Bob’s Black Bulls 11th Armoured Division.

With only 2 units left and the Command could the Soviets hold their pts lead till the end of move 7.

1st dice of move 5 was a blue, not going  against the  trend of game for the side  least units draws 1st.

The Americans played a Tactics card swapping the objective rules, so the fog moved from objective 2 to 3, leaving the SU130’s in sight of everything, 2st the 2 Super Pershing’s stopped and poured 3 out of 4 shots into the unit easily dispatching 3 despite having cover ( it was below 16″ so only needed a 4 ) with for once managing FP roles as no armour save possible)

Next another Blue, so having dispatched the 3 SU 130s on the far right, the M36s move 2 into site and 2 stayed stationary to pour 6 shots into the survivors, 4 hits , and 2 shots failed to bounce, one would have survived the FP check but another Tactical card was played and it went on the roll.

Pts Sov 21 U.S 15

A red dice next , so the IS3′ opened fire on the Remaining Pershing easily killing it to pull back 3pts and hold their lead

Soviets 24 U.S 15

With only Soviet Command to activate,  the U.S used their next dice to secure objective 2  (or so they thought) which would be the pointable objective as of next turn.

Then another Blue, so the Assault Pershing’s moved of the hill to close on either the JS3’s or the  Command T44. Pointless to try shooting as the J3’s armour matched their AP .

Another Blue, so the Easy 8′ activated, 32 moving forward and 2 staying stationary to fire at the rear of the JS3’S whose side armour was exposed, checking the rules only the 2 stationary could do it, and 4 shots hit home, the armour roles shrugged of 2 but 2 went in and the FP test was easily passed as the Easy 8 is on 2+.

Only the command dice, were left, the U S could have little effect but the Soviets moved theirs to objective 3 to steal its last 3 pts, it fired on one of the Easy Eights but the tank managed amazing armour saves and the Soviets lousy FP tests.

As the U.S used a dash move with their Hellcats to get to objective 2 they couldn’t score pts for that turn,

End of 5

Soviet 27  U.S. 15

Move 6

Now the Soviet’s have only 2 dice in the bag and U.S 6

The almost by now standard U.S dice came out, and the 2 closest Easy Eights moved to secure side shots, so on only 3’s at pt blank, hit, the Soviet failed it armour save and on 2+ were easily dispatched on 2+.

The other 2 despite being out of Command fired their 4vshots at the side of the final JS2, despite now being on 5’s (3+ +1 for over 16″ and +1 for out of Command, managing 2 5’s and despite one armour save passed the 2+ firepower dispatched that for 3pt for another unit

Soviet 27 U.S 18

An inevitable 2nd Blue Dice was drawn, and the Assualt Pershings move within 12″ of The Soviet Command to pour Accuarate fire easily dispatching it from the Side.

Another Unit and Sovit force destroyed.

So pts now

Soviet 27, U.S. 21 ptsWith no Soviet Units left, this left the U.S forces holding the only portable objective for this and turn 7 for total odds 6 pts

so ending

Soviet 27, U.S 27 a draw in ptsthough a moral victory as they held the field , for the loss of only 5 tanks.

Well no objectives to reveal, but the final U.S. reinforcement arrived, and the dice put them in the middle of table.

1st dice for once was red (funny how that each time the side with the least dice get theirs drawn 1st ) so in a vain attempt to save the unit, the T34’s were activated, 1st they managed to successfully get the bail outs back in, They then again shot at the Easy Eights but only managed a bail out .

Then it was a Blue, so the Assault Pershing’s fire again in an attempt to wipe out the T44,s this time they manager to destroy all but one, who again successfully succeeded the last man role.

Another Blue, , the Americans played a tactical card to pull one card from the discard pile, and chose the +2 to pen card, and fired on the remaining T44 and double dispatched it for another 3 pts !

Red, not expecting them to last long the JS3’s fired again at the Pershing’s and managed to knock out another, but the Americans successfully passed the last stand so no 3 pts!

Then a Blue, so in what was a bold and nearly fatal move, a tactical card was played to add 6″ to a cross country dash , the Super Pershing’s raced across the table in an attempt to close on Objective 2, but fell short.

This left their side armour vulnerable, which the one the next red, the Soviets moved 2 of their surviving T34’s to face , joining with the two already facing that way to pour 6 shots into the exposed sides scoring 4 hits, , but by fluky dice luck on armour saves, managed to 1st match the penetration on 2 of the hits , lousy fp checks meant they bounced the shots for only one tank destroyed,

This though did put all the T34’s in a position that it was possible for the M36’s  who the moved on next blue with a tactical move to get a shot at them, and they managed 3 out of 4 shots (I know were the coonskin caps are) which easily penetrated and for once all got successful fp tests .. The last stand was successfully rolled by the crew, unfortunately he was forced to bail when the American command dice was rolled and the commander moved into a position to finish him off,

so another 3 pts to the Americans, plus it removed the Soviets from objective 1.

The final red dice was revealed and the ISU30’s attempted to reform, 2 made it and the 3rd skirted the hill to join his companions in the fog.

The Soviet command dice was drawn and it managed to bail another easy 8.

This just  left the blue for the Newly arrived Hellcats , who raced towards objective 1 only to find the Soviets removing it by playing a tactical card!.

So at the end the Soviets were reduce to 3 victory pts for objective 2.

so Soviets 21 Americans 12 !

The 3rd objective was revealed, and it’s rule was it was sole printable objective from move 6!

Americans got 2 x Reinforcements so brought on the M36’s which arrived Centrally,and 3 Pershings which arrived on far left flank.

1st dice was pulled, and it was a blue, so the Super Pershings opened fire on the remaining JS2s scoring just sufficient hits to destroy them and claim their 1st 3 victory

Next was a red dice and it was decision time. I decided to activate the T44’s,  and try and whittle down the incoming fire as had a plan!

As they could only hurt the Easy Eights they poured 8 shots on to them but only managed two bail outs due to good armor save rolls and bad firepower checks.

Another Blue dice came out and the Assualt Pershings returned the Soviet Fire, before rolling to hit the Soviets played the tactical Cammo card making them +1 to hit, which was to save the unit for this turn.

Only one hit out of 6 shots and it managed to bounce the shot on armour save.

Another Blue dice pulled, and American player had choice of move towards objective 1 or pour more fire on hapless T44’s,  it chose the latter  with an American tactical of +2 to penetration despite this they only managed 3 bailouts leaving 2x T44’s fully operational.

Then it was red, and the 1st troop of T34’s moved forward to seize objective 1, plus the found two had side shots at an Easy 8 which they quickly dispatched for the 1st actual Soviet kill.

Another Red and the Soviets moved their 2nd Troop of T34’s, but were unable to get into range, which turned out to be fatal as the next dice was the American Commanders dice  he put 3 hots into the T34’s bailing one out, then ordered rhe M36’s forward who promptly knocked out the remaining 2 and a 2nd bailout, wiping the unit for a further 3 victory points.

Then it was another Blue so in an attempt to denie the Soviets 3 pts moved forward and engaged the T44’s who again did enough of an Armour save to reduce the hits to potential bailouts  , and lose firepower tests meant 1 stayed in to Claim that moves victory pts.

Only Soviet Dice remained as the one Blue had already been activated by the command dice.

1st the JS3’S moved forward so they would be in position to take over objective 3 if the T44’s were destroyed, and opened fire on the Approaching Pershings scoring a 6 and knocking it out.

The Soviet Command forced another bail out on the Easy Eights and the ISU 130’s failed all their cross tests so we’re stuck in fog  but still managing 3 victory pts.

So at end of move Soviets had 9 pts for all the objectives taking total to 18 and The Americans on 6 for Destroying 2 units.

Well we went to move 2, an d now both sides can roll 2 dice fir Reinforcements,  both got one, and both rolled centrally for deployment,  the Soviets deployed their 4 tank troop of T34’s, the Americans their Easy 8 Shermans, .

I drew 1 more tactical cards fir each side.

Again despite the dice disparity, the Americans drew 1st their Comand unit dice,  I had decided to use an Idea Gerry Mentioned, which was roll the dice  and the no of pips decides how many units within his command range he could activate.. in this case he only needed 1 ,so he activated the Super Pershings to open up again on the JS2’S,  8 dice and 5 hits

The American commanders used his Volley Fire Skill and rerolled his misses scoring on more hit.

Only one dice failed it’s firepower test so 5 knock outs, as only 3 tanks were in ine of sight they all died, (the Soviet had a card to make one Armour save, but with the number of U.S Success’s didn’t use it.)

[Please allow from our overhead photographer who was under fire himself]

Then it was the Soviets turn to draw a dice, so I decided to move the ISU130’s forward as they had the best range , unfortunately 3 out of the 5 failed their crossing test who moved to front of wood, where I suddenly remembered the 2nd objective card….

Bugger it revealed Fog , and all vehicles range dropped to 12″ so they could not See the Super Pershings ( I should have revealed it before I moved the unit and perhaps would have picked another unit!, as it happened it didn’t effect much!)

Next dice was another Soviet, It was a toss up whether I went for the T44’s or JS3’s , here is my 1st mistake for Soviets, I stayed stationary and fired at the Assault Pershings  , I should have closed as the rate of fire is the same halted as moving, particularly as the U.S are 1 harder to hit, we’re over 6″ and partially concealed in a wood  so 6’s were needed… forget it!

I matched a Gerry roll and if you put the dots on all 3 dice together would have just got 6!

Next Dice was American Again, so the Assault Pershings decided to return the favour, but opened up o  the T44’s I  an attempt to remove them from the objective, so on 4’s as they were still in open, Gerry struck again only managing 1 hit out of 6 shots , but it did manage a Kill.

I then on drawing the next Red dice decided to leave the T44’s stationary and go for extra shots on Assault Pershings, but despite 8 attempts couldn’t manage a hit,

( need to check but may have been achedemic as not sure they can penetrative the Pershings Frontal Armour.

The next dice was Soviet so the Surviving JS2’S moved I to range and missed completely the Super Pershings!

Then it was the Final dice for the Americans, which brought the Easy 8’s forward who moved into range of the T44’s but the one hit bounced off the armour!

The 2 final 2 Soviet Dice were drawn, the T34’s whi moved up but were unable to get into range of anything, and finally the Soviet Command tank who failed to hit anything.

So at end of move 2 the Soviets lost 4 tanks , but held 2 objectives so score at move 2 is Soviets 9 and U.S. 0

Well wouldn’t you know it despite a 2 to one amount of dice in bag, U.S drew 1st dice and the Assualt Pershings moved towards wooded hill on their right, one failed the cross test, so the others stayed back enough un wood to be out of sight.

1. Then we had a series of Soviet dice, The T44’s dashed forward to get close to objective 3. Both the IS3’s and the T44 Command moved cautiously forward towards objective 1, and the ISU’s moved towards the wooded hill on their right flank , stepping just shirt of Cross test.

The 2nd American dice was revealed and they moved to the small hill in front of them going hull down, followed by their command tank.

The final unit of JS2’s moved through the Station, and were engaged by the Super Prshings and Command tank ( I allowed reaction fire for units who moved tactically to allow for the phased movement but at a +1 to hit) the JS2’s being unable to reply as out of range. The Americans were on 5’s to hit, and managed 1 hit  but only got a bail out.

I had revealed objective o es card which just said replace card post move 5.

The T44’s were within 4″ of objective 3 so gained 3 pts.

Think the title sums this up!

I began deployment, staggering deployment for each side unit by unit with the Americans as attackers going 1st.

I 1st Deployed the Assault Pershings on their left flank , hoping to take the wooded high ground and dominate objective 3.

Having been distracted by a sudden call of nature,I deployed my 1st Soviet Unit on the right flank again to attempt to secure objective 3, forgetting my U.S deployment in the meantime!

The Super Pershings being the most powerful U.S unit I deployed to the right of the central railing, so that it could potentially deploy either to cover objective 1 or 2 hoping that I would manage to role some immediate Reinforcements!

I also post rhe text Soviet deployment placed my Assualt  Pershing Command tank here, as it was a good central position to control U.S forces.

I now only had Soviets to deploy, so I placed the ISU30’s on the Soviet left to attempt to dominate objective 2.

Finally I deployed the IS3’s and the Command T44 on their right of the Railway line, as they had a fairly straight run at objective 1.

Then I rolled for the Reinforcements,  no need to stagger this as American was a 4

And Soviets 6, so I deployed the JS2’s, to their right of railway line.

Normally in the game you pull a random table mission set-up card, but chose the one that would best fit my narrative for 1st game, for subsequent games I will pick randomly as coupled with the scenario mod cards , they can allow for multiple different  scenarios on a single table layout.

This card shows the base dpeloyment areas and where the objective markers are layed. Then a random mission objective  card is placed face down on each of the objectives. These will be revealed on moves 1,2 &3 , , each may be a game objective, a dummy or a variable length or immediate effect objective which can be replaced as the game goes on..

I still pulled out the mission card , which has the game length in turns, any special scenario rules and how much of forces are initially deployed .

If I have read it right, above means I can deply up to 60% of my force as I want , the rest may arrive on 5+ die role in area shown by the die indicators on the mission layout card.

So I can deploy upto 42 pts initially and the rest is on dice, On bright side my bad dice luck should effect both.

So for the Americans my initial

Deployment force is:

U.S Force

Command

1x T26E5  Assault Pershing 5pts Volley Fire Skill 3pts

Core Units

3x T26E5 Assault Pershings 16 pts

3x T26E4 Super Pershings 14pts

Not a lot, but does mean most of my Heaviest and least manoeuvrable units are were I want them, the lighter units are hopefully fast enough to re-deploy from their inevitable lousy position

Soviet

Command

1x T44  3pts  Punch it Ability 3 pts.

5x T44  11pts

5x ISU 130 15 pts

3x IS-3   10pts

I had a similar thought for the Soviets,  but have the advantage of one fast unit in the T44’s

This will give the American player some pause for thought, as he does not initially have enough units to attempt to secure the 3 objectives.