Sunday, September 12, 2021

Late War Event on USS Hornet

There was a Late War 105 point event on the USS Hornet last month, four rounds over two days so that we all had a chance to check out the museum.  I brought an Armored Panzergrenadier list and didn't expect much out of it, since I had only played once since the pandemic hit. 


Here's my list:


In Round One I faced a British force with six Churchill Crocodiles and a bunch of Achilles.

My opponent ran the Crocs up and sat in front of my troops and blasted flamethrowers at me until I died.  
I was able to destroy the Universal Carriers.

I tried to get flank shots, since nothing in my army could kill them, but it wasn't happening.  1-8 loss.

Crocodiles are never fun to face, and even less so when only your Panthers can kill them and they never arrive from reserve.  Round Two was against a Finnish all-infantry force.

Finns preparing for an assault.  1-8 loss, but I felt better about it.

I managed to hold out for a bit, but once they unpinned it was repeated assaults from multiple angles.  Again, my reserves failed arrive in time to matter.  Round Three saw me matched up against a very new player with US Rifles.

My infantry were aggressive, and I was able to do some damage against the Rifles in the center.

The Marders managed to keep the M10s busy from long range.


My opponent's main attack came at my artillery and PaKs, but I held them off.  Time was called as my reserves arrived, 2-2 draw.

If I had gotten more than four turns I feel like I could've gotten a win in this one, but it wasn't to be...
In Round Four I faced another Finnish army, this time with mostly tanks.

Panthers holding the center, while the infantry advance.

For the first time all weekend I didn't have reserves, and it showed.  The Panthers went to work, destroying T-34/85s at range, and T-26s up close as they tried to flank.  Casualties were high on both sides, but I finally got a win, 4-3.

The event was fantastic, and I never expected to do very well.  Panthers are overpriced in V4 and I only brought them because my Panzer IV/70s weren't painted yet, but the rest of the list did ok.  I learned that you need to have a good plan for reserves, and a plan for killing Crocs, but this game continues to feel like a giant Rock-Paper-Scissors match.