Wojna Światów - Tournament Report - battle 2

After my defeat in surrounded, I was nominated to play Counterattack vs US infantry. This setup seemed much better for me. I got delayed by my son a tiny bit when deploying so we started the game ~10-15 minutes later. The list my opponent played was:
US Infantry Company - North Africa
Confident/Trained

Bare bones HQ
Full infantry platoon
Full infantry platoon
Full Parachute infantry platoon (Fearless/Veteran)
57mm platoon + 3 bazookas
White Scout Car recon platoon
81mm mortars
M10 tank destroyers
3x M3 Lee with long barrel guns

MY LIST

The table was pretty even so it was not a big deal for my opponent to choose his corner to deploy in. His ambush was the 57mm guns (which was kind of odd to me as my only tank platoon were the little Pz35s).
I placed the objectives so that they would be as far apart as possible to lure him into thinking that I would be going for the far one. In the meantime, I deployed my units line abreast all along the deployment are edges facing his forces and the left flank. My skill/morale rating rolls were the reverse of the previous battle: 3 platoons of c/v infantry, r/v 75mms, c/v 45mms and tanks.

Just before the clash, my scouts trotted onwards (why I haven't used them mounted - only god knows :P ). I then began my general advance by moving everything en masse. Like I explained in one of the previous articles, the footprint of the army is so huge, that there was virtually no room to maneuver. I also started targeting the 81mm mortars with the Pak40s to get rid of the only template that my opponent owned as soon as possible. I did manage to kill one of the 81s in the initial salvo. Still, it meant that the return fire would be a template with no re-rolls for only 2 guns. This proved lethal to my 45mm unit as a 1st attempt range in barrage wiped out 4 guns (hitting 4/5, while I failed all my 5+ saves). Fortunately, they managed to hold on and quickly changed their orders from 'advance' to 'dig in and stay gtg' :)

On my right flank, the march forward was more successful as I managed to utilize mortars and 75mms to put down enough direct smoke to cover up any mortar battery spotters. My Confident Veteran infantry went on uninterrupted, until Maciek popped the 57mm ambush to place the commander of the unit outside smoke, ready to spot for the mortars. This maneuver has forced my infantry to the ground and made them loose some valuable time to unpin.

At the same time, left flank was achieving little progress, harassed by the M3 Lees and trying to focus down the 81mms as they made their 5+ save one by one.

After a couple of turns, I finally managed to kill off enough tubes to enable safe approach to the enemy lines and launch a final assault. The Americans tried hard to conduct local counterattacks but luck was on my side and I was able to bring down their recon element to only 2 teams with my Pz35s and wipe out one platoon of infantry that wanted to get rid of my scouts (who had been hard at work lifting gtg). The US para platoon which has been ordered to take the far objective, but stopped going for it right after turn 1, has now been turned back to protect the deployment area objective. Their movement was spotted by the 75mm battery, which dropped a devastating bombardment right on their heads. The result of this action (and the failed dig in roll in the subsequent turn) was that the paratroopers were reduced by 4-5 bases. This meant that my assault from the right flank did not face so much resistance. My infantry platoon, already depleted by templates, direct shots and some limited assault action went in for the kill and managed to get rid of 6-7 US infantry and 3-4 US parachute infantry bases. And then died a glorious death ;P

It was time for the US to reveal their Tank Destroyers and move up the Lees to cover the objective (which was contested by my infantry). This meant a field day for my guns. My brave artillerymen started shooting any silhouette they could find on the horizon, until plumes of smoke showed up. In the meantime, the Pz35s worked their way towards the far objective in an attempt to split the remaining US forces in two. The tactic worked, as the US recon rushed to save the day. The TDs, which were located half way between the objectives lingered on for just one more turn. With some good placement of the Pz35s I managed to kill the command team of the recce platoon and it failed its morale check. With no CiC or 2iC to roll a morale check, it meant a defeat for the US!

In the end, I think I did a good job of diminishing the opponent's force with my guns until it become vulnerable to assault and pushing in with infantry. I think that with the exception of some small mistakes I did a good job during this battle, only loosing 1 platoon in the process.