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GAME 2:
The second game was against team “Well on Heels” – a combination of two US mechanized infantry lists from Hell on Wheels (2nd armoured). Between the two armies (which were almost identical), the force consisted of 4 full strength armoured infantry platoons, 5 stuarts, 2 armoured artillery platoons (105mm), 1 mechanized mortar platoon, 2 M10 anti-tank teams with accompanying infantry, an infantry recon patrol and an air observation post.
The scenario was No-retreat with the Finns once again defending. We deployed two jalkaväki platoons and the heavy mortars from “Osasto Napa” and both Sturmi-platoons from “Osasto Kymppi”. One sturmi platoon was in ambush. The infantry was spread out across the front-line behind a stone wall with the platoons intermingled (for defensive fire). The platoon of sturmis was on the Finnish left in good positions behind the stone wall (hull down and good fields of fire). The US had two mechanized platoons on both flanks and the stuarts on their left (Finnish right). One objective was on the Finnish left on the attackers side of the river while the other was on the defenders side of the river. We agreed the river would be very difficult going with the bridge as road and the ford as difficult going. The battlefield after deployment is pictured below:
Sturmis in hull-down positions:
With only 16” between the forces the US started out aggressively advancing. On the Finnish left two platoons in their half-tracks advanced to close range and covered their attack with smoke.
On the Finnish right the half-tracks also advanced but without smoke. The stuarts were feeling brave and assaulted the Finnish positions on the first turn.
The assault killed the Finnish 2iC and the resulting counterattack didn’t accomplish anything with the platoon so spread out. The Stuarts made a voluntary fall-back through the Finnish positions and across the bridge!
With such a ballsy move the Finns were forced to bring their Sturmi ambush on their right flank to engage the stuarts threatening the objective. The Sturmis were ready to move onto the threatened objective and engage the Stuarts. However the 6-shots only managed to cause three bailed-out results!
Things were not as good for the US mechanized forces. The other Sturmi platoon engaged the halftracks through the smoke and destroyed two, killing several teams and pinning the platoons. On the Finnish right flank a heavy mortar bombardment pinned both platoons and caused some damage.
On the US turn 3/4 of the infantry platoons remained pinned down. Only one platoon on the Finnish left un-pinned thanks to the CIC re-roll. They proceeded to shoot with bazookas at the Sturmis and to do a follow-up assault. However the platoon took exactly five hits in the defensive fire and became pinned down.
The Stuarts (2/5 remained bailed out) proceeded to run behind the big hill on the Finnish table-edge and assault the heavy mortars – killing one.
US artillery tried to destroy the Sturmis coming from ambush (failed), smoked the left flank and pinned the center (no casualties).
With the mortars failing to un-pin and reserves still not arriving, Finnish Sturmis move from the semi-contained left flank to engage the Stuarts while it is still possible.
The fire is more effective this turn with the two bailed out Stuarts and one Stuart from behind the hill (one Sturmi was able to move to engage these) being destroyed. The platoon fails its morale and leaves the field. On the center the Finnish forces remained gone-to-ground with most US forces still in their halftracks and already pinned down.
The US third turn continued with one mechanized platoon on both flanks remaining pinned down. This turn the US commanders also realized – after stiffer than expected resistance – that they still had their M10s lurking in ambush. They brought these in cover on the center. They opened up on the Sturmis but failed to accomplish anything. Firing was otherwise ineffective, except on the left flank. Here the un-pinned infantry continued their advance, firing bazookas on the go. One bazooka managed to penetrate a Sturmi’s rear-armour and destroy the assault gun (the Sturmis had turned to engage the Stuarts).
The infantry on the left continued with an assault on a second Sturmi and a lone infantry team, destroying both and consolidating onto the objective! On the Finnish right the assault failed miserably by being pinned down by defensive fire (with some casualties):
The Finnish left was looking pretty bad at this point. Luckily the lone Sturmi stayed in the fight and the closest jalkaväki platoon un-pinned. The 3 Sturmis from the right now re-positioned themselves to the left and the jalkaväki platoon from the center also moved to assault. Finnish reinforcements also arrived with the T-28s moving to firing positions on the threatened left and the jääkäri platoon running into the forest on the center.
The resulting fire from the 3 Sturmis, 3 T-28s and the jalkaväki platoon thoroughly pinned down the US mechanized platoon as well as killing most visible teams (the bulk were saved by being within the smoke and too far from the tanks). The following jalkaväki assault on the US troops was sufficient to wipe out the platoon (together with one of the two US CICs), but now the Finnish platoon was only down to two teams.
At the end of the round the objective was once again securely in Finnish hands with 3 Sturmis in strong positions and T-28s and jääkäri approaching.
The US players still tried one last turn, but a mechanized platoon on the left and right remained pinned down. A last assault on the right failed yet again, with Finnish infantry pinning the assault down (the infantry weren’t pinned down but only concealed by smoke).
At this point we had to call it a game as we were already playing on overtime. The US forces still had a chance to break through, but one of the two US companies was near breaking point with no CIC and the Finns had yet to engage the enemy with the arriving 2 jääkäri platoons, jalkaväki scout platoon and light mortars. The final scene:
Result: 6-1 victory for our brave Finnish forces.
Analysis: The US forces had a good plan of engaging both flanks and breaking through with the Stuarts. However they lost the game by attacking one-by-one. This was not helped by the fact that the infantry spent the majority of the game being pinned down. It also helped that the infantry was only trained and it was quite easy to get many hits on them (bunched together for mortars and plenty of Finnish shooting available for defensive fire).
The US came close to breaking through on the left and winning. However, the re-deployment of Finnish Sturmis and infantry saved the day. Had the US been able to keep the Finnish forces engaged (or destroyed) on the center and right they would have won. It would have helped a lot for the US to used smoke more efficiently on the right flank (was used extensively on the left but very little on the right). Bringing in the M10s earlier would also have helped to destroy the critical Sturmis or at least keep them on their toes.
Also the tight schedule of the tournament possibly affected the choices made.