Finished 1 day of this CG with Paul Sidhu. It was to say the least, very interesting. We decided to play this one with no house rules to see how it would play out.
I think both of us surprised the other with our purchases since NEITHER of us bought any infantry.
I bought AG1, AG3, and AH2. Basically Mk4s, Stugs, and Italian tanks. Paul bought 150 OBA with OBO and prereg, prereg for the starting module, T34-85 tanks, and FBs at 1 pt. I had the ACM deplete, and Paul had no losses due to depletion.
Here is my setup:
View attachment 35882
I had an Italian tank in A34, A30, and I39. My Stugs were in E30 and O38 (hip). My Mk4s were in F31, C30, and N39(10-2 AL and hip). The 75L was in N30L2, the 76L in D30, the 40L in O39, and the Mtrs in T39 and X38. The 9-1/2HMGs were in Q36L1. Wire was in B30, C31, and D31 and minefields were in C30 and F31.
All in all, I thought it was a very nasty defense. However, I didn't count on the 150 OBA! I thought Paul would buy an INF coy of some sort.
Turn 1, Paul drops the 150 as a barrage in H29 and pulls the extra black to land it. Fortunately, I knew Paul had seen my sample setup and I had moved the 75L from its original position. So this barrage did nothing except to break and ELR the 8-1/447v/MMG in E30L2 and reveal the Stug while creating misc shellholes. The 80 OBA was pre-reg'd in E34 but drifted to F33 as smoke.
Paul uses 2 T34s to attack the Italian tank in A34 and managed to kill it with a low odds advancing fire shot rolling a 4. The tank did kill a 628 who got too aggressive and ran into 8 resid trying to place a DC. The rest of the turn passed with small losses on both sides.
Turn 2 became interesting. Paul moved 2 T34s to A31 and A32 trying to challenge my A30 and C30 tanks. My C30 tank managed to shock his 8-1 AL tank in A32 and a Pak40 from N30L2 took care of the A31 tank. My E30 Stug also turned to face them. Paul moved 2 tanks in LOS of the Mk4 in F31 behind 2 smoke hexes (+4 hindrance). The 150 OBA had started a flame in the hex in the previous turn (and also destroyed the minefield) so I decided to take a calculated risk and move it instead of prep-firing. Paul's tanks needed a 4 to hit, and he managed to kill it in F32. That rather sucked. I reveal the 10-2 AL tank in N39 but didn't realize that his target was blocked by smoke. This almost cost me dearly.
Turn 3, Paul got his FBs! Paul moved forward his infantry aggressively and was beaten back from the HMG in A26L2, the 76L in D30, and the squads I had in the area. He challenged my Stug in E30 which was facing the wrong way. As I tried to shoot them, I bogged! All of a sudden it was facing the wrong way and had 3 tanks staring down at it. My Pak40 took out 1 tank, but I still had 2 in my face. I used my SD, got started and unbogged and turned to face him. He needed 5 to hit in prepfire and managed to nail this Stug as well. His 150 rolled snakeeyes and killed the Mk4 in C30 (destroying the minefield in the process) and a crappy 6+2 advancing fire shot broke the gun crew in D30. All of a sudden, the defense which looked so solid looked like Swiss cheese. His 8-1 AL tank managed to recover from UK, but I revealed a HIP 237/PSK in A30L1 and killed it at the cost of breaking myself. My Pak40 killed yet another tank. Some excitement occurred when Paul used all 3 FBs on the tank in N39. I shot down the first one with a 3, but malfed the 40L at the 2nd one. My tank bounced 2 or 3 MG shots and thankfully the bombs missed. His 150 OBA clears 2 wires.
Turn 4, the 150 OBA finally draws a red. There is a ton of smoke everywhere from burning buildings and blazing wrecks. I am barely hanging on due to the Italian tank in A30, the Pak40 in N30L2, and the killstack in Q36L1. The HMG in A26L2 also does awesome work when it rolls snakeeyes on 8+1 on a stack of leader and 3 squads and RS gets the leader and 2 of the squads. And the HMG was fired by a conscript! It did break the next shot but managed to repair it. I fire into a melee with a 628 and 247v and break both units, but Paul's FBs manage to break my squad before I could advance in and kill the 628. Net result is both of us survive.
Turn 5, Paul pushes forward slowly. He's making incremental progress at the cost of some heavy infantry casualties. My killstack is earning its pay although it does break a HMG but immediately repairs it. Paul drives a tank in E29 in bypass to freeze a 237/mmg. And then Paul launches his FBs on the tank in A30 and burns it with a snakeeyes on the results! I get a measure of revenge when a 8-1/467 advances in and kills his E29 tank after finding ATMM. The game does not end.
Turn 6, Paul takes some key hexes. He has C30, D30, E30, F31, G31, and G35. I get overagressive in attacking some of Paul's units in CC and lose 1.5 347s for no result and give Paul a psk as well. An epic disaster occurs when the 75L malfs on the last shot! The game ends.
Here is the map of the end game after all blaze spreads and rubbling:
View attachment 35887
Russian losses were:
5 T34-85s with 8-1 AL. 1 crew survived. The 6th T34 is immobilized in A31.
9 Squads, 8-1, 8-0. 56 total CVP. The Russians have 15 total squads left but they do have a 9-2.
Axis losses were:
2 Mk4s, 1 Stug, 2 Italian tanks
6.5 squads, 8-0, 228, 40L, 75L. 48 CVP. The Axis have 22.5 squads left with a 9-1 as their best leader. I do have a Mk4, Stug, Italian tank, and 2 81 Mtrs left. It's interesting that during the scenario, I broke the 75L, 40L, both Mtrs, German HMG, and Hungarian HMG and repaired everything except the 75L and 40L.
During refit, I BH'd 2 467 to 468 and a 7-0 to 8-0. Paul BH'd a 7-0 to 8-0. I chose a night assault, so I have 13 GCPP and 3 SCPP and Paul has 9 GCPP and 3 SCPP. My ELR increased! So now it's 4 for everyone except Hungarian non-elites where it is 3. AS did not increase.
As an overview, I think Paul's 150 OBA was the difference maker. If he had bought an infantry coy and 'standard' purchases, I think he would've been stuffed by the tank/gun line. The cost is that he has far less infantry than usual as do I. I outnumber him significantly, but he has a quality advantage with 8.5 of his 15 squads being Elite.
The night assault should be fairly interesting. There is going to be a lot of illumination and it should spread even further with Heavy Winds in effect.
I think both of us surprised the other with our purchases since NEITHER of us bought any infantry.
I bought AG1, AG3, and AH2. Basically Mk4s, Stugs, and Italian tanks. Paul bought 150 OBA with OBO and prereg, prereg for the starting module, T34-85 tanks, and FBs at 1 pt. I had the ACM deplete, and Paul had no losses due to depletion.
Here is my setup:
View attachment 35882
I had an Italian tank in A34, A30, and I39. My Stugs were in E30 and O38 (hip). My Mk4s were in F31, C30, and N39(10-2 AL and hip). The 75L was in N30L2, the 76L in D30, the 40L in O39, and the Mtrs in T39 and X38. The 9-1/2HMGs were in Q36L1. Wire was in B30, C31, and D31 and minefields were in C30 and F31.
All in all, I thought it was a very nasty defense. However, I didn't count on the 150 OBA! I thought Paul would buy an INF coy of some sort.
Turn 1, Paul drops the 150 as a barrage in H29 and pulls the extra black to land it. Fortunately, I knew Paul had seen my sample setup and I had moved the 75L from its original position. So this barrage did nothing except to break and ELR the 8-1/447v/MMG in E30L2 and reveal the Stug while creating misc shellholes. The 80 OBA was pre-reg'd in E34 but drifted to F33 as smoke.
Paul uses 2 T34s to attack the Italian tank in A34 and managed to kill it with a low odds advancing fire shot rolling a 4. The tank did kill a 628 who got too aggressive and ran into 8 resid trying to place a DC. The rest of the turn passed with small losses on both sides.
Turn 2 became interesting. Paul moved 2 T34s to A31 and A32 trying to challenge my A30 and C30 tanks. My C30 tank managed to shock his 8-1 AL tank in A32 and a Pak40 from N30L2 took care of the A31 tank. My E30 Stug also turned to face them. Paul moved 2 tanks in LOS of the Mk4 in F31 behind 2 smoke hexes (+4 hindrance). The 150 OBA had started a flame in the hex in the previous turn (and also destroyed the minefield) so I decided to take a calculated risk and move it instead of prep-firing. Paul's tanks needed a 4 to hit, and he managed to kill it in F32. That rather sucked. I reveal the 10-2 AL tank in N39 but didn't realize that his target was blocked by smoke. This almost cost me dearly.
Turn 3, Paul got his FBs! Paul moved forward his infantry aggressively and was beaten back from the HMG in A26L2, the 76L in D30, and the squads I had in the area. He challenged my Stug in E30 which was facing the wrong way. As I tried to shoot them, I bogged! All of a sudden it was facing the wrong way and had 3 tanks staring down at it. My Pak40 took out 1 tank, but I still had 2 in my face. I used my SD, got started and unbogged and turned to face him. He needed 5 to hit in prepfire and managed to nail this Stug as well. His 150 rolled snakeeyes and killed the Mk4 in C30 (destroying the minefield in the process) and a crappy 6+2 advancing fire shot broke the gun crew in D30. All of a sudden, the defense which looked so solid looked like Swiss cheese. His 8-1 AL tank managed to recover from UK, but I revealed a HIP 237/PSK in A30L1 and killed it at the cost of breaking myself. My Pak40 killed yet another tank. Some excitement occurred when Paul used all 3 FBs on the tank in N39. I shot down the first one with a 3, but malfed the 40L at the 2nd one. My tank bounced 2 or 3 MG shots and thankfully the bombs missed. His 150 OBA clears 2 wires.
Turn 4, the 150 OBA finally draws a red. There is a ton of smoke everywhere from burning buildings and blazing wrecks. I am barely hanging on due to the Italian tank in A30, the Pak40 in N30L2, and the killstack in Q36L1. The HMG in A26L2 also does awesome work when it rolls snakeeyes on 8+1 on a stack of leader and 3 squads and RS gets the leader and 2 of the squads. And the HMG was fired by a conscript! It did break the next shot but managed to repair it. I fire into a melee with a 628 and 247v and break both units, but Paul's FBs manage to break my squad before I could advance in and kill the 628. Net result is both of us survive.
Turn 5, Paul pushes forward slowly. He's making incremental progress at the cost of some heavy infantry casualties. My killstack is earning its pay although it does break a HMG but immediately repairs it. Paul drives a tank in E29 in bypass to freeze a 237/mmg. And then Paul launches his FBs on the tank in A30 and burns it with a snakeeyes on the results! I get a measure of revenge when a 8-1/467 advances in and kills his E29 tank after finding ATMM. The game does not end.
Turn 6, Paul takes some key hexes. He has C30, D30, E30, F31, G31, and G35. I get overagressive in attacking some of Paul's units in CC and lose 1.5 347s for no result and give Paul a psk as well. An epic disaster occurs when the 75L malfs on the last shot! The game ends.
Here is the map of the end game after all blaze spreads and rubbling:
View attachment 35887
Russian losses were:
5 T34-85s with 8-1 AL. 1 crew survived. The 6th T34 is immobilized in A31.
9 Squads, 8-1, 8-0. 56 total CVP. The Russians have 15 total squads left but they do have a 9-2.
Axis losses were:
2 Mk4s, 1 Stug, 2 Italian tanks
6.5 squads, 8-0, 228, 40L, 75L. 48 CVP. The Axis have 22.5 squads left with a 9-1 as their best leader. I do have a Mk4, Stug, Italian tank, and 2 81 Mtrs left. It's interesting that during the scenario, I broke the 75L, 40L, both Mtrs, German HMG, and Hungarian HMG and repaired everything except the 75L and 40L.
During refit, I BH'd 2 467 to 468 and a 7-0 to 8-0. Paul BH'd a 7-0 to 8-0. I chose a night assault, so I have 13 GCPP and 3 SCPP and Paul has 9 GCPP and 3 SCPP. My ELR increased! So now it's 4 for everyone except Hungarian non-elites where it is 3. AS did not increase.
As an overview, I think Paul's 150 OBA was the difference maker. If he had bought an infantry coy and 'standard' purchases, I think he would've been stuffed by the tank/gun line. The cost is that he has far less infantry than usual as do I. I outnumber him significantly, but he has a quality advantage with 8.5 of his 15 squads being Elite.
The night assault should be fairly interesting. There is going to be a lot of illumination and it should spread even further with Heavy Winds in effect.
