AAR - Sidi Bou Zid 2nd Battle

This past Wednesday was our noob's group FOW night.  Iron Lydia was not on location due to a work meeting, so we roughed it with chips, dip and some awesome BBQ.  Jamie was the german commander; Dallas was his military advisor.  I ran green GI's in a No Retreat mission; Jamie was attacking while I was the defender.

You can catch Steve's battle AAR on his excellent Blog ....

What Would Patton Do ?

The Force Organization was as follows ....

Kamfgruppe

Jamie Torres Commanding

HQ - Panzer III N (X2)
4 Panzer III Ls
2 Panzer IVs F2, 1 Panzer III N
3 Stug F8s
3 Panzer II Fs (Recon)

E Company, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division

Joe Messerle Commanding

HQ

3 Full Infantry Platoons

81mm Mortar Platoon

3 57mm AT Guns

4 Sherman Tanks

105 Artillery Battery

Combat Engineer Platoon (Sherman Dozer attached)

I will admit, when Jamie deployed his Tank heavy force I was concerned.  I was limited both in the tank department and AT units.  My Combat Engineers would have to hold the line and have no other choice but stick the worst out.  

Combat Engineers just North of American Objective

1st Platoon defending the 2nd American Objective

Jamie's tank force rumbles forward ....

Ninety percent of the battle took place outside of the village that the Combat Engineers occupied.  They stood tough throughout the battle and never ran.  Estimate shooting successes by German forces numbered approximately 50 shots or more.  The engineers lost approximately 50% fighting strength and never gave ground.  I was proud ... medals were earned that day for sure.

Reserves were not a problem as every round brought more and more into play.  My tanks came in on the 2nd round, 2nd and 3rd platoons came in the 3rd round and the mortars deployed in the 4th round.  The 57's stayed in ambush till the 6th.

Engineer's Sherman is the first kill ....

Engineers holding the line ....

Shermans and 2nd/3rd Platoon moving to support

Engineers taking heavy fire ...

Shermans move into the village for cover and flanking moves

105's open up and bring in the thunder of war ...

The Battle was a back and forth slugfest bringing units well within the 50% checks.  The 6th round came and Jaime sent tanks forward to contest the 1st American objective.  This is where the game became a winner or loser to dice rolls.  I sprung the 57mm ambush and had the 3 tanks contesting the objective with sides shots.  Drool began to form as I needed only 4s on the roll to open up some German steel.  Needless to say my rolling was constantly horrible that evening (except for saving throws).  I missed COMPLETELY on the close range tanks and opened up one Stug.  The 105s hit another tank for a kill.  Jamie was forced to make motivation checks for two units .... both passed and the objective was his.  6-1 Jamie got his revenge and I learned some important lessons.

AMBUSH ! 

** Drool ** ... Targets in the side view ...

One stug dead ...... but the others ?

Infantry that should have tank assaulted .... lesson learned! Next time ...

Agony of defeat .... lol ... back to tank killing school

Lessons learned ...

I learned not to keep the infantry back and contest the the invader.  I was drooling with the ambush opportunity that forgot that important move. Jaime played one heck of a game.  I would have done things the same.  Maybe sending the tanks around completely instead of stopping for a flanking shot might have put more pressure on his movement decisions but its all good.  I was happy that Jamie didn't do a pinch maneuver, that may have been a hard defense with my limited antitank capabilities.

6 - 1 ... Great game Jaime !!!

Be safe ..... Joe

Poll Results

Greetings troops,

After a landslide vote (1 out of 1) I will be moving on to antitank weapons for my support platoon.  I have always loved the GMC tank destroyer and will most likely start with this unit.

Last week I was able to make it over to my friend Steve's house for our weekly FOW game.  Sean and Jaime commanded the battle.  I was a "military advisor" to Sean.  It was an excellent battle.  Both sides played extremely well.  The battle came down to a dice roll ....... Jaime pulled out the win but El Alamein was captured by the British at a heavy cost.  Sean played a great game and I would have done things exactly the same.

You can check out Steve's blog for the AAR ...

http://www.indierockclimber.blogspot.com/2010/04/tunisia-campaign-game-3.html

Steve's wife Lydia also has a blog named "Feedin' the Troops".  She cooks on our FOW nights based around a secret ingredient like Iron Chef.  The first week's secret ingredient was cream cheese and last week was avocado. Welcome to the company Lydia !  Your cooking is AWESOME !  Next week's secret ingredient is peanut butter. You can check out her blog via the link ....

http://www.ironlydia.blogspot.com/

Nothing too much going on today.  Yard work was completed and now I think I will get some painting done.  I bought a light with magnify glass/lights.  I will see how it does and write up a little review later.

Till then ... be safe.

Joe

AAR - Sidi Bou Zid

Greetings Troops,


Wednesday evening was the weekly campaign night for our newbies group of CVFOW club.  The campaign is centered around North Africa, which includes German, British and American forces.


Lydia cooked again for the group, once again topping herself.  She had a "secret" ingredient to use for the meal, similar to Iron Chef.  The secret ingredient was cream cheese.  Chips and dip, stuffed shells and an awesome pastry dessert was had by all. BRAVO Lydia ....... excellent meal.  Next week's secret ingredient is avocado.


This evenings game was Jamie as the German forces and myself as the Americans.  The following was the force organization ...

Germans

Germans HQ - Panzer III N, 2iC

3 Panzer III Ns

3 Panzer III Ls

3 Panzer IV F2s (including 2iC in a kamfgruppe)

4 Panzer II Fs

1 platoon of Armored Cars

Schutzen platoon (panzergrenadiers)

Americans

HQ - 2 Shermans

3 Platoons of Sherman Tanks (Total of 9 tanks)
1 Armored Infantry Platoon
1 Priest Platoon
1 Recon group (Consisted of 3 infantry stands)


The battle was an Encounter mission.  Jaime won the initial deployment roll while I won the initial move roll.

Initial Deployment Photo - Classified 

Jamie is wearing the green shirt.  For reference, he is my north.  My forces (L to R, East to West) were 2IC near the eastern objective, Armored Rifles in halftracks near the woods, 1st Platoon of Shermans on the main road leading North and last but not least 2nd Platoon of Shermans with the HQ near the western objective.

Jamie (East to West, L to R) had his grenadiers in the eastern village near the German East Objective, 1 platoon of Panzer III Ls near the middle salt flats and his HQ in a Panzer III N nearby.  Last unit placed was his armored cars in the western olive grove.


The initial and following round was not much to type about.  The scenario started at night, limited visibility due to darkness and a sandstorm.  During this time I was able to move 1st platoon (Shermans) up the middle road while sending 2nd platoon (Shermans) moving up the western flank.  The armored rifles took to the woods and eventually dug in and sat protecting the eastern objective.  The 2IC supported the rifles on the east flank while the HQ (Sherman) protected the western objective site.


From here on out, things moved quickly.  The storm and night lifted for Jamie and he was able to pop a shot at my Shermans of 1st platoon, nothing connected.  Jamie had early troubles due to bogging down and helped  get some of my other Shermans moving without being fired on.


My start of the 3rd round brought 3rd platoon (Shermans) and the platoon of Priest into the fight.  3rd platoon deployed near the eastern objective while the Priest battery deployed in the Western flank.  

3rd Platoon arrives to the Eastern flank ...

Priests take the field ...

The western flank was destined to be burning tanks and charred hulls.  1st Platoon scored the first kill by popping open a Panzer IIIL in the middle.  2nd Platoon began to move west to east and forced Jamie to move his armored cars back towards the east flank.  3rd platoon move north and occupied an area between two hills with views of Panzer IIILs to the Northwest.  The 2IC stayed looking east towards the only level ground approach.

First Blood ..... courtesy of 1st platoon

Jamie got the reserve roll I was hoping he didn't.  The Panzer IVs entered the field .... bad for me.  The entry point was behind 2nd platoon on the western flank ...... really bad for me.  I was going to get some pictures when I realized the camera battery had died.  Mental note 23476 ..... charge the camera battery next time.

The AAR may get a tad brief and fuzzy at this point.  The tank battle in the western flank eventually took out all Panzer IVs (not sure how I pulled that off), 2nd platoon held out against numerous odds and took many tanks with them ..... eventually falling to just the HQ in the area (he jumped command of a tank).  The Priests held out and moved once in the Western flank to adjust fire towards the end of the game but nothing spectacular. 

1st Platoon eventually took heavy casualties and pulled from the field.  Jamie had his last reserves of tanks come into play in the western flank which helped turn out a bitter and stubborn tank battle.  These survivors eventually turned east to help take on 3rd platoon.  The 2IC in the east took out 2 Panzer IIs after they had wiped out the recon in one shooting phase.  The 2IC then assisted 3rd platoon in the east by running the eastern board edge chasing the armored cars and what was left of the Panzer II platoon.  

3rd Platoon pushed hard into the salt flats to contest the northern objective.  Another Panzer II went up in a cloud of fire and caused the other to leave the field after a failed motivation check.  In a brilliant and last ditch effort, Jamie's grenadiers tank assaulted 3rd platoon but were pushed back in a counterattack.  On a do or die roll of the dice I was able to motivate the troops to stay and consolidate towards the objective ..... contesting it.  It was the beginning of my turn when we had to call the game at the time limit.  Since I was contesting at the beginning of my turn ..... victory was mine ...... barely.  4-3 allies win.

Post Battle Thoughts

I was extremely lucky the dice were in my favor this night.  Jamie had bog problems all night long, as well as some sour dice at the end.  Give the battle another hour and things would have swung in the Axis favor for sure.  The Shermans were good at move and shoot maneuvers.  Keeping them on the move and getting into position for side/rear shots was the best thing I could do.  The Priest gave just enough to help bail tanks and stall attacks, I almost had to direct fire with them at one point since Jamie almost broke the western flank with those Panzer IVs.  Jamie did a great job, Steve again was awesome .... and our rulebook for the evening :)  Thanks also needs to go to our advisors Sean and Dallas .... great job fellas.

Overall I had a great experience and battle.  I look forward to the next game and seeing what Iron Chef Lydia has in store for us next week !

Till then .... don't forget to vote on the poll question ..... 5 days left !

Joe Mezz