THE MAIN EVENT II! Lord Bane vs. Matteponk

[WarHammer11A]

"He'll need to execute some clever maneuvering to regain a decisive armor advantage... "

I wouldn't expect anything less out of LB.

[WarHammer11A]

question? In the beging of the DAR, both sides show their force pick. It shows the experience upgrades and downgrade to the units. I have never seen that before.
thanks
warhammer

[Der Kuenstler]

question? In the beging of the DAR, both sides show their force pick. It shows the experience upgrades and downgrade to the units. I have never seen that before.
thanks
warhammer

I was able to do that by opening their setups, then opening my CM editor and copying what they had picked, then taking a screenshot. The vehicles are exactly represented by editing but I didn't feel like exactly duplicating every individual squad by experience levels - they may vary a little from the actual game.

[Der Kuenstler]

Minute four:

On the North flank Matteponk's PzIVs begin to show show their green nature - four shells are fired from the tanks and all miss. The remaining two vet tanks in LB's platoon return fire three times and one hits home at second 28, killing the trailing platoon leader. The minute ends with Matteponk lining up his AFVs in a POS-style power formation behind some scattered trees.



Town center: a possible Matteponk blunder? He seems overconfident after knocking out 2 of three T34s at the end of the street. He moves his two IV70s and a Pz IVJ out of their comfy hulldown position and further into town - too close for me with those fixed carriages - is he setting himself up to be flanked? His Reg IV70 commander was sniped last turn so he buttons the vet one - now they are both blind and moving forward.



Southern flank: Matteponk moves all of his AFVs forward again - a few shots are fired at moving T34s but they miss. Infantry dismount and run for town through the snow, peppered by AFV MG fire. Lord Bane's vet and crack T34s back up, trying to get LOS.



Southern flank, Lord Bane's view: Here we see no less than 12 T34s moving into position. The two in the rear are still bogged, but not immobilized, they could still get unstuck. Matteponk faces all of this with only five total AFVs - if he had any idea of the armored wall that was coming like an unstoppable swarm of angry ants, he'd be backing up - not moving forward!

[WarHammer11A]

This is the best DAR I have ever read. Keep up the great work!:bow:
warhammer11a

[wigam]

This is the best DAR I have ever read. Keep up the great work!:bow:
warhammer11a

I agree. The is a great contest!

[Der Kuenstler]

Thanks guys - and now minute 5:

To the North Matteponk changes his mind - he backs his regular IV70 up and starts hunting it through the scattered trees. He sends a green IVJ straight up the road with a HMG rider. He orders his other green IVJ to pivot towards the T34s to the North and hunt. Matteponk does everything right, but the green crew fails him. They fire at LB's lead buttoned T34 from the side but miss - they then take a full 13 seconds to reload while the vet T34 turns it's turret - both tanks fire at each other at the same time - the green IVJ misses again but the T34 doesn't -boom - another knockout!



Town center: Matteponk's two IV70s continue to hunt up the road until they are even with the main flag - buttoned and blind - they are WAY too close - what are they trying to do? A conscript IVJ (also buttoned) turns south behind them and moves up the drive of the church - perhaps to shell some approaching infantry. We can see he's too late - a guards '44 squad is already entering the church.



What's worse, the poor crew of reluctant old men and amputees has driven right into the sights of one of Lord Bane's vet T34s to the South.



Further South, Matteponk's bad luck continues. Here his Pz IV70 blasts one of LB's T34s square in its vulnerable side - and nothing happens. To the East, one of Bane's bogged tanks digs itself out and moves to join the others.



It pays to use roads - here is a shot of Matteponk's infantry approaching. Notice his FOs, which have to drag wire and move at "slow," are actually getting there faster than the SMG platoon near the bottom of the pic which is moving through snow.



Here is an overall shot from the South showing the front lines - notice Lord Bane's Russian infantry have a toehold in every building with a flag already. Matteponk's infantry are still floundering - constantly pinning from small arms and tank MG fire.



But Matteponk has artillery to root LB out. Matteponk also has a lot more infantry than Lord bane, most of them equipped with Pzfst 60s or Pzfst 100s - he may need every one of them before this is over.

[British Tommy]

Looks like Lady luck has turned her back on Von Matteponk for the moment but the lack of infantry holding the flags for Lord Baneski might be his undoing later in the battle ...... especially when those artillery shells start pounding those buildings :(

[Rico (FGM)]

This might just end up a pack of T-34's vs a shower of Pzfausts. :smoke:

[Der Kuenstler]

Minute six proves a devastating minute for Matteponk.

To the North, Bane's two vet T34s adjust their positions a little and shoot their MGs at a few infantry. The big action this minute is in town center and to the South.

In this first pic Matteponk's green T34 that was sent up the road on "fast" last turn arrives in very good position to get some side shots on the two T34s Lord Bane has sheltered behind the light building in town. But the German tank misses and alerts the two. The Russians both back up and pivot their turrets to meet the threat. The IVJ bumbles again - fires and misses. By this time the two T34s return fire and the tank explodes into a huge ball of fire. There was a crack MG42 team riding on the back of the unlucky tank - they completely evaporated in the gasoline and flames without time to even scream.



Meanwhile, Matteponk orders his vet IV70 to back up and go South up the church driveway by his conscript IVJ. His reg IVJ stays still - its commander has been killed so it is blind there. LBs third T34 decides to come hunting up over the ridge at that moment. It's first shot penetrates with no damage. The second shot ricochets. But the third shot hits home - the sluggish IV70 only got one shot off and missed. It was the platoon leader, too.



Up on the church drive, the conscript IVJ crew were momentarily relieved that the T34 that was aiming at them was taken out by the Southern IV70, but two more T34s soon replaces that one, and drill the hapless bunch. We can also see the Guards '44 platoon inside the church - they are out of command and pinned right now, but they are inside and the Germans are still outside.



Lord Bane is not finished yet - he creeps another T34 around the edge of the light building to the South and it snipes another IVJ through the scattered trees. The IVJ didn't even get to fire.



Matteponk gets one good break at least - his IV70 to the South was able to kill Lord Bane's only crack T34/85 while it was focusing on the conscript tank near the church. You can see the IV70 to the far left.



Half of Matteponk's armor is now destroyed. Lord Bane has lost four T34s, so he now has 17 left against Matteponk's remaining seven. To Matteponk's favor, two of those 17 are now bogged, and the tanks he has killed were three vets and a crack. But not much else is going right for the krauts.

All this prompts Lord Bane to crow:

"A disasterous turn for the Treacherous Matteponk! It seems that he bought a larger supply of armor than I anticipated. His mistake though is to try and fight at close quarters with my powerful 85mm guns. Next turn I will attack in the center and slay another of his PzIV/70s. Then he is in big trouble. I will make Matteponk pay for his crimes. I have sent a message to STAVKA to anticipate a stunning victory over the Hitlerites!"