US Armored Field Artillery Battery

I recently finished another unit for my US Tank Company for Flames of War.  Funny how things pan out.  I had no plans to build this army this year and now I am nearly done.

This is an Armored Field Artillery Battery with one section of M7 Preist HMC.

 I upgraded the command and the FO to the M2 half-tracks.

Eventually, I will purchase the new box set to add the second section.  The new box actually has new M7 models which is nice.  It also includes the FO in a Sherman, yeah!

El Guettar Turns 5 and 6

Even with their win in game 4 the Germans were unable to stop the Americans from capturing Thelepte.  If they are to have any hope of stopping the Americans the Germans need to string together some big wins.

In game 5 the Germans would return with the Panzer Grenadiers, this time with no armor support.  They did have two full grenadier platoons with lots of half-tracks. They also had lots of AT support and air support.  The American would defend with a large infantry company with tanks, TDs and air in support.  The scenario was Pincer.

The Americans deployed one infantry platoon covering a small village on the center of table and covering the near objective.  Covering the far objective, behind the village, was a battery of 105s.  The Shermans were held in ambush.  The Germans deployed a pz grenadier platoon on either flank with the HMG platoon combat attached to each.  The 88s covered the center of the battlefield and the pak38 were on the German right.

The Germans pressed their attack on the left flank.  This triggered the Sherman ambush but they only managed to knockout one half-track.  The 88s then killed a couple of Shermans.  The remaining Sherman passed morale and stayed in the fight.  The German attack on the left slowly ran out of steam as the grenadiers made it into the village.  At this point the Germans shifted their attack to their right flank and pressed hard on the near objective.

Several turns without reinforcements spelled doom for the Americans.  When they did arrive they were fed piecemeal into the battle and destroyed.  Poor choices on what units to bring on made matters worse.  In the end the Germans win 6-1.  Things are now starting to look grim for the Americans

For game six the Americans needed to regain the initiative.  I brought a Tank Company hoping to see lots of half-tracks on the other side.  Tim was too sly for that and brought a Panzer Company.  The battle would be Hasty Attack with the Germans defending.  The Americans needed at least a 5-2 victory to keep the timetable in tact.

The Germans would start the battle with two panzer platoons on the table along with the CO.  The American would start with a battery of T19, the M10 security section and the company command sections.  Seeing the weakness of the initial American deployment the Germans decided to go on the attack in the center.  With only the CO and the 2iC covering the US objective this looked like a sound move.  The only hope for the Americans was to get to shooting fast.  The TD section moved up quickly on a village on the US right and deployed.  The quickly knocked out the Panzer CO and one tank from the German's center platoon.  Some goos shooting from the T19 would also score a kill on the center platoon.

The Germans would not be chased off so easily and continued their attack.  They moved into point blank range on the US command tanks but failed to effect.  Timely arrival of the first of the US reinforcements would save the center for the American with the panzer platoon being wiped out.  On the US right the battle continued with the M10s being destroyed but not before getting a couple more panzers.

This battle would again come down to reinforcements.  This time it was the Germans that had trouble getting them on while the US managed to get everything on the table.  The battle would end with the German company breaking.  American win 5-2!

So far the American offensive is on schedule but the cost has been very high.  Her is the scoring so far:

Victory Points
US - 24
Germans - 18

Casualties
US - 102
Germans - 60

Vehicles lost
US - 36
Germans - 25

Guns lost
US - 2
Germans - 6

With the half way point in the campaign reached it is time for a little break.  Home improvement projects and a case of the flu is cutting into game time.  It might also be time to switch games for a little bit.

El Guettar Turns 3 and 4

After two solid defeats and the loss of Kasserine, the Germans decided that it was time to rest the initiative from the Americans.  The Germans gathered a Panzer company and attacked the advancing Americans near the town of Thelelpte.  The American infantry was caught off guard and attempted a fighting withdrawal.  The Americans had a large infantry company with lots of support from tanks, artillery and tank destroyers.  The Germans had tanks.

This battle never really got going for the Germans.  They advanced towards the defending Americans but struggled to dig out the defenders.  The American artillery, tanks and tank destroyers methodically shot the Germans to bits.  The lack of support on the Germans side doom the attack to failure.  US wins 5-2 and the momentum stays with the Americans.

The fourth battle saw the Germans continuing their aggressive ways.  A Panzer Grenadier company, mounted in half-tracks, managed to surround an American rifle company.  The Americans had an excellent defensive position in a small village.  The Germans had what seemed to be a small attacking force consisting of a couple of Grenadier platoons supported by 88s, Pak 38s and PZIIIs.  The Germans also had strong air support.

The Germans focused the major part of their force against the American left flank with only a single platoon of Grenadiers attacking the right.  The right was clearly a diversionary attack that seemed doom to fail.  That single German platoon was facing a large, well dug in, American infantry platoon supported by M10s.  The Germans half-tracks zoomed across the open ground towards the American lines, surviving everything the Americans threw at them.  They then dismounted to launch an assault against the American infantry.  This assault was repulsed and a brutal short range firefight ensued.  This fight on the right would last for several turns and would draw in another American infantry platoon and a US light tank platoon before the Germans were destroyed.

The success of the German attack on the right took both commanders by surprise.  The Germans were slow in exploiting the success of the diversion and the Americans were slow in shifting forces from the right flank to the left.  The Germans, however, recovered quicker and pressed on the objective.  Over the next several turns the Germans would lose the PZIII platoon but the Americans would lose much more.  In the end the American company was broken and fled the field.  This was the first German victory in the campaign, 4-3, and the bloodiest battle so far.  Even with the German victory the Americans scored enough VP to capture Thelepte but momentum was shifting.

Current scores:

Victory Points

US - 18
Germans - 10

Casualties

US - 60
Germans - 43

Vehicles lost

US - 26
Germans - 16

Guns lost

US - 1
Germans - 6

US M10 Platoon for Flames of War

The next batch of US forces are done.  This is a Tank Destroyer Platoon  of mid war.  This is the old Battlefront box set from 2004.  This box is great because it includes the security section whereas the current box does not.

These guys have already seen a couple of games already and I really like them.  This seems like a no brainer unit for mid-war US army.

El Guettar Turns 1 and 2

Tim and I have completed the first two battles of our El Guettar campaign.  Each battle represents one game turn.  The first battle was Hold the Line with the Germans defending.  Tim brought a Panzer Grenadier company with lots of dismounted grenadiers, some Pak40s, a couple 88s and some artillery.  He also brought some air support.  The US forces consisted of a Tank company with some Shermans, Lees, M3 TD and T19 artillery.  The US has sporatic air support.

The battle was close and a real nail-biter.  The US pushed hard for a single objective and lost a tank platoon right at the start.  Things quickly turned and the US pulled out a 5-2 win.

The battle was Breakthrough with the same forces.  The US was the attacker again.  This game was a first for me in that it was the first time that I used a smoke barrage and actually had it work.  The US would take this game also by a 5-2 score.

The US is off to a good start in the campaign, winner the first two games and capturing the first objective - Kasserine.  The cost was high.  Here is the scoring so far:

Victory Points
US - 10
German -4

Casualties
US - 20
Germans - 14

Vehicles lost
US - 20
Germans - 0

Guns lost
US - 0
Germans - 5

El Guettar - A Flames of War Campaign

Tim and I have been playing lots of games of Flames of War over the last year and a half.  These games have mostly been set in North Africa in the mid war period.  The games have been fun but we always talk about doing some sort of campaign.

After much talk and a little research we decided to do a FoW axis if attack campaign loosely based on the attacks of the US II Corps in the El Guettar area of Tunisia in 1943.  This is a neat area for a campaign as the forces involved are fairly limited but very interesting - German armor, Italian armor and US infantry and armor.  Since there is only two of us playing we have dropped the Italians for now.

The strategic situation is that the US has just suffered an humiliating defeat at Kasserine Pass but the Germans lack the strength to exploit their success.  The German forces begin a slow withdrawal to the southeast in order to better protect the route of the Afrika Korps into Tunisia.  The US II Corps new commander, Gen. Patton, is eager to press the Germans and cutoff the Afrika Korps route into Tunisia.  To do this the US must capture the town of Gabes before the DAK cam make their escape.  Patton also wants to prove that the first all US command of the war is able to take on tough opposition and defeat veteran Germans units.

The campaign rules are a modified version of the Noob Friendly Tunisia Campaign run by the WWPD guys a couple years ago.

The Rules

1. Mapped based axis of attack format (See the crappy map above) based on Patton's II Corps attack through El Guettar to cutoff the retreat of the Africa Corps.
2. Armies involved - US Armor and Infantry; German Armor and Panzer Grenadiers. Lists are to be created from the North Africa book and the Tunisia lists for US and Germans.
3. Battles will be randomly generated from the FoW rule book or by agreement of the players.  Battles will be scored per the normal VP scoring system.
4. The Allies have the strategic initiative.  The Axis forces cannot capture territories they can only try and slow the advance of the allies.  A territory is captured when the Allies achieve 6 VP for
battles fought in that territory.  This means it will take between one and six battles to capture a territory.  The Germans start the campaign controlling all territories.
5. The allies will have 12 campaign turns to capture the final objective - Gabes.  Each game represents one campaign turn.
6. Each player should pick a nationality to play for the entire campaign.  Players are free to change their army lists from game to game but should not switch nationalities.
7.  Progress in the campaign will be tracked several ways.  Number of territories held, Strategic objective, VP accumulated,  and Casualties suffered (each team lost in a battle counts as a casualty).  The strategic objective for the US is to capture Gabes and for the Germans it is to prevent the US from achieving their objective.


So those are the basic rules for the campaign.  Tim will be playing the Germans which is an army has is very familiar with.  I will be playing the Americans which is a new army for me.  It should prove interesting and hopefully I can put up a good enough fight to take it all the way to 12 games.  No matter how it turns out I can see us running this campaign a couple of times so we each have a chance to play both armies.

The first battle is tomorrow so here's hoping it goes well for the Allies!

Flames of War US Tank Company

I have been wanting to build a US Tank Company for a long time.  Last year I bought some Plastic Soldier Company M4A1 and M4A2 models from a friend that was getting out of the hobby.  I had already started collecting some PSC models before I purchased the collection.  After playing a few games with my friends old tanks I decided they just were not getting the job done, so I decided to build and paint my own collection.

Here are the first 10 tanks for my new army, along with a couple of extras.

First up are the commander and the 2iC.  The figures are Battlefront and the tanks are PSC.

 The first platoon is also PSC with a Battlefront commander.  These tanks have the M34 gun mantlet and some have the rounded hull.

The second platoon are PSC with an Old Glory commander.  These tanks have the M34A1 mantlet and all have the bolted hull fronts.

This is the classic Battlefront US objective marker.  It is a knocked out version of their M4A1 model.  I never really liked the BF version of this tank.  The slope of the front armor looks wrong to me.

Finally we have the M32 TRV from Battlefront.  I will actually be playing this as the M31 for the time being until I order the correct model from BF.  I really like the new plastic tracks that BF are doing.  They are much nicer than the old metal ones.

Not a bad start on a new army.  This is just under 1200 points.  I have an M10 TD platoon and an M7 artillery battery in process so they will be getting some reinforcements soon.