SlyFrog
Member
A couple of still new players trying to keep learning vehicles and guns (okay, it's been over a year, but we have the memories of gnats, so we'll always be new).
We decided on Red Packets, from Beyond Valor.
A vehicle heavy scenario, with a bit of infantry (the Germans get an elite half squad with a LMG, the Russians three first line squads with motorcycles and a leader).
The Soviets have the material decision making in this one (at least in the beginning), as they can win in one of two ways. They can either exit 18 VP worth from the opposite end of the board on which they start, or they can destroy all three German vehicles. The map is bisected by a stream, with two bridges across.
The German player moves first, and I rolled the PSW 231 (8 Rad) down the northern side of the board via road, crossing the bridge and covering the long stretch of road. The SPW 251/10 also went down the north side, attempting to cover the PSW 231. The Pz IIIF, with its tracks permitting it to move more easily off road, covered the middle and southern approach, which did not have a road network and was a more urban/wooded mix.
The Soviets tried to go north, leading the way with the IAG-10-AA (probably a poor decision, as it is unable to fire its MA through the forward facing, and as it is unarmored, making it the softest Soviet vehicle target, not a good choice for the spearhead). The PSW 231 hit it before it got even a quarter of the way from the Soviet map edge, turning it into a burning wreck.
The Soviets struck back in the next few turns, however. The aggressive forward deployment of the PSW 231 spelled its doom, as three Soviet BA-6s changed course and moved around it, hitting it from the rear and causing it to join its previous victim as a fiery inferno.
Like one of those pre-school drawings of a small fish eating a smaller fish, each in turn being eaten by the next larger fish, two of the three BA-6s were themselves dispatched by the SPW 251/10 that was guarding the PSW 231 from further west, leaving one of the two as a flaming hulk. The final BA-6 of the platoon fired back, wrecking the SPW 251/10.
So, about four-five turns in, the situation was mixed - the Soviets, with only three BA-6s (still in two separate platoons) and three motorcycle squads, had lost their chance to exit 18 VP (per our calculations, 3 VPs left for each of the three vehicles, plus 2 VPs for each of the three squads plus 1 VP for the 8-0 leader gave them 16 VPs total, meaning if they exited everything at that point, they would still lose).
So the Soviets turned on the final German vehicle, which fortunately (for me) was the Pz IIIF. After having to tortuously navigate burning wrecks while in platoon movement, eating up tons of movement points, the Soviet vehicles swung around to engage the Pz IIIF, which destroyed the last of the first platoon of three that had survived to that point. After that, it was two BA-6s against one Pz IIIF, with the infantry milling about.
Realizing again that my tracked and non-platoon movement gave me a mobility advantage over the BA-6s (particularly when the roads were now covered with burning wrecks), rather than engage further, the Pz IIIF instead made a run for the Soviet side of the map. Gunning the engines (and passing my first ever ASL Bog Check), the Pz IIIF burst down into and up out of the stream, through the orchards in the middle of the map, and made a dash for freedom.
Yes, I was running away like a little girl.
Valiant Soviet motorcycle riders swarmed around, attempting to get close enough to get into CC, but the Pz IIIF machine guns mowed them down leaving more horrible carnage on the roadways.
Unfortunately, there were too many turns to run forever, and I did get cornered in the final turn. Fortunately, the flight had allowed me to set up in an extremely advantageous corridor of buildings , meaning that I was effectively able to take point blank pot shots at the BA-6s as they rounded the corner. The German armor leader (who was in the Pz IIIF, naturally) came in handy, as the first roll missed (keeping ROF), while the next two hit on the button, causing two more final, spectacular explosions.
A German victory by a narrow margin, and a fun game for both of us.
P.S. My inexperienced (like me) Soviet counterpart did not really know what to do with the infantry on motorcycles, and probably lost some momentum by dismounting them early and moving into buildings with the infantry. One possible use I saw for them was to make a mad run for the other edge of the board (given their extremely high movement rate). My opponent did make a game effort to remount and run down my tanks (after it had reached the point where it was not possible to win a Soviet victory by VP exiting), leading to what we could only imagine was some inverse Indiana Jones-like road chase, running after the Pz IIIF, only to have the poor, heroic Soviet troops mowed down by repeated German Pz IIIF machine gun fire.
We decided on Red Packets, from Beyond Valor.
A vehicle heavy scenario, with a bit of infantry (the Germans get an elite half squad with a LMG, the Russians three first line squads with motorcycles and a leader).
The Soviets have the material decision making in this one (at least in the beginning), as they can win in one of two ways. They can either exit 18 VP worth from the opposite end of the board on which they start, or they can destroy all three German vehicles. The map is bisected by a stream, with two bridges across.
The German player moves first, and I rolled the PSW 231 (8 Rad) down the northern side of the board via road, crossing the bridge and covering the long stretch of road. The SPW 251/10 also went down the north side, attempting to cover the PSW 231. The Pz IIIF, with its tracks permitting it to move more easily off road, covered the middle and southern approach, which did not have a road network and was a more urban/wooded mix.
The Soviets tried to go north, leading the way with the IAG-10-AA (probably a poor decision, as it is unable to fire its MA through the forward facing, and as it is unarmored, making it the softest Soviet vehicle target, not a good choice for the spearhead). The PSW 231 hit it before it got even a quarter of the way from the Soviet map edge, turning it into a burning wreck.
The Soviets struck back in the next few turns, however. The aggressive forward deployment of the PSW 231 spelled its doom, as three Soviet BA-6s changed course and moved around it, hitting it from the rear and causing it to join its previous victim as a fiery inferno.
Like one of those pre-school drawings of a small fish eating a smaller fish, each in turn being eaten by the next larger fish, two of the three BA-6s were themselves dispatched by the SPW 251/10 that was guarding the PSW 231 from further west, leaving one of the two as a flaming hulk. The final BA-6 of the platoon fired back, wrecking the SPW 251/10.
So, about four-five turns in, the situation was mixed - the Soviets, with only three BA-6s (still in two separate platoons) and three motorcycle squads, had lost their chance to exit 18 VP (per our calculations, 3 VPs left for each of the three vehicles, plus 2 VPs for each of the three squads plus 1 VP for the 8-0 leader gave them 16 VPs total, meaning if they exited everything at that point, they would still lose).
So the Soviets turned on the final German vehicle, which fortunately (for me) was the Pz IIIF. After having to tortuously navigate burning wrecks while in platoon movement, eating up tons of movement points, the Soviet vehicles swung around to engage the Pz IIIF, which destroyed the last of the first platoon of three that had survived to that point. After that, it was two BA-6s against one Pz IIIF, with the infantry milling about.
Realizing again that my tracked and non-platoon movement gave me a mobility advantage over the BA-6s (particularly when the roads were now covered with burning wrecks), rather than engage further, the Pz IIIF instead made a run for the Soviet side of the map. Gunning the engines (and passing my first ever ASL Bog Check), the Pz IIIF burst down into and up out of the stream, through the orchards in the middle of the map, and made a dash for freedom.
Yes, I was running away like a little girl.
Valiant Soviet motorcycle riders swarmed around, attempting to get close enough to get into CC, but the Pz IIIF machine guns mowed them down leaving more horrible carnage on the roadways.
Unfortunately, there were too many turns to run forever, and I did get cornered in the final turn. Fortunately, the flight had allowed me to set up in an extremely advantageous corridor of buildings , meaning that I was effectively able to take point blank pot shots at the BA-6s as they rounded the corner. The German armor leader (who was in the Pz IIIF, naturally) came in handy, as the first roll missed (keeping ROF), while the next two hit on the button, causing two more final, spectacular explosions.
A German victory by a narrow margin, and a fun game for both of us.
P.S. My inexperienced (like me) Soviet counterpart did not really know what to do with the infantry on motorcycles, and probably lost some momentum by dismounting them early and moving into buildings with the infantry. One possible use I saw for them was to make a mad run for the other edge of the board (given their extremely high movement rate). My opponent did make a game effort to remount and run down my tanks (after it had reached the point where it was not possible to win a Soviet victory by VP exiting), leading to what we could only imagine was some inverse Indiana Jones-like road chase, running after the Pz IIIF, only to have the poor, heroic Soviet troops mowed down by repeated German Pz IIIF machine gun fire.
