 Hi All welcome to another AAR. This time instead of one of out usual 'we're preparing for a tournament' AAR's I've tried to craft two lists which should be very different but hopefully balanced in opposition. So before onto the AAR proper I thought I'd take you through the lists. Welsh guards- So why the welsh guards? Well it's been a while since the Cromwells made the tabletop - and they're fast - they're really fast. Oh and expensive! So how do you make a list for these guys ? Well let's start with the compulsory choices obviously - that's 10 veteran tanks - none of which can even scratch the front armour of the opposition. So what's the way (other than outflanking to kill big cats? Templates - well I decided to try the typhoon here - let's get the allied air superiority on the table. I like to also have a couple of other units for a rounded allied list - recon and arty - due to points. ( and also aesthetics) I've gone for 4 Stuart's as Recce, and some heavy mortars - this should mean that infantry is relatively vulnerable - whilst also providing some smoke as needed. The list is fast but made of glass! More of a scalpel than a sledge hammer I hope! Schwerepanzerjager- Firstly I want big cats! That's going to be all 4 Jagdtigers (I'm opting not to take Carius deliberately but he would be an excellent choice !) now to give some opposition to fast tanks zooming up the side lets take some Volksturm - no infantry to oppose them sadly but they should be good speed bumps! As there is air, a couple of Ostwinds would be nice, but only trained - finally some King Tigers would help make this feel like a real 'big cat' list - and with some spare points as always add Nebs. This list is I think a proper big cat list - but in a mobile battle with the Volksturm and Nebs deployed only one big cat (or Ostwinds) will start on the table.... |
Welsh Guards
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Schwerepanzerjager (Relutant Trained)
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Deployment
I choose the two sides with hedges on their boundaries, and woods to hide near, hopefully limiting Dave's speed.
Turn 1
Dave rushes his entire force up towards the IC and 2IC. The mortars fail to range in until attempt 3 on volksturm - so no kills. Plane arrives, but only one plane (common issue) fails to hit. Dave smokes the Jagdtigers.
KT arrives from reserves, IC and 2IC engaged reverse gear - all shoot, all miss! The other two Jagdtigers start moving towards the objectives
Turn 2
Daves cromwells all cross the hedge fine, but only one smoke shot hits! The Stuart's fire at the volksturm killing a team - the mortars and plane fail to kill any!
With only one smoked the KT and JT fire - (the other moves to shoot) despite no cover all miss! The other JT's move round to objectives. Nebs range in on mortars but fail to hit, ostwinds arrive on far side
Turn 3
Cromwells arrive from reserve, move up shoot at flanks of JT, miss. Cromwells surround IC - kill him, surround 2IC miss! Plane and mortars each kill a team, as do Stuart's.
Nebs range in on cromwells surrounding dead JT, kill one! KT kills another a volksturm fires it's Faust bailing another - Dave fails morale even with guards. The other JT kills 2IC and other two JTs kill challenger and Cromwell.
Turn 4
Cromwells kill both ostwinds, Stuart's kill a few infantry stands, plane stays away mortars kill a couple of stands.
The nebs kill two mortars, the two Jagdtigers chase down the last two cromwells from the platoon, whilst the King Tigers miss the 2IC. The Jagdtiger 2IC misses the Stuart's.
Turn 5
The Stuart's move to assault the volksturm, but two bog over the hedge. The 2IC Cromwell tried to kill some infantry in the open but they're still not testing, whilst the mortars only pin them.
The Jagdtigers engage the 2IC killing him, whilst the 2IC Jagtiger again misses the Stuart's. But with such a tempting target the volksturm try to assault them, but fail their tank terror test.
Turn 6
With the Stuart's unbogging they make short work of the volksturm in front of them. The mortars and plane target the other volksturm platoon, killing enough stands to make them test - but they pass!
The Jagtigers and king tigers focus on the final Stuart - game over.
| Well when I'm a 5+ roll away from a 5+ company morale test that's a close game! It was unlucky that Dave's plane kept only turning up as a single flight - the hedges also limited his mobility, but him failing to smoke me for a turn, and then me failing to hit with every shot was almost a game changer. Dave failing all his morale tests even with guards was also unlucky. The Jagdtigers are resilient - but their offensive output is low, and excessive! I was also once again impressed by the resilience of the volksturm - these guys are worth 100 points every time! I hope you enjoyed the AAR. |
Dave, you should have left the challengers at range to use semi-indirect fire, then used the cromwells to smoke stuff, that way you wouldn't have kept missing as much.
ReplyDeleteMind you, this is why I don't like cromwells, they can't hurt anything and are great at dying.
If the challengers remained at range it would have been more difficult to get side shots on the tigers, which is what was needed since even the challengers couldn't hurt the tigers from the front. The Welsh Guards might have been better off not even trying to kill tigers and just going after everything else and the objectives, though that's easier said than done when facing 5 tigers, and Volksturm that won't run.
ReplyDelete