War stories

Once an enemy Panzer IV which was disrupted, destroyed my IS-2 (which already had a damage on it).  He rolled ten 5’s and 6’s out of thirteen dice.  I was amazed.

Also the best match I ever had was a 600pts Russians vs 600pts German, it was 3 players vs 3 players, each using 200 points, I was on the Russian team.  In total we had about four KV-1, two T-34/85 tanks, and an IS-2.  We also had two Sturmoviks for air support.  On each KV-1 we had a Red Army Forward Observer.  We also had 8 mortars each covered by a PPSh infantry.  We totally anialated the Germans.  Each time our KV-1 tanks was within four hexes of a large enemy group, we would rain mortar fire on them.  It was horrible for them.  It helped out our infantry to move up unscathed.  I still losts lots of infatry, mostly partisans, but they did their job in harassing the enemy.

I have many, many AAM ‘war’ stories:

• In the Battle of Kursk game the armies were divded between two Russian Players (Left Flank, Right Flank), and three Germans (Army Group West, Centre, and East).
  Army Groups West and Centre (Me) struck the Russian lines in force; my Tiger Company (that’s 8 Tiger Is and 6 Veteran Tigers) was unstoppable; though mainly because the Russians forces weren’t coordinated too well).

However, many of the Russian units were apparently well dug in; a T-34/76, despite shots from my Veteran Tigers (each one which would have destroyed it), managed to hold up the Germans for 2 turns. A Russian ZIS-2 survived the entire game even though it had taken fire since turn 1, and at one point looked like it was about to be overrun by german Panzergrenadiers. Perhaps most amusing of all though, was that the Russian’s Right Flank managed to hide one of their tanks in the middle of a Panzer IV Battalion.

• There’s been quite a few cases of a single unit holding out against all odds; they just keep making cover rolls. A Ha-Go was being hit by a half-dozen bazookas to no real effect (until they managed to get into close assault range).

• Our D-Day campaign was also quite an epic, with many acts of bravery (and it’s opposite). Turn 1 the Allied airforce decides to knock out 88 positions (again I was the Germans; Gold, Sword, and Juno beaches). I knocked out HALF his airforce with my units. My ally on Omaha and Utah beaches only managed to take out a single plane.  The casualtieson the beach were horrendous, with MG fire pouring down onto the unloading higgins. Despite this, sheer numbers got the Allies to the Germans’ positions; with engineers blowing up several bunkers. Behind the beaches the paratroopers had landed, siezing several villages and towns with the aid of La Resistance; SS reinforcements purged several cities while their tanks raced ahead. However I have the shame of saying, one of the Tetrachs managed to destroy my SS Panther after it was hit by aircraft. By the time the Shermans and Churchills were over the atlantic wall our King Tiger and remaining SS-Panthers were already in position, the Allied Airforce had suffered severe attrition (to the point where our pathetic luftwaffe was a match for it), most of the cities were back under German control, but the Allies had establisahed their beachhead - only a few german strongpoints remained, and they were surrounded.

• When playing sealed games, a had opened a Veteran Rhino, while my opponent had a Guards T-34/85. We were joking that the white stripe was just a target; well when the tanks finally engaged each other his completely missed (even with the re-roll), and mine rolled all successes; damaging it that turn and destroying it the turn after. In one of the other games I was watching a Te-Ke managed to actually disrupted a King Tiger! It was prompty destroyed, and the KT didn’t suffer any more damage - but we were all impressed.

@axisfan:

Now that’s what I’m talking about!!  Thanks Mech.  I’ll have to keep the mortar thing in the back of my mind.  The Germans did’nt field anything that could have dealt with the mortars? or were they nuetralized early?

Keep the stories coming !!

Axis fan

The German side only decided to take one airplane, which was the ME-109.  Everytime it wanted to attack our mortars, the PPSh we left behind guarding our mortars would disrupt the plane (barely).  Also, a very big problem in the German strategy was that they played way too defensive.  Altogether, they must have had 8 PAK 40’s.  That by itself acounted for about 120 points, which were promply taken out with Partisans.  I got 4 of my partisans killed the first round but they managed to take out a PAK 40 and slow down a lot of infantry, so their efforts werent futile.

@Der:

• When playing sealed games, a had opened a Veteran Rhino, while my opponent had a Guards T-34/85. We were joking that the white stripe was just a target; well when the tanks finally engaged each other his completely missed (even with the re-roll), and mine rolled all successes; damaging it that turn and destroying it the turn after. In one of the other games I was watching a Te-Ke managed to actually disrupted a King Tiger! It was prompty destroyed, and the KT didn’t suffer any more damage - but we were all impressed.

A kind of similar story that I had the other day playing a mock battle between Russians and British.  My friend managed to damage my KV-1 with his Stewart.  Of course I removed it because of hulking mass and then I punished that Stewart for doing that.  :wink:

@axisfan:

How big of a map you guys use on something like that?  This seems epic in proportion.  How long does something like that take ?  I admit I’m a little envious.  This is great though.  I’m looking forward to my 1st game.  I appreciate you taking the time to share you stories.  Keep em coming.  I know I’m getting pointers from thgem and IDEAS (EVIL IDEAS) But ideas all the same.

Axis fan out

We use the 8 maps in all (4 from a starter and 4 from another starter.)  How else would we be able to fit 600 points of Russians and 600 points of Germans?  :wink: Word of advice if you play with 8 maps, be sure to check your lines of sights.  With 8 maps, it is very easy for something that has uber extended range to have perfect LOS.

Our D-Day game was done on 25 maps (5x5) and was roughly 3,000 points and done in 2 days.
Kursk was done on 24 (6x4), and was perhaps 4,000 points - though mostly armour and also took 2 days…
Battle of France on 20 (5x4), and was closer to 2,000 points and took only 1 day.

@Der:

Our D-Day game was done on 25 maps (5x5) and was roughly 3,000 points and done in 2 days.
Kursk was done on 24 (6x4), and was perhaps 4,000 points - though mostly armour and also took 2 days…
Battle of France on 20 (5x4), and was closer to 2,000 points and took only 1 day.

That dwarfs our games completely.  :-o

The Russian tanks were slaughtered but there were a few reasons for this. Firstly it was our mistake to put one new player, and one relatively unexperienced player on the Russian side while the Germans had three experienced players - we had assumed the Russians would be able to hold their own despite this but we were wrong. Secondly, perhaps because of their experience, the Russian player (West) refused to commit his tanks and concentrate his firepower. Consquently his forces were destroyed piecemiel; he held most of his T-34s in reserve.  He also had several very unlucky rolls.

The Eastern Russian player just rushed all his tanks into battle, often going to point-blank; which is actually fairly historical. Left against the Panzer Company he might have even defeated them, however since the Western player wasn’t actively opposing my Army Group Centre I was able to swing around with a platoon of Tigers and decimate him.

However we knew in the beginning that the Germans had the advantage in armour; the game wasn’t based on points but capturing several objectives which the Germans (just barely) failed to do.

We used the equivalent of a Regiment for each side, and found that it left enough room to comfortably maneuvre units. Here’s the main elements of the SS Panzer Regiment used:

Tiger Company w/ HQ
8x Tiger I
6x Veteran Tiger

Panther Platoon
5x SS Panther G

Panzer Company w/ HQ
6x Panzer IV G
2x Panzer III F
2x Elite Panzer IV D
7x SS Panzer F2

We don’t always play games of this size, in fact we often find small 50 point infantry platoon battles to be just as fun (and a little less time consuming).

Yea those Screaming Eagle Paratroopers can be a nuisamce if they are played against you.  I cant beleive one was able to take out your Panther though.  I guess it was just bad luck.  What did you attempt to take out with the Stuka?  Im sure you tried taking out the Crocodile right?  Ive had some bad experiences trying to take out the Crocodile with a Stuka before……so dont feel too bad.  :wink:

Fallschirmjager are in the next set.

Unfortunately (for the Axis) the Rangers are also out, and are quite a match for the SS-PGs. They may not be ruthless or have the raw Firepower but their re-roll is extremely useful.

I’m hoping to do a scenario using perhaps a company of them… most liekly in a pacific setting; we haven’t done anything large-scale in the Japanese theatre.

@Der:

The Russian tanks were slaughtered but there were a few reasons for this. Firstly it was our mistake to put one new player, and one relatively unexperienced player on the Russian side while the Germans had three experienced players - we had assumed the Russians would be able to hold their own despite this but we were wrong. Secondly, perhaps because of their experience, the Russian player (West) refused to commit his tanks and concentrate his firepower. Consquently his forces were destroyed piecemiel; he held most of his T-34s in reserve.  He also had several very unlucky rolls.

The Eastern Russian player just rushed all his tanks into battle, often going to point-blank; which is actually fairly historical. Left against the Panzer Company he might have even defeated them, however since the Western player wasn’t actively opposing my Army Group Centre I was able to swing around with a platoon of Tigers and decimate him.

However we knew in the beginning that the Germans had the advantage in armour; the game wasn’t based on points but capturing several objectives which the Germans (just barely) failed to do.

We used the equivalent of a Regiment for each side, and found that it left enough room to comfortably maneuvre units. Here’s the main elements of the SS Panzer Regiment used:

Tiger Company w/ HQ
8x Tiger I
6x Veteran Tiger

Panther Platoon
5x SS Panther G

Panzer Company w/ HQ
6x Panzer IV G
2x Panzer III F
2x Elite Panzer IV D
7x SS Panzer F2

We don’t always play games of this size, in fact we often find small 50 point infantry platoon battles to be just as fun (and a little less time consuming).

Im just randomly interested with what was the make up of the soviet army in ur huge krusk battle…

1 Rifle Battalion

• 12x Mosin-Nagants
• 6x PPSh SMG
• 6x PTRD-41
• 8x KMT MG
• 2x Fanatical Sniper
• 2x Cossack Captain
• 1x Hero of the Soviet Union
• 1x Commissar

1 Assault Gun Company

• 4x Su-85
• 8x Su-76M

1 Katyusha Battery

• 3x Katyusha (w/ Indirect Fire)
• 2x Red Army FO

1 Air Support

• 3x Sturmovik
• 3x Spitfire

TANK BATTALION

2 Light Tank Companies

• 16 T-70s

1 Tank Company w/ HQ

• 8x T-34/76
• 8x Soviet Grenadier

2 Heavy Tank Company, 1x HQ

• 8x KV-1
• 8x Soviet Grenadier

2 Guards Tank Platoon

• 3 Guards T-34/85

1 Sherman Tank Platoon

• 3 M4A1 Sherman (Lend-Lease)

1 Lee Platoon

• 3 M3 Lee (Lend-Lease)

3 ATG Batteries

• 9 ZIS-2 57mm