"Panzer Aces 6mm Batrep with Hell Hath No Fury" Topic

All,

So, this is it, the first battle report from our new campaign, "Panzer Aces." The campaign will be played out using 6mm forces, and we will follow two brothers leading a tank platoon with the fictional 52nd Panzer Division, from Barbarossa in June 1941 to the bitter end in May 1945, all on the eastern front. The platoon will start in Pz IIIFs (short 50mm guns), then graduate to long 50mm guns (Pz IIIJ, March 1942), to Pz IVG (December 1943), Pz IVH (June 1943), and end with the Panther (November 1944). They will face an array of Soviet vehicles, guns, and troops, from the little T-60s all the way through the JS-2s.

Hans (the elder brother and platoon commander), a Sergeant and commander of the Tank 201, and Franz Mueller (the younger brother), a Corporal and commander of Tank 203, are from a small village in Bavaria. They joined in the inter-war years, both in the infantry but volunteering for the blossoming Panzer Corps when the opportunity arose. They were members of the 4th Panzer Division during the blitzkrieg through Poland and then France, performing well. This led to their promotions, and when, following the fall of France, the formation of the 52nd Panzer Division was being formed, they both volunteered as it secured spots for them to become tank commanders. Their platoon is comprised of four tanks split into two sections of two tanks, one led by Hans in 01 and one led by Franz in 03. Tank 202 is led by Corporal Heine and Tank 204 is led by Corporal Schultze.

After much training and preparation, today is the day of invasion, 22 June 1941. German forces, massed on the frontier in Poland opposite the Soviet lines, moved forward in the pre-dawn darkness, and then a ferocious artillery barrage was unleashed. As the barrage pounded Soviet forward positions and the sun crested the horizon, airplanes of the Luftwaffe filled the skies, destroying Soviet aircraft on the ground and further pounding the Red Army. Wehrmacht infantry poured through the Soviet front line, largely a walk through but with pockets of intense fighting.

The company commander called his platoon commanders together at approximately 1100; in two hours we march on the Soviets. The infantry have opened holes in the lines and now the panzers will strike. Our guidance is to pour through the holes created by the infantry, do not get bogged down! We will push, moving to encircle the Soviet formations, and then we will continue to push, cutting them off and destroying their rear echelon elements, we must keep them off balance. We will move forward through here (tapping map), advance along this axis (tapping map), advancing on this bridge (tapping map). The Soviets will try to throw up new defensive lines, but these must be smashed on the run, the bridge must be taken (slapping the map with his swagger stick)!

**This is the first scenario from the Hell Hath No Fury book, "Dawn Patrol," while the bridge will be the next fight.

Overview of map, left is north, west is bottom. The Panzer Platoon is at bottom center right, while the three poker chips are blinds (or 'PEFs' in NUTS!/Hell Hath No Fury speak). The road is for decoration only, not conferring any movement bonus, while there are two hills and numerous woods that block line of sight. The Panzer order of march is: Hans in 201, Heine in 202, Franz in 203, and Schultze in 204.

First contact is the German tank platoon speeding up the road, spotting two Soviet trucks towing 45mm anti-tank guns over to their right. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link

We had a great time, the boy is already asking me when we can play again, and we look forward to getting another fight in this coming weekend. I plan on playing about eight engagements per 'stage' of the war, so eight for early Barbarossa, eight for the autumn/winter push on Moscow, eight for spring/fall of 1942, eight for the relief of Stalingrad, eight for the spring of '43 and Kursk, eight for the defensive battles that winter, eight for Bagration/summer '44, eight for the breakout fights of that winter, and eight for the end, which will probably go through Hungary and end in Czeckoslakia, though I'm also toying with going on a different route and getting trapped in the Baltics. I will not be doing Berlin.

V/R,
Jack

Very enjoyable Jack. My first all armour AAR I've ever read and you did your usual great job in describing the action. Love the minis as well btw

Jack, it will be interesting to follow this as the sides get their new equipment.

Panda – Holy shit, you're alive!!! How the hell are ya buddy? Glad you liked it, more to come this weekend, and I still have another Royal Marines in Afghanistan batrep to post. Hope all is well, and that you find some time for gaming (I'm assuming you haven't had any lately as I haven't seen any posts).

Norm – Certainly. While I have it mapped out when the German platoon will upgrade vehicles, I need to map it out of the Soviets as well. I figure for most of the war the backbone, of course, will be T-34s, then I can mix in the odd T-60 (even using them as T-70s)and KV-1, and start to add SU-76s, SU-85s, -122s, 152s. I need to decide if I will actually purchase T-34/85s, or just be a cheapskate and stick with T-34/76s the whole war (though treating them as 85s once appropriate in the timeline), and I figure near the end I'll add in some Stalins.

V/R,
Jack

I apologize; a word I put in because I thought it would be "bleeped" didn't get bleeped…

V/R,
Jack

No gaming at all Jack…"all work and no play make" John a dull boy …new baby too so its all hands on deck

Speaking of "all hands on deck" I've just dug out my Sails of Glory and Patrick O Brian books in the past few days but that's as near as I've come to conflict of any kind.
Amazing read by btw if you've never tried them. I thought that the Age of Sail tactical warfare would appeal to you.
I haven't even visited TMP hardly in the past few months so I've probably a lot of catching up to do. I'll keep an eye out for more

Sorry to hear that man, and hope you can find some time soon. I am a fan of age of sail ship-to ship combat, I just haven't found any rules and don't have any ships. I would love to even have boarding actions played out in 10mm or 15mm.

I hope you and your family are doing well, particularly the little one. He's gotta be almost your height by now, right? ;)

V/R,
Jack

LoL yeah he's a little beast, spends his days eating and drinking and then sleeping it off – just like his dad. But he's a ways to go before he can stand as tall as me (he probably won't do that for 7 months or ;)

We're off camping tomorrow so that'll be an endurance test for us all :)

Hope your lot are good too. Is your son still playing war-games with you or has he moved up a tactical notch and starting challenging the local neighborhood blind kids

Take care bud ;)

Good luck camping man, and hey! It was my meticulous preparation that got him ready for these blind kids. Alas, he has surpassed my capabilities; they grow up so fast ;)

V/R,
Jack