LAAR: Germans vs Brits

Folks! Griddon here with a new acronym. Light After Action Report. I had Robin (Dicehex) and Luke over last night to give them a proper introduction game into Flames of War. Robin and Luke had both played before but just not with proper miniatures at a full 1750 point late war game. Mat was away for the weekend so was kind enough to leave us with a collection of his Germans. I wrote up a mixed German list to face my 6th Guards Tank Brigade with 15ths Scots list I recently finished. Robin commanded the Panzer list and Luke debuted my Churchills playing the Brits. It worked out reasonably well as Robin has a big order in transit for his first Flames of War army and he's picked 21st Panzer Div.

The light part of this AAR is that it doesn't do a turn by turn. It just described what happened in the deployment, early, mid and late portions of the game and shows some photos of the action. Simple. 



The Lists

German Panzer List - Fortress Europe Confident Veteran
1IC, 2IC Stug G
3 Stug G
3 Panther A
1 Tiger 1E
Panzer Grenadiers, Faust
3 NW41s, PaK40
3 Sd Kfz 10/5 2cm AA Half Tracks (proxied)

6th Guards Armored with 15th Scots - Fortress Europe Confident Trained
1IC, 2IC Rifle Teams
3 full Infantry Platoons
HMG Platoon with Carriers
2 6 Pounders with Lloyd Carriers
4 M10Cs
3 Churchill VIs with Applique Armor
3 Churchill VIs, 2 with Applique Armor
8 25 Pdrs.

The mission was encounter and as such Luke was tasked with hastily defending against Robin's advancing tanks.

Deployment

Robin chose to deploy his werfers, AA trucks and his Panzergrenadiers. Luke deployed all his Infantry and his 25 pounders.

Luke sat his 25 pounders in a wheat field and placed all his Infantry in a mass securing both objectives in his sector. Robin took charge of his objectives with his Panzergrens and werfer platoon.

Early

Robin works his right flank with the 1IC and AA Half Tracks

With delayed reserves in effect, not a great deal of decisive action occured. Luke conducted some counter battery fire each time the werfers dared to shoot, ranging in on their smoke trails. Luke removed 2 of Robins NW41s and basically shut down Robin's artillery. Luke dug in with the Brit infantry around his objectives.

Mid

Churchills turn up and destroy one AA Half Track.

Robin has some good luck with his reserve roles and both the Panthers and Stugs joined the battle. The Panthers double timed right up the middle and took refuge behind a wheat field awaiting an opportunity to wade into the British lines. The Stugs took a more cautious approach down Robin's flank aiming to secure that side and support the Panther advance. Luke's reserve roles were terrible. By turn 9, rolling 6 dice for reserves, Luke scored no 5s or 6s. This was ultimately one of the deciding factors in the game. Luke did manage to get a solitary Churchill troop onto the table. They brewed up one AA half track but were summirarily executed by the Panthers in response.

Late

Last barrage from the NW lands nicely

Lukes reserves came on peicemeal and never got onto a solid footing to repel Robin's advance up the middle. Robin wasn't able to make a convicing go of securing his objectives but given more time would have removed all the Brit infantry from the field. Robin suffered for not supporting his own advances enough and just didn't have the numbers to breakthrough and smash the Brit lines. Lukes M10Cs had a great opportunity to turn the battle in his favour, turning up on his Right flank and having a solid crack with the Stug platoon out in the open. Sadly, as often happens for me when I use them, the M10Cs failed to hit even once when it mattered and were defeated in reply by the Stugs.

Game was called after turn 10 and Robin took the moral victory. In the end the game was more about learning the rules for these guys and I was more than happy to help both sides with my understanding of the rules and some tactical tips. I'm certainly no expert on either count but I have the benefit of a number of games under my belt.

After Action

In hindsight Luke set up a defence that was too shallow. All the action occured around his home objectives and it was too clustered to bring on his reserves in a tactical manner. They were entering the table and immediately being forced into difficult manoevers to protect their side armor. Robin had the right idea but in my opinion would have been better served working one flank instead of pressing on a flat frontage across the board. His Tiger didn't come on early enough to matter but the Panthers and Stugs working together would have made shorter work of the Brit Infantry. The scattered reserves gave some uncertainty about where support would show up so it was difficult to plan for it I guess.

As I was in charge of the rule book all night I have to take responsibility for one major ruling I missed that lost Luke his first Churchill platoon. I neglected to notice Robin moving a full 12" speed with the Panthers through the wheat field and securing line of sight to the Churchills in one move. Sorry Luke ;) We discussed this and the objective of the day being learning and having fun was met. This was no issue.

Looking forward to next time already. Quite enjoyed drinking wine and ruleslawyering while watching the battle unfold! Some more pictures to close with.

A good view down the table mid game

Though beind the village, the NWs were hit in reply each time they fired

Luke sits on his objectives with 27 stands of Infantry

Robin considers world domination