I get Desperate with my Panzers! (FOW)

Over the Christmas holiday I was home in north Alabama for a few weeks, and after a few days of sitting by the fire and duck hunting I was ready for some Flames of War!

Sorry if anyone is opposed to hunting, but we don't waste much. We eat them and use the feathers for pillows.

I contacted SonBae in Huntsville and met up with some of the guys at the Foundry for a few games. After much soul searching and thought, I decided to try out a trained German Panzer Company from Desperate Measures.... This is a big change for me, as I have always felt that Veterans are well worth their points and have usually avoided trained forces. But the amount of my beloved Panzer IV/70 (A) tanks I can take in the trained list swayed me.

GAME I

My opponent for the day was Dane, and his trained American Armored Company from Blood, Guts and Glory. This is Dane's list as I remember it, but my memory is not that great.

HQ- 2 M4A3 (late) Shermans
2 platoons of Shermans with a Jumbo, a Easy 8 and 2 M4A3 (late) Shermans
a platoon of M-10 tank destroyers
2 batteries of three Priests
a Veteran Cav Recon patrol
a full Rifle Platoon
and an AOP

Making the list in Easy Army today, I can get the points to be work at 1750 but if all the M4A3 (lates) were made M4's and the Vet Cav patrol was made trained it would be very close to 1750. But we did play all the Shermans in the combat platoons as front armor 7, which will have an impact in the second game.

My list was,

Confident    Trained	Panzer Kampfgruppe (Trained) Tank Battlegroup	German Late-War
Tank Company

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Panzer Kampfgruppe HQ (Trained)  p.69	2	Panzer IV/70 (A)	205
Combat Platoons
Panzer Platoon (Trained)  p.70	4	Panzer IV/70 (A)	415
Panzer Platoon (Trained)  p.70	4	Panzer IV/70 (A)	415
Panzer Platoon (Trained)  p.70	4	Hetzer	260
Weapons Platoons
Panzer Anti-aircraft Gun Platoon (Trained)  p.71	1 1	Wirbelwind (Quad 2cm) Ostwind (3.7cm)	95
Support Platoons
Heavy Panzerspäh Platoon (Trained)  p.85	1 1	Sd Kfz 234/1 (2cm) Sd Kfz 234/4 (PaK40)	95
Volksgrenadier Platoon  Reluctant  Trained   p.88	1 4 2	Cmd Panzerfaust Assault Rifle team Panzerfaust Assault Rifle team Panzerfaust MG team	160
Air Support  p.92	3	Sporadic Air Support Ju 87G Stuka	100
Company Points:			1745

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Desperate Measures book

We rolled for missions and got Caldron with my force as the defender. I deployed both Panzer IV/70's and the Volksgrenadiers on the board. Dane started with both armored platoons and one Priest battery on the table.

I deployed the Volksgrenadiers on the right objective, backed up by a platoon of Panzer IV/70s.

Deploying a overloaded tank in a building is not a good idea, but it looks cool.

The table had good lanes of fire from the short table edges, making me worry about moving my platoons up and exposing their flanks to Dane's reserves that come on from either short edge. On the first turn I knocked out a single Sherman from both platoons but bogged my CiC in the woods.

These first few turns were marked by incredibly bad shooting on both sides. Dane shifted most of his forces to take the left objective. My Stukas did come on and knock out a Jumbo on the second turn.

I lose a Panzer IV/70 on the left and from the Easy 8 and another from his M10's which came in on my flank. But I do knock out his 2iC and spotter Sherman.

I receive my first platoon of delayed reserves, and the Hetzers come in behind the Shermans. Combined firepower knocks out one platoon and leaves just the Jumbo and Easy 8 in the last, I also knock out two M10s.

The 2iC decides to go after the Priests, alone.

In the last turn, his Easy 8 and Jumbo moved into the flanks of my Hetzers and only bailed two. I then destroyed both of them and his CiC along with the last two M10's. His company was below half and ran with no command.

It was a quick and bloody game, poor shooting was a highlight, but I simply could put out so much AT14 fire that it eventually turned the tide. Dane's rolls for reserves were also very bad.

GAME II

Dane wanted a rematch so I brought out a Veteran version of my list.

Confident    Veteran	Panzer Kampfgruppe (Veteran) Tank Battlegroup	German Late-War
Tank Company

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Panzer Kampfgruppe HQ (Veteran)  p.69	2	Panzer IV/70 (A)	270
Combat Platoons
Panzer Platoon (Veteran)  p.70	4	Panzer IV/70 (A)	540
Panzer Platoon (Veteran)  p.70	3	Hetzer	255
Panzer Platoon (Veteran)  p.70	4	Hetzer	340
Support Platoons
Grenadier Kampfgruppe Platoon (Veteran)  p.87	1 4 2	Cmd Panzerfaust Rifle/MG team Panzerfaust Rifle/MG team Weapons team	235
Air Support  p.92	3	Sporadic Air Support Ju 87G Stuka	100
Company Points:			1740

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Desperate Measures book

After my success in the first game I was probably over confident in this game.We rolled Free for All as the mission.

 I missed some of the action shots in this game since things came down to the wire. But I moved the Hetzers to the left to support the Grenadier kampfgruppe and pushed the small Hetzer platoon and Panzer IV/70's on the right. There was little cover on the left and lost my command and the Hetzers eventually, with very little to show for it, I failed four firepowers to kill the Easy 8's on the left. On the right I eventually moved up and knocked out this Sherman spotters, a priest battery and his 2iC and was working over the infantry.

Not what the grenadier kampfgruppe wants to see.

Gunfight in the open... Easy 8's killed everything.

Then in the center his M10's ambushed and destroyed the small Hetzer platoon over two turns. But my air got vengeance when a single Stuka G ranged in between buildings, survived the AA fire and hit four times with cannons, three times after re-rolling hits and destroyed two M10's.  Dane pushed up a platoon of Shermans into the center to take my objective.

Shermans on the objective.

Everything then came down to what I consider being one of the worst situations in FOW, having to shoot the opponent off the objective or losing. I moved a few grenadiers out of the foxholes to chase the slowpoke Jumbo. The the Panzer IV/70's had six long range, concelled shots at two sherman and an Easy 8. I rolled three hits, one on each, and then Dane rolled three 6's for armor saves.... with a front of 7 those rolls tied. I passed two firepowers and bailed two tanks, my grenadiers assaulted and killed the Jumbo. That left one tank active, one tank destroyed and two bailed, no moral check and Dane takes the win.

The second game was wild, with me moving aggressively and Dane's platoons maneuvering all over the board. I negated my advantage of being Veteran by getting in a shoot out in the open, but there was little terrain around the second left most objective. Overall a fun day in Huntsville with a great opponent!