Early War Tournament at Common Ground Games (17th January)

A change of pace

 The Late War era is very popular up here in Scotland, with many clubs not even considering playing any other (G3 included). Which is why January's tournament was decided to be Early War; out of the comfort zone for most of us, and taking all the shiny toys away to be left with poor armour, pea-shooter guns and having to rely on tactics never considered before.

 Only four brave souls, six if you include myself, and my good lady who had come down for moral support and to see what we strange men do on our Saturdays away in Stirling, made the journey out after some call-offs, but fun was had none-the-less with Richard Hardy, a well known tournament player joining the fray for the first time.

 You'll have to excuse the writing in this post, the tournament was two weeks ago and I've forgotten most of what happened beyond the results.

The Forces!

Norm's Panzers. Note that the flags do not contain swastikas.

 There were three Allied players and one Axis this time around (Had I joined in, it would have been four Allies). 

We'll start with the Axis, and we have Norman again fielding a Mittlere Panzerkompanie. A mixture of early-model Panzer IIIs and IVs, supported by a decent sized platoon of Panzer IIs made this a force to be reckoned with on the day. 

Next up is Greg, fielding a Soviet Strelkovy Batalon from Barbarossa. A break from his usual T-34 horde, this list is similar to the ones Greg used to play a few years ago. With the addition of some unarmed sappers hiding in his ranks, you'd think Greg was expecting to come up against tanks. KV-1s in the list ave him some staying power too.

Alistair's T-35s take the field

Alistair also opts to field Soviets, this time with a Light Tankovy Batalon from Rising Sun. The addition of the monstrous T-35s to this list makes the 'Light' part of it seem a little off-balance, but with a small horde of T-26s to make up for it, the army looked a decent one.

Finally, Richard brought along some British Divisional Cavalry from Blitzkreig. His Light VI Bs looking quite amusing amongst the larger tanks of his opponents. As expected his painting was top notch and really made his force stand out.

Round One

•  Greg was drawn against Norm
•  Richard Faced off against Alistair

 Norman's Panzers proved a little too aggressive for Greg as he was over run for a score of 2-5. His Soviets unable to stop the advance of the Germans as they rolled into his lines. The KV-1s were largely ineffectual, as one spent half the game bailed out.

What looks like a strong defensive line is rolled up by Norman's Panzers

 On the other table Alistair managed to pull two points from Richard, mainly due to his T-35's and their ability to just not die in the face of fire. As expected, Richard took the game.

The Light VI B's hug a cornfield, their MGs not much use

Round Two

• It was a clash of the Soviets as Gregg faced Alistair
• Norman took on Richard in a 1940 classic

Such a tempting target for artillery. Shame the chances went calling.

 Greg managed to fit an entire Strelkovy Company into a vineyard with his sappers in an attempt to slow down Alistair's tanks, and it worked as four assaults from various models of tank were beaten back. Alistair's Conscripts proving not to be confident enough as Greg took the game 5-2. Alistair's SU-12's could have wreaked havoc on the cluster of infantry in the field too, but poor rolls to range in meant the horde were unmoved.

 

I firmly believe that Alistair would have taken the match had one of his T-35s not been bogged on the edge of the field when assaulting.

Slowed by the train tracks, Norman's Panzer IIIs trundle into position

Norman was left cursing his luck as he had to attack the Brits, due to Richard taking 18pdr artillery. And it soon showed as with 9 platoons, and Norm only managing to knock one off before having to quit the field, meant that the game went 6-1 to Richard. 

An ambush of 2-pdr guns in the first turn knocking out Norman's Company Commander was surely the cause of the poor result. 

Round Three and Results

• Greg was left to face off against Richard for the top spot
• Norman took on Alistair, still in with a chance to score highly

The 18pdrs put paid to Greg's KV-1 assault

Greg's brave KV-1's might have won him the game in the first few turns had he realised something; 18pdrs are equipped with turntables. In fairness, he should have checked his opponent's army list, but on the other hand, Richard's 18pdrs weren't modelled with turntables, so had I been playing, I would have made the same mistake. Regardless, Greg set up an assault into Richard's infantry and naturally he equalled the AT of the shot on the run in, leaving him two conscript attacks from his tanks. Richard counter-attacked and drove him back, capturing one of his tanks. 

Gregg was unable to press the objectives much, but did manage to knock out three of Richard's platoons. Of course, using the 9-platoon rule, this meant the game ended 5-2.

Norman's Recce bravely hides in the farm

On the other table, Norman made short work of Alistair's tanks, only being slightly irked by his T35's and their ability to survive a beating. Being veteran, Norman took advantage of cover plenty to make it almost impossible for the Soviets to return fire. And soon enough the continued pounding of 5cm guns drove the Red Army back to their starting positions.

Alistair did come close to knocking out a platoon, as Norman forgot to move them, but the remaining tank held firm for the win. 

Despite a score of 6-1, the result on the other table had already decided the winner,

 And with that the results were in:

1. Richard's Divisional Cavalry - 16pts
2. Norman's Mittlere Panzerkompanie - 12pts
3. Greg's Strelkovy Batalon - 9pts
4. Alistair's Tankovy Batalon - 5pts

 Richard's reputation held true, as he went unbeaten with scores no worse than 5-2. Norman edged into second with his large win in the last game.

 So, that was our first foray into Early War, and feedback from the guys was positive, so we may return to this era sometime later in the year. By which point, I'm hoping the attendance picks up again and we get a decent amount of guys on the tables throwing peas at paper tanks!

 As always I leave you with some of the pictures from the day.

A Light Mk VI B covers an 18pdr from a potential flanking move

Panzer IIIs move out, watching their backs at Soviets are about

The Stuka bails the KV, which spent half the game trying to get working again

The pale light of winter shines down on the T-26 horde as they advance onto the table

Mechanised Aces Turn Two, Week Five

Turn Two a Disappointment, But Allied General Gets Kudos

General Byrne's Shermans advance through the bocage

 Sadly Turn Two was not as well attended as Turn One, with call-offs, no-shows and interruptions hampering play. Plaudits must be paid to Messrs Cameron and Hamilton of the Axis side for their continued attendance to keep up appearances, and also to General Byrne of the Allies for making a good effort for attending, despite an interruption last week he knuckled down and faced off twice last night.

Earlier Weeks have been poorly attended, with myself missing last week, and the game that was played between Oberst Cameron and General Anderson. The post-action report indicates that the game was closely fought, with the result going right to the wire, and ending with a win for the Axis.

Byrne's GI's Left Sore From Puma Scratches

Iain's Ace sacrifices himself to prevent Michael seizing the objective early on

 A mass-advance from Michael's GI's with supporting Shermans was cut off by some nasty ambushing from Iain's StuG's and Pumas. The nippy Panzerspah platoons able to encircle and pick off the Shermans leading to a win for the Axis.

 In this game too, Iain utilized Bogward demolition vehicles, to decent effect, knocking out quite a few teams from the manor house. The house was a perfect fire-base, given the American-placed objective was within 4'' of it.

The Bogwards almost level the Manor House

Ambushing StuGs picked off a few Shermans, with some half-tracked AA guns brought in to pile the pressure on the hapless GIs in the Manor.

The game was soon over as the only team remaining on the table was Michael's Ace. A decent enough tactic, but with the speed and firepower of the Pumas a little too much to take, plans will have to be made in Turn Three to deal with them.

Nisbet's Hungarian's Repel Massed American Assault

My Pioneers take up position in the church, the objective just behind the steeple to the right

 Michael then continued gaming, taking on my own Hungarian force. The mission didn't change much, with only one ambush instead of two. I had positioned my pioneers in the ruined church on the hill after Michael had placed his objective within 4'' of it. I imagine his intention was to rush to the church and dig-in to make it tough to get him out.

 His Shermans were taught a lesson in ambushing as two PaK40's almost took out an entire platoon from ambush, and in the following turn drove off his other.

Michael's GI's set up the charge

 Michael's GI's almost made a name for themselves when, massing firepower from his half-tracks and ground troops he managed to pin my pioneers (despite needing 6's to hit), the ensuing assault was brutal with my platoon diminished to a team and command. Thankfully they had my Ace to whip them back into the fight, only killing two teams in return, but that was enough to make the Americans fall back. A turn later they tried again, but this time they were pinned by defensive fire; impressive given that I only had 5 dice for it.

With a trio of Zrinyi's rolling up from reserve, and one making it's Schurzen save from a bazooka things were looking grim, and were finished up by a well-placed PaK40 shot coring the American Ace's Half-track, failed passenger save and subsequent Warrior role leaving him out of action. With no Company Commander holding them together, the Americans retreated, wondering what language those weird Germans in the church were speaking.

That speck of green in the distance is a Sherman... was a Sherman