Gauntlet Con Tournament

This past weekend a new historical gaming convention was held here in Sacramento, The Gauntlet.  We had 10 players for a Mid War 109 point warm-up for West Coast Nationals in Las Vegas.  I brought an Armored Panzergrenadier list from Ghost Panzers, with the Reconnaissance Company build card to represent a Gepanzerte Aufklärungskompanie.

In Round One I played against Mason and his Churchill Armoured Squadron in Counterattack.

Mason's Churchills made broad advance supported by armored cars.  My Nebelwerfers and Mortars concentrate on the 25 pounder battery.

My defense, Panzergranadiers and artillery.  

My other objective was defended by Assault Pioneers and Sd Kfz 231s, but the Panthers arrive quickly from reserve.

Once the Churchills get closer I ambush with the Marders, knocking out several.

The Panthers blunt the Churchills that were threatening the right objective, and knock out a few armored cars as well.

Once the Panthers arrived the Churchills were in trouble.  I was able to knock out all of his formation units and win 8-1.

My second game was against Clive and a combined US Armored Rifle Company and British Crusader Armoured Squadron.  I would be attacking in Breakthrough.

I push forward out of the pre-plotted artillery area, but can't go much further since the Armored Rifles are Regulars and in a fortified building.  The halftracks are lurking as well.  A whole Crusader Squadron is waiting in reserve as well. 

My Panthers and Armored Infantry try to work around the fortified church, but 6 pounders ambush the halftracks, knocking them all out.  I lost half of my unit as well.

Half of a second Armored Rifle unit would support the anti-tank guns and my attack would stall due to the firepower concentrated in this area.  

My Assault Pioniers came in from flank attack, but while my flamethrowers killed a pair of supporting jeeps, they couldn't hurt the halftracks.  I couldn't immediately assault them due to the volume of fire, and the spread out Armored Rifle would quickly move to reinforce the objective.

We would time out to a 1-3 draw, I lost both Panzergrenadier platoons and the Marders, while only destroying an Armored Recon unit, but my Pioniers were still sitting near his objective.  Looking back I should have sent a second unit in the flank attack.

My last game was against Sam and his British Motor Company, attacking in No Retreat.

I moved aggressively forward towards the front objective, which was hiding behind Sam's dice tower, with my Pioniers and infantry.  Nebelwerfers and Panthers would knock one of Sam's 25 pounder batteries down to a single gun.

The Pioniers move through the minefields, and assault a Motor platoon out of the trees, then clear some of the mines to allow the half-tracks to follow.  More infantry and armored cars advance forward by turn three.

Unfortunately, Sam had a Motor platoon in ambush, and they showed up close enough to move into the houses near the objective.  M-10s and Universal Carriers would come in from reserve soon after, to reinforce the objective, and the Brits even captured one of my 231 armored cars! One last desperate attempt to throw off the defenders would see me pushed back by defensive fire from my own armored car...

Well, another draw, this time 3-3.  I destroyed a Motor platoon and two units of Universal Carriers, while Sam chased off my Marders, Panthers, Pioniers, and armored cars.  So close to a victory, but not quite.

Overall, a good event and I enjoyed playing this list.  Top score was 17 points, as everyone had at least one draw, and my 12 points were good enough for third place.  I predict that there will be lots of draws at Nationals at this high point level.