Battle Report - AAR for Fate of a Nation...turn 2

Hello everyone,

Recently we had a chance to complete turn 2 of our Fate of a Nation inspired tank aces campaign, feel free to see the background post here.  I was pretty happy as it gave me another chance to get my Israeli tanks out (although, for points, augmented by my Canadian Fireflies) and see some great forces on the table.

I was able to get a couple of games in...was able to get a better grip on the rules and had some fun.  For this round, the forces were capped at 700 points.  For the United Arab forces, this allows the horde to fill out a bit more...if you field T-34/85s then we're talking HORDE...if you're fielding T55s, then we're talking Horde.  For the Israelis, this means that you can start to fill out towards 2 combat platoons of Sherman based tanks, or a platoon of Sh'ot with some Amx backup.  Comparing forces by number of hulls still leaves a very large divide...

Enjoy the pics and the narrative, any comments, questions, or constructive criticism...fire away.

As well, if you're interested, my buddy Mike posted his AAR for turn 2 on his blog as well, Mike's blog here.

Cheers,
Stan

Turn 2 rules...pretty much the same as turn 1, all teams are considered warrior/independent teams, 700 pts this time, any non-tank elements in your force are not deployed.  Scrapyard mission with rolling for random layout/deployment (i.e. halves, checkerboard, quadrants).

Game 1

 

Initial deployment, Syrian armored deployed in extended line at the hilly edge of the fields...IDF deployed in extended line through the town.  I have to be totally honest, as deployment was occurring a couple of us advised my opponent that non-tank teams don't deploy...he was frustrated as he had missed this stipulation...no worries, we had extra T55s and 34s that he could have made up the difference in tanks.  I prodded him a couple of times about no infantry...he wanted to deploy them anyway.  Okay, I went with this, in all fairness I may have come off a little bitchy, but for some reason this irked me...a little more on this later...

 

Second shot of the deployment from IDF side

 

 
IDF view of the battlefield, left flank

 

Extended line into the town...

 

 

IDF first blood, 7 IShermans shoot, 7 Syrian tanks burst into flames...pic on the top, Cheesy Microsoft paint pic above...

 

IDF stormtrooper-esque like moves to capture tactical edge 'cards'...these are bonuses in the tank aces system that allow reroll of specific die rolls...these can come in handy and in this case, 4 of 6 were randomly selected and then deployed on table...2 by me, 2 by my opponent.

 

 

I put my camera down for approx. 3 turns...big picture, IDF continued to try long range shots at the Syrians, the Syrians try to keep moving forward and absorb shots with the thicker armor of their T55s...the Syrian infantry continue to move forward.  There were a couple of recoiless rifle teams in the mix...these guys scored various shots along the way but initially only resulted in bails...although the infantry teams weren't deployable, we carried on anyway...because of this and because I was irked, my compromise was to have 'auto' unbails if my tanks were bailed by the infantry.  I also told my opponent that if all his armour were killed then his infantry would auto retreat from the field...I did this out of bitchiness and because I really didn't know what else to do...the Scrapyard mission on the first couple of turns was really a tank slugfest...don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

 

 

 

As you can see here, my opponent is getting some hits on my tanks, by this time I have lost 2-3 of my IShermans...he is down only a couple of tanks and I have killed one of his recoiless teams...I had to make some bold moves out of cover to get at his last couple of T55s as they entered town.  As well, my lone ISherman that moved towards the Syrian deployment edge is taken out by the last recoiless team.

 

Meanwhile, on the left side...my tanks are trying to finish off his last T55 that is hull down on ridgeline enough to be concealed but not enough to be out of line of sight...

The folks on the left couldn't contain him, but when he made for the plateau, I was able to bring 2 tanks to bear, with stabilizers and tactical edge cards that allowed a reroll...and down the last T55 went...

 

The mess on the right...didn't change too much during the game, I kept 2 tanks on that flank and they pretty much stayed for the game.  I had played John in round 1 and had a bugger of a game with him then...his force of T34s, T55s, and ISUs were nasty...I think he should have stayed with that mix.  For myself, the extra points allowed a couple of extra IShermans which came in real handy for staying in the fight.  Good game was had.

 Game 2

 

I totally forgot to get an overhead pic of the deployment...I was having some camera issues and I may have gotten one...but it was so blurred that I can't tell you what it was...I squared off against Mike and his Jordanian M48s...great looking tanks.

 

View of the field from my Ace...Jordanians in the ville in the distance

 

Long view of the ville with the first results of my shooting...Mike has awesome markers, I really like them...I was able to get initiative in the first turn.  I made a mistake and forgot that all my tanks were considered to have moved already...on hindsight, this sucked and I felt bad, but as Mike accidentally deployed an extra tank, I'm willing to let it go.

Another view of the carnage...2 burning M48s...

 

Trying to sneak paste the ville with my ISherman Firefly...

 
I think this is turn 3...by this time, I'm moving around the field, staying near cover as best as possible and am getting some great long distance shots.  The IDF have a special rule that allows re-rolls to hit on tanks that are over 16" away...ROF 2 and re-roll and re-roll to hit with my Ace, very very handy...4 burning Pattons...

 

Jordanians on the move...they kept trying to stay out of range...and with the M48 they had an extra 8" of range than I did...plus Mike's Ace had an extra 4" of range...long range death...potentially...

 

Luck runs out for IDF...my Ace tries to hide behind the burning hull...

 

Another score for the Jordanians...

 

Literal action shot of IDF running for the ville with more burning M48s in the distance...action shot of Mike rolling a save...

 

 

I don't think he made that one...his Ace goes up in flames in the lower left...I had no other shots...like I said, my camera was having a bugger of a time and I ended up blurring about 5-6 other shots.  Overall, the IDF lost 3 IShermans and the Jordanians loose 8 M48s...ville secured.

 

Another great game with Mike.