2nd Tabletop Battle of the Lunch Break (Day One)
2nd Tabletop Battle of the Lunch Break (Day Two)
2nd Tabletop Battle of the Lunch Break (Day Three)
2nd Tabletop Battle of the Lunch Break (Day Four)
Task Org Slayer-5 M26 Pershing (Orange) 2 Bogged Down/Mechanical Failure, 2 Destroyed
-5 M4A3E8 (Burgundy) 4 Destroyed
-5 M24 Chaffee (Yellow) 3 Destroyed, 1 Withdrew from Combat
Task Org OpFor-5 PzKpfw V (Neon) 1 Weapon Disabled, 3 Destroyed
-5 PzKpfw IV H (Green) 1 Immobilized, 2 Destroyed
-5 PzKpfw III (Beige)
Synopsis:The day opened with me detaching two Easy 8s from the right flank in order to reinforce the M26s on the hill, I assumed that the two remaining Easy 8s and two M24s could eliminate the two IIIs and the last Panther that were slowly emerging from the northern forests. The M26s continued to duel the Panzer IVs to no effect. That's pretty much when things went FUMTU for my forces. The tanks on my right flank suddenly found themselves in a bad way when despite firing multiple salvos they were unable to score any hits on the three approaching German tanks. Two Easy 8s and a Chaffee where destroyed in quick succession leaving the top half of the board uncontested. Using its greater speed I began to withdraw the last Chaffee and link it up with my remaing tanks on the hill. By the time the other two Easy 8s arrived to support the Pershings one M26 had finally succumbed to fire from the Panzer IVs. Luckily the added fire of the Shermans managed to quickly dispatch two of the IVs giving me a glimmer of hope that I could still salvage the situation. However, due to the losses I sustained on the right flank the units on the hill above town found themselves under fire from both the remaining two IVs plus the IIIs and Panther coming down from the North. While the hull down positions gave them an advantage eventually the sustained fire from multiple directions claimed one more Easy 8. With only three operating tanks left I conceded the battle.
Post Battle:Quite frankly my Pershings ended up being pants, apparently thier crews slept through training at Fort Knox or something; Creighton Abrams would obviously be disappoint. Two were disabled immediately on the first day while crossing a smidge of forested terrain while the other three did piss all for the rest of the battle save for being slowly whittled down and distracting my foe enough for my Easy 8s to make their initial flank attack on the Panthers. The Easy 8s and Chaffees did all the heavy lifting for this battle and I look forward to when I can field the whole M4A3E8 company. The first two days where pretty successful, despite the setback of losing half my heavy tanks to fricken trees I was able to seize objectives and my right flank attack was working at negating the Panthers. Day three saw some losses but I had still managed to nearly neutralize the Panthers and had a plan to reposition some assets to wipe out the IVs. Everything pretty much unraveled on day four, I realized to late that apparently the Panzer IIIs where crewed by what I can only assume to be clones of Michael Wittmann doubtlessly brewed by some vile blend of technology and arcane Nazi occult practices. Not only did they avoid the dozens of shots taken at them but managed to claim or assist with the destruction of two Chaffees and half my Easy 8s. They and the remaining Panther managed to turn what essentially should have been a holding action on my right flank while I dealt with the Panzer IVs into a massacre. I was pretty much doomed after that.
Well in any case it was a great game, and was pretty balanced for most of the combat. I'll bring my detachment of tanks home and get to painting them and the rest of my units this weekend. I talked to my coworker and I think we are going to do a 1939 scenario in the near future, Germans versus Polish and start integrating some infantry and air/artillery support into the game. I'm going to be doing my damnedest to see that an epic charge between BMW R75s and Polish cavalry happens.
