May 14-15th saw Shifting Sands 11 come and go. Shifting Sands is the premier Flames of War Tournament in AZ and was held in Mesa at Empire Games. This year’s theme was the Korsun Pocket so only Germans and Russians would be allowed.
I only had the makings of a German army but decided to let my son, Jake, take it. I would build a Russian army from scratch. And I needed to do it on the cheap.
Since I’m not a Russian player we didn’t have much to start with. We had a box of Katyusha Rocket Launchers and a few blisters of Infantry we had won at a tournament several years previously.
Huge Russian Infantry swarms would be fun but I wouldn’t have time, or the inclination, to paint that many infantry stands in such a short period of time. T-34 swarms could also be fun but the cost for 20+ odd tanks would be too much. I decided to go with IS-2 Heavy Tank Company. My Birthday came and went and I found myself in possession of 2 IS-2 box Sets.
My list was as follows
HQ: 1 x IS-2
Platoon 1 : 5 x IS-2
Platoon 2 : 3 x IS-2
Platoon 3 : 2 platoon Engineer Infantry Co.
Platoon 4: 2 x Katys with extra loaders
 |
| My Russian Heavy Tank Battalion |
Small, compact and powerful, should be fun to play.
Round 1:
Versus Jeff in No Retreat!
Jeff had a tough looking list with Panthers (Bane of the IS-2) Tigers supported by Arty, AA and recon.
Special rules for this scenario included having all my tanks on the board bailed on turn one (Surprise!) and a mysterious fog bank, placed by me.
I kept my large IS-2 platoon in ambush and my Infantry holding the Objectives.
Jeff main line of attack was up my right flank, using the fog bank as concealment. Halftracks followed by Panthers pushed into the Smoke. I countered with my newly arrived IS-2 platoon (The small ones). With 4 Panthers pushing into the fog I foolishly threw my 3 IS-2s against them. After two rounds of shooting I had miraculously survived. Killing 3 Panthers for the loss of 1 of my IS-2’s, the Ambush of the other IS-2s took care of the half tracks and AA, giving Jeff nothing on my side of the board.!
 |
| Russian Defenses - Germans push the right flank |
 |
| IS-2s counter the German Advance |
 |
| Panthers charge in, looking for a fight. |
 |
| After the fire two Panthers are brewed up. |
 |
| Ambush is finally popped |
 |
| End game! |
6-1 victory to me.
Wrap up: Fun Game, Jeff is a great guy and always fun to play. His luck wasn’t with him today. My List performed well, the IS-2s survived all the long range Tiger fire and artillery bombardments Jeff threw at them.
Game 2: Breakthrough versus Tim P.
Tim is a great guy who I’ve seen at many events but had yet to play. This game was great fun. As per the Event rules I would be Defending with my Tank co. (Soviet Relief forces auto defend first three rounds) versus his German horde. Large German Infantry platoons, with a platoon of Tigers, and Brumbars in support.
The line was drawn and my 5 strong IS-2 Platoon was deployed out in the open and across from them Tim deployed his Tigers and Brumbars. My Infantry would, unsuccessfully as it turned out, try to book it to the objective and dig in. The rest of my army, due to scenario rules, was in reserve.
This mission would also see the use of the Freeze/Thaw token. Giving each side a 50-50 chance of each turn having Frozen ground(no effect) or Thaw (Difficult terrain for ALL vehicles)
The IS-2s took the initial German volley with little damage and return fire was brutal, Despite German smoke, air attacks and difficult terrain after several turns of shooting the IS-2 had vanquished the Tigers and Brumbars. However I did lose my second platoon of IS-2s to an assault by the German Pioneer platoon. Not before they killed the last Tiger though.
However the German Armor sacrifice was worthwhile. Arriving German reserves squashed the Russian Engineers, giving Tim the win on the objective.
 |
| IS-2 duke it out with Tigers and Brumbars |
 |
| Germans nab the objectives fast |
 |
| Slow moving Russian Infantry can't get to the objective in time |
 |
| field littered with destroyed German tanks |
 |
| Gunning for the last Brumbar, IS-2s go on the offensive |
Loss 3-4
My IS-2s performed great. Going toe to toe with Tigers and Brumbars and coming out ahead. The Russian Infantry didn’t do so well, Rifle teams aren’t putting out enough firepower to stop the enemy from sitting on the Objective. There was not enough time to extract my IS-2s from their fight and get them over to the objective in time to contest.
Game Three: Free for All versus Jake H.
Ah, sweet, I thought. I get to battle my very own son.
Jake’s list was StuGs, Stug Riders, and Tigers backed up by a healthy number of Rocket Launchers.
My Deployment was separated by a large wood, so there would be two distinct sides to the battle, all the action would go down on my Right flank.
My son will typically show no fear and his charged forward with his Tigers and a platoon of StuGs, covered by smoke.
The Battle was short, bloody and ugly. I couldn’t roll a 5 or 6 to save my life and Jake’s tanks took out 2 of my IS-2’s bailed one and a failed moral check later gave the Victory to Jake.
 |
| My Son setting up his Nebbels |
 |
| The German left flank |
 |
| Russian right flank |
 |
| Germans dash in on my right flank |
 |
| Closest my forces get to a German objective before they are pulled back |
 |
| IS-2s dash through the wood, too late to save the Day |
 |
| Tigers take on an IS-2 |
 |
| Close range furball |
 |
| The fight does not go well for the Russians |
 |
| More IS-2s arrive only to see the Germans claim victory |
 |
| Too little to late... curses! |
1-6 loss!
This was the first time my IS-2s let me down. I couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn and Jake used his smoke very effectively to mask his charge in. In hindsight I should have rushed up my left flank with my Infantry and short IS-2 Platoon, which would have given my a good chance of overrunning the single StuG platoon protecting that Objective.
So I end Day 1 in the middle of the pack with a paltry 10 points but had 3 really fun battles against three great guys. The highlight for me though would be seeing my son playing well and enjoying himself. He would end the day with 17 points)
DAY 2.
The scuttlebutt is that the Russians were taking a beating in the tournament so far, the challenge was to keep those pesky Germans in the pocket!
Game 4: Cauldron versus Brandon
Brandon was very friendly. He was from the Tuscon contingent and was fielding a Tiger Co with 8 Tigers and not much else. While I like the IS-2 in this matchup Brandon rolled well with his Tiger Aces Skills, all but one platoon had ROF 3! ouch!
The Scenario was stacked against the Germans from the beginning. As the Defender I had an immediate ambush, as the attacker in Cauldron Brandon could only field 1! platoon (such is the price if you only have 3 platoons total)
Sadly for Brandon my immediate ambush of 5 IS-2s dealt with the one Tiger platoon and on turn two Brandon failed his Company Moral Test, giving me the game. Freeze/ thaw was in effect again but didn’t cause us much trouble.
 |
| Initial deployment and Immediate Ambush! |
 |
| Tigers hide! |
 |
| As more Tigers hide, this time the CO |
 |
| The Ambushing platoon deals with the only German platoon, causing a company check which is failed. |
Win 6-1.
I felt bad for Brandon as he was a really nice guy. However list-wise you need to have a plan for missions with reserves. Starting with only 1 platoon is asking for trouble.
Battle 5 Encounter against TJ
I drew the top German player (and current score leader) for the last scenario. TJ had a powerful force with lots of infantry, Pioneers, Artillery, Mortars, Pak 40’s and 2 platoons of 88s. He was light on the tank department with only 3 StuGs.
The special rule in effect was Mud! Every turn was a difficult terrain test for all moving vehicles. This would be prohibitive for my mostly armored force (With no wide Tracks)
I lined up my IS-2s aggressively across the center of the board (right across from TJ’s AT guns) , placed my Infantry to cover my right flank objective.
The game started well with my IS-2 bouncing almost everything the Germans could throw at me. I managed to kill both 88 platoons while only losing 1 IS-2 to their return fire. Things were looking good, but I hadn’t really moved yet.
Moving killed me. My reserve IS-2 platoon arrived, with 2 of them bogging as they rolled on the board. The last one was killed by Arty and that platoon failed moral and fled.
As soon as I moved my IS-2’s closer to TJ’s gun line I started bogging in the Mud. I had at least 1 tank bog every turn that I tried to move. By the time TJ’s infantry rolled into my flank objective and assaulted my Infantry I was down two 2 operational tanks with the majority of the other’s bogged. (Or captured because they were bogged)
 |
| My IS-2 platoon flounders in the mud and dies or runs away |
 |
| Large IS-2 platoon pushes forward and hits mud. |
3-4 loss
TJ played a great game and deservedly went on to win the overall championship but the mud really killed me this battle. However, just like the Tiger Co, such are the breaks when you take a mostly armored company.
I ended up with 19 points, not too shabby , one of the higher scores for the Russian side. TJ won overall and my Son Jake took second place with a whopping 25 point!
No comments:
Post a Comment