Jobu88 vs RNLTiger ( Tiger - no peeking!)

[Jobu88]

To wrap up Turn 21, most of my infantry in the woods recovered during the turn. I managed to suppress the mortar, or maybe he ran out of ammo. Either way, my boys begin to recover and will shortly resume their plan to flush the Rooskies out of the woods and away from the flag.

[Jobu88]

At the start of Turn 22 the T-34 who took a Panzerfaust in the face is still not dead, so I run one squad up to toss a grenade bundle at him. Note that the squad targets the T-34 at 17 meters at the 0:19 mark, but doesn't throw the grenade bundle. Just as I was starting to cuss, the crew bailed out and was cut down a moment later. Somehow my squad must have known the tank was already dead, and they saved their grenade bundle for a rainy day.








Elsewhere, Russian infantry sense that the game is up and they start legging it. Unfortunately, a sure-fire way to get killed is to start running in the open. These guys don't get far. Two are identified as pioneer squads, and one is identified as Infantry with a ? he may be a pioneer too.

[Jobu88]

Finally, on Turn 22 Tiger sends a lone T-34 ( or at least only one that I can see) on a long end run around into my rear.
But judging by all the forest he'll have to navigate, I think it's impossible that he can get into my business before the game ends.
And I still have plenty of Panzerfausts and grenade bundles waiting for him if he does make it.



I lose sight of him here:

[Jobu88]

Turn 23: My infantry and engineers will move up and flush out whatever Russians remain in the woods to drive them away from the flag. That movement will simultaneously bring my troops into range to exert positive control over the flag. My StuH42 and my two MG-42's will blast the woods from which the only Russian fire has been coming during the last couple turns.

[Jobu88]

Infantry positions at the end of Turn 23 ( of 25+). Plenty of Panzerfausts in the platoon circled in blue, while the engineers hold the trees ( green).




Another Pioneer squad legging it. I expect he'll get cut down in the open on Turn 24.




But Holy Hi-Speed Run, Batman!!! Look at this crazy bastage. He may get into my business after all. Based on the very short time it took Tiger to send this turn back to me, I'm guessing that the only remaining active part of his plans is to try and get this guy into position for a shot at my StuH42.

[Jobu88]

Turn 24 brings no surprises. Another Pioneer is flushed out of the woods, that would account for
three squads and the HQ that have been driven out. These guys don't have a chance in hell....






But Tiger's T-34 definitely has a chance to muck up the end of the game for me. And he's a protege of POS,
so I expect the T-34 to make a dash for my StuH42 using one of these two routes. But which one????
I will try to back my StuH42 out of harm's way.



One possible mitigating factor: the T-34 gained LOS and fired on my boys near the end of Turn 24.
Perhaps Tiger will be content to fire at them on Turn 25?
Nah who am I kidding he'll go for the StuH42 and the points it will bring if he can kill it.

[Jobu88]

Turn 25 of 25+

The fleeing Pioneer squad didn't make it any farther than his pals before getting cut down.




My SS veterans know better than to leave the woods un-searched, those Ivans can hide between two blades of grass.




And whew!! Tiger took the shortest route to get LOS on my StuH42, but he backed out of the way with about 8 seconds to spare. The time while your vulnerable vehicle is rotating so that he can execute a reverse order seems like an eternity, but he made it.




But the game does not end on Turn 25 !!!! Wow I thought a flag had to be contested or in imminent danger of being contested? Maybe not, maybe it's just troops in contact. In any event, this game will continue, and Tiger may yet get his shot at my StuH42. It will also give my boys another turn to pursue broken and fleeing Russians over in the area of the burning SU-76.

[Jobu88]

On Turn 26 Tiger makes an attempt to get LOS with his T-34 but can't quite get there.




And thankfully from my point of view the game ends before his T-34 can line up a shot:

[Jobu88]

Looking at the map afterwards, Tiger was heavy on tanks and a bit light on infantry.

9 T-34/85 ( 5 survived, 4 killed) and one SU-76 (killed).

Neither of us had an artillery spotter.

He controls his end of the map handily, but takes at least half of his infantry to do it:



Four T-34's just minding their own business, maybe he thought I had more troops heading towards his flag.



The graveyard on my end, where I racked up the points to eke out a victory.



Final positions around my flag.





All in all, my plan was probably not entirely sound. It worked out due to my infantry killing RNL's tanks, not my Veteran Pz IV's
who both got smoked for only one T-34. And it took the Luckiest Turn of 2007 to help me secure a win on top of that. :smoke:

RNL is going to be a strong member of the Blitz club, I can tell you that. He's blazing fast getting turns back, so he
should rack up a lot of games in a short time. He also learns fast:

In my last battle with Jobu88 there were three main flags and one minor one. Two of the main flags were together
and the third was some distance away with a minor flag close by. He chose an infantry heavy force with two platoons
of T-34/85 tanks.
He feinted an attack on the major and minor flags with a squad of PTRD ATRs whilst concentrating all of his forces on the two
major flags.

It is highly possible that I will see similar tactics again

[kineas]

Congrats, the clever escaping with the StuHs gained you a victory