It’s been a good couple of weeks, finished Forczyk’s book Tank warfare on the Eastern Front 1943 – 1945. It was a hell of a grind – felt a little like fighting the eastern front reading it. Lots of good details on which tanks were present at which times and how they fared. I was very surprised just how many failures the Panther had when first introduced. I took a couple of quotes from this book if anyone wants to read some hilarious blooper reels of armored warfare:
This one is probably the most damning:
I felt I probably needed to represent the issues the Tiger and Panther had, so created a table similar to the one I used in Missile Threat for unreliable or poorly maintained aircraft:
You can also see my new page background in action…
While reading through this I’ve been doing the army lists for Tunisia, I’ve finished Late 1942 and started on early 1943.
Also did a good playtest in the weekend. I’ve ordered a lot of North Africa miniatures from Heroics and Ros, but they’ve yet to arrive so we’re still stuck with cardboard flats for the moment…
This was a 1941 British vs. DAK battle.
First turn: British advance cruiser and infantry tanks (Matilda IIs) towards the 3 central objectives, with Mk VI light tanks and armored cars filling in the gaps and on the left flank
The infantry lag behind, due to limited combined arms ability, and a 3″ mortar is keeping an eye on the battle from the Oasis in the south.
The DAK quickly open fire on the advancing Brits, a 5cm Pak-38 knocking out several Marmon-Herrington armored cars, and a few of the Mk VI light tanks. The Matildas are unopposed however, and the Czech 47mm on the Panzerjager I’s is unable to penetrate them except from point blank range.
Turn 3, the British vehicles continue their plodding advance, with the Infantry gingerly moving up behind. The German player, having pre-planned an ambush before the game (And having to specify the exact location and unit for the ambush using coordinates, without knowing the enemy deployment) deploys an 8.8 cm Flak 37 on the right flank, which is largely free of British recon vehicles. The 88 is in a good position to cover the Matilda tanks, and immediately destroys one.
The British have their own pre-planned ambush, and 4 portee 2 pdrs (2 pdrs on trucks) appear near a rocky outcrop in the center-left. These try to get to work attacking the German armor, but before they are able to they are spotted and 2 are destroyed by 5cm Pak 38 and Panzerjager I fire.
The British right flank infantry unit attempts to split off and head over the hill on the right flank to try to deal with the 88, but a further German Ambush unit (this time a single motorcycle) threatens their flank…
Turn 5, by now the British armored assault is in chaos, with tanks reversing and halting and not really knowing what to do. A 2nd 88 appear on the far right flank, near a wadi and opens fire on the Matildas, destroying 2 more. The final remaining Matilda reverses out of the kill zone, but is in no position to return fire (as the 2 pdr has no HE! and German infantry are nearby!)
The British infantry on the far right head over the hill to try to deal with the first 88, and while they do inflict some casualties, suppressing the 88 for a time, the position is well covered by the 2nd 88 and German infantry nearby, and the first British squad is forced to retreat to the south. While the first squad is dealing with the 88, the second infantry squad advances to support the Matilda, but this leaves the command unit unprotected! The sneaky German motorcycle waltzes up and forces the British commander to surrender! what a blunder for the British!
The Germans ended the game with an overwhelming victory, having captured 1 objective, while the British also captured 1, the losses suffered by the British were appalling, especially the MK VI light tanks which were more of a liability than an asset…
I have some edits to make around how limited combined arms forces function. Not much, but a small change to balance out the number of actions each side receives – these should still be even, even if one side can only spend them on infantry or armor
More to come later, I’ll leave you with a teaser of doing some armor calculations for Pz. III N and L, trying to work out the average armor by front area, and if I need to make the front facing “heavy” (over 70mm) – it turned out I didn’t as the average armor by area is something like 55mm, still solidly in the “medium” category:
Tom Jensen - http://ostfrontpublishing.com/