This past weekend, 4 of the Reluctant Conscripts (Mick, Tommy, Owen and myself) attended 'The Art of War', a 1750 LW tournament held at Sanctuary Gaming in Sutton-in-Ashfield. Organised by Steve Charlton, and fellow Conscript Tim Harris, this was a tournament with a twist. The top 32 ranked players had to play with tank or mechanised lists, or face a points penalty.
As I am not in the top 32, I was not penalised. However, I did take a Tank Company, specifically, Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 from Desperate Measures. My list was:
| Confident Trained | Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500
Alex Billing Art of War | German Late-War |
| Tank Company |
| Platoon | Qty | Unit | Points |
| Headquarters | |
| Panzer Ausbildungs Abteilung 500 HQ | p.81 |
| 2 | Ausbildungs Tiger I E | 310 |
| Combat Platoons | |
| Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon | p.81 |
| 2 | Ausbildungs Tiger I E | 280 |
| Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon | p.81 |
| 2 | Ausbildungs Tiger I E | 280 |
| Schwere Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon | p.81 |
| 2 | Ausbildungs Königstiger (Porsche) | 445 |
| Leichte Panzer Ausbildungs Platoon | p.81 |
| 4
4 | Ausbildungs Panzer III L or M
Schürzen sideskirts | 200 |
| Weapons Platoons | |
| Panzergrenadier Ausbildungs Platoon | p.82 |
|
1
6
4 | Mechanised School
Cmd SMG team
MG team
Sd Kfz 250 or 251/1 half-track | 170 |
| Support Platoons | |
| Luftwaffe Light Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon | Reluctant Trained Allied Platoon p.93 |
| 1
3 | Cmd SMG team
3.7cm Flak43 gun | 65 |
| Company Points: | 1750 |
Three reasons for my choice; I wanted an aggressive force, it forced me to get more toys painted, and Tigers are cool :)
Game One
The first game of the weekend was against Paul Cummins, and his 4th Division Armoured Rifle Company, from Blood, Guts and Glory. Paul had 2 ARPs, Armoured Mortars, I&R platoon, 4 Hellcats, 3 M4A3 Shermans (1 75mm and 2 76mm) and Lt. Col. Abrams in his M4A3(76).
The scenario was 'Encounter'.
Paul had his two ARP platoons and his TDs on the table. I started with 2 Tigers, 2 King Tigers and the AA.
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| Initial deployment |
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| Paul moves one of his ARPs aggressively towards my right flank |
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| And kills two AA guns |
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| I therefore have to move the 2iC and KTs to defend the objective |
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| They blow up the dough boy's halftracks, pinning them down and securing the objective |
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| On the other flank, more Tigers move forward, looking for armoured targets |
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| Massed fire is starting to have an affect on the ARP |
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| Paul decides to chance an assault, but is driven back |
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| Tigers can spot Col Abrams in the distance |
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| And bail him out |
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| Shermans arrive to support their leader |
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| But aren't able to cause any damage to their opponents |
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| Tigers blow up Abrams tank, but he jumps to the next vehicle, which is then bailed out |
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| Panzer IIIs arrive from reserve, and attempt to engage the TD security section |
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| But instead lose one of their number to Sherman fire |
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| King Tigers take out the troublesome Sherman |
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| The Panzer IIIs redeploy to keep pace with the retreat TDs |
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| The Hellcats spring their trap in the field on the left, and move forward to engage the King Tigers |
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| Killing the command tank, and I don't have mission tactics.... |
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| My armoured infantry arrives on the wrong side of the table, and instead moves forward to harass the American line |
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| Pitiful return fire from the Germans kills one and bails two Hellcats |
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| And after remounting, they finish off the King Tiger platoon |
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| Having dealt with the Shermans, the Tigers in the middle move to threaten the American objectives |
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| Mounted Assault is ineffective on the ARP dug in on my left flank |
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| Massed firepower finally finishes the Hellcats, but they had already achieved their aim |
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| The ARP moves up, but struggles with Tank Terror |
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| Too many bazookas dug in here to try and shift these guys without thinning them out first |
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| MGs from the halftracks will help with that problem |
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| Panzer IIIs move up to engage the ARP alongside the Tigers |
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| Tehy cause enough casualties for a morale check |
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| Which they fail, and the CO re-roll fails too, he runs with them |
The game ended 5-2 to me, after Paul's company broke.
Game Two
Game two was against Mark Palin, who had British 51st Highlanders. Mark had 3 platoons of infantry, 2 platoons of Churchill Crocodiles, 6pdrs, 25pdrs, and 5.5" artillery. The Crocs made his list Auto-attack.
The scenario was 'Counterattack'.
I completely forgot to take pictures of round two. Mark won this 6-1, after comprehensively assaulting me off the objective.
Suffice it to say, I was not prepared for defending with mobile reserves. With hindsight, it would have been better to have the King Tigers on the table, rather than in reserve, as they could have hurt the Churchill Crocodiles through their front armour, unlike the Tiger Is.
Game Three
Game three was against Mark Atwell (
whose blog you can find here), who was running US 2nd Infantry Division from Devil's Charge.
Mark had 2 platoons of infantry, 105mm artillery, 155mm artillery (with an AOP for spotting duties), AT platoon of 3 bazookas and a command stand, Cavalry Recon patrol, 4 Stuarts and 4 M36 Jackson TDs.
The scenario was 'Hold the Line'. Mark deployed His two infantry platoons, 105mm and 155mm artillery. I deployed everything :)
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| I line my tanks up, nothing subtle about what I intend to achieve.... |
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| The whole table |
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| Mark's larger platoon guarding the near objective from the safety of a wood |
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| His artillery are right on the back line |
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| The Germans move forward |
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| And start to pore MG shots into the infantry, pinning them |
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| The Tigers move forward cautiously, but there is nowhere to hide from that AOP |
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| 155s take out a King Tiger |
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| The Halftracks go in for an assault, sending the Americans back, but bog on their way back out of the woods |
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| The Tigers then have a go, but are bailed by defensive fire |
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| Capturing the close objective meant dealing with this infantry platoon, so everyone commits |
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| Another assault goes in |
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| Eventually an assault forces the infantry out of the woods |
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| M36 Jacksons appear down the road, and take a relatively light toll on the Tigers. |
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| Who respond by destroying two and bailing the others, who promptly flee the field |
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| Two Time on Target bombardments and a platoon of Stuarts make mincemeat of the Panzergrenadiers and Panzer IIIs, taking two platoons out in one turn |
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| More shooting causes the infantry platoon contesting the objective to flee |
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| And his reserves aren't able to get close enough to contest it. |
Another great game, I won this one 4-3, but Mark's artillery made me pay for every inch of ground I took. It is interesting to play against, instead of with American forces. I'm not sure I would have brought the M36s straight on, instead of using the Security Section to try and find a more favourable ambush location, but Mark had to do something to try and contain the Tigers, and some better luck with his M36's guns he would have done.
I finished the day very tired, but with two wins to my name.
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