Tanksgiving 8,000 pt Flames of War AAR Part 2: Turns 1-3

   After the deployment, we rolled off for first turn with Erik winning once again:

Turn 1:

  Soviet's begin by moving the horde forward as expected.  Turn ends rather quickly as they are still over 16 and have no valid targets.

End turn 1: Soviets

T-34's on parade

    US shuffles around a bit to get a better vantage point.  Most notable are the Stuarts and recovery moving in to begin the road blocks.  During shooting we decide to focus on the column coming through town.  If Steve's 76's can take out the lead, then my Priests had a line of sight to spot on the rear.  We had the potential to block in a platoon of 10 T-34's so they couldn't move.  The Shermans open up on the lead killing 1 and bailing 3.  Sadly the Priests can't match and fail to range in.  The 2nd platoon of 76's open up on the IS2's with no hits made.  The mortars smoke the Soviets left. 

1st Stuart platoon begins road blocking

2nd platoon and recovery follow suit

Mortars smoke

Column gets lit up



 Turn 2:

    T-34's on the right flank remount and the Soviets continue their push forward.  Not a whole lot of action on their left, but the T-34's open up on the Stuarts in the center killing 3 along with the recovery.  The IS2's open up on the right taking out an Easy 8.  

Stuarts finally get what we knew was coming.

IS2's open up on Shermans killing an 8.

Soviets continue to move towards the center of town.

     The US turn begins with the M10'S popping (refer to upper right picture, you can see the scouts hiding behind the building).  The Stuarts continue their dance around the IS2'S and 34's.  The Sherman's shuffle around a bit to get some more clear shots but stay in relative position.  Note:  Not many photos were taken of the right flank as not much has happened up to this point.  My 75mm Sherman's have continued to sneak through the forests trying to get a better vantage point.  On our left flank we open up with everything we can.  The Priests bail 2 more T-34's.  The Sherman's open up taking out 2 more T-34's and killing an IS2.

IS2'S CAN DIE!!!

Results of Priests.

Turn 3:

    Turn 3 is where the game begins to get very interesting in my opinion.  Things begin to develop quickly and the Soviets plan really begins to reveal itself.  Having sufficiently created enough wreckage on his right flank, Erik begins to shift his entire force to the left even double-timing some of his platoons.  He also blows a massive hole in a Stuart with his rear guard IS2. 

Soviet begins mass push on left flank.

Stuart eats it on his right.



      We realize what's about to happen and quickly try to counter it.  The Sherman's on the left begin to swing right to try to help the flood coming in the center. Note: Upper left photo of platoon of IS2's pushing around the village to hit the center.  We were worried that if he breaks that platoon of Sherman's he can begin mopping up the Priests which so far have been worth their weight in gold.  The 75mm Sherman's continued to maneuver up on the right.  The Priests using the mortars to spot range in on the T-34's moving towards our right flank and take out 2.  The M10's on our left finally get a chance to see some action and split fire.  2 open up on the IS2's bailing 1.  The other 2 join the Stuart's and Sherman's to fire at the T-34's still in the center of town destroying 1 and bailing 2.  In the center of town the 76mm Sherman's open up on the IS2's amazingly destroying 1 and bailing 2 more.  The far right flank sees the 75mm Sherman's take out 2 of the T-34's.

Sherman's move to get a better vantage.

Results of Sherman's firing.

Results of Priests bombardment.

Results of US firing on the Left flank and Center.