MAIN EVENT VII! Ratzki vs Joonny....

[Splork]

I know what you mean about one turn changing the game. If that infantry gets a grenade off, it's -1 Panther, +2 T-34s, and he's still got a chance.

I'm sure I've been on the good side of turns like that, but I only remember the ones when I was on the bad side...

[willow]

I hate those nahverwatchacallits! I once had a perfect ambush set up, but the Panther fired off a few of them and routed my guys .

[Der Kuenstler]

Yeah they can be pretty effective. Here in minute 21 Ratzki faces off with another German AFV - this time a stug. After simultaneous fire, Ratzki gets an immobilization while the stug's first shell ricochets off....



But the stug reloads a fraction of a second faster. Boom. Another dead T34/85...



On the infantry side, Ratzki has the upper hand in town - look at this overhead shot from the end of minute 21...



But it's hard to say Ratzki has a chance now with all the German AFV's HE shells to deal with.

Ratzki tells Joonny...

"I was wondering how long you would let me plunk away at your tanks one by one. I could be in a whole lotta hurt now."

[Der Kuenstler]

Message from commander Ratzki...

"Boy can things go bad fast. Really hampered by the lack of being able to move with the tanks. Just cannot take on the panthers head on, yet this is exactly what happened. I thought that Jonny would let me play around a bit more but, he must have gotten tired of the game that I was playing. Down to one tank now, but still on the offensive. going for broke now. On my left I am going to curl around and make another go at the church. I have to now, might not have enough time though.
Same plans for everywhere else, still digging out the Germans in the city."

[Der Kuenstler]

Ratzki does a good job here catching a Stug with its side exposed. He hunts his last T34/85 forward with a cover arc pointed towards the stug. Even though the tank commander has been shot, the crew still picks up the stug within about 4 seconds....



The first shell from the T34 gets a partial pen and has no effect, but the second shell does...



Joonny gets his revenge by blowing down a building full of Russians with his street gang of AFVs. THere were 20+ Russians in there....



Meanwhile to the South, Ratzki's IS-2 just keeps driving around in the scattered trees, looking for LOS to a German AFV. But so far he's only seen birds and leaves...



Ratzki says...
"I just can't seem to catch a break. I have managed to outflank one of Jonny's SP guns but I had to watch as my infantry got chewed up in that building. Been trying to get them moving but against tanks from the front, options limited. Still gonna try for the flags though. Let's see what I can do next."

Joonny says...
"Well, looks like I'm about to get over run in the town. I didn't have the LOS or the FP to hold them back in the first place, and I fear I don't have the HE rounds left to dig them back out. The left hand flag is virtually lost, even if I can damage the forces there enough I don't have the inf to fully reclaim it. On the positive, I am chewing up his inf in the woods pretty well, that IS2 on the other side should make a nice objective for a plt of inf."

[Der Kuenstler]

We'll start off with a shot to the Southern woods. Joonny has pulled his men up in a line here. They are all low on ammo and haven't made a move towards the Russian star icons in the woods at all. Notice the three dead Maxim crews in the background - they couldn't get away fast enough. The lone rifle squad circled is out of command and crawling away.



Over in town, we can see that Ratzki's Russians are overunning this Jager squad - the Jagers are low on ammo and panicked by the incoming fire. This is just where there are no German AFVs firing HE, however. Ratzki isn't doing so well in other places vs all the incoming tank HE.



Up on the seacliffs, Joonny's Panther gets bored and appears to be going on an IS-2 hunt towards the East. The Panther has an armour cover arc on it.



Speaking of his infantry rush in town, Ratzki says:

"I am in tough now. Going for the win. This will either work or I am finished. Think big, think big...."

[Der Kuenstler]

Here Ratzki's luck continues to go badly. He does everything right, hunting up on a Panther to the North of town that has its side exposed. The Panther is busy firing at some Russian infantry.



But for some odd reason the vet Panther picked up the approaching T34, even though it was buttoned and facing the other way, and was able to get his turret around. Consequently the crack T34/85 only gets a ricochet off of the front turret.



Then the Panther's first shot does Ratzki's last T34/85 in...



Now Ratzki only has one lone IS-2 to face the German AFV hordes. But dies he? As the minute ends one of Joonny's Panthers gets a bead on the unsuspecting IS-2 as it sits buttoned and idle near the edge of some woods...



Ratzki laments his current situation:

"There goes my last t34. The battle is pretty much over now. A brief comment here, then more on why I did what I did when the event ends.

All in all I am quite pleased with what happened. Yes I am losing badly, but not due to poor decisions, not that I have not made acouple but they were not deal breakers. All in all, llike here, I managed to get first shots off agains his tanks most of the time and score hits first just as often, just the Russian equipment lets a guy down. If I would have had a little more wiggle room I think that I could have opened this game up and not be in the position that I find myself. You have to have some room as the Russian player because there is now way that a head on fight will turn out good for the Russians. Jonny played well, but I would have like to have had the opportunity to challenge him more. Ok, on to see what I can do about improving the results from this game."

[willow]

I can sure relate to Ratzki's plight!

[Bert Blitzkrieg]

I can sure relate to Ratzki's plight!

But going one-on-one as Russian against German armour like a Panther you know your chance on badluck is bigger then 50%...
You often need more thn ons shot to get a hit and then the hit must be right on the mark to get a penetration...

[willow]

I can sure relate to Ratzki's plight!

But going one-on-one as Russian against German armour like a Panther you know your chance on badluck is bigger then 50%...
You often need more thn ons shot to get a hit and then the hit must be right on the mark to get a penetration...

Oh yes, of course. It's still frustrating when one gets that perfect side shot, but still lose out!