For the second stage of the round robin league at Battlefront Europe HQ we played the Dust Up mission. This week my opponent was +Ian Mann, fielding a Soviet Peredovoye Otryad. As usual, I'll be using my Feldherrnhalle Panzergrenadier list.
Note: This game was played about six months ago, though I'm pleased to have finally finished the after action report!
Anyway, on with the lists!
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mission
So then, Dust Up was on the cards today, a mission I've not played before and upon reading the scenario I kind of stared at the rulebook as if it were speaking in tongues. Okay so the gist of the mission is that players deploy in opposite corners with two objectives in their deployment zone (each player places one in their zone and one in the opponent's).
Delayed reserves enter from the empty table quarters and you have to fend off the enemy counterattack whilst simultaneously assaulting and capturing one of their objectives. Crikey, this would be a challenge!
Deployment
For the purpose of this report, the short table edge in the bottom-left corner of the image below will be referred to as the western edge of the board.
 |
| The board viewed from the south-west corner. |
Ian was the attacker in this scenario, and chose the north-east corner to deploy in, leaving me with the south-west. My side of the table was dominated with the rather massive ridge-line, which would prove to be quite a focal point for the battle.
Ian placed an objective on the ridge line in my deployment area, while I played one behind the row of houses towards the centre. He then placed a second in his deployment area behind the hill, and I placed one as far into the corner of the table as I could.
Half of our platoons had to start the game in reserve, Ian chose the T-34/85 Company, IS-85 Company, and Decoy Tank Company to start with. I opted for a platoon of Panzergrenadiers, the Nebelwerfer Platoon, PaK 40 Platoon and Panther Platoon.
I deployed the Nebs in the corner near the board edge to keep them out of the way, with the Panzergrenadiers near the northern objective in the wood. The PaK 40 platoon were spread out to cover the road and the approaches to the ridge, with a third on the objective at the bottom of the western slope. The Panthers took up positions behind the building on the western side of the hill.
Ian deployed the T-34/85 Company in the woods defending the objective, and IS-85 and Decoy Tank companies behind the road out of sight.
For independent teams, my 1iC and 2iC were deployed near the Panzergrenadier Platoon, with the Nebelwerfer observer on the ridge with a good view of the battlefield. Ian deployed his 1iC, 2iC and Commissar behind the buildings in his deployment zone.
 |
| View of the board from the eastern edge of the table showing Soviet deployment. |
On his first turn, Ian advanced with everything other than the T-34/85 Company, who remained in the wood defending the nearby objective. The IS-85 Company took up positions behind the houses, while the Panther Company took up position behind the wood near the northern edge of the board.
German Turn 1
I had managed to completely forget that infantry in the open count as concealed as long as they don't move, which is why I didn't place them on the ridge line near the objective. To rectify this, I started moving them up towards the ridge, hoping to dig in before the first batch of Soviet reinforcements arrive. One of the PaKs move up the hill too, with the same thing in mind. The Panthers skirt around the buildings onto the road and loose a round at an IS-85 but fail to hit. The Nebelwerfers don't have any valid targets to opt not to fire this turn.
 |
| The battlefield at the end of turn 1. |
Soviet Turn 2
This turn, the T-34/85 Company opt to join the advance against the Panthers, leaving one of their number behind in the wood to keep an eye on the objective. The IS-85 Company take up positions on the edge of the wood and the Panthers skirt around the same wood to put some fire on my Panthers. All three IS-85s and two Panthers fire on my platoon, causing a single bail.
German Turn 2
The Panzergrenadiers behind the ridge line try to dig in but fail. The Panthers change positions so two can fire on the tanks advancing from the north, while the third can fire on the T-34s. The Nebelwerfers try to range in on the Panther in the open but can't seem to drop the rockets on the target. A PaK 40 and a Panther fire on the T-34/85s and manage to bail two, including the company commander. The other Panthers fire on the Decoy Panthers, managing to knock one out.
 |
| The battlefield at the end of turn 2. |
Soviet Turn 3
The crew of the regular T-34/85 get back in their tank but the company commander fails to get back in, so they'll not be able to move this turn. The Panther and IS-85 Companies move around the woods and open fire on the Panzergrenadiers and Panthers, but do not cause any casualties.
German Turn 3
One of the Panthers move forward to put some fire on the IS-85 Company but do not cause any damage. The other two Panthers stay put and open fire on an IS-85 and the T-34/85 Company, causing one of the T-34s to bail out. The PaK 40 Platoon open fire on the same targets, but don't manage to do any damage. The Nebelwerfers fire on the cluster of armour but their targets remain undamaged.
 |
| The battlefield at the end of turn 3. |
Soviet Turn 4
Reserves arrive this turn, in the form of an SU-122 Company who advance onto the table and fire on the dug in infantry, but luckily don't manage to hit. The IS-85 Company advance towards the infantry, peppering them with rounds from their machine guns before launching an assault. Thanks to Ian's tip of deploying the PaK within 8" of the front line, the PaK 40 is able to assist in the defensive fire and manages to knock out the lead IS-85, stopping the assault. The Looted Panthers open fire on my Panther hiding behind a building, bailing it. Meanwhile, the Battalion Command advance behind the Looted Panthers.
German Turn 4
My second Panzergrenadier Platoon enter from the eastern edge of the board and advance into the wheat field. The crew of the bailed Panther decide to remount, while the platoon advances towards the T-34/85 Platoon in the open. The PaKs and Panthers fire on the T-34s, bailing one. The Nebelwefers fire on the Looted Panthers and miraculously manage to knock one out! The odds of this are extremely slim, however so in future I should really stick to soft targets.
 |
| The IS-85 Platoon advance past one of their fallen comrades towards the objective. |
 |
| The table a the end of turn 4 / start of turn 5. |
Soviet Turn 5
This turn, the Motostrelkovy Company arrive from reserve and advance to take up positions within the woods. The single bailed T-34/85 unbails and the rest of the platoon fall back to the woods to watch over the objective. leaving one tank to contest the objective. The Panthers and IS-85 Company fire on the infantry near the objective, then the two remaining IS-85s move up to contest it. The SU-122 Company fire on the Panzergrenadiers, killing a team.
 |
| The Motostrelkovy Company take the field at the start of turn 5. |
German Turn 5
This turn, the Sd.Kfz 10/5 Platoon enters from reserve and move west at the double. The PaK platoon fire on the IS-85s, knocking one out. The Panzergrenadiers on the western objective then move up and assault the remaining IS-85, and knock it out. The Panthers knock out the T-34/85 on the objective, along with a second one in the woods. The Panzergrenadier Platoon on the eastern side of the board advance towards the objective and take up positions on the edge of the woods.
 |
| The western side of the board at the end of turn 5. |
 |
| The eastern side of the board at the end of turn 5. |
Soviet Turn 6
A second SU-122 Company arrive from reserves and fire on a PaK 40, but don't manage to hit. The other SU-122 Company manage to destroy another Panzergrenadier team, while the Motostrelkovy Company pepper the Panzergrenadiers with fire before launching an assault. Due to some very unlucky dice rolls, the assault is repulsed with some casualties, leaving the Germans in control of the objective. The last T-34/85 moves up to contest the second objective.
 |
| The Motostrelkovy Company charge up the hill towards the objective. |
German Turn 6
My final reserves arrive in the form of a Panzerspäh Platoon. The Panzergrenadier Platoon in the east advance to support the Panthers near the objective, while the Panthers knock out the remaining T-34/85 and take the objective. The Sd.Kfz 10/5 Platoon head further west, but they will not get in range before the game ends. The Panzergrenadiers on the objective in the west fire on the Motostrelkovy Company and cause a couple of casualties, while the PaKs knock out an SU-122.
 |
| The Panthers seize the objective supported by a platoon of Panzergrenadiers. |
With that, the game ends! It was a real nail-biter of the game, thank you to Ian for giving me lots of tips throughout, it was a fantastic learning experience!
Lessons
- Small and medium gun teams are concealed when dug in, even in the open. This is a complete game changer for me as it will allow me to use my PaK 40 platoon a lot more aggressively.
- Infantry are concealed in the open as long as they didn't move in their previous turn. I always seem to forget this, which resulted in my deploying a Panzergrenadier platoon in a concealed position away from the objective.
- The statuses Gone to Ground and Dug In are per stand, rather than per platoon. This enabled one of the PaKs to chase after the enemy while another remained dug in keeping watch over a different part of the board.
- Don't forget the mortar observers! I managed to forget to deploy them in this game on only realised around turn 4 when my reserves began to arrive.
- When on the defensive, if you deploy gun teams within 8" of the front line infantry you expect to be assaulted then they can participate in defensive fire. This proved invaluable when the IS-85 platoon assaulted the infantry on the objective.
- Bring some blu-tack to games to assist in sticking figures to terrain that lies at an odd angle.
- Firing Nebelwerfers at armour is a waste, as their anti-tank value of 3 is rather poor. It might be worth swapping them out for a platoon equipped with the 15 cm NbW 41. While they have a lower firepower rating, they are capable of firing smoke bombardments so they'd be more flexible and of more use when playing against armour lists.
I leave you with some photos of Ian's beautifully painted miniatures, very inspirational!
 |
| Ian's excellent SU-122 Company, with a weathered winter paint scheme that I believe was achieved using the hairspray and salt method. |
 |
| Ian's late Panther Ausf. G (see more here), hands down the best paint job I've ever seen in this scale! |
 |
| A rather excellent and characterful objective marker of a British soldier rescuing a damsel in distress. |
No comments:
Post a Comment