Battle Report - Fate of a Nation - final turn

Evening everyone,

It's taken me a few weeks but I finally have a post for the last turn of the club's Fate of a Nation tank ace campaign.  For those of you who haven't seen, here is Turn 1, here is Turn 2, and here are my buddy Mike and Duncan's perspective of the fight.

All in all I enjoyed the chance to game in the Middle East...the closing era of the Sherman and dawning of the Sh'ot for the IDF is interesting.  You've got some great skills but the equipment is transitioning and can be a challenge if fielding IShermans.  For the Arab nations, you have the end of the T34 and dawning of the horde of T-55...good armour, good gun...

For the final turn we decided to align our points with the new book...this affected the IDF the most as their expensive tanks became even more expensive...for the first game we gamed 900 points per player and for the second we had approx. 1000 per player.  IIRC it was a weather weekend and there's been a lot of cold and flu in the city so we only had 4 players, so we elected to do team battles. 

As well, for this round of the Tank Ace campaign the forces returned to their 'normal' Flames of War state, that is, not every team was an independent team...and none tank teams were allowed on the table (I didn't have to play hammer on this rule this time, lol).  As it turned out, Duncan and I both played IDF and brought the same force: 2 x Sh'ot and 4 x ISherman; game 2 would see us bring in air support and a AAA platoon subtracting 1 x ISherman.  Our opponents were Jordanian and Syrian armoured companies with many many T55s, some T34s, some M48s and a mech infantry platoon in M113s...oh yeah, they had some air support as well.

The dice Gods were not kind...Duncan and I had a tough time making our dice hit, Mike and John made some great armour saves and there were just so many of the buggers...the Syrian air force did a stellar job of beating up our force as well...

The second game was pretty much the same except the IAF was not effective and I think our die rolling became...worse!?!?!

Anyhow, all that's left is the crying and the pictures...In spite of the beating there was a lot of fun had in the game and would be happy to try it all again...except at a higher point level.

Cheers.

Game 1 overview from Arab side...John with T55s (left) and T34s (right)...Mike had his Jordanians taking second string heavy on the right...

Close up of the IDF side...Duncan on the right, me in the middle

Best shooting of the game...turn 1 and Duncan destroys the T34 company...

Various shooting downrange, kill one, bail some more...small manoeuvers into position...taking some hits from the T55s and the Syrian air support.  The IDF didn't get past mid table

Game 2 - IDF on the left, Arabs on the right

Looking at the T55s...a few of us, a bunch of them...

Moving forward to tackle the Jordanians.

Traffic jam of M48s...trying to unleash the IAF

Duncan moves up on upper left side...takes some hits from the T34s, tougher to kill this game, and the M48s...

IAF arrives, takes down an tank...M113s sprint for the main building...take some fire from my IShermans...destroy one APC, infantry dismount and take cover/

Duncan ended up taking a beating on this game...my Sh'ots held 'the line' on our right trying to snipe at the T55s, the T34s and the Jordanians brought some good firepower and numbers to bear and dominated the die rolling...very good game.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battle Report - AAR for Fate of a Nation

Hello hello...

Recently our club decided to move ahead with a Fate of a Nation campaign, however the GM decided to base it on the Tank Aces model to give that system and the more modern force lists a try.  In July we had the opportunity for Arab and Israeli forces to meet and go toe-to-toe.

Using the Tank Aces was a fun idea (we also ran an Infantry Aces Italian campaign that was very successful) but there were some definite quarks to the system that had some pro and con game play issues...none of which took away from the overall enjoyment and fun of the day.  As always, miniature battles are much more fun to play than the real ones!!

Anyhow, I arrived at the day with a T55 Arab tank force as well as an Israeli Isherman tank force ready for action.  We needed an extra IDF player, so I volunteered to play the long guns.  The GM was press ganged into action partway into the morning when another IDF player showed up so he took my T55 horde for a spin...

All in all, I played 3 games, with the first one being waaaaaaaaaaaay longer than the other 2 combined...

Game 1: my first opponent was a mixed Arab tank force, composed of T34's, IS3's, and a few ISU 100's (?).  Needless to say they easily had 4:1 odds on my 5 Ishermans.  The most difficult thing with playing this force in this game system was the inability to shoot at an entire platoon/company.  With Tank Aces, each tank is an independent team...this means you can only target one tank at a time...as well, I had forgotten one of the abilities of the IDF (re-roll failed to-hits when over 16" and stationary) which certainly cost me some kills...regardless, the game was fun, I think I killed approx. 10-13 tanks (memory is a little foggy), but we ran out of time...my company commander was still alive at the end however...

Deployment...IDF on the right, Arab forces on the left in the ville...

 

Turn 1...shooting by IDF, none by Arab forces...more bails than kills...these bails would haunt me...the IS3's were very very tough to crack.

 

Turn 2...IS3's remount and get themselves into the fight...T34's take some more pain, but keep on chugging

 

Turn 3+...IDF guns hitting far, managed to get some kills on the IS3's.  These 3's took the bulk of my focus, bordering on obsession...they definitely interrupted my shooting cycles.

More long range gunnery... 

Game 2: Without a lie, this game literally took 5 minutes...I'd like to say that the vastly outnumbered IDF tanks took the fight to the enemy and through guts and determination were able to soundly defeat their foe...I'd like to say...

The IDF brought the fight to their foe...and were soundly crushed by an Arab horde of T34's...I think the number came in at 25+...25 T34's!!!!

Israeli right flank...

 

 

Israeli left and centre (left)...right flank (above)...Arab horde of T34's

The horde on the move...IDF shooting is ineffective...here they come!!!

 

Their shooting is much more effective...something to do with volumes (?!?)

Closing the loop on the company commander...one brewed up T34 off in the distance...

Game 3: This game took longer than 5 minutes...however it was the IDF's turn to lay out a spanking.  I was up against 5 Jordanian M48's...in this situation, it all came down to deployment and who would win the initiative to shoot first.  Deployment was like a mirror...after I placed my first tank, my opponent placed his in a shooting position, I then placed my next tank to cover his first tank, and he then did the same, which I repeated, etc, etc.

It really came down to who was going to be able to shoot first.  This time, I was very lucky on the roll, was able to shoot first and effectively removed the immediate threats to my tanks in turn one.  Actually, I think I knocked out 3 of his 5 tanks in turn one...the remaining 2 turns were spent mopping up and hunting his remaining tanks down.

The IDF get some payback in this one...taken part way through turn 1...

As I said, a lot of fun was had on this day...I like the Arab-Israeli lists...I enjoyed the Tank Aces...I even enjoyed the relative mayhem that the rules caused...all in all, a great gaming day.

Take care folks.

What's Next:

WW1 German troops in 28mm...currently on the painting bench, hoping to have them finished by end of the weekend.