Historicon Report- pt. 2

The doubles event was a ton of fun but the main event for the weekend was the Nationals tournament, 1780 Late War.  I brought the fortified Cassino FJs hoping to turn the US infantry lists around and make them attack me.  Best laid plans and all that...  Having said that, I faced zero US lists in six rounds fighting Soviet, Finnish, German, British, British and another German list.

Round One was over so fast I didn't get any pictures.  Encounter against Soviets.  31 T-34/76s came screaming at me before any reserves arrived and quickly put me out of my misery... 1-6.
Round Two was Cauldron vs. an Allied Finnish infantry list supported by heavy artillery, Panzer IVs, T-34/85s and AA.  My opponents random deployment really hurt him as his Heavy Artillery were forced to deploy in the open quarter opposite of any support.  When my reserves finally showed up they were in a good position to do some damage.  5-2 for me.
Round Three was against Dennis ' beautiful 21. Panzergrenadiers and a pile of french funnies in Pincer.  The first turn really hurt the panzergrenadiers and the Stugs coming from reserve could have really done some damage to the lightly armored Buetes so the advance was stalled until they arrived.  When they arrived they were able to finish off the panzergrenadiers while the FJs in reserve cut off the Buete Stugs.  6-1 for me against a very great opponent with an awesome army.

I was able to salvage the rest of day one ending with 12 points.  Could I just maybe crawl back into contention?

Round Four was Counterattack against some Night Assaulting British Paras supported by a crazy amount of guns.  The FJs moved to secure the open objective but were quickly pinned down by artillery.  They were never able to unpin and were hammered mercilessly by artillery before getting assaulted by some engineers.  Stugs were unable to get into position to contest and I lost 1-6.
Round Five was against Ben and his pizza box of hard hitting artillery in Hold the Line.  I thought I'd be clever and ambush both infantry platoons but the forgotten about AOP prevented them from starting near the objective.  Huge templates crushed my hopes and my FJs.  Another 1-6 for me.
Round Six was Free For All against another expertly painted army, Todd's SS Panzergrenadiers.  He had some Sturmtigers, Jagdpanzer IV/70s and some flame Hetzers all charging at one flank while I tried to get my FJs across to his.  Speed lies with armor (even slow armor) and he kicked me off of mine before I could do any real damage on his sid eof the board.  Another 1-6.

To answer my previous question, NO, I could not even get a point, haha.  Day two was by far the worst day points wise that I have ever had playing Flames of War but I have to say I still had a fantastic time and all of my opponents were great guys.  I'm not sure if I'll make it back to Historicon next year but I think I'll definately try.

The cauldron.  Nebs and large FJ platoon hold the objectives while the Marders ambush secures the side that the Fins are attacking from.  Ju-88s attempt to range in but my flak nest shoots them down several turns in a row.

Random deployment drops an infantry platoon and some Panzer IVs on this side so my Marders ambush to defend.

His 15cm artillery deployed on this side and had no cover.  A lucky HMG bunker happened to be in range of them and ultimately killed them, rolling long range shots and getting 6s for FP.  T-34s arrived turn one from reserve.

My Stugs don't arrive until turn six but are able to break the Panzer platoon before tuning to engage the T-34s.  I'm able to break my opponents company and lost only the Marders, though I did have a few others rolling for motivation.

Dennis got a little crazy and doubled his halftracked infantry up one side but about half of them broke down.  I think he must have forgotten about the Marders in ambush as they were able to gut one platoon before the Nebs hit the other.  At the end of turn one two infantry platoons were under half strength and it was now up to the Buete Stugs to carry the attack forward.  

The objective area held by Nebs and FJs. 

Dennis' artillery park and some 7.5cm PaK halftracks.

Round five vs. 51st Highlanders and a huge artillery party.  Ugh.

Can my FJs get across the board and do some damage?  Almost.

Flame Hetzers hetzing all over my face.