Battlereport MW East Front

By Benny Christiansen

When you get your hands on not one, but two new books; and you have a chance to get a game squeezed in during the weekend, you have to make a priority list. What is the first thing you want to look at and test!?

For me, and my friends, it was the infantry. I am a big fan of infantry, and I love the way it can move and no longer just lie down and take punishment. They are, to me, a real asset now.

The German DAK book had left the Germans with a somewhat less than optimal infantry. I don’t play the Germans, but if the lists are less than optimal, fewer people will play them in tournaments, nor even in pick up games. So the new German book, Iron Cross, has been expected with great anticipation by players who field German Infantry. I find that the book has provided these players with a good source for good infantry choices.

Russians was historically a swarm army. I’m not big on history, but to the best of my knowledge that is how the army worked. I was eager to learn about the new special rules, that was mentioned at the UK event, and I do not feel disappointed.

Get on with the details, man!

Right, so we decided on a 65 point battle. We ended up playing Dust Up. “(R)” = in reserve

The lists were:

Russian 

• HQ
• Small Rifle Platoon with 2 PTRSD (R)
• Large Penal Platoon
• 6 HMGs
• 4 76mm AT guns (R)
• 6 T-60 tanks

Germans

• HQ
• 2 Assault squads fully upgraded (1 R)
• 1 Rifle/mg platoons, 5 teams w. HMG (R)
• 4 8cm mortars
• 3 Panzer III Short CM
• 1 Recon with 1 Sdkfz 221 and 2 Sdkfz 222
• 1 Sniper (R)

Deployment

The Russian Penal Company has a special rule (Redemption) allowing it to do, what we interpret as a Spearhead move, and so the Russian player dashed forward. The German player also dashed forward his recon unit, but probably decided against deploying anything there.

Turn 1

The Germans started. Panzer III move up towards the HMGs and closer to the T-60’ies. Being a Meeting Engagement, no artillery was allowed to fire in turn 1 and the rest was out of sight or out of range. The scout vehicles moved back behind the Assault Platoon and Formation HQ. The T60 tanks were scared of the Panzer IIIs so stayed on their objective. The HMGs dashed up on the hill in front of them, while the huge Penal Company continued to move forward at full speed, towards the objective near the church in the forest. The HMG platoon shot at the dug in assault platoon while causing no casualties.

Turn 2

In turn 2 the German player moved his recon behind his HQ/Assault squad, to protect it from the host of teams rushing towards him. The artillery fired hoping to take out the command structure of the Russian units, but to no avail.

The Russian player advanced with his Penal Company, preparing the assault, but making sure his HMGs would fire overhead before his attack. He managed to pin the Assault Squad and position himself for the assault.

Because of the woods, the Russian player would be able to minimize the amount of defensive fire from the vehicles. We spent some time finding out what teams to use in the assault, as the distance they can walk is quite considerable.

After having moved into contact, we failed to notice the new reduced ROF for flamethrowers. Flamethrowers in the new books have a reduced ROF when pinned. This results in the German flamethrowers having a ROF of 1, while the Russians have ROF 2. Having placed his recon unit within range of defensive fire, the German player managed to get 9 hits. The HMG and recon unit were instrumental in this defense.

As the unit fell back, we discussed the potential uses for the company. The Penal Company has a great potential, but not only as an aggressive unit. It can contest, but not claim objectives. So while it does not benefit from Bulletproof Cover it can still get benefits from being Concealed In The Open and Gone To Ground. So we had an idea that if the HMG team had something like 8 teams from the Penal Company slightly behind the Soviet HMGs, it would be a big deterrent against assaulting it with tanks, as the infantry can stay in the fight, unlike the Heavy Weapon. 

But back to the game:

Turn 3+4

The German player finally unpinned his Assault Squad thus making the annihilation of the Penal Company very likely. The German player moved his Recon unit out from behind the forest so he could maximize the effect of the MGs on the vehicles while moving his HQ in assault range.

His Panzer III platoon went closer to the HMGs preparing to shoot and potentially assault them. Initially, my thoughts were that the German unit could assault a few teams, push the Soviet Company further away, and potentially cause them to get below five teams and start taking tests.

However, I had forgotten the long assault range of the Soviets. So when the assault came, we all were surprised to see that the entire Company and HQ could get in contact when they made the counterattack move.

The matchup was interesting, to say the least. German Assault Squad, hitting on 2+ in assault, because they have the Deadly label put on them vs the Soviet Penal Company, hitting on 4+. As the battle raged back and forth, it seemed obvious to me, that the larger numbers the Penal Company had earlier, would give it the win.

In this case, the German platoon ended up losing the battle. Both units had their HQ nearby, so had re-rolls on their morale. As the German player saw the Soviet Platoon and HQ close to the objective, he decided to assault into the forest with the recon unit. It took out one team, if I remember correctly (things were hectic) but lost the counterattack roll, and thus losing one vehicle in the assault and the other out of action due to missing the Cross Test.

The Soviet player ended up very close to the objective, an assault from winning. If he could only push away the German player he would have started, and ended, his turn within range of the objective, but the assault could push away the German unit contesting the objective.

Due to the SMGs it was important where the assault came in. One shot could change the outfall of the game. The Soviet player went all in, and assaulted with the entire Penal Company (3 stands left), but they died due to bad saves (3 teams with 4+ save). When the Soviet Formation Commander assaulted, he could not save either, and thus the game ended with a win to the German player.

Conclusion

Being a die-hard positive person, there is no doubt from what I have seen so far, both books have some interesting choices. In this case, the Soviet player was testing the Penal Company. He fielded the big version at 27 points in a 65 point game. There were many things I would have enjoyed seeing more of, including The sniper and the T-60s. But that will have to wait till next time.