The stars were in alignment and I managed to play a couple of quick, friendly games of FoW this past Saturday at the monthly St. Crispins Irregulars Game Day. I wore my Rescue Drinking Game Club shirt which I got from RichardMB, so now they're wanting their own shirt…
The set-up was simple so I could learn the mechanics – 500 points Russians vs. Germans, last man standing as the objective. We just used armor so no infantry or arty.
Because of the small forces, we just used the middle third of the table which had a river running across its width with two bridges on either side of the table and a ford in the middle. The Germans were set up in the "north" among the cornfields with buildings to either side. Roads ran north to south converging towards the farmland. There was a crossroads to the east of the corn field with a church and house between the road and the field.
I took Soviets for the first game with 510 points getting me six M4s and eight M3 Stuarts. My plan was to have the Shermans make their max move 24" up the western road, while the Stuarts – in two platoons – would rush the ford in the center and the eastern most road at their full 32" double move. With 14 tanks, I figured that I could swarm the Germans before they could kill enough.
My opening turn saw my Shermans race across the bridge with all but one of them finding cover. Two of them were situated behind farm houses on the opposite side from two StuGs. The Stuarts in the middle blazed up to the ford where their move ended because it was difficult terrain, while the eastern force crossed their bridge and with the lead tank just shy of the crossroads. Since I'd used a double move, I couldn't fire this round.
However, Tim, my opponent could.
He was able to double-fire and the dice were with him. The first two Stuarts in the center were obliterated while the commander's crew bailed out of the third. On the east, three out of the four Stuarts were immolated while the fourth was bailed. His one shot at a Sherman missed. Both Stuart platoons made their morale saves but only the center crew remounted. Tim failed his stormtrooper roll so his StuGs had to sit and take what was coming to them.
The eastern platoon was effectively out of action, and the center Stuart platoon decided that they didn't want to become Heroes of the Soviet Union so they withdrew – denying Tim a morale kill (by eliminating over half of the units on the table). The Shermans, however, pressed the attack, taking cover in corn fields and behind buildings. Three StuGs were hit, one was killed and another bailed. That crew was able to suck it up and get back into the fight. Two Shermans were lost and a third was bailed. To make matters worse, the StuGs were able to stormtrooper back into a more defensible position – including hiding behind their burning companion.
The dice failed me on the next round as none of the Shermans hit and the surviving Germans lit up two of the remaining Shermans, bailing a third, and the platoon failed its morale roll.
Game one to the Germans!
The next game, we just swapped sides. This time, Tim put all eight Stuarts into a single platoon and ran them pell-mell up the eastern road. However, because of the "Hens and Chicks" rule requiring vehicles to remain within 6" of another vehicle in the unit, one Stuart was left out in the open at the crossroads. Meanwhile, the Shermans were positioning to sneak up the western road. While I could've left my StuGs in the "gone to ground" role where they couldn't be fired upon until the Reds closed to within 6", I chose to start attritting the Soviets before they got close. Three Stuarts were engaged by a pair of StuGs with all three brewing up. On the western side, a single Sherman was killed before the order to advance was given.
I was able to reposition my StuGs using the stormtrooper rule to receive the incoming attack with two StuGs facing the Stuarts and the other three concentrating on the western force.
The next turn saw the Stuarts get in amongst the two StuGs on the east while the three StuGs on the west accounted for another pair of Shermans as they dashed for cover. While the Stuart has a relatively wimpy 37mm gun, it has an armor penetration value of 7 – and the StuG's rear armor was only 3. To make matters worse, the StuGs would only get one shot this next round as they rotated to engage the Stuarts among them.
Tim had managed to execute the plan that I had intended to do – split the German fire and hit the flanks. However, unlike the last game, the dice were with me. One StuG caught it in the shorts and was bailed. The crew quickly remounted. On my turn, three more Stuarts died along with a couple of Shermans and a third bailed. The Stuart platoon failed its morale and ran away – which forced the Shermans to check their intestinal fortitude. The bailed crew did not re-mount and the Shermans failed their morale roll deciding that they needed to be somewhere else – anywhere else – at the moment.
German win!
All in all – two very good friendly games that took less than an hour in total. Very instructive as well – which was the whole point of the exercise. I'll be trying a larger force next month.
Wyatt
