Firestorm Lorraine Day 3: Panther Party

On Sunday we had the final day of the the Firestorm Lorraine campaign. For this game I decided to go with what I had been waiting for all campaign, lots of Panthers (or at least, things with Panther guns).

My force was an FFH Panzer company consisting of 2 Panthers in the HQ, 2 platoons of 3 Panthers each, 1 platoon (Firestorm) of 3 Pz IV/70(V)'s and 1 platoon of infantry with assualt rifles and panzerfausts in halftracks. Like all the lists in the Blood Guts and Glory list they were rated fearless trained.

I was facing Raphael who had a British Rifle company with US firestorms (Tank and Infantry)

The table consisted of a village in the centre with a long hill on the right and several smaller hills on the left. Raphael but his objectives near the village and I put both mine on the long hill since it seemed to be the best place for the Panthers.

We played the mission that is like Free-for-All with reserves (either Encounter or Meeting Engagement, I can't remember the name). I put the PZ IV/70's and the infantry in reserve and placed the 2 Panther platoons on the hill with the 2 command Panthers holding the objective near the village. The British put a rifle company on each objective and had a 25 pder battery and a medium battery near the hill objective.

My first goal was to get rid of the medium battery as that was the only direct fire threat to the Panthers starting on the board. I managed to chase them with not too much bother but  I managed to get bunched up and lost a Panther to a 25pder bombardment

The Panthers then moved on the 25 pder battery. Meanwhile the British infantry were sneaking up through the village (and I missed a few turns where I could have fired my panthers at them but forgot)

My PZIV/70s came on and I tried to use them to threaten the village objective but the Achilles arrived on the other side and managed to take one out.

After taking out the 25pders the Panthers turned to face the Achilles but sadly the Sherman firestorm arrived on the next turn.

By then the pressure on the town was increasing and the command Panther got involved in a sniping duel with a Firefly that resulted in the death of my company commander (the 2IC was still alive though)

The two Panther platoons got wiped out and things were not looking good for the Germans.

The Britsih double timed the Shermans up to the objective. I couldn't really drive them off and hold the village objective so I decided to go all out to try and kill platoons. I managed to get the PZ IV/70s in position but the Panther bogged crossing the woodline. The game ended in a 4-3 victory for the allies.

The campaign ended in a draw (and I think I won 2 and lost 3). The reluctant trained germans were interesting to play.

Lorraine Campaign Day 2

A few weeks ago (I am getting caught up on my battle reports) we had the second round of the Lorraine Campaign at the Ottawa Miniatures Gamers. I did not have the figures I wanted to use painted (though it does turn out that I do have more German infantry than I could find on the day) so I broke from my plan to only use lists from the Blood, Guts and Glory book and go for a German Heavy Tank list (or Schwere Panzer if you are that way inclined) because I had a King Tiger and some Tiger Is that I had painted up a few year back and had never used. My list consisted of a Tiger in the HQ platoon, a King Tiger in the first platoon, 2 Tigers in the 2nd platoon and a biggishy batter of armoured rocket artillery. I had hoped that the firestorm troops of one Grenadier, one Panzer Grenadier and fortifications would provide the bulk that this list was lacking. (I was not feeling confident, heavy tank lists are odd at the best of times and generally terrible in lower point value games)

As usual we had a pretty good turnout and lots of tables got set up

I was playing against evil Duncan who had a reasonably balanced (if somewhat tank-heavy due to the 2 armoured fiirestorms he had) US list. I don't remember the exact mission but I had delayed reserves. After much consideration I decided to put the infantry on the table and keep the tanks (except the HQ) in reserve.  I thought it possible that the infantry could hold for the 3 turns. I didn't put anything in Ambush as I was concerned that a rush up on the part of the Americans could keep me from appearing on the objective.

I set up with one infantry platoon on each objective and the HQ tiger hiding (I thought) behind the building. The Americans rushed forward en masse (my artillery was in reserve) and the tanks began to pound the infantry.

The US artillery ranged in on the Tiger on the first turn and it was bailed for the whole game (3 turns!) That was pretty much the game there as the infantry was killed. If I ha put my tanks on to start, I still would have lost but might have had more fun (not that it wasn't an enjoyable game but I didn't get to do much)

Since that game was rather quick we did play a second game with the free for all mission which was a bit more dynamic (but I still lost!)

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My laptop died as I was typing this in, I managed to finish it on my tablet but my Cangames reports will have to wait until I get it going again

Lorraine Campaign Turn 1

This Sunday we played the first turn of the Firestorm: Lorraine campaign at the Ottawa Miniatures Gamers

I was defending a river crossing with a Panzergrenadier company consisting of  3 Platoons of infantry (one of which was a firestorm unit), 1 platoon of Panthers, 1 platoon of STuGs, 1 platoon of Marder IIIs, 1 platoon of PaK 40 AT guns and a fortified strongpoint. Francis, my opponent, had a US Tank Company with 2 platoons of Jumbos and Sherman 76s, an armored infantry platoon, a pioneer platoon, a mortar platoon and a 155mm artillery platoon

We rolled for hold the line which meant I had to keep half my platoons in delayed reserve but I got to have 2 in Ambush.

I put 1 infantry platoon in the fortified position on the left and I kept the Panthers and AT guns for ambush. I was tempted to have the infantry in ambush to protect the other objective on the farm but the AT guns would be close to useless if they had to move onto the table (and not using the Panthers doesn't really seem like an option at all!)

The tanks moved towards the fortified position and the infantry moved up the other side. I was expecting a rush to the side with no one on the table but the Americans were quite cautious so I delayed placing my ambush.

The US infantry moved up to the river and the tanks were trying to take out the MG nests in the fortified position so continued to be patient (not my usual mode of playing) and kept my ambushing units off the table

The tanks took out one nest and the artillery was pinning the infantry in the trenches but not getting any kills. On my turn 3 I got the first of my delayed reserves (the STuGs) and decided to Ambush the Shermans with the Panthers.

One platoon of Shermans was wiped out in the ambush.

The US artillery counter-attacked and took out one Panther (I think he managed to hit 3 of them but I made and armour save on 1 and Francis rolled a 1 on his firepower for the other)

This was my turn of mistakes (fortunately not fatal ones). I spread the Panthers out on the river bank when I should have gone across the bridge to force the Shermans to turn and face them so the AT guns and Marders could get side shots on them and I moved the STuGs close enough to the US infantry that they could be assaulted.

Lots of smoke this turn, the Panthers were smoked to force them to move and the STuGs were smoked to aid in assaulting them. Fortunately the assualt failed (I don't remember exactly what happened)

The next turn the Panthers did cross the bridge and the Marders managed to take out the two remain 76mm Shermans

The Company Command Jumbo somehow managed to only bail one of the Marders (though since I was Reluctant, he remained bailed for the rest of the game)

The 2 remaining Panthers ran between the building to hide from the artillery (the US mortars had nowhere to hide from the Panthers though...)

The US infantry was now facing the German Infantry that had moved up into the farm, the Panthers that were moving up to the ford, the STuGs on their flank and the remaining Marder on their other flank.

The US artillery struck again taking out 2 STuGs.

The game ended with the US infantry wiped out and a 6-1 German victory.

It was a very enjoyable game, I think it would have been hard for the US to win with the river there but if they had been more aggressive in the first 3 turns they would have had a reasonable chance.

I would like to get the PzIVs and PzIV/70s finished for the next game to give me a bit more choice for the next list but I also want to get a unit of Roman Legionnaires done and my 28mm Germans

Firestorm Lorraine: Getting Ready

Starting in April the Ottawa Miniatures Gamers are running the Firestorm: Lorraine campaign for Flames of War. I am playing on the Germans side since the minutiae of late war Shermans in FOW is too much for me to handle.

I have been buying a few things for this campaign and here is my to be assembled/painted pile:

I had considered painting up some German infantry with assault rifles but I am really not in the mood to paint 15mm infantry (and if I was I have my Egyptian and Israelis in line first). I also thought I had got some FLaK halftracks but maybe they got back ordered (I did find my missing M2 Bradleys while looking for them so that is good).

I want to play with the Pz IV/70s so I will probably start with those (and the Pz IVs since they are all assembled). The halftracks would be good since the Pz IV/70s are in the FFH Panzergrenadier company but to be honest, I probably have enough halftracks already. I also want to run a list with a lot of Panthers so they will probably be up next.

Getting through the whole pile before the campaign ends should be an attainable goal even if my main focus during the time is on my 28mm  projects (Romans for Cangames and WWII stuff)