Polar Bear Tournament

A good week, good games in good company!

BATTLE OF GAZALA
+++ KNIGHTSBRIDGE 10 JUNE 1942
+++ 70 POINT ARMIES
+++ MISSION: BRIDGEHEAD

Second run of this mission, same forces and all.

This time I was the defending Italians. My opponents were two and newcomers to Flames of War but have experience in gaming. They used the same tactic as I had and charged in an armoured fist.

"You hit somebody with your fist and not with your fingers spread"
- Heinz Guderian

The first turn was uninventive, but then I sprung the Semovente 75/18 from ambush, moved the 47mm guns to the flank where the fighting was to be and fired with the Semoventes and 88/55. … And bailed 1 tank…

Here I expected the battle to be short and saw the British armour advance, the M3 Stuarts sped ahead and pored MG fire into the 88/55, scoring 6 hits and after a few failed saves, the Stuarts failed their firepower rolls. Then the Grants fired all they had against the Semoventes, but their fire was entirely inaccurate, and Their turn was about as bad as the Italian!

The 88 rallied and five M14/41 came from reserves from the best place, lining up shots against the side and rear of some Grants. This time the Italians were far more accurate. The Stuarts were destroyed and one troop of Grants, wiping out almost half the British armour!

Undaunted, the British blitzed a group of Grants to deal with the M14’s and the remaining five Grants, HQ and a squadron lined up against Semoventes and the 88’s. The results were devastating, four M14 were destroyed and the last one was bailed and three Semoventes were destroyed.

The last Italian reserves arrived but in the far away corner, the last M14 remounted and passed motivation for bad spirits. So did the last Semovente and the British had positioned their tanks so only one 88 could fire at them. The 47mm arrived at the objective, ready to dig in next turn.

Firing was poor, one HQ tank and one Grant were taken out.

The following turn the British took out the Italian HQ M14 and Semovente, then the disaster, they hit both 88’s, one shot each, I failed both saves and the British passed two firepower tests! And they were gone.

Having lost all my heavy hitters my round was poor, the 47mm guns did dig in and the M14’s continued their dash. But I failed to take out British tanks.

One of my opponents who is a veteran gamer, even if he is new to this game, realised he could win if he destroyed the last M14 in the platoon that had lost every other tank, and six Grants moved in for the kill, one troop even passing a blitz test. 9x 75mm shots and 6x 37mm shots later and the British had won the game.

It was a fun game and my opponents had their tense moments, as did I. The M14/41 Anti-tank 6 makes it hard on the Italians if they lose the Semoventes and 88. The Grants side and rear armour of 4 makes it hard to get a kill.

I knew this, and these forces make for a great introductory game.

A British win – historically the Italians won this battle.

Bismarck 1941

On 27 May 1941, 85 years ago, the German battleship Bismarck was sunk. Only three days after she had sunk HMS Hood. Here is a battlereport to commemorate this event.

At 23:40 on 26 May, Admiral Lütjens delivered to Group West, the German command base, the signal "Ship unmanoeuvrable. We will fight to the last shell. Long live the Führer."

A flight of Swordfish had attacked the Bismarck and jammed it’s rudder so it could only steam in a large circle, turning to port.

On the morning of the 27 May 1941, the two British Battleships, HMS King George V and HMS Rodney closed in on the damaged German battleship. Rodney opened fire first at 08:47. Bismarck was unable to steer due to the torpedo damage to the rudders, and the consequent unpredictable motions made the ship an unstable gun platform and created a difficult gunnery problem. This was further complicated by the gale-force storm. However, Bismarck returned fire at 08:50 with her forward guns, and with her second salvo, she straddled Rodney.

I played this game with a friend, Davíð, and it went very close to the actual battle. Quite fitting to write this battle report on the day, now 85 years later, when Bismarck was sunk. It was very much like the killing of a wounded lion. It was still dangerous but could not fight at full strength. Salvo after salvo crashed into the Bismarck which absorbed the first attacks until cumulative critical damage started to take its toll, starting multiple fires abord the grand ship. In return the Bismarck did manage to straddle Rodney and later HMS Dorsetshire but the final outcome was never in question.

After the sinking, Admiral John Tovey said, "The Bismarck had put up a most gallant fight against impossible odds worthy of the old days of the Imperial German Navy, and she went down with her colours flying."

BATTLE OF GAZALA
+++ KNIGHTSBRIDGE 10 JUNE 1942
+++ 70 POINT ARMIES
+++ MISSION: BRIDGEHEAD

Orders for the 4th Armoured Brigade were to occupy Hill 176, west of Trigh Bir Hakeim, then attack the Ariete and force it to withdraw. At 07:00 C Squadron of the Queen's Bays came into contact with the tank units of the Ariete, which sustained the shock and at about 08:00 forced the British to withdraw. At 08:40 the 6th RTR saw the Grants in the centre and the Stuarts on the wings but their M13s and the self-propelled guns managed to prevent the envelopment and forced the British to march along the front, exposing the flanks of their tanks to Italian fire. At 09:00, finding itself under fire from anti-tank guns as well as tanks, C Squadron, 6th RTR closed in on the Italian tanks, managing to hit an Italian vehicle. The pressure on the Italian tanks managed to push them to within about 220 yd (200 m) of the anti-tank defence line, which then found it difficult to lay its anti-tank guns as they were masked by the Italian tanks. The 88/55 gun, after having adjusted its fire, at 09:40 destroyed two British tanks and stopped a third, then C Squadron began its retreat.

This is mission and battle. I picked both forces from my collection, and I had 3 new players. They surprised me when they selected the Italians as their force. I decided to go full force against the 88/55 guns on the rear objective.

At the start it seemed I had made a bad choice and soon two Grants were burning from fire from the 88/56 and when the Semoventes 75/18 sprung their ambush, their HEAT rounds unaffected by range. Two more were bailed out and as you see, as a veteran Flames of War player for over 20 years, I have the original tokens for bailed out, that is dismounted crew!

I remained stationary and tried to fire at my enemies and did manage to destroy one 88 gun and the one Semovente. None of their units broke and their fire kept weakening my forces, two more Grants destroyed and two units in bad spirits – which with a last stand at 5+ is not ideal. The Italians also brought their small 47mm guns toward the action, leaving the far objective unguarded but all my British tanks were in one place.

I managed to remount and save one Troop from taking a test, but one Grant fled the field. I decided the time for decisive action and moved forward, giving higher rate of fire away for close range. This paid off when I took out two more Semoventes and bailed the last!

This was bad for the Italians, and bad became worse when the Fearless Crew of the remaining 88 left the battle. But a platoon of M14/41 arrived to the rear of the Grants! Fire was not great. Three Grants were hit, but armour 4 against the M14 anti-tank of 6 proved a winner.

The British tanks were surrounded. The Stuarts moved forward against the 47mm At guns, one Grant Troop and the HQ moved forward, with the troop facing the M14/41’s and the HQ against the Semovente, then there were 2 Grants remaining on the other side of the soft sand. Fire was very effective, the last semovented was destroyed and two M14/41 and one bailed. The MG fire from the Stuarts hit 7 times and took out an AT gun, but one passed 4 saves and was still in the game.

All Italians unpinned or remounted and 5 more tanks arrived, but from the far side. They did a cross-country dash but where still far away form the action.

Fire was ineffective, only a Stuart was bailed.

The next turn the British armour destroyed two more M14/41 and the last AT gun, capturing the objective at the end of turn 5.

A British win – historically the Italians won this battle.

Next step in playing Firestorm France in full campaign setting!

OPERATSIYA BAGRATION
+++ EASTERN FRONT AUGUST 1944
+++ 60 POINT ARMIES
+++ MISSION: SWING THE SICKLE (From Bagration: Germans)

I have said it before, this is one of my favorite missions, and joining me were two friends, one who is leaving Iceland on Saturday so it might be our last game, for a long time or ever. Both my opponents have limited experience with Flames of War so I made two lists from Bagration, one Soviet and one German. They were allowed to pick their army and selected Soviets (I knew they would) and were the attacker.

The Soviet Army was infantry based, with 4x Hero T-34/85 and 4x Su-76 for armour, the Germans were also infantry based, but their armor support was 3xPanzer IV and 3x StuG III in ambush. I like smaller games with no overpowered units. Especially for friendly play.

As the objectives are removed my opponents went all in on a frontal assault. They ranged in with their artillery – mortars and the Su-75 but failed to do any damage, first kill went to the T-34/85 that hit a single Panzer IV, careful, concealed and gone to ground. The shot penetrated the armor and they passed a firepower test.

The return fire from the Germans was devastating, I sprung my StuG ambush and the combined fire from the StuGs and Panzer IV‘s destroyed all the T-34/85taking out the best Soviet unit in one round of shooting.

Now there was a dilemma. The Germans had a very strong position for the rest of the game. So it being a friendly game I added IL-2 aircraft to the Soviet force, to give them a fighting chance.

The Germans were also losing units to the withdrawal rule and I realised I had not optimised the Germans for this.

Next rounds saw the Soviet infantry advancing relentlessly as if casualties didn't matter. The Hero SMG company made good speed and suffered devastating MGf ire that took out their kommissar, but they still recovered their morale. The front objective was removed and it was clear that the center objective was a little too well covered, but my 60 point German forces did not have anything on the rear objective.

The Sturmovik, like all aircraft either win the game or do nothing and the first two flights were the latter. The Hero Motor Rifle Battalions were suffering from German fire and could not charge while the Panzer IV‘s were still near the center. The StuGs concentrated on the Hero Motor SMG company, but they made good use of terrain and managed to get into bulletproof cover, becoming pinned again but saved from devastating loss by the cover and of course the brave frontoviks recovered constantly from pinning despite the loss of their kommissar.

Then it happened, the Sturmoviks came through and managed to destroy two StuGs and the SMG company now threatened the rear objective.

The Germans went all in, the last StuG passed its motivation and was close enough to assault. My HQ could also assault, if they could Blitz, but they failed!

The two remaining Panzer IV‘s just managed to get into MG firing range.

Then all hell was let loose and the combined fire of the Germans destroyed all but 2 SMG teams, then the StuG assaulted taking out another team. The SMG commander counter-attacked, these SMG never failed a morale test but failed to damage the StuG, but the StuG being an assault gun then fled.

Now a single SMG team was within 10cm of the objective at the start of the Soviet turn.

All he had to do was unpin and not flee. On a 4+ motivation.

Unpin 4+

Bad spirits 5+

What did I say about these heroes who never failed morale tests...

A Soviet victory.

If I had not given my opponents the IL-2 Sturmoviks I would have one, but it wouldn't have been a fun game and for a friendly game, fun is the most important part and we had a blast that evening. And my friend got a win before he moves back to his home.

SINGAPORE SLING
Second engagement
January 1942

A rematch with the same forces, set in the desperate days of the British Commonwealth defence of Malaya and Singapore during the relentless Japanese advance.

The scenario is a furball, a dag fight between four A6M2 Zeros, including an Ace with Reflexes. Their skill levels, 5, 4, 3 and 3 against six stalwart Brewster Buffalos, skill levels, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2 and 2. The Japanese have two Deep Pockets, giving them extra staying power. Then the high manoeuvre of the Zeros and high skill levels should keep the IJNAS fighting. The Brewster Buffalos have six aircraft and an extra Boom Chit under being outnumbered.

Set up was straight forward, with the Japanese fighters attacking from the same vector. The Buffalos suffered from poor quality, but the first two were placed next to a cloud to save them.

- First turn saw the two sides advancing and climbing for advantage.
- Second turn saw the Japanese preparing for an engagement as the Buffaloes were coming from all sides.
- Turn three found a veteran Buffalo pilot tailing a Zero and shooting it down!
- This was followed on turn four and five by a melee. Both sides accumulated several Boom chits.
- At the end of turn five three Buffaloes were lined up against the rear of a Zero and if they could bring it down (or get a couple of Boom chits) the game would be a British victory! Alas this was not to be and the Zero was saved mostly by poor shooting, then it used no stalling and fled into a cloud.
- Turn six the melee continued with hits and a downed Buffalo. At the end of the turn, both sides had more Boom chits than flying aircraft – ending in a draw.

This time the game was more even and the Zeros were strong. But the number of Buffalos was still a problem for them.

Firestorm Blitzkrieg France

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