My force was a Reluctant Vet US Tank Company from the Bridge at Remagen book.
I took....
HQ: 1 Easy 8 & 1 Jumbo
platoon 1: Jumbo (76), 2 x Easy8, 1 M4A3
Platoon 2: Super Pershing
Platoon 3: 4 x Sherman Crocs
Platoon 4: Recon
Platoon 5: Mortar Tracks (2)
1500 points and 5 platoons.
I wasn't too worried about the odd number of platoons as this event would include Firestorm units. I figured I might get a Firestorm unit about half of the time so odds or evens is still a crap shoot.
I included both a 75mm and 76mm Jumbo in this list to help mitigate Gun Tanks taking out my Easy 8s. The Super Pershing is included to keep the enemy honest, only King Tigers and JagdTigers can safely ignore the Super P.
the Flame Tanks were there to help versus infantry and give me Auto Attack. Recon and smoke go without saying, no American Tank Co should be without.
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GAME 1
The First mission was Encounter and I was to play Hugo, he is a very kind and gracious opponent who hails from California and has attended many of our Shifting Sands events.
He was running a very compact list (For soviets anyway) with state of the art Russian tanks
With an HQ- T-44, 2 platoons with 2xT-44s and 1 platoon of SU-101s. Rockets, AA and some infantry rounded out his list.
The T-44 and SU-101 are not normal options in Flames of War and were included in the Firestorm event. The T-44 is basically an up-armored T-34/85 with front Armor 9. The SU-101 is an up-armored SU-100 with front armor 10 and an AT 16 gun, big enough to threaten anything I had on the field.
With only 5 platoons and playing Encounter I would start with only 2 platoons on the table. Hugo, with 6 platoons started with 3.
I went with my E8 Sherman Platoon and the Super Pershing. I figured my big gun would keep him honest until reserves came in.
Hugo Deployed his SU-101s forward in a wheat field and the T-44s Supporting. The other Objective was covered by his rocket Arty. His HQ Tank was in the middle.
The plan was to race up the side and take out his tanks at close range, the Super Pershing would hang back with covering fire.
My Plan works well. His small tank platoons can't put out enough volume of fire to get past two Jumbos and even when his SU-101 hits a lucky armor roll bounces the shot.
In the Center Hugo sees one of my objectives open and doubles his CO in an attempt to put pressure on me. Unfortunately my Super P sees him and gets shots off....
With predictable results, the CO tank is hit and destroyed.
Back on the right the Jumbos prove their worth as the T-44 Platoon falls and the SU-101s are hit.
Hugo gets his reserves in, but on the wrong corner, the T-44s head over to the action but one of them is snipped by the super Pershing.
With nothing to contest the objective the game falls to the Americans 6-1 on turn 5.
Overall a fun. but quick game and Hugo was a great sport even after some pretty tough rolls. With Jumbos the smaller enemy platoons had a hard time, as the first two hits would come off the jumbos.
Fun fact: Meatshield, the lone M4A3 Sherman in my platoon had always been the first to doe in all my practice games, survives here and takes our a T-44 to boot.
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