Jobu88 vs RNLTiger ( Tiger - no peeking!)

[Jobu88]

:censored:

In addition to his other positive attributes, RNL Tiger is a blazing fast opponent who gets turns back quickly. That allows me to begin crying in my beer immediately, as the anti-tank expert's dream turned into a nightmare faster than you can say "President Hillary."

Before any of my boys could fire, 85mm shells landed all around them. One team killed outright, the other two pinned and remained that way through the end of the turn. And Tiger's damaged T-34 joined in the barrage, so I know he's not dead or even dying.

[Jobu88]

When the smoke finally cleared, this was all that remained of my plan to blast Tiger's armor....

"No plan survives contact with the enemy." - Carl v. Clausewitz.

[Jobu88]

OK, OK, I failed to rack up a couple hundred points' worth of Russian armor, and his tanks are still on the rampage, but the war goes on and the survivors have to keep fighting.

My Pz IV's have relocated from the left map edge back towards the flag. Tiger only has a couple options for getting his tanks over to the flag due to the woods & I will try to be waiting for him when he shows his face.

One of my StuH42's blasted a platoon of Russian infantry out of their wooded hiding places. Four 105mm shells went in, three Russian squads came running out.



I am also moving my engineer platoon up to be in position for what I expect will be a frantic and violent last 5 turns. Tiger will likely figure out ( if he hasn't already) that I'm not contesting the other flag.




And finally, my sniper continues his long trek around into the Russian rear. I hope to veryify the location of the Su-76 and run my tank hunter team (approaching from the other direction) up on him before he knows what hit him.

[Jobu88]

Here's an overview of the situation on Turn 14 of 25+. My platoons are circled in light blue. The Russians are concentrated in a couple patches of woods, I have seen none over to the left of the flag except that mother :censored: sniper.....

My two Pz IVs and my two StuH42's are grouped behind a patch of trees that blocks LOS from the SU-76, I don't want any surprises from him. And my sniper and tank hunter continue to close on the last datum for the SU-76, hopefully to turn him into a flaming wreck.





The only direct route for Tiger's T-34's to get to the flag and contest it:

[Jobu88]

Aha !! Tiger helps me out by opening up an area bombardment with his SU-76 ( or whatever it is). My sniper gains LOS at about the :30 second mark & will keep him under surveilance while the tank hunter team approaches.





And elsewhere, against all conceivable odds, my lone remaining Panzerschrek takes a big swig of schnapps, rises up and lets fly at the Russian T-34 that has been tormenting him.....and misses. He's a goner for sure now.

[Jobu88]

Overcome by fear and out of schnapps, my last Panzerschrek team breaks and runs for it. He is mowed down in short order.









A golden opportunity -- three Panzerschreks and two tank hunters in the path of advancing Russian armor-- lost to the vagaries of chance. I was discussing timing with Tiger. If his tanks had arrived within earshot one turn earlier, I'd have been able to spring the perfect ambush. Instead, my boys opened fire at maximum range and gave themselves away, and paid for it. Such is life in the CM world.

[Jobu88]

Yikes! Adding to my rapidly-growing list of problems, another group of Russian armor emerges into view and spends the turn shelling one of my positions. That's all I need, although it tells me that Tiger went a bit lighter on infantry than I did. And this new group of tanks has the same limited means of approaching the flag as the other group-- narrow passes through the woods, or down the road in plain sight. I have several platoons of hardened SS veterans covering either approach, but still not a good thing overall. My plan to pick off a couple Russian tanks with my veteran Pz IVs looks less viable when outnumbered 3-1.

[Jobu88]

Do or die time arrives on turn 17 of 25+. Tiger is moving two T-34s through the trees to get into the action
for the left flag. I can't let him get tanks into my part of the map. Fortunately, he is sending two and leaving
the third behind to overwatch for any remaining Panzerschreks. And he is not moving the other group of three
up at the same time. This means that, for the moment, I have 1-1 odds instead of 2-3, or worse 1-3 if all 6 of
his tanks were approaching.





I will employ Spike's patented method and hope to greet the T-34s as they emerge from the pass. Fast orders
to the corner of the pine woods, should arrive one behind the other, with cover armor arcs that should put
them onto the spot where the T-34s will become visible.





Hopefully this is what my gunners will see just before Tiger's Russians come around the corner.

[McIvan]

Can't wait :)

Very enjoyable read....I feel for you with the shreks!

[Jobu88]

Disaster. Pure, unmitigated, weapons-grade disaster.

My boys execute their orders perfectly, move up in perfect formation to the precise spot where I wanted them. Unfortunately, Tiger's T-34's got to the gap in the trees first. And you can probably guess the rest....











As if that wasn't enough pain for one turn, one of my StuH42's takes a gun hit from a nearby HE round, followed seconds later by an immobilizing hit from a nearby HE round, and the crew decides that enough is enough already and they bail out.









About the only satisfaction I got from this turn was my tank hunter cooly tossing a magnetic mine right into the SU-76's knickers, with excellent results.







We're at Turn 18 of 25+, my plan to rack up points by killing Russian tanks has boomeranged on me and now Tiger has at least a small edge ( 2 veteran Pz IV's and a StuH42 for one T-34 and one SU-76). He also has at least 5 T-34's left, and my only anti-tank capability now rests with my infantry, who are all armed with nothing more capable than Panzerfaust 30s. Well, if it was going to be easy, we would have sent the Italians to this part of the front I guess.