured tank company with some big guns hidden in the mix to put a little fear into my usually impervious Churchills. The sneaky, but quite smart tactic of sitting a 2iC in a Jumbo to soak hits on platoons would come into play here, especially with each platoon also containing a bullet-magnet Jumbo.
 After set-up, Chris went for a refused flank attack on one of the objectives near a wood and some tree lines. He placed his Grasshopper AOP and rushed his recce forward to try to push back any potential ambushes. Unfortunately, a bad placement for the AOP allowed my Archers to spring an ambush from the woods and some 6pdrs to reveal themselves in a tree line.

The Archers open fire from the Forest, while the 6pdrs get off some shots from the tree line, picking Shermans off

  This was my first outing using Archers, and in the last game, the Command tank was picked off, leaving the other high and dry, but in this game, the appearance from Ambush combined with being Concealed Veterans allowed them to dominate the melee, racking up all three Jumbos and some Shermans to their name. They even managed to fend off an assault from some determined American GI's through the woods, With one surviving and combining fire with a nearby Rifle/MG team, it seemed like an impossible task to pin down the assaulting infantry, but with all dice coming up 4+ they somehow managed it. The game soon ended, as his CiC had hopped to a Jumbo, and was bailed out as he was forced to take a Company Morale Test. With me only losing my platoon of 6pdrs, and having the 9 platoon rule in effect, it came out as an emphatic win in a game that in the second turn I almost gave up on.

 Elsewhere there were less draws and more resounding wins one way or the other.

Bill's AOP lets his artillery know exactly where Alistair's -34's are hiding

 Results from Round Two:

• Phil 1-6 Greg
• Laurence 6-1 Michael
• Bill 1-6 Alistair
• David 6-1 William
• Richard 4-3 Keith
• Chris 1-6 Mark

  With the two most renowned players facing off in this round, it was no surprise the game was so close between them. While the other results show massive victories for one side over the other.

Round Three - Hasty Attack: (Saturday 1600-1830)

 Hasty Attack is a mission I have only ever played once, and the result of my previous game of it was almost identical to my result here. As you'll see from the draw, I had little chance against my opponent, though if I could do it all over again, I would reconsider my set up and choices. The was the attacker can split the defender, and then make one side of the table utterly useless is frustrating for the defender. No doubt many people reading this will be able to recall a time they held firm against an attacker in this mission, but in my own experience, I have always been thoroughly over run due to the stretch the attacker can put on the defender.

 And so, the draw for Round Three:

• Michael - Bill
• Phil - Chris
• William - Greg
• Laurence - Alistair
• David - Richard
• Keith - Mark

 And so you can see, I had the pleasure of facing off against a horde of Panthers. With very little in the way of AT that I could effectively bring to bear on the mass, I set my lines and prepared. Naturally, Keith set his objectives either side of the table, meaning I had to commit a platoon to each, at least, giving me a Churchill platoon to cover the middle of the table and the Archers in Immediate Ambush. The game was set, the Archers appeared and the line of Panthers advanced.
 When they got close enough, they put shots into the Archers, bailing one through the luck of them being Concealed and Gone to Ground. The other shots trying to dig up the infantry covering the Objective. When the Archers returned fire, the result was disappointing. Three out of four hits, two penetrating hits, the other being stopped by armour and only one destroyed, amounting to a sum total of nothing.

 Long story short, StuGs arrived in reinforcements, the Infantry were over-run in assault despite doggedly resisting Panther assaults. The Archers were destroyed and I received no reinforcements of my own.

 A thoroughly disappointing game

The line of Panthers and StuGs prepare to advance on my positions and a mere three turns later are victorious

 Elsewhere, Phil's Panzers came up against Chris' Tank Company, David and Richard fought to a close game and Bill racked up a narrow loss against Michael.

 Sadly, I didn't take many pictures of the last game of the day, partly through disappointment and partly through getting the results collated and preparing everything else for the next day.

 The scores for Round Three and standings at the end of Day One are as follows:

• Michael 4-3 Bill
• Phil 2-5 Chris
• William 1-6 Greg
• Laurence 6-1 Alistair
• David 3-4 Richard
• Keith 6-1 Mark

Standings

1. Keith Martin-Smith - 15
2. Greg Fyfe - 13
3. Richard Hardy - 13
4. Laurence Kettle - 13
5. David Cuthbert - 12
6. Mark Nisbet - 10
7. Alistair Grant - 9
8. Chris Walsh - 9
9. Michael Byrne - 7
10. William Burns - 6
11. Bill Sheil - 6
12. Phil Dalbeck - 4

*Tied scores are put into alphabetical order and are not reflective of relative standings

And so, the players parted. Most were lucky enough to go home to their own bed, while this intrepid writer booked in to a local hostel and collapsed to rise again the next day, refreshed and ready to battle.

Sun rises over Stirling to being a new day

  We lose a man

 Sadly, Phil had to drop out of the tournament with some matters, and thus on the Sunday, we were bit eleven, meaning that the Bye system was to be implemented. I have found that a fair way to score a bye is to award the player the best loss they could achieve. For some, they might grumble that they were guaranteed to win the next game, while others give a sigh of relief to have been awarded such.

 For the next round, the Bye came up for... Me. So, that gave me time to sit and take a few pictures.

Round Four - Fighting Withdrawal (Sunday 1000 - 1230)

 Fighting Withdrawal. My own personal thoughts on this mission is how hard it is on the attacker. With proper objective placement from the defender and cunning withdrawal tactics, it is a very difficult one for the attacker to win. So, naturally, I put up an offer: Anyone who was attacking and managed to win would get a drink on me. And so the draw was as follows:

• Keith - Laurence
• Greg - Richard
• David - Chris
• Alistair - Michael
• Bill - William

 I spent a bit of time at the Soviet on Soviet game; Greg against Richard, and I was glad I did. The game was highly entertaining right from the start and continued to be until the end. In Richard's first turn, he called down a three-flight of IL-2's, outside the range of the DShK's and right on top of a cluster of Greg's T-34's as pictured below.

The most tempting target you will ever be likely to see

 Of course, the dice Gods are fickle beings, and despite Richard getting a good amount of hits, the other Soviets must have welded titanium to the top of their tanks, as only one went up and two were bailed out. However, that was not the tone of the game, as eventually the SU-122's came rolling over and around the hills, decimating all in their path. A last ditch assault by the Sappers could have turned the tide of the game, but it was just not to be as Richard stormed to the win, and meant I owed him a drink!

The British Paras give the Americans a daunting line to assault

  One other game resulted in an attacker win; Keith narrowly overcoming Laurence by throwing Panthers at the flank objective to push him off, but not before taking a few platoons of casualties in the process. The rest were all quite close, but inevitability came out, with the tank charges halted in their tracks (No pun intended).
 And so, the results of Round Four:

• Keith 4-3 Laurence
• Greg 1-6 Richard
• David 5-2 Chris
• Alistair 6-1 Michael
• Bill 2-5 William

A break for lunch before the final game of the weekend

Round Five - Breakthrough: (Sunday 1330 - 1600)

  And so, with only myself knowing the actual standings and everyone else putting together the positions with their mathematical skills, the last game to come up was Breakthrough. I do like Breakthrough and have been on both sides of the game on numerous occasions. With many players taking the same tactic when defending; that of getting some infantry close to cover the objectives turn one and holding on for dear life. Once again, I was playing so it's mainly my game I will report on.
 Bill Sheil gets the Bye to have a well deserved rest. Apologies in advance for no images of Round Five, I was distracted.

• Keith - David
• Richard - Laurence
• Alistair - Chris
• Michael - William
• Greg - Mark

  I have a tiny problem with the way Pioneer Supply vehicles use their minefields or barbed wire emplacements, and this came up during set up for my own game. As defender, I set my infantry to move onto the objectives in turn one to establish a good defensive position. However, during Greg's set up, he had barbed wire to place from his Pioneer Supply Vehicle, and the very careful start position my infantry had, suddenly got blocked by a mass of barbed wire. It seems they sent a blind man to survey the field before hand. Complaints aside, this actually meant the game was a lot closer that it could have been.

 The T-34 horde came rolling down into position, supported by the SU-100s covering from a nearby hill. The sappers infiltrated and prepared to storm onto the objectives. Luckily for me, I had supporting HMGs and Mortars, and with the sappers sitting out in the open, they were soon subject to a devastating bombardment and barrage that took a good toll on their numbers. The elation was short lived though, as the T-34s rolled into the dug in teams and rolled over them, wiping out the HMGs and sending the mortars falling back with only two of their number remaining.

 I comfortably covered one objective, while the other was  free from contention, by a matter of an inch. My reserves rolled into position and fluffed completely as the Churchills couldn't put a dent into the weaker side armour of the SU's. The Archers on a hill decided they were fed up being anti-tank guns and turned themselves into mobile pillboxes, advancing on another platoon of sappers and opening up with their AA MGs. They were far more effective in this role than they had been in two of my prior games.

 With the sappers taking heavy fire, Greg had to get them moving or dig them in. He elected for the latter, and even with a Pioneer Supply Vehicle reroll, the sappers couldn't break the earth. The T-34s, Artillery and other sappers combined to wittle my other platoon of rifles down and out, leaving the objective to be taken by Greg. I had one turn to dig him out, as they only go live on Turn Six.

 And so it happened that I took the game. Greg had left a Maxim HMG back to offer supporting fire. Unfortunately, he was close enough that my Churchills could assault him, and assault they did, wiping him out, ending the combat and forcing a platoon morale check on his sappers on the objective. Even with Ivan Zabolotny and his 2+ motivation, the sappers fled, thus leaving nothing in my half of  the table in Turn Six and ending the game in my favour. A close one and definitely the most memorable of the weekend for me.

 And so, the Round Came to an end, and the results tallied and collated. So, without further ado, the results and final standings:

• Keith 2-5 David
• Richard 4-3 Laurence
• Alistair 3-4 Chris
• Michael 6-1 William
• Greg 3-4 Mark

Final Standings for the Scottish Nationals 2015

1. Richard Hardy - 23
2. David Cuthbert - 22
3. Keith Martin-Smith - 21
4. Laurence Kettle - 19
5. Alistair Grant - 18
=6. Greg Fyfe - 17
=6. Mark Alexander Nisbet - 17
8. Chris Walsh - 15
9. Michael J. Byrne - 14
10. William Burns - 12
11. Bill Sheil - 11
12. Phil Dalbeck - 10*

*Awarded 6 bonus points for sportsmanship

 Congratulations to Richard for winning, and to everyone else on their placements. As you can see, there was very little between positions all the way up the table. The final standings were very much determined by the last game, with any of the top four able to clinch top spot with a resounding win.

 Thank you all very much for reading, and thanks to Steve Fettes of Common Ground Games for hosting, lunch and being there earlier than usual to let us in.
 Thanks to the Battlefront Staff for the support given to the Tournament in the run up and finally thanks to everyone who took part and hopefully you'll all be back next time.

 I leave you with a few pictures from the day.

SU-85M's cover the objective from the advancing Americans

British Riflemen take cover in a wood, the nearby objective safely contested

Tigers from Kampfgruppe Hummel stalk through a wheat field