Day one of Shifting Sands was a blast and I had 1 loss and 2 wins against three great opponents.
You can see my Day 1 AAR here...
Day two of Shifting Sands would see two more missions.
Just to catch new readers up I took a Soviet Lend Lease Battalion with...
HQ: 1 x M3 Lee (Long Barrel)
Platoon 1: 10 M3 Lee (Long Barrel)
Platoon 2: 9 x M3 Lee (Short Barrel)
Platoon 3: 10 x M3 Stuarts
Platoon 4: 3 x BA-64 Scout Cars
Game 4: Surrounded - Defending against a Michael H and his Panther list.
This was my nightmare match up coming into the the Tournament and came true in round 4. I can't hurt Panthers from the front and I would be surrounded by them. There would be nothing to really stop my opponent from sitting back and taking my whole force apart at range.
Michael H is another out of town player and was a great opponent. A great way to start my day.
His list, however, would give me nightmares. He had...
HQ: Panther plus 2ic Panther
Plt1: 3 x Panther
Plt2: 3 x Panther
 |
| Panther Horde... gah! |
For Firestorm Units we both had Air power. Priority for me, Limited for him. I also had a Soviet hero in a T-34/57
Synopsis: This would be my most tactically rewarding game. A lot of times with Soviets it seems like the blunt force approach it the go to tactic most of the time. This time I was surrounded by 8 invincible from the front Panthers.
Deployment: I had sparse cover in the center of the board and did the best I could. German placement wasn't surprising but no less deadly.
 |
| Deployment and Immediate Ambush |
 |
| Lambs...err Lees to the slaughter |
Turn 1
Even with almost all of my tanks able to claim a GTG bonus I took some significant losses, including 4 Lees and 2 Stuarts in the German's opening Salvo! I did manage to intercept his air attack which was a huge boon.
My Turn 1. I placed my Ambushing Soviet hero into cover and destroyed the Company Commander.
Air power also came through and I destroyed a Panther in the Platoon I was gunning for. On my Right Flank I only had three of those beasts to worry about!
I doubled my Stuarts into some cover for an attack next turn and advanced a Lee Company towards the remaining Panthers. My second Lee company stood firm, keeping their gone to ground status.
Turn 2:
German air makes it onto the table and my planes fail to chase them away.
 |
| German bombers take a toll. |
Air and Panther fire combine to take my Lee Company under half strength. they fail their fearless morale and run. I had hoped they would have lasted longer . Now only 1 HQ tank and some distant Armored Cars were the only thing that could keep three panthers away from an Objective and Victory.
the Lees and Stuarts on the other side of the board take a couple more losses but otherwise continue on their charge.
In my half of turn two the Stuarts swing around to the Panther's flanks while the Lees chage head on. Hen and Chicks is my undoing and I miss with all my potential side shots!
The only bright side to the turn is the destruction of one Panther on my exposed flank by air power. My air corp is doing great today.
Turn 3
Germans Advance on the objective but can't quite contest yet. My HQ Sherman actually survives their fire! So I still have two units, HQ and Scout cars that might b able to contest next turn. My hard charging Lees aslo take losses, losing a few more in the attack.
On my turn, the Lees finally get into range and mix it up with the Panthers while the Stuarts open up at full rate of fire.
 |
| Aftermath of my flanking attack |
The Stuarts again whiff their stationary shots but the Lees come through double bailing 1 tank and bailing the other. The Double bailed Panther fails it's morale and the platoon fails it's morale shortly thereafter. On the left flank my ace pilot is back again, knocking out 1 more Panther. My opponent is now down to 2 Panthers. 1 which will contest the objective and his 2iC.
Half my plan ent off without too much of a hitch! however events around the other objective looked bleak. I needed my force on the other end of the table before I lost the game.
Turn 4
The German platoon aces my Battalion commander and now the left most objective is completely unguarded. my remaining Tank Companies redeploy, the Stuarts doubling north and the Lees doubling East. I move my scout cars up. The Company commander sends a brave armored car to hold contest the objective right in front of the Panther.
Remaining Turns...
The game comes down to my flanking companies moving into position for one last charge on the Panthers holding the Objective. My armored Cars get whittled away.
 |
| Brave armored car contests the objective for three turns. |
the last turn of the game is exciting. 2 Panthers hold the objective having killed my last Scout Car.
I know have Stuarts on one flank of the Panthers and Lees on the other (I've got him surrounded!) and I manage to get in an air strike!
 |
| End Game |
Michael has to point his Panthers one way or the other and rightly points his impervious front armor to the more dangerous Lees. My Stuarts pounce but true to form they whiff all their shots. My Bomber also misses with it's bomb, it's game over 2-5 loss
Lessons Learned: I hate mid-war Panthers. Defending in Surrounded was a tough match up but I'm sure if the roles had been reversed the Panthers would have found it pretty tough going as well. Charging worked well but being able to mask my movement with terrain was priceless. Even though I lost this may have been my most enjoyable game of the Tournament.
Game 5: Fighting Withdraw - Defending against Jake (The Boy) H and his Pioneer company.
My son and I joke a lot about playing one another at these events and sure enough we landed in a match up in the last round as we both had 15 points. Our last meeting at a Shifting Sands was three years ago and he still brags about how he defeated me then... Let's see if I can turn the tables on him.
Jake was running a German Pioneer company with...
2 x Pioneer Platoons
1 x Tiger
4 x Pak40s
1 Looted KV-1
Rocket Battery (nebs)
 |
| Jake's Company |
Firestorm Units: I lucked out and received some cat killers in the form of SU-152? I think. Jake had a once a turn +1 to a die roll.
Jake was behind the 8 ball from the get go, having to attack a tank company with Infantry. Firestorm units only made it worse.
Synopsis:
I spread my defenses out and kept the 10 strong Lee company in ambush. Jake stacked on my left and rushed forward. My Ambush removed the Pak 40s from the game and stymied his attack. My Stuarts flanked around the left, killing an observer and threatening Jake's Rocket Park.
Jake Tried to re-deploy to counter the Stuart threat but was gunned down. The last Pioneer platoon tried to charge the Stuarts but were annihilated. Though game for Jake, the moment his Pak 40s died he was on the defensive and the writing was on the wall. 6-1 to me.
 |
| Soviet Defensive line |
 |
| German deployment |
 |
| My Ambush really reallly hits the Pak 40s hard |
 |
| Germans on the defensive |
 |
| Executing the Observer |
 |
| Sweeping Stuarts are assaulted. |
 |
| the Assault is repulsed |
 |
| And Platoon morale breaks, the commander goes with them. |
Lessons Learned: I learned that revenge is a dish best served cold. And that it sucks for an Infantry company to have to assault 30 tanks, regardless that they are rated as Conscripts.
So overall I ended with 21 points out of a possible 30 and had a blast. 5 great opponents and 5 fun games. Thanks to all that made Shifting Sands great this year!
No comments:
Post a Comment