Tanksgiving 8,000 pt Flames of War AAR Part 1: Armies, table setup, and strategies

TANKS-GIVING 2014

Soviet's vs. United States

So this past Saturday a few of us decided to throw down for a good 'ol fashioned Tanks-giving.  Four people, 2,000 pts each, two on two.  Unfortunately one had to bail at the last minute so it became a 2 on 1.  Fortunately for us Erik has more tanks than I believe the Russian army actually had.  Rules were simple:  Armies had to be all tracked (or half-tracked), had to still be a legal army, and a modified Free for All where there were no objectives. 
   The forces were pretty standard.  Since Erik was fielding 4K himself we let him split into 3 Co's so he could field what he had.  He had 1 Heavy Guard Company and 2 Tank Guard Company.  Steve and I were a bit intimidated.  It was a lot of armor on the table including 11 IS2's that we would have to answer to some how.  The rest was filled out with T-34's some SU 122's, and some SU 152's.  Forces would be Fearless Trained.


Everything but the infantry was the horde

   I was a bit worried with my list.  I went with the 4th Division tank company.  My concern was that all of my armor was mainly for mid war so I would be throwing all 75mm Sherman's (1 Jumbo to take some hits) and Stuarts at things that I could only harm on the sides.  My only hope was my M10's and my Priests.  Forces would be Confident Veteran

Small force with a lot of points invested in M10's and Priests

   Steve was also running 4th Division, but he was a bit more equipped fielding a good mix of Easy 8's and 76mm Sherman's.  He was going back and forth with adding some armored mortars or putting 1 more Sherman in a platoon.  We decided on the mortars as it would give us 1 more platoon to help with moral and also could use it to smoke if need be or to spot for my Priests.  Forces would be Confident Trained.

                                     

A good mix of Jumbo's, 8's and 76mm for some versatile platoons.

    The table was set up as an 8 X 4 with a large city scape in the center flowing into a more rural heavily treed area.  Both sides decided the more terrain the better and since Erik has enough terrain to field many a table we went about laying everything out and ended with this:

View 1

Opposite side, trees still being laid out.

    One of the great things about playing at Erik's is the mass amount of terrain at our disposal.  We can pretty much pick the season and location and build whatever we're looking for.  Battlefront's terrain in my opinion is a step above most.  Besides for some minor cast issues and a few rough paint jobs, the fact that you get them built and painted can't be beat.  They look great on the table too.

Some nice views from street level.

Some nice views from street level.

    From here we rolled for sides with Erik winning the roll off.  We had decided to alternate placement with each side deploying 2 platoons at a time.  This would allow Steve and I to each put down a platoon at a time.  We also decided that Steve and I would have 1 "supreme" commander and 2IC and the others would just be independent teams that could be attached to other platoons.  Erik would do the same since he had 3 companies.  When we got done deploying we were facing a wall of Soviet tanks, we were in for a ride.  Completion of deployment looked like this:

Soviet deployment

US deployment

Overall table deployment

   Steve and I discussed tactics and came up with a game plan.  We knew our Stuarts would be useless against all of the armor we were facing so we decided to break out some dirty tactics with them as you'll see in the turns to come.  With the amount of buildings on the table we knew there were plenty of paths he could come at us.  So we decided we would dictate the avenues of approach by using the Stuarts and Steve's recovery vehicle to create choke points and block roadways.  If they died, they died and would create a permanent barrier.  If he just ignored and rolled around them, their 16" movement would insure that we would be able keep moving them in front to harass and annoy his columns.  We decided to focus the Priests on the T-34's as much as possible as they had the weaker top armor and we had more chance to pop them than the IS2's (and it wasn't like we were going to run out of targets).  My 75mm Sherman's would roll through the forested rural area and try to come around the flanks where they might have a chance.  My M10's would push left/center into town to try to slow the 2's on that side as much as possible.  We would use Steve's force as the hammer to hit the heads of the columns rolling down the choke-points hopefully forcing Erik to have to keep doubling back to find new routes.  This would keep him from rushing us too quickly while allowing us to reduce his numbers.  Picture Black Hawk Down/Mogadishu WWII style.  Steve's mortars would smoke anything that thought they would sit back and fire at us since we were veteran, he'd have a hard time scoring any hits.  We were betting on dying, but our goal was to do it slowly and take as much of the horde with us as we could.

Erik's plan was simple, so the below are his words on his plan of attack.

Never let them see you sweat Comrade !

For me it was always about just out numbering the US forces and using speed and the ability to shift my forces easily.  I have found that by pulling the enemy into a complete knock out fight and then doubling back around a flank I have been able to pull out a win or at-least a tie.  I will admit to using some underhanded tactics against people(which these two have taken a liking too since they used my own tricks against me).  The only time I start to worry when I play as the Soviets is when I drop down to a 2:1 ratio against my opponent.  As Justin pointed out during the game I had almost a 3:1 ratio so I could afford to lose some forces.

The IS2's were to be used as distractions and the t34's were to be the real problems for the guys to face.  I always plan on the fly so for the most part I tend to have a calm persona when playing a game.