Another corking scrap tonight, using Sabresquadron rules, by Nick Overland, now also available from Timecast!
I arrived to find Nick had already set up the table, the buildings are mine, the rest of the terrain is his. His cloth is by Cigarbox.
The view from the Canadian end.
My Soviets attacked at full strength, vs Nick's somewhat depleted and hastily dug in Canadians.
I arrived to find Nick had already set up the table, the buildings are mine, the rest of the terrain is his. His cloth is by Cigarbox.
The view from the Canadian end.
My Soviets attacked at full strength, vs Nick's somewhat depleted and hastily dug in Canadians.
My GSFG Tank Company,
Trained Average
Trained Average
Command 1 T-62B
Three tanks units of 3 T-62B
Infantry platoon in BMP1Ps, with attached Grenade launcher section
Recce platoon in BMP1Ps.
6 x 120mm howiters, with AOP in his MT-LBu
Counterbattery artillery on call.
Pregame bombardment
Counterbattery artillery on call.
Pregame bombardment
All figures from Timecast’s amazing Cold War 1984 Soviet range.
Comes in around the 1550 mark.
Nick was using his Canadians, at 50% of my values, so for just over 700 points, Nick had...
Trained Superiors
qCompany HQ, 3 x M113s with 2 rifle groups per track.
2 Infantry platoons with 13 stands, including dismounted .50cals.
2 x 2 M113 Tow TUA.
Infantry are Pendraken Argentines from their lovely Falklands War range, with a few Carl Gustavs from the British range. The M113s are by Butler's Printed Models that Nick has had rescaled to 10mm.
Nick tries to build an efficient list.
Since the scenario was attack/defense, Nick had to put out 40% of his forces, so deployed his infantry, dug in, and his Company HQ, behind the right hand wood..
A couple of closeups on Nick's forces.
In foxholes, guarding the roads.
Went for a bunched up attack, after spreading out and getting hammered last time!
The most cover was going to be provided by the double treeline of the road, then swinging left towards the hamlet of Bad Sichtlinien.
Looks like the Cannuck forces had also spotted the treeline, they obviously feel the need to find trees these Canadians, eh. Nick now deployed the rest of his forces (one of the nice things about defending in Sabresquadron is you get to pick where you want to defend AFTER the attacker deploys, allowing you to put a blocking force in place).
This is where my pre-game bombardment came into play. In another of Nick's great mechanisms is that if you purchase a pregame bombardment, there is a chance all enemy forces will get hit.
I got lucky, straight in on his infantry.
Any losses suffer no morale effects from this, but it weakens formations, although as Nick started dug in, there was a slim potential for losses.
5/13 on the first bombardment! Holy (prepacked Kraftdinner) macaroni! Nick's dice were awful.
Of those five, two were Carl Gustavs, and the other three were .50cals or GPMGs! Truly awful result.
Over at the other infantry platoon, Nick's dice were just as bad! Observe!
3 stands down here too! Really astonishingly bad luck as he had +2 on his saves for foxholes.
Despite being hit, all his vehicles saved! Oh well...
Making as much use of the cover as possible, the Soviets advance, waiting for the hail of ATGM. No Leopards had been spotted this time, all those extra points on ungraded missile systems wasted! The recon platoon debussed, ready to clear the remaining Canadian infantry if needed.
The road would become a rather hotly fought over piece of real estate! Counters mark suppressed Canadians.
A gun line of nine T-64Bs is rather going to ruin your day I'm afraid!
And shortly the platoon evaporated. First road junction secured, time to advance on.
The infantry secured the treeline, while the first tank platoon drew the short straw and advanced on towards the next cover of the open woods. From the distance, a missile streaks!
Pummeling into the front armour of the middle tank, but failing to kill! The crew hunker down, and start to look for fresh underwear!
The second TOW missile obviously had dodgy guidance systems as it crashed into the ground short of three rather obvious targets!
Second tank platoon, being slightly more cautious, only advance as far as the second treeline, as another missile from ambush fails to hit. Canadians can't see the woods for the trees I guess!
Third platoon advance, but in Nick's go (the overwatch fire happens in my turn), more TOWs jet forward, killing one tank and neutralising another. The one remaining in third squad did manage two dodges! The unit failed a morale check, dropping to 'Uncertain' status. Can't say I blame them really!
A Canadian eyes view, my advance is far left in the treeline, you can see that their angle of attack is actually very slim (or my drivers are inept, I'll let you decide).
My T-64s main guns belch forth projectiles, which make short work of the two M113s in the near wood. Tin can, meet high velocity shot.
Those M113s burn well.
In an attempt to deal with the threat on the hill, my AOP started ranging in the 122s, and one section of tanks took a shot. Difficult, as the TOW launcher counts as a small target, turret down behind a hill. 'You'll never hit it!'
'Ooh yeah!'
Pop!
So, with only one missile launcher to worry about, we set of to bully the rest of the infantry. Many main gun hits were to land, however, Nick passed every morale test he had to make, all game!
Overconfidence is a crime, as another T-64 fell to the skulking TOW launcher!
The remains of two Soviet tank platoons vs the remains of a Canadian infantry platoon, guess which stands Nick had lost?
Yup, his Carl Gustavs! There was definitely a pattern developing here...
The Recon platoon move up in support, and my main infantry platoon finally commits itself, debussing and scurrying across the road into the wood approaching the hamlet.
The TOW launcher targets a BMP, who actually managed to dodge! By the woods, three platoon remains 'uncertain', and for several turns failed to advance (roll to see whether they could, nope, no, neit, nein).
As the attack develops, Nick's remaining .50cals and GPMGs start to wreck havoc through my Recon platoon, killing three stands in short order, all of whom were RPG stands!
OUCH! He also got the lead stand of the main infantry platoon too. The Recon immediately drop to 'Uncertain' and hit the deck.
Command tank (bottom) joins in the shooting at Nick's dug in infantry, while my BMPs move around the middle wood in support of the infantry. Two uncertain platoons is only slowing the inevitable.
Bit of a blurry one, sorry!
HQ thins out the nearest infantry with a turn of brilliant shooting (and 2 x 1s from Nick on the saves, apart from morale, his dice were pants)! His TOW exacts some revenge by demolishing a BMP.
And the BMPs mop up the last of the Canadian infantry. Nick's HQ and remaining TOW launcher high-tail it home, as the Soviets break through onto their second objective.
Comes in around the 1550 mark.
Nick was using his Canadians, at 50% of my values, so for just over 700 points, Nick had...
Trained Superiors
qCompany HQ, 3 x M113s with 2 rifle groups per track.
2 Infantry platoons with 13 stands, including dismounted .50cals.
2 x 2 M113 Tow TUA.
Infantry are Pendraken Argentines from their lovely Falklands War range, with a few Carl Gustavs from the British range. The M113s are by Butler's Printed Models that Nick has had rescaled to 10mm.
Nick tries to build an efficient list.
Since the scenario was attack/defense, Nick had to put out 40% of his forces, so deployed his infantry, dug in, and his Company HQ, behind the right hand wood..
A couple of closeups on Nick's forces.
In foxholes, guarding the roads.
Went for a bunched up attack, after spreading out and getting hammered last time!
The most cover was going to be provided by the double treeline of the road, then swinging left towards the hamlet of Bad Sichtlinien.
Looks like the Cannuck forces had also spotted the treeline, they obviously feel the need to find trees these Canadians, eh. Nick now deployed the rest of his forces (one of the nice things about defending in Sabresquadron is you get to pick where you want to defend AFTER the attacker deploys, allowing you to put a blocking force in place).
This is where my pre-game bombardment came into play. In another of Nick's great mechanisms is that if you purchase a pregame bombardment, there is a chance all enemy forces will get hit.
I got lucky, straight in on his infantry.
Any losses suffer no morale effects from this, but it weakens formations, although as Nick started dug in, there was a slim potential for losses.
5/13 on the first bombardment! Holy (prepacked Kraftdinner) macaroni! Nick's dice were awful.
Of those five, two were Carl Gustavs, and the other three were .50cals or GPMGs! Truly awful result.
Over at the other infantry platoon, Nick's dice were just as bad! Observe!
3 stands down here too! Really astonishingly bad luck as he had +2 on his saves for foxholes.
Despite being hit, all his vehicles saved! Oh well...
Making as much use of the cover as possible, the Soviets advance, waiting for the hail of ATGM. No Leopards had been spotted this time, all those extra points on ungraded missile systems wasted! The recon platoon debussed, ready to clear the remaining Canadian infantry if needed.
The road would become a rather hotly fought over piece of real estate! Counters mark suppressed Canadians.
A gun line of nine T-64Bs is rather going to ruin your day I'm afraid!
And shortly the platoon evaporated. First road junction secured, time to advance on.
The infantry secured the treeline, while the first tank platoon drew the short straw and advanced on towards the next cover of the open woods. From the distance, a missile streaks!
Pummeling into the front armour of the middle tank, but failing to kill! The crew hunker down, and start to look for fresh underwear!
The second TOW missile obviously had dodgy guidance systems as it crashed into the ground short of three rather obvious targets!
Second tank platoon, being slightly more cautious, only advance as far as the second treeline, as another missile from ambush fails to hit. Canadians can't see the woods for the trees I guess!
Third platoon advance, but in Nick's go (the overwatch fire happens in my turn), more TOWs jet forward, killing one tank and neutralising another. The one remaining in third squad did manage two dodges! The unit failed a morale check, dropping to 'Uncertain' status. Can't say I blame them really!
A Canadian eyes view, my advance is far left in the treeline, you can see that their angle of attack is actually very slim (or my drivers are inept, I'll let you decide).
My T-64s main guns belch forth projectiles, which make short work of the two M113s in the near wood. Tin can, meet high velocity shot.
Those M113s burn well.
In an attempt to deal with the threat on the hill, my AOP started ranging in the 122s, and one section of tanks took a shot. Difficult, as the TOW launcher counts as a small target, turret down behind a hill. 'You'll never hit it!'
'Ooh yeah!'
Pop!
So, with only one missile launcher to worry about, we set of to bully the rest of the infantry. Many main gun hits were to land, however, Nick passed every morale test he had to make, all game!
Overconfidence is a crime, as another T-64 fell to the skulking TOW launcher!
The remains of two Soviet tank platoons vs the remains of a Canadian infantry platoon, guess which stands Nick had lost?
Yup, his Carl Gustavs! There was definitely a pattern developing here...
The Recon platoon move up in support, and my main infantry platoon finally commits itself, debussing and scurrying across the road into the wood approaching the hamlet.
The TOW launcher targets a BMP, who actually managed to dodge! By the woods, three platoon remains 'uncertain', and for several turns failed to advance (roll to see whether they could, nope, no, neit, nein).
As the attack develops, Nick's remaining .50cals and GPMGs start to wreck havoc through my Recon platoon, killing three stands in short order, all of whom were RPG stands!
OUCH! He also got the lead stand of the main infantry platoon too. The Recon immediately drop to 'Uncertain' and hit the deck.
Command tank (bottom) joins in the shooting at Nick's dug in infantry, while my BMPs move around the middle wood in support of the infantry. Two uncertain platoons is only slowing the inevitable.
Bit of a blurry one, sorry!
HQ thins out the nearest infantry with a turn of brilliant shooting (and 2 x 1s from Nick on the saves, apart from morale, his dice were pants)! His TOW exacts some revenge by demolishing a BMP.
And the BMPs mop up the last of the Canadian infantry. Nick's HQ and remaining TOW launcher high-tail it home, as the Soviets break through onto their second objective.
BIG Soviet win, we lost 2 T64s, a BPM and 4 stands of infantry compared to two infantry platoons and three M113s. We did start by outnumbering Nick, but this was an attack and he severely lacked any decent anti-tank equipment (he was muttering about needing more TOWs by the end).
It was really the initial bombardment that swung it my way, taking out most of his infantry's anti-tank capability was rather painful. Sorry Nick.
Another great game, thank you Nick. Rematch in September!
Definitely a rematch, probably with some big cats back in the side!
ReplyDelete