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After Action Reports

Building the US Army
Red Guard Tiger Killers
Da Stabba in a da Backa
Saving Pvt Byron Jr
Tumble in Tunisia
Stalingrad: In All Its Glory
Phil's Fight-Clown Cars and Crusiers, Third Time's a Charm
Sicily 1943: Race for the Crossing
American Hold the Line
Shermans and Stuarts, Stugs and Pumas
Race On the Steppes
Parting Shot Depl.







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Flames of War: Building the US Army
By James Sulzen

- In hahgs@yahoogroups.com, "Peter" wrote: "I've been going over a [Flames of War] American Rifle Company list in anticipation of the upcoming Flames of War tournament at the Time Machine, and I have question concerning the use of Sherman tanks [and US Army buys]..."

In my experience you have to be really careful in buying US stuff - there are lots of bad buys that basically just don't work against the Germans in particular which is where 90% of my playing experience with US troops has occurred). On the other hand, I just finished a game with US troops against Russians and the US forces do not look at all bad against Commies, so match-ups do matter. The comments below are based on my experience playing against Germans and other Veteran forces. - Don't bother with US Rifle Teams unless you buy the Late War Italian Veterans - the Trained troops just tend to die before any enemy Veterans they run up against (and trust me, unless you wind up fighting Russians, it seems like you'll pretty much always be up against Vets, particularly in historical match-ups). Basically, Trained troops get hit two-to-three times as often as Vets as, for one thing, because you get so many teams for the prices, you almost always have more teams than you have hide, so effectively they tend to always be out in the open. My experience and $0.02 worth, anyway.

If you have the option, stay away from Midwar US Army lists and Midwar Battles - the US troops are just too vulnerable, IMHO, to be competitive. Truth to tell - if you have the option at this point and are just starting out - buy German - I think they are much better buys point-for-point and much more forgiving. US paratroops are perhaps an exception, but they are fearsomely expensive, and I haven't had enough experience with them and can't really speak to their cost-benefit.

US artillery isn't worth the price against Veteran troops - too many times it does not effectively arrive when trying to locate things in cover (which is where most of the interesting targets tend to be). Buy mortars instead, particularly Chemical Mortars.

The US Sherman 76's are a great buy, but unfortunately, can't be bought with the Italian Vet option (sigh). Veteran Sherman 76's would have been soooo cool. :( Anyway, always go Late War if given the option so you can buy the 76ers. As for 75 vs 76 models - I only have the short barreled 75 models and nobody has ever said boo as far as me proxying them as 76's. I don't think anybody even thought to notice, and they wouldn't have cared anyway.

Stuarts are generally a pretty good buy and can be quite effective if they can find some place on the board where the enemy is weak in tanks and AT guns.

Something I've just come to appreciate is the US .50cal MG mounted on many US vehicles has twice the firepower rating of most MG's. This means they are twice as effective shooting up dug in infantry and other things in bullet-proof cover. Unfortunately, one has to keep track of which vehicles and which MG's are firing, and I tend to forget and all too often wind up treating all my MG's as FirePower 6+. Sigh.

I usually buy M10's simply because their AT 12 is respectable against most anything on the table. Also, their ability to essentially teleport into the middle of a battle makes the other side wary enough to respect them. They also have other funny abilities in the US special-purpose rules, which makes them an interesting buy.

I find a pure armor force - Sherman + Stuarts + M10's - is not bad. I've been experimenting with Mech Infantry of late, but the jury is still out on them. I've a sneaking suspicion that Mech Inf bought as Italian Vets might be one heck of a competitive force, but haven't had a chance to see.

I've had fun with running a one-platoon US Ranger company of late (Fearless Trained, can Truscott Trot through any terrain, and with an integral Coy Commander so there's automatic rerolls). The trade-off is that if the Ranger Coy does break despite the double Fearless motivation reroll, you automatically lose the battle for having a company break. Oh, well...

Buy every bazooka you can possibly afford.

US Heavy Machine Gun platoons are a great buy when bought as two HMG teams - they are very flexible if you keep them as a separate platoon - i.e., don't cross attach the HMG teams to combat platoons. The trade-off is that they are a small platoon and so easily destroyed, so try to keep them back where they can't be easily hit and dig them in as soon as possible so artillery can't snipe at them.

James




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Red Guard Tiger Killers

Thanks to Russell Alyn, we have pictures of our Flames of War battle from monday night.

He took my write up of the battle and intermixed it with 10 great shots he took...

It was a classic heavy tank battle....German infantry stretched out holding a thin line, waiting for reinforcements (tigers, panthers, mark IIIs and IVs) vs heavy russian tank assault....I had thought the Russians had 10 percent more than the Germans in this fight, but as I did the math on the fly at Ed's, I actually gave the Germans more points (4800 Rus vs 4955 Germans!) by mistake...

Great fight, and go to the web site to see the great photos and read the story....
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/221321.page





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Da Stabba in a da Backa
June 1940 – The Italian Invasion of France
Or how Mounted Cavalry and Barbed Wire shouldn’t mix….

In June 1940 Mussolini declared war on France. His armies leapt across the frontier and then promptly dug in. The French, with great élan, counterattacked.... http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/222882.page









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Saving Pvt Byron Jr
At the CGC

This was the biggest Flames of War game I have ever staged. Nearly 13,000 points on the table!

The scenario was basically the Saving Pvt Ryan movie but on a full scale. In the town, like Ramellle in the movie, was a full airborne company (1600+ points), with its pak howitzer field arty. All but two buildings were north of the river, and Garret (Byron Bond’s son and the ‘pvt Byron jr’ of the title was deployed there. He placed his men well in one and two-story ruins, and in a graveyard behind a stone wall, and in some shell holes. On his first turn he dug in the guns.

Coming to kill Garret was 3,000 points of SS Panzer Grenadiers. They had a pair of Stugs, two MK III and a MK IV, three heavy armored cars and 16 halftracks – 3 with mortarts, three with 37mm at guns, and the rest mounted with machineguns and packed with two full platoons of SS and another of SS Panzer pioneers – complete with flamethrowers. Two motorcycle platoons, one with panzer grenadiers and the other with heavy machine guns filled out this tough assault force, shared by Tom Cusa and John Covello.

Their mission was simple: break the airborne and seize the bridge in town before the Americans were relieved.

That relief was in the form of a massive multi-company force of Americans. Ed Regendahl had 2,500 points in two companies – armored rifle and regular rifle. He had 105s, priests, shermans and stuarts in support. He was the left wing of the relief column. On the right was James Sulzen and Sean Parks….theyhad James’ collection of 2,500 points of an armor company, a ranger company, plus a platoon of Sherman;s (575 points) Garret had painted and we added to the relief. James also had 105s and big mortars. All allied arty was allowed to be set up off board, 12” back from the table, deployed and ready to fire.

The Americans also had 7 dice in air support (nearly 200 points) and the foreknowledge of complete air superiority, so no need to waste points on AA.

To stop this 5,500 points plus Detroit juggernaut was a 1500 point infantry kampfgruppe under John Demeter and John Psagglias. They had a five foot front to cover. There were hedgerows on Psagglias’ side vs Ed and a wood with a road running through the middle on John D’s side vs James and Sean. Behind the German front was a wooded ridge line running the width of the table…with only one gap, for the road that led straight to the bridge.

The Germans had nine small platoons deployed – infantry, mortars, light AA, a section of infantry guns and four in ambush –including three light and two heavy AT guns, a pair of stugs and a single 88. On call on a die roll was a small german panzer platoon with 5 MK IIs, 2 MK IIIs, a MK IV, two AA halftracks…oh, and a TIGER.

That put 2600 points of Germans (total) south of the ridge to face 5500 points of allies. The Tiger and single 88 accounted for 550 of those points (as the tiger was the company co)…literally 20% of the delaying force and 10% of the entire german army on the table.

The Americans, of course, did not know about the panzer company, and were not sure what would be in ambush.

The relief force came on in waves – and on the first german go the Nazis popped their ambush all along the front, at long range. The 37mm guns popped three of Ed’s priests while the heavy AT and 88 and the Stugs nailed the American recon….the Allies pushed forward, pedal to the metal, and roared up to engage the Germans. Ed burst through the hedgerows, risking serious bog checks, with his stuarts, supported by infantry – and despite taking heavy losses it payed off. John Psagglia was on the retreat very early on, but used his mortars to inflict heavy losses on Ed’s infantry in the back. John P. fell back into a circular wood between his original line and the ridge, and dared Ed to come in after him.

Ed did, and that cost him the rest of his Stuarts and more infantry, but he eventually pushed John P back to the ridge.

On the other Allied flank, James and Sean had just about reached the wooded lane when John Demeter rolled to bring on the panzers. He had one die on turn 3, needing a 5 or 6 and he got it. In they rolled.

For the next four turns a vicious short range tread to tread tank duel ensued. Shermans, stuarts and wolverines vs Mark IIIs, a Mk IV, a pair of Stugs, a Tiger and an 88….Demeter got his MK IIs behind the Shermans, and then made a run for the allied rear…raising havoc.

As the wolverines burned, Sean made a race for the gap in the ridge, broke through, was within a move of the bridge and linking up with Garret…but turned around instead to hit Psagglia’s boys on the ridge.

That combination of Sean in his back and Ed in his front broke Psagglia…and with it the rest of the German infantry kampfgruppe, forcing its 88, infantry guns and remaining infantry to flee.

That left just the Panzer company between the Americans and Garret…

Let us pause there and catch up to Pvt Byron Jr, the key player and whole reason for the battle.

Garret was suffering under tremendous concentrated hammer blows from the SS. Yet he gave ground very, very stubbornly, and made the Nazis pay for every inch.

He drew first blood, wiping out the german heavy machine gun company before three of its four teams could even get off a shot. His guns knocked out some halftracks and although Ed and James assigned him all the aircraft…the US army air corps was worthless today. First time it came in most of the planes were shot down. Second time it survived the AA but failed to spot the Germans. Third time the same thing. Fourth time it failed to show up. Fifth time it arrived, survived AA, spotted…then missed. Sixth time it failed to show up, seventh and last time it came in, again, it missed.

The only consolation is that the Germans had spent a lot on AA – AA trucks with the SS, AA halftracks with the Panzers and four AA guns with the infantry….not including the 88.

Surviving the air raids encouraged Tom Cusa and John Covello greatly, and they concentrated more than two-thirds of their forces on the graveyard, with the other third standing off at long range to keep the rest of garret’s company honest.

The battle for the graveyard was fierce. A lot of fire rained down. Americans pinned. Germans assault. Americans strike back. Germans push, Americans break, rally, turn around, stand their ground and pour a hail of their own fire, supported by the airborne arty firing point blank over the tubes into the nazi armor…and they brewed up halftracks while the airborne infantry, now under cover of LMG teams in the second story windows, mowed down panzer grenadiers.

But Cusa and Covello roared forward, fighting hand to hand and tread to tube over the battery….finally wiping out both it and the platoon defending the guns.

Did Garret falter? Nope. He hunkered down and even threw his bazooka teams out to take shots at nazi armor and halftracks.

Cusa and Covello renewed the assault, linked up with the rest of their company, and took the ruins in front of the two-story building.

There they were again pinned down. So they tried to go up the middle of the town, towards the bridge, into a row of shellholes.

They assaulted. Garret threw them back.

Having gained some time, Garret fell back into the houses. The Germans came forward again. The two story house went down in hand to hand fighting.

Garret consolidated, passed a company morale check. Took more losses, now down to a single rifle platoon plus the headquarters, he took another check, and failed…but his hero figure (aka a unique Pvt Ryan figure James had painted for him and given to him as a gift just before the battle started) gave him a reroll…and he held.

Now, back to the relief effort.

It was Ed’s remnants vs Demeter’s panzers. The tiger blocked the road. Garret did that one thing that all American officers can do … call for and spot for any arty battery in the game.

He spotted the Tiger for ed’s 105s…they hit the Tiger, and the crew bailed. As there were no other tanks left in the HQ platoon (the second in command’s Mk III was burning) that meant a morale check for the Tiger…and the crew ran!Ed took out the last of the Mark IIs, and with the AA halftracks gone, that left a single panzer platoon between him and Pvt Ryan.

The panzer company, however, passed morale --- even though it was reduced to a single platoon.

So Ed came forward. Tom Cusa and John Covello turned their heavy armor away from the fight with Garret to line the river to engage in a tank to tank duel with Ed’s Shermans…who were also taking fire from Demeter’s lone panzer platoon….

…and there, on the banks of the Merderat River, the Shermans died…and with them, all hope of Saving Pvt Byron Jr.

And incredibly incredibly close 10 turn game. Started at 2pm, last die was thrown just before 730…

Germans eeked out a victory. Germans lost a full infantry company (1500) all but one platoon of a panzer company (750 out of 1100 points). The SS lost an HMG platoon, a number of halftracks, a lot of grenadiers, two tanks and an armored car (about 500 points)…..total of about 2750 of their 5600.

James/Seans’ 3000 point force was gone, Ed had lost all of his armor and four of his six priests plus infantry (about 1000 of his 2500), and Garret was reduced to a platoon plus HQ (having lost about 1200 points)….allied losses over 5000 of their 7300…..

Pvt Byron Jr held on as long as he could…and then some. And he could see the relief column, a little more than a move away from the bridge…..and then the Nazi ring of steel closed in for the final act…

A grand and glorious game.



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Tumble in Tunisia..

1943. Tunisia – and with Ed’s amazing terrain mix of ruins, dunes, orchards, walled fields, palm trees and even an oasis it sure did look like Tunisia.

We did a meeting engagement, 4400 points a side. The British brought in a third of their platoons over each of three turns; the Germans brought in theirsin quarters over four turns.

This resulted in a pair of swirling tank fights as both sides fought to win the flanks. The British, with a massive artillery force, dominated the center, so the Germans stayed away from that wide open killing ground…..the British, however, made a push there as well.

Germans had the panzer aufklarung kompanie (3000 points mix of panzer grenadiers—some in halftracks, some in trucks, some on motorcycles--plus 88s,105s, 50mmAT, light mobile AA and a collection of stugs, mk iii and mk iv panzers and heavy armored cars). They came on in turns 1-3. Turn four brought in a 1400 point pure panzer companie of mk iii, mk iv, stugs, light mobile AA and a trio of Grille self-propelled guns.

Russell took the German left with most of the armor of the aufklarung, I took the right and center with the rest, and brought the panzer kompanie in on the far right. (I had been saving the panzers for some guys who were supposed to show up, but they did not make it)

Ed has his big British motor rifle company, complete with shermans, crusaders and grants, plus a massive 8-gun priest battery and a four-gun 25lber batty, plus a small foot rifle company and a separate company of 9 Grants.

Both sides had airpower.

German 88s got the first kills of the game – a pair of Dan Spera’s grants. That was, however, their last kill – the big british battery pounded them out of existence, with Hurricanes finishing off the pour lone survivor .. an officer left numb and stumbling from the shelling. German 105s tried to duel with the priests, and over four turns each side lost three tubes….with the center dominated by british guns, Ed advanced his infantry…only to lose one platoon to german mortars. Undaunted, ed raced his bren gun carriers forward, survived a barrage from the mortars and machinegunned the mortar crews at their tubes. Those same bren carriers got behind the german army and knocked out the last of the 105s….but not before the german arty got off one last critical killing shot….

As Russell and Dan fought a back and forth tank battle on the German left, and Ed pushed foot and carriers in the center under a barrage, Phil tried to knock out the German right. This was to have been the big Nazi push, with two of our three panzer gren platoons, the armored cars of the aufklarung and the panzer kompanie…..but there were just too damn many grants, backed up by a trio of shermans, and phil handled them very very well. Ed’s shifting his barrages every now and then to that flank did not help the German move either.

The critical point in the British attack, however, came when a trio of shermans topped a rise to knocked out the german armored cars….only to themselves fall to a combination barrage by the Grille SP guns and over the barrel killing shots by the last of the Kraut 105s.

By this time, about 930 in a game that had begun at 6, there were damn few tanks left on the field. I had ONE mark iii to face four of phil’s grants; dan’s last tank went down to russel, who had a iii, a iv and a pair of stugs….which he sent on a death or glory charge to attack and assault the 25-pounder battery!

It was a daring and desperate move that almost worked…but when one stug brewed up and the other retreated, that put an end to the erman attack on that flank…and when my last panzer exploded and the bren guns slaughtered the last crewmen of the 105s, it was game over.

Both sides had lost a company, but the Germans had lost 5 of the 13 platoons of the aufklarung. British losses were high, but not that high…and they still had two full batteries untouched, along with four tanks and some infantry…all we had were our infantry and russell’s three afvs….and our center was gone and on our right we had nothing that could kill a british tank.

A British triumph….



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Stalingrad: In All Its Glory

Played at the CGC Stratford
Roland Fricke is a true artist. When he offered me the use of his Stalingrad for a Flames of War Game at the Ct game club I had no idea it would be so..so Stalingrad! Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous scratch-built buildings in perfect 15mm scale, and with base plates to represent whole city blocks! Ruined apartment buildings, water towers, hovels, factories, rail depots, even a city center with statues and a graveyard - stunning, truly stunning.

Add to that a railroad embankment broken up by shell holes, a wrecked train, an armored train and a Soviet assault force that stretched literally almost shoulder to shoulder for 16 feet. And, well, with that kind of terrain to start, the game could not help but have a good feel to it. The game we played looked and felt and played out like Stalingrad.

John Demeter took overall command of the Soviet assault, and with John Covello and Tom Cusa shared the forces of the massive Strelkovy Battalion - three conscript infantry companies of riflemen, supported by two Tankovy Companies, each with 6 T34s packed with tank riders, all supported by a pair of machinegun companies, a 9-tube mortar and 8-gun artillery battery, and an assortment of AA --- all of it preceded by Zaitsev and his three snipers who, along with a small crack scout platoon were set up in the ruins of no-man's land. This huge force of over 3,300 points fielded some 100-plus bases and models.

To John's right were two companies of Dismounted Cossacks - the commander of one of which came dressed for the part, complete with Red Army fur cap. Each of these companies were composed of over 900 points of fearless trained rifle/machinegun infantry, with regimental guns, anti-tank rifles and a pair of horse artillery anti-tank guns attached. (The Cossacks had to walk and hand-push their guns, as the Reds left all their horses and non-combat vehicles on the other side of the Volga, so they could pack as much as possible in the narrow beach between the river and the low bluffs).

And of course, there were Sturmoviks..

To face this force of some 5300+ points and 200+ bases and models, James Sulzen had two understrength German infantry companies - 2,340 points in total. Roughly 80 models and bases to try and hold a line 16 feet long and some four feet deep in ruined buildings. Under James' expert direction, Carl Olsen and a new guy, Dave from Scotland, took the company on the left. Mad Mike and John Psaglia took the company on the right. Carl/Dave Company had the 105mm btty, four platoons of infantry, another of machineguns and a pair of Stugs. Mike/John had three infantry platoons, another of machineguns, a mortar platoon, a section of 75mm infantry howitzers, a pair of Stugs and two sections of AT guns (one of 50mm, the other of 37mm). Each company had a pair of 20mm AA guns.

The Luftwaffe was fogged in at start..

The Germans were allowed to keep one-quarter of their platoons in ambush, which of course meant even fewer men to hold the line.

The Russians stood up as one, screaming their battle cry "Moose and Squirrel" (yes, they did) and charged.

The first serious action was at house in the front center of the German line, where John and Carl got into a fierce hand-to-hand back and forth fight, at the end of which a single German officer stand held the building. Just to the north of that (the German's left), Dave held on desperately to what became known as "Pavlov's house." Despite being targeted by the Scouts, the Cossack regimental and AT guns, the Strelkovy battery and a full company of Cossack (Fur Hat guy's) infantry, coming in wave after wave, Dave held on to that house by his fingernails. Numbers and a long front, however, finally paid off for the Russians, as the other Cossack company swept - at the double - the German left. As he turned the flank on Dave, however, Cossack Mike ran into the pair of hidden Stugs. For nearly an hour he battled those Stugs, trying to work his AT rifles around their flank, rolling up his AT guns by hand...he finally got one, but the other was still holding him back as the action drew to a close on the German left.

On the German right, Tom and John spearheaded their attack with the T34s. They blew up the gun car of the armored train, then Tom took it in hand to hand fighting (he signaled his victory by putting the Russian company's standard bearer atop the engine to wave the red flag).

John Psagglia held on valiantly against this armored onslaught, using his small arms and machineguns against the infantry and calling down mortars and 75mm's on top of the T34s - which did little damage to the tanks but knocked hell out of the tank riders.

Still, on they came, with the tank riders dismounting and assaulting into John's ruins, while Tom Cusa swept the German far right, cleaning out the infantry holding a series of stone enclosures. Mad mike was eventually forced back from his front line to his secondary line, but did so firing madly all the way.

Then came the true crux of the battle. The T34s broke through, one group sweeping into the more open ground on the German right, the other breaking into the labyrinth of streets in the middle of that German company's position. With their supporting infantry badly bloodied and a good move or more behind them,. The T34s were all alone.

And the Germans sprang the trap.

Up from ambush came the other pair of Stugs and the AT guns. At close range, a massive hurricane of fire slammed into the T34s. Three burned, another bailed..but the rest stood their ground. John Covello's response was the absolute slaughter of the AT guns. Tom Cusa forced John P. to pull his Stugs back, and the Red infantry kept on coming.

And at that point, John P and Mad Mike's company broke.

This was turn nine. Four hours into the game. The German reinforcement, a very weak panzer company, had finally rolled the dice to arrive and was going to come in on turn 10, but the Germans knew it was over..the Russians graciously offered them a draw, meaning the surviving germans could get out..and the Germans took it.

One hell of a fight!

Some notes on the game.
The Russian advantage of better than 2:1 in points and even more than that in numbers was offset by the terrain - a city of bulletproof cover - and the possibility of reinforcements for the Nazis. The Germans were told that they had Stukas . but they were fogged in. They first had to roll enough 5s and 6s to clear the fog. Which they did around turn four. The Stukas bounced the Red Air force once, and vice versa, and did make three strikes - one of which failed to find its target, one of which lost two of three planes to Russian AA, but the Russian mortars and artillery, packed behind the bluffs, took significant losses from the Luftwaffe.

The Germans had a small panzer company in reserve - 2 MK IVs in a headquarters platoon, two platoons of 3 MK IIIs each, and one platoon of armored panzer grenadiers. Starting with turn four they could roll dice (one on turn 4, two on turn 5 etc). In normal FOW you get a platoon from the reserve for each 5 and 6 your roll. I added the restriction that the Germans were trying to ASSEMBLE the panzer company, and that it would not arrive on the table until the turn after he had accumulated total of four 5s/6s.that happened on turn 9..

(I chose this mechanism to give the Germans hope, the Russians pause and to give myself a way to balance the game just in case the Russian advantage proved too overwhelming).

The Germans held on magnificently, fighting tooth and nail all across the front. They played smart, and timed their ambushes well..had the dice been kind - or even impartial - when Mike and John popped up their AT guns, the Russian offensive there would have come to an abrupt halt. The Strelkovy Btn was pretty well shot to pieces - although those conscripts still had a lot of fight left in them. Fur Hat Guy's Cossack company was also badly damaged, yet the flanking company was in excellent shape - but so was the German company on the left..

It would have been interesting to do another turn or so, to see what happened when the panzer company rolled in, but at best it probably would have resulted in a deadlock..and a lot of burning tanks to further add to the battered landscape of Roland's eerily beautiful wasteland...

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Phil's Fight
-Clown Cars and Crusiers, Third Time's a Charm
Windsor Game Club

If anyone thinks I can pull miracles out of my .hat .with the Italians, they should ve been at the Windsor Game Club last night, to see how the Italians can perform for one of their own countrymen. Phil Spera took a handful of Italian tanks last night, lagered them up in a Wadi, and, despite being completely surrounded by British tanks and armored cars, some of which broke into his position and drove through his lines and out again, not only held on until La Cavalleria arrived, but broke a British Armored Squadron and saved the day for Mussolini's finest.

This was the Windsor Game Club s introduction to Flames of War. James Sulzen, a veteran FOW player, led Jeff and Alan as British, vs Mark Kalina and Phil as the Italians. (Phil has played the game a few times). We did the western desert convoy battle again (heh, it is an easy to set up, fast playing feeding game, where things dribble in, great to teach the rules). This time it was an Italian convoy coming on.

The game opened with a roar not unlike that from last week. Just as Ed in the Pittsburgh club jumped his Sahariana jeeps out from cover to the top of a hill to splatter incoming British recon jeeps, so did Phil. Phil blew up all four recon jeeps some 40 dices roaring down on the jeeps, which james had moved at the double. Despite destroying their ride, Phil did not kill a single Brit. All four teams of British commandoes successfully leapt from their jeeps to live no small feat that. This, of course, left the Arditi sitting exposed on a hill top, and the commandoes, backed by an armored car platoon and Popski s Army s jeeps, wiped out the Sahariana squadron toasting all five vehicles from which only one team survived .(it managed to claw its way to the road, but then failed the last man standing test and left the field)

Things got even better for the Brits. They could not seem to miss a reinforcement roll. The Italians could not seem to get one. By turn 8, all but one of the British units were on the table; the Italians had three. On the Italian turn 8, with 8 die rolls, Mark got ONE reinforcement.

Things looked hopeless for the Italians. The British were fully formed, roaring on, using their tally-ho ability to fire at full rate of fire while on the move. Alan with two platoons of Crusaders was slowly knocking down Mark s L6 clown cars, and had a good force of light stuff behind them, ready to make a dash for the road. Things got so bad for a while that Mark sent his scout cars back off board, up the road, to hold up the convoy. (by doing so, I told him he could not bring them back on until the convoy decided to roll again).

At the far end of the road, Phil was in horrible trouble. He was reduced to a couple of Bersaglieri, who had dismounted from their motorcycles to try and regain the road cut in the wadi from the British commandoes. A trio of Autoblindos managed to attack, push out and break the commandoes, only to find itself surrounded by British light units, with heavier stuff coming up. A platoon of 14/41 tanks came to their aid, only to find themselves surrounded.

James and Jeff could not miss. They scored hit after hit after hit on the Italian armored cars and light tanks .but they could not close the deal. They kept rolling 1s,2s and 3s on their firepower tests repeatedly bailing but not brewing up the Italians. The Italians, confidant veterans, kept rolling 4,5 and 6 to remount.

Then the Italian reserves finally started to roll in. Phil got his Semovente 47s on right next to the embattled light tanks. These engaged with Jeff s cruisers in an inconclusive duel. Jeff took his two Honey stuarts around the flank of the Semoventes, brewed up the command tank and dismounted another ..and then God, who finally decided that he was Italian, intervened.

Mark rolled for reinforcements. The rest of the Italians came on. The second light tank platoon from Phil s company arrived and it arrived in the one place Jeff did not want dead on the rear of the Stuarts (the reinforcements appeared at random on the owning player s side of the table .Mark rolled a 12 for Light tanks right in the back of the Stuarts.

That platoon coming in was led by the company commander, who not only led his tanks to destroy the Stuarts, but also assigned a new commander to the Semoventes, thus allowing them to move forward, if they wished.

They did not have to. The next turn ended it for the British.

Mark Kalina finally advanced in mass to escort the convoy. His 11/39 tanks, with their 37mm guns, and his L6s with 20mm finally swept the three crusaders off the hill, thus making sure the road was now out of gun range of the British. Then they drove forward through the sand the road being blocked in the wadi by a burning L6.

Alan still had his other Crusaders, and was ready to engage Mark .but Phil s counterattack out of the wadi brewed up the rest of the armored squadron. Jeff had 1 vehicle left, and Alan s crusaders were all else that remained of the light armored squadron and when it failed the morale check, the crusaders left with them.

That left the British recon company, which still had most of its armored cars alive, to face the entire might of the Italian army the British wisely decided to withdraw.

Of the 20 trucks in the Italian convoy, 4 got off the board, 9 were on the table, under heavy escort, and the rest were ready to come on .and not a single truck had even been fired upon.

The Italians lost only two units the Bersaglieri motorcyclisti and the Arditi Sahariana. They lost a fair number of vehicles, but despite being heavily and at times even massively outnumbered for most of the game, they made a great comeback. The game was another showing the true-see-saw tradition of desert and armored warfare .although if the British could have rolled something higher than a 3 in all of those dozens of firepower tests, it would have been an entirely different battle.

Then again, they had to face Phil, lagered up and hull down, leading his fellow Italians ..Avanti Savoia!"



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Sicily 1943
Race for the Crossings
At the CGC

A strong American company (2,800 points) is racing out of the Sicily beachheads to secure some key roads into the center of the island. A free air strike will preceed them, helping to clear the way for a parachute drop by a platoon from the 82nd. Half of the American land units were right behind, entering the board on the turn after the air-drop, the other half were off the board, entry on a reinforcement die roll. The Americans had to say which of the six roads each of the reserve platoons were to enter the board from.

On the board was a weak company (440 points) of Italian Fucilleri. They were set up in four small strong points covering the rail bridge, two passes through a ridge and a major stone bridge over a river. Each strongpoint had 2 rifle teams, an officer, a 47mm at gun and a machine gun. The company commander and the 81mm mortars were dug in at the central crossroads, behind the ridge, with the observer in a ruin on the ridge.

Two Italian companies were on call in reserve. A fucilleri company (1,035 pointswith a batty of 105s, a btty of regimental guns, two small infantry platoons, a pair of trucks with 20mm AA and a platoon of semovente 90 mobile AT guns) and an armor company (1,235 points with a total of 7 m14/41 tanks, 3 L6 tankettes, 3 armored cars, four semovente 75 assault guns and a pair of the lancias think german 88s on a truck)

The Italians had six roads to come in on. Three for each company. They got to roll double dice for reinforcements, but then had to roll which company, which unit in the company and which road each would come in on.

Both sides had five dice of air power.

The American free air strike (not part of its five dice) missed. The airdrop aimed at one of the two central Italian positions. The Dakotas flew over (yeah, we had the models) and scattered 10 teams over a three-four long, foot wide swath. Only one of the 10 teams died in the drop. A third of the teams landed right near the Italians, another third not far behind and the last third well in away from the Italians. Unfortunately, all of their weapons canisters landed on the OTHER side of the Italians. Still, the air drop went pretty well at first, taking the ruin where the mortar observer had holed up. The paratroopers held on to that ruin for at least half of the battle but, alas, the amercian ground forces just could not reach them in time not that they did not try!

American luck, well, sucked. Everything that could go wrong on a die roll did. American planes failed to arrive to block Italian air strikes. American reinforcements showed up at a painfully slow rate. American artillery kept failing to find its targets!!!! (when you have three rolls per battery, and two batteries, and you usually need a 4-5-6 or in some cases a 3-4-5-6 on ANY of them.well, sigh)

The Americans came on in small groups. Tom Cusa with the Stuarts and one platoon got hung up in front of the Italian platoon that was dug in by the railroad. Tom eventually wiped that platoon out (part of John Passaglia;s command), but by then the Italian armor showed up to engage him he knocked out two of the three autoblindos that bravely charged forward hoping to stop the American advance, but then the L6;s (who were a distraction for comic relief) and finally the real tanks (the 14/41s) showed up. Sheer volume of firepower finally resulting in all of Tom;s Stuarts being bailed, and his infantry platoon was shredded.

In the center, James Sulzen tried to assault the ridge and link up with the paratroopers. It was like Gettysburg. He brought down smoke on the Italians to cover his charge but when he charged through the smoke John Passaglia;s boys were there waiting for him. First charge never even got into hand to hand. James regrouped, poured more fire down on the Italians, pinned them, charged and got into the trenchesbut John Passaglia;s fucilleri refused to break, countercharged, and drove the Americans back out!

On the other flank, one platoon of sherman;s got bogged down in a wood and never unbogged. The other made it to the river, was bringing fire on another of Passaglia;s covering force, helping a rifle platoon move up but then John Demeter brought up his 100mm guns and in their first and only barrage, knocked down the rifle platoon. (That battery had driven at double-time up a road, had been targeted by American air which MISSED!!!! usually trucks towing guns on a road moving at the double are the absolute dream target for the attack planes but when you can;t roll higher than a two on a die, even they get away). Then his Semovenete 75s not even the GOOD semoventes brewed up all three shermans on the river.

At that point the Americans threw in the towel.

The Americans had abysmall, horrible, and unusually awful luck. We all agred that James should melt down his box of yellow dice. The Americans never concentrated their forces, and the one good strong assault went in, well, backwards, with the smoke covering the advance but also blocking the supporting fire.

Italians had much better luck. Their reinforcements came in very timely and quickly and most came where they were needed. John Passaglia rolled well to hit, rolled even better to hold his ground and rolled well in the counterattack. The guy in charge of the Italian armor never rolled well enough to blow up any stuarts, and lost three of his own armor, but he did bail them out and Tom Cusa tried hard, but his Americans were just overborne by numbers on that flank.

It was not, of course, all luck. The three Italians, led by John Demeter, reacted well, fought well, and kept their heads.

So, the Italians win another one.










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AMERICANS HOLD THE LINE
CT game club

This battle gave new meaning to the words dug in. We have never had so much terrain, or so any fortifications, on a field, as we did here. It was supposed to be Italy, around the Gustav Line, and it looked every bit of it even to the point of adding lots of little strips of slightly raised rises&in the ground to break up lines of sight on the low ground.

The Americans elected to defend. A 2800 point rifle company, of which half would be on the table at start, the rest in reserve. They got 160 points of defensive works (about 40 points based on the number and type of platoons, plus 120 in additional fortifications ie 15 pts per foot of frontage) enough to cover the entire 8 foot front in wire, mines and trenches, plus 32" of dragon's teeth and enough for a lot of strong points in a second line, and a bit of trench left over for some ‘medal of honor; positions at that.

(On inspection after the game, James noted that he did by honest mistake place about 40 points more of fortification than he should have, for which he is heartily apologetic and for which I take the blame for not noticing, as I was gm;ing it would not, however, have reduced the strength of the first line, but it would have cut down significantly on the minefields back in the second line -- although the germans attacked only on about a two foot wide attack on the 8 foot front_)

The good news of lots of fortifications is, of course, offset by three bits of bad news.
1. Half of the defender is off the board, and rolls for reinforcements do not start until turn until turn 3 --- and if luck is bad, they show up too late, if at all
2. Defensive airpower is reduced by one level (if you buy priority you get limited, if you buy limited you get sporadic)
3. A massive pre-attack bombardment that hits every base on the board with a 4-5-6 chance of hitting it.and ALL defenders are pinned down at start.

James, a guy named Tom and Russell, a friend of my son;s, took the Americans. Two batteries of 105s, two units of mortars, two rifle platoons, with AT guns, held the line. In reserve, more infantry, shermans and stuarts.

The 2800 point german panzer grenadier army I had built to attack this was selected to create a hard, fast-moving, powerful blitzkrieg force, with armor, arty, 88s, panzer grenadiers, motorcycle troops and even an assault engineer platoon. German troops have a 2/3 chance of moving unscathed through wire and mines as it is, but with engineers, this gives them a good chance to clear a wide lane. Lots (13) halftracks in this force, two with mortars, 1 with an AT gun and the rest with machineguns.and Stukas

John Demeter took command. Matt (another friend of my son;s) took the motorcycle troops, Big Matt Roos (or Our Matt of the club) took the other pz gren, and John Pasiglia took the engineers. Tom Cusa got the panzers and stugs.

The initial bombardment was very good for the Germans, at least in terms of thinning out the US infantry and it did knock out two of the 8 big guns in the back.

The germans elected to attack on a very narrow front on their right. They moved up toward but not to the wire with the engineers, electing to smash through the wire with the panzers.

The Americans got back to their guns pretty quick, and smoked one of the engineer haltracks. This proved critical, as it pinned the engineers who, with incredibly bad luck, REMAINED pinned for FOUR TURNS (even with the company commander rolling over and re-rolling for them). The other armored panzer grenadier plt also took heavy fire, but the panzers, despite several breakdowns, did push through the American line but their supporting force lagged.

The Germans cut a very thin hole through the American line, and funneling troops forward proved slow. The engineers inability to do anything, and the luftwaffe;s failure to appear, or, when it did, to do largely nothing, did not help. Worse, the two tanks that made it into the second line got smashed by 105s bombarding down upon then and when the Stug SP guns got to that position, in came the Shermans (turn 3, US got ONE die for reinforcements and made the roll).

Tom popped two Shermans, bailing their crews, but that duel ended on turn five when the Americans got three dice for reinforcements and rolled successfully on all three so in came the stuarts and the M10s, and between them and the stuarts, the German panzer spearpoint died.

Although young Matt had gotten his motorcycle troops through the gap and dismounted to successfully assault the US second line, by then the Grman player morale had broken.

Not only were their tanks dead, but their 88;s and observers were swathed in American smoke, and as such could not see to shoot (had the Americans failed to bring down the smoke, which they needed 5+ to do, the 88s would have swept the field of the Shermans and then there might still have been a battle.

German losses, other than the armor (4 tanks, 2 stugs), were minimal (1 halftrack, 4 bases of infantry) but the combination of so many things going wrong just proved too much. The Germans elected to withdraw.

In retrospect, I could have changed the mix of German forces. The HMG platoon in motorcycles got through the lines and deployed, but never fired by dropping those I could have had another MK IV. Dropping out one of the pz gren infantry units (the ones on bikes or trucks) could have bought me two MK IIIs

I still think the engineers were a good idea (with their 7 halftracks, 2 flamethrowers and tank assault rating of 4 they could have taken out the stuarts and m10s, and could have given the shermans a run for their money and their ability to clear mines and wire was of course why I bought them..besides, who assaults such a position without them! but that was 335 points, enough for 3 MK IIIs

I could also have built two smaller companies (one of infantry, whose rifle/mg teams are less expensive then the pzgren mg teams and of course who do not have to buy trucks, motorcycles or halftracks), and that comes with infantry pioneers plus you can still buy the divisional pioneers. That would have freed up more points for tanksbut, especially with the 88s, I thought there was enough.

Anyway, perhaps we will never know...had the Germans not had such bad luck with the engineers, and the Americans not had such phenomenal luck in getting their reinforcements in early, the panzer grenadiers might have done what they were built to do punch a hole and rush through into the allied rear

A good, tough fight done in three hours.



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Shermans and Stuarts, Stugs and Pumas

My friend James from the CT Game club came up today, with his pal Todd, -- and they brought EVERYTHING James has painted: 2800 points US: -5 shermans, 5 stuarts, 2 batty;s 105s, bofors guns, 57mm towed AT guns, M10 Tank Destroyers (a pair), 81mm mortars, 60mm mortars plus three rifle platoons with their assorted LMG, HMG and Bazookas. And P38 Lightnings.

all of it extremely well painted.

I took a German Armored Recon Squadron (aufklarungsschwadron): 2-88s, batty 105s, 2 towed 50mm AT guns, pair of 20mm AA halftracks, 2 Stu Fs, a panzer plt with one MkIVf2, 3 MKIIIn, a platoon of pumas (armored cars, lousy armor, but with 75mm guns), mortars, hmg (in motorcycles) and three pz gren plts (one each on trucks, halftracks and motorcycles), plus Stukas.

It was Tunisia. To the North was an oasis, below that a wadi cutting e-w, then toward the center a hill with a ruined building (the observation tower), then a rail depot (with shell holes all around as rough ground) then another oasis along a stream with a bridge those we all in the middle, and were the objectives (bridge, rail station, tower, northern oasis).

James rolled and got choice of sides (he took west) and we rolled to see who came in first (me).

As agreed, we would bring half our platoons on at turn 1, half on turn 2.

I started with my stuFs escorting the 88s to a hill overlooking the rail station, then the 50mms and mortars in the center, and the 105s escorted by the AA halftracks in the north. Americans brought their armor in so the shermans came right on to face the 88s and took out one. Their stuarts moved along the river to keep that oasis between them and the 88. They brought a lot of infantry in to the center.

Turn 2 my StuFs burned two shermans. My armor (Pumas and panzers) came in and came up to the river to engage the stuarts (burned two, bailed another). I sent my motorcycle infantry toward the station, my motorcycle hmg and halftrakcs toward the tower and my trucks with panzer gren up the wadi. He brought in the rest of his stuff mostly on the northern sector.

Turn 3 saw the end of the US armor it also saw the end of the motorcycle pz grens who had seized the station. American infantry wiped them out to a man. The Panzer gren in halftracks, however, raced up to the area by the tower so they could use their hmgs to gun down the still towed 105s wiped out an entire battery. The german infantry then dismounted.

They did not live long. Six out of seven died.

The fourth turn the halftracks took out the bofors guns, but were then wiped out by a combination of the tank destroyers and American infantry assaulting them.

The german armored thrust, however, starting going after US infantry in the bridge, oasis and rail station area even plowing through a layer of smoke the Americans had laid down, so I had to bring them in close. On turn 5 The American platoon that seized the rail station got the same treatment as the late motorcycle plt of mine did.

German AA halftracks moved forward, darted up and gunned down the crews of the other 105 batty getting three out of four of them (incredibly lucky Firepower checks against their gunshields) and panzer grenadiers took out the 57mm;s.

Turn 6 was a clean up turn, with the Americans conceding. Half of their platoons were gone, and some of those left around were not in good shape and they had no way left of stopping the German armor, as all of the American armor, artillery, at and aa were gone.

Luck was definitely a German lady today.



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Race On the Steppes
A Flames of War After Action Report: CT Game Club

Obergruppensturmbanfuhrer Andy von Zartolas made a welcome return appearance to the CT game club on February 10 and he brought a team of new gamers with him. Andy and his team took control of a German armored recon squadron on the steppes in 1942. Their mission was a dual protect and probe. They had to make sure that the Russian Cossacks and mechanized recon could not reach their end of the table to see behind the German lines, while at the same time the Germans wanted to penetrate the Russian screen and reach their end of the table for a look of their own.

The Russians had the same mission. Opposing the single big German company (3,500 points) were two smaller Russian companies: one of Cossacks (commanded by Bert Fishman and John Pasiglia) and one of Mechanized Recon (led by Jim Franklin and John Demeter). The two Russian companies totaled 3,500 points. Both had air support (the Germans seven dice of Stuka, the Russians five dice of Sturmovik).

The Germans had the advantage of seeing WHERE but not exactly HOW the Russians would set up. They knew the Cossacks were coming from the Northeast corner of the table and the Recon from the Southeast. They also knew the deployment areas of the Russians. The Germans had 10 minutes with the table to make their deployments. The Russians could then come in, see where the Germans were, and adjust their units within their deployment zones.

That was game turn ZERO. EVERYONE had to start towed by or mounted on their horses and vehicles, with no one deployed or gone to ground.

The terrain was flat but Steppes flat. That meant NO elevations, but two large depressions, a low rail embankment running diagonal from southeast to northwest with shell craters around a wrecked train in the middle an easily fordable stream running from northwest to the eastern center of the board, with a few bits of rubble on the Russian side of it.

In short, NO cover for armor, but some cover (not bulletproof tho) for infantry and guns.

The commanders rolled to see who would go first. The Russians elected to kick off and did so with Sturmoviks pouncing on the towed German 105;s. The Luftwaffe fighters did not show up, and the German light AA could not drive off the flying tanks. The Germans only lost one gun, but the battery commander and the staff table were killed when their halftrack
was blown up.

Both sides advanced, with Andy refusing his left along the line of the stream, using all of the German light units (the five platoons of MK IIs, the light armored cars, the AT guns and the panzer grenadier weapons platoon). Their job was to hold off the Cossacks and almost exclusively horse-drawn force but one with a good deal of horse artillery (1927 infantry guns, 76mm AT guns, mortars, tchanka machinegun chariots) and all under an umbrella provided by four 37mm AA guns. Bert and John P. did ave one unit of T-60 light tanks slightly better than the MK IIs but not by much. Although greatly outnumbered in armor, Bert went forward, with John P. giving him fire support.

The Cossack vs German lights battle was a hard fight. The Russians came forward, then so did the Germans. An initial head to head duel of armor devolved into a swirling effort to get on flanks, and to the Russian armor eventually crossing over to the German side but only after the crippled German armor had pulled back. Tank losses were brutal on that side of the field, as most of the MK IIs and the light armored cars along with all of the Russian T-60s were destroyed. The Russians lost their guns, and the tchankas were mown down by a German HMG platoon. The result was a bloody stalemate on that half of the table.

On the other flank, the German Puma heavy armored cars led the German main push supported by the MK IIIG platoon (the heaviest tanks on the table) and PZT38s, with mobile 20mm AA halftracks providing cover, the 105s offering fire support and two German armored panzer grenadier platoons taking the rail embankment and gully. A third platoon of infantry (the motorized one) held the center of the table, with the mortars of the heavy weapons platoon behind the wrecked train.

The German advance was stalled by John D and Jon F;s T-70s and the guns of the aptly named tank destruction company. Russian heavy armored cars good guns, lousy armor and light armored cars supported by mechanized infantry in scout cars pushed on the German infantry.

At one point the PZT38s made a dash to get behind the Russian T-70s, but failed to knock them out. Caught in the flank and rear themselves, they evaporated.

The Germans fell back onto the defensive, figuring they could not win by probing, but could fight for a draw by stopping the Russian probe or perhaps gain a win by breaking the Russians before they themselves broke. It was a tense situation by the time the airpower ran out seven platoons on each side broken. Unfortunately, the seven Russian platoons were split between two companies, so neither was close to breaking. The seven german platoons were from a single company a company of 16 platoons so things were a lot worse for them. Andy suggested that the Germans would at this point have called it a day and pulled back, yielding the field to the Russians. One of his commanders thought it was a loss, another a draw and a third wanted the proverbial one more turn to seethat stretched on to three more turns three very, very hard fought turns.

John D. hit the German infantry in the gully. His first attack fell apart. His second destroyed a German platoon. His third assault got into the gully in hand to hand. His light armored cars got around behind the germans, were a move away from either the 105s or the board edge but then were in turn destroyed by the halftracks of the last German infantry platoon.

At this point, John P. made his push up the middle with two platoons of dismounted Cossacks. He headed for the train wreck out from which rose up a platoon of Russian snipers that had been hidden and held back in ambush since the start of the game. The snipers pinned down the German mortars long enough for John P;s mortars to finally range in on them and the Cossack infantry wiped out the German motorized infantry platoon in the center.

And with that, the German morale broke.

Of 16 German platoons, 10 were destroyed. The Russians lost 9 of the 18 platoons they started with (6 of the 12 cossack platoons, 3 of the 6 mechanized recon). Although both Russian companies were AT half, neither were below half. The Germans fell below half when they lost the 9th and again when they lost the 10th of their platoons and although confidant veterans, that mean only a 50-50 chance to stay on the table and they passed once, but failed the second time.

Game to the Russians.

We started playing at 230 and were finished by 630. Eight gamers, of whom one (John D) had played the rules twice before, and another (Andy) once before. Hats off to John D for helping to run the firing on that half of the table (and who made only one mistake and one NOT in his favor) and for Bert and Andy for helping out over on that side.

Bert, unfortunately, had to leave about a turn before the game ended and at a point when the issue was still in doubt.



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Parting Shots Dept.,

"War is an art and as such is not susceptible of explanation by fixed formula"

General George Patton Jr




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