Monthly Archives: May 2014

FE27 The Bravest Thing I Ever Saw

This scenario from Fanatic Enterprises describes a situation in Bataan in January 6 1942.  The Americans fought a delaying action that saw the gunners from both sides exchange shells for shells.  Carl Nogueira played the defending American and I the attacking IJA in this after action report (AAR).  We actually exchanged sides and played this twice, with me getting my teeth kicked in both times.  This is already the less ugly version, rated PG-13.

The side that gained the most Victory Points (VP) wins.  You can gain Casualty Victory Points normally and you gain 1 VP for controlling each Level 2 hill hexes on your opponent’s side.  The Americans set up on the bottom of the map and the IJA on the top.  We get 5 and a half turns.

01 FE27 JT2 02 CC Kill-proc

IJA Turn 2 : You can see where the IJA guns were.  Line of sight (LOS) to the American hill tops were limited due to jungle terrain.  You can also see two hidden 2nd liners to slow down any sort of American counterattack.  The big stack in the middle of the top map were two IJA medium machine gun (MMGs), but their leader, a 9-1 who’s also the best leader in the IJA order of battle (OB) was killed by a sniper early in the game.  You can see the 3 lines of IJA advance on the American side.  The left most IJA rush would have been the most threatening but I failed to capitalise on the situation properly before they got wiped out.  The middle advance would be stuck for a while and in retrospect I should have strike out through the swamp towards the right to put the squeeze on the Americans on the hill on the right of the American positions.  On the right, the IJA caught and took an American 8-0 and a squad together with it in a flurry of hand-to-hand action.  At this point I expected the American guns to be towards the bottom of the map.

02 FE27 AT3 01 Start-proc

American Turn 3 : The IJA found the first American gun on the left by walking straight into it.  There was nothing left of the squad.  The attack on the left was also wiped out and the Americans started moving towards the right.  The attack in the middle was floundering as well.  The IJA on the right kept pushing towards the bottom of the map, fully expecting to find the second American gun there.

03 FE27 AT4 01 Start-proc

American Turn 4 : The American gun on the left malfunctioned!  The IJA forced their way through the bamboo to kill the gun crew before they had a chance to fix the infernal contraption.  You can see a blotch of red on the hilltop to the right where once again, the IJA found the other American gun the wrong way.  You can also see the pair of IJA MMGs moving in during the last turn as it didn’t look like the Americans were going to make a push to the north.

04 FE27 JT5 02 CC IJA dead US CR-proc

IJA Turn 5 : The IJA troops surrounded an American 8-0 and a 2nd liner in a 3 point stance.  The IJA were of course, feeling very pleased with themselves.  There was an IJA demolition charge laying on the ground in the middle.  That was the aftermath of an IJA half squad’s attempt to blow up the American MMG stack.  On the right, the IJA made another attempt up the hill and caught more Americans in close combat.  Unfortunately this IJA half squad could only take half of the American squad with it.  On the bottom right of the map you can see the Americans on a reverse slope defence configuration, looking to get the first shot in if any IJA pop over the crest line.  The probing stack of IJA troops however decided to move back up to their leader for a last push as time was running out.

05 FE27 AT5 01 Ring of Fire-proc

American Turn 5 : The “ring of fire” on the left broke the American squad but they failed to encircle the Americans properly.  Apparently you need to fire at the target sequentially for encirclement to happen (A7.7, note to self).

06 FE27 AT5 02 Ops-proc

American Turn 5 (still) : On the left, the broken American squad surrendered and the IJA picked the weakest (a 1-2-7) amongst the trio to be the guard.  That was the last mistake they would ever make.  The American 8-0 promptly jumped on the otherwise occupied IJA half squad in close combat …

07 FE27 AT5 02 Counter Capture-proc

American Turn 5 (aftermath) : The American 8-0 singlehandedly killed the IJA guards, rescued his men and found enough weapons to rearm half of his squad.  (Note to self : encircle properly & be mindful about who’s to play guards).

08 FE27 JT6 02 Banzai DC Hero-proc

Final IJA Turn : The IJA decided that they wouldn’t go down without a proper Banzai charge.  Therefore they targeted the gun crew who ventured out to retake a hill hex.  Just to be professional about it, they even short-strawed a poor chap to be a DC hero as well!  He was well perforated, his DC satchel went flying but he drew enough fire from his “friends” for them to jump on the American gun crew.

09 FE27 JT6 03 Wounded Leader-proc

Final IJA Turn (still) : An IJA leader in the middle rushed in and tried to grab the DC pack.  He got shot and was wounded as he picked it up and he never managed to place it.

10 FE27 JT6 04 CC again-proc

Final IJA Turn (almost done) : An MMG crew from the original “Ring of Fire” caught up with the American leader and squad on the left, knives drawn …

11 FE27 JT6 05 End-proc

Final : The banzai’ing IJA came victoriously out of the close combat on the right.  The folks on the left however would be locked in perpetual mêlée.  You would know I lost the game a long time ago if you can see the huge stack of IJA casualties.  Carl was nice enough to play this through to the bitter end!!

Lessons learned:

  • When playing against the Americans, the IJA needs to make good use of the Advance Phase.  Try to move into American Line Of Sight only in the Advance Phase, and if you can stay concealed, even better.  This way the IJA don’t have to take high American firepower with “First Fire Movement in Open Ground” (FFMO) and “First Fire Non Assault Move” (FFNAM) modifiers.  If the Americans fire in the following Prep Fire, they don’t get to move away and the IJA will have a chance to fire against their low morale (US Marines excepted).
  • Don’t give prisoners to someone who might not fare well in (close) combat.
  • Encirclement : remember to fire on the target sequentially.
  • Use 7 as a gauge, if you can get a result on a 7, it’s a good choice.  Alternatively, try to move in routes that stack so much DRMs on your opponent’s shot that he/she can’t get results on a 7.
  • Don’t spread your forces too thin.  There should be reserves behind an attack to exploit results.

Other thoughts?

A44 Blocking Action at Lipki AAR

I love PTO.  However, jungles do not present decent tank country.  Too much time spent in the PTO as a newbie can result in lopsided development that is short on armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) experience.

This scenario took place near Borisov (Russia), mid-1941 – the opening stages of Barbarossa.  Elements of the 1st Moscow Motor Rifle Division was sent to block the spearhead that was Guderian’s 18th Panzer Divison.

001 Turn 2 German Rally-proc

North is on the right of the map.  The Germans deployed on the top map (west) and the Russians came in from the bottom (east).  The Russians win when they exit more than 15 victory points (VPs) off the top edge of the map between the road on the top middle to the road on the top right. The other way to win was to kill enough Germans.  The KV2 was worth 7 VPs, the T-34 was also worth 7 points and each squad was worth 2 points.  As you already know, the Russians had a KV2,  a T34 M40 and a couple of BT7s.  The Germans had a couple of PzIIIGs, a halftrack sporting a 37mm gun with a high rate of fire (I forgot about the ATR that it also carried) and a couple of halftracks with the usual machine guns.  They were backed by a 28mm antitank gun and further reinforced by a pair of PzIVEs in Turn 4.

The above was the German Turn 2.  You can see the two Panzers on the left lying in wait and hoping to get a first shot at the Russians.  The antitank gun was towed to a clump of woods near the exit for a last-ditch defence.  The half track with the 37mm gun was on the right and they could hear the speedy BT7s and a convoy of trucks rumbling towards them.

002 Turn 3 Russian Move HT37L blew up BT-7 rof-proc

 

This was the Russian Turn 3.  The T34 came up the left and the PzIIIG fired, looking to scoot behind the woods quickly afterwards.

I rolled a 1,1 .. and  a 1.  Critical Hit!!

The T34 exploded into a burning wreck, and the German tankers sat stunned as bits of Russian tank rained down.  On the right, the 37mm gun pumped shot after shot into one of the BT7 and killed it.

001 Turn 3 German Idiot Move ATR-proc

This was the German Turn 3.  I am very inexperienced in tank warfare so you won’t see an end to idiotic moves in the near term.  This was one of them. I backed a PzIIIG up over the bridge on the left in the hope of being able to get away faster when the Russian tanks appear.  Not only did I presented my rear facing to the Russians, I forgot to button up.  The tank was immediately stunned by infantry fire and then killed by a Russian antitank rifle (ATR).  Things worked out better on the right as my 37mm gun shocked the other BT7.

005 Turn 4 German DPh Capers abound-proc

This was the German Turn 4.  To the left you can see another one of my moments.  The Germans were hoping to crash a halftrack through the woods on the left, get back on the road and circle around the back of the Russian trucks on the right.  However, they realised that trail breaking took a little time and by the time the half track emerged from the woods, it was looking down the barrel of a KV2!  So instead of breaking to the right of the map, they sped towards the left to escape.  The KV2 fired but the halftrack speed and its size saved it.  The surviving BT7 recovered from its shock and killed the gun-toting halftrack.  Unfortunately the reinforcing PzIVEs arrived and got it bracketed from two directions.

008 Turn 5 Russian DFPh Truck immo-proc

This was Russian turn 5.  Our escaping halftrack on the left had a Russian ATR squad on its tail.  The KV2 on the other hand laughed and used the trail-break created by the charitable halftrack to get to the “inside line” of the Germans.  The BT7 blew out its gun in a shootout with the PzIVe on its left (which also malf’d its gun) and was killed by the PzIVe on its right.  The right PzIVe proceeded to shoot up the Russian trucks one by one.

009 Turn 5 German MPh Berserk Charge Killed by Sniper-proc

During German turn 5, one of the German half squad had a berserk moment.  They got tired of the shooting and concluded that the proper thing to do was to charge the Russian medium machine gun.  So off they went.  They ran through Defensive First Fire, then Subsequent First Fire … jumping into the MMG nest, they survived Final Protective Fire!!  “.. and THIS is how it’s done!!” they yelled.  Meanwhile, Katya, the peasant girl sniper rolled her eyes, spat and muttered “Men” before shooting up the marauding German half squad and ended the lunacy.

011 Turn 6 Russian DF KV2 moved up German shot up trucks-proc

This was Russian Turn 6.  During the last German turn, the only Panzer with a functioning gun sped into its final position while its colleague proceeded to kill all the Russian trucks with its MGs on the right of the map.  However,  the KV2 killed the halftrack that tried to escape from in front of the wooden house.  The escaping halftrack to the left survived another shot from the Russian ATR and ran.  The KV2 crew watch incredulously as the crazy halftrack ran across its covered arc.  Then it realised that KV2 can’t intensive fire.  The halftrack disappeared behind some woods.  In this turn, the KV2 followed.  I can only imagine the commotion on the halftrack as the KV2 reappeared on its “rear view mirrors”.

012 Turn 7 Russian AFPh KV2 Malf-proc

This was Russian Turn 7.  The mighty KV2 lumbered towards the goal line.  The PzIVE and the antitank gun bounced shot after shot off its front armour.  The KV2 went to a “fork” position, threatening the German truck with its rear MGs while shooting back at the antitank gun with high explosives from its terrifying “bunker busting” 152mm gun.   The antitank gun crew worked as fast as they could, dreading the massive fireball that the next moment must bring.

Then for a moment, there was silence – the 152mm gun malfunctioned.