I had forces organised from the last game with Steve at the club, so rather than come up with something new, I took the same Late War British vs Late War Panzer Grenadiers.
The table is too narrow, so I will be making a fold out table top to sit on top to take it to a full 2 x 1.5 metres. Otherwise it was a good giggle. I knew that he was a Panzer nut, so I made sure he had a big cat to play with.
Unfortunately for him, the Firefly took the first shot, and that was it.. one blazing Panther. I suspect that dented his personal morale. It was all downhill for the PzGrenadiers thereafter.
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| Firefly vs Panther |
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| Stand-up fight |
Anyway - that was so much fun, he insisted on a second game, so we swapped sides, and this time, the Germans got lucky. No photographs I'm afraid, we were having too much fun.
On Sunday, I was up at Kirriemuir again.. and Steve and I had a cracking game, with myself and young James taking my new Early War French out for a run against the Germans. Black Tree Design still haven't come through with my figures, so I am afraid I was proxying my Late War Germans for an Early War 1st Wave German Force.
I used the Hasty Defence scenario from the Blitzkrieg handbook, in which the attacker has to clear two sectors, and exit a unit. Support was 6 for the French +3 for the difference in Platoon strength, and 12 for the Germans.
Unfortunately, as I had to organise both sides, the supports weren't much of a surprise. I gave the French a barbed wire emplacement, a Panhard 178 armoured car, and extra rifle grenades for the VB section. The Germans got a PanzerJager 1, a Stuka Barrage, a fixed Heavy Machine Gun and a red command dice. I'm not sure we played the Stuka attack correctly.
My colleague was very dismissive of the Panhard... but...
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| Panhard attacks! |
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| Scratch one PzJg1 |
In all fairness, the Panhard didn't destroy the PzJg, but it did knock out it's main gun (only gun!), and there was then a comedy affair, as Steve realised the only way left to him to deal with the rampant Panhard, was to try and ram it with the Paper Panzer. Unfortunately, his 'charge' fell short, and a shell from the Panhard's 25mm main gun immobilised him for the next phase.
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| Spot the Frenchman |
With the VB squad set up in the grounds of the burning chateau on their left, and the Panhard ruling the roost on the right, the French hung back, knowing the Germans had to come to them.
What actually hurt Steve in this game was that it seemed every time they suffered a casualty, it was a leader. At one stage I looked over, and (IIRC) the Germans had lost 4 men, two of whom were Junior Leaders. Steve managed to roll an amazing succession of 1's. By the end of the game, they had a Senior Leader wounded twice and three Junior Leaders dead. No luck, and the red dice kept rolling 5s and 6s, which were no use to him at all.
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| The Stuka barrage set the mansion on fire.. |
In the meantime, I have some 15mm ancients to paint for Warfare in Reading in November, and in between, hopefully, my Early War Germans will arrive, and I can also do my British Airborne. Plenty to keep me busy, and I am also planning to finish up enough terrain, mainly roads, hedges and trees so that I will have enough to do a full table.
A fun weekend. Three great games, and great fun and great opponents.
