Remember a game where we were playing with about 4 players (2v2), 3000pts a side, lots of armour and oodles of infantry. My Germans were defending the outskirts of a village in Normandy in the wake of D-Day, with a British force assaulting over an open area of fields and roads.
Preliminary bombardment had been quite effective at pinning my guys – I had a Puma that barely activated as a result of the pins on it – which left my lines in disarray as the British advanced. But I did have two Tigers, and an 88. I’d positioned one Tiger on the left, one in the centre, and the 88 was set up covering the right of my lines.
From turn 1, the British fixated on the Tiger in the centre, firing every piece of equipment capable of penetrating armour at the German machine. Sherman Fireflies advanced through the fields, supported by infantry, blazing away at the Tiger in the centre. The pins mounted up, but not one shot penetrated the armour.
Turning the Tiger into a bullet-magnet had worked unexpectedly in my favour, as the unmolested 88 started picking off Shermans and Cromwells. The Tiger on the left sat patiently in reserve, waiting to strike.
My opponents knew they had to silence the 88, so they sent a flanking Commando team to deal with it. They came on the table on my right flank, and with the support of mortars, started to suppress the 88. My team-mate sent in the infantry, a squad of Panzergrenadiers, to counter this attack. They took out the Commandos in return for heavy casualties, but the damage had been done. They’d silenced the 88 by killing the crew.
While all this was happening, our German officers were running around trying to rally units pinned by the initial bombardment back into the fight. A pair of British artillery observers were undoing all that good work with a pair of heavy artillery strikes that were crippling German response. My team-mate, who was in control of an infantry platoon and attached assets, was really struggling to get units activated with all the pins being done.
It was time to commit the 2nd Tiger to the fight. No attack had come from the left, almost everything the British was being committed to our weaker centre and right. It rolled out of the prepared cover in the town outskirts, and swung right behind a copse of trees to keep the left side covered from the British lines. It opened up on the remaining Shermans in the fields, popping one. This fight could still be won.
My Puma crew finally took their brave pills and activated. It trundled up the road in the middle of the battlefield, to the edge of the town, and blew up as a PIAT team on ambush got a lucky shot. About this time the right flank was wavering even more as British mortar fire found a target, crippling a squad of Panzergrenadiers.
With one Tiger suppressed to the hilt with all the fire it was taking, the 88 gone, infantry shredded or holed up, and the Puma having been entirely ineffective, it all hinged on my remaining Tiger to hold the line. Sadly, one of my opponents knew this, and he delivered a killing blow. 3 Cromwells had remained on the centre right of the British line, to my left, shelling the pinned Tiger in the centre. They now turned and raced towards the 2nd Tiger. One came head-on, one came around the woods, while the 3rd raced past heading for the town. My Tiger obliterated the Cromwell coming head-on, but the 2nd managed to get a crippling shot on my tank, leaving it immobile. Unable to move, it could barely defend itself as the 3rd Cromwell came about and put a shell into the Tiger’s rear, brewing it up.
With that, it was game over. The German defence had essentially collapsed, and the town fell to the British. All-in-all it was a bloody excellent game, and had served as a demo for the other 3 players. They all enjoyed it hugely, which as seasoned Chain Of Command players I hadn’t really expected. But, by creating a big set-piece battle with lots going on, I’d differentiated enough to get their attention.
It also taught me that Tiger Fear can exist in a game. Your opponent will genuinely fear the chaos a Tiger can dole out, and concentrate on destroying it as soon as possible to the detriment of all else, allowing you to execute your plan relatively unhindered. My central Tiger did little in the game, but it soaked up so much enemy fire that it more than made up for its hefty points value.