Sunday, June 29, 2014

Mid War 1485 - Historicon Practice

Got another game in with Jake to test-drive my Historicon list one more time.  This was his first time designing a list without any assistance.  My list has two Grenadier platoons, Nebs, StuH 42s, Marder IIIs, a Scout platoon and Fw 190s.  Jake used a Grenadier list from North Africa and had two Grenadier platoons, a Scout platoon, a Pionier platoon, 15cm Nebs, 15cm infantry guns, 5cm Pak38s, a HMG platoon, an 8.8cm Flak and Priority Hs 129s.  We played Fighting Withdraw with Jake defending.

The table.  Got to use my new railroad tracks!
Turn One: I loaded the left side with everything except the Marders and pushed ahead.  The Scouts got the extra move and made it into the trees while the Grenadier platoons advanced up to the railroad burm.  StuH 42s in the lead while the Marders make their way towards the wooded hill in the center.  Shooting is uneventful, Fw 190s are intercepted.  Jake holds with everything he has, his artillery misses.
My Turn Two: Infantry continue to advance, StuH 42s can't fire... Oops.  Marders get into the trees but two Bog Down.
Jake's Turn Two: Nebs Pin Down both the Grenadiers and the Scouts but don't kill any.  He begins to move some more troops to the Objectives.
My Turn Three: The second Grenadier platoon make it to Jake's Neb observer and assault him!
Marders come over and fire on Jake's Pioniers, but miss.
Jake's Turn Three: The ambush is sprung but cannot penetrate the heavily armored StuHs.  He also withdraws his HMGs.
The view from Jake's end of the table.
Jake's Grenadiers fire on my troops in the trees, killing one and Pinning them for the rest of the game...
The Pioniers attempt to assault the Marders, but are pushed back by defensive fire.
My Turn Four: The large Grenadier platoon fires on the Paks, pinning them before assaulting them and destroying them.  
The StuHs fire on the Scouts, killing three teams.  This is the last guy here in the trees.
Jake's Turn Four: The last Scout fails his Sole Survivor check and runs.  Jake must now pull his second Grenadier platoon instead.
The 88 finally has some shots, but misses.
The Pioniers continue their aggressive march, flaming the poor Marder that was still Bogged.  The Observer jumps in his Schwimmwagen and runs for it.  They again get pushed back by defensive fire.
My Turn Five: The StuHs kill three stands from the Jake's Grenadiers on the objective, gutting the platoon.  My Grenadiers and Scouts prepare for a final assault.
Once this guy is assaulted Jake's last chanceis for his Nebs to Unpin and contest for one more turn, long enough to pull this objective, but he fails and the game is over.  6-1 for me, but it was closer than that.
If only Jake would have unpinned that Neb battery!  He only needed one turn until this objective would have been pulled, which would have forced me to turn to the center objective.  Attacking with infantry in Fighting Withdrawl is rough, but the StuHs are monsters.  Two times they killed three stands of Veteran, concealed infantry in one volley.  Guess that's why their 510 points for a pair.

3 comments:

  1. Nice report. Fighting Withdrawal often comes down to one turn between winning and losing!

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  2. 510 for two!!! Oof! Still though, after reading this and Eric's math equations it makes serious sense to take some both in MW and LW with all these annoying infantry lists running about the place.

    Nice AAR Rich. I'm taking it you have a train to ride about on your train tracks?

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  3. No train, don't expect to ever have one either. Too many dollars to get it all! StuHs are now in about every list I create, huge bang for the buck, especially in Late War.

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