Worlds cheapest, easiest 2000pt FOW army pt3

So my Panther company took the table last night against Cpt Paul Winter and his British 8th Army Rifle Company.

Paul is a great guy and a very accomplished wargamer. The combined arms list he brought was tough but allowed both side to have a chance of victory. A perfect test for my Panthers.

First off, I would like to thank Paul for his hospitality and his impressive FOW table and terrain. It made for a very entertaining game and highlighted that we need to get more terrain like this for the Chelmsford Bunker, where both Paul and I play and are committee members.

The lists:

MW German Panther Company

Company HQ - 2 Panther d

Combat Platoon - 4 x Panthers d

Combat Platoon - 4 x Panthers d

Divisional Support - Sporadic Messerschmidt

Exactly 2000pts

vs

MW British 8th Army Rifle Company

Company HQ

Infantry Platoon -3 Squads + Piat
Infantry Platoon -3 Squads + Piat
Infantry Platoon -3 Squads + Piat

4 x 17pdrs
4 x 25pdrs
4 x 5.5's
3 x Shermans
4 x Bedfords

The scenario:

We rolled for a random scenario and got Breakthrough (pg 286). Paul would be the defender with prepared  positions and reserves, and I had the delayed reserves rule as the attacker. 

Left hand side of board

Right hand side of board

Deployment:
I choose to attack the SW corner and deploy in the NE corner, I also split my Panthers into 3 units using the Kampfgruppe rule. I now had 4 Panthers with CC, 3 Panthers and finally 3 Panther including 2ic. I put the 3 Panthers with the 2ic into delayed reserve.

Paul put most of his stuff in the NW corner with a single infantry platoon and the 25pdrs in the SE. He put the Bedfords and Shermans in reserve. 

(NE) the magnificent seven

(SE) 25pdrs and third infantry platoon in a house

(NW) first infantry platoon, 17pdrs and 5.5's

Second infantry platoon in the centre with a spotter in the tower (bad photo!)

 

The game:

G1 - Having first turn I move both units of Panthers to go at the four 25pdrs in the bottom right corner, hoping to break them quickly and then speed along the bottom table edge to the objectives. They killed one gun and the little transport attachment. My plane rolled well and killed the unit commander of the 17pdrs. Nice quick turn.

B1 - No reserves came on. Paul used bombardments on both his 25pdrs and 5.5's, and even though they hit pretty hard and are very accurate, my tanks came out unscathed. He moved an infantry platoon at the double towards the objective nearest the bottom left corner and another towards the second objective.

G2 - Both Panther platoons continued to blast away at the 25pdrs but did nothing except pin them. The plane on the other hand absolutely devastated the infantry platoon who foolishly moved at the double, killing six stands including the 2ic and leaving them with about five stands alive.

B2 - The Shermans came on from reserve in the top left corner and advanced along the top table edge towards the Panthers. The decimated infantry platoon dug into the objective and the second infantry platoon managed to reach it's objective safely. In a repeat of the previous turns shooting Paul managed to bail a tank. I felt my luck was starting to run a bit thin as his bombardments were strength 4 and 5 against my top armour of 1 but my guys still held on in there.

G3 - Still no reserves. I sent the platoon of 3 Panthers to engage the Shermans and left the unit of 4, which had the company command (CC), to finish off the 25pdrs. They shot up the unit and killed a gun and the command team and then assaulted. I had underestimated the defensive fire of the guns on my side armour of 5 and had a tank bailed but managed to press on with the attack. After a short struggle the one remaining gun and staff team broke and ran but stayed in the game. The planes failed to show up this turn.

B3 - Paul's final reserves showed up and his four Bedfords can in top right and barrelled along the road from north to south. The Shermans ran back away from the 3 Panthers. The second infantry platoon dug into the second objective (bad news for me). His third infantry platoon jumped from building to building. The guns opened up again and bailed two Panthers this turn.

G4 - Still no reserves. Plane also failed to arrive. My 3 Panthers moved and fired on the Shermans and Bedfords and did squat, my unit of 4 Panthers tried to finish off the remaining 25pdr with shooting and failed due to the gunshield. Poor show by the Germans this turn but we had reached turn 4 unscathed.

B4 - Paul was in just good shape defensively and so just carried on with his plan. The 17pdrs could now shoot on the 3 Panthers and gave them quite a scare and the annoying single 25pdr was causing problems by being in the rear of my 4 Panthers but my army came out unscathed from this turn. His Shermans moved south towards the objectives and he also tried to building hop again with the third infantry platoon but got caught with 7 stands in the open.

G5 - Finally the reserves showed up in the bottom left corner, 2ic plus 2 Panthers, a couple of turns too late really. That 2ic is in trouble when we get back to barracks. Again the plane was MIA. The 2ic moved forward to blast the 5.5's in the Flank, killing one gun. The 4 Panthers moved forward to shoot the infantry platoon holding the second objective, achieving a pin but this exposed their rear to that annoying single 25pdr. Finally, the 3 Panthers moved back south and opened up on the third infantry platoon killing 6 stands and leaving them with only 3 stands alive. A decent turn for the Germans.

B5 - Paul opened up with his 5.5pdrs firing direct into the 2ic's 3 Panthers and popped one, those thing hit hard. His 17pdrs shot 8 times at the same unit and bailed one. That left the 2ic on his own to face an infantry assault from the infantry platoon holding the first objective, he held them off but failed his morale check and fled causing the bailed out tank to be destroyed. He also then failed his check for casualties and so the unit bugged out.
Not much else happened this turn. The Bedfords drove off the board.

G6 - I now needed to stay within 16"s of the objectives to stay in the game. All my remaining tanks headed towards the objectives. The 4 Panthers gunned down the infantry platoon who had assaulted and they bugged out, they also killed a Sherman. The other 3 Panthers pinned down the infantry platoon on the second objective. The plane arrived and killed one of the 17pdrs.

B6 - Paul directed everything at the 4 Panthers and managed to bail two of them, he then assaulted one of them with the second infantry platoon. Pillow fight ensued and I broke off but it cost me the bailed tanks.

G7 - All 5 remaining Panthers opened up on the unit that had assaulted and vaporised them. What was left ran off the table. Both objectives were pretty open now with just 2 Shermans to protect them.

B7 - A decent turn offensively that proved decisive. Paul killed a single Panther from the unit with the CC and another from the unit with 3 Panthers. He then moved the Shermans to contest the objectives and the remaining three stands of the third infantry platoon towards the objectives. My CC made his morale test for casualties this turn but.....

G8 - Failed my man alone test for the Company Command tank, fell below half strength and so had to check for Company morale and couldn't, so game to Paul. 

If only I had listened to Warmaster Erik Cooper and kept my army as 2 units. Each unit would have either the CC or 2ic in them, and I would almost never have to take a Company Morale check. I would have had a decent chance of a win but the fancy Kampfgruppe rules suckered me and losing both units with the HQ's in them left me running scared. You live and learn.

Edit before even published! - Just read that my lone tank doesn't take test for being left on his own. Silly me. The rule is for Sole Surviving infantry teams pg 176. The game would have been close had I got one more turn, maybe I could have even snatched a win! 

I had three Panthers left and only a couple of Shermans to deal with. So, after moving the CC to hold objective one, using the trees to shield it from the 5.5's directly and the other two Panthers already contesting objective two, I could have concentrated 5 shots on the two Shermans.
 

End of game @ objective one in the (SW)

End of game @ objective two in (SW)SE)

End of game (SE), remains of third infantry platoon and that damned single surviving 25pdr

End of game (NW), those bad boy 5.5's should have killed earlier

The aftermath:
I can say with total confidence that I have never had such a cheap and easy army to get ready for the table, 7 hours and £33 pounds. 

They are quick and easy to use and will have some very good and very bad match ups, but generally should stay in most games for a decent time.

I hope to play a second game soon against Erik Cooper's Russian Guards tank company and will try and write the result up afterwards.

Worlds cheapest, easiest 2000pt FOW army pt2

 A box of Plastic Soldier Panther d's

So part 2 of this blog is around what I find the hardest part of the hobby. 

Let me speak frankly, I find modelling and painting a bit of a chore. Of course seeing your painted stuff on the table is a blast, who doesn't like that feeling? However, the only enjoyment I get while actually modelling and painting is found trying to get it done quicker and easier than before.


So how did the army go together? 

Lets start with the Panthers.

The instruction were nice and clear, and although there were a lot of parts, most of them require very little preparation apart from removing them from the sprue.

Two bits proved quite annoying to fix and they were the smoke launchers and the pipe on the left side of the tank. The launchers were just a bit fiddly to separate and then too small to get a good grip on them to attach. The pipe was difficult because I found it hard to get it to locate and sit in the two joining points provided. I am sure these issues are because of the 15mm scale.

The first tank took me about 30 minutes to assemble and by the last one, I was down to about 16 minutes per tank from untouched frame to complete tank. So probably about 3 hours of work all in.

I must mention here that I use Humbrol liquid poly cement in a bottle with a brush. God this stuff is cheap and brilliant to use. Get some, you won't look back. 

Find some and buy it!

The Zvezda plane was an absolute breeze to put together. It took about 5 minutes from start to finish. You can even make it without glue if you want but I glued it anyway. 



The hardest bit - Painting

I wanted a quick, tabletop finish for my army and so used Army Painter Leather Brown primer. I like Army Painter stuff but have had some issues in the past with their primers. Remember to shake them properly before use.

I then did three coats of Vallejo Green Ochre 70.914 on the tanks and used Gunmetal 72.054 on the tracks, spade etc and Beige Brown 70.875 on the wooden shafts. As for the crew and officers I used German Camo Dark Green 70.979, German Fieldgrey 70.830 and Pale Flesh 72.003.

Two coats of GW Devlan Mud wash on everything but the Gunmetal, which got a coat of Badab Black wash.

The washing still looks a bit patchy (dirty?) but I think that is as much about my lack of technique as anything. Probably 3 hours spent on painting the tanks. They need decals really to finish them off but I don't have any yet.

 Three of the ten finished Panthers

The plane was undercoated black by hand and then lots of coats of German Fieldgrey later it was good to go. The nose was Heavy Goldbrown 72.151 and the metal parts Gunmetal 72.054. Washed the plane with twice with GW Thraka Green, Gryphonne Sepia and Badab Black respectively. The decals provided with the plane went on easy. 30 minutes total spent on painting the plane.

 The Zvezda Messerschmidt (sorry the picture is so dark)

So after less than seven hours work the army is ready for action.

Next in part 3, the fun stuff, gaming.